D20 Future (SRD) what's (not so) good and what can be improved (and how)?

[Pol-Detson]

I feel sort of sorry the D20:F authors; it can't be easy to find the right balance between playability and realism. I'm sure some people do like the simplicity of Future's system; I, for one, prefer something a bit 'crunchier'. Future's rules would have ships pulling in front of each other and blasting away like duelists until someone died; hardly exciting IMHO. That bit about 'gravity drives' might make sense for some campaigns, but you're average TL 6-7 game would probably be based on good 'ole Newtonian physics. Of course, Starwars also ignores those physics when appropriate; the playability issue again.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Hey, here's an idea...

Run with it.

If you like playability, then modify it to suit you.

If you like realism, then modify it to suit you.

The Future book's big draw is the fact they didn't write detailed rules that completely ruin everyone elses fun.

They handed you a car-kit and said: "Build your own damn car." and walked off.

Go on eBay, buy the old Star Frontiers stuff, or the Traveller stuff, or the MegaTraveller stuff, or the Alternity Stuff, or the STFU stuff...

Seriously, with some of the length and effort put in to some posts COMPLAINING about the rules, you could have fixed them for your campaign.

Quit whining and either fix the rules and play, or sell me your book for $5 S&H

 

[Vigilance]

If you're happy with the current space combat rules then hooray for you. But don't go around saying "You don't know what it will be really like because you've never seen it." Because the laws of physics can give us a good idea what it would be like... And unfortunatly that's made a few people fairly dissapointed that instead of a real space combat system, they were supplied with a rehashed version of the D&D melee combat rules.

Two Points:

#1) As far as large ships being faster than small ones... forgive me... but isn't the Enterprise faster than most small ships in the Star Trek universe? And wasn't that a gigantic Star Destroyer successfully outrunning and chasing down that small Corellian Corvette in that movie... what was its name? Attack of.... no no... the Empire.... no no... Revenge of the.... no no... Star Wars! yeah that was it!

So since this is a work of fiction, I forgive them if they represented the game based on that fiction.

#2) Newton's laws are completely bogus anyway... loser never predicted the sort of DVD and CGI technology we have now, nor did he predict the ability for Hollywood directors to create battle scenes at Ludicrous Speed.

In case you haven't figured it out, I really didn't find your math equations really made me want to crack open my dice bag, find some space scum, kill them and take their stuff.

But thanks for the lesson Professor

Chuck

 

[Vigilance]

Which space combat "model"?
Still, the main problems with the current (and most others) are two-fold:
1) Unless everybody is a space gunner/pilot/technie, not everyone in the group is engaged.

That's the GMs job.

You have the Vulcan science officer's father come on board and have a heart attack, forcing the doctor to perform open heart surgery during the ship combat, having to make critical Concentration checks to avoid blowing his non-Xenomedic Treat Injury roll.

And of course having some robotic half-human cyborgs board the ship while it's stranded in the past will always give EVERYONE something to do.

Oh wait... can't have adventures about those, Newton never wrote Calculus equations to cover those situations.

Chuck

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I haven't had the opportunity to download the material myself yet. Does the Future SRD contain any rules on creating worlds on the fly?

 

[Roudi]

I'm a bit of a physics amateur, so forgive me if I'm off on a few things. HOWEVER...

In space, the laws of aerodynaics do not apply (there is no air or other medium, except for mostly empty space, to act as the resistance force that aerodynamics hinges upon). Now, an object with larger mass does require more energy to move, but I ask you... which would likely have more powerful engines? The small ship, or the big ship? Since there really is no resisting force save the object's own momentum, it wouldn't make sense for biggers ships to go slower than smaller ships.

I'd also like to remind folks that most spaceship battles in films take more from WWII dogfights than from Newtonian physics. Star Wars fighter craft fly AS IF they are flying through air or another medium. In hard sci-fi, having ships perform like that wouldn't make sense (in hard sci-fi, Executor could probably outrun an A-Wing, at sublight speeds).

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi Vigilance!

No, let's put aside for a moment that the combat system is based on playability and not "realism".

First thing I want is someone to explain to me the "reality" of space combat.

You know, last I read, there had never been one. Not a single ship or weapon designed for such a combat, and not a single engagement in the history of mankind.

But please, tell us all how it should go down in "reality".

I'm slightly deviating from your point specifically, but for one thing I don't think a 1 Megaton Nuke should deal 16d8 damage, and by juxtaposing d20 Future with d20 Modern that means on average an M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank could survive a point blank nuclear strike!

Given that a single Hellfire Missile would obliterate one 'in reality' it seems somewhat 'silly' that something almost a million times more powerful wouldn't.

Hence the reason I can state with some credibility that WotC don't have a great handle on how to incorporate modern (or indeed future) weaponry into d20.

 

[Ranger REG]

I haven't had the opportunity to download the material myself yet. Does the Future SRD contain any rules on creating worlds on the fly?

Nope, but it's already crowded. That's what you get when you try to include EVERYTHING in a book with only so much pages.

 

[Jeph]

So I flipped through d20 Future today at Borders and saw quite a bit of rather nifty Stuff, but, alas, I didn't have the cash on me. So, I gotta ask--has anyone got the link to the d20F SRD handy?

Thanks,
--Jeff

 

[C. Baize]

Linky linky