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Style
BASH: Basic Action Superheroes is a 2005 game by Chris Rutkowsky. This is a review of the base game, not the recently released Ultimate Edition. The game is a pdf that comes in two variety, the 32 page normal edition with art and a printer-friendly 25 page version sans art. The various internal art pieces are black and white line art, in a superheroic style that reminds me of the line arts in various Hero Games books. The layout is passable, but not great. There are elements of text that are unclear on first reading, and game concepts really aren't 'blocked out' in the text, making it tough to flip through to cross reference rules. On the plus side, that's a minor problem in a 32 page book. Even if you need to flip about a bit to find a rule, there's not that much material to search through.
Substance
BASH is clearly a labor of love, and I respect it for that. On the first page, the author sets the tone by defining common RPG elements in comic specific terminology. Rounds are Pages, a PC's turn is a Panel, and Adventures are Story Arcs. The Glossary is right up front, very concise, and introduces important game concepts in a friendly, effective manner.
Immediately after the introduction and glossary is Character Creation. BASH Characters are defined simply. There are three self explanatory stats; Brawn, Agility, and Mind, each rated from 1-5 on an exponential scale. 1 is a normal human, 5 is a superheroic paragon. While the scale isn't terribly granular, it's not trying to be. BASH doesn't concern itself with who'd win in a bar brawl between Aunt May and Willie the Mailman. It's focus is more on X-Men/Avenger scale characters.
One interesting thought I had was that the core mechanic could be easily ported to other settings/genres just by adjusting the scales. For a Dark Champions/Gotham Knights style game set the scale from 1 (Below Average Human Ability) to 5 (Minor Superheroic). For a Cosmic Game adjust the scale upwards. Just make sure everyone buys into the adjusted scale at the game's beginning.
There are a large mix of powers to select from which are generally effects based, like a simplified Champions, which is to say rather than pick a power called 'Fire Blast' or 'Laser Sword', a player will spend powers on the Special Attack power, then define it according to their character's concept. Powers can be further tweaked with advantages and disadvantages. Of course, because this is a very light system, it's possible for a player to abuse the system, creating power combinations that are potentially unbalancing. Teleport with the Affects Others advantage would be one example that comes to mind. Of course, the same criticism can be levied against most superhero games with point buy systems.
I'm not fully sold on the Skill rules as written. All heroes are assumed to know how to fight, but Athletics is a skill, and unless you're trained in it, you get a substantial penalties to actions like Running. Just seems like unneeded abstraction from such an easygoing system. The Mind skills are better, with things like interpersonal and technical skills to help differentiate different 'smart' characters from each other.
Character creation wraps up with a small Advantage/Disadvantage section and a Mental Malfunction. According to BASH, all superheroes are a little warp somehow, so how's your hero warped? Is he vengeful because of his parent's death, is she an adrenaline junkie, are they trying to atone for past misdeeds? Really, it's a nice little roleplaying hook that helps to humanize the character. And it displays a fondness for the comic book genre, specifically classic Marvel comics.
The next big section is the actual rules for the game. Combat, chases, minions, skill tests, and whatnot. The author hits all the big areas here, and the system is serviceable, but I'm not sold on the core mechanic. The Core Mechanic basically boils down to roll 2d6, and multiply that sum by a static number from your character sheet. Compare that number to an opposing roll, or a set difficult. For example, figuring out a riddle? 2d6 x Mind. Punching someone? Attacker and defender roll 2d6 x Agility and if the attacker hits he rolls 2d6 x Brawn versus the defender's 2d6 x Brawn. If the attacker rolls higher on the Brawn roll, the difference is applied as damage.
Whew..
That's a lot of math. Now, math doesn't intimidate me. I'm the guy in the group who can do math in my head, and multiplication doesn't phase me in the least. However, I watch the people I play with take ages to sum a handful of d6. The idea of watching them try to sum, multiply, then subtract a series of numbers to determine the success/failure of one action worries the heck out of me. Adults have just gotten too lazy at math and it doesn't come easily to many of them.
Which brings me back to the very first paragraph of the introduction. BASH was designed to be a kid friendly rpg, and I think this game could be excellent for kids. The core mechanic reinforces basic math principles like multiplication tables. You could help your kids with math while kicking the stuffing out of robot sharks with lasers on their heads! That's priceless tutoring, in my opinion.
The book wraps up with a sample adventure complete with sample characters. The adventure makes me smile in that it's chock full of classic superhero tropes. No deep mysteries or gut wrenching moral choices, just a megalomaniacal madman, exotic henchmen, and a plot for world domination, all of which need stopped by a small band of daring superheroes. The sample PCs do a good job of showing off how to model various character types, and I didn't see any glaring balance issues.
All in all, BASH is good game. I'm not convinced about the Core Mechanic with the people I play with, but I'd happily try to run this for clever kids, or math savvy adults.
