 July 9, 2011 - 6:34am | I'm at Historicon and trying to sit in on as many Sci-Fi games as possible. Just played BRB and after I made myself forget that its was a games workshop product I actually enjoyed the game. It pretty much an age of sail game set in space. Handles numerous small task groups well on the board- we had about 20 ships. Though its obviously a game about matching up the right weapons against your opponent and you have to have the proper miniature with the right weapons on which means your suppose to buy more over priced models. :( I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 July 10, 2011 - 8:06am | Sort of sounds like that hybrid AD&D/Star Frontiers game that came out just after SF did in the 80's. Can't recall the name of it at the moment, but it tanked pretty quick if memory serves. My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
July 10, 2011 - 12:57pm | Would that be SPELLJAMMER? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 July 10, 2011 - 4:29pm | Shhhhhh...we should not speak that name so loudly. In my opinion Spelljammer's biggest problem was the scope of the game. By saying that each game system in the TSR catalogue was reachable via travel through wildspace, it created a headache for Dungeon Masters specially because the game had no Stat conversion charts for the different systems that supposedly was reachable by spelljamming characters, not to mention there were no rles for using "magic" in game worlds where magic shouldn't work (like Gamma World or Star Frontiers). It also introduces gunpowder into a fantasy setting, and allows for other things to contaminate a campaign if you allow travelers from spell jammer to bring those nifty magic items or technological items back home with them. spelljammer left too many things for DM's to develop and mos DM's already have enough to worry about then to create whole systems to detail possible crossovers. I think Dragon Star did the Elves in space better than Spelljammer. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
 July 13, 2011 - 2:02pm | I just got the boxed set of Spelljammer... but kinda need some version of the D&D rules. Was going to use some ideas for a Bare Bones setting.. Did/do ppl like a spelljammer type setting? |
July 14, 2011 - 4:43am | I think that spell jammer was one of those things that many people bought and looked at and didn't use, some hated it and a small % actually used. It should appeal to those who like vehicle combat, though its no STar Fleet battles. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 8, 2011 - 8:04pm | Battlefleet Gothic fit well in the GW universe playing could be good if you were willing to allow any ship to represent anything. Spelljammer well they were expanding in alot of directions at once during that time and hoping some of it would catch on. Personally I think they overestimated the market at that time. Star Fleet Battles hang on I am still reading rule book 32 Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 August 8, 2011 - 8:18pm | The new editions of Star Fleet Battles have a rules light version available. Now if you really want to get in depth in their game action it helps to learn the full system but it is a step in the right direction in giving the players a choice. I downloaded the rules light / introductory game and IIRC its about 12 pages. Three games that I always wanted to get into but was always held back by the overly complicated rules were Star Fleet Battles, Battletech, and Squad Leader. My friend was into squad leader and i sat in on a game session but when i saw him bring out four different game box kits my head started to hurt. One of the things slowing down the progress in my game design of Space Fleet Commander has been making the rules simple enough for a quick game and expandible enough for complex campaigns. Its certainly not easy. |
August 11, 2011 - 12:42pm | Once read an article about game design which stated rules heavy games were easier to write then rules light since the fewer actions the more each one meant. Also complexity of a game is linked to realism. Squad leader rules included a rule for a squad jumping out of a second floor window. Battletech is an example of a game getting trickier as more is added. The original of four battlemechs battling four others is fairly simple. Adding tanks, infantry, aircraft, space ships, various atmospheres and other things added the complexity. However unlike squad leader which added new rules Battletech kept the same ones and bent them which leads to some rather unrealistic things such has 50 caliber machine guns with a max effective range of 150 meters (you can use a 50 cal round for sniping at 3 kilometers). My advice would be write rules which are moderate complexity and then strip down what is not needed to start play then add more with new scenarios. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
