Re: [BNW] Brave New World in the bargain bin

[Theron Bretz <tbretz@mciworld.com>]

> Well lemme be the first to say that this would be a shame. Now while some
> people have problems with the powers system. I think it suits the world
> perfectly. In my opinion it beats the new Marvel system and DC system.

Which serve entirely different purposes.  BNW is not a superhero game.  It's
about superpowered resistance fighters in a fascist state.  The new Marvel
system (the SAGA-based one, I presume) is aimed at big heroic four-color
stuff, not gun-toting street level revolutionaries.  As to the new DC
system, well, saying BNW is better than that is like saying a formula one
car is faster than my Tercel.  Frankly, I think Superhero 2044 was better
than DC Universe, and SH2044 didn't really have any rules.  WEG really
dropped the ball on that one, IMHO.

> Also I think its a shame that BNW stuff is in the bargain bin. Afterall
> Pinnacle is the third largest gaming company as far as retail sales go. (I
> know Alderac is producing the game now instead of Pinnacle, but Matt is
> still one of the best designers in the industry.)

I hope you won't mind a counter-rant :-)

I agree that Matt's a talented designer (I don't know if he's one of the
best, as my short list for that title are Laws, Tweet, Allston, Stolze, and
Tynes.  But I digress...).  However, it doesn't change the fact that the way
the powers were split between two pricey books left a bad taste in the
mouths of a lot of gamers (myself included).  Add to this the fact that the
power curve on the characters isn't very wide (great for short term game
balance, lousy for long-term character improvement), and I get leery of the
long term possibilities.

Finally, one gets to the background, which just made me laugh.  Perhaps it's
because I've been reading through three different dystopian superhuman
settings recently (BNW, Aberrant, and UNsanctioned), or maybe it's because
of my background as a historian, but I just found the whole 'King Jack'
premise absolutely farcical.  Add to this the introduction of Roman Catholic
super-priests and Delta Prime armoured troopers, each with his own personal
gadgeteer keeping his armor running, and the cracks really begin to show (at
least UNsanctioned is intentionally funny).  Finally, with the errors in the
narrative (was there a Cuban Delta Crisis or not?) the whole house of cards
just came tumbling down for me.  And now that it seems we're on the AEG
"we'll give you one tablespoon of meta-plot per splatbook" approach to
what's actually going on, it really wouldn't matter what I run because in
short order, my own campaign would quickly bear little resemblance to the
ongoing feature story.  The maxim these days in gaming is "settings sell,
not systems".  Given that, I want a setting that is internally consistent
and well thought-out, two things I just don't see in BNW.

So, why am I here on this list?  Believe it or not, it's not to slam BNW.
There are some aspects of the system I actually like (the ultra-low powered
characters aren't one of them, but I've been gaming long enough to come up
with fixes to that).  The combat and task resolution systems seem relatively
clean, clean enough to file the numbers off and bolt on a more detailed
system of power building.  Clearly some other folks on this list are looking
to do the same.  In short, I'm looking for a fairly simple system to use in
a world of my own creation, which allows for superpowered people who are
still liable to rack up a body count when it hits the fan.  BNW actually
fulfills a couple of these criteria.  I'm here looking for ideas which could
help it achieve the others.

Theron
Houston