The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Being a huge fan of Pinnacle Entertainment Group's previous products, I was very much looking forward to their new superhero game, Brave New World. I waited outside the exhibitor hall at GenCon anxiously rubbing my hands together until the doors finally lifted into the ceiling and the unwashed masses (Really, what is the deal with the lack of personal hygiene?) were finally let in. I went straight to Pinnacle's booth and picked up a copy of the game, which I was scheduled to play later that evening. After reading the book and playing a game, I'm less enthusiastic, but I'm not giving up hope.

The game is set in our world with a twist (What else would you expect from PEG?): JFK, after surviving an assasination attempt perpetrated by evil deltas (as superheroes are called) in Dallas in 1963, pushed through passage of the Delta Registration Act, which required all super-powered individuals to register their powers and become, in many cases, wards of the state. On top of this, Kennedy declared a general state of martial law and, at the age of 82, is still president.

The world has not prospered under the fascistic rule of President Kennedy. Tensions run high between the Soviet Union and the US, civil liberties are slowly being given away by a frightened populace of normal humans, and superheroes who refuse to become second-class citizens in the service of a corrupt government are hunted down and either killed or tossed into super prisons.

I do like the setting for the most part. It has a Dark Knight Returns/Watchmen kind of feel to it, and so if you are looking for a happy-go-lucky world full of four-color do-gooders, this probably is not the place to look. In this game, super heroes do not beat up the bad guy, drop him off at the state pen, and wait for him to break out for a rematch. Heroes and villains are playing for greater stakes. Superheroes might use an energy blast or a huge fist against an enemy, but they will just as soon shoot the other guy--codes against killing need not apply.

The world is an interesting one, but it does not fit the standard super-heroic mold. The main book provide a brief, but interesting, look at the history of the world. As usual with Pinnacle products, information is handed out on a need-to-buy-the-next-book basis, but players and guides (game masters) alike will enjoy the background section. Information is provided on the Defiance, those heroes who refuse to sign up to become Kennedy's personal police force, and the alphas, superheroes who make deltas look like normal folks (think Superman versus Green Arrow). We don't actually get to find out too much about alphas because almost all of them disappeared about 20 years ago in game time, including Superior, the greatest of them all.

In terms of style, the book is pretty standard Pinnacle stuff, although the editing seems worse than usual. Some of the art is a little better than usual. It may just be that the cartoonish art fits better here than in Deadlands, but I liked a lot of the color pieces, of which there are many spread throughout the book.

So far so good, but then they had to go and write rules for the game. If you've played Deadlands or Hell on Earth, then the rules will be fairly familiar. You have 4 traits (Smarts, Speed, Spirit, and Strength) that each have a dice pool. The game uses only 6-sided dice, so you might have a strength of 2d6, which you would roll when trying to pick something up. If you roll a 6, you keep that roll and roll again to add to it until you stop getting 6s. The final total is then matched against a target number to determine whether you succeed. If you have an applicable skill, then you're level in that skill is added to the final die total. Pretty straight-forward stuff.

The problem is super powers. Each hero has something called a "power package." This is basically one or two related powers with a variety of "tricks" that can alter the use of the power. For example, if you fly, that's about all you can do. Sure, most people can't fly, but if you were looking to shoot your energy blast at that villain from the air, forget it. You can still shoot a gun, though.

I find this system to be extremely limiting. The whole point of superhero games is to play a nerdy guy bitten by a radioactive spider who can bounce off walls when not sticking to them, pick up really heavy stuff, sense danger, and catch the bad guys in big web. Well, this system allows you to be reasonably strong and bounce, but the rest is not for you. Although many new power packages are promised for upcoming products, the ten offered are somewhat limiting and don't include a lot of what you might expect (eg, psychic powers).

Overall, this is a game with a pretty solid back story but a fairly weak system. It creates a situation in which there are probably 200 different versions of your hero out there. Although that is probably inevitable to some extent (There are a lot of strong folks in the comics.), the system does not allow for mixing and matching of powers. Also, call me a traditionalist, but I sometimes like superhero fisticuffs without resorting to everyone going for their pistols to pump each other full of lead. I don't think that it would be possible to avoid massive amounts of gunplay in a Brave New World campaign, and that sort of numbs the effect that death usually has in comics. I like the whole dark hero thing, though, so I'm sticking with it.

If you want a superhero meets Quentin Tarantino meets fight-the-power game, come on in. If you like your heroes to be good guys whose main goals are to avoid death and destruction, this probably isn't the place for you.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Brave New World
Author: Matt Forbeck Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Line: Brave New World Cost: $30.00 Page count: 224 ISBN: 1-889546-62-3 Capsule Review by Andrew Schubert on 08/18/99. Genre tags: Modern_day	Being a huge fan of Pinnacle Entertainment Group's previous products, I was very much looking forward to their new superhero game, Brave New World. I waited outside the exhibitor hall at GenCon anxiously rubbing my hands together until the doors finally lifted into the ceiling and the unwashed masses (Really, what is the deal with the lack of personal hygiene?) were finally let in. I went straight to Pinnacle's booth and picked up a copy of the game, which I was scheduled to play later that evening. After reading the book and playing a game, I'm less enthusiastic, but I'm not giving up hope. The game is set in our world with a twist (What else would you expect from PEG?): JFK, after surviving an assasination attempt perpetrated by evil deltas (as superheroes are called) in Dallas in 1963, pushed through passage of the Delta Registration Act, which required all super-powered individuals to register their powers and become, in many cases, wards of the state. On top of this, Kennedy declared a general state of martial law and, at the age of 82, is still president. The world has not prospered under the fascistic rule of President Kennedy. Tensions run high between the Soviet Union and the US, civil liberties are slowly being given away by a frightened populace of normal humans, and superheroes who refuse to become second-class citizens in the service of a corrupt government are hunted down and either killed or tossed into super prisons. I do like the setting for the most part. It has a Dark Knight Returns/Watchmen kind of feel to it, and so if you are looking for a happy-go-lucky world full of four-color do-gooders, this probably is not the place to look. In this game, super heroes do not beat up the bad guy, drop him off at the state pen, and wait for him to break out for a rematch. Heroes and villains are playing for greater stakes. Superheroes might use an energy blast or a huge fist against an enemy, but they will just as soon shoot the other guy--codes against killing need not apply. The world is an interesting one, but it does not fit the standard super-heroic mold. The main book provide a brief, but interesting, look at the history of the world. As usual with Pinnacle products, information is handed out on a need-to-buy-the-next-book basis, but players and guides (game masters) alike will enjoy the background section. Information is provided on the Defiance, those heroes who refuse to sign up to become Kennedy's personal police force, and the alphas, superheroes who make deltas look like normal folks (think Superman versus Green Arrow). We don't actually get to find out too much about alphas because almost all of them disappeared about 20 years ago in game time, including Superior, the greatest of them all. In terms of style, the book is pretty standard Pinnacle stuff, although the editing seems worse than usual. Some of the art is a little better than usual. It may just be that the cartoonish art fits better here than in Deadlands, but I liked a lot of the color pieces, of which there are many spread throughout the book. So far so good, but then they had to go and write rules for the game. If you've played Deadlands or Hell on Earth, then the rules will be fairly familiar. You have 4 traits (Smarts, Speed, Spirit, and Strength) that each have a dice pool. The game uses only 6-sided dice, so you might have a strength of 2d6, which you would roll when trying to pick something up. If you roll a 6, you keep that roll and roll again to add to it until you stop getting 6s. The final total is then matched against a target number to determine whether you succeed. If you have an applicable skill, then you're level in that skill is added to the final die total. Pretty straight-forward stuff. The problem is super powers. Each hero has something called a "power package." This is basically one or two related powers with a variety of "tricks" that can alter the use of the power. For example, if you fly, that's about all you can do. Sure, most people can't fly, but if you were looking to shoot your energy blast at that villain from the air, forget it. You can still shoot a gun, though. I find this system to be extremely limiting. The whole point of superhero games is to play a nerdy guy bitten by a radioactive spider who can bounce off walls when not sticking to them, pick up really heavy stuff, sense danger, and catch the bad guys in big web. Well, this system allows you to be reasonably strong and bounce, but the rest is not for you. Although many new power packages are promised for upcoming products, the ten offered are somewhat limiting and don't include a lot of what you might expect (eg, psychic powers). Overall, this is a game with a pretty solid back story but a fairly weak system. It creates a situation in which there are probably 200 different versions of your hero out there. Although that is probably inevitable to some extent (There are a lot of strong folks in the comics.), the system does not allow for mixing and matching of powers. Also, call me a traditionalist, but I sometimes like superhero fisticuffs without resorting to everyone going for their pistols to pump each other full of lead. I don't think that it would be possible to avoid massive amounts of gunplay in a Brave New World campaign, and that sort of numbs the effect that death usually has in comics. I like the whole dark hero thing, though, so I'm sticking with it. If you want a superhero meets Quentin Tarantino meets fight-the-power game, come on in. If you like your heroes to be good guys whose main goals are to avoid death and destruction, this probably isn't the place for you. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)