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Marine boarding action rules

 
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Sllarr
Lieutenant SG


Joined: 01 Apr 2008
Posts: 148

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 12:31 am    Post subject: Marine boarding action rules Reply with quote

I am starting to work on miniatures for SFU Marine Squads. I would like to play games simulating boarding actions and/or hit and run missions within starships.

My original plan was to use modified rules for Legions of Steel, but all character stats and weapons would have to be created from scratch.

My question is - do the combat rules for Prime Directive would do a good job for these short skirmish games in a close environment ? And if so, which version: Gurps, D20 or D6 ?
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dreamingbadger
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 5:44 am    Post subject: Re: Marine boarding action rules Reply with quote

Sllarr wrote:
I am starting to work on miniatures for SFU Marine Squads. I would like to play games simulating boarding actions and/or hit and run missions within starships.

My original plan was to use modified rules for Legions of Steel, but all character stats and weapons would have to be created from scratch.

My question is - do the combat rules for Prime Directive would do a good job for these short skirmish games in a close environment ? And if so, which version: Gurps, D20 or D6 ?


Most RPG's require quite a lot of "work" to create each character from scratch; you could mass produce "a marine" I guess. the actual combat works quite well at a personal level but less so at the squad level in situations where each player is controlling "dozens" of characters... Many GM's I know tend to abstract "mass combat" away from actual dice rolling and into "story telling". Of course there is a "ground" game in the making at ADB and there already is the Marines Module as well, though i'm not sure that would make a good "skirmish" rules set
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domingojs23
Lieutenant SG


Joined: 30 May 2010
Posts: 166
Location: Wellington NZ

PostPosted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have you guys tried out Battlestations for this ?
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Steve Cole
Site Admin


Joined: 11 Oct 2006
Posts: 3839

PostPosted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, and the draft rules that my good friends the Siadek brothers wrote are on my clipboard to read in the truck on the road to Origins. I expect we'll have the boxed Battlestatons Star Fleet game out for Christmas (but I did not say what year).
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domingojs23
Lieutenant SG


Joined: 30 May 2010
Posts: 166
Location: Wellington NZ

PostPosted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear SVC,

Yippee !!! Yet another item for my wish list to Santa ! Can you give us any clues as to how the modules would be done - ergo generic like in the original game, or Race / Vessel specific ?

Thanks !!!

Gary
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Sweeper
Lieutenant SG


Joined: 26 Dec 2006
Posts: 183
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ

PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sllar: With GURPS, it depends on how in depth you want to get in combat.

The combat rules in GURPS are very scalable. At it's most basic settings, combat is pretty abstract and doesn't even require a map. At it's most advanced settings, (Found in Basic Set 2, btw), combat is a highly detailed and fully servicable individual scale wargame. The settings I prefer when running GURPS are Basic combat rules on a Map with some additions for Martial Arts (both armed and unarmed). Also note that a Hex in GURPS equals 3 Feet or 1 Meter.

D6 is simpler and a little more complex. It uses a square grid where 1 square = 5' and is mostly there to help figure distance for ranged weapons. It's a little more difficult as you're rolling multiple dice instead of 3.

So, at the end of the day, it's all about personal prefrence. D6 is pretty dead these days and most fans have migrated on over to it's spiritual succesor, Savage Worlds.

Between the two, I'd pick GURPS every time.
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ericphillips
Commander


Joined: 16 Apr 2009
Posts: 702
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA, Sol, Gould Belt, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Universe Beta

PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another option is to use Savage Worlds Showdown, the free minis combat system from Pinnacle. Its easy to create units, is fast, and handles squads with morale, vehicles, and everything. Get it here free: http://www.peginc.com/downloads.html

I have run a Fed Marine assault against a Klingon listening station. I integrated it with FC, doing one turn in showdown every four impulses in FC. The ship warped in, beamed downed the team. A ground fight happened as the Feds and Klingons engage in space. Worked well.

BTW: I am jazzed about Star Fleet Battlestations.
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ericphillips
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Joined: 16 Apr 2009
Posts: 702
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA, Sol, Gould Belt, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Universe Beta

PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sweeper wrote:
The settings I prefer when running GURPS are Basic combat rules on a Map with some additions for Martial Arts (both armed and unarmed).


I am with you. I use only part of the advanced system, keeping the movement and facing, plus the awesome hit location rules, but getting rid of a lot of the more nitpicky details, with all the tons of modifiers. I call it my "intermediate" combat system.
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gurps_gm
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 25 Jun 2010
Posts: 93
Location: Alameda, CA

PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:46 am    Post subject: Re: Marine boarding action rules Reply with quote

The combat rules for GURPS are just fine. I've been playing GURPS for 18 years and IMO it has the best Combat system of any RPG. OK, I'm biased. I think everyone has there favorites.

I'm making the assumption that your game will have enough detail with some sort of "tactical map". As stated earlier, GURPS can be scaled to handle a level of detail you want. The less detail, the quicker the game.

Are you planning for each player to handle a squad of 5 or the RPG standard of one or two characters? GURPS character sheets are very detailed. If you're just going to do combat, you can cut the detail down on the character sheet by a lot. I use GURPS Character Assistant to create my characters and a fan created character sheet that can be simplified.

About two years ago my friend and I used GURPS for skirmish-level WWII minis game. We removed the hex grid, used tape measurers and reduced the character sheet to one page. We had mixed results at two different cons. I've been mulling over how to improve on it ever since.

I'll be glad to help you or anyone else out with this sort of idea.
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ericphillips
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Joined: 16 Apr 2009
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Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA, Sol, Gould Belt, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Universe Beta

PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 4:39 am    Post subject: Re: Marine boarding action rules Reply with quote

gurps_gm wrote:
About two years ago my friend and I used GURPS for skirmish-level WWII minis game. We removed the hex grid, used tape measurers and reduced the character sheet to one page. We had mixed results at two different cons. I've been mulling over how to improve on it ever since.


S. John Ross had something like this for GURPS Third Edition. MAybe t can give you some ideas. http://www.io.com/~sjohn/glads.htm
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