FTL Tabletop roleplaying

[Wiseacre]

D&D style would take away from the spirit of the conversion, I think. The random universe is part of the system's appeal. In contrast to what you said though, (op) I think nebulas should have lots of interesting encounters set up. Maybe not with a high chance of appearing, but I've always gotten the feeling IG that I was really out in bad-trip country when inside a nebula. If there were things like "a nine-foot-tall monstrosity composed of radioactive energy appears in your engine room" I think it'd give nebulas the dark feeling they have now. Esp. combined with storms knocking out systems.

I like that. We could possibly have dark nebulas and maybe the lighter nebulas where the slugs live. I wouldn't count out monstrosities, and maybe ghost ships with long dead crews operating in warped AIs.

For ships you could use a similar upgrades/augment/weapons system as is in the game however you should allow for things like improvised augmentations, disguising your ship to get behind enemy lines or commandeering another more powerful vessel.

I was considering why the players wouldn't just take a more powerful ship if they were able to, or take the entire ship to sell for scrap instead of stripping some of it and I decided that if the players are piloting a ship not registered to them or they don't have a very good reason, then they will be considered pirates. Taking over a ship you were a slave on, might trigger misunderstandings from the authorities but that's a decent enough reason to be controlling a ship you don't own.

Player's should be able to hire redshirt NPCs for repair/combat support. Redshirts would not get as much of a bonus as a PC for things like manning weapons or piloting but will be able to level skills and attributes. If the players wanted to do boarding actions with redshirts, they would need to have a PC accompany them to be very effective.

I always planned on NPCs but maybe not right off the bat, unless you have a smaller gaming group. Once you get out of small ships to medium or large, you will definitely need to have a crew as you get more systems that need manning. I was also considering letting players take direct control of an npc for exploring a planet, or boarding an enemy ship because it doesn't make any sense for the pilot to do that once you have a larger crew, but I doubt the pilot's player wants to be left out of the fun.

[DrunkZombie]

You may already know about this, but check out the game Battlestations by Gorilla Games. It is billed as a board game, but it is really an rpg-light. There is character and ship development. The world and game mechanics would be different than FTL, but if nothing else it could be used as a starting point for the basic rules. They do sell the rule book individually but the box set comes wth battle map, ship maps, planets, etc.. as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Games-OOC ... s++gorilla

[Wiseacre]

I worked up a simple character sheet. What do you guys think? I've never really done anything like that before, and if anyone with some talent can whip up a better looking one with the same categories (The day planner can go..) I would be much obliged.

I like some of the Traveler rpg's ideas and it inspired me to implement backgrounds:

-Backgrounds are a character history a character selects upon creation. Each of these confers a single attribute point bonus and two 1 point skill bonus to skills relevant to the background. Backgrounds sometimes also give a starting item, or a small amount of wealth. For example: Background- Doctor +1 Mind +1 Medicine +1 Lore Item: Handheld Medical Scanner. Or: Mercenary +1 Agility +1 Projectile weapons +1 Barter Item: Light Burst Pistol. Or Thug +1 Body +1 Close Combat +1 Speech (I'm thinking threatening people here, not giving a rousing speech) Item: Knuckle gloves [ILLEGAL]

Stuff like that.

[samules]

I would recommend for stats bump it up to 2d6 per stat and change the skills to levels 1-5. Then for skill tests you add twice your skill to the appropriate stat (sometimes averaging stats if two apply, e.g. averaging agility and mind for piloting since reflexes and quick thinking apply) then roll 1-8 d6 and if you get under that number you succeed. Meaning a rediculously easy task, like moving an unthreatened ship into standard orbit around a normal planet, would be 1d6, an automatic success usually, but a extremely difficult task, like using a severely damaged engine to dodge asteroids while a ship with an expert gunner fires homing missiles at you from a cloaked ship, would use 8 dice and be VERY unlikely. Naturally there are degrees of faliure depending on how badly you fail and the number of dice would be up to the GM's discretion.

Also in close combat situations I would recommend not even bothering to look at FTLs very simplified combat system. A handgun can down a human in 1-2 shots TODAY, what can a laser pistol do THEN? Its all about not getting hit and hitting your enemy before he hits you, extended fights take place when both sides have cover unless someone makes it to HTH. I'll point out a few more ideas from Traveler: (assuming the 2d6 stats) Every hit from a basic pistol will deal 1d6-2d6 damage which is dealt to your physical stats, when you get shot you probably won't be as capable as you were beforehand, but you have a decent chance of returning fire. If your physical stats are reduced in total to half, you go unconcious and may very well bleed out (1 point of damage per turn) if they get to zero, you die. There are higher caliber weapons or rifles but no one uses them in boarding actions because one stray shot can punch through a hull if its powerful enough, and that means no one has a very good chance of survival anymore. Naturally people won't usually get hit every round and so fights can go on for a while but it is a very lethal combat system and it makes a lot of sense.

I've come up with a lot of ideas based on a lot of games I have played, I'd like your opinion on these. Meanwhile I'll be looking at some ship-to-ship combat systems.

[Wiseacre]

I would recommend for stats bump it up to 2d6 per stat and change the skills to levels 1-5. Then for skill tests you add twice your skill to the appropriate stat (sometimes averaging stats if two apply, e.g. averaging agility and mind for piloting since reflexes and quick thinking apply) then roll 1-8 d6 and if you get under that number you succeed. Meaning a rediculously easy task, like moving an unthreatened ship into standard orbit around a normal planet, would be 1d6, an automatic success usually, but a extremely difficult task, like using a severely damaged engine to dodge asteroids while a ship with an expert gunner fires homing missiles at you from a cloaked ship, would use 8 dice and be VERY unlikely. Naturally there are degrees of faliure depending on how badly you fail and the number of dice would be up to the GM's discretion.

I think I'm going to stick with the d6 success system for now. I'm trying to keep the system as simple as possible right now, while still keeping the skills and ability checks flexible enough to allow for any kind of situation. I will definitely be using target numbers for success with a roll that comes near double the target number could be treated as a critical success.

Also in close combat situations I would recommend not even bothering to look at FTLs very simplified combat system. A handgun can down a human in 1-2 shots TODAY, what can a laser pistol do THEN? Its all about not getting hit and hitting your enemy before he hits you, extended fights take place when both sides have cover unless someone makes it to HTH. I'll point out a few more ideas from Traveler: (assuming the 2d6 stats) Every hit from a basic pistol will deal 1d6-2d6 damage which is dealt to your physical stats, when you get shot you probably won't be as capable as you were beforehand, but you have a decent chance of returning fire. If your physical stats are reduced in total to half, you go unconcious and may very well bleed out (1 point of damage per turn) if they get to zero, you die. There are higher caliber weapons or rifles but no one uses them in boarding actions because one stray shot can punch through a hull if its powerful enough, and that means no one has a very good chance of survival anymore. Naturally people won't usually get hit every round and so fights can go on for a while but it is a very lethal combat system and it makes a lot of sense.

Once again, I want to try simpler rules, at least for playtesting, so I can ease some players into this. Most of the Sci-fi Rpgs I've played ans seen have been far more technical and complex than their fantasy counterparts. (I'm looking at you, RIFTS and Battletech!) Sure a Human may succumb to a couple pistol shots, but what of a Rockman, or a Zoltan? Stone and Living energy probably have different limitations than flesh. To be honest as well, I can't really see a lot of players enjoying roleplaying an engineer who has been blasted by ship to ship fire dragging his charred carcass and his other three useless limbs to a control panel to open the airlocks to vent fires after a particularly nasty fight. It's great in a story, but not so fun for the player rolling his last two [BODY] dice and barely hanging on for life. Wait. That is kinda cool. Anyways, penalties to statistics would start kicking in at 50% health or 50 hp whatever's lower, but I haven't thought how to implement anything like that.

I've come up with a lot of ideas based on a lot of games I have played, I'd like your opinion on these. Meanwhile I'll be looking at some ship-to-ship combat systems.

I value your suggestions Samules and I'm thankful for the advice because it made me put thought to some of the things I hadn't yet. I was considering a continuation of the d6 success system for ship to ship combat, damaging systems with bombs or missiles, or overwhelming shields with laser fire while the weapons guy rolls his dice to hit, and the pilot uses his dice to dodge incoming enemy fire. Or people beam over, and deal with the crew. I want ship to ship combat to be about the crew and the ship, like the source game. I mean. The game is like "BIG SHIP BATTLE DRONES ARE CRAZY AND MISSILES" but your O2 room just got hit, and you need to send one of your crew to deal with that or you are just as dead as if those missiles got you. Am I making sense here?

Oh, and I wanted to make an example if a ship sheet, so I pasted a Kestrel picture and began building around it, and I may just use this format.

[Whale Cancer]

I suggest using wireframes.

fed_cruiser.png

fed_battlecruiser_wireframe.png

fed_bomber_wireframe.png

[Wiseacre]

I suggest using wireframes.

fed_cruiser.png

I think the squares are more important, also no I wouldn't be using screenshots it was an example picture and I have 0 art skills. Are there any wireframes that have the squares available? I usually play with a battlegrid, so knowing that the engine room is ten squares away while your Rockman that only moves at 3 squares a round is what's important here.

[Wiseacre]

Also, Whale Cancer, your mod looks really cool.

[Whale Cancer]

I suggest using wireframes.

fed_cruiser.png

I think the squares are more important, also no I wouldn't be using screenshots it was an example picture and I have 0 art skills. Are there any wireframes that have the squares available? I usually play with a battlegrid, so knowing that the engine room is ten squares away while your Rockman that only moves at 3 squares a round is what's important here.

I would overlay the map grid onto the wireframe. It's nice to be able to see what the ship is at a glance. I'm thinking of battletech sheets as an aesthetic inspiration. I'll do up an example, just for your consideration. (I wanted to do a similar project, but more of a fast skirmish wargame than a PnP RPG)

Oh, and thanks!

[Whale Cancer]

So yeah, something like this. I think the visual element helps immersion (I'm a forever-DM, myself).

bomber_grid_mockup.png