Blood and Guts: questions and comments

[Vigilance]

A difference in philosophy, I think of the base classes as something to get out of as soon as possible. It does cut down on the viability of multiclassing.

I didn't say there was no reason to take levels in the soldier class. Many of the players in my home group delve into that class for its many combat related benefits. They just tend to do so after they have entered their special ops unit of choice.

I like having my game books playable, even at some loss of reality.

Right. Something I didn't realize was that for many gamers military games are a chance to show how much they know about the military. Those people were really unhappy with BNG and all I can say is the buck stops with me. I wanted the game to play like a Clancy novel, or even a Mack Bolan novel, and wrote it that way.

Hmm, which catagory does the lack of burst radii for various warheads fall into? I would guess that the non-inclusion of Special Forces Officer had more to do with time constraints and space limitations than anything else.

All three! Lol. In some cases I was not able to find the information due to a lack of time. If I was co-writing the book with 4-6 other writers, I would have been able to do 4-6 times more research.

However, in many cases, especially with the "big guns" you can chalk it up to #3. I did not want PCs getting nailed by missiles fired from gun boats offshore, a quarter of a mile away, and being killed by the blast. This is reality.

However, I did not want the game to feel like the John Wayne Green Berets movie either. So I walked a line and the buck stops right with me whether you love it or hate it. I was the concept lead, the design lead, the line editor, and mechanics lead

Chuck

 

[Pagan priest]

So, any advice on how to model an officer with the Army Special Forces? Could it just be as simple as taking one of the existing Special Forces PrC's? and ignoring the requirement of E-5?

Or might we all hope for some form of web enhancement?

I ask because the extremely weird d20M/D&D hybred has reached the point where my S.F. 1st Lt is reaching 6th level. Just gotta love that OICW burst weapon against giant ants!

 

[Emiricol]

Vigilance, any thoughts on the email I sent you folks regarding a merge of near-future PA and BnG? Never heard back

 

[Salcor]

Q3. Please clarify how the Teamwork feat works. The feat description says you must designate a specific unit, but the classes all say stuff like "Teamwork: U.S. Army." If each special unit requires a different Teamwork to get in the door, that could burn a lot of feats for the Ranger / Special Forces / Delta type guys. Then again, it's a pretty beefy feat in terms of benefits.[/QUOTE]


I was kind of wondering about his feat as well. For example would it stack.... US Army, Ranger, Delta Force. Since most delta force members do a bit of time in the rangers, then would a delta force team get the bonuses for each one of the levels

Other things, I definately like the book. Being a military member myself I think that it captures the feel without trying to go into too realistically.

I also enjoy the new rules that are added. Although I have made a few modifications. For the battle fatigue, I am making it kind of like the massive damage rules.

The characters can last through a combat equal to their wisdom score in rounds without having to make a resistance roll. It will be modified by the endurance feat.

For the physical damage rolls. Whenever a character takes more than their massive damage threshold then they have to roll on the physical damage table.


I was also wondering if anyone is going to modify the soldier advance class to place it more in line with Blood and Guts.


Salcor

 

[JPL]

So, any advice on how to model an officer with the Army Special Forces? Could it just be as simple as taking one of the existing Special Forces PrC's? and ignoring the requirement of E-5?

Or might we all hope for some form of web enhancement?

I ask because the extremely weird d20M/D&D hybred has reached the point where my S.F. 1st Lt is reaching 6th level. Just gotta love that OICW burst weapon against giant ants!

Well, I read the rank requirement as a minimum --- "E-5 or higher" --- just like requiriing a BAB +5 really means "+5 or higher." So the officer qualifies.

I'm not sure whether the SF officers get the intensive training in one specialty like the team sergeants...or whether they get a little of each, with an extra dose of leadership training.

Green Berets v. giant ants. Damn, that's the movie John Wayne shoulda done...

 

[Vigilance]

So, any advice on how to model an officer with the Army Special Forces?

The requirement should read E-5 or better. I would simply make a character with levels in one of the special forces classes, with the Officer Candidate School feat, and perhaps levels in the Strategist class (depending on whether or not BUCS is in play).

Chuck

 

[Vigilance]

Vigilance, any thoughts on the email I sent you folks regarding a merge of near-future PA and BnG? Never heard back

Sorry about that. I try to answer everything I get, sometimes I get distracted and one falls through the cracks.

It's a solid idea, and could very well see some "official" attention from us in the future. It's something we have discussed for a long time.

In the meantime though, I think BNG+Darwin's World gives you most of the info you would need to run the game without me

Chuck

 

[Vigilance]

I was kind of wondering about his feat as well. For example would it stack.... US Army, Ranger, Delta Force. Since most delta force members do a bit of time in the rangers, then would a delta force team get the bonuses for each one of the levels

When the text says "unit" for this feat, it should read "branch of service". So someone would take Teamwork: Army and be able to work effectively with the Rangers, Delta Force, and so on.

Esprit de Corps is unit specific however. If you have it for the 82nd airborne, you only get the +2 when working with a Ranger.

Other things, I definately like the book. Being a military member myself I think that it captures the feel without trying to go into too realistically.

Thanks

My father is actually offended by movies and games that are "ultra" realistic. He watched me and a friend playing a wargame of the normandy landing once when I was in high school and said "Remember when you do that men died there".

I never forgot that.

I was also wondering if anyone is going to modify the soldier advance class to place it more in line with Blood and Guts.

Yep. Me

Matter of fact, I think that product might be next in line after BNF II.

Chuck

 

[Pagan priest]

I have a queation about the wording of some of the MOS feats. In some of them, it says that if the skills chosen are already on the class skill list, you get to add a +1 bonus to the skills. In other MOS feats, this information is not given. Should it be in all of the MOS feats, or should it not be in any of them? I guess this question can be expanded to include all of the advanced training feats that add skills to the permanent list.

 

[Vigilance]

Yes you always get the +1 competence bonus. Just remember that competence bonuses, like most bonuses, don't stack, so you only get it once per skill.