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1

The Solar Frontier / Re: A question about money.

« on: February 26, 2009, 10:20:45 pm »

Okay, here's a few more questions that cropped up during character generation - mostly concerning setting fluff, so I'll post it in here as opposed to the rules subforum.

Io Eyes:
Just which part of the eyes are discoloured? The iris or the eyeball itself, of even both (in which case, the condition would be an Io Eye in the truest sense of the word...)?

Vehicle Cargo Bays:
It's not explicitly stated, but from the list I assume that a standard human-sized body would be an M-size cargo for all intents and purposes, or am I reading that wrong?

Scout ship:
What were the inspirations for this one? The size/type seems familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Psionics:
Just how common are they? From the rules, they're not the type of people you want to hang around with you, since they have a nasty tendency to flip out (and kill people). (Myself, I'd think most of them would want to keep the fact they're psychic hidden, with the possible exception of faith healers. That said, they make excellent targets.)

Law enforcement:
Let's face it - all the really cool toys have this "illegal" tag attached to them, and being cool toys it's only a question of time before the players will try to get their grubby little paws on some milspec weaponry.
So...who enforces these gun permits, and what will happen if Joe Cowboy is seen flaunting his military assault rifle on TV, happily shooting grapeshot at the bad guys with the attached grenade launcher? (Assumption: The bad guys care little and would also like to obtain military assault weaponry. The megacorporations would probably care little if Joe Cowboy actually gets the Bounty Head they want. And the SSPD would probably be outraged, but are spread to thin to actually prosecute Joe.)

-Silver

2

Media & Mayhem / Re: RPGs You Play

« on: February 26, 2009, 06:21:38 pm »

Stormbringer is a game I’ve always wanted to play but never got the chance (along with Pendragon I think it was called?).

Starblazer Aventures?  You mean like the old cartoon Starblazers?  That would be pretty sweet!

Stormbringer is pretty old; actually, that was the first fantasy game that got my mind out of the dungeon (and into running "real" plots). It used a variant of the old runequest system (so basically, it's D% rollunder mechanics all the way) and the early editions were notorious for (randomly) creating totally unbalanced player groups. ("That guy? He's a one-legged begger from Nadsokor. And the one besides him? A melnibonéan sorcerer-prince who is 6th in the line for the throne...I'm sure you'll fit right in.").
A nice side effect was the exposure to classic Sword&Sorcery literature - Conan, Elric, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Kull, Kane...I had stumbled on a cornucopia of cool stuff, and most of it was available straight from my local library back then.

Pendragon was interesting, but didn't gel with us way back when ("Whaddya mean...my character is too old to go adventuring? He still kicks ass, statwise.." "Oh, that..yeah, it's winter, roll for stat loss, gramps..."). In restrospect, it's still a good system - lots of great ideas behind it (like that damage isn't based on the weapon, but on the guy swinging it, as well as the personality system. Good stuff!)


Starblazer Adventures is based on a british comic named Starblazer (no "s"!), however - you could say that one was the british equivalent of the Heavy Metal Magazine, with more emphasis on action than on scantily-clad females. The guys over at Cubicle 7 got the license and made a remarkable RPG out of it. You can take a look at it here. Since I'm mentioned in the credits (mostly for errata), I'll leave it at that. It's a pretty generic SF-system, so I'm rather confident it could do Starblazers, too.

-Silver

3

Introductions / Please allow me to introduce myself...

« on: February 25, 2009, 06:45:13 pm »

...I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith

Oh well, here we go...

I'm Silvermane, your friendly neighbourhood review-monkey from Germany. And that's about all the interesting stuff there is to know about me. Hard to tell why I'm here; might be because I do have a few questions about BHB's setting. Might be because I'm a sucker for SF-RPGs. Might be because there is a certain Firefly vibe to the background.

I'll be watching how the game and the setting develops; the rules are solid (if a bit crunchy, but at least there's no excessive rolling of dice), the toys are numerous, and the character sheet tells me that someone actually played the game before making it. I like that; it's got that certain old-school charme to it, while being graced with slick mechanics. You play bounty hunters. But you're not limited to playing bounty hunters, given some creative thought you could as well play a team of corporate mercs doing black ops, or syndicate thugs on the run from bounty hunters. I appreciate that; I've read a few one-trick-ponies too many lately, so BHB felt rather refreshing in it's approach.

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Silvermane
'cause Im in need of some restraint

4

Media & Mayhem / Re: RPGs You Play

« on: February 25, 2009, 06:25:53 pm »

So, what do the folks around here like to play?  We hope Bounty Head Bebop is at least on the list (or the intended list) somewhere – but what else do you like or recommend?

Ah well, since I've registered I might as well liven up the board a bit. I too have played quite a few RPGs; my tastes have changed massively over the years, too. But here's what I've kept and wholeheartedly recommend.

Fantasy:
Sorcerer (/w Sorcerer & Sword. And simply because the Dictionary of Mu consists of compiled awesomeness.)
The Barbarians of Lemuria
Stormbringer (preferrably the older editions)
Mazes and Minotaurs (mostly because it's a hilarious read, but it's a nice retro game, too)

Horror:
KULT
Dread - The First Book of Pandemonium
SLA Industries (Yeah, I know...it looks like a SF-RPG. But it isn't.)
Angel

SciFi:
Blue Planet
Fading Suns
Starblazer Aventures
Hellas
3:16 - Carnage Amongst The Stars

Superheroes:
Never could get into that genre. Just doesn't gel with me

Bounty Head Bebop doesn't quite fit my usual genre classifications; at it's heart, it's closer to film noir, interspersed with a lot of action movie aesthetics. The tech level is closer to classic cyberpunk, but without the 80ies style icons, despite there being megacorporations. It ain't transhumanism either, since the protagonists remain human - no uploaded ghosts or full conversion 'borgs.

If I was to run it (unlikely, but hey, a man can dream) I'd probably gun for something along the lines of the seven samurai (or rather, the magnificent seven) as introduction, kill off the NPC (dramatically, of course) and let the rest (the players) wander off to make a living as bounty hunters. That way, they're likely to form bonds.

-Silver

5

The Solar Frontier / A question about money.

« on: February 23, 2009, 06:15:45 pm »

Hi there, I had the pleasure of reviewing your game for a german RPG website - a nice, lean little game, if I might say so.

The reason why I'm posting is a bit different, though - The currency used in-game caused a few raised eyebrows. At first I assumed that one writ would be equal in value to the woolong used in a certain well known animé series, and would in turn be worth about 1¥, meaning that 100 writs would be roughly equal to one US-Dollar.

Judging from the provided prices in the book, the ratio however seems to be more of a 1:10 thing, meaning that 10 writs are roughly equal to a dollar - am I judging this correctly or is the ratio something wholly different?

(I admit that I know quite little about the market price of previously-owned surface-to-air missile launchers, but the price for fast food did indeed ring a bell...)

-Silver