Publisher(s) Leading Edge Games Genre(s) Military | Publication date 1986 System(s) Phoenix Command | |
Designer(s) Barry Nakazono, David McKenzie | ||
Phoenix Command was a role-playing game system published by Leading Edge Games, and copyrighted by Barry Nakazono and David McKenzie. Various versions of the system featured in the games Morning Star Missions, Living Steel, and Aliens Adventure Game.
Phoenix Command had extremely detailed rules in an attempt to realistically simulate combat. The game utilized lookup tables which resolve injuries to specific digits, organs, and bones, and simulates the physics of different attacks, such as bullets with different velocities. A simplified rules system was used for most of the movie tie-ins as well as Living Steel.
The manuals have a lot of quotes and extra information in the margins, many of which are darkly humorous. The original game contained a 56-page spiral bound rule book, 32 page modern military weapon data supplement, reference tables, blank character sheets and one ten sided die.
Additional supplements included the Hand to Hand Combat System (1988), World War 2 Weapon Data Supplement (1988), Wild West Weapon Data Supplement (1989), Civilian Weapon Data Supplement (1987), Living Steel Power Armour Sourcebook (1991), Advanced Damage Tables (1987) and High Tech Weapon Data Supplement (1987) amongst others.
Design philosophy
In the designers' own words, Phoenix Command is "...designed to be truly realistic; not complex, or deadly, but simply a representation of what really happens to people." The goal of realism made the rules very complex for a role playing game, to the point where Phoenix Command is regularly held up as an example of the extreme end of RPG complexity.