Parade-ground drill

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Langy

Now that I think on it more, I think it should actually be a Performance that can default to DX-based Savoir-Faire (Military)

I allow Savoir-Faire (high society) to cover waltzing and Carousing to cover country dancing, so I'll buy this, again for ordinary soldiers who just wanna show that they can keep order while marching about, not for specialized performers. -GEF

[Lord Carnifex]

I'd probably handle this as following:

The parade ground drill taught to recruits in boot camp up to TL8 (and maybe beyond) is Soldier. This is taught to reinforce unit cohesion, personal discipline, and moving and controlling soldiers in a formation situation. At higher TLs, expect only the basics to be taught: standing to attention, basic marching and maneuvering, basic commands.

The formation drill of ceremonial, parade, and performance units is Group Performance. This will cover marching bands, drum corps, drill teams, and parade units. This will cover flashier and more precise marching (chair step, goose step, and so on), the ability to execute complex formations and formation changes, and to do entire routines based on musical cues or very simple commands.

[RyanW]

What I would use, on instinct:

Soldier - Looking like a group of soldiers rather than a mosh pit with a sense of direction.
Savoir Faire (Military) - Looking like a group of sharp parade soldiers.
Group Performance (Drill) - Looking like a select drill team.

Originally Posted by Danukian

"Where have you boys been?"
"TRAINING, SIR!"
'What kind of Training?"
"AAAAAAAAAARRMY TRAINING, SIR!"

I can't get "Today we're going to do 'Marching up and down the square'" out of my head.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I can't get "Today we're going to do 'Marching up and down the square'" out of my head.

IIRC

Sgt Hulka: "Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. Forwaard Harch!"
Ivan Reitman (cant remember character name) "Hey! We're WALKING!!"

God I love that movie....

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Witchking

God I love that movie....

My quote isn't from that movie, but from another movie that military parades remind me of (The Meaning of Life).

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I can't get "Today we're going to do 'Marching up and down the square'" out of my head.

How about something decent and military? Some precision drilling!.

[quarkstomper]

Precision drilling does not have to be limited to the Modern Era: The Dubbing Ceremony

[jason taylor]

In Cockleshell Heroes, the commander considers drill to be of most use as a punishment for inattention.

[martinl]

Originally Posted by Brett

But what about modern and futuristic settings in which battle is fluid and concealment paramount?

Modern drill is based off of stuff that was once effective, but survives because it is impressive.

It might be abandoned or replaced if there was a loss of institutional continuity, or a strongly pragmatic impulse, or if another impressive form of maneuver evolved.

If there was a replacement, it might very well stick long past its own effective lifetime.

For an SF RPG, this sort of thing would be fluff, so I'd be tempted to have a futuristic replacement drill that showed impressive tactics that look cool to players (jump jet drill?) but are suicidal on the campaign battlefield.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by martinl

Modern drill is based off of stuff that was once effective, but survives because it is impressive.

It might be abandoned or replaced if there was a loss of institutional continuity, or a strongly pragmatic impulse, or if another impressive form of maneuver evolved.

If there was a replacement, it might very well stick long past its own effective lifetime.

For an SF RPG, this sort of thing would be fluff, so I'd be tempted to have a futuristic replacement drill that showed impressive tactics that look cool to players (jump jet drill?) but are suicidal on the campaign battlefield.

As Martin van Crevald pointed out several times in The Culture of War, a large part of what motivates men is the desire to show off. That's really not going to change.