Review: Rogue Planet- Bombshell Games

[Easy E]

I  have been meaning to pick up these rules for about two years now.  I finally got around to it when they went on sale at the Wargame Vault as part of the Summer Offensive.  The price was hard to pass up and I ordered the PDF and a soft cover of the book.  Today, I will be looking at the E-book.  I also received a Desolation Planet edition which is full of really awesome artwork, but I am using the E-book for the rules.

Rogue Planet starts with a nice couple of paragraphs about what it is.  It is Sci-Fantasy.  What is that?  The book spends a lot of time telling you.  I think my favorite description was Sword-and-Planet instead of Sword-and-Sorcery.  The book points out examples of the genre such as Star Wars, Final Fantasy, and Heavy Metal.  I think we can all think of one or two others as well.

From there, Brent Spivey then spends some time explaining a bit of the flavor and his design philosophy for the game.  I am always a sucker for such designer notes.  Rogue Planet lands squarely in the camp of cinematic action.    To paraphrase the author: "If you find yourself wondering why a mechanic operates in a certain way, chances are the answer is one of the following reasons:

It is cool
because it is Sci-Fantasy
You are on Rogue Planet
It leads to interesting tactical decisions"

Well, what isn't to like about that philosophy?  So, now that we are marooned on Rogue Planet, let's see what we discover.....

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2020/07/review-rogue-planet-bombshell.html

[Hobgoblin]

Good review!

I've played Rogue Planet quite a bit, and it's excellent. I'd have to have a good read through to pick up the mechanics again, as it must be over a year since we last played it, but it does play very smoothly in practice. And it does provide very spectacular games

Its biggest weakness is also one of its strengths - and one common to another of Brent Spivey's games, Mayhem (also excellent): a lack of pre-statted troop types so that you can get a balanced game on the table in a few minutes flat. I understand why this is, because the ethos of both games is very much "make up your own profiles", which is great - and a real strength. But it does mean that games with ready-made or simply constructed profiles tend to get played more.

One aspect of it I love is the pawn system, by which a powerful character's discrete powers are represented by miniatures  - and lost before that character take wounds personally. So you might have an alien chief with a minion carrying his rifle; he loses his special ranged attack when he takes a hit and the miniature is removed. It's a really good excuse for getting characterful miniatures on the table.

Another of Brent's games that I'd love to play more is Havoc. Unfortunately, the book is very poorly edited and overlong - in stark contrast to Mayhem and Rogue Planet. It would be great to see a second (shortened and cleaned-up) edition of that.

[Jagannath]

Easily my favourite game that I hardly ever play because one day I'll do a big 'Rogue Planet' project with specific sci-fantasy minis. I love it.

[bermanj]

It's not difficult to stat up your favourite gaming troupes using the system, so whilst it isn't giving everything to every player on the plate, it's hardly huge barrier to playing.  If BS wanted to invest his efforts into a whole setting etc, I am sure he could have come up with something. I ended up creating many of the W40k factions, including game cards, and they've served me well.

https://southernbermanblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/R40k.html

People are welcome to take 'em, modify them and/or print them up.  I've even gone and included pictures :-)

One of BS's games I have kept finding myself going back to time-after-time is The Battlefield.  So many good ideas in there for gaming.

[Hobgoblin]

It's not difficult to stat up your favourite gaming troupes using the system, so whilst it isn't giving everything to every player on the plate, it's hardly huge barrier to playing.  If BS wanted to invest his efforts into a whole setting etc, I am sure he could have come up with something. I ended up creating many of the W40k factions, including game cards, and they've served me well.

That's very true. And I certainly don't think the game needs a setting (I tend to think that no game does unless that setting's on the Glorantha or Tekumel level). On top of that, I love the 'stat things up to suit the model' approach.

My point, though, is that it's slightly harder to get a game of Rogue Planet going on a whim in the way that you can with Song of Blades and Heroes or Hordes of the Things. It's a small barrier, but it's not an insignificant one. And that means I tend to play it less than I would like. The same's true of Pulp Alley (another terrific game).

The barrier doesn't matter much or at all if you're planning a game with friends at the weekend, but it does count a bit if you decide on a whim to roll some dice with the kids. That's how I do 90% of my gaming, though, so it probably distorts my perspective!

What would really help, I think, is something like Codex Galactica for Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes. That has a list of sample profiles that are in no way restrictive or prescriptive, but do mean that you can decide to play the game and start playing almost right away. I've had FFoL for only a year, I think, but I've played it much more than Rogue Planet for precisely that reason (I must remedy that in upcoming holidays!).

I think the problem's worse for Mayhem. I love the game, but have probably played it four times in around as many years. It's not that it's a huge hardship to stat up a couple of armies; it's just that it probably takes an hour or two, and you could have had two games of Hordes of the Things in that time. (I know there's a Battlescribe list, but it's hugely cumbersome, I find).

https://southernbermanblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/R40k.html

People are welcome to take 'em, modify them and/or print them up.  I've even gone and included pictures :-)

Ah, yes - I referred to your site (but couldn't remember its name) in the thread on Rogue Stars. I cheerfully plundered it last time we played Rogue Planet and will do so again! Many thanks!

One of BS's games I have kept finding myself going back to time-after-time is The Battlefield.  So many good ideas in there for gaming.

Aha - I'd overlooked that one. I'll buy the PDF tonight. I don't do any real-world miniature games, but I'm on the lookout for a ruleset that would give a suitably 'gritty' game with my 15mm Traveller stuff. That looks like it might fit the bill nicely. Thanks for the recommendation!

Have you played Havoc at all? I keep meaning to mine out the core of the game from the rulebook, as I suspect it's a brilliant game. I think there was an official QRS floating around at one point, but it no longer seems to be available.

[Jagannath]

If RP inclided the stat line for a basic line trooper (like an imperial guardsman) which I always stat at 3/3/3 then I think that would be enough. We could all springboard from that much more consistently then. Same for Mayhem actually - just tell us what 'normal'/basic is.

[bermanj]

 Yeah, I started with that baseline for Guard

In converting the W40K Imperial Guard to their Rogue Planet equivalents I've taken the approach of a baseline Skill of 3 for a standard guardsman's stat-line.  That stat-line has been the baseline for the conversion of all other forces e.g., Orks are tougher and better at close combat, therefore their DEF and CQ are 4, whilst their ranged shooting is worse, so their RAT is 2.  I'm sure I'll continue to tinker around the edges for years to come...

[Jagannath]

Yeah I’m on same page as you.