Wars Among the Stars

I hardly ever get to play Science Fiction games. When I do, it tends to be the type of Science Fiction that's mixed with rubber science or even mystical abilities (which I also enjoy, but that's really Science Fantasy and I have Fading Suns for that).

But I do buy and read a fair amount of them (more and more of them in electronic form)! I have stuff from Hero Games and stuff for GURPS. I've got Traveller stuff and the Stars Without Number stuff. I used to have all the Star Wars D6 stuff and all the Cyberpunk stuff. I was going to try to collect all the Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, and Blue Planet stuff but realized I just didn't have that much money.

And I didn't get to complete my collection of Mongoose Babylon 5 stuff before their license ran out, gosh darn it.

RPGs

Here are a couple of games that I'm looking at picking up, even if it's likely that I'll never run them:

I already picked up the Thousand Suns RPG before, and enjoyed its approach toward creating a space opera type campaign setting with a semi-toolkit approach. The d12-based mechanic is interesting as well, though I will say that I'm biased towards bell curve dice mechanics for resolution. I'm looking at picking this supplement up, which gives even more material on fleshing out your own very special space opera setting -- even if I know that there's a new edition of Thousand Suns in the works.

I guess I'm just interesting in things that will help flesh out the verisimilitude of a space-based campaign setting: the trading, the politics, the logistics of daily life on colonies and space stations and starships. And I'll admit that I've often used these details on adventures set on different Fading Suns planets.

Another RPG of interest is primarily on my wishlist due to curiosity. Some of my favorite Science Fiction RPG adventures in the past have been largely military campaigns (hence my interest in the Stars Without Number supplement Skyward Steel), and this particular RPG -- called 3:16: Carnage Amongst The Stars is really just that ("Out-Veerhoeven's Veerhoeven!" said Robin D. Laws).

Not only that, it's been nominated for, and has won several industry awards, so that speaks well for its quality and hopefully playability.

The copy says: "This high-octane Science-Fiction role-playing game for 2 or more players has your Space Troopers killing bugs all across the Cosmos. You’ll advance in rank, improve your weapons, slay civilization after civilization and find out who you are through an innovative 'Flashback' mechanic."

War Games

Fortunately, I do stand a decent chance of actually playing in a war game. There's a local group of gamers interested in playing them (mostly historical though open to new games) that get together on occasion for one-off gameplay. For that occasion, I'm looking at the following:

Noble Armada: A Call to Arms is a wargame that I've mention in this blog before, primarily due to its chosen game setting(s). The old incarnation of A Call to Arms was set in the Babylon 5 setting (which is in fact where it got its title). I was fascinated by the ruleset's flavor, particularly the manuevers -- which were named using the actual commands of the commanding officers of the ships ("Ramming Speed!").

And now that the new ruleset is out, set in the Fading Suns universe -- taking over where the old Noble Armada miniatures game left off, and adding rules for things like boarding actions, I'm getting ready to jump in! I have no idea what I'll use for miniatures and definitely have no budget for that. But coins and cardboard can be used I suppose.

In another corner, a more generic ruleset known as Starmada -- with fantastically lean yet plausible rules for ships that don't mysteriously stop in space when their thrusters cut out (inertia is retained) -- rules for fleet actions have come out in the very clearly titled Starmada: Fleet Ops.

I've only managed to read through the Starmada: Admiralty Edition rules and tried out some solo simulations, but what I read was enough to sell me on the other material for the game.

I want to get more experience in building ships under the rules (which is actually quite easy to do, but getting the feel of the ships right is similar to any type of point-build system) especially since there are many rules (core and optional) to build most of the types of SF ships you see in fiction. You try to get the ships to play as you envision them. But then again, one could think of these new ships as pathfinders for new lines of ships.

Perhaps someday, who knows?

State of the Mongoose: Point of Interest 1 -- Noble Armada

I read up on the State of the Mongoose today and found out this little item (which I'd read about in passing on RPG.net in one of the threads) was confirmed:

A Call to Arms: Noble Armada 

This came about because of a fortuitous meeting with Chris Wiese of Holistic Design at Gen Con this year. In a nutshell, Chris was looking for a new vehicle for Noble Armada (especially as the 3rd edition of Fading Suns is due for release in 2011 – more on that a little later), while we were looking for a new setting for A Call to Arms. 

We had looked at Star Trek, and even developed a working conversion of the rules, but during the licence negotiations we found we were going head to head with Wizkids. And that was never going to go well! 

When Noble Armada was suggested to us, however, it just seemed like a perfect fit. Multiple fleets with room to add more, a developed universe to draw upon, and a very different style of ship combat for us to play with. No downsides! 

Signs & Portents [#87 for those of you interested in looking for it] is currently previewing CTA: Noble Armada, and we would direct you to look at the current issues for more details of this game – it is going to be a good ‘un, so if space fleet combat is your thing, take a peek.

CTA + NA =?

This is good news, because I really wanted to try out a whole bunch of Babylon 5 stuff when Mongoose had the license, but unfortunately wasn't able to. Fortunately, A Call to Arms lives on with its unusually named maneuvers (which look fun to call out when you declare 'em) by transitioning into the Fading Suns universe!
Also, it will help answer some of the questions that I've always had about the ships and their role in the Known Worlds -- not the least of which is locking down what kind of differences there are in the various ships (Hawkwoods, Decados, Guild, al-Malik, etc.) so that you get that thrill you got in B5 -- where the tech and the ship design is so well-defined you can tell where a ship is from and what kind of technology it has built into it.

Also, it may be that the old ship lists of B5 may be usable still, and perform the role of ships to round out non-provided fleets -- the minor houses, the new ships of the Imperial fleet, mercenary fleets, alien ships, and perhaps ships from the Kurgan Caliphate and various Lost Worlds...

Here's hoping for rules on ship-building as well, just in case I'll need to tweak them existing ships for some pirate ships with extra surprises, and some 'ghost ships' that have survived long voyages through the blackness of space.

My ultimate meta-gaming layer for the Fading Suns universe would be somehow integrating Victory By Any Means (VBAM) into the macro level of the setting. Someday, perhaps.