what rpgs do car wars?

What are the best rpgs that can be used to play car wars on the market, besides, well car wars? I want to bone up and see what works and what doesn't. also anything to keep in mind when balence the person and the car so neither feels extraneous?
 

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Rather obviously, GURPS Autoduel. Bit dated (eve the store page is dated - "ten years ago" is more like 30), but GURPS is easy to modify between editions.

Beyond that, Gallant Games Tiny d6 system has a few things that might help - Fallen Justice has rules for armed vehicles that could easily be adapted for non-street vigilante use, and Tiny Wastelands is Mad Max-ish (good for the Chassis & Crossbow CW era). Might be more in the many many Tiny zines.

EDIT: Oh, there it is - Gallant also makes Atomic Highway, another post-Apoc game that has vehicle rules. Can't vouch for it personally, but it might be useful even if normal CW is far from a P-A setting. Now why didn't that turn up when I was looking for it the first time?
 
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Reynard

Legend
Supporter
What are the best rpgs that can be used to play car wars on the market, besides, well car wars? I want to bone up and see what works and what doesn't. also anything to keep in mind when balence the person and the car so neither feels extraneous?
Are you looking for actual vehicles on the table tactical, or just games that can do chases etc? If the latter, I would recommend Savage Worlds SWADE edition. If the former, I can't really think of a single TTRPG that does vehicles miniatures rules in a satisfying way.
 

If the former, I can't really think of a single TTRPG that does vehicles miniatures rules in a satisfying way.
I mean, classic Car Wars is a (somewhat accidental) RPG by the time you add in all the supplemental stuff over the years, but the game is very focused on staying in your vehicle if you want to live - or playing troupe-style as a cycle gang or vehicle crew, perhaps. Or using Autoduel Champions and running superheroes. HERO system isn't far behind GURPS when it comes to adapting CW either.

For more deliberate RPGs with decent tactical vehicle rules, Star Frontiers does a pretty good job once you add in that one Dragon magazine article that added design rules and more weapons, defenses, etc. And that one does integrate with on-foot characters fairly well.
 


I'm reminded that Macho Women With Guns grew a disturbingly functional vehicular combat system in the Renegade Nuns On Wheels supplement, which I think were bundled in with the later compiled rulebook editions. No idea if it's still available anywhere - I don't see it on DTRPG, and while BTRC is still in business there's nothing about the game on their current store.
 

kronovan

Adventurer
I'll ditto Savage Worlds SWADE - I've run many a car chase and a battle using those rules, with very good results. Vehicle battles using miniatures on a tabletop with SW are also doable and I've done a fair amount of that with tanks and AFV in Weird Wars campaigns. They're a bit more doable using the vehicle ACCeleration stat in the Deluxe edition of the rules, which was removed for SWADE. There's a companion titled Road Rage, Life in the Fast Lane for the Interface Zero 2.0 (Cyberpunk SWD setting), which provides details for running vehicle races with a small section on combat. Most if not all of that content can be used with SWADE.

The Cepheus Engine could also be a good set of rules for running car battles, with the 1 caveat that careers would likely need to be added to or edited to better support PCs with good driving skills. That could also be achieved to a certain extent by modding backgrounds. There's a number of different flavors of those rules and my own personal preference for vehicle-focused adventures is Moon Toad Publishing's edition. Mostly because they also publish an excellent Vehicle Design Guide companion to compliment the core. There's also a freebie Vehicle Design Guide from Samardan Press, but IMO MTP's guide is superior.
 

one of my biggest inspirations for writing an car based rpg isn't an rpg, but rather a silly video game.


Death Road to Canada

I think this modified version of oregon trail is a near perfect model for something that has never been done well in rpgs: The Road Trip.

You travel across the wasteland, stopping to loot and deal with issues on the road.

I have already done a random table that simulates this random events on the road.

if I could mix it with car wars, I think it would be a darm perfect game but I have no idea how to pull it off.
 



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