I had forgotten about the simplicity of this game, like I had mentally blanked and there was a hole there in my experiences. Perhaps life over the past few years kept me too occupied to think about this system and I somehow pushed it back to the point of dismissal.
I am reading this game as if this is my first time with it again. There is the familiar, the rating of attributes and skills on the various polyhedral dice, and the simplified advantage/disadvantage system with edges and hinderances.
The basic rules of actions, roll a die equal to your skill or attribute, and a d6 wild die. Reroll and add the die if it rolls maximum (exploding dice). Beat a 4. One raise per 4 points you beat the target number. Any amount of raises on a damage roll add a 1d6 top the damage (that can also explode). Damage is less than toughness is no effect. Damage equal to or greater, character is shaken. For every raise on the damage roll, apply a wound. Extras take 1 wound, wild cards (like PCs) take 3. Spend a benny, make a soak roll on vigor to reduce the wounds taken from damage.
That...that is most of the game in a nutshell.
The auto-fire and RoF rules are kind of strange, but not too hard to get used to - and they are not like most RoF rules in other games. I think that was my biggest hang-up learning the game the first time. Keep your deluxe edition around for that extended combat example.
The Action Figure Game
To me, the best way to wrap my head around this game is calling it "the action figure game." If I use the word RPG it brings in a lot of baggage, so I avoid that - even though this is a RPG at heart. To me, this is a lot like a homebrew system (I know it is super popular) that a kid would invent to stat out his (or her) GI JOE 3 and 3/4" action figure collection, give them different ratings for ability scores with his D&D dice, write down some special skills for each figure, and give them all edges and hinderances based on personality.
Then, play different games with them all over the bedroom floor.
To me, this is the best way of conceptualizing this game. You aren't dong some complicated "4 page character sheet" thing with all sorts of exception-based rules play, complicated classes and ability trees, and a sort of a "life sim" sort of system. You are statting out your action figures with ratings in different things. Play should be quick. The results should be fast and decisive. Did we do it? Yes or no. Move on!
The answers to questions that come up should not take 20 rolls on 50 pages of charts. We are not going to worry about crit charts. We do not need ratings for potential ability scores. This game isn't an answer to AD&D or any other system. We are not trying to solve another game's problems, we are just trying to have fun.
This is just the simple, fast to play, action figure game and what is more important is setting up a challenge, determining success or failure, spending some bennies to modify the result, if needed, and moving on to the next big thing. If you did not defend the front door of the military base made out of empty cereal boxes, you fell back to the mess hall, defend the crazy science device they are trying to secure, and setup the next phase of the adventure. If you did defend, you forced them out onto the airfield and you can hop in your Skystrikers to shoot at the attacking Cobra tanks and jets.
This isn't to say the game doesn't have crunch and depth, or you can run long, meaningful campaigns with the system - you can and many do - I just like to create these mental models for the game to set my perception of them. Considering this game does support tabletop play with figures and has always kept that strong focus, I feel the model fits the game rather well.
Power Level is Relative
The power level? What you define it to be. If a d12 skill is a "level 120" World of Warcraft character, that is the incredible power of the character in this world. If that is on a more normal power level in a real-world setting, it is a master ninja best of all time and not equal to that super-heroic fantasy world. Power, and the dice, are relative.
You don't really want to go there with scaling side into d14s and d16s and d30s, and the really legendary characters should all be on a similar power level. You could scale the dice with Zochis to a huge range, but there is a point when it all blurs. The highest die is the highest power level in your world.
Looking Forward to This
This is oddly a game I am looking forward to just having fun with and running different scenarios. This is one of those games that is more fun to play than it is to learn, and it is a framework for fast adventures and what-ifs using a variety of iconic action-figure like heroes in crazy situations.
I am happy I rediscovered this one and gave it a second look.
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