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Terran Empire: Is It Truly Plug 'n' Play


Nolgroth

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I've been wanting to run a game again recently but I'm stuck with the total lack of desire to build anything. In ages past, I would build everything myself because I wanted to make sure that I understood where the balance was at within the context of the setting.

 

So my question is, barring conversion to 6E, is Terran Empire something I can just pick up and run with? Are there holes that I will need to fill in? Does it meet the "sniff" test in terms of completeness? I noted some things the first time that seemed odd. Things like the powered armor being as powerful as some spacecraft. Maybe that was just an impression, but man did they have some stats to them! If you've actually played with Terran Empire out of the box, how did it work out?

 

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

 

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IMO if you want to start playing in the TE world without creating a lot of stuff yourself, you would want to invest in the supplementary books dedicated for the setting, beyond the core Terran Empire source book: Scourges Of The Galaxy for NPCs and organizations; Worlds Of Empire for multiple planets both within and without the Empire; and Spacers Toolkit for gadgets and vehicles (actually more weighted to the latter). None of these books contain detailed adventures, but they're rife with plot seeds and outlines.

 

Between them you'd have at least 80% of what you need to start playing right away (assuming you're using Fifth Edition).

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IMO if you want to start playing in the TE world without creating a lot of stuff yourself, you would want to invest in the supplementary books dedicated for the setting, beyond the core Terran Empire source book: Scourges Of The Galaxy for NPCs and organizations; Worlds Of Empire for multiple planets both within and without the Empire; and Spacers Toolkit for gadgets and vehicles (actually more weighted to the latter). None of these books contain detailed adventures, but they're rife with plot seeds and outlines.

 

Between them you'd have at least 80% of what you need to start playing right away (assuming you're using Fifth Edition).

 

Other than Scourges of the Galaxy, I have the other supplements. It occurs to me that Scourges is probably the one thing I would really find convenient. Good call. Thanks for the input.

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In my opinion, the ships dont pass muster. The writeups are bloated and imbalanced. An attempt at a space battle with the published stats would prove to be an exercize in frustration.

 

 

I gotta agree with NuSoard on the ships, bloated, imbalanced, and boring too... not enough detail or backround on the ships.

 

I remember lifting some of the ship stats whole cloth for another game and while combat lengthy, I didn't necessarily see the ships as being too imbalanced. That being said, I had to use a spreadsheet to keep track of how much body got through the shields and all that. Not really looking forward to that sort of thing again. Any suggestions for an alternative ship combat system?

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I remember lifting some of the ship stats whole cloth for another game and while combat lengthy, I didn't necessarily see the ships as being too imbalanced. That being said, I had to use a spreadsheet to keep track of how much body got through the shields and all that. Not really looking forward to that sort of thing again. Any suggestions for an alternative ship combat system?

 

it depends, do you want simple or crunchy? you might consider adapting a set of minatures rules... Full Thrust or Power Projection, or Starmada or Victory By Any Means... or use Traveller Hero for that matter... although Traveller Hero is currently unavailable... but that should change in a month or so hopefully

 

Traveller is always a decent option by itself

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I'm not a big Terran Empire fan, tho there's some decent material in there. I haven't really read it in awhile, but it seems to me it would be reasonably plg-n-play as long as you like the setting and don't feel compelled to change huge swaths of it, the way I was.

 

I have Fires Of Heaven, tho I haven't played it yet. It's a somewhat generic space opera setting (as was TE), but if that's what you're looking for it's pretty well done. It feels a bit more gritty than TE, more B5 and less comic book. Interesting aliens, even if they're not described in as much game-mechanic detail as the aliens in TE. I haven't played with the ships, so I can't comment on them. And the art is sparse and kinda cheap-looking, if you're someone for whom that makes a difference. Overall I'd give a nod to FOH over TE, tho honestly neither really blew me away.

 

I definitely recommend Scourges either way.

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I remember lifting some of the ship stats whole cloth for another game and while combat lengthy, I didn't necessarily see the ships as being too imbalanced. That being said, I had to use a spreadsheet to keep track of how much body got through the shields and all that. Not really looking forward to that sort of thing again. Any suggestions for an alternative ship combat system?

I have zero issues with running space battles with Hero Systems vehicles rules. They work just fine. Its just that the defenses of military starships in TE are so high that the weapons are relatively ineffective against them. It would take dozens of hits before any of them even started taking Body damage.

 

Reduce the defenses of warships (I say between Defense 10 and 20 for the hull and between 10 and 20 defense for the Force Field with charges that require repair after the shields go down). That way a 4D6k laser cannon isnt much of a threat but might be able to wear the shields down. A 6d6k particle beam might get a few points of body through here and there, but an 8d6k plasma cannon is dangerous, ripping through shields in short order and absolutely devastating to a shieldless vessel. 10d6k+ planet busters and nuclear weaponry will still be very dangerous to all but the toughest warships. Shieldless vessels hit by such weaponry should be toast.

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I'm not a big Terran Empire fan, tho there's some decent material in there. I haven't really read it in awhile, but it seems to me it would be reasonably plg-n-play as long as you like the setting and don't feel compelled to change huge swaths of it, the way I was.

 

I have Fires Of Heaven, tho I haven't played it yet. It's a somewhat generic space opera setting (as was TE), but if that's what you're looking for it's pretty well done. It feels a bit more gritty than TE, more B5 and less comic book. Interesting aliens, even if they're not described in as much game-mechanic detail as the aliens in TE. I haven't played with the ships, so I can't comment on them. And the art is sparse and kinda cheap-looking, if you're someone for whom that makes a difference. Overall I'd give a nod to FOH over TE, tho honestly neither really blew me away.

 

I definitely recommend Scourges either way.

 

Thank you. I really appreciate the review.  :thumbup:

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I have zero issues with running space battles with Hero Systems vehicles rules. They work just fine. Its just that the defenses of military starships in TE are so high that the weapons are relatively ineffective against them. It would take dozens of hits before any of them even started taking Body damage.

 

Reduce the defenses of warships (I say between Defense 10 and 20 for the hull and between 10 and 20 defense for the Force Field with charges that require repair after the shields go down). That way a 4D6k laser cannon isnt much of a threat but might be able to wear the shields down. A 6d6k particle beam might get a few points of body through here and there, but an 8d6k plasma cannon is dangerous, ripping through shields in short order and absolutely devastating to a shieldless vessel. 10d6k+ planet busters and nuclear weaponry will still be very dangerous to all but the toughest warships. Shieldless vessels hit by such weaponry should be toast.

 

Interesting suggestion and one worth looking closely at. As I evolve this project, I'll let you know how it turns out. As much as I wanted something to take the mechanical work off of my back so I can focus on story, it looks like I will be dragged into creating stats and backgrounds anyway. I suppose that the end reward will be worth it, but darnit I wanted a lazy way out. 

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you might consider adapting a set of minatures rules... Full Thrust...

I'm a big fan of Full Thrust, tho I don't get to play it much anymore. I've always thought it would work well in conjunction with a SF RPG game. It handles anything from single ships up to large fleets well, and it's not hard to kludge together a system for using character skill rolls to improve/degrade performance.

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