Re: [HoE] Hell on Earth & Car Wars

[Darrin Bright <darrin@neobright.net>]

PEGHopler@aol.com wrote:

> As the hack who wrote the "kludge" work, I've got a few bones to pick.

Oops. Meesa got lotsa apologizin' to do. I wasn't trying to hit a nerve... to many
poor word choices, and it appears I was ragging big-time on Road Warriors. Before
we get into nitpicking rules, though, let me just say this:

Do I own Car Wars? No.
Do I own Road Warriors? Yes. This is the best apology I can think of, John. I did
put money in your pocket.

Was I happy with the purchase? Well, Road Warriors wasn't quite up there with Last
Crusaders, CotA and such, but I'm not unhappy with it. It was a good, solid PEG
product, and I should have made it clear that any problems I had with the system
were secondary to the respect for all the work the writer put into it.

> First, I freely admit I've played Car Wars. When I was in high school, my
> brother and I played lots of Car Wars (and that was back in the "old days"
> when the game came in a little zip-lock baggy). Was I influenced by the game?
> Sure, but show me a game designer who says he wasn't influenced by other
> games he's played and I'll show you a liar.

Yes, the WW games are definately taking on a PEG look if you ask me... but let's
not go there. Sorry, I didn't mean to accuse you of stealing from SJGames' Car
Wars. I *LIKE* game designers being influenced by other games, and I think its
great for the industry to borrow and share ideas. It makes better games for all of
us. To sum up:

Are they similar? Yes.
Do I mind? Not at all. Of the two products discussed, I picked PEGs over SJG.

What I was trying to say was that Car Wars has been around a very very long time,
the rules are balanced (other than the beer fridge thing and the occasional photon
torpedo), and there are a lot of older gamers who know the system backwards and
forwards and can calculate ramming damage in their sleep. I should have said Car
Wars is just as kludgy and hacked together (some of Kovalic's Murphy's Rules have
already been mentioned) but more familiar to older gamers. That's what I was
trying to say, but it came out as a major slam on all the work you did, which
isn't right. Sorry about that. If I was really ticked off about your product, I
would have given a more in-depth review with more specific criticisms.

It looks like both systems can be integrated pretty well with one another if you
want to go with the best of both worlds. Car Wars has more to offer by way of a
huge wealth of information on specific engines, chassis and vehicle-mounted
weapons, but you've got the more superior RPG system worked into the vehicle
rules. Your rules are a little faster but to be honest I haven't played with them
enough to make any meaningful comparisons. Tell ya what... next time I make it out
to a Con, feel free to drag me into an arena and turn me into confetti.