Good Military/Hard Sci-Fi RPG?

[Ranger REG]

Doesn't SW basically use the same combat system as D20M/F? other than minor things like the 2m square than the 5' square etc.

Are we talking starship or personal combat system?

If personal combat, just replace 5-feet squares (D&D and d20M/F) with 2-meter squares.

If starship combat, they're basically the same system, though SW RCR was introduced first. The key difference is the lack of facing in d20 Future, a contradiction to the d20 Modern (albeit ground-based) vehicle combat system. SW retains facing for starships.

For starship scale, d20 Future uses 500-feet squares and SW uses 500-meter squares.

 

[Eltharon]

Yeah, it looks like their the same. The system looks ok for big ship combat, its just that theres not much to do in starfighter combat...even decreasing the square size to make the field bigger doesnt make it very interesting.

 

[Aussiegamer]

pretty much in all the games I think you ned to have diffeent sizes for the squares, as in 2m 100m 250m 500m 1km 10km.

As the range will dicate the encounters distance. Unlike D&D which you mostly end up with 100' of each other in space it could be several tens of km or higher.

I have three squares sizes but in the end you vary them as required. The distance just needs to be assessed to that size for the number of squares.

PS I agree future/ modern class system is too restrictive and is counter productive to enjoyig the game IMHO.

 

[Roudi]

Another difference between SWd20 and d20 Future are the starship size categories. In d20 Future, starships use the same scale as characters (and thus, starships only have three categories: Huge, Gargantuan, and Colossal). In SWd20, starships have their own size scale from Fine to Colossal. A handy equivalence chart compares the starship and character scales.

 

[Eltharon]

Well, T20 is eventually going to be ordered, but I'm looking at Nexus until it arrives. Which could be quite a while.
Speaking of Nexus, why would a character choose to increase die type rather then roll more dice for starting wealth?


EDIT: Ignore that bit on talents. I need to go back to preschool...

 

[Aussiegamer]

The way I did starting cash, I don't have wealth as I don't like that system at all.

you start with 1d6 x (what ever the GM allows)

say you have a SO with a wealth bonus of 2.

you can alter the 1 or the 6.

if you alter the 1 then it just goes up 1 each time.

if you alter the 6 then it jumps to 8, 10, 12, 20 and thats it.

So 1d6 can become 3d6 or 2d8 or 1d10. So the risk is the players but it is easy to see that some are better than other picks.

Average wise: 3 x 3.5 = 10.5, 2 x 4.5 = 9. So yes the average is with 3d6 but with higher amount the favour of a higher amount can be put into the higher die.

say you has 4, thus 5d6 or 4d8 or 3d10.
d6: 17.5, d8: 18, d10: 16.5. Max d6: 30, d8: 32, d10: 30.

So its does start to drift up. But the safer option is 5d6.

NOTE: having varying scale of different objects still leads to confusion. Is a fine starship bigger than a fine creature?

Thus my use of 1 size system that all use.

 

[Eltharon]

Ok, I see. Thanks

 

[Aussiegamer]

Also I see a rule for levelled up start PCs, like starting at 5th instead of 1st, of +1 wealth bonus per level.

Any way, whats you user name on RPG projects?

I am looking for play testers on site if your interested. I am currently showing who to build a PC using another play tester as an example.

 

[Eltharon]

Same as here, though I just joined and therefore havent posted anything yet.

 

[Ranger REG]

Yeah, it looks like their the same. The system looks ok for big ship combat, its just that theres not much to do in starfighter combat...even decreasing the square size to make the field bigger doesnt make it very interesting.

I don't think I want to put out a battlemap for starfighter combats. Maybe for WWI and WWII dogfighting, unless we're talking about carrier fleet action like the Battle of Midway, but not for starfighters unless it is strictly a starfighting setting (e.g., Renegade Legion).

Starfighter dogfighting should be resolved using a similar (though not exact) mechanics as grapple checks, where being pinned means he's on your tail, for example. Your only choice is to reverse the situation where you get advantage or you flee the square and he get a free shot at you with bonus as you leave and he won superiority over that square of space.