[RPG]: BUDO: Hard-style Wushu, reviewed by grandmaster_cain (3/3)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13066.phtml

Cain's Summary:

Budo promises to add extra bite to your Wushu game. It delivers, but you'll have to work hard to find the gems.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Lord Minx]

Good review that pretty much says everything I'd have said about Budo.

Sad that one has to dig so hard to find the really cool elements, because those do indeed rock.

M

[WillyPete]

Originally Posted by Lord Minx

Good review that pretty much says everything I'd have said about Budo.

Sad that one has to dig so hard to find the really cool elements, because those do indeed rock.

M

Sorry, but I really can't agree that this was a good, or even faintly adequate, review!
Okay, so the changes that don't involve obscure Japanese terminology are really neat...
What are they? {I don't mean, what are they called, in three words or less... I mean, what do they actually do?}
How easily do they integrate into Wushu?
How much more preparation time do they require?
Is the detail that they add really worth the extra work involved?
How is this game so tightly tied into Midaevil Japan?

Sorry, if you're preaching to the Simulationist crowd, who've been avoiding Wushu due to it's lack of 'crunch', you need to give a LOT more detail than this!

[DagobahDave]

This review is inadequate for failing to mention that Budo is only two bloody dollars and fifty gore-flecked cents.

[WillyPete]

Oh, I noticed that, and, yes, it's cheap...
So what?
Whether the product costs $2.50, or $250.00, if you're not going to tell people what it is they're buying, why are you bothering to review it?

[grandmaster_cain]

Due to the way Budo is written, I can't fully explain the rules changes without flat-out telling you what they are. That'd make it unlikely anyone would buy the product, and violate several copyright laws.

As for how it integrates, I haven't had a chance to actually playtest it. Sorry, but this is a capsule review, not a playtest one. If it were a playtest review, I'd have said so.

[Pig with Pen]

No, even the US copyright law isn't boneheaded enough to forbid anything but verbatim copies. Explaining the rules in your own words would be completely within legal boundaries. Imagine what your interpretation would do to science or art That being said, I would have liked to see a little more exposition, too, but it still was enough to get my hunch confirmed that Budo is not a game I want to buy.