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Superworld


Matt

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I would be interested in hearing how it goes. What tone are you trying for?

I'm thinking that your PCs are going to be rather fragile compared to PCs in some other supers games....

Tone = '70s Bronze Age Marvel/Atlas, so Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Iron Man, Moon Knight, Tiger-Man, Destructor, pre-Miller Daredevil type stuff, mostly black & white morality but some dilemmas.

Fragile is relative: most super hero games I see are on a scale I don't enjoy. "Cosmic" stuff never held any appeal for me; I'd rather see Batman and Spider-Man team up to take down some villain who has poisoned the city's water supply than Thor manifesting previously unmentioned powers out of his hammer because Darkseid has some nonsensical anti-life scheme involving alignment of planets and moons.

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One of the things I seem to remember most about Spidey is that his powers seemed to exist mainly to get him into trouble that he would have to use his wits to get out of. He wasn't going to defeat the Green Goblin or Doc Ock simply by using superior strength to beat him up. He had to use his limited powers creatively, when they came into play at all. He also spend most of his time in combat trying not to get hit by the superior firepower of his foes. His "tactic" is to get out of the way while still staying in the fight.

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Spider-Man wasn't a wimp, but you're right. He won by out-thinking his foes rather than by out-muscling them. He packed a pretty mean punch but most of his enemies were ones he couldn't simply beat up.

That's what I enjoy. It was very common in the Silver Age: think of all the Superman, Green Lantern, and Flash tales wherein they can only overcome their opponent or resolve the problem by using their wits or at least a very creative use of their powers. That's one thing the "Amazing Spider-Man" movie got right: Peter Parker's brain defeated the Lizard. Huge improvement over so many other super hero movies such as "Avengers" where it boils down to beating someone up and thereby winning.

We are involved in character creation and determining where to set the game.

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I loved the Giant Robo series, which I have on VHS. Or rather, I love the first few episodes; the ending was too bleak for me. Lots of high-flying action featuring surprisingly fragile superheroes. They could dish out loads of pyrotechnic mayhem but could be killed by bullet or sword just like anyone else. Definitely using BRP's damage system if not its power suite.

No, I don't think combining martial arts action with giant robots is strange at all. Giant Robo did it. Power Rangers did it. Pacific Rim had robot pilots do martial arts maneuvers while driving their vehicles. After all, you can't keep your super robot in your back pocket. It's housed in a hangar miles away, undergoing extensive maintenance and refueling, and the player-characters still have to hold the bad guys at bay -- with or without their high-tech toys.

Edit: I hadn't seen the clip you posted. My version ends with most of the heroes apparently dead, Giant Robo impounded, and the heroine in charge of protecting the young protagonist seemingly giving in to the Dark Side. I'll have to see if I can locate this.

And I hadn't seen the comment you added. Maybe you missed the last episode?

This gallery of characters from some of Yokoyama Mitsuteru's manga explains why the Giant Robot OVA showed high-flying wuxia characters alongside giant robots:

One of the giant robots you see is Gaia, the alien robot that in the finale of Yokoyama's Mars destroys Earth - talking about bleak endings. ;D

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  • 4 months later...

Ressing this thread a little - sorry about that.

start a Superworld Campaign this Sunday (if all goes well) with a LARGE group of people interested. We're making characters beforehand but I'm using the optional xp rules from the Superworld Companion as well (and bending quite a few rules for some of the powers that people want). I hope the campaign will go for a while, allowing the handout of hero points to eventually make the heroes more powerful (unsure if we'll get to cosmic power for a very long time or not).

I video recorded the play test game (which took place in 1984), audio recorded it, and there is a role playing journal up online of what happened. The campaign that starts Sunday will take place in 2014 and be located in Charlotte, N.C.

RPG Journal links are a thread marked "Role Playing Journals" in Alastor's Skull Inn on the Other Forums. I think there is a link to the video there as well. Audio can be found at the Role Playing Public Radio Actual Play Community site (under MaxWriter - go figure). I don't know if anyone is interested in any of this, but I'm excited to try Superworld as a regular campaign.

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  • 3 months later...

I'm coming late to this thread, sorry. I would like to ask a question of those who still use Superworld or had used it in the past. What changes did you make to the system (house rules) to make it run for you? I'm curious to see what is out there. The discussion seemed to have centered around what people dislike about the system, not what was done with it. Thanks for all responses.

If it takes more than 5 minutes to understand, it's not basic.

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I've run two long term campaigns with Superworld.  Very easy system for new RPG players to learn.  Superworld is great for the street level or so heroes.  Anything at Spider-Man power levels and below works pretty well. 

 

My biggest house rule was just using 10% of skill level as the 'critical hit' level.  I've always used the WoW version of Superworld, along with the Designer notes from Different Worlds #23 as I found the boxed Superworld just a bit too crunchy of a game system. 

 

In the past couple years, I've moved onto super hero gaming with the Supers! RPG, but for most anything else, I'd use some version of BRP. 

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  • 4 months later...

I've been reading some vintage Aquaman from 1959, 1960.  He's been around since 1941.  These days, in DC Comics' "New 52" reboot, Aquaman is a bulletproof powerhouse able to toss a city bus with his trident.  He can compel sea life to obey his telepathic commands but doesn't "talk to fish" since most creatures aren't smart enough to communicate anyway.  Not so in 1959, where gangsters' machinegun fire injures Our Hero (it's OK, he got better).  This is the Aquaman who, although raised on land by his lighthouse keeper father, can as an adult superhero only stay out of water for an hour before needing a refresh, although he occasionally solves crimes away from shore while wearing a water helmet.  He really does talk to fish (and other sea creatures) in the same manner most folks talk to co-workers at their jobs.  He can swim amazingly fast but, while certainly physically fit, isn't necessarily super strong.  His main power is his ability to get a limitless number of creatures to interrupt their normal feeding and breeding schedules to solve problems for him in bizarre but creative ways.  His faithful sidekick at this point isn't a dolphin but a giant octopus named Topo.  Called "King of the Seven Seas" by the land-dwellers because of his ability to command sea life, Aquaman knows the location of Atlantis but almost never goes there and certainly doesn't claim any authority over the ancient city-state.

 

Aqualad came along in 1960, after Aquaman had previously encountered an Aquagirl.  Seems the Atlanteans send "defective" children who can't survive underwater to the surface in sealed capsules, hoping they will be found and adopted by the air-breathers.   Aqualad didn't lose his sea powers but was initially terrified of fish.  He was taken in by Aquaman since he was an orphan with no Atlantean relatives to return to.

 

The stories are decently illustrated and plotted, but this iteration of Aquaman is definitely kid stuff.  Since I've never enjoyed dark, grim "adult" superheroics I am OK with that, willing to accept early Sixties Aquaman for what he is, although his adventures are juvenile fantasy in a way that Batman and Hawkman yarns from the same era aren't.  In one crossover tale, the Green Arrow and Speedy survive an encounter with Godzilla by having Topo persuade the King of Monsters that they are Aquaman's friends.  So far, the only groan-worthy moment encountered was when Aquaman bested an evil circus animal trainer by turning one of his beasts against him; seems the critter was a water buffalo!

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