Which RPG has the best combat rules for flying vehicles?

[Epic Meepo]

I'm thinking about writing some D&D 2024 house rules for combats involving flying vehicles, and I'm looking for inspiration. Which RPG or supplement would you say has the best combat rules for flying vehicles, and what do you like most about those rules?

 

[Theory of Games]

Spelljammer probably?

 

[Morrus]

Spelljammer probably?

Unlikely.

 

[Staffan]

I'm thinking about writing some D&D 2024 house rules for combats involving flying vehicles, and I'm looking for inspiration. Which RPG or supplement would you say has the best combat rules for flying vehicles, and what do you like most about those rules?

D6 Star Wars 1e. But it's very focused on 1v1 or 1vMany, with the PCs having the one ship and any other ships in the fight being defined by their relation to that ship. So for example, if the PCs are in a YT-1300 light freighter with some mods, as they often are, and they're at a Short distance from TIE Fighter #1 and a Medium distance from TIE Fighter #2, that doesn't necessarily tell us anything about where TIE Fighters #1 and #2 are in relation to one another, because that's irrelevant.

But vehicle rules in general are a bane of RPGs. When you're in a vehicle-based combat, that tends to dominate the action. So unless it's a thing all the players are good at, that means some people will be left behind and feel useless. And if it's a thing that takes significant resources, a player who sinks those resources into being an awesome pilot will be worse at other things, so if there aren't a lot of vehicle fights they feel useless.

 

[MGibster]

But vehicle rules in general are a bane of RPGs. When you're in a vehicle-based combat, that tends to dominate the action. So unless it's a thing all the players are good at, that means some people will be left behind and feel useless. And if it's a thing that takes significant resources, a player who sinks those resources into being an awesome pilot will be worse at other things, so if there aren't a lot of vehicle fights they feel useless.

Bingo! I have yet to find an RPG that provides a satisfactory vehicle combat system for basically the reasons you've listed here. I don't mean to discourage the OP, but this is a golden opportunity for them to come up with something fun.

 

[Staffan]

Bingo! I have yet to find an RPG that provides a satisfactory vehicle combat system for basically the reasons you've listed here. I don't mean to discourage the OP, but this is a golden opportunity for them to come up with something fun.

The two possible solutions I see are:

1. Explicitly make vehicle combat a central part of the game. Basically, don't make "Star Wars", make "Rogue Squadron". You might even want to give PCs separate character generation resources for the vehicle combat part.
2. Make vehicle combat use mostly the same abilities as other parts of the game. E.g. make "launch missile" the same skill as "shoot pistol". There's some sliding scale to be had here where you can opt-in to spend resources that are mostly focused on vehicles, but a baseline PC should be at least decent at it without pushing too much.

It also helps to have vehicles that are primarily crew-based rather than solo fighters, so you can have one player doing piloting, another doing gunnery, a third doing engineering stuff, and so on. This of course runs into the problem that not all groups are the same size.

 

[Lord Shark]

Flying Circus has quite detailed rules for World War I-esque planes. Tachyon Squadron is pretty good for X-Wing/Viper type space fighters. I've also heard good things about Warbirds but haven't read it.

 

[Theory of Games]

But vehicle rules in general are a bane of RPGs. When you're in a vehicle-based combat, that tends to dominate the action. So unless it's a thing all the players are good at, that means some people will be left behind and feel useless. And if it's a thing that takes significant resources, a player who sinks those resources into being an awesome pilot will be worse at other things, so if there aren't a lot of vehicle fights they feel useless.

But they're COOL Flying ships can lead to awesome encounters which is what brings many players to the table in the first place. 5.5 still suffers from a lack of skills to handle vehicles, but a History (INT) or Survival (WIS) or Arcana (INT) check should do. Besides, it's a magic vehicle so most of its operations should be magical, not manual labor IMO.

BUT there are resources for 5e airships (below are some of the less expensive):

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/524321/5e-equipment-compedium?src=hottest_filtered

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/506204/nautica-obscura?src=hottest_filtered

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/275171/airships-of-brackas?src=hottest_filtered

 

[aramis erak]

D6 Star Wars 1e.

Agree. 2nd ed, however, was easier to use for many-on-many, at the expense of using a map. (not of need gridded.)
Also, I liked the Star Warriors boardgame, which had integration with 1e.

But it's very focused on 1v1 or 1vMany,

Yup.

But vehicle rules in general are a bane of RPGs.

I disagree... but I'll note that they're always a compromise on usefulness vs realism vs playability.

When you're in a vehicle-based combat, that tends to dominate the action. So unless it's a thing all the players are good at, that means some people will be left behind and feel useless. And if it's a thing that takes significant resources, a player who sinks those resources into being an awesome pilot will be worse at other things, so if there aren't a lot of vehicle fights they feel useless.

I find that FFG Star Wars doesn't have that problem nearly so much, thanks to the various options to do side things... EW, emergency repairs, boosting morale, etc, but that becomes a major drawback in fighter-vs-fighter, because a 2-seater is vastly more effective than a 1 seater, and the H-wing's three seats+Droid make vastly superior to other fighters due to action economy.

 

[Deset Gled]

D6 Star Wars 1e.

Agree. 2nd ed, however, was easier to use for many-on-many, at the expense of using a map. (not of need gridded.)

I concur on both points. I'll also add in the caveat that it really only worked on things of the same scale. The game broke things into personal, speeder, starship, capital ship, and Death Star scale (IIRC). The rules worked well on the same scale. The rules to try and play between scales (i.e. an X-Wing attacking a Star Destroyer) were much less successful.