Quote:
Originally Posted by crimfan
Why is it that so many games have totally chintzy chargen rules that let you make total chumps rather than competent characters?
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Not sure if this comment is directed specifically at HEX, or the review... or whatever.
If you're referring to HEX, what I can tell you is that the character generations are far from "chintzy", whatever implication you meant by using that word (and one assumes that it's not meant positively or as a compliment). HEX gives you a baseline for putting ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and their abilities and skills grow accordingly the more they continue to be in extraordinary circumstances. In HEX they don't become gods... far from it... but they certainly can develop along a line where they are more mature and powerful than when they first started out. Which is good, and I can't imagine why anyone would have a problem with that.
If, however, that doesn't work for what you want, the math of HEX character generation is extremely simple and well-balanced -- if you want more powerful characters to start, simply bump up what they start off with, while the mooks & minions stay the same. Of course, to be fair, you'll want to make sure you keep an eye on what your masterminds and arch-villains have, unless that kind of thing is not important to you (I do LOT of hand-waving and fudging when it comes to the arch-villains... more often they not they escape, so as to return again another day, but not always).
If you want a supers game, though, you're likely better served by Truth & Justice, Capes, or Mutants and Masterminds.
Again, I'm not really sure what you were getting at with the comment about "chintzy" character generation. If you pulled that idea from this review, well that would make sense, although I'd probably disagree with the reviewer on that if that's what he was truly saying. There are several other reviews of HEX here on RPG.net that you might also want to check out (particularly CW Richeson's) that have a different perspective on this issue.
Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances that become themselves extraordinary over time. This, too, is a standard pulp trope... well, maybe not for Doc Savage, but certainly in other wide swaths of pulp stories and movies. And often what makes them extraordinary is NOT what they can do, in re: skills and abilities, but how they manifest themselves in the stories, their heart, who they are, and who they become. You mentioned Indiana Jones -- he's the furthest thing from a super-hero you can get, but what makes him stand out is what he does, how he reacts, and the risks he takes to either get what he's after or who he wants to protect or save.
In that regard, HEX is one of the best games hands down to bring that spirit of the pulps out via the Motivation/Theme/Flaw & Style Point mechanics. You may have "chintzy" or chump stats (although I'd strongly disagree that such is the case), but the expenditure of Style Points (received as a reward for GOOD role-playing) makes all the difference when it comes to critical rolls.
I'm not saying your criticism isn't valid... it just doesn't apply to HEX.