Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.super-heroes (More info?)
Page 8: Now this is where in the old days you'd see a "What is
Roleplaying" section. Thank goodness those have been dispensed
with.
Page 11: Hey! None of the superheroines are wearing high heels
How uncommonly practical.
Page 12: I don't think the stats for the Gadgeteer really match
the depicted character, "Gimmick". She's got this whole "I'm
an anime influenced cutie" thing going down so the actual character
should probably have higher charisma. As for "The Pugilist" with
his construction boots, frankly he doesn't strike me as the Acrobat
type.
Page 14: Hey! A heroine with middle aged spread. How realistic.
Not every superheroine would do Pilates after all.
Page 20: I would suggest that the best way to handle "Power level"
is not to treat it as a limitation on the character but rather on the
campaign. Late arriving characters who are lower level than the
established one should probably have the same limitations
on things like ranks and bonuses as the highest level character in
the game.
Page 24: The section explaining what a high wisdom low intelligence
or high intelligence low charisma character is like is very good
indeed. One of the best aids to visualising a character
that I've ever seen.
Page 26: Very funny picture.
Page 35: Innuendo? Who in the comic books uses innuendo?
Page 39: Gosh. Mechanics for Spiderman to taunt people. Nice
touch.
Page 43: Assessment. OK, so can anyone think of a way to make
this ability useful? I don't care whether a character is stronger
than he is smart. I want to know whether he's stronger than me!
Page 46: Now that's interesting. Champions had Reputations of
any kind as a disadvantage but often they were functionally an
advantage. Most other games have bad reputations as handicaps.
But here having a bad reputation is bought as a FEAT. How
unconventional.
Page 57: Seems to me that Alien and Mutant are really the
same power source as far as Drains go. Both are genetic.
In terms of type of power the varieties are:
Genetic
Technological
Magical
Trained
Biochemical
so far as I can see.
Page 59: The power set up reminds me quite a bit of MEGS
only streamlined.
Page 89: Time Travel. Oh. That's just terrible. Really.
No wonder they warn against letting players have it.
GURPS Magic made the same mistake. Time Travel
is not more powerful because you can travel farther
in time. Particularly in this case where if you want to
travel back in time a century you can just as easily
use Time Travel 1 a hundred times rather than getting Time
Travel 3. What makes Time Travel truly powerful is not
distance, but precision and access to important historical
events. Time Travel should have increases to difficulty
class based on how precisely you can set your target
moment (DC 5=Within a century, DC 30=to the second)
and how hard the GM wants to make to reach a given
time. Year JFK was killed=DC 20, Year Timeripper travelled
to prevent the American Revolution=DC 5 since it would
always be easier to travel to a time where someone was trying
to change history.
And if your PCs want to travel back and slap around
some dinosaurs...let them. What harm are they
going to do without your fiat?
Page 99: Nice power creation system. Once again
reminiscent of a streamlined MEGS.
Page 103: I like the Feng Shui method of categorising
wealth. You are poor, rich or in-between.
Page 104: Could use a table of movement speeds.
Page 105: I don't understand table 6-4. The
column ratings are STR 15 Heavy Load,
STR 20 Heavy Load and Heavy Load.
What's the last column for?
106: Hm. Once again when I look at the
Weaknesses I smell MEGS ancestry. But then
MEGS has Hero ancestry. I note that there's
no Dependant NPC "weakness". Perhaps
that's a good idea. Not as many character crocks
as most systems.
114: Oh there it is! The movement speed table
is in the Devices chapter. I'll have to remember that.
119: Oh. Cool. Designing a headquarters was always
a pain in the ass in Champions. But here you just
pick 10 features and add one for each "power level"
you go up. That's much better.
122: Oh good, a rule for Mace and pepper spray.
You know, that's the first super game system that
I can recall which has that. No, Penthathol is not
like Telepathy. It's more a Drain on Will Saving
Throws.
141: Hm. I kind of think that Intelligence should
play some role in mental combat.
152: Kind of like the old V&V random event tables,
although I suppose MSH had the same kind of thing.
153: OK, I get Primearth and Anti-Earth, but what's
the deal with Earth Proto and Earth Red? Is Protonna
a communist hero or what?
160: Ah yes, the no frills introductory adventure.
Three or four different answers for what is going
on so that players won't know the adventure just
because they own the book. Good idea, I reckon.
I think I'd go with a fifth answer, though.
166: Geez. What's Daedalus been doing all this
time so he's only Power Level 10? 3000 years of
experience should add up...
172: The Atomic Brain. Goodness, how hokey.
But he did start his career in the 50s.
177: Remlok (who I bet is really named Colmer.)
seems like an impossible character to beat were it
not for him liking to fight superhumans. Otherwise
he could just grab and vanish.
178: A good index, and that's a valuable thing, but
they whould have included a reference to the
movement speed table under "movement".
Page 8: Now this is where in the old days you'd see a "What is
Roleplaying" section. Thank goodness those have been dispensed
with.
Page 11: Hey! None of the superheroines are wearing high heels
How uncommonly practical.
Page 12: I don't think the stats for the Gadgeteer really match
the depicted character, "Gimmick". She's got this whole "I'm
an anime influenced cutie" thing going down so the actual character
should probably have higher charisma. As for "The Pugilist" with
his construction boots, frankly he doesn't strike me as the Acrobat
type.
Page 14: Hey! A heroine with middle aged spread. How realistic.
Not every superheroine would do Pilates after all.
Page 20: I would suggest that the best way to handle "Power level"
is not to treat it as a limitation on the character but rather on the
campaign. Late arriving characters who are lower level than the
established one should probably have the same limitations
on things like ranks and bonuses as the highest level character in
the game.
Page 24: The section explaining what a high wisdom low intelligence
or high intelligence low charisma character is like is very good
indeed. One of the best aids to visualising a character
that I've ever seen.
Page 26: Very funny picture.
Page 35: Innuendo? Who in the comic books uses innuendo?
Page 39: Gosh. Mechanics for Spiderman to taunt people. Nice
touch.
Page 43: Assessment. OK, so can anyone think of a way to make
this ability useful? I don't care whether a character is stronger
than he is smart. I want to know whether he's stronger than me!
Page 46: Now that's interesting. Champions had Reputations of
any kind as a disadvantage but often they were functionally an
advantage. Most other games have bad reputations as handicaps.
But here having a bad reputation is bought as a FEAT. How
unconventional.
Page 57: Seems to me that Alien and Mutant are really the
same power source as far as Drains go. Both are genetic.
In terms of type of power the varieties are:
Genetic
Technological
Magical
Trained
Biochemical
so far as I can see.
Page 59: The power set up reminds me quite a bit of MEGS
only streamlined.
Page 89: Time Travel. Oh. That's just terrible. Really.
No wonder they warn against letting players have it.
GURPS Magic made the same mistake. Time Travel
is not more powerful because you can travel farther
in time. Particularly in this case where if you want to
travel back in time a century you can just as easily
use Time Travel 1 a hundred times rather than getting Time
Travel 3. What makes Time Travel truly powerful is not
distance, but precision and access to important historical
events. Time Travel should have increases to difficulty
class based on how precisely you can set your target
moment (DC 5=Within a century, DC 30=to the second)
and how hard the GM wants to make to reach a given
time. Year JFK was killed=DC 20, Year Timeripper travelled
to prevent the American Revolution=DC 5 since it would
always be easier to travel to a time where someone was trying
to change history.
And if your PCs want to travel back and slap around
some dinosaurs...let them. What harm are they
going to do without your fiat?
Page 99: Nice power creation system. Once again
reminiscent of a streamlined MEGS.
Page 103: I like the Feng Shui method of categorising
wealth. You are poor, rich or in-between.
Page 104: Could use a table of movement speeds.
Page 105: I don't understand table 6-4. The
column ratings are STR 15 Heavy Load,
STR 20 Heavy Load and Heavy Load.
What's the last column for?
106: Hm. Once again when I look at the
Weaknesses I smell MEGS ancestry. But then
MEGS has Hero ancestry. I note that there's
no Dependant NPC "weakness". Perhaps
that's a good idea. Not as many character crocks
as most systems.
114: Oh there it is! The movement speed table
is in the Devices chapter. I'll have to remember that.
119: Oh. Cool. Designing a headquarters was always
a pain in the ass in Champions. But here you just
pick 10 features and add one for each "power level"
you go up. That's much better.
122: Oh good, a rule for Mace and pepper spray.
You know, that's the first super game system that
I can recall which has that. No, Penthathol is not
like Telepathy. It's more a Drain on Will Saving
Throws.
141: Hm. I kind of think that Intelligence should
play some role in mental combat.
152: Kind of like the old V&V random event tables,
although I suppose MSH had the same kind of thing.
153: OK, I get Primearth and Anti-Earth, but what's
the deal with Earth Proto and Earth Red? Is Protonna
a communist hero or what?
160: Ah yes, the no frills introductory adventure.
Three or four different answers for what is going
on so that players won't know the adventure just
because they own the book. Good idea, I reckon.
I think I'd go with a fifth answer, though.
166: Geez. What's Daedalus been doing all this
time so he's only Power Level 10? 3000 years of
experience should add up...
172: The Atomic Brain. Goodness, how hokey.
But he did start his career in the 50s.
177: Remlok (who I bet is really named Colmer.)
seems like an impossible character to beat were it
not for him liking to fight superhumans. Otherwise
he could just grab and vanish.
178: A good index, and that's a valuable thing, but
they whould have included a reference to the
movement speed table under "movement".
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