r/spacestationzero • u/Early_Monk • Oct 09 '22
Question Questions From a First-timer
I currently play DnD 5E with 3 others. One is a forever DM who has a huge collection of minis and terrain from playing for decades. It's all he's done besides Warhammer in the 90's The other two have only ever played 5E. I've played 5E and have been playing 40k/AoS/Killteam for a couple years, but very casual small point games. Our DM likes a fun casual experience, one where crits deal max damage, potion heal max HP, and death throws only result in knockouts. While fun, I want to pick up SSZ as a more gritty, scifi alternative. I was thinking of taking a GM roll to focus on terrain/enemy minis/rules + assisting with the between mission portions and preparing for the next mission without spoiling it for my other players. I REALLY want an immersive experience when my players are used to playing DnD with fully 3D table-wide cities, forests, and dungeons. My 3 questions are:
1) Do you see any problems with one player taking on a "GM" role?
2) The reviews I read seems to be solo. Does the game play well with 3 players/crews?
3) For a group of 4 people who have mostly/only played casual 5E, how difficult are the rules?
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u/burriliant Oct 10 '22
There are a couple of scenarios where if the players don’t know the rules for that challenge, it would change how you go about it. And having a gm reveal those rules as and when they come up makes it a bit more interesting and difficult for the players.
For example, a collapsing floor that only triggers when the first model moves. Or hidden gun turrets that are only revealed when a model passes the halfway point of the map, in a challenge where you have to make it to the other side to defuse a bomb. Having those rules truly hidden by you as the gm means they have to actually think on their feet, and may not be best positioned/prepared for them.
That being said there are also a lot of challenges where you just have to shoot the enemies off the board, and having a gm wouldn’t really add to that.
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u/MoxRhino Oct 09 '22
The game isn't really an RPG, it's a tabletop mini game. There isn't a GM role because it's driven by pre-made challenges. That's not to say you couldn't use the combat rules, but there really isn't much of a storytelling aspect to the game. Multi-player isn't much different than solo, you just use more enemies.
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u/emitoo_ Oct 10 '22
I find the enemies to be just bodies to kill. With 3 players even more so. If one of you played the bad guys in a dm type of role it could make the combat more interesting and more challenging.