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Supers 20 $6.95
Average Rating:4.3 / 5
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Supers 20
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Supers 20
Publisher: RPG Objects
by Mark G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/09/2008 17:28:58

Supers20! is a 50+ page super-heroic supplement for the Modern20 system by Rpgobjects. The product is divided into four chapters – three related to character generation and one related to GMing a Supers20! Game. The product opens with a bit of a design discussion for people who are coming to Supers20! from the Vigilance super-hero roleplaying game.

Chapter 1 of this tome is only a single page in length and provides you with four new character occupations for heroes or villains. The occupations presented are Super Team (like the Initiative), Mastermind (like Kingpin or the Rose), Vigilante (like the New Warriors) or Super-Agent (like Black Widow or Checkmate). Each of the occupations provides professional skills, improved feats and some have occupation specific feats like the Super Team’s “World’s Greatest” ability. There is also an “alter ego” disadvantage for character that have extended transformations to get into character.

The second chapter is the longest at about 25 pages. This is chapter that makes these character’s superheroes instead of just heroic. To model superheroics in the Modern^20 system, a power control skill, General Super Feats and Power Feats have been added. The Power Control skill allows you to push your power to accomplish feats of heroics beyond their normal limits as well as gives you access to power stunts (making fire cages, causing earthquake tremors – that sort of thing). The General Super Feats modify existing Power Feats like adjusting the duration or range, linking powers together or performing comic book attacks like fastball specials. The most important feat in this section is the Power Level feat which is use to control the relative strength of all your powers. Your powers in Supers20! do not scale with character level but instead scale with the number of times your purchase the “Power Level” feat. This allows for characters of different character levels to be more similar on a superpower basis. The Power Feats are a host of 70+ superpowers that your hero could take by selecting the appropriate feat. Powers range from Ability Drain to Wealth. The powers are remarkably consistent internally, so there isn’t really on “attack power” that is a must have or a “defense power” that is a must have. One feature that I really like about the Power Feats section is the inclusion of power limitations that can be placed on powers such as limited uses which grants a power level bonus to a power in exchange for only being able to activate it a limited number of times per day. With the inclusion of power limitations, characters can differentiate their superpower’s Power Level so not all powers operate on the same level.

Chapter 3 is a small equipment chapter that adds energy guns, energy rifles, energy reflective armorsuits, vacuum suits, and a small assortment of super vehicles. The chapter is only two pages but most of the equipment you need is in the Modern20 book.

The last chapter is focused on the gamemaster and adjustments to the rules. It opens with a discussion of comicbook genres to base your campaign from (Gritty, Street-Level, Four Color, Cosmic). Each of the genre contains a description of the play style as well as suggested starting levels and power level range. The product doesn’t address the concept of advancement overtly, within the superhero comics, character advancement is often more “character” based than “power” based. Technically, with the Supers20! System characters could sprout a new power anytime they have a new feat – this could damage the “feel” of a superhero game. It might be necessary for a Gamemaster in a Supers20! gain to limit power acquisition after character creation or slow character advancement to be more “authentic” to the source material. In terms of combat additions, this supplement adds rules for knockback and environmental damage. I didn’t care for the mechanics for Knockback because there are two may variations in it and it would be one of those rules that I would probably have to keep looking up during the game. There are tables for character advancement beyond level 20 as well. There are four campaign models as well, one gritty, two street-level, and one cosmic. The Gritty model is called the Countdown Killer and features a serial killer that kidnaps and mutilates women every nine days. The first four-color model is a campaign set at a “Hero High” type setting. The other four-color model is a Supers20! reimaging of the USHER campaign model for the superheroic world – I reviewed USHER here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_reviews_info.php?&reviews_id=11091&products_id=3306&it=1 and here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_reviews_info.php?&reviews_id=11093&products_id=20065&it=1 The cosmic campaign model is focused on an alien/supervillain invasion of earth.

The final item in this book is a set of generic NPCs from all classes at 1st, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level. I don’t think of these as NPCs though, I think of them as templates that I can use to make quick villains or heroes. Each of the NPCs is missing some information for you as the GM to customize. For instance, 12th level Empath (Psychic) has 3 unspent perks, 15 unspent skill points and 2 feats left to customize the psychic character.

Overall the book is packed with all the crunch necessary to move your character from being simply heroic to the superhero of comics. The inclusion of four campaign models in the box help you to kick off your campaign quickly. Editing, layout, balance and bookmarking are all strong as seen in most RpgObjects releases.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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