Vehicle Design System
When I was 11 years old, my parents took me to Boston for the first time.
We walked the Freedom Trail, a circuit that takes you all around the many
historical sites of the city. At the Bunker Hill monument, I was taken
in by the grand miniatures display, something that would stay with me
until I was introduced to strategy wargames three years later. Later we
visited the naval museum and the USS Constitution. I must have spent months
after that day, studying about colonial warships and trying to design
my own. If only I had read Vehicle Design 1.0, things would have
gone a lot smoother.
CORPS VDS does for vehicles what 3G3 did for
weapons: provide a comprehensive design tool that can be plugged into
any roleplaying system. It covers everything from rowboats to starships;
past, present, future and then some.
Whatever system you are gaming with, the time may come when you will want
to design a vehicle on your own, and VDS promises to be a very useful
tool in doing so. Even though VDS is designed to be used with BTRC's
CORPS (Comprehensive Omniversal Role Playing
System), it is written to be very portable to other systems. In
fact, there is a distinct lack of CORPS specific terminology and
jargon in the entire book. I found this to be very encouraging, as it
helped to make the information in all the more credible.
While VDS does not get bogged down in system specifics, it does
not shirk from giving the reader the tools to make a truly detailed vehicle.
In fact, even though I am not conversant with all the topics discussed
- the appropriateness of using Newtons for thrust instead of watts, for
instance - it is evident that the there was a lot of technicle research
involved in writing this book. That is not to say that the 'tech geek'
won't find this book useful; there is a fair amount of technobabble to
go around. However, when such detail threaten to compromise the design
process, VDS consistently sacrifices detail for the sake of making
the information useful to your roleplaying experience. This is meant as
a design aid, and a gaming resource, after all, and not as an exhaustive
treatise on scientific principles.
When designing a vehicle, there are nine components which are taken into
account - performance, power plant, power train, structure, surface treatment,
accessories, weapons, combat and campaigning. All these topics are discussed
in detail - each given its own chapter. Each section has a healthy dose
of explanation to help the user better understand how the components fit
together, as well as a plethora of tables and charts that list a miriad
of options which can be used. To some, the extensive stat lists might
seem a bit of overkill, but VDS is meant to be about design, and
the information given does more to bring your attention to what is truly
possible than to list options for the sheer joy of doing so.
The section on campaigning, is probably the one I enjoyed the most. While
it is not the most pertinent to the actual design of a given vehicle,
it brings your attention to some of the more important issues involved
when making a vehicle for a roleplaying game, as opposed to designing
a realistic one. One thing stressed is that your vehicle is just a prop
in the game, and not as important as the characters or the plot. Given
that, the ideas in this section as quite good; using the vehicle as the
setting, as the antagonist, and as the object of adventure for instance.
To top off all the details and suggestions mentioned, VDS also
includes as section with sample vehicles from various levels of technology
and genres. If you are looking to use a Mediterranean trimere in your
campaign, or need a Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter, you can use these ready
made examples. These examples even include such items as a War Wagon,
which is based on a DiVinci sketch of a turtle-like wheeled vehicle with
multiple cannon ports, and an android assassin which a wealthy and powerful
individual in a very high tech society can employ to ensure that your
players' characters don't get bored or lazy.
Faced with such a book, I could not help but take a crack at designing
some vehicles of my own. The one I am most proud of is a submarine which
I am now using in my Blue Planet campaign. I also took a stab at
designing some seige equipment for a fantasy campaign. It took a while
to get used to all the concepts that VDS addresses, but I am very
happy with the results. My next project will be to make another sub, but
this time one with a water elemental as the power source!
As an aside, I must mention two things here. First, VDS was originally
made in .pdf format and distributed online for a price of $10. You can
still order this version, but I have not seem it myself. The print version
is the exact same as the digital one, from what I gather. The second thing
I must say is that anyone looking for a great amount of art and glitz
will be disappointed with VDS. It's very cover is the epitome of
simplicity - and the images inside were adopted from those available in
the public domain. Needless to say, there was no art budget for this book.
However, the images that are there, however sparse, are quite good. BTRC
could have filled the many empty spaces with extra art, but on the whole,
such dead spaces are fewer than I've seen in some products. And besides,
this book is about design of vehicles, not art and fluff. You will not
miss the lack of art at all.
The Verdict
VDS is definitely not for everyone. You might wonder why I say
this after all you've read just now. The simple truth of the matter is
that not everyone cares to design their own vehicles. However, if and
when you decide that you want to try to do so, I would highly recommend
thinking about buying this book. I cannot stress enough that, as with
any gaming product, you should approach this one 'cafeteria style' - taking
what you want and ignoring the rest. You will find, though, that you are
using far more information in this book than you are discarding. Because
of this, I give VDS a thumbs up. Kudos to Greg Porter.