Besm or Besm d20?

grokostimpy

First Post
Anyone out there ever played the Besm games? I've heard the d20 version is kindof a cheap translation of the original, but it may be cool to intgrate it into another system... I don't know.

Any thoughts?
 

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You can't go wrong with GoO. That said I perfer the orginal to the d20 one. I think it just feels better in it then d20. I haven't played much of either though.
 

I played in a short campaign using the BESM (non-d20) rules. It was great fun, and the rules system worked very well. It was interesting (as someone who had primarily played D&D) how the absence of any major "power-ups" (that is, no major advancements in character stats...just a few building points after an adventure) gave the characters a very different feel to them. More like they were complete unto themselves after creation, instead of waiting to make them grow over time.

You can't go wrong with BESM. I haven't played BESM d20 yet, but so far I really like what I've read.
 

It's going to sound like heresy here, but I prefer the original, non d20 BESM.

Big Eyes, Small Mouth original version, is a fun, very simple game that is easy to learn and quick to play. The second edition added more layers of complexity by putting all the add on books and later rules additions into the core book, but you can ignore that if you want. It's extremely flexible, and and you can create almost any character you can imagine (I've seen a PC party including a transformer, a 50 foot tall giant robot, a rip-off of Shampoo from Ranma, a cousin of Lina Inverse, a mad scientist, and a Jedi Knight, all as starting characters)

BESM d20 is a good, flexible adaptation of d20, but it is significantly different from standard core so there may be some unlearning to do at times. It is also a little more complicated than regular BESM.
 

The original, hands down. The d20 version takes d20, folds, spindles, and mutilates it into some frankenstein hybrid that roams the countryside attacking villagers and crushing dice.

:D
 

Let me clarify

That said, I wasn't interested in BESM until the d20 version came out. I bought it, went, "Man, this is complicated," bought the original, and said, "Wow, that's cool." I understand why GOO did it, but smashing two rulesets together does not make for great mechanics.

The original is a great game. I would definitely recommend buying it.
 

I never really cared for BESM the original.

D20 BESM, AFAIAC, fixes what is wrong with BESM. Starting with having more than three stats. (Sorry, I know they have a patch that tries to compensate for this in BESM, but it just doesn't cut the mustard IMO) and brings the good part of BESM (a stripped down and easy to use point buy system) to D20. And it manages to bring structure to that point based system but still leave the players with a lot of flexibility.

It's a hybrid, but I think it's a nice strong hybrid. I think it benefitted greatly from the experiment that was SAS d20.

And BESM d20 has weapon skills. Other d20 publishers should take note. ;)
 
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I will go on record here to say I don't like the Tri-Stat / dX system - a lot of this has to do with running the Sailor Moon RPG back in the day for some time and running into the weirdness of the system repeatedly. Because of this, I tend to dislike the Tri-Stat / dX games (such as BESM).

BESM and BESM d20 are -very- different games in my opinion. BESMd20 reminds me a LOT of our own Four Colour to Fantasy - that is to say it is a point-buy based version of d20 at heart. I love a lot about it, and I'm glad to see that Alan agrees as to the incredible utility of the combat skills - it amazes me that no other d20 game is using these.

BESM proper is quite likely a better choice for playing the style of games you expect for a BESM game - although I have been running a Sailor Moon style campaign for two years with BESMd20 for a group of now 13-14 year old girls, with no problems and no bad experiences with the system (although we are using damage saves instead of hit points).

Now that I'm done ragging on the Tri-Stat / dX system, I just want to throw in a quick comment that Ex Machina, GoO's Tri-Stat / dX CyberPunk RPG, is frickin' BRILLIANT and finally made me admit that perhaps someone could make that system do what I want it to do.
 

I haven't really gotten a chance to PLAY either system. Read through BESM original and only skimmed BESMd20. I am a fan of more rules heavy systems, so I may be biased, but I found the original system poor in terms of balance.

My main problem with it tends to be a system where, for instance, if you spend 3 points in the range of your attack, the range of your attack can be between 1000-5000 ft. Which is a LARGE range. Why not choose 5000 when it costs the same number of points? The answer I've been given over and over again by players of the system is that in BESM, you come up with a character concept before you spend your points, so you say "I can fire it about...2000 ft, let's see how many points that costs me." I just haven't played with players who would enjoy this sort of system. They like to look at the rules to see what they CAN take and then make characters based on that.

I don't know if BESMd20 is more precise than the original, but it didn't look so balanced from my quick look at it.
 

I haven't had a chance to thoroughly test either, but from what I've read and played through them, I'll go w/ BESM original. I don't mind the concept of BESMd20, but some of the attempts to fit the original system into d20 rules fell flat to me. In particular, the armor seems overpowered, any power that utilizes a new form or minions is underpowered and might indicate a lack of undestanding about how ability scores work by the adapters, and the mecha system they included is just overcomplicated for what BESMd20 is trying to do.
 

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