LivingTriskele Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I’ve been considering transcribing Magic spells into superpowers. Has anyone already done this? In some cases it seems to be a fairly straightforward procedure. In others… not so straightforward… Quote "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." ~Albert Einstein~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GianniVacca Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 No, I've directly used the superpowers as per the BGB. What about comparing already-existing superpowers with similar spells, and try and expand this to the other spells? Quote 「天朝大國」，https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/92874/celestial-empire 很有意思: http://celestialempire.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDLeary Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I’ve been considering transcribing Magic spells into superpowers. Has anyone already done this? In some cases it seems to be a fairly straightforward procedure. In others… not so straightforward… I personally haven't tried it, but i've been told that using Mutations works better. SDLeary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilHibbs Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Balancing is very different for superpowers as against spells. Also, many superpowers are "always on", such as strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, etc., and superpower strength should be much, much more potent than a strength spell, whereas a lightning bolt spell and a lightning bolt power should be fairly similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingTriskele Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 I'm thinking of running a superhero game, but the players would like more superpowers to choose from. I'm probably better off just making new superpowers from scratch. I may give that a whirl. Quote "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." ~Albert Einstein~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kairos Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 You might find Jason Durall's Hellboy write-ups inspiring. I don't have my book on me to check the superpowers section, but it looks like he may have invented some powers for Johann Krauss for instance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORtrail Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) I'm thinking of running a superhero game, but the players would like more superpowers to choose from. I'm probably better off just making new superpowers from scratch. I may give that a whirl. I'd direct you to the X-Men character creation article in DW #23. The opening paragraphs point out how you can break down powers into effects. Bubble Man shoots out Superbubbles that trap the victim inside them until they try to break free and then the popping does damage to them. This would break down into Snare Projection and Energy Projection (with, say, a 1 meter range). The strength of the snare and the damage done when broken would depend on levels purchased of course. Some powers will no doubt be harder to 'break down' but with some imagination it should be possible. Your players might find it more interesting to describe what they have in mind anyway and let you figure out the needed powers and costs. In the above example the player of Bubble Man might want to have the bubble automaticlly transport the the person to the nearest police station. So, add some Flight levels to the Super Bubbles and maybe an idea roll by Bubble Man so the "flight path" is programmed in at the time he creates it? Let the player spend an extra two or three points to make the flight path automatic if he wants? It probably won't take long for the player to figure out he could use the Superbubbles as a great way to evacuate innocents from the scene of an accident/fire/supers battle, just reduce the bubble damage down to one point (a nasty pop that's hard on the eardrums). Of course Bubble Man is going to burn through a LOT of Energy Points.... The point is, don't get caught up in looking for a certain power on a list. Edited June 21, 2011 by ORtrail Additional thought: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dahak Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I'm thinking of running a superhero game, but the players would like more superpowers to choose from. I'm probably better off just making new superpowers from scratch. I may give that a whirl. Another option would be to convert the remaining powers from Superworld and its Companion (still available as PDFs) that don't have direct equivalents in the BGB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMonroe Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 For what it's worth, when I created the demon power suites for 4th ed. Stormbringer, each power was built by combining various SuperWorld powers to give the wanted effects. Point being, the various power suites for the BRP games can quite easily be re-skinned for different effect. I'd thought about running a street-level supers game once, and just letting PCs have access to 6-12 points of RQIII Spirit Magic for their 'powers'. They'd activate them by spending MPs as normal. Quote Please don't contact me with Chaosium questions. I'm no longer associated with the company, and have no idea what the new management is doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingTriskele Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 Thanks for all the responses! I think the part that I get caught on is trying to make my new superpowers with point costs that are balanced with the existing ones. I know that BRP isn't so much concerned with balance in this way, and in some ways I appreciate that. Right before I posted this thread, I was ruminating upon making a gadget for one of my players that creates darkness in up to a three meters radius (like the Dark spell). I figured 1 point per three meter radius of darkness. Then I realized that turning a superpower into a gadget gives back one point, which would make it free... I think... (most my experience with BRP has been in the form of fantasy CoC-- doing a supers thing is new territory for me). I'm assuming that every power has to cost at least one point, even as a gadget, but I haven't seen that written anywhere. Quote "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." ~Albert Einstein~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al. Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I'm not sure how directly useful this is but inspired by Jason (and Sam's) original idea of having one power system to rule them all I've used the Elric! spells and Demon Powers as either spells (cost 1 creation point to 'buy' but X MP to cast) or talents (cost X creation points to buy buy 0 to use) and its worked (balanced?) fine Quote Rule Zero: Don't be on fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingTriskele Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Thanks, I've actually been working on a single point-buy system for BRP (similar to Champions). We'll see how that goes with all my copious spare time Quote "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." ~Albert Einstein~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilHibbs Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Are you familiar with Nikk Effingham's points system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingTriskele Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 No, I'd love to take a look at it! Quote "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." ~Albert Einstein~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Another option would be to convert the remaining powers from Superworld and its Companion (still available as PDFs) that don't have direct equivalents in the BGB. I think its actually better to use the whole set from there, largely as-is. Jason made what I thing were some questionable decisions when porting over the Superworld I powers (his decision to break down defense into indefinite subcategories rather than the three that Steve used is particularly bad in its effects). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilHibbs Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I'm afraid I can't find a copy at the moment - Nikk hasn't uploaded it onto his new web page, and archive.org doesn't have a copy. I'll see if I can get in touch with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilHibbs Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Found it! It's in the zip file of his current web site, although I can't find it linked on the site itself: http://www.nikkeffingham.com/runequest/website.zip And here it is on my web site: http://www.hibbs.me.uk/snarks/chargen.htm http://www.hibbs.me.uk/snarks/chargen2.htm And here's my Excel spreadsheet: http://www.hibbs.me.uk/snarks/points.zip Edited June 30, 2011 by PhilHibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingTriskele Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 Cool. Thanks! Quote "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." ~Albert Einstein~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingTriskele Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 From what I've seen so far, that looks very similar to what I'm working on. Same idea for sure. Very GURPS-like. Quote "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." ~Albert Einstein~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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