pawsplay
Hero
One of the first few role-playing games I played was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, published by Palladium Books. I had never heard of the graphic novel and the movie had not yet appeared. I was drawn in by the striking artwork and the interesting character creation options, and thus I became acquainted with a fundamentally quirky game engine. A distant relative powered the Palladium Role-Playing Game, now known as Palladium Fantasy, and, as you might imagine from the buildup, Heroes Unlimited. My previous experience with Heroes Unlimited was only in passing, just long enough to know it plainly stated it was not interested in recreating Superman. I created a few characters, one of whom was essentially a chauffeur with a suped-up car. In the interim, Rifts came into being, Palladium migrated over to the newer Megaversal version of the game system, and Heroes Unlimited went into its second edition. It was then revised, bringing us to the subject of this review.
For those unfamiliar with the Palladium house system, it somewhat resembles AD&D, complete with rolled attributes, classes, and levels. It has a percentile-based skill system. In Heroes Unlimited, you generate a set of attributes by rolling 3d6 eight times, in order, and then adding a bonus die for high scores. You then select or roll a power category, such as Alien, Mutant, or Mystic, which generates your special powers and may modify your basic profile. For instance, Bionic characters tend to be quite strong, while psychics receive a boost to Mental Endurance. You then select or determine your educational background, select skills, and fill in the details.
I notice that in this edition, we have the Mega-Hero, a concession to the desire for more powerful super-heroic characters. This optional power category enhances another kind of hero with certain innate advantages, while also dictating that the character has a distinct weakness that can be exploited by foes, whether an arrogant God complex or a weakness to magic. The super chauffeur character is, thankfully, not likely to reappear; the Hardware: Mechanical Genius category now grants not only a cool ride, but some good driving skills and the ability to build and modify vehicles and other mechanical technology. Mutants now have a wider variety of powers, may qualify for multiple Minor powers, and may also be latent psychics as well.
There is no getting around saying that the basic game is rather clunky. Characters have multiple attacks and parries, and armor is represented by an Armor Rating, as in many other games. But in Heroes Unlimited, armor takes damage, skills use a very general roll-under mechanic, and the rules for trauma and insanity are a complete mess. The author, Kevin Siembieda, takes a fairly loose approach to game design. That can be an asset, as there is some strength to being able to say, “Roll your Prowl,” and then adjudicating the result based on their skill, the roll, the situation, and your own sense of the dramatic. However, it is clear that in many areas, he expects the Game Master to figure out things for themselves, creating-on-the fly rulings, helping players customize characters outside what is strictly supported by the system, and working outside the rules when the rules do not work. The book is a patchwork of the old and new, and the impression I get is that many problems were left in simply because Mr. Siembieda did not feel they were an obstacle to play. Does it bother you that Alien psionics cannot be as powerful as human ones? It did not bother him, and if it bothers you, he would probably welcome you to play it the way you prefer. There is no way to generate Wolverine using these rules, as he is a Mutant with Bionic implants. But then again, there is nothing stopping a player from asking, “Can I have one major power, one minor, and a couple of implants?” and nothing to stop the GM from saying, “No problem.” The ability to “charm/impress” as the result of having a high Mental Affinity (aka charisma) is left completely up to the GM.
The writing is sub-par. Siembieda’s thoughtful design and enthusiasm are evident, but so is the lack of editing. As in other Palladium books, there is sometimes an excess of exclamation points! He also tends to pause here and there to pontificate on his game playing philosophy, which is potentially interesting but not always helpful in getting the game running in the first place. Some sentences are train wrecks of grammar, although not to the point of losing the sense of what he is saying. The book is readable and often charming, but not precisely polished.
Structurally, the book is basically well organized. However, the character creation steps are clearly out of order. The book says to generate Hit Points and S.D.C. right after rolling your basic attributes, but your Hit Points may be modified if your Physical Endurance changes due to your power category or taking Physical skills, while your S.D.C. comes from your power category, plus bonuses from skills and powers. Insanity is wedged into the first part of the book, while descriptions of specific powers or equipment reside alternately in each power category write-up or in later sections of the book.
This is a remarkable book to be in print in the 21st century, an old school RPG in every sense. The reason I have this book in my hands now is essentially because I saw it used for $12.95 and I thought it would yield interest in at least this amount. I am pleased to say it did not disappoint. I rolled up three characters. That is one of the great joys of games of this sort, letting the dice take you on a wild journey and leaving it to you to interpret where you have been. By the time you have created a character, you know where they got their powers from, the precise nature of those abilities, their educational level, and the majority of their pertinent life skills. There are plenty of extra tables as well, such as ones to tell you why your Alien came to Earth or why your Bionic character received implants. Most are completely optional, but almost all are worthwhile. By the time you have put together why your healthy but financially desperate character from the street volunteered for Bionic experimentation, you probably have a clear picture of the character. I sometimes wonder if you could not simply publish a book of random character generation, leaving it to individual gamers to actually generate the needed traits in the game system of their choice. You could certainly use Heroes Unlimited for this purpose, skimming over the fine details if you’re using something like Mutants & Masterminds, while lovingly converting your skill programs if you are playing GURPS or Hero.
Whether Heroes Unlimited is itself worth playing is a more difficult matter to consider. There is no question that it was an odd little monster to begin with, and not all of its design elements have aged well. At the same time, it is hard to pinpoint anything that would prevent you from sitting down with a fun group and having a blast with it, especially if played in the spirit it was created. When Siembieda noticed that players often took Boxing just for the extra attack, he simply began observing his books that characters often have Boxing for the extra attack, rather than recoiling from the illogic of such min-maxing. Heroes Unlimited makes little pretense of game balance in the general sense, while nonetheless striving for character uniqueness. There is no penalty for powergaming, and plenty of incentives, but at the same time, there are limits to what the most determined munchkin can do with a game like this. The openness and willing incongruity limit the satisfaction that can be gained from working the system. If your friend is a Stage Magician, how much will he be impressed that you decided to make your college-educated genius into a Mutant with Sonic Speed?
I can detect some problems with their character creation system. Although it lends itself well to three-dimensional characters who are not “super” in all respects but instead have special talents, not all the characters you generate are going to be real super material. Many PCs would have trouble taking down two or three guys with SMGs, much less a costumed terrorist. While not all comic book characters are super powerful, one thing that makes them super-heroes is the ability to do things that even an ordinary SWAT team could not take on. The character creation system, as written, provides some heroes (Mystically Bestowed, Bionics, many characters with control powers) with a wide suite of offensive, defensive, and transportation abilities, while others seem all too human. In many ways, Heroes Unlimited lends itself more to a style of supers reminiscent of a TV mini-series or a fledgling X-Men squad than, say, the Avengers, the JLA, or even the Incredibles. It seems like it would work well for a Watchmen style game, with Super Sleuths and Analytical Geniuses making up the bulk of costumed adventurers, with Psionics being truly one in a million, Ozymandius as the setting’s lone high-profile Mutant, and Doctor Manhattan as a singular Mutant Mega-Hero. I think the system, as written, is great for the family doctor who suddenly gains the ability to sheathe themselves in flame and uses their powers for good, but it’s a simple fact that such “everyman” super-heroes can expect to get hurt, and badly, when put up against professional killers, alien marauders, and the like. Heroes Unlimited has no luck or karma mechanic, apart from the GMs invisible mercy, so these ordinary heroes with ordinary abilities are in for a rough ride. Finally, the book has plenty of opportunities to choose instead of rolling, but the book, as written, has no options for arranging attributes or setting a cyborg budget except by rolling on a table, so if you want to truly custom design a hero, you will need the GM’s cooperation to allow swapping or simply writing down good numbers.
I can identify a number of deficiencies which make this book less than what it could have been. The book is loaded with information on characters, but noticeably sparse in providing information for GMs. For instance, there are no sample adversaries, not even traits for a common street thug or the like, nor a sample adventure. There is no advice given on how to design a super-villain. I can certainly depend on my own experience to come up with something, but I am at least curious to know what a generic thug is supposed to look like. As S.D.C. comes from your power category, there is no way to guess how much S.D.C. an ordinary person is supposed to have.
Another odd hole is the lack of discussion of wealth and resources. Player characters, even those who explicitly roll up a privileged family background, do not start with a lot of cash on hand. There is basically no avenue to create the billionaire playboy-turned-superhero. In fact, costs are given for all manner of devices and equipment, but it’s not clear where an Electronic Genius is going to get backing for his science projects, to say nothing of maintenance, repair, and upgrades for the Bionic character. Remember that armor takes damage? Without advanced facilities and a lot of money, a freelance cyborg is going to eventually run out of armor S.D.C. How about the Mechanical Genius? They may start with a lot of gear, but what about a garage, facilities, and a supply of fuel? How do they finance their building on a normal salary? There is no discussion of government backing, super-teams, or options for wealthy PCs. The assumption seems to be that the PCs work out of their apartments in their spare time, with some (such as the special agent or some cyborgs) being employed by government agencies or powerful foundations. Although it is often referenced by Rifts books, I think it adds little to what is already in Rifts, unless you are specifically looking to create powerful mutants or to import the various Control powers. The psionic and magical abilities, bionics rules, and so forth are basically redundant with the Rifts main book.
Overall, the book rates high in creativity, fun, and utility, while suffering from a lack of completeness, cohesiveness, and elegance. If you are willing to invest some minor energies into mastering the system and working with and around it, the game should play fine. Beware, however, that the game may promise more than it delivers if you are thinking of full-on comic book action. The game’s true strength lies in its ability to bring a character to life just by using a few tables. I do not recommend either to buy or not to buy. This is a book worth looking at for yourself. Buy it if it looks like it might be fun to read, play with, or maybe use for a freewheeling campaign. For the afficianado of old school games, this edition is decidedly preferable to previous editions. This book will live comfortably on your shelf next to Villains & Vigilantes and Marvel Super-Heroes, and can be trusted to provide good entertainment value for the dollar.
For those unfamiliar with the Palladium house system, it somewhat resembles AD&D, complete with rolled attributes, classes, and levels. It has a percentile-based skill system. In Heroes Unlimited, you generate a set of attributes by rolling 3d6 eight times, in order, and then adding a bonus die for high scores. You then select or roll a power category, such as Alien, Mutant, or Mystic, which generates your special powers and may modify your basic profile. For instance, Bionic characters tend to be quite strong, while psychics receive a boost to Mental Endurance. You then select or determine your educational background, select skills, and fill in the details.
I notice that in this edition, we have the Mega-Hero, a concession to the desire for more powerful super-heroic characters. This optional power category enhances another kind of hero with certain innate advantages, while also dictating that the character has a distinct weakness that can be exploited by foes, whether an arrogant God complex or a weakness to magic. The super chauffeur character is, thankfully, not likely to reappear; the Hardware: Mechanical Genius category now grants not only a cool ride, but some good driving skills and the ability to build and modify vehicles and other mechanical technology. Mutants now have a wider variety of powers, may qualify for multiple Minor powers, and may also be latent psychics as well.
There is no getting around saying that the basic game is rather clunky. Characters have multiple attacks and parries, and armor is represented by an Armor Rating, as in many other games. But in Heroes Unlimited, armor takes damage, skills use a very general roll-under mechanic, and the rules for trauma and insanity are a complete mess. The author, Kevin Siembieda, takes a fairly loose approach to game design. That can be an asset, as there is some strength to being able to say, “Roll your Prowl,” and then adjudicating the result based on their skill, the roll, the situation, and your own sense of the dramatic. However, it is clear that in many areas, he expects the Game Master to figure out things for themselves, creating-on-the fly rulings, helping players customize characters outside what is strictly supported by the system, and working outside the rules when the rules do not work. The book is a patchwork of the old and new, and the impression I get is that many problems were left in simply because Mr. Siembieda did not feel they were an obstacle to play. Does it bother you that Alien psionics cannot be as powerful as human ones? It did not bother him, and if it bothers you, he would probably welcome you to play it the way you prefer. There is no way to generate Wolverine using these rules, as he is a Mutant with Bionic implants. But then again, there is nothing stopping a player from asking, “Can I have one major power, one minor, and a couple of implants?” and nothing to stop the GM from saying, “No problem.” The ability to “charm/impress” as the result of having a high Mental Affinity (aka charisma) is left completely up to the GM.
The writing is sub-par. Siembieda’s thoughtful design and enthusiasm are evident, but so is the lack of editing. As in other Palladium books, there is sometimes an excess of exclamation points! He also tends to pause here and there to pontificate on his game playing philosophy, which is potentially interesting but not always helpful in getting the game running in the first place. Some sentences are train wrecks of grammar, although not to the point of losing the sense of what he is saying. The book is readable and often charming, but not precisely polished.
Structurally, the book is basically well organized. However, the character creation steps are clearly out of order. The book says to generate Hit Points and S.D.C. right after rolling your basic attributes, but your Hit Points may be modified if your Physical Endurance changes due to your power category or taking Physical skills, while your S.D.C. comes from your power category, plus bonuses from skills and powers. Insanity is wedged into the first part of the book, while descriptions of specific powers or equipment reside alternately in each power category write-up or in later sections of the book.
This is a remarkable book to be in print in the 21st century, an old school RPG in every sense. The reason I have this book in my hands now is essentially because I saw it used for $12.95 and I thought it would yield interest in at least this amount. I am pleased to say it did not disappoint. I rolled up three characters. That is one of the great joys of games of this sort, letting the dice take you on a wild journey and leaving it to you to interpret where you have been. By the time you have created a character, you know where they got their powers from, the precise nature of those abilities, their educational level, and the majority of their pertinent life skills. There are plenty of extra tables as well, such as ones to tell you why your Alien came to Earth or why your Bionic character received implants. Most are completely optional, but almost all are worthwhile. By the time you have put together why your healthy but financially desperate character from the street volunteered for Bionic experimentation, you probably have a clear picture of the character. I sometimes wonder if you could not simply publish a book of random character generation, leaving it to individual gamers to actually generate the needed traits in the game system of their choice. You could certainly use Heroes Unlimited for this purpose, skimming over the fine details if you’re using something like Mutants & Masterminds, while lovingly converting your skill programs if you are playing GURPS or Hero.
Whether Heroes Unlimited is itself worth playing is a more difficult matter to consider. There is no question that it was an odd little monster to begin with, and not all of its design elements have aged well. At the same time, it is hard to pinpoint anything that would prevent you from sitting down with a fun group and having a blast with it, especially if played in the spirit it was created. When Siembieda noticed that players often took Boxing just for the extra attack, he simply began observing his books that characters often have Boxing for the extra attack, rather than recoiling from the illogic of such min-maxing. Heroes Unlimited makes little pretense of game balance in the general sense, while nonetheless striving for character uniqueness. There is no penalty for powergaming, and plenty of incentives, but at the same time, there are limits to what the most determined munchkin can do with a game like this. The openness and willing incongruity limit the satisfaction that can be gained from working the system. If your friend is a Stage Magician, how much will he be impressed that you decided to make your college-educated genius into a Mutant with Sonic Speed?
I can detect some problems with their character creation system. Although it lends itself well to three-dimensional characters who are not “super” in all respects but instead have special talents, not all the characters you generate are going to be real super material. Many PCs would have trouble taking down two or three guys with SMGs, much less a costumed terrorist. While not all comic book characters are super powerful, one thing that makes them super-heroes is the ability to do things that even an ordinary SWAT team could not take on. The character creation system, as written, provides some heroes (Mystically Bestowed, Bionics, many characters with control powers) with a wide suite of offensive, defensive, and transportation abilities, while others seem all too human. In many ways, Heroes Unlimited lends itself more to a style of supers reminiscent of a TV mini-series or a fledgling X-Men squad than, say, the Avengers, the JLA, or even the Incredibles. It seems like it would work well for a Watchmen style game, with Super Sleuths and Analytical Geniuses making up the bulk of costumed adventurers, with Psionics being truly one in a million, Ozymandius as the setting’s lone high-profile Mutant, and Doctor Manhattan as a singular Mutant Mega-Hero. I think the system, as written, is great for the family doctor who suddenly gains the ability to sheathe themselves in flame and uses their powers for good, but it’s a simple fact that such “everyman” super-heroes can expect to get hurt, and badly, when put up against professional killers, alien marauders, and the like. Heroes Unlimited has no luck or karma mechanic, apart from the GMs invisible mercy, so these ordinary heroes with ordinary abilities are in for a rough ride. Finally, the book has plenty of opportunities to choose instead of rolling, but the book, as written, has no options for arranging attributes or setting a cyborg budget except by rolling on a table, so if you want to truly custom design a hero, you will need the GM’s cooperation to allow swapping or simply writing down good numbers.
I can identify a number of deficiencies which make this book less than what it could have been. The book is loaded with information on characters, but noticeably sparse in providing information for GMs. For instance, there are no sample adversaries, not even traits for a common street thug or the like, nor a sample adventure. There is no advice given on how to design a super-villain. I can certainly depend on my own experience to come up with something, but I am at least curious to know what a generic thug is supposed to look like. As S.D.C. comes from your power category, there is no way to guess how much S.D.C. an ordinary person is supposed to have.
Another odd hole is the lack of discussion of wealth and resources. Player characters, even those who explicitly roll up a privileged family background, do not start with a lot of cash on hand. There is basically no avenue to create the billionaire playboy-turned-superhero. In fact, costs are given for all manner of devices and equipment, but it’s not clear where an Electronic Genius is going to get backing for his science projects, to say nothing of maintenance, repair, and upgrades for the Bionic character. Remember that armor takes damage? Without advanced facilities and a lot of money, a freelance cyborg is going to eventually run out of armor S.D.C. How about the Mechanical Genius? They may start with a lot of gear, but what about a garage, facilities, and a supply of fuel? How do they finance their building on a normal salary? There is no discussion of government backing, super-teams, or options for wealthy PCs. The assumption seems to be that the PCs work out of their apartments in their spare time, with some (such as the special agent or some cyborgs) being employed by government agencies or powerful foundations. Although it is often referenced by Rifts books, I think it adds little to what is already in Rifts, unless you are specifically looking to create powerful mutants or to import the various Control powers. The psionic and magical abilities, bionics rules, and so forth are basically redundant with the Rifts main book.
Overall, the book rates high in creativity, fun, and utility, while suffering from a lack of completeness, cohesiveness, and elegance. If you are willing to invest some minor energies into mastering the system and working with and around it, the game should play fine. Beware, however, that the game may promise more than it delivers if you are thinking of full-on comic book action. The game’s true strength lies in its ability to bring a character to life just by using a few tables. I do not recommend either to buy or not to buy. This is a book worth looking at for yourself. Buy it if it looks like it might be fun to read, play with, or maybe use for a freewheeling campaign. For the afficianado of old school games, this edition is decidedly preferable to previous editions. This book will live comfortably on your shelf next to Villains & Vigilantes and Marvel Super-Heroes, and can be trusted to provide good entertainment value for the dollar.
