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Starship Bridge Battles
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<blockquote data-quote="MarkB" data-source="post: 6533800" data-attributes="member: 40176"><p>The problem is giving each position something to do which feels active and useful. Look at the 'standard' roles a 6-player party might have to fill.</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Helmsman: Steers the ship, takes evasive action, tries to outmaneuver the enemy. A good role, will likely keep the player entertained.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tactical officer: Fires the guns. Hard to go wrong here - good, solid fun, contributing to the encounter's outcome.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Captain: Well, it sounds good, but in an RPG, you're basically just telling fellow players who probably already have a good handle on what's happening "do this", and hoping they'll go with it. Iffy, but might work well for the group's mouth if there's some bantering to do.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Science Officer: Mans the sensors, provides up-to-date tactical analysis. Another works-in-theory role - at best you're rolling the equivalent of Perception checks each round, at worst you're the GM's mouthpiece to describe the action. Highly situational.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Comms Officer: Talking of mouthpieces - you're not actually going to be doing the talking most of the time, that's the Captain's job, so at best you're a sentient answerphone, and at worst the opposition don't have anything to say anyway. Dull.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Engineering officer: Roll to see if the shields recharge. A useful position, but very unglamorous. If you're lucky you'll keep the ship together, and if you're <em>really</em> lucky somebody will notice.</li> </ul><p></p><p>Livening up these roles is tricky, and I haven't yet seen a system that does so effectively. Ultimately, you need to do one of two things. Either find a way to make the secondary positions' actions more important and interesting (without it being an obviously artificial attempt to make things more interesting), or else don't run a combat as purely just a ship-to-ship engagement. If it's simultaneously a ship battle <em>and</em> a boarding action, or a ship battle <em>and</em> a quarantine breach, then you stand a chance of having enough interesting stuff going on to keep everyone busy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MarkB, post: 6533800, member: 40176"] The problem is giving each position something to do which feels active and useful. Look at the 'standard' roles a 6-player party might have to fill. [list]Helmsman: Steers the ship, takes evasive action, tries to outmaneuver the enemy. A good role, will likely keep the player entertained. [*]Tactical officer: Fires the guns. Hard to go wrong here - good, solid fun, contributing to the encounter's outcome. [*]Captain: Well, it sounds good, but in an RPG, you're basically just telling fellow players who probably already have a good handle on what's happening "do this", and hoping they'll go with it. Iffy, but might work well for the group's mouth if there's some bantering to do. [*]Science Officer: Mans the sensors, provides up-to-date tactical analysis. Another works-in-theory role - at best you're rolling the equivalent of Perception checks each round, at worst you're the GM's mouthpiece to describe the action. Highly situational. [*]Comms Officer: Talking of mouthpieces - you're not actually going to be doing the talking most of the time, that's the Captain's job, so at best you're a sentient answerphone, and at worst the opposition don't have anything to say anyway. Dull. [*]Engineering officer: Roll to see if the shields recharge. A useful position, but very unglamorous. If you're lucky you'll keep the ship together, and if you're [i]really[/i] lucky somebody will notice.[/list] Livening up these roles is tricky, and I haven't yet seen a system that does so effectively. Ultimately, you need to do one of two things. Either find a way to make the secondary positions' actions more important and interesting (without it being an obviously artificial attempt to make things more interesting), or else don't run a combat as purely just a ship-to-ship engagement. If it's simultaneously a ship battle [i]and[/i] a boarding action, or a ship battle [i]and[/i] a quarantine breach, then you stand a chance of having enough interesting stuff going on to keep everyone busy. [/QUOTE]
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