With the publication of Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Limited Edition Hardcover Edition I have been wanting to do more with this game. I have already run a classic AD&D module with it but the applications for this game seem endless. So starting with Doctor Who here are the two mashups based on ideas from both of my kids. So for this edition of Plays Well with Others I have two game ideas based around Doctor Who.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Doctor Who Universe
My oldest son has been reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and he had to do a school report on Douglas Adams. Fans of Adams know of his long association with Doctor Who during the classic Tom Baker years. So for me this has been a great little trip to 1983 when I was doing something very similar in school. Though unlike my kids I did not have Doctor Who on BluRay anytime I wanted it.
Well this morning I was thinking about Arthur Dent, or more specifically, Martin Freeman. To date he has pretty much played every important English "everyman" I can think of after only one cup of coffee; Arthur Dent, Bilbo Baggins and John Watson. The Watson connection got me thinking again about doing a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game using the Doctor Who rules. I touched on this last year but I think I need to look into it more.
No need to worry about who plays the Time Lord since everyone, including the aliens, are just regular people. Ok sometimes regular people with two heads and three arms, but that is the galaxy we live in.
Junior Timelord Academy
I was having a conversation with my youngest son back in the winter about how Pokéballs must be Timelord science. Afterall they are bigger on the inside. Also Pokémon evolution looks more like Timelord regeneration. Many others have pointed this out. Even the Pokémon character "Looker" is supposed to look like/be the 10th Doctor. There are dozens of other examples (not to mention all the "Time" powered Pokémon) so I'll leave it as a given.
What can we do with this idea? Simple, if in the HHGTG game there are no Timelords in an Pokémon one everyone is a Timelord, or at least they will be when they grow up.
Junior Timelord Academy then focuses on young Timelords in training, or even more generically, young Gallifreyians. They have pets, like most kids do, except in stead of accidentally peeing on the floor these pets summon up elemental powers to do battle. We know that in the Dark Times on Gallifrey gladiatorial fights were held in the Death Zone till Rassilon put a stop to them. That legacy lives on in the children's games of fighting with their genetically engineered pets.
So a mix of Doctor Who, Pokémon, some ideas from WitchGirls Adventures, and a little bit of BESM: Cute and Fuzzy Seizure Monsters. Big Eyes, Small Mouth 3rd Ed though might work better with Doctor Who in terms of system conversion. This isn't High School drama like Smallville or Byron Falls, the target age here is pre-Teens.
So the characters move across Gallifrey battling their cute pet killing machines against each other knowing that soon they will enter the great Time Lord academies.
Also there is no reason I can't mix both.
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
New Kickstarter: Double Spiral War
I have a love/hate relationship with Traveller. Though the siren song of nostalgia has been making me look back on previous mishapps as youthful ignorance and things were never really that bad.
I also have to admit it is Kickstarters like this that give a reason to pull out the old books.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1292093911/warren-c-norwoods-double-sprial-war-traveller-edit
Battlefield Press is producing a Traveller powered game based on Warren C. Norwood's Double Spiral War books.
The project is reasonably funded and nearly there. This would be a good thing to get me interested in Traveller again.
I also have to admit it is Kickstarters like this that give a reason to pull out the old books.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1292093911/warren-c-norwoods-double-sprial-war-traveller-edit
Battlefield Press is producing a Traveller powered game based on Warren C. Norwood's Double Spiral War books.
The project is reasonably funded and nearly there. This would be a good thing to get me interested in Traveller again.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Blogfest: Towel Day Blogfest
Towel Day Blogfest
http://lgkeltner.blogspot.com/2013/04/announcing-towel-day-blogfest.html
This one is easy. I am going to talk about what is the best RPG to play a "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" game.
So what makes a good Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game?
Well it needs to have a lot of aliens, or at least the ability to make a lot of aliens. The weirder the better.
Faster Than Light travel is a must. Lots of different ways to get from A to B.
Things it doens't need. Details. Remember Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent didn't know how spaceships worked. Especially Arthur. They didn't care about the trillions of calculation Marvin could do. All Arthur knew was the ship's computer could not make a decent cup of tea.
So lets evaluate my choices.
Warhammer 40k
No. The HHGTTG is about fun and lighthearted romps through the universe. Warhammer is where fun goes to die. Not saying you couldn't do it, but it would break things too much. Though HHGTTG does have a Galactic Emperor who is also thousands of years old. Though he is in a state of perpetual death.
Traveller
Ah now we are talking. I like to ignore a lot of the tech in Traveller anyway. The publishing firm of Megadodo Publications of Ursa Minor Beta has some similarity to the Traveller's Aid Society, in that they are an organization that gives plot reasons to go all over the Galaxy. There are plenty of races in Traveller and I bet you there are online resources dating back to the Mainframe and FTP days of resources to play a Hitchhikers Guide-like game in the Traveller universe.
Star Frontiers
Another good choice really. In fact one of my SF characters was named Zaphod. SF though doesn't have enough aliens to fit the bill. Afterall this is a universe where mattresses are grown and not manufactured.
Star Wars or Star Trek (any Version)
In both cases there is too much emphasis on combat in these games. Star Trek at least has the exploration bits down. But really too much emphasis on combat really.
No there really is only one game perfect for playing in a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game.
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space
The new Doctor Who game is perfect for HHGTTG. With it's easy to use (and easy to get out of the way) rules fits the tone of what I want. The rules also focus on the talkers and the runners not the fighters, so that helps us get past that issue. Also let's not forget that there is a strong Doctor Who/Hitchhikers connection. Douglas Adams was the script editor on Doctor Who around the same time he was working on Hitchhikers Guide. I also always felt his episodes were very much the model of the of the Hitchhikers universe. I always thought the Zygons and Vogons were the creatures or at least closely related. There is also the overt connection, the 10th Doctor after his regeneration refers to himself as being "very Arthur Dent" and commenting "now there's a nice man". Establishing that at least some version of Douglas Adams' worlds exist in Doctor Who canon.
All the characters can be created using the basic Doctor Who rules, Trillian for example is pretty much a Boffin archetype. Ph.D. in Math and Astrophysics? She is like a 5th Doctor companion. Ford and Arthur are easy and Zaphod...well Zaphod he is just this guy you know...
So I think my next Doctor Who game might end up being a little bit Hitchhikers as well.
I think I have a few characters I could even use.
http://lgkeltner.blogspot.com/2013/04/announcing-towel-day-blogfest.html
This one is easy. I am going to talk about what is the best RPG to play a "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" game.
So what makes a good Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game?
Well it needs to have a lot of aliens, or at least the ability to make a lot of aliens. The weirder the better.
Faster Than Light travel is a must. Lots of different ways to get from A to B.
Things it doens't need. Details. Remember Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent didn't know how spaceships worked. Especially Arthur. They didn't care about the trillions of calculation Marvin could do. All Arthur knew was the ship's computer could not make a decent cup of tea.
So lets evaluate my choices.
Warhammer 40k
No. The HHGTTG is about fun and lighthearted romps through the universe. Warhammer is where fun goes to die. Not saying you couldn't do it, but it would break things too much. Though HHGTTG does have a Galactic Emperor who is also thousands of years old. Though he is in a state of perpetual death.
Traveller
Ah now we are talking. I like to ignore a lot of the tech in Traveller anyway. The publishing firm of Megadodo Publications of Ursa Minor Beta has some similarity to the Traveller's Aid Society, in that they are an organization that gives plot reasons to go all over the Galaxy. There are plenty of races in Traveller and I bet you there are online resources dating back to the Mainframe and FTP days of resources to play a Hitchhikers Guide-like game in the Traveller universe.
Star Frontiers
Another good choice really. In fact one of my SF characters was named Zaphod. SF though doesn't have enough aliens to fit the bill. Afterall this is a universe where mattresses are grown and not manufactured.
Star Wars or Star Trek (any Version)
In both cases there is too much emphasis on combat in these games. Star Trek at least has the exploration bits down. But really too much emphasis on combat really.
No there really is only one game perfect for playing in a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game.
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space
The new Doctor Who game is perfect for HHGTTG. With it's easy to use (and easy to get out of the way) rules fits the tone of what I want. The rules also focus on the talkers and the runners not the fighters, so that helps us get past that issue. Also let's not forget that there is a strong Doctor Who/Hitchhikers connection. Douglas Adams was the script editor on Doctor Who around the same time he was working on Hitchhikers Guide. I also always felt his episodes were very much the model of the of the Hitchhikers universe. I always thought the Zygons and Vogons were the creatures or at least closely related. There is also the overt connection, the 10th Doctor after his regeneration refers to himself as being "very Arthur Dent" and commenting "now there's a nice man". Establishing that at least some version of Douglas Adams' worlds exist in Doctor Who canon.
All the characters can be created using the basic Doctor Who rules, Trillian for example is pretty much a Boffin archetype. Ph.D. in Math and Astrophysics? She is like a 5th Doctor companion. Ford and Arthur are easy and Zaphod...well Zaphod he is just this guy you know...
So I think my next Doctor Who game might end up being a little bit Hitchhikers as well.
I think I have a few characters I could even use.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Campaigns I'd Like to Run: RPG Blog Carnival for May
In truth there is a lot I'd love to run. But there are some that stick out.
Black Rose
Black Rose is my Ravenloft/Blue Rose mash-up. I detailed it in a series of posts back in the early days of this blog. Black Rose takes place in the same world as Blue Rose, but only after it had been pulled into Ravenloft. I am using more of the 2nd Ed and 3.x versions of Ravenloft, not the 4e revisions. I played the hell out of Ravenloft during the 2nd Ed era. I loved it, but there were things about it that I wanted to do that didn't quite mesh with the "kill things and take their stuff" mentality of AD&D. The True20 system, while it still has the same roots, can go a little bit beyond that. True20 is also quite good for doing horror as I discovered.
Generation HEX/Ordinary World
Both of these campaigns would be in the same world and preferably use the same system(s). Both come out of my enjoyment of modern supernatural books and TV shows.
GenerationHEX is a game focused on kids in a magical school. Somewhat like Smallville meets Harry Potter.
Ordinary World is a game about supernatural types trying to live in a world full of humans. sort like Being Human, but also a bit like Charmed.
Unisystem seems like the logical choice here, but I also considered using a different system each time to get a real feel for the characters. This would be character focused, not plot focus.
Given the character focus of these games I also wanted to try something different. I wanted to use a different system for the different eras in the character's life. So Little Fears for when they are all children, Witch Girls Adventures or Monsterhearts for high school, and then Unisystem or World of Darkness for adulthood. I would sprinkle in other systems for one shots as needed, like Chill, Call of Cthulhu or Mutants and Masterminds.
This is something I tried with Season of the Witch and I liked it.
Greyhawk 3000
This one is D&D in SPAAAAAACE! I'd mix up D&D 3.x and Star Wars with ideas from Gamma world, Star Frontiers, Planescape and Spelljamer. Have all the D&D worlds as planets and the planes as something like solar systems. I'd also use some ideas from Starships & Spacemen and some other games. A bit of Traveler too cause I like that.
I do want to use the D&D mythology, just advance it to something like Star Trek Next Gen level tech. I think it would be a blast to be honest.
Those are the ones I'd love to do that I don't see me doing anytime soon. Have too many games going now.
One though I am very likely to run is my Celtic-theme Fantasy Game.
Éire
This game has gone through a lot of changes over the years. Unisystem, True20, Spellcraft & Swordplay. I think with the release of the Codex Celtarum I might start adapting it to Castles & Crusades. This is one I would really like to play and am working on getting it done sometime soon. While I'd love to play this one with my kids, I would also enjoy a more mature approach. Not "Adult" per se, but a group that appreciates Irish myth and willing to play in a world like that.
These are the campaigns I'd like to run.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Star Trek RPGs, Part II
I feel the need to make this "Wrath of Something" or "Into Dorkness" jokes.
Anyway, last year (snerk) I was talking about Star Trek RPGs. Well fellow blogger, sci-fi fan, all around good guy (with a GREAT name) Tim over at Hero Press posted these gems today.
http://www.heropress.net/2013/01/fleamarket-friday-gaming-where-no-die.html
First we have the Pre-Order for the Traveller based Prime Directive.
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpgs/traveller/core-rulebooks-accessories/traveller-prime-directive.html
I am not sure what you all know about Prime Directive, but it is almost a thing onto itslef. It is based on the TOS era Star Trek, but it goes in a different direction all together. Now the purist in me used to reject this. Especially when the later movies and TNG began to air. But these days I find it much more appealing. Plus, like I said, Prime Directive is now almost a thing into itself with a rich history, while not quite as equal to Trek, it is still fun.
As many of you know from my White Dwarf Wednesday I have a history with Traveller, something I want to rectify someday. Could Prime Directive be the game for me? At the current exchange rate that would be $50 or so. So I might wait to see after it out in PDF.
Another game that gets mentioned to me is Where No Man Has Gone Before.
http://www.abillionmonkeys.com/trek
I don't know much about it at all save that most people seem to like it.
Maybe this is the year I find my Sci-Fi RPG.
Anyway, last year (snerk) I was talking about Star Trek RPGs. Well fellow blogger, sci-fi fan, all around good guy (with a GREAT name) Tim over at Hero Press posted these gems today.
http://www.heropress.net/2013/01/fleamarket-friday-gaming-where-no-die.html
First we have the Pre-Order for the Traveller based Prime Directive.
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpgs/traveller/core-rulebooks-accessories/traveller-prime-directive.html
I am not sure what you all know about Prime Directive, but it is almost a thing onto itslef. It is based on the TOS era Star Trek, but it goes in a different direction all together. Now the purist in me used to reject this. Especially when the later movies and TNG began to air. But these days I find it much more appealing. Plus, like I said, Prime Directive is now almost a thing into itself with a rich history, while not quite as equal to Trek, it is still fun.
As many of you know from my White Dwarf Wednesday I have a history with Traveller, something I want to rectify someday. Could Prime Directive be the game for me? At the current exchange rate that would be $50 or so. So I might wait to see after it out in PDF.
Another game that gets mentioned to me is Where No Man Has Gone Before.
http://www.abillionmonkeys.com/trek
I don't know much about it at all save that most people seem to like it.
Maybe this is the year I find my Sci-Fi RPG.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Star Trek RPGs
I give Greg the benefit of the doubt on this one, he has played all the Trek RPGs out there and playtested a few more. He has also played more SciFi games than I have.
Now I will admit that so far Starships & Spacemen 2e seems to fit the bill rather nicely, it's not perfect. In fact in my mind it even has a couple of potential problems, but I am not talking about that one today.
So let me ask you all.
What does a game need to have or do to be a "Star Trek" game?
Any series is fine. Any game is fine. Just let me know why it works.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Starships & Spacemen 2e
Just picked up Starships & Spacemen 2e.
So far I like it. I like that it is compatible with Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future and I like that it specifically has a cool Star Trek vibe about it.
Love to try it out sometime.
So far I like it. I like that it is compatible with Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future and I like that it specifically has a cool Star Trek vibe about it.
Love to try it out sometime.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Confession Time: Gamma World
I have never played Gamma World. Not even once.
I have barley even cracked open one of the books.
It hasn't been out of lack of want, more it has never been in the same place I have been for any amount of time. Also, and this is the biggest deal, I don't own a copy of any of the 7 editions of the game. Though if I were to play it I would want to play the original first edition (pictured).
Yes I know I have easy access to Mutant Future, it's not exactly the same thing is it. Very. very close yes, but not the same.
Part of the problem, for me at least, came from the fact that GW was always the 70s view of technology and by the time I had thought about playing it it was the mid 80s. We knew then (and even when it was written really) that mutations don't happen like that.
Trouble is I let that get in the way of what could have been a great time with a game.
It struck me that the time is right for a Gamma World like game again. Post-Apoc (with or without Zombies) is fashionable again. Hunger Games, Revolution and even specials on History Channel are all about what to do during and after The End.
What has has really got me thinking about shows like the obviously D&D and Gamma World influenced "Adventure Time". I did a couple of posts on the show a while back featuring the stars Finn the Human and Jake the Dog.
Honestly if I were to ever play a "Gamma World" style game it would most likely be Mutant Future. 1st Edition Gamma World typically goes for a lot of money on eBay whereas Mutant Future can be had for under $25. But still. Having a copy of this would make for a nice addition to my game collection. I'll have to keep looking and find one at a good price. I do enjoy the challenge of finding an out of print game.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
October Challenge: Prometheus (2012)
Prometheus (2012)
Well. I had high hopes for this one. I know, me, you and everyone else. But I had hoped that against all hope that the bad reviews were because people just didn't understand it.
Boy was I wrong.
Now it's not that this is a bad movie. It just has so many plot holes and there are too many answered questions. It is also no where near the suck-fest that was Alien: Resurrection, but it was also no Alien either.
The acting is good. The pacing is a bit slow in the beginning, but I think that is on purpose to set the last acts.
There are some nice thrills in the Engineer's base. Still have no idea what they were all running from in the holo-recording. The creatures were interesting of course.
I noticed a lot of nods to the first two Alien movies. And because I had heard about it, little nods to Blade Runner as well.
There are some scary moments. I mean they won't rank up there with Alien. Though this movie did make me want to re-watch Alien.
Tally: Watched 24, New 19
What are you watching?
Boy was I wrong.
Now it's not that this is a bad movie. It just has so many plot holes and there are too many answered questions. It is also no where near the suck-fest that was Alien: Resurrection, but it was also no Alien either.
The acting is good. The pacing is a bit slow in the beginning, but I think that is on purpose to set the last acts.
There are some nice thrills in the Engineer's base. Still have no idea what they were all running from in the holo-recording. The creatures were interesting of course.
I noticed a lot of nods to the first two Alien movies. And because I had heard about it, little nods to Blade Runner as well.
There are some scary moments. I mean they won't rank up there with Alien. Though this movie did make me want to re-watch Alien.
Tally: Watched 24, New 19
What are you watching?
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Tell Me About Your SciFi games!
My friend Greg is having fun with Traveller and Star Frontiers and I am jealous.
I have been reading White Dwarf now for a while and all I can remember is how much I had with Traveller.
So I have been itching to find a good SciFi game.
This is the part where you tell me how great your game is...
So please tell me. I want to know. Plus I am not sure what all the SciFi games out there are.
I know all about Starships & Spacemen and I am looking forward to the newest edition.
I have been reading White Dwarf now for a while and all I can remember is how much I had with Traveller.
So I have been itching to find a good SciFi game.
This is the part where you tell me how great your game is...
So please tell me. I want to know. Plus I am not sure what all the SciFi games out there are.
I know all about Starships & Spacemen and I am looking forward to the newest edition.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Eldritch Skies
Eldritch Skies is the new SF/Lovecraft/alt-history game from Battlefield Press.
A few disclaimers are in order first I think.
1. I have worked with John Snead in the past ("The Magic Box" for Buffy) and personally think he is a great guy. 2. I reviewed a playtest copy of this several months ago to "check the math" on the Unisystem rules. 3. I have a project coming up with Battlefield Press.
So what can I say about Eldritch Skies?
Let's go basic. Certainly there is the feel of Aliens here more than say Avatar. One thing though for certain, this is not Star Trek, Star Wars or anything like that. Though to be fair, Trek did have a story by Robert Bloch and it was very Lovecraftian in tone. Also if that is what you want (SW or ST) then the rules will support that. This book is Lovecraft as SciFi (dark SciFi to be sure), but not so much as horror.
Chapter 1 deals with the recent history and the present day, 2030. The history of the world here is slightly different. Think of it as if all those Lovecraft stories were true and humanity found a way to start using some of that alien tech/magic to get to the stars. There is a history and the changes start out subtle till we get to the 90s. We get to the present day and now we are stepping out into the reaches of space and we find wonders and horrors.
Chapter 2 is Character Creation and Chapter 3 is Game Rules. The game system is Cinematic Unisystem. The same system that powers my own Ghosts of Albion and other games like Army of Darkness, Buffy and Angel. So if you are familiar with those games then you will be familiar how this one works too.
Like other CineUnisystem games there are three "levels" of characters, Civilians, Operatives and Veterans. Unlike other CineUnisystem this game uses the Secondary Attribute Speed, from Classic Unisystem.
For Qualities and Drawbacks there are all the expected ones, Fast Reaction Time, Nerves of Steel, etc. But there are also a lot of "Ab-Human" abilities, such as Deep One Hybrid and Sorcery (it is not the same as Buffy's) and some augmentations.
The rules are same as other Cine Unisystem games with some additions to support the game, ie lots of gear.
Chapter 4 is Arcane Secrets including the secrets of hyperspace. Not just how to travel, but the biggest issue of the hyperspace madness. This is the keystone of the game. What separates this from other Unisystem games and it from other Mythos games.
Chapter 5 deals with the Realms of the Mythos. These are the worlds known to humankind. This also includes the psychic Dream Realms. This is a very cool chapter that had to be a lot of fun to write. Tons of new worlds ready for you to use and have adventures on.
Chapter Six: Eldritch Threats and Wonders: The monsters and creatures of the settings. Includes the mythos creatures, humans and ab-humans. If you have any passing interest in mythos monsters or expanding your CineUnisystem games with more creatures, then this chapter is worth the price of the book alone. Yes, you can play it as is. Or use it in your Buffy, Army of Darkness or Ghosts of Albion games.
Chapter Seven is the Director's section on how to run a game. This includes setting the tone and what to do.
The Appendix has rules for using the Classic Unisystem and a bunch of tables for your ease. No character sheet though.
I think one of the troubles about playing games like D&D and even to a degree Call of Cthulhu is we have tended to categorize the mythos creatures as well, Mythos Creatures. They often times are "Stated up" as gods or some other similar sort of being. We tend to forget that while humans may have worshiped them in cults most were not in fact gods at all. Powerful alien beings yes, but not so much gods. Looking at them again as aliens is a deft move and this change of the point of view makes this book less Buffy-doing-Aliens and more Armageddon/ConspiracyX-doing-Event-Horizon.
What I really, really like about this is it treats the Mythos Creatures as aliens and magic as advanced science. The Thing is a good example of Lovecraft as SciFi story.
Also this book remembers that Lovecraft's stories were also not all about tentacle monsters and evisceration. Sure we have the Mi-Go, but this more about the madness that lies between the stars. Honestly to get a better feel of what you can do here, take the Sam Rockwell movie Moon and assume there are outside alien influences on the whole thing. We never see the aliens, except for maybe when Sam's character sees a Mi-Go with a brain tube at the very end.
I mentioned the playtest files because I'll admit I was not initially a fan of this game when I first read it. But I was focusing on the crunch rather than the fluff. The Unisystem parts were (and are) fine. But since it's release I have grown to like it more for both the crunch and the fluff.
Now that I have come back to it I really like it. I Am not 100% sure I'll play the game "as-is", I might re-do it a bit and set it in 2130 so I can include some ConX or Armageddon background. Or I might just take Chapters 5 and 6 and use them with my Ghosts of Albion games.
Needless to say this thing screams "Use me with All Tomorrow's Zombies" and it would be right. Using the Classic conversion guide in back makes ATZ a perfect add-on for this game.
If you like SciFi, Lovecraft, the Mythos or Unisystem, or all the above, then this is a great game to get.
A few disclaimers are in order first I think.
1. I have worked with John Snead in the past ("The Magic Box" for Buffy) and personally think he is a great guy. 2. I reviewed a playtest copy of this several months ago to "check the math" on the Unisystem rules. 3. I have a project coming up with Battlefield Press.
So what can I say about Eldritch Skies?
Let's go basic. Certainly there is the feel of Aliens here more than say Avatar. One thing though for certain, this is not Star Trek, Star Wars or anything like that. Though to be fair, Trek did have a story by Robert Bloch and it was very Lovecraftian in tone. Also if that is what you want (SW or ST) then the rules will support that. This book is Lovecraft as SciFi (dark SciFi to be sure), but not so much as horror.
Chapter 1 deals with the recent history and the present day, 2030. The history of the world here is slightly different. Think of it as if all those Lovecraft stories were true and humanity found a way to start using some of that alien tech/magic to get to the stars. There is a history and the changes start out subtle till we get to the 90s. We get to the present day and now we are stepping out into the reaches of space and we find wonders and horrors.
Chapter 2 is Character Creation and Chapter 3 is Game Rules. The game system is Cinematic Unisystem. The same system that powers my own Ghosts of Albion and other games like Army of Darkness, Buffy and Angel. So if you are familiar with those games then you will be familiar how this one works too.
Like other CineUnisystem games there are three "levels" of characters, Civilians, Operatives and Veterans. Unlike other CineUnisystem this game uses the Secondary Attribute Speed, from Classic Unisystem.
For Qualities and Drawbacks there are all the expected ones, Fast Reaction Time, Nerves of Steel, etc. But there are also a lot of "Ab-Human" abilities, such as Deep One Hybrid and Sorcery (it is not the same as Buffy's) and some augmentations.
The rules are same as other Cine Unisystem games with some additions to support the game, ie lots of gear.
Chapter 4 is Arcane Secrets including the secrets of hyperspace. Not just how to travel, but the biggest issue of the hyperspace madness. This is the keystone of the game. What separates this from other Unisystem games and it from other Mythos games.
Chapter 5 deals with the Realms of the Mythos. These are the worlds known to humankind. This also includes the psychic Dream Realms. This is a very cool chapter that had to be a lot of fun to write. Tons of new worlds ready for you to use and have adventures on.
Chapter Six: Eldritch Threats and Wonders: The monsters and creatures of the settings. Includes the mythos creatures, humans and ab-humans. If you have any passing interest in mythos monsters or expanding your CineUnisystem games with more creatures, then this chapter is worth the price of the book alone. Yes, you can play it as is. Or use it in your Buffy, Army of Darkness or Ghosts of Albion games.
Chapter Seven is the Director's section on how to run a game. This includes setting the tone and what to do.
The Appendix has rules for using the Classic Unisystem and a bunch of tables for your ease. No character sheet though.
I think one of the troubles about playing games like D&D and even to a degree Call of Cthulhu is we have tended to categorize the mythos creatures as well, Mythos Creatures. They often times are "Stated up" as gods or some other similar sort of being. We tend to forget that while humans may have worshiped them in cults most were not in fact gods at all. Powerful alien beings yes, but not so much gods. Looking at them again as aliens is a deft move and this change of the point of view makes this book less Buffy-doing-Aliens and more Armageddon/ConspiracyX-doing-Event-Horizon.
What I really, really like about this is it treats the Mythos Creatures as aliens and magic as advanced science. The Thing is a good example of Lovecraft as SciFi story.
Also this book remembers that Lovecraft's stories were also not all about tentacle monsters and evisceration. Sure we have the Mi-Go, but this more about the madness that lies between the stars. Honestly to get a better feel of what you can do here, take the Sam Rockwell movie Moon and assume there are outside alien influences on the whole thing. We never see the aliens, except for maybe when Sam's character sees a Mi-Go with a brain tube at the very end.
I mentioned the playtest files because I'll admit I was not initially a fan of this game when I first read it. But I was focusing on the crunch rather than the fluff. The Unisystem parts were (and are) fine. But since it's release I have grown to like it more for both the crunch and the fluff.
Now that I have come back to it I really like it. I Am not 100% sure I'll play the game "as-is", I might re-do it a bit and set it in 2130 so I can include some ConX or Armageddon background. Or I might just take Chapters 5 and 6 and use them with my Ghosts of Albion games.
Needless to say this thing screams "Use me with All Tomorrow's Zombies" and it would be right. Using the Classic conversion guide in back makes ATZ a perfect add-on for this game.
If you like SciFi, Lovecraft, the Mythos or Unisystem, or all the above, then this is a great game to get.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Games that I'd like to give another chance
One of the cool things about being at this point in my life is I have tried hundreds of games. While there are only about half a dozen I come back too, there are few I'd like to try again and give another go at.
Here are some I'd like to give another chance too.
Traveller
One of the first non-D&D games I ever played. I was a big sci-fi geek back in the day and would love to play this one again as an adult.
Savage Worlds
People love it, but it has never worked for me. I have given this one more than enough chances really, but I also broke up with and got back together with my crazy ex-girlfriend in college a number of times too. So obviously I am a glutton for punishment.
I think I need to try it with another GM. Nothing again my regular GM Greg, but maybe someone that can run this like he can run D&D or I can run Unisystem.
MERP
Loved the books. Thought the game was cool. I would really like to try a good game in Middle Earth at least one more time.
BESM 3.0 or 2r
I really enjoyed the hell out of Big Eyes, Small Mouth. I'd like to give that one another go too.
Marvel Super Heroes
I am much more of a DC fan, but I'd love to try this one again.
World of Synnibarr
I know, I know. Worst RPG ever. But there is such a gonzo quality about this game that just begs that you don't take it seriously, and thus all the reasons to consider it bad are somehow less important. Just need to find the right crowd.
Alternity
Enjoyed it the one time I played. Would like to try it again.
What games are on your lists?
And on a special note, today is the 20th anniversary of the first date I had with the woman I'd later marry. Thought it was kinda nice to remember that.
Here are some I'd like to give another chance too.
Traveller
One of the first non-D&D games I ever played. I was a big sci-fi geek back in the day and would love to play this one again as an adult.
Savage Worlds
People love it, but it has never worked for me. I have given this one more than enough chances really, but I also broke up with and got back together with my crazy ex-girlfriend in college a number of times too. So obviously I am a glutton for punishment.
I think I need to try it with another GM. Nothing again my regular GM Greg, but maybe someone that can run this like he can run D&D or I can run Unisystem.
MERP
Loved the books. Thought the game was cool. I would really like to try a good game in Middle Earth at least one more time.
BESM 3.0 or 2r
I really enjoyed the hell out of Big Eyes, Small Mouth. I'd like to give that one another go too.
Marvel Super Heroes
I am much more of a DC fan, but I'd love to try this one again.
World of Synnibarr
I know, I know. Worst RPG ever. But there is such a gonzo quality about this game that just begs that you don't take it seriously, and thus all the reasons to consider it bad are somehow less important. Just need to find the right crowd.
Alternity
Enjoyed it the one time I played. Would like to try it again.
What games are on your lists?
And on a special note, today is the 20th anniversary of the first date I had with the woman I'd later marry. Thought it was kinda nice to remember that.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Why can't I find a good Sci-Fi game?
A post over at Grognardia, http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/09/sci-fi-goulash.html, has prompted a reoccurring thought in my head.
Why can't I find a good Sci-Fi game?
I have mentioned before that I have had a hit and miss, mostly miss, luck with Sci-Fi games. Every so often I am convinced I have the One, only to be ultimately disappointed in them.
I after I posted a reply to James' post I went back to the Star Frontiers book I have and online at http://starfrontiersman.com/downloads/remastered. I also went through all the Star Trek books I still have left.
In terms of Sci-Fi I like Trek the best, loved Star Wars as a kid, but got into Dune or the hard sci-fi of Asimov. I did like Heinlein and Arthur C. Clark a lot though. I loved Farescape when it was on and I even enjoyed LEXX. Never watched Space Above and Beyond, could not get into Babylon 5 or the new Galatica (though that is not really a reflection on them) and I thought Firefly was stupid.
For games I started out with Traveler, moved to Star Frontiers, Doctor Who (FASA), Star Trek (FASA), Alternity, Star Wars d20, d20 Future and others that I have forgotten. More recently I have used Unisystem (All Tomorrow's Zombies) and Doctor Who (Cubicle 7). Yet nothing seems to fit just right. I looked over Star Blazer Adventures, Rogue Trader and others and didn't really care for them. I don't like GURPS enough to honestly consider it, same for FUDGE and FATE.
What do I want?
That is a very question and one I don't have a good answer for. There are bits and pieces that I like from all the above games. I like the sandboxy feel of Star Frontiers and Traveler. I love the tech in Trek, the scope in Star Wars. I could get better buy-in from my Kids with Star Wars, even if my youngest says "I am not into Star Wars" and lightsabers are cool. I like some of the features of Alternity. I liked some of what I read in Dune.
And I don't want to spend a bunch of time figuring out a new system.
I suppose this points to two things. Unisystem and d20 3.x.
Why?
Well I have a bunch of d20 materials laying around including Star Wars, d20 Traveler (T20), Dragon Star, and d20 Future (which has material from Star Frontiers and Alternity). I like the idea of using the d20 Mod/Future classes. I am not thrilled with the idea of levels though, but multi-classing looks like it could be fun. Plus I have a metric ton of d20 material. Bring back mind flayers as an alien race. Baator? Now a planet; literary Planet Hell.
Unisystem is more flexible and I can do it better than d20, but despite how good All Tomorrow's Zombies is, I want something more. I am not big into mixing magic and SciFi. Psionics is ok (in fact I also don't like Psionics in fantasy games), weird I know. I think in the end, d20 might be the way for me to go, or this could be a thinly veiled attempt to do "D&D in Spaaaace!"
Star Wars, like I said, has a great scope and is full of aliens. Adding a Trek-like Federation to battle an Evil Empire is also very cool and a great backdrop. I'd make it more of a cold war, with hotter areas on the edges. Lots of room then for black markets and ops. Maybe even steal a page from Battlestar and make the evil Empire one of artificially intelligent machines. T20 has a lot of cool stuff too and the Imperium is neat and again lots of cool races.
What is lacking in all of this is unified narrative. Maybe I don't need one. D&D doesn't have one, never did. A lot of what I don't like about the various systems out there is I find their "fluff" to be restrictive. I don't want all the baggage that go with Jedi, or the Imperium, or Aslans, or Fraal. I guess say here is Oerth, here is Yavin, over there is Krynn and Vulcan and just let the universe take care of itself.
I guess until I find that perfect mix, I keep searching.
I have mentioned before that I have had a hit and miss, mostly miss, luck with Sci-Fi games. Every so often I am convinced I have the One, only to be ultimately disappointed in them.
I after I posted a reply to James' post I went back to the Star Frontiers book I have and online at http://starfrontiersman.com/downloads/remastered. I also went through all the Star Trek books I still have left.
In terms of Sci-Fi I like Trek the best, loved Star Wars as a kid, but got into Dune or the hard sci-fi of Asimov. I did like Heinlein and Arthur C. Clark a lot though. I loved Farescape when it was on and I even enjoyed LEXX. Never watched Space Above and Beyond, could not get into Babylon 5 or the new Galatica (though that is not really a reflection on them) and I thought Firefly was stupid.
For games I started out with Traveler, moved to Star Frontiers, Doctor Who (FASA), Star Trek (FASA), Alternity, Star Wars d20, d20 Future and others that I have forgotten. More recently I have used Unisystem (All Tomorrow's Zombies) and Doctor Who (Cubicle 7). Yet nothing seems to fit just right. I looked over Star Blazer Adventures, Rogue Trader and others and didn't really care for them. I don't like GURPS enough to honestly consider it, same for FUDGE and FATE.
What do I want?
That is a very question and one I don't have a good answer for. There are bits and pieces that I like from all the above games. I like the sandboxy feel of Star Frontiers and Traveler. I love the tech in Trek, the scope in Star Wars. I could get better buy-in from my Kids with Star Wars, even if my youngest says "I am not into Star Wars" and lightsabers are cool. I like some of the features of Alternity. I liked some of what I read in Dune.
And I don't want to spend a bunch of time figuring out a new system.
I suppose this points to two things. Unisystem and d20 3.x.
Why?
Well I have a bunch of d20 materials laying around including Star Wars, d20 Traveler (T20), Dragon Star, and d20 Future (which has material from Star Frontiers and Alternity). I like the idea of using the d20 Mod/Future classes. I am not thrilled with the idea of levels though, but multi-classing looks like it could be fun. Plus I have a metric ton of d20 material. Bring back mind flayers as an alien race. Baator? Now a planet; literary Planet Hell.
Star Wars, like I said, has a great scope and is full of aliens. Adding a Trek-like Federation to battle an Evil Empire is also very cool and a great backdrop. I'd make it more of a cold war, with hotter areas on the edges. Lots of room then for black markets and ops. Maybe even steal a page from Battlestar and make the evil Empire one of artificially intelligent machines. T20 has a lot of cool stuff too and the Imperium is neat and again lots of cool races.
What is lacking in all of this is unified narrative. Maybe I don't need one. D&D doesn't have one, never did. A lot of what I don't like about the various systems out there is I find their "fluff" to be restrictive. I don't want all the baggage that go with Jedi, or the Imperium, or Aslans, or Fraal. I guess say here is Oerth, here is Yavin, over there is Krynn and Vulcan and just let the universe take care of itself.
I guess until I find that perfect mix, I keep searching.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Star Wars d20
Hey all. I know I promised more Anime stuff today, but I work has got me buried. I did want to talk about something though really quick and that is the loss of the Star Wars RPG from Wizards.
I have not been a huge fan of Star Wars lately. I loved the movies as a kid, have tons of action figures and toys. I still have a couple of Boba Fetts (one I had to save proof of purchases for, one I bought) sitting on my desk. I went from being a hard core fan to a more relaxed one. I did like the newer movies despite HUGE plot holes (the first movie was about a trade agreement?? really??) and my kids love them. My adult tastes went more for Star Trek.
All the same I was disheartened to hear that Wizard's was pulling the plug on d20 Star Wars. I have (or rather my son has) the Revised d20 version. It is a bit like D&D 3 and so we have been adding it off and on to our regular D&D game (the previously mentioned Dragon Slayers game).
To me d20 and Star Wars seemed a perfect match. I think back to the late 70's and early 80's and what my obsessions were; Star Wars and D&D. Having played the game a bit I can see why some people don't like it and why some still prefer the WEG d6 version (I don't), but to me it just works. Stars Wars and D&D share history, they share a common place in the Gen X collective sub-conscious right there next to video games. To me D&D/d20 and Star Wars just belong together.
Plus, I have a long history of dissatisfaction with Sci-Fi games. It's odd really. I love Sci-Fi, but the RPGs I have tried (Traveler, Star Frontiers, Alternity) have left me feeling flat. Star Frontiers was my favorite. So I guess to me then, the perfect Sci-Fi game would have elements of Star Wars, Star Frontiers and Alternity all powered by the d20 system. That is also easy to do. I am a touch surprised I have not tried that yet.
Now I am fairly sure I will not use anything from the Saga Edition Star Wars, even if it has some improvements on the game. I like the Vitality/Wound system from the Revised system better and if I plan on adding in anything from d20 Future (to get my Star Frontiers and Alternity fix). Maybe this would even let me do myGreyhawk 2000, er Greyhawk 2500 game. I think the Star Wars universe is big enough for that and flexible enough too. Can't do that so much with Star Trek, despite how much I love it.
I am not sure who will be picking up the Star Wars game next, I am pretty sure I will check it out but not so sure I will buy it. In the mean time I think I am going to go to my FLGS and see what they still have for Star Wars.
All the same I was disheartened to hear that Wizard's was pulling the plug on d20 Star Wars. I have (or rather my son has) the Revised d20 version. It is a bit like D&D 3 and so we have been adding it off and on to our regular D&D game (the previously mentioned Dragon Slayers game).
To me d20 and Star Wars seemed a perfect match. I think back to the late 70's and early 80's and what my obsessions were; Star Wars and D&D. Having played the game a bit I can see why some people don't like it and why some still prefer the WEG d6 version (I don't), but to me it just works. Stars Wars and D&D share history, they share a common place in the Gen X collective sub-conscious right there next to video games. To me D&D/d20 and Star Wars just belong together.
Plus, I have a long history of dissatisfaction with Sci-Fi games. It's odd really. I love Sci-Fi, but the RPGs I have tried (Traveler, Star Frontiers, Alternity) have left me feeling flat. Star Frontiers was my favorite. So I guess to me then, the perfect Sci-Fi game would have elements of Star Wars, Star Frontiers and Alternity all powered by the d20 system. That is also easy to do. I am a touch surprised I have not tried that yet.
Now I am fairly sure I will not use anything from the Saga Edition Star Wars, even if it has some improvements on the game. I like the Vitality/Wound system from the Revised system better and if I plan on adding in anything from d20 Future (to get my Star Frontiers and Alternity fix). Maybe this would even let me do my
I am not sure who will be picking up the Star Wars game next, I am pretty sure I will check it out but not so sure I will buy it. In the mean time I think I am going to go to my FLGS and see what they still have for Star Wars.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
The Best (and Worst) of 2009
Normally I avoid these thing, since they are nothing but subjective opinion at best and ego-wanking at worst. But 2009 was a good year for RPGs and RPG fandom and I wanted to share my thoughts on that. So yeah. Ego-wanking.
Best RPG of 2009: Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space
An easy call really. The system is simple, the art and layout are the new high watermark for RPGs and it comes in a box with dice! In a year all about Retro- and Old School gaming, this is very cool. Of course Doctor Who and RPGs have had a long history together, even outside of the FASA game. Many of us became Who fans and gamers at the same time. Playing AD&D and watching Doctor Who on PBS was close to a geek universal for the early 80's. The new Who game is very much a product of this time. Newer easy to use mechanics, slick presentation and top notch design and layout. Course with the premise behind Who, time and space travel, then nearly anything can be played. Though I am hesitant to put outright magic in my Who game.
I hope to have more to say about this game in 2010.
Honorable Mention: Best RPG, Witch Girls Adventures
Prior to Doctor Who coming out, this was my favorite new game of 2009. There is a lot to like about WGA. Whatever I can't (or won't) do with Who I can do with this game. It has a great little magic system that you can port over to Savage Worlds or Cortex (both in a dire need of a good magic system), You can play a Harry Potter like game, or it can be played as is. I have blogged a quite bit out it already this year as you can see here.
Best Blogs
2009 was a year I stepped up my own blogging and was reading others. Some of the best were Hero Press for a solid rundown of a little bit of everything in fandom. Grognardia for EVERYTHING related to old school gaming, not just retro-clones mind you, but the genuine articles. Others worthy of note are Geek Othodox for a run down all sorts of geek culture related items such Mexican bootleg action figures. Playing D&D With Porn Stars which has to have the best name of a blog ever. Space: 1970 dedicated to all things Sci-fi from the 70's (and sometimes early 80's). And finally, Lair of the evil DM, which lives up to its claim as "Maxim Magazine for Gamers", which I think has shown more porn stars than PD&DWPS has.
I am sure there are others that are great as well, so if you have a blog and are reading mine, please feel free post a free advertisement here.
Year of the Retro-Clones
Spent a good part of this year playing, reading and working on retro-clones. My favorite was Spellcraft & Swordplay, a nice little take on OD&D with the original combat system in place and not the "alternate" d20 resolution that became the defacto means in later years. Other great ones were Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord, two takes on Basic D&D. I also was able to get myself a Christmas present last year and got a near mint D&D Rules Cyclopedia, so it was a good year for playing like it was 1981. All my posts regarding all the Retro Clone posts can be seen here. It was a good year for Retro Clones, I hope that 2010 proves to be as good.
The Worst: Outlaw Press
2009 also had it's share of "worsts" too. The worse of the worse had to be the massive theft of content by Outlaw Press, summarized here. It now seems that Outlaw Press is offline. It's website is down, there are no products on Amazon or Lulu. While I hate to see a small RPG company go out of business, Outlaw brought this all on themselves. I do hope that the artists that had their material stolen will get some satisfaction, but I am sure this will be pyrrhic victory at best.
Edition Wars
2009 opened with the latest round of Edtion Wars, namely 4th Ed D&D vs. Everything else. I am happy to say that save for some minor skirmishes this war is over. 2009 gave us more ways to play "D&D" than ever before. We had D&D 4th Ed, the new Pathfinder RPG (aka D&D 3.6), and all the Retro-clones, if there was a game you wanted to play chances are very good it was out there somewhere.
Games Not Published
In 2009 we still did not see publications of Ghosts of Albion or Chill.
Looking forward to 2010
Looks like I am going to get some more Who gaming in and that is good. Going to try converting some of my Ghosts of Albion material to other systems instead of letting it languish on my hard drive.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
BHB Review on RPG.net
Sorry all, been a busy couple of weeks.
Here is my review and discussion of Bounty Head Bebop on RPG.net.
Enjoy!
Here is my review and discussion of Bounty Head Bebop on RPG.net.
Enjoy!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Review: Bounty Head Bebop
“You know the first rule of combat? Shoot them before they shoot you.” - Faye Valentine, Cowboy Bebop.
Back in 1998 a new Anime appeared on the scene, something new called Cowboy Bebop. It dealt with the lives and misadventures of a group of bounty hunters in the solar system of the future that looked more like the wild west. There were guns, and terra-formed planets, a corrupt government, the mobs and of course lots of criminals. The crew of the Bebop spent their time doing jobs, keeping their ship together and avoiding starving. While this made for a great show in and of itself, the really cool thing about this were the characters. Larger than life, with secrets, agendas and a history of development that lead them to where they were at that point.
In other words a perfect setting for a Role Playing Game.
The game, Bounty Head Bebop, obviously takes some cues from the series. (AN ASIDE. I understand that this game was supposed to have been an officially licensed product, but I do not have anything to support that with. So instead of explaining all the time why they are the same, let’s just say they are cut from the same cloth and move on from there.)
Bounty Head Bebop (BHB), is a game where you can spend your time flying around a terra-formed solar system hunting down “bounty heads” for fun and profit. The game itself is a slick little RPG with a fun cinematic feel to it. It does what it says on the tin, and does it well.
BHB uses a system called the Inverted 20 system. Basically you have a Target Number (often set by the GM, with guidance), that is modified by ability, skill and or difficulties, your job is to roll that score or under (and different things happen if you hit the number or roll under). The die mechanic is really that simple. Anyone familiar with d20 will catch on fairly quickly despite the roll under mechanic. Now I will be honest, I am not a fan of roll under systems, but I think it works here. To me it seems that Anime based games work best as roll-under. Maybe it is all of those years of BESM or maybe it because it just provides me with a different feel.
Like other d20 games you attributes that despite the name changes look familiar, skills, various edges and flaws, all which work like GURPS. No need to reinvent the wheel, they work fine. Everything is point buy and you spend XP to raise them, like Unisystem.
Details
BHB does something REALLY nice here. Puts in a Character Creation Summary so you can get an overview of everything you need to do. Figure out everything in order.
Attributes look familiar if you have been playing any game at all. They are scored from 1 to 5 for starting characters, but can go up.
Imitative and Movement are derived. As are Saves, Wounds and Vitality points. All pretty simple to figure out.
Skills are next and they are divided up into General, Combat and Specialty. General skills are your everyday skills and like d20 are tied to a specific attribute. Combat skills allow you to fight. Want to be better at aiming or hitting with your fists, then improve the skill. Specialty and Advanced skills are those that you can’t do unless you have a level/points in them. Advanced skills are like advanced sciences.
Edges and Flaws work like GURPS or any other point buy system, though there are no points. You start out with 3 Edges and get up to 6 with 3 more Flaws. Edges can be bought with XPs and Flaws bought off. The list is pretty typical, your Hard to Kill, various “Gun Fu” moves, various pilot and criminal related Edges too. The list looked good and nothing jumped out at me as not being there. There are also various new Psychic/Feng-Shui powers too (details in a bit). And some computer related ones, with the promise of new book dedicated to hacking and the net (for your own “Radical” Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the IV). Now you don’t need to take any Flaws at all if you don’t want, but I think that might be missing the point of this game really. These characters are yes over the top Anime characters, but they also have issues.
Feng-Shui gets it own chapter and it is the province of the Inuit Indians (yeah, that confuses me too, but I’ll go with it). None of the powers seem out of control, so no anime style Ki based special fx here, but a lot of good solid powers. Danger Sense, Locate Objects, manipulate objects, things like that. More power masters can influence minds or regenerate their bodies. There are seven areas of power (spheres) you choose one and you progress through it. It reminds me of the pschic powers from AFMBE’s “Enter the Zombie”. Given that, an ability to bend bullets might be cool in this game. Of course with power comes psychotic episodes. Do it too much and you WILL go crazy, just like they said.
Given this chapter I can see, and hope that the cyber book works the same way.
A money and equipment chapter follows. Money, though very important to the focus of the game, is game mechanic rather than collected. Similar to D20 Modern in a way. And of course lots of guns, spaceships and other things you need, like food and permits. While money is always going to be an issue, since that is the primary motivation of the characters, doing the system like this was a nice cinematic way of dealing with things.
A chapter on “doing things” follows after that. It is your basic rules chapter, but most things are handled with the same mechanic, so this chapter breezes by. I appreciate transparency in my games. “You can do this and this is how you do it.” BHB takes the basic d20 system and really streamlines it to it’s barest essentials (even more so than True20) yet nothing seems lost. Thus this chapter is very short.
Combat is more involved, since the bounty heads aren’t likely to go quietly. The combat chapter is again, easy to read and uses the same simple mechanics. Skills and your rank in them are what is important here. This sets it off from the d20 crowds and puts it back into GURPS/Unisystem territory. In a neat twist you can use the same “to hit” roll as a damage roll, thus speeding up your games. There is logic in this and I like the effect.
The Setting Chapter both pleased me and irritated me. The solar system is the setting with a nearly uninhabited Earth and terra-formed planets and moons. Briefly object hits the Moon, destroys it, sends Earth into chaos where meteors rain every day. But some of those rocks were used to jump gate tech to allow quick travel throughout the solar system and was a key element in terra-forming.
Now humanity is all over the system. There is a real wild west feel to the plaents. Mars is the center of human population now, Venus is like a giant mob controlled Vegas, the moons of Jupiter have food production and so on and all have their own hazards. There is a Solar System wide police force, but they are few, overworked, underpaid and spread too thin. This gives us lots of crime and the opportunity for bounty hunters (like you!) to capture bad guys and bring them in for fun and profit. Mostly for profit.
What irritated me was that this chapter was so short. Sure, I know it is so I can later buy the Mars book or the Io book, but it just touched the surface. Yeah I could go back to the anime (or other shows, Blake’s 7 comes to mind) for ideas. But I was enjoying reading when it was over.
The book has a very nice index, a character sheet that looks familiar to us all and a summary page on how to spend XPs. But the coolest thing is the included adventure in the back. Gets you and going on your first Bounty Head hunt in no time. The adventure itself is good, and even shows you what can be done with the system in terms of story. Sure this could have been a simple bounty hunt, but this one has moral layers and corruption and the hosts of a “Big Shots” like show (nice touch).
What Did I Like?
Simple system, very easy to figure out. Plus it was also easy to figure out what to do with the game. Concepts came with every page (more or less).
The book itself has a nice simple layout and it is easy to find everything. Plus it “reads” well too. The text is concise and gets right to the point.
I also like the Luck and Surge points, which are basically like Drama Points or Hero Points.
What Didn’t I Like?
Still not a fan of roll under mechanics. They seem wrong to me. Would have loved more setting information and some basic computer hacking rules.
Other Notes
Art. The art is nice, but a lot of it is used again throughout the book. Pictures of some of the planets would be nice, what does Venus Vegas look like? How about the domes of Mars? That sort of thing.
What Can I do with This?
Well there is basic premise, go out and hunt bad guys. But there are plenty of other ideas.
The Stainless Steel Rat: Play the bad guys. Sure hunting them is fun, but wouldn’t it be more fun to be the bad guy or the mobsters avoiding the SSPB and the Bounty Hunters?
Reservoir Dogs: You get pulled into a heist gone really, really wrong.
The Usual Suspects: You bring in your small fry bounty head only to uncover that maybe, maybe the most notorious criminal mastermind might be involved or even one of your marks.
Witch Hunter Bebop: Let’s combine Sunrise’s two best anime ever, Cowboy Bebop and Witch Hunter Robin and make a game where you need to hunt down marks using their Feng-Shui powers illegally.
Firefly: Yeah it has a game and I really like Cortext, but I’ll be blunt here. There is nothing in Firefly that Cowboy Bebop didn’t do first and better and with a better soundtrack. You can do the same here. Plus the solar system of BHB makes more sense.
Who should get this?
If you like Anime or space adventures with bullets rather than lasers then this is your game. If you want to do something like Traveler but don’t want the overhead of the system or the mega-plot then this is your game. You might be able to do “Star Wars” or “Star Trek” but we have better choices for those games. This would be perfect for “Buck Rodgers” or “Flash Gordon” though and of course “Cowboy Bebop”.
In other words a perfect setting for a Role Playing Game.
The game, Bounty Head Bebop, obviously takes some cues from the series. (AN ASIDE. I understand that this game was supposed to have been an officially licensed product, but I do not have anything to support that with. So instead of explaining all the time why they are the same, let’s just say they are cut from the same cloth and move on from there.)
Bounty Head Bebop (BHB), is a game where you can spend your time flying around a terra-formed solar system hunting down “bounty heads” for fun and profit. The game itself is a slick little RPG with a fun cinematic feel to it. It does what it says on the tin, and does it well.
BHB uses a system called the Inverted 20 system. Basically you have a Target Number (often set by the GM, with guidance), that is modified by ability, skill and or difficulties, your job is to roll that score or under (and different things happen if you hit the number or roll under). The die mechanic is really that simple. Anyone familiar with d20 will catch on fairly quickly despite the roll under mechanic. Now I will be honest, I am not a fan of roll under systems, but I think it works here. To me it seems that Anime based games work best as roll-under. Maybe it is all of those years of BESM or maybe it because it just provides me with a different feel.
Like other d20 games you attributes that despite the name changes look familiar, skills, various edges and flaws, all which work like GURPS. No need to reinvent the wheel, they work fine. Everything is point buy and you spend XP to raise them, like Unisystem.
Details
BHB does something REALLY nice here. Puts in a Character Creation Summary so you can get an overview of everything you need to do. Figure out everything in order.
Attributes look familiar if you have been playing any game at all. They are scored from 1 to 5 for starting characters, but can go up.
Imitative and Movement are derived. As are Saves, Wounds and Vitality points. All pretty simple to figure out.
Skills are next and they are divided up into General, Combat and Specialty. General skills are your everyday skills and like d20 are tied to a specific attribute. Combat skills allow you to fight. Want to be better at aiming or hitting with your fists, then improve the skill. Specialty and Advanced skills are those that you can’t do unless you have a level/points in them. Advanced skills are like advanced sciences.
Edges and Flaws work like GURPS or any other point buy system, though there are no points. You start out with 3 Edges and get up to 6 with 3 more Flaws. Edges can be bought with XPs and Flaws bought off. The list is pretty typical, your Hard to Kill, various “Gun Fu” moves, various pilot and criminal related Edges too. The list looked good and nothing jumped out at me as not being there. There are also various new Psychic/Feng-Shui powers too (details in a bit). And some computer related ones, with the promise of new book dedicated to hacking and the net (for your own “Radical” Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the IV). Now you don’t need to take any Flaws at all if you don’t want, but I think that might be missing the point of this game really. These characters are yes over the top Anime characters, but they also have issues.
Feng-Shui gets it own chapter and it is the province of the Inuit Indians (yeah, that confuses me too, but I’ll go with it). None of the powers seem out of control, so no anime style Ki based special fx here, but a lot of good solid powers. Danger Sense, Locate Objects, manipulate objects, things like that. More power masters can influence minds or regenerate their bodies. There are seven areas of power (spheres) you choose one and you progress through it. It reminds me of the pschic powers from AFMBE’s “Enter the Zombie”. Given that, an ability to bend bullets might be cool in this game. Of course with power comes psychotic episodes. Do it too much and you WILL go crazy, just like they said.
Given this chapter I can see, and hope that the cyber book works the same way.
A money and equipment chapter follows. Money, though very important to the focus of the game, is game mechanic rather than collected. Similar to D20 Modern in a way. And of course lots of guns, spaceships and other things you need, like food and permits. While money is always going to be an issue, since that is the primary motivation of the characters, doing the system like this was a nice cinematic way of dealing with things.
A chapter on “doing things” follows after that. It is your basic rules chapter, but most things are handled with the same mechanic, so this chapter breezes by. I appreciate transparency in my games. “You can do this and this is how you do it.” BHB takes the basic d20 system and really streamlines it to it’s barest essentials (even more so than True20) yet nothing seems lost. Thus this chapter is very short.
Combat is more involved, since the bounty heads aren’t likely to go quietly. The combat chapter is again, easy to read and uses the same simple mechanics. Skills and your rank in them are what is important here. This sets it off from the d20 crowds and puts it back into GURPS/Unisystem territory. In a neat twist you can use the same “to hit” roll as a damage roll, thus speeding up your games. There is logic in this and I like the effect.
The Setting Chapter both pleased me and irritated me. The solar system is the setting with a nearly uninhabited Earth and terra-formed planets and moons. Briefly object hits the Moon, destroys it, sends Earth into chaos where meteors rain every day. But some of those rocks were used to jump gate tech to allow quick travel throughout the solar system and was a key element in terra-forming.
Now humanity is all over the system. There is a real wild west feel to the plaents. Mars is the center of human population now, Venus is like a giant mob controlled Vegas, the moons of Jupiter have food production and so on and all have their own hazards. There is a Solar System wide police force, but they are few, overworked, underpaid and spread too thin. This gives us lots of crime and the opportunity for bounty hunters (like you!) to capture bad guys and bring them in for fun and profit. Mostly for profit.
What irritated me was that this chapter was so short. Sure, I know it is so I can later buy the Mars book or the Io book, but it just touched the surface. Yeah I could go back to the anime (or other shows, Blake’s 7 comes to mind) for ideas. But I was enjoying reading when it was over.
The book has a very nice index, a character sheet that looks familiar to us all and a summary page on how to spend XPs. But the coolest thing is the included adventure in the back. Gets you and going on your first Bounty Head hunt in no time. The adventure itself is good, and even shows you what can be done with the system in terms of story. Sure this could have been a simple bounty hunt, but this one has moral layers and corruption and the hosts of a “Big Shots” like show (nice touch).
What Did I Like?
Simple system, very easy to figure out. Plus it was also easy to figure out what to do with the game. Concepts came with every page (more or less).
The book itself has a nice simple layout and it is easy to find everything. Plus it “reads” well too. The text is concise and gets right to the point.
I also like the Luck and Surge points, which are basically like Drama Points or Hero Points.
What Didn’t I Like?
Still not a fan of roll under mechanics. They seem wrong to me. Would have loved more setting information and some basic computer hacking rules.
Other Notes
Art. The art is nice, but a lot of it is used again throughout the book. Pictures of some of the planets would be nice, what does Venus Vegas look like? How about the domes of Mars? That sort of thing.
What Can I do with This?
Well there is basic premise, go out and hunt bad guys. But there are plenty of other ideas.
The Stainless Steel Rat: Play the bad guys. Sure hunting them is fun, but wouldn’t it be more fun to be the bad guy or the mobsters avoiding the SSPB and the Bounty Hunters?
Reservoir Dogs: You get pulled into a heist gone really, really wrong.
The Usual Suspects: You bring in your small fry bounty head only to uncover that maybe, maybe the most notorious criminal mastermind might be involved or even one of your marks.
Witch Hunter Bebop: Let’s combine Sunrise’s two best anime ever, Cowboy Bebop and Witch Hunter Robin and make a game where you need to hunt down marks using their Feng-Shui powers illegally.
Firefly: Yeah it has a game and I really like Cortext, but I’ll be blunt here. There is nothing in Firefly that Cowboy Bebop didn’t do first and better and with a better soundtrack. You can do the same here. Plus the solar system of BHB makes more sense.
Who should get this?
If you like Anime or space adventures with bullets rather than lasers then this is your game. If you want to do something like Traveler but don’t want the overhead of the system or the mega-plot then this is your game. You might be able to do “Star Wars” or “Star Trek” but we have better choices for those games. This would be perfect for “Buck Rodgers” or “Flash Gordon” though and of course “Cowboy Bebop”.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Doctor Who RPG
My friend the The Acrobatic Flea over at Hero Press is discussing the new Doctor Who RPG from Cubicle Seven.
The Doctor Who RPG: What We Know...
As a playtester I can't discuss much about this game. But I am happy to have TAF do it for me.
I will say this. It will be awesome. EVEN IF I didn't know anything about the game, I know Dave Chapman from working on Con X 2.0 and other projects. And Cubicle 7 is a bunch of great guys, so it will have good support.
I am totally geeking over the fact that it will be a boxed set.
I am just bummed I will have to wait so long to see it.
The Doctor Who RPG: What We Know...
As a playtester I can't discuss much about this game. But I am happy to have TAF do it for me.
I will say this. It will be awesome. EVEN IF I didn't know anything about the game, I know Dave Chapman from working on Con X 2.0 and other projects. And Cubicle 7 is a bunch of great guys, so it will have good support.
I am totally geeking over the fact that it will be a boxed set.
I am just bummed I will have to wait so long to see it.
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