Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-24-2011, 06:28 PM   #1
Greg 1
 
Greg 1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

I think that one of the fun things about the dungeon fantasy genre is that it allows characters to take significantly different roles in combat.

What other genres do you think also do this well?

I'm not just asking about taking different roles in a fighting unit, but taking a distinct role during combat itself.
Greg 1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2011, 06:38 PM   #2
OldSam
 
OldSam's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Göttingen, Germany
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

I'd say basically every genre which includes powerful melee fighters having good chances to regularly get in contact with the enemy before they are killed or disabled by ranged weapons or ranged spells :)

So especially other low-tech settings, like Medieval History or Ancient Greece, classic tolkien-style Fantasy etc.

Also I'd think that Swashbuckler Campaigns with Pirates and Musketeers are a good example for that, including a lot of Fencing (melee) next to a lot of ranged combat (muskets, gunpowder-pistols, cannons...)

Last edited by OldSam; 07-24-2011 at 06:43 PM.
OldSam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2011, 07:11 PM   #3
Agemegos
 
Agemegos's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

There was a great sequence in the 1992 movie Last of the Mohicans in which Chingach**** storms into mêlée armed with a knife and gunstock club and does great execution, backed up by Hawkeye firing a sequence of rifles collected from fallen foes. Chingach**** can rely on a highly aggressive style because Hawkeye (behind the "lines") will shoot whomever tries to take advantage of his exposedness. The firearms of the day were effective enough, but didn't have such firepower that Chingach**** would have been better to rush in with an SMG.

I have set up the same complementary interaction in RPGs in campaigns set in 17th-Century France (fencer with pistoleer in overwatch) and with WWI tech in various backward locations (one PC used revolvers and martial arts in close quarters) and was backed up by another with an SMLE rifle and bayonet.
__________________

Decay is inherent in all composite things.
Nod head. Get treat.

Last edited by Agemegos; 07-25-2011 at 03:39 AM.
Agemegos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2011, 07:25 PM   #4
Maz
 
Maz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Denmark
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

It can also fit perfectly well in an action-focues Sci-fi game where vibro blades or mono-weapons can easily penetrate power armour.

This way there might be a couple of melee specialists, with power armour they can get into combat quickly and without dying first. And an ultra-tech melee weapon might be better at taking down high-DR targets, or robots who don't care much about piercing damage.
A sniper, to take out enemy snipers and secure the melee people fro mback attacks.
An "auto-rifle" laying ssupressive fire and killing "minions".
And probably a gunslinger to do all sort of fancy stuff at mid-range.
Maz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2011, 07:39 PM   #5
vierasmarius
 
vierasmarius's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oregon
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brett View Post
Chingach****
The forum censor strikes again! I'm pretty sure Cooper wasn't trying to denigrate Koreans when he was naming his characters...

As for the OPs question, this is probably easiest to do in a Fantasy setting, whether medieval, modern, or futuristic. Magical, psionic or various other supernatural powers allow supporting characters to directly influence a battle, with tactical-level healing, artillery, battlefield control, etc.

Last edited by vierasmarius; 07-24-2011 at 07:44 PM.
vierasmarius is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2011, 10:18 PM   #6
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

The classic genre for this is supers.

Bill Stoddard
whswhs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2011, 11:38 PM   #7
Goober4473
 
Goober4473's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

Mass Effect (2) is a good example of a SciFi setting with defined roles, that has very little melee (and no characters specialized in it), but includes supertech and psionics. In brief, the roles are soldier (shootin' stuff), infiltrator (stealth/sniper), engineer (summons drones, disables/mind controls robotic enemies), adept (psionic buffs/debuffs/crowd control), sentinel (defense/healing focused), and vanguard (psionic soldier, focused on damage).

The different types of weapons available to each character, and the types of special ammunition they could use also influenced their role. Ultimately, everyone used guns, and no role was ever necessary, but they're definitely roles.

Also take a look at any class-based FPS, like Team Fortress, for more ideas on party roles in a gun-heavy setting.
Goober4473 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-27-2011, 09:42 AM   #8
Hugin
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Virginia
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

I always liked Shadowrun's setting of Science-Fiction meets fantasy. There was several archtypes right out of GURPS Action, but with a twist. Either cyberpunk or a magical twist - IE the Riggers were Wheelmen who could be remotely piloting a UAV/UGV equiped with a machine gun to back up the other PCs while waiting in the getaway car, Physical Adepts were usually pretty much magically suped-up Ninjas, Mages tossed spells did magical recon and helped defeat magical security, and Hacker/Deckers could take over the buildings security systems and remote weapons.
Hugin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-27-2011, 10:02 AM   #9
jason taylor
 
jason taylor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Goober4473 View Post
Mass Effect (2) is a good example of a SciFi setting with defined roles, that has very little melee (and no characters specialized in it), but includes supertech and psionics. In brief, the roles are soldier (shootin' stuff), infiltrator (stealth/sniper), engineer (summons drones, disables/mind controls robotic enemies), adept (psionic buffs/debuffs/crowd control), sentinel (defense/healing focused), and vanguard (psionic soldier, focused on damage).

The different types of weapons available to each character, and the types of special ammunition they could use also influenced their role. Ultimately, everyone used guns, and no role was ever necessary, but they're definitely roles.

Also take a look at any class-based FPS, like Team Fortress, for more ideas on party roles in a gun-heavy setting.
In a SF setting you can easily make for several roles by having a traditional command roster(with hordes of redshirts like the normal model, or with no redshirts at all like Firefly or Andromeda). One PC can be the captain, one the mate, one the medic, one the engineer, one the computer geek, and so on. Tons of variations are available.
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison
jason taylor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2011, 11:18 PM   #10
Greg 1
 
Greg 1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
In a SF setting you can easily make for several roles by having a traditional command roster(with hordes of redshirts like the normal model, or with no redshirts at all like Firefly or Andromeda). One PC can be the captain, one the mate, one the medic, one the engineer, one the computer geek, and so on. Tons of variations are available.
As long as they have different roles in combat. Most of the characters in Fireplay did pretty much the same things in combat.
Greg 1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:56 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.