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sábado, 30 de julio de 2011

Review of Cacería de Bichos (Part Two): Manual del DJ

Keeping with the review of Cacería de Bichos in this post I will discuss the second game manual: The Manual of DJ (Gamemaster manual).

Manual del DJ cover

In this second manual Zonk-PJ centers his attention specifically in the Gamemaster giving the tools needed to develop our own science-fiction universes to set the mood of our game sessions.

To do this the manual is divided as follows (chapters continue the numbering established in the Manual del Cazador):

Chapter 7: Refereeing Cacería de Bichos
This chapter delves into the primary philosophy of the game, which is none other than, as told in the first part of this review, to simulate the dynamics of stories and films in which the protagonists are faced with alien creatures, being able to be the hunters or the hunted (such as the crew of the spaceship Nostromo having to face the Alien), but in fact the game coul be used to create and referee any science-fiction story.

In this chapter also talks about Power Levels and its use to build characters and and also focuses on important aspects such as the task from the Gamemaster, the most usual genres, a wide range of advice to facilitate gamemastering and the required tools to create specific elements (Gifts, Limitations, equipment...) we needed that are not present in the Manual del Cazador.

Page 13 of the Manual de DJ (Chapter 7)
Chapter 8: Creatures
This chapter gives us all the needed knowledge to create the alien species and animals which can be used to populate our universes and does it in a comprehensive way because it shows us all the necessary steps to define some characteristics like their habitat, their morphology, how they communicate or their degree of intelligence (all of this can be acomplished through instructions or rolling in various tables to to determine them on a random basis). At this chapter’s end there are 10 creature samples created with the options showed in this part.

Page 43 of the Manual de DJ (Chapter 8)
Chapter 9: Settings
Here we will find the required rules to generate complete star systems and its planets and the data to define civilizations inhabiting them (pupulation number, government type, Legal Level and Tech Level), although the other information we will have to create according to the story we are writing.

At chapter’s end there are two sample settings: Futuro Cercano (Near Future, in wich Humankind expands in their solar home system and maybe discovers unsuspected facts about their past) and La Primera Colonización (First Colonization, continuing the previous setting Humankind begins to expand in a first colonization jump and discovers that the universe it’s not so empty as believed...)

Page 101 of the Manual de DJ (Chapter 9)
Capter 10: Psionic Powers
This chapter deals exclusively with psionic powers (telepathy, pirokinesis, etc.) and different ways to implement them in the game universe, because we can choose them to be very common therefore to be available to most characters or be more restricted (there are also optional rules included to modify the system).

With the rules given in this chapter it’s pretty easy to simulate powers and abilities found in novels and films like the Star Wars saga or superhero comics.

Page 192 of the Manual de DJ (Chapter 10)
Chapter 11: Vehicles, Ships and Bases
This chapter offers us all the information and required rules to build and use another of the typical icons of science.fiction stories: vehicles (terrestrial, aerial and space ones) and bases (planetary and space ones). With this chapter contents it’s possible to build the simplest shuttle to largest space bases like the Death Star.

Page 231 of the Manual de DJ (Chapter 11)
Conclusions
Cacería de Bichos is a game that meets and exceeds what is proposed and that is nothing more than provide the basis to develop our game sessions and science fiction campaigns the way we want them, reaching a level that in my opinion matches the classics of the genre like Mrc W. Miller’s Traveller (indeed Zonk-PJ dedicates the game to him) or generic games like GURPS, also being based in Fudge rules it can be used with other games available as downloads from Demonio Sonriente or other ones owned by us.

Cacería de Bichos is sold in PDF through Tesoros de la Marca and is also expected to be available in print thanks the benefits obtained in the presale.

Regarding aids and related downloads the author offers us character sheets and game aids through Tesoros de la Marca and Demonio Sonriente and plans to offer the basic texts of the game rules as Open Content licensed downloads when printed books will be offered for sale.

This entry it's also available in the following languages:
Castellano Català

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