ORtrail

I like the heroes at least having to respect that well trained normal humans could damage them. The Superworld campaigns I have run featured fairly low level heroes, at least at first. The longest campaign saw the characters get tough enough to ignore most standard firearms, etc. I also like the power levels at Captain American, Daredevil, Batman, up to Spider-Man levels. Supers! scales differently, so it usually takes a number of normals to hurt or annoy a super. Of course I have tweaked the basic rules, giving a normal human a 1D6 level attack, and a highly trained one a 2D6 attack. In theory, the maximum human limit is 3D6 (though you can roll more dice and take the "best three") but I reserve that for actually heroes/villains. At the very basic level, Supers! is about rolling a number of dice (say, a 4D6 energy blast) and comparing that total to whatever the defender rolls with their defensive option (say, Acrobatics at 3D6). The difference between the totals tells you how much damage you do, if any. So, no seperate armor to absorb damage, no damage roll to make. Rolling high is rewarded with more damage, rolling close on defense can keep the damage low. We use the "wild die" option, a seperate color D6 (all D6 for this game btw) that is rolled again when you get a "six" on it and adds to the total. You keep rolling that wild die as long as it comes up "six". This is the Supers! game system equivalent of a Critical Hit in Superworld. The most interesting part of the system to me is the "verbal element" to combat. Explain how your "Wall Crawling" power is being used to avoid that car tossed at you by Demolition Woman and roll your dice. She is using her Super Strength 5D6, versus your Wall Crawling at 3D6? Hmm, maybe I better use my Armor at 4D6 instead? Or my Reaction stat at 4D6 to dodge? If my hero had Mental Blast 5D6, I might try to stun her momentarily (doing no actual damage since it is a defensive roll) but making her drop the car instead of throwing it at me. In the end, it comes down to total versus total and the GM deciding how it plays out based on those dice rolls. I should add that you can only use each Power ONCE per round, so you can't just use your best attack again and again and ignore the other Powers/Skills you have. This is in contrast to Superworld where the characters roll their best attack percentage skill and seldom have a reason NOT to use it again and again. If you are creative you can use a Power on offense or defense. Maybe my character has Super Strength and throws his own car at the one thrown at me by Demolition Woman? Or maybe I want to use that Super Strength to catch the car she threw? Options and more options, just be creative in your description of your actions to the GM/group. I also need to mention I made a big change in the Supers! game by having characters be able to attack more than once per round. They roll Reaction dice and go from highest to lowest, and then again at half that number. I made this change since I love the multiple actions of Superworld per combat round. A mild downside to Supers! to me so far has been that when you have a fairly even battle in dice levels, it becomes a slow combat of attrition (characters lose Resistances levels until one hits zero and they are out). Superworld battles can end very quickly with a Critical Hit or two. The wild die helps, as you can get much higher damage levels. Here is a link to the free PDF trial version of Supers!: SUPERS! Quick Start - HAZARD Studio | DriveThruRPG.com You can get the full game on PDF for only $5. They are working on a revised edition, maybe out this year. Like you, I have BASH, M&M, but no other super hero RPG has appealed to me outside of Supers! and Superworld.

I've found things tend to get buried in the Extended Family part of this forum. I tend to check the main page, then maybe some of the others if time is not a concern. That said, I'd love to see recaps of a Superworld campaign. Yes, super hero RPG games have always been relatively niche compared to all the fantasy-based RPGs/campaigns out there. Even worse, Superworld seldom gets a mention when people are compiling a list of "good" super hero RPGs. Too bad, Superworld is limited as far as the higher power levels, but works very well for the more gritty stuff. It seems even BRP fans have little interest in playing Superworld, so why would other gamers bother to track down a 30 yr old game with no active support? I wanted to do a super hero scenario for the last BRP Adventure contest, but unless it had a LOT of sci-fi elements, Dusty was not too interested. I can't blame him of course, why not try and support the genres that do get played more often? I have purchased a lot of adventure material for other games (Mutants & Masterminds, Icons, BASH, etc.) and converted it for use with Superworld, but many would not feel like taking the time to do that. As seneschal mentioned, I have moved the super hero gaming for our group over to Supers!, though that is still in a bit of a "trial" stage. While the flexibility of BRP is amazing, a game devoted to just super hero gaming (even at higher levels) has appeal to us. For almost anything else I would want to run, I want to use BRP. After a couple more gaming sessions with Supers! I will be tempted to write about what works well for each game system, and what is lacking.

This looks like a good time to mention I just got the PDF of BRP Mecha this week. Only glanced through it, but it looks like fun. Combining it with a fantasy setting seems like a chocolate and peanut butter thing.

Okay, a bit of free time and I wanted to at least throw out some stats for "Kid Kart". Here is the Superworld version: Kid Kart A glorified stock boy, Simon Jackson is always found pushing a Walmart cart around. It is filled to capacity with what appears to be cheap junk. However, Simon has the ability to pull out whatever item he needs (as long as it could fit in a shopping cart). Simon is tall and lanky, 18 years old but could pass for 16 easily. STR 12 CON 15 SIZ 13 INT 11 POW 10 DEX 16 APP 12 Move: 10 Hit Points: 15 (28 SIZ + CON option) Damage Bonus: Armor: 5 (Kinetic, Heat, Electrical) Attacks: Brawl 35%, D3; Grapple 25%, D3 Skills: Bargain 5%, Baseball Bat 75%, Climb 25%, Command 5%, Dodge 00%, Firearm 75%, Insight 5%, Jump 00%, Knowledge (stocking) 5%, Language (English) 70%, Martial Arts (Karate) 75%, Perform (Oratory) 0%, Persuade 15%, Status 15% Powers: Armor 5 (Kinetic, Heat, Electrical) Device: Shopping cart used as power focus. Must get weapons/items from carts. Anything from the cart can only be used by Simon and has up to a 3D6 effect. Failings: Responsible to Walmart +3 (frequent, significant involvement) Notes: No direct power to cover the cart with Superworld. In comparison, for Supers! "Kid Kart" would stat up like this: Kid Kart Resistances Composure 2D Fortitude 2D Reaction 3D Will 2D Aptitudes (or Skills in Superworld) Awareness 1D (Perception skill added to Supers!) Commerce -Inventory 2D (Simon knows what/where/how much of every item in the store) Fighting -Karate 3D Shooting -Firearms 3D Streetwise 2D (Simon knows the neighborhood and the regular shoppers) Technology 2D -Security System (Simon knows the Walmart security system) Vehicles -cart 2D (Simon could use this skill for offense or defense in combat or to escape) ADS and DISADS (the advantages and disadvantages) I Brought This Along x3 (meant to cover things like Batman’s Utility Belt, the hero can pull out a tool, item, or device as needed, once per adventure, but Simon can do this up to three times per adventure) Dependent (Simon must answer to Walmart management/corporate) Poor (Simon live paycheck to paycheck) Device (a full shopping cart where he gets his Armor/Super Weaponry from) POWERS Armor 3D (Simon has a throwback blue vest that somehow protects him from harm) Healing 2D (Simon can heal damage with items from his cart) Super Weaponry 3D (any weapon Simon pulls from the cart is at this level)

Your English is excellent, Yuri. There are a number of gamers who would happily use those settings -if there was a good translation. Hint, hint.

I didn't get that from the transcript. He made some rule changes but you refer back to the BGB at times [19:26] <+TroyWilhelmson> Some refer back to the core book and some have been changed which are included in the text. There are also gadgets which work using the supers rules. [19:40] <~Dan> Any dinosaurs? [19:41] <+TroyWilhelmson> Most of the dinosaurs are stated in the BRP core book so I didn't add them in.

One of the quickest ways to learn about a system is to look at the character sheet, right? Right. For this quick Supers! adventure, I have a couple aliens as villains. One of these is Space-Cat. He should look familiar, as I copied the character sketch right out of the Ringworld book. Only my wife might actually recognize him as a Kzinti. Though I will play him as a refugee, turned reluctant mercenary just looking for a way off this primitive planet. Our printer/scanner seems to be faltering, but here is a Supers! character sheet for Space-Cat. You might notice the closest thing to stats are the four Resistances. Aptitudes are skills sets. Ads and Disads are your basic advantages/disadvantages. Powers can be modified by Boosts or Complications. For example, with his space rifle I will have him shoot one big plasma blast, or a "shotgun" blast of smaller particles that can hit two targets at a time (Area Effect boost). As a weapon that can be broken or taken away it gets the Device Complication. The standard hero is built on 20 dice, and Space-Cat came out right at that (I won't even explain the math, except to say Resistances and Aptitudes start at 1D). The Compentency Pool consists of extra dice that can be pulled out to add to some roll. Only one at a time. Space-Cat can also reroll once per game session with his Dumb Luck Ad. There are no "critical" hits or "fumbles" to speak of, though I've read of some using a "wild die" (get a "6" keep rolling, get a "1" you roll and subtract) if you are rolling at least 2 dice.

At the very basic level, Supers! is about rolling however many six-sided dice you get versus however many your opponent has. The details behind that matter of course. It very much encourages players to be creative with their attacks/defenses. You can only use any given power ONCE per round. It is almost odd that you usually only get ONE attack per round anyway, but numbers matter a lot then. I'm already thinking of using a house-rule where you go (everyone rolls based on their REACTION rating) twice per round, once at full REACTION number and then at half that. Bullfrog, the big green brute leaps out of the nearby pond to attack the newly arrived Firefly. He could use his Fighting (fists) at 4D6, but in this case the GM declares he will roll versus his Super Leap at 5D. Firefly could use her Flight 3D to defend, or her FORTITUDE of 3D, or rely on her REACTION of 4D6. OR maybe even her Size Change at 4D if the player can explain why it would work under these circumstances. Supers! also scales up very quickly and you can have characters throwing around cars even at Super Strength 3-4D levels. I am probably just in the mood to change things up, and this looks like it could be fun. I'd want BRP for the more "serious" RPG stuff though. For that matter, we may not like it after all and back we go to the comfort of Superworld.

Yeah, sorry I never got back to this. I decided to convert over our Superworld campaign to use the Supers! RPG. My time has been spent time converting over the characters and writing up a short adventure for a test of the system.

The BRP system, the core system, is very easy to learn and your players should have no issues with percentages. As for the above bolded sentences? I invite you to go to the Downloads section and check out an excellent BRP historical gaming setting: Warlords of Alexander.

Great products, iffy customer service unless you are just getting PDFs. If you need an email response, try this: nick@chaosium.com He helped resolve my issue with getting a print copy of Swords of Cydoria.

As you can see Matt, there are a number of different approaches. In running a Super Hero campaign I tend to build the villians around the power levels of the players (if most do 3D6 damage with attacks then so do the villians they face, if most do 4D6, then so do the villians they face, and so on). What powers everyone has is also a key factor. If you can fly for example, there are many situations that will be very easy to deal with, but would challenge a hero that can't fly. The main thing with most BRP games is that the characters will seldom become so powerful that they are immune to "normal human" attacks. Almost any fight can be deadly. Compare that to a level system game where a naked 10th level warrior-type could whipe out a village with a rusty dagger and never be in much danger. As was noted above, start low (low attack percentage, low armor, low damage) and you can adjust the challenge. Did they smoke the city guards? Fine, now a couple captains show up leading a group of more experienced guards. Your players will adjust their play style as they become familiar with BRP, I hope.

Sadly no, it is a work-in-progress, it seems. On the positive side, there is Swords of Cydoria, in PDF or print form. I only just got my print copy this month, but it might be what you are are seeking. There should be some threads on it too. The author has been active on this forum too. Try this thread And this one for more Cydoria goodness

I know I will add one more "hero" to the list: Kid Kart A young man pushing around a Walmart shopping cart, filled to the brim with stuff. Amazingly, Kid Kart can pull out whatever item he wants from this cart, he just needs to dig around a bit. He has no chance of sneaking up on anyone though, as at least one wheel has a flat spot and the whole thing rattles loudly. He also needs a "drive" roll to control it at speeds higher than a fast walk due to a bad front wheel.

Yes, I need to work these "heroes" into my Superworld campaign. Probably some scenario where they are competing with the player's heroes, but include a film crew and lots of posing and pro Walmart speeches. With work, I may not have any time for stats until this weekend.

The Spider-Man of that 70's TV show was quite the wuss. It must have been budget and special effects issues, but they toned him so far down from what he could do in the comics. I do understand wanting to play in a low level supers campaign, and that BRP can do well. As for finding a group, well, it is tough. Schedule conflicts and busy lives, then you figure most are not that interested in super hero rpgs. However, with the popularity of all the super hero movies? If you can show them a lot of enthusiasm for a super campaign? I think you could get a few people interested. Pathfinder, which seems to be more popular now than D&D, has a supers game called Heroes Wear Masks. I don't care for the level system, but you could get the PDF version for cheap (I tend to collect super hero games). I have bought Icons, Supers, Heroes Wear Masks, and one or two other super hero RPG PDFs over the last couple years. I still game with Superworld, but you can usually mine some ideas here and there from other games. In fact, I have print copies of Heroes Unlimited, Golden Heroes, Challengers, Marvel Super Heroes, GURPS Supers, Silver Age Sentinels, The Batman RPG, Mutants & Masterminds (first edition), Godsend Agenda, Guardians RPG, and DC Adventures. The first step is admitting you have a problem. There are a lot of BRP game system games out there, so you could try to get a group involved with another genre and then announce you want to run a BRP super hero game. At that point they know the game system, so that hurdle is removed. You might have a list of the type of heroes you are looking for, so they don't try and play a Hulk or Superman in a low power campaign. Sell them on Punisher/Wolverine level heroes if you can.

Whoops, I meant to explain my thoughts on this a bit more. If you go with the Resistance Table, then a character with STR 50 has a 50/50 shot of lifting a SIZ 50 object. Since we are dealing with the super hero genre here, I would (and have) gone with the rule interpretation that SIZ 50 is the base (100% chance of success) for a STR 50 character, or no roll needed in other words. For each SIZ point over STR 50 you subtract 5% from their chance, so a SIZ 60 object would need a 50% roll or less. A SIZ 70 object would simply be too big to move for our hero, while a SIZ 69 would have a 5% chance and so on. If you want to get more crunchy? Add one SIZ point for every 2 meters they try to throw an object, so our hero picks up a medium car and throws it 20 meters at a villian. He would need to roll 50% for the lift/throw and then again for the actual attack roll. You can reverse the numbers for smaller objects. For example, he could grab a SIZ 10 object and throw it 80 meters with a 100% chance (STR 50 - SIZ 10 = 40 meters * 2) or try to throw it even farther say, 100 meters with a 50% chance to get there. OR you could increase it to one SIZ point for every 3 meters for a more "super" fun time. I seldom stop to worry about exact distances and such during play, I think the super hero genre is best played fast-and-loose. Roll good, good things happen. BTW, I enjoyed reading your blog.

The Comparative SIZ chart in the BGB only gives a list of weights, the Reference Sheet from Superworld gives examples of common objects so I find that more useful. That said, I would use the listed weight/object as the base for a hero to lift/throw. I need to mention that despite owning a like-new boxed set of Superworld, I have only ever used the Superworld from the Worlds of Wonder boxed set and the designer notes from Different Worlds #23. Oh, and a healthy dose of houserules. I only did a quick read through the Superworld boxed set many years ago, and didn't like all the rules "crunch" that was added, so I have stayed with the WoW version. Yes, all these years later, and I am still using Superworld/BRP rules. Why? Well, my fondness comics and the super RPG genre. Also, my comfort level with the game system, ease of explaining a percentage system to gaming newbies, and I prefer the low-powered type of super heroes (Captain America, Batman, on up to no more than a Spider-Man level). I enjoy when the heroes find trained minions annoying to dangerous in combat and can't just ignore their attacks even when armed with normal weapons. Like many old (school) gamers I started with V&V, then went to Marvel Super Heroes, and finally discovered Superworld when I bought the WoW boxed set. Never could get past all the D6 crunch of Champions and none of the newer super hero games have drawn me in. The older I get, the less inclined I am to learn a new game system. BRP is so flexible, though I admit it would be a poor fit for Hulk, Thor, Iron Man level supers. Actually, the tale of my getting back into regular gaming, and Superworld in particular, is covered pretty well in this thread: Newbie Gamer Advice

Matt, if you have the boxed Superworld there are those eight pages of Reference Sheets included. There is a SIZ Table on page seven. It will answer most of your questions. A STR of 50 means 2 English Tons or roughly a medium car for example. There are some issues, but as a general guideline it should be helpful to you. If you have the BGB (Big Gold Book) for BRP, you can find a character SIZ chart on page 26 and a Comparative SIZ chart on page 296.

Huh, good question. I would be focused (no pun intended) on the level of detail the characters could get depending on the range. You could spot of man-sized figure from miles away, but how close till you can make out gender? Equipment? Recognize them if they are known to you? Terrain and light levels are huge factors of course. Not much help, sorry.

With only two players showing up yesterday, I decided to hold off on the New Atlanteans adventure and had them roll up Gamma World characters. As I mentioned before, I will be running fourth edition, with modification/houserules. The wife (being a Fallout videogame fan) was an easy sell on a PSH ("Like a vault dweller" I said). I had her roll on the artifact chart(s) and she ended up with a full radiation suit and a plasma pistol. With her Intelligence score she chose five proficiences in high tech skills like computer use/programing and jury rig. I gave them two rolls on the random stuff charts and she ended up with Nuts and Bolts and a set of Stereo Speakers. Dakota-42 is ready to explore the ruins. The other player, Heath, decided to try a plant, a vine based mutant. He ended up with Carapace (thick bark skin), Gas Bags, Energy Metamorphosis, Thought Imitation, and Transfusion. I decided to modify the Transfusion to allow him to heal others by taking from his own hit points (not limited to your own Genotype as per the rules). As for starting equipment? He rolled and got....a flamethrower. LOL, don't ever change Gamma World! He took Healing and Move Silently for his skills. His random stuff rolls got him a Garden Water Sprinkler (you can't make these things up) and a Pinball Machine. He was still pondering a name, but leaning toward "Stalk-Ur". Rolling the 1D6 per point of Constitution got her 52 hpts on 16 dice, while he got 52 hpts (yes, 52) on 14 dice. Neither player has ever played Gamma World before, but I tried to convey the "vibe" of a typical game. I don't recall if I talked about the setting I want to use? I liked the "Hadron Collider" idea of the most recent Gamma World edition, but characters/mutations/equipment will not be changing at random. Their version of Gamma World will be a combination of a Tesla-type 1950's world combined with a 22nd century earth, an post apocalypse alien invaded earth of 2052, and another earth in the late 1990's. Parts from all the worlds are present, so just about any range of items will "make sense" in this campaign. The characters will be part of a recon team (problem solvers) from a combined community that is under the leadership of an elected "Continuum Council". As usual, most things are subject to change.

Gamma World and BRP would be like combining chocolate and peanut butter.

Just picked up my copy of Swords of Cydoria from the post office. Thanks Nick.

Well, this should be interesting. Due to various issues (illness, wedding reception) we didn't get to game this weekend, but the wife rolled up her super. I recycled that ten character ideas list I made for the niece and the wife wanted to try a version of B Company (trained soldier who can create duplicates of herself). A power not really covered in the WoW Superworld, and in the boxed Superworld it is under "Doppelganger". I didn't care for the way Doppelganger worked though, so I pondered a bit and let her roll up one main character (Trinity Prime the modern version) and she can create a "version" of herself from the past (Trinity Past, a pirate type) and the future (Trinity Future, fully armored with plasma throwing glove and energy shield). They all share the same skill levels, though they have different equipment/weapons. She wanted a telepathic link between them all, so that could be really handy at times for exploring and knowing what is going on when the group splits up. The limiting factor is that each duplicate has half the hit points of Trinity Prime (11 hpts), and they draw from a pool of hit points (22 for Prime, 33 with one duplicate, 44 for all three). Damage to any of them is taken from the pool (up to their individual limit), and the duplicates are fairly vulnerable even with armor/energy shield. Her attacks are at 65% (sword, pistol,machine gun,plasma ball) across the board with only the plasma ball being an actual "super" power attack and that is also doing the highest damage at 3D6). Her highest stat is a DEX of 20, though most are in the 16-18 range. The upside will be all those attack rolls though. What will it be like when one player has, in effect, a small super team of their own? I'll let you know. If anyone has any thoughts/experience on duplicate-type powers I am willing to listen. This is a bit of an experiment, and I think I found a nice play balance with her power, but time will tell. Another bonus, she finally took a long look at the Heromachine website and fell in love with it. She spent a couple hours perfecting the look of her character(s). It really is a fun site to just go and play around with. All these internet toys make being a GM much easier, and cooler. I know I repeat that thought a lot, but it still amazes me how far things have come when it comes to gaming resources. Oh, I am calling the next adventure, The New Atlanteans and with the extra time I have continued to tweak. The bronze crowns will in fact be ancient Atlantean artifacts (along with a handful of weapons, think energy spears, a bronze key that controls water, and so forth) that contain partial memories of Atlantis (like a vacation photo album if you will). Combined with the DNA extractions of Professor Primordial he can now create intelligent members of his "New Atlanteans Society". His older experiments are intelligent animal level, still useful as minions. I'll detail other changes as we actually play. I do seem nearly incapable now of a simple "one shot" adventure. Everything must be more complex than it seems at first glance, and multiple groups of villians are almost mandatory.

Could you post details on the error message? Even a screenshot?