Quote from: CRKrueger;564859Feeling my Old Bastard oats today.

Old Bastard Oats: Cooked with hot ashes instead of boiling water and flavored with sand instead of brown sugar.

Quote from: rik-km;566095Sure... such as what?  

The fact it's got a big list of guns; or the that it is has rules of Air Combat Maneouvers; or that it really does offer a very fluid means of modelling modern warfare....  oh I could go on forever....

What do you think The Company does best? (I figured I would give you an open ended question to start)  What do you think the best way to deal with issues of command and rank in a military setting?  In my experience that is often a stumbling block in military themed games because of the notoriously anarchic nature of most RPG groups.

Also, are you planning to do specific expansions that cover military ops in different past conflicts, say Vietnam or Africa?


-TGA

Quote from: rik-km;566095or the that it is has rules of Air Combat Maneouvers

Well, you'll probably get credit for innovation for that!

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;566156Well, you'll probably get credit for innovation for that!

-clash

I don't think he's claiming to have innovated there, any more than the "big list of guns" he mentions. (Reminds me that I must give your flying games a go one day.)

The Good Assyrian, in the one game of The Company I played, it was actually quite natural and fun to defer to the one player who was in charge. It offers a lot of roleplaying opportunity. It also makes decision making much easier/streamlined, as long as everyone is in the mindset of accepting the officer's decisions (which you shoud be if you've chosen to play a military roleplaying game). The main issue I see is that the player who is running the officer character may not want the responsibility

Quote from: Stainless;566239I don't think he's claiming to have innovated there, any more than the "big list of guns" he mentions. (Reminds me that I must give your flying games a go one day.)

Ah - that was not directed at rik-km. It was a bitter observation on popular perception of innovation - the way most gamers think White Wolf came up with dice pools, for example. If rik-km is using the ACM, he - or she - is doing it the *right* way. Ben Baugh and Levi Kornelsen are working on/have put out games based on my version of using ACM, which is awesome! That the Company is using ACM is awesome, whether or not they are using my particular implementation!

QuoteThe Good Assyrian, in the one game of The Company I played, it was actually quite natural and fun to defer to the one player who was in charge. It offers a lot of roleplaying opportunity. It also makes decision making much easier/streamlined, as long as everyone is in the mindset of accepting the officer's decisions (which you shoud be if you've chosen to play a military roleplaying game). The main issue I see is that the player who is running the officer character may not want the responsibility

I have found the above to be true whenever I run military games. The trick is always to ensure that only those who *want* command get it. It's not something which should be assigned randomly.

-clash

Quote from: rik-km;566000Hi,

The idea to make it as flexible as possible was one of my main goals, when I designed The Company.  

Certainly the concept of plug and play is in there, take the setting and throw away The Blades Group (aka The Company) and add in your favourite military unit or setting.  

In fact, in the up-coming suppliment to The Company, I've created a Russian competitor, complete with architypes; plus a whole load more equipment and weapons.

Rik K-M

Rockin! I am gonna be all over that Thanks for the great game

Quote from: rik-km;566095Sure... such as what?  

The fact it's got a big list of guns; or the that it is has rules of Air Combat Maneouvers; or that it really does offer a very fluid means of modelling modern warfare....  oh I could go on forever....

You know what would be cool? A short guide on how to stat up real world weapons, especially from different eras. I could see using The Company to run my Miami Nights '80s cop setting.

Quote from: flyingmice;566269I have found the above to be true whenever I run military games. The trick is always to ensure that only those who *want* command get it. It's not something which should be assigned randomly.

-clash

Same here. I have never had a problem deferring to the character in charge when playing in any sci-fi or military or espionage game. I play Starcluster 3 run by Clash, and Tim (Silverlion) plays the Captain of our Company and it works great. It might not be as good for pick-up games or casual game store games, but with a group of buds, I've never found it to be a problem at all.

Quote from: Dimitrios;564864I have a half baked theory that the internet is partially responsible for the decline of the military rpg genre.

If memory serves, hardware porn was part of the appeal for many. I can recall numerous rpg books filled with descriptions, illustrations and stats for a whole galaxy of weapons & vehicles.

Maybe the web provides an alternative means to scratch that particular itch?

Quote from: Sacrosanct;564867I think you're on to something.  One of the things I liked were the vehicle and weapon blueprints and pictures.  Now those are super easy to get online.

Idunno. When I was a kid, a big part of Shadowrun's appeal was the "gear shopping," but I don't care so much for the actual nuts and bolts of real military hardware.

It may be that the general popularity of systems wherein there are 12 handguns on the equipment list (and meaningful differences from one to another) is not what it was--but Shadowrun and the 40k games are pretty popular.

It could be that it's a lot less work for designers to make crunchy gun-porn material in a sci-fi/fantasy milieu than in a fairly real-world setting.

Quote from: The Good Assyrian;566142What do you think The Company does best? (I figured I would give you an open ended question to start)  What do you think the best way to deal with issues of command and rank in a military setting?  In my experience that is often a stumbling block in military themed games because of the notoriously anarchic nature of most RPG groups.

Also, are you planning to do specific expansions that cover military ops in different past conflicts, say Vietnam or Africa?

Gosh, start with an easy one :-)  

Okay, well I feel The Company allows you as both a GM and a player to be flexible, to enable dynamic story telling that is both fast and flexible.  

I am however, not going to say I've re-invented gaming with this product; certainly not going to claim there is anything really inventive with the game, although I am pretty pleased with the way I handle vehicle collisions ;-)

The squad level play is a fairly light touch, in the original version (pre-play test) things were a lot stronger but this didn't suit any of the players I used.  They didn't like the concept of rigid miitary hierarchy, and so some of the rules regarding conduct were removed and in stead I shifted that onto the GM - the idea is that if the RoE ar breached then it is up to the GM to decide how best to proceed with a suitable punishment.  You can think of this as a very rules light form of SANITY loss.  

As to in party leadership, this is normally given to the player whom the GM thinks is most suitable; although applying it randomly is also good fun.  Having a squad in full on rebellion when the leader goes utterly off the plot seems to be very fun indeed.

Having a leader can also help, as I recently found out when one particular player decided to monopolise the play, and rather annoyed all the other players.  Eventually the leader 'ordered' this player's character to actually do something.  

Now, settings:  the short answer to this is yes I have thought of it, but no I will not be producing anything for these eras.  The reason for this is simply that:

1.  That creating a realistic world for any of these eras would be both very time consuming and frought with getting some of the details wrong in some way.  Such conflicts are simply too well documented and people have so many views on them that I would bound to be heavily criticised.  

2.  For some of these eras I, as a UK national, would never presume to document another country's war.  

So it is easier for me to stay well clear of them.  However there is nothing stopping anyone from doing this.  

Rik K-M

Quote from: Sigmund;566306You know what would be cool? A short guide on how to stat up real world weapons, especially from different eras. I could see using The Company to run my Miami Nights '80s cop setting.

Interesting suggestion.  I will see what I can do.  I will probably post it up on The Company development blog...  

Actually you ought to find most of the weapons found in Miami Vice in The Company already.  Although Crocket's S&W 645 isn't in there, you can simply take the stats for a .40S&W auto, say a M&P LE Duty and use that instead.

And the Cop setting would work too...  If you did I'd be real interested in the feedback on car collisions (again very Miami Vice).

Rik K-M

Quote from: Halloween Jack;566320Idunno. When I was a kid, a big part of Shadowrun's appeal was the "gear shopping," but I don't care so much for the actual nuts and bolts of real military hardware.

It may be that the general popularity of systems wherein there are 12 handguns on the equipment list (and meaningful differences from one to another) is not what it was--but Shadowrun and the 40k games are pretty popular.

It could be that it's a lot less work for designers to make crunchy gun-porn material in a sci-fi/fantasy milieu than in a fairly real-world setting.

It is, it cuts down the time you spend researching and writinh this stuff up.  I mean fantasy a sword is basically a sword - it comes in either "short", "hand and a half" and "long".  

And in sci-fi - your basic laser gun comes as either a "pistol" or a "rifle".  

Modern stuff, people actually want you to describe real things - internet or not.  And when you do describe stuff, you have to espect to have to field the "where is my favourite gun" comments.  

This explains why the equipment and weapons section took over 5 months to write.

It also explains why I've added more guns to the Red Book Suppliment.

Rik K-M

Quote from: flyingmice;566269AThat the Company is using ACM is awesome, whether or not they are using my particular implementation!

Sorry to admit but I'm not using your implementation of ACM.  Which probably means what I've got is clunky and very unsubtle compared to your wonderful rules.

Rik K-M

Quote from: rik-km;566362Sorry to admit but I'm not using your implementation of ACM.  Which probably means what I've got is clunky and very unsubtle compared to your wonderful rules.

Rik K-M

I think you are reading me wrong. If you are using ACM to model air combat, you are awesome. You are *way* ahead of the rest of the field. Your air combats will rock! I don't think you "copied" my work. I think you did the same thing I did - read about ACM, realize this would kick ass at actually modelling air combat in games, and then figure out a way to do that.

You don't know me, but I'm not generally thought of as a dick.

If you PM me, I'll send you a copy of one of my air combat games, and you are welcome to use it if you like it better than what you came up with. The other designers who *did* use it didn't license it from me. They said "Hey, clash! I love the air combat system you used! Can I adapt it for my own game?" I said hell yeah! This advances the art.

Personally I would *love* to see what you have come up with. It may be better than the way I approached it. If so, I can learn from it, and for me, that's what it's all about, making better games.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;566385I think you are reading me wrong. If you are using ACM to model air combat, you are awesome. You are *way* ahead of the rest of the field. Your air combats will rock! I don't think you "copied" my work. I think you did the same thing I did - read about ACM, realize this would kick ass at actually modelling air combat in games, and then figure out a way to do that.

You don't know me, but I'm not generally thought of as a dick.

If you PM me, I'll send you a copy of one of my air combat games, and you are welcome to use it if you like it better than what you came up with. The other designers who *did* use it didn't license it from me. They said "Hey, clash! I love the air combat system you used! Can I adapt it for my own game?" I said hell yeah! This advances the art.

Personally I would *love* to see what you have come up with. It may be better than the way I approached it. If so, I can learn from it, and for me, that's what it's all about, making better games.

-clash

Don't worry I'm not thinking of you in that way at all.  But I have a feeling your solution is going to be far better than mine :-)

When I was developing The Company, I'd just finished a long contract where I'd spent quite a bit of time working on various Air Defense systems.  

So at the back of my mind was missiles - there must be Surface to Air missiles; but then there must also be ways for pilots to avoid such missiles.

From there it went, if we've got surface to air, then there must be air to air; after that it all kind of spiraled out of control to include close in gun fire.

At one point I remembr walking up a hill close to where I live, plotting max rate turns with my hands and trying to work out shooting solutions...  

Totally barking :-)

Rik K-M