tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post5712642857964707677..comments2024-03-28T15:30:09.903-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Retrospective: Knight HawksJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-49821192364141782302022-01-08T15:30:47.112-05:002022-01-08T15:30:47.112-05:00Yes MAYDAY was definitely a worthwhile adjunct to ...Yes MAYDAY was definitely a worthwhile adjunct to Traveller. It made a big difference to our group's experience with Traveller and we had a lot of spaceship activity and combat/manoeuvres as a result. So we had really balanced campaign and adventures with equal amounts of terrestrial and space activity. We even used Striker (which you talk about in another post) in its intended way - for mass combat (in 1/285th scale) when one character became governor of a region on a planet where there was a 3-sided war...Myceniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08953750748303074391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-10541608741271755052022-01-08T05:24:03.659-05:002022-01-08T05:24:03.659-05:00I did. Starship combat in Traveller is usable with...I did. Starship combat in <i>Traveller</i> is usable without counters and a map – paper and pencil will do – but it's much easier if you have both and that's one of the main advantages of <i>Mayday</i>.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-48161848683156562662022-01-07T23:49:08.517-05:002022-01-07T23:49:08.517-05:00Did you not use GDW's "Mayday" for y...Did you not use GDW's "Mayday" for your Traveller spaceship manoeuvres & combat?Myceniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08953750748303074391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53160361185494244902010-11-18T18:39:01.426-05:002010-11-18T18:39:01.426-05:00Does Knight Hawks use vector movement for space fl...<i>Does Knight Hawks use vector movement for space flight, or did they toss that concept out in favor of simplicity? (Its been so long since I've looked at those rules.)</i><br /><br>Movement is simple and in two dimensions to boot -- which strikes me as just about right for a game of this sort.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-56101661875786057692010-11-18T18:37:07.788-05:002010-11-18T18:37:07.788-05:00I found both WEG ("D6") Star Wars and Wo...<i>I found both WEG ("D6") Star Wars and WotC "Saga Edition" Star Wars to be clever and cinematic in their method of handling ship-to-ship combat, and really appreciated the former's approach to scaling.</i><br /><br>The WEG game was great, no question, but I wasn't too impressed with WotC's Saga Edition, though, to be fair, I only ever read it and never played it. I played a lot of WEG SW RPG once upon a time and had a blast with it. It's a classic.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-20496305830895925222010-11-18T18:35:48.825-05:002010-11-18T18:35:48.825-05:00All that silliness aside, I recall it as having sp...<i>All that silliness aside, I recall it as having space combat rules to Knight Hawks. Am I just making that up?</i><br /><br>I couldn't say. I no longer have access to any <i>Spelljammer</i> materials and I don't recall ever hearing this, but that doesn't mean it's not true.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45540925500538225432010-11-18T18:31:45.440-05:002010-11-18T18:31:45.440-05:00We were arrogant little Traveller playing pr@#ks t...<i>We were arrogant little Traveller playing pr@#ks that mocked the hell out of the "morons" that played SF. For us, it was like choosing Battlestar Galactica over Star Wars. Like I said, we were pr@#ks.</i><br /><br>Don't feel bad about it; you weren't the only gamers back then who looked askance at "lesser" RPGs. Not that I know from experience or anything ... :)James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-73848133683554863582010-11-18T18:30:37.821-05:002010-11-18T18:30:37.821-05:00I wonder why you couldn't just start off being...<i>I wonder why you couldn't just start off being a pilot like Han Solo or Jason of Star Command or who-have-you.</i><br /><br>Probably because, as others have said, KH was kind of an "advanced" set for SF, so the assumption was that only experienced PCs would take up crewing a starship. It might have even been a deliberate design choice to keep the game simple for neophyte players, with starship operation and combat off the table till everyone had a good handle on the core game, I don't know.<br /><br />As I said, it never bugged me, but it's easily remedied by simply dropping the prerequisites if you want to let lowbies become space pilots.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-66102100205681705702010-11-18T17:25:22.378-05:002010-11-18T17:25:22.378-05:00JIM -
Yessir, that's what I meant. I wonder ...JIM -<br /><br />Yessir, that's what I meant. I wonder why you couldn't just start off being a pilot like Han Solo or Jason of Star Command or who-have-you.Dr Rotwanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16750632906878388570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-3032343653775949262010-11-18T10:27:18.994-05:002010-11-18T10:27:18.994-05:00I killed many enjoyable hours with Star Frontiers ...I killed many enjoyable hours with Star Frontiers in my youth. I remember it being way more accessible than Traveller, though Traveller was my first sci-fi game. <br /><br />For those of you who want PDF copies just to check Star Frontiers out there's this site:<br /><br />http://www.starfrontiersman.com/downloads/remasteredEric R. Wirsinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04632409261940844934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-3323967898577589372010-11-17T22:45:40.331-05:002010-11-17T22:45:40.331-05:00Star Frontiers was my very first RPG. We got a lo...Star Frontiers was my very first RPG. We got a lot of mileage out of it! And we used KH some, though in general we preferred the more personal to the starship level of fight.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-42770773344992950252010-11-17T18:11:13.525-05:002010-11-17T18:11:13.525-05:00Duglas said: "Does Knight Hawks use vector mo...Duglas said: "Does Knight Hawks use vector movement for space flight...?"<br /><br />I think your answer is "no". You track speed and heading, but always travel in whatever direction the ship is currently pointing at.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-73751617346178998902010-11-17T15:04:59.490-05:002010-11-17T15:04:59.490-05:00I LOVED Knight Hawks, so thanks for bringing this ...I LOVED Knight Hawks, so thanks for bringing this up in a retrospective. A friend and I played a lot of spaceship battles when we couldn't get enough people together for an RPG session.<br /><br />I recently found my old Spelljammer boxed set. All that silliness aside, I recall it as having space combat rules to Knight Hawks. Am I just making that up?NakiaPopehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17406561137170462267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-17908992070346026352010-11-17T14:54:10.610-05:002010-11-17T14:54:10.610-05:00I never had Knight Hawks as a kid, and we played a...I never had Knight Hawks as a kid, and we played a LOT of Star Frontiers. As an adult, I had the opportunity to read it (as a download), but as with SF itself, I found I'd grown beyond the game's shortcomings. Doesn't mean it might not deserve a 2nd re-read for pillaging purposes, though!<br /><br />I found both WEG ("D6") Star Wars and WotC "Saga Edition" Star Wars to be clever and cinematic in their method of handling ship-to-ship combat, and really appreciated the former's approach to scaling. Strangely, though MOST of the starship battles I "fought" as a kid WAS using the (1st edition) Traveller rules!<br />; )JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08532311924539491087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45618856051262935282010-11-17T13:28:48.927-05:002010-11-17T13:28:48.927-05:00My brother & I loved KH much more than basic S...My brother & I loved KH much more than basic SF. We played a lot of it for at least one summer, including the whole 2nd Sathar War campaign. There is a too-simplified version of vector movement in it, and the construction rules are suitably complete.<br /><br />Right now, I am contemplating introducing my son and his pals to a mash-up game: Star Frontiers setting and KH ships, but Traveller characters and rules. We've played a few ship-only fights as a warm-up.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-22052402286147050432010-11-17T13:27:09.021-05:002010-11-17T13:27:09.021-05:00Battlestations is a lot of fun. There are campaig...Battlestations is a lot of fun. There are campaign and advancement rules that work nicely, and it is a hybrid of war/rpg design, but I don't think I'd want to use it for a regular role playing game. <br /><br />The game balances individual actions and starship combat better than any I've ever played. All players, regardless of their job, are almost always engaged and making a difference. I highly recommend it. <br /><br />You have to love a game where an excellent way to board an enemy vessel is to climb into a missile and shoot yourself at the enemy's hull.<br /><br />Battlestations isn't really good for fleet actions. It's best with a handful of ships at most. There's a version that is made for fleet actions, but I haven't tried it out yet. I've watched it played at conventions and felt that the fleet game lost a lot of the charm that I love about the regular game.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17116795932377593506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-87135654854585053502010-11-17T13:20:40.933-05:002010-11-17T13:20:40.933-05:00Because Knight Hawks was sold as the "advance...Because Knight Hawks was sold as the "advanced" Star Frontiers game, the basic rules required any character to have maxed the related non-spaceship skill before they could get a spaceship skill. For example, you had to max your laser rifle skill before you could learn to fire a ship-based laser. Or you had to max your vehicle piloting skill before you could learn to pilot a space ship. I always just ignored that rule entirely when I played, saying that anybody could learn spaceship skills. I have no idea what game balance impact that had, but it worked for me just fine.Aaron W. Thornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09265357352225836802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-31991888766169016722010-11-17T13:16:46.319-05:002010-11-17T13:16:46.319-05:00I LOVED Knight Hawks and still own my set. We end...I LOVED Knight Hawks and still own my set. We ended up house ruling the requirements to get the space ship skills, lowering their minimum skill requirements to something we thought was a bit more reasonable. We had many a battle using these rules and did tie them in with our games, and it worked quite well.<br /><br />Star Frontiers still has a healthy following. I'm a fan of this site:<br />http://www.starfrontiersman.com/<br /><br />You can even get .pdfs of the rule books, and their .pdf magazine is fun to read. And free.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17116795932377593506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-58435436602419400062010-11-17T12:58:30.550-05:002010-11-17T12:58:30.550-05:00Does Knight Hawks use vector movement for space fl...Does <i>Knight Hawks</i> use vector movement for space flight, or did they toss that concept out in favor of simplicity? (Its been so long since I've looked at those rules.)Duglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04952607750940479779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-14685688428572717882010-11-17T12:51:40.816-05:002010-11-17T12:51:40.816-05:00"Sorry to lazyweb bleg on your turf, but does..."Sorry to lazyweb bleg on your turf, but does anyone know of a really good, fun, simple set of rules for sea ship combat - age of sail or age of artillery?"<br /><br />I've had fun with "Fire as She Bears" at a couple of cons.Rob Crawfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03010767328260010949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-69454832906593954752010-11-17T12:27:55.817-05:002010-11-17T12:27:55.817-05:00I must say, however, that I found these rules a bi...<i>I must say, however, that I found these rules a bit off-putting at first, what with the kuh-RAY-zee requirements for taking a starship piloting skill. Kinda hard to sit down and start playing Han Solo right away unless you nail that rule down some, no?</i><br /><br>Piloting, as I recall, had skill prerequisites, as did all the starship-based skills, so it was impossible for starting characters to be able to pilot a ship or act as an engineer. I never had an issue with that myself. Is that what you mean?James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-60535631738901532012010-11-17T12:24:32.224-05:002010-11-17T12:24:32.224-05:00Richard: Star Frontiers has a more Heinlein/Foster...<b>Richard:</b> <i>Star Frontiers</i> has a more Heinlein/Foster feel than a Trek or Star Wars feel. The ships are built with the assumption that <a href="http://starfrontiers.us/files/u59/deckplans_front.gif" rel="nofollow">constant acceleration will supply gravity</a> rather than magical inertial dampners and the like. <br /><br />That said, other than a handful of nods towards science, the focus is clearly more on swashbuckling fleet maneuver than calculating delta-v and projecting sling-shot orbits.trollsmythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01895349218958093151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45568581437235254632010-11-17T12:24:26.873-05:002010-11-17T12:24:26.873-05:00On a side note, I wonder how this compares to the ...<i>On a side note, I wonder how this compares to the WEG Star Wars fighter combat or the newer War Rocket game?</i><br /><br>I couldn't say, as I've played neither, but I have friends who speak very highly of <i>Star Warriors</i> (assuming that's the SW game you mean).James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-21519196659504735472010-11-17T12:23:39.233-05:002010-11-17T12:23:39.233-05:00How did the Star Frontiers ships compare for flavo...<i>How did the Star Frontiers ships compare for flavour?</i><br /><br>As a game, SF was all over the map in terms of its feel and starships are no different. The small ships tended to have a more "<i>Star Wars</i>-y" feel to them, but the big ships were of a classic sci-fi sort -- kilometers-long, with crews in the hundreds. Overall, I think SF was a more "cinematic" game than <i>Traveller</i>, but it wasn't wholly without connection to earlier, literary science fiction.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-19734509727094208702010-11-17T12:19:56.172-05:002010-11-17T12:19:56.172-05:00I really hate reading this blog sometimes because ...I really hate reading this blog sometimes because I end up buying crap I totally forgot about...Bradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06596247660364673313noreply@blogger.com