Tabletop RPG (in spaaaaaaaace!)

[Proripper]

Hi all

I'm a bit stuck for ideas regarding weapons/armour/items for characters in my RPG. The theme is Sci-fi in space! I will probably end up posting the full RPG at some point and I will keep a list of those who submitted ideas that made it into the game.

All ideas welcome!

Fire ahead.

[Fish Of Doom]

a power fist or similar device, even if it ends up being the mot useless thing ever (creative GMs = turning useless things into epic things, anyway)

[SquidDNA]

While I'm not suggesting you implement any rules that would deal with realistic physics (as that could get ugly, needlessly complicated, and not any fun FAST) you could easily design some weapons that work around some of the problems associated with weaponry in a microgravity vacuum environment.

Kinetic weapons will obviously be a pain because of the recoil unless you have compressed gas blowing back to compensate. Low cost / low precision weapons will likely leave with you with a bit of a spin with each successive shot.

Energy weapons don't have recoil, but what do you do about waste heat with no atmosphere?

A low-energy kinetic weapon which affixes a dart or barb to the enemy's suit or armor with leads to the user's gun would be something like a space-taser. You could either deliver an electric shock or else power a small device which would eat away at the target if left unattended.

This one is sort of out there-- might best be deployed as a grenade-- cold acid crystals (or similar.) Basically an inactive corrosive powder which you activate with a relatively small amount of thermal energy. Depending on the environment these might need no further encouragement, if, say, your target is in direct sunlight. If your grenades are in direct sunlight this could be a problem though. Seepage of body heat through the surface of the suit might eventually be sufficient to activate the compound.

[Proripper]

Thanks for the inspiration! Keep the ideas coming!

From the tests I've done so far the playes have been quite impressed. Also: I forogt to put it into the first post but in the first edition I'm putting together the PCs take the role of captains of a starship.

[Proripper]

Small update: I did several tests with some friends and so far the results (and reactions) have been fairly positive.

My intent is to keep this game as flexible as possible while still providing a story to propel the PCs along the road of adventure.

I have a small question though. How should I go about implementing human augmentation as a gameplay mechanic? I already have various factions taking stances on human augmentation among other things, but the big question is how to make it a part of the game. All ideas are welcome. As a small note; augmentation is designed to have a large impact upon the group as it will seriously change the group dynamics.

Other welcome ideas would ship types or names that I could use, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to come up with names for 50+ ships......

[Croaxleigh]

One thing that you could do with augmentation is have it affect how the character can interact with the different factions. "Puritans" or a faction that is fanatically anti-augmentation might not deal with augmented characters at all, or could be hostile toward them. Factions that are fanatical about augmentations being superior to the flesh might want little to do with unaugmented characters because they find them inferior. In other words, have "social" ramifications to augmentation in addition to just stat/ability boosts. That could also affect the group dynamic depending on the factions that different characters come from.

Another option would be to include "squad"-type abilities for character with similar augmentations. Maybe it's the future-space version of Bluetooth that lets the augmentations of different characters sync up for special abilities or precision attacks, or maybe it's just a bonus given to multiple characters using their augmentations together at the same time to try and accomplish a common goal like searching an area or moving a really big ham.

[Fish Of Doom]

i would suggest that you leave the exact mechanics of some kinds of augmentation up to GM narration. for example, you can very well get a cyborg arm, but you're not gonna be able to have superhuman strength with it if the organic body behind it can't withstand the stresses of it. although if you have damage mechanics that involve reactions to pain, you could make it so that cyborg prostheses do not trigger them if destroyed non-catastrophically (ie losing a full cyborg arm at the elbow is not gonna do much, but if the shoulder attachment goes red-hot from an energy weapon impact, that's gonna have repercussions on the organic body).

another possible mechanic is to differentiate between obvious and non-obvious augs, such as, say, having luke skywalker's android hand vs having mechanical claws. this could play into croaxleigh's suggestion on faction dynamics regarding augmented individuals (and allow interesting plot dynamics re: swaying moderates from luddite factions), and to extend on it, different kinds of augmentations could also affect how certain people from augmentation-friendly factions see you as well; ie a pro-cyborgs, anti-normals group might react better to obvious augmentations, and/or use non-obvious augs as spies, maybe having them as second-class citizens as well, whereas a more "punk" like group of radical augmenters could look favourably on completely over the top augmentations and on the complete alteration on the human form, maybe even beyond the constraints of actual functionality (you can draw inspiration for this from real-world attitudes regarding extreme body modification, in fact).

[Proripper]

Update on ship to ship combat: No range limits (we are in space after all) for all weapons apart from missiles/torpedoes, hit chance is based on bridge crew stat Gunnery (I'll elaborate on that later); and to discourage players from firing and missing I have two mechanics: ammunition (make every shot count) and a chance for that fired round to go on and hit something else.

For missiles I'll sort out some sort of countermeasures system.

Then there's going to be electronic warfare....

And this is just the ship to ship combat in space... There's still atmospheric combat and ground combat....

Any ideas for religions/religious sects or companies?

[Fish Of Doom]

well, a completely luddite faction would be the classic choice for a religious/pseudoreligious group, as might be a 'cult of the machine' type thing. you could also have a sect based on the use of a specific technology to further a religious goal, such as communications tech, or the replacement of specific body-parts or organs with cybernetic or biotech replacements.

[Proripper]

New area I'm having problems with: melee combat....

I get the feeling this one could be nasty to resolve; any ideas welcome.

On a side note I shall be posting short stories relevant to the rpg on deviantArt soon.

[Fish Of Doom]

but... what is the problem you're having trouble resolving?

[Proripper]

The whole concept of a duel. The aim is to try and get an epic feel to the duel, Star Wars style; I found one system which I adapted and am currently testing.

The basic idea is that you split a certain number of dice into either attack or defence for the round, then apply modifiers and then subtract points from the person's "integrity" (since I chose not to have a hitpoint system, it basically represtens the character's mental and physical state). Any ideas are still welcome though. Also ideas for making melee behave in a similar way, since it would be hell trying to manage a melee in this fashion.

[Fish Of Doom]

well, for melee dueling, i just had a random-ass idea: have the fights go by default into a sustained back-and forth trading of attacks and parries, where you can only actually attack once an opening is presented, which could be handled in a number of different ways, for example, having both duelists take a "concentration" check to see if they can keep their openings covered continuously (failing which invites an attack attempt), or specific combat maneuvers (feints, dirty fighting) with which you could have the attacker roll dice to create an opening. in in comparison, you could have options that bypass that completely in favour of pure attacking, sacrificing defense (aggressive, overpowering attacks that are hard to defend against but that require a lot of commitment). low level characters, street thugs, inexperienced brawlers, etc, would suck balls and fail concentration checks all the time, leading to shorter, messier fights less based around dueling (think sucker punches, ground and pound, wild swings, uncontrolled lunges, etc), whereas higher-level characters, professional soldiers, fight-savvy street-fighters, etc would rely more on the dueling style parries to avoid being attacked in the first place, having the fights draw out in what could be interpreted as a more dramatic or "cinematic" fashion (like a 15-min long fight scene as opposed to a shorter, more realistic "beatdown" scene). a system like this would allow players a good progression from being at essentially the same level as basic mooks, to gradually finding that fights with mooks end more quickly and that fights with more important opponents drag on for longer and longer, barring opportune bad rolls that make them end suddenly in a dramatic fashion.

just an idea

[Proripper]

You understand exactly the feel I'm looking for; the only problem is how to implement that...

----------

I think I have just solved the problem.... Will post the solution as soon as I get everything typed up....

[Lleman]

I have a small question though. How should I go about implementing human augmentation as a gameplay mechanic?

I don't know if this late 80s/early90s french RPG 'MEGA' made it to being translated, but it used to have a fairly good augmetics evelopment and there was indeed a pro-augs/anti-augs undercurrent in the universe book. If you can manage to get ahold of a copy or know someone who has one, that'd be a great source of inspiration. I, alas, swapped mine ages ago...


EDIT: sorry, wrong RPG, was 'Empire Galactique'.

[Proripper]

Okaaaaay....

Been a while since an update; so...

Melee combat is pretty much sorted.

Traits, skills, etc. are all sorted.

I have revamped the frigate range of ships, started introducing fighters and destroyers; and I have even sorted out the basic encounter tables...

Now I need to start typing all of this stuff up.... This is going to be long.

I'll try to keep this thread regularly updated with progess/development and this will be the first place that will get notice of a finished (hopefully) game.

[Proripper]

New update!

Testing has gone fairly well. The big thing it pointed out was the need for huge bleeding lists of every conceivable thing under the sun. So that means I'm going to have to make a list of guns, gun mods, swords, knives, helmets, boots, handheld computers, laptops, fruit, etc. Annoying is the word.

In other news. I am writing a series of short stories following the "100 words" format; each story will be between 100 and 1000 words long. That should help set a little bit of background to the setting. I'm back at university, so don't expect anything much very quickly.

Also: psykers.

Enjoy your day!