Post originally by Rich at 2003-08-04 05:57:35
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"And, truth to tell, the system could work well as-is, if you're okay with PC incompetence making the rah-rah "For SpaceCorp and Glory!" stuff even more ironic than it already is."
Heck, the impression I'd gotten from the book was that the characters were *intended* to be mildly incompetant, because SpaceCorps wanted an expendible crew on Spaceship Zero (just in case the BTL Drive killed the crew).
So naturally, my players managed to be skilled enough to throw that expectation out the window...
Post originally by Storn at 2003-08-04 07:48:44
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That review(and the game) made me laugh more that once.
I liked hearing your struggles to justify both camp and apocalyptic at the same time. I really love the fact that you took the playtest that far.
It isn't a game I would want to run, but gods of gaming, I would love to play in it. I'm just re-awakening a love of pulp, having started there many years ago, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert Howard, Lovecraft and of course, probably one of th greatest influences on SZ (and one of the worst craftsman of writing evar) E.E. Doc Smith.
Damn, Green Ronin has a great touch. I just got Fang and Fury and Unholy Warriors comp copies. I'm not all that interested in d20, but both books are well written, have great ideas. I love M&M.
Someone has to stop these guys!!! I just don't have enough time to play all their games!
Post originally by andy lucas at 2003-08-04 08:25:54
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Loved this review. As one of the co-authors of SSZ I'd like to point out that a lot of material didn't make it into the book after editing.
there was a make your own star system section, that culled modern scientific theory into a random system generator that not only made your system but populated it with randomly evolved sentients (or not).
Also the intro adventure was bout 10 times as long as what made in into the book.
Lots of other stuff as well.
hell of a blast to write.
Oh and it won a silver ennie award last weekend at Gen Con.
Post originally by Dan Davenport at 2003-08-04 08:35:01
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The authors should read: "Toren "MacBin" Atkinson and Warren Banks". Apparently the submission form doesn't like names in quotes... At any rate, I've notified Allan and Shannon, so hopefully it'll be fixed soon.
Post originally by Dan Davenport at 2003-08-04 08:39:17
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Thanks for the kind words, guys!
Andy, I can definitely tell that you guys had fun writing SSZ. It's a shame there wasn't room for that random system generator, and I did think the ending of the intro adventure seemed a little abrupt.
Congratulations on the well-earned silver Ennie! Considering that you were up against the much-lauded <b>Unknown Armies</b>, that's something to be proud of!
Post originally by Allen Varney at 2003-08-04 08:55:14
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Fine review. Sounds like the game itself is all over the map -- pulp/humor/apocalyptic horror -- which would be more of a problem for me than it was for you.
"Characters can save up only a limited number of Zero Dice based upon their Bravado attribute, topping out at 5. Now here is a mechanic that concerned me even before play – justly so, as it turned out. The text encourages spending Zero Dice freely – and, in fact, the system makes such expenditures desirable, as I'll explain shortly. But the fairly low cap on them made the players really hesitant to use them."
The solution here: Whenever a player would ordinarily be awarded a Zero Die, have the award replenish his or her Zero Dice to the full limit of 5.
Post originally by cloudmonkey at 2003-08-04 10:15:45
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You know I don't understand why capping Zero dice based on the character's Bravado would discourage characters from spending Zero dice.
Wouldn't that make players want to spend their dice so they could earn more? Seems to me the player sould want to keep her number of Zero dice below her cap in order not to risk losing an opportunity to earn another Zero die.
Post originally by Dan Davenport at 2003-08-04 10:28:49
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cloudmonkey wrote:
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<b>You know I don't understand why capping Zero dice based on the character's Bravado would discourage characters from spending Zero dice.
Wouldn't that make players want to spend their dice so they could earn more? Seems to me the player sould want to keep her number of Zero dice below her cap in order not to risk losing an opportunity to earn another Zero die.</b>
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Well, unless the GM is being really generous, they can be pretty hard to come by. And knowing that you can spend a Zero Die to convert a failure to a success makes it less attractive to spend them on the riskier Playing the Percentages.
Linear Mode
