Gang,

One of the limitations of sci-fi gaming is that it is hard to get giong with a group unless they totally buy into that particular world / artistic vision, etc. When rules are designed so that you HAVE to only use their limitations on it (Their factions, their "crew", their figures, their stats, points values, etc) it makes it even more difficult to get people involved.

As a for instance, I have people who are interested in rezolution, but "don't like the factions" or "don't like hte fluff" etc, even tho they like the rules. They want a set of rules they can morph around abit, use it for Star Wars, the Matrix, Underworld, or whatever. They also want to be able to construct their own crew, which makes Mercs the most interesting to people. In other words, they want to be more involved in who and what their crew is. Sort of like constructing a gang in some gang warfare games.

With Rezolution coming out with a high-speed vehicle variant, I thought it'd be a nice time to get a "universal crew constructor" kit out to us, in a downloadable pdf supplement, free or charged, don't care which.

This supplement would help you to build your own faction from scratch, from picking the key figures, max and minimums, weapons and abilities, etc, and a point cost for all of them. They would fit into the present Rezolution world as an "all-merc" Crew Construction Cit, C3, and the points system could still favor the "official" factions by 10% or so, b/c the merc C3 would allow you to develop a more personal style.

This is my experience about "what the people want". They're tired of having to learn a new set of rules every time they want to play a sci-fi game b/c they are overcontrolled at the production/artistic epicenter. Since it seems pretty clear that Rezolution is not going to be a fast-growing or fast-expanding game, in terms of either supplements or figures, I think this would be a real shot in the arm. It would certainly help me convince people to try it out if they could bring in their own choice of figures, genre, etc, and build a crew from scratch.

Just some thoughts.
A.

I love the idea of customizing model points for points.

Unfortunately, since point values are assigned in a 'relation' based system, it would probably require reworking the point values for all the models.

By relation, it seems to me that a point value is picked and then compared to other similar level mini's and a point or two is either added or subtracted to account for different weapons/abilities and such.

For instance, a basic level human trooper would range from 24 to 27 pts. Outbreak's campaign system adds some point values for some skills and abilities.

So, it can be done via a bandaid, but some serious reworking and a massive re-release of point values would be required to make this happen.

That being said, there's several idea's and home-brew conversions for Star Wars and other games on the forum somewhere. I'm even working on a Star Gate and a Harry Dresden conversion.

Actually, that's an interesting approach. You could have a series of "banded" groups, with of course the Null, or Standard being a human with no supernatural abilities. Then you could have other groups like Dravani, etc, who are "aliens" with certain inherent abilities and have a basic one. This approach could actually be quite simple.

You'd take a basic alien race, ie the Klingons, and put them in relation to a human's stats. you then add a couple of basic traits and any stat beyond that of a human and price them accordingly. Then they are permitted a certain number of improvements that are "racial" and others that can be developed, then price out their gear.

????

Warlands is not an expansion for Rezolution. It's a separate game based in a different setting, for players who want a post apocalyptic game set.

Rezolution is a very robust engine. If you look at the various weapon options, especially in the context of Outbreak's campaign system, it's very easy to build alternate crew concepts, or even adapt the engine to other settings.

We use Rezolution for WW2 comando operations, and samurai battles, as well as allow changes within the Rezolution format. Other players have created more options.

We've found the point values for Rezolution to be very workable based on individual model performance, as opposed to the nebulous whole fabric concept many games use. Most of the limitations are fluff based, rather than to keep overpowering models out of the picture.

If you want a model with an assault rifle, you have several options with points already present. The same holds true for most other weapons.

Take the options from Outbreak, and you have more ideas to play with without requiring base point values and individual weapon costs for every weapon and model.

Whether you want to call your primary weapon an assault rifle or a blaster, the on table function can remain the same.

Inexperienced models can be based on Penal Troopers, CSO Troopers, or APAC Enforcers. Elite models can be based on Peace Keepers, Ninja, Shootists, or anything else that feels appropriate for your group.

The campaign system from Outbreak is one of the better systems I've dealt with, but any system that allows stats to increase will find itself creating monsters that can destroy game balance. Within a short period campaign, the advances can be limited, but I've never found a system that allowed stat changes and could maintain a functional point balance over a long term. Skill and equipment options do not risk game balance the same as stat changes do.

If you want to allow CSO Trooper equivalents to go to battle with Dravani equivalent overseers, you'll find the game still has a solid balance.

New equipment and weapons can be developed that don't have to be radically different from current options. There is little reason to use blasters that are 7d6 P3 against armor 4 models when they are statistically equivalent to the current assault rifles against armor 2. So long as new weapons fit within the context of the current weapons, there is no need for lots of special new rules.

If you want to use Rezolution for a different setting, play around with it a little. You should find that there is plenty of room for shifts to accomodate different setting ideas without having to recreate everything.

yes, I know that I could "kit-bash" the system into other things, and work out a points system, etc. But it'd be nice if someone could provide an "official kit" since after all, they designed the game - shouldn't they be abel to do a better job than I, and faster, too?

Other games offer this creating a gang from scratch feature, like Gangs of Mega-City 1, and it is an appealing feature. Probably part of it is that it is a carry-over from list-based games that are so popular (40K, FoW, etc) merging with the RPG idea of creating a character from the ground up.

While Rezolution isn't an RPG, it is close to it with individual figures, and leaders that you'll want to hang on to over several games.

I haven't tried the campaign game system. Do you just get new gear, or do you improve stats, also?

Outbreak offers players ways to improve both Skills/Abilities and Weapons/Equipment of their crew members through Campaign Points and Revenue.

I don't kit bash except to add additional weapons that are not currently available. Most of those are simple modificatons of what's there already.

There are plenty of troop types to work with, and they can be used at their assigned point values as part of a team or as individuals. The weapon mix is also very diverse.

Outbreak gives point values for many weapons, and a system for increasing point values for additional skills. It also acknowledges and allows the idea of throwing together a mixed team with a variety of skills and weapons. Like all advance systems I've dealt with, however, any model with a lot of stat improvement advances will impact game balance.

Between the two, you have the capability to build new forces, and good guidelines for anything else you may want to add.

They've given us enough to build whatever we might want, even if every point value is not spelled out. They don't need to be.

If a combat shotgun is listed as X points (I won't post the values from Outbreak), dual machine pistols would be worth the same, and a single machine pistol worth X/2. Why? Because the APAC Enforcers can be armed with either option without a point value change. There are enough examples to come up with valid point values without an official list.

There are a couple of odd points, but they're rather obvious. A Shootist can have dual smart weapons or an assault rifle. An assault rifle is not the direct equivalent of two smart pistols. The Shootist has so many other weapon systems that could be used. Effectively, the Shootist is normally either dual smart pistols (high rate of fire), or assault rifle and machine pistol (range, suppressive fire, and close range rate of fire). I see grenades used much more often with an assault rifle armed Shootist as well. Charging full value for each weapon when so many are available would not be a good representation of the Shootist's capabilities when the weapons overlap in purpose.

Simply adding a point value listing for everything would not be enough. If you open the floodgates of diversity in an official setting, there would have to be official rules added to determine how those rules would interface with tournament play. Currently campaigns can have tournaments within an individual campaign, but they won't interface with regular tournaments.

I'd rather they keep working on giving us new material rather than an in depth analysis of what they've already done. They've given us enough to develop house rules from what's there.

What you're asking for are rules to let you play whatever you want with the Rezolution engine, as opposed to simply playing Rezolution. There is enough available to let you house rule your own armies for any setting you want. Check through the forum, and you'll find a lot of ideas other people have thrown out.

Develop your home built armies enough, and you could submit them to Data Dump as an alternate setting list for anyone to use.

My son has had a lot of real life issues that have slowed him down, but he's still working on an article for Wild West Rezolution.

Borgman - nice to see you're still up and around and gaming. Havn't seen you since MI days. Shame about SST.

Anyway, I was referring to the new post-holocaust car game Aberrant is coming out with. I'm assuming it'll be compatible with Rezolution, but what do I know?

That would be Warlands. It's a stand alone 20mm game.

"post holocaust".....whats that ...... post apocalyptic

Warlands is post-apocalyptic. Vehicular and infantry skirmish. Not at all related to or compatible with Rezolution... including scale (20mm vs 28mm). Warlands is very much its own game.

2009 will see many releases for both product lines from Aberrant... all of which I look forward to!!

When do the previews start?

hopefully soon................ like now

Either one works.

A holocaust is a terrible, widespread disaster, but is less used because of the WW2 conotations.

An apocalypse is a world changing disaster.

Life after either one could be hard.

but we already lived threw a holocaust and its not so bad. hhaha. just kidding

Having lost family members who served in WWII, I'd say not so funny at all.

strange...what would be the design reasons for a very similar type of game - near future skirmish - that is not compatible with the one already in print?

My assumption (obviously incorrect) was that it would be very similar to Rezolution but add all sorts of vehicles to that game, and be good for any scale you felt like playing in with vehicles. It sounds like it almost competes with Rezolution: A dArk Tomorrow in a sense.

Different scale. Different mechanics. Different setting. Different target audience.

True, many of the dystopian ideas found in Rezolution match that of a post-apocalyptic world but not in its core sense. Rezolution is to Blade Runner what Warlands is to The Road Warrior. Rezolution takes place in 2175 whereas Warlands is probably nestled in the more traditional era for post-apoc... 1980 to 2012. Rez is heavier on science fiction (hackers, alien invaders) where Warlands will be about basic survival and primal matters (guzz, girls, and guts!).

Vehicular combat on a more epic scale is the core of Warlands... especially in it's earliest incarnation whereas Rezolution is a person-based skirmish game.

Warlands is going to appeal more to fans of Flames of War, starship battle games, and other such games while Rezolution has always been targeted to the more traditional tabletop skirmisher (Necromunda, 40K, etc).

Personally I can see a lot of historical minis gamers getting behind Warlands because of the scale whereas they may never consider someting like Rez.

20mm vehicles and models will broaden Aberrant's scope rather than hinder it.

well, it certainly sounds interesting, and I guess I and lots of others will be looking out for it.

Will the car models come as "kits" that you can modify, alter, etc, depending on your vision of this P-Ap survivalist future? In other words, will it have primitive crossbow upgrades like bladerunner as well as higher-tech upgrades like Death Race 2000 or the future that Car Wars spun out?

That would make for some interesting and fun modelling. I assume they'll be metal cars, altho plastic would be fabulous.

The truck - as shown on the Warlands homepage - is made of plastic (technically a resin that is super durable and non-powdery). The buggies will be plastic with metal bits. They'll all be customizable.

Weaponry would be late 20th century.

i mean to me a holocaust isnt something that ends the world. i didnt mean to offend you, sorry man. but people are still losing family members in wars all over the world. touchy subject.

Stay on target gentlemen, please. Let's drop the word debate and stick with matters that apply to the game.

Matters regarding proper Points & Team construction will be addressed soon.

haha i dont think anything in this thread has been on topic sense like the third reply