[OOC] Godlike

PolloDiablo · April 2009

Original OP:

What’s the best setting for an RPG? I can hear you now, “Cavemen?” No. “Abandoned space station in a decaying orbit?” No, try again. “The deep forests of Dark Ages Germany?” Warmer, but still no. “An eternal war between creation and destruction?” No, I’ll just tell you. “Hardened investigators in a hellish far future?” Shut up. “A group of TV execs scripting a series?” Stop, just stop. I’ll tell you.

World War Two!

Right? Who’s with me?

Wait, don’t go! What if you had superpowers, does that help? And hookers are a key game mechanic! Interested now?

Godlike is a game of alternate history. Things are largely as they are historically, but with one major difference. Beginning in 1936, people began developing superpowers in times of great mental strain or accomplishment. The first Ubermensch, as the Germans knew them, appeared at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Berlin, by flying in to light the torch. The rest of the world was, to put it lightly, surprised.

Eventually history took its course, and in ’39 Germany invaded Poland, a bunch of countries went to war, and eventually everything got blown up just in time for a good, wholesome Cold War. Even with supermen, or Talents as the Allies came to call them, the war wasn’t greatly changed. German Talents proceeded to wreck shit, until Allied Talents emerged to counter them. Nazis believed that becoming a Talent was tied to being an Aryan, but while the true causes are unknown, it seems to be tied to great mental or emotional activity.

Talents have great power, and not much more responsibility than normal grunts. In this game, you’ll be playing a group of Allied Talents in the fight to oppose Nazi tyranny. I lied about the hookers, by the way. Talents aren’t on the level of Superman. Very few Talents can zip through the air, take a tank shell to the face, and then chuck that bitch to mars. They might be able to do some of those individually, though. Individual powers can be relatively mundane, like being hyperskilled with a knife, or the flashy, like essentially being the Human Torch. What powers you get and how you use them are entirely up to you.

The thing that sets this apart from other superhero games is that you aren’t invincible. Unless you are invincible, but don’t sidetrack me. If your power is super strength, you might be able to punch tanks to death and carry a mortar like a pistol, but a bayonet to the leg can still leave you bleeding to death in some shitty village on the ass end of the world. Most Talents are just as durable as normal folk, and they happen to be involved in the deadliest war the world has ever seen.

The end result is a pretty cool mix of power and vulnerability. If things go right, your squad is able to do things no normal humans can do. When things go FUBAR you can die just the same as normal grunts. They’ve got some interesting things going on mechanically, too. One die roll governs initiative, success or failure on an attack, hit location, and damage.

Your missions will usually be part of a nine-man squad of Talents attached to a normal division. You get the tough missions, the ones normal men couldn’t get done. You’re also responsible for stopping enemy Talents. Neither task is easy. Talent groups suffer high casualties, and it’s almost guaranteed that you will be maimed or killed. To that end, players will control two or three characters, so that they have someone to use when people start dying.

So that’s the gist of Godlike. It’s pretty fun, and I think the setting is cool. I could accommodate probably four or five players. Maybe more if there was frothing demand for WWII superheroics and people didn’t mind playing a single character. Would anyone be interested in playing?

Thanatos wrote: »

You can actually find most of the basic rules here, for free (PDF). They open-sourced a large portion of the game. Powers are pretty much the only thing they didn't put up for download at their site. They even included a complete list of extras and a complete list of flaws (both PDF).

Marine Talent Squad 11:

JacquesCousteau:

Ernest “Tuner” Henry
Body 2, Coordination 3(7), Sense 2, Brains 2, Command 1, Cool 2
Base Will: 4
Brawl 2, Endurance 2, Run 1, Knife 1, Swim 1, Dodge 1, Drive (Car) 3, Grenade 2, Pistol 2, Rifle 3, Stealth 3, Machine Gun 1, Sight 2, Mechanics (Car) 1, Map Reading 1, Navigation (Sea) 1, Navigation (Land) 2, Mental Stability 2, Survival (Jungle) 1, Tactics (Jungle) 1
Hyperstat Coordination 4d
Detection 4d, 2hd [Extras: Tracking Detection; Flaws: Interfere, Nervous Habit (Hums), Blind Spot (Complete Darkness)]
Fade 6d [Flaws: Nervous Habit (Hums), Visible Up Close]
Equipment: Normal Kit, Modified No. 1 Lee-Enfield with No. 32 3.5x telescopic sight and wooden cheek-piece, Smith and Wesson Revolver, Garrote

Spawnbroker

Dan Rutherford
Body 1, Coordination 2, Sense 2, Brains 4, Command 1, Cool 2
Base Will: 6
Brawling 1, Climb 1, Endurance 1, Health 1, Run 1, Swim 1, Grenade 1, Knife Fighting 1, Machine Gun 1, Pistol 1, Rifle 1, Stealth 2, Cryptography 3, Electronics 3, Explosives 2, First Aid 1, Language (English) 4, Map Reading 1, Navigation (Land/Sea) 1, Radio Operation 2, Survival (Jungle) 4, Tactics (Jungle) 2, Bluff 1, Mental Stability 2
Zed 6d, 1wd [Extras: Radius 5, No Upward Limit, Friendly Fire; Flaws: Beacon, No Go (Healing), No Go (Precognition), Nervous Habit (Bookworm)]
Equipment: Normal Kit

The Everyman

Jacob “Jake” Cohen
Body 3, Coordination 2(10), Sense 2, Brains 1, Command 1, Cool 3(8)
Base Will: 9
Athletics 1, Brawl 3, Endurance 3, Health 2, Run 1, Swim 1, Dodge 1, Grenade 1, Knife Fighting 1, Machine Gun 1, Pistol 1, Rifle 1, Stealth 1, Submachine Gun 1, Hearing 1, Sight 1, Map Reading 1, Navigation (Land) 1, Navigation (Air) 1, Navigation (Sea) 1, Survival (Jungle) 1, Tactics (Jungle) 1, Intimidation 1, Bluff 1, Mental Stability 3
Hyperstat Coordination 8d [Flaws: Nervous Habit: (“Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em”)]
Hyperstat Cool 5d [Flaws: Nervous Habit: (“Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em”)]
Teleportation 4d [Flaws: Forced Attendance, Nervous Habit (“Snap to It”)]

GrimmyTOA

Michael “The Man with the Atomic Fist” McConnell
Body 3(6), Coordination 2, Sense 1, Brains 1, Command 4(9), Cool 1
Base Will: 4
Athletics 3, Brawling 3, Endurance 3, Health 2, Swim 1, Driving (Automobile) 2, Grenade 1, Machine Gun 2, Pistol 1, Rifle 1, Stealth 1, Hearing 1, Sight 1, Language (English) 1, Language (Japanese) 1, Map Reading 1, Navigation (Land/Sea/Air) 1, Survival (Jungle) 1, Tactics (Jungle) 1, Inspire 1, Intimidation 1, Leadership 1
Hyperstat Body 3d
Hyperstat Command 5d
Disintigrate 5d, 2hd [Extras: Piecemeal; Flaws: Full Power Only, Loud, Glow, Nervous Habit (Yell “Kablooie!”), Non-Organic Only]
Equipment: Standard Kit, BAR

Hermenegilde

Catharine “Fog” Monseau
Body 1, Coordination 1, Sense 3, Brains 1, Command 2, Cool 4
Base Will: 8
Endurance 1, Brawling 1, Swim 1, Machine Gun 1, Knife fighting 1, Grenade 1, Pistol 1, Rifle 1, Stealth 1, Hearing 3, Sight 3, Smell 3, Navigation (Land/sea) 1, Tactics (jungle) 1, Survival (jungle) 1, Map Reading 1, Leadership 2, Seduction 2, Intimidation 2, Bluff 1, Lie 2, Mental Stability 2
Hyperstat Cool 4d [Flaw: Can’t Interfere]
Transmutation 3d, 2hd [Extras: Selective; Flaws: Peace of Mind (Calm), Loopy, Loud, Glow]
Insubstantial 7d [Extras: Breather, No Sink, Reflexive; Flaws: Peace of Mind (Calm), Loopy, Mental Strain, Shocking]
Multiple Actions 2d [Flaws: Peace of Mind (Calm), Blunt, Loud]
Control – Animals 1d [Extras: Precise; Flaws: Peace of Mind (Calm), Backfires, Loopy]
Equipment: Standard Kit, Pile of Ping-Pong Balls, Pet donkey named Barnaby to carry all her heavy gear

Thanatos

Than
Body 1, Coordination 3, Sense 1, Brains 3(8), Command 1, Cool 3
Base Will: 10
Brawling 1, Endurance 1, Swim 1, Grenade 3, Machine Gun 1, Pistol 1, Rifle 1, Stealth 3, Submachine Gun 3, Cryptography 1, Electronics 1, Explosives 1, First Aid 1, Language (Burmese) 7, Language (Cantonese) 1, Language (English) 1, Language (Mandarin) 1, Language (Japanese) 1, Language (German) 1, Map Reading 1, Medicine 1, Mortar 1, Navigation (Land/Sea/Air) 1, Radio Operation 1, Survival (Jungle) 1, Telephony 1, Tactics (Jungle) 1, Bluff 3, Lie 3, Mental Stability 3
Hyperstat Brains 5d [Flaws: Nervous Habit (Must have an abacus)]
Block 1d, 1hd [Extras: Blind Block; Flaws: Loud, Backfires]
Dead Ringer 6d [Nervous Habit (Must sit and concentrate), Slow Change]
Go First 1d
Equipment: Standard Kit, Man-Portable Radio Set, 1 M1 Thompson Submachine Gun w/drum magazine, 60mm Mortar M2 (man-portable) w/4 mortar rounds, 4 M2A1 "Pineapple" hand grenades

WhiteZinfandel

Jimmy "The Monster" Iverson
Body 2, Coordination 2, Sense 2, Brains 2, Command 2, Cool 2
Base Will: 5
Brawling 2(), Endurance 2(), Grenade 2(), Knife-fighting 1(), Machine gun 1(), Map Reading 1(), Navigation Land/Sea 1(), Pistol 2(), Rifle 2(), Stealth 2(), Swim 2(), Survival (jungle) 1(), Tactics (Jungle) 1(), Dodge 2, Hearing 1, Sight 1, Smell 1, Taste 1, Touch 1, Anti Armor Rocket 2, Submachine gun 2, Mental Stability 2
Hyperstat Sense 5d [Flaws: Attached to Alternate Form]
Hyperstat Body 5d [Flaws: Attached to Alternate Form]
Hyperstat Coordination 5d [Flaws: Attached to Alternate Form]
Hyperstat Cool 5d [Flaws: Attached to Alternate Form]
Alternate Form (Great Blue Ape) 2hd [Extras: Endless; Flaws: Expensive, Backfires, Mental Strain]
Equipment: Standard Kit, 1 .45 M1911A Automatic pistol, 10 pistol magazines, 3 M2A1 "Pineapple" Hand Grenades

Cheeseliker

Lem “Lemmy” Sandler, AKA “Preach,” “Rev”
Body 2, Coordination 2, Sense 2, Brains 1, Command 2, Cool 3
Base Will: 9
Brawling 1, Endurance 3, Health 2, Anti-Tank Rocket 1, Dodge 2, Grenade 3, Knife Fighting 1, Machine Gun 1, Pistol 3, Rifle 1, Stealth 3, Submachine Gun 3, Hearing 1, Sight 1, Language (English) 1, Map Reading 1, Navigation (Land/Sea/Air) 1, Survival 1, Tactics 1, Mental Stability 3,
Fetch 7d [Extras: Cornucopia; Flaws: Nervous Habit (Must wave hands like a conductor), Expensive, Loopy, Glow]
Healing 5d, 1wd [Flaws: Nervous Habit (Prays), Leaves Scars]
Ghost 6d [Flaws: Peace of Mind, Disturbing, Nervous Habit (Must cross self)]
Equipment: Standard Kit, 1 M1 Thompson Submachine Gun w/Drum Magazine, 1 Bazooka, 4 Hand Grenades

Maticore

John Henry
Body 4, Coordination 1, Sense 2, Brains 1, Command 1, Cool 3
Base Will: 14
Sledgehammer 4, Brawling 3, Climb 1, Endurance 2, Health 1, Knife Fighting 2, Running 1, Throw 1, Swim 1, Dodge 1, Pistol 2, Rifle 1, Grenade 1, Stealth 1, First Aid 1, Survival (Jungle) 2, Map Reading 1, Navigation (Land/Sea) 1, Tactics (Jungle) 1, Intimidation 1, Mental Stability 3
Size Shift 4hd [Extras: Everything at Once, Endless; Flaws: One or the Other (Up), Self Only, Nervous Habit (Must Sing Ballad), Loud]
Unconventional Move 7d [Extras: Endless; Flaws: Straight Line, Not Robust, Nervous Habit, Uneven]
Equipment: Standard Kit, Sledgehammer, M1911 Pistol

Goumindong

William “Willy” Carpenter
Body 1, Coordination 2, Sense 3, Brains 1, Command 1, Cool 4(10)
Base Will: 16
Athletics 1, Pistol 2, Seduction 1, Mental Stability 1, Language (English) 1, Health 1, Grenade 2, Leadership 1, Language (French) 1, Brawl 1, Shotgun 2, Inspiration 1, Endurance 1, Dodge 2, Electronics 1, First Aid 1
Hyperstat Cool 6d [Flaws: Uneven]
Affinity 2d [Extras: Everywhere, +2d; Flaws: Expensive, Backfires, Loopy, Mental Strain, Full Power Only, Loud, Glow]
Tough 1 [Flaws: Attached to Affinity]
Heavy Armor 1 [Flaws: Attached to Affinity]
Go First 1 [Extras: Combat Precognition; Flaws: Attached to Affinity]
Equipment: Standard Kit, M1917 Trench Gun

Thanatos · April 2009

Having played this system, I will say that I really enjoy it a lot. I like the way the powers work, the rolling works, and the mechanics of combat.

It is ridiculously gritty, though, and very easy to die.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

I've always really liked the idea of Godlike, but have never actually been able to find the book

The Everyman · April 2009

The setting certanly sounds interesting, and I'd love to hear more about the system and the mechanics.

Also, how will you be running the game? PBP, I hope? Or are you aiming for something different?

Hermenegilde · April 2009

I suppose I would be interested. But I don't know the rules.

PolloDiablo · April 2009

It would probably be pbp. The rules are simple enough that you can probably manage without the book.

Basically, the way actions work are by adding a stat and skill together to make a dice pool. There are six stats: Body, Coordination, Sense, Brains, Command, and Cool. Say you want to shoot someone. You'd add your Coordination stat with your Rifle skill, assuming you were using a rifle. If you've got two in each, that would give you a total of four. Your dice pool of four means you would roll 4d10. d10s are the basic die used in Godlike.

So you roll your 4d10, and get (4,4,8,1). Success in actions are governed by getting matches. Your match on this roll is a pair of fours, written 2x4. The 8 and 1 are ignored, because they aren't a match. Your result of 2x4 consists of two elements, height and width. The width is how many dice are in the set, 2 in this case. Height is how high the number is, 4 in this case.

The width of your role determines your initiative for that round. With a 2, you'll act before people with no matches, but after people with 3 or more matching dice. Height determines how well an action succeeds. Doing something hard might have a difficulty of 3, meaning you'd need at least a height of 3 to accomplish the task. In combat, height determines hit location. On the hit location chart, a height of 4 is the target's left arm. For damage, you use the width again, modified by your weapon. A rifle like the Garand does Width+2 damage.

There are two types of damage, shock and killing. Shock will go away, killing needs to be treated. Gunshot wounds do both shock and killing. So you would do Width+2 damage of shock and killing damage to the target's left arm. In total, 4 shock and 4 killing damage. Locations have a set number of damage they can take. An arm can take 5. That 8 damage is enough to cripple his arm, and the remainder bleeds through into his torso, which can only take 10. So that one attack did a lot of damage; you can see why it's such a lethal game.

For more peaceful tasks, width is how quickly you get it done, while height is how well you get it done. Powers work the same way. You'll have a set number of dice in that power, and when you use the power you roll its pool.

That's the basic gist of the system.

Thanatos · April 2009

Powers is where shit gets crazy.

There are power pools which add to regular pools (super skills and super attributes), and then there are power pools that just do their own thing. The system is hella modular, with a huge list of powers, and you can very easily create your own.

When you buy dice with points, you're also allowed to buy "hard dice" and "wiggle dice." "Hard dice" are like a normal die that always rolls a 10. So, if you have two hard dice in a power, you've always got a width two match at 10 height. "Wiggle dice" are like normal dice, but you get to roll, then choose what you want your wiggle dice to be. So, say you've got five normal dice and two wiggle dice in a power, and you roll a (1, 3, 3, 5, 10). You could take your two wiggle dice and make a 4x3, a 3x10, or a 3x3 and a 2x10 (sometimes you want multiple sets). Wiggle dice and hard dice are very expensive, though, relative to normal dice.

What power level were you thinking, PolloDiablo? The one time I played this, I didn't get to play much, and I really love the system, so I might get in on this.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

So can you make a superstrength guy who is immune to damage

like superman without all of the extra stuff

because that is the best kind of superhero

also: oh hey, this is the system that NEMESIS uses! okay, i am familiar with that a little bit.

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

So can you make a superstrength guy who is immune to damage

like superman without all of the extra stuff

because that is the best kind of superhero

also: oh hey, this is the system that NEMESIS uses! okay, i am familiar with that a little bit.

Invulnerability is incredibly expensive, and damaging powers are comparatively cheap. The system is very much a modern warfare type of system, where offensive technologies have far outpaced defensive ones.

PolloDiablo · April 2009

Power level wise, I was thinking the default 25 points for talents.

INNS, you can make a guy like that. He wouldn't be on quite the same level as Superman, though.

edit: What Thanatos said.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

How incredibly expensive is invulnerability?

I wish I had access to this book.

Thanatos · April 2009

Here's an example of a character:

Name: Casimiro Manfredo

Attributes & Skills:

Body 3

Athletics:
Brawling: 3 (TOG)
Climb: 1 (TOG)
Endurance: 1 (TOG)
Health: 1
Run: 1
Swim:
Throw:

Coordination 3

Anti-Tank Rocket:
Dodge: 3
Driving (Automobile): 3
Flamethrower:
Grenade: 1 (TOG)
Knife Fighting: 1 (TOG)
Machine gun: 1 (TOG)
Mortar: 1 (TOG)
Pilot (type):
Pistol: 1 (TOG)
Rifle: 1 (TOG)
Sailing (type):
Stealth: 1 (TOG)
Submacine gun: 3 (TOG)

Sense 2

Hearing: 1
Sight: 2
Smell:
Taste:
Touch:

Brains 1

Cryptography: 1 (TOG)
Education:
Electronics:
Explosives: 1 (TOG)
First Aid:
Language (English): 1 (free)
Map Reading: 1 (TOG)
Mechanics (Type):
Medicine:
Navigation (Land): 1 (TOG)
Navigation (Sea/Air):
Radio Operation: 1 (TOG)
Survival: 1 (TOG)
Tactics: 1 (TOG)

Command 1

Inspire:
Intimidation: 1
Leadership:
Perform (Type):
Seduction:

Cool 7

Bluff: 1
Lie: 1
Mental Stability: 2

Base Will: 9

You start out with 1 point in every stat, and get six more points to spend how you want (so, you can make everything 2 to start out with). The stat dice are added to skill dice for most rolls, but most of the stats have other effects. You get 20 points to spend on skills, but no skill can have more dice than its governing stat. So, if you have a coordination of 2, your maximum dodge is 2 (but when you dodge, you'll be rolling 4 dice, coordination + dodge). In this campaign, we got a bunch of bonus skills listed optionally in the book. One of the things I really don't like about this system is the specificity of the skills; it tends to break everything down into little micro-skills, so it's hard to be even moderately good at a lot of things. The system rewards specialization, a lot. Base Will is an important stat for the bidding system that is really complicated and weird, and is also used to improve powers in some ways. It's equal to Brains + Cool + Hyper-Cool + Extra Base Will. At nine, Casimiro had the highest in our group by a significant margin.

Talents, or what most people would call "powers":

Hyper-Cool: 5 dice 10

1 extra Base Will 1

Disintegration: 7 dice 14 Up to 1200 pounds
Piecemeal - You can disintegrate select pieces of objects: a tire from a car, a turret from a tank, an arm from a human being. Ouch. Treat this as a Called Shot to the specific hit location targeted (see Called Shots in Part Two: Game Mechanics, p. 15, for more details).

No Touch - You do not need to touch an object to disintegrate it. You can make disintegrate attacks as solo actions.

Non-organic - You can only disintegrate non-living things. Plants, animals, and people are outside your power's ability to affect.

Full Power Only - You can fly super fast, but drop out of the air when you attempt to slow down even a little bit (landing is a bitch). You can punch through a brick wall, but you tend to rip car doors off just getting in and out of a vehicle. This Flaw only works on powers where it would be a Flaw, so no, you can't take it for powers like Heavy Armor or other powers where full power only would be an advantage. As usual, the GM has the final say.

Loopy - After you activate the power, you can't take another action until you make a successful Cool + Mental Stability roll. Your power disorients and confuses you -- without this successful roll, you wander around in a stupor...

Nervous Habit - "Bada-bing, bada-boom." *finger gun* - The power will not work unless you can perform some physical or mental ritual (i.e. wringing your hands, reciting a poem in your head). Nothing you do can change this. No ritual=no power.

Hyper-Cool is a hyper-stat. I basically just bought my Cool up to 7 from 2. Normal human limits on any stat is 5, so Casimiro is a fucking cold motherfucker. "Cool" is kind of like your willpower. Casimiro isn't quite to the point where he can consciously shut down his breathing and heartbeat, but he's not too terribly far from it. In addition to the extra dice on any Cool roll, hyper-stats get some extra stuff, depending on the stat. For instance, Casimiro gets to use his Cool stat for Endurance rolls instead of his Body stat (meaning he's one of the best distance runners in the world). Any sort of penalties from distraction, noise, pain, or exhaustion he ignores (he's just as good at what he's doing in the middle of an area being bombed by artillery with a bullet in his arm after a week of not sleeping as he is in his own home on a quiet Sunday afternoon following a late brunch after he slept in). Also, he gets to add +2 to all widths for purposes of initiative. So, say Casimiro was shooting at a German soldier, who was shooting at Casimiro. Casimiro rolls his nine dice for his Tommy gun, and gets (1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9, 10). The German soldier rolls his attack and gets lucky (1, 3, 10, 10, 10). Wow, that's pretty much a death shot to the head. However, order of attacks is determined by width of rolls. So, Casimiro blew off the guys right arm and left arm before he got to blow of Casimiro's head (since the width, for purposes of when it happens, is 4).

Then, we've got the extra Base Will, which is just a good way to spend a leftover point.

Finally, we've got Casimiro's raison d'être, his Disintegration. In the group he was in, Casimiro was the anti-vehicle/anti-building guy. I took a basic power (Disintegration) and added a shitload of flaws and extras onto it, which affect the cost per die. In the end, it ended up being two points per die. Normally with Disintegration, you have to touch what you're trying to disintegrate, which is a pain in the ass, so I took "no touch." Pretty expensive, but well worth it, IMO. Also, you normally have to disintegrate an entire object, removing it from reality; I took "piecemeal," which allows me to disintegrate parts of objects.

To help pay for this massively expensive powers, I took some flaws, as well: "No organic," more accurately described as "non-living only." So, I can't use it on living people, plants, or animals. I also took "full power only," which made it so that when I use it, 1200 pounds worth of material gets disintegrated. If I didn't have that, I could disintegrate, say, a lock out of a door; since I have it, it would probably disintegrate the lock, the door, and a large portion of the wall. A lot of this is up to GM judgment; at one point, I shot a flare out of the sky with it, which the GM decided created a huge "boom" as 1199.8 pounds of air or so was destroyed, and refilled in. Taking out artillery guns with it created pits in the ground. It certainly did surprise a few tank crews, though; as it turns out, WWII tanks don't function too well missing 1200 pounds of parts. I also took "loopy," as it was a penalty I was well-equipped to deal with (nine dice on mental stability rolls) and a "nervous habit." Really, I think most powers that aren't always on (like Hyperstats or damage reduction) people probably take "nervous habit" for. It gives the power some flavor, and reduces the cost.

The rest is background, and pretty self-explanatory:

Nationality: Third-generation Italian-American

Family: Both parents and all four grandparents still alive, along with four sisters, all older, and a variety of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Some family still in Italy who Casimiro has never met or talked to.

Education: Casimiro dropped out of the seventh grade in order to begin working for a low-level sub-capo in Frank Nitti's gang. Most of what he's learned has been on-the-job training.

Friends: Casimiro has many friends, and even more "friends." In Chicago, he's a made man, who has no problem getting a seat at even the most crowded restaurant immediately. Casimiro got a "Dear John" letter from his girlfriend during his talent training boot camp.

Dependents: Casimiro doesn't really have anyone who depends upon him. He knows his family will be taken care of while he's at war, whether or not he comes back, and he has no children.

Motivation: Casimiro got arrested for aggravated assault by the Chicago police following a job with a negligent lendee. After refusing to cooperate with the cops, he was given the option of either going to prison, or joining the military. He elected to join the military. While he doesn't buy into the whole "honor & integrity, serving your country" ideas that the military attempts to instill, he has always managed to get his job done, and he's not about to stop now.

25 points was our starting value, which is enough for either two medium-strength powers (as you can see), one high-strength power and one low-strength power, or one very high-strength power.

Hyper-skills are only one point per extra die, and they're allowed to exceed the stat value. Hyper-stats and hyper-skills may seem cheap, but there are two big disadvantages to them: 1) They are always on, and when you're using your powers, any other Talent automatically knows you're a Talent. 2) They can be negated by Zed, which is the anti-Talent Talent. Getting Zeded sucks a lot.

You can actually find most of the basic rules here, for free (PDF). They open-sourced a large portion of the game.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

The quick play rules don't cover costs for powers I don't see

hm

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

How incredibly expensive is invulnerability?

I wish I had access to this book.

Heavy Armor, which basically gives you "damage reduction," is 7 points per level. Weapons with Penetration will ignore some portion of that. You can make it a little cheaper by taking some flaws, but it's going to be pretty expensive, regardless. You can add extra hit pionts to every portion of your body for 4 points per level, which, while it doesn't make you immune to damage, does make you considerably more durable; especially considering it adds to your head, which is your major weak point.

If I wanted to take a power that pretty much automatically killed anyone I aimed it at (save someone with Heavy Armor or Extra Tough), I could take Harm with the Nervous Habit flaw, buy three hard dice in it, and that would be 24 points. Yes, your 21 points spent in heavy armor would negate that, but a couple lucky gunshots, and you're still going to be dead, and that's pretty much your only power (maybe a couple points of hyper-body, too). And yeah, that Harm power is pretty much all of my points, but look at the relative utility: you can be shot some, and not worry about it too much. I can automatically kill 99.9% of the planet just by seeing them, and deciding I want their head to explode.

Hermenegilde · April 2009

I want to play. Since I have never played, I would make any kind of character.

PolloDiablo · April 2009

Thanatos is on top of this stuff. At its most basic, creating a power consists of adding together what elements you want it to have.

Powers start at a cost of 1/2/4. The four most basic categories are Attack, Defense, Robust, and Useful Outside of Combat. Each element adds +1/+2/+4 to the cost of the power, where the costs are for buying normal, hard, and wiggle dice, respectively. So the cost to shoot laser beams from your eyes might be 2/4/8 if it's just a bog-standard shot. If you wanted your eye lasers to catch people on fire, too, it would be adding another Attack power, for a total cost of 3/6/12. If it's also useful outside of combat, because you could now start fires with it, it jumps to 4/8/16, and so on.

Flaws work like Thanatos said. Moderate ones like Nervous Habit are worth -1/-2/-4 to the cost, and bigger ones like Shy, where you can't use it if seen by anyone else, are worth -3/-6/-12. There aren't a set number of flaws or qualities, so you're free to come up with new ones you'd find interesting.

Once you have the cost for your power, you buy dice in it using the 25 starting points. If the final cost for your flaming eyebeams is 4/8/16, you could buy 2d10 for 8 points, then throw in a wiggle die for another 16, for 24 total. Then whenever you used that power, you would roll 2d10 plus one wiggle die.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

So you could have a power like the guy from Mystery Men who can only be invisible when nobody's looking at him?

See, knowing how the system of it works is pretty awesome. It is just a bummer that without the actual text, how do you design a power. =[

Thanatos · April 2009

Yeah, powers are pretty much the only thing they didn't put up for download at their site. The even included a complete list of extras and a complete list of flaws (both PDF).

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

So you could have a power like the guy from Mystery Men who can only be invisible when nobody's looking at him?

See, knowing how the system of it works is pretty awesome. It is just a bummer that without the actual text, how do you design a power. =[

Yes, something like that would be fantastically easy to design in this system. In fact, all the elements for that particular power are already there.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

And just reading the Extras and Flaws bits is awesome.

I will try to find the book itself if possible!

Thanatos · April 2009

Looking over the rules again, it would be possible to do an invulnerable character.

You'd need something like "Beacon" and "Can't Interfere" as your flaws. That would drop the cost to one per point of armor. Ten points would make you practically invulnerable.

However, you'd also be sending out an "I'm a horrifically powerful invulnerable Talent right here" message to every other Talent within a tenth of a mile. God forbid you ever run into a Zed or a Disintegrator.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

What does the 'Can't Interfere' part do?

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

What does the 'Can't Interfere' part do?

When you use a power to attack another Talent, there's a system where they can basically say "fuck you" by spending Will points, and totally negating the power. This is what prevents a Talent with three hard dice in Harm from insta-killing any other Talent they see.

"Can't Interfere" means you can't do that. Again, makes you vulnerable to powers like Disintegration.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

Disintegration would just ignore the invulnerability and fry a dude then, huh.

Hm.

And then, if that's one point per point of armor, that'd leave like, 15 points to get some super strength or something, or is that not how powers work?

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

Disintegration would just ignore the invulnerability and fry a dude then, huh.

Hm.

And then, if that's one point per point of armor, that'd leave like, 15 points to get some super strength or something, or is that not how powers work?

That would absolutely leave those 15 points for super-strength or whatever.

Beacon is a fucking huge deal, though. While "stealth" isn't exactly the name of the game, you're on a WWII battlefield, so the fact that you just look like a bunch of regular grunts unless another Talent is looking directly at you is very helpful. Not only would they not have to look at you, they could be in an underground bunker and as soon as you got within a couple football fields of them, they'd know you were there.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

And I am goddamn invulnerable!

And super strong!

hrm.

What if the Invulnerability wasn't Always On. It's less cool that way, but then the Beacon would only come into play when the character is worried about being shot anyway, right?

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

And I am goddamn invulnerable!

And super strong!

hrm.

What if the Invulnerability wasn't Always On. It's less cool that way, but then the Beacon would only come into play when the character is worried about being shot anyway, right?

That's true. Your Body Hyper-Stat would also have to be not always on, too, then, though. You could do an Incredible Hulk kind of thing; alternate form that's super-strong and nigh-invulnerable, but that's not always on.

Honestly, even if you can't find the book, I'm pretty fucking good at modular systems like this; tell me what you want to do, and I can probably tell you some of the best ways to do it.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

Well I mean, what I want to do is just built an unstoppable powerhouse because those are my favorite sorts of heros, but there do not seem to be enough points to go around for that (which is, I mean, pretty reasonable for game design.)

What I was reading said that Talents never stand out, they always look like normal humans?

Hm. And the Beacon part is a big deal, since that's like, 4 points off each level of the ability, right?

Hm.

I like this. It reminds me of Mutants and Masterminds.

Hermenegilde · April 2009

Is there a super speed kind of thing ? Faster than the eye fast ?
Is there a way to have a metal melting touch ? How about ignite gunpowder from afar ?
Invisibility ?

PolloDiablo · April 2009

Talents usually always look normal. Some can transform, or appear to transform, into animals or other things, but usually they look human when not using their power. A Talent isn't so much a physical change as it is a mental projection. Even for physical powers, if a Talent runs out of Will his powers turn off.

You could swing it without Beacon, if you wanted, but you'd need to pick a bunch of other Flaws. Beacon is probably the best way to get it done.

Hermenegilde wrote: »

Is there a super speed kind of thing ? Faster than the eye fast ?
Is there a way to have a metal melting touch ? How about ignite gunpowder from afar ?
Invisibility ?

Yes to all of those. The system's very modular, so you can design pretty much any power you'd like. Whether you can use it or not depends on cost, but all of those should be affordable.

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

Well I mean, what I want to do is just built an unstoppable powerhouse because those are my favorite sorts of heros, but there do not seem to be enough points to go around for that (which is, I mean, pretty reasonable for game design.)

What I was reading said that Talents never stand out, they always look like normal humans?

Hm. And the Beacon part is a big deal, since that's like, 4 points off each level of the ability, right?

Hm.

I like this. It reminds me of Mutants and Masterminds.

Talents generally look like normal humans, except to other Talents. If another Talent looks at you while you're using your power, they immediately know that you're a Talent. If you have an always-on power, that means you're always visible to them if they look at you (which is why "Always On" is such a cheap extra; it has a de facto flaw attached to it).

Most Talents look like normal human beings. Alternate Forms may or may not look like normal humans; they can look like pretty much anything, as long as the size is between a hummingbird and an elephant.

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

Alright, so what if I wanted someone like Captain Marvel

Who is a normal guy most of the time, and then can be like, SHAZAM, and suddenly can fly and be immune to bullets and glow like a beacon and smash tanks

(and then just as suddenly go back to being a normal guy)

Hermenegilde · April 2009

Well I'd like super speed, including maneuverability (and of course superspeed thinking so that I can make decisions while im moving). Metal melting. A gutting knife.

Would "always on danger sense" be smart ?

Hermenegilde · April 2009

Lol.
I want to be Flash AND spiderman

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

i remember when spiderman melted metal with his bare hands

you should take that as always-on and cry when you can't carry a gun

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

Alright, so what if I wanted someone like Captain Marvel

Who is a normal guy most of the time, and then can be like, SHAZAM, and suddenly can fly and be immune to bullets and glow like a beacon and smash tanks

(and then just as suddenly go back to being a normal guy)

Getting flying in there would be difficult. You could probably get the invulnerability and a fairly high body in there without a problem.

Like I said, Heavy Armor causes you to ignore a wound level for each level you have of it, and it's seven points per level. Hyper-Body (which is what "super strength" is in this system) is 2/4/8 per die (you can buy hard dice and wiggle dice on hyper-stats), and flight is a 4/8/16 power (you have to roll to activate it) and your speed is based upon the number of dice you have (15 yards/round per die, roughly 11mph). If you want to fly at 20mph with perfect maneuverability, you can buy two hard dice in it.

Alternate Form is a 5/10/20 power. You roll and get at least one match to change forms. If you take some flaws with it, and two hard dice, that's pretty much all you need. All powers in your Alternate Form will automatically have the "Attached" flaw (attached to your "Alternate Form" power), so that will be -1/-2/-4. So, Hyper-Body will cost you one point per level, Heavy Armor will be 6, Flight will be 3/6/12, etc. (assuming no other flaws).

INeedNoSalt · April 2009

Two Hard Dice in Alternate Form would be ... 40 points?

And then it doesn't do anything except make the other powers a little cheaper?

Maticore · April 2009

Anyone know where you can get a PDF copy of this rulebook? (For monies of course) I'd love to play but don't own it.

Thanatos · April 2009

Hermenegilde wrote: »

Well I'd like super speed, including maneuverability (and of course superspeed thinking so that I can make decisions while im moving). Metal melting. A gutting knife.

Would "always on danger sense" be smart ?

That would be way too much to be able to do with 25 points.

Super Speed is a 4/8/16 power with speed determined by number of dice (roughly 75mph per die). This is merely the ability to move very fast, though. No extra actions or anything like that. If you want to add the ability to attack with it, that's +1/+2/+4. Maneuverability is the "No G's" extra, costing +2/+4/+8.

Metal melting would depend upon how you picture the power functioning, exactly.

Super Speed thinking would be hyper-brain or hyper-senses if you want to be able to see/hear what's coming from a long ways off.

PolloDiablo · April 2009

Hermenegilde wrote: »

Well I'd like super speed, including maneuverability (and of course superspeed thinking so that I can make decisions while im moving). Metal melting. A gutting knife.

Would "always on danger sense" be smart ?

Super Speed plus the ability to turn on a dime costs 6/12/24. Melting armor would likely cost 3/6/12. A knife with which to gut costs nothing. The army gives them out for free. If you wanted to be hyperskilled with it, that costs 1/3/7.

An always on danger sense isn't bad, but any Talents that see you will instantly recognize you as a Talent. Your spidey-sense will probably get quite the workout. That would cost 5/10/20.

Those would be without flaws. If you wanted all those powers to any appreciable degree, you'd need to attach some flaws to them. Thanatos posted a link to a complete list of flaws, and you could also make up your own if you had something in mind. You'd have 25 points to spend on Talents at character creation.

Thanatos · April 2009

INeedNoSalt wrote: »

Two Hard Dice in Alternate Form would be ... 40 points?

And then it doesn't do anything except make the other powers a little cheaper?

You can apply flaws to Alternate Form.

FYI, nobody takes Alternate Form without applying flaws. :P

For instance, you could take Nervous Habit (must shout "SHAZAM!"), Expensive (costs you a Will to change form), Glow (you glow for two rounds/minutes when activating the power), and Loud (a loud bang audible for several hundred yards sounds whenever you activate your power). Each of those subtracts -1/-2/-4 from the cost of the power. Now, two hard dice in Alternate Form costs you 4 points.

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