I recently came up with this way of doing cover locations for a fight that is not planned. I take an area of the table that represents the battle location. Then I roll a number of Boost and Setback Dice in the area. Where they land is the location of the object. Successes are good cover, Advantages are mild cover while Threats are impediments to movement and Failures are hazards. I then either tell the players where they are in relation and where the bad guys are or I thrown some tokens down to show them. I have only used this once so far but the players seemed to like it. Any suggestions for making this better and refining it?

6 hours ago, Archlyte said:

I recently came up with this way of doing cover locations for a fight that is not planned. I take an area of the table that represents the battle location. Then I roll a number of Boost and Setback Dice in the area. Where they land is the location of the object. Successes are good cover, Advantages are mild cover while Threats are impediments to movement and Failures are hazards. I then either tell the players where they are in relation and where the bad guys are or I thrown some tokens down to show them. I have only used this once so far but the players seemed to like it. Any suggestions for making this better and refining it?

I like the idea, but i wouldn't put them where they land, put them where the plot/narrative makes sense for them.

TBH I usually not sweating this, I just let anyone coming up with terrain (usually cover for the PCs). The hazard part of it, I like it. I don't use enough setback anyway

10 hours ago, Rimsen said:

I like the idea, but i wouldn't put them where they land, put them where the plot/narrative makes sense for them.

TBH I usually not sweating this, I just let anyone coming up with terrain (usually cover for the PCs). The hazard part of it, I like it. I don't use enough setback anyway

Well if you have an idea where things are then by all means do that, but this was something I came up with for spur of the moment places that I would like to have spontaneously designed for me in the moment. I don't use battle maps or pre-made stuff 95% of the time, so having a method of coming up with a quick battlefield layout is useful for me.

Generally speaking, I try to keep my environments planned out so that there is a hard answer for "is there cover". My PC's will sometimes just say "Can I try to get to cover?" and I will just narrate them diving behind some large crates or a computer bank. If there is no cover to take (such as if they are fighting in an empty hangar with no ships or boxes) then I say so and they readjust their move.

We don't really use maps and such either unless I quickly draw one out on a whiteboard or scrap paper. I try to focus the game on the narrative as opposed to the mechanics. Like I've had to tell my Gang on occasion: It's role-playing, not X-COM. I don't let them shoot, move 20ft., THEN take cover. I'll allow them to dive or quickly dash to nearby cover, but we try to keep it within a few feet. Then they can fire if they want, though I up the difficulty by one if they're doing it while diving for cover or dashing away simply because it is now a "run and gun" shot.

My gang has agreed to this and we all just see it as fair.

As for imposing NEW cover, well, you've got to be creative. I had a member of the team blow out the floor so that enemies would fall to the floor beneath them, which obviously created an extra bit of hazard. Likewise, another one shot a cart to make boxes spill everywhere and give them some cover to use.

Just got to roll with the punches and do what everyone agrees is fair. After all, "have fun" is literally rule number 1 for the game!

6 hours ago, evo454 said:

It's role-playing, not X-COM.

There a X-Com tabletop RPG made in Spain. The french translation is called "X-Corps First Contact" but that's because the author didn't bought the right to call it X-Com. And it use the same d6 system that the old WEG Star Wars used. ?

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 10:43 AM, evo454 said:

Generally speaking, I try to keep my environments planned out so that there is a hard answer for "is there cover". My PC's will sometimes just say "Can I try to get to cover?" and I will just narrate them diving behind some large crates or a computer bank. If there is no cover to take (such as if they are fighting in an empty hangar with no ships or boxes) then I say so and they readjust their move.

We don't really use maps and such either unless I quickly draw one out on a whiteboard or scrap paper. I try to focus the game on the narrative as opposed to the mechanics. Like I've had to tell my Gang on occasion: It's role-playing, not X-COM. I don't let them shoot, move 20ft., THEN take cover. I'll allow them to dive or quickly dash to nearby cover, but we try to keep it within a few feet. Then they can fire if they want, though I up the difficulty by one if they're doing it while diving for cover or dashing away simply because it is now a "run and gun" shot.

My gang has agreed to this and we all just see it as fair.

As for imposing NEW cover, well, you've got to be creative. I had a member of the team blow out the floor so that enemies would fall to the floor beneath them, which obviously created an extra bit of hazard. Likewise, another one shot a cart to make boxes spill everywhere and give them some cover to use.

Just got to roll with the punches and do what everyone agrees is fair. After all, "have fun" is literally rule number 1 for the game!

Well my Players ran out into an area that I thought was not going to be a point of interest much less the location of a battle so I just did that on the spot and they liked it so I though I would share it. I would much rather have a planned out space but sometimes it's not possible without stopping to find something or draw it up.

On 10/6/2018 at 4:34 PM, Archlyte said:

Well my Players ran out into an area that I thought was not going to be a point of interest much less the location of a battle so I just did that on the spot and they liked it so I though I would share it. I would much rather have a planned out space but sometimes it's not possible without stopping to find something or draw it up.

You never know what the PC's are going to do until they do it, thus is the plight of GM's!