FT Campaign

Hello FT gamers,

I've seen some comments regarding campaign ideas for FT so I thought I
would add my two cents worth...

I've Judged two FT campaigns and participated as a player in a third FT
campaign.  All campaigns died for the same reason.  A couple players
wouldn't send their "orders" in to the Judge in a timely fashion.  We
tried penalizing late "orders" but that just caused the guilty parties
to
quit the game altogether.

It seems that the Judged games require a certain level of devotion and
patience from the players... a trait that appears to be lacking in our
local gaming group, unfortunately.  The goal of the campaign was to
generate FT scenarios/situations.  My FT group has plenty of FT tactical
gamers who love the game 'cause it's fast, easy to learn and fun to
play.
I decided that if I wanted a campaign to work with our gaming group, I'd
have to do the same with the strategic level rules or give up on FT
campaigns... at least for my local group.

I've modified the strategic rules I've developed to address the low
patience threshold of my players and it works really well.  I've played
one game already and I'm going to play test it again, with a few
modifications to speed play, over the holiday break.

Highlights of system:
1) "Judgeless".
2) Exploration and Survey of random map.
3) Technology "Trees" for tech development.
4) ALL players involved in ALL FT combats, regardless of the fleets
   involved.
5) Abstract supply line rules.
6) Victory points earned ONLY by tactical skill, regardless of whose
ships
   your fighting with.

There's alot I'm leaving out but those are some of the major points.  4
and 6 above are the most important aspects of the game.  If four people
are playing and two of the four have to resolve a tactical combat, ALL
players participate.  Forces are divided up evenly.  You earn and lose
victory points based on how many kills, captures or loses you accrue
during combat with the ships you command, whether or not their your
ships.
The owner of the fleet earns points based on his performance only, thus,
players are motivated to fight the best they can with the ships they
have.
You could decide not to fight, but then you'll be losing the VPs.  In
some
cases this might fulfil the strategic needs you have... but there's a
price.	Also, it's not gaurenteed that you'll be on the side you want
anyway in the tactical game.

<blab mode: OFF>

Pete
=======================================================================
Peter Caron
pcaron@cris.com

"There is no nation on earth so dangerous as a nation fully armed, and
bankrupt at home."
			Henry Cabot Lodge