Topic: Is Spacemaster for me?

[Gallowglacht]

I'm a big Traveller and Starship Troopers fan, but combat seems a bit stale in these systems. I remember from days of yore the fun crits in MERP/Rolemaster, so how does Spacemaster play out? Does it handle stuff from assault jackets and flack jacket up to plasma guns and Powered Armour. How does it scale (infantry versus grav tanks, grav tanks versus spaceships)? Is burst fire handled in a simple manner? Does it keep the same simple, roll attack, then roll critical of MERP, or is it more complex? Finally can it handle a varied ability group, or does a small difference in experience end in a massacre?

[Dax]

I like Rolemaster and Spacemaster (or Xmaster als I like to call it, when I address RPG and don't want to distinct between Fantasy and SF).

Xmaster is up to any task in any setting.

But perhaps you should check HARP SF out first.
HARP SF is now in page making, but available as pdf (which would be updated when ready).
To get a feel of it:The Fantasy version is available in a light version for free:
HARP light from www.HARPHQ.com

And the other good news: One of the active HARP SF play tester is now making a conversion of Starship Troopers to HARP SF.
Look here:Link

But I suppose he will speak up here soon.

[international1]

I think Spacemaster is for you.  HARP is a bit different and Spacemaster is more like what you will remember.  I think SM2 is probably superior in some ways to SM: Privateers although there were some good additions in Privateers.  The main issue is the the RMFRP system and therefore the Privateers version of FRP seems quite unbalanced.  You could have 1st level Characters will skills rolls of 70+.

All of the various armors you mention are available and combat is fairly simple once you choose your weapon.  Again SM2 combat round is also a bit simpler than the current version.

Varied group experience really differs and depends on exactly what you mean.  However, you don't need the party to be the same level for the party to be successful.

[markc]

I'm a big Traveller and Starship Troopers fan, but combat seems a bit stale in these systems. I remember from days of yore the fun crits in MERP/Rolemaster, so how does Spacemaster play out? Does it handle stuff from assault jackets and flack jacket up to plasma guns and Powered Armour. How does it scale (infantry versus grav tanks, grav tanks versus spaceships)? Is burst fire handled in a simple manner? Does it keep the same simple, roll attack, then roll critical of MERP, or is it more complex? Finally can it handle a varied ability group, or does a small difference in experience end in a massacre?

 First, Welcom to the forums.

 About Traveller vs Spacemaster [I have not played SST], I like Spacemaster vs other systems because of the rich character generation that allows me to sup up a campaign in almost any setting. Right now there are two systems you can buy in PDF SM2 [based on rolemaser 2] and SM:P [based on RMSS/FRP] the major difference is in the skill system and some combat steps. HARP SF is another way to go but it is a offshoot of RM2 and RMSS. I have HARP SF and like it but it deals with a slighly less skill set then SM2 and SM:P and uses more compact weapon tables.
 I think all game scale well from small combat to mass combat but the advatage lies with SM2 as they have Armored Assault and Star Strike PDF's for advanced vehicle and starship combat. But it should be noted I use SS and AA in my SM:P game with a few conversions.
   Burst fire I think is handeled differently in each system but it has been a while since I have looked at them all. But IMO I do not know what you think difficult is vs. complex and I do not have my T4 rules handy to look them up.
  Skill level, IMO in any system with advanced firepower a person with a higher level of skill can very easily take out less experienced opponets. But one main difference is these systems generally kill by criticals not by strait hits. So as the GM you can always adjust the crit up or down to increase survival rates.

MDC

[Gallowglacht]

Thanks for the welcome and info guys. Do ICE still have convervsion notes in the back for different systems?

ps that should be Assault rifles, not assault jackets

[markc]

 The SM2 stuff still has some conversion stuff but the SM:P books do not. But I have allways found it sort of simple to covert things since the system is D100 based. Now if you like starships from Traveller you could use them in SM you just have to work out the weapons mark # for the chart. One thing is easy though if you use FF&S for hand weapons you can comvert them to Firearm Law and use the approperate chritical for the type of weapon. I like the in depth use of real world formulas [I think as I am not a weapons/firearm/cannon designer] in FF&S and have used it to creat weapons for a campaign. Do I have the conversions, no I lost them when an old hard drive blew up when I was doing a back up. I shoud say the first back up.


 A future armor; is kinetic armor and it basicly reduces the firearm to doing only hits no crits. This greatly improves the lifespan of PC's in a violent campaign. Sort of like the armor in Fire Fly that Cloe'e [sp?] wore.

MDC 

[Gallowglacht]

K. So a Gauss rifle in Traveller might have a Muzzle Velocity of 3485j. Thats equal to 2581 ft/lb, so an ME of 14, which converts to a BE of 7. If I assume that gauss darts (lethal in trav) are armour piercing and do shrapnell crits, how does this compare with Energy weapons in SM; seing as Traveller has a slug thrower bias (bar Plasma/Fusion) and SM has an Energy weapon bias?

[markc]

K. So a Gauss rifle in Traveller might have a Muzzle Velocity of 3485j. Thats equal to 2581 ft/lb, so an ME of 14, which converts to a BE of 7. If I assume that gauss darts (lethal in trav) are armour piercing and do shrapnell crits, how does this compare with Energy weapons in SM; seing as Traveller has a slug thrower bias (bar Plasma/Fusion) and SM has an Energy weapon bias?

 I do not know hot to answer this as there is no chart that relates weapon energy to SM Energy Weapon table. So I cannot say that a Traveller laser that uses 5 MJ for .03 seconds should use chart LE7. I wish there was a chart like that from SM:P as IMO it might/would make converting other systems weapons to SM:P a lot easier.
 So the short answer is that as a GM you have to do some testing for your game and see what weapon you want to be the most powerful, most cost effective, smallest etc.

 Also about the Guass Rifle IMO it would do shraonell crits on unarmored opponets but decrease its crit type for armored locations. BUt as I said above in any game a GM should have the ruels be what works for his campaign.
MDC

[Gallowglacht]

Don't think I asked that question well. Blaster law has a list at the back. On the "common Imperian laser weapons" chart there is a heavy laser assault weapon rated at a 7 aswell. But I'm not experienced with the system so I don't know how much practicle difference there is between the 2 charts or the differing crits. I will test the stuff out, but was hoping an experienced player might be able to spot something straight off the bat, if you know what I mean.

As for converting lasers, I was just going to pick a default level (so take traveller TL12 as SM TL24?/xx and adjust the stats up or down using the chart for designing your own weapons in the back of Blaster Law).

So, I guess the question should have been, at the same energy number, is a laser still better than a slug thrower, due to hit chart and crits? Or is it more complex than that?

I think I'll do a bit more digging and experimentation, but I am tempted to get more into it and maybe adopt the combat anyway. Mind if I pick your brains a bit over the next while?

Such as; What book would I need for the likes of grenades?

And cheers for the replies BTW.

[markc]

Gallowglacht,
 No problem on picking my brains as quite often peoples questions help me in when I start my own game again.

 Lasers vs Guns vs Blaster vs Plasma weapons:
 Basic Book Info: First Firearms are dealt with in WL: Firearms and energy weapons are dealt with in SM:P, SM2 [basic books], SM:P BL and some basic stats in SM:P EM. [If you are new as you say then there is a link in the Rolmaster section that talkes about abrievations for Rolemaster.] So the basic info is spread out over a couple of areas and since Firearm Law has info only on modern weapons it prime target IMO was for RMSS:Black OP's and info for fantasy games that wanted firearms. That said IMO it works great for future setting games as well a fact that I think is do to its great design.
 Weapon vs Weapon: Well if you are playing strait by the book then slug throwers have a disadvatage in that Kinetic armor stops all slug thrower criticals. So the target only takes the hits listed on the chart not the crit that the round would do. There is a saying in Rolmaster, "It is the critical that kills." or more commonily "It is the crit that kills.". So if your target is wearing kinetic armor you sould possibly use a different weapon to take them down. Energy weapons are deadly and there are some armor add-ons that will provide extra DB vs them, but thier is no armor type effect that springs to my mind that would ignor criticals like Kinetic armor. Lasers in general fire more short per round, do the least damage in general, the weekest single shot crits but have brutal full automatic fire crits and have the longist range, Blasters fire slower than lasers do more damage, better crits then lasers and also brutal full auto fire crits, Plasma weapons are brutal all aroud as the plasma continues to burn the target for a number of rounds after they were hit, but have a slow rate a fire and very short range.
 I think that is everything but I could have made a mistake or left something out. If kinetic armor in in play then the best damage is plasma, blaster then laser, the best range is laser, blaser then plasma, the highest rate of fire in general is laser, blaster then plasma. Number of rounds per mag, laser, blaster then plasm, I do not remember the weight issue right off the top of my head so you might want to look that up.
 But also I have found that players tend to not buy kinetic armor or not wear it as much because Kinetic armor nuliflys criticals and so many people opt for energy weapons. But this brings up the old thinking that if my targets are not wearing kinetic armor then Firearms are a very very good alternative against non-kinetic armor. This really throws a monkey wrench into the old thought process above. And in general IMO the firearms would rate between the laser and blaser in most areas with the exception that you have to carry ammo and have a good supply of ammo and not simply plug a power pack into the wall.

 Gernades: I know there are some rules on R. Defendies site about them and they might also be in the ICE Vault files as well. I do not remember the ruels off the top of my head. But if someone else does not give you some I will see what I can find.

Note: SM:P in general uses abstract rules for vehicle combat and starship combat but there are the StarStrike and Armored Assault PDF rules for SM2 that can be adapted with a little jury riging by players and GMs. There are no published rules for the conversion but I run them with just a little effort on my part.

MDC 

[Defendi]

technically, blasters have the best rate of fire since they can fire continuous, but that's where the better crit comes in.  Blaster crits (the continuous ones) are also the deadliest, though I agree Plasma does more damage.

[David Johansen]

Firearms use the blaster tables.

Anyhow, my own feeling on Kinetic Armour is that its effects should vary over the period of its development.

That is to say at lower TLs it might just be glorified flack armour but then it starts reducing and then even fully negating crits.  I'd say shift crits down by the difference in the TLs between the weapon and the armour.

[markc]

 I have allwys used the tables in AL:Firearms instead of the blaster tables but if you do not have AL:F then that is ok.

 Like DJ says a GM can deal with Kinetc armor in many ways and it can add a lot of flavor to the game depending on how it is used.

 Everyone, sorry about the mis-info there about the energy weapons it has been a little while since I have played using the weapons. 

 Another things is the blastes and I think plasma weapons can be radiological as well so thier might be radation damage as well. This is a GM decision though on how the weapons work and that will in fact determine how armor is built and used.

 Plasma weapons are also great for buring through stuff so some care should be taken if you are in a situation that that could cause a problem. ie starship hull, marine underwater craft etc.

 I think in my game most people used laser or blaser weapons but quickly found out that they were restricted on most worlds so they also carried firearms when off thier starship. But this was a setting rule not a rule in the book as the players wanted a more FireFly approch to the game as well as kinetic armor allowed them to take rounds and not die from the crits. It worked very well. Another thing they used a lot was a stunner from a higher tech level than the planet. And I had ruled that the lower tech protection would not help the targets. Boy they went crazy but it achieved exzactly the theam, game flow and result that I wanted in that situation.

MDC

[markc]

 Have you found the gernade rules? Or do I need to look them up or try and find you a link to some info?
MDC

[Jachra]

If I may, Star Hero did setting-neutral pretty well.  (The supplement for Hero for sci-fi.)
Course, it's because the base system permits sci-fi just as well as it does fantasy or superheroes.

[Oldgrue]

Better rules for grenades are on defendi's errata page.