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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neuroglyph" data-source="post: 7653505" data-attributes="member: 85633">Among the generic role playing game systems out there, there is little doubt that Savage Worlds Deluxe is really attracting a strong following of RPG fans.  Quite a number of Third-Party Publishers have been creating campaign and setting material specifically designed for use with SWD RPG, demonstrating the versatility and dynamic qualities of this game system.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK][align=right]http://www.neuroglyphgames.com/rpgblogs/home/neurogly/public_html/rpgblogs/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/sw-super-powers-cover.jpg[/align]And that’s not even counting the official settings and product lines created by Pinnacle Entertainment Group for their mighty RPG engine.Already in the first quarter of 2014, the PEG has released several new products to enhance the Savage Worlds Deluxe experience - Companion supplements covering different genres and settings catering to a wide range of role playing groups.  Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion is one of those FQ 2014 releases, opening the door for GMs and players to enter a world inspired by comic books and comic book movies!Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Writers: Shane Lacy Hensley & Clint Black </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Illustrators: Tomek Tworek (cover); Aaron Acevedo, Storn Cook, Kieron O’Gorman, John Hunt, Richard Clark, Cheyenne Wright, Adam Bray (interior) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Year: 2014 </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Media: PDF (98 pages) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Price: $14.99 (Available from <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product/125453/Savage-Worlds-Super-Powers-Companion-2nd-Ed&amp;filters=0_0_0_31813_0?affiliate_id=270466" target="_blank">RPGNow </a>in PDF format) </li> </ul>Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion is an official supplement for Savage Worlds Deluxe by Pinnacle Entertainment Group.  This Companion covers adapting Savage Worlds RPG to a super-heroic comic book style campaign, covering everything from character creation and advancement, super powers, super villains and more. Production QualityThe production quality of Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion is excellent, with some brilliant writing from the authors, and a very pleasing layout.  Like other Savage World products reviewed in this column, both the writing style and layout are very user-friendly, and conveys important information to the reader in an enjoyable way. The PDF comes with an interactive table of contents and index, with page numbers and entries hot-linked to go directly to the pertinent section of the supplement.   The PDF also has bookmarks to set to main topics in each chapter and sub-heading, allowing for an exceptional navigation system to find content with few clicks and with limited page turning.  And like other PEG releases in PDF format, the document can be toggled to remove/hide excessive graphics to make them printer friendly.The illustrations and artwork in Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion is spectacular, consisting of full-color depictions of superheroes and villains from the front cover to the very end of the book.  The only disappointing thing about the artwork in this PDF is the lack of it in the Rogue’s Gallery section, where many of the super villains did not have an illustration.  While all the super villains were given text descriptions, one would assume that a colorful image of such an NPC is always preferable. Excelsior… and then some!The Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion is squarely focused on re-creating a comic book campaign, ranging from heroes from pulp fiction such as the Shadow on up to superheroes who not only save the planet, but battle to save the whole galaxy from destruction much like the Green Lantern Corps.  The supplement covers many topics necessary to successfully adapt Savage Worlds Deluxe rules to superheroic roleplaying, neatly dividing up the content into six sections for ease-of-use. Unsurprisingly, the first section covers creating Heroes, giving details on how to manage their power levels and offering new content which can be used to design characters in this genre.  There are five Power Levels for starting characters – Pulp Heroes, Street Fighters, Four Color, Heavy Hitters, and Cosmic – with each offering power points from 15 on up to 75 at the top end!  This section also offers new Hindrances and Edges which are common in comic book genre RPGs. Setting Rules are covered in the second section, and specific rules from the SWD rulebook are designated for this genre of roleplaying campaign.  But the authors also created additional combat rules such as Combined Attacks and Knockback, as well as using power stunts and power tricks to role play the use of powers in unusual ways.  As the game is designed for the superhero comic genre, there is also a table which determines whether a hero or villain actually dies when defeated (very rarely!) or suffers some sort of permanent or semi-permanent detrimental effect or possibly a transformation of some kind. (Jean Grey returning after the death of Phoenix ring any bells?) The section on Gear is actually quite short, as much of the standard modern gear from the SWD rulebook is completely appropriate to the comic book setting.  However, there are some new gadgets introduced, including high-tech weapons, armor, and miscellaneous gizmos like rocket packs and commlinks.  There are even a few high tech comic book-inspired vehicles listed in this section, stuff that SHIELD Agents would be all too happy to use in a big mission. The listings of Super Powers claim a big chunk of the pages in this PDF, and there are more than 75 powers which can be used to design a comic book here.  These powers cover nearly every sort of special ability, mutation, or ultra-powerful artifact that have been used in comic books since the Golden Age, and both players and GMs are likely to find that their character concepts can readily be created from these lists.  In addition, the supplement offers generic modifiers which put minor limitations on powers while reducing their cost or adds advantageous effects to a power and thereby increasing the cost in power points.  A handy table is also found in this section providing an “at a glance” one-line summary of the powers for easy access during hero (or villain) creation. Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion devotes an entire section of the book to creating Headquarters for both heroes and villains.  These are purchased using a separate pool of power points called headquarter points, granted to each hero based upon their rank as designated in the SWD rulebook.  These HQ points can be pooled together by a super team in order to create an amazing base of operations.  This section gives step-by-step instructions for designing a superbase, and provide for all sorts of facilities, security, and locales appropriate to a comic book setting – and yes, a space station superbase or underwater fortress are totally possible under these rules. Finally, there is a Rogue’s Gallery for the GM to use when designing an adventure or campaign, providing a wide range of NPCs for the heroes to encounter.  There are mundane citizens, cops, and criminals at the low end, and a substantial sampling of supervillains at the high end, covering all five power levels (Pulp Heroes to Cosmic) used in this supplement.  There are nearly four score entries in this section of the supplement, providing a starting GM enough material to run quite a few adventures before having to create villains of his or her own. Overall Score: 4.1 out of 5.0  ConclusionsIt’s very difficult to find real fault with the official Savage Worlds line of products from Pinnacle Entertainment Group, and Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion is no exception.  The adaptation of the SWD system to comic book heroic roleplaying is extremely well done, and the writing and layout presentation is top notch. While the supplement does not present or promote a specific superhero setting in particular, it does provide GMs the tools needed to launch their own version of a world where villains are struck down by masked avengers and heroic supers.  Players will certainly find that nearly any conceivable comic book character concept is possible from using this supplement, and the various campaign power levels offer considerable variations on the comic book hero genre.All in all, the Savage Worlds: Super Powers Companion is packed full of game content for a very decent price.  It opens up a whole new realm of gaming for Savage Worlds fans, adding yet another genre of roleplaying to an already impressive array of possibilities with this fantastic generic RPG system.Editorial Note: This Reviewer received a complimentary playtest copy of the product in PDF format from which the review was written.  Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Presentation: 4.0 </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Design: 4.0 (Great writing; excellent layout; easy to read and navigate) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Illustrations: 4.0 (Very cool cover art and interior illustrations!) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Content: 4.25 </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Crunch: 4.5 (Excellent adaptation of the SWD rules to the comic book RPG genre) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Fluff: 4.0 (Imaginative and descriptive powers and NPCs) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Value: 4.0 (Awesome price for a very complete supplement!) </li> </ul></blockquote>

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