World War II Roleplay

[Blackclaw]

Some friends and I are working on developing a World War II roleplaying game. It is based upon the D20 Dungeons and Dragons rules but with quite few modifications to make the game represent that era of combat as realistically as we can (while still allowing it to function as a roleplay game). Even if you are not into roleplaying games we could use folks who are interested and knowledgable in military history to post on our forums at www.blackclawgames.com . A lot of our target audience may not have that much background in military history, so you may heve to excercise a little patience.

[Stinger]

Are you going to use a mass battle system or try to keep it more inline with traditional combat?

[Confed999]

Talk about a tough project. I wish you the best of luck. Are you familiar with the combat systems used in the original Twilight 2000 or Living Steel? T2000 was the most fun we have tried, and Living Steel the most realistic.

[Blackclaw]

Originally posted by Stinger
Are you going to use a mass battle system or try to keep it more inline with traditional combat?

We are going to keep it at small squad level. There are some really good WW II tabletop games out there already. Flames of War looks quite good. But as a roleplaying game, each player only controls one guy. That lets us focus on a lot of detail that becomes cumbersome to keep track of in a mass battle system.

[Blackclaw]

Originally posted by Confed999
Talk about a tough project. I wish you the best of luck. Are you familiar with the combat systems used in the original Twilight 2000 or Living Steel? T2000 was the most fun we have tried, and Living Steel the most realistic.

I never tried Living Steel, but the Original Twilight 2000 definitely influnced my thoughs on the level of detail I wanted to include in the game. I really liked the way the original Twilight handled armor combat. It was complex, but very cool and added a level of uncertainity about the outcome any time a vehicle was hit. I was very disappointed when the "New Edition" of Twilight 2000 got rid of that complexity. It made it easier to play, but I thought it was less interesting.

In WW II Roleplay, I'm trying to make the armor combat fairly detailed. We use templates that lets you follow the path of a shell as it cuts through a tank. It's a very graphical and intense. My only regret is that to make the templates work as part of a game that is actually playable is having to cut a few realism corners. It's hard to fit all of the components of a tank into a nice even graphic. So some of the components have been grouped together in a little more orderly fashion than they actually were. The prime example of this is ammo for the main gun. Is there any place on a World War II tank that they didn't stuff ammo? On most tank designs it's in racks on the walls, in the turret, stuffed next to the gun, on the floor... I suspect they made the driver hold a few extra rounds in his lap. So, for now, I've grouped all the ammo into one location on the templates.

It's a huge project. But it's been fun as it has given me a chance to research things I never really looked at before, like German Halftracks for example. It's also been a convienent excuse to start a gun collection. The 8mm Mauser I bought was um.. needed research material. Well that's what I told my wife. :00

[Confed999]

The template idea sounds pretty cool. Don't worry about sacrificing some realism for playability, if it's not fun to play it won't matter how realistic it is. BTW, I'll be expecting a complementary copy. ;) :)

[Bill]

Unfortunately, i believe that it will be nigh impossible to model accurately.

One artillery shell could kill the whole aquad, lol.

And let's face it, you get shot by the typical WWII rifle, and your not going anywhere but to heaven or the hospital. ;)

MechWarrior had good personal combat rules, but it was viciously unforgiving.

Probably why i liked it. :)

[tomas]

Originally posted by Confed999
The template idea sounds pretty cool. Don't worry about sacrificing some realism for playability, if it's not fun to play it won't matter how realistic it is. BTW, I'll be expecting a complementary copy. ;) :)

lol
sounds cool i'd play it and what sniper says is right

[Blackclaw]

Originally posted by M21Sniper
Unfortunately, i believe that it will be nigh impossible to model accurately.

One artillery shell could kill the whole aquad, lol.

And let's face it, you get shot by the typical WWII rifle, and your not going anywhere but to heaven or the hospital. ;)

MechWarrior had good personal combat rules, but it was viciously unforgiving.

Probably why i liked it. :)

Yeah, that can happen. We haven't lost a whole squad to arty yet in play testing, but a crew of folks manning an AT gun bought it when they were hit by German Artillery fire. The rest of the squad was fortunate enough to be on the other side of a hill.

I played Mechwarrior all through college and I liked how vicious it could be.

Two of the big problems I've faced in putting the game together is the absolute lethality of the combat and the frustration gamers might feel when they fail to hit anything.
Most games fail to appreciate just how much ammo an infantry squad can burn through without actually hitting anything.

To deal with these issues we have kind of a dual health system. Vitality represents the stamina and battle experience of a soldier while Wounds represents physical health. Most damage goes to Vitality first and then to Wounds. Then represents how a soldier gets more and more exhusted from being under fire and allows characters to feel like they are accomplishing something with their fire even when it isn't actually hitting their target. The more battle experience a soldier has, the more vitality they have. This represents not only an increase in stamina but their knowledge in how to avoid making mistakes that can get them killed.

A newly arrived soldier can be killed by a single shot to his Vitality.

Vitality increases with time, but Wounds do not. A critical hit always goes directly to Wounds so that even a veteran soldier can be killed by a single well placed shot.

I also have rules in place for supression fire.

So I'm kind of fudging with reality some, but the game is still fairly lethal. It's definitely a game for advanced players who don't get too upset when their character gets killed in the first round of a firefight.

[Blackclaw]

Originally posted by Confed999
The template idea sounds pretty cool. Don't worry about sacrificing some realism for playability, if it's not fun to play it won't matter how realistic it is. BTW, I'll be expecting a complementary copy. ;) :)

Only playtesters get complimentary copies. Hmmm.... :00

You wouldn't happen to own a copy of the Dungeons and Dragons Player's handbook and have a group of nearby friends with similar interests?

[Officer of Engineers]

Nothing compared to the complete frustration of laying a perfectly good minefield and then forgot to leave a sentry (actually no body to spare) and then find an NTC pltn at your backdoor.

[Confed999]

Originally posted by Blackclaw
Only playtesters get complimentary copies. Hmmm.... :00

You wouldn't happen to own a copy of the Dungeons and Dragons Player's handbook and have a group of nearby friends with similar interests?

I was just kidding with you, but thanks anyway. ;)

[Bill]

Mine fields are quite useless when unattended. ;)

[Officer of Engineers]

Originally posted by M21Sniper
Mine fields are quite useless when unattended. ;)

I am very tempted to pull rank not to remind me of my stupidity.

[Bill]

LOL!

We are all stricken by moments of temporary stupidity sir.

You are no more immune to it than any other soldier. ;)