Submitted by Relentless96 on Fri, 2007-06-08 20:03.
. . . and I think it is brilliant. I sat down, played around with the mechanics in my head, and tried to develop some constructive criticism for the game (in return for the great ones you gave me). The more I read it, the more I was sold by the idea.
I found it interesting that comic books were your inspiration, as I think that the core of many fights in these comic books was overlooked (which was the bare knuckle fighting). Some super heroes used weapons, but even the likes of Batman got down and dirty with his hands and feet. Normally in super hero style RPG's the fighting gets overshadowed by the powers, so I immediately found myself drawn to your concept.
But you didn't limit yourself to that idea. The premise of your system is compatible with so many other concepts and themes. Combining both fantasy and superhero genres demonstrates how easy it is to convert Brawl to any theme a GM or player wanted. I think that the vanilla flavour of the system will help take it a long way, I myself am already contemplating adding a supplement of my own (with your permission of course).
As far as the system is concerned, I think you took the best parts from Duel Blade and left the worst. I will be the first to say (and I hate to be honest about this) that I was not as excited for Prometheus Blade as I was for Duel Blade. I cannot explain why, but I think it was the simplicity and the feel of Duel Blade that drew me in the most. I liked the concept story of Prometheus Blade, but I asked myself "Self, could I get other people interested in playing?". I wasn't sure if I could, only because of how specific the setting was. With Brawl, its a neat combat mechanic that can be packaged into anything the players are interested in. I am happy you have taken your system in this direction, I feel that it is for the best (plus I can imagine how happy you are with your finished product).
I like how you integrated Vocation and Hobby. I have been toying with a similar idea for MACE (the Life Skills), so I am happy to see it so polished and simple for Brawl. I like the random roll tables, sometimes its fun to put creation to the wind and come up with a totally random character (which was another nicely added element for new players). Plus, the combination of these with Body Checks covers all possible tasks without adding complexity to the game. I only hope that I can develop somthing as simple and good as your system for MACE!
When it comes to Combat, I love the way you have managed to phase weapons out, but then phase them in with the Fantasy rules. Body types seems extremely logical, plus I like the Head/Chest dynamic in that one is harder to hit but the other is tougher. As an example, assigning a 2 to Chest is still viable, as though it is easier to hit, with a higher Toughness the hit could just as easily be redirected elsewhere. The beauty of Brawl is that despite all of the random rolls, the key to victory is your choice of what Body Parts to hit and what ones to deflect Hits to. The critical failures and successes add a lot of excitement to the game, I could imagine an amazing die roll turning defeat into victory, and vice-versa.
I know that this is a long winded response, and I might be general in many of my points, but the purpose of my rant is to let you know you are on to somthing special. Games like this don't come around every day. I might have some bias due to my fondness for all things fighting, but I think that Brawl is so distinct that it deserves its own webpage with multiple supplements and links to fansites (I will be one of them!). I hope the above is enough to inspire you to take Brawl further :)
I have read Brawl . . .
. . . and I think it is brilliant. I sat down, played around with the mechanics in my head, and tried to develop some constructive criticism for the game (in return for the great ones you gave me). The more I read it, the more I was sold by the idea.
I found it interesting that comic books were your inspiration, as I think that the core of many fights in these comic books was overlooked (which was the bare knuckle fighting). Some super heroes used weapons, but even the likes of Batman got down and dirty with his hands and feet. Normally in super hero style RPG's the fighting gets overshadowed by the powers, so I immediately found myself drawn to your concept.
But you didn't limit yourself to that idea. The premise of your system is compatible with so many other concepts and themes. Combining both fantasy and superhero genres demonstrates how easy it is to convert Brawl to any theme a GM or player wanted. I think that the vanilla flavour of the system will help take it a long way, I myself am already contemplating adding a supplement of my own (with your permission of course).
As far as the system is concerned, I think you took the best parts from Duel Blade and left the worst. I will be the first to say (and I hate to be honest about this) that I was not as excited for Prometheus Blade as I was for Duel Blade. I cannot explain why, but I think it was the simplicity and the feel of Duel Blade that drew me in the most. I liked the concept story of Prometheus Blade, but I asked myself "Self, could I get other people interested in playing?". I wasn't sure if I could, only because of how specific the setting was. With Brawl, its a neat combat mechanic that can be packaged into anything the players are interested in. I am happy you have taken your system in this direction, I feel that it is for the best (plus I can imagine how happy you are with your finished product).
I like how you integrated Vocation and Hobby. I have been toying with a similar idea for MACE (the Life Skills), so I am happy to see it so polished and simple for Brawl. I like the random roll tables, sometimes its fun to put creation to the wind and come up with a totally random character (which was another nicely added element for new players). Plus, the combination of these with Body Checks covers all possible tasks without adding complexity to the game. I only hope that I can develop somthing as simple and good as your system for MACE!
When it comes to Combat, I love the way you have managed to phase weapons out, but then phase them in with the Fantasy rules. Body types seems extremely logical, plus I like the Head/Chest dynamic in that one is harder to hit but the other is tougher. As an example, assigning a 2 to Chest is still viable, as though it is easier to hit, with a higher Toughness the hit could just as easily be redirected elsewhere. The beauty of Brawl is that despite all of the random rolls, the key to victory is your choice of what Body Parts to hit and what ones to deflect Hits to. The critical failures and successes add a lot of excitement to the game, I could imagine an amazing die roll turning defeat into victory, and vice-versa.
I know that this is a long winded response, and I might be general in many of my points, but the purpose of my rant is to let you know you are on to somthing special. Games like this don't come around every day. I might have some bias due to my fondness for all things fighting, but I think that Brawl is so distinct that it deserves its own webpage with multiple supplements and links to fansites (I will be one of them!). I hope the above is enough to inspire you to take Brawl further :)
Thanks for reading, Aaron
http://www.1km1kt.net/Aaron-White.htm