Judge Dredd first Solo AAR

[Abwehrschlacht]

I played out a couple of games of Judge Dredd using some of my 28mm figures (and 15mm scenery…) to test the rules of the Mongoose published game. It played pretty well through both games and I had a satisfactory result for both. I am trying to work out a way of getting away from the wild west style shoot out though, possibly using cards to develop random events and perps. Anyway, there is more discussion and pictures on my blog here:

http://stormofsteelwargaming.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/rumble-in-jungle-judge-dredd-aar.html

Thanks for looking!

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/stormofsteelwargaming

Blog: http://www.stormofsteelwargaming.com

[Noel]

Good thoughts.  I am looking for more narrative rules, rather than a straight up firefight every time.

 

[Abwehrschlacht]

Yeah, I have a feeling that most games will just become a straight up gun fight and then it’s not really Judge Dredd. I want a game to eveolve the way a JD comic strip does, with minor crimes happening, but with maybe a bigger thing happening in the background; an ongoing investigation. I envision it as the players co-oping as Judges and the perps appearing randomly with some basic AI. So you may get a Futsie one minute, a litterer the next, someone with a thermo nuclear warhead afterwards, but all have to be dealt wit in some way.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/stormofsteelwargaming

Blog: http://www.stormofsteelwargaming.com

[Stroezie]

If/when I finally get around to continuing my 6mm Dredd project I was thinking of maybe using/adapting the “Departement of Fabricant management” rules to get a more “Case Files” feel to it.

Here’s a link to the old kickstarter page if you want to check them out
Link

[Rhoderic]

You may want to consider rules mechanics like those in the old Rattrap Productions games, where most scenarios had the players exploring the board by investigating objective markers scattered about. Each marker, once reached by a player-controlled figure, would turn up some discovery/encounter or trigger some event. There might also be some duds in the mix. In non-GMed scenarios there would be a table of discoveries/encounters/events enabling the triggering of them to be randomised. It did entail that new figures could sometimes “materialise” in the middle of the action, but typically this would mean they had been hiding or otherwise gone unnoticed or ignored (maybe as presumed-inconsequential bystanders) until then. Encounters could be anything the scenario designer could think of (and the rulesets actively encouraged players to make their own scenarios). Incidental new enemies complicating matters for you were common, but you might also have found a new ally, a civilian in distress needing escort away from danger, an errant person/creature that you had to capture as it tried to evade you without fighting, or whatever else you could think of including in the scenario.

There would be Victory Points to had from some of these discoveries/encounters. Typically the background story of the scenario had some justification for why player characters were searching the board in the first place, like defusing dangerous devices, hunting known fugitives or securing evidence (or destroying it if you were playing the perps). This general concept worked equally well solo/co-op play as for opposed play – in the latter case opposing parties would race each other to collect VPs, with combat occurring mainly for the sake of players trying to hamper each others’ pursuit for markers or seize/protect items or people worth VPs from each other, as opposed to fighting for the sake of fighting.

I think some of the other, mostly newer games of this same general category of adventure-oriented skirmish games might use similar systems, although I’d have to check to be sure (I’d start with checking Pulp Alley and 7TV, but I can’t be arsed right now – I have them but haven’t familiarised myself with them fully).

[Abwehrschlacht]

They look interesting, we were discussing something similar just the other day. We had the idea of Judges doing their street duty but then also having to catch up on the office work and report filing, there would have to be a some balance between the two, one to keep advancing your character and the other to avoid getting disciplinary actions from the Judge bosses. Judge Dredd has that scope, so I would rather push it that way.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/stormofsteelwargaming

Blog: http://www.stormofsteelwargaming.com

[Abwehrschlacht]

@Rhoderic, thanks for the suggestions, we were trying to get away from tables as they can be rather formulaic, so this is why we were discussing cards as random events. You can then also ‘set’ the deck for a specific scenario, including as many or as little dangers or perps as you want. This could even be done blind, by dealing out cards face down to create the play deck. I’d like to see the individual games as part of an ongoing career campaign for the player’s Judges, with the occasion big shoot out, of course, but mostly the run-of-the-mill street stuff.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/stormofsteelwargaming

Blog: http://www.stormofsteelwargaming.com

[Rhoderic]

Abwehrschlacht wrote:

@rhoderic, thanks for the suggestions, we were trying to get away from tables as they can be rather formulaic, so this is why we were discussing cards as random events. You can then also ‘set’ the deck for a specific scenario, including as many or as little dangers or perps as you want. This could even be done blind, by dealing out cards face down to create the play deck.

This is the same basic concept I was clumsily referring to. The scenario designer would make a table of unique events for each scenario.

I get what you’re saying about tables being formulaic if it’s the same “master table” for all scenarios, like what I think the THW rulesets are all about, but that’s something different.

[Abwehrschlacht]

Yeah, I think cards give you a far wider range of possibilities than tables do, not only because you can remove them from the deck when you play them if you don’t want the chance of the event occurring twice, it’s possible to do this with a table, but more fiddly.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/stormofsteelwargaming

Blog: http://www.stormofsteelwargaming.com

[Rhoderic]

I think I may be misrepresenting what I’m talking about by using the word “tables”, but that’s partly because my own recollection of the system was a bit hazy until now. Events were randomised by drawing cards or numbered chits, or turning over objective markers to reveal numbers. The “tables” I referred to were just the lists of possible events and their corresponding numbers (or playing cards) as presented in published scenarios.

[Abwehrschlacht]

I get ya!

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/stormofsteelwargaming

Blog: http://www.stormofsteelwargaming.com

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