In message <199612130326.WAA27269@smtp1.sympatico.ca> Allan Goodall writes:
> There really aren't any really good fantasy battle rules. I hate WHFB
There are two commercial DBM-ish fantasy games out there. I, as yet,
own neither, so cannot reveiw them. They are "Raven" (supposedly *very* badly
presented, but a capable game) from... Heartbreaker?... not sure... and
"Fantasy Rules!" from ChipCo, whoever they are. Somebody called "Chip", I
believe. Heard good things about it.
You should find both mentioned on r.g.m.misc.
> Hmm, here's an idea. How about a project team to build a FMA style
Some of the essential concepts in FMA seem to me very, very,
grounded in the psuedo-modern style SF gaming genre. I don't really
see any equivalent of a SG squad or DS platoon in the Tolkien-esque
fantasy genre. Perhaps a DBM-esque element could substitute?
It could be worth a shot. Or stab. I'm not so sure about all those chits
littering the board.
---
GZG is a wholly SF enterprise. The only obvious gap I can see is for
a lower-level skirmish game (where the basic game token is a single
person, not a squad) and one "Jungleland" has been on the cards for
sometime. Or one could focus more tightly and create the FMA-RPG.
Jon also carries a range or two of anime and comedy ("nuns with
guns") figures, so that might be a fertile area. Jon is a well-known
anime nut, so much so that I'm surprised he doesn't supply a Japanese army for
StarGrunt consisting of uniformed schoolgirls...
...or new alien race: the Ka'Wai.
So a comedy knockabout game would help support some of his wares.
What other fertile SF genres are there? Car duelling? Unfeasable Giant Robots?
----------
> From: David Brewer <db-ft@westmore.demon.co.uk>
I have and own Raven Fantasy from Harlequin Miniatures and belive it is a good
game, but the editing is horrendous. I have a few problems with it as far as
mechanics and scale goes, but it does have some very good ideas.
Especialy about pre-game stratigic planning and magic.
Don't know anything about Chipco rules.
> Some of the essential concepts in FMA seem to me very, very,
I agree that some of the FMA concepts are talored to SF, but the basic system
would be a very sound basis for any type of game, including fantasy. The
varible die system is a good way to show differences in ability without alot
of modifiers, and the opposed die roll keeps both players in the action. I
think the big problem, as far as combat is concerened is how to show varing
degrees of success when one unit smashes into another.
> GZG is a wholly SF enterprise. The only obvious gap I can see is for
Didn't know that Jon was into anime, and I thought I had nothing in common
with him.
BTW, ROFL
> ...or new alien race: the Ka'Wai.
Giant Robots ala....Mecha. Well Heavy Gear by Dream Pod 9 is the best Mecha
game I've ever played, it would be very hard to beat. Come to think of it HG
has alot of the same concepts that FMA does except it is exclusivly D6 based,
but you gain dice for skill levels.
Hum.....
> --
JNoll
> On Fri, 13 Dec 1996, David Brewer wrote:
Fantasy Rules! is published by the Canadian Wargamer's Group. (Allan, I wonder
why you haven't heard of them?). I played them for the first time last night,
and they're pretty good.
> Some of the essential concepts in FMA seem to me very, very,
I don't think there are any /essentially/ SF elements in SG. You have
ranged combat and you have close combat with different levels of
effect. You have armour. Sometimes you have riding beasts/vehicles.
Seeme pretty straightforward to me.
There are /plenty/ of squad-equivalents in fantasy warfare. The front
line of peasantry before the knights ride into battle are a few really
/large/ squads of low-level fodder which can be nasty en masse. The
knights that follow could be done as squads of high-mobility forces
with high lethality but very low numbers, sometimes using the individual
figure rules in SG. You have massed squads of archers raining death down on
the battleefield which more often just kept troops under cover than killed
them. I don't see too much more that you need save rules for sorceries.
> It could be worth a shot. Or stab. I'm not so sure about all those
Trust me, those chits are a /lot/ less wieldy than they look at first
glance and save a world of time in record keeping. Its akin to the difference
between an analog instrument panel and a HUD in a jet. It
may not be strictly /period/ for me to have complete information of
that nature, but its certainly a sacrifice worth making for playability.
> GZG is a wholly SF enterprise. The only obvious gap I can see is for
Perversely enough, I'm actually working on an FMA-RPG set of rules
which could, I suppose, be used for man-to-man scale battle; if I'm
lucky Mike'll see this post, tell Jon, and send me private email
regarding a possible buy-out. :)
> Jon also carries a range or two of anime and comedy ("nuns with
Oh, now /that/ could be fun. EVERY weapon is considered a terror
weapon to them but in close combat they get a two die-shift boost due
to the large mallets they pull out of extradimensional pockets. Makes
my ideas for a tentacle-porn game that much broader.
> What other fertile SF genres are there? Car duelling? Unfeasable
Both of those fields are /more/ than adequately covered by other
entries that would be nearly impossible to displace. Between BTECH, HEAVY GEAR
and MEKTON ZETA there's little chance of anyone making a
solid entry into the lets-build-cool-stuff-and-fight-'em field. An
FMA-RPG could actually make some headway, because there's just no
simple and flexible SF RPG system out there.
> At 10:27 AM 12/13/96 -0500, you wrote:
Someone else said that _Fantasy Rules!_ is by Chipco. The rules written
by
the Canadian Wargamer's Group is _Legendary Battles_. Did the rules have
a Battle of Hastings scenario to show that it could be used with historicals?
If so it's probably _Legendary Battles_, which is based on their _Flower
of
Chivalry_ system.