[HoE] The Wasted West, My 2c (Long)

[David Pearson <regault@u.washington.edu>]

Okay, I got The Wasted West for Christmas, along with most of the DL stuff 
I didn't have (I'm only lacking Ghost Dancers, which I'll never need), so I 
decided to write down my opinioned problems with it, most of which are 
about my home state.

1. The supertrooper edge.
	Okay, when I first of this I thought: "Hmm, supertrooper 
serum...futuristic western...Goose from the Galaxy Rangers. COOL!" Instead 
its basically a package deal for a brick. It doesn't even make sense from a 
military standpoint because intelligent soldiers of normal strength are 
much more combat effective than strong soldiers that are as dumb as mud.
	The way I figure it, supertrooper should be an Arcane Background group 
like knacks were in Deadlands. Any such edge that doesn't allow my 
character to transform into a fish man or werewolf or make him honor bound 
to hunt down his insane former compatriots is of no use to me.

2. Houston.SPOILER
	The players guide goes into all this cool detail about the spaceport and 
whatnot, and has all this stuff about the Sykers landing there. So I 
immediately flip to the GM section to find out all about it, only to find 
its empty except for yet another teaser for a later supplement.

3. TOO MANY %($%$(#&(& TEASERS.
	I got the feeling while reading the book that almost everytime someone had 
an idea about a place, someone else said: "Hey, this is really cool. We 
could probably develop this into a full length adventure or something." So 
instead of cool adventure hooks we get vague abstract statements promising 
more to come. They couldn't even give us the basic differences between 
wormling breeds (Salt, Mojave, Badlands, etc.)

4. Washington State
	Okay this is the long one. First off, why, of all the places besides 
Seattle to describe, did you pick Leavenworth? Its the most boring place in 
the state next to maybe Yakima. There are plenty of other places I'd have 
put instead.

A. Roslyn- Its in the mountains so it'd also be attacked by the Wendies.  
 Also, you get all that residual anger and despiar from when Northern 
Exposure got cancelled and the town started dying again.

B. Sequim - Its got the lowest annual rainfall in the state, yet its smack 
in the middle of the rain forest. There's gotta be something supernatural 
about that.

C. Bremerton - There's eight reasons to go there, and they all involve the 
words Triton Nuclear Submarine.

D.Tacoma - Sure its my hometown, but living under Narrows Bridge is the 
biggest octopus in the world, and the zoo has the nation's largest 
collection of psychotic elephants. Also, the GR bomb would have been aimed 
more towards McChord AFB or Fort Lewis, so most of the city would be 
intact. Too bad all of downtown would be buried under ash.

E. Grand Coulee Dam, the Dalles, etc. Considering how much food is supplied 
by Eastern Washington to the world, Famine would be sure to try and destroy 
any form of irrigation in the area possible.

Second off, they made the mistake of assuming that a TEMPERATE rain forest 
is the same thing as a TROPICAL rain forest. The Olympics don't have giant 
deciduous trees overgrown with liana (sp?) vines and crawling with snakes 
and ants. The olympics have giant red cedars, yews, and firs covered with 
moss. In fact, everything in the Olympics is covered in moss. Most of the 
insects there are of the wood beetle variety. Think Endor rather than 
Dagobah.
Also, the region wouldn't grow if the area was warmer. Temperature has 
nothing to do with it. In order for it to expand, you'd need to make the 
eastern sides of the mountain as rainy as the western side. So, unless the 
earth reversed rotation, you'll need the single largest mother of a water 
spout in Puget Sound, probably between. We're talking miles in diameter.
I won't go into the insulting tone of the spotted owl description at this 
moment.

5. Lastly, my single biggest problem with the book is the fact that the 
S-Mart Overlord is a villain.

Lane "I'll probably write an email of what I like to balance this one." 
Pearson