I received it as a gift...I probably wouldn't have plunked down the money myself.

The Buffy RPG requires a pretty firm hand from the GM, to keep it moving like the show. It's a bit hard on my friends to make with the quippage, but only a couple of them are Buffy fans. I had fun, but I don't think it's going to be a steady diet.

Yeah, the quippage would be hard, 99.9% of people aren't capable of doing that sort of thing consistantly and on the fly. I was playing in a PBEM Buffyverse game (no actual rules, just a group consensus sort of thing) where we tried to keep up the quippage, though it was a lot easier there since you had time to think before you typed.

Unfortunately that game has ground to a halt halfway through the first "episode", which is pretty disappointing.

I could see the RPG working as a "break from the usual" sort of game, though I'd imagine running it on a regular basis would be difficult.

The other thing, one that's tough for my friends, is that most of the characters aren't really able to lend a hand in a fight. People can participate in all other ways, but really only the Slayer (and any friendly vamps) can bring the pain.

And no one wanted to be part of a game that was all Slayers, because then you'd have Slayer Moon, Slayer Mars...

I thought the fact that non-Slayer characters got more Hero Points (or whatever they're called, it's been awhile since I read a review) was supposed to balance out them being less able to unleash the vampire butt-kicking. (As an aside, one of my problems with the new Buffy video game is Xander is just as powerful as Buffy, Spike and Faith when it comes to beating up baddies. It's especially silly when you pull off a power move and send a vamp flying through the air. It would have been a lot more true to the show if Xander was weaker, but always started a level with some kind of weapon--like that ax he seems to favor on the show--to even things out a bit.)

On the other hand, I'd imagine being relegated to the role of supporting character for a long-term game would get old after awhile, Hero Points or not.

[ Edit - made a post in the wrong thread. Sorry.]

I'd imagine being relegated to the role of supporting character for a long-term game would get old after awhile, Hero Points or not.

That's exactly it. You have to spend Hero Points like there's no tomorrow to be involved in the fights. Which is actually fine with me, but bugged the non-Slayer players. I appreciated that they had to be more creative, using found weapons or whatever; they felt like they weren't able to lend a hand.

And it being BtVS, there are a fair amount of combat scenes, ya know?

That is pretty goofy with the video game. Unless they are using Soldier!Xander, he's not a fighter. Also, he should get a lot more hurt, a lot faster, than Buffy, Spike, or Faith.

Joss recently hinted that there might be another Fray comics series.

Is this old news?

Depends what you mean by "old." He said he'd like to do more with her in the Fray #8 letters column.

Ken, I'm a little late on this response, but I have the Chaos Bleeds game, I'm over halfway done with it, and I'd like to join the tirade of comparison to the first game if you don't mind. Playing as Willow has made me want to throw my Xbox out the window on several occassions.

--thinks you mean me-- Willow takes a little getting used to. Though once she gets the shield spell, her ability to survive goes way up. It lasts until it absorbs a certain amount of damage, rather than having a time limit, so I would cast it at every oppurtunity. I never bothered using a weapon other than a stake with her, as it's the only thing that doesn't interfere with her ability to cast spells. Usually to kill vamps I'd do a fireball follwed by a single punch and then go for a staking. If there were multiple vamps in close range, I'd use the sun spell rather than risk getting gang-beat. I did pretty well with her with just those three spells, though when you fight her boss in the mall, you need to use the possession spell on the boss's minions and the homing missile to damage the boss when there's no minions around.

But yeah, the game's extremely frustrating at times, particularly during boss fights. And whoever's bright idea it was to have the characters twirl their weapon before staking a vamp on the ground should be shot. I've lost count of how many times I got clobbered by a second vamp while I was trying to finish off the first one because of that stupid weapon twirl.

(Edited because I accidently did something wierd with the formatting)