Maybe someone can answer this:

Why are lots of people going nuts over Godlike?

Just a question.

I read through it and it was OK in that Par kinda way.

Am I missing something? Could someone explain what the spiffy-ness is?

And for the love of God please dont respond with "Because its cool". Ive gotten that response too many times!

I wanna be cool too! Tell me!

Love,
FruitSmack!

Well, I haven't even looked at it too closely, but I'll take a guess. First is the subject matter. I think a lot of people are hooked by the retro campy pulpy premise. More importantly, however, is the game's designer. While Laws' name is bandied about on the Forge as though he were a Saint, I think Stolze is even more revered. So much so that his name is not to be invoked lightly.

Well, I like him anyhow. I think that the expectation is just very high.

Are you saying that Greg has failed to achieve yet another paradigm shift in game design with his efforts on Godlike? Could you be more specific?

Mike

I don't own a copy yet (see my rants about crappy gaming stores and Godlike's $40 cover price) but I can throw some theories out there. (Take with grain of salt and sense of humor.)

1. Non d20 dice convention (roll once and interpret roll for success, degree of success and speed of action)?

2. Vulnerable Supers?

3. It's part of the unexplained surge of "WWII is cool" movement that is sweeping movies (pick any from last year), video games (Wolfenstein, Medal of Honor, Day of Defeat, etc.) and roleplaying (Godlike, GURPS WWII, Weird War II: Blood on the Rhine, Gearkrieg)?

4. The Stolze. Gotta love the Stolze.

Feel free to pick one and extrapolate.


Aside/Drift: Can anyone explain the sudden surge of WWII frenzy? Why is it that certain... "genres" (it's not the word I'm looking for but it's the closest I have) suddenly explode out of the blue? Or is it just coincidence when 4 or 5 gaming companies decide to put out a product covering the same setting? (Like the multiple Pirate sourcebooks coming out.)

Mike Holmes wrote:

Are you saying that Greg has failed to achieve yet another paradigm shift in game design with his efforts on Godlike? Could you be more specific?

Mike

Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, The Greatest Generation, and lots of other WWII mania in the mainstream, maybe? These inspire gamers as much as anyone else. These spates occur as one designer is inspired to top another designer in making a game that he likes.

Actually, if you look at your examples, you have the obligatory GURPS title, The Wierd version, the mech version, the superhero version. Its just the standard set of genre mixes that come out. If pirates get popular again as you suggest we'll see weird pirates, mech pirates, superhero pirates, etc. (GURPS Swashbucklers already exists).

Mike

I can't comment on why people are going crazy for Godlike in general, but here's some thoughts, and then personal reasons.

Thoughts:
- Godlike was first talked about at GenCon '00, where Pagan Publishing put out a kick-ass flyer for it, announcing it for GenCon '01.
- It didn't come out, but Dennis Detwiller (the primary author) started getting online and being exceptionally nice to everyone about it, pumping it up.
- It finally came out.

I think what happened is that their marketing was awesome. Gamers like titles that aren't on time, which seems silly, but increases their furvor to get it, increasing the amount it's talked about. Detwiller's done an amazing job of getting goodwill between him and his customers, as well.

Why I like it:
- I think - and this is hard to say, as I administrate this place - that the Forge does tend to talk mainly about Narrativist games and some Gamist games, leaving praise for a good Simulationist system out. Godlike's mechanics are fucking great Simulationist mechanics, delving deep into the parts of a character that matter in the game (combat mechanics - it's a war, and interesting Will mechanics - superabilities are based off of your Will to change the world.)
- There isn't a good superhero game out there right now, and this one delivers. That fuels a lot of people, I think. (Wild Talents, their sister game for it, is even better for traditional superheroes. I've been reading the playtest edition, which you can find at the Godlike Yahoo! Group.)
- The background is fabulous. I know systems do matter, but background can be a lot of fun.

[edited]
I've only read Godlike stuff on the web, but as a comic fan, I'll give it a try:
Marvel's Marvels and DC's Kingdom Come series in the 90s were incredible, intelligent works. Soon after, Astrocity raised the bar again in the exploration of "human" superheroes. Incidentally, Alex Ross' art was featured in all of these 3 works, Ross's work on Astrocity being the covers.
Godlike seems to be the rpg version of these awe-filled, epic yet human comics. And even though I can't really explain it, even the art seems somewhat reminscent of Alex-Ross's stuff, for me anyway.

Kenway wrote: Godlike seems to be the rpg version of these awe-filled, epic yet human comics. And even the art seems somewhat Alex-Ross-like.

Mike Holmes wrote: If pirates get popular again as you suggest we'll see weird pirates, mech pirates, superhero pirates, etc.

I don't know, but I wish I could bottle it. I don't feel like Children of the Sun is getting enough run with consumers yet (by this I mean I'm not doing my job well enough, not that anyone owes us anything). Then again, our first consumer ads are just hitting now. It is hard to judge the long term effects of stuff like giving out flyers at Gen Con and Origins last year. Actually, it WOULD have been, if I had had enough sense to put a different weblink on the flyer so I could track it better. Then again, even knowing how many people came to the website only tells you a little.

I looked at Godlike very briefly last week. It's not really my thing, but I imagine I'll pick up a copy.