You are within the Military Now
I used to be at all times the child who used these stat playing cards for G.I. Joe and Transformers and turned them right into a tactical sport of fight with my youthful brother. It labored surprisingly properly. Quick ahead years later and we lastly have extra role-playing video games for these toys than military males, regardless of military males previous these toys by many years. There have been a number of makes an attempt to supply some construction round imaginative play with military males, however this new role-playing sport brings the setting to life utilizing the System Useful resource Doc for Fifth Version Dungeons & Dragons. Designed by Neal Litherland and dropped at Kickstarter by Josh Heath of Excessive Degree Video games, it made practically, $10,000, properly above its aim.
The Setting
The sport is ready in a war-torn world the place gamers tackle the roles of plastic troopers from the Plastos Federation, preventing in opposition to the monstrous Vespoids. And let there be little doubt: the characters know they’re plastic troopers. The sport’s setting, influenced by occasions just like the Polyvinyl Battle and the formation of the Acetal Alliance, gives a wealthy backdrop for adventures. The totally different troopers even have their very own languages and cultures, just like the Acrylic language created by Acrylica and the Ethylene Autocracy’s clipped and quick Carbonate. This permits for a wide range of play types, the place gamers may discover themselves negotiating peace treaties or main navy campaigns.
As a result of the sport is D20 appropriate it contains loads of mundane foes, from gangsters to mangled bears and every little thing in-between. The primary enemy is the Vespoids, an insectoid species of man-sized aggressive wasps. There are additionally arachnid Vespoids; in the event you’ve ever watched Starship Troopers, you get the concept (there’s even a quote echoing that movie, “I am doing my half!”). There are big centipedes and scorpions too.
There are 5 totally different territories the PCs will be allied with, together with the Acetal Alliance, Acrylica, Plastos Federation, the Styric Republic, and United Polymeria. Every territory comes with its personal language and faith. The guide makes it clear that the characters take all this very critically, even when the sport would not (it is meant to be a parody of warfare, very like Starship Troopers).
Character Creation
The colour of your plastic soldier determines your class, species, or creed, with every colour representing totally different traits and talents. For instance, Inexperienced troopers are persistent fighters, Grey troopers are leaders and tacticians, Blue troopers have odd talents and perceptions, Purple troopers are grounded with widespread sense, and Tan troopers are unbiased and marine-styled.
The character creation course of permits gamers to select from totally different resin sorts, every granting particular capability rating will increase and distinctive traits. Greens, for example, obtain a +2 enhance to Structure and a +1 to Energy, reflecting their sturdy nature. In addition they profit from a capability referred to as “Resilient Resin,” which provides them an Armor Class of 13 plus their Dexterity modifier when not carrying armor. Reds, alternatively, acquire a +2 to Intelligence and +1 to Structure, emphasizing their technical know-how and sturdiness.
There are a number of courses, referred to as casts (as in “plastic casting,” get it?), to select from, starting from the grunt (fighter), to ordnance (blaster), scout (rogue), tactician (bard), and medic (cleric). Every forged has subclasses, which additional subdivides their talents. Grunts have coaching colleges that divides them into machine gunners, riflemen, and trench fighters. Medics have an space of experience like pharmacologist, PSYOPS, and surgeon. Ordnance have specialised coaching referred to as Chemical Ammunition Program (CAP), that features Excessive-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) weapons, grenadier, and burner. Scouts have Specialised Goal Endeavor Conditioning (SPEC) that features sniper, infiltrator, and sweeper. Tacticians have fight doctrines, together with assault chief, bulwark, and firebrand. There’s loads of selection amongst the assorted character sorts, and the degrees go as much as 13 (these increased than which are labeled as “Outdated Troopers” and are promoted to NPC standing).
Backgrounds grant a novel function, ability proficiencies, and bonus exploits (feats). With backgrounds starting from celeb to conscript, sailor to provide specialist, you possibly can additional customise your military man (or girl!) such that no two are alike. The bonus exploits cowl a variety of options, like granting benefit when an ally is diminished to 0 hit factors (Vengeful) or taking pictures a thrown projectile out of the air (Trick Shot).
Along with the same old suite of abilities, there’s the aforementioned languages and even faiths. Will you be a Destinarian, who believes that everybody, regardless of their plastic colour, is from the identical supply? Or the Hursini, who consider that each one resinous peoples are produced from crops?
Since Military Males makes use of the 5E system, it is fairly simple to select up and play for followers of Dungeons & Dragons. Characters can requisition gear (harking back to D20 Fashionable’s system), the place they’re assigned a sure variety of factors to buy arms and armor.
Ought to You Get It?
Military Males is supposed to be a whole sport, which implies loads it has is repeated with normal D&D, typically with slight (however vital) tweaks. It spends many pages repeating what you probably have in your Participant’s Handbook, which makes it simpler to dive in — but additionally means it is a larger guide with guidelines you probably already know.
That is way more of a tabletop role-playing sport than a miniatures sport. Military males should not 28mm scale; there is no particular reference to miniature scale within the rulebook, aside from an appendix that borrows the Creature Dimension and Scale from the three.5 guidelines (itemizing High-quality and Colossal creatures, that are now not a factor in 5E). Conventional miniature wargame scale nowadays is round 1/72nd scale, and armed forces males are about 1/thirty fifth scale, or 54mm. You may need to preserve that in thoughts in the event you begin introducing big bugs or different toys, with 54mm being Medium-size.
All that stated, loads of effort went into developing with the setting, the sport, and the monsters. The artwork is colourful and various, with a stunning vary of individuals from all walks of life (women and men) portrayed all through of their plastic casts. The pattern journey is a rescue mission that features loads of bug-stomping motion.
For those who love Starship Troopers, in the event you’ve ever wished to make use of your plastic troopers in a tabletop sport, or in the event you’ve checked out a large plastic bug (or your cat!) and thought “I’m wondering how a military would fare in opposition to that factor?” and also you’re able to do your half, this sport is for you! You should buy it on DriveThruRPG in PDF or Print format.
