FTL Combat in a Tabletop RPG
Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 11:03 pm
Long version: (tl;dr below)
I enjoy homebrewing tabletop RPGs as a hobby. I was thinking about working on a Sci-Fi RPG to my existing homebrew system, and thought about the things that I would want to involve in it. Standard DnD in-person exploration, with an added component of space-travel and space-combat, with corresponding skills. When brainstorming this system, I found that a decent way of doing the ship-ship combat was basically just like FTL. When I went searching for more information and existing ship-ship combat systems, I found this old thread from 2012. http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 5&start=10 . And it has some pretty inspiring ideas in it.
My current premise is on making a system of standard single, first-person RPG style in a customized 7-die d20 based system. Basically Space DnD, controlling a single character from a first-person perspective. The best similar concept I can think of is System Shock 2. This would be for ship and planetary exploration. Then with an added component when traveling through systems of a semi-randomized or tabulated random encounters for ships, stations, and planets. (Roll 1d20 for ship size/armaments/special factors, or to find out what items are available from a station or what planet is encountered and its habitability.)
I'm having a few issues here with the idea however. Would the FTL development team have any issues with me going forward using a premise for a combat system similar to the one existing in FTL? There are obvious differences, but the top-down view of ships and their systems are fairly similar. It's not the basis of the game and certainly not required, but I would like to know before moving further with the ship combat system for now.
Right now the player chooses several backgrounds for their character creation, customization has to be a bit flexible currently there are only humans planned to be inhabiting the universe, (think Firefly?). These backgrounds (Examples: CEO, Diplomat, Terratologist, Custodian, Mechanic, Researcher, Doctor) influence the number of points the character possess in a set of skills, both personal skills for planets and use in spaceships (Around 20 right now: Strength, agility, endurance, hacking, lock-picking, diplomacy, biology, medicine, linguistics, robotics, electronics, etc.) as well as space-combat skills (Piloting, hull repair, emergency medicine, engine management, boarding, weapon control, internal systems control (Door locks/internal security)) These gives +1 bonuses on the respective checks of a d20.
tl;dr:
This has good ideas: http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 5&start=10
I'd like to have a system inspired by FTL in a custom tabletop RPG.
What do people think about FTL ship-ship combat as part of a tabletop RPG?
Are people interested in this kind of tabletop game?
What is necessary to make this combat system work?
Are there any issues, legal or otherwise, with using a system inspired by FTL for a tabletop RPG?
What could be done to improve upon FTL combat, that could be done through using tabletop RPG tools?
(For example, anything can be done in a tabletop RPG, how would the combat system benefit from more versatility?
I enjoy homebrewing tabletop RPGs as a hobby. I was thinking about working on a Sci-Fi RPG to my existing homebrew system, and thought about the things that I would want to involve in it. Standard DnD in-person exploration, with an added component of space-travel and space-combat, with corresponding skills. When brainstorming this system, I found that a decent way of doing the ship-ship combat was basically just like FTL. When I went searching for more information and existing ship-ship combat systems, I found this old thread from 2012. http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 5&start=10 . And it has some pretty inspiring ideas in it.
My current premise is on making a system of standard single, first-person RPG style in a customized 7-die d20 based system. Basically Space DnD, controlling a single character from a first-person perspective. The best similar concept I can think of is System Shock 2. This would be for ship and planetary exploration. Then with an added component when traveling through systems of a semi-randomized or tabulated random encounters for ships, stations, and planets. (Roll 1d20 for ship size/armaments/special factors, or to find out what items are available from a station or what planet is encountered and its habitability.)
I'm having a few issues here with the idea however. Would the FTL development team have any issues with me going forward using a premise for a combat system similar to the one existing in FTL? There are obvious differences, but the top-down view of ships and their systems are fairly similar. It's not the basis of the game and certainly not required, but I would like to know before moving further with the ship combat system for now.
Right now the player chooses several backgrounds for their character creation, customization has to be a bit flexible currently there are only humans planned to be inhabiting the universe, (think Firefly?). These backgrounds (Examples: CEO, Diplomat, Terratologist, Custodian, Mechanic, Researcher, Doctor) influence the number of points the character possess in a set of skills, both personal skills for planets and use in spaceships (Around 20 right now: Strength, agility, endurance, hacking, lock-picking, diplomacy, biology, medicine, linguistics, robotics, electronics, etc.) as well as space-combat skills (Piloting, hull repair, emergency medicine, engine management, boarding, weapon control, internal systems control (Door locks/internal security)) These gives +1 bonuses on the respective checks of a d20.
tl;dr:
This has good ideas: http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 5&start=10
I'd like to have a system inspired by FTL in a custom tabletop RPG.
What do people think about FTL ship-ship combat as part of a tabletop RPG?
Are people interested in this kind of tabletop game?
What is necessary to make this combat system work?
Are there any issues, legal or otherwise, with using a system inspired by FTL for a tabletop RPG?
What could be done to improve upon FTL combat, that could be done through using tabletop RPG tools?
(For example, anything can be done in a tabletop RPG, how would the combat system benefit from more versatility?