Steampunk Airship Chase/Raid/Pirate help
- Thread starter Haxor295
- Start date
First, welcome to the boards!
Second, way to start off with something nice & easy!
Things to remember about air battles:
In addition, you may find minis and/or wargames to be quite helpful for helping you depict the combat. Games like Sky Galleons of Mars or Crimson Skies have minis and/or rules that may help your players visualize what's going on.
Second, way to start off with something nice & easy!
Things to remember about air battles:
- They are in 3 dimensions. Aerial attackers- especially those who are trained or are naturals- will be attacking from unexpected angles, including from beneath. This is because "landlubbers" tend to think in 2D. Even if they remember to look up, they may not look down...or vice versa...so use ALL of the angles on them. Classic film examples include Wrath of Khan and Dragonslayer.
- Falls can be fatal. If you don't want a botched roll to send a PC tumbling to certain death, have some kind of failsafe. Perhaps the airship has safety lines that attach to a harness for anyone involved in combat. Or perhaps the attackers have nets to catch the falling.
- Don't disarm the PCs unless its for a story-arc reason. While not fatal, dropping things can turn the tide of battle in an instant. Because of this, you might want to avoid using "fumble" results or NPCs who "disarm" since dropped items may not be recoverable.
In addition, you may find minis and/or wargames to be quite helpful for helping you depict the combat. Games like Sky Galleons of Mars or Crimson Skies have minis and/or rules that may help your players visualize what's going on.
Gilladian
Adventurer
Also, if you can get hold of the "Hot Pursuit" rules that used to be sold as a PDF (I'm not sure they are still available), they have a good system for generating chase events, although they're limited to ground travel; you would have to adapt them to 3d.
Chases are hard to do well, aerial fights are even harder. Have fun and even if it doesn't work perfectly, don't despair!
Chases are hard to do well, aerial fights are even harder. Have fun and even if it doesn't work perfectly, don't despair!
First, welcome to the boards!
Second, way to start off with something nice & easy!
Things to remember about air battles:
- They are in 3 dimensions. Aerial attackers- especially those who are trained or are naturals- will be attacking from unexpected angles, including from beneath. This is because "landlubbers" tend to think in 2D. Even if they remember to look up, they may not look down...or vice versa...so use ALL of the angles on them. Classic film examples include Wrath of Khan and Dragonslayer.
- Falls can be fatal. If you don't want a botched roll to send a PC tumbling to certain death, have some kind of failsafe. Perhaps the airship has safety lines that attach to a harness for anyone involved in combat. Or perhaps the attackers have nets to catch the falling.
- Don't disarm the PCs unless its for a story-arc reason. While not fatal, dropping things can turn the tide of battle in an instant. Because of this, you might want to avoid using "fumble" results or NPCs who "disarm" since dropped items may not be recoverable.
In addition, you may find minis and/or wargames to be quite helpful for helping you depict the combat. Games like Sky Galleons of Mars or Crimson Skies have minis and/or rules that may help your players visualize what's going on.
thanks! this is great!!
Michael Dean
Explorer
I'd recommend "Airships" by the defunct Bastion Press.
Rpgnow sells the pdf here:
Airships - Bastion Press | RPGNow.com
It's got some excellent rules, but even better, the fluff is really interesting, like necrotic engines.
Decent floorplans of aerial ships too.
Rpgnow sells the pdf here:
Airships - Bastion Press | RPGNow.com
It's got some excellent rules, but even better, the fluff is really interesting, like necrotic engines.
Decent floorplans of aerial ships too.
thanks, i'll check that out!
Ah yes...deck plans!
If you need deckplans, check out the aforementioned Sky Galleons and its RPG inspiration, Space: 1889. You'll also find some cool ships in the OoP TSR campaign setting, Spelljammer.
If you need deckplans, check out the aforementioned Sky Galleons and its RPG inspiration, Space: 1889. You'll also find some cool ships in the OoP TSR campaign setting, Spelljammer.
for realz!?! this is awesome!!!
Last edited:
Michael Dean
Explorer
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