[RPG]: 3:16 Carnage Amongst The Stars, reviewed by Mike Fischer (4/4)

[RPGnet Reviews]

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14193.phtml

Mike Fischer's Summary:

A simple and well designed space war RPG. Delivers lots of entertainment with a simple, intuitive system.

Go to the full review for more information.

[capnzapp]

You say "space war" and "space combat" but I see no evidence of that anywhere.

Where are the spaceship design tables or guidelines on how fronts tend to form in three-dimensional featureless space? Where are rules for vacuum or equations on laser fire at relativistic speeds?

I do see lots of support for futuristic ground-based personal combat vs hideous aliens on exotic far-flung planets, but that's not war and combat in space.

[Gregor Hutton]

Thanks for the review, Mike. I'm glad you liked the book and that you had a lot of fun playing it with your gaming group. I'm in my *cough* mid-30s *cough* so you're in one of the main groups that I wanted the game to work easily and well for (i.e. me).

The cover is by the ever-excellent Paul Bourne of Contested Ground Studios (a|state, Cold City, Hot War)

Oh, and to answer the good points raised by capnzapp:
The events and encounters in the game most often happen on planetary surfaces, but they also can take place on the spaceships of the Brigade, on asteriods and indeed in space.

There are no spaceship design tables or guidelines on how fronts tend to form in three-dimensional featureless space. All combat is held at three abstract ranges (Close to the aliens, Near to the aliens, and Far from the aliens), though, which rather elegantly makes two, three and n-dimensional combat rather easy to track.

If it's fighting you'll be rolling Fighting Ability, and if it's not fighting (which navigating in space, surviving a vacuum, or calculating relativistic effects) then it would be Non-Fighting Ability.

:-)

Thanks again!
Gregor

[SteveD]

Are there pregenerated planets and encounters for lazy types?

[Sorel]

Originally Posted by SteveD

Are there pregenerated planets and encounters for lazy types?

I just picked up the PDF last night and you would have to be incredibly lazy to require pregenerated planets. Seriously, five die rolls and two deep breaths and the planet is ready.

This appears to be the sort of game that one could pick up and plot the session while directing character creation and yet keep it going as a campaign.

The planet generation system generates alien challenge level, a planet name, creature form, planet description and special ability. That's really all that's required. You decide how many encounters to split the planet into and TADA! it's pretty much done.

But yes, there is a pregenerated planet in the book.

[Portin Astorm]

How would this work with a non-futuristic setting? If I wanted to do, for example, a World War I rpg campaign, would 3:16 be a quick and easy fit?

[Mike Fischer]

I think the combat system could be adapted to any setting. It might serve to make the game even more grim.

The players fight a different opponent each game, with the idea being that the next game has a completely different threat. Each opponent gets a special ability that can be activated at a cost to them. You could run a WW I campaign in which the players fight in Europe, then go through Palestine en route to Russia as part of the armored car brigade the British did send. At the end of the campaign they could be based in Vladivostok and fight Russian, Chinese, or Czechs.

The game rewards players for killing large numbers of enemies, with the greatest rewards going to the biggest body count. Unfortunately this is pretty well suited for WW I. You'd end up with some black black humor, the players would ask to play Polaris next just to lighten things up a bit.

[Calculon]

The core system, though built around Heinlein "bug hunts" and its successors (40k, Aliens, Doom, Forever War) is applicable to just about anything you can pun about.

Minimal tweaking suggests "316 A.D.", in which you play Imperial Roman Legionnaires fighting your way into the incipient Dark Ages, possibly bringing them about yourself. ("Brigadier General" could become "General" or quite possibly "First Citizen".)

My other notion that I haven't quite figured out how to do perfectly is "Stardate 3:16", representing the adventures of a Federation "Away Team". This would replace the "Threat Token" with something like an "Intrigue Token" or "Mystery Token", and the two stats become something like "Direct Approach vs. Indirect Approach" or maybe "Diplomacy" (NFA) and "Science" (FA).

Anyway, nice review, much thanks for giving another perspective on it.

[Claus]

Picked up this book in the hope of GMing it for my early 30s friends (guess you're hitting your demographic Gregor).

Like the easy encounter generation (haven't actually read about it in the book yet), but I am a tad bit worried that the bare-bones minimum and on-the-spot encounter generation will leave me struggling to improvise entertaining scenarios and interesting aliens. Any tips or anecdotes from you guys who have already done this, including you Mr Hutton?

I wasn't aware that the token system for a set number of encounters was supposed to be kept secret to the players. Is this the norm or just one way of playing it?

[Gregor Hutton]

Like the easy encounter generation (haven't actually read about it in the book yet), but I am a tad bit worried that the bare-bones minimum and on-the-spot encounter generation will leave me struggling to improvise entertaining scenarios and interesting aliens.

Do not worry at all. Just play the game following the book and you'll be fine. There is an example of a planet in there (Goya, populated by Dinosaurs) and it has ideas on what a GM might have in mind. It also tells the GM to hold the ideas lightly, though, since play might take the game in a different direction.

How would you describe Dinosaurs in any role-playing game? D&D, say? However you think they would act and react then describe them as doing that. As GM you will have your Alien Ability to roll against and the results of the dice rolls will tell you how successful or not the dinosaurs and the Troopers are.

This is not some "GM showz l33t Improv Skillz to impress the players" thing. It's an RPG where the GM plays the aliens and NPC troopers, while the players play their PCs (one of whom will be in charge of the squad). I think there is some pretty good advice about how to actually role-play too in the book. And the GM advice really helps too.

I wasn't aware that the token system for a set number of encounters was supposed to be kept secret to the players. Is this the norm or just one way of playing it?

For your first mission (to help you learn the rules) I advise planning out a set number of encounters and for the GM to allocate a set number of Threat Tokens to them. Once you've done that and played it through, you'll then understand how Threat Tokens work and will have formed an opinion on how best to use them. From them on allocate them to encounters how you wish.

I always keep the overall pile openly on the table. It's a wonderful pacing mechanic so that the GM and players can see how far they are through the mission. If the players nibble around the edges of the enemy then I do what the book advises and push only a Threat Token or two into the next encounter - a small skirmish. If the players rush headlong into the heart of the enemy I throw in more Threat Tokens to the encounter. When they're all done then the planet is over and we do "Between Missions" stuff and move on to the next planet.

If you're stuck for inspiring planet ideas I think the best mine is the list of Actual Plays on the homepage.

Hope this helps. Crack out the beers and play.