Tractics (1975)
Jun 5, 2018 22:45:52 GMT -5
The Semi-Retired Gamer, mormonyoyoman, and 1 more like this
Post by Old Timer on Jun 5, 2018 22:45:52 GMT -5
It's a three-book boxed set designed to simulate tank warfare (as well as anti-tank warfare) in World War II.
Like several other TSR games, Tractics was first published by Don Lowry's Guidon Games. The first TSR edition of Tractics was also published in a woodgrain box identical to the OD&D ones. Haven't ever played it, though I've always loved EGG's "Sturmgeschutz and Sorcery"
If you have the D&D rules and the Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery article, you really don't need Tractics to do a roleplaying scenario, any relatively simple WW2 armor system will do.
Why? Because the article already tells us how the WW2 weapons effect the monsters. As to how the monster's attacks effect the armored units, just convert the monster's damage backwards to the nearest equivalent. Example: How does a Storm Giant's punch do against a King Tiger? Well, he does 7-42 points of damage, and on the Weapon Type, Damage, and Effect Area table from S&S, the nearest equivalent is the 6-48 damage caused by a 75mm gun. Since this is roughly the equivalent of a Sherman's gun, the answer is "not very well", but to find out exactly, you would simply use your WW2 combat system, and treat the attack as coming from a 75mm gun. Simple.
Other conversions are equally easy. For example, if you were using Axis & Allies as your armored combat system, most infantry move 1, so you would convert 1 hex into 12" of D&D movement.
Now, of course, you still need the skills of a good DM to figure out how the Storm Giant's lightningbolt would affect the Tiger (the crewmen confined in a steel box that has just conducted a massive amount of electricity), but Tractics wouldn't help you with that anyway, and, if you are a good DM, you already have that skill.
I have the Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery article mentioned above and I'm trying to interpret the Area of effect rules.
For example, a hand grenade - it has dmg of 5-20 (3d6+2, I'm assuming), and an effect area of "1 target A". The "A" area of effect is 1" diameter circle.
I'm interpreting that to say "within a 1" circle, 1 target will take 5-20 damage". That seems... low? Especially when you get to mortars and bazooka/panzerfaust rounds - it seems like they would explode a bit and spread shrapnel around.
Is this a Tractics thing (the 1 target w/in an area) or some effort to simplify the amount of rolling for area of effect explosive rounds?
(I'm tempted to jigger with the area of effect, have targets make saving throws and apply damage that way... thoughts?)
Like several other TSR games, Tractics was first published by Don Lowry's Guidon Games. The first TSR edition of Tractics was also published in a woodgrain box identical to the OD&D ones. Haven't ever played it, though I've always loved EGG's "Sturmgeschutz and Sorcery"
If you have the D&D rules and the Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery article, you really don't need Tractics to do a roleplaying scenario, any relatively simple WW2 armor system will do.
Why? Because the article already tells us how the WW2 weapons effect the monsters. As to how the monster's attacks effect the armored units, just convert the monster's damage backwards to the nearest equivalent. Example: How does a Storm Giant's punch do against a King Tiger? Well, he does 7-42 points of damage, and on the Weapon Type, Damage, and Effect Area table from S&S, the nearest equivalent is the 6-48 damage caused by a 75mm gun. Since this is roughly the equivalent of a Sherman's gun, the answer is "not very well", but to find out exactly, you would simply use your WW2 combat system, and treat the attack as coming from a 75mm gun. Simple.
Other conversions are equally easy. For example, if you were using Axis & Allies as your armored combat system, most infantry move 1, so you would convert 1 hex into 12" of D&D movement.
Now, of course, you still need the skills of a good DM to figure out how the Storm Giant's lightningbolt would affect the Tiger (the crewmen confined in a steel box that has just conducted a massive amount of electricity), but Tractics wouldn't help you with that anyway, and, if you are a good DM, you already have that skill.
I have the Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery article mentioned above and I'm trying to interpret the Area of effect rules.
For example, a hand grenade - it has dmg of 5-20 (3d6+2, I'm assuming), and an effect area of "1 target A". The "A" area of effect is 1" diameter circle.
I'm interpreting that to say "within a 1" circle, 1 target will take 5-20 damage". That seems... low? Especially when you get to mortars and bazooka/panzerfaust rounds - it seems like they would explode a bit and spread shrapnel around.
Is this a Tractics thing (the 1 target w/in an area) or some effort to simplify the amount of rolling for area of effect explosive rounds?
(I'm tempted to jigger with the area of effect, have targets make saving throws and apply damage that way... thoughts?)