Unnecessary Evil?

People are starting to talk on RPG.net about Necessary Evil, the Plot Point book for Savage Worlds. Reactions so far are mixed. The supers rules have been getting thumbs up from all who comment on them, but the rest of it is not faring so well. Some folks find the alien races hokey, while others complain that you play badguys forced to become good guys. Like this second group, I was really hoping for an opportunity to just play a villain. But apparently the plot forces you to choose goodness over evil. Bah, I say. Bah. Still, I can't just turn my nose up at a new set of supers rules. RPGNow is now selling the NE Player's Guide for nine bucks. That should contain all the rules minus the other stuff that people are bagging on. Or maybe we should try the Superhero Test Rules from Savage Heroes. It's a lot less material, but free.

While we're on the subject of superheroes and PDFs, I might mention that Bruce Baugh has a new PDF called A Fistful of Plot Devices, a how-to doc on organizing crises for superheroes. Basically, it's 19 pages of supers-oriented GM advice for five bucks. Not normally the sort of thing I'd be pimping, but we're talking about Bruce Baugh here. Indulge me for a few moments whilst I sing his praises. His credits are many, including Nexus: The Infinite City (the precursor to Feng Shui), several Feng Shui products, editing & development for the 2nd edition of Nobilis, and Adventure!, among other things. He's a highly talented individual. In his online persona he is one of the nicest, most even-keeled, and intelligent posters I have encountered on RPG.net. When he posts in a thread, there's usually little more to add to the subject. And when he disagrees with me, it always forces me to reconsider my own position. Does any of this stuff mean Fistful is automatically going to be a home run? Probably not. But the guy has quite a track record.