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Author Topic: (Need Feedback) (Mostly) Realistic WWII Variant of D&D  (Read 1146 times)

coleslaw35

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(Need Feedback) (Mostly) Realistic WWII Variant of D&D
« on: July 09, 2017, 09:15:15 pm »

Hello, I'm a huge fan of the European theater in WWII and I have begun to try and merge a WWII theme with D&D mechanics to create, what I have titled, Blood and Bullets (B&B). I still have quite a ways to go in all aspects of crafting it but I would like some feedback from a bunch of nerds (No offence :P) who'd be able to tell me what content is good, what content is okay, and what content is bad/unbalanced. This is the first time I've ever done something like this so I'm very worried about, currently, too powerful or too useless abilities.

There are no fantasy elements and I'm trying to keep it as realistic as possible without resulting in a one-shot-one-kill type scenario where everyone dies immediately because they were, say, shot point blank with a Walther P38. Base HP is 20. For perspective a Karabiner 98k does 2d6 damage (For now. Could change depending on how mechanics evolve).

I will probably continue posting content in this thread in the future so that I can get more feedback on different stuff. As it stands, the list of abilities I've gathered (some are from D20 Modern or plain ol' D&D adapted to fit, others I've just made up) is rather short, so if anyone would like to suggest some good abilities feel free.

Spoiler: Abilities (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: July 10, 2017, 02:33:28 pm by coleslaw35 »
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Cathar

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Re: (Need Feedback) (Mostly) Realistic WWII Variant of D&D
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2017, 12:25:49 pm »

Some thoughts on the general idea I'd like to see adressed (not the specs for now) :

• Modern warfare is very different than medieval / ancient warfare, in a number of ways :
•• If you're hit, you're done for pretty much or severely incapacitated. You dont have anything in the way of armor, and you cant dodge a bullet with dexterity. I don't believe you can transcribe that with a traditional HP system, you'd probably fare better with a wound system (where does the bullet goes impact your characteristics differently).
You'd need to adapt the THAC0 (or whatever new editions call that) to take into account cover instead of armor, and negate DEX bonuses to dodge at long range.
•• Most of the time, you don't see what hits you, and usually it's artillery. You will need a recon system, and ways to hit things you don't see (again in the case of artillery)
•• Stress is a huge factor, much bigger than medieval warfare. Just being on the battlefield cause modern troops to start to crack, whereas in ancient/medieval times it wasn't so important outside of plain old morale. I think you'd need a system to encompass this, which would allow players to build their characters around mental stability, or discard it and take the risk of going nuts. I think that can give you some options that are adapted to modern warfare outside of just "chose class-play role"

Also the big ass difference with DnD :
• The enemy you're fighting are humans with human emotions, as likely as the players to crack under the pressure, to surrender or to flee. I think any modern warfare system should take this into account

Edit : The huge problem I see is DnD is not adapted to any realistic scenario... It's sword and sorcery. If what you're looking for is hollywood save-soldier-ryan stuff, I guess it can work but I hugely advise you to take a meat cleaver to the system if you wish to make it look like reality and not like a movie. It really depends what you mean by "realistic" in the end
« Last Edit: July 10, 2017, 12:35:12 pm by Cathar »
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coleslaw35

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Re: (Need Feedback) (Mostly) Realistic WWII Variant of D&D
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2017, 09:08:17 pm »

Some thoughts on the general idea I'd like to see adressed (not the specs for now)

*snip*

Thank you. I've noted your feedback.

A wound system would be interesting. I think it could be played out as each body part being assigned a number (Head: 1, Torso: 2, Right Arm: 3, Left Arm: 4, Right Leg: 5, Left Leg: 6) with hits onto the player affecting one of the areas depending on the roll of a d6. Relevant debuffs would take effect, i.e. decreased running speed upon having a leg wounded. Though, I'd prefer to keep some semblance of an HP system if one must be chosen over the other, but I don't see an issue with implementing both. WWII era armor types could be implemented, but obtaining them would have to be relatively costly in some way.

I've thought of implementing a sort of morale/stress system similar to exhaustion, but I feel as though it's a pick-one situation. As it stands, I have exhaustion levels as a mechanic. Would it be too much to have moral levels as well?

I'm intending for the group of players to essentially be playing as operatives who have infiltrated 1942 Nazi occupied France in order to assist in the resistance movement, though this is entirely up to the players to decide. For all I care, they could be an independent band of Yugoslavs who are on a mission to assassinate Adolf Hitler himself, or they could even be soldiers in service of a nation who partook in the war. I'm suspecting artillery won't really be much of a thing if the players decide to be resistance fighters, but if they serve in an army the I would most certainly implement a sort of support system with progressing options of battlefield support, like mortar strikes, artillery fire, close air support, etc.

I am essentially taking some of the generic mechanics of D&D, like d20 rolls, skill checks, saving throws, etc, and building my own game around that. I don't really need to take a meat cleaver to anything since I'm essentially putting meat onto bones. :P
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