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Author Topic: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped  (Read 1387 times)

tenbones

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Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« on: October 20, 2021, 04:38:20 PM »
Let me preface this with - I'm a massive fan of Supers gaming. I've been running Marvel Super Heroes since its inception with the Basic rules, through Advanced, and I've never stopped. It's still probably the most popular game requested at my table to this very day.

I know of *zero* players that I've ever met that actively ever played Supers until meeting me. And after playing a Supers campaign with me, they're hooked and it's forever on the menu . I'm saying all of this for one reason: this is my wheelhouse, and I'm deeply engaged with the genre and MSH is my system of choice. This doesn't mean that I don't purchase and read other supers-systems, it means none of them have measured up to what I can do with MSH. This is also not to say other systems can't do what MSH does - most can. But none have ever been able to do it and *stick* with my players. I'm always pitching them new systems, but they always want to go back to MSH.

So... as everyone knows, I've become a staunch Savage Worlds GM, my players have likewise come to love the system and I still consider us in the "Putting it through its paces" phase. We're still trying to see what it can do, but we're having a blast along the way. Once I got to running Savage Rifts, I knew this system could do Supers-level play, and why shouldn't it? Heroes Unlimited plugged right into Rifts back in the day, why not now? Now I'm *really* excited because this might be The One that dethrones MSH, however momentarily, as a legit contender for me and my crew.

First thoughts - It's still the alpha, so I expect lots of changes to come. I'm still going over it but it looks very good for what it is.

What IS it?

The Super Powers Companion is a set of rule modifications for playing Supers-level/themed games with the Savage Worlds Adventurer's Edition system (SWADE). It's intended for the entire gamut of Supers play - from gritty street-level noir, to 4-color, to Cosmic transdimensional/space world-shaking fare.

Since SWADE rules are about tropes not mechanics, the mechanics in the book are lean with no fat. That said, they offer some very *high* powered options and modifiers that can easily be ported over to any SWADE-based game.

Chapter 1 Character Creation
Covers crafting your character, which includes your Origin and Hindrances and Edges that are Supers-specific tropes (My particular favorite is Monologuer - if you draw a Clubs on Initiative you have to make a Smarts check at -2 or spend the entire round monologuing LOL). There's a lot of solid stuff here - and this is where you craft your Vulnerabilities (if any) that gives you the Achilles heel for your mega-powered Superman-clone.

Chapter 1 also establishes the Power Level of your game - 5 distinct levels of play.

1 - Early pulp heroes or teens with developing powers. Think normal people with some *very* basic skills, or the first act of a b-level Superhero movie

2 - Street fighters and veteran pulp heroes. Fighting city-wide threats etc.

3 - True Supers with 4-color here-levels of power. City-wide to national level threats. Villains likewise might form their own groups to whip your ass at this level.

4 - Planetary threats. This is the Avengers, the JLA - powerhouse PC's and team dealing with big ass problems that Disney and Warner pictures wants to badly portray you in.

5 - Cosmic shit. This is for Time Travelling, Dr. Strange + Silver Surfer + Thor + Infinity Watch vs. Galactus. You know the drill.

Each of these Power Levels assigns the number of points in which your PC's can buy their powers with an associated Power Limit (the number of points they can invest in their powers). Not all Powers cost the same and likewise powers can have modifiers and limitations put upon them to actually transcend the limit. You have a lot of customization available.

Chapter Two - Gear
Rather than give you endless Gear lists - this section assumes you'll know the time-period of your game and nab the established gear lists from the other SWADE books (or make it up). Rather it concerns itself with Super-specific gear and their creation. This means stuff you might have on your average Gadget-based character or SHIELD operative, with special rules on explaining the new uses for those items. This includes Shields, Body Armor, Capes, Weaponry and modifications for those tried-and-true items.

There is a whole section on Vehicles (including Edges for them!) covering everything that you could imagine Batman having, Jets, Attack Subs, Armored transports, Motorcycles etc.

Lastly - Base Generation. These rules look like streamlined rules from Rippers with establishing Bases that you can do with Random generation or you can just pick it. These include complications, maintenance, staffing etc. it's very quick and easy, and your base can be as simple as a dingy abandoned apartment to a sprawling underground base with hordes of technical staff. There are TONS of upgrades you can make - Base Defenses, Firewalls, Brigs, Command Centers, Medical Centers, Occult Libraries - and much more. All of which gives you bonuses to do things in them.

Chapter Three - Setting Rules
This chapter introduces new rules that you can use with your Supers game (or any SWADE game). Some are clearly trying to codify rules from other genres (like Savage Pathfinder) into the SWADE Core lineup. Limited Actions being the obvious one.

But they introduce some really good ones that make a LOT of sense -

Combined Attacks! - Basically now you can do Support actions for *damage*. +4/6 with a raise. This will allow those PC's like Daredevil actually be useful against The Hulk.

Knockback - Yeah this is going to be a winner. Basically based on your size, if you take <X> amount of damage the GM can decide it sends your ass flying. They include rules for distance and collision damage. This rule will be making its way into my Rifts games of the future.

Power Stunts - On the fly novel uses for powers that can be rationalized with a Benny. They have some specific examples, all of which makes sense. These cover those times that Spiderman *ACTUALLY* beats Firelord into unconsciousness in the streets. Or Hawkeye actually shoots the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos's hand... They give a lot of little nifty examples of these Stunts with specific uses.

Improvised Weapon damage - you know, when Superman tosses that armored car at you... Includes ranges and damages and examples.

Synergies - Making powers from different characters or the environment work in some cool way that can be rationalized (or you know... if it just sounds cool). Gives some basic guidance on bonuses.

There are a BUNCH of Super-specific rules that you can choose to use or not. These rules are meant to fine-tune the type of Supers campaign you're running, not to be all used simultaneously. But if you're one of those people that walk into a bar and tells the bartender to give you a glass of six random bottles on the wall in one glass... then go for it, I guess.

They do give guidance on classic Supers Genres for what rules to use: Like if you're running Four-Color style, or Hyper-Violent Supers like Invincible or The Boys, or Noir...

Chapter 4 - Powers
Okay so many of these will be familiar to the SWADE core, but massively beefed up. Many are completely new. There's a lot. And each one has its own set of modifiers, including whether they're passive or not. I will say this, based on what I know of SWADE, these Powers are freaking awesome. I think for the first time the ability to play a true Flash-level speedster is possible without a lot of jank. There is a lot of options here, basically everything you can imagine. They didn't skimp.

Chapter 5 - Rogues Gallery
A big list of well conceived heroes and villains (including their origins) for your own use. They're a good example of what is possible with the ruleset, and I actually like a LOT of them.

Chapter 6 - Items of Power
What would the Marvel or DC universe be without iconic items of power? Well they give you about 20 of them here (some being obvious homages).

All in all - EVEN if I don't run Supers campaigns with it, all of this material can be used with my other SWADE content (especially Rifts) But I have a strong suspicion that I'll be running this natively and get a lot of love out of it.

MSH is not perfect (trust me), but a lot of the hole in that system are implicitly filled by SWADE natively in how it handles certain important combat mechanics. The one thing that SWADE doesn't have is the *massive* rogues gallery that exists for MSH and other supers games like M&M, obviously. So hopefully people will start working on those conversions (I may be one of them).

I'm looking forward to using it.

Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2021, 04:43:29 PM »
Because I like debate:
How well do you think this compares to Mutants & Masterminds 3e?
I can see in power design it is more M&M 2e. Its abilities are somewhat less pure generic then M&M 3e.

But I like SWADE more then I like M&M, so this will be more useful for me regardless.

tenbones

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2021, 08:03:31 PM »
Simply put - it's leaner than Mutants and Masterminds. Which if you think about it, operates mechanically like a more granular version of SW only using larger numbers.

I actually LIKE M&M2e/3e a lot. I think it's a damn fine iteration of d20 mechanics. The problem is that it can still take a lot of overhead in mastering the system due to its granularity (which in fairness SW can do too if you're a literalist that demands details to the nth degree). The reality is SW uses smaller values that navigate expressing the tropes of genre, over measuring every little detail in precise units.

The advantage that M&M has is it's age. It has tons of fan support that takes a massive amount of heavy lifting off of a GM. It has fully developed and fleshed out worlds of its own. Tons of characters from fiction and comics statted up and ready to use.

But if we're talking pure gameplay - Savage Worlds is sleeker, easier to manage, more adaptable (but that's because M&M never ventured further out of its Supers foundations - I think M&M could make a fantastic fantasy engine) and gamer (both GM and player) friendly.

I don't believe there is any intent on fleshing the Supers Companion out from Pinnacle's side (maybe with Necessary Evil?) but that leaves it wide open for 3rd party developers to do it. And that might be something worth considering on my part.

As for statting up DC/Marvel/Indie comic NPC's - that may be something I get around to as well. I'll have to play a campaign with it first - it looks promising.




Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2021, 08:16:35 PM »
I think M&M could make a fantastic fantasy engine

Having tried that (for a high magic Spelljammer Campaign)....its not great without tons of effort on the GMs side. So much effort it may not be worth it at all.

It lacks a money engine, and its numbers scale by magnitutes so your dragon is ethier keeping pace with the PCs or outspeeding them by a million miles with a difference of 1 point or so.

It only works in 'anime' style fantasy where its DBZ but with swords.
It may be still possible, but its beyond the ken of stuff a GM could houserule over a week or so and more something somebody needs to release a dedicated suplement for for like 30 bucks or so.

But I think the structure of supers could also work pretty well for other stuff: like often players don't pick up stuff like 'contacts' or 'social' because their value isn't 1-1 with a combat edge. This could allow you to pick up a bunch of social edges on discount effectively.

tenbones

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2021, 08:23:13 PM »
I think M&M could make a fantastic fantasy engine

Having tried that (for a high magic Spelljammer Campaign)....its not great without tons of effort on the GMs side. So much effort it may not be worth it at all.

It lacks a money engine, and its numbers scale by magnitutes so your dragon is ethier keeping pace with the PCs or outspeeding them by a million miles with a difference of 1 point or so.

right I see that. There is a LOT of infrastructure to properly place the context of your game within the mechanics and vice versa.

It only works in 'anime' style fantasy where its DBZ but with swords.
It may be still possible, but its beyond the ken of stuff a GM could houserule over a week or so and more something somebody needs to release a dedicated suplement for for like 30 bucks or so.

But I think the structure of supers could also work pretty well for other stuff: like often players don't pick up stuff like 'contacts' or 'social' because their value isn't 1-1 with a combat edge. This could allow you to pick up a bunch of social edges on discount effectively.

The benefit of Savage Worlds is all of this stuff has already been done. All the other Savage Worlds settings exist as a direct spectrum on how to squeeze these elements out of the larger system.

The key thing is creating a setting that uses all of this whole of cloth. Which the Supers Companion does not have. It's not designed for that, obviously. This brings us back to the dilemma of your M&M Fantasy game - work for the GM.

Right now as is, this book is a superb addition to the SWADE Ruleset. But it's very much for DIY GM's. The only place I'd imagine these rules could be used right out of the box in an established setting is Rifts.

But that's not going to deter me - as I'm very DIY. But it's a worthwhile point for GM's/Players to consider when using this book. It's a toolkit, not a setting.

Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2021, 08:30:34 PM »
But that's not going to deter me - as I'm very DIY. But it's a worthwhile point for GM's/Players to consider when using this book. It's a toolkit, not a setting.

Im extremly DIY myself, I just have time limits sadly. But yes, this will be pretty useful with the race builder and maybe a 'exalted-like' game I could run with it. I tried Godbound, and its OSR stylings where not what my players liked. In the presence of so much freedom they largely siezed up completly.

Armchair Gamer

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2021, 08:33:06 PM »
But if we're talking pure gameplay - Savage Worlds is sleeker, easier to manage, more adaptable (but that's because M&M never ventured further out of its Supers foundations - I think M&M could make a fantastic fantasy engine) and gamer (both GM and player) friendly.

  M&M produced a couple of multi-genre supplements at the tail end of its 2nd edition--Warriors & Warlocks and Mecha & Manga.

Quote
I don't believe there is any intent on fleshing the Supers Companion out from Pinnacle's side (maybe with Necessary Evil?) but that leaves it wide open for 3rd party developers to do it. And that might be something worth considering on my part.

  They're planning to do updated versions of the Necessary Evil campaigns and their new Doom Guard setting, and Shane said in the livestream yesterday that they're fine with SWAG using SPC mechanics.

Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2021, 08:34:34 PM »
M&M produced a couple of multi-genre supplements at the tail end of its 2nd edition--Warriors & Warlocks and Mecha & Manga.
From Personal experience Mecha&Manga worked better then W&W.

Quote
SWAG using SPC mechanics.

....Whats swag?

Armchair Gamer

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2021, 08:48:24 PM »

....Whats swag?

  Savage Worlds Adventurer Guild--the community content program for SW.

Ghostmaker

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2021, 08:11:28 AM »
That monologuer flaw is not new. I think there's a very similar flaw for Crazies in SWADE Rifts. It fits VERY well for the genre though :)

tenbones

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2021, 10:35:28 AM »
  They're planning to do updated versions of the Necessary Evil campaigns and their new Doom Guard setting, and Shane said in the livestream yesterday that they're fine with SWAG using SPC mechanics.

I just caught that last night. I'm glad they're doing a Supers setting. I've never run Necessary Evil, but I've heard it's awesome. Again... I'm *intensely* biased with MSH as my Super's go-to.

One of the things I'm observing in the Pinnacle chatter is the strict adherence to mechanical fidelity to Power values. In other words a Power is said to give me these mechanical benefits, which by the design rules equals a value of <X>.  And then they complain about a scenario where those benefits don't necessarily outweigh the downsides. An example is the Growth power - which gives you bonuses to your Toughness and Pace, but you get penalties to hit smaller targets and be hit as a larger target.

Well... I'm just kinda loathe to point out that no enumeration of Powers is ever going to feel right to everyone. Someone blasting you with "lightning bolts" is simply more efficient than someone that has the power to flatten themselves into a 2-d shape.

Granted, yes there needs to be mechanical consistency, I'd rather them beef up those mechanical conceits with supers as a genre (Like they did with Rifts in adding Mega Modifiers) rather than cook them down to make them consistent with non-supers conceits.

This is still alpha - so I'm sure there will be tweaks, and I'm not worried since as a toolkit it's all optional.

mudbanks

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Re: Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion (Alpha) has dropped
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2021, 11:58:25 PM »
Quote
Chapter Three - Setting Rules

Combined Attacks! - Basically now you can do Support actions for *damage*. +4/6 with a raise. This will allow those PC's like Daredevil actually be useful against The Hulk.

Don't know why but reading this part, I was reminded of the iconic Guardians scene in Invincible. Yeah, that one. :P

Thanks for the mini review by the way, I like the new rules. But then, I have always been a Savage Worlds fan.