alkers and ar- agons

Rules for Vehicle and Vehicular Combat for OSR Games

In Progress
The following rules are currently being playtested and will be updated as time goes on.

Walkers and War-Wagons

Red Ares
It has been 127 Martian Years since the destruction of the Old World. Terraforming Mars has
been a great achievement for mankind but the extreme weather on the planet has made life
difficult for the denizens of the planet.

To avoid living in cramped shelters most communities have resorted to constant migration to
avoid the storm season. People live in the giant walking fortress that is followed by mobile
communities moving between resource centers to try and survive on the inhospitable planet.

Red Ares is a scifi post-apocalyptic(ish) setting designed for OSR and OSR adjacent RPGs, the
world takes place on Mars centuries after Earth has been destroyed and humanity is left to
survive on the Red Planet. The majority of humans live in these large mobile communities like
futuristic trailer parks and wander the planet trailing powerful walking fortresses as they
move to claim resources centers.

The players assume the role of Dusters, Dusters are part mercenary, currier, vagabond, and
adventurer. The main role of the party is to travel between the communities and the
wilderness and do whatever they can to make some coin. Naturally, the party will require a
vehicle, and the Walkers and War-Wagons supplement was created to fill in the cracks

Walkers and War-Wagons

This supplement is designed as a set of GM tools to help facilitate vehicle maintenance,
combat, and traveling. In Red Ares the main vehicles are automobiles, but Mechs and aircraft
are very common due to the rough terrain.

There will be (very) basic rules for combat and travel but the charts and tools stand alone and
can be adopted at the GM's digression.

System
The Gm will need to decide how the driving skill is resolved, how damage reduction is
calculated, and will need to decide if the prices are adjusted.

Skills
Driving skills are listed in difficulty and the GM will need to decide how that is resolved based
on the system they are running.

Walkers and War-Wagons

The PC is considered to know how to drive a car or any road vehicle that requires a regular
license in the real world, but certain vehicles require at least practice or the PC to be trained
on how to drive it. It is not expected the PC will know how to handle a 6-legged Basilisk MBC.

Damage Reduction (DR)

When a vehicle is hit by the attack the damage reduction is subtracted from the damage to a
minimum of 0, it is designed so that certain guns have no chance of penetrating heavier
armour.

The GM will need to determine what the rates are for DR and they can describe the armour of a
vehicle in terms of Class ‘X’, X being the DR. (ie the duster's car has a DR of 6 and is classified
as Class 6 armour)

The DR listed is a suggestion and there is a range presented to allow for future upgrades.

ARMOUR DAMAGE REDUCTION ACC REDUCTION Notes

NONE 3 SMALL ARMS CAN PASS THROUGH PANELS

VERY LIGHT 6-8 10 DESIGNED TO STOP SMALL ARMS
MEDIUM 10-18 20 DESIGNED TO STOP SMALL ARMS AND MACHINEGUNS
HEAVY 20 + - HANDLE HEAVY WEAPONS - ONLY FOR MILITARY VEHICLES

The above information applies to walkers, automobiles, and aircraft:

None: Fun fact, a .22 can penetrate the average car door. This would consider
something the frame would stop but the panel wouldn’t

Light: An entry-level Duster vehicle would stop small-caliber rounds and shrapnel;
minor reduction is acceleration.

Medium: Designed to stop personal arms and machine-gun fire: still vulnerable to anti-
tank weaponry.

Heavy: Only specific anti-tank weapons damage this vehicle.

The Killdozer
Yes, I know, your players want to beef up the old jalopy to make it indestructible. Well, there is
no reason to stop them because that does sound like fun so what they will need is adequate
scrap parts to make extra armour plating. What this will do is add a minor DR to the vehicle
and extra HP to represent the extra armour being ‘shot off’ their vehicle.

The DR for scrap armour is 6, the ACC is reduced by 10, and the max HP you can get is based
upon the vehicle size. Once the scrap armour HP is spent the armour is permanently gone and
the party will need to hunt down more scrap to upgrade the family sedan.

Armour Upgrade
You can buy armour upgrades for the car, but these work well, there will be a permanent
increase to DR with a purchased armour upgrade.

Walkers and War-Wagons

Mobility
Walkers can handle rough terrain better than automobiles for obvious reasons, the Walker is
treated as a large monster and driving tests will be required at the same time climbing tests
would be required.

Automobiles will be limited to certain terrain they are designed for; the Duster car should have
some off-road capability to be able to travel to remote locations but the GM will need to
distinguish where they can and can't travel. It is suggested that when traveling roll a
navigation test to see if they can find a route that will get them close to their destination and a
driving test may be required to see if they can get closer to that spot.

Terrain Difficulty
Difficulty Type Description Restrictions
1 Paved Road No speed restrictions or penalties
2 Delapuidated Paved Road/Dirt Road 40 mph normal max, penalty to drive tests
3 Off Road Flat Land dry Farmland, meadow, lawn30 mph normal max, penalty to drive tests, 5% stuck chance
4 Off Road - Rough Terrain - clear muddy field, hilly land 20 mph normal max, major penalty to drive tests, 40% stuck chance
5 Off Road - Rough Terrain - not clear forest 10 mph normal max, drive test to attempt to pass through, 50% stuck chance
6 Undrivable Rock face, mountain Walkers Only

Terrain Difficulty is denoted from ranges 1-6, 1 to 3 being lands specifically developed by
humans. The GM should use this to determine where the party can go and use it to control max
speed and chance of getting stuck.

Getting Stuck: When the party travels through rough terrain roll d100, roll at or below the
Stuck Change number means the vehicle is stuck. Roll a drive check to get out, failure means it
will be 1d4x30 min to get out. Roll for random encounter chance once every 30min.

Really Stuck: There’s a 1% chance the party will require assistance to get out, a similar-
sized vehicle (or larger monster) will be required to get you out.

NOTE: The Stuck Chance is used on a d100 as it is a mechanic that can be used in situations not
related to player skill. An example would be an abandoned car found out in the bush, roll the
d100 to see if it is stuck.

Mechanics
How the GM applies vehicle rules should flow with the rest of the system and style of play to
make a seamless experience. If vehicle mechanics are too simple there is an impulse to use
the vehicles for everything as they would be a good workaround to solve any problem. Each
mode of transportation should have some limitations to it; the hoverbike only can be run for 1/2
hr at a time, the walker is slower but more mobile, the car is faster but less mobile than the
walker, the aircraft can fly to most locations but has trouble landing. These limitations
encourage the party to get OUT of the car.

Walkers and War-Wagons

Combat
The vehicle is a powerful combat machine but is
also a big target, there is always the potential of
the entire party being killed in the machine if
things go bad.

Movement
Speed
The vehicle's speed MUST be tracked, this is
crucial to how it is used. If need be the GM
should set a ‘combat speed’ to simplify combat
movement.

At the start of the combat round the vehicle

speed should be established, use the provided
table to mark out the speed and this will give the
modifiers related to that speed. The DRIVER
should establish if they want to ACCELERATE or DEACCELERATE based upon the terrain and
planned path of travel of the round.

Vehicles ALWAYS move first in the combat round regardless of initiative order, this only
includes the driver's actions and accessories of the vehicle use the initiative of the user – this
includes guns and turrets. The order in which vehicles move is following the established speed
at the start of the round.

After vehicles have moved then the regular initiative is resumed, if a PC wants to exit the
vehicle then they must be mindful of the moving speed. The vehicle doesn’t move 85 ft around
and stop till the next round, the car is moving 10 mph (16 kph).

Walkers and War-Wagons

 Speed Distance per Round Combat Modifiers

mph kph ft/6 s m/6s AC Bonus To Hit

5 8.0 40 12 + 0 0
10 16.0 85 26 + 1 -1
20 32.0 175 53 + 1 -1
30 48.0 260 79 + 2 -2
40 64.0 350 107 + 2 -2
50 80.0 440 134 + 3 -3
60 97.0 525 160 + 4 -4
70 113.0 615 187 + 5 -5
80 129.0 700 213 + 5 -5
90 145.0 790 241 + 5 -5
100 161.0 880 268 * *
150 241.0 1320 402 * *
200 322.0 1760 536 * *
250 402.0 2200 671 * *
300 483.0 2640 805 * *
*Only weapons with special targeting systems, extremely high rates of
fire, or guided weaponry has a reasonable chance of hitting

The speed is listed in mph and kph but it is assumed to be mph and ft/6s throughout the book,
the numbers have been rounded to the whole number for simplicity.

Distance per Round: the Distance traveled in a 6s set to the nearest 5ft
or 1m.

Combat Modifiers: Modifiers for either attacking or being attacked from

the vehicle, for chases the difference in speed between the two vehicles
moving in a similar direction should be used to determine modifiers.

AC Bonus: Bonus to vehicles (and passengers) AC

To Hit: Modifier to attacks from a vehicle moving at the listed speed

Base AC of Vehicles

Size Base AC
Bike 10
Large (car) 8
Huge (Van) 6
Massive 4

Walkers and War-Wagons

Ramming
The driver will want to run over something, if the target is on foot they should receive a simple
save to dodge the oncoming vehicle, if hit damage is d6 damage per 10 mph. For other vehicles
the driver will have to make a skill test to see if they can hit the vehicle properly, failure
means they miss, or it is very ineffective. There should be the possibility of either vehicle
losing control after impact.

Damage to the vehicle is 1 pt/10 mph for a soft target of 6d/10 mph for a hard or large object. If
a taller creature or item is taken out there should be the consideration to see if the object fell
on top of the vehicle like a moose hit on the highway, this will do extra damage.

Stopping Distance
The typical car is designed to have a 60 to 0 stopping distance of 120 to 140 ft on the highway,
this will variate based upon tires, weight, and road surface. This number doesn’t include the
reaction time of the driver.

When decelerating the vehicle must move ½ of the DPR of the existing speed for that round for
a large and huge vehicle, anything larger than a van must move ¾ the DPR. In the following
round, the vehicle will be able to come to a halt if the PC desires

Hit Points
When the vehicle is reduced to 0 hp it is considered immobilized, the vehicle and most
functions will no longer operate. At -10 hp the vehicle explodes, and all the occupants are
killed.

When reduced to 0 hp the vehicle will continue to travel at ½ the Distance per round of its
current speed and will be considered out of control. Crashing damage will be applied and each
occupant will receive 1d4/10 mph points of damage with a minimum of 1d4 dmg.

Getting taken out at 60 mph does have the potential to kill all the occupants.

Walkers and War-Wagons

Vehicles
COST
ACCELERATION Max speed Armour
Type Armour Damage/Wounds Weapons Special Base Weapon upgrades
(mph) mph upgrade
Dirt Bike 0 10 60 125 +
Car 4 to 6 15-20 30-60 125 + 2 stot 800 500/pt fixed firing: 200 Turret: 500
Reco-Rover 6-8 25 30-60 125+ 4 slot -5% to stuck chance 2500 600/pt 4 slot turret comes with Base model
AT -35 Tortis 8 to 12 30-40 20-30 125 4 slot -20% to stuck chance 4000 900/pt Turret: 1000
Bus (Standard) 3 to 10 50 15 125 2 and 4 slot 8,000 2000/pt 2 slot turret: 500 4 slot turret: 1000
Iron Coffin 12 to 15 30 walker 30* 4 slot -35% stuck chance 100,000
CW-35 Baboon 18 to 24 50 walker 30* 2 and 4 slot -40% stuck chance 300,000
Basilisk 25 50 walker 20* Full turret and 2 slot -40% stuck chance 500,000
Ligth Tank 12 to 15 30 15 80 Full turret and 2 slot 300,000
Heavy Tank 12 to 15 50 10 60 Full turret and 4 slot 500,000
*Action speed is 5mph which makes the machine stable enough to fire weapons and do other actions

Here is a basic list of vehicles with stats that range based on the quality of the vehicle itself.

Armour: This is the range of DR that is possible for this vehicle type, armour upgrades will
have to purchase.

Acceleration: Ranges based upon condition, quality, and load.

Weapons: the number of possible weapon slots a vehicle can take, small arms is 1 slot and
heavy weapons are 2 slots, the full turret can take ordinance weapons

Special: Special Features of the vehicle.

Maintenance and Repair

Your car isn’t invulnerable as mentioned earlier if you make the vehicle too convenient players
will use it as a crutch. One way to keep your players on their toes is to make it less convenient
to restore loss vehicle HP. The 4 components to doing a proper repair are parts, tools, skill,
and time; limitations on anyone will hinder repairs.

Tools and Parts

Parts can be found or purchased anywhere but tools are specific items and a full set of tools
can’t be carried around with the party.

Basic Tools: 300 credits – a single toolbox worth of tools, only up to ¼ of the lost HP can be
restored by a skilled character.

Full Set of Tools: 1000 credits – a garage worth of tools, full repairs can be done by skilled
character

Car Parts: 75 credits – 1d4 + Skill level in restored HP

Repairs
Out in the wilderness, only ¼ of the lost HP can be restored at the rate of 5 HP/day. A vehicle
that has been knocked down to 0 requires 8 hrs of repair work to get it up and running to 1 HP.
When a full toolset is available it can be repaired at 8HP/day. Extra skilled assistance can
increase repair time by 1.5.

Walkers and War-Wagons

Written by Mr. Triceratops

I don’t know how any of this copy-write crap works so it's mine, I guess, well there is the OGL
stuff and I guess that is relevant so…. Don’t know. Please don’t steal my free stuff.

Red Ares is mine though.

Walkers and War-Wagons