[RPG]: Panty Explosion, reviewed by Turbo (4/5)

[Destriarch]

Originally Posted by Sydsquicious

Des, it was most certainly your invocation of deviant sexual players that jerked my chain on this one.

At no point have I advocated or requested help from, as you put it, deviant sexual players. Or did you mean something else by 'invocation'? I honestly can't work out what you're trying to say here, but I'm pretty certain that you've gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick somewhere. I am not trying to specifically badmouth the product itself (which I have not read) and I am not trying to stir up trouble, I am merely pointing out that the title of the game could be taken the wrong way, which may explain why certain members of the male demographic find it unsettling. After all, discussion is what these forums are for, and the authors of the product have taken it all in good humour and given honest and sensible answers to it, for which I respect them.

In answer to your question I won't be buying the product, but having heard about it a while ago I was interested to see how it had turned out. I wish the authors all the best with it naturally, but it's not really my kind of thing. I also add that the reason for my decision is not as one might expect entirely the title, but that I don't feel that the game goes into the kind of depth or has as broad a scope as I would normally prefer in an RPG.

Originally Posted by Sydsquicious

There is no blaming me for the harsh terminology that you used in this thread that was definitely meant to put someone in their place, whether it was the authors or the people who actually play the game or both.

I think that you are reading too much into things. I am not 'blaming you' for anything beyond suggesting that I was a sexist. Gender discrimination is something I feel very strongly about, and I don't care to be labelled misogynistic or the kind to typecast by gender. If I touched a nerve somehow then, once again, I'm sorry. However I stand by everything I have said. A title like 'Panty Explosion' might make a guy worry about what other people would think about him if it was sitting on his bookshelf, especially if they didn't know the genre or the hobby very well. I am also clearly not alone in this view.

Ash

[Jake Richmond]

I'm not into manga/anime, but the name made me think of panty shots.

Thats what we were going for. In my mind the two easily definable features of the psychic schoolgirl genre (not the magical girl genere. Thats very different) of anime, manga and live action film are exploding heads and panty shots. That's what we're trying to get across with the name. kinda similar to "Big eyes, small mouths". The name is supposed to be evocative and funny. It's supposed to grab the attention of both people who are familiar with the genre and people who arn't.



Jake Richmond

[Starshield]

If I may interrupt here, I was wondering if I could be supplied with examples of the kind of source material repeatedly cited, but not specified, either here on the boards, in the review nor listed in the game in question. I was hoping for a bibliography and filmography of the "source material" so that I could perhaps do some research to lend authenticity to the setting if I should choose to try to run a game.
A good solid list. I like the game, so far, and the mechanics. I'd just like some source materiel. Thank you.

[Destriarch]

I don't think I've ever seen any specifically psychic schoolgirl anime, we don't get as much of it in the UK as we used to, but for an old-school 'panty comedy' involving schoolgirls you could try "Ultimate Teacher". That's about all I can think of off the top of my head, as I never really gelled with the humour. I preferred Dragon Half - that was hillarious!

Ash

[Jake Richmond]

Heres a list off the top of my head. These don't all fall within the Psychic Schoolgirl genere (infact most of them don't) but these were all comics, films and anime that I watched or thought about while working on the game. Matt could probably give you a very different list. We dig different things.

Psychics and supernatural stuff (not just girls):

Mai the Psychic Girl
Oh My Goddess
Silent Mobius
Akira

Horror and Suspense:

Parasyte
Dead Friend
Whispering Corridors
Wishing Stairs
Ju On
Line
Ringu
Cello
Survive Style 5+
Battle Royale
Daisy
One Missed Call
Red Eye (not the recent Wes Craven film)

Social Interaction:

Genshiken
AzuManga Daioh
Boys Be
GTO
Shadow Star
Alien Nine
Bounce KO Gals
Suicide Circle
Heathers
Kare Kano

Panty Shots:

Cutey Honey
Najica

Bloodtype:

My boyfriend is Type B

Panty Explosion is about social interaction between a group of girls. The psychic stuff is just the back drop. Thats why most of the source material that I was interested in is school or relationship stuff. You'll also notice that most of the syuff on the list is film or manga. There are a lot of Psychic Schoolgirl animes (from what I understand), but we don't get many of them over here.

Hope this helps. I'll probably get around to putting up a good reference list on our site soon. FYI, I buy most of my DVDs from Cine-east.com. They have pretty much every dvd I listed here. Most of the anime and manga I listed is readily available at your local comic shop. Line is actually a cheat. I just picked that up today. Its a damn good example of the kind of non-supernatural suspense story works really, really well in PE.

[Starshield]

Bravo.
Thank you so much.

[Jake Richmond]

No problem

[Geoff Weber]

regarding the title:

at gen con, which is filled to the gils with gaming products, its really hard to get anybody to notice you. This title definitely stood out and made me stop and give it my attention. Whether it was because it was shocking or provocative is kinda irrellevant. It made me stop. I looked at it. Thats a lot more than I did for a lot of products there.

[hyphz]

Personally, the title isn't so much the problem, the problem is the title and the cover.

If they'd put out that title with a cover showing a silly shoujo-style line-art girl jumping away from something, or even making someone's head explode, I could have understood it. But all the covers I've seen so far for PE show a relatively realistic (fully shaded, normal proportions, not manga-style) schoolgirl who appears to be upset or disturbed. The look is very "dark" and could easily fit with a horror game.

Certainly on seeing that picture, I was wondering what had upset the girl. The title offers some suggestions which.. um.. well, wouldn't be the kind of thing that I think many people would want to role-play.

[Jake Richmond]

The look is very "dark" and could easily fit with a horror game.

Panty Explosion is a horror game. It can also be a cute and friendly relationship game. It was designed to be played both ways. Often at the same time. We felt this was very true to the genre.

I think the cover is exactly appropriate to the game. I drew the girl to look like something really unpleasant had just happened to her, like she was shocked, deppressed or stunned. If the image looks dark or disturbng then it did its job in catching the flavor of the genre