Rogue Stars - My First Game

[spect_spidey]

My friend and I got together this afternoon to play a quick game. We chose to keep it simple to get the rules down. We used the exact same lists. They were very basic. They included 3 crew members with combat dress, slug pistols, and monowire blades. Then two members with combat dress, assault rifles, and monowire blades. My friend was attacker and the mission was rescue. One of his crew member, a slug pistol one, had been captured by my crew and was being held hostage. The location was an alien planet with a poisonous atmosphere. It was a good thing we all had sealed suits. LOL The complication was rebels firing at us from off the board.

The game itself ran pretty smooth. Without a quick reference sheet though, we were constantly flipping back and forth in the book. It didn't hold up the game much since it is only a 64 page book. But it was annoying looking up modifiers, critical success/failure results, and the damage tables. It played great though. We had alot of fun and those pesky rebels took out two of my guys early before finally taking out two of his. We rolled alot of 1's and 2's! LOL We didn't use any morale tests either.

There are a few basic things in the game that seem off to me though. The first is movement. The game is played on a 3'x3' area. Moving 2" when walking seems a little low. The same goes for running and sprinting. This can mean a long time to get around the table. I see no reason for three different move actions. I think the game would be just fine with run and sprint. Maybe 6" and 8" respectively.

The another issue I have is with ranges when shooting. An 8" range without a modifier seems a little low. Shooting a rifle at 14" shouldn't result in a negative modifier. I think the short range trait could just be used to identify a weapon with a lower range needing to take negative modifier when outside of optimal range.

The last issue I have is with the damage rolls. They work fine. It just felt weird rolling the dice for the damage done on my own crew member. It seems like the attacker should be rolling for the damage with a higher roll meaning better damage results. It is the one instance in the rules, where you want to roll low rather than high. I would say that the damage table and modifiers should be reversed to stay with the higher roll always being better.

In conclusion, it was fun. I hope to play more over the next few weeks. And plan to add to the depth as I progress through the rules. I look forward to supplements to this game.

[Juan]

Very interesting. Thank you a lot. I have had the same thinking about the movement and weapon range distances; my idea is to double them.
About the weapons, have you found the difference in damage of the energy and kinectic weapons?

[spect_spidey]

Very interesting. Thank you a lot. I have had the same thinking about the movement and weapon range distances; my idea is to double them.
About the weapons, have you found the difference in damage of the energy and kinectic weapons?

From reading the rules and Andrea's posts on the Rogue Stars Fan Group, the only difference is in certain atmospheres. Low gravity and such has certain impacts on weapons labelled as energy.

[Juan]

Thanks!

[Manchu]

Three different movement actions make good sense in context. The Walk action trades speed for avoiding a Terrain roll, which can leave a Character prone or make her drop equipment. Characters toting around heavy weapons, for example, will want to Walk as much as possible in broken terrain. Similarly, there is a crucial difference between Run and Sprint. Sprint gets a Character two extra inches of movement but only in a straight line.

I think the ranges are intentionally short. First, RS is trying to simulate heroic, close-up fire fights and assumes dense terrain. Second, there is a strong emphasis on tactical movement, as per above. Third, it's a RPG-leaning design built around modified d20 rolls. If you want a Character specialized in longer ranges, consider the Aim action, the Marksman trait, and the Accurate weapon upgrade.

For a while now, the fashion has been high abstraction so it's unsurprising that folks are having a little trouble with the relatively high degree of granularity in RS.

[spect_spidey]

Three different movement actions make good sense in context. The Walk action trades speed for avoiding a Terrain roll, which can leave a Character prone or make her drop equipment. Characters toting around heavy weapons, for example, will want to Walk as much as possible. Similarly, there is a crucial difference between Run and Sprint. Sprint gets a Character two extra inches of movement but only in a straight line.

I think the ranges are intentionally short. First, RS is trying to simulate heroic, close-up fire fights and assumes dense terrain. Second, there is a strong emphasis on tactical movement, as per above. Thirds, it's a RPG-leaning design built aroundmodified d20 rolls. If you want a Character specialized in longer ranges, consider the Aim action, the Marksman trait, and the Accurate weapon upgrade.

For a while now, the fashion has been high abstraction so it's unsurprising that folks are having a little trouble with the relatively high degree of granularity in RS.

I agree with you on the heroic close-up firefights, but the rules for moving and shooting counteract this in my opinion. Depending on the mission, location, and complication; it could take several activations by a model before there is even a hint of capability to shoot at the opponent.

A character specialized in longer ranges is at a disadvantage. They can spend two activations to get a +2 on the attack, which could result in failure on additional activation rolls. The same model shooting at an opponent who is 2/3 of the way across the board has at minimum a -4 modifier to the roll just for range. The level 3 marksman and an accurate weapon trait would just nullify the range modifiers. Then you still have to factor in cover, pin markers, visibility, difficult target trait, and possibly target size or if they are prone. I have no problem with a high degree of granularity. For me, it just seems odd to have such short ranges of movement and shooting. A 3'x3' board with dense terrain can mean several activations with not much happening but movement. Don't get me wrong, I really like and enjoy what I have experienced of the game so far. I just feel like the movement and shooting ranges are off.

I could be wrong, but I don't see broken terrain being plentiful and I don't see models with heavy weapons on a dense terrain board wanting to move at 2" an activation to try and get into a spot where they can finally take a shot. Deploying on a baseline could effectively remove a heavy weapon model from the equation, moving at a walk would take three activations just to walk 6". Then if you activate them again, you would be at -3 on the roll.

My opinion may change after playing more games. But after watching the first battle report from Guerilla Miniatures Games, it seems spot on. They had to spend a lot of activations to get anywhere on the board. And the range modifiers seemed to lead to a lot of missed shots. These issues could lead to games taking longer than is necessary.

[Manchu]

Broken terrain (and dangerous broken terrain) can be exactly as plentiful as the players desire. For Characters with heavy weapons, broken terrain is a serious hazard. But keep in mind that they can move like anyone else in regular terrain.

The short distances of range and movement complement one another. The game design is about pushing your luck and taking stress. There is only one "pressure relief valve" for stress, which is losing Initiative. Between this and the action/reaction mechanic, the game is structured to make details count. I think this is supposed to leave room for more RPG content, like fixing broken weapons and tending to OOA squadmates. Not to mention melee.

A Character with Marksman 3 using an Accurate weapon has a greater than 50% chance of hitting anything in the open within 2 feet, and 50% chance within 28 inches! Assuming a laser rifle, we are talking at minimum one pin and superficial damage (which is actually worse than it sounds). That is serious threat projection. Granted the shooter needs a good position and a clear shot. But that's how snipers are supposed to work. In any case, snipers will not break RS.

Finally RE: lots of missed shots - again, I think this is a feature rather than flaw. RS is not really geared toward one shots where the minis are just pawns in a WAAC deathmatch. For that matter, RS isn't even about war. Just like in a real RPG, the Characters are fighting because they have to in order to accomplish something else, not because it's their primary objective. They want to live to level up and go on further adventures. I love Ash's batreps but I don't think the GMG vid emphasized this (which is fair play, it was a rules demo).

[Manchu]

EDIT: double post - sorry!