Idea: Weapon Crafting

Supplement ideas, house rules, homemade stat cards, homebrew weapon types, and other cool variations

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aoffan23
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Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by aoffan23 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:16 am

This is an idea that popped into my head a couple of days ago after hearing about a new game called Loadout, which has a crazy weapon customization system. I would love to see fleshed out, and I hope to do a bit of play testing. If you like the idea and want to try it out, I'm more than open to feedback! Heck, I might even get motivated enough to make it a forum battle (wishful thinking).

The basic premise of this is that it's a free-for-all game type where you're competing against each other, but not killing each other. It's more of a sport than a battle. There's a GM* who has control of three things: enemies, weapon parts (stashed in a handy-dandy bag-o-parts), and weapon stats. The rest of the players are the ones duking it out on the battlefield, trying to get the most points before they die. The battlefield is set up just like any other game of BrikWars, but if the players want they can scatter some crates/barrels/bins around (the amount should be about half the number of players).

*If there are only two people or if everyone wants to play, the players will have to work out who controls the enemies when, and weapon stats would have to be made on an honour system. The only important part is that the weapon parts need to be picked by anyone but the player who gets them.

The players start out in the middle of the battlefield, and the GM distributes some enemies around the edges. The players each start with two pistols, and all have the Multitasking, Multidexterity, and Compensating abilities. They take their turns first.

The enemies start with hand weapons, but will get better weapons over time. When an enemy is killed, they respawn at a random edge of the battlefield with a better weapon. The order would be something like this:
1. Hand Weapon
3. Two-Handed Weapon
4. Short-Ranged Weapon
5. Long-Ranged Weapon
6. Machine Gun
7. Launcher + Explosives
Some body armour could be thrown in there, but that's only if you're up for the challenge/have enough armour pieces.

(It seems like it would take a while for the enemies to become dangerous, but my hope is that with the fact that the players are constantly upgrading their weaponry, the killing should accelerate. I did try to speed the game up a little by giving the players two pistols instead of one, and omitting the Heavy Weapon from the list.)

Every time a player gets a kill, the GM picks a random part from the bag-o-parts and gives it to the player. At the end of every turn, the players are allowed to do one of three things:
1. Use parts to upgrade existing weapons
2. Combine parts to create new weapons
3. Save parts for a later turn

When a player upgrades or crafts a weapon, the GM decides on some fitting stats for said weapon. The GM should use common sense to determine what the weapon would do (e.g. trans parts should indicate some sort of energy weapon, big magazines should indicate a machine gun). If it seems fitting for the weapon to be a standard weapon type from the rulebook, then it should have the appropriate stats. However, if the weapon has some sort of exceptional property (lasers, a scope, looks really really cool, etc.) then it's encouraged for the GM to add some +1's or special effects into the mix.

Note on Launchers: Launchers can be crafted, but the payload must be crafted individually. Once a launcher is used up, the player switches back to the original two pistols so that they still have a way to kill enemies.

Note on Helmets and Armour: It's a good idea to include helmets and armour in the Bag-o-Parts as rare parts. Both are useful for saving players from powerful enemies or unlucky dice rolls.

Helmets - A player wearing a helmet is more protected than a player without one, but helmets don't offer full protection. They are useful for saving the wearer from a shot to the head that would normally kill them, but once they have saved the player once they tend to be too damaged to offer any further protection. If an enemy rolls well enough to kill a player wearing a helmet, the player is saved from the death blow, but the helmet is destroyed in the process.

Armour - A player who gets a piece of body armour out of the Bag-o-Parts will likely feel like they're invincible. Not only are they incredibly lucky to have picked such a useful part, but they can now waltz into the enemy's ranks and nobody can stop them... at least not until the big guns come out. A player wearing armour is granted the Shielded ability, meaning that they can ignore one die of every type from all attacks (in other words, they're bulletproof until the 2d6 weapons arrive). However, they also move at half speed, and cannot perform movement that would normally halve their speed (e.g. swimming).

Note on Bag-o-Parts: It's a good idea to include some variety in parts to encourage creative crafting. Throw some blades into the bag, as well as some larger and hard-to-use parts. Not everything should be gun-looking pieces; some plates, tiles, and other versatile pieces should be used as well. It's also a good idea to add some body armour (or at least some neck brackets and 2x2 plates to craft body armour) as rare items, because the enemies do get better weapons. It's fine to include some one-part weapons, but make sure parts can be added to them.

Important Note: While the main focus may be weapon crafting, players are encouraged to craft other equipment items. Jet packs, speed boots, shields, and any miscellaneous tactical gadgets are good ideas.

Points are calculated based on kills and weapons crafted. Players get a point for every kill, and a point for every part used in crafting or upgrading. If a player gets a one-part weapon or piece of armour and equips it right away, it doesn't count as crafting. Any subsequent upgrades to the parts will count, but it's wise to save the weapons to get that extra point - the exception being if you need the weapon to save yourself next turn. The GM may want to give additional points for things such as really cool weapon designs, or whatever they feel is worthy.

Once a player dies, they are out of the game, and their points total is finalized. The game is over once all players are dead, or the last remaining player has the most points. The loser buys lunch for everyone else, and is forced to be the GM next game [OPTIONAL RULE].


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TL;DR players kill things, get parts, build more stuff, repeat.

You'll notice that I mentioned crates earlier on, but never elaborated on them. I'm not sure exactly how to implement them, but I do want to. They'll likely spawn parts every x turns, but it's just another die roll/coin flip to decide which crate the part comes from. I guess that's what the GM is for, but I'll have to think about it.

Any suggestions/questions/insults about my mother?
Last edited by aoffan23 on Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by Zupponn » Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:15 am

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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by samuelzz10 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:15 pm

What stats do the players have? I think also CP drops could be neat, so mini figs could buy SN dice. Also, if vehicles started showing up that would also be challenging.
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by aoffan23 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:15 pm

Zupponn wrote:Does she have nice tits?
Depends on how you define "nice".
samuelzz10 wrote:What stats do the players have?
All players and enemies are basic minifigs, with the exception of the players' dual wielding abilities and any armour.
samuelzz10 wrote:I think also CP drops could be neat, so mini figs could buy SN dice.
I'd rather stick to things that can be crafted. The game is about building things to make you more powerful, so SuperNatural abilities don't really fit in.
samuelzz10 wrote:Also, if vehicles started showing up that would also be challenging.
I hadn't thought about that. The problem is that the list of enemies I wrote out if more of a guideline than a rule, and what actually ends up being used is completely up to the players. You could even include some enemies on horses, enemies with jet packs, and anything you can think of to make the game progressively more challenging. I'm trying to finalize the central mechanic, but people should feel free to make any changes to their own games.

If I do end up doing some play testing, I'll try out some varied enemy types to see how they fit in. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by stubby » Wed Jul 24, 2013 4:32 pm

I have a funny idea for a twist. Instead of deciding in advance which weapons or equipment are more "valuable," how about this: make a big pile of weapons and equipment, some useless, some great, some in-between. Whenever you kill an enemy, you get to pick which item from the pile he respawns with. (Players who kill their own units respawn with nothing.) The less useful items will still get used up first, but now there will be a much better dynamic of players feeling like they get to screw with each other in the process.
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by Gungnir » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:20 pm

Interesting. Though, I'd set a workbench in the middle of the battlefield, and have players spend an action to craft or modify a weapon.
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by Ben-Jammin » Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:24 am

If you did decide to include vehicles, do you think there could be a way for the players to get some temporary allies of their own? I'm not talking a full squad of armored tanks, but maybe they could call in a backup team of just a few minifig grunts to act as cannon fodder or extra fire support. Additionally, perhaps the players could aquire powerful anti-armor missiles or ATGMs, but they would be only single use.

Finally, turrets?

I really hope I'm not making this sound like a CoD game...

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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by alphafalcon541 » Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:36 pm

Definitely want to see this as a forum battle.
also take pictures of playtesting I want to see this.
Mabye I'll try this on friday with some friends.
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by aoffan23 » Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:21 am

A bit of a delayed response, but I'm making up for it with progress! First, I'm adding a segment about helmets and armour. Helmets will save the wearer from one killing blow and then be destroyed, and armour will grant the wearer the Shielded ability.

Also:
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Forum battle is now undergoing preparation. This is what the parts bag is going to look like. Included are some gold parts (worth 3 points when crafting), helmets and body armour, and some strange items (bananas, pizza, snowshoes, flippers, smiley heads, etc.) to encourage creativity. I'm giving this thread a head start with the signup, since anyone reading this is probably more interested than anyone not reading it. There will be four spots, and if you want a spot include a description of how you want your minifig to look.
stubby wrote:I have a funny idea for a twist. Instead of deciding in advance which weapons or equipment are more "valuable," how about this: make a big pile of weapons and equipment, some useless, some great, some in-between. Whenever you kill an enemy, you get to pick which item from the pile he respawns with. (Players who kill their own units respawn with nothing.) The less useful items will still get used up first, but now there will be a much better dynamic of players feeling like they get to screw with each other in the process.
Ha, that sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to add a "What a Twist!" section for different ways to tweak the game, and I'm definitely including that.
Gungnir wrote:Interesting. Though, I'd set a workbench in the middle of the battlefield, and have players spend an action to craft or modify a weapon.
That was originally going to be the case, but it seemed like spending a whole turn's movement (and that's if they're close enough) and action to craft would make it more of an inconvenience, especially when you can only kill at most two enemies every turn at the start. A big part of the game is the increasing difficulty, and the "instant crafting" element is there to make the game feel really easy at the beginning.
Ben-Jammin wrote:If you did decide to include vehicles, do you think there could be a way for the players to get some temporary allies of their own? I'm not talking a full squad of armored tanks, but maybe they could call in a backup team of just a few minifig grunts to act as cannon fodder or extra fire support. Additionally, perhaps the players could aquire powerful anti-armor missiles or ATGMs, but they would be only single use.

Finally, turrets?
Like I said to stubby, I'll include reinforcements in the tweaks section, but I don't think it's fitting for the core mechanic. Now that you mention the missiles, I've done some thinking and I think I'm going to make it so that players have to craft payload for their launchers. I figure that if a player is going to build something like a missile launcher, the explosion should put you well on your way to making a new weapon, anyway (as long as you get lucky with the parts pick).
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by aoffan23 » Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:53 am

Double post because idea.

I was making some weapons of my own earlier today, and I realized how quickly they become oversized. It's hard to make an interesting-looking weapon under size 2, so I gave the players the Compensating ability. On top of that, I think it might be a good idea to allow trade in parts to allow them to wield weapons one size larger (fire size 2 weapons like size 1, and Compensate to fire size 3 weapons). I don't think I'll allow the upgrade multiple times, though.

Thoughts?
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by Silverdream » Sat Aug 17, 2013 2:03 am

I want a spot. Please model my minifig after Johnny Massacre.
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by samuelzz10 » Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:36 am

Count me in. Make me look like destroyer era Ace Frehley please.
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by aoffan23 » Tue Aug 20, 2013 1:00 am

Silverdream and samuelzz10 both have spots. I'll start constructing the battlefield tomorrow.
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by alphafalcon541 » Tue Aug 20, 2013 1:03 am

count me in as well. Use my picture if possible something like that
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Re: Idea: Weapon Crafting

Post by samuelzz10 » Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:29 am

So, about that forum battle, is it still happening?
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