A-Team RPG

[Profit]

I have a burning wish for some A-Team (the Tv-series) roleplaying, but need a solid (or at least, as solid as you would want them for a one-shot goof session)  mechanic to simulate the completely nonsensical combat in the series. I would freeform, of course, if it wasn't for the fact that the system will probably be part of the goof.

[Eero Tuovinen]

Welcome from me, too.

First, point of order: read the stickies on top of each forum, as well as the general ones in Site Discussion. They tell of the rules of the site. It's pretty easy to do all kinds of small mistakes if you're not familiar with the place. Reading around and researching old threads works, too. In this specific case, what you did wrong: this forum  is meant only for discussion of concrete, purposeful game design headed for publication (free or not, web or not, doesn't matter). It sounds to me that your question would work better in RPG theory, wherein we figure out this kind of general stuff.

An answer to your question: I think you'd get pretty good results with octaNe, which is pretty much built for this thing. Also, Elfs.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

In a bizarre and freakish bout of synchronicity, I too contemplated an A-Team RPG last night while trying to fall asleep. I think it was inspired by that Family Guy episode, and also by the fact that the A-Team was FREAKIN' AWESOME. I came up with a game partway between octaNe and InSpectres (no surprises there, really) and I'll post it when I'm not LATE FOR WORK...! ACK!

[Profit]

Some "rules" of the A-Team diegeis that have to be adressed are of course:

1) you must not ever hit anyone with no matter how heavy automatic weapons.

2) No lethal damage- you must first shake the oposition up a bit with whatever, then "finish" them with a solid punch or non-lethal weapon

3) Explosions or car wrecks never actually harm anyone, only throw them about

4) At least one car every other episode needs to flip spectacularly

5) Sophistivated cons (or not so sophisticated) work much more often

6) No worries about collateral damage

[Callan S.]

Hmmm, interesting list, because while I agree with it, I wonder. I wonder, rather than system slavishly emulating these features, what features as a player would I be interested in doing myself. Ie, what sort of things did the A-team do, that as a game player, I can do myself via my interactions with the game system?

So yes, heavy automatic weapons never hit anybody. But say for gamism, what would you imagine the A-team were doing tactically (even if such tactics are off the wall) and could a player do something like that via interacting with the system?

[natman]

  What about the gear- up time?  Every episode has that wacky moment where the theme music builds up and they make something like a  howitzer out of some old toilet paper rolls, some cooking oil, and a vibrator.  Okay, that was one episode.  My point is that players should have an incentive to make off- the - wall, kit-bashed equipment to deal with their foes.

[Chris Peterson]

This is a funny game setting, but it does have some interesting ideas. The A-Team are caught between escaping the military police and their moral obligation to help the Little Guy. What if you devised an A-Team setting for Dogs in the Vineyard? <:D Toughs guys who travel from town to town, while facing moral dilemmas? Sounds about right!

[mutex]

If you can come up with good rules for their improvised battle wagons, we can roll that up into resolution mechanics for MacGuyver d20.

[Josh Roby]

Pretty easy to translate those to actionable bits of system, Callan.

Weapons don't do damage.  At all.  They have ratings for knockback, and characters have some sort of Resist stat (Solid!).  Once a character's been "shaken up", it's a separate action to finish them off in a kid-friendly, non-lethal way.

Have a reward system geared to reward explosions and other spectacular stuff.

Instead of a 'you try to fool them, but they resist' system, have a 'you start your con and you can string them along for X turns' with, of course, the possibility of extending that X turns by further wiley actions.

And whoever mentioned Dogs, yes, scenarios should be constructed with something similar to Town Creation.

[contracycle]

  What about the gear- up time?  Every episode has that wacky moment where the theme music builds up and they make something like a  howitzer out of some old toilet paper rolls, some cooking oil, and a vibrator.  Okay, that was one episode.  My point is that players should have an incentive to make off- the - wall, kit-bashed equipment to deal with their foes.

No that was indeed every episode, without exception as far as I recall.  It was part of the formula that the team would be confined in a shed full of stuff.  Also that they would eventually go by air and BA would have to be sedated.  Also that the Face would nearly bring the mission to disaster by innapropriate flirting.

A thing like this might also be an opportunity to look at mandatory characters, ie. that you are playing Hannibal, as he was, not your own PC.

[Profit]

The "gear up montage" has to be simulated with some form of "montage" system. Perhaps one can buy a montage with drama points? Is there any Martial Arts RPGs that have adressed this inevitability?

And when it comes to weapons, there has to be something that simulates the fact that while no lethal damage is allowed in the diegesis, you can still threaten people with them!

As a side note, weapons can cause damage if it is done prior to the start of the episode: see "A bad day a black rock" where BA has taken a .50 cal mg round to the leg (yes, BA has a high level...!).

One must of course wonder here if it really is necessary to make up system(s) for all this, and while it is not, this is IMHO where the fun part is.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Y'all are going about this the wrong way. What you're doing is *emulating* the TV show. Now, if you wanna just spit out "A-Team" then sure, this is fine. But what appeals to you about the show is probably not what the show contains but what the show is about. The A-Team is cool because it's about a band of quirky outlaw mercenaries. Also: their van is cool.

[Profit]

No no no, quirky outlaw mercenaries are a dime a dozen, I can get those anywhere. What appeals to me about the series is exactly what it contains, and yes, I am trying to *emulate* the tv-series...

[xenopulse]

Just use Primetime Adventures, and award fan mail for montage scenes.

[jerry]

The A-Team is cool because it's about a band of quirky outlaw mercenaries.

No, I'm with profit on this one. I always enjoyed the A-Team, but I fell in love with it when the bad guys crashed their helicopter into the side of a mountain, it exploded into a ball of flame as it fell, and they got out unscathed when it hit a plateau. It wasn't just funny that it happened, but that they expressly took air time to show that the bad guys were okay.

It was kind of a Gilligan's Island: a cartoon done with live action. I think for gaming purposes, their are goals and milestones; weapons and devices and tactics move you towards those things, but otherwise don't cause any harm. And if you don't have them, you'll get them. There's no need for anything remotely like survival points; at best, you can get knocked unconscious at the appropriate moment, but it has little to do with how hard you've been hit, more by whom and when.

Jerry