Ever run a 'squadron' game?

[garhkal]

I mean, where all the pc's are part of a squadron (ala wraith/rogue squadron) and all have their own fighters?
IF so, which ship(s) did they get? WERE they their own, or were they ones the 'rebellion' just let these pilots use?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[pakman]

No...... but...

I did put a lot of thought into running one.

Here is the TLDR version
The most important part - it is not misssions, gear, fuel, logistics, balancing players in in weaker ships etc.

It is make 100% sure the ENTIRE group of players wants this kind of campaign.

Because if kind of defines almost everything in the "feel" and flavor of the game.

Longer version:
One of my players was ....highly enamored....with the the video game squadrons, so I put some work into thinking about what it would take, and what it would mean ....

The ships...
All the questions you mention are VERY important - like where do you get several hundred thousand credits worth of fighters - and who owns them?
Can the players modify them?

Who bankrolled them? And - fighters need a lot of support - (the flight crews on carriers outnumber pilots almost 20 to 1 - and that does not actually include the sailors who run the ship). So who is paying for all those others?
(yes, droids cost money too).

The Game
But then - let us get to the "type of campaign" - it is pretty difficult to run a smuggling/fringe type game when everyone if flying missions in fighters.
That and - it focuses most of the skills onto the piloting type - not a lot of social, science, knowledge etc. or even personal weapon skills used in the cockpit (yes, some - but incredibly limited).

You could say 'well, they just use the fighters toget to the places they want to go" the answer to that is ? why?
Fighters are incredibly expensive high performance vehicles - the military does not ferry around personell in fighters - they use tra...er...shuttles.

The game would need to focus on the missions - and the players have to decide - who do they work for? Who has the money and motivation.
Maybe the could be scoundrles - working for a bunch of hutt who have a fighter squadron - that sounds like being controlled even more than having a gangster hold the note on your ship.

Of course, if not a syndicate - that leaves a major power - and depending on era - those options are limited.

The Adventures
I thought about how I would make missions for the players - and make them story focused - I mean, I could maybe make it work in the background of the clone wars or something - or make most of the action take place onboard base/carrier social settings - but then why did we go with a squadron game?

Most things would be "mission" based - and unless the gm were planning on coming up with a lot of options - the players won'g have as much choice as they usually do (depending on your game).

So, no - the rebellion (where the fighters are incredibly valuable - as they can't just go buy more) I would think NOT just let players use the assets - they are too valuable. Other factions - maybe even less so.

That and survivability - the big deal about being on a big freighter is it typcially has a decent amount of hull and shields - dpending on the fighters - the players might get killed really fast (or faster).

Conclusion
So, if ALL the players wanted this (if it were just one guy - I would tell him to go play his video games....rpgs' are group games) then I think it COULD be done - but the gm has to think a lot about the details

I mean - the players could be left overs from a merc company, and maybe after the clone wars it was absorbed by the empire, and they became indepdent - they would constantly be scrounging for a base, fule, flight crews etc. but that might be part of the game. Start them out on older ships - with a lot of wear and tear - some old clone wars v19's or some ywings. Make them work their way up to really nice things etc.

If they think "well, maybe they have more ships than pilots - so we get the better ones!" well - then, they will be running missions constantly - as then resources are very limited.

I mean - I am currently running an ALL force user game - and THAT was a big lift - the squadron thing - was even more limiting after I started thinking about it.

So, I think you could do it - just make sure everyone understands the why, and what it entails.
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SW Fan, Gamer, Comic, Corporate nerd.
Working on massive House Rules document - pretty much a new book. Will post soon....

[garhkal]

[pakman]

I usually don't counter point here .... but... I felt a few things were worthy of mentioning.

[CRMcNeill]

For campaign ideas, look no further than the X-Wing novels.

Plus, I've devoted a lot of energy into improving starfighter combat weapons and rules, so if you're looking for ways to make tabletop combat more exciting and interesting, check out my index.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

[garhkal]

[DougRed4]

Kind of.

My friend ran an annual game at our local convention. It often had a dozen players or so. We were members of Bandit Squadron, a hodge-podge group that did the missions that nobody else wanted. We solved big, important missions, but never got the credit that the named (Red, Gold, Rogue, etc.) ones did.

We weren't all individual fighter pilots, though. A number were, but as the number of players swelled there were many different roles. I was the overall commander (a Mon Cal captain of a capital ship), while another player had a pleasure yacht (and his stepson played his trusty droid assistant). We had Y-wings and other starfighters assigned as well.

He wove our stories alongside the stories of the CT. So while the Rebels were evacuating Hoth, we were dealing with some other threat across the galaxy. Eventually we moved past the CT and into the Thrawn saga. I think he ran it for 5-6 years in a row.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Dr. Bidlo]

I ran a 6-player rebel squadron campaign back in the mid-90's following the excitement created by the X-wing, and TIE Fighter PC games and the Rogue Squadron novels. The players were each assigned their own fighter - I think there were four X-wings and two Y-wings configured for a single pilot.

The players were based on an isolated base using the WEG example of Tierfon Base and they received their Intel and orders from an unknown source, so they were operating as an isolated cell. They did not have to worry about equipment or logistics for the most part as the pilots. The game was primarily space combat raids - so it was a lot of combat. I know how other people feel about too much combat in games, but it just didn't get old and the entire group loved it.

Cut to years later I started an Imperial Captains campaign that was intended to be 100% tactical. It went well, but when I started introducing more story elements and roleplaying, the players latched on to it, so that campaign has evolved quite a bit.

[garhkal]

Sounds like it would have been fun.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Inquisitor1138]

Sort Of...
My New Republic campaign (c.20-25 ABY) didn't start as a 'Squadron' game, but would eventually morph into one, then after a while would alternate between a 'Squadron' game & the 'Classic game' as needed. So balance of sorts.

The campaign regulars were:
a Shistavanen Jedi & Order 66 Survivor who had an Astromech, a YT-2000 & an Eta-2 Interceptor
a Twi'lek Teräs Käsi & Force Adept, who had either an X-wing or modified TIE Interceptor? Or Chir'daki? After his original fighter got destroyed, he had an, entanglement, with one of the Imperial Remnants, & got an armored TIE Hunter...
An ex-Stormtrooper with a modified TIE fighter
a Mandalorian Sharpshooter who became the Shistavanen Jedi's Padawan, who had a modified Y-wing & a modified YT-1300 he salvaged, & R5-D4? i think...
a Jawa Jedi NPC which also had a Eta-2 Jedi Interceptor & Astromech companion; i think i semi-retired him sometime after the group's latest addition...
a Manumitted B1 Battle droid, TX-47? Bounty Hunter, can't recall what ships he had, only that he had a transport & a fighter...

Campaign ran c.1997? 1999-2015?

Regardless of whether the game was in 'Squadron' or 'Classic' format, my players didn't like getting bogged down with details, so i had to keep things simple for them. IOW, leave the Logistics to the NPCs...
As for ship ownership, the characters owned their ships.
The Shistavanen got her Interceptor from the Jedi Order, whereas the Jawa salvaged his from a scrapyard
Spyr found a wrecked YT-1300 on Tatooine, & got his 2 Y-wings as part of his payment for the New Republic Bounty posted for one of the New Sith, just prior to the campaign's start.
The Shistavanen got her YT-2000 after the Order 66/Jedi Purge, & the others had their ships prior to 20 ABY.
When Samej, the Teräs Käsi lost his ship going solo, he got his new ship from partnering? with a Dark Jedi/Sith NPC...

[garhkal]

Three of the five were force users? Rather force heavy..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Inquisitor1138]

[Whill]

[garhkal]