[BNW] Death of a Campaign

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

First of all, a few clarifications:

I remain interested in playing, discussing, and demoing Brave New World.  
The first part of this post reflects my players' impressions of the game.  
it's not really a matter up for discussion, as it represents their opinions. 
  So trying to discuss here with me about how my players felt will probably 
be a moot point, and I wouldn't recommend it.

The second part is my own observations on the game.  I am, as always, 
willing to discuss those, although keep in mind that again, they are my 
personal opinions, albeit ones formed by twenty years of game *woo woo* and 
writing for a number of game systems, including specifically super-hero 
RPGs.

*****

After four sessions, our local campaign is officially over for the time 
being.  We had taken a break from playing Pinnacle's Hell on Earth shortly 
after I had picked up the game, as I enjoyed the game (both mechanics and 
background) and my group was obliging enough to indulge me.

Basically, my folks weren't that interested in playing.

One player (the Sneak character) was "bored."

Another character was of the opinion that he wanted to play superheroes, and 
that BNW didn't have the feel of a superhero game.

We switched back to Hell on Earth.

*****

Okay, my comments.

As far as boredom, our weekly sessions are chronicled at my site, so you can 
check for yourself to see if it was boring.  Granted, this is an subjective 
kind of thing anyway.  However, see my previous comments on "Sneak=weak?" as 
far as why this player may have been bored.

I would tend to agree with the other player's comments.  For someone who 
wishes to play a superhero RPG, and is a fan of the comics (well the 
mainstream comics that my folks read), Brave New World indeed lacks somewhat 
of a superhero "feel."  Your power package still tends to define your 
character.  But you merely have one real "power," and the rest of it is a 
fairly normal skill-based system.  A Blaster is a Blaster is a Blaster.

Some "powers" just don't have the feel of...well, superhero "powers."  A 
Sneak is a guy who is good at stealth.  What is the difference between 
Sneak, and a guy who eventually buys 10 skill levels of Stealth and a pair 
of night-vision goggles? A Genius is merely a guy with extra skill levels in 
Smarts stuff.  A Gunner, a guy who gets one extra success with Shooting and 
initiative.

There are certainly power packages with a "superhero" feel that aren't just 
"X to Attribute/Skill 1, and Y to Attribute/Skill 2."  Oddly, though, these 
are usually the ones that are accused of being unbalanced (Blaster and 
Teleporter come to mind).

As per the accumulated rulings, I get the point that BNW wasn't intended to 
be "Superhero: The Generic Role-Playing Game."  But...the non-specific 
nature of the power packages do tend to make BNW kinda...well, generic.  The 
packages don't really put you into the "right kind of...power levels 
straight away" because they're so varied in degrees of power.

Certainly the BNW _setting_ isn't generic, and that's a good thing.  But 
actually the power packages are _more_ generic than what a hero character 
might have in another game.  Again, a Blaster is a Blaster is a Blaster.  
Each Blaster does X amount of damage, has a ROF of Y, and Z range increment. 
  Each Gunner gets exactly one extra success when shooting and one extra 
action.

Does this basic "power package" system simplify the game?  Well, sure - it's 
easier than the min/max many-powers point system of, say, Champions or 
GURPS.  However, it is still difficult to hand off a character to a new 
player for a demo session.  You have to explain Tricks.  You have to explain 
Quirks and what each one does.  Hero creation is still not "a snap," nor is 
introducing the game in a demo setting.

Also, because the BNW world is not "our" world (as opposed to a generic 
Marvel/DC/"superheroes in otherwise normal reality" kind of world), some of 
that time you save by not having to explain complicated power systems is 
taken up by explaining the "facts of life" to the players.  Again, BNW's 
unique setting is a _good_ thing, but it does inhibit getting into the 
characters right away.

BNW is undoubtedly simpler in its power package approach than, say, 
Champions or GURPS.  However, there are other superhero RPGs that have been 
out there that are not as complicated (the original DC Heroes RPG comes to 
mind, as does Villains & Vigilantes if you want to go _way_ back...).  I 
think min/maxing is a bad thing (who doesn't, except when it's your turn to 
play and you want to do it ;) ).  But part of the desire to "build your own 
character" is not just that, but to create a unique superhero to your 
personal taste.  BNW kind of takes away from that.  And it seems to be 
deliberate.

Matt notes in the accumulated rulings that he "heartily recommend(s) using 
the Champion or GURPS rules to build your heroes to YOUR OWN TASTE."  (my 
emphasis) and I think this is key.  The implication is that if you play BNW, 
you are building your heroes (at least as far as their powers) to someone 
else's taste rather than your own.  RPGs are based on imagination - 
sacrificing that to build the essence of your Delta, his superpower, to 
someone else's tastes seems contradictory.

That's not to say you couldn't still have superheroes with low-end powers.  
But IMO, you build the low-end limit into the system and let the players 
then build to their own tastes.  There's a difference between "taste" and 
"power level."  BNW not only restricts the power level of Deltas (a 
perfectly good thing to do), but only restricts the tastes of the players to 
have his Delta have the type of power he wants him to have.

Maybe this'll change down the road, with the release of Crossroads or 
whatever.  If so, I'll duly note it then.  But that's the situation, IMO, 
now.

The game systems are serviceable - I wouldn't mind incorporating them into 
Pinnacle's Deadlands/Hell on Earth Line.  I'm probably too lazy to do it any 
time soon, though.  I do wish some of them were explained better.  The fact 
that there are several serious (to my mind) errors or omissions in the book 
(messed up healing rules, the fact there's a 10-point cap on Positive 
Quirks) strike me as a blow against the game in general, though.  As a 
playtester myself, I would have to note that the rulebook should probably 
have gone through one more revision/review.  Alternately, some stuff seems 
to have been caught but was never corrected, or the correction were later 
lost.

It also strikes me that some of the stuff is pretty much unplayable as is.  
Bargainers come to mind.  Not only is the TN to actually build a Totem 
absurdly high (30?!?), but the general concept is somewhat ill-defined.  I 
have no problem with the "buy the supplement to play this character fully" 
approach per se (I'm fine with it in Deadlands and Hell on Earth), but at 
least in the cases of Hucksters, Doomsayers, Sykers, et. al, at least there 
was enough there to _do_ something with until the supplements came out.

Ditto (almost) for the Gadgeteer.  Again, I can see the point in avoiding a 
point-based system for a player to build to his tastes, but BNW seems to 
have gone too far the other route.  The rules therein (basically "push it 
until the Guide decides it's broken - then he should shut you down") are 
remarkably vague.  Basically, from reading the Gadgeteer rules you get the 
impression that the package might as well be called "Power Suiter."  No 
effort is made to in any way correct that impression.

An experienced Guide and an experienced Gadgeteering player could certainly 
have fun with this.  But part of the simplified power packages (I thought) 
was to make the game more easily accessible.  This kind of thing makes it 
_less_ accessible for the low-end Guide/player, unless they just settle for 
Generic By The Book Power Armor.

If there wasn't enough room, then it might have better off merely to omit 
these packages entirely rather than include vague and confusing guidelines.  
As it is, it's a double pity because the Bargainer and the Gadgeteer are two 
Power Packages that to some degree _do_ allow you to build characters' 
powers to your own taste, rather than limitations placed on you by the 
author's taste.  (And noting again that "taste" and "power level" are two 
different things.)

I'm all for a Guide being called upon to apply their own discretion.  
But...that shouldn't be an excuse to leave the Guide without _any_ 
guidelines, or to give poor ones.  Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but rules exist, 
IMO, to give all Guides and players a basic framework with which to work 
within and _then_ apply their own discretion.

The BNW world setting is an interesting and varied one, although there are a 
few seeming contradictions (the government both encourages distrust of 
Deltas and sometimes makes them major commercial spokesmen??).  This seems 
to kinda blunt the social commentary intended.  Or maybe not.  Your mileage 
may vary. :)

Anyhoo, I don't mean to sound too harsh.  I'm gearing up to run some demos 
this weekend, will continue to support the game at my web site, intend to do 
whatever I can to push and promote the game however possible.  But I do so 
as a Guide.  As a player I can sympathize with some of the problems my own 
players noted.  I wouldn't require a point-heavy power-building system...but 
I do want to build characters to my own taste.  BNW doesn't seem to want you 
to do that (judging from Matt's published statements, by saying if you want 
to build to your tastes, play Champions or GURPS) and may have perhaps gone 
too far in the other direction.  Superhero powers do lie at the core of a 
superhero character, and the players I have seem to expect that.

Oh well, let the brickbats fly... :)

---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/

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