User Blog:
What We Should Play - Bounty Head Bebop

Bounty Head Bebop is a space/action/drama RPG made to capture the feel of action-packed anime, published by Heroic Journey Publishing. It runs off a highly modified OGL d20 system.

The System

If you’re familiar with d20, you’re at least nominally familiar with this, although it’s fundamentally different than many d20 games in a number of ways including the ratings of basic abilities and the fact that the game is heavily geared towards skill-based play, using a single mechanic to cover both combat and non-combat actions. The system is geared towards rolling under target numbers, inverse to the traditional high number goals of most d20 systems. One of my only gripes is that it changes a number of familiar d20 trait names for what amounts to little reason. This isn’t a major distraction though, it just seems a little unnecessary. There’s interesting mechanics for dramatics, offering players’ characters an edge over average people in a quantifiable sense. The systems for feng shui and psychic powers are also very brief and straightforward, easy to understand and even easier to reference. There are no long lists and irritating mechanics to distract.

My gem: The commerce system. It’s very dramatic, and doesn’t involve throwing around large numbers and ludicrous math. It’s all about availability and plot sensitivity. If you want your players to have money troubles, you say they have money troubles.

The Book

The book itself (I’m reviewing from the PDF edition) is color cover, b&w interior, 130 pages total. The art is line art style, nothing to write home about, but nothing so bad as to distract from the actual game material. The only thing that got to me about the art was the repeated use of the same images.
 

The Setting

The setting receives a nice, long treatment. While it’s not the most engaging writing out there, it addresses a lot of information in a relatively short number of pages. The vibe is very similar to Firefly/Serenity, I’d definitely recommend it for a fan of that property. The setting lends itself to a number of different play styles, which I think really leaves it open to a wide fan base.