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Piloting/Driving Combat in RPGs is No Fun!
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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7931936" data-attributes="member: 20564"><p>We had a recent Design Masterclass column about the 007 game. It was luaded for a literally decades for excellent car chase mechanics. Now, the idea may seem obvious or quint today, but that's because it introduced them and others took inspiration.</p><p></p><p>But one thing I don't see very often is a bidding war for maneuvering, including the fact that your vehicle has a redline and if you bid worse than it <em>and you fail the check</em>, things go way bad. But if you succeed on the check, no harm. Really bringing character skill to the forefront more than gear.</p><p></p><p>We've gotten so used to tactical combat that I think we overlook vehicle combat is often better left for theater of the mind, where daring maneuvers and such can described based on the results of the characters checks, instead of mathed out. There's definitely a place for that wargame style, but as a subsystem in an RPG it's not the only way.</p><p></p><p>In RPG systems over the years, I've had the most luck with:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Each player having their own vehicle. e.g. mechs or speederbikes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Each player having a distinct role on one or more vehicles. Crew of a starship, multiple cars with drivers and gunners, etc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The vehicle having it's own crew that the players can order around, and can either assist them or use their own abilities, such as how navel combat in D&D is often done.</li> </ul><p>As others have mentioned, if it's the same pool of character building currency, those who do not chose to specialize in a particular subsystem (vehicles, hacking, social, personal combat, exploration, etc.) will find themselves will less they can contribute. With how much wall time vehicle combat can take, that's not a good thing. If an RPG expects vehicle combat often (such as SF ship combat), it should ensure <u>all</u> characters have an array of useful abilities for that just as they do for other common aspects of the game, like personal combat.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue, post: 7931936, member: 20564"] We had a recent Design Masterclass column about the 007 game. It was luaded for a literally decades for excellent car chase mechanics. Now, the idea may seem obvious or quint today, but that's because it introduced them and others took inspiration. But one thing I don't see very often is a bidding war for maneuvering, including the fact that your vehicle has a redline and if you bid worse than it [I]and you fail the check[/I], things go way bad. But if you succeed on the check, no harm. Really bringing character skill to the forefront more than gear. We've gotten so used to tactical combat that I think we overlook vehicle combat is often better left for theater of the mind, where daring maneuvers and such can described based on the results of the characters checks, instead of mathed out. There's definitely a place for that wargame style, but as a subsystem in an RPG it's not the only way. In RPG systems over the years, I've had the most luck with: [LIST] [*]Each player having their own vehicle. e.g. mechs or speederbikes. [*]Each player having a distinct role on one or more vehicles. Crew of a starship, multiple cars with drivers and gunners, etc. [*]The vehicle having it's own crew that the players can order around, and can either assist them or use their own abilities, such as how navel combat in D&D is often done. [/LIST] As others have mentioned, if it's the same pool of character building currency, those who do not chose to specialize in a particular subsystem (vehicles, hacking, social, personal combat, exploration, etc.) will find themselves will less they can contribute. With how much wall time vehicle combat can take, that's not a good thing. If an RPG expects vehicle combat often (such as SF ship combat), it should ensure [U]all[/U] characters have an array of useful abilities for that just as they do for other common aspects of the game, like personal combat. [/QUOTE]
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