Narrative Wargames

[abhorsen950]

Hey guys now a while ago some of you may remember me looking into Mordheim or Inquuisitor and obviously Inquisitor is a Narrative wargame so i was thinking using Say DnD Players handbook do a narrative wargame of say three models aside?

Anybody think this is a worthwhile idea?

Cheers


Steve

[rob_alderman]

I would have thought DnD was a bit too clunky. I hate that there is a 'dice roll' for nearly everything and there's so much to look up.
For a wargame, it just doesn't seem suitable.

SOBAH is my system of choice, but you might think it's too simple (it is very simple, afterall).

[abhorsen950]

yeahh i know what you mean but so was inquisitor the point is for each character to be designed by yourself and then its only a small skirmish like 3 models a side.


Cheers for the response

Steve

[P_Clapham]

It's do-able with other systems too.  D&D the RPG wouldn't be my first choice on it, the skirmish game would be a better venture. 

Speaking of other systems....  Chaos in Carpathia or Cairo would work.  They have the random scenarios similar to Mordheim, which you could alter or use as a series of linked scenarios.  I'm sure there are other games played by folks on the forum that are similar.  The other big advantage would be the Fate points, and the Mook or Henchmen rules.

If you are looking at each player having three models per side, it can become a one sided match quickly, if some lucky dice rolling offs a character.  Fate points mitigate this to a point.  It also gives the game more of a pulpy feel, which I enjoy.  Now I know you mentioned three models per side, but say a scenario had a say group of angry natives, or civilians.  The Henchmen rules are a great way of presenting cannon fodder types, I'd just consider removing the Fate rules from them.

[HerbyF]

Legends of the High Seas & Legends of the Old West are just this sort of game. Hero type characters & henchmen. Small groups as posses or crews. Can be adapted for earlier or later periods.

[pauld]

The Rattrap Productions games are true Narrative Adventures IMO.  So much so that I use the Encounter Token system in virtually all my games somehow.

The tokens are focus points on the field - some are beneficial, some make bad things happen but a proportion will always push a game along towards an outcome.

In this way the skirmishes always have an underlying storyline that needs to be played out and the random distribution of the tokens ensure scenarios can be played multiple times with different endings.

They take a little work to set up but pay dividends in the ensuing gameplay.  The downloads in the Rattrap Speakesy forums will give a flavour of the system for free.

[NurgleHH]

Or try the light Version of DnD (D20): http://microlite20.net/

[abhorsen950]

Cheers guys some really nice suggestions.

So do you think it would work?

Steve

[ZenWired]

Cheers guys some really nice suggestions.

So do you think it would work?

Steve

It would definitely work - 3e is heavily reliant on miniatures anyway, so it's not much of a stretch.

On the other hand, 3.5 also includes a lot of fiddly role-playing rules you probably won't need. Why not go with 4e, which is basically a miniatures game in RPG clothing? It's basically built specifically for what you're aiming to achieve.

[abhorsen950]

Yeahh i was thinking about that as ive seen 4e played and it looks like it leans on the miniatures so much.

So i might grab forth edition.

Steve

[abhorsen950]

Thanks guys im now really looking into SOBAH and MADRG im so tempted though using DnD 4e handbook as theres now three handbooks you could add an immense variety in troops on the table top.

Im thinking SOBAH or MADRG too though

Thanks for the help guys keep posting

Steve

[Modhail]

If you like the variety that DnD would offer, how about looking at microlite20?
It's found at www.microlite20.net.
It's basically a stripped down DnD 3rd ed with lots of fan expansions. Plus, you can pare down any DnD stat block into Microlite20 stats...
You'd only need to tack on something to organise movement and such. (The rare times I get to game lately, I've been fiddling around with Microlite20 with the action and movement rules from Dead Walk Again tacked on.)
You'd need very co-operative players or a gamesmaster though.


Edit: Whoops! Just saw that NurgleHH beat me to the suggestion (by several days!)...

[abhorsen950]

Micro lite is actually superb and a serious maybe would be excellent simple rules and i might look into ratrapp too