Bamboo Biscotti

Hey, remember I threatened you with fan-fiction?  Here we go--generated by Ed's sci fi pulptastic Future Tales and starring this pretty little grrl in all her ferocious predatory glory. Unfortunately, Hero Forge does not have appropriately "Buck Rogers" options for their miniatures, so she's still more Apocalypse World / the Sprawl than she is Forbidden Planet.  Them's the breaks. Katana Jones Rep 5 SS3 Scavenger Star (Humanoid Alien) (Power 5) Brawler +1d6 in Melee Quick Reflexes +1d6 on In Sight tests (Racial) Laser Pistol Solid Melee Weapon (Up to 5 items) Home: Rural/Salvage Myrna Rep 4 SS3 Exotic Grunt (Humanoid Alien) (Power 2) Pilot (Counts as Rep 5 when piloting Starcraft) Stunning (+2d6 when taking Talk the Talk test vs. affected parties)(Racial) Opening Scene generates thusly:  1d6+5 on the Person or Thing Table is a 9 Find/Rescue Person...5 clues needed to unlock the final scene.  1d6 for specific sort of case...5 means the V...

This is one of those facepalming moments of D'OH! that happens to me every other day or so.  The circuits go 'click', the proverbial light bulb flickers on, and I'm left going "oh! So that's why..." I am a big, big fan of Vince Baker's Apocalypse World system.  I'm also a big, big fan of Ed Texeira's Chain Reaction family of miniature wargames.  And it finally occurred to me that they have one interesting feature in common...independently derived, and not entirely identical, but surprisingly close. They also have a certain tone in common, being fairly narrativist in feel.  (I know, I know, 'how do you write a narrativist wargame'?  Ed's done it. Trust me on this.)  They achieve this by abstracting a whole lotta stuff that most of the gaming industry tries to define to a fare-thee-well and seventeen decimal places, letting you focus on the important stuff*.  This is more apparent in the 'light RPGs' that Ed has publishe...