[BNW] The System, The Universe...

[Mark Kilfoil <kilfoilm@nbnet.nb.ca>]

RYAN KIMMET wrote:
> 
> Well, like Mark said, it only uses d6's. And there are 
> only four traits: Speed, Strength, Smarts, and . . . I'm
> blanking on the last one, Vigor I think. All the 
> aptitudes are kinda scrunched in to fit under those four
> traits.

Sounds like they went for a *really* simple system..  Is
this aimed at a "younger" RPG audience?  Does it *feel*
simple?

Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing, though..

Interestingly, the stats do cover the necessarily 
areas with one glaring exception:  no "mystical", 
Spirit-like stat...

> We all played archetypes, but to make a new character you
> divide 12 dice amoung your four traits. Then you have
> aptitute points equal to twice the amount of dice in your
> trait to spend on skills within that trait. Gone is the
> randomness factor: everyone's characters start balanced!

Well, that's good...  24 points for skills..  are there
"everyman" skills to boost that?

> Instead of cards, a speed roll determines how many 
> actions you get each round. Our gamemaster just started 
> with the player who had the most actions and then went
> clockwise around the table until everyone's actions were
> spent.

Hmm.. probably would want to do it in initiative order,
myself..  (the problem with the way he did it is that the
fastest character goes first almost all the time, and
everyone *always* goes in the same order...  Players get
frustrated if they can't *sometimes* go faster than someone
else...)

> There were also a few minor changes to the basic Deadlands
> rules, like the fact that humans seem to be Size 5 in 
> BNW, not 6.

Hmm.. maybe the legends of the West are "bigger than 
reality"?  ;)

> Apparently, you can't learn new powers as you play. 
> Instead, you learn "tricks," new uses for the powers you
> have. 

I hope there are a wide variety of tricks, because players
will be bored after a while.  ("<sigh>  Well, another 
character with no more potential...")

It would be cool if there were some hierarchies (or
prerequisites) to some of the tricks; i.e. in order to get
trick X, you need to have gotten trick Y, or tricks A, B,
and C...

And there is a lot of fan-creation potential in tricks...

(I don't really mind the "can't learn knew powers" thing,
myself -- too many systems take the generic approach that
its actually refreshing to see one which takes a story
approach...)

> For instance, I played the Speedster archetype (Pace of
> 110!), and one of my tricks was creating afterimages of
> myself as I moved (like the Flash). Every time I got a 
> raise on a dodge roll, I created an afterimage that 
> would soak up an attack and then disappear at the end of 
> the round. Very cool . . .

Agreed!  Very cool..  (Although a Speedster might very well
cause the initiative problem I mentioned before...)
 
> It seemed like most tricks were activated by getting 
> raises on certain rolls.

Actuallly, this reminds me of something my players in my
Deadlands game complained about, regarding Gunfighters:
since there were only a few "tricks" that a gunfighter
could do that no one else could, gunfighters became very
generic.  It's exactly that sort of "accent" that Deadlands
needed that BNW seems to have...

But again, I stress the importance of having a lot of them;
otherwise, there will be much duplication, which players
(my players, at least...) can't stand.  In other words,
If two players take Brutes/Muscles/Tough Guys, what's to
distinguish them?  (besides the character's personality,
of course...)

The tricks they take, basically.

> There was no info about the origin of Delta powers,
> unfortunately. The plot delt solely with trying to free
> Patriot, the captured leader of the resistance movement. 
> I don't know who wrote it, but the climax was killer
> (literally!).

Given that Patriot it due to be executed at GenCon....
it sounds like you guys failed!  ;)

> >>Chris Aniballi
> >>And so ended my first post to the Brave New World
> >>list......
> 
> Yeah, mine too. I think I could make a habit of this,
> though. :-)
> 
> -- Ryan Kimmet

Please do!  I'm not a heavy poster on any mailing list,
lately, but I plan to be...

I should be attending the BNW beginner at GenCon, so 
what I'm hearing is very encouraging...

MK
-- 
the encaffeinated ONE -- LIVE! from minbar!
Mark K.  <kilfoilm@nbnet.nb.ca>