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Big Eyes, Small Mouth 1st Edition has been around for a while and well received by Anime-style gamers. Based on Guardian of Order's Tri-Stat System, many Anime manga/movie/tv licensed game books have been produced using the BESM core rules. However, the mini-book format, the very Anime-centric content and promotion, and the haphazard (yet excellent) supplements have kept it genre pigeon-holed. I myself have run numerous games with it, but found the information scattered and inconsistent between the main book and the supplements, and my players were always confused where to lookup stuff.

With the release of BESM 2nd Edition, Guardians of Order has made what might be the most flexible, yet fun, generic game system ever. BESM 2 has been logically reorganized, rewritten and incorporates the best parts of the other BESM supplements to date, in one 279 page book -- BESM 1st Edition was only 96 pages, so you can guess there's a ton more stuff. BESM 2 also makes transitioning from BESM 1 easy, with callouts to rule/organization changes. The amount of artwork, consistent layout, and overall writing quality is superb -- though I have noticed a few typos.

Probably BESM 2's greatest strength is that you can make fun, vivid, cinematic characters (for ANY genre), and with the same rules make robots, familiars, sidekicks, mecha, starships, structures, weapons, whathaveyou. The systems is amazingly flexible, albeit a little overwhelmingly open for newbies.

I have yet to playtest BESM 2, but the overall rule changes are minimal (mostly just rule consolidations), so I don't see how it could be bad -- BESM 1 was excellent. Regardless of whether you are an Anime-gaming fan, I highly recommend BESM 2 as a great universal game system -- especially now that everything is in one well put together book.

The book can be order from Wizards Attic at:

http://www.wizards-attic.com/GuardiansBigEyesSmallMouth.html

That's my 2 cent review. ;-)

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Big Eyes Small Mouth (BESM) 2nd Edition
Author: David Pulver and Mark MacKinnon Category: game Company/Publisher: Guardians of Order Line: Tri-Stat System Cost: 29.95 Page count: 279 ISBN: 1-894525-09-4 SKU: 02-101 Capsule Review by FreeFrog on 08/25/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Science fiction Modern day Horror Far Future Space Comedy Anime Espionage Conspiracy Post-apocalypse Gothic Asian/Far East Generic	Big Eyes, Small Mouth 1st Edition has been around for a while and well received by Anime-style gamers. Based on Guardian of Order's Tri-Stat System, many Anime manga/movie/tv licensed game books have been produced using the BESM core rules. However, the mini-book format, the very Anime-centric content and promotion, and the haphazard (yet excellent) supplements have kept it genre pigeon-holed. I myself have run numerous games with it, but found the information scattered and inconsistent between the main book and the supplements, and my players were always confused where to lookup stuff. With the release of BESM 2nd Edition, Guardians of Order has made what might be the most flexible, yet fun, generic game system ever. BESM 2 has been logically reorganized, rewritten and incorporates the best parts of the other BESM supplements to date, in one 279 page book -- BESM 1st Edition was only 96 pages, so you can guess there's a ton more stuff. BESM 2 also makes transitioning from BESM 1 easy, with callouts to rule/organization changes. The amount of artwork, consistent layout, and overall writing quality is superb -- though I have noticed a few typos. Probably BESM 2's greatest strength is that you can make fun, vivid, cinematic characters (for ANY genre), and with the same rules make robots, familiars, sidekicks, mecha, starships, structures, weapons, whathaveyou. The systems is amazingly flexible, albeit a little overwhelmingly open for newbies. I have yet to playtest BESM 2, but the overall rule changes are minimal (mostly just rule consolidations), so I don't see how it could be bad -- BESM 1 was excellent. Regardless of whether you are an Anime-gaming fan, I highly recommend BESM 2 as a great universal game system -- especially now that everything is in one well put together book. The book can be order from Wizards Attic at: http://www.wizards-attic.com/GuardiansBigEyesSmallMouth.html That's my 2 cent review. ;-) Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Big Eyes Small Mouth (BESM) 2nd Edition