Space RPG with best Starship Rules

RPGPundit · July 20, 2017, 05:26:00 AM

Since I universally can't stand starship-creation rules, I don't really have anything to contribute here.

crkrueger · July 20, 2017, 08:24:04 AM

I've got pretty much all the FASA Trek, Star Frontiers, WEG SW and Spacemaster 2nd/Starstrike stuff in storage, I'll have to dig that out and let him compare. Will have to dig out Universe too, forgot about those creation rules. Think I've got most of the key Traveller stuff in digital as well as SWN.

Thanks all, I always like to check to see if I'm overlooking or missing something.

flyingmice · July 20, 2017, 09:35:04 AM

Have fun!

Biscuitician · July 20, 2017, 09:55:47 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;976794Since I universally can't stand starship-creation rules,

Why?

Krimson · July 20, 2017, 01:04:44 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;976794Since I universally can't stand starship-creation rules, I don't really have anything to contribute here.

These days I just stat them like monsters since they're basically constructs which may or may not have some form of sentience or intelligence. That's the route I'll go should I get a chance to run something like Ultramodern5.

jhkim · July 20, 2017, 02:09:27 PM

In principle, I liked Star Hero's approach of treating starships like characters with variant options. This plays on the strength of the core game's flexibility, and meant that starship combat had a lot of overlap with personal combat. I like the 4th edition core rules the best, but the Star Hero adaptation for 4th ed had many problems.

Charon's Little Helper · July 20, 2017, 05:47:36 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;976794Since I universally can't stand starship-creation rules, I don't really have anything to contribute here.

It's one of those rules which I think is really cool in theory, but it ends up being way too much work and still ends up with a hot mess. (terrible balance between option combinations etc.)

Dumarest · July 20, 2017, 06:31:15 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;976794Since I universally can't stand starship-creation rules, I don't really have anything to contribute here.

And yet you posted.

I will admit I have never actually designed a ship from scratch in Traveller and done the math. I just slap them together as needed or use some of the examples and premade ones with alterations as needed.

RPGPundit · July 22, 2017, 02:03:34 AM

Quote from: Biscuitician;976834Why?

They're always focused on technical specs and details, often with point-buy construction systems. It's about as fun to me as making a 400-point character in GURPS or Shadowrun. Which is to say, not at all.

Xavier Onassiss · July 22, 2017, 02:03:32 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;977252They're always focused on technical specs and details, often with point-buy construction systems. It's about as fun to me as making a 400-point character in GURPS or Shadowrun. Which is to say, not at all.

Agreed. I got tired of fiddling with massively detailed starship design systems and all the number crunching that goes with them a while ago. I'm currently working on a simplified system for writing up starships that doesn't offend my inner simulationist, and it's not easy. (I still want a certain level of detail, and internally consistent results.) So now I'm fiddling with massively detailed game design and all the number crunching that goes with it, instead. But yeah, a complete starship stat block should take no more than five or ten minutes to write up, start to finish.

Shawn Driscoll · July 23, 2017, 04:19:51 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;977252They're always focused on technical specs and details, often with point-buy construction systems. It's about as fun to me as making a 400-point character in GURPS or Shadowrun. Which is to say, not at all.

Or the ships are given player character attributes like Strength, Endurance, Agility, Speed, Defense, Stealth, Range, and have similar-looking character sheets as the PC sheets. Rubbish.

TrippyHippy · July 23, 2017, 08:46:40 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;976794Since I universally can't stand starship-creation rules, I don't really have anything to contribute here.

It was a point of contention in the latest version of Mongoose Traveller that they kept the starship creation system out of the core rules, and put them all in entirety into the High Guard book. Some complained, but in my experience, most casual Traveller groups don't actually give two figs about designing their own craft and are happy to take a pregenerated one 'off the shelf' - which is what the core book provides.

crkrueger · July 23, 2017, 09:10:30 PM

Quote from: TrippyHippy;977633It was a point of contention in the latest version of Mongoose Traveller that they kept the starship creation system out of the core rules, and put them all in entirety into the High Guard book. Some complained, but in my experience, most casual Traveller groups don't actually give two figs about designing their own craft and are happy to take a pregenerated one 'off the shelf' - which is what the core book provides.

Really? Not wanting to create one out of whole cloth - ok, that I can see, but the rules for creating starships also give you the rules for modifying them in most cases and I've never seen a group with a ship that didn't want to make some modifications, usually in stealth and speed to be able to avoid combat or disengage and run like hell.

AaronBrown99 · July 23, 2017, 09:52:00 PM

Quote from: CRKrueger;977638Really? Not wanting to create one out of whole cloth - ok, that I can see, but the rules for creating starships also give you the rules for modifying them in most cases and I've never seen a group with a ship that didn't want to make some modifications, usually in stealth and speed to be able to avoid combat or disengage and run like hell.

Black Globe generators ftw

Xavier Onassiss · July 24, 2017, 01:26:38 AM

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;977446Or the ships are given player character attributes like Strength, Endurance, Agility, Speed, Defense, Stealth, Range, and have similar-looking character sheets as the PC sheets. Rubbish.

But of course. The starship needs a Strength score in case one of the PCs decides to grapple with it!