Tag: BASH

BASH Ultimate Edition Breakdown Review

$9.99 – 137 pages http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/65882/BASH-Ultimate-Ed…

Introduction

The overview gives the motivation and changes. No more energy points and changes to range and area. Key terms are defined again.

Chapter 1

Character Creation

Scale has been added into the point buy system…so suggestions for 20 point Mystery Men or 60 point Cosmic Heroes.

The three statistics are still from 0-5 and tables give benchmark descriptions for the levels.

Then power costs, levels and types, Skills and Descriptions, Advantages & Disadvantages with longer desciption.

Hero points and setbacks and mental malfunctions!

Chapter 2

Page 15 explains the 2d6 dice mechanic where if you roll a double you roll an extra d6 and add it to your total. If you have a triple, do it again, etc. Difficulty numbers and Hero Point use brings up the fact that rolls and numbers should be transparent to encourage their use. Then explains the multiplication by statistic in more detail listing modifiers and hindrances on a dice penalty level.

Basic Combat Rules

Per panel actions, appropriately comic flavoured titling. Move, attack, all that sort of thing. For example: Run, Spring, Swim, Climb, Jump, Creep. Not your usual heroic adjective. Unless your name is Jack Ryder. Half movement rate sneakiness possible speed that one. Knockback rules, which are always fun. Damage taken reduced by how tough you are and a multiplier.

Setbacks

The Narrator has points to use in the Hero Point economy as well. Some characters have them at creation but the Narrator gets two per Hero per issue to be used against any character. Earning Hero Points and the use of Hero Dice is also detailed…basically a Big Hero Point that has a variety of uses in a DC Adventures type fashion, automatic roll success number, recover damage, dodge, etc.

Special Rules

Called shots, wrestling, throwing people, teamwork and more advanced manoevures and tactics. Again, collateral damage and weapons appear as per the first edition. With tables for when you want to look up what whacking someone with a monkey wrench will do for you. Or with an evil monkey in the Improvised Weapons section.

Beyond Combat

Healing, exetended actions like inventing or social repartee, noticing, environmental conditions for when things get extremely toasty. Vehicles and headquarters.

Chapter 3

Powers

Starting on page 36, Limitations, Costs, Enhancements etc. Guidelines on Reading Descriptions in a table. Then you get the breakdown by type such as Movement and the details for each. Several times longer than the original edition this one.

Narrator’s Section

Chapter 4 Starting on Page 59

Running a Campaign advice, including let the players help. Setting, scale, created vs established.

More specifically, then Focus of the Issue: Mysteries, Brawls or subplots. With advice for each. Then Random Events table. Apparently people enjoy this sort of thing. Where you might even have a Monster Movie being filmed. Guidelines for your own random tables.

Villains

Motivation and type breakdowns, advantages. Villains have Villain Points. Minions have nada. No luck for them. A special use for villain Dice: Deus Ex Machina. This is a good one, actually codified as a rule for what it is for the miraculous escape move.

Minions and Gangs

Always useful for the Narrator, rules for use singly and together. Even if Eldritch Horrors. Includes some animal favourties as well.

Chapter 5

Detailing various settings and tropes.

Pulp Heroes, Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Super Teens, Science Fiction, Fantasy.

Cosmic – The other settings are as expected, giving archetypes and notes of usefulness. The Cosmic setting gets more inventive. It includes rules for high levels of statistics and power and the multipliers. Cosmic Knock-Back! How far you go if hit in space by someone with Cosmic Might. Using grid ranges at this level. Excellent flavour. How many Hits can a planet take? Moving Planets. Any superhero GMw ould like to take a quick look at this if interested in this setting.

There are also notes on scale crossover.

Appendix

Page 108 gives Hero & Villain Archetypes by scale. So you can quickly make Barbarian Warrior Mystery Men level to World Class Amazons or Cosmic Harbingers of Doom.

Appendix A

Page 128 gives Alternate Game Mechanics. Cards, d12, d10, d6 pools, Fudge Dice for BASH! which involves changing multiples to modifiers.

Map & Miniature alternatives…using hexes instead of squares. Ranges. Advantges & Disadvantages and Static Defenses & Soaks.

Fame – how to put in a popularity rating and use it. Plus Experience Points.

Index – 2 pages

Character Sheet

BASH Quick Build Sheet for character scope and creation.

Genre Suitability: Many, see settings. Nasty and brutal is not its thing though. Definitely for brighter heroics.
Artwork: Colour, cartoon. Danilo Moretti shares a style with Dan Houser here.

5 out of 10 Price (lower is cheaper per page)
5 out of 10 Length (lower is shorter)
5 out of 10 Complexity (lower is easier)
6 out of 10 Playability
7 out of 10 Artwork

7.5 out of 10 Overall

I could even go towards 8, this is really a quite charming Advanced update. With a couple of innovations and four-colour flavour. This is somewhere between Villains & Vigilantes and Marvel Super Heroes Advanced I suppose in terms of difficulty. And length, too although considerably larger font style than either there. The artwork style certainly friendlier fun heroes compared to a later Champions or Heroes Unlimited variety in the original game. Lacks a random generation system that wouldn’t be hard to do at a basic level. Lacks any completely done and named characters, just having numerous archetypes.

In fact, speaking of Marvel, they have a table at the beginning for resolution lookup to prevent people who are multiplication challenged from having problems. This is definitely Universal Table Style with the resolution having a bit of the Pacesetter (Chill etc) with the extra check for the column instituted.

Overall well done and would also be a useful introductory game but also enough depth that people that like the style should be happy with it for ongoing play.

BASH Original Edition Breakdown Review

$1.99 – 30 pages http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/19178/BASH-Basic-Actio…

Introduction

The overview says it was designed to be a game for kids, but others liked it too. Key terms are defined.

Character Creation

On page 3, assign 7 points between Brawn, Agility and Mind, get extra by taking a weakness or fewer powers. Ranked from 1-5.

Spend 9 points on powers or vary by changing with stats as above. Choose an origin and a power limitation to make them cheaper if you desire. Or power enchancments, which make them more expensive. You can take a bad weakness.

Types of Powers

Listed on Page 4-9 – a short but reasonable selection.

Skills

Starting on Page 9, a list of other things characters can do.

Advantages

From Page 11, even a short game like this has this nebulous other section. Things like Appeal, Celebrity, Contacts, Dumb Luck. Then the Disadvantage counterparts on page 13 and 14.

Dice Mechanic

Page 15 details the 2d6 multiplied by ability mechanic, trying to beat a difficulty number from 10 (easy) to 50 (nigh-impossible). With a tweak that if you roll doubles, you roll another d6 and add to your original 2d6. If you then have a triple, roll another one,e tc.

Combat Rules

Highest agility wins initiative and heroes win ties. All except Mental attacks are Agility vs Agility. Not a good sign when a writer can’t use loose and lose correctly, generally but this is better than the usual left-end of the curve type, thankfully. Damage is based on Brawn and you make a defense roll similarly. If the attack is higher than the defense, then damage. A bit Tunnels & Trolls style, but even simpler perhaps.

Page 16 is detailing what actions you can do, movement, attack, wrestling, knock-back. Energy points are spent on powers a la Villains & Vigilantes or Champions. A simple number in that heroes have 10 and different powers have different cots. Then rules for falling, water, shooting and blowing up, improvised weapons, collateral damage and chase scenes on 17-18 with the Vehicle list on 19.

Minions

Ratings and rules on page 20, with a listing that follows, cops, ninjas, robots, aliens.

Sample Story Arc

The Gauntlet on page 22 to 25. Sample characters on pages 27-28.

Advice for Running Bash

A page on this, experience and more powerful characters with a character sheet on the final page.

Ratings

Genre Suitability: Four Colour Heroics
Artwork: Black and White

5 out of 10 Price (lower is cheaper per page)
2 out of 10 Length (lower is shorter)
2 out of 10 Complexity (lower is easier)
4 out of 10 Playability
6 out of 10 Artwork

3 out of 5 Overall

This is a solid, deliberately short and even old school type game that would indeed make a decent introduction for people. Also it would be quickly put together and explained one-shot. Somewhere in the area of the original Marvel Super Heroes Basic Game. Definitely good for kids.

People that want a bit more granularity and variety and options are likely to quickly become bored. There is certainly room to build a BASH Advanced though.