Anybody remember Phoenix Command?

[Thunderbolt]

Long ago when I was still role playing, we introduced Phoenix Command as a super-realistic, super-lethal combat system.

The cover blurb talked about how in your 'current role playing game', you could take a pistol and hold it to your head, squeeze the trigger a few times until your character fell unconscious, and then take said character to hospital to recover.

Try this in Phoenix Command, and you are rolling up your next character...

 

[richardtalbotuk]

Remember it well. We used to run double blind man games where we had squads of infantry playing against each using the old Sunday Drivers maps from Cars Wars.

Two identical maps in the same room separated by display boards and two referees coordinating the action. Each team planned moves, moved figures turn by turn and then the refs would work out line of sight and perception tests.

Made for some amazing games and very lethal considering the Phoenix Combat System. Living Steel was of course based on the same system with powered armour.

 

[Gallowglacht]

Never played it, just the Aliens RPG that was based on a "simplified" version of it.

 

[Valarian]

Never played it, just the Aliens RPG that was based on a "simplified" version of it.

... and that "simplified" version was enough to send me running for the hills.

 

[Gallowglacht]

The board game however was a masterpiece of simplicity, frantic action and tactical brilliance.

I did like the character gen and general skill sections, I must admit.

 

[casquilho]

This was in my top three worst RPGs in the world. It was more Roll then Role and even the Roll was bad. It was so complex most folks gave up before they even had a chance of understanding the game.

I think there are some folks who love charts and higher math who may have liked the game but we gave it a pass after only a few trys.

Daniel

 

[Ishmael]

I loved it....
the original melee system was bad though ( Small Arms Spectrum and Sword's Path to Glory...1/10th sec phases iirc. it modeled getting winded and trying to catch your breath)
Later versions were very good...just not sure about role-playing with them.

I had all but the tanks and I still have some stuff from online
Too bad I lost everything I had to a flooded basement.

Small Arms Spectrum played double blind between NATO and USSR was nail-biting fun.

 

[aramis]

Rhand, Aliens, and at least one other used the same mechanics, but with simplified tablesets.

It's not bad, but more work than I care for.

 

[DaveChase]

Living Steel and Aliens was the better of the 3

Phoniex Command worked well for the Tech Heads (not gear heads) of miniature combat games I played (lots of active military guys). The Phoniex Command worked well to introduce them into RPG's (these are the guys that would be able to tell you every historical tank, unit etc but frowned upon the role players).

We started them out making their commanders for the miniature games which they would kind of role play out. Then I could usually talk them into playing a few Living Steel games (both Miniature and RPG). Some times we actually took the PHoniex Command character and placed them directly into Living Steel (very few mods needed at all).

Then when I had them hooked or more interested in some other types of possible RPG, I would talk them into CT, or other games.

Phoniex Command IMO was a great game to use as a reference. I would often take the stats of weapons, equipment and vehicles knowning the base line of the effects and convert them to CT or my personal Futura (SciFI) game, for players to use or run across.

But Phoniex Command as a game alone was just under C&S for the amount of tables and rolling needed to determine anything.

Dave Chase

 

[tim_manley]

This was in my top three worst RPGs in the world.

It was just a combat system, not an RPG.

I *LOVE* PCCS and used int quite often in very many of my games.

I added it to my Traveller game
I used it in my Aftermath game.

The way I got my players to be invoolved was that I did all the math. They just had to describe what they did, I did the rest. They started calling me the "Sam Peckinpaw" of GM's; when combat started I'd shift into slow-motion and they'd see the bullet track and know where it went through the body.

Though some got tired of the lethality of it and asked that we go back to the old traveller combat system. the Aftermath system just sucked and they enjoyed the added lethality in that setting.

I did try introducing it into fantasy games but everyone hated that. They wanted a more "cinematic" type of system.

 

[Thunderbolt]

Aside from the sheer complexity and minutiae it inflicted on combat, making the players risk adverse did take some of the fun out of the game.

I think if I was to ever run games again, I'd probably adopt the notion of damage adjustments based on hit location, but otherwise keep the whole thing really simple. Work is complicated enough as it is, so why make play complicated too!

 

[tim_manley]

Aside from the sheer complexity and minutiae it inflicted on combat, making the players risk adverse did take some of the fun out of the game.

I think if I was to ever run games again, I'd probably adopt the notion of damage adjustments based on hit location, but otherwise keep the whole thing really simple. Work is complicated enough as it is, so why make play complicated too!

It's not for everyone. But, I loved the level of realism and danger. Players played their characters a bit more realistically. They thought more about when they used combat and didn't just go in guns blazing. That I liked. They got a real sense of "toughness" to their characters becuase they survived repeated encounters.

Of course, I did have a high casualty rate. Some folks made a new character every two games. One person had their character wear their arm in a sling for 8 weeks of game-time. But, in every game, there was always one player how never lost a character.

 

[castiglione]

I think it was the game that made me give up my quest for "realism" and turn back to rules lite systems.

The rules were fun to read. Not so much fun to play.

 

[claidheamh]

It's not for everyone. But, I loved the level of realism and danger. Players played their characters a bit more realistically. They thought more about when they used combat and didn't just go in guns blazing. That I liked. They got a real sense of "toughness" to their characters becuase they survived repeated encounters.

Of course, I did have a high casualty rate. Some folks made a new character every two games. One person had their character wear their arm in a sling for 8 weeks of game-time. But, in every game, there was always one player how never lost a character.

Hey, Tim - fancy meeting you in this forum...

I've used PCCS and the later addition of the HtH system for years in role-playing games. It was complex, and it did make combat very lengthy, but it was fun to play a game where one D&D style fighter had to remain worried about 40 goblins with daggers. I always enjoyed the tougher combats that made players scared about the outcome and made 1:1 fights a lot more exciting. I was considering using my homebrew / grafted together PCCS system for a Traveller based game...

But I'll admit that it's not what I want out of my next game. I've learned to appreciate a bit of simplicity in my games, and I think I really want to keep the game from becoming a tactical exercise (Twilight:5849...). So it's gonna be CT or MT for me this fall when my new game finally gets off the ground. PCCS will always have a special place in my heart.

 

[castiglione]

I always thought that CT house-ruled so that all combat damage followed the first blood rule was probably the best compromise of simplicity and realism.

 

[ThunderChilde]

All this commentary and noone meantioned one of the finer points of Leading Edge Games......o:

The commentaries in the sidebars. For the love of mike, some of those nearly led to sanitary incidents I was laughing so hard. The simplicity of "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, you get what you give, now die, die , die!", Doctor Schniederbunc and the Kingsmen Artillery manual references for just a few examples.:rofl:

I ran Living Steel a few times, Rhand a few more on top of that. All combat systems are managable after a 7 hour Space Opera combat tablefest.:nonono:

 

[tim_manley]

I had a chat with someone that gamed with me decades ago and we were waxing nostalic. I was re-invigorated so much that I pulled out the PCCS rules adn thought "Hey, I can traveller up my old house rules"....

Then reality hit and the amount of time I have now to game (which is zero) vs the investiment in time it would take to set it up....

if I do get a chance to game again (I'm sure I will.... hope....) I'll only have time to play straight rules.....

/sigh...