Help! I need a rules-lite super hero RPG

[BASHMAN]

Sure! Let's do two. I'd say Captain America and Thor, but since it can be argued endlessly what their particular powers are, not to mention the fact that they are veteran heroes, let's say "a mortal hero like Captain America" and an "immortal hero like the Mighty Thor."

Sure. Why don't we also assume that they are part of the same team, being played by two different players in the same 40-point campaign.
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Patriotic Shield Leader 23 Pts (12 stats 11 powers) 17 Hero Points, 5 "Team" Hero Points
Brawn 2 Agility 2 Mind 2 12 Pts
x3 Soak, x5 Defense, Reflect & Retaliate, x4 Mental Defense

Powers
• "Unobtainium" Shield: Special Attack 4 [Enhancement: Variable; Limitation: Easily Taken Gadget] 4pts
• Deflect 3 (x5 Defense) [Limitation: Stealable Gadget (the shield) 2pts
• Chainmail Weave: Armor 1 (x3 Soak) 1pt
• Fleet of Foot (Run 8 squares, Jump 5 squares) 1pt
• Martial Arts Mastery 2 (Tricky, Tough, Grappling Styles) 2pts
• Skillful 1pt

Skills: Athletics/Acrobatics, Stealth/Hide, Military+1/Tactics, Investigation+1/Gut, Drive/Motorcycles, Pilot/Evasion
Advantages: Contacts (US Government), Never Surrender, Quick-Thinking, Leadership
Disadvantages: Normal, Outsider (originally from a bygone era, he missed a lot of history), Arch Enemy: Uber-Nazi!, Public ID
Mental Malfunction:' True Believer. He takes his word, work, and his honor (and the honor of his Country) very seriously
_________________________________________________________________
God of Thunder 36 Pts (20 Stats, -2 Weakness, 18 Powers) 4 Hero Points
Brawn 5 Agility 3 Mind 2
x7 Soak, x3 Defense, x4 Mental Defense

Weakness: If separated from his hammer for more than 1 minute, he loses all powers and reverts to his human form. Note that while most powers actually need him to use the hammer to work, the hammer does not count as an “Easily Taken” gadget, since nobody else can actually use it. However, it can be trapped beyond his reach, making him vulnerable.
Powers:
• Invulnerability: Armor 2 (x7 Soak) 2pts
• Resistance 2: Half damage from Fire, Cold, Radiation, Poison 2pts
• Magic Hammer: Special Attack 5 [Variable] 6pts
• Flight 4 [Situational: Only while holding Hammer] 3pts
• North Wind: Push 3 (x10 Knock-Back, in a Long Line) 3pts
• Virtuous: Mind Shield 1 (x4 Mental Defense) [Limitation: only works against attempts to make him betray his friends, honor, etc] 1pt
• Weather Mastery 3 [Limitation: Must continue holding hammer or weather disapates] 2pts
• Dimensional Teleportation 1 (to realm of the gods) 1pt

Advantages: Appeal, Immortal, Alter Ego* , Instant Change
*Because it is inconvenient to have no access to the other Ego’s skills or abilities, and dangerous to lose powers in battle and become “normal”, this Advantage has no cost.

Disadvantages: Arch Enemy: King of Evil Gods, Normal (human form has B1 A1, and no powers), Outsider (medieval speech, poor understanding of technology)
Thunder God Skills: Athletics/Aerobatics, Occultism/Legends, Social Science/History
Human Form Skills: Drive/Steering, Medicine x3/Surgery
Mental Malfunction: Honor. The Thunder God takes his honor very seriously and is capable of being goaded into fighting or making foolish choices because of it.
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To see how these two very different scale characters could function in the same team, you need to know a little about Hero Points and Hero Dice.

Hero Points are spent to add to the results of dice rolls, each point giving a +1 bonus. They can be spent after the roll is seen. This means that an underdog like the Patriotic Shield Leader above has a good edge to use so that his character still can shine. In addition, 5 Hero Points can be transformed into a Hero Die, which can have various different effects from "power stunts" to reviving from a status condition, to just adding to rolls. The Patriotic Shield Leader also has an advantage called "Leadership" which lets him spend his own Hero points on the rolls of other characters- and when he does so, each point he spends counts as 2. He also gets 5 free Hero Points that can only be spent on his team (the Team points).

 

[ForceUser]

That's fantastic. Sold.

 

[BASHMAN]

That's fantastic. Sold.

Cool! The website has links to where the PDF is available. If you are interested in hardcopy, the shipment of books left the printer this morning, and is on its way to IPR's warehouse and a smaller shipment coming directly to me. If your FLGS does business with IPR, you should be able to order it through them, if not IPR directly. I should have the listing for the print+pdf up on IPR tonight.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Intrigued. Definitely taking a look at this one.

 

[coyote6]

Yeah, I noticed a couple of BASH games at DunDraCon next month; I will have to try to get in one, to try it out.

 

[BASHMAN]

Yeah, I noticed a couple of BASH games at DunDraCon next month; I will have to try to get in one, to try it out.

Yes, me too! This will be the first time there is somebody I don't know running the game (the Venture Bros. one). I'm excited to check it out. Mine is the other one on the schedule.

 

[coyote6]

Yeah, I was looking at the Team Venture one, in particular. There are a couple of other games I'm interested in that are in slots that overlap with the Saturday game, which I guess you'll be running.

In either case, maybe I'll see you there, then (depending on the vagaries of DDC's wacky lottery system & overlapping slots).

 

[Sen Udo-Mal]

Yea BASH! UE
I really love the outlook, layour and artwork in the UE and of course the rules are very cool and just the right level for superhero gaming (and I am a fan of M&M 2nd ed. also but sometimes there are few to many rules for every game)

 

[Rolflyn]

- the only part of the system that's a genuine pain in the ass is character creation. Luckily, spreadsheets help with that, and it's a player-only thing. You don't need to worry about it as GM.

I find that the ability for any character to gain feats and powers via hero points makes M&M very hard to play. Where is the list of feats I can gain again? What power can I have? What extras? It is as if you are constantly remaking your character.

Also, copy powers mean that the GM has to have villains statted up. And this applies to a lesser extent to drain, nullify, boost (for allies), etc.

But actually, I haven't gotten out of character creation because the system is so easily abused the GM has to be constantly involved, and a beginner GM has little to compare to. The most I've been able to do with M&M is run sample combats with the standard characters while ignoring spending hero points to gain feats and powers.

What am I doing wrong? I want to like M&M, but it seems very rule intense on both sides of the screen.

 

[Elric]

Also, copy powers mean that the GM has to have villains statted up. And this applies to a lesser extent to drain, nullify, boost (for allies), etc.

It's not that hard to wing ranks on the spot: 10 ranks in Blast, 5 ranks in Flight, 10 ranks in Force Field for a PL 10 energy controller, for example.

But actually, I haven't gotten out of character creation because the system is so easily abused the GM has to be constantly involved, and a beginner GM has little to compare to.

This is definitely a problem. M&M isn't a game where the GM can take a hands off approach, and certainly isn't one where players are expected to "do your worst." Here is
an excellent thread on M&M's official boards on balance issues in the PL system (read the first two posts, and the examples linked at the end of the second post, in particular), which is the best discussion of its kind that I've seen.

The most I've been able to do with M&M is run sample combats with the standard characters while ignoring spending hero points to gain feats and powers.

What am I doing wrong? I want to like M&M, but it seems very rule intense on both sides of the screen.

The use of a hero point to gain a feat or power feat (including an Alternate Power) for a round can slow the game down. Two things to remember: first, a character needs a rationale for what they can power stunt. Cyclops using his eye beams to read minds is probably out. Second, gaining a feat/power feat for a round typically isn't a great use of HP compared to other hero point uses (e.g., reroll, shake off a stunned condition, double dodge bonus to defense for a round).

It's unlikely there are a lot of feats you didn't take that you'll want to gain regularly with hero points, with the particular exception of strong feats where having it all the time wouldn't fit the character concept (e.g., Power Attack).