PDA

View Full Version : Roleplaying Systems with Mechanics for Large Army Combat?



Castaras
2012-10-31, 07:12 AM
Basically, working on a roleplaying game based off of Mount and Blade (stealing Star Wars D6 mechanics and destroying it horribly), and looking for any roleplaying systems that have mechanics for simplifying large scale army battles for me to look at how they do it and hopefully get a good idea on how to get it to work in my game. Not too worried about balance, more on simplicity and battle mechanics that flow well.

Thanks! :smallsmile:

Drglenn
2012-10-31, 08:33 AM
Exalted, at least second edition does

Silverbit
2012-10-31, 09:23 AM
Mazes and Minotaurs (http://mazesandminotaurs.free.fr/revised.html) does, in the Companion. It's free, and not quite as old as it says it is. It's more Mythic Grecian than Mount&Blade, but it could be made to work.

Lentrax
2012-11-01, 03:44 AM
Exalted 2nd Ed. The rules are a bit complex to get used to at first, mostly just in calcuating the Values for everything. But once you have it done, mass combat is REAL easy.

Friv
2012-11-01, 06:39 AM
Exalted 2nd Ed. The rules are a bit complex to get used to at first, mostly just in calcuating the Values for everything. But once you have it done, mass combat is REAL easy.

Providing the contrary opinion - that being that mass combat in Exalted is a joke that should never have seen the printed page, and should not be used as an inspiration for anyone's systems ever.

Lionheart
2012-11-01, 07:26 AM
L5R 3rd and 4th editions both have a pretty good mass battle system, which allows the players to act in any capacity really, as they can move between 'Reserve', 'Disengaged' 'Engaged' or 'Heavily Engaged' with different encounters based on their choice.

It's honestly the best mass combat system I've ever seen, you should definitely check it out.

hamlet
2012-11-01, 07:33 AM
The D&D Rules Cyclopedia for the BECMI editions had one. Quite elegant in its way.

Studoku
2012-11-01, 08:19 AM
L5R 3rd and 4th editions both have a pretty good mass battle system, which allows the players to act in any capacity really, as they can move between 'Reserve', 'Disengaged' 'Engaged' or 'Heavily Engaged' with different encounters based on their choice.

It's honestly the best mass combat system I've ever seen, you should definitely check it out.
Seconded.

I haven't been able to use it yet but the system looks really good. It actually focuses on what happens to the PCs during the combat and gives them opportunities to be awesome. Most other systems I've seen are just poor ways to play Warhammer.

Knaight
2012-11-01, 01:16 PM
REIGN, as a roleplaying system, occupies two levels. On of them is the level of individual characters doing what individual characters do. The other is interaction between organizations, from a tiny street gang to a nation; this level is every bit as developed as the first. Moreover, REIGN is a very good game in general, and could work easily for M&B with the magic and setting stripped out (both of which are extremely easy to remove).

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-11-01, 03:01 PM
L5R 3rd and 4th editions both have a pretty good mass battle system, which allows the players to act in any capacity really, as they can move between 'Reserve', 'Disengaged' 'Engaged' or 'Heavily Engaged' with different encounters based on their choice.

It's honestly the best mass combat system I've ever seen, you should definitely check it out.
You know, I think this just rolled 4E back onto my "buy" list. Or, rather, moved it from my nebulous "gonna get eventually" to "gotta check this out".

I have also heard great things about REIGN.

Sidmen
2012-11-01, 03:59 PM
L5R 3rd and 4th editions both have a pretty good mass battle system, which allows the players to act in any capacity really, as they can move between 'Reserve', 'Disengaged' 'Engaged' or 'Heavily Engaged' with different encounters based on their choice.

It's honestly the best mass combat system I've ever seen, you should definitely check it out.

You know, I had a very bad reaction to the mass combat system in L5R when I read it. I suppose I was upset at the realization that it essentially just says "roll some dice and throw a personal combat encounter at the PCs" without going into any detail about the actual Mass Combat.

Star Wars Saga edition has a mass combat system that hijacks the vehicle/space combat engine by making an NPC stat block into a vehicle stat block and giving the heroes attached to it actions that can affect the battlefield without becoming the only thing that matters (like in Exalted).

Gavinfoxx
2012-11-01, 04:46 PM
stealing Star Wars D6 mechanics and destroying it horribly)

Why not use D6 Fantasy as your base rather than Star Wars D6?

http://opend6.wikia.com/wiki/Open_D6_Resurrection_Wiki

Some good stuff:

http://www.polgarusgames.com/D6/weg51011OGL-D6-Adventure.pdf
http://www.polgarusgames.com/D6/weg51016OGL-D6-Adventures-Locations.pdf
http://www.polgarusgames.com/D6/weg51013OGL-D6-Fantasy.pdf
http://www.polgarusgames.com/D6/weg51015OGL-D6-Fantasy-Creatures.pdf
http://www.polgarusgames.com/D6/weg51020OGL-Fantasy-Locations.pdf
http://www.polgarusgames.com/D6/weg51024OGL-D6-Magic.pdf

Knaight
2012-11-01, 09:30 PM
I have also heard great things about REIGN.

I can expound on how REIGN - and the ORE family of systems in general - is (are) brilliant for quite a while. It's an incredible game for a lot of reasons, and the only part I dislike is it's setting despite it having a lot of traits I generally dislike.

Castaras
2012-11-02, 04:45 PM
Why not use D6 Fantasy as your base rather than Star Wars D6?


Main reason: it's a system I know, and the main place I've played it is my Dad's D&D games (he uses star wars d6 rather than d20).

Others: Thanks very much for the suggestions, will spend some time poring over these and see what I can come up with. :smallsmile:

Gavinfoxx
2012-11-02, 07:19 PM
D6 Fantasy... is Star Wars D6 with some minor tweaks?