As written, Dawn Patrol is more like a first-person shooter than most roleplaying games: pick your country, pick your plane, roll for a single starting attribute (Experience), and pick a name for your pilot.

I've been toying with ideas for making it a better roleplaying game. First, there needs to be more to the characters than how well they control an airplane and a machine gun. Second, the game needs to include play outside the cockpit. Third, the head-to-head nature of the game may be problematic, though I think it's possible to make it work with the right group of players.

With respect to the first point, my solution is simple - use 2e Boot Hill for chargen. In fact, BH works for everything that happens away from the plane, and it should be a relatively simple matter to fold in stats like Gun Accuracy and Bravery to the existing DP rules, which adds additional distinction to the individual characters. The two systems handle Experience the same way - gunfights and missions survived - but at different scales, so I could either two-track Experience or find a way to meld the two together.

For the third point, DP as written doesn't have a referee, and BH is playable without a referee; the campaign advice in BH is to write orders in advance, compare them, and adjudicate combat that may arise, say, when the rustlers try to take the rancher's herd on the drive. This could actually be a fun way to play, with the Allies and Central Powers players each having a mission objective to accomplish, but more traditional 'adventures' familiar to roleplayers might be harder to accomplish.

And that leads to the whole, 'what do we do when we're not battling the Red Baron?' thing. Dawn Patrol pilots share some similiarities with swashbucklers. Rescues are a staple of the WWI pilot stories with which I'm familiar, as are special intelligence missions. There are hijinks on leave and rivalries within and between squadrons. Beyond that, well, I admit I'm at a bit of a loss.

One could go for some over-the-top pulp action . . .



. . . though my own preferences are - surprise, surprise - more traditional.



I know Clash has a couple of flying games out there - are any of them WWI-ish, and if not, what do the other ones offer by way of adventure? What would you recommend?

Clash does indeed have a WWI flying game.. trying to remember now, is that "Aces in Spades"?

RPGPundit

Quote from: Black Vulmea;569805

Trying to use a tanto to hack off the wing of the biplane you are clinging to just became my new definition of badass.

Quote from: Black Vulmea;569805

I don't think the Germans had a four-engine twin-fuselage bomber in World War TWO.

JG

You could mine the Biggles books for ideas about what to do in the down-time.

Quote from: James Gillen;570242I don't think the Germans had a four-engine twin-fuselage bomber in World War TWO.

JG

when i saw that pic, first thing i thought of was the planes in crimson skies.

Quote from: James Gillen;570242I don't think the Germans had a four-engine twin-fuselage bomber in World War TWO.

JG

To be fair I don't think they had trained giant bats flying around with search lights shining out of their mouths either.

Those look like pulps from the thirties, between the wars.  Which explains much of what you see on the covers.

I loved Dawn Patrol and I think Boot Hill would probably be a pretty good fit.  But what are you going to do about stating and using tanks and motor cars?  Also, we'll need tommy guns for Boot Hill.

Actually, if you do this as an integrated retro-clone I'd be very interested.  Damn, you'd want to fix the shotguns in Boot Hill.  They're really silly.

IRRC Gang Busters was d% and probably not quite as neat a fit so it wouldn't be a better choice.

Quote from: David Johansen;570274IRRC Gang Busters was d% and probably not quite as neat a fit so it wouldn't be a better choice.

Maybe not quite as tight a fit, but with all of those features already in place.

Great suggestion, David - I'll have to give GB a look.

Dogfight is a Spanish rpg set in WWI.



Here is an English review.

Quote from: noisms;570268To be fair I don't think they had trained giant bats flying around with search lights shining out of their mouths either.

No, but they should have.

JG

Quote from: James Gillen;570423No, but they should have.

JG

Things would have turned out so much differently.

Quote from: noisms;570428Things would have turned out so much differently.

"The Italian Campaign was quickly concluded as Italy signed a separate peace with the Central Powers following the devastating Austro-German victory at the 1917 Battle of Caporetto, which marked Germany's first use of Stosstruppen infantry and gigantic trained bats."

Quote from: RPGPundit;570154Clash does indeed have a WWI flying game.. trying to remember now, is that "Aces in Spades"?

RPGPundit

Yes, its IN HARMS WAY: ACES in SPADES I do believe, I have been tempted to pick up the WW2 version several times, just can't seem to pull the trigger though.

Have you heard this interview with Mike Carr?

http://saveordie.info/?p=333