Oh my God, BESM 3rd edition has actually come out

http://www.white-wolf.com/besm/

Who would have believed it. Apparently they're honoring the Guardian of Order pre-orders so good on them. It's also available in PDF form, but that's like $27 so since the physical copy was actually out I just bought the thing. Supposedly it'll be in stores soon.

Ironically, I'm not sure I'll ever actually play a BESM 3 game. But what the hell, I've thrown enough time into this system, I want to see what they did with it.

RPGnet review of BESM 3

There's a pretty good review posted on RPGnet. After I've read it over, it sounds like the guy knows what he's talking about. Although apparently the introduction is obnoxious in that it calls min/maxing a player problem rather than a system problem. Also, the benchmarks sound interesting and I'll have to check them out. I'm not too worried about the ordinary humans not being able to afford ordinary stats thing. What stat qualified as ordinary has always been kinda iffy in BESM. The bigger question is whether the benchmarks help with balance.

Also, for those who didn't read the comments on my previous entry, the system designer has a blog: guardiansorder.livejournal.com. Apparently it had been dormant for a while pre-release.

Actual good news in Iraq.

I'm not reversing my pro-withdrawal sentiments, but when good news occurs, I think it's worth reporting. Good news is kinda the man bites dog story of the Iraq war.

From Iraqi blogger Iraq the Model

Eyewitnesses in some volatile areas said that large numbers of militants have fled to Syria to avoid being trapped in the incoming security operations.

From the London Times Online:

DEATH SQUAD leaders have fled Baghdad to evade capture or killing by American and Iraqi forces before the start of the troop “surge” and security crackdown in the capital. A Former senior Iraqi minister said most of the leaders loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric, had gone into hiding in Iraq.

From a quick skimming, it seems that militias are taking this a lot more seriously than the 2006 security crackdown in Baghdad. I consider this a good sign. Yes, they won't be arrested or killed in the sweep and still could be captured later. But if we could even get some temporary security in the capital, I think that would be an improvement over the current situation. We'll see how this plays out.

Both articles from Sullivan if memory serves.