Post originally by Jian at 2004-05-17 08:03:27
Converted from Phorums BB System

Yeah, all this is fair enough. The problem is that HSF is primarily fluff, and fluff that is a discussion of a certain genre (rather than, say, a setting. There are very few rules, so asking me what the game is like (also, not a playtest review, so I don't know how well the one system part - Focuses - would work in real play) is sort of pointless.

Can you use this to run anything standalone? No. You need to use some rules - but pretty much all the meat is system-independent. So you could use Exalted or Amber or FATAL if you wanted to.

The substance is high because this is as good a discussion of how to role-play in shoujo as I've ever seen (not as great an endorsement as you might think, since there are only two or three books out there that really help you much there). It has great sections on archetypes (Heroine/Rival/Love Interest/Best Friend etc.), genre tropes (love triumphs over all/all PCs should do the stupidest thing possible for the flimsiest dramatic or emotional reason/if female and teenaged, always worry about being abandoned or disappearing/your boyfriend will be mind-controlled against you at some point, usually more than once), and example campaigns (not just ideas, but example PCs, NPCs, episodes (both filler and plot-driven), and season finale for each setting).

The review was pretty trite, I agree, anmd I'm sorry if it caused purists any offence. However, disorganised if well-written fluff is quite hard to review. Ultimately, this review is only likely to help you if you're interested in shoujo in the first place.

Plus, obviously, I'm not being paid for this or taking any opportunities away from other would-be reviewers, so to some extent I can write what I like...