Basic Action Super Heroes!

We reorganized our basement this weekend and during that process, I found a box of old gaming stuff.

Inside was AD&D, Traveller, Ace of Aces, Dragon Magazine, etc.

Also, there was a gaming magazine called Different Worlds from 1982 (published by Chaosium). This was their "superhero" issue so there is articles by the creators of Champions, V&V, and even SuperGame.

Kind of interesting to look back at the old stuff....and also funny that things have changed and also have not changed as much as you'd think in 30 years in the RPG world. In fact if you could go back in time and publish BASH in 1980 it would fit perfectly ...and I think that's a good thing.

Villains & Vigilantes 2nd edition remained my all-time favorite supers rpg right up until Mutants & Masterminds came out (and I easily had about a half-dozen of them - including both versions of FASERIP Marvel and Champions 3rd-ish edition). But it was BASH that captured my heart by offering both an easy rule system and a super-dynamic character creation system (allowing me to create so many versatile heroes and villains).

In my opinion, those qualities would have made BASH revolutionary back in the day (and none of those offered colour interior pages)!

I of course was referring to the "feel" of the game and not the specifics of the paper and print quality.

My point was that if BASH had been printed in 1980 (or 1990,2000, or 2010) it would be successful because it reads like a 1980's "fun pen and paper RPG" game and not a more modern "let's try to be a paper version of a computer RPG" game.

Actually probably my real point (if I had one) is that I'm old and own some old stuff.

capmarvel wrote:I of course was referring to the "feel" of the game and not the specifics of the paper and print quality.

My point was that if BASH had been printed in 1980 (or 1990,2000, or 2010) it would be successful because it reads like a 1980's "fun pen and paper RPG" game and not a more modern "let's try to be a paper version of a computer RPG" game.

Actually probably my real point (if I had one) is that I'm old and own some old stuff.

My appolagies. I totally concur with you on that point capmarvel. Chris did an outstanding job of just writing what is needed. He wasn't (I don't believe) trying to create a long-winded ultimate reference book like so many other rpg books tend toward. It's short and sweet and right to the point. I like that that.

capmarvel wrote:My point was that if BASH had been printed in 1980 (or 1990,2000, or 2010) it would be successful because it reads like a 1980's "fun pen and paper RPG" game and not a more modern "let's try to be a paper version of a computer RPG" game.

Or, even worse: "let's try to create a platform for shared narrative with highly abstract rules and funky dice mechanics that the fickle rpg trendies will go for."