Guardians of Order: Big Eyes, Small Mouth review
Having too much time on my hands prompts me to review Big Eyes, Small Mouth, a table-top RPG that tries to emulate the feel of an anime. How does it fare?
Big Eyes, Small Mouth (or BESM for short) is an original system (or an OGL d20 title, if you prefer to roll that way- the majority of the source material is for the tri-stat system that BESM 2.0 is written under) that aims to capture the flavour and fun of anime in a table-top RPG. This review is for the tri-stat version of BESM.
Now, since I haven't gamed with anyone over the last couple days, I haven't fully tested out all the mechanics, so I can only really give a review of the character creation process and the breadth of stuff available. If you're interested in checking the thing out for yourself, there are MegaUpload links at the bottom.
Mechanics:
First off, BESM does not run on the d20 system (how many times am I going to say that before I think I've gotten it through to you? I don't know, I'm retarded), and instead runs on the Tri-stat system developed by Guardians of Order. The Tri-stat system is somewhat daunting at first glance, with character creation coming with a flow chart, and the standard dice of d20 implemented in manners hence-forth unseen by a lot of gamers. It's definitely not as newbie-friendly as, say, the system for White Wolf's World of Darkness games. Once you've calmed down and taken a look at it though, it's about on par with d20 for difficulty.
The system looks like it gets bogged down slightly in combat, and the writers seem to recognize this, urging DMs to focus on story-telling rather than battling. I haven't run it (or looked at this portion too thoroughly, to be honest) so I can't give my full thoughts yet.
Character Creation:
Now, I don't know about you guys, but the ability to create interesting and diverse characters is one of my main things I like to see in a system. The tri-stat system is a little perplexing at first blush, but once one gets in, it becomes fairy simple and intuitive.
Each character gets thirty character points and twenty skill points at character creation (for an average-powered game. DMs who want to run something higher-power could award more points.)
Character points are spent on your three stats and on special abilities. Your three stats are Body, Mind, and Soul. Body is your physical attribute, and it determines your HP, the amount of damage you can deal, etc. Mind is your intellect. Soul is your willpower, empathy for others, and spiritual power. Each level in a stat costs one character point.
The special abilities you can buy with your character points are the main thing that add the anime flavor. They range from things like piloting a big mech or being able to super jump to more simple stuff, like having flunkies or being very attractive. With the extra source books, a whole plethora of different character styles opens up. The more powerful an ability is, the more it costs- a rank in Own a Big Mech costs four points, where as a rank in Flunkies only costs one.
Skill points are spent on skills- things like knowledge of poisons, abilities in the performing arts or writing, acrobatics, or being good at training animals.
Most characters will also take some flaws- the majority of these are simple little things that would be naturally incorporated in the character to begin with, like being easily distracted. Taking a flaw gives you bonus character points- the more crippling it is, the more bonus character points it gives you.
To test out the creation system, I whipped up a couple of different characters- I was able to make Psy, Joey, and Heroman (from HEROMAN) with great accuracy and little difficulty. I whipped up Malice for shits and giggles. They have materials available for making monster trainers a la Pokemon, and I saw a number of things that could be used to build the Major from Ghost in a Shell.
Setting/Flavor:
BESM aims to capture the feel of anime, and on that end, I think the diverse character creation rolls a twenty. It captures the full spectrum of anime flavours and genres. There are suggestions for plot/campaign ideas in the back of the book. The downside, however, is that the scope is so broad that I think a game would need a DM who is skilled in keeping focus and flavor in sight to run well. Players would also have to come to a certain consensus about what genre they want to play in or it could become a muddled mess of blood-thirsty giant robots, cute fighting monster trainers, and quiet, angsting sorcerers.
The extra source books help with this problem a little. Some of them are built around a specific series: I managed to find the Sailor Moon one (which is pretty easy to adapt to any magical girl style series) and I understand that there is also a Revolutionary Girl Utena one. Others are focused on a particular genre: Big Robots, Cool Starships is sci-fi (particularly the mecha ones), Cute and Fuzzy Cockfighting Seizure Monsters is for monster-training style anime, Cold Hands, Dark Hearts is meant for dark, gothic style tales, and Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies focuses on fast-paced modern action tales.
The Look of the Books:
This is probably the biggest stumbling point, but thankfully it's a small one. The majority of the art in these books (excepting the officially licensed ones) are original anime-style art. The quality of these pieces varies from lovely, if uninspired to ugly and utterly laughable. Thankfully, there are no hard-to read fonts, but some things are put on ugly gradient backgrounds that make them hard to read.
THE VERDICT:
All and all, Big Eyes, Small Mouth looks like a pretty fun RP to run, and is most likely best suited for fun, light-hearted gaming with a character-driven bent.
Links:
Big Eyes, Small Mouth (or BESM for short) is an original system (or an OGL d20 title, if you prefer to roll that way- the majority of the source material is for the tri-stat system that BESM 2.0 is written under) that aims to capture the flavour and fun of anime in a table-top RPG. This review is for the tri-stat version of BESM.
Now, since I haven't gamed with anyone over the last couple days, I haven't fully tested out all the mechanics, so I can only really give a review of the character creation process and the breadth of stuff available. If you're interested in checking the thing out for yourself, there are MegaUpload links at the bottom.
Mechanics:
First off, BESM does not run on the d20 system (how many times am I going to say that before I think I've gotten it through to you? I don't know, I'm retarded), and instead runs on the Tri-stat system developed by Guardians of Order. The Tri-stat system is somewhat daunting at first glance, with character creation coming with a flow chart, and the standard dice of d20 implemented in manners hence-forth unseen by a lot of gamers. It's definitely not as newbie-friendly as, say, the system for White Wolf's World of Darkness games. Once you've calmed down and taken a look at it though, it's about on par with d20 for difficulty.
The system looks like it gets bogged down slightly in combat, and the writers seem to recognize this, urging DMs to focus on story-telling rather than battling. I haven't run it (or looked at this portion too thoroughly, to be honest) so I can't give my full thoughts yet.
Character Creation:
Now, I don't know about you guys, but the ability to create interesting and diverse characters is one of my main things I like to see in a system. The tri-stat system is a little perplexing at first blush, but once one gets in, it becomes fairy simple and intuitive.
Each character gets thirty character points and twenty skill points at character creation (for an average-powered game. DMs who want to run something higher-power could award more points.)
Character points are spent on your three stats and on special abilities. Your three stats are Body, Mind, and Soul. Body is your physical attribute, and it determines your HP, the amount of damage you can deal, etc. Mind is your intellect. Soul is your willpower, empathy for others, and spiritual power. Each level in a stat costs one character point.
The special abilities you can buy with your character points are the main thing that add the anime flavor. They range from things like piloting a big mech or being able to super jump to more simple stuff, like having flunkies or being very attractive. With the extra source books, a whole plethora of different character styles opens up. The more powerful an ability is, the more it costs- a rank in Own a Big Mech costs four points, where as a rank in Flunkies only costs one.
Skill points are spent on skills- things like knowledge of poisons, abilities in the performing arts or writing, acrobatics, or being good at training animals.
Most characters will also take some flaws- the majority of these are simple little things that would be naturally incorporated in the character to begin with, like being easily distracted. Taking a flaw gives you bonus character points- the more crippling it is, the more bonus character points it gives you.
To test out the creation system, I whipped up a couple of different characters- I was able to make Psy, Joey, and Heroman (from HEROMAN) with great accuracy and little difficulty. I whipped up Malice for shits and giggles. They have materials available for making monster trainers a la Pokemon, and I saw a number of things that could be used to build the Major from Ghost in a Shell.
Setting/Flavor:
BESM aims to capture the feel of anime, and on that end, I think the diverse character creation rolls a twenty. It captures the full spectrum of anime flavours and genres. There are suggestions for plot/campaign ideas in the back of the book. The downside, however, is that the scope is so broad that I think a game would need a DM who is skilled in keeping focus and flavor in sight to run well. Players would also have to come to a certain consensus about what genre they want to play in or it could become a muddled mess of blood-thirsty giant robots, cute fighting monster trainers, and quiet, angsting sorcerers.
The extra source books help with this problem a little. Some of them are built around a specific series: I managed to find the Sailor Moon one (which is pretty easy to adapt to any magical girl style series) and I understand that there is also a Revolutionary Girl Utena one. Others are focused on a particular genre: Big Robots, Cool Starships is sci-fi (particularly the mecha ones), Cute and Fuzzy Cockfighting Seizure Monsters is for monster-training style anime, Cold Hands, Dark Hearts is meant for dark, gothic style tales, and Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies focuses on fast-paced modern action tales.
The Look of the Books:
This is probably the biggest stumbling point, but thankfully it's a small one. The majority of the art in these books (excepting the officially licensed ones) are original anime-style art. The quality of these pieces varies from lovely, if uninspired to ugly and utterly laughable. Thankfully, there are no hard-to read fonts, but some things are put on ugly gradient backgrounds that make them hard to read.
THE VERDICT:
All and all, Big Eyes, Small Mouth looks like a pretty fun RP to run, and is most likely best suited for fun, light-hearted gaming with a character-driven bent.
Links:
- Big Eyes, Small Mouth core rulebook
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BO2LX2ZS - Big Robots, Cool Starships
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8WLH46IJ - Cute and Fuzzy Cock-fighting Seizure Monsters
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OUQ36KD3 - Cold Hands, Dark Hearts
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O7D4UGQH - Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5F2VE95Z - The Official Sailor Moon RPG
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=59LWMES0