Author: richard

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Batman Sourcebook – Wayne Manor Detailed

In the first edition one at least, Batman may have had a higher bad guy to good guy ratio than most.

Alfred,
Batman, Batgirl, Harvey Bullock, Black Lightning,
Catwoman — Clayface II, Croc, Cat Man, Crazy Quilt,
— Deadshot,
Lucius Fox,
Commissioner Gordon, Geo-Force,
— Joker,
Katana,
Halo,
Metamorpho — Mr. Freeze, Man Bat, Mad Hatter,
Nightwing, Nocturna, — Night-Slayer,
— Penguin, Poison Ivy,
Robin, Julia Remarque, — Riddler, R’as Al Ghul,
— Hugo Strange, Scarecrow,
Talia, Two Face,
Vicki Vale,

There’s an extensive map of the various levels of Batman’s joint, too.

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Batman Sourcebook: Second Edition = Less Map, more characters

Mr Atom,
Batman, Batgirl/Oracle, — Black Spider, Bonecrusher,
Commissioner Gordon, Catwoman, — Cat-Man, Cavalier, Clayface II, Clayface III, Crazy Quilt, Calvin & Clifford Clate, Brain Taylor, Elton Craig,
— Deacon Blackfire, Deadshot, John Dolan, Joe Dolan,
Lucius Fox, Fay “Ma” Gunn,
Sergeant Harvey Hainer,
— Joker, Shorty Jackson,
— KGBeast, Killer Moth,
— Mad Hatter, Man-Bat, Mister Freeze,
Nightwing,
— Penguin, Poison Ivy, Alfred Pennyworth,
Robin, — Reaper, Riddler, R’as Al Ghul,
— Hugo Strange, Scarecrow, Charley Stark, Eddie Stark,
Dr. Leslie Thompkins — Two Face, Talia, Tweedledee, Tweedledum,
Vicki Vale,
Warhead,

The second edition has some adventure, Batcave and Utility Belt diagrams

CD = 0.47

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Adventures into Darkness – Public Domain and Horrors

Heroes — Villains

The American Eagle, Ace Buckley, — Arsenath the Body Snatcher,
— Baron von Jundt: The Black Scholar, Blitz,
Captain Future, The Cavalier,
“Doc” Strange, The Dreammaster, — Dagon, Devilfish,
The Fighting Yank, — Professor Fenton,
The Ghost,
— Henry Akeley,
Kara: Jungle Princess, — Keziah the Witch,
The Liberator, — Lucifuge,
The Mask, Mystico: the Wonder Man,
The Night Terror, Nodens,
The Oracle, — Outer Ones, The Ooze,
Pyroman,
The Scarab,
— The Yellow Lama,

So some Public Domain fun and games here. I have the PDQ version.

CC = 0.34 CD = 0.63

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Another 13 Shades of Darkness – Double Century Campaign Sized

Average PDI Agent, Elijah Al-Alim [Commando X],
Black Phantom, Borderers,
Code Name Wifebeater, Cretin [Captain Valiant], Cryptic Star, Mr Chiang,
Discarded, Delirium, Angelica De Lynn, Malcolm Deckerd, Dr Moloch PHD,
Goop, Generic Security Goon,
Horrible Thing, Donna Hopewell, Heavy Brother,
Jet-Metal,
Eileen Kowalski-Wright, Epsilon,
Longing Dead, Lash Lightning,
Mary Blood [Mary’s Brood, Van Helsing Foundation Vampire Killer], Misery [The Black Skull, Army of the Black Skull, Lady Justice,], M’aal’iss’ha, Maiden,
Dr Natalia Noble, Eric Noble [Project Paragon MK],
Out-Warder,
Penitent, Professor Purgatory, Neco-Wyrms
Rage Angels [Megan, Taylor,], Regiment [Dr Groovy, Vile Frog Monster From 30 Million AD,],
Sweet Adeline, Sister Tranquility, Sister Splendor, Hector Sandovar, Dr Shock, Stink-Wortle the Imp, Scrivener Demon,
Violator Red, Vore Dogs, Voracious Legion, Captain Valiant,
X-Hort the Converted,

This supplement says 13 villains…but it is 233 pages, which does cause you to wonder.

As you can see, a lot of other characters included under there. The major thirteen get several pages of backstory writeup, plus there are adventures, spells, gear and assorted supporting characters, aliens and monsters

You could do a campaign with this book.

So call it 50 odd characters of so for $14.99.

How about character cost CC is price per character and character density CD = characters per page.

The lower the density the more other material there is, or other formatting.

CC = 0.28 CD = 0.23

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G-Core Deluxe Superhero Roleplaying Breakdown Review

G-Core Deluxe Superhero Roleplaying Breakdown Review – Jay Libby

71 Pages

Table of Contents – Page 2

Foreword – Page 4 – Reminiscences by Bob Cram

What is a Game – Page 5 – Some general advice

Character Creation Flow – Page 7 – Steps to Follow

1: Type
2: Origin
3: Assign Points to Physical and Mental stats
4: Pick your powers and assign points
5: Pick your Special Focus…assign points to careers and Power Stunts
6: Pick Flaws or Weaknesses
7: Determine your Resources
8: Buy any extras. Armor, gear, weapons.
9: Personal description.

Then a sample character generation, Mr Tinker.

HERO TYPES – Page 8

There are several, from Cop to Student to Genius and some Cosmic Hero types that have varying point totals to assign to Physical and Mental Abilities in 10 point blocks. They have different Special Focus and Flaws.

Modelling Nightblack again we’ll take Vigilante, Physical pool 60 and Mental Pool 50, Special Focus, Martial Arts or Weapon +10. So that works.

The FASERIP abilities here are Rumble, Agility, Might, Moxie, Smarts, Perception, Spirit. Doubling adjective start letters not so good perhaps.
RAMMSPS.

R: 20
A: 10
M: 20
M: 10
S: 20
P: 10
S: 10

ORIGINS – Page 11

Alien, Android, Demi-God, Experiment, Cosmic, Evolutionary, Sentient Robot, Human, Human: Accident, Human: Cursed, Human: Cyborg, Human: Experiment, Human: High Tech, Human: Psychic.

Make him Evolutionary. 50 Power Points, 10 Gear Points, 30 Free Points. Starting Popularity is -10. 1d10 free points of 3 for 30.

R: 50
A: 20
M: 20
M: 30
S: 20
P: 10
S: 10

Darkness Generation: 50
Health = 120
Wild = 40

GAME MECHANICS – Page 15

1d10 * 10 is the roll used to add to statistics and compare to Static Difficulties or Opponent rolls. Easy task is 25 and a Super Task is 100.

Wild – Page 16 – can be added to rolls in multiples of 10. It refreshes between sessions.

Damage – Page 17 – also Stacking two people’s.

Finally some tables. Popularity, statistic benchmarks, and then descriptions following.

POWERS DEFINED – Page 22

Cosmic Powers – Page 39 – with ranks – Cosmic 2 Terraform can affect a Whole Planet.

Magic – Page 43 – with tables for necessary Spirit and Intelligence.

Vehicles, Armour and Weapons – Page 46+

With the relevant statistics and point costs.

GENERICS – Page 49

A list of NPC statistics for use. Cops, crooks, kids, alligators, sharks, rats, etc. Also an environmental effects table for breathing, fire, radiation, weather and that sort of thing.

Experience – Page 56

How to get it.

Villains and how to use them.

Levels of Game Play –

Street – Abilities up to 30
Classic Comic – Abilities up to 50
Super – Abilities up to 100 with a Major Weakness
Pulp – Only one over 30

Power Failure – Page 60 – Overloading and what happens when you do it.

Character Worksheets – Page 61

Genre Suitability: Any. Street level is perhaps the weakest point for FASERIP games and would need the most tweaking, but this point buy version might handle those slightly better. Colourful heroics are fine. There are rules in here for the really Cosmic as well. So should be able to take a crack at that.
Artwork: Poor computer modelled variety.

0 0ut of 10 Price (lower is cheaper per page)
3 out of 10 Length (lower is shorter)
5 out of 10 Complexity (lower is easier)
6 out of 10 Playability
1 out of 10 Artwork

5 out of 10 Overall

This takes the Marvel Super Heroes FASERIP game and gives it a 4CS inspired redo. With point-buy by character and origin type which is an interesting mix and match idea.

With eye-battering fluro green borders and somewhat messy layout raising the decipher the difficulty level. Using a d10+Ability opposition or target difficulty check to do away with the Universal Table, further diverging from the source. For an amateur production is understandably written and you can definitely play it. It could use some early table summary use when some game concepts are introduced and also perhaps as included handout/printout separate pages at the end. There is only one included character for use.

A playable game, but it isn’t easy being bright green when reading, so have to mark it down for layout.

2.5 out of 5

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4C System Breakdown Review

4C System Breakdown Review – Phil Reed

Public Domain, Free from Multiple places in multiple formats

e.g. there are character sheets, Master Tables etc., look for those too

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/50837/Four-Color-Syste…
https://archive.org/details/4cSystemSuperheroRoleplayinglibr…

4C SYSTEM – Page 1

A toolkit rather than a complete game system. Notes for gamers and publishers, emphasising the public domain aspect.

Hall of Heroes – Page 2

The Really Cool People that donated several years ago so that Phil could take the time to write this. Notes on Dice and Advanced breakouts.

Contents – Page 3 – Table of

Text is public domain, not the artwork.

CHARACTERS – Page 4

Character Origin – Robot, Alien, Skilled Human, Changed Human, Mutant, Technologically Enhanced – with Advanced Options that modify Traits.

Let’s create an example while going through:

Roll 54 = Superhuman.

Traits – Page 5

Primary – Melee, Coordination, Brawn, Fortitude, Intellect, Awareness, Willpower. MCBFIAW = FASERIP
Secondary – Damage, Fortune, Lifestyle, Repute = Health, Karma, Resources, Popularity

9 Rolls = 80, 25, 22, 39, 56, 41, 63, 33, 56 and 54

M: Incredible (40)
C: Good (10)
B: Good (10)
F: Good (10)
I: Excellent (20)
A: Remarkable (30)
W: Good (10)

D: 70
F: 60
L: Excellent (20)
R: 18

Rank Values – Page 7

Giving several examples…e.g. Extraordinary, Remarkable, Super for 30-39.
Points out that Advanced game uses 18 different ranks counting 0 compared with 12 for the Basic.

Skills – Page 7 – Number of and their use.

Roll 78 = 3 Skills

Contacts – Advanced option to replace a Skill with a Contact

Powers – Page 8 – Number of

Roll 32 = 3 Powers

Power Types – Page 9 – Includes Description

There are Basic and Advanced Power Selection Tables

Using the Basic Table

3 Rolls = 69, 67, 11

Shapeshift, Regeneration and Claws

PLAYING THE GAME – Page 20

Details how to use the Master Table and the results for various colours.
Black = Failed, Red = Minor Success, Blue = Success, Yellow = Major Success.
Then the Advanced Table and Row Steps for when you get bonuses and penalties to actions.

Altering the Dice – Spending Fortune – 25 points moves the result one colour for one roll.

Combat turns and Initiative which is optional…the side’s highest Awareness is a bonus to the roll. Melee attack description.

Movement – Page 21

Governed by Coordination rank – Advanced options on Page 22 with Swimming and Exhaustion.

Combat Tables – Page 23

What the colours mean for Melee, Slashing, Ranged, Rushing, Wrestlng, Dodging Attacks.

Multiple Attacks – Page 25

For Melee attacks – get a Yellow and affect everyone as if a Red was rolled. That is a Minor Success on everybody needs a Major Success roll.

Damage – Page 25

Explains damage and the additions from small and large weapons of +5 and +10.
Pulling punches – you can reduce damage or the result. e.g. aiming for someone’s leg with a gun so you won’t kill them by accident.

Advanced Combat – Page 26

Block, Evade, Catching and Waiting

Material Substances – Page 27

How hard it is to break things and Combat results from the above.

GAMEMASTERING – Page 29

A toolkit, so no lengthy digressions. Advice on using the table, character Health/Vitality, Fortunes/Karma and Lifestyle/Resources and how they are gained and lost. Tables and modifiers for Repute/Popularity interactions and modifiers.

Vehicles – Page 30

Handling, Durability and Combat. e.g. what happens if a character with Body Armour runs into your vehicle? Also a very short sample list.

Character Advancement – Page 32

A slightly out-of-genre thing for superheroes, it notes. The spending of Fortune to increase Traits, Powers and Skills. Even gain a new power at random with 1000 points if something happened in game to warrant it.

Master Table – Page 34 – A one page colour version to print.

Genre Suitability: Any. Street level is perhaps the weakest point for FASERIP games and would need the most tweaking. Colourful heroics are fine.
Artwork: Very basic minimal black and white.

0 0ut of 10 Price (lower is cheaper per page)
1 out of 10 Length (lower is shorter)
3 out of 10 Complexity (lower is easier)
6 out of 10 Playability
5 out of 10 Artwork

6.5 out of 10 Overall

A free public domain gaming toolkit is an excellent thing for the community to have available. So bonus points there. Even more so when it is from one of my favourite games. For such a short game it covers the basics in old school fashion. None of the lengthier playing the game or gamemaster sections exist.

A very simple descriptive percentile dice Universal Table mechanic with great freedom of action that can easily be taught to people as an introduction. The table enhances superheroic flavour in its nomenclature. An admirable thing. The game plays quickly. There’s a nice free character sheet available that actually has the table on the Character Sheet as well.

One day soon hopefully I can do a fleshed out version and have 4CSERIP and FATERIP mirroring each other. Genre rules a la DC Heroes is something I have in mind.

There is of course all the http://classicmarvelforever.com for all the old gaming material.

4CS is simpler than MSH so it is definitely in the lower complexity range while offering some tactical type options for those that like that sort of thing. Games in this moderate range appeal to me most as far as ratings bias goes. Plus I was a backer.

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Capes, Cowls And Villains Foul Breakdown Review

Capes, Cowls And Villains Foul Breakdown Review – Barak Blackburn

$5.99 – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/104477/Capes-Cowls-and…

163 pages

Opens with a comic page or two.

Chapter 0

Introduction – Page 5

Genre, Nuts and Bolts.

First! – A resource based game with traits diminishing over time. Declare action with a trait and link others to the Primary Trait for a higher value before rolling. You have to record when one is used, power, skill or whatever. Bookkeeping alert. Characters will likely have 5-12 traits. Traits refresh between scenes.

Second! – Setback tokens, not hit points. They represent taking a girder to the chin and wincing in pain!? Yes, you have detected that the designer’s grasp of English is a bit shaky. They are fatigue, hit points!? and exhaustion and frustration.

Chapter 1

Character Design

Traits, Complications, Editorial Control, Factoids.

One way – write down all the traits they might have in a big list. Then narrow.
No, not my ideal way to do things, really. Obviously very open-ended and descriptive this game.

Editorial Control? That’s from the Energy Supply school of naming boredom.

Suggested Design Points 100 for street and beginners to 200 for Big Guns.

Three tiers of Ranks: Human 1-4, Superhuman 5-8, Cosmic 9-12. Page 12 has the Trait Cost table. 1 for Human, 2 for Superhuman, 4 for Cosmic.

Modifiers – bonuses like Hint and Auto-Defend, Incapacitate, Link and Power-Up. Also Restrictions like Situational Setback.

Page 22 gives a cost table with some of these.

Page 23-25 Has a few Trait suggestions and Trait design hints.

Editorial Control – Page 27 – the use of the Hero Points in this game. Includes a Random Table for stuff that can happen.

Complications – Page 32 – Archenemies, weaknesses, etc.

Factoids – Page 36 – Character Quirks

Sample Characater Design – Page 38 – Afterburn

Plus and Play Templates – Page 42 – for 100, 150 and 200 points characters.

HEROES & VILLAINS – Page 48 – Hero and Villain color coded examples. Very good.

Americana,
Boy Frog, [Frog-Man could have a sidekick? ]
Breaker,
Deathstalker, Doctor Moonlight, — Deadeye, Death Star,
G33k Girl,
— Lillith,
Monolith, Moon Girl, Muse, — Mathemagician, Mime,
— Professor Prestige,
Red Phoenix, — Rat King,
Superball, — Scarab, Slavedriver, Supermodel,
Terrapin Man, Tiger Lord,
Vector,

CHAPTER 2 – Page 72

The System

CC&VF In Action

d12 exclusively. Apparently they don’t get enough love. Roll d12 and add Trait and compared to opposed Trait Roll or difficulty. Apparently no kickbacks from d12 manufacturers to these guys, either. Ties give players the advantage.

When you use a Trait, mark it off. You get Detriment Dice and they get less effective.

Combat example – Page 75 and 76 has a Combat Synopsis

Scenes – Page 77 – Three types, Action, Extended, Contested.
Initiative – Page 80
Difficulties and Penalties – Page 83 – from fastball specials to multi-attacks.

CHAPTER 3 – Page 92

Villains

They get Editorial Control from the Narrator – 6 plus the number of players.

Traps, speeches, C-Listers.

CHAPTER 4 – Page 98

Options

Editorial, Fleeing, Team-Ups, Training, Injuries, LARPing.

Too Many Dice – Page 109 – As written, CC & VF is guilty of the Death Spiral Effect. Yes, we know that when Traits were defined as getting worse by use…so options to avoid this and bookkeeping is that they only ever get 1 Detriment Die worse.

Experience gaining ideas.

CHAPTER 5 – Page 114

Example of play

CHAPTER 6 – Page 140

Creating Issues

Adventure design and pacing and construction, with some samples.

APPENDIX – Page 152

Afterword

Another superhero game?

A longtime superhero rpg fan and GM decided that the others weren’t working exactly how he wanted and were too absolute.

GLOSSARY – Page 153

CHARACTER CREATION CHEAT SHEET – Page 155
EDITORIAL CONTROL CHEAT SHEET – Page 156
MISCELLANEOUS CHEAT SHEET – Page 157 – Combat options
BLANK CHARACTER SHEET – Page 158-159 – second page is for Usage

INDEX – Page 160

Genre Suitability: Good guys win heroics of the lighter four-colour variety is the designer’s intent. That would be my opinion, too. Doc Savage types or Silver Surfers should be ok as long as that is the aim.
Artwork: Colour, quite reasonable tending to the top heavy.

3 0ut of 10 Price (lower is cheaper per page)
6 out of 10 Length (lower is shorter)
5 out of 10 Complexity (lower is easier)
5 out of 10 Playability
7 out of 10 Artwork

5.5 out of 10 Overall

The layout is attractive, the writing isn’t but is understandable. Needs some editing. Not sure what comics the author reads where heroes get continually less effective with all their abilities as they are used? Sounds more boardgamey, that one.

The design your own approach is one some will like, but needs more space on character creation guidance and less on play examples given it is a bit different. Creating a couple as these rules went step by step would have been helpful. I am the complete opposite of a novice to this and I probably wouldn’t have done one on first readthrough. Some more templates, too. Experienced genre fans or players will cope, but not a game for new players as a first go I suggest. Editorial control, factoids, detriment, not really superhero fun Hulk Smash flavour abounding in that lot.

Fans and experienced players of a more narrative ad-libbing style or those with an experienced GM guide may find this one useful.

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Bulletproof Blues Breakdown and Review

BULLETPROOF BLUES BREAKDOWN AND REVIEW

253 Pages

The game is Creative Commons Share-Alike 3.0 United States Licence except for the Basics part by Greg Stolze and GM Advice.

There is an SRD here :- http://ogc.rpglibrary.org/index.php?title=Bulletproof_Blues

Genre Suitability:
Artwork: Very basic black and white, mostly look like villains.

Introduction

Page 2 – a rules light game set in the world of the Kalos Comics. A four colour universe but similar to the real world. Somewhat dubious about rules light and 253 pages appearing in the same document, however.

Posthumans – Appeared after WWII

Fall of Paragon – Justifiers killed by their former teammate. Atlanta destroyed, Singapore sunk. Mentioned a non-US place in the first page. Bonus points for them. Bulletproof Blues is set just after this crossover.

What is a Roleplaying Game? – Page 4

Why write Bulletproof Blues given many other games. Wanted something more like The Authority or Planetary… BASH, Capes, Icons are too light for this when the tried them. That is certainly true. They tried Mutants & Masterminds and Wild Talents. A bit odd they didn’t try the obvious Hero, GURPS Supers and Superworld…for Authority type brutal. Or DC Heroes with one more realistic genre rules. Not ‘lite’ rules of course any of those three, so that could be why.

Ground Rules – Page 5

Don’t abuse the system, common sense, avoid arguments, respect genre conventions, no running out of bullets or cosmic gadget recharges. Super science doesn’t get to the marketplace.

Core Mechanics – Page 7

Roll 2d6, count the dots and add the result to a relevant attribute. This is compared to a difficulty number…often 12. A guideline table is given with some probability examples from Impaired Human to Godlike. Nigh-impossible is 21.

Plots Points – Page 8

Start with one, get more for being entertaining or interesting or when GM goes fiat or makes things more difficult.

Benchmarks – Page 8

Table for lifting, throwing, breaking, moving. Rank 14 Strength can lift 10 million tons and break Kirbium. Marvel Super Heroes Unearthly would be 8 on this scale. 100 tons.

Glossary – Page 11

BASICS – Page 13

A Greg Stolze gaming overview about what the RPG thing is. On what to do, fun, troublemakers, setting, behaviour, etc.

CREATION – Page 25

Making a character…there is a free helper at drivethrurpg. You can send yours in to their wiki.

Sobriquet – Name/catchphrase ‘Smartest Woman in New Zealand’
Background – Personality, Description, History
Origin – Alien, Altered, Artificial, Aspect, Engineered, Equipped, Zenith
Archetypes – Beanstalk, Calculator, Cannon, Clay, Dolphin, Elemental, Gadget, Hammer, Mirror, Rocket, Shadow, Sword, Tank
Motivations – Adventure, Anger, Audacity, Control, Curiosity, Enthusiasm, Faith, Glory, Guilt, Honor, Individualism, Justice, Love, Materialism, Mentoring, Nobility, Passion, Pride, Protection, Rebellion, Responsibility, Serenity, Traditionalism, Vengeance,
Complications – Enemy, Gruesome, Outsider, Uncontrolled Power, Vulnerability

Points and Power Level – Page 43

Characters are made with character points. Then there’s a Power Level table.
Normal Joe is 20 points – Rank 2 benchmark
Global Guardian is 70 points – Rank 8 benchmark …the Unearthly MSH level from before.
Nightblack would be in the City Defender 50 point range.
Page 45 has a Villain counterpart to this.

Improving – Slow, as per the genre. Experience is given at the end of a story arc of a few sessions. Gives a table, 1 for playing enthusiastically, 1 for roleplaying, 1 for being clever…and suggests awarding these to different players.

Attributes – Page 46

Brawn, Agility, Reason, Willpower, Prowess [Fighting], Accuracy [Ranged Shots], Endurance

Modelling Nightback, we’d take:
5 Brawn
5 Agility
4 Reason
4 Willpower
6 Prowess
6 Accuracy
3 Endurance

33 points.

Skills – Page 49

Background, Expertise Areas. A Table of Typical skill groups is given, including the associated attribute. Examples like Survival group or Deception group.

Advantages – Page 57

Another game with the in-betweeners like Mental Calculator or Unsettling.

Powers – Page 62

Typical powers, with Activation and Task Roll and Range information with the character creation cost. It is a quite short list with some generics.

Looking like one of the generics would be used for Darkness if building Nightblack again…and Strike is a Prowess power. Take 5 ranks of Darkness for 15 and one rank of Strike for 1.

So Element Mastery: Darkness and is 3 Character Points per rank.
Strike does mention Sword in the description and does Brawn +1 or the Power Rank whichever is greater.

Powers Modiers – Page 125

Enhancements like explosive effect, area, increased range. Advice on New Powers you make up and meta roleplay type powers.

Equipment – Page 129

A list of weapons, including a Nausea-inducing pistol and Speech-suppression pistol and a Pacification rifle. Vehicles include Aircraft Carrier and Dirigible.

Actions – Page 133

Time and benchmarks (never seen anyone use a hawksbill sea turtle as a weight benchmark before!), range bands for the various ranks.

When your movement action starts talking about standing up from prone positions and things of that ilk you aren’t too light, either.

Four kinds in a round – free, movement, task and roleplay. Actions also have reactions.

Rolling Dice – Page 142

Unopposed task difficulties and modifiers like trying to hit a fast moving target.

Opposed Task number is 8 plus the defender’s relevant attribute, including modifiers.

Tasks can be Extended. Failure paragraph suggests success at a cost rather than grinding things to a halt if tasks are failed, which is good advice.

Taking the Average and Taking the Max…an automatic 7 roll if under no pressure for difficulty 7 or less tasks and an automatic 12 if you have no time limit. Either require no penalty for failure. Don’t be boring add-ons…very good.

Extreme Success if if you beat the Task Number by three or more. If fighting, you may take it as an Overwhelming, Smashing or Staggering bonus.

Combat – Page 147

This is simulataneous, basically and depends on what makes sense…where determination is needed, use Perception, Agility and Willpower in order to break ties. Then the usual Delay, Attack, Combining attacks into one to increase damage and Co-ordinating to asssist someone with an attack to make it easier. Good rules to have. Some other manoeuvres as well, Ram, Slam, Taunt, Distract. Defensiev as well like Block and Dodge.

Damage – Page 155

What if it is explosive, penetrating, stunning or that sort of thing. Protection ratings, recovery and death. A rating of the negative of your current Endurance is likely dead, with a more four-colour possibility for return than something like The Authority.

Plot Points – Page 157

Automatic success, Inspiration, Power Boost, Power Stunt, Rally, Retcon.

The Environment – Page 160

Breathing and not, burning, the usual. Darkness, Dehydration. Earth’s core is hot Rank 14. Pathogens and Poison for if you want to know what Rank VX Nerve Agents are. Pressure, Radiation, Sleep, Starvation. Vacuum.

THE KALOS UNIVERSE – Page 168

Part of a larger Kalos multiverse. Earth-0, this one. To shorthand its existence in 196,883 dimensional space.

Atlantis and Lemuria, Extraterrestrials.

Posthumans – Page 170

Fewer than 800 posthumans worldwide. 200 in North America. 100 in the USA. Let’s see, 300 million of 7 billion. 4-5% of the world population and 12.5% of the lot. That’s a much greater than slightly more average tendency to migrate to the USA. No reason for which is given?

Corporations – Page 171
Governments – Page 174
Subversive Organisations – Page 176 – Aegis, ASGARD, GORGON, Jade Moon Society, Project Genesis
Technology – Page 180 – Armour, Energy, Genetics, Time/Dimensional Travel,
Magic & the Supernatural – Page 182

GM ADVICE – Page 185

Again by Greg Stolze, hence not being Creative Commons again.
Basic Duties, Plot, The Hook, Rising Action, Paper Tigers, Climax, Falling Action, Conflict, Keeping the Villain Alive, Rules Resolution, Character, Description.

GM’s Advanced Duties – Page 200

Tone Control, Leadership, Fair Conflict,

Characters – Page 203

A few to get you started. Always a good idea to get into a game straight away.

Blueshift,
Grimknight,
Manticore, Monolith,

Villains – Page 218

Chthyra, Crocolisk,
Ganyeka,
Karen X,
Master Sin, Miasma (and the Fume Troopers),

Creative Commons License – 240
OGL – 242

INDEX – 244-249

Genre Suitability: A wide variety of superheroics from Mystery Men to Cosmic. Suggests that it is going for The Authority or Planetary. There’s isn’t really any in-game evidence to support that this is the specific frame of reference. The Kalos Universe appears to be a standard US four-colour slightly more modern setting. Doesn’t remotely read Titans punching the heads off despots in the way that Brave New World does. This is an absolutely good game for running any of the usual variety of superhero games…you could Wildstorm tweak it if you wanted, certainly. Maybe they will have some genre rules or suggestions in their upcoming mentioned second edition. Bulletproof Bumblers, Brawlers, Blues, Bastards, etc. or something like that. For a range form comedy through to nasty.

The name definitely suggests more of a downer than you get when reading it.
Artwork: Colour, sparse, basic with a little public domain.

2 0ut of 10 Price (lower is cheaper per page)
8 out of 10 Length (lower is shorter)
7 out of 10 Complexity (lower is easier)
8 out of 10 Playability
5 out of 10 Artwork

8 out of 10 Overall

This is an attractively designed game, Creative Commons with a great value price. Any fan of superhero games can certainly risk their not quite 5 bucks and be very happy with the results. I don’t agree with the rules light mention. Neither is it overly complex though. Somewhere right around DC Heroes with benchmarks and target numbers with some additional rules on top of that. I’d call it moderately complicated. The rules section takes up the first 160+ pages but the Kalos setting has a little in it, too. You get a feel that is somewhere between DC Heroes and Marvel Super Heroes with the ranks and tables I think. The example setting would be useful for someone new to the type of game.

Definitely recommended for those that like the moderate level of gaming complexity or crunch a la Villains & Vigilantes, Super Squadron, Golden Heroes/Squadron UK, Icons, Marvel Super Heroes, DC Heroes, Brave New World etc.

Fans of superhero games in general will definitely find it a worthwhile and very cheap investment.

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Superworld Breakdown and Review

Superworld

$12.07 – http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/82099/Superworld-Rolep…

The box set has 3 books and game aids.

Superheroes Book

Introduction

What is a game, dice.

Page 4 – Handwritten character sheet for Stormbolt.
Page 5 – Superhero creation. Secret identity, yearly income roll including details of professions. Origin.

Characteristics – Strength, Constitution, Size, Intelligence, Power, Dexterity, Apperance. Roll heroes and villains on 2d6+6. Normals use 3d6.

You get skill points based on the average of the characteristics. Her total is 86. The average of which is 12ish. Hero points is this total of 86. You can reroll lowest characteristics until you get 91, but we won’t worry about it.

The most important Superpowers are Energy Supply and those listed under Super Characteristics. Powers are in the Superpowers book not the Superheroes book though. You can take Power Advantages, Disadvantages and Handicaps.

Characteristic Rolls – Idea (INT * 5), for working stuff out. Luck (POW * 5) and Agility (DEX * 5)

Let’s generate one. How about :

Indira Nguyen, Plumber. 27. Not on the list of sample occupations.

STR 15
CON 11
SIZ 10
INT 11
POW 14
DEX 12
APP 13

Currently Indira has a Damage Bonus of +1d6 from STR+SIZ that costs 3 EP to use.
Action Ranks are based on Dex. Hers are 12 and 2.

Being a BRP game if you make a critical roll you check the thing and you might get an increase. Additional Hero Points can be gained by experience and can be spent as above.

Let’s give her
Gas Projection – the ability to summon toxic Sewage gas. 4d6 at 9 metres radius is 20 points.
Poison – Killer sewage – 7 levels is 21 points.
Extra Hit Points – 10 levels is 20 more hit points. Plumbers are tough, here.
Energy Supply – 25 points. Gives 250 energy points to use on powers, extra.

Personal Energy is CON + POW or 25 and PE/10 is the Recharge Rate for Resting.

The Sewer

Indira Nguyen, Plumber. 27.

STR 15
CON 11
SIZ 10
INT 11
POW 14
DEX 12
APP 13

HT 33
PE 275
RR 2.5

Powers

20 Gas Projection – 4d6 at 30m with 9m radius
21 Poison – Killer sewage – 7 levels
20 Extra Hit Points – 10 levels
25 Energy Supply – 10 leves

Skills Increases

Plumbing – 99%
Drive – 49%

GAME MECHANICS – Page 15

Time, tactics and actions in rounds. Melee Round, Full Action, Semi-Action, Quartermove and Instantaneous varieties. Page 18 has the resistance table, that is Characteristic 10 Active vs Characteristic 10 Passive is a 50% chance.

Crucial Rolls – special, critical, fumble.
Boosting – spend extra energy to do more with powers.
Damage – surviving asphyxiation, combat, electricity, fire, etc.
Lifting and Throwing – impact damage.
Breaking Things – Material resistance and SIZ table. SIZ 100 is 159 tons.

COMBAT – Page 25

Movement – three types
Quartermove – which is only 1/5 for flight!
Normal – 3/4 of movement is a semi action.
Straightline – no deviation and you can go 4 times as fast!

Flight – Harder to manoeuvre in air apparently as very little friction. Use agility rolls to determine it actually says when the statistic is Dexterity. Oddball physics more than usual in Superworld.

Attack – manoeuvres, weapons, crucial rolls. Shockwaves and Stomps, Hulk. Passing attacks. Aura Attacks – Social type intimidation but : Youth – If you are a teenager you get POWx1% bonus to a resistance roll.

Defending and Danage. Knockback.

GLOSSARY – Page 31 then Character Sheet and Contents.

SUPERPOWERS BOOK

Introduction

Overview of breaking down each power type and Energy type.

Page 4 – Superpowers Tables
Page 8 – Superpowers Descriptions
Page 25 – Power Advantages
Page 29 – Skills table
Page 30 – Skills Description
Page 35 – Power Disadvantages – sure, why not have skills in the middle of Advantages and Disadvantages?!
Page 37 – Handicaps – like bad luck, clumsiness, psychological problems, etc. Gaining Hero Points.

GAMEMASTERS BOOK

You also get an Operatives Control sheet in this box and a Character Control Sheet and an Action Rank sheet. Along with Errata and Notes and various character sheets. And GM Screen type reference sheets with powers, weapons, etc and the useful Resistance Table, SIZ, Impact, Action Times, that sort of thing.

Page 3 – Introduction

GM Obligations – Screening and overhauling heroes, Campaign Control – Incomes,

Various short note sections on these :-

Supervillains
Bystanders
Rationale
Organizations – details of FORCE and Omega, briefly.
Law – Several pages on felonies and misdemeanours by Dee and Herman.
Animals – Something more useful and less boring than the above. Includes an allosaurus.

Page 17 – Adventure – Deadly Devices of Doctor Dread

For 3 to 8 new superheroes. Cut back if fewer than 5 it tells the GM.

Characters

— Absorber,
— Blackflash, Black Maria, Brainwave,
Captain Wonder, — Cerebella,
— Dynaman, Doctor Dread Snatch Team, Doctor Dread,
Fury, — Fire Operatives,
— Killer Bee,
Maestro, — Mighty Mauler,
— Pile Driver,
— Rapidfire,
Stormbolt,

Page 34 – Adventure – The Haunting

For 3 to 5 beginning superheroes.

— Arch-Ghoul,
— Dark Spawn,
— Seeker,
— Poltergeist,
— Leviathan,

So these adventures give at least a few heroes for people to use and some opponents done up as examples.

Genre Suitability: Lower level and powered games and certainly Wild Cards and the more brutal or lethal subgenres of superheroes are better suited to this system with too many holes. See Runequest or CoC. Can be dead super types aplenty, here. Realistic/real world + powers.
Artwork: Very basic black and white, mostly look like villains.

6 0ut of 10 Price (lower is cheaper per page)
5 out of 10 Length (lower is shorter)
7 out of 10 Complexity (lower is easier)
4 out of 10 Playability
4 out of 10 Artwork

5 out of 10 Overall

There are certainly some WTF bits and pieces in here and the organisation isn’t very good. I doubt you’ve ever heard anyone say: the superpower I’d most love to have is Energy Supply. And it is necessary as you otherwise have mostly Deuces in a Wild Card sense who will get one or two shots and be exhausted. And if using multiple powers? If you love Basic Roleplaying this may be for you. Otherwise there are better games. You could nick the skill system for another game using the appropriate attributes for that one for those that don’t have them as such.

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