Originally Published June 20th, 2000
This is how you write a supplement.
Why? Well, for starters, what makes a good supplement? First off, the book should be good enough that you want to buy it – but the underlying system should have been designed well enough that you don’t need to buy it. In other words, the supplement should live up to it’s name: It should supplement the gaming process, and not be an integrally necessary piece of it.
Second, the book should contain a wealth of background information and source material. By the time I finish reading a supplement on, for example, a “guys-with-cars and girls-with-guns in a cops and robbers game”, I should know everything I ever wanted to know about cars, guns, and the men and women who use them to catch crooks and rob things.
Finally, the supplement should work by itself, but also work in synthesis with the other supplements for a game. In other words, I should be able to pick up Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies™ and be able to use the book without suddenly discovering that I also need to pick up The Complete Book of Cars and The Totally Insane Guide to Guns. At the same time, though, if I decide to pick up The Totally Insane Guide to Guns it should add to my experience using Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies™, and vice versa.
Needless to say, Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies™ (HRGB) succeeds at all of this with the fine polish of a new ‘vette and the lightning impact of Colt .457. Even though its twice as long as the core Big Eyes, Small Mouth™ (BESM) manual, at no point in time do you feel as if you actually needed to buy this book. At the same time, though, every single page is chock full of material so good that you will never regret, even for an instant, the hard earned cash you laid on the line to pick it up.
Basically the content of HRGB can be broken down into three categories: New Rules, Equipment, and Campaign Info.
NEW RULES
Character creation in the basic Tri-Stat System (on which BESM is based) is a process of seven steps. HRGB not only elaborates on how each of these seven steps can be tailored towards a campaign of high-octane action. An example of this is found in Step 4: Character Attributes – in which not only are all of the attributes in the core manual assessed as to their appropriateness in an HRGB campaign, but several attributes are specifically modified for easier use in such a campaign, and a set of brand new attributes are introduced.
But HRGB doesn’t stop there, it also goes on to insert new steps and sub-steps into the character creation process – expanding and adapting the character creation process. The most notable example of this is the presentation of a skill system for BESM (which first made its debut in the stand-alone Tri-Stat game Dominion Tank Police). This skill system is not only dynamic, it also fits almost perfectly into the overall feel and nature of the system as a whole. One would expect this type of thing to either feel like a completely tacked on addition or, alternatively, something which should have been included in the basic BESM manual to begin with. The truth is that you feel cheated neither in the skill system itself nor its lack in the core rulebook — an accomplishment that speaks highly not only of HRGB, but the Tri-Stat system as a whole.
Beyond the rules for skill resolution, the only other noteworthy addition to the basic Tri-Stat rules takes the form of a brief section describing genre combat, including a surprisingly wide array of optional rules and tweaks.
EQUIPMENT
A supplement about hot rods and gun bunnies which lacked a description of cars and firearms would, of course, be remiss. It should come as no surprise that HRGB lives up to the task admirably in Chapter 3: Boom and Vroom, tossing in bombs along with the titular autos and guns.
Not only is this section a sizable and well-researched portion of the book, it also excels at maximizing the value of everything it gives to you. By implementing a template system (so that, for example, the same set of stats covers not only an H&K MP5, but also an Ingram M10) they maximize their coverage. And all of this is backed up by rock solid research which is presented in a clear, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-use format for the GM.
This section is also a good example of the modular design to the BESM product line I was discussing earlier: In the Big Robots, Cool Starships™ supplement for BESM a complete vehicle construction system is presented for the game. Now, HRGB could have required the purchase of this separate book or – worse yet – simply reprinted the material. Instead, Guardians of Order have presented us with this entirely new template system, which is not only a better fit for the material covered by HRGB, but is also completely compatible with BRCS for those who want the added flexibility the complete VCS gives.
CAMPAIGN INFO
Between the new rules and equipment guide, HRGB has already justified its existence as a supplement – but it doesn’t stop there. Jim Crocker goes on to provide a wealth of campaign detail. This material ranges from an overview of pertinent anime titles in the genre (such as Gunsmith Cats and Riding Bean); to a breakdown of campaign styles, themes, categories and ratings (and how the rules can be tailored to each of them); to a set of character archetypes; to a stand-alone module; to (finally) an overview of firearm laws, motor vehicle laws, and bounty hunting and bail in America, Canada, and Japan (accompanied by a general description of “Law and Order in Japan” and America’s Miranda Warning).
All of this material is immediately useful and pertinently selected – there’s no deadweight to be found here, and its organized and presented in an easily referenced and accessible manner.
Of course, nothing is truly perfect – and HRGB is no exception to this truism. The book has a minor typo problem, particularly in the first few chapters. The new attributes added to HRGB have six levels (instead of the standard five of the core BESM rules) – this works, but it lends an unbalanced feel to the system. Although the new skill system is excellent (as noted above), this particular presentation of it is definitely slanted towards an HRGB campaign. Clearly this isn’t a flaw, but if you’re picking this book up solely for the skill system you should go in with the knowledge that you’re going to have to adapt it to other types of BESM campaigns.
But at the end of the day there is only one conclusion which can be reached: Guardians of Order was good to begin with, and with each new supplement they get better and better. Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies is a textbook case of “how to do it right” – and it’s well worth your time and money.
Writers: Jim Crocker, David L. Pulver
Publisher: Guardians of Order
Price: $15.95
Page Count: 124
ISBN: 1-894225-07-8
