01-19-2018, 02:49 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: In the UFO
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
Quote:
__________________
Is love like the bittersweet taste of marmalade on burnt toast? |
|
01-19-2018, 02:56 PM | #12 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: In the UFO
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
Quote:
I've read FATE squad-level rules but had forgotten the second way of doing it that you mention; I'll have to re-read that part of the rules. The "narrate the battle based on the individual fights" is the one I usually use (and have recommended before myself) but for this game I wanted something a bit more direct as the PCs would also be in command, and if the PC captain wanted to, say, hang back or send forward a wave of minions to blunt the enemy attack, or whatever, to be able to let him to do it. I don't mind you mentioning Mass Combat!
__________________
Is love like the bittersweet taste of marmalade on burnt toast? |
|
01-19-2018, 03:11 PM | #13 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
Quote:
While poking around, I ran into references to a reasonably simple mass combat system in Salt and Sea Dogs, which seemed worth pointing out as its rather directly related to what you're doing. |
|
01-19-2018, 08:29 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: In the UFO
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
Quote:
__________________
Is love like the bittersweet taste of marmalade on burnt toast? |
|
01-20-2018, 02:23 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
For d20 games, one thing I've seen is the idea of minion HP pool: if you have 100 crewmen with 5 HP each, then their HP pool is 500 HP. Damage done to the minions is subtracted from the pool, and for every 5 points of damage done, a reasonably appropriate minion dies.
This simplifies a lot of the book-keeping, because you don't have to record individual HP. It's a little weird when the wizard hits 4 people with Burning Hands for 3 HP damage each and two of them die, but meh, on average it's appropriate. With that minor modification, I'd be willing to try a large combat in a d20 game. You can roll attacks and damage by the handful and there aren't any rolls that switch back and forth between attacker and defender, so it's a pretty good system for large individual contests.
__________________
Read my GURPS blog: http://noschoolgrognard.blogspot.com |
01-22-2018, 03:13 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Sep 2013
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
The obvious choice would be Evil Stevie's Pirate Game.
The ship-to-ship rules include ways of handling massed small-arms fire.
__________________
GURPS Self-Improvement: Recent gains: Scaling (default+1) [2], Immunity (COVID-19) [1] Current goal: improve Mandarin from Broken/None [1] to Accented/Broken [3] |
01-23-2018, 10:27 AM | #17 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lexington, KY
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
Quote:
S&B is based on the D&D v.3.0 rules, but with changes to better reflect the historical age of piracy. For example, D&D classes are replaced with more nautical classes, and magic is limited to bardic music, voodoo practitioners, and (very rarely) Christian relics. The book also contains a good deal of useful information about crew roles, dueling codes, the Caribbean circa 1700, generating plunder, the loa, etc. |
|
01-23-2018, 10:35 PM | #18 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: In the UFO
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
Quote:
__________________
Is love like the bittersweet taste of marmalade on burnt toast? |
|
01-23-2018, 10:36 PM | #19 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: In the UFO
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
Quote:
__________________
Is love like the bittersweet taste of marmalade on burnt toast? |
|
01-25-2018, 05:14 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
|
Re: pirate ship crew vs. pirate ship crew with PCs
I don't think that's required; the important part is that instead of tracking HP on a per-minion basis, you're tracking a global pool. I mean, the really important part is you don't want to track any individual state for minions other than "active" or "not active".
I could see setting it up either way: Option A: 100 identical AC 14, Attk +2, Dmg 1d6, HP 5 minions on each side. 20 from each side get into a melee with each other, and the GM's side has a higher initiative count. The GM rolls 20d20, gets 9 hits, rolls 9d6 for damage, 6 minions on the PCs' side drop. The player running that minion group, on her initiative count, rolls 14d20, gets 7 hits, rolls 7d6 for damage and gets lucky, and removes 6 minions from the other side too. Option B: The PC force is still 100 identical AC 14, Attk +2, Dmg 1d6, HP 5 minions, but the villain force is 20 heavy infantry in mail with shields (AC 17, Attk +3, Dmg 1d8, HP 5), 35 light infantry with bows (AC 11, Attk +2, Dmg 1d6, HP 5), and 45 medium infantry in leather with shields (AC 13, Attk +2, Dmg 1d6, HP 5). The PC force of 20 guys has managed to work their way around to flank, and charges into contact with 15 light infantry and their 5 heavy infantry escorts. The player sees that 7 of her guys are in contact with the heavies, and the rest are in contact with the lights. She rolls 7d20 against the heavies for 2 hits and 13d20 against the lights for 7 hits. She rolls 9d6 for 28 damage, and the GM removes 1 heavy infantry and 4 light infantry. I'd have to experiment, but I don't think Option B would slow things down too much.
__________________
Read my GURPS blog: http://noschoolgrognard.blogspot.com |
|
|