What do you think of the Spidey Guide?

[Kaimontfendo]

Since there have been some rumblings about another fan-made guide starting up, and also just because I'm always wondering about these things, I decided to make this poll.

What do you think of the Spidey Guide? Is it great? Were you expecting some characters who didn't make it in? Do you think the new challenges are pointless? Or is you only complaint that it's too short?

[WildKnight]

I hated to vote the way I did, honestly. The amount of work that went into this thing is enormous and I wish I had the kind of dedication it takes to put something like this together.

But I think that, even by the standards of the core book, some of the CADs are questionable, and many of the action and modifier options in the book have a serious lack of balance.

[Kaimontfendo]

Could you please point to a few specific examples of those flaws? A character or two that really don't off, or an abusable action?

[WildKnight]

Well, without checking off-hand... the Ghost Rider CAD was disappointing, and the Nerve Punch, and Corrosive Touch actions are both abuseable. Mastery of Kung Fu I dislike primarily on the basis that I don't like the habit of making everything into a Mastery (which I'll gladly admit is strictly a personal preference issue).

The one thing from the book I found to be profoundly well done was the Iron Will Action, which I've used and allowed extensively and has held up to the tests of both simplicity and balance very well.

[Kaimontfendo]

I'll definately agree about Mastery of Kung-Fu. It's the almost strangest Mastery ever, and it's also probably the most abusable action I've ever seen. It serves as Close AND Ranged Combat, but costs no more than either of them, but it also gets an Agility Bonus AND Weapon Modifier?! That's some bad cheese. Add to that the specialties that each cost a white stone instead of just being free with each rank you get, and... yikes. This one's a mess.

But Nerve Punch and Corrosive Touch... I'm not seeing it so much.
Nerve Punch has some pretty major drawbacks when compared to close combat. It doesn't work on robots, doesn't include a Weapon Modifier, doesn't get specialties, and can't be shifted to defense. It was originally priced at AN+4, but I think that seems really excessive considering all those limitations.

And Corrosive Touch requires you to touch your target, which can be difficult, and then still allows their durability as a free defense against it. If your main complaint is that it ignores toughness, I'm mostly right there with you. But hey, it's nothing a minor revision wouldn't fix.

[WildKnight]

Well if you're asking "what in the book is valuable if you put 30 seconds of effort into it?" then the answer is nearly everything (I wouldn't bother messing with Mastery of Kung Fu... Close/Ranged Combat and Ninja are fine for that purpose).

I thought we were discussing the book as-is.

I could rate it a number of ways, depending on what criteria you want to use.

Rated against the published books? Its as good if not better; they've all got the same issues, so in that regard its an A effort.

The "fluff" is also pretty good... the history and commentary on Marvel's New York City especially.

[takewithfood]

I share a lot of objections with WK. I was torn about how to vote, and almost clicked "avoid it" but I voted in comparison with the other official guides. I also have to give points for how polished it looks.

~TWF

[slobo]

It's a great book. Really.

And if i have tree question, it's not because of the work. Great work, and the GM section is awsome.

1 Why you don't write the second name of Namorita - Kymaera ?
2 Why the machine of Vultur for youngness is not in is CAD ?
3 Why in the clone saga part and the spidey version, you don't talk of Caine ?

[chaosbringer]

I loved this project both as a fan boy and as a game designer. I thought it was great that you choose to remain respectful to the original concept and scaling system showing a measure of restraint and practicality that most people on this board don't even bother with. It is obvious that you have a firm grasp of balanced game structure. Once again, I'd just like to say how VERY impressed I am with both the enormity of this product and the level of quality with which it was completed.

Now for everyone else, while I do agree that it's under priced, I believe Mastery of Kung-Fu is a good fit considering the nature of the abilities it conveys specifically the stat substitution and follows in the vein of Mastery of Pama. I did find Iron Will to be redundant considering the already under used Concentration and Overstrain options.

And oh yeah, Kaine was cool, any one got a CAD?

[dragonphire]

i'm just curious of how much of this is fan boy and how much is real. obviously the repeated actions and modifiers (which i was a little put off about since there seemed to be more repeated items than actual new items) aren't a concern. i heard that this was started by the game but canceled and fans picked up where the game left off? Either way i think it would help if i knew if the "Clarification" section was actually clarifications or just fan boy suggestions. (no offense >.<)

[flyingcircus]

Would be nice if Marvel would pick the game up and redo it again, I dont feel they gave the game a decent shot at sales. It had potential IMO, they just expected WoTC sales figures, way too ambitious for a small market area anyhow.

[jradd7]

What I noticed was the fact that a lot of the actions/modifiers/options were repeats of those presented in previous material. There were some new things, but I found myself let down when I realized that a large portion of that material was not actually new.

[UrbanBlue]

Is it even legal to make such a thing. unofficial or not?

[Jet]

Its as legal as any House Rules you use. They never claimed the rights to characters or systems and never ever got any profit from it, so yeah- its as legal as fanfic. Nobody cares.

[raynorn]

I rather enjoyed it on a quick read through.

I can't say too much about power levels because I haven't had the chance to test it, though looking at the comments Kung Fu does sound a bit redundant to Ninja.

It does catch the feel of the main books and has a high level of professionalism. Nicely done.

Any chance we will see another fan guide?