07-24-2011, 06:28 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
|
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.
__________________
GURPS Settings Beneath Castle Everglory: A Dungeon, Lineage (Modern Fantasy) Paradise City (Cyberpunk), The World of Kung Fu (Modern Martial Arts Setting) |
07-24-2011, 06:38 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Göttingen, Germany
|
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. |
07-24-2011, 07:11 PM | #3 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
|
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. |
07-24-2011, 07:25 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Denmark
|
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. |
07-24-2011, 07:39 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oregon
|
Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?
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. |
07-24-2011, 10:18 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
|
Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?
The classic genre for this is supers.
Bill Stoddard |
07-24-2011, 11:38 PM | #7 |
Join Date: May 2008
|
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. |
07-27-2011, 09:42 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Virginia
|
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.
|
07-27-2011, 10:02 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
|
Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?
Quote:
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
|
07-29-2011, 11:18 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
|
Re: Which genres best allow for different roles in combat?
Quote:
__________________
GURPS Settings Beneath Castle Everglory: A Dungeon, Lineage (Modern Fantasy) Paradise City (Cyberpunk), The World of Kung Fu (Modern Martial Arts Setting) |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|