Been kicking around a game design for the last six months or so, finally got one that I can make worthwhile and I'm ready to start getting feedback on.
I'm introducing some fresh mechanics and trying stay in an interesting-yet-grounded setting I feel I can write well. I assure you, the rules are mostly just over-explained, and not nearly as intimidating as the word count suggests. I'll probably back pocket some of this text on release to not spook those new to the genre. The Wildcard mechanic was written specifically as a lottery to entice new players to the genre.
Basic Setting:
NATO paramilitaries vs. Warsaw Pact paramilitaries in post-nuclear continental Europe.
-Ten years after nuclear exchange in late 1980's
-CIA "Gladio," leading multi-national NATO-aligned forces out of the Pyrenees Mountains
-KGB "Fifth Column," leading multi-national WP-aligned forces out of the Balkan Mountains
-Infantry-based MilSim focus
-Focus on refurbishing 20th Century arms
***FULL THEME/SETTING WRITE-UP PENDING***
Basic Gameplay Loop:
1. GM issues Battle Report (BR) describing the last two months of combat and announces any Special Events or their results.
2. Players immediately begin Armory (Traditional Design/Revision) Phase, where they propose and elect hardware to issue to their forces.
3. Upon identifying a consensus, GM rolls the elected proposal and formally writes up the results for the players, ending Armory Phase.
4. Players immediately begin War College Phase, where they propose and elect MOS to issue to their forces.
5. Upon identifying a consensus, GM rolls the elected proposal and formally writes up the results for the players, ending War College Phase.
6. GM opens Organization Phase by formally identifying any bookkeeping decisions players need to make (such as retiring redundant/obsolete systems and updating wildcard decks. GM provides a default plan for the players to review. GM also reminds players this is their last opportunity to claim any GM errors since last Organization Phase if they want any hard corrections.
7. Players say their part in Organization phase, voting on bookkeeping plans and/or claiming any GM errors.
8. Upon identifying a consensus, GM locks in the bookkeeping plan and formally answers any claimed errors, ending Organization Phase.
9. GM opens Strategy Phase, stating what regiments they have available and what their deployments were last turn. GM also reminds them this is their last chance to contribute for any Special Events before the turn ends.
10. Players discuss and vote for troop deployments, while wrapping up any event issues, ending Strategy Phase.
Force Structure (Order of Battle):
Each side's forces are initially structured as a single independent infantry regiment. Every six months (three turns) another independent regiment is formed. As the war drags on, long term attrition and strained logistics will eventually cap the total number of regiments, and ultimately even decrease them.
Troop Echelon List
Regiment, ~1600 men commanded by a General
Battalion, ~500 men commanded by a Colonel
Company, ~160 men commanded by a Captain
Platoon, ~50 men commanded by a Lieutenant
Squad, ~15 men commanded by a Sergeant
Fire Team, 4 men commanded by a Corporal
Troop formations are universally "triangular" in structure. A regiment consists of a General Officer's command element (his staff and direct attachments), and then three line battalions. A line battalion consists of a Colonel's command element (his staff and direct attachments), and then three line companies. A line company consists of a Captain's command element (his staff and direct attachments), and then three line platoons. A line platoon consists of a Lieutenant's command element (his assistants and direct attachments), and then three line squads. A line squad consists of a Sergeant's command element (possibly one or two assistants and most squad hardware gets distributed down to a fire team), and then three fire teams. A fire team consists of a Corporal and then three individual soldiers (any team level hardware is typically distributed/substituted within the team itself.)
Resources (or lack thereof) and Costs:
This Arms Races eschews the traditional terrain-based resources and transport capacity (TC) system.
Based on the assessed difficulty to acquire, train, supply, and repair a hardware system, it is assigned as a possible single attachment to a minimum echelon, ranging from individual (standard issue) up to National (single prototype only) level. For example, a standard issue rifle could be available to everyone in your army, however a single battalion level artillery gun could only be found within a Battalion Colonel or General Officer's command element.
Of course just because it can be issued, doesn't mean it'll be used in combat. If the opposing force, battlefield conditions, or general ineffectiveness somehow disfavors a piece of hardware, it may not be a widely-used as its cost would suggest.
In assessing hardware costs, players are to note the setting and theme. In post-nuclear Europe, it's safe to assume the entire military-industrial complex was at the top of the targeting list. The power grid was probably second. The global oil industry made the top five easy. Few chemicals, including fuels and batteries, have a shelf life beyond five to ten years. Telecommunications hubs, airports, seaports, and railheads were most likely all hit as well, so international trade is essentially non-existant. Furthermore, EMP from high altitude nuclear detonations fried most circuits, and it's literally impossible to repair microscopic faults in an integrated circuit. Surely local tinkerers will arise to fulfill that demand for electricity and petrochemicals, but at what cost and volume? Safe to say, humanity won't be operating jet turbines any time soon.
On the upside, you'd be surprised how much endured. While subsistence farming is the new norm in Europe, the salvage, refurbishment, and trade of durable "pre-nuke" goods is a large and lucrative business. As of late, vehicle alternators converted to bicycle generators are a must-have item for the well-to-do. If one good thing came out of the nuclear holocaust, nature is now in resurgence throughout Europe, aiding hunter/trappers who rediscovered pre-industrial animal products such as tanned hides, furs, candles, and glue. Forestry itself is also in high-demand, providing much needed firewood for cooking and warmth. Of particular note, small arms rounds from as far back as WWI are still surprisingly functional, and niche handloading businesses are eager to refill anyone's brass for the right price.
Military Occupational Specialties (MOS's) draw from personnel, and thus have their own independent cost calculations (see War College Phase Details). MOS costs are calculated by assessing acceptable candidates to specialize from general recruiting, and then how arduous the MOS training itself is. Post-nuclear Europe a hodge-podge of varying ethnic and lingual communities that haven't really had public education, public healthcare, optometry, or even mass media for at least a decade. If you're expecting all your men to be fully fluent and literate in your lingua fraca, physically fit, better than 20/20 eye-sight, mentally and emotionally sound, non-criminal, idealogically motivated and loyal, courageous yet not reckless, or to simply have the will and intellectual capacity to learn anything they put their mind to... you're in for a disappointment. Your army takes what recruits it can get, and the vast majority of them won't be astronaut material. Just like Armory Phase hardware, that MOS is assigned as a possible single attachment to a minimum echelon, ranging from standard issue personnel up to National level.
Again, just because a certain MOS can be trained, doesn't mean he or she will be. Easy MOS's that lack Armory synergy, would overcrowd tight lower echelons, or are generally irrelevant won't be as prolific as their cost would suggest.
Armory Phase Details:
The Design Phase and Revision Phase are fundamental core of a traditional Arms Race. This Arms Race combines those two traditional phases into the Armory Phase.
For those new to the Arms Race genre, players post and debate military hardware proposals, ultimately voting to elect a single proposal that phase. The GM then rolls dice against the elected proposal. Taking into account the dice roll and the difficulty of the proposal (see Dice Rolls), the GM then writes up the resulting hardware, ending the Armory Phase.
Acceptable military hardware includes, but is not limited to: weapons, munitions, vehicles, clothing, commo/signal equipment, medical supplies, utility gear, and engineering obstacles. Civilian "infrastructure" proposals are expressly forbidden for both roleplay and game mechanics reasons. Forbidden infrastructure includes, but is not limited to: factories, refineries, universities, labs, or farms.
In writing Armory hardware proposals, players are strongly reminded to keep in mind the limitations of the setting. Rather than a formal nation-state, you are a paramilitary survivalist group that "collects taxes" from communities they "serve and protect." Rather than inventing from scratch, your armorers primarily refurbish and improve salvaged pre-nuke hardware and civilian goods. Why re-invent the wheel when you can yank one off an abandoned car in a bombed out parking garage? Your armorers also exist in a world largely without aerospace, shipyards, petrochemicals (especially fuels), or heavy industry in general. Electricity is a luxury and any functioning electronics probably had to be rebuilt with non-faulty solid-state components. Salvageable vehicles aren't uncommon, but the fuel to operate them is. Therefore, warfare is a gritty infantry-centric affair and Armory hardware should be designed with that in mind.
Speaking of infantry, by default all your recruits are generalists, and you also start with a basic combat rifleman MOS. Barring further War College actions, that means that any non-frontline infantry hardware is going to get handled by generalists. Generalists are adequate and describe any trained operators mentioned in your Armory rolls, but if you want better effects in the Battle Report, players should aim for hardware and MOS synergy when possible. Also, due to fierce political rivalry, the Armory and the War College do not collaborate whatsoever. This means that their tech advancements are independent as well. For example, if the War College had already rolled an aviator MOS (bad idea), and the Armory had just elected their first aircraft design (terrible idea), the aviator MOS has NO SIGNIFICANT EFFECT on judging the difficulty modifier for the aircraft design. (Game mechanics-wise, this prevents a sort of "chicken or egg" question in trying to synchronize two independent elections, as well as trying to debate which should be elected first.)
Two additional game mechanics should also be noted when writing Armory hardware proposals: Wildcards and Logistics Channels. Easier hardware proposals are great for triggering Wildcard draws and are required to stock the Wildcard Deck (see Wildcard Rules). Logistics Channels are a cap on the number of active Armory hardware systems. Roleplay-wise, there are only so many specific hardware systems an army can acquire, train on, operate, re-supply, and repair. At a certain point an army just has to identify systems that aren't worth keeping online anymore. Game mechanics-wise, this mitigates the infinitely broad weapon list problem a successfully long running Arms Race can establish ("Hey GM, I didn't see a weapon system the enemy built six IRL months ago in the last two battle reports. Is it still relevant?"), instead focusing the game on what's actually being used and forcing players to confront their own otherwise forgotten systems. Logistics Channels can effectively stretched by exploiting Variant Models, allowing up to three similar hardware systems to occupy a single Logistics Channel (see Variant Model rules). Additional Logistics Channels may or may not be opened via Special Events or other game progression.
Variant Model Rules:
Variant Models allow for up to three different versions of an Armory hardware-system to be stocked via a single Logistics Channel. You may already notice a Variant or two in your starting equipment. Here are two quick theoretical (and completely off-theme) examples to illustrate. Each Variant can be fielded with modified capabilities and/or different costs, so long as they reasonably share the same core components.
[Light Helicopter] Mosquito Recon Helo
The Mosquito Recon Helo is a two seater single engine light helicopter. It mounts a standard RADAR and is armed with two 7.62mm minigun pods. (Echelon: Company)
[Mosquito Variant 1] Mosquito "Anopheles" Attack Helo
The "Anopheles" variant of the Mosquito Recon Helo features an upgraded RADAR and is armed with two 3 inch, 7 round rocket pods. (Echelon: Battalion)
[Mosquito Variant 2] Mosquito "Tipulidae" Utility Helo
The "Tipulidae" variant is a stripped down Mosquito Recon Helo, intended for light utility duties. As such, the RADAR and gun pods have been removed. Stretcher have been mounted on the weapon pylons for the evacuation of casualties or movement of light cargo. (Echelon: Platoon)
[Destroyer] Archer Surface Warfare Destroyer
The Archer is a 2500 ton, 375 ft destroyer. Its main armament are 5 x 5 in guns in single turrets with a secondary armament of 10 x 21 in torpedo tubes. It includes four .50 cal quadmount stations as AA defense and a depth charge rack for ASW. RADAR and SONAR are standard. (Echelon: Platoon)
[Archer Variant 1] Archer ASW Destroyer
The ASW variant of the Archer Destroyer reduces the Archer's surface warfare weaponry to focus on ASW capabilities. The main guns have been reduced to 3 x 5 in, with only 6 x 21 in torpedo tubes. The freed deck space has been filled with two hedgehog-style depth-charge throwers, as well as adding a second conventional depth-charge rack. The SONAR has been upgraded and includes a towed array. (Echelon: Platoon)
[Archer Variant 2] Archer AA Picket Destroyer
The AA Picket Variant of the Archer Destroyer alters the Archer's weaponry to focus on AA duties. The main guns have been reduced to 3 x 5 in, but stocked with additional airburst rounds. The .50 cal AA quadmounts have been dramatically upgraded to 40mm twinmounts. The torpedo tubes have been removed, to allow larger magazine for the increase in AA munitions. The freed deck space has been filled with a standalone airsearch RADAR. (Echelon: Platoon)
War College Phase Details:
Just because you have a man with a fancy rifle, doesn't mean you have an infantryman. Even then, any army is much more than just its grunts. Thoughout history, many an attempted conquerer have failed due to "all tooth, no tail." The War College is where you prevent yourself from joining those inauspicious ranks.
If Armory Phase is about "hardware," War College Phase is about "software." As per traditional Arms Race rules, hardware grants capabilities. But does this really make sense for high skill professions? It's practically a universal coming of age story to learn that a pair of fancy athletic shoes won't turn us into pro athletes. Similary, if all a STEM career took was buying a good PC for MATLAB, we all could've saved some serious time and money. The War College phase fixes this by training Military Occupational Specialties (MOS's). Just like Armory Phase, players post and debate MOS proposals, ultimately voting to elect a single proposal that phase. The GM then rolls dice against the elected proposal. Taking into account the dice roll and the difficulty of the proposal (see Dice Rolls), the GM then writes up the resulting MOS, ending War College Phase.
A MOS is essentially a character class, defining the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA's) of a certain type of soldier in your army. In general, they describe his or her general attributes, hardware preferences, and special capabilities. Acceptable MOS's include, but are not limited to: infantry, artillery, scout/reconaissance, military police, military intelligence, signal/commo, supply/quartermaster, maintainence, transportation, PSYOP, medical, combat engineering, EOD, JAG, and Inspector General (IG). For obvious game mechanics reasons, "civilian infrastructure-like" MOS's are forbidden, such as recruiters, drill instructors, acquisitions, public affairs, and civil affairs. Furthermore, an MOS cannot directly modify your leadership (OICs/NCOIC's): you can create new kinds of staff officer MOS's, but not some kind of improved commanding officer. In other words, designing a "Bullshit Magic Air General" is expressly forbidden.
As mentioned earlier, the Armory and War College refuse to collaborate whatsoever. However, the War College does have a small petty equipment allowance to fulfill rudimentary MOS requirements (typically for signature clothing or token tools of their trade). Game mechanics-wise, if the issued equipment is primarily aesthetic and/or too petty to be tracked on an Armory Logistics Channel, it's allowed. Want to give your aviator MOS (again, bad idea) flight coveralls and cool sunglasses? That's doable. Add a leather bomber jacket and a flight helmet? Probably one but not both, as either is relatively expensive and has substantial functional elements despite its strong aesthetics. Parachute? Nope, definite Armory-level hardware that should either be shoved in an equipment loadout with the helmet and jacket, or tied to your aircraft.
The War College also uses the same Wilcard mechanic as Armory Phase, again incentivizing players to keep several easier proposals on the backburner. Also like Armory hardware, the number of active MOS's are capped under Training Courses. Roleplay-wise, this cap represents that there are only so many total high-potential recruits and at a certain point MOS's would be literally poaching recruits from each other. Furthermore, your training infrastructure can only support so many simultaneous training programs (field training sites, weapons ranges, killhouses, classrooms, instructors and training texts). Note that MOS's do not use Armory-style Variant Models, but have a higher cap to balance this. Additional Training Courses may or may not be opened via Special Events or other game progression.
Dice Rolls:
Armory (Traditional Design/Revision) and War College rolls are done on a 2d4, resulting in rolls of 2 to 8. This gives a bit of a bell curve probablity, as opposed to the relatively common critical rolls from a traditional Arms Race 1d6.
Roll (Un-modified Probability): Result
2 (1/16): Critical failure. Outcome resembles nothing you intended (in a really bad kind of way).
3 (2/16): Fiasco. Outcome kinda works, but lacks many requested specifications. Outcome is deeply flawed in terms of cost, performance, and/or reliability.
4 (3/16): Disappointment. Outcome mostly works, but has significant shortcomings. Outcome is flawed in terms of cost, performance, and/or reliability.
5 (4/16): Mediocre. Outcome works well enough, but corners were cut. Outcome is slightly flawed in terms of cost, performance, and/or reliability.
6 (3/16): Good job. Outcome works as designed (WAD).
7 (2/16): Eureka! Outcome not only WAD, but finished early enough to squeeze a Wildcard design in. (See Wildcard Rules)
8 (1/16): Critical Hit! Outcome not only hits the Eureka wildcard, but adds a second wildcard design. (See Wildcard Rules)
Every Armory and War College action is assessed a difficulty. Difficulties assign a (+/-) modifier to the final result, however rolls are still capped at 2 and 8. This means that voting for modest "revisions" are a reliable way to farm Eurekas, completing two to three "revision" designs a phase. (See Wildcard Rules) The following are rough guidelines for assessing difficulty.
Trivial (+3): A minor "revision" of an existing system/MOS. Ideally, an obvious modification that could be performed by a layman without specialized infrastructure.
Very Easy (+2): A moderate "revision" of an existing system/MOS. Ideally, a modification that would likely require some technical skills (like a mechanic or mid-range military officer/NCO) and/or some specialized infrastructure (like a garage with power tools or a library with reference texts and a typewriter).
Easy (+1): An advanced "revision" of an existing system/MOS, or a minor new system/MOS. Ideally, a clever modification that definitely requires technical skills and specialized infrastructure. Likely involves a new tech concept or combines two to three smaller modifications. Could also be a new system that does the same, or is simply fairly easy to obtain via trade/forage means.
Medium (0): A moderate new system/MOS. A new system/MOS that substantially involves new technology or can be obtained via trade/forage means. May involve an alternate variant model. (See Variant Model Rules)
Hard (-1): An advanced new system/MOS. A new system/MOS that absolutely requires new technology or can be obtained with difficulty via trade/forage means. May involve one or two alternate variant models. (See Variant Model Rules)
Very Hard (-2): A very advanced new system/MOS. A new system/MOS that absolutely requires new technology you lack a knowledge base in, or otherwise requires several technological advancements. Might be obtainable via trade/forage means with great difficulty. May involve one or two alternate variant models. (See Variant Model Rules)
Moon Shot (-3): An incredible new system/MOS. A new system/MOS so reliant upon one or more technological leaps, it'd be almost miraculous to complete in such a short span of time. May involve one or two alternate variant models. (See Variant Model Rules)
Wildcard Rules:
A modified roll outcome of seven or higher triggers the Wildcard system.
Roleplay-wise, perhaps the desired action was too easy (or they just got lucky), but the Armory/War College ultimately finished their work early. Being the diligent patriots they are, they used the extra time to complete one (on a seven roll) or two (on an eight roll) side-projects on their own initiative. Being side-projects, these wildcards are previously mentioned proposals that ended up being the same or lesser difficulty than the elected proposal that finished early. Since the project lead (individual player) for the elected proposal was busy this phase, these side-projects must be the work of other personnel (individual players or NPCs). As these side-projects were mostly done in parallel to the elected proposal by side personnel, they don't benefit from the elected proposal's tech progress this phase.
Mechanically, good modified rolls grant one to two free similar difficulty actions that are then independently rolled for. These Wildcard modified rolls are then capped at six, to prevent potentially endless crit chains. Wildcards are drawn from a "deck" of proposed but unelected hardware/MOSs from that phase and two prior. To introduce creative chaos and promote underdog players, the currently elected player's work is excluded from the Wildcard Deck this phase. The first Wildcard of a phase will then be randomly drawn from non-redundant proposals the GM secretly assesses as the same difficulty as the elected proposal. If a second Wildcard is required this phase (rolled eight), this Wildcard will then be randomly drawn from non-redundant proposals the GM secretly assesses as one step easier than the elected proposal (unless it's already a Trivial, in which case a Trivial-level Wildcard will still be drawn.) Important note, if Wildcards of the appropriate difficulty and player ownership criteria can't be found, GM will search easier tiers. If ultimately no usable Wildcards can be found, the Wildcard action has been wasted. A team should thus encourage its various players to keep its potential Wildcard Deck full with a spread of proposals each turn. During the Organization Phase, GM will post the current Armory and War College Wildcard Decks, especially noting proposals that were culled due to redundancies to elected proposals or general obsolescence.
Wildcard Probability List
Trivial: (13/16) Wildcard chance (10/16) for two Wildcards
Very Easy: (10/16) Wildcard chance (6/16) for two Wildcards
Easy: (6/16) Wildcard chance (3/16) for two Wildcards
Medium: (3/16) Wildcard chance (1/16) for two Wildcards
Hard: (1/16) Wildcard chance (0) for two Wildcards
Very Hard and Moon Shot: (0) Chance for any Wildcards
Organization Phase Details:
While this Arms Race does its best to keep the burden of math and tedious minutae off players' shoulders, GM concedes some players may want some agency here. Wildcard decks should have some transparency before the GM ends up writing up a drawn Wildcard the players insist shouldn't be there. Necessary mid-to-late game hardware/MOS retirements could get contentious.
As stated previously, the GM will post each Organization Phase the updated two Wildcard Decks. Players may object to any Wildcard if they think the GM should have already removed it (for redundancy to an elected proposal or general obsolescence). Furthermore, an individual player may freely withdraw any of their own Wildcards during Organization Phase. Otherwise valid Wildcards CANNOT be removed from the deck prior to their expiration date (even by popular vote). Barring any player comments on the Wildcard Decks, GM will proceed.
Simultaneously, GM will also announce if any hardware or MOS retirements are required and suggest a default system/MOS to retire. Barring player consensus on an alternate retiree, GM will proceed.
Furthermore, this phase is where players should explicitly state any errors they think the GM made since the last Organization phase. Major book keeping, technology issues, strong disagreements with something specific in the battle report, or anything else the player thinks needs serious correction, now's the time to call it out before it gets too entrenched. GM will provide an official answer this phase on it.
Once the Wildcard Decks, retirements, and player grievances are settled, GM will advance to Strategy Phase.
Strategy Phase Details:
Strategy Phase is where the players vote where on the map to deploy their regiment(s).
As stated earlier, a new regiment is fielded every six months (three turns), on January 1st and July 1st. Game progression will eventually cap, and then ultimately decrease the number of regiments. One regiment may be assigned per territory, and a maximum of two regiments total maybe be ordered on offensive per turn.
***CONQUEST DETAILS PENDING MAP***
***MAP PENDING***
***STARTING HARDWARE/MOS PENDING***
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Topic: Arms Race/Design Bureau Hub/General OOC (Got a Discord Channel now) (Read 112244 times)