War Games

I’m sure I’ve previously mentioned my interest and fascination with war and most things military in general...this despite being a real world anti-war conscientious objector type. I know…it’s a weird dichotomy that some might even perceive as hypocritical. I don’t. I can distinguish between doing violence to others in real life (“bad”) versus historically (“bad” but not much we can do except try to learn from our mistakes) versus in fiction and gaming (“good” and “fun” so long as it doesn’t carry over into real life).

Just to reiterate (from past posts): I don’t think humans are naturally violent, conflict-driven individuals. Sorry, I don’t. I know it can appear that way if one simply looks at the breadth of human history with a superficial eye (based on the murder and atrocity we’ve committed on each other over the years). But to write it off as “human nature” is ignoring the reasons behind the trends and trivializing the lives and choices of individual humans (you can reduce folks to “numbers” and “stats” and “trends” but within the mind of each person you’ll find someone who thinks of themselves as plenty unique and snowflake special with their own motivations for action).

ANYway…for whatever reason, I’m “into” war…as far as reading about it or watching films or the History Channel or playing games. I don’t think I’m sick or wrong in the head (I’m sure that most people who enjoy horror movies aren’t hoping to end up in a real life terror situation). It’s just how I tick. I don’t think I get it from my father…he liked old John Wayne war films but didn’t otherwise collect or research military history. No other family members or mentor-types in my life have shared this interest (and thus passed it on to me). And while I once upon a time (pre-college) considered enlisting in the military (or at least ROTC), I long ago decided (again pre-college) that the possibility of killing people…whether in defense of my self or my country…really wasn’t something I wanted to dance with.

[I did put up a new American flag outside my house ‘round about Memorial Day, but that was more about my old flag being completely old and ratty, then any particular celebration]

But whatever…the “mystery of me” is something for me to unravel myself. The game-related part of this post is that I’ve been thinking a lot (again) about running a military-style RPG…either at my table or at the upcoming Dragonflight convention…and it has nothing to do with Raggi’s Better Than Any Man 30 Year War subject matter.

[though I should also have pointed out earlier that I my interest in warfare is as eclectic as any of other interests…I’m interested in ancient, medieval, colonial, modern, whatever warfare…I’m not just devoted to, say, The Crusades or the American Civil War]

Nope, as with most of my brain tangents, my inspiration stems from recently viewed films…and nothing as high-falutin’ as Saving Private Ryan. No, the films (both of which I’ve seen in the last week) include the following cinematic masterpieces:

Red Dawn and Predator

Feel free to offer up your ridicule.

But as I said, I’m talking fun and fictional…I know “war is hell” and all that. The only place for it (as far as I’m concerned) IS in fiction, and in fiction one can make light of the subject matter. Is it offensive to someone that I’d like a game that pits an American mercenary team against a light-bending alien? Or that I’d offer a war game scenario that proposes a joint Russian-Cuban invasion of the American Midwest? Sorry…sometimes I’m prone to whimsy. 

War Beagle...an example of "whimsy"

To the subject matter at hand: some folks might say these films aren’t really “war movies” in the traditional sense of the term (Red Dawn is more of a survivalist fantasy-come-true and Predator is a straight-up monster film), but for MY purposes they both represent ideal scenarios for war-themed RPGs. Why? A couple reasons:

-        Both feature a small group of protagonists on relatively equal footing (i.e. the prototypical merry band of player characters).

-        Both have a compartmentalized setting (they only deal with small piece of the war rather than the whole damn theater of action).

Something like the Battle of the Bulge or Gettysburgh or the 2^nd Crusade is really outside the scope of your average role-playing game…which is probably why games where some huge-ass war is the centerpiece (like Star Wars or Dragon Lance) seem to fail so often as RPGs.

[the Star Wars thing is not up for debate in this post, by the way]

You can re-run military campaigns using ACTUAL war games, but RPGs are for smaller scale actions, with more immediate stakes, and a more personal interest in the challenges at hand. Both these films…if used for scenario material…puts these things on the forefront:

Red Dawn: small group of high school kids with no military training must strike back at the invaders who’ve taken over their small town in Michigan, figuring out how to work as a cohesive guerilla unit.

Predator: small squad of veteran mercs must rely on their skills and training to survive an otherworldly menace with superhuman abilities.

Both adventure scenarios offer very specific and unique situations/challenges. The teenagers really have no advantage except knowledge of the terrain and their foes underestimation of their courage and bravado. The mercs have plenty of skills, weapons, and explosives but fight against a superior foe with a significant technological edge. However, as a mini-campaign (Red Dawn) or one-off scenario (Predator) both provide ample room for both role-playing (yay!) and getting your (virtual) gun off (double yay!).

Of course, they each require a separate game systems to really do ‘em justice.

For Red Dawn, I’d adapt Twilight 2000 to the American Midwest (or Northwest…you’ll note I’m talking about the 1986 film not the 2012 remake set in Spokane, WA which I haven’t seen but which has been universally panned in all the reviews I’ve read. The Pacific NW has a lot of the same environmental conditions one might find conducive to a Red Dawn-type scenario, though I’d probably use Ellensburg or Moses Lake over “Spoka-Vegas”). Twilight 2000 has just enough info to be useful to a small-scale, modern war filled with non-traditional troops “drafted from the countryside” as it were. Sure, there’d be some necessary adjustments, but not many…ESPECIALLY if you considered the invaders to be a Soviet Red Army or even the Chinese and the PCs to be American freedom fighters armed only with the AK-47s and RPGs they could steal off their communist opponents (21^st century weaponry has surpassed much of the US hardware listed in the 1^st edition of TL2K). Besides, a Cold War era RPG for a Cold War era premise? That’s only fitting. Heck, maybe I’d set the scenario in 1986 anyway.

Character generation for PCs would, of course, have to be abbreviated since none of them would have any formal military training. I might limit the age of the PCs, too (real-life adults would only make an appearance as NPCs or opponents).

For Predator, I would of course use Palladium’s Revised Recon. Every time I see that film I think immediately of RR (at least, ever since I picked up a used copy a couple years back). As I’ve written before, the tough part really is converting the predator alien to Recon stats, because even though it is relatively easy to model using Rifts or Heroes Unlimited, RR uses a completely different system than any other Palladium game system. No SDC or HPs for example. Ability scores are based on a percentile roll (instead of a 3D6) and damage is deducted from a character’s “strength” score (reminiscent of Boot Hill…or more like Star Frontiers, really).

The conversion’s actually pretty sticky, now that I roll it around in my head. I DON’T just want to make the predator monster into “a tougher soldier,” and many of the super-powers found in HU would be incredibly appropriate…except that they use a different (non-percentile based) system. I suppose I could adapt HU to RR…bend light reducing shooting and alertness rolls by 85% instead of requiring a D20 roll of 18+, for example. But some things (like A.R.) just don’t really adapt well. Still, if a conversion could be done, a one-off session one could model pretty much the entire Predator film in a number of set-piece scenes. And it would be totally fun to write-up all the individual soldiers in Dutch’s team as pre-gen characters using the Revised Recon rules. Now THAT’s something I could take to the Dragonflight Con.

Hmmm…more on this later. I need to get home, but (internet willing) I might have something more to post about this tonight or tomorrow. Hasta la vista!

; )

[Post-Script Note: I ended up not posting this till this morning due to a Mariners game that went 10 innings and churned out a win...followed by me crashing about two minutes after my boy. Yes...I caught the nail-biting end of the Spurs-Heat game six down at Chuck's Hop Shop as well. I will get back to the war gaming brainstorm eventually]

B/X Predator (Redux)

I am soooo silly…I completely forgot Cook and Marsh ALREADY include the Predator alien in their Expert set! I’ll re-print it here for comparison with my prior post.

[NOTE: This version of the Predator monster is A LOT deadlier due to the requirement of magical weapons needed to hit. I would allow the high-tech weapons (including the alien’s own weapons) to damage the creature; low-tech D&D characters will need to get creative…i.e. like Schwarzenegger…if they don’t have enchanted weapons]

Why do things have to be overly complicated? Jeez, JB!

INVISIBLE STALKER*

Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 8*
Move: 120’ (40’)
Attacks: 1
Damage: 4-16
No. Appearing: 1 (1)
Save As: Fighter 8
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: Nil
Alignment: Neutral

Huntsmen from another planet or dimension, these creatures specialize in tracking and killing the most dangerous game they can, as a method of proving their worth and acquiring prestige among their own kind. Prey can be large monsters or PC adventurers, but there must be some element of danger for the predator for the hunt to be worth their while. Unarmed opponents are considered poor sport unless having already proven themselves dangerous to the predator.

Invisible stalkers are large and strong, yet quick and acrobatic; they may climb or move through trees and rooftop environments at their normal movement rate. They are faultless trackers. They can surprise any creature that cannot detect invisible creatures on a 1D6 roll of 1-5.

All stalkers do the listed damage, either in melee or at range (240’). They are obsessed with taking trophies from their prey. Although they prefer to hunt individually, they will rarely be encountered in groups of up to three.


[all right, all right…it’s not EXACTLY the same thing, but it’s pretty close, right? And it’s kind of cool that magic-users can summon the Predator at 11th level…I guess that’s about the time they figure out how to design a sub-space radio, huh?]

: )

B/X Predator

ALIEN PREDATOR

Armor Class: -1
Hit Dice: 10**
Move: 150’ (50’)
Attacks: 1
Damage: Special (see below)
No. Appearing: 1-3 (1-6)
Save As: Fighter 10
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: G
Alignment: Chaotic

Huntsmen from another planet or dimension, these creatures specialize in tracking and killing the most dangerous game they can, as a method of proving their worth and acquiring prestige among their own kind. Prey can be large monsters or sentient combatants, but there must be some element of danger for the predator for the hunt to be worth their while. Unarmed opponents are considered poor sport unless having already proven themselves dangerous to the predator.

Alien predators are large (generally over 7’) and immensely strong, yet quick and acrobatic; they may climb or move through trees and rooftop environments at their normal movement rate. They wear high-tech armor that, coupled with their speed, provides an excellent armor class. This armor also has a light-bending device that allows them to become invisible at will, though immersion in water or excessive damage (more than 50% of hit points) will render it inoperable. Predators have a 5 in 6 chance of achieving surprise when camouflage system is functioning.

The monsters carry a variety of weapons for their hunt, choosing the one they feel most suitable depending on their prey. All predators have a pair of large, retractable blades built into the right forearm of their armor, allowing them to do 2D8 damage in melee combat. They also carry a shoulder-mounted plasma caster that can do 3D10 damage at a range of 300’; its laser tracking system removes all penalties for range.

In addition, each predator will carry 1D4 of the following weapons (roll D6 to determine which):

1. Razor-wire net (range 120’): prevents movement and does 1D6 damage per round until freed (usually by cutting with a magical or hi-tech weapon).
2. Edged projectile (range 240’): damage 1D10; stealthier than plasma caster
3. Slay-Spear: damage 2D6; telescoping (1’ to 12’); can be thrown or set versus charge
4. Saw-disk (range 50’, thrown): damage 3D6; returns when thrown, may be used in melee
5. Throwing blades (range 40’; thrown): damage 1D6 each (may three up to 3 per round)
6. Normal D&D weapon: damage +3 due to great (18) strength

A predator alien does 1D10 damage in unarmed combat.

Predator aliens have excellent infravision but are unable to see in the normal visible light spectrum. Their armor allows them the rough equivalent of human sight (due to filters that help distinguish heat differential) but extreme heat or masking of body heat can render their foes effectively invisible in combat (-4 to the predator’s attack rolls). The predator armor has the ability to record, synthesize, and project voices (as a ventriloquism spell). They are fire resistant, taking only half damage from all normal or magical fire. Their armor also has a self-destruct mechanism with a three-round time delay which they will activate if captured or reduced to less than 10 hit points; the resulting explosion does 10D10 damage to all within 60’ and 5D10 to all within 120’ (save versus dragon breath for half damage).

All predators are obsessed with taking trophies from their prey. This will generally be the creature’s skull and/or hide, but often weapons from an especially honored foe will be kept. Magic items in the monsters’ treasure hoard will ONLY be of the magical weapon variety. In addition, all predators aliens carry the equivalent of a double-strength potion of healing, which they will use if severely damaged during safari.

Alien Stalkers

So last night I had the chance to watch the latest “Predator” movie, Predators…a welcome distraction from Monday Night Football (and the halftime “low lights” of Sunday’s Seahawks game), and something I’d been wanting to watch for awhile.

It was pretty good, which is to say, ‘I enjoyed it,’ even though reviewing it this morning I can’t help but think a lot of it is fairly silly/ridiculous…like the premise, or the samurai swordfight, or Adrian “Action Hero” Brody accomplishing something the Governator couldn’t do in his prime (namely, taking a predator down in hand-to-hand combat…yeah, right). But Monday night is not a night for heavy mental lifting (hell, professional sports are pretty silly when you think about ‘em, too) so it was fine.

[and by the way…why do I give a silly movie like Predators a pass as “entertainment” and not the recent bullshit Clash of the Titans? Because Predators is its OWN mythology and CotT is NOT. No kid is going to go to class and think the “sorcerer alien tree-people” are part of Greek mythology…or any classic/ancient folklore…after watching Predators, because it is its own story. There are plenty of other things wrong with CotT that I could rant about (again), but I’ll leave it at that]

Anyway, I like the Predator films...all of ‘em. For whatever reason, they just strike the right chord of sci-fi, violence, and action for me…such a simple idea, really. “Alien hunter hunts most dangerous game – man – who shows he can be fairly ingenious when put to the test.” The predator alien I find completely badass (which I imagine is true for a lot of the films’ target demographic, hence the ability of the franchise to make money off suckers like me), and a great example of how CGI is no replacement for some old school FX (rubber costumes, animatronic puppetry, etc.). The thing is so visceral, ya’ know?

I’ve done write-ups for the Predator and/or its weapons in a variety of different RPGs over the years…though notably NOT in B/X (maybe later today…). Generally, the system such an antagonist feels most comfortable in is Palladium, itself a system lent towards over-the-top cheesy action/scifi/violence. In fact, I was struck once again (last night) with how readily the Revised Recon system could be used for a one-off Predator game…if only I could find a way to merge Heroes Unlimited or Rifts with R.R. withOUT losing the simplified, streamlined Recon system. Definitely, Revised Recon has the best (in my opinion) system for any mercenary-themed game, unlike other RPGs with soldier/merc elements (Twilight 2000, Albedo, BattleTech, Rifts Mercenaries, Cyberpunk, ShadowRun, Traveller, etc.).

On the other hand, Predator is much more low scale (or what superhero RPGs call “mean streets” level) than what would use for your average sci-fi RPG. Sure, you can rig up a pretty fair copy of the predator alien for a game like Star Frontiers or Traveller, but it just doesn’t carry the same weight of menace. In a game where PCs have access to high-powered weaponry and spacecraft, a big monster with a cloaking device “ain’t no big thang.” You might as well have a normal human with some commando skills, a stealth suit, and a big-ass knife…THAT would be just as scary/threatening, if not more so, than the standard premise of the films.

As for my space opera RPG? There is no “Predator-esque” monster planned for inclusion. Why not? Because there’s nothing “space opera” about Predator! Sure, there are a few pieces of high technology that function in mysterious (read “unexplained by real world physics/logic”) fashion. And, yes, the alien is a humanoid of the rubber suit variety, which is a staple of much space opera fiction.

However, in space opera there’s generally some communication/interaction with the alien species, and generally as peers or intellectual equals (regardless of whether there is egotism and prejudice/racism between species). At least with regard to the treatment of HUMANS, I can’t think of a space opera film, book, etc. where one sentient life-form considers another sentient life-form nothing more than sport to be hunted. In terms of the space opera genre, the original predator alien would be the equivalent of a serial killer…and as the subsequent sequels have established the predators as a species to have the same predilection/values (i.e. they are all “hunters”)…well, such a species is a little too anti-social to fit into the normal intergalactic society found in space opera.

Do you grok my meaning? There may be hated rivalries in the space opera universe (say, between traldaran slavers and wookies or between vulcans and romulans)…hatreds so intense that these species will attack each other on sight with intent to kill. But stalking and hunting another sentient as if they were deer? Going on “safari” into another species’ city? That type of behavior AS A SPECIES in not acceptable in the “galactic community” of space opera. An planet that tried THAT kind of thing would get exterminated faster than you could say “Alderaan.”

So…no predator. That’s a different game.

Not that the whole “Predator-thing” is particularly conducive to an RPG scenario anyway (most players are not interested in having their PCs hunted down and killed one-by-one, right?). Maybe in a Call of Cthulhu game with a “modern day” setting…think of all the insanity points lost for finding skinned bodies and decapitation trophies!

; )