I'd go with Ninjas & Superspies without a shadow of a doubt. Ideally supplemented by the Palladium Weapon Compendium series.
I'd trim down or ignore entirely the cybernetic implants, the more over-the-top gadgets and vehicles, and possibly the mystic martial arts stuff too. Just guns, kung fu and tradecraft.
But God in heaven, does this game need and/or deserve an update. Not necessarily in terms of rules, but the tech level in the huge equipment lists. At least if you're setting your game any time after 1990.
Savage Worlds. Or Fate. Seems to me like exactly the type of thing those systems'd handle well.
Savage Worlds or Dogs of W.A.R.
If you wanted crunchy: Spycraft 2E. Its VERY good at that sort of thing.
Seriously.
GURPS with various books (High Tech) would work too.
Palladiums Recon would fit probably.
Possibly Twilight 2000 sans the Post Apoc theme?
Dogs of war without a doubt!!!
I kind of want to use Savage Worlds but it does not handle distinct unarmed martial arts styles at all — at least out of the box. Does anyone know any supplement that addresses this?
Dogs of WAR looks fun but I found BoL underwhelming.
GURPS and Spycraft are awesome (look at all those fiddly bits!) but intimidate me (too many fiddly bits).
Has anyone ever run a similar "men's adventure" scenario?
Still Dogs of W*A*R.
Fourth-ing Dogs of War. Sure, the system is a bit skimpy but if you've got players in the appropriate mindset and add in a liberal amount of explosions, you should be good. Something like DwD Studios' Covert Ops is similar to Dogs of War, but has a little more system attached to it; if you do use Covert Ops, I'd recommend making the starting characters level 5 or so, so that have a bit more skills and competence to them.
Classic Spycraft might be another good choice. There's less fiddly bits than 2.0, it's significantly cheaper and there is a starter version pdf floating around out there.
Off-the-wall recommendation: Classic Traveller. You roll up a bunch of experienced bad-asses and substitute an airplane or tank for spaceship if you get one on the mustering out benefits. I haven't played CT enough to know if combat is suitably action filled, but it seems like it fits based on the trailers for the Expendables movies.
GURPS with the Tactical shooting supplement and the cinematic rules turned up to eleven. :)
Quote from: The Butcher;778057I'd go with Ninjas & Superspies without a shadow of a doubt. Ideally supplemented by the Palladium Weapon Compendium series.
I'd trim down or ignore entirely the cybernetic implants, the more over-the-top gadgets and vehicles, and possibly the mystic martial arts stuff too. Just guns, kung fu and tradecraft.
But God in heaven, does this game need and/or deserve an update. Not necessarily in terms of rules, but the tech level in the huge equipment lists. At least if you're setting your game any time after 1990.
It depends on one thing...dramatic logic or no?
If no, go with your gut, Ninjas and Superspies, with whatever supplements to taste. It would be the perfect blend of action feel without narrative metagaming genre stuff. GURPS and xCraft are probably too crunchy for the action feel if you're already not a big user of the systems.
If yes, then go with SW, Fate, X of Y, xWorld, whatever genre metagaming platform floats your boat.
Quote from: The Butcher;778057I'd go with Ninjas & Superspies without a shadow of a doubt. Ideally supplemented by the Palladium Weapon Compendium series.
I'd trim down or ignore entirely the cybernetic implants, the more over-the-top gadgets and vehicles, and possibly the mystic martial arts stuff too. Just guns, kung fu and tradecraft.
But God in heaven, does this game need and/or deserve an update. Not necessarily in terms of rules, but the tech level in the huge equipment lists. At least if you're setting your game any time after 1990.
A group I used to play with did this on Obsidian Portal/VT using Mongoose Traveller, worked ok.
Same ones I'd use for GI Joe - Spycraft (preferably 2.0, but 1e would do fine) or Ninjas & Superspies.
I'd probably go with BRP. (Which, honestly, probably isn't the best fit, but I'm comfortable with it and could house rule it a bit to better fit the "action movie" combat.)
I'd use Covert Ops from DWD Studios. It got a fast and clean equipment section, allows the more skilled to accomplish more (not just accomplish better), and a fun push-your-luck set of mechanics. It's also easy on the learning/teaching and includes a random mission generator.
Ninjas and Superspies would be great.
Or if you're doing it tongue-in-cheek, there is Extreme Vengeance, which was designed specifically for the sorts of movies Chuck Norris, Sly Stallone, Steven Segal, et al, used to make regularly.
Dogs of War, but I could see doing it with Feng Shui (just using a limited set of archetypes like ex Special Forces and Killer). Maybe even Extreme Vengeance
Hong Kong Action Theatre. In this game you played an actor playing a character in a movie. Your actor would have certain abilities - strength, agility, looks, etc - and your character would have other skills. This is how Denise Richards can be a nuclear scientist.
The difficulty to hit the foe was based not on his distance from you, agility, lighting or anything silly like that, but on his importance to the plot.
So the faceless goon you could hit firing a machinegun one-handed at him while running along and he was 50 feet above you and 150 feet beyond you at night aboard a poorly-lit ship while not even looking, but the main villain could be handcuffed on his knees in front of you with your gun muzzle against his head... and you'd miss.
Thus in Expendables 3, rumour has it that around 300 Somalis and 500 Assmanistan soldiers are gunned down, stabbed or blown up casually (including one Somali crane driver and a couple of hundred Russian prisoners who weren't armed or bothering anyone) but when one Expendable ends up in hospital it's an occasion for many glum looks and existential crises over drinks.
Gotta love HKAT, too bad most narrative players don't like it because the narrative control isn't pretending to not be what it is. :p
Oh yeah and Skarka wrote it, so of course, verboten. :rolleyes:
Quote from: CRKrueger;778144Gotta love HKAT, too bad most narrative players don't like it because the narrative control isn't pretending to not be what it is. :p
Oh yeah and Skarka wrote it, so of course, verboten. :rolleyes:
Just curious: Who is Skarka and what does that mean/imply?
He's the guy who wrote HKAT!
He hurt some people's feelings on the internet.
It's the right game for Expendables.
We had crazy fun with Marvel Heroic, so I vote for Cortex or a variation of it. The doom pool seems to be a good thing to throw around the game table.
Quote from: CRKrueger;778144Oh yeah and Skarka wrote it, so of course, verboten. :rolleyes:
Not here it isn't.
Quote from: The Butcher;778057I'd go with Ninjas & Superspies without a shadow of a doubt. Ideally supplemented by the Palladium Weapon Compendium series.
I'd trim down or ignore entirely the cybernetic implants, the more over-the-top gadgets and vehicles, and possibly the mystic martial arts stuff too. Just guns, kung fu and tradecraft.
But God in heaven, does this game need and/or deserve an update. Not necessarily in terms of rules, but the tech level in the huge equipment lists. At least if you're setting your game any time after 1990.
I will second this motion ! A RPG past its prime is a perfect fit for a movie full of actors past their primes ! A pity that the Palladium system is so difficult to grasp !
I'd use 3:16, probably. Violence / non-violence, supporting of stunts, lots of mowing down of nameless mooks. Make the final flashback "Hatred for retirement", and you're good to go.
I ran an "Expendables" game using Dogs of W*A*R a year or so ago. The original campaign (set in the late 70's) had ended a year previously and then I dragged the characters out of retirement, told the players it was 30+ years later (and they had to fill in what they'd been doing in the meantime...I gave them each an "old age" flaw but also some extra advancements), had them each have a lucky escape from: a car bomb, attempted sniping, attacked by a motorcycle gang in a bar etc...some of their old friends (NPCs) weren't so lucky.
Obviously the task was to find out who was killing their old buddies and kick their asses (they thought it was an old adversary they thought they'd killed...it was actually the vengeful son of the old adversary). It turned out to be a great revival of an old campaign. Loved every minute of it.
(For the Butcher who is underwhelmed by BoL - I actually prefer Dogs of W*A*R, but don't tell anyone I said that).
Quote from: RPGPundit;782452Not here it isn't.
Yeah I meant the people who once considered him a darling.
HKAT is the obvious (and good) choice.
If I was running The Expendables removing the movie-conceit, and making it a lot edgier I'd go Cyberpunk 2020 minus all the cyberware. I loves me some Interlock.
Quote from: tenbones;782535HKAT is the obvious (and good) choice.
If I was running The Expendables removing the movie-conceit, and making it a lot edgier I'd go Cyberpunk 2020 minus all the cyberware. I loves me some Interlock.
Oh man, CP2020 is a good one. I've been greedily eyeing a POD copy on DTRPG for some time now.
Quote from: The Butcher;782537Oh man, CP2020 is a good one. I've been greedily eyeing a POD copy on DTRPG for some time now.
There's a guy Wisdom2020... who has probably single-handedly kept 2020 alive in my consciousness since the game went up in smoke...
http://datafortress2020.com/
I *highly* recommend you look here. It's a bit over-wrought but you can use what you like. Simply brilliant.
One I forgot about earlier is The Revised Recon. It uses a nice stripped-down, simpler version of the Palladium system.
I love the fuck out of Feng Shui... except for the clunky dice mechanics. In what's supposed to a fast-moving gonzo action game everybody sits around counting on their fingers to figure out what 6-19+15 is each action. Even for the math whizzes it eventually just gets draining. I have almost everything for the game, but more to read than to ever actually play. I guess if everyone had smartphones with a special dice app it could work.
Quote from: The Butcher;778057I'd go with Ninjas & Superspies without a shadow of a doubt. Ideally supplemented by the Palladium Weapon Compendium series.
I'd trim down or ignore entirely the cybernetic implants, the more over-the-top gadgets and vehicles, and possibly the mystic martial arts stuff too. Just guns, kung fu and tradecraft.
But God in heaven, does this game need and/or deserve an update.
Much like the cast of
The Expendables. :D
JG
Quote from: tenbones;782601There's a guy Wisdom2020... who has probably single-handedly kept 2020 alive in my consciousness since the game went up in smoke...
http://datafortress2020.com/
I *highly* recommend you look here. It's a bit over-wrought but you can use what you like. Simply brilliant.
Yeah that has to be the best Unofficially Official Support Site for any game ever.
Hey Butcher, go with the original Friday Night Firefight for CyberPunk 2013. Holy Mackanoly.
Quote from: CRKrueger;782825Yeah that has to be the best Unofficially Official Support Site for any game ever.
Hey Butcher, go with the original Friday Night Firefight for CyberPunk 2013. Holy Mackanoly.
Yeah - but man, the PC's better come correct otherwise it will be a TPK of epic proportions if you're using Expendables levels of mooks in terms of numbers appearing. You might have to account a bit for the armor - since there wouldn't be anything as powerful as Metal Gear.
But you could make it cinematic like players get to add their Reflex to the DC. or something.
Feng Shui is the first game that came to mind. The archetypes just make themselves.
Quote from: MarionPoliquin;782973Feng Shui is the first game that came to mind. The archetypes just make themselves.
It wasn't what came to my mind first, but it would certainly do a very good job of it.
Dogs of W.A.R. - it's the perfect fit.
I realise some people prefer crunchier systems, but seriously...for running a game of The Expendables?
Feng Shui is also a good call, but I'd still pick Dogs. (Mainly 'cos I love it to pieces!)
Feng Shui 2.0, which is in development, might do a better job of it than the original game.
A long time ago I wrote The Hard Way ! (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4TBit4mrI1tb2xYYkNESzBrZTg) It is stupid and way over the top (and I'm working on a second edition) but it could work for a one-shot.
Quote from: Omega;778080Palladiums Recon would fit probably.
Possibly Twilight 2000 sans the Post Apoc theme?
That's Merc 2000, a good choice. Or Phoenix Command.
Quote from: Kyle Aaron;778129Hong Kong Action Theatre. In this game you played an actor playing a character in a movie. Your actor would have certain abilities - strength, agility, looks, etc - and your character would have other skills. This is how Denise Richards can be a nuclear scientist.
The difficulty to hit the foe was based not on his distance from you, agility, lighting or anything silly like that, but on his importance to the plot.
So the faceless goon you could hit firing a machinegun one-handed at him while running along and he was 50 feet above you and 150 feet beyond you at night aboard a poorly-lit ship while not even looking, but the main villain could be handcuffed on his knees in front of you with your gun muzzle against his head... and you'd miss.
Thus in Expendables 3, rumour has it that around 300 Somalis and 500 Assmanistan soldiers are gunned down, stabbed or blown up casually (including one Somali crane driver and a couple of hundred Russian prisoners who weren't armed or bothering anyone) but when one Expendable ends up in hospital it's an occasion for many glum looks and existential crises over drinks.
I always wanted to play this, and never could convince anyone to do so do to the unusual concept. But I remember thinking the martial arts mechanics seemed pretty cool.