Featuring video game fireworks and some old-time explosive nostalgia…

Yes, my post for this week falls on the fourth of July.  This probably means that most of my readers who enjoy this column from the quiet solitude of their work cubicles may not actually get to read this for a few days, if at all.  Oh well.

First, I suppose I should hook you up with some fireworks.  Here’s a link to a PC game download that should put plenty of fireworks onto your screen.  It works better if you have a good gamepad, preferably one with dual analog control sticks.

Moving on…

I was trying to think of some good “explosion” stories from various RPGs that I have played that would tie into a 4th of July theme.  I don’t deny that my sci-fi games have, over the years, blown up their share of buildings and perhaps a grav-tank or two.  However, I also thought of another story that will serve my purpose just as well.

Flash back all the way to 1992.  Four complacent but geeky college students are sitting around the dorm on a Saturday night.  Somehow, we come up with the idea that we wanted to do a big battle using the Car Wars rules.  I was the one who suggested doing a two-on-two team battle.  Each team had $40K with which to design two cars.  Everyone involved had played enough Car Wars that I didn’t feel terribly bad about trying something a little bit dirty, but still very much within the rules.

You see, I had already been tinkering with a design for something called “The Death Blossom.”  Add one to your personal geek rating if you immediately recognized the reference to a movie called The Last Starfigther.  Anyway, in the world of Car Wars, the Death Blossom was equipped with a single forward firing rocket launcher, with 10 shots.  It also had a total of four heavy rockets strapped onto side pods on the sides of the car, facing forward.  In addition, there was a multi-launch six shot one-time rocket launcher on the roof, also facing forward.  There were two fire switches on the dashboard.  One switch was for the rocket launcher, and one switch fired off eleven different rockets at once.  I can’t remember if the car had a targeting computer, but with an average engine and a bit of regular plastic armor the whole thing came out to about $22K, leaving plenty for my teammate to build a respectable car.  I honestly have no recollection of what his car was like, because, as you will see, it really didn’t matter.

So, four cars went screaming into the arena of death, all driving towards one another in an “X” pattern.  For those of you not familiar with Car Wars, remember that a lot can happen in one second – two or three maneuvers, aiming and shooting a weapon, taking a few hits, etc.  So, for the first two or three seconds my car picked up speed and fired twice with the basic rocket launcher, probably missing once and hitting once.  I was mostly just trying to build up a sustained fire bonus. 

So, once I was within about 60 feet of the guy I had been pinging, I unleashed the Death Blossom.  This was on turn 4, if memory serves.  The whole attack was capable of twenty dice of damage, although probably only 14 dice or so actually hit (there were multiple to-hit rolls involved).  Remember, this is in a game where a heavy machine gun does 2d6.  Needless to say, the explosion was spectacular.  My opponent had a fancy car with a laser turret and shiny metal armor.  His armor, however, wasn’t designed for what I threw at him.  Kaboom.  Scratch one enemy driver.

So, after roughly four seconds of combat, the other team was down one car.  My car, however, was nothing but a rolling chassis with a single foward firing rocket launcher.  So, during the fifth second, I made a hard swerve and ran head-on into the second enemy car.  I can’t remember if my car had a ramming plate or not.  My driver died instantly, but the other enemy car was also disabled.

Thus, after five seconds, the entire battle was over.  My team was down one car, but the other had barely a scratch.  The other team was completely eliminated.  My opponents stood staring blankly as the debris from the collision settled onto the map, and then protested against my blatant kamikaze tactics.  They sugested that that no one would so gleefully kill himself just to pick up a cheap win.  I admitted that it all was a bit cheezy, but then I could justify it within the Car Wars universe by saying that my driver had just been to the Clone Bank, and he knew that his next clone replacement would be able to inherit his winnings.

I think it was the last time anyone in that group voted for Car Wars on a Saturday night.

So, were my tactics out of line?  Is it OK for one player in a team game to totally sacrifice himself so as to really mess up the other team?  Is it better to win at all costs, or should I have been more worried about keeping the game “fun” for my opponents?  I suppose that, as I have gotten older, I would more often choose the second option.  I used to make cheezy land destruction decks when I played Magic: the Gathering, but I don’t do that anymore.

If you have your own 4th of July role-playing explosion story, feel free to add that to the comments, as well.