Post originally by Cith at 2004-08-27 17:36:06
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The most notable difference is the presentation. Angel reads in a more serious, grim mood, with a darker humor, a definite contrast to the more lighthearted theme of Buffy. C.J. Carella did a fantastic job in both books of capturing the mood of each series.
Mechanically it has reduced magic rules (it does have ritual magic, but as the series has no Willow, it doesn't delve further), and I believe it also doesn't have specific rules for making slayers. However, what it adds is very nice. This includes demon creation rules (good for PCs AND NPCs), and a very cool organization creation system, allowing you to take a point pool like you would have to generate a PC, and use it to flesh out an organization, be it a paranormal detective agency, the Initiative, Wolfram and Hart, or whatever..
Post originally by Dan Davenport at 2004-08-27 20:03:47
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I'm preparing to review it myself. I found that on the whole, Angel is the more flexible of the two games, with those demon creation rules being a big part of it.
Post originally by Cith at 2004-08-27 21:25:38
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Great review - one minor point I'd like to correct though.. Drama points actually can do more than just give a +10 on a given roll. They can also be used to halve the damage a player has taken, pull a rabbit out of a hat so to speak, with a dramatic plot twist in his favor (e.g. finding a crucial clue when at an impasse or the like), gain a scene long +5 attack bonus (righteous fury) if there is appropriate dramatic reason, and even come back from the dead in some way shape or form (miraculous recovery in a hospital, a twin, arising as a ghost, zombie, vampire, something else..). They're really a wonderful part of the system, and offer a great way to balance the frailty and humanity of investigators with the higher power of champion characters.
Post originally by Maja at 2004-08-28 03:19:39
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It's more mature (if you can ever call a TV show about depressed vampires mature), but I've also found that one can't have one book without the other. The reasons have already been listed: Angel doesn't have Slayer, Sorcery and Werewolf, Buffy doesn't have Demon Hunter and Occult Investigator, + the organization creation chapter. I like to combine them to create a mature campaign with a little more cheesiness to it than the Angel show had, but not so much teenage hootenanny as the Buffy show had. It should also be mentioned that a few of the Qualities and Drawbacks that looked a little rough cut in the Buffy book have been detailed out in the Angel book (like Photographic vs Eidetic Memory, + some of the Mental Problems and such).
Post originally by Luke E.A. Lockhart at 2004-08-28 11:35:32
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Yes, thanks for the correction. I was trying to write the review without going into too much detail (a problem I have sometimes) and I seem to have oversimplified.
Post originally by The Ent at 2004-08-29 16:07:22
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Yeah, the mental disadvantages are way better organized.
Some of the package stuff are somewhat beefed up though (Brainiac vs. Nerd for instance). OTH we're supposed to play older and, thus, better ;-) characters in Angel (20 to early 30-somethings rather than teens/early 20-somethings...
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