08-19-2018, 04:54 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2014
|
Fire Rescue campaign?
While most adventures involve violence, one could run an exciting campaign with no violence whatsoever. Firefighters would be perfect for that!
Plenty of opportunities to have out of adventure mischief, and plenty of adventures. What if you had to deal with both a fire and hazmat hazard at the same time? I do think there's potential in a campaign where the PCs are elite firefighters, maybe part of a specialized team made to tackle the highest risk situations, where they'd never have to shoot a gun or throw a punch but instead had to keep risking life and limb against fire, collapsing buildings, hazmat and so on. To the GMs here, would you try to master such an atypical campaign, if your players were willing to try? To the players here, would you be willing to try this style of campaign if your GM asked you to try? |
08-19-2018, 05:50 AM | #2 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaig?
I would try running this, if I had an idea for a larger story than just "Incident of the week." Many of the games I run don't have much violence anyway, so I would not find that a problem.
I played a one-off scenario somewhat like this, which was a demo for Disasters: Meltdown and Fallout. We were IAEA nuclear inspectors in a fictional African country that was setting up a nuclear power system, and trying, it proved, to evade safeguards. A fair amount of investigation and stealth was necessary to find out what was going on, but the only violence was voluntary on the part of the PCs. We ran across a group of rebels who were attacking the nuclear power station with a heavy mortar. We attacked by surprise, armed only with pistols, routed them and captured one. He proved to be a government soldier, and revealed that the whole attack was a false-flag operation. We smuggled him out of the country, and brought down the government.
__________________
The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
08-19-2018, 08:54 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaig?
I'm a little surprised that RPGs don't delve more deeply into non-combat action on a big scale (as in, entire adventures or campaigns of such action, not random bits among the usual combat action). Firefighting or other rescue sounds perfect, as you suggest. (Then again, maybe it's just not as fun in play as it is on paper. I don't know.)
I imagine the keys to fun rescue games would be good background info (research into how rescue operations actually work, the strategies and tactics rescuers use, etc.) and good expanded rules (more detailed "exploits" for all the things rescuers do). On that latter point, long ago I had a passing thought that big fires could be gamed like a foe maybe a multi-hex swarm? in some sort of combat-like fashion. The hexes would move and spread, gaining "HP" up to some maximum per hex (probably largely dependent on what material is burning). Water, chemicals, and other extinguishing "attacks" would inflict "damage" on the fire (though, watch out, it can regenerate...). The right skills and tactics would presumably have a big effect on how well that all goes. I never did anything with the idea, though. Maybe some other RPG has come up with something similar?
__________________
T Bone GURPS stuff and more at the Games Diner: http://www.gamesdiner.com Twitter: @Gamesdiner | RSS: here ⬅︎ Updated RSS link | This forum: Site updates thread (occasionally updated) (Latest goods on site: GLAIVE Mini levels up to v2.4. Update to melee weapon design tool, with more example weapons and commentary.) |
08-19-2018, 10:03 AM | #4 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaig?
Quote:
There's a supplement for Transhuman Space about an international rescue force based in Japan. That might suggest some ideas about how to run scenarios. The rules on asking for help in Pulling Rank are also probably relevant.
__________________
Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
|
08-19-2018, 11:59 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaign?
See if you can dig up an old TV series called Emergency.
It was about a team ofparanedics and involved various medical and fire issues.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries |
08-19-2018, 10:36 PM | #6 | |
☣
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaign?
Quote:
But, yes, if you want to do a game based on fire/rescue, it should be almost required that you watch at least a few episodes.
__________________
RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
|
08-19-2018, 10:55 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaign?
I think a show that aired closer to the advent of broadcast tv than to the present legitimately counts as old, as tv goes. Also many show from the 70s are quite hard to find nowadays, though this particular one seems to be easily available.
|
08-20-2018, 05:50 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaign?
I think that, as with TV treatments (ancient and modern), it would be important to have something more to the game than the basic firefighting in order to give it legs.
My inclination would be to look at the characters and their personalities: how do they feel about what they're doing and the hard choices they're making, how are their relationships with each other and with outsiders, and so on. I find GURPS a great system for combining this sort of thing with procedural content like fighting fires, examining evidence, and so on.
__________________
Podcast: Improvised Radio Theatre - With Dice Gaming stuff here: Tekeli-li! Blog; Webcomic Laager and Limehouse Buy things by me on Warehouse 23 |
08-20-2018, 11:34 AM | #9 |
Icelandic - Approach With Caution
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Reykjavķk, Iceland
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaign?
Seems like the movie Backdraft might fit as inspiration for this type of campaign.
|
08-20-2018, 12:48 PM | #10 | |
Careful Wisher
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Oregon, WI
|
Re: Fire Rescue campaign?
Quote:
The original Traveller had an adventure where you had to steal the other guy's fire engine on behalf of your patron in the rival city. So, good luck!
__________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ P. Mandrekar, Geneticist and Gamer Rational Centrist "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts"- Daniel P. Moynihan |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|