Customer Reviews

Necessary Evil (Savage Worlds; S2P10006)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased Necessary Evil simply because I was excited about the concept, and having played a few games of it, wanted to get it for myself.

The biggest thing, and best, is the detailed power conversion for the Super Powers Arcane Background, instead of the low-power Pulp feel, gives us the completely feeling of four-color comics.

And, as a comic book lover, I love reading all the fluff in the material, and pointing out the references to some awesome comics (my favorite is pretty heavy in the spoiler, but if you're a DC fan, you'll recognize the reference to the Anti-Monitor).

If you love comics, and love RPGs, and enjoy the Savage Worlds book, I highly recommend this setting and plot point, just for the sheer fun factor. Is it the most serious setting? No. But it is fun.

The concept behind the book is brilliant. Aliens attack; super heroes go out to save the planet and lose badly; it's up to the super villains to save the planet. Very well executed and fun.

I think the idea for this game is absolutely brilliant. It encourages a different style of role-playing and even gives those gamers among us (you know who you are) who would like to play on the "evil" side of the fence a little breathing room.

The problem is in the rules. The Savage Worlds system is wonderful for what it does - give a quick system for making interesting characters. The problem is one of scope: a super-hero system needs to be able to take in everyone from Aunt May to the Incredible Hulk and that's a problem that a lot of game systems simply can't handle. With a die-system running from d4 to d12, Savage Worlds has to bend a lot to fit in even such low-tier muscleheads as one would find in, say, the Rhino. It's a problem most generic RPG systems run into sooner or later and SW is no different.

The idea behind this is Gold. All the Superheroes are gone, and it's up to the Supervillains to save the world from the Alien invaders. The problem is the superhero creation rules aren't very good. They are arbitrary, and not very customizable. Plus it seems to be aimed at a 13 to 15 year old target market. Which is too bad, as this had Alan Moore and Grant Morrison potential written all over it.