Guardian Heroes, Pt. 2

The second session of Quick20 supers was a lot of fun. To be brief:

The game takes place in a fast and loose version of the Marvel Universe. The PCs are Team Discord: Aerobot (an robot mascot-hero that escaped from Microsoft, with the ability to shoot missiles, fly and change size), Switch (a magical teleporter who switches with objects at his destination — a very neat power, by the way), The Manipulator (a nanite-user much like the Authority’s Engineer) and John Armstrong (telepath and PR man). Th heroes were summoned by Toronto police to deal with hostages (including the mayor) at the CM Tower, held by the obscure Separatism Squad (Fleur De Lis [not other versions of this character, but a flier with forcefields and the ability to shoot sticky plasma bombs like Halo's Covenant grenades], The Great and Powerful Bong [gets people stoned and controls minds with body chemistry] and Stampeder [tough and strong]).

The PCs killed Fleur De Lis and TGAPB and after a huge, dynamic slugfest, captured Stampeder. Only a few hostages died due to henchman gunfire — a C+ grade as far as heroism goes. Toronto’s police chief gave them the privileges to coordinate a Canada-wide investigation into the origin of the Sepsquad. They checked out TGAPB’s Vancouver apartment, which let them know that his powers came from a device called the “Omega Well,” possessed by Stampeder. Armstrong read Stampeder’s mind and learned that she was Preston Manning’s secret older sister, kept in a home because she was thought to have an intellectual disability — a source of shame, considering that the Mannings were pro-eugenics politicians back in the 30s.

They went to AB and confronted Manning with this. In subsequent conversation, he mentioned that a Flag-Smasher initially tried to hook up with Reform to provide uber-tech, but was turned away. Team Discord researched Flag-Smasher on wikipedia, then contacted Captain America. Cap (who was eating lucnh and following with his Blackberry when the team called) agreed to email confidential info about Flag-Smasher.

Quick20′s combat system works well enough. The rules use the three OGL saves as stats and add a 4th (Might) for melee and strength. Superstrength adds bonus damage and lifting/pushing bennies and works OK, though closely matches characters don’t do much damage because their damage saves (a la M&M, but modified) don’t get to fail by much. I eventually want to add some thematic maneuvers (like “team-up”), but don’t want tactical complexity. I will have to deal with relative size, range and area with more detail than the Quick20 rules.

Early on, I changed Quick20′s three class system into these:

• Athlete – Athletes are born or highly trained runners, jumpers and acrobats. Add +1 to Reflex. Ninja and parkour experts are both athletes. The Athlete’s special ability is Athletics. Gain an Athletics pool equal to Might + Reflex. This refreshes every 24 hours or after 8 hours of complete rest.
• Blaster – Archers, heroes who hurl lightning and deadly gunfighters are blasters. They’re devoted to the art of ranged combat. Add +1 to Reflex. The Blaster’s special ability is Ranged Expertise. Gain a Ranged Expertise pool equal to Reflex + Fortitude. This refreshes every 24 hours or after 8 hours of complete rest.
• Bruiser – Bruisers are pugilists, “strong guys,” martial artists and other heroes who like to get “in your face.” Add +1 to Might. The Bruiser’s special ability is Melee Expertise. Gain a Melee Expertise pool equal to Might + Fortitude. This refreshes every 24 hours or after 8 hours of complete rest.
• Expert – Experts include scientists, detectives and others who use knowledge and deduction to achieve their goals. Add +1 to Will. The Expert’s special ability is Genius. Gain a Genius pool equal to Reflex + Will. This refreshes every 24 hours or after 8 hours of complete rest.
• Fixer – Socialites, fences, politicians and other persuasive characters are Fixers. Add +1 to Will. The Fixer’s special ability is Grace. Gain a Grace pool equal to Fortitude + Will. This refreshes every 24 hours or after 8 hours of complete rest.

As I have a robot character, I’ve decided to use three basic “species” to include that PC and others.

• Exceptional – Aliens, genetically modified humans, and magical races are examples of the Exceptional species. Exceptionals with more complex characteristics should be given powers and weaknesses. The basic profile can model members of a “mundane” alien species or human offshoot.

· +1 to a single attribute, -1 to another.
· +2 to skill any two skill checks. Choose these as if they were level-based bonuses.
· +1 to a an attack roll or saving throw. Again, choose these as if they were level-based bonuses.

• Human – Humans include standard Homo sapiens as well as characters whose powers are the only thing that deviates from a humanlike set of abilities.

· Add 2 points to attributes in any combination, but at 1st level, this cannot increase an attribute higher than 4 (before class adjustments).
· Humans gain two skill, save or attack roll bonuses, or a combination of two of these. These bonuses work just like bonuses gained with additional levels in that they apply to specific instances.

• Unliving – Robots, golems and undead creatures are all unliving, freed from the basic weaknesses of the flesh. This species represents the character’s core capabilities. Exceptional monsters or constructs have powers.

· Unliving characters record staggered, unconscious and dying conditions for the purpose of tracking cumulative damage, but they never suffer the effects of those conditions.
· Unliving minds are immune to telepathic powers and anything that specifically affects a living physiology, for good or ill. For example, a robot can’t be poisoned and doesn’t need to breathe, but can be harmed by acid or a smack in the head with a hammer.
· Unliving characters do not heal naturally. Only powers and external assistance can repair them.

I think this ought to encompass what I need. Right now, the challange is to change the starting power set from “whatever I made up” to a set point value. I’m also going to base the point value of powers on the “price” of an attribute (Might, Fort, Ref and Will, which normally go up by 3/level and absorb attribute, skill and save advancements,). I want to keep powers to a minimum. This isn’t HERO. I want definite areas where GMs can intervene and in the pirit of Quick20, I want to keep the page count down to maybe 20.

Tags: RPG design, rpg sketches, Superhero RPGs