Introducing the game

[Magesmiley]

Originally Posted by aa88x

Scrolling back looking since the COVID hit and I found this thread. We've been playing D&D and Gamma World remotely for the past few months. Some players are in the mid-west, some are on the west coast. It's my turn to GM, and the group is excited about giving Car Wars a go.

I've created an excel spreadsheet, because well quite frankly excel can do anything, to be the game board. We're going to share screens via the video conference technology and I'm going to GM the game remotely. I grabbed little car icons of 8 different colors and have grabbed a large circle with an X in the middle to show the different angles the cars can shoot from.

Week 1 I'm going to give everyone a Killer Kart and run an arena battle. I figure, no gernades, no trikes, no extra rules, just get them started on the basics of driving and shooting a machine gun. Then if they like it each week we will add a few items to make it more and more true Car Wars.

Should be fun!

Killer Karts are... not ideal for intro games.
I use this design (or a slight variation):

Rainbow Bay Raider -- Compact, Heavy chassis, Heavy suspension, Large power plant, 4 Steelbelted Puncture-Resistant Radial tires, Driver w/TC and BA and PFE, Light Laser in Turret, Recoilless Rifle Front w/10 shots HEAT, Plastic Armor: F22, L17, R17, B17, T16, U4, Gear Allocation: [72 lbs. @ Accel 5/Top Speed 117.5], Acceleration 10, Top Speed 120, HC 4, 3998 lbs., $14834

This has been refined at games at conventions over the last decade. (About eight separate eight-player games with different players each year).

It gives the players a few options without being overwhelming (LL vs RR. Acceleration 10 simplifies speed, HC is decent enough to play around with. Chances of fire aren't huge (engine damage) and PFE for an extra decision. Armor is in the Goldilocks zone for enough to take a hit or two, but can be breached in a reasonable time. Weight keeps them in 2/3 damage for collisions, making them less effective, but still moderately so. Tires have a decent chance of surviving a hit. No hand weapons. Not a lot of wonky gear.

And it works pretty well - I can usually run an 8-player game in a few hours.