Captain Obvious Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 I've been toying off and on with the idea of converting Car Wars vehicles and equipment over to Hero. This job was made much easier when The Ultimate Vehicle came out, but I didn't get around to making any sort of conversion until now. Some design notes: I wasn't particularly interested in recreating the exact mechanics of Car Wars. I wanted vehicles with a similar feel, but with Hero mechanics. I didn't want to convert the CW vehicle design system, just the vehicles. To design new vehicles or figure out the effects of refitting existing vehicles, use the CW system, and then convert the result to Hero. Armor the big way I diverged from CW. All plastic armor takes the Ablative Limitation, which keeps the feel of CW, but uses a Hero mechanic. (If you really want to keep the exact mechanic of CW armor, I suggest you buy all vehicles with no DEF and lots of extra BODY, which only affects certain facings.) All armor is bought with Limited Coverage to reflect that one DEF value only applies to attacks that hit one particular side of the vehicle, and they all ablate separately (so that all armor could be gone from one side, but still be untouched on another). Weapons also use Limited Coverage. Sponson turrets and cycle turrets can fire 180 degrees, only on horizontal level. Turrets and cupolas can fire 360 degrees, only on horizontal level. Universal turrets and cupolas have no horizontal level limitation. Anyway, here is the conversion system I used, and all the vehicles from the 2034 AADA Vehicle Guide, minus weapons and electronics. That stuff can mostly be swiped straight from TUV. EDIT: okay, I'm having issues with the file upload. I'll get it up soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Re: Autoduel Hero Retry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paigeoliver Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Re: Autoduel Hero Um, have you seen the old Autoduel champions sourcebook? You should really check that out if you are working on an Atuoduel hero setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Re: Autoduel Hero I haven't seen Autoduel Champions in years. I don't know how much difference it makes, though, since the vehicle rules changed pretty drastically from 3rd to 4th Ed Hero. Characters and powers from earlier editions can be used pretty easily, but as far as vehicles go, it's a whole different game than it used to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paigeoliver Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Re: Autoduel Hero The Autoduel champions car rules are totally incompatible with current vehicle rules, yet SO MUCH BETTER. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Re: Autoduel Hero Maybe so. If they're the same vehicle rules that were used in Champions II, I could take or leave them, but even if they were so realistic you could smell the gasoline and hear the screeching tires, and so playable that game time exactly equalled real time, the rules are still not commonly available, whereas TUV is. As an aside, I should point out that these conversion rules are not set in stone. I'm thinking about tweaking the DEX with a chassis modifier, to add a little more granularity. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to post them, and I may add them to my official unofficial writeup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Re: Autoduel Hero The Autoduel Champions rules were mostly the Car Wars vehicle design rules dropped wholesale into Hero with a few bits from the Champions II rules. For example, weapons all take up weight and space, and you spend money on them rather than points, but they have DEF and BODY scores and Hero System damage. Vehicles are rated for Hero System STR, and building up your chassis increases the vehicle's STR. They are rated for a BODY score as well (unlike Car Wars). IIRC they used Turn Mode for Handling Class instead of DEX. Cars had no DEX or SPD, moved every segment as in Champions II, and were rated for an Acceleration score as in Car Wars. IMO, the Hero System vehicle rules work fine if you want your superhero team to have a jump jet or whatever, but they're utterly unsuited for a campaign in which the focus is vehicles; they suffer primarily from moving the way characters do (and to a lesser extent being statted out like characters). On the other hand, Captain Obvious, if what you've got works for you don't let me tell you you're having wrong fun. If that's what this looks like that's not my intent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 Re: Autoduel Hero The current rules aren't without issues, but no more so, IMO, than the older ones. It also seems to me that the newer rules are more playable, although I've never played in a game where vehicles were this significant in combat. At any rate, like I said earlier, unless SJG and DOJ decide to release an updated Autoduel Champions, or failing that, until the copyright runs out, Autoduel Champions is not widely available, and I for one am just not interested in seeking out a copy or laying out all the green that rare games go for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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