This game deserves all the attention it gets. It's not the saviour of the role-playing hobby as whom it is sometimes advertised, but i can't see who wouldn't profit from playing or running it just once. It has its issues, but who doesn't?
Re: [RPG]: Wushu Open, reviewed by Pig with Pen (1/3)
I don't think any discussion of Open is really complete nowadays without a reference to the Open Reloaded edition.
Open has a very particular focus which can often cause people to overlook the possibilities of the system in the wider context. Thus Reloaded was born as a kind of primer on the system, with some additional wrinkles, bells and whistles as options to tailor your game a little.
Re: [RPG]: Wushu Open, reviewed by Pig with Pen (1/3)
The only thing I disagree with is that you think you need to apologise for your English. I've seen a lot of American students' compositions and yours is better than average by far.
I believe this is the first time that Wushu Open as been reviewed as its own product. I should reiterate that it's not really meant as a stand-alone game; it's a resource for other indie writers to use in creating their own Wushu games. However, I think you took that into fair account. I just wanna be explicit.
Thanks for the even-handed and well-considered review!
--Dan
__________________ Urbanimus - Our Cities are Alive Hardboiled Urban Fantasy for Secrets & Lies
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Re: [RPG]: Wushu Open, reviewed by Pig with Pen (1/3)
Hello and thanks for the friendly comments. My apologies for the late answer, but RPG.net keeps on surprising me -- in a good way, of course ;-)
I would like to address some points made in the previous comments.
About Wushu Open Reloaded: It certainly looks like an improvement, but i want to offer two arguments why WOR isn't an integral part of my Wushu Open (or any Wushu Open discussion) review:
1) A sort of empirical argument is that a Google search pops up the plain vanilla Wushu Open on Bayn.org as second hit (1st hit is the german translation, so it may be an issue of the german Google.) Reloaded is nowhere to be seen on the first page and i guess the random role-player looking for Wushu would stumble over plain Wushu Open first, i certainly did. Maybe Mr. Bayn (indra, isn't it?) wants to put a link on his page to lead new gamers to the Reloaded wiki to make it more known. EDIT: I just noticed there is a link to the Wiki, but not to Reloaded specifically.
2) I think Wushu Open Reloaded is just one way to interpret and expand on the original Wushu Open »rules«. There is a lot of stuff in it i like, but i don't think it is integral to Wushu Open. I've only come to realize this after i wrote the review and i read the afore-mentioned german translation, but Wushu Open is even more ambiguous than other RPGs. I would go so far to say that Wushu Open is actually more of a guideline, saying "consider this..." and not a set of rules. Reading indra's comment, i feel this point of view vindicated.
About the Gamer's Index: What's that?
About the »carrier lost": If you use a modem to connect to a remote station, the devices, sender and receiver, maintain a steady stream of sequences something like this:
still there?
yes, and you?
yes, and you?
etc.
This stream is called the »carrier«. If this stream is interrupted the modem reports to the user »carrier lost« and terminates the connection. My little comment was directed at the disconnect some of my players experienced between them and the game when they realized that their character's actions have only superficial impact on the mechanical results. I hoped to illustrate this with a few examples but maybe they were not drastic enough. Just consider this:
1) "I fart the Tricolore and kick the dog" gives you two dice.
2) "I draw my berserker blood axe and split twenty of them in half" gives you two dice.
(Yeah, yeah i know, veto here, veto there but just consider it.) Huge difference in actions, no difference in results. All clear?
About the Wushu Open Review: Wushu Open is the free offering of Wushu and i since we played it for some time i felt a review would be nice to collect my thoughts and spread the word. I took it for what my group an i used it, as a game. I didn't realize up until later that Wushu Open is more a toolbox than a game, otherwise i would have given the review a different twist. Sorry for that.
Last edited by Pig with Pen; 08-23-2006 at 02:36 AM..
Reason: Update
Re: [RPG]: Wushu Open, reviewed by Pig with Pen (1/3)
The Gaming Index is a new feature added to the forum with the last upgrade. Literally a list of every product that people have chosen to enter into it. Not a single Wushu one in there to date.
Re: [RPG]: Wushu Open, reviewed by Pig with Pen (1/3)
That's not true, I added Wushu Open yesterday.
Edit: And it was really easy! Other folk should also add games to the Gaming Index when they notice one is missing, it helps the whole community.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiero
The Gaming Index is a new feature added to the forum with the last upgrade. Literally a list of every product that people have chosen to enter into it. Not a single Wushu one in there to date.
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