Wargaming with Gi Joes
 

Hey everyone I've just signed up for this site but I come here often to check out the latest dios or images. I must say a lot of your are doing some really cool stuff I only wish I could do the same but sadly my collection is seperated from me so looking at a lot of these images gives that warm fuzzy feeling inside. But anyway here's what I've been working on for the last 3 years, its a game with which to wargame joes. It's an RPG but you can use the rules to more of a wargame feature by eliminating some things in the game. A chracter would comprise of Attributes, Skills and Feats some which you might recognize from D&D or D20 Modern which is where I got a lot of my ideas. It's similar to D20 Modern except that I've extrapolated (if thats the right word) the rules so that they fit a physical environment rather then an imaginary one.
Now so far I've managed to type up most of the actual explanation for the rules but I'm still tweaking here and there. I did give out the original gave I invented before but I never did hear back from anyone if they were successful in launching it or not. This newer version is much more detailed and much more in depth then the last version as there's complicated night ops issues and vehicles are more defined and flexible for firepower, armour, etc. Also some skills allow you to make your own thing such as vehicles, weapons, explosives and just about everything in the game. I've also included a few Stargate weapons (cause I'm a fan) but i do have an extensive weapon list, though not to actual real life scale but close enough so each weapon has a variety of different strengths and weaknesses. My last game also had weak spy skills but this new game has a lot more highlights including weapon concealment and disguise skills.
I think I've ranted enough, if there is some interest for the game please let me know. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to finish hopefully it shouldn't be more than a week I've done most of the leg work but some small details still need to be done. Any questions, comments, suggestions and/or ideas let me know, who knows I might already have them.

I have finished the rules despite what the above says and you can get them at this website:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/joewargaming/
its a group but you can join without any difficulty and the rules are available to download.

Hey there, good idea on the Joe wargame. My only complaint against it is that D&D type rules can be cumbersome and drawn out.

In recent years we've seen new games come out that are more faster to play and I think more enjoyable (HeroClix for DC and Marvel, the new star wars attactix although I haven't played that). And even older role playing and tactical games like Warhammer have streamlined their rules to make the game flow faster and make it more exciting.

I'd like to see a Joe wargame follow in the current trend of wargaming- make it fast and accessible. I know there are still fans of the classic style of playing, but I've found myself enjoying the faster games now that im older and dont have as much time to fuss about a plethora of rules and 800 dice on the table.

*yeah thats right, I use to play with 800 dice, want to fight about it?!?!? :mad:

Hello again. Well it looks like people are viewing my post but not replying so I'm not sure what anyone thinks about my game. Perhaps I'm not giving a good description of what it is but its hard to get into specifics without going on and on. Though I believe I did forget to mention that I'm not selling this game but giving it away to anyone who's interested. So let's see what I can do to explain things a little better.

Characters are defined by their Attributes, Skills, Feats which increase as your character gets more experience, though not necessarily combat. You can eliminate individual characters for a more wargame feel by creating one set of stats which can be shared by a number of different joes this way you can have more of a wargame and less of an RPG. Personally I perfer a mixture of both Individual Characters and Shared Stat characters for instance you got your regular Joes and the Greenshirts.

Combat is down with Action Points (AP) where each character gets a number of points per turn which is affected by the Agility Attribute and some Skills and Feats can help increase the number of points you get per turn. Turn based combat is necessary for a table top style of game, since real time is just impratical. AP define everything you do during a turn, whether it be firing a gun, moving, throwing grenades, manipulating you're environment, whatever.

The environment is really what you want to make. Usually I just cut cardboard and make makeshift houses. Also I tape up toilet paper roles and stick branches in them to make makeshift trees. I have a table I usually play on which is rather large, but the floor is just as good or even using levels. Such as a table and the floor underneath. Large tank versus tank battles assisted with aircraft would require a lot of space but if you can manage then go for it.

With a wide variety of Skills, Feats and Character Types each member of your team is capable of providing a different benefit. Characters can range from Bodyguards to Invesitgators to Spec Ops. With some characters their focus may be on Skills or Feats. Usually the Feat characters are more combat oriented whereas Skill Characters as you may guess are not.

Also I'm trying to get in touch with the guy who made the Castle Destro website but the email he has there doesn't get me in touch with him. If anybody knows his email could they get in touch with me? I just want to ask him if I could use some of his pictures in the manual that I'm typing up.

Again if anyone has any questions, comments, suggestions and/or ideas feel free to say so.

Of course someone posts a message just after I write my long little explanation. Well no need to worry there's no 800 dice, just 3 I use D20s, D6s and D12s (and only one time). Also the rules are only similar to D&D in characters, Combat, Vehicles, Equipment, Even the rules of the Feats are all different in my game. I hate using a lot of dice for a lot of different things, everything in my game shifts over into percentages which simplifies a lot of the tedious confusion with D&D.

But keep those questions and comments coming.

Have you factored in how to use large set pieces like a terror drome or the Flagg? THat would be cool.

If people dont have a flagg, can you make a printable version we can printoff as a stand-in? :D

The Terror-Drome would be easy to do, like the burger king cardboard crowns. I love those

Hey I was just kidding in my last post. Seriously, have you thought about the bigger vehicles in your game? It would be interesting to use those, even if they are unwieldy.

GIJoes could try to take over the Terror-Drome; classic castle defense wargaming.

Just joking about the last part of my post :p

What? Oh yeah I hope so man that would be hard to do. I can imagine it in my head but actually drawing it out would be tough. As for incorporation yes, well the Terrordrome wouldn't fit in as a vehicle it would just be a structure. Though I suppose it could have armour and hit points but I hadn't considered it as usually structures are usually just part of the scenary. It also had gun ports installed into it but that wouldn't really need much in the way of incorporation. As for the Flagg yeah there's a aircraft carrier in there for those who want to build their own aircraft carrier. Usually walls are susceptible to being blown apart by explosive weapons perhaps in the terrordrome's case we might need to consider its structure a bit more resilient.

yay! 100 views, I guess I'm generating some interest, though I don't know how much. Anyway I wish I had some good news such as "I'm finished" but instead all I got are excuses, I won't vent though but needless to say I haven't quite gotten everything typed out. The basics are hammered out, along with the essentials but there's a few things i know I haven't typed in yet and I'll need those.

Also Marauder has recently released their new weapons and I think there's three or four that I don't already have on my weapons list? Anyone want everything there? After all we're all completists at heart. I really would like to add the SIG since its such a groovy weapon but with all the others in my weapons list I wonder if it's really necessary. I suppose you could always fashion your own details of the weapon in relation to the game too it wouldn't be hard.

I'm also working on example Level 1 characters for those who wish to utilize more of the wargaming aspect of the game than the RPG aspect of the game. It's tedious math but its getting there too. But I plan to finish sometime in April, maybe in the middle of the month I should have everything finished and ready to go. The next problem that arises is distribution.

Any ideas? :confused:

Any way good talking to you "indirectly"

You could post scans of your files maybe at one of those free album sites, like at Yahoo or some other place.

Well, if you've got something more than a couple dozen pages, then you could print copies and distribute them at a gijoe convention for a small fee (to cover printing and material costs).

thanks for keeping us updated

Wargaming with Joes
 

I guess a way to make this truly work in a 3d environment is to adopt a miniatures perspective overlapped with a RPG. If you used the physical measurements such as used in Warhammer, it would make alot of sense in addition to the inherent abilities you've already developed. Transferring your skills/attributes/abilities to the physical nature of combat as in Warhammer would be an amazing synergy.

Imagine rolling for Zartan's chameleon influence in terms of charisma level from an rpg perspective overlapped with the physical ranges used in warhammer (or any other tabletop miniatures game) for weapon range, rate of fire, defense, etc., etc.