I'm currently toying with the idea of modifying and adapting Starfinder's starship combat rules for DiA's infernal war machines. Has anyone here tried it before? Any ideas/suggestions/advice?
Here is (more or less) how I'm thinking about running it.
- The map uses hexes, not squares. Seemingly small change by itself, but it matters for other things here too.
- Weapons have firing arcs determined by the diagonal hexes. Turret-mounted weapons can fire in any direction.
- Directional facing matters for turning/maneuvering as well as weapon arcs.
- War machines turn 60° (1 face of the hex) at a time, and depending on their level of maneuverability must move a certain number of hexes before making each turn. Perfect maneuverability (devil's ride) requires 0 hexes before each turn, good maneuverability (tormentor) requires 1 hex, average maneuverability (probably going to homebrew a new war machine) requires 2, poor maneuverability (scavenger) requires 3, and clumsy maneuverability (demon grinder) requires 4.
- The drive action is for normal movement, taking the changes to facing and turning into account.
- Alternatively, the driver can take other types of actions to move the war machine differently, such as sliding over without changing the war machine's facing, spinning the war machine around and driving in reverse so its weapon arcs are on opposite sides (useful for when there are different weapons on either side), and others. These special actions require a dexterity check using the war machine's dexterity.
Any suggestions for improvements or other ways to implement this sort of thing? I'm open to all ideas.
I've also considered adapting the starship combat phases (engineering phase for making on-the-fly repairs or improving systems, helm phase for controlling the ship and bolstering crew, gunnery phase for attacking) as well, though I still need to do some thinking on that. If you've got an idea for it, let me know!
I wouldn't do starship combat phases as, to me and largely based on my experience with games that have starship combat rules, it's sort of presuming your war machines are only going to be fighting war machines. I would have the whole crew and hangers on roll initiative and declare actions which may include things like engineering checks (though a lot of severe damage in War Machine RAW mean the vehicle's gotta stop anyway).
What I think the War Machine Rules really need are salvaging parts from wrecks on captured war machines. But I like party skill challenges done to the tune of an A Team 80s welding montage.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I wouldn't do starship combat phases as, to me and largely based on my experience with games that have starship combat rules, it's sort of presuming your war machines are only going to be fighting war machines. I would have the whole crew and hangers on roll initiative and declare actions which may include things like engineering checks (though a lot of severe damage in War Machine RAW mean the vehicle's gotta stop anyway).
What I think the War Machine Rules really need are salvaging parts from wrecks on captured war machines. But I like party skill challenges done to the tune of an A Team 80s welding montage.
Thanks for the input. I was undecided on the phases in the first place, but leaning toward leaving them out, and you make a good case against them. I couldn't really think of a way that they would improve the experience narratively without being unnecessarily clunky. My whole goal with changing this stuff is to make the combats feel more vehicular rather than just being essentially normal combats taking place on moving platforms, and I don't think the phases would add anything to that and would possibly even detract from that experience. Thanks for talking me out of using them.
I definitely like the idea of skill challenges to salvage parts, though. I wish there were rules for salvaging in the published book, but alas, it's just one more missed opportunity out of many - a shame, really, considering how cool the adventure is with enough work.
Yeah, I mean 5e is streamlined so I don't expect lots of robustly developed sub-systemed within it. That said, I think maybe adapting a "technology" 5e based game or digging up something from the 3.0/3.5 OGL renaissance (like d20 Modern) might find some clues.
I mean, in BG:DiA they do differentiate what sort of repairs call for smith tools vs. tinker tools. From their you're basically salvaging hit points from the machines.
I remember the d6 Star Wars campaign had a neat table to describe mechanical components on a starship in "star wars speak", basically evocative gibberish. I should do that with Infernal War Machines. I already have a swap out between the soul fueled default for war machines to something powered by Acheron Anger Boxes, so you can power machines literally fueled by anger. I'm not a super gear head but I think someone could have fun with fiendish mechanical analogs.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I'm currently toying with the idea of modifying and adapting Starfinder's starship combat rules for DiA's infernal war machines. Has anyone here tried it before? Any ideas/suggestions/advice?
Here is (more or less) how I'm thinking about running it.
- The map uses hexes, not squares. Seemingly small change by itself, but it matters for other things here too.
- Weapons have firing arcs determined by the diagonal hexes. Turret-mounted weapons can fire in any direction.
- Directional facing matters for turning/maneuvering as well as weapon arcs.
- War machines turn 60° (1 face of the hex) at a time, and depending on their level of maneuverability must move a certain number of hexes before making each turn. Perfect maneuverability (devil's ride) requires 0 hexes before each turn, good maneuverability (tormentor) requires 1 hex, average maneuverability (probably going to homebrew a new war machine) requires 2, poor maneuverability (scavenger) requires 3, and clumsy maneuverability (demon grinder) requires 4.
- The drive action is for normal movement, taking the changes to facing and turning into account.
- Alternatively, the driver can take other types of actions to move the war machine differently, such as sliding over without changing the war machine's facing, spinning the war machine around and driving in reverse so its weapon arcs are on opposite sides (useful for when there are different weapons on either side), and others. These special actions require a dexterity check using the war machine's dexterity.
Any suggestions for improvements or other ways to implement this sort of thing? I'm open to all ideas.
I've also considered adapting the starship combat phases (engineering phase for making on-the-fly repairs or improving systems, helm phase for controlling the ship and bolstering crew, gunnery phase for attacking) as well, though I still need to do some thinking on that. If you've got an idea for it, let me know!
I wouldn't do starship combat phases as, to me and largely based on my experience with games that have starship combat rules, it's sort of presuming your war machines are only going to be fighting war machines. I would have the whole crew and hangers on roll initiative and declare actions which may include things like engineering checks (though a lot of severe damage in War Machine RAW mean the vehicle's gotta stop anyway).
What I think the War Machine Rules really need are salvaging parts from wrecks on captured war machines. But I like party skill challenges done to the tune of an A Team 80s welding montage.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Thanks for the input. I was undecided on the phases in the first place, but leaning toward leaving them out, and you make a good case against them. I couldn't really think of a way that they would improve the experience narratively without being unnecessarily clunky. My whole goal with changing this stuff is to make the combats feel more vehicular rather than just being essentially normal combats taking place on moving platforms, and I don't think the phases would add anything to that and would possibly even detract from that experience. Thanks for talking me out of using them.
I definitely like the idea of skill challenges to salvage parts, though. I wish there were rules for salvaging in the published book, but alas, it's just one more missed opportunity out of many - a shame, really, considering how cool the adventure is with enough work.
Yeah, I mean 5e is streamlined so I don't expect lots of robustly developed sub-systemed within it. That said, I think maybe adapting a "technology" 5e based game or digging up something from the 3.0/3.5 OGL renaissance (like d20 Modern) might find some clues.
I mean, in BG:DiA they do differentiate what sort of repairs call for smith tools vs. tinker tools. From their you're basically salvaging hit points from the machines.
I remember the d6 Star Wars campaign had a neat table to describe mechanical components on a starship in "star wars speak", basically evocative gibberish. I should do that with Infernal War Machines. I already have a swap out between the soul fueled default for war machines to something powered by Acheron Anger Boxes, so you can power machines literally fueled by anger. I'm not a super gear head but I think someone could have fun with fiendish mechanical analogs.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
A friend of mine uttered the words "infernal combustion engine".