BASH! rpg...

[shenron]

So, the excitement of the new Marvel RPG coming out soon has got me looking into other supers games out there. I already have the DC game based on M&M 3rd edition, M&M 3rd Edition, MURPG, and a few awesome generic RPGs that can be used or have supers sections in them such as Risus and Basic Roleplaying by Chaosium.

I missed a lot of the old school supers games but a friend of mine recommended a game called BASH! and told me that it is a rules light system and just great. So I ordered it, flipped through it, tested out making a character or two, and did some online research about it. I think it is pretty awesome. Here is the site;

www.bashrpg.com/

Anyone else have any experience with this?

[kito]

Never herd of it is is diced based?

[roxolid]

It is dice based. Only have it in PDF format (bought when it came out - the 'Ultimate Edition' is the one to go for, but the basic first edition is as playable, or so I gather). Not had chance to read or play it yet but the various forums seem to like it. I think it kind of got lost in the wave of new supers games that've come out over the last few years (new version of M&M, Icons, Supers! Bash! upcoming Marvel Cortex game, Hero 6th edition, just off the op of my head. Probably a pile more I've forgotten.)

Might be fun to read up and see if we can stat some Marvel characters out with it. Heck, if there's enough interest, might be worth giving it a whirl on these here forums (if there's enough interest and if other games are allowed - I don't see why not but I'm not a mod...)

[andyman]

I saw this game in a store and read a little about it. it looked interesting enough. If there others want to play, I'm game.

[shenron]

I love the game. I have been reading though it and I am really impressed with it. Ya, the Ultimate version is the way to go as well. Here is the basic overview of the system...

"About the System

BASH is played with two ordinary six-sided dice. Each character is represtented by three stats rated from 1-5- Brawn, Agility, and Mind.

When you attempt to do something, you roll the dice (two standard six-siders), and multiply the relevant stat by the dice roll. If you roll doubles, the dice explode, meaning you get to roll another die and add the result before multiplying.

There are over 50 super-powers in the system to choose from. Powers, like Stats, are rated 1-5, making character creation a snap.

The powers list is very complete, but totally adaptable. Instead of having seperate listings for ice breath, heat rays, and all other concievable attacks, all those fall under the "special attack" power description. With this system, you get to design your own power-- you pick the damage, range, area of affect yourself, and pay for it with points. Hold on, put the calculator away. A standard hero in this system only spends 9 points on powers. Thats right, 9, not 250. So you can design a character quickly and easily. In BASH, you'll spend less time making a hero, and more time being a hero!"

[roxolid]

Seems simple and the character sheet isn't a mountain of numbers to wade through (uh hi, M&M, yeah, that's you. And uh, Hero System too? Let's not go there. That said both systems have their merit and being able to tweak the character to the nth degree is something you probably can't do in BASH!)

[roxolid]

Apologies if that's too big. I view on a 32" screen at 1080p so forget some of the things I post might come out odd on different size monitors.



Looks like plenty have had a go at writeups.
Here

and official forum There

With the character drawing thing Over there

If I get chance to read it over the weekend I'll try to cook up my first homebrew character for the system.

[andyman]

Does BASH! support "conditions"? In M&M/DC Adventures I think the concept of being dazed, hindered or vulnerable adds interest to the game. (As opposed to MURPG where you basically can only generally lose Health or Energy.)

[roxolid]

As far as I can see the system works off 100 'Hits' and no conditions like stunned, staggered etc. I'd have said It was easy enough to add them. At 33 hits the character is staggered, at 20 hits or less the character is stunned (with appropriate penalties). At 10 or less the character should be ready to keel over, punch drunk, unaware of surroundings and the like ("ADDDDRIAN!" whilst squinting through nearly closed eyes).

Would need to see what penalties need be imposed but from what I can tell it would be a subtraction to the 2d6 you roll to accomplish tasks. Staggered, -1, movement slowed. Stunned, -3, movement halved, Punch Drunk -5, no movement, powers scrambled/inoperative, that sort of thing.

[andyman]

Jan 30, 2012 23:58:55 GMT -5 roxolid said:

As far as I can see the system works off 100 'Hits' and no conditions like stunned, staggered etc. I'd have said It was easy enough to add them. At 33 hits the character is staggered, at 20 hits or less the character is stunned (with appropriate penalties). At 10 or less the character should be ready to keel over, punch drunk, unaware of surroundings and the like ("ADDDDRIAN!" whilst squinting through nearly closed eyes).

Would need to see what penalties need be imposed but from what I can tell it would be a subtraction to the 2d6 you roll to accomplish tasks. Staggered, -1, movement slowed. Stunned, -3, movement halved, Punch Drunk -5, no movement, powers scrambled/inoperative, that sort of thing.

Actually, what I like about DC Adventures is that the first hit can daze a hero, but thet recover in one round and may avoid being dazed again. It's just that the villain got in a lucky shot. The TSR Marvel Super Heroes game had this too. Regardless of Health a good hit could Slam or Stun and opponent. I prefer this over the strategy of just remaining healthy or suffer negative effects as you get hurt. This is the deadly downward spiral of the MURPG rules as written. (As you are hurt, you also recover less energy.)

DC Adventures does make a Hero more susceptible to damage as they are injured, but no more likely to be hit by an attack or less dangerous for attacking simply due to a reduced Toughness. This appeals to me as being interesting.

To see how this plays out in a Spider-Man vs. Scorpion battle see murpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=bugle&action=display&thread=15311

[shenron]

Ya, I think there are powers in BASH that add negative modifiers to your die rolls as well as nullify your powers, etc.

On the forums there is a whole section dedicated to house rules, etc.

I think it would be easy to add certain effects add negatives to the die rolls.

I have been reading through the book and the more I read the more I am impressed with it.

[bashman]

Hello, I'm the writer of BASH. At the request of one of the members, I've come here to answer some questions about the system.

One thing I did notice was the issue of "conditions". In a way, they do exist, but mainly only as part of a power. There is a "Daze" power for instance, that can make somebody be Dazed, and there is a Confusion power that can cause someone to be Confused, and Immobilization power that can cause someone to be immobilized (tied up, webbed, encased in ice, etc).

You can also create situational "conditions" mainly through the use of called shots. For instance, you may not have a power to blind people, but you can still cause someone to lose the ability to see if you drop a curtain on their face so they cannot see. Likewise, you may not have a bolo gun to immobilize someone, but with some creativity, you might use your ninja stars to "pin" that enemy's cape to the wall, etc. There is a lot of stuff that can be done with called shots and situational modifiers.

The main type of situational modifier is called Benefits and Hindrances. A Minor Hindrance gives the person -2 to all their rolls of 2d6. A major Hindrance gives them either -3 to the roll or -1 to their multiplier (player's choice). (Think of the multiplier bonus/penalty like a "column shift" in the old Marvel RPG, because that's about exactly how it works).

You could also improvise a "power stunt" to temporarily gain a new power for 1 scene by using "comic book logic" to explain how you are using an existing ability to use this new one. A classic example is the speedster who is trapped in a cage discovering he can vibrate his molecules so fast he can phase through the bars, temporarily gaining the Ghost Form power. Such power stunts can be used to temporarily gain a power to put a condition on someone.

Now breaking free of these status effects you have a number of options. In one instance, you can follow the procedure outlined by the power (like succeeding on a Mind check to break free from a Daze effect). Another (shortcut) is to spend a Hero Die to instantly end the condition (even if that condition is unconsciousness; you heal to a minimum of 20 Hits when you use this Hero Die). There is also an Advantage called "Never Surrender" that is used to use this ability more often.

[andyman]

Thank you bashman! I was thinking more about conditions caused by bashing just because someone's roll was high enough, not because a character was particularly trying to slam or stun someone.

In any case, I was originally drawn to BASH! as a way to draw my daughter into role-playing games. I need a system that is easy on the math, straightforward rules and light on the violence. I've gotten her hooked on The Super Friends and I'm looking for a good system to run a Wonder Twins type adventure in. What would you recommend for this?

[shenron]

So, because Uberman was posted I guess I better post the other side

[bashman]

Feb 2, 2012 20:32:04 GMT -5 andyman said:

Thank you bashman! I was thinking more about conditions caused by bashing just because someone's roll was high enough, not because a character was particularly trying to slam or stun someone.

In any case, I was originally drawn to BASH! as a way to draw my daughter into role-playing games. I need a system that is easy on the math, straightforward rules and light on the violence. I've gotten her hooked on The Super Friends and I'm looking for a good system to run a Wonder Twins type adventure in. What would you recommend for this?

In regards to the math, it depends on what kind of math your daughter is using in school. I invented BASH! to play with kids originally, with 3-5th grade kids. The system uses multiplication; from the basic multiplication tables. The back of the book has a color-coded chart for those that struggle with their multipliers (the chart is actually a multiplication table; but it is coded by color with each color representing a different difficulty).

I'll say this about the chart. Anybody who found it easy and intuitive to roll 2d10 and look at a colorful chart ala FASERIP or DC Heroes, will not find it more difficult to do it with 2d6.

So if you want to work on your child's multiplication tables; I think I can honestly say there is no better system. However, if she's a bit young for multiplication, you may want to use some of the alternate game mechanics rules from the appendix. This would be things like counting up dice pools or using playing cards.

For the Wonder Twins, that'd be a cinch to build.

Each of them has a "Power Source" weakness that they have to fist-bump and say "Wonder Twin Powers Activate" for the power to work.

Jayna simply has the Shape-Shifting power, also with Growing and Shrinking (which are limited to use only while she is in animal form).

Zan's power to turn into various states of water is a combination of Ghost Form 2, Density Increase, X Mastery (he can turn into rain, snow, huge swells of water, etc), Growing (he often turns into things much bigger than his normal size), and Mimic (Form Of: An Ice "Insert whatever you want him to turn into here").

Both of the twins have the "Telepath" power with a limitation that it only works with each other.

One of them also needs to take the "Pet" advantage for Gleek.