Rules for Airship Combat?

[The Glyphstone]

Has anyone ever run across a game that had functional rules for midair fights between airships or similarly-functioning vehicles? Obviously thinking in the line of pulpy genres, but most examples of vehicle combat I can think of tend to be exceedingly clunky.

[Isocahedron]

I drew up a set of rules a while ago. They worked by having crew perform actions, with the airship getting its own initiative (rolled by the helmsman), but only to turn. It had a simplification for NPC-crewed airships. I'll see if I can find them anywhere.

EDIT: The Rules: (for 5e)

Each airship has a crew, which can use Stations. Stations are anything that needs crew to operate: the ship's wheel, cannons, sails, steam engines, etc. Operating a Station is an Action which always ends your turn. When you operate a Station, that Station is no longer usable until the start of your next turn.

Example of Stations:
Ship's Wheel: The Operator of this Station can turn the airship by 45 degrees. In the case of bad weather, the Operator may be required to make Dexterity (Piloting) checks to stabilize the airship. The Operator may also make evasive manoeuvres, rolling Dexterity (Piloting) with a -10 modifier and adding the result to the ship's AC until the start of their next turn. A result under 0 has no effect.

Engine: The Operator of this Station can change the forward speed of the airship. They can also make Wisdom (Engineering) checks to push the airship beyond its maximum speed for short periods of time. The Airship's place in the initiative order (when it moves) is directly after whoever first operated the engine during combat.

Cannon Breach: The Operator of this Station can load or unload the cannon. This station can be used multiple times per round.

Cannon: The Operator of this Station can fire the cannon, making an attack roll with their Dexterity modifier. Firing the cannon unloads it.

Taking Damage
When an airship is hit, roll on the airship's hit table to determine what is hit. If a module is reduced below 50% of its hitpoints, someone must repair it (a full-round action requiring a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Engineering) check) before it can be used again. Repairing a module only restores hitpoints on a natural 20 -- otherwise, it is only usable until it is damaged again. If a module is reduced to 0 hitpoints or lower, it cannot be repaired in combat. Whether it can be fixed out of combat or the ship must return to port is at the DM's discretion.

Damage to modules represents damage to the module itself, or to any related ship parts. (For instance, a hit to the Ship's Wheel might actually be the ship's wheel being hit, or it might be the rudder or the steering ropes.) Any hit to any module (except for crew) also damages the ship's hull. When the ship's hull HP is reduced to zero, the ship must land immediately or it will break apart.

An attacker can take Disadvantage on their attack roll to select a specific module to target. If they want to target a crew-member on the deck, they must make an attack roll against the crew-member's AC.

NPC airships
Roll to repair everything that gets damaged below 50% health. The Airship moves and fires all its weapons on its turn. If the crew start dying, fewer modules can be used.

Example Airships

HMS Enforcer

The Enforcer is a mid-sized airship currently on piracy suppression duty.

AC 4; hull HP 100; hull damage threshold 5; maximum speed 80 ft/round; service ceiling 200 ft; crew capacity 18, standard crew 12.

Modules:
Heavy Cannon Breach
Heavy Cannon (Firing arc 45 degrees pointing forwards, deals 5d8 bludgeoning damage)
Light Cannon Breach x2
Light Cannon x2 (Firing arc 90 degrees pointing port / starboard, deals 4d6 bludgeoning damage)
Gasbag Pressure Control
Ship's Wheel
Steam Engine

Hit Table
Roll 1d100
1-15: Gasbag (HP 20)
16-20: Heavy Cannon (HP 40)
21-24: Light Cannon Starboard (HP 40)
25-28: Light Cannon Port (HP 40)
29-31: Ship's Wheel (HP 24)
32-34: Gasbag Pressure Control (HP 24)
35-40: Steam Engine (HP 60)
41-50: Random exposed crewmember
51-60: Critical hull section (double damage to hull)
61-100: Non-critical hull section (normal damage to hull)

Shrike

The Shrike is a small boarding craft.

AC 5; hull HP 70; hull damage threshold 6; maximum speed 120 ft/round; service ceiling 150 ft; crew capacity 4; marine capacity 12.

Special Notes: This airship's ram allows it to deal 3d10 damage to targets by ramming them, taking none in return.

Modules:
Ship's Wheel
Lift Chamber
Steam Engine
Grappling Hook Launcher (Firing arc 120 degrees pointing forwards; deals no damage but pulls target in.)

Hit Table:
Roll 1d100
1-20: Ram (HP 60)
21-30: Grappling hook launcher (HP 24)
30-34: Ship's Wheel (HP 16)
35-45: Lift Chamber (HP 40)
46-55: Steam Engine (HP 50)
56-60: Critical hull section (double damage to hull)
61-100: Non-critical hull section (normal damage to hull)

[jjordan]

Has anyone ever run across a game that had functional rules for midair fights between airships or similarly-functioning vehicles? Obviously thinking in the line of pulpy genres, but most examples of vehicle combat I can think of tend to be exceedingly clunky. Space: 1889?

[The Glyphstone]

Space: 1889?

I was thinking more in the vein of Sky Pirates of the Carribbean, but fluff is mutable. How well do the rules play out versus the base engine?

[Mastikator]

Are we talking slow moving air ships that could feasibly dock mid-air? If yes then you could run a *normal combat with the added feature that it's ranged attacks only until they meet and the airships are moving closer.


*normal meaning = whatever game you're playing has combat rules, those rules

[farothel]

Steampunk systems will most likely have them (like Wolsung, ...)

All systems that have space combat can probably be adapted for airships (like Star Trek, Star Wars, Alternity, ...). The speeds will be lower, you will have to use your system's rules for any guns on the ship, but the maneuvers and things like that are basically the same.

I wouldn't even be surprised if D&D has some rules somewhere about fighting on dragonback (or pagasus,...) that can be adapted.

[jjordan]

I was thinking more in the vein of Sky Pirates of the Carribbean, but fluff is mutable. How well do the rules play out versus the base engine?I never got to play it. Sky Galleons of Mars (which had the ship combat rules) was well reviewed and had a pretty good pedigree (in terms of the designers who developed the ruleset).

[SandyAndy]

I've never found a ruleset for it but I have a system that I use instead. Basically, a ship of any kind is a very large and complex machine. A steamship or airship would have several stations that each require management. Each player would have a station can crew to manage and might have to go help at another one if needed.

The helm controls direction and speed and would manage the deck crew. They would have to manage adjustments to the altitude, attitude, direction, speed, top deck cargo, and signalling other ships.

The gundeck handles the guns (obviously). They have to select a target, get the helmsman to point the ship correctly, aim, load, and fire the guns, as well as keeping ammunition supplied.

Damage control is something that has to be done in combat. These players would be moving around the ship fixing damaged equipment and bulkheads, securing loose cargo, and healing wounded crewmen.

The engine room has to somehow keep the engine running, fix any damaged mechanical parts around the ship, and keep the balloon functioning.

So there's less D&D style combat and more skill checks and creative solutions to problems. The players wind up divided and trying to help each other accomplish tasks. It's a really chaotic and confusing situation for everyone involved, just like real naval combat. You're not going to get real mechanical solutions for this in a D&D style game, it doesn't really work. But with some creativity you can make a very engaging environment for your players and give them satisfying moments for sinking pirate ships or running a blockade or surviving a storm.

[LordCdrMilitant]

I've done spaceships, tanks, and non-flying ships, i don't see why this wouldn't work for airships though:


The general trend is:
Each ship has an initiative
Each ship has "things to do" like steer, aquire targets, shoot, yell at the crew, repel boarders, effect damage control, etc. representing the players either doing the thing directly or leading the section that does the thing
Each player chooses what they're going to do at the beginning of the turn or on their initiative, and then resolves whatever that action requires.

With the exception of tank battles, its important to let the players move between positions and not be doing the same thing every turn, otherwise it feels like only the captain/helmsman are really doing anything decisive and everybody else is just rolling dice to confirm his choices.

[Lord Torath]

You could probably hack the ship-to-ship combat rules from Spelljammer.

What kinds of large weapons are you wanting to use? Spelljammer has ballistas, catapults, jettisons (catapults that launch a bunch of small rocks instead of one large one), and bombards (cannons). In Spelljammer, most combats are fought in Wildspace, so there are no rules for damaged ships falling out of the sky. It probably wouldn't be hard to make those up though, and modify the critical hit tables. Spelljammer Shock! could be changed to Engines Down or something similar.

You'll also probably want to come up with your own engines, but the general system should work moderately well.

One thing Spelljammer doesn't take into account is the relative altitudes of the ships. There's no gravity in space, so if there are only two ships, you can assume they are on the same plane. They have rules for 3D combat in War Captain's Companion, but they're generally not necessary. And they don't give any advantage to ships at higher altitude than their targets, which is presumably something you would want to include.

[Pauly]

Space: 1889?

Ironclads and Ether Flyers.

It was a stand alone game in the Space 1889 setting.

[LibraryOgre]

Has anyone ever run across a game that had functional rules for midair fights between airships or similarly-functioning vehicles? Obviously thinking in the line of pulpy genres, but most examples of vehicle combat I can think of tend to be exceedingly clunky.

My default would be that airships are floating platforms for ranged and melee combat... the big problem would be positioning, as being above and at a non-right angle to your opponent would be a big advantage.

Two places I can think of that have airship systems:

Mutants Down Under (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/61134/After-the-BombR-Book-3-Mutants-Down-Under?affiliate_id=315505). I do not suggest these rules; Palladium rules are frequently Not Good.

Earthdawn... but I don't know which books. Skyships play a major role in the setting, but I do not know which book has rules for them.

[Friv]

I would suggest taking a look at Flying Circus (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/310013/Flying-Circus--Core-Rulebook), which is a game about mercenary biplane pilots in an alternate history post-WWI. It uses a system where your Altitude and Speed are essentially currencies that you spend to gain advantage over other planes, and then you get shot at a lot.

It's a Powered by the Apocalypse derivative, but it's one with a particularly crunchy approach to air combat in particular.

[Mutazoia]

I'm surprised nobody's brought up "Crimson Skies" yet