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I picked this up because I saw it in another SSD product and it is perfect for a warlock character I have in D&D4.
Plus it was under a buck.
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I will admit it, I am a big fan of Spectrum Games. I think they are one of best at genre emulation, really getting down to the essence of what makes the experience and trying to encapsulate that into a game.
As examples I will point to the reviews I did of Cartoon Action Hour and Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul. Given that it is the month of Halloween and I am all about horror movies, I think a review of Slasher Flick is appropriate.
I am actually going to review the Director's Cut which came out a while back. I know, I am quite remiss at reviewing this. There is also a regular version, Slasher Flick, which I have, but have not looked at in a while.
What is Slasher Flick: Director's Cut? Well simply put, it is an RPG where you play characters (emphasis on the plural) in a slasher film. You need to survive, but are expected to die.
Chapter 1 is our Introduction. It covers what is role-playing, what is fear, and what is a slasher flick and why you should play this game.
Chapter 2 covers the basics of Slasher Films. If you have ever read onr of Spectrum Games books before you know what you are getting here. In this book we cover the Killer, who is not really an NPC, but a plot device. I refer to these types of characters as "fists of the game master", they are here to punish the behavior of the characters in the most horrific way possible. The more horrific the better. There is a listing of a bunch of slasher film cliches as well. In this game you don't subvert the cliche (which is by the way cliche itself now) but instead you embrace them. That noise you hear was just a cat, THEN the killer jumps out. That sort of thing.
We wrap up with one of my favorite parts of all the Spectrum Games books. Cynthia's Guide to...this time it is here thoughts on various Slasher Flicks. All sorts are listed here and what she thought about them. Frankly this gold if you love horror movies like I do. Between this, CAH and CCVF I would love to see Cynthia Celeste Miller's video collection!
Chapter 3 is the rules. There are a couple of really cool features here. First are characters. You get to play a Primary Character, aka the starts of the "Flick" (an adventure) and some Secondary Characters. These characters can either be played by a particular player OR (and this is nice) they can be shared. So I can have my Primary character and then play what Secondary character I need.
Secondary Characters are here to get killed. They are the victims of our Slasher. Primary Characters might get killed too. But if they do it won't be till near the end. So don't get too attached to characters!
The characters have 4 basic stats. from the book:
Brawn: The character’s physical strength, resilience, toughness and
stamina.
Finesse: The character’s agility, coordination, balance and reflexes.
Brains: The character’s intelligence, perception and knowledge.
Spirit: The character’s willpower, charisma, leadership and luck.
These define what you can do in most cases. They are all rated Poor, Normal or Good. Remember, you are playing teens and college age people here. Each of these are given a die type d10, d8 and d6 respectively. You roll two die per stat being tested (the director decides which two). You want pairs. so on two d6s (representing Good on a stat) you need (1,1)(2,2)(3,3)(4,4)(5,5) or (6,6) or 6 results out of a total of 36, or 1 in 6. Roll a (6,6) on a d6 is the same as doing it on a d8 or d10, but some scenes in the Flick might require something special and rolling a "Topper" will be better.
You also have various qualities (positive or negative) you can add to these, like “scrappy fighter” (Brawn) or "great with gadgets (Brains)". These can add (or subtract) die from your rolls. You still only need two matches to get a success.
Special situations such as "Freak Outs" and "Kill Scenes" are detailed. Note, not much really on combat or other skills. This because the characters are expected to run when confronted with the Killer/Slasher.
Chapter 4 Covers Creating Characters. Characters are built using stereotypes. This is a Slasher Flick after all. You are not playing Biff, the guy with a d6 in Brawn and a d10 in Brains, you are Biff, the Dumb Jock. Now lots of stereotypes are presented and a lot of Qualities. But you are free to make up your own. There are also some "Alterations" such as special abilities that can cost Genre Points. Like the girl with psychic powers (cost) or the Scream Queen which gives you points when you scream and the Slasher could hear it.
Chapter 5 is aimed at the Players. This includes advice on how to best play the game and acting like a character in a horror movie. Things like "Interact!", "Play Dumb!", "Accept Death!". There is also advice on how to play the secondary characters aka victims in the game.
Chapter 6 is for the Director. This details running the game; Preparing the Flick and making your Killer. There are sample Killers here and lots and lots of advice on how to cover a variety of scenes. In fact this chapter alone is great for it's utlity for other horror-themed games.
Chapter 7 is Quick Flicks, a bunch of Plot ideas to build a full Flick around.
Chapter 8 is The Vault, a full Flick to run.
In truth both chapters could be ported over to nearly any other horror game. Turn the killer into a Villain and it could be a plot for a Supers game.
The Appendix is nearly 55 pages of nothing but character Archetypes. Usually 2 per page. If you want to play right away you can take one of these out and use them. They work for Secondary Characters too.
All in all, this is a ridiculously fun game. It has the right amount of horror, camp and humor to be a perfect slasher flick emulation. While reading I kept thinking back to all the slasher flicks I have seen over the years and frankly I could not think of a one that I couldn't do with these rules.
Actually my thought also was that take the Slasher, make him more mundane and a Tertiary Character and you have a perfect Alfred Hitchcock or Agatha Christie like game.
My hat is off to Cynthia Celeste Miller and Spectrum Games once again.
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The latest Doctor Who source book is out for the "Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Game".
This book is the UNIT source book, "Defending the Earth".
Like all the Who books this one is full color. While it skews more to the new Who series, there in a lot of Classic Who material here including stats for the 3rd Doctor (Jon Pertwee).
The UNIT (United Intelligence Taskforce) is tasked by the UN with protecting the Earth from Alien threats. This book allows you to create UNIT bases, personal and comes with two sample adventures.
In many ways a UNIT based game can be more interesting that a Doctor-based one. In this everyone can have a nicely defined role. You have field scientists, soldiers of all sorts and even civilians.
Among the features of this book are the expanded firearms and mass combat rules. The History of UNIT. Personnel, which includes plenty of new traits for military, science and civilians. And two UNIT based adventures.
This is one of my favorite sourcebooks for DW so far. Not just because of the limitless possibilities, but also because there is more attention paid to the older series than other books (note I am not saying this is a flaw of the other books, but it is a nice feature of this one).
I also see this as one of the more flexible books. You can set up a small UNIT command base and let the wackiness ensue. In fact, my own playtests adventures with DW could easily be converted into a UNIT game. Think back to the 3rd Doctor's adventures, these were mostly Earth based with UNIT. All of those are great ideas for a game. Or even the Sarah Jane Adventures.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out the cross-game compatibility with this and Primeval. While such a thing is never stated in either book and I am certain that it was not design consideration, there is nothing the ARC can't do that UNIT can't also do and visa-versa. By adding them together you get something very cool AND adventures to last for a couple of campaigns.
As with all books in this line, it is full color, well laid out and full of stills from the show.
A great addition to the collections of gamers or Who fans.
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Less a preview and more of a commercial for WGA 2.0. Still the art is nice and I would have liked to seen a preview of something new in this edition. WGA 1.0 is a great game so my hopes are very high.
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Great as an ice witch, frost hag or a female elemental. Easy to read and understand license.
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Great little system that is easy to learn and fast to play. Has one of the neatest looking character sheets I have ever seen.
The free version has me very curious about the full version and I have already picked up Verne (Victorian Fantasy for EABA).
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Great introduction to Kerberos club. If you enjoy Victorian games or settings then this is a must get.
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Set of paper minis to use in any game. Well done, though I tend to prefer illustrations over the 3D computer art, but these are good.
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A lot of what is in SAS d20 can be found in BESM 3.0 and SAS. A lot. So much that I wish I had just one omnibus edition with say a d20 conversion chapter. Almost all the attributes have the same (or similar) point spread across all the systems and to convert to d20 from Tri-Stat is often just a matter of doubling the points. BESM d20 includes rules for converting the D&D and d20 Mod classes to their point system so I am not at a lack of choices. I did notice right away that BESM d20's Dynamic Sorcerer is not 100% compatible with SAS d20's Costumed Wizard; and similar inconsistencies have popped up. There are also minor balance issues between the SAS classes and between the SAS and BESM classes.
Levels, Classes and Hit Points
Ok, lets get this out of the way now. SAS d20 both have levels, classes and hitpoints. I typically find that people can deal with one, but not the other, and rarely both unless it's D&D. On the surface level can convert roughly to M&M's PL, rough enough that I am going to say it's fine and not worry about it. But Hit Points do not work with M&M's Damage system.
And then there are Classes.
While some don't like this, I think it works well in terms of Anime, but less so for Supers. Ok for the most part these can be ignored since they only decide what powers a character will get and when, what Hit Die, attacks and saves. We can convert the Classes to archetypes but we are still stuck with levels. It is d20 after all.
The SAS d20 classes felt too restrictive. The classes in BESM d20 seem to work better for me. One thing I wanted to do was stat up my son's favorite female super heroes Fire and Ice, but the closest thing that seems to work is "Adventurer" with maybe some "Acrobat"? Not very satisfying. At this point I go to my d20 Modern and Mutants & Masterminds to get an idea what levels might be the best.
Once that is out of the way the rest actually falls into place really nice.
What gets me about SAS d20 is the huge amount of untapped potential here. There is just a ton of stuff in this book for the taking.
Plus SAS has the best super-hero history I ever read was in the pages of a Supers RPG. They are the same in both the d20 and Tri-Stat versions (another grumble). SAS looks like it should mix well with M&M but I guess they are really too close to each other that their differences are more obvious. It's a shame that SAS never really got it's due. It does read like a rough draft of M&M at times.
Is SAS d20 a great Supers game? Hard to say. It has a lot going for it and in some ways is a better d20 game than Mutants and Masterminds is.
I have to reiterate what a shame it is that we lost GoO. I know companies come and go all the time and each time something unique to the industry is lost. Not to say there were not issues with GoO; there were plenty, and they were hardly a model of how to run a business. It is just too bad that what they provided to the game industry is now gone.
This game is so close to a 5 out of 5 for me. The flaws are only more vivid because so much of this game is so good.
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A lot of what is in BESM d20 can be found in BESM 3.0 and SAS d20. A lot. So much that I wish I had just one omnibus edition with say a d20 conversion chapter. Almost all the attributes have the same (or similar) point spread across all the systems and to convert to d20 from Tri-Stat is often just a matter of doubling the points. BESM d20 includes rules for converting the D&D and d20 Mod classes to their point system so I am not at a lack of choices. I did notice right away that BESM d20's Dynamic Sorcerer is not 100% compatible with SAS d20's Costumed Wizard; and similar inconsistencies have popped up. There are also minor balance issues between the SAS classes and between the SAS and BESM classes.
Levels, Classes and Hit Points
Ok, lets get this out of the way now. BESM d20 and SAS d20 both have levels, classes and hitpoints. I typically find that people can deal with one, but not the other, and rarely both unless it's D&D. On the surface level can convert roughly to M&M's PL, rough enough that I am going to say it's fine and not worry about it. But Hit Points do not work with M&M's Damage system.
And then there are Classes.
While some don't like this, I think it works well in terms of Anime, but less so for Supers. Ok for the most part these can be ignored since they only decide what powers a character will get and when, what Hit Die, attacks and saves. BESM d20 offers a classless option which should work fine for the class haters out there. Also BESM d20 deconstructs the D&D classes by what they get with points to show their relative merits (useful for anyone playing D&D). We can convert the Classes to archetypes but we are still stuck with levels. It is d20 after all.
The Classes in BESM d20 seem to work better for me. The SAS d20 classes felt too restrictive. One thing I wanted to do was stat up my son's favorite female super heroes Fire and Ice, but the closest thing that seems to work is "Adventurer" with maybe some "Acrobat"? Not very satisfying. At this point I go to my d20 Modern and Mutants & Masterminds to get an idea what levels might be the best.
Once that is out of the way the rest actually falls into place really nice.
What gets me about BESM d20 is the huge amount of untapped potential here. There is just a ton of stuff in this book for the taking. Same with SAS. Speaking of SAS, the best super-hero history I ever read was in the pages of SAS. They are the same in both the d20 and Tri-Stat versions (another grumble). SAS looks like it should mix well with M&M but I guess they are really too close to each other that their differences are more obvious. It's a shame that SAS never really got it's due. It does read like a rough draft of M&M at times.
Is BESM d20 Anime? Well I guess I have to ask, what is Anime? BESM d20 is a good d20 version of BESM. I am not convinced though it taps into that collective known as "Anime" as well as BESM 2 or 3 does. I have played more BESM d20 than BESM 3 so to me it came off more like "Cartoon Cinematic d20". Which is in itself not so bad. I have mixed BESM d20 and D&D3 and gotten something a bit more cinematic. I have also mixed BESM d20 with d20 Star Wars for some really weird stuff, but all of it fun.
As I wrap up BESM (all versions) I have to reiterate what a shame it is that we lost GoO. I know companies come and go all the time and each time something unique to the industry is lost. Not to say there were not issues with GoO; there were plenty, and they were hardly a model of how to run a business. It is just too bad that what they provided to the game industry is now gone.
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I came to this game late. I picked up BESM 2.0 at a game auction and really dug it’s simple style, flexibility and shear “funness” of the game. GoO may be no more and BESM 3.0 is the current version, I still need to do something with all the BESM/Tri-Stat books I bought.
BESM uses (used) Guardians of Order's Tri-Stat system, which they use for a variety of Anime-based games. The main feature of the Tri-Stat system is the Tri-Stat, or Body, Mind and Soul. All skills, attributes and defects as well combat roles are made with these three in mind. They range up to 12, but cannot go over.
Skill Levels are similar, ranging 1 to 5, with 0 as unskilled or unable to use this skill and 5 representing the human maximum in most cases. Tri-Stat's Attributes and Defects size up pretty well to other games Qualities and Drawbacks respectively.
Of particular interest to me is magic.
Magic vs. Dynamic Sorcery
Where do you use what where?
To me Dynamic Sorcerery feels more like Mage's magic system while Magic seems more like WitchCraft's the Gift with extra points for metaphysiscs. In BESM d20 dynamic sorcery allows you to cast d20 spells of the same level. So in that respect it is more like Cine Unisystem's Sorcery or Magic. In BESM 3.0 Magic (now called Power Flux) feels more like Magic from Mutants & Masterminds. So there is still some debat even among BESM players about which one does what. My prefernce to scrap the whole deal and use Cine Unisystem's Magic system.
I picked up "Cold Hands, Dark Hearts" a while back and there are a lot of really cool ideas in it. It really plays like a dark horror animated game. It is also largely compatible with other flavors of BESM, though some of the points seem a bit high to me. But if you wanted to play a BESM game out of the box that feels like an Eden or White Wolf game it is a great place to start.
In the end, I really, really liked BESM 2nd Ed revised. But it was missing something...I am not sure. I am going to talk about BESM 3.0 in a bit, so maybe that will help.
What Did I Get Out of This?
Well my journey into discovering Anime went hand in hand with BESM. The roots for a couple of on going projects started here. While I never got the chance to try out much of an "Animated Series" it did give me ideas to use in my second season Unisystem game "Season of the Witch". I also started work on a multi-genre, multi-game idea of a school for magical kids. It would be part horror, part anime "magical girl" trope, and part supers. Over the years "Generation HEX" would morph and change, but the ideas are still growing.
Anime Action
The combat and action in a typical BESM game is fast and deadly. It actually sort of spoiled me for other so called fast and furious combat systems. BESM is a great design, hampered though by some flaws, but nothing that can't be overcome.
All in all. BESM 2r is still the standard in which all other Anime games must be measured against. Despite (or maybe even because of) it's flaws the game has style and character that no other game (even BESM d20 and BESM 3) have been able to duplicate.
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Exactly what I needed when I needed it!
Great winged cat!
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Another awesome image (or rather 3) from Purple Duck.
Here is how it typically works for me. I think of some thing I need an illustration of, think that there in no way I can find that, come here to DTRGP and search. And there it is.
I love this half-orc witch and the owl is really cool.
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She's such a fine girl.
A complete, and densely packed description of a character/NPC to use in your games. Covers her stats, background and plenty of hooks.
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It says Half-ogre, but it could be a half-giant, half-orc or just a human with odd ears.
In any case the art is great and you get color, grayscale and lineart and an easy to read and use license.
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