RE: Re: [BNW] d20?

["Hill, Robin (UK)" <robin.hill@baesystems.com>]

owner-bnw@gamerz.net [mailto:owner-bnw@gamerz.net]On Behalf Of David Fryer
wrote on 17 July 2004 16:04
--- daedallus@free.fr wrote:
>> My opinion is that d20 system is a commercial
>> power that could destroy the spirit that i
>> love so in the work of Matt.

>Another possibility would be to use the Tri-Stat
>system developed by Guardians of Order. This is a
>fairly simple system to use and the GM can set the
>game up to be as low powered as as high powered as
>he/she wants it to be. A Tough with Heavy Armour level
>1 (4 Points) in a 25 point game is goint to be majorly
>powerful.

This exchange of messages prompted me to go back and look at my BNW notes. The original system is still a good one. My RPG group really enjoyed playing it. Once you get over the realisation that you can't have monstrously powerful characters like Superman (who's a god-like character, anyway) it's much more interesting to have a moderately-powered character that has to use a bit of intelligence to deal with situations that arise. Indeed, these kind of characters that have unusual powers and tricks lean more towards the role-play than the beat-'em-up game. And the games master can have a ball keeping the characters interested and up to speed with the plot.

The bottom line is that Matt did a really good job, and it still looks good when I look back at it. What I would like to try is dovetailing it into Shadowrun/Cyberpunk (I've played lots of RPG systems using the Shadowrun rules), simply because I have an immense collection of shadowpunk material at my disposal. After all, a good 80% of any scenario is game-system non-specific, all you really need to do is swap out one set of character stats for another, indeed some shadowrun types have direct equivalents in BNW (the Fixer, for example).

If you want a beat-'em-up, got the D20 route, if you want something more subtle, more problem-solving-with-brains-rather-than-brawn, you might as well stick to BNW.

In other words, If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I'd still like to have a go at more scenarios/game settings, though.

Cheers,

RobinH

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