Has anyone tried porting over a version of this series into their d&d game?
A group of former soldiers forced to go on the run after they fail a mission rigged for them to fail regardless of their choice.
In the process of escaping they end up fleeing with others who they end up having to protect in their efforts to rebuild their lives outside of the organisation they fought for thats now turned against them.
Hunter (Ranger)
Wrecker (Barbarian)
Echo (Wizard maybe more Warforged than human?)
Tech (Artificer or Cleric)
Crosshair (Fighter) turned against the team
Maybe reveal their unit was so often out in the field they avoided being "tagged" by a glyph that was activated thus dominating most of the organisation forces.
Crosshair also avoided being tagged and is actually helping his new commander being the most amoral of the group.
Have you considered running a game based loosely on that series and if so how did it go or how far along have you got to actually running it?
You mean running a game based on a pilot that came out three days ago? I doubt anyone has done it yet, but I'm sure people will use the Bad Batch for character concepts.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Since these particular characters actually first appeared during season 7 of The Clone Wars, some of us have had a bit longer than 3 days to consider them. (Yes, yes, I am a total geek. I love both Tolkien and Star Wars.) I'll admit, my first reaction was to hint, not too subtly, to my husband that I would like at least a short campaign based around this concept. What our gaming group actually chose was a squad of Mandalorian bounty hunters instead. It was fun, but I would still be more than happy to play something involving Clone Force 99.
As far as the new series...
Are you intentionally omitting Omega? What status would you give her with the group?
I could also see a few other ideas on character classes such as...
Crosshair as an assassin or even ranger. Just give him the Sharpshooter feat. and maybe check out some of the newer thrown weapon fighting style from Tasha's for Hunter.
I would certainly play if someone near me was running this.
Yes, I watched the soft pilot too; but it was unclear in the hype how quickly Task Force 99 (weird tribute btw) would go rogue from the Empire (albeit the premier was basically a three episode arc). There are lots of ways to explore a soldier's consciousness leading to a "maybe we're the baddies?" revelation, and frankly the original Clone Wars I feel did a better job of slow burning it, though that show had the whole CW's to play out where the Bad Batch is set in a much more chaotic moment. That said, one can have more nuance in chaos (something CW did well too). My Star Wars RPG "working group" (we play out scenarios with d6 and the FFG rulesets, maybe Saga Edition someday if someone finds a good copy they're willing to splurge on) has actually been playing in this period using Regs, last Jedi hold outs, Republic Officers, fringers (bounty hunters and smugglers) and former CIS operatives just wondering "da fu.....?" It's a fun era to play in because you're playing in a moment where one playbook has been tossed and the new playbook hasn't been extensively published or circulated so lots of opportunities for traditional TTRPG adventurer types).
I should also say I watched the A Team a lot as a kid and ... have concerns.
Omega could be a Bard, she's literally the "inspiration" for TF99's "doing the right thing" and she's definitely steeped in lore (basically Republic/Nascent Empire intel on the Clone Army and cloning in general, she's also got uncannily high insight, so whatever feat or specialization you want for that).
In non spoiler broad strokes, Bad Batch into D&D is basically an iteration on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Everyone you knew, while reflective of who you knew, is somehow "oddly different", an unease that eventually breaks out into antagonism and flight of the "surviving" minds. That leads to a bleak outlook game along the lines of the the refrain from one of the Body Snatcher remakes, "Where you gonna go? Where you gonna run? Where you gonna hide? Nowhere. Because there's no one. Like you. Left." Unless there are some folks with not inconsiderable wealth and political connections and some further combat trained assets not touched by this coup who may be able to finance and coordinate a rebellion. Doesn't make up for the lack of camaraderie with your former brother in arms
Something else I didn't like about Bad Batch is TF99 was supposed to be sort of legends and respected by a lot of clones held in high regard (Like Cody and eventually Rex). I didn't get the pariah status they had on Kamino, seemed a bit heavier than needed for Order 66. It's not like Tarkins suspicions about their lack of loyalty was somehow communicated to the regs, he had probably more contempt for them on a quality level than 99's unconventional tactics (even through the Storm Trooper program basically conditions most of the army to fight like Clones, but SW inconsistencies, whatever.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
SW5e is a huge thing and there is probably a clone race, plus classes for each character, I would personally take battle master for crosshair and shave him use precision shot and disarming strike a lot, Striker would be a Barb with tavern brawler and unarmed fighting initiate.
Omega would be a lightfoot halfling Expert NPC and I don't understand why the OP omitted her, spoilers maybe?
Ah. Well the full extent of Omegas powers haven’t been revealed yet, so I don’t know about her character. Probably some form of spell caster elf. As for a Bad Batch campaign, the problem is that it’s not really the DM, it’s the players. I always ask my players what their characters are, and if they were all fighters then I’d probably make a bad batch type campaign.
I actually think basing this concept works well for a party, albeit loosely applied, to a party in any edition of D&D, or other games with a focus on combat as well.
You, as GM, just need to tell the players they’re part of a military unit. They get sent on a mission and fail, but survive, and it’s a set up that makes them look like the villains.
You, as GM, just need to plant it (somehow) so the players would rather go on the run rather than clear their names.
Has anyone tried porting over a version of this series into their d&d game?
A group of former soldiers forced to go on the run after they fail a mission rigged for them to fail regardless of their choice.
In the process of escaping they end up fleeing with others who they end up having to protect in their efforts to rebuild their lives outside of the organisation they fought for thats now turned against them.
Hunter (Ranger)
Wrecker (Barbarian)
Echo (Wizard maybe more Warforged than human?)
Tech (Artificer or Cleric)
Crosshair (Fighter) turned against the team
Maybe reveal their unit was so often out in the field they avoided being "tagged" by a glyph that was activated thus dominating most of the organisation forces.
Crosshair also avoided being tagged and is actually helping his new commander being the most amoral of the group.
Have you considered running a game based loosely on that series and if so how did it go or how far along have you got to actually running it?
You mean running a game based on a pilot that came out three days ago? I doubt anyone has done it yet, but I'm sure people will use the Bad Batch for character concepts.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Since these particular characters actually first appeared during season 7 of The Clone Wars, some of us have had a bit longer than 3 days to consider them. (Yes, yes, I am a total geek. I love both Tolkien and Star Wars.)
I'll admit, my first reaction was to hint, not too subtly, to my husband that I would like at least a short campaign based around this concept. What our gaming group actually chose was a squad of Mandalorian bounty hunters instead. It was fun, but I would still be more than happy to play something involving Clone Force 99.
As far as the new series...
Are you intentionally omitting Omega? What status would you give her with the group?
I could also see a few other ideas on character classes such as...
Crosshair as an assassin or even ranger. Just give him the Sharpshooter feat.
and maybe check out some of the newer thrown weapon fighting style from Tasha's for Hunter.
I would certainly play if someone near me was running this.
Yes, I watched the soft pilot too; but it was unclear in the hype how quickly Task Force 99 (weird tribute btw) would go rogue from the Empire (albeit the premier was basically a three episode arc). There are lots of ways to explore a soldier's consciousness leading to a "maybe we're the baddies?" revelation, and frankly the original Clone Wars I feel did a better job of slow burning it, though that show had the whole CW's to play out where the Bad Batch is set in a much more chaotic moment. That said, one can have more nuance in chaos (something CW did well too). My Star Wars RPG "working group" (we play out scenarios with d6 and the FFG rulesets, maybe Saga Edition someday if someone finds a good copy they're willing to splurge on) has actually been playing in this period using Regs, last Jedi hold outs, Republic Officers, fringers (bounty hunters and smugglers) and former CIS operatives just wondering "da fu.....?" It's a fun era to play in because you're playing in a moment where one playbook has been tossed and the new playbook hasn't been extensively published or circulated so lots of opportunities for traditional TTRPG adventurer types).
I should also say I watched the A Team a lot as a kid and ... have concerns.
Omega could be a Bard, she's literally the "inspiration" for TF99's "doing the right thing" and she's definitely steeped in lore (basically Republic/Nascent Empire intel on the Clone Army and cloning in general, she's also got uncannily high insight, so whatever feat or specialization you want for that).
In non spoiler broad strokes, Bad Batch into D&D is basically an iteration on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Everyone you knew, while reflective of who you knew, is somehow "oddly different", an unease that eventually breaks out into antagonism and flight of the "surviving" minds. That leads to a bleak outlook game along the lines of the the refrain from one of the Body Snatcher remakes, "Where you gonna go? Where you gonna run? Where you gonna hide? Nowhere. Because there's no one. Like you. Left." Unless there are some folks with not inconsiderable wealth and political connections and some further combat trained assets not touched by this coup who may be able to finance and coordinate a rebellion. Doesn't make up for the lack of camaraderie with your former brother in arms
Something else I didn't like about Bad Batch is TF99 was supposed to be sort of legends and respected by a lot of clones held in high regard (Like Cody and eventually Rex). I didn't get the pariah status they had on Kamino, seemed a bit heavier than needed for Order 66. It's not like Tarkins suspicions about their lack of loyalty was somehow communicated to the regs, he had probably more contempt for them on a quality level than 99's unconventional tactics (even through the Storm Trooper program basically conditions most of the army to fight like Clones, but SW inconsistencies, whatever.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
SW5e is a huge thing and there is probably a clone race, plus classes for each character, I would personally take battle master for crosshair and shave him use precision shot and disarming strike a lot, Striker would be a Barb with tavern brawler and unarmed fighting initiate.
Omega would be a lightfoot halfling Expert NPC and I don't understand why the OP omitted her, spoilers maybe?
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.
I made the whole squad.
Tech is a variant human mastermind rogue (level 4), fighter (1), and battle smith artificer (7)
Wrecker is a Goliath (due to size and strength bonus) berserker Barbarian (10) and fighter (2)
Echo is a Warforged thief rogue (5) and eldritch knight (7)
Crosshair is a variant human arcane archer (5), rogue (2), and war magic Wizard (5)
Hunter is a variant human ranger (1), battle master (6), and scout rogue (5)
No I was figuring this would either be an orphan they came across or a military brat that accompanied them at some point.
In her case I figured she would be a spare character in case they lost someone (or Crosshair) or another player joined in.
Never expected any replies to this, I just wondered about the potential it has as a game in d&d.
Ah. Well the full extent of Omegas powers haven’t been revealed yet, so I don’t know about her character. Probably some form of spell caster elf.
As for a Bad Batch campaign, the problem is that it’s not really the DM, it’s the players. I always ask my players what their characters are, and if they were all fighters then I’d probably make a bad batch type campaign.
I actually think basing this concept works well for a party, albeit loosely applied, to a party in any edition of D&D, or other games with a focus on combat as well.
You, as GM, just need to tell the players they’re part of a military unit. They get sent on a mission and fail, but survive, and it’s a set up that makes them look like the villains.
You, as GM, just need to plant it (somehow) so the players would rather go on the run rather than clear their names.
You mean has anyone tried retelling the Anabasis in game form? Sure. Loads of times. It's a great plot. I did it recently with Vampire: The Requiem.
Check out The Warriors (1979) for a cool film version.