I think it’s main weakness is that unless you plan to radically depart from the TV show’s plot (at which point you’re not really playing Battlestar Galactica anymore) you’re not really going to have much fun. Because if you have watched the show you already know what is going to happen. But that’s a problem with any RPG that’s based on a TV show or movie. You are playing in a universe that’s been largely defined and players are expecting it to be defined. I’ve played some ’shite’ games (Leading Edge Games- Aliens and Twilight 2000 come to mind) and while this game has some serious weaknesses I don’t think it qualifies for as many ’shites’ as you gave it.

I got the book for $15 from Amazon a few years late, and it was about worth what i paid for it. I would never have paid the original cover price for it. I’d never heard of the Cortex system before. But then it seems to me that all RPG books these days are vastly overpriced and I wouldn’t pay full price for any of them. One of the main things that has prevented me from buying D&D 3e+ and most d20 games is the crazy ass prices on the cover.

I’ve run BSG a few times before and my players enjoyed themselves. I will be running it again, but then I don’t stick to the established BSG universe and they’re not on the Galactica or even affiliated with it.

If you don’t like the system that’s fine – everybody has their own preferences after all. But I’m not sure I understand why you’re so against this game or why you think it’s complicated. Attribute + Skill + Modifiers vs TN isn’t complicated you even called it ’standard’. If it’s standard, then it’s easily comprehensible. You mutter about the rules and call it ’shite’ alot but you don’t really go into why you believe what you believe. Not everything has to be ground breaking and new to be fun to play – even you guys have said this isn’t an industry it’s a hobby. So why does it have to be anything more than a fun evening or a pick up game you can play without having to memorize which feats you need to take to be the best min-maxed fighter in the game? Or do a vast planning session with charts and graphs to plot out your character’s life path in advance as you advocate in your min/max episodes?

But your argument seems flawed (as well as juvenile but I realize that is your schtick). Shadowrun is BY FAR more complicated in v1-3 and really only gets simpler in v4 after ripping off WOD. Just the crappy surprise test alone in Sr3 is a rules lawyer (or software engineer)’s nightmare and that’s not even counting Matrix or Magic stuff. Add in the simple spirit power of Confusion to any encounter and you can go from 0 to total party kill in 3 combat rounds without breaking a sweat and without the players having any real feel for what the hell is going on. Any game you have to write software for just to keep track of target number variables is complicated. But an SR game can be quite enjoyable.

Even D&D 3e (and other d20 systems) is far more complicated than BSG with it’s tons of modifying circumstances (such as feats) to your die roll. Pick up a copy of Torg or Deadlands if you want complicated. Cards, Dice, variable Target Numbers, merits & flaws and ‘heroic’ modifiers such as fate chips – oh my. But you can still have fun with a complicated system as long as you have a decent GM.

Character generation is a breeze in Cortex. It was easily one of the simplest CG systems I’ve ever seen. Though opportunities for advancement are a bit limited. The skill selection is limited, and there is a weak and limited selection of merits and flaws. My players actually went so far as to request merits & flaws from Deadlands because the idea is far more developed and lends itself to interesting role playing scenarios.

To be frank though, I don’t see the game as winning any awards. It’s not ground breaking and it’s definitely not worth the cover price but I don’t think you’ve done it justice in your review. A good evening’s entertainment can still be had from it.

Er… wait… I mean…. Still waiting on the episode. =)

I miss you…a lot. Please come home.

You guys do a hilarious fun gamer’s show.
If you were badmouthing someone or something ok…but I don’t think that was the case.

The minute you start listening to the critics is the minute you should stop doing the show.

Correct me if I’m wrong about any of this; I know enough to understand most explanations but not to make good guesses.

(Hmm . . . I’m using a lot of semicolons today.)

I officially blame not only Joe Wilson but Kanye West now too. We were doing good, about to give our acceptance speech and WHAM, mic taken right out of our hands.

We ask for patience. Again.

And, in case you’re wondering what to do with those four crappy-sounding shows, I think I speak for a lot of fans when I say: clean ‘em up as best you can and post ‘em. We’d rather that then have them lost forever. Plus, your sound quality is miles ahead of most amateur podcasts anyway, so “subpar” for you is probably nowhere near “unlistenable”.

*push* come on where is it…. *push*

http://www.canonpuncture.com/2009/07/canon-puncture-74-jerks-at-the-table-and-their-looong-backstories/

There are also Dale Carnegie classes you can take so you can try to live out DC’s principles.

Stand your ground and fuck’em if they can’t take a joke.

Didn’t see that one coming…

I clarified this a bit with the guys from Kicked in the Dicebags (most recent post on our site)- but Adam leaving the show has nothing to do with the public figure of FtB that we were commenting on. In fact, a lot of what we were saying was inclusive of when Adam was still on the show. But our commentary on all items that we “hated” was about the public side- not any personal drama.

Same with us talking about Ed Greenwood- we arne’t talking about a guy who writes and does dishes and cooks dinner- we are talking about this semi-fictional public personal. Not the real-behind-the-scenes-guy.

Did any of you play the Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane on Sunday?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nGVXx2o2gY

Furthermore, the Brills made this reformatting choice for a reason. Don’t prejudge it. Decide after the “fix” whether you like it or not. I’m personally hopeful that it’ll make for a better show.

You guys do a hilarious fun gamer’s show.
If you were badmouthing someone or something ok…but I don’t think that was the case.

The minute you start listening to the critics is the minute you should stop doing the show.

You three constantly make me laugh out loud, and it would be a shame if you started fucking with that by not letting it all hang out on the ‘cast just because some uptight douchenozzles can’t appreciate the beauty of crude & biting humor.

Fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.

Hate-er-aid does a podcast good.

Then again, if yall are aiming to be the teddy bear of gaming podcasts… yall are fucked.

If you’ve agreed to a method of playing a game and a person breaks that after making the agreement, then it’s fine to use this argument. It shouldn’t be a “this is how we play,” of course. It should be open for debate before the game is started, like agreeing that nobody can steal from NPCs because we want to have a LG group. There’s just got to be a balance of stuff where everyone gets to fulfill themselves from the game.

If the person is being an asshole, and I’ve asked them straight out – politely – on several occasions to cut it out, and it’s getting to the point where it’s either this problem person leaves or everyone else does and the game dies, I’m going to kick him out. This hobby is just that: a hobby. I play tabletop games to relax and have fun with likeminded folks, not endure a bunch of drama on my free time because I’m afraid I might be coming off as passive-aggressive. Most of my players would feel the same way.

Frankly I think this kind of enters into the social fallacy that “I cannot play this game with this person” = “omg I hate you get out of my life.” You can be totally cool with someone and not be able to stand playing with them, it happens. I’m more than willing to help anyone who wants help or who is unhappy with a game, but if everyone is having issues with them then the problem is most assuredly not *just* on my end, and I have no interest in enabling certain behaviors.

Now if you want to avoid this kind of thing, I do think it’s important to be very clear with your players what you’re looking for and what they’re looking for, and to ask them for feedback after each session so you know if they’re satisfied or if there’s something you need to do to help them enjoy themselves. That way you keep the lines of communication open – and if you’re not communicating with your players, if you aren’t having fun and neither are they, you need to rethink your strategy.

OR they have payouts that aren’t being met, which if you’re the GM, could very well be your fault as well.

Stay tuned for our next (2) episodes!

I do think that you should avoid kicking someone out because they annoy you in-character, but if they reject your problem solving that’s just them being an asshole.

Plus they got to go to Vegas around their birthday, so I think they win

We want to do quarterly live ’sodes so they’ll get their chance soon ’nuff.

if your first level party runs into an ancient dragon maybe the options arent beat it or die. Maybe they can run away, or offer it their services…

if one PC is more powerful than the others, does that make the others useless? Who’s most powerful in Return of the Jedi? Who’s most interesting? What, they are not the sam guy? You get one Slayer, but the Scoobies make the show.

Also, you say RIFTS vs D&D is a game evolution difference. Vampire is older than either, and way more sophisticated than either. And if your vampires are feeding on other vampires, you’re doing it wrong

Munchkin Cthulhu is good for this because of the monsters that make you lose levels, like Lloyd Llogior and The King in Pink. It also mixes well with Super Munchkin, which most of the other sets apparently don’t.

Jason- are you going to bring Dominion? oo, and Dog? I’m itching to play both!

I will return to the home country for Port Con Maine.

You had me at “Tee hee.”

You better come to PortCon and do a live podcast or something! I’ll make sure you have space and what not if you’re willing. Oh! And in Extreme Geek: If you point out you’re the biggest whore from PAC I’ll make sure we do something ’special.’ Extreme Geek is almost like a cult at PCM. We amp that shit up, son.

I was the one in the pink dress. And I’m the con chair for PortCon. The other person was Jekka- she’s on guest staff. Sometimes she dresses up as a maid. Yeah, life’s wacky like that. There are a *lot* of girls who I think are hot who work at PCM. So yeah. You better come back to the old country of Maine.

Anyhow, you made my night. Thank you!

Your comments about stereotypes of female characters reminded me of a female player in the group I once gamed with. She played EVERY character as a vamp/slut/seducer. No matter the game system or campaign, all her characters were basically ’sexy bimbos’ who tried to solve every problem by sleeping with an NPC (or PC). And I do mean EVERY obstacle…the primary recurring villain during the climatic battle…the Puritan reverend trying the party for witchcraft…the police officers investigating a noise complaint….the other members of the party that didn’t agree with what she wanted…EVERY one.

And if her vamping didn’t work (generally when someone other than her hubby was running the game) she would pout and bitch about how unfair it was, since she had so many stats/abilities/powers focused on it. I always found it amusing that she’d complain about how ‘chainmail bikini’ fantasy art was sexist…and all of her characters were walking stereotypes as written by a teenage boy (or Robert Heinlein).

On another note, you mentioned the the medical examiner on CSI. I also have always appreciated the fact that his disability is an element of the character, not the focus. I only found out after I’d watched the show for a while that the actor is actually disabled…both of his legs are prosthetics.

This episode you had me laughing out loud as I went through my menial work routine. I totally agree with you about the state of reviews, and had given consideration to doing them myself, but have put it off due to bridge-burning. This makes me very curious to read about Zeke’s experiences with this burning phenomena. I can’t find it though. Am I stupid? Is it right in front of my face? Please point me in the right direction?