RE: [BNW] Glory Days Questions

[Scott Raby <sraby@asymtek.com>]

>I think they have their use as PCs...but it depends on what kind of
campaign 
>you're running. If I had, say, a Defiance team that was trying to track
down 
>rogue Deltas and find new ones, a Hunter would be fairly useful.

True, it depends on the setting etc.. Say "A-team"  B.A. could be a gadget
or Ace with high STR, Face would be I think a Charmer (could also be used as
a translator with high Spirit and lots of bluff, etc..) Murdock an Ace (with
a few quirks), and Hannibal a genius (with good Shooting skill). Want to do
Mission Impossible, take a translator (again with high Spirit), a sneak, a
changeling, add in a gageter, or genius perhaps a gasser, or blaster. But
the more subtler deltas would work better. Same kind of setup for say a
"dirty dozen" kind of game.

>Once you overlook the location-specific range of packages, I actually 
>thought that the GD packages were in general were _more_ powerful on
average 
>than in previous books. There's nothing to rival a Charger or a Bomber or 
>Goliath, but at least most of them have _some_ kind of combat application, 
>as well as other uses as well. Jungler and Dunemaster (and maybe Wereshark)

>are pretty much useless outside their locale.  That leaves us with 7 
>packages.  Ace is about on a par with other skill-boosters, although a bit 
>less combat-oriented.  Translator is useless.  That leaves us with 5 pretty

>decent mid-range (or slightly higher) effectiveness Power Packages that 
>would work modern-day.

True, I thought that it provided a good selection of packages. Some were
more specialized then others, but at some point it had to happen.

>(Maybe we should work out a numerical 1-10 ranking system for powers so
that 
>we can make such comparisons on a book-by-book comparison?  Lets see, with 
>Blaster at 10 and Translator at 1...  ;) )

This could come in handy too for setting up a game, then you could gauge the
power level of the players. You could also use this as a guide for making
PC's, you could say ok pick a rank 4-8 power or some such, say for espionage
games pick 1-6 or something like that. 

>I note that no one has addressed my concerns regarding the
>bookkeeping aspect of the Translator, but in conjunction with other
>comments, I can't imagine it being a really interesting one to play
>in a general campaign.  It would have to be one designed around
>needing a Translator or most of the time he's as useful as the
>Dunemaster would be in Crescent City.  "Ok, Tongues, you taunt the
>villian in as many languages as you can, while I blast him!"  One
>high on espionage might work well, however--for a DP campaign working
>outside the US, frex.  But even still...

Well, ya you would have to set up the games differently for a group with
lots of non-combat powers then for a group with lots of combat powers. take
the X-men for example in the early days they fought guys who Spiderman could
take down, then in the 80's they fought more powerful villains (or moral
dilemmas that their powers could not defeat, and they had to think more then
shoot/punch).

>As I noted, I would agree that the Translator seems to be the most 
>NPC-oriented of the Power Packages to date, managing to beat out Hacker.

True.

>Jennifer
>
>The White Crow

>Steve Crow

>"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

CPL. Raby