Updated on 3/11/97 Hello from R. Talsorian Games! Response to BGC and the FUZION? system has been great, and everybody here at RTG is very happy about that, but as might be expected, a lot of comments have been generated and we'd like to address them. To make sure that as many interested people as possible get this message, BGC's errata was re-posted to rec.games.mecha, rec.games.frp.cyber, alt.fan.bgc, and rec.arts.anime.games, and now it's available here. Hopefully this will be useful to you guys, and please continue to post (or e-mail) your comments and questions. Your feedback and input on the BGC game is greatly appreciated, and we look forward to publishing more BGC material. Thanks!

Benjamin Wright
R. Talsorian Games

There have been 3 types of comments out there: Questions, Errors, and Gimmes.

QUESTIONS

Most of these are relatively straightforward cases of confusion over phrasing and have generally been clarified by others online. Kudos to you, No-Prizes for all. Here are some of the Questions which have come up so far:

• Some have asked where the artwork came from. Well, all but ONE picture is official Japanese artwork - we tried to provide as much artwork as possible, since we know how hard it is to find the B-Club Special these days! The ONLY picture done by us is the detail of Linna's New Hardsuit's Knuckle Bomber on pg.79 (drawn by yours truly). EVERYTHING else is Japanese. Sources include the myriad Japanese art books as well as photocopies of production art supplied by AnimEigo. The illustration for the Cybernetics section on pg.61 is from said photocopies from the AD Police Files.
• People have commented that the abilities and point levels of the KS and Leon seem awfully high. This was done to accurately represent their abilities in the OVAs, rather than to use them as representations of balanced character creation. They're NOT balanced - as the heroes of the OVAs, the KS and Leon are definitely exceptional to the point of being nigh-superhuman. Some characters admittedly came out more than a little "mighty" (particularly Leon - his is a special case resulting from the STRength Chart on pg.25, so if you want to give him a STR 5 or 6, go ahead), but in general we did not offer a 'recommended point level' comparable to the knight sabers because player-characters are not expected to start out with such levels of power. Remember, the KS are the heroes - they're what all PCs WISH they were like! Still, such debates occur over most any licensed product - the Stats listed for the characters were based on the opinions of the authors of the BGC game, and if your opinion differs, feel free to make any changes you feel are appropriate.
• Some people have asked how the "Favor" Perk works. Well, Favors are one-shot Perks - once a Favor is used, it's gone and you don't get the points back for it either. If you want more than one Favor, buy more than one.
• Some are confused by the "Martial Artist" Talent - note that it is clearly stated under the Talent on pg31 and under the "Hand To Hand" skill on pg 30 that Martial Artist allows you to use Martial Throw and Martial Strike (listed on pg 41). As for the mention of creating new Martial Arts Maneuvers, that will be covered in a later book under the Champions line. (Sorry, no giving your ADP Officers "Sonic Booms" or "Hadokens" in this BGC game...)
• Somebody asked "what does 9D6h mean? It's the hand-to-hand damage of Sylia's Hardsuit... is it stun or kills?" Well, as it says in the Special Notes column for Sylia's Hardsuit, her gloves do Killing damage only (unlike the other KS, who do Killing damage with their right-hand powergloves and Stunning damage with their left-hand mesh gloves).
• Note that "Kills" means BIG Killing damage - 50 points of Killing damage (as opposed to Stunning) equals 1 Kill. So remember that "Kills" and "Killing Damage" are not exactly synonymous.
• It has been pointed out that if your character gets a high status in the lifepath, he might be obligated to pay as much as 25 points for that Wealth. But that wealth was in their childhood situation - who says the wealth level of your childhood must be the same as you enjoy now? In other words, unless you pay for the Wealth Perk, your character was only rich when she was a kid.
• A note about applying experience points: Experience points do not buy Skills up at a 1-to-1 level as CPs do in character creation. Instead, it costs as many points as the level of skill to which you're increasing. For example, going from Firearms +3 to Firearms +4 would cost 4 points.

ERRORS

These are cases of people pointing out typos, omissions, or holes in the rules. We'll try to address these whenever they come up (i.e., whenever you point them out to us). Here's what's come up so far:

• While we specified that 5 campaign points = 1 stat point, we didn't say if one could convert Stat points to Campaign points. The answer is Yes.
• The optional Derived Stat of Humanity is listed as EMP x10. Oops - this should have read PERsonality x10. Our mistake.
• We forgot to list the EVs for the various Armor types on page 142! To find a suit of armor's EV, divide the listed PD by 8 and round down.
• Vision's Stats (on p130) list Combat Sense +X and Martial Artist level 3. Whoops - that should read Combat Sense +2 and Martial Artists should not have a level.
• The listing of bow damage says you do 1 point of damage for each point of STR (up to 7 or 10, depending on the bow). Oops. That really means 1 DC (1D6) per point of STR, not '1 point.'
• Don't know how we missed this one, but we did - Priss' New Hardsuit (both versions) should have twin Railguns in the right gauntlet. These have the same stats as the railguns in the original suit, adding +20 CP to the overall cost.
• Yes, there may be a few other kinks in the book, although nothing that should impair play. Still, we're working on ironing those out now and any further errata will be made available as soon as we have it.

GIMMES

These are what I'm hearing the most. People want more "stuff" - Mecha construction rules, cybernetics rules, netrunning rules, conversion rules for Hero and Interlock, and supplements.

• Cybernetics are effectively "ported" from our Cyberpunk game to BGC. We'll get into more detail in a supplement, but all it's going to comprise is the following: Use the optional Derived Stat of Humanity (Per x10), and use Cyberpunk 2020's cyberware list. One Eurodollar equals about 200 yen and SDP and SP (PD) levels are unchanged.
• We offer totally usable hacking (netrunning, decking, whatever you wanna call it) rules on pg.60 - but if you want REALLY detailed cyberspace rules, buy Cyberpunk 2020.
• Superpowers, psionics, and magic are all the territory of Champions, and will be covered in the upcoming Champions: The New Millennium book. Advanced "build-your-own" Martial Arts will be provided in an upcoming FUZION book, and of course this system will work for BGC, Champs N.M. and the 3rd edition of Cyberpunk.
• Supplements for BGC will be coming soon. The first will be "Bubblegum Crisis: Before and After" and will cover Bubblegum Crash and AD Police, and the second will be "Bubblegum Crisis 203X" which will cover all the stuff which was never animated (rough designs, mecha variations, a few new ideas, etc.). We don't have the license for the Grand Mal comic or the AD Police manga, but we hope to do the new BGC TV series when it comes out in October of '97. Each BGC supplement will contain errata for the previous book. As for when the first supplement will be out, expect it sometime around June of 1997.
• Conversions between Hero, FUZION and Interlock were not put into BGC because it's a stand-alone game. Naturally, the 3rd edition of Cyberpunk will have conversion rules for 2020, and Champions New Millennium will have conversion rules for Champions 4th Edition, but BGC, being a stand-alone game, did not really demand such conversions - although we'll probably provide such in one of the coming supplements. You see, one of the beautiful things about FUZION is that it really is a "fusion" of Hero and Interlock. Therefore, almost all of the systems in either of those games will work in FUZION, and vice versa. 1 MZ Construction Point = 1 Cyberpunk Skill Point = 1 Hero System Character Point = 1 FUZION Campaign Point = 1/5 of a FUZION Stat Point. There'll be more extensive notes for using the 4th Edition Hero System power creation rules in FUZION in the new Champions book, but basically you can use it pretty much straight across once you adjust things for the cost of FUZION stats (which only affects some powers). On the damage side of things, 1 point of damage (done as well as taken) in FUZION equals roughly 1 point of damage in Cyberpunk and roughly 2 points of damage in Mekton Z, so 1 Kill is 14 DC or 14D6 hits, and it looks like 1 SP at the 1:1 level translates into about 50 PD. 1 FUZION Kill = 1 Mekton Z Kill = 25 Mekton Z SDP = 7D6 Mekton Z Hits, 1 FUZION Kill = 50 Cyberpunk SDP = 14D6 Cyberpunk damage. Weapon Accuracy and other skill roll modifiers are about the same in Cyberpunk and Mekton Z and are also the same in FUZION.
• On the mecha side of things, Mekton Z's mecha are effectively the same as those in FUZION already, but there have been several complaints regarding the lack of a more detailed mecha construction system. Such was not included for several reasons:
  1. This, the basic rulebook, is an adaptation of the BGC OVA series and as such is primarily concerned with providing gaming information on stuff from the BGC OVAs. Such a system would be more appropriately provided in a supplement, so only a "quick-n'-dirty" system was provided in the back for the Bubblegum Crossfire setting.
  2. To be frank, a complete mecha construction system which covers the WIDE variety of mecha in the BGC universe would have taken up WAY too many pages in the rulebook.
  3. It should come as no surprise that all the mecha in BGC were built using Mekton Zeta Plus, RTG's own mecha-construction rules from our Anime-style RPG "Mekton Z". In fact, below is a list of the few changes necessary to build ANY BGC gear you want with Mekton Zeta Plus, just like we did!

   

• Mecha Notes (General)

  • 1 Kill = 50 hits rather than 25.
  • 1 MZ Construction Point = 1 FUZION Campaign Point.
  • All Hardsuits and most Boomers are 1/10th Scale designs, and all 1/10th scale designs weigh 10kg per 1:1 ton (rather than the normal 1kg per 1:1 ton).
  • In FUZION, 1 mecha Hex = 15m, so 1 MA = 3 Move Stat; 1/10th weapon Ranges are calculated by using ((the weapon's 1:1 range in Hexes) x15) as Long Range in meters.
  • All damage is assumed to be Killing unless otherwise noted.
  • All 1/10th-Scale powered armor (Hardsuits, Battlesuits, Powered Suits, etc.) use the special 1/2-damage rule (damage that penetrates armor splits in half; 1/2 to internal SDP, 1/2 to wearer), and use the same rule as 1/5th-Scale mecha for pilot space (i.e., 1 BOD = 1 Space). 1/5th-Scaled armor is available to 1/10th designs, but it DOES add its proportional weight!

     

• Mecha Notes (KS)

  • All KS mecha (motorslaves, hardsuits, etc) all weigh 1/10th what they normally would due to their amazingly advanced technology. There is no CP equivalent for this - either you use Dr. Stingray's technology, or you don't!
  • Hardsuit Move Bonus is based on same number as Unscaled MA, added to MOVE stat.
  • Hardsuit lasers output is automatically adjustable from 1D6 of damage all the way up to maximum.
  • STR of Hardsuits equals servo level; AH is 9th level, so it's STR 9. The second series of Hardsuits were designed to be +33% stronger thru increased Servos and Hydraulics, and with -12% weight thru Space Efficiency

     

• Mecha Notes (Boomers)

  • A Boomer's stats are set by its AI rating (as per IA rules); multiply IA rating by 6 to get pool of points for INT, TECH, PER, WILL, REF & DEX. All Boomer skills are equal to the IA level.
  • Boomer Move is the same as unscaled MA at 1:1 (i.e., MA4 = MOVE12).
  • STR is based on servo ratings as per Hardsuits, but Boomers often have Heavy or Superheavy Hydraulics, which multiplies STR by 1.5 or 2.0.
  • Boomers have no CON stat, and a Boomers' recovery is calculated from STRx2; the number represents Hits (not stun, which Boomers don't have) which can be regained from a turn of rest/recovery - gotta love that regeneration system! - but not all Boomers can self-repair so fast (thus REC is listed as Hits/Turn OR Hits/Day).
  • A Boomer's BOD is equal to the number of unscaled Kills in its torso, with hits equaling scaled hits (50 per Kill, divided by 10) in Torso servo.
  • The Superboomer, Old Combat Boomer and Battle Boomer are weight-inefficient (double what their normal weight would be). The Boomer Giant and Doberman are 1/5th scale designs; 100kg/unscaled ton, and STR is (servo lvl/2 + 7).
  • Androids (like Sexaroids) are almost exactly the same as normal characters; they weigh 1kg for 1:1 ton, and do have a CON (equal to unmodified servo level) and Stun points; their REC is determined normally and regains Stun, not Hit points.