Robotech RPG to Tactics Conversion

[Mike1975]

I think I have the conversion figured out so I'll open it up here and see what people think.

How many of you play the RPG that would use Tactics to swap over to battles to play them out on the table and then back to the RPG? Would you be interested in knowing how to swap in and out RPG characters to Tactics?

[Warshield73]

How many of you play the RPG that would use Tactics to swap over to battles to play them out on the table and then back to the RPG?

I doubt I will much. Would require a lot of space to run a regular game then switch to the terrain table. Besides, this would limit my in game battles to the terrain I have, not what I can imagine.

Might do it on special occasions, for really big or important battles.

Would you be interested in knowing how to swap in and out RPG characters to Tactics?

From the description of the game I believe the rules for doing this will be in the actual rule book. Won't they?

[Mike1975]

I was curious to see how many people would actually use it as a tie in since it was touted to be able to do just that.

Supposedly that will be in the rules.

[Kryptt]

As long as this doesn't turn into another game that's not sure what it wants to be like inquisitor. Was it a role play game or a TT game? At least that was the beef many players had who didn't get what narrative play was. Then again if that was the point why not make it an RPG.lol

Anyway I don't think RRT will suffer from an identity crises like said game. Besides Mike the rules are tight and awesome and everyone in the office loves them.

For me I would like to find folks who want to play both separately and combined.

[Forar]

I'm glad that RPG players will have figures to paint up and personalize for their own fighters/etc if they so choose, but my group will be purely table top. Closest we might come would be using custom pilots if the rules for doing so are solid and balanced, but that also depends on how necessary we feel it is to do so.

Though now that I think about it, I kind of like the idea of starting off a fresh cheap character and slowly 'advancing him' through the system as the games and months go by.

[Mike1975]

As near as I can tell, if my conversions are right, there is no difference between a 2nd, 3rd, and a 4th level character. At 5th - 6th level the players get another attack. This does have a definite effect on Tactics Stats.

[glitterboy2098]

most of my characters are ASC and Invid era's, so i probably won't see much use of the conversion rules until those periods get figures.. but the ability to invant your own custom aces for campaigns will be good.. even if you don't have RPG session's mixed in.

[Forar]

As near as I can tell, if my conversions are right, there is no difference between a 2nd, 3rd, and a 4th level character. At 5th - 6th level the players get another attack. This does have a definite effect on Tactics Stats.

I'm more thinking I'd simply add another ability or other stat improvement (along with the requisite points cost) over time. Make a 5 point rookie to start, couple of months/kills later bump 'em up to 10 points with another ability, etc, etc.

[Mike1975]

I had thought about that when I was making the character stuff to add to my rules.

1. Aware (5 Points)  Unit may attempt to dodge inescapable weapons

2. Backstabber (5 Points)  Unit generates 3 command points for every friendly unit with Life is Cheap that he/she destroys

3. Battlefield Commander (15 Points)  PIL +1, GUN +1 and Leadership +3

4. Berserker (5 Points)  Unit may rapid fire any weapon with this trait without paying command points but they will suffer a -1 to PIL and GUN for the rest of the turn when they do so. Units that have not activated yet during a turn do not suffer this penalty until after their activation.

5. Born Leader (5 Points)  Leadership +2

6. Brutal (5 Points)  Units with this trait will add +1 MDC of damage to all weapons that do less than 5 points of damage and will add 2 points of damage to all weapons that do 5 or more damage. These pilots are considered insane by many others and remove the safeties from their weapons. Every time units with the Brutal trait fire and roll an unmodified natural 1 on the strike roll, re-roll the die. If the result is another 1 the weapons system is destroyed and the unit takes one MDC of damage.

7. Claustrophobic (-5 Points)  (Campaign only) Players with this trait suffer a -1 to PIL and GUN while they have more than 3 units, friendly or otherwise within 3 inches of themselves.

8. Crack Shot (5 Points)  Units hits by a unit with the Crack Shot trait cannot be protected or shielded by other units allowing the units to split the damage. Units with shields suffer a -1 penalty to their parry rolls.

9. Deadeye (5 points)  Increase all weapons ranges by 25% (rounding down)

10. Field Commander (25 Points)  PIL +2, GUN +2, Leadership +4, Faction Initiative +1

11. Flashbacks (-5 Points)  (Campaign Only) When confronted with an enemy that has shot them down in a previous encounter this unit suffers a -1 to PIL and -1 to all anti-missile rolls while that enemy is within 12 inches of them. When they move outside of the 12 inches or the enemy is destroyed the restrictions are lifted.

12. Intuitive (10 Points)  Leadership +3

13. Lucky (5 Points)  Units may roll for free against any attack. When hit roll a D6, on a 4+ the player automatically takes 1/2 damage as if the unit had rolled, this also works on overwhelming attacks.

14. Master of Confusion (10 Points)  One enemy faction/player suffers a -1 penalty to his initiative rolls.

15. Melee Specialist (5 Points)  Special Melee attacks do not require command points and all melee attacks do +1 MDC damage.

16. Missile Expert (10 Points)  +1 Strike with missiles and -1 to Anti-Missiles rolls for targets.

Natural Commander (30 Points) Pilots with this trait get an additional +2 to both PIL and GUN just like pilots with the Natural trait would but they also have an additional 4 Leadership points. They also add +2 to the initiative roll for their side. This is not cumulative with other character bonuses that add to the initiative roll

18. Natural (5 Points)  Pilots with this trait get a +1 to both PIL and GUN skills. All other abilities remain unchanged.

19. Natural Fighter (20 Points)  Pil +2, Gun +2, Quick

20. Nemesis (Free)  Pilots in a battle with "their" Nemesis gain +2 MDC Damage against all targets between (blocking) their path to their Nemesis, and must advance each turn at least 3 inches towards their Nemesis (if physically possible) until within 12 inches. Once within 12 inches the Nemesis become targets of each other and cannot target any other enemy units until their Nemesis is destroyed.

21. Overconfident (-5 Points)  Must always advance towards any enemy unit by at least 4 inches (if physically able) on each turn.

22. Protector (5 Points)  May shield other units without paying command points and also may attempt to shield if the unit has one free of charge and with a +1 parry bonus.

23. Push the Limit (5 points) Units with this trait may increase their movement by 50% once every 3 turns

24. Quick (5 Points)  +1 to all Dodge Rolls (May be combined with the same trait on a mecha

25. Sixth Sense (15 Points)  Does not pay command Points to Dodge, May pay command point to allow attempt to dodge weapons with the inescapable trait.

26. Sneaky (5 Points)  Targets suffer -1 to their dodge rolls

27. Sniper (5 Points)  +1 Strike Rolls

28. Strategic Genius (10 Points)  Faction Initiative +1

29. Tactical Genius (10 Points)  Leadership +2, Chance to steal initiative costs ½ as much

30. Weapons Specialist (10 Points)  May fire 2 Weapons systems at no command point cost

[Kryptt]

I like the nemeses rule, sounds interesting.

[Mike1975]

It was Raine Sheppards' idea over at RGC. Feel free to come up with anything else you can think of.

[Kryptt]

Hey I was thinking of your voltron idea. How about when V rolls with impact, instead of taking half damage give the V player the option to split V back into 5 lions or take half damage.

[Mike1975]

Maybe someday if I ever get some Lions. I think Battletech will get some conversions first.

[Kryptt]

[quote="Mike1975"]

7. Claustrophobic (-5 Points)  (Campaign only) Players with this trait suffer a -1 to PIL and GUN while they have more than 3 units, friendly or otherwise within 3 inches of themselves.

9. Deadeye (5 points)  Increase all weapons ranges by 25% (rounding down)

For 7 maybe add environmental situation for the -1 to pil as well? The other thing is, it seems a bit limiting for the other players tactics.

For 9 it'd be easier to add 5" maybe?

Keep up the awesome work.

[Mike1975]

Good Idea,

Natural Swimmer (reduce water movement costs by 1 (minimum 1 per inch)

Wind Master (reduce wind effects by 1, I can't remember what they are right now anyways)

Spider-Man (No additional costs for crossing rough terrain and reduced cost for elevation changes

I like you idea for #9, change it to 6 inches because everything seems to be in 6 inch increments.

[Mike1975]

Dang it. Now you got me thinking of character traits.....like a bad song stuck in the head.

[Kryptt]

Sorry meant 6".

Neo- has a + or - to every trait and chooses when to do a reroll including in the opponents turn.

[Mike1975]

What we might need are abilities for players with higher RPG stats than normal like how Max has a PPE of like 22 or something like that.

[Kryptt]

Mary Sue- stat an RPG character into RRT. This includes whatever you want.

[Forar]

Mary Sue- stat an RPG character into RRT. This includes whatever you want.

"No you may NOT be a Cleric of Pelor in a Destroid, I don't care how much the yellow paint scheme matches your character vision..."

[glitterboy2098]

Maybe someday if I ever get some Lions. I think Battletech will get some conversions first.

Given battletech released alphastrike recently, it being a simplifie ruleset with some similarities? No bet. Though Iplan to go the other way.. using alpha strike rules and stats as. Proxies for robotech units.

[Mike1975]

I have alpha strike and although I have not read it all, the little bit that I have says that it has some flaws that make me prefer Tactics over it. The playing time in either system is just about the same. The units to-hit modifier is based off of their movement, not how much they moved, this gives a huge advantage to faster units. Another thing is that small, cheap units are underpriced and you can field hundreds of small units and easily swarm larger units.

[Kryptt]

Sounds like they took a hint from the old GW playbook. Kinda reminds me of nids.

[glitterboy2098]

I have alpha strike and although I have not read it all, the little bit that I have says that it has some flaws that make me prefer Tactics over it. The playing time in either system is just about the same. The units to-hit modifier is based off of their movement, not how much they moved, this gives a huge advantage to faster units. Another thing is that small, cheap units are underpriced and you can field hundreds of small units and easily swarm larger units.

every game has its flaws. you think RTT won't? i guarantee you there will be units worth their points and those not worth their points. some rules that make little sense, or favor one type of units more than others.

Alpha Strike may not be perfect, but they are working to eratta it to solve the biggest issues that slipped through playtesting. and no offense.. but RTT is a fully from scratch game. Alpha Strike has to replicate the feel of the more complex battletech rules, while not being as complex. and in battletech, fast units do have an advantage in avoiding fire. but to quote many Btech players.. "your light mech can evade me all it wants.. but my assualt only has to hit you once"

the high damage and armor of heavier units offsets the high speed of lighter ones.. because lighter ones lack the armor and firepower to be able to actually combat heavier ones. the lights are best left ot scouting and harrassment.. just like in the regular game. but unlike the regular game, where your looking at maybe 4-8 units in a pitched battle.. in Alpha strike the size of the forces and the fact battlefield intelligence once again matters, means that scouting forces actually play a role again.. it's not just two forces beating the pulp out of each other, which is a dynamic where heavies and assaults dominate due to their high firepower and armor.

[Mike1975]

Don't get me wrong, I have nearly every BT book ever made. Problem is even with AS the size of game and table you'd need to make scouting units worth the cost and to have hidden units and all would be too big to make the game playable. You'd have to play in your backyard with a GM monitoring who can see what and when. That was part of the reason Mech Commander was attractive to me when I bought it. If you can see what an enemy has and where at all times there is no use for scouting units. Backstabbing is no longer a highly viable tactic for small units or rather it's utility is greatly reduced.

I love the game, I'm just waiting for all the errata before I play. Besides I already have a working ruleset for Tactics of my own.

[jaymz]

but to quote many Btech players.. "your light mech can evade me all it wants.. but my assualt only has to hit you once"

Unless that light is Clan 35 tonner that can actually take on most IS mediums and some IS heavies on pretty good terms

[jaymz]

As for the OP.....

I'd be interested in it but I likely wouldn't use tactics in my RPG sessions. There are too many things players in an RPG session can do that, without seeing the full ruleset for tactics, may or may not be possible in tactics.

The only games I know of that almost seemlessly incorporated Tactical with RPG abstract was Dream Pod Nine with Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles but they designed the entire system from scratch for it to do so and Mekton Zeta, which again was designed from scratch to be able to do so.

[Mike1975]

Posted on my google the Stat Cards for the Conversion from the RPG to Tactics. There is an older version that is based directly off of the stats from the KS inside a stats card folder. It contains all the older stat cards. My new ones are seperated into one file for each faction.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing