Army RPG

[Hoodoo]

Havn't really seen an RPG were you play as a soldier in an army and was wondering how you would do it. So I got thinking and came up with a kinda layout;

Starting off the game would be pretty basic with you picking your characters stats and then the recruitment officer suggesting a place for you (archer/skirmisher/heavyguy/etc) but ultimately the choice is yours (could pick slow and dumb stats and pick archer anyways)maybe could have minimums of stats for each role but a speech check that lets you convince him your capable or something like that)) Levels would be gained maybe instead as ranks and experience measured as capability or reputation that you have gained by your deeds.

After that you'll be taken to a boot camp for a tutorial, tips n tricks kinda thing depending on what you chose, choose your perks through some c&c events and from there thrown into the war. Maybe on route to the frontline your convoy is ambushed, or you liberate a town from bandit gangs, arrive at the frontline in nick of time to reinforce an overrun section or ordered into a small skirmish/infiltration thing, somekinda small scale battle to ease you into the combat. From there varying offenses / defenses you will take part in while rising through the ranks, maybe ending in a big chaotic cityfight as you make the push into the enemys capital. Killing innocents or dealing mercilessly with oponents(basic example)
to please a bloodthirsty captain or sparing them and making a unlikely ally could be c&c.
Inbetween battles you could walk around camp and befriend people / make enemies, maybe challenge higher ranks to duels or fight / be sneaky to raise your reputation.

Since large scale battles would work differently than normal rpg battles

Hails of arrows could be decided by stats like Luck+ Agility
Being targeted in a melee could be decided Luck - Endurance/Strength (largest target)
Whether you take the frontline of a battle formation could be a speech check
Avoiding horse trampling Perception + Agility etc,etc
Im not sure how retreating and morale would work but should probably be put in. :\

Ive imagined this as turnbased with alot of tweaks to accomadate for the amounts of people (only things directly involving you would be animated with the rest done instantly and recorded in a log that you could access by clicking( Maybe Perception could factor in to this as a stat ie how far and how much you can take in that is happening around you)) and in Roman times with very little fantasy (enchanted weapons and maybe some Greek mythology(no creatures) probably being the maximum)

This is pretty basic though
So, how would you make a soldier rpg?

 

[Hoodoo]

nobody wants soldier rpg?

 

[Casus belli]

I would like as more of an RPG/Tactical strategy game hybrid. You start as an officer, in command of a company or so, and during the battles you can influence its results, depending on how well you use your force. There could be C&C in this part of the game in whether or not you allow looting, or other such actions. Some quests could vary, some taking you behind enemy lines to perform an essential mission, like burning bridges or taking supply depots. You would have to tailor your force to serve the mission's purpose, so the latter type of mission would require fast troops, that is either cavalry or mounted infantrymen. The RPG side would be just like you said, but the really great thing would be to make the Strategic/Tactical side merge seamlessly with the RPG.

 

[spectre]

Army rpgs have this problem, that from a role playing perspective, there are more interesting roles than the common grunt, like, say a spy, commando, etc. I agree with what Casus Belli wrote, a tactical hybrid would be a bit more welcome when it comes to that... but in the end we don't get a pure rpg, but a hybrid. Like Jagged Alliance, which is good, but not exactly what we wanted in the first place.

Another bit is that you choose pre-modern setting. The problem is that such setting doesn't work too well with the concept of an army rpg, unless you want to focus on what happens between battles.
In this case, it may be... not much.

 

[Hoodoo]

I wouldnt like to start as an officer because it would take away the fun of rising through the ranks and the boot camp and stuff like that, which i like. And you also wouldn't be able to be the grizzled soldier at the end who would of been promoted but disobeyed orders for the sake of his men Starting as a officer would take away alot of the rpg out of it.

What you suggested sounds alot like JA with C&C, which would be cool though.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Unless you went for the whole 'soldier left behind enemy lines, uncovered evil conspiracy, etc' plot.

Or 'busting out of a prison camp' plot.

I am sure there would be others. It only requires a little imagination.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I wouldnt like to start as an officer because it would take away the fun of rising through the ranks and the boot camp and stuff like that, which i like. And you also wouldn't be able to be the grizzled soldier at the end who would of been promoted but disobeyed orders for the sake of his men Starting as a officer would take away alot of the rpg out of it.

What you suggested sounds alot like JA with C&C, which would be cool though.

Again, doesn't work if you're set in the era of swords and arrows. Until very recently, officership was reserved for those from moneyed/noble backgrounds. They'd start off as officers regardless of lack of military training/expertise, whereas commoners were grunts for life.

Then they instituted non-commissioned officers, so you could rise to, say, a Sergeant or Warrant Officer the field. But the highest NC officer is still outranked by the lowest 3rd lieutenant.

Even today, you can't actually rise 'through the ranks' from grunt to commanding officer. You either enter as a grunt, and maybe rise through the very limited non-commissioned ranks (the name is now an acronym, as they get paid just like the commissioned guys do - but they're still lower rank). Ranks like sergeant and so on mean you're still on the front lines, you're still not doing any strategy, you can still get told what to do by the lowest commissioned officer, but you have 'practical' authority. I.e. the lieutenant is told to take a certain point, he tells the sergeant 'here's how we're going to take that point, your squad goes here, squad supports from here, etc', and then the non-commissioned sergeant actually makes sure it happens.

If you want to become an actual commissioned officer and 'rise through the ranks', in most armies you have to go to officer training. In most western countries that requires the equivalent of a decent university degree (not so much the US, as you guys don't have welfare, so you use military as a substitute). You can't be field promoted from n-c to commissioned, only from one nc rank to another, or one commissioned rank to another.

 

[Hoodoo]

from a role playing perspective, there are more interesting roles than the common grunt, like, say a spy, commando, etc.

A grunt rising through the ranks would be alright if pulled off right I think, if you over-exaggerated the inbetween parts between battles to make them interesting. And did the promotion / demotion and the large scale combat in the battles well, it could turn out pretty epic without having the same "chosen one" "it was your destiny" that alot of rpgs have or being a spy or commando which are used also quite a bit in games.

Another bit is that you choose pre-modern setting. The problem is that such setting doesn't work too well with the concept of an army rpg, unless you want to focus on what happens between battles.
In this case, it may be... not much.[/quote]

I know what you mean and yeah I think that finding the right setting for the in between and being able to do the battles right would be hard. There would have to be alot of realism that would have to be glossed over with style.

 

[Hoodoo]

@Azrael

Alot of historical and technical things I probably wouldn't pay attention to just for games sake

 

[Hoodoo]

'busting out of a prison camp' plot.

That would make a pretty cool game

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

[quote="Blackadder" 'busting out of a prison camp' plot.

That would make a pretty cool game[/quote]

Indeed it would. All sorts of politics inside the camp, along with corrupt guards, different rackets, toadies, spies, different ways to achieve objectives. I would extend it to getting back to Allied lines to up the ante, of which again there could be numerous ways to accomplish your task, or even fall in with commandos going in to blow up a bridge/kill an enemy general/free the rest of the prisoners/etc.

The possibilities are almost endless. Strange that it has not been tried before.

 

[spectre]

I have some vague recollection about such game(s) from the 8-bit era. But yeah, shame nobody wants to give it a go.

It could even have different paths and scenarios, based on many different "famous" WW2 Great Escapes. and it allows for distinct settings, a Japanese PoW camp would be different from a german one, and that would be different from a concentration camp, and that would be different from a bolshevik one.

 

[Hobbit Lord of Mordor]

Twilight 2000?

 

[zenbitz]

Already done:
Modern Warfare

 

[GarfunkeL]

It's not done because if you do it realistically, it's boring as shit and horribly railroaded or it turns into a squad-based strategygame with RPG-elements (cue JA2!). Hence, Twilight had the game (usually) start with:

1) The world being fucked
2) The armies were out of oil so no air forces
3) Players are behind the lines, which do not move as fluidly as they should because of reasons 1 & 2

Thus you can have an exciting campaign with semi-realistic (depending on GM) military setting. Otherwise, not so much because you have to start poking hard on the suspension of disbelief.


EDIT:

@Azrael

Alot of historical and technical things I probably wouldn't pay attention to just for games sake

Oh, somehow missed that post earlier. Disregard my post then.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

It's not done because if you do it realistically, it's boring as shit and horribly railroaded or it turns into a squad-based strategygame with RPG-elements (cue JA2!). Hence, Twilight had the game (usually) start with:

1) The world being fucked
2) The armies were out of oil so no air forces
3) Players are behind the lines, which do not move as fluidly as they should because of reasons 1 & 2

Thus you can have an exciting campaign with semi-realistic (depending on GM) military setting. Otherwise, not so much because you have to start poking hard on the suspension of disbelief.

On regards to this subject, one of the military consultants for the third edition of Twilight started his first campaign with the new rules in a good way by starting the game when the characters (reservists being mobilized when war is declared) are scant few minutes away from combat situation. Then again, Twilight is a lot better if someone who's been on the military (or in Tatu's case, is a commissioned officer).

 

[Redeye]

Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

 

[denizsi]

I need to get and read The Flower of Battle addition to Riddle of Steel sometime. It's supposed to offer lots of alternative options to make large scale battles work. Has anyone read that?

 

[burrie]

I'd genuinely go for something like this with the same engine/principle of Hammer & Sickle, if a bit more clear as to what you are supposed to be doing and how you would do it.

 

[halflingbarbarian]

Heya, my first post on Codex!

There's already some sort of a 'soldier/officer simulation' in Koei's line of Romance of Three Kingdoms games, with the most apparent one being no. 8.

http://kongming.net/8/

That's a character 'stats' screen with his base attributes, level of mastery with different types of troops or tactics, inventory, personal relationships with other characters etc. It's quite a decent game with micro (rpg style, albeit more oriental/jrpg) character development, or macro management (when you become an officer for a ruler and control troops, or become a ruler yourself). There are plenty things to do in either types of gameplay (both available in a single playthrough depending on your tastes) with satisfactory repurcussions.

This is a city siege interface where you can plan and execute troop movements or engage in duels with an enemy general using your own character.

Because it is a mixture of both genres, unless you really dig the setting (historical China), the various activities you engage in whether as an individual character or as a ruler of a warring state becomes slightly repetitive after awhile, but still fun nonetheless.

As an aside, if you are looking for a pure strategic experience you can try the latest installment (no. 11) which has the best battle system but offers not as much rpg elements.

Edit: It is as Garfunkel mentioned, like JA2, a strategy/tactical game with heavy RPG elements, and you play in a sandbox type world with no scripted heroism but just historical events that may/may not unfold depending on certain conditions being met (a certain general betraying his ruler, a ruler disposes of the emperor and declares himself sovereign, etc)

 

[Hobbit Lord of Mordor]

Not an RPG (even if it's a decent game). Nice to see a fellow halfling though.

 

[Fez]

I'd like to see one done in The Black Company world. Enough leeway and adventures as well as butting heads with the captain and other members of the company to keep things interesting and you'd still get orders from above to drive you through a plot and stop you just wandering aimlessly until you get bored, some key events that you could influence or have direct control over that would change the world or plot significantly, as well as events that were simply beyond your control to give you the sense of a larger world being out there.

Even if you didn't take the plots from the books, you could still set it in the history of the company or a similar setting to give you more leeway for writing.

The mercenary company would also allow the player to rise in the ranks and neatly avoid any issues over modern demands for officer training or old moneyed class status (unless you pull a Sharpe).

 

[Lothers]

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. Just add stats.

 

[Fez]

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. Just add stats.

That is what I feared it would come to. Not much of an RPG though. Just another "hybrid".

 

[Heirophant]

I honestly would like to see a military RPG set in a post-industrial environment, possibly even WWI or WWII. It might work really well as a sort of procedurally-generated roguelike, where the manner in which missions are completed or failed alters the course of a large-scale conflict. I honestly don't believe that playing the role of a single private would be all particularly boring, if you just skipped over most of the inter-battle "hurry up and wait" portions of warfare. Getting shot at every day is not most people's idea of dull. Character progression could initially begin at Private, but through valor and ingenuity one could advance to NCO ranks, with progressively more command over other troops. Not command as in direct control, but more along the lines of actually issuing orders which an AI attempts to carry out. Perma-death could actually be a fairly interesting facet of this system, where you can view various memorials for PC's who are KIA. In fact, it should be possible to advance the game even if the PC is killed, if you still manage to complete your mission.