Have you ever used Car Wars in other settings?

[ak_aramis]

Many fantasy elves are shorter than humans; 5'4" elves vs 5'6" medieval humans or 5'8" modern humans; sometimes even shorter...

ElfQuest's elves are the extreme end of the Short-Elf, at about 3'6"...

Orcs also have two, very different standard visages - the tusked wide-mouth greenskins made popular with Games Workshop, and the Pig-faced classic D&D/Bakshi orcs... Greeskin variety orcs tend to be wide, and considerably heavier than mankind... not easily mistaken for men. While Pig-faces tend to be man sized and shaped, differing only slightly, being a bit buffer.

[Chris Goodwin]

It's my understanding that Tolkien's elves were incredibly tall, and -- even though I never finished the Lord of the Rings -- I tend to think of them that way to distinguish them from the "standard" D&D trope. My orc description comes roughly from the webcomic "Dominic Deegan".

[Angrytubist]

I'm pretty sure I can just change the gnomes name to leprechaun and drop a Car Wars arena into my Tunnels & Trolls megadungeon.

Actually now that I think about it, it would be extremely easy to combine Car Wars and T&T 7th. When not in a vehicle you could just treat the Car Wars skills as T&T talents, you wouldn't even need to change any numbers.

If you are fighting car vs. monster instead of car vs. car you might would want to double or triple vehicular weapon damage though. T&T characters don't have the HP infation of their D&D counterparts, but they're still much tougher than Car Wars peds.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin

It's my understanding that Tolkien's elves were incredibly tall, and -- even though I never finished the Lord of the Rings --

They certainly are not presented consistently as such in any materials I've seen - the wood elves in the old Rankin-Bass animations are shorter, tho Elrond is shown taller; I got no impression of tall, only of thin from LOTR itself, and the visuals of "tall elves" in the PJ LOTR movies are tall helms, not tall elves.

[Chris Goodwin]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

They certainly are not presented consistently as such in any materials I've seen - the wood elves in the old Rankin-Bass animations are shorter, tho Elrond is shown taller; I got no impression of tall, only of thin from LOTR itself, and the visuals of "tall elves" in the PJ LOTR movies are tall helms, not tall elves.

Errr, umm, my elves are taller. :D

[Angrytubist]

Something tells me that ak-aramis and I have very similar tastes in Fantasy RPG's. (At least thematically). Tolkien described his elves as tall (From a hobbits point of view), people forget he was a philologist and philologists tend to say exactly what they mean and no more,

[Jeffr0]

Originally Posted by Angrytubist

Something tells me that ak-aramis and I have very similar tastes in Fantasy RPG's. (At least thematically). Tolkien described his elves as tall (From a hobbits point of view), people forget he was a philologist and philologists tend to say exactly what they mean and no more,

He also drew from sources that were much older than what was fashionable in his day-- and he detested both Shakespeare and the diminutive "faery" that people like Sir Author Conan Doyle were so fond of chasing.

Tolkien was Old School before there was an Old School.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin

Errr, umm, my elves are taller. :D

You realize it says "Man-sized or smaller"??? :p

Angrytubist: Pendragon, Ars Magica, Arrowflight 1E, Cyclopedia D&D, and L5R... Only two of which even have elves, and both have slightly under man-sized elves.

[Angrytubist]

I'm also a fan of Pendragon and 0D&D (these days its Labyrinth Lord (easier to teach the newbs)), always wanted to play Ars Magica but never could get anyone interested. Going to google arrowflight.

Three out of five is a pretty good guess I think. Also orcs/goblins are red, not green, red.

[Chris Goodwin]

(Two year necro, but completely on topic.)

Rubber Forehead Aliens in Car Wars

Because most aliens in popular SF works are setting specific (and most likely under trademark or copyright protection) we won't refer to them in specific. Instead, we'll have some generic race types. As these races are often portrayed onscreen by humans, frequently using rubber special effects to change the facial shape, we'll refer to them as "rubber forehead aliens". These aliens for the most part have abilities and skills the same as humans, though there are always exceptions.

Warrior Race: Sometimes speak in a growly human voice, or even lack the ability to pronounce human languages altogether. Often speak of honor and come from a culture vaguely similar to stereotypical depictions of historical Asian cultures on Earth. Often are stronger than humans (effectively up to three levels in Bodybuilding skill) and taller or heavier (take up more space as a passenger or crew). Appearance can range from "rubber forehead" humanlike to feline, reptilian, Sasquatch-like, etc. (In more recent works, CGI has improved to the point where they might not be rubber-forehead at all, but might appear spider-like or octopoid.)

Philosopher Race: Often speak exceedingly formally, though in some cases their speech patterns may reverse typical verb and noun order for whatever they're speaking. They might be stronger than humans (levels in Bodybuilding), but often have some sort of mental powers or other abilities (which can be considered the Mage ability from the "Magic In Car Wars" article, or which might be built using abilities from Autoduel Champions). While they may be based on the "rubber forehead" human template, they might appear almost completely human at a glance (some alternate feature such as cat-like eyes or pointed ears being the only difference) but may also appear completely inhuman (completely hairless, perhaps similar in appearance to the stereotypical grey aliens). Might be human sized or smaller (taking up .5 to .75 spaces as a passenger or crew).

Schemer Race: Often outwardly difficult to tell apart from humans. Their culture is often the equivalent to the Roman Empire, and they are steeped in intrigue. Usually have abilities on the same scale as humans.

Inscrutable Race: These may be millions of years old and frequently speak in riddles. May have abilities far beyond those of humans. Might be able to read minds or use other abilities (built using Autoduel Champions) or have the Mage ability.

Cyborgs: These are often humans, or human equivalent races, with one or more features replaced by mechanical parts. This could be to make up for limb loss (and thus be equivalent to the same human parts) or they might provide increased abilities (build using Autoduel Champions). They might have the Mage ability or other powers as well. They often wear black and sometimes appear completely robotic or inhuman.

And, some additional equipment:

Blazer Pistol: Roughly equivalent in size, shape, and weight to an heavy pistol, the blazer pistol inflicts 1d damage, doing full damage to vehicular armor and components. The blazer pistol has a stun setting (also 1d damage, non-permanent; reduction to 0 DP or below from stun damage does not kill a character); a character who has taken 2 or more DP worth of stun damage is unconscious, not permanently. A character can be awoken immediately from stun by usual methods (such as slapping, pouring water on them, etc.) but will otherwise recover at the rate of 1 DP worth of stun per hour. Characters who have taken 1 DP worth of stun damage might be groggy (treat as "wounded" for combat purposes) but otherwise recover normally from stun. A blazer on stun does no damage to vehicular components or other objects.

Blazer Rifle: Equivalent in size, shape, and weight to a heavy rifle, the blazer rifle inflicts 2d damage, but is otherwise identical to the blazer pistol (including the stun setting).

Blazer pistols and rifles use the Handgunner skill. Blazers are affected by reflective armor and other anti-laser countermeasures exactly as lasers are.