[SuperFATE RPG] Started a development blog for SuperFATE

[TechOgre2000]

SuperFATE is a superhero role playing game that will be published by Vigilance Press. It will be based on the FATE 3.0 engine. It's the superhero game I want to play, and I hope others find it interesting too.

First draft is well on it's way. I'm focusing on the rules first and the flavor second. Right now I'm working on the powers.

For you fans, here is a taste of a simple example power:

Kinetic Blast (1+1) - You can throw bolts of kinetic energy.
You attack the physical stress track, and have a maximum range of level. The defender uses Athletics to defend.

So, what does all this mean? Allow me to explain:

"Kinetic Blast" is the name of the power and the Aspect of the power. This can be used for good or bad effects, just like any other Aspect.

"(1+1)" is the cost of the power. The first number is the cost in starting FP. The second number is the cost in skill points per level.

You then have the description of the power and the mechanics involved in using that armour.

So, if a character has Kinetic Blast 5 on their sheet, you can surmise the following: It cost 1 starting FP, 5 skill points, has a range of 5 zones, rolls a +5 attack to the physical stress track, and the defender uses Athletics to defend. Generally speaking, like most FATE skills, it's use will be fairly straight forward.

That's it for today, hope you liked the mini taste of SuperFATE ice-cream! Let me know what you think of the taste.

Oh, and you can check out the dev blog here.


Note to Mods: If this is the wrong forum for this, please move or delete as appropriate and let me know. Thanks!

 

[TechOgre2000]

I've had some questions about SuperFATE so I thought I would answer here too:

The range of power is Avengers / JLA. This will include everything from Hawkeye, The Question; to Batman, Captain America; to Flash, Wasp, Iron Man; all the way to Thor and Superman. All on the same team. The main balancing mechanism will be FATE Points. Hawkeye is as relevant to the story as Thor because Hawkeye gets all kinds of FP to pull off lots of crazy stunts and tricks.

So, you can have your street level characters and your gods on the same team and not worry about Thor out classing The Question.

I was asked about power lists, what powers are available, etc. Allow me to explain how the Kinetic Blast power was built, so you can see how other powers are built.

So, I want a power to throw around blasts of pure kinetic energy. I'll call it Kinetic Blast; the name doubles as its Aspect. So, what does it do? Well, it is used to do a physical attack at range. When building a power, you get two free things it can do, each additional one would cost an additional starting FP, and each additional action you can do with it during a turn would cost additional skill points. In this case, a physical attack (that's one) at range (that's two) is what the power does, so it only costs 1 starting FP. The skill cost is 1 because you can only use it to do one thing per turn. Now that you have all that, you need to select a skill to act as defence against it. Athletics makes sense because you can dodge out of the way of the attack.

Now, lets expand on that. Lets say you also think that this kinetic power should protect you and should let you fly. We could do it two ways; we could simply buy a Force Field and Flight power; or we could make a new power that incorporates everything. I for one like having a unified power.

So, using Kinetic Blast as a base, lets rename it Master of Kinetic Energy. Allowing it to act as a defence costs starting 1 FP plus 1 skill point, because defence can act as an independent skill. Same thing with allowing it to act as a movement power. So, the new power looks something like this:

Master of Kinetic Energy (3+3) - You are the master of kinetic energy.
You attack the physical stress track, and have a maximum range of your level. You can defend against physical attacks with a force field made of kinetic energy. Finally, you can use this skill to hover and fly, move 1 zone as a supplementary action, and sprint with this skill level.The defender uses Athletics to defend.

So, when your character has Master of Kinetic Energy 5, they can attack at +5 up to 5 zones away, defend with a +5 force field, and can fly (with +5 when sprinting or chasing).

I'll be honest and say things like area effect and other modifications are still not set in stone. But, I think it will be handled as part of the aspect, maybe something else. Honestly, not sure.

 

[TechOgre2000]

Ok, so this is the skill scale I'm proposing for now:

Skill level Description
0 unskilled, weak ability, untrained
1 amateur, mediocre ability, mediocre training
2 trained, average ability, average training
3 well trained, skilled ability, well trained
4 experienced, notably skilled, extensively trained
5 veteran, expert in the field, best training available
6 elite, world renowned expert, trained by the masters in the field
7 legendary, peak of human ability, masters come to them for training
8+ epic, low superhuman
12+ mid level superhuman
15+ high superhuman
20+ unimaginable, godlike

This scale is for the skills and I think can be applied to powers as well. After 8 the categories get broader. Here are a few examples, far from complete, but just a little something to think about.

So, using this as a guide, Spidermans two key stats (strength and agility) would likely result in Athletics +12 and Might +8, letting him lift a car, and easily dodge average thugs shooting at him, unless there was a large number of them and they could get some kind of advantage (or Spidy is at a disadvantage).

Ok, lets do Hulk. His main stat is strength, and that means, for sure, a Might +15. But, you rightly complain, Hulk is scary strong, as in makes Thor think twice. Don't forget his Aspects, "Hulk Smash!", "Don't Make Hulk Angry!", "Hulk Strongest There Is!", giving him a tidy Might +21 plus roll. for 3 FP. While Thor also has Might +15, he doesn't have the strength related Aspects.

 

[TechOgre2000]

So, I've got the meat of the rules sketched out and I'm working on a the character creation section. I've come down to two solutions; a fixed number of skill points and fate refresh, and X number of "build points". Both would have a fixed number of Aspects.

Fixed Skill Values

With this option characters are built on a fixed number of skill and starting FP. In some ways this is a simpler but less flexible approach. You would get 35 skill points and 15 starting FP, buy your skills and powers, and off you go. This is, in many ways, a very traditional way of building a FATE character

Build Points

This is an approach closer to Strands of FATE, HERO, or M&M. I'm thinking something like 50 Build Points, where you can "buy" your skill points and starting FP. I both love and loth this way of building a character. Love it because of flexibility, hate because it could encourage minmaxing.

So, why am I telling you this? Why am I exposing my dirty laundry for all the world to see? Well, it's mostly because I can see pros an cons with both systems, and wonder what others see as the pros and cons. This of this as a kind of low level play testing.

Thanks for your interest!