Matt

Boot Hill had no Intelligence-type attributes. As for the "below the neck" comment, if I remember (haven't played KAP in years), you were not required to play based on your traits. They are there to roll against if you want to or are indecisive about what your PC might do, but if you actively play against them they will change accordingly. You may gain or lose benefits based on those changes, and your in-game reputation may be altered. But there was nothing I can recall that made them a straitjacket. I always thought they were a great device for roleplaying..."Hmm, Sir Roderick is lusty, what would he do here?"

Don't forget to have them make new hires sit through an anti-union video as part of orientation.

Just wanted to say thanks for that link. It's awesome to get that old material. No interest whatsoever in Magic World or Future World, but the Superworld stuff I've been wanting to see for a long time.

$21 for 112 pages?! Yikes. I'll have to wait until they have some remainders or damaged copies.

Wow, who knew Walmart had a magazine? Where do I get it? I'd rather read about those characters than anything D.C. is doing these days.

Yes, I have played a good deal of Champions. They lost me at 5th edition when the rules began to read like city ordinances. Unfortunately the majority of Hero System players I have dealt with are more interested in loopholes and trying to cheat their way to extra points with non-Disadvantage Disadvantages and get mad when I tell hem what the book says plainly: "A Disadvantage that isn't a disadvantage is worth zero points." I also dislike the obsession they have with "building" everything through their rules. Instead of just saying "it's a toothbrush"...we get a list of powers and -1/2 cost modifiers to show how flexible Hero System is and how "it can build anything!"

I prefer TV Spider-Man to anything the comic books have done in the past 30 years. I would never use the Punisher or Wolverine as an example...players will confuse power level with "gritty '90s vigilantes wearing leather jackets and pouches." Besides, their power levels fluctuate depending on which issue or era you are reading. Wolverine used to be a wimp before he became an unkillable thousand-year-old ninja (or whatever he is now). I have found the descriptor "TV super heroes like Spider-Man and Wonder Woman" gives a much better indication of power level.

Less crunch is better for me. I'm a less-is-more guy when it comes to rules. Two of my favorite games are West End Games' Ghostbusters and Star Wars due to their simplicity and how a new player can intuit so much of the mechanic and learn the games very quickly. I find the Call of Cthulhu and Superworld mechanics to be almost as easy to learn. Like I said, percentage rolls are easier to comprehend than chucking a handful of six-siders or a 20-sider versus a target number. TSR's Marvel Super Heroes is a good one but the power levels would be too high for what I have in mind. I agree super heroes should be pretty fast and loose--it's part of why I won't play Champions these days. Aside from character generation taking a lifetime, once a fight breaks out...yikes, might as well go watch a sitcom while a punch gets resolved. Now I just need to convince some folks to try Superworld...unfortunately most potential players I meet are just interested in Pathfinder (which I understand is a version of AD&D?) or the flavor of the month like Marvel Heroic (which I couldn't wrap my head around...it seemed like the whole point of the mechanics was to make it as easy as possible on the PCs, but I could be wrong). Nobody in my neck of the woods seems interested in the classics. Thanks re: my blog. I wish I had time to post more frequently. I keep writing down topics but haven't found the time to do the in-depth entries that would make them worthwhile pursuits.

The game I really want to run or play wouldn't have any super heroes more powerful than Spider-Man. More along the lines of the power levels of super heroes on TV in the '70s and '80s, where the most Wonder Woman ever lifted was the rear half of a getaway car and several thugs were enough to give Spider-Man a hard time. I'm thinking "Miami Vice meets TV Wonder Woman." Guys with guns should definitely be a problem. I can't handle the grit and number-crunching required for Champions anymore and V&V doesn't suit the type of game I described above. New games make my eyes glaze over with hundreds of pages that try to cover every possible eventuality that might arise, or substitutions of rolling dice over role-playing a scene to see what results. Superworld is due for a comeback as the underappreciated, underrated gem that it is.

Thank you for your help! I wasn't sure if anyone would be familiar with my 30-year-old game. I don't have the BRP book yet...waiting for it to arrive. I bought it as a resource for use with Superworld. I have 2 boxed sets and the "Companion to Superworld." The reference sheets reprint tables from the books, but I see I somehow missed the SIZ table in the back of the "Superheroes" book. Looks like STR just tells me a % chance to lift a certain SIZ/weight rather than a straight STR X = lift weight Y, is that right? I can live with that, but it will be a little harder to explain to a player who wants to have a particular strongman. I want to use Superworld because (1) I have two copies, (2) I like the lower scale of power for starting PCs (as compared to Champions, V&V, MSH FASERIP, and Mayfair DC Heroes), and (3) percentages are easier to understand than "Roll 3d6 vs. 11-" and the like and some or all of my players will be new to it.

Hello all, This may be the incorrect place to ask this--if so, please kindly direct me to the correct forum--but I was hoping someone could help me understand what a Strength score means in Superworld. I understand it's the same as BRP, but I could be wrong. I am re-reading the rules to Superworld and I don't see that there is a Strength table anywhere in the book. I don't really understand what, for example, a score of 12 means: how much can I lift? Is a Strength of 24 double the lifting capacity of 12? Additionally, I don't see where a Size score gives a certain weight. I see they give the "full weight" of an automobile as Size 50, but I'm not sure how much that is supposed to be since automobiles can vary quite a bit. Is there anyplace I can find an example, i.e., Size 50 = approximately 3,000 lbs. and/or Strength 50 = lifting capacity 3,000 lbs.? There is a Resistance Table, which I need to use to compare Strength to Size to determine whether I can lift something, but without knowing actual weights and measurements it is all very abstract to me. Am I missing or overlooking something? Or can some kind soul direct me to a place where such information is available? Yours truly, Matt