Reply to L. Wiseman.
Okay, fine. I'm perfectly willing to fess up to a lack of constructive tone.
The problem I have is that (in my eyes at least) I simply cannot agree, at
all, with some of the most basic decisions you are making.
First of all: Wouldn't a TNE/DJ be not only cheaper, but be an easy way to
expand the market of both? I'm not kidding about this.
Second, and more importantly: There just doesn't seem to be any sort of
moderating influence in GDW's game design. It's like old-time TSR/Gygax, where
rules seemed to be made on whim, and no matter how clearly they were shown to
be wrong, were stubbornly defended to the bitter end. Maybe T2K2 doesn't have
one-minute rounds or advancement based solely on murder/theft, but bad rules
are not discarded. Was a single rule thrown out from Trav to MTrav? It looks
to me like everything was just sort of thrown together. Sorted, yes, but
nonetheless cumbersome and excessive (Animals encounters and armor, space
combat could have been melded into personal combat (a la Star Cruiser) and
made easier and more interesting, no tasks in character generation, damage
values for weapons - some sensible, some not, were virtually unchanged and
simply welded onto striker's quick and easy penetration system, etc.).
I and others could, if we thought we weren't wasting time, add heap helpful
ideas, but the problem is that we are in the position of fixing one that
hasn't even happened yet.
For example: If (in T2K2) effective skill asset was (Stat x Skill)^(1/2),
rounded up (it has to be up to get a good curve), one-year term characters
would actually be close to viable. As it stands, they aren't. I personally
believe the chance of this becoming a rule is about as large as the chance
that a non-Hp (read: all humans have about the same damage absorbing capacity)
damage system. Who is supposed to like that? One almost wonders if anyone
playtested T2K2 (I liked version one...) who wasn't already sold on the
product. The randomization of initial Initiative is simply to great. Small
arms are too similar to print that many stats on them (and pictures -- I'd
normally add an insult here, but I think you get the idea). I can stomach a
d20, but am curious about what's so great about it. It just seems like more
numbers to me. I could write down an itemized list of problems and suggestions
if you want, but I'm not going to bother unless I think it might not be a
waste of my time.
The point is, when you don't think anything'll happen, we're (I'm, actually,
as I'm sure there are others who feel different) supposed to what? Stoically
and silently watch a game we (I) liked degenerate? You are quick to dismiss
any negative comments as attacks, and then ignore them. In the same vein, if
the game quality doesn't improve, I shall just as quickly dismiss your
products. If this doesn't bother you, then hey, I guess I'm the one who was
foolish.
-H
[Why am I doing this? Hell if I know. No one I know will play any GDW games
without heavy prodding - usually rule problems.]