Chain Saw Fever!
Chain saws. Who doesn’t like them, especially in their games? They’re loud, nasty, brutal. Carnage incarnated in metal and fuel. A Freudian nightmare of bloody, violent penetration.
When you think of chain saws and gaming chances are the first titles that come to mind are Gears of War for the 360 and the venerable DOOM, but chain saws and gaming goes back even further. Games Workshop brought the chain saw to the tabletop back in the ‘80s with Chainsaw Warrior, a nifty solitaire game about kicking undead, demonic ass in a New York city apartment building. Or something like that. You can even find a Flash version of the game online today. And let’s not forget all those Space Marines with their chain saw swords. Speaking of Space Marines, does the huge armor really help? I mean when playing Space Hulk the genestealers pretty much rip through you, so what exactly is the point of all that armor?
It’s a shame more games don’t have chain saws in them. Just like zombies, adding chain saws will always improve a game.
And now a chain saw haiku…
A chain saw, hurrah
Flesh, bloody, mangled, shredded
Gummed the chain, now slipped
Random other end of the week stuff…
I got a copy of Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier this week, and holy Hell is this a beautiful RPG! Set in an alternate historical setting in which the South secures its independence (and includes other differences such as an independent Republic of Texas and the Mormon nation of Deseret, and more) the game opens up a wide range of adventuring possibilities. A physically imposing book (you can easily kill people by throwing it off a tall building) the system uses a nice, layered approach allowing players to jump in rather quickly (heck, the basic game which is primarily meant for role-playing skirmishes only takes up eight pages).
While I haven’t had a chance to sit down and read it cover to cover, what I have read has really excited me. The system is very open ended, and features some clever mechanics for various tasks. As an example, if involved in a chase players lay out a series of cards (regular playing cards) and takes three stacks of poker chips representing a mount’s speed, agility, and endurance. The type of card dictates whether it’s safe terrain or hazardous (if chasing in the hills hazards are represented by jokers, twos, threes, fours, and fives), and the chips are used to bid on your positions during the chase. It’s cool to see designers thinking outside the box, and tying a western RPG in with poker cards and chips is a nice touch.
There are two possible issues with the system. One, I don’t see how you can translate most of the mechanics to a email system, so for anyone looking to play-by-post you’re going to have to give up a lot of the innovations found in Aces & Eights. The other issue is that it does have that Hackmaster element of excessive detail at times, like while other game systems are using rapid paced critical hits, Aces & Eights uses pages and pages of critical hit tables. Personally this isn’t a problem, especially since RPGs are all about personalizing the experience for your group, but it is something to be aware of going in.
Oh, one of the more interesting aspects of character development is the ability to take on various profession paths. Each path provides players with a number of build points for developing their PC, when certain goals are completed.
The paths provide a nice way to create some on-the-fly role-playing experiences, and a way to flesh out the PCs. The professions are quite varied, from the truly mundane (Brickmaker, First goal: Set up for business. Setting up in a known area for sale and/or creation of wares. For starters this can be (and typically is) a rented location, even a ramshackle tent on a mere lot. Award: 1 BP) to the more action orientated, like a bounty hunter or spy. Why, players can even become professional whores and earn their first build point by getting paid for a sex act. I can only imagine the rule lawyering that will go on defining what constitutes an “act”…