ReviewSode #6: Battlestar Galactica
The BG’s review BSG in the last of our full Origin’s review series.
Battlestar Galactica is published by Margaret Weis Productions.
Our rating scale is:
- 1= If you are only going to buy 1 book, get this one.
- 3= If you are going to buy 3 books so you have a “main game” plus a fun pickup, this is the book for you
- 10= If you are going to get 10 books for a bit more variety, get this one
- 0= Don’t buy it.
Fair warning: we are not fans. At all. This episode is part review, part bullshit, and part GenCon stories. Listen at your own risk!
Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (52.8MB)
June 21st, 2008 at 10:20 am
You call that a review ?
My Group and I have been playing RPG’s for 20 plus years. We have been using the Cordex system for the last year and like it a lot. We got over the need to have a complicated system were you have to roll to open the fridge years ago, Cordex is a good system.
As you the way you did the review. No matter what you think of the system please try to stay Pro, you sounded like three kids with they dad tape recorder
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:59 am
I’m sorry that you disliked our review of the Cortex System/Battlestar Galactica.
As for being professional I feel the need to point out that we offer a genuine critical review of Cortex/BSG, just as much as we have of every other system we’ve reviewed. In fact, I would go so far as to say we offer the most “professional”review of the system ever done. Please take this as an invitation to prove me wrong.
For your edification I discuss the fallacies present in the article.
[quote]
My Group and I have been playing RPG’s for 20 plus years. [/quote]
Length of play has little to do with skill. For example I know a number of co-workers who have played golf longer than Tiger woods. Does that make them better? It is the case that each group is better then when they started. Tiger Woods is much better and my co-workers are a little better.
All I could tentatively state is that you are possibly better at role-playing than you were 20 years ago. Of course so am I. So how would we compare? The evidence does not speak in this regard, but I am willing to grant that you are certainly better then you were 20 years ago..
[quote]
We have been using the Cordex system for the last year and like it a lot. [/quote]
Again, this proves nothing. You could have been playing a better system. You could have made a bad game fun. Of course if the game is good you could offer some reasons why, or you could respond to the points I made.
[quote]
We got over the need to have a complicated system were you have to roll to open the fridge years ago, Cordex is a good system. [/quote]
OK. Except that Cortex is a relatively complicated game, compared to the other choices you could make. And the few games that are more complicated offer significantly more play.
What advantage does the game offer over any of them??
If you know anyone who likes BSG the RPG let them know about the podcast. Maybe they can let me know more.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
May 22nd, 2010 at 5:28 am
I do listen to your podcast and I am in the process of catching up with all your back episodes and it seems to me that you are a bit too focused on rules lawyering and advocating rules lawyering. There is more to playing a game than min/maxing and game mechanics. I’m one of those ‘role players’ over ‘roll players’ that you mock repeatedly so I doubt we’ll see eye to eye on this. But have you actually attempted to play the game or did you just read it?
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.