#RPGaDay2015 Day 19: Favorite Supers RPG

Day 19:  Favorite Supers RPG

This one is simple.  My favorite supers RPG is Supers! by Simon Washbourne.  I have the original version.  I hope to get the revised edition at somepoint.  I hear good things about it.  Til then, the original version will work fine.

#RPGaDAY2015

Beyond Belief Games Website

Simon Washbourne has set up a website for his his game company Beyond Belief Games. It is your basic website with descriptions of his games and a few freebies. Amongst the current freebies is the complete Medieval Mysteries and Lashing the Ginger Beer games.

Thanks Simon.

Powers

Me and my oldest managed to play a bit of Super!. Currently, the super-villains in the Stronghold are attempting a mass breakout and all the heroes in Supersville are trying to contain it, including my character Concrete. If I may say, Concrete is kicking some villain rear.

But that is not what I want to write about. Someday I would really like to play in a dark, gritty campaign. Something like Powers. Powers was created and is produced by Brian Michael

Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. It is the story of Christian Walker, a detective with a special

homicide unit that deals with the murder of powers. Powers are the super-powered individuals of the world. (Really? You must be kidding!) Be they hero or villain, their deaths must be investigated. This is a dark world. Gangsters with powers, morally ambiguous heroes with

powers and so forth. The issues are filled with graphic violence, foul language and sex. I don't like some of the plot twists that have been introduced but that is a personal preference, not a reflection on the quality of the work. I've only read the collections, which start with Who Killed Retro Girl?, so that might contribute to my confusion.

If you like your comics rougher than your average fare, give Powers a try.

Simon Washbourne

If you've read this blog you know I like Simon Washbourne's games. Barbarians of Lemuria and Supers! get a lot of play in my household. I don't know Mr. Washbourne personally except for encounters on forums. However, he has earned a significant amount of respect from me after I read this post over at RPG.net. You can read the entire thread here.

Centennial Post

Well, this is my 100th post. Time flies when you're having fun.

Simon Washbourne has a forum where people can discuss his games. On one of his threads the posted a challenge. The challenge was to create four characters for Supers! that incorporate one of the following into the character's name: Blood, Song, Sphere or Volcano. His challenge is in post 34 of this thread. Here is my first entry.

Colin Savage effectively became an orphan at the age of 5 when his father went to prison for life and his mother fell into an abyss of drugs and alcohol. Bounced between uncaring relatives and foster homes, he grew up a petty thief and a thug. One night he cornered a young woman in a dark alley. But things didn't go as expected. He was saved from a grotesque death by Commander Power, who happened to be patrolling in the area. The woman escaped when Commander Power realized how near death Colin was and rushed him to the nearest hospital instead of pursuing the her. Colin made a near-miraculous recovery from his wounds in a very short time. Slowly, over the next several week his powers, and the thirst, manifested themselves. Now called Blood Fiend, Colin is gathering minions in a bid to make himself the dark lord of Supersville's criminal underworld.

Blood Fiend

Resistances

Composure 2D

Fortitude 3D

Reaction 2D

Will 3D

Aptitudes

Intrusion 3D

Streetwise 2D

All the Rest 1D

Powers

Vampiric Powers 4D

Mind Control 4D

Flight 1D

Super Senses

-Heightened Scent 1d

-Night Sight 1D

Super Strength 2D

Ads

Charismatic

Disads

Addiction - Blood

Hylas Jones and the Cup of Heracles

My son and I have played two sessions of our Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief based Supers! game. My son has read all five books in the series and movie is currently his favorite movie of all time. I've read half of the first book in the series (so far) and have seen the movie. So I'm winging it a bit as the GM. For those of you not familiar with the series, Percy Jackson is a half-blood. His father is the Greek god Poseidon and his mom is a mortal. The Greek myths are true and fantastical creatures exist. Oh, and the Greek gods migrate with the center of the Western World. So the current Mount Olympus is located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building.

Here's the set up:

Hylas Jones is twelve years old and his best friend is named Mac. (I gave my son a list of ancient Greek names and Hylas is what he picked. I picked Jones because he couldn't think of a last name.) Hylas doesn't know it but his father is the god Zeus.

The call to action (literally):

Hylas receives a phone call at school from his mom. She orders Hylas home immediately and tells him he needs to bring Mac. Mac (also twelve) recognizes the urgency of the message, gets a motorcycle and drives them to Hylas' apartment. The place has been ransacked. The boys find a note from Hylas' mother. It says that "the Cup" has been stolen and she has gone to recover it. Hylas doesn't know about any cup but Mac tells him it is an important gift from his father. Neither Hylas nor Mac have any idea where she has gone. Mac, however, says he knows someone who can tell them. They need to go to Delphi, Ohio to talk to a fortune-teller.

The journey:

Hylas doesn't know how they will get there but Mac says he'll drive. He comes back a short time later with a car. After gathering supplies they drive off. They drive all day and stop late in the evening. They sleep in the car. Hylas wakes to the sound of Mac leaving the car. He says he needs to use the bushes. While Mac is gone a van pulls up and five men in long black coats get out and surround the car. When Hylas gets out they try to grab him. Hylas fights back as best he could. Mac comes out of the bushes and yells for Hylas to run. Hylas hightails it out of there. After he hits the forest and hides, he hears a bellow from behind him. He eventually hears footsteps coming toward him. It's Mac. Mac says the men are gone. He tells Hylas that he threatened to call 911 and the men left. After hours of driving they finally reach Delphi. They find the fortune teller's shop and enter. She seems to know them and refers to Mac as Maceros. It is smoke filled and the lady, Mac keeps calling her Pythia, sits them down and asks them their business. Hylas explains that they are looking for his mom. Pythia goes into a trance and says that she sees his mom in an underground city in his home town (Seattle). But they will need the key to get her. When they leave Mac gives her some odd coins.

Mac tells Hylas he knows where to get the key. It is at the national mint in Denver. They travel for awhile but then Mac pulls over into an isolated field and says that they need to talk. He tells Hylas he is not a normal kid. He is the son of Zeus and he has special powers. Hylas doesn't really believe him until Mac flattens his rather voluminous hair and show Hylas small bull horns. Mac tells Hylas that he is his protector and that he's not really twelve. The cup they are looking for is the Cup of Heracles. The cup was a gift from Zeus to Hylas' mother. The cup protected Hylas from supernatural beings. He then teaches Hylas how to use his powers. Being the son of Zeus the powers are electricity bases. After a little practice they drive on. Several hours later they stop so Mac can use the bushes. Suddenly 16 men in black coats appear. They state that they are the Myrmidons. They take off their coats and are wearing bronze armor, have shields, spears and bronze helmets. They attack. Hylas uses his control of electricity to blast away at the men. He defends himself with his fighting ability. Suddenly a bull burst forth from the foliage and attacks the men. Between the two they defeat the men.

And my son is looking forward to session three.

Hylas Jones

Son of Zeus

Resistances

Composure 2D

Fortitude 3D

Reaction 2D

Will 2D

Aptitudes

Animal Handling 3D (Birds 4D)

Fighting 2D

All the Rest 1D

Powers

Energy Control - Electricity 5D

Energy Form - Electricity 1D

Disad

Enemy(s)

Competency Pool 8D

Supers! and Percy Jackson

I was discussing Supers! with my son yesterday before our gaming session and I mentioned that Conan had been statted up for Supers! over at Vargold. First I had to explain who Conan was and then I had to tell him that I would usually create Conan for a game like Barbarians of Lemuria. Then I casually mentioned we could probably run Percy Jackson, his current obsession (along with Supers!), with Supers! Well, that was that. He Gm'd the second session of our Supers! campaign and then charged me with creating a Percy Jackson campaign. I think it will be pretty simple. I just need to translate the various powers displayed into the superhero powers and I'm set. He's already created an original character so the game isn't going to include Percy directly. I'll run it in that style but make it our own.

Concrete

My son decided he wanted to GM of Supers! for me. Here is the character I created for his game.

Jesse Peters grew up poor and alone in the Burnside area of Supercity. His single mother worked long hours to support the two of them and being small for his age the other kids picked on him mercilessly. One day he discovered a hidden cave in a hillside near his home. Although the cave was damp it became Jesse's refuge from the world. He began to spend more and more time there. He explored it's deeper recesses and attempted to make it more comfortable. What he didn't know was that the ground water was contaminated with toxic waste from the nearby power plant. Prolonged exposure effected Jesse's skin and metabolism. One day he woke up with a severe rash. He hid it from his mother as long as he could because he knew she would spend what little money they had on medicine to comfort him. Soon he began to change. His skin turned rough and grey. He grew stronger and healed from injuries quicker. It turned out that the toxic waste combined with the dirt and concrete from the hillside above changed Jesse into a concrete monster. Ashamed he disappeared. The few people who saw him thought he was a monster. Jesse retreated to him cave and lived a solitary life there. He only emerged at night when he was less likely to be seen. One night he saw an elderly man being attacked by a gang of thugs. With barely a thought Jesse leaped into action and drove the thugs away. After this he decided to turn his misfortune into a positive force. He became Concrete.

Concrete
Name: Jesse Peters

Resistances
Composure 3D
Fortitude 4D
Reaction 2D

Will 2D

Aptitudes
Fighting 3D
Streetwise 2D
All the Rest 1D

Powers
Armor 4D
Elemental Control - Earth 3D
Regeneration 1D
Super-Strength 5D

Ads
Hideout

Disads
Disreputable (Looks like a monster)
Poor
Strange Looking

I can't wait to play.

Supers! Sourcebook and Session Report

I like the Supers! Sourcebook. It contains a few optional rules, four new powers and a boatload of NPCs. My son grabbed it, read it and immediately wanted to make a new character that incorporated one of the new powers. And thus we started our Supers! campaign afresh.

He named his character Ken. Ken is an 18 year old who does not remember his past. He wakes up in a dumpster in an alley. A woman is being robbed by a band of thugs. Ken rushes to her aid and gets into a fight with the five guys. During the fight Ken discovers he has superpowers. He has super-strength and can mimic/become any substance he touches. (My son is a big fan of Ben Ten.) He turns to concrete and puts the thump to the bad guys, knocking three out and driving the other two off. He is making sure the woman is OK when the two that ran away come back with a big dude. Another fight ensues and Ken is victorious. In the meantime the woman called the police and they arrive just as Ken defeats the big guy. The police take the woman's story and take Ken and the bad guys to the station. The large, muscular but kindly Detective Kenyon talks to Ken in a room with a softly glowing green light. After being unable to determine Ken's identity the detective refers Ken to the home of a Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith takes in boys who are having problems, housing and feeding them until they get back on their feet. End of session one.

Ken

Resistances
Composure 2

Fortitude 2

Reaction 2

Will 2

Aptitudes

Fighting 2

Streetwise 2

Shooting 2

All the Rest 1

Powers

Mimic Substance 6

Super-Strength 6

Ads

Tolerance

Disads

Poor

Supers! Sourcebook

The Supers! Sourcebook has been released. I can't wait to get it.

Frostbite

Thomas Ebersol was a young graduate student studying cryogenics at the University of Superville when he was assigned to an internship at the Burnbright Nuclear Power Plant. Dr. Herbert Hammond (aka Ubermind) did not like this as he did not want outsiders in his lair. Ebersol's criticism of the plant's cooling system only exacerbated the situation. Although he made great strides in modernizing the cooling system, Dr. Hammond arranged for an "accident". Dr. Hammond secretly disabled the safety mechanism on the vat of supercooled liquid that Ebersol was working on. Late one night a nozzle burst knocking Ebersol into the liquid. His body was never found. Hammond assumed his body froze solid instantly and shattered at the molecular level. He created a cover story about Ebersol quiting to avert suspicion. In actuality Thomas survived through sheer luck though he was changed. His skin, hair and eyes were transformed to a sickly shade of pale blue-white. He became able to create and manipulate ice. He could throw ice balls and shoot powerful streams of ice as well as create thick shields of ice to protect himself. He could also paralyse others by simply touching them. But he could no longer stand heat. Any temperature above freezing became uncomfortable for him. He became...

Frostbite

Resistances

Composure 4D

Fortitude 2D

Reaction 2D

Will 2D

Aptitudes

Academia 2D

Technology 3D

All the Rest 1D

Powers

Elemental Control - Ice 5D

Armor 3D

Paralysis (Touch Attack) 4D

Ad

Dumb Luck

Disad

Vulnerability - Heat

Thomas is ashamed of his condition and wants to find a way to change himself back. He is poor, however, and funds his researches through theft. He lives and works in a large, abandoned ice-cream factory freezer. He is not inherently evil but his obsession with becoming "normal" and his superhuman composure caused his transformation makes him dangerous.

Gaming with Kids - A Cautionary Tale

I enjoy playing RPGs with my children. They are my gaming group.

But...

My oldest is a sensitive child. When we first started with RPGs we talked about winning and losing and the fun of just playing. He gets that. But the other day we played a practice scenario of Supers! in order to familiarize him and his younger brother with the combat system. He played his shape-shifting character, Phoenix, and his younger brother played Phoenix's companion, a dog that can shape-shift into a teenager. The scenario was a simple case of a group of six mooks robbing a bank. The boys went in (my youngest used his character's super stength to literally burst through the wall) and cleaned the mooks up in a round and a half of combat. I then sent in the Centurion character that I posted in my mini-review. Centurion was being mind controlled by an unknown villain and attacked the pair. So we all rolled our reaction and the sequence became my oldest son, me as GM, then my youngest. Centurion has 6D in armor. This is strong armor. So my oldest would attack, Centurion would defend with his armor and fend off the attack. Then Centurion would do his thing and then my youngest would attack. Centurion would defend with his armor again but at a reduced 5D. My youngest scored a hit or two as a result.

Before we could finish the combat it was time for bed. Well, my oldest became upset because he wanted to finish and was very frustrated that he could not hit Centurion. I tried to explain to him that he and his brother were working as a team and that his attacks distracted and weakened Centurion allowing his brother to hit. This did not mollify him. He became more worked up and began talking about not winning the game. Once again I reiterated that the fun was in the playing, not winning or losing. No dice. He swore off RPGs forever.

Sigh...

Of course a half hour later he apologized and asked if we could play the following night with the caveat that I use a different character to fight with.

Well, what lessons can I draw from this? Emphasize the fun of playing not the winning or losing more often. Perhaps adjust the power level of the opponents (though this was the first combat we ran so I wasn't completely aware of how it would play out.) Children, like adults, can invest to much emotion into games and thus lose some of the enjoyment.

I know I'll think of more but that is all for now.


Oh, and Centurion is a Badass.

Magnet Boy

Carlos Thomas was a typical nine year old boy. He enjoyed playing video games, messing with his computer and riding his dirt bike. One day his 4th grade class took a field trip to the Superville hydroelectric plant located in the nearby Superville dam (the nuclear power plant being notoriously unreliable, the city needs an alternative source of power.) It was that day that the notorious villain Shocker invaded the dam in order to high-jack the power plant and absorb all of the electrical energy. Mega Man arrived to foil the plan but Shocker escaped by overloading the electromagnets. Though Mega Man managed to avert a major disaster, there was a massive electromagnetic flux which changed Carlos' life forever. Carlos had lingered behind and when the flux hit Carlos absorbed the majority of the energy.

Thus, Magnet Boy was born!

Once Carlos recovered and adjusted to his new powers he decided to fight crime and make sure that no other child would ever be harmed by a super-villain again. But his main goal is to bring Shocker to justice.

Magnet Boy

Resistances

Composure 1D

Fortitude 2D

Reaction 3D

Will 1D

Aptitudes

Technology 2D

Vehicles 2D

All the Rest 1D

Powers

Energy Form - Magnetism 4D

Energy Control - Magnetism 5D

Flight 4D

Competency Pool

3D

The cool thing to me is that Magnet Boy came from the mind of my 5 year old. He was watching a video on magnetism and, after hearing my older son and me talking about Supers!, decided that he wanted a character with the power of magnets. So we worked together and created Magnet Boy.

Supers!

Supers! is a new rules-lite superhero role-playing game from the pen (or keyboard) of Simon Washbourne the creator of the much esteemed Barbarians of Lemuria. The book comes in at about 70 pages and contains more or less everything you need to run a superhero campaign. This game is not based on the BoL engine though, it is a dice-pool type game.

The first half of the book consists of character creation rules. A character consists of three types of stats - Resistances, Aptitudes, and Powers. Each of these are rated in terms of six-sided dice. This is the only type of dice that are used in the game.

There are four Resistances - Composure, Fortitude, Reaction, and Will. These are traits that are used to resist attacks and where damage is applied if the character is injured. If one of a character's resistances is reduced to 0 then the character is knocked out of the battle. Each resistance starts a 1D and the player has five dice to distribute among them. The starting maximum for a resistance is 3D. This is also the normal human maximum. Resistances can be increased later in the character creation process if the character has superpowers. A normal character given as an example in the book has a resistance higher than 3 but it is not spelled out explicitly in the text that this is appropriate. A forum discussion in response to a question of mine on this point seems to indicate that the answer isn't clear. The responses included input from Mr. Washbourne himself.

Next a player distributes 3D amongst the character's aptitudes. Aptitudes are broadly defined skill sets. For example, two of the aptitudes are fighting and shooting. Each aptitude starts at 1D. The starting cap for an aptitude is 3D, although these can be raised later beyond 3D. But if you do this you must pick a specialization for the aptitude. So, if you added an extra die to your 3D fighting you would have to pick something like swords or martial arts. When using a sword you would roll four dice and choose the best three as your result. The highest you can roll is 18. There is one exception to this which I will mention later.

When finished with aptitudes, powers are selected. 12D are distributed amongst the powers with an upper limit of 5D. This can be raised higher if a complication is taken with the power. A complication is a limitation to the power. For example, if a character has the super strength power and decides that the power is fueled by sunlight and thus doesn't work at night or in darkness. There is a large but by no means exhaustive list of powers for a player to choose from. The list covers all of the expected powers and players are encouraged to create their own.

Any dice not allocated during character creation are placed in the character's competency pool. Any dice in this pool may be used once per adventure to boost a roll. Say the superhero is worried about that heat blast coming his way. He can add a die to his defensive roll to hopefully beat the attack roll. These can be added to aptitude rolls also. This is the one case when aptitude roll results can exceed 18.

The remainder of the book contains the rules of play, guidelines for NPCs, disasters, a brief guide to Supercity, the default setting, and several example characters.

The task and combat resolution system is simple. Unopposed tasks must equal or exceed a target number. For opposed tasks, including combat, the characters compare the roll of their dice pools and highest roll wins. In combat use choose a power, aptitude or a resistance for attack or defence. You can only use each once per round (with the exception of armor.)

Supers! does not pretend to be a the be-all end-all of superhero games. Mr. Washbourne stated in one forum or another (I'm sorry I can't remember which right now) that he created Supers! to entertain himself and his gaming group. Even with some ambiguity in the rules, Supers! seems like it will be a fun game to play. It is rules-lite, flexible and seems easy to play. Just like I like them. My son has created a character already and we hope to give the game a go soon.

Here is a standard build character I created using the rules:

Centurion

Resistances
Composure 2D Fortitude 2D
Reaction 2D
Will 2D

Aptitudes
Fighting 3D
Shooting 2D
Athleticism 2D
All the Rest 1D

Powers
Power Suit (All powers built into suit)
Armor 6D
Energy Control - Laser 4D
Super Strength 4D
Super Senses (2D)
Radar Sense 2D
Ultra Hearing 2D

Ads
Companion - Legionary

Disads
Enemy

I haven't created his sidekick Legionary yet but I will post him when I do.

Supers!

So Mr. Washbourne has been at it again. The creator of the my beloved Barbarians of Lemuria has sent another game to market without me noticing. The game is Supers! This game is another rules-lite offering but is not based on the BoL system. The stats for the characters are rated in dice. There is a thread over at rpg.net which discusses the game and has several sample characters.

Now, the problem is: Which do I buy first? Dogs of War or Supers! Decisions, decisions. And then pdf or hard copy? This will be a delightful problem to solve.