RPG set in US Revolutionry War

[Tim Tellean]

I was thinking today that it would be interesting to play an RPG set in the US Revolutionary era, any ideas?
I tried Boot Hill and WW2 Heroes as non-fantasy RPGs and thought a revolutionary war era with battle, tactics and the intrigue of wilderness adventuring will be cool.
Any ideas of a game?

 

[Farmer42]

I was thinking today that it would be interesting to play an RPG set in the US Revolutionary era, any ideas?
I tried Boot Hill and WW2 Heroes as non-fantasy RPGs and thought a revolutionary war era with battle, tactics and the intrigue of wilderness adventuring will be cool.
Any ideas of a game?

HERO or GURPs would be my choice. Probably GURPS, since it's much more lethal.

 

[SavageRobby]

There was a pretty cool sounding Savage Worlds setting I heard about being developed, mmm, maybe a year ago or more. I believe it was called Spirits of 86 - the basic premise (if I recall correctly) was seeing what happens when western expansionism runs into strange cthuloid spirits. It seems like its been back-burnered, but I can't wait for it to get back into real production.

I also recall hearing about a game called ... Colonial Gothic, I think, but I don't know much about it.

 

[Henry]

GURPS would work for an ultra-lethal "realistic" game - but I'm more of a "Grim Tales" man when it comes to heroic historic adventure that bends reality just a little bit. What's even more fun, in my mind -- pick some historical figures that are lesser well-known (Nathaniel Greene, John Laurens, and Baron Steuben walk into a pub on a cold winter afternoon...) and building a short series of adventures around them. Play up their adventurous aspects, and their famous contacts, and have fun with it.

 

[Farmer42]

GURPS would work for an ultra-lethal "realistic" game - but I'm more of a "Grim Tales" man when it comes to heroic historic adventure that bends reality just a little bit. What's even more fun, in my mind -- pick some historical figures that are lesser well-known (Nathaniel Greene, John Laurens, and Baron Steuben walk into a pub on a cold winter afternoon...) and building a short series of adventures around them. Play up their adventurous aspects, and their famous contacts, and have fun with it.

A campaign set around the battle of Vincennes and it's lead-up would be great.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Baron Steuben

All fine and great ideas, but you may want to treat Steuben with a little more respect. Using his name disrespectfully can be looked upon in an ill light by quite a few people.

 

[pawsplay]

I believe the game you seek is GURPS.

 

[Kheti sa-Menik]

D20 Modern would certainly do the job as well.
Cut out the FX aspects, find stats for appropriate era weapons and there you go.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

HERO would be my first choice. M&M might be my second (see Northern Crown, below). Both are excellent general systems that have the mechanics to simulate the era.

D20 Modern with the D20 Past supplement could work.

GURPS, while I hate it, would probably model it just as well. An excellent choice if you like the system. Bonus: it probably has the most number of quality supplements that would help you with the campaign- ask Jürgen Hubert or Pawsplay for details.

Almost any western game should do a good job of it, though you'd have to scale back on certain firearms. Check out Boot Hill, Sidewinder, Aces & Eights, or even Deadlands, if you want to inject a bit of the supernatural.

Another really good choice would be Northern Crown, set in an alt-1660s colonial period. If you track it down, also grab the "African" rpg, Nyambe. While not intentionally designed to be part of the same campaign world, NC's creator linked into its Atlas games stablemate, and suggested the Nyambe rules would add flavor to the black characters in that campaign world. This would be the only game I can think of that would supplant M&M from the #2 slot for running a campaign like this. And depending upon my audience of players, it might be my first choice- sad as it seems, not everyone likes HERO.

 

[Terramotus]

If you want more of a... swashbuckling style game, then yeah, d20 Modern with the d20 Past supplement would work great. As I'm sure you know, the tech of the period makes melee weapons a necessity in personal combat - unless you've got a brace of loaded and primed pistols on your belt. The lethality would be there, and the weapons rules feel appropriate.

And honestly, I'd think that's the type of game you'd want to run anyway - maybe a small team of commandos that helps crack bases and disrupt supply lines guerilla style. General-style commanding of troops seems beyond the scope of an RPG, and being a grunt seems, well, boring. Although I could see a spy campaign set in New York too.

BTW: I'd highly recommend the History Channel series The Revolution and Founding Fathers for inspiration if you're not already very familiar with the period. It's nice and easy to digest and gives a sense of the... flair of the period, as well as the really juicy stories in a way that many books neglect. Forest for the trees and all that.