Phoenix Command
| Phoenix Command | ||
|---|---|---|
| RPG published by Leading Edge Games |
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| Rule System | Percentile | |
| Authors | Barry Nakazono and David McKenzie | |
| First Publication | 1986 (1st edition), 1987 (2nd), 1989 (3rd), 1991 (4th) | |
Phoenix Command is a legendarily-complicated RPG tabletop combat simulator with RPG elements developed and first published by Leading Edge Games in 1986. It exists because its writers, Barry Nakazono and David McKenzie, wanted to answer the question of "what happens to your character when he gets shot?" with something other than "he loses 2d6 hit points" and solved it by making a bajillion cross-referenced charts and tables to create the most authentic to real life experience they could (little surprise that Nakazono went on to become an actual rocket scientist). This RPG.net thread says it all.
Where other systems abstract all the variables of combat into things like "base attack bonus plus weapon modifier versus armour," Phoenix Command dives deep into the minutiae. Before you can roll the dice to fire a single bullet, you have to find the distance to your target, its size, its movement, visibility conditions, what firing stance you're in, how long you want to aim, cross-reference all of those on their respective tables, add the corresponding modifiers, and then consult the Odds of Hitting chart to see what you need to roll on d100 to actually hit the target. If you do hit, you now have to roll on the Hit Location table to see where among 39 locations you've hit, subtract your weapon's Penetration from the Protection Factors of your target's armour and cover to find your Effective Penetration, which affects how much net damage you finally do, and then determine if the shot knocked down the target and/or incapacitated him in some fashion. And that's before going into how burst and automatic fire add even more modifiers into this mix.
PC is the type of system that really needs automation to run at a meaningful pace, especially when you start using the Advanced combat mechanics. Yes, that mess above is from the Basic rules. The Advanced Damage Tables have 53 hit locations and 40 damage tables that can account for how the shot glances off or shatters bones on impact and what direction the bullet enters the body (front, side, oblique).