META_mahn
2016-08-17, 03:56 PM
I'm about to run my own campaign in D&D, and I wanted to give my players something awesome.
So yes, I made airships. Full-out airships, not like the stuff you find in Eberron where you just buy one for transport. I made these things to fight, specifically because in my setting they were developed both for the military to fight against the Big Bad and for civilians to use to trade goods.
>>>WARNING: OVERCOMPLEXITY IMMINENT<<<
I decided on multiple components to these, each interacting differently. May or may not have been inspired by Guns of Icarus and Build 'N Shoots like Space Engineers and Robocraft.
Every airship would be split into its essentials: Frame, Hull, Lifting Method, Engine, Propulsion, Weapons, and Fuel. Naturally some ships can cut out on certain components (like a ship powered by an air elemental doesn't need propulsion or fuel; the air elemental is both the engine AND propulsion, also doesn't need to eat or anything) but these are all the components I'm thinking of.
Everything would serve a certain purpose, and there would be multiple "0 HP" conditions for the airship, like the frame being destroyed, the lift being destroyed, the crew being killed, etc. Additionally, the engine would interact with the propulsion and the total weight of the airship to impact its mobility. The lift will interact with the weight to get into the air, and the fuel will interact with the engine to have...some bookkeeping.
Aside from being absolutely nuts, ideally I want these to become something bigger than just simply another method to throw encounters at players. I want these to become something in the world that the players love, just about as important to them as that +5 equivalent sword or that quest giver that gives them the really awesome quests that haul them tens of thousands of gp's. I want the players to turn these things into essentially flying bases, and while running quests they can buy trade goods to also make them lots of coinage in the meantime.
Currently it's a little bit nuts for me, and although I bet I could get the mechanics out decently, they might not be too balanced. Additionally my material studies in the D&D world is sub-par. If any homebrewers out there would like a nice challenge or are just bored with no ideas, I'd love your help.
So yes, I made airships. Full-out airships, not like the stuff you find in Eberron where you just buy one for transport. I made these things to fight, specifically because in my setting they were developed both for the military to fight against the Big Bad and for civilians to use to trade goods.
>>>WARNING: OVERCOMPLEXITY IMMINENT<<<
I decided on multiple components to these, each interacting differently. May or may not have been inspired by Guns of Icarus and Build 'N Shoots like Space Engineers and Robocraft.
Every airship would be split into its essentials: Frame, Hull, Lifting Method, Engine, Propulsion, Weapons, and Fuel. Naturally some ships can cut out on certain components (like a ship powered by an air elemental doesn't need propulsion or fuel; the air elemental is both the engine AND propulsion, also doesn't need to eat or anything) but these are all the components I'm thinking of.
Everything would serve a certain purpose, and there would be multiple "0 HP" conditions for the airship, like the frame being destroyed, the lift being destroyed, the crew being killed, etc. Additionally, the engine would interact with the propulsion and the total weight of the airship to impact its mobility. The lift will interact with the weight to get into the air, and the fuel will interact with the engine to have...some bookkeeping.
Aside from being absolutely nuts, ideally I want these to become something bigger than just simply another method to throw encounters at players. I want these to become something in the world that the players love, just about as important to them as that +5 equivalent sword or that quest giver that gives them the really awesome quests that haul them tens of thousands of gp's. I want the players to turn these things into essentially flying bases, and while running quests they can buy trade goods to also make them lots of coinage in the meantime.
Currently it's a little bit nuts for me, and although I bet I could get the mechanics out decently, they might not be too balanced. Additionally my material studies in the D&D world is sub-par. If any homebrewers out there would like a nice challenge or are just bored with no ideas, I'd love your help.