Ops and Tactics Thread: The books don't look like Ass edition!

THIS IS THE LAST UPDATE I'll BE DOING FOR AWHILE! PLEASE DOWNLOAD THIS ONE IF YOU'RE TIRED OF MY SHIT!

>What the hell is Ops and Tactics and why did you write this?

Ops and Tactics is/was a rework of the terribly awful modern game D20 Modern that produces enough differences in said game to be considered it's own. It's goal was to do the following things
1. Make Combat more fluid and less rigid like the D20/D&D style outright demands.
2. Make it reflect the real attributes of weapons and armor, in a more realistic sense, while being as playable as possible.
3. Make everything else suck less, at least in my opinion.
4. Introduce a more modular way to handle magic, Incantations/Invoking(My own..thing), Psionics, and equipment. There is also a lot of equipment.

>Where is it?
www.opsandtactics.com. and opsandtactics.blogspot.com

>How did you do the things you said you did
1. Combat Points. Combat points are units of measurement that are spent during combat to do various actions that have values. For example, a character could spend all 15 of his combat points running in a straight line, moving 75 feet, gaining a +1 Bonus to defense for ever 10 feet after 30, due to it being implied through the rules that he was running, and shooting at running people is harder. Combat points may be spent however the character wishes, in any combination of actions or attacks(And there are a lot, for both melee and ranged fighters), without any real restriction, so long as what they can do is "legal" and they have enough points.

2.Firearms has been redesigned as a whole. Instead of going the (Default) generic route, I, as a firearms enthusiast, decided to stat out specific firearms due to their particular stats in the real world. As a side effect, there are a lot of guns. A lot. Melee weapons are also weighed into this, and various maneuvers are available. With the change that one can attack multiple times without some special feat bullshit, melee weapons become hilariously more dangerous than a firearm can be( with the right feat stack, one can stab someone 7 times at 2d4+1+ power) per stab.

3. A lot of common things have been removed, reworked, or expounded on due to major issues with them. The first and foremost of these are the Strength and Dexterity Bonuses. They have been worked in a way so that you divide your strength bonus between melee to-hit and melee to-damage, and divide your ex bonus between ranged to-hit and overall defense.

To add to this, there is recoil now, so Strength is quite important when you're trying to use guns that recoil heavier.

Posted next is Modern magika

Alex you fat fuck fix the weeds.

Armory is the last book.

There aren't any monsters in any of these books yet, we're compiling them into the Field Identification Manual, which will basically have a bunch of monsters to use

Lastly is Advanced Arms!

I'm going to idle in the thread, answer any questions, and post some guns while I listen to some remixes.

Feel free to ask questions, shitpost, or provide some constructive criticism.

NO! THE WEEDS ARE FINE!

>Modern

Git out

You don't like Modern Rpgs?

>>Modern
>Git out
нeт.

Looks much better. Which version is this?

This game is OC. We encourage creators round these here parts. You get the fuck out.

It's modified 5th edition.

It's also the last one.

Continue mission SSB. The thread is ours.

Did you get around to redoing thrown weapons?

A tiny bit. I increased the range a bit more and I added a new thrown weapon.

There wasn't much I can do with them DESU.

>It's also the last one.
Why final? Finished or gave up?

Finished. There's nowhere else I can go with the system.

I could start writing campaign settings, but I'm not good at that.

With these books at least, I need start working on the "Monster Manual" and then I'll be finished.

>I could start writing campaign settings, but I'm not good at that.
So goddamn true. It's like putting a saddle on a cow.

Yeah. I'm pretty good at running a campaign(thanks to all the playtesting), but when it comes down to actually writing out a campaign for others to use, I just..don't connect on some stuff. I either go too vague or too detailed.

There were some errors in the core rulebook.

I updated them on the blog, and on the website! so go grab them.

There's nothing different as far as rules go, it just looks better. Charts are on the page.

>I either go too vague or too detailed.
Or you shut down. Maybe one of these days we could strap you into a chair and force teach you some formal GM management concepts, then take those principles and teach you how to support that with GM material.

Speaking of, how do you handle modern settings? I presume you love those the most.

I still want my fucking oak desk.

>Speaking of, how do you handle modern settings?

In what manner?

What style and situations do you usually intend with your modern campaigns and/or settings?

What sorts of narratives do you like to bring to the table?

How do you support those narratives?

>What style and situations do you usually intend with your modern campaigns and/or settings?

The settings run the gamut. I've run Cop games, I've run military shooter games, the last game I ran was a Space Opera where the players were a part of a budding delivery service, where they delivered all sorts of odd things to odd places and got into troubles for it.

The settings I usually intend have some kind of combat in them. I don't think I've ever run a game that didn't at least have a moderate amount of combat.

>What sorts of narratives do you like to bring to the table?

Honestly? I don't. I usually create a wide open world for the players, some vague sort of objective, and a living world for them to explore and play around in. I then let the campaign grow from there and it rarely ends up where it intended to.

As for plot hooks, I usually introduce the characters to things and people they can interact with, and if they so choose to, they do.

I also make sure that there are FAR too many to do at one time. Choice is key.

>How do you support those narratives?

With wide open worlds Giving my players a big open world to play in.

>the last game I ran was a Space Opera where the players were a part of a budding delivery service
I've always figured you to be all about the police and military shooters. I know you're really into Resident Evil and other more unconventional modern settings, but how often do you play those?

>I usually create a wide open world for the players, some vague sort of objective, and a living world for them to explore and play around in.
Do you have a particular workflow or system to support this? I'd love to see how you handle prepping and notetaking for this sort of thing.

>I also make sure that there are FAR too many to do at one time. Choice is key.
Do you play with other limitations like time constraints or contradictory problems?

>I've always figured you to be all about the police and military shooters. I know you're really into Resident Evil and other more unconventional modern settings, but how often do you play those?

Zombies are out of style, so rarely.

>Do you have a particular workflow or system to support this? I'd love to see how you handle prepping and notetaking for this sort of thing.

Text files. Loads of them.

>Do you play with other limitations like time constraints or contradictory problems?

Well the world is a living one. So that guy who wants you to deliver a crate of Limes won't wait around forever for you. Contradictory problems are often a thing as well, but I try not to make it "You can fight for us or them" kind of choices. I try to hide them better than that.

>Zombies are out of style, so rarely.
Is your Space Opera game also a rare occasion? Also, are the rules you used already in the core book?

>Text files. Loads of them.
Did you devise any sort of system for any of it? I've been actively designing how I prep, personally.

Also, how much work do you try to give players at a single time? I've got a campaign right now with at least 3 different things the players STILL need to turn in and they've got 2 more jobs lined up because of this.

Enjoy the G3K.

>Is your Space Opera game also a rare occasion?

I've only run it once, so yeah.

>Also, are the rules you used already in the core book?

Every rule I use is in the Core rulebook. I ran the space opera to use it as a GIANT ASS PLAYTEST to test EVERY VARIANT AND CURRENT RULE in Ops and Tactics to force compatibility. It worked.

>Did you devise any sort of system for any of it? I've been actively designing how I prep, personally.

Nope. Just Text files for people fighting, and text files for intresting plot hooks and where the party is.

Oh! I also wrote/modified a IRC bot in ruby to aid in generation of NPCs, enemies, MREs, and firearms/plasrms/lasarms.

>Also, how much work do you try to give players at a single time?

Work? Work in what manner?

how well does the system handle classic western film-style gunfighting?
I've finally managed to wrangle a group together for a western tabletop campaign and now I'm looking for a system

>MREs

You actually use the MRE of many things?


>Work? Work in what manner?
Your plothooks, rather.

>how well does the system handle classic western film-style gunfighting?

What do you mean? Like jumping around, gunfight at the O.K. Coral?

It handles it excellently. Almost like it was built for gunfights.

>You actually use the MRE of many things?

All the fucking time. In Kandai(My Space opera) , the MREs were purchased bulk order second hand, so the party rolled to see what they got. Some of the choices they got..were interesting.

>Half-Human, Half Polaran Opens her MRE
>9mm FMJ spills out
>It's her desert
>She doesn't even use, let alone own, a 9mm gun

>Your plothooks, rather.

They're usually multi-session things. The small things are 1-2 session things, so they usually have their hands full with 1-2. SOme plot hooks span the entire campaign, like with my Psion who was ordered to follow a dropout of the Psionic Academy, and fought with himself if he should kill him, capture him, or join him.

alright. does it handle cap and ball weapons? quick-draw face offs?

>alright. does it handle cap and ball weapons?

Yep.

>quick-draw face offs?
You can probably do this one with initiative checks, and attack rolls of two people standing infront of one another.

So yes!

great.
I think this might be my system.

Awesome. Feel free to email me at [email protected] for any questions and/or a report.

>It handles it excellently. Almost like it was built for gunfights.
It's as if OATs is a super Urban Combat Simulator (UCS).

>Some of the choices they got..were interesting.
one of these days I'm going to add to that list.

>They're usually multi-session things. The small things are 1-2 session things, so they usually have their hands full with 1-2.

Sheesh, and I practically have 5 completely confusing ones right now.

>It's as if OATs is a super Urban Combat Simulator (UCS).

Beats the fuck out of D20 Modern.

#shotsfired

Well D20 modern sucks.

And I'll go so far as to say that I can't even enjoy D&D anymore due to the combat being SLOW AS FUCKING BALLS!

I'm spoiled.

... God dammit, you say that the system's supposed fast paced only years after you start on this project?

God dammit man, that's a fucking huge benefit to your system, why don't you tell people that more often?

How exactly do you make this pace happen, and how critical is this to your vision of what the game should be?

>... God dammit, you say that the system's supposed fast paced only years after you start on this project?

I don't even think about it. I don't play other systems so Oats speed is normal speed.

>How exactly do you make this pace happen, and how critical is this to your vision of what the game should be?

less health, chance to bleed out, guns do a fair amount of damage.

Also did I mention that you can bleed out?

Gunfights don't last 30 irl minutes because even with armor, that gets chewed up pretty fast, and there isn't exactly a lot of health, so you can't just sit there and soak 12 gauge slugs all damn day.

Bump.

Not SSB, but I'll bite anyway.

>What style and situations do you usually intend with your modern campaigns and/or settings?

I aim for crime drama, and get crime comedy, which is more than fine by me. Somehow the drama still manages to seep out and the PCs somehow behave like (bad) humans at the end of the game.

>What sorts of narratives do you like to bring to the table?

Skullduggery for money. PC's need to pay for rent, drugs, hookers or some other vice and their bosses range from mob fixers needing deniable assets, Hollywood producers needing studios to get off their fucking backs via blackmail, or a creepy motherfucker in a suit with photos of all their friends and family.

Their 'quests' are typically simple - steal the thing, kill the dude, transport the box, etc.

>How do you support those narratives?

The fun comes in coming up with all the things that stand in the way of that objective. I typically like making quick solutions that cater to individual skillsets so that everyone has a time to shine, with bigger problems involving ethical dilemmas or operational trade-offs. If players can find a way around

(derp)
If players can find a way around the more complicated stuff, I just let them. Because 90% of the time their proposed solution is hilarious.

This.

Tell people what to do, not how to do it and they will surprise you.

>I aim for crime drama, and get crime comedy, ...

That tends to be how games work. I've never once had a game be 100% serious for a full session.

>The fun comes in coming up with all the things that stand in the way of that objective.
Man, I have problems coming up with that starting idea. The problem I feel is settling them so they don't immediately fuck the rest of the established fluff AND then be fun.

>I typically like making quick solutions that cater to individual skillsets so that everyone has a time to shine, with bigger problems involving ethical dilemmas or operational trade-offs.

How the hell do you get players to realize their skillsets apply in a given situation, though. Sometimes it works, but with my current group they seem to need prodding to realize that "hey maybe this could work for you."

Player Initiative can be such a horrid bitch.

The trick is in the exposition. When I'm talking in generalities and using the flowery and descriptive prose, I'm setting a scene. When I get to concrete details, I'm dropping clues and signposts.

I guess it also helps that my players tend to be at minimum fairly bright.

>I guess it also helps that my players tend to be at minimum fairly bright.
I have Marky Mark and the funky bunch plus a certain Satanic blimp. Marky Mark's the band leader who's doing most of the heavy lifting.

>When I get to concrete details, I'm dropping clues and signposts.

You might want to unpack that a ton. I'd love to see where you go with it.

Let me come up with a quick scenario. First, the characters: Alice, a burglar; Boris, the muscle; Charlie, an electrician.

The task: raid a storage unit building and jack unit 123 - quietly.

The fluff: The sunset sky is the color of prostitute lipstick, with an overcast rolling in to wipe it away. Lucky Ricky's Storage is a plot of land in the outskirts of the city - chainlink fence corralling seven long buildings with metal shutter doors along both sides. Skyscrapes loom in the distance, their lights blinking on and off at random. A late flight roars overhead, moving towards final approach as the slight scent of brine presses into your nose.

The grit: There is a chain-link fence with barbed wire surrounding the compound, with the only way in or out being a pair of key-card access gates in one corner. There is at least one camera on a light pole near the opposite corner of the lot. The main office, in the center of the lot and facing you, has one light on, with a shadowed figure rocking in place.

Let's break this down.

>There is a chain-link fence with barbed wire surrounding the compound,

Cue for Alice to make the entrance. Maybe she has a pair of boltcutters. Or a thick rug and a ladder.

>with the only way in or out being a pair of key-card access gates in one corner.

Cue for Charlie, to break open the boxes and run a bypass or something

>There is at least one camera on a light pole near the opposite corner of the lot.

Cue for Charlie, need to deal with the camera, either by the group avoiding it or tampering with the recording system

>The main office, in the center of the lot and facing you, has one light on, with a shadowed figure rocking in place.

Cue for Boris - here's the security he might need to knock out.

As they go deeper in, I try to make such details apparent.

...

Bump!

>Got in trouble
Robert .J Longstreet did nothing wrong.

>Robert .J Longstreet did nothing wrong.

He doesn't get jokes! The dry bastard.

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