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Flying Circus - Ghibli Inspired Aviation Fantasy RPG!

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The Laurent said:
Yeah, version 1.1 changes a lot of things, both about the design process, and honestly also the planes as well? I think the biggest difference I've noted to actual play is that Toughness is going to be markedly lower for a lot of the stock planes in Flying Circuses WWI-ish era under the new set of rules, since the original calculations created planes that could stand up to more than intended.
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Please tell me there will be a simplified version? For those of us who arn't Aerospace engineers? When you start having to specifically pick wing area my eyes sort of glazed over.

I just want to make some odd planes real, and not completely worry about how realistic they are.
 
Matsci said:
Please tell me there will be a simplified version?
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This is the simplified version. There are plans for the prebuilt planes from the core set to have links to just let you quickly load them in, so you can do things like slap a bomb rack on them, or replace the engine, or swap out the guns, or re-surface the wings...

The current draft of the autobuilder is much more streamlined than my first version, which still needed all the numbers for each system calculated by hand (You still can, if you really want to)

The engine builder, which is still Dark Mathemagic, is also simplified a bit, since now you can just plug in displacement and number of cylinders and you don't have to figure out bore and stroke to the deciliter...
 
flying wing with two pusher engines in nacells; vertical stabilizers in Outboard position, 4 of them; two sealed/bubble canopies, bomb capacity, two machine guns that can fire all directions but down for the observer/tail gunner; two HMGs or machine cannons forward; and some kind of all metal design.
 
Ash19256 said:
Here's a rough approximation of a plane based on that image - I'm assuming that it's a heavy/strategic bomber, but one could probably scale the design down if they wanted something more akin to a fighter. Ohara Airworks B20 Shokaku.
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That's probably a lot more practical than what I came up with; the all-metal look suggested a WW2-esque fighter bomber to me and I came up with this: The F/B 36 Razorwing
 
So, first off, I'd like to start by congratulating you for your success in sales for Flying Circus, which has recently become a Gold best seller on DrivethruRPG! And in the spirit of that, I've been discussing running a game of it with some friends, and I had a question; What, would you say, is the minimum 'party size' for a Flying Circus to be actually successful? To be able to take on a number of threats in the setting, like whalers and dragons? I ask because my likely player group size is going to be a bit on the cozy size (It's possible that we might just have a single player and use the suggestions for that in the GM chapter, even), and I'd like to know what the standard expectations are and what happens when that starts getting defied, and how that might be balanced against.
 
The Lowtide said:
So, first off, I'd like to start by congratulating you for your success in sales for Flying Circus, which has recently become a Gold best seller on DrivethruRPG! And in the spirit of that, I've been discussing running a game of it with some friends, and I had a question; What, would you say, is the minimum 'party size' for a Flying Circus to be actually successful? To be able to take on a number of threats in the setting, like whalers and dragons? I ask because my likely player group size is going to be a bit on the cozy size (It's possible that we might just have a single player and use the suggestions for that in the GM chapter, even), and I'd like to know what the standard expectations are and what happens when that starts getting defied, and how that might be balanced against.
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You can play with as few as one players and as many as you like. A single pilot probably wants to supplement their team with NPC hires so they can have the assistance on call.
 
Matsci said:
If I wanted to make a plane based on a image, like this? How would you suggest going about stating it up?
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Going off that image, it's probably four or five crew, with at least two pilots and a gunner, and then at least one of a bombardier or engineer. It is a flying wing, and probably a swept wing so we can get by without needing horizontal stabilizers. That's two engines in a rear pusher configuration, probably a quartet of LMGs or MGs in the aft turret with arcs of Aft/Up/Port/Starboard/Fore, I'm not sure what the big guns are, but probably 20mm. It's got outbaord vertical stabilizers.
The skin is probably corrugated steel because good lord those rivets. It's a bomber and probably has internal bays as well as external racks.
The landing gear is probably retractable, and it'll want at least ten fuel uses.

The Lowtide said:
What, would you say, is the minimum 'party size' for a Flying Circus to be actually successful? To be able to take on a number of threats in the setting, like whalers and dragons?
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I've run short games with two pilots. Whalers, it depends on what you're flying and if you can get backup. If you're fighting a Dragon you have Fucked Up, and will probably die.
 
To clarify that, there's not really a safe way to take on a dragon, you should run away whether you're a party of one or a party of six. They're properly scary, if I were going to take one on I'd be looking at a fair number of late development characters with as many Mastery moves as possible, specially designed or modified planes with heavy weapons and probably the activation of as many intimacy moves as I can muster.

But dragons are rare and they don't have to show up at any point in your campaigns, there's plenty of drama available from just fighting bandits.
 
Any thoughts on this plane? Wanted to design a sort of "boss" aircraft, using advanced tech and such, but still wanted to keep the engine and materials relatively mundane. So wood rather than aluminum, and the engine is a typical 160 hp D-840 (if this engine is too rare, then I might substitute it for the 150 hp version from the same manufacturer). Very expensive, but quite reliable, stable, and not actively trying to kill the pilot. At least compared to the base aircraft, it's a bit of a monster from what I can tell, but those planes are a lot cheaper and don't use things like control flaps to my knowledge. I'm not familiar with any aircraft with the wing arrangement I used, which feels ahistorical in a way I don't like, but I was going for performance above all else here.

-21 speed makes it faster than anything in the current roster iirc
-107 handling is better than everything but the Kreuzer Spinne M3
-11-13 climb rate is leagues above everything else
-1 turn bleed is nice to have.
-10 toughness and 49 max strain isn't too out there, but still doesn't seem bad (though perhaps the low toughness has some disadvantage I don't know of?)
-Managed to keep the stall speed quite low without sacrificing much, which is nice. Wing cutouts, too, so visibility isn't impacted.

Obviously this is nowhere close to a historical aircraft, I just wanted a plane for a really scary pilot.

Flying Circus Plane Builder

tetragramm.github.io tetragramm.github.io
 
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Ok, figured people on this forum would be interested in this since the maker's a forum celebrity and all.

I don't necessarily have a lot of interest in Flying Circus (let me actually get a chance to play or run the vast majority of games in my book chest first...) but I am incredibly interested in Lancer (with one two month old campaign). And one of the big name members of the Lancer community, 11Dragonkid, has begun doing what looks to be a series of videos on Flying Circus. Considering the love the Lancer community has for the fellow, I'd say you're all in good hands.

 
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Chariots of Steel Release Date
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    • It has been a long, long time, but I'm proud to announce that in one week, the second Flying Circus expansion will come out. CHARIOTS OF STEEL will be released on Friday, May 17th!

    This absolutely ridiculous 314 page expansion both gives far more depth and guidelines for when your pilots end up in shootouts in the Wild or in town, plus gives you an entirely new way of playing, as landsknecht, the ground counterparts to Flying Circuses. These mercenary companies with tanks and rifles do dirty jobs in the places of Himmilgard where the Wild is thin.

    To make that interesting, it also includes extensive new Threat guidelines, with a large array of GM moves for the ground and a variety of new and expanded enemies, from the clockwerk constructs to the armies of post-apocalyptic warlords.

    The game has 20 premade tanks, a flexible ground vehicle builder with examples, a bunch of new firearms and equipment, and six new Mastery sets for ground combat. The tanks a mix of historical and original vehicles, with lots of variants for each one.

    Also... there's way, way too much art in this book. Way too much! I drew so so, so many arts!
     
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