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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2013 18:48:50 GMT -8
I am running a savage worlds game and using Traveller as the setting. I have been testing out what I want to do for space combat. Suddenly switching to the Mongoose rules when in ship combat works but it changes the feel. I tried to merge the systems and one of my players exploded the damage dice so many time in a row that it completely destroyed a serpent cutter in one round. I have looked online and there is a couple of Savage Traveller conversions but I'm not sure I fully like the feel or I might be using them incorrectly because it seems the Savage Traveller and not from the Mongoose Traveller which I am familiar with.
So what have you used and what kinds of results did you get? Thanks.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2013 7:07:52 GMT -8
Several years ago we actually played out the space combat in a Savage Worlds game using the original version of Starmada. It was a blast (seewhatididthere?) and we had much fun. I don't like the new version of Starmada as much, preferring the original with all its little warts. Starmada was chosen because it purports to be a "settingless-system" for simulating cinematic combat. At the time, our campaign was a cinematic space-patrol type of thing and it worked really well feel-wise. www.rpgnow.com/product/16771/Starmada-Compendium?it=1For some annoying reason, Savage Worlds and Traveller just don't seem to fit together well for me. It's like this uneasy arrangement. It's probably because a Savage Worlds character is larger than life and that doesn't mesh well with Traveller's low-life-gritty-man-vs-the-universe thing. I've been keeping my eyestalks on High Space for a future savaged sci-fi campaign and it looks good. I've read the rules, haven't played it out yet, but it keeps the "Fast, Fun, Furious" theme in space combat and appears to represent a, dare I say, battle-tested and well thought-out fit for Savage Worlds. www.rpgnow.com/product/109425/High-Space-Core-Rules-%28v1.0%29(edit: further embellishments)
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Post by savagedaddy on Feb 24, 2013 12:57:48 GMT -8
I tend to agree with travellingmatt; Traveller tends to be more gritty than standard Savage Worlds. This may be a part of the problem you've experienced with space combat. I use Savage Worlds Vehicle Combat and Chase rules to simulate 'Star Wars' like pulpy space opera dogfights. I'd recommend using the Sci-Fi World Builders Toolkit --> rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/11961/php?affiliate_id=435142 as a base for the rules and apply Gritty Damage rules a la Realms of Cthulhu or Rippers to give it a more realistic feel. Let me know how it works out for you. I am working on a Traveller conversion using my own advice (it's just nowhere near ready to put up on a website anywhere).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2013 13:49:04 GMT -8
I used the vanilla chase rules as well, they work fine in most cases, they are AMAZING for trench run or asteroid field type encounters. The only problem that I run into is that if all the PCs are inside the same ship (like the Milenium Falcon) instead of small, expendable dogfighters, a single bad explosion on the damage dice can cause a large problem as their only means of transportation just got disabled in outer space.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2013 14:13:26 GMT -8
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Post by savagedaddy on Feb 24, 2013 15:13:24 GMT -8
I used the vanilla chase rules as well, they work fine in most cases, they are AMAZING for trench run or asteroid field type encounters. The only problem that I run into is that if all the PCs are inside the same ship (like the Millennium Falcon) instead of small, expendable dog-fighters, a single bad explosion on the damage dice can cause a large problem as their only means of transportation just got disabled in outer space. In that case, I would make sure your pilot has the Ace Edge so he can soak damage for the ship. I would also employ Cooperative Rolls (See SWD pg. 63). Using your Millennium Falcon example, Chewie makes his Piloting roll and adds +1 for each success and raise up to +4 to Han's Piloting roll. Oh, and don't forget to apply Size to the Shooting rolls if applicable!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2013 16:05:19 GMT -8
In that case, I would make sure your pilot has the Ace Edge so he can soak damage for the ship. I would also employ Cooperative Rolls (See SWD pg. 63). Using your Millennium Falcon example, Chewie makes his Piloting roll and adds +1 for each success and raise up to +4 to Han's Piloting roll. Oh, and don't forget to apply Size to the Shooting rolls if applicable! Indeed, in my case he did have the Ace skill, but that only makes the ship as tough as a Wild Card, but WCs still can get hit hard in SW. My point was that when a PC gets hit by a huge explosion, that happens not very often, the rest of the heroes can still carry the fight, but when the one ship that carries the entire party gets destroyed by such a hit this can lead to either a TPK or a Deus Ex Machina event saving them by the GM (both options are not very fun), and all that due to a lucky roll. In my campaign this happened in the Sundered Skies setting when a single damage roll, with multiple explosions, ended a "dogfight" by destroying the PCs ship early. Fortunately I was prepared for something like this and yes and-ed the PCs into taking one of the enemy ships. You just have to keep it in the back of your mind that such a thing could happen at any time and be ready to deal with it. You can reduce its chance of occuring by having more 1v1 or 1v2 fights, instead of multiple enemy ships, since rolling less dice makes insane damage explosions less likely. More OT, I would suggest using the vehicle combat/chase rules in the core book first before coming up with houserules, since they are pretty fun and can lead to unexpected results. For instance, my PCs' flying boat once grazed a floating island that was the home of an angry flying gorilla that jumped on board and started causing panic, until they killed him; meanwhile one enemy ship that was persuing them failed to avoid a family of drakes that ended up devouring the crew. All that from the deck, one of the most overlooked features of SW I believe is the awesomeness of the chase rules.
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Post by jazzisblues on Feb 25, 2013 6:22:56 GMT -8
In that case, I would make sure your pilot has the Ace Edge so he can soak damage for the ship. I would also employ Cooperative Rolls (See SWD pg. 63). Using your Millennium Falcon example, Chewie makes his Piloting roll and adds +1 for each success and raise up to +4 to Han's Piloting roll. Oh, and don't forget to apply Size to the Shooting rolls if applicable! Indeed, in my case he did have the Ace skill, but that only makes the ship as tough as a Wild Card, but WCs still can get hit hard in SW. My point was that when a PC gets hit by a huge explosion, that happens not very often, the rest of the heroes can still carry the fight, but when the one ship that carries the entire party gets destroyed by such a hit this can lead to either a TPK or a Deus Ex Machina event saving them by the GM (both options are not very fun), and all that due to a lucky roll. In my campaign this happened in the Sundered Skies setting when a single damage roll, with multiple explosions, ended a "dogfight" by destroying the PCs ship early. Fortunately I was prepared for something like this and yes and-ed the PCs into taking one of the enemy ships. You just have to keep it in the back of your mind that such a thing could happen at any time and be ready to deal with it. You can reduce its chance of occuring by having more 1v1 or 1v2 fights, instead of multiple enemy ships, since rolling less dice makes insane damage explosions less likely. More OT, I would suggest using the vehicle combat/chase rules in the core book first before coming up with houserules, since they are pretty fun and can lead to unexpected results. For instance, my PCs' flying boat once grazed a floating island that was the home of an angry flying gorilla that jumped on board and started causing panic, until they killed him; meanwhile one enemy ship that was persuing them failed to avoid a family of drakes that ended up devouring the crew. All that from the deck, one of the most overlooked features of SW I believe is the awesomeness of the chase rules. There is a point from the rules that I would bring up at this point, that being that incapacitated does not mean dead. It can mean dead but it doesn't necessarily. I ran a Slipstream game for several months using the standard chase rules and it worked very well. Yes it was pulpy It was Slipstream it's supposed to be. Several times when a ship was "incapacitated" it would return to fight another day because it wasn't dead, it didn't go up in a Death Staresque detonation it just couldn't function for the purposes of the fight. In true pulp fashion the bad guy would gloat and then "leave the heroes to their fate." Which of course gave them time to effect repairs. Cheers, JiB
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 17:08:54 GMT -8
That is a great point to make the ship incapacitated and not vaporized. In Traveller ships are expensive so if you cripple one most profit minded beings would want to see if they can get a surrender or board and take over. Both of these events lead to far more interesting role playing than vaporization does. On many critical hit tables I see "Ship Vaporized" or "Crew Killed" both of which do not lead to interesting results from the perspective of the party.
I will change them to "ship incapacitated" and console explosion "A random manned console explodes causing 4d6 damage."
Why they keep loading these consoles with explosives, we will never know.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Feb 25, 2013 17:31:59 GMT -8
Why they keep loading these consoles with explosives, we will never know. In the future people are required to keep their work stations clear. Thus they stuff their cubical toys and children's crappy crafts from school inside their consoles where they are able to take a peak when no one is looking. Thus providing a major fire hazard. The folly of this common ordinance is demonstrated by Serenity's relatively safer work stations as the employees (Wash) was able to keep his toys out in the open where they belong.
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