 October 20, 2011 - 4:21pm | I was recently recommended a RPG product from another system, GURPS Massed Combat, as an excellant product for handling military operations within a RPG format. That combined with the recent work on Mercy Mission to Madderly's Star has inspired me to work on a Battle Dawn Rules supplement. Basic idea will be to abstract a battle with simple dice rolls using elements of troops, vehicles and etc. Haven't finished reading the product yet but I know I dont want to rip it off anyway. Rather develop SF style rules and mechanics that feel like they're part of the canon. I'm also drawing some inspiration from Fantasy Warrior (an OOP miniatures massed combat rule set available on the web) Which had some really good ideas for massed miniatures combat that I've not seen in any other miniatures rule set for that style of gaming. Also will be drawing inspiration from Star Grunt by GZG (another free downloadable PDF) final product should account for mercenary, militia, Ground Fleet, Space Fleet, sathar and possible primitives relative troop quality and equipment quality should be accounted for I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 20, 2011 - 4:42pm | A player's roll in Battle Dawn is to command a force or as a LEADER; whether that is an army, division, brigade or regiment, battlion, company, platoon, squad or simply a heroic character (ie their highly skilled PC) in combat. Actual numbers of troops will be abstracted for simplicity. Basic building blocks of a force are elements; an element is a squad, vehicle, or gun, single heroic character, or in the case of the sathar an attack monster. Note robotic elements are possible. A force will be built along these lines: platton: 2 to 8 elements and leader Company: (if cavalry a troop, Artillery a battery, areospace fighters a squadron) 2 to 4 platoons and a leader Battalion: 2 to 5 companies and a leader Brigade or regiment: Regiment is 2 to 3 battalions and a leader; a brigade is 2 to 5 battalions and a leader Division: two or more brigades or regiments and a leader Corp: Two or more Divisions and a leader. Note: If you are playing a scenario involving a Division the players should take the roles of the Division leader and the Brigade leaders but if playing a scenarion with only a platoon the the players should take the roles Platoon leader and squad leaders. Its possible to run the scenario with the top leader being an NPC and the subordinate leaders are PCs as well. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 20, 2011 - 5:06pm | I think the basic concept should be a d100 roll often modified by a leaders LDR ability but equally could be modified by LOG or INS depending on the situation. 1/2 ability score +10% per quality level of element (Raw= 0, Trained= 1, Veteran= 2, Elite= 3) +10% per quality grade of equipment (Improvised= 0, Basic= 1, Military Grade=2, Cutting Edge= 3) Thus the rules mechanic is simple and mimics AD. 1/2 ability score +10% per 1 to 3 levels of troop quality +10% per 1 to 3 levels of equipment quality. Combat rolls, rolls to motivate troops, to steady morale, etc would be modified by LDR a units roll to deal with surprise is modified by INS A strategy roll or stuff along those lines would be modified by LOG. Situational modifiers like cover, entrenched, terrain etc can apply as well. Players would have an Battle Force "Character" Sheet where elements/units could be listed. Percentage values for the above described rolls computed and listed for ease of use, casualties tracked, and possibly morale issues tracked. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 20, 2011 - 8:23pm | Don't touch that dial....  |
October 21, 2011 - 6:40pm | Types of operations 1. Seek and destroy the enemy 2. Hide from the enemy (often while raiding his supply lines) 3. Advance toward an objective (either to capture it or reinforce it) 4. Retreat from the enemy 5. Defend an objective 6. Escort a convoy or other moving force 7. patrol or secure territory 8. Ravage inhabited territory 9. Perform field excercises that simulate any of the above (which, if performed near enemy frontiers, may either send a message or turn into the real thing). 10 Rally, rest, or train troops. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
