Does System Matter Part V: DC Heroes

On Tuesday I started a Thought Experiment in supers games, looking at what changes a character goes through when converted from one system to another. This is meant to test the validity of most supers games claims that you can use the system to build “any” character or run “any” kind of game. The character in question – Dr. Zachary Zevon, the Indestructible Man - started in Villains and Vigilantes, and now exists in Silver Age Sentinels, HERO and Marvel Super Heroes.

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Now we look at DC Heroes (or MEGS)

A quick recap: Dr. Z is the Reed Richards analogue in a Fantastic Four style game. His natural abilities include a massive intellect and scientific skill, a powerful presence & sense-of-self, and an ability to analyze his opponents’ fighting style and the scientific basis for their powers. His superhuman ability is an invisible, highly versatile force field. He is renowned as the smartest man on Mars and is a millionaire with access to advanced technology and the Liberty Lair, his team’s base.

Dr. Z (Cost is 2000 points, or 4x base)

Dex 6        Str 3         Body 4
Int 14        Will 7       Mind 8
Infl 8         Aura8      Spirit 7
Initiative 28        Hero Points 141

Powers Ranks Notes
Force Field 8
Force Shield 8
Force Manipulation 12 -3 Factor Cost: can't give object powers or skills

Skills
Gadgetry 14 -2 Factor Cost, linked to INT
Scientist 14 -2 Factor Cost, linked to INT
Vehicles 6 -2 Factor Cost, linked to DEX; -1 Factor Cost, no water vehicles

Wealth 14

Advantages and Drawbacks
Area Knowledge: New Philadelphia
Connection: High with Norris Industries, Liberty Station, Gaslight
Headquarters: Expansive
Popularity
Genius
Irrational Attraction: Scientific Puzzles, Minor

There were a few problems here. Many were with the system. To start with, DC heroes gives you 450 points to create a character, saying that this will let you build someone on par with a member of the Teen Titans. A quick mathematical calculation of the Teen Titans as presented in the book proved that this was not so – 450 points was not even enough to build Danny Chase, the boy telekinetic who worked with the team for a while. For more powerful characters the system advises you to multiply your starting points, where a x2 or x3 multiple would give you a Justice League International (this was published in 1990, when the JLI was da bomb) level character. Actually, a x2 multiplier gets you in the Titans, and a x3-x4 gets you in the Justice League. But as long as I know this, I’m fine with it – I just wish the authors had done the math themselves and spared me the trouble.

Now here’s where things get freaky: Advantages and Drawbacks are supposed to have their costs multiplied along with you base points. In essence, they represent percentage investments of the characters total points, as they scale up with the heroes power level. This is messy, since all the advantages and drawbacks cost out at multiples of 5. I made a creator fiat and bumped up the starting points 500 and recorded the costs of the advantages as % of point investment. (This is only enough to make Danny Chase if you don’t charge him 3% of his pointes for his listed High level contact with the Teen Titans, which lets him squeak under with 5 points to spare). For example, being Popular now costs Dr. Z 4% of his total points – it would have been 20 points for a x1 character, but as a x4 character it functionally costs 80. This system makes a degree of sense, but some of the advantages rapidly become useless to more powerful characters.

For example, Nightwing has a higher multiple than the 1990’s era Martian Manhunter: Mr. Grayson has tied up 38% of his total points in Advantages (including 3% in his contact with the Titans), so each multiple only nets him 310 points. He has to be a x4 character to afford all his stats and skills. J’onn, in contrast, has a 10% increase in his base points due to his Loss Vulnerability (all powers and physical stats drop to a 2 when in 1 AP of Fire). Mind you, the version of J’onn in this rulebook lacks his Sealed Systems and Bio-Energy Blast (which were either added later or forgotten about during this era), along with the Super-Speed he seems to have picked up of late. Even with those anomalies, I’d be willing to benchmark Martian Manhunter as a more powerful and versatile hero than Nightwing. So clearly, there is something rank in Gotham.

Now here’s the really odd part: a hero’s starting Gadgets are supposed to be purchased as Advantages. So Wonder Woman’s bracelets, with their 30 Body, would cost her 600 points, which, as an Advantage, are 120% of her starting points, putting her into negative territory that no multiple could ever clear her from. With that in mind purchasing starting Gadgets for Zach is a non-starter, though with 141 hero points he could easily buy or build some in play. Assuming one could ever piece together the DC Heroes gadgetry system – it’s better than the first edition version that the Ambush Bug module famously mocked, but it’s not easy.

Once I’ve taken all of this into account Zach’s stats and skills were simple enough. I made him as smart as Lex Luthor and the Chief (the two smartest humans in the DC Universe), but with a lower Science and Gadgetry score to take advantage of the Linking option. His Spiritual Stats are right on line with where his 20 Charisma in V&V should put them – very high, but not human maximum (if you follow the scale, he is one fourth as Influential as the Batman, though the two share the same strength of Aura). The hideous lack of granularity for STR and BODY means that his physical stats are higher than perhaps they ought to be, but low for a super-hero in DC, but his DEX looks right. This system would be a simple enough expansion of the Tri-Stat method were it not for how Strength and Body are on an entirely different scale!

The powers? One word: Oy! And I thought HERO was a pain! But it’s not really; HERO just operates under a different paradigm than I prefer for in game flexibility, so I feel like I’m fighting the system to get a character that can use his powers on the fly. DC Heroes on the other hand, has NO rules for using your powers on the fly, and also has a highly specific powers list. Oh, you can push those powers, or make trick shots with them, but you can’t suddenly use force field to create a temporary vacuum. In HERO I get around this with the Variable Power Pool; in SAS I do it with Dynamic Powers; in V&V it’s Inventing Points or writing a flexible power description. In DC heroes I, er, don’t. That’s because the Force Field power does only one thing – protect his body against attacks. The Force Shield power, which I had hoped would be the same as Force Wall from HERO, is even more specific – it creates a shield that can be interposed, like a Shield spell in D&D that is 4 feet in diameter. I bought it to have an easy way to protect others, but it can’t make a globe around someone. It’s just a 4’ diameter shield, and the rules are specific about how it can be used. Those specific rules are at odds with how Booster Gold, one of the few people in the book with the Force Shield power, uses it in the comics, however. I really wonder how many DC comics Greg Gordon actually read while writing this game, as it lacks the feeling of total immersion in the back-story that Jeff Grubb brought to Marvel Super Heroes.

Anyway, back to Zach. I had to buy Force Manipulation, which is the Green Lantern power. But I couldn’t use that to make a vacuum either, because Air Control is a mental power and Force Manipulation can only duplicate stats, physical powers and skills. He could use it to create a giant blowtorch that would melt a wall because Flame Projection is a physical power, but no messing with the air. This is, however, the only way to build Green Lantern style force walls, so I bought a high amount of it and limited it so he couldn’t duplicate powers and skills. With all 12 points put into the BODY of a creation he has a chance to bounce an air to air missile (damage 13), but it would shatter under a single punch from Wonder Woman (damage 16). Of course, if I go for maximal lifting with this Zach could support 50 tons, which is one hell of a lot more than his 4000 lb limit in V&V! His personal Force Field will stop a machine gun, and since it adds to his Body it equates to making him as tough as his toughest Force Manipulated constructs. 

That done, how well would this work in play? This is really hard to say. I’ve owned the DC Heroes rules since they came out in the 80’s but have played it only a handful of times. I suspect the combination of powers would let me do a lot of the things I liked with the character, even if it would be a stretch on more than one occasion. He’s combat worthy enough, at least to my untrained eye, and I think I have a handle on the Gadgetry rules. If I’m wrong on that score I’ll know soon enough. 

Zach ended up costing more in DC heroes than I thought he would, but that’s the cost of the Intelligence, Gadgetry and Science skills – not to mention having to sink points into 3 stats to capture his powerful mind and 3 more for his high charisma. Still, given the freaky point structure of the game his relative point cost to other characters is hard to measure, as 25% of his points are tied up in Advantages. 

This experiment left me seeing that DC Heroes is a high versatile, powerful game that’s buried under some godawful power mechanics, and perhaps an overly fiddly dice engine. It is designed for a much higher power scale than the other games I’ve reviewed so far and looks like it does a good job of balancing out Batman with Superman in a mechanical and narrative sense. If I were to run something in it I’d use it as an excuse to chuck the entire power listing and start from scratch, adopting the ideas of Scarcity cost and Versatility that I’ve been discussing of late in Alarums & Excursions. 
Scarcity would replace the base cost of the power or skill and would be determined by the player who first built someone with that ability, given them control of how often the power would appear in play. Give something a high scarcity cost and you’ve set a bar on entry for other characters; a low one means that you aren’t staking a claim on this niche (unless you set a low one and then buy 20 ranks of the power, daring people to try and catch you). An entirely new structure of Scarcity costs in the campaign would make the world look like a very different place than the standard comics universes. 
Versatility would take the place of the Factor Cost, a 1-10 ranking by the GM and player about how flexible the power or skill is intended to be in play, setting the groundwork for the gentleman’s agreement that determines how much leeway the character is cut when he tries to use the ability in new ways in play. 

I’m very interested to hear whswhs’s take on these thoughts, since he’s the only person I know who ran a long term DC Heroes game and can tell me how the dice mechanic worked out and whether my fears that profligate hero point spending would seriously skew play are true to life. Tomorrow we tackle the FUDGE write up that Mr. Stoddard wrote for me today, and then Mondat we get to chadu's Truth & Justice version. 

Does System Matter part IV: Marvel Super Heroes

On Tuesday I started a Thought Experiment in supers games, looking at what changes a character goes through when converted from one system to another. This is meant to test the validity of most supers games claims that you can use the system to build “any” character or run “any” kind of game. The character in question – Dr. Zachary Zevon, the Indestructible Man - started in Villains and Vigilantes, and now exists in Silver Age Sentinels, HERO and, as of Today,( Collapse )

Marvel Super Heroes.

A quick recap: Dr. Z is the Reed Richards analogue in a Fantastic Four style game. His natural abilities include a massive intellect and scientific skill, a powerful presence & sense-of-self, and an ability to analyze his opponents’ fighting style and the scientific basis for their powers. His superhuman ability is an invisible, highly versatile force field. He is renowned as the smartest man on Mars and is a millionaire with access to advanced technology and the Liberty Lair, his team’s base.

Dr. Z
Fighting: Good (10)
Agility: Good (10)
Strength: Typical (6)
Endurance: Good (10)
Reason: Amazing (50)
Intuition: Excellent (20)
Psyche: Remarkable (30)

Health: 36
Karma: 100
Resources: Incredible (40)
Popularity: 50

Powers:
Force Fields: Zach can project force fields of Amazing (50) intensity over 1 area, reduced by -1 CS for each extra area it encompasses. These fields are invisible and provide equal protection against physical and energy attacks. Any attack that exceeds the field’s intensity does no damage to those inside, instead causing the field to collapse and forcing Dr. Z to make a Psyche test against the attack’s intensity or fall unconscious. Any attack that exactly equals the field’s intensity forces as a similar Psyche test to avoid Zach being stunned for 1 round and the field losing 1 rank of Intensity during that time. The field drops if Zach is incapacitated.

Zach has mastered the power stunt of using his force field to exert force on objects, mirroring telekinesis. He can create freestanding fields which lift with Good intensity. If he braces the field against the ground or other solid object they are equivalent to Incredible intensity Telekinesis for lifting and general pressure, but their range is limited to two areas and he can’t strike with them. Zach cannot perform fine manipulation with these fields, nor can he lift objects and use them as weapons. He can. However, just hit people with a freestanding field for Good damage, or push them along with Incredible strength.

Zach has experimented with using ‘explosive’ force fields – ones that expand with great rapidity, hurling things with Remarkable force. He has used this as an uncontrolled form of super-leaping by ‘exploding’ a force field under himself, hurling a heavy weight a considerable distance and temporarily dispersing a creature with a sand-based body. He has also theorized that this could be used to rapidly create a partial vacuum around a target, but has not done so yet. Finally, he has single instances of using his force fields to give him Amazing intensity parabolic hearing and Excellent intensity sound generation by “megaphoning” his voice.

Talents:
Zach is an expert in Physics, Computers and Electronics, and a world class inventor (Engineering talent). He also knows Martial Arts D (spend 2 rounds watching opponent to ignore their Body Armor for Slam and Stun effects).

Contacts:
Dr. Z is the leader of the Liberty League and is on excellent terms with the New Philadelphia government. He also has connections with Audrey and Rowan Norris of Norris Industries (a terraforming form) and the Liberty Station orbital science community. His college roommate grew up to be the costumed adventurer Gaslight (Zach designed his energy and gas weapons) and the two are on excellent terms.

OK, another system down. So how well did he translate?
This one was another smooth fit. No surprise, given that the character was based on two characters from the Marvel universe. Stat wise it was a coin toss as to whether both Zach’s Strength and Endurance should be Good or Typical, so I split the difference, pegging the Strength to the relative carrying capacities. The resources and popularity were simply pegged at the same level as Reed Richards as well. The relative rules for inventions are similar to those in V&V – that is to say “If you have intelligence and time, you can try it” – though MSH uses more complicated rules for resources and feat intensity rather than the one use resource of Invention Points. Still, it lets us cover all of his gadgets, vehicles and the teams based with his Amazing reason, some talents and Incredible resources.

The high trust/low granularity of the system makes translations easy – I just write down what the character should be able to do and the mechanics wrap around it easily enough. I have another big advantage in how V&V’s force field rules are so clearly based on Invisible Woman’s powers, which are also the basis for the MSH force fields. The fields are tougher here than they would be in V&V because there is no feedback for anything other than near-penetrations – Marvel just doesn’t have that sort of a resource mechanic, and it would be crazy to have him roll to resist stun every time the field gets hit by an Excellent or better attack. If I really wanted he could lose 1 point of Health per attack repulsed, but that’s not really idea. MSH is the originator of the concept of Power Stunts, so any concerns about the system not letting me be creative (other than the very high 100 point Karma cost per power stunt attempt) are laid to rest. This is the first of the game systems where as a player I have control over the dice outcomes (I could have bought Divine Relationship in SAS, but didn’t bother), and Zach’s high mental and spiritual stats give him an unexpected edge there.

Another advantage is that V&V and Marvel occupy much the same power level (other than V&V’s lower carrying capacities for super-strong heroes). Tomorrow I expect that DC heroes will have problems with Zach being too weak in comparison to the system, and someone like Green Lantern or Wonder Woman would make MSH curl up and play dead. 

With another high fidelity map over, how will this play? I suspect very well. The powers work nicely, the system encourages creativity and there’s little to no concern with real world weapon damage benchmarks to make me worry about the force field strength. Zach still can’t do a lot of damage, but MSH isn’t constructed around combat the way that HERO was (with its rigorous application of attacks against defense) so it’s not as much of an issue. The character was always meant as a versatile high defense, low offence scientist, and that’s what we’ve got. Cambias made a comment off line yesterday that some systems exert their own gravitational pull, trying to mold character design into certain specific shapes. I suspect that MHS does that as much as HERO does, but that Zach already fits into some of MSH’s standard molds so it feels right. 

Inventing was a potential problem in HERO and there’s a neat comparison here. MSH provides very clear guidelines for inventions, so Dr. Z will be able to automatically do certain things but have a poor chance for wild and wacky breakthroughs. V&V lacks any sort of system on this, while SAS and HERO both fall back on point cost for things. In Marvel building a dimensional portal is damn hard and written up as such, while in SAS Dimension Hop is a cheap power but the GM could apply a -10 penalty to Zach’s roll to build a dimension hop device. Or a -1. Or a +5. Whatever he wants. Dimensional Travel is a more expensive power in HERO, but the issue is still the same, and with a 50 point Gadget Pool Zach could easily afford to build one, and the difficulty of the roll is capped at -5 (1/10 the points in the Gadget Pool), with bonuses for extra time – the GM can’t even move to hose him with a high die penalty! Those 50 points are mine and I’ll spend them how I see fit! In any event, it’s interesting to see where the trust issues lie in the games and that MSH, for all its high trust, removes Inventing power from both the GM and the Player and puts it in the system. 

Does System Matter part III: Hero

On Tuesday I started a Thought Experiment in supers games, looking at what changes a character goes through when converted from one system to another. This is meant to test the validity of most supers games claims that you can use the system to build “any” character or run “any” kind of game. The character in question – Dr. Zachary Zevon, the Indestructible Man - started in Villains and Vigilantes, and Yesterday he was translated into Silver Age Sentinels. Today, with the aid of the redoubtable Cambias, we look at him in HERO 

A quick recap: Dr. Z is the Reed Richards analogue in a Fantastic Four style game. His natural abilities include a massive intellect and scientific skill, a powerful presence & sense-of-self, and an ability to analyze his opponents’ fighting style and the scientific basis for their powers. His superhuman ability is an invisible, highly versatile force field. He is renowned as the smartest man on Mars and is a millionaire with access to advanced technology and the Liberty Lair, his team’s base. 

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Notes from Cambias: Okay, Brian: Here's Doctor Z in Hero System. Since I don't have a copy of V&V, I had to kind of guess about some of his attribute levels, but I tried to keep him relatively normal-human in characteristics. The force field powers were a bit of a problem, because the strength level you cited (400 lbs) is much less potent than the "invulnerable" description for the defenses. I tried to strike a middle ground with a Multipower. [BR: I have also alternately included an Element Control] He has a Gadget Pool for handy devices, and the two bits of signature wear (the uniform and super-PDA) aren't in it. He comes out as a "Very High Powered" character. Scaling back his force powers or reducing the value of the group's Base might squeeze him down to "merely" High Powered.

Doctor Z (HERO version)

STR 13 (3 pts)
DEX 17 (21 pts)
CON 13 (6 pts)
BODY 11 (2 pts)
INT 23 (16 pts*)
EGO 14 (8 pts)
PRE 20 (10 pts)
COM 12 (1 pts)
PD 5 (2 pts)
ED 5 (2 pts)
SPD 4 (13 pts)
REC 6 (0 pts)
END 26 (0 pts)
STUN 23 (0 pts)
(attribute cost: 95 pts)

Skills:
Combat Levels: +2 with Force Fields [tight group] 6 pts
Computer Programming 14- (3 pts)
Deduction 14- (3 pts)
Electronics 14- (3 pts)
Inventor 14- (3 pts)
Mechanics 14- (3 pts)
Power – Force Fields: 14- (3 pts)
Science: Physics 14- (2 pts)
Science: Robotics 14- (2 pts)
Science: Biology 14- (2 pts)
Science: Chemistry 14- (2 pts)
Science: Geology 14- (2 pts)
Science: Astronomy 14- (2 pts)
Skill Levels: +2 INT skills (10 pts)
Skill Enhancer – Scientist (3 pts)
Systems Operation: 14- (3 pts)
Transport Familiarity: SF Vehicles (2 pts)
Weaponsmith – energy & chemical 14- (3 pts)
(skill cost: 57 pts)

Perks and Talents:
Base (a one-fifth share of a 500-point base) (20)
Lightning Calculator (3 points)
Money (Wealthy) (6 pts)
Reputation: Heroic Scientist/Adventurer, Worldwide 14- (3 pts)
Speed Reading (4 points)
(perks & talents cost: 36 pts)

Powers:
Endurance Reserve: 170 Endurance, 20 Recovery, Personal Recovery -1/2, fuels Force Field powers. (30 pts)
Element Control – Force Fields: 41 point EC (41) [total cost is 168]
* Force Field: 22 PD, 22 ED, extends to what he’s carrying (10 pts adder), invisible to sight group (+1/2) 82 AP(41 pts)
* Force Wall: 9 PD, 9 ED, +5” length, invisible to sight group (+1/2) 82 AP (41 pts)
* Telekinesis: 38 STR, invisible to sight group (+1/2) 82 AP (41 pts)
OR
Multipower: 108 point pool (108 pts) [total cost is 168]
* Force Field: 30 PD, 30 ED, extends to what he’s carrying (10 pt adder); Invisible to sight group (+1/2) 105 AP (21 pts)
* Force Wall: 12 PD, 12 ED, +5” Length, invisible to sight group (+1/2) 105 AP (21 pts)
* Telekinesis: 40 STR, invisible to sight group (+1/2), 90 AP (18 pts)

Variable Power Pool: Force Fields (can only have force field related powers, -1/2); 15 point force field pool, 5 point control cost (20 pts)
Detect: Power Functionality (5 pt class), Discriminatory, Ranged, Powers must be visibly in use (-1) (7 pts)

Scanner: combines High Range Radio Perception, Infrared Perception, Ultrasonic Perception, and Ultraviolet Perception; all with the Analyze modifier (Obvious Accessible Focus: Scanner) (22 pts)
Uniform: Armor 2 PD 2 ED, plus Safe Environment (extreme cold) (Obvious Inaccessible Focus: Uniform) (5 pts)
Variable Power Pool: Gadgets (can only be changed at the lab, OIF Gadgets); 50-point gadget pool, 10 point control cost (60 points)

(powers cost: 312 points)

Disadvantages:
DNPC: Norris Family: Normal w/ useful skills, group of 2, 8- (-10 pts)
DNPC: Scientists on Liberty Station: Normal w/ useful skills, group of 8, 8- (-20 pts)
Distinctive Feature: Uniform (easily concealable, always noticed) (-10 pts)
Hunted: Various evil geniuses, as powerful, 8-, Public ID (-15 pts)
Normal Characteristic Maxima (-20 pts)
Psychological Limitation: Code vs. Killing (-20 pts)
Psychological Limitation: Loves Silver Dragon (-15)
Psychological Limitation: Patriotic Martian-American (-10 pts)
Psychological Limitation: Scientific Curiosity (-5 pts)
Psychological Limitation: Altruistic do-gooder (-10 pts)
Social Limitation: Public Identity (-20 pts)
Susceptibility: takes 1d6 stun whenever Force Wall breached (-5 pts)

(disadvantages: -150)
(Experience: 15)
Total cost: (93+60+35+312=500; 350+135+15=500)

Now we start to see some of the problems in translation. Here are some changes of note
Dr. Z’s stats are close to what they should be. His INT is a little weak, but the advantage of being able to buy Normal Characteristic Maxima as a disadvantage made the decision to cap it at 23, as I needed the points. In HERO 3E I would have gamed the system more and given him a level of Age, which would bump up his INT max to a 25 and given me 5 more disad points, but 5E makes it clear that Age also carries a general infirmity, which I didn’t want for the character. Ideally I’d have his INT at a 33 – already the system is modifying how the character appears, if not how he plays.

While the stats reflect how Zach looked in V&V and SAS, they are very, very poor stats for a super hero in HERO. His comparatively low DEX works out to a Combat Value of 6, and will hurt him in fights. His 4 speed isn’t a boon either. Both fit the mold of “heroic scientist with a force field power” but in HERO it makes him as fast and agile as a Brick (in the supers gaming sense).

His skills list is much more detailed than it is in either of the other two systems. Two Skill Levels with all INT Skills gets him functionally to where he should be INT wise, with a 90 to 98% chance in his INT based skills. I’m always uncomfortable with these sorts of systems because I can never be sure what the GM will interpret as being needed. I added several skills that Cambias hadn’t included (Transport Familiarity with SF vehicles, Systems Operations, Weaponsmith) because the character should logically be able to do them even if they aren’t key. There are no social skills on the list however, so based on how often the dice come into social interaction Dr. Z could be seriously reduced from his 20 Charisma/11 Soul, even with a 20 Presence. I debated back and forth about adding languages – Zach should be able to speak Mandarin and Cantonese, given that China is the other major power on Mars, and it would just be assumed when it came up in either of the previous two systems, but I was already having serious point issues. Likewise on Area Knowledge – Mars, or Business Management skills.

The Perks and Talents system translated cleanly enough. Cambias added Speed Reader and Lightning Calculator, which are spot on but another point drain that would be handwaved in the previous systems. Money and Reputation ( I do like the 5E Reputation rules – quick and clean) translated over easily, and I wasn’t going to do any calculating on the teams base and vehicles – the 20 point expenditure is good enough to capture it for now.

On to powers. Oh dear God the PAIN!
Cambias had suggested Find Weakness, but that didn’t quite fit how Dr. Z’s weakness detection worked in V&V, so I cobbled together a special Detect w/ Discriminate to indicate his near superhuman ability to figure out what someone’s powers are. He’d need his scanner to really analyze it, but this, plus his high Deduction skill, puts him in position to decipher and trump his opponent’s powers. This is very much something that would have to be run past the GM

His Gadget pool looks incredibly powerful once you put some numbers around it, and his scanner costs a lot more than I thought it would. I would really like to add his Personal Environment Generator as a permanent part of his gear, but for now it can stay as something he routinely makes with his Gadget pool. I have never played HERO with this sort of a pool, so I don’t know how hard this is to manage in play, or if it really is as powerful as it looks.

Of course, not having used a VPP before didn’t stop be from buying two of them! The second is a quickie 15 point pool for Force Field powers that he can with a Power roll and an action. It’s not much, but it does a good enough job capturing the versatility of his force field. Another difficulty I have with HERO is how the same power can be statted out in so many different ways – hence doing his Force Field as both a Multipower and an Element Control. Neither quite captures how I see Force Fields working. In the EC isn’t not strong enough, in the Multipower Dr. Z’s powers are hindered by splitting his concentration, not by having a limited amount of time per round.

TK covers his ability to lift and move things, but it lacks the specificity of the previous systems in dividing things between moving things unsupported and lifting them with a braced force field. Here, the TK is TK, and I can’t come up with a non-clunky way of making it different.

The damage mechanic is also a problem for the Force Field. In the Element Control version most supers attacks in the game will penetrate his Force Wall; they have less of a chance in with the Multipower version, assuming he pumps the power up to its maximum level. In either case, plentiful conventional firearms can breach it with a good roll. I know this is true in V&V as well, but there the guns do less damage, and the caliber doesn’t matter. Here, scaling up of weapons matters and they can do a lot. There is a standard Force Wall limitation for Feedback, but it’s insanely prohibitive against Dr. Z’s Stun score. Hence, the addition of his Susceptibility for a less deadly alternative.

His personal Force Field is highly effective at stopping Body, but not Stun. I’d love it if the GM let me have any damage that got through the stun be “mental feedback” that would be invisible to the attacker, letting him maintain the aura of invulnerability, but I’m not sure if that sort of character handwave would need to be statted out as a new power with a higher point cost. Still, in the Element Control version he can ignore the first 29 Stun from any attack. Of course, this still means that he’d take an average of 6 points per 10d6 attack, dropping him in 4 shots – unless he also as his Force Wall in the way. I’m not sure if I’d be better served without the Force Field and just even more points in Force Wall.

As with Skills, the Disadvantage list is much more detailed than previously. His love for Silver Dragon and Fame are there, as is the “He’s just a normal human” disad that was covered with Less Capable in SAS. After that I had to nail down yet more parts of his psyche on paper to justify point totals, and then add some of the supporting cast as DNPCs. Finally, we add the Hunted by Various Evil Geniuses. Not that it came up in play, but it’s a very Reed Richards/Dr. Quest sort of thing that works for Zach in both his powered and non-powered existence. I don’t need to name or define them, there’s just a bunch of other people gunning for the Smartest Man on Mars title who keep taking aim at Zach. He doesn’t have anyone who rises to the level of Dr. Doom, but this certainly covers The Wizard, the Red Ghost and their ilk. 

Having seen him map over with some hits to his Fidelity, how would it work in play? 

I don’t have a ton of experience with HERO, but I’d have to say “Poorly”. The character costs in at 500 points, which is somewhere between High Powered and Very High Powered, but he doesn’t break out in any of the conventional fashions for those power levels. His Stun score is lousy. His Speed Score is the same as a Brick or a Mook in a game where Speed is a big determining factor in combat effectiveness. His damage Potential is too low to hurt anyone he can hit, and his OCV is too low to hit anyone he can hurt. I might be under-emphasizing the strength of the Gadget pool here in making 50 Active Point weapons against a target’s weak spots, but that’s hard to say. In either event, the Gadget Pool and the Force Field Pool would both take more math than I’d like to have to do in play. 

Damage Delivery in HERO is very different than the other two games: it has a higher potential lethality and relies more on whittling an opponent down. The Force Field power is meant to slow the whittling, but not to stop it all together. That makes the iconic “Indestructible Force Field that Dr. Z had in the other two games hard to manage. Ideally Dr. Z would have a PD and ED equal to the number of dice in the average attack, so it would be a rare shot that would breach the wall. But that gets costly in a High Power game – 12/12 at least, for 70 base points, plus the invisibility = 105 points, which breaks the suggested cap of AP for a power. Interestingly the Force Field powers take up about 40% (actually 43%) of his points here as well. 

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EDIT: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Force Field
Having given it some more thought, I think the best structure for the Force Field is as follows
Endurance Reserve: 170 Endurance, 24 Recovery, Personal Recovery -1/2, fuels Force Field powers. (33 pts) Element Control – Force Fields: 31 point EC (31) [total cost is 162]
* Force Field: 16 PD, 16 ED, extends to carried (10 pts adder), invisible to sight group (+1/2) 63 AP (32 pts)
* Force Wall: 11 PD, 11 ED, +5” length, invisible to sight group (+1/2) 98 AP
* Telekinesis: 28 STR, invisible to sight group (+1/2) 63 AP (32 pts)
Variable Power Pool: Force Fields (can only have force field related powers, -1/2); 15 point force field pool, 5 point control cost (20 pts)
Which frees up 3 points. I'd love to have those 3 points go into extra STUN (Only when Force Field is on -1/2). That would be the best way to capture him taking damage that isn't visible damage. I'm not sure how much a system gaming that is, but if it's allowed I'd buy more of it, possibly downgrading the scanner some to do so - make it a 15 point machine that he has to fiddle with to upgrade, making the STUB purchase 10 points wirht for +15 Force Field Stun.

At this level his Force Field will block all possible body from a 2.5d6 killing attack and his Force Wall will completley stop a 45 caliber machine gun. That handles the conventional "indestructibility" aspect of the character. Any attacks that do penetrate the Force Wall will still face 23/18 pts of defense/resistant defense. That should be good enough, even if it doesn't capture the character's original design. 

The Skill list is longer, but it’s also reductive – in the other systems it’s assumed that Dr. Z can do anything that makes reasonable sense for the character. In HERO if it’s not written down he hasn’t got it. I’d really want to see even more on there – conversation, security systems, other sciences, and so on, but that would price things up even more. The biggest problem remains the way Damage is handled, however, 

I’m interested if anyone has any suggestions on improving the fidelity, because the system still leaves me noticing all the things he Can’t do rather than envisioning the ones he can. I also find it interesting that a character who is of "average" power level in the previous two games is on the High to Very High range in HERO. Why is that?

Does System Matter part II: Tri-Stat

Yesterday I started a Thought Experiment in supers games, looking at what changes a character goes through when converted from one system to another. This is meant to test the validity of most supers games claims that you can use the system to build “any” character or run “any” kind of game. The character in question – Dr. Zachary Zevon, the Indestructible Man - started in Villains and Vigilantes. Now let’s see how he looks in Silver Age Sentinels, the supers version of the Tri-Stat system. 

A quick recap: Dr. Z is the Reed Richards analogue in a Fantastic Four style game. His natural abilities include a massive intellect and scientific skill, a powerful presence & sense-of-self, and an ability to analyze his opponents’ fighting style and the scientific basis for their powers. His superhuman ability is an invisible, highly versatile force field. He is renowned as the smartest man on Mars and is a millionaire with access to advanced technology and the Liberty Lair, his team’s base. 

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Dr Z.
Body: 8
Mind: 14
Soul: 11
Attack Combat Value: 11 , attacks per round =1
Defense Combat Value: 9, defenses per round = 1
Health: 95
Energy : 125

Characteristic Attributes:
Combat Techniques (1): Can Judge opponent’s combat skill and health level.
Defense Mastery (2): gains +2 DCV vs. people he has judged w/ Combat Mastery
Features (1): Rugged appearance
Gadgeteer (5): Can build or modify technology at 30 times normal speed.
Gadgets (5): Has 5 major and 10 minor gadgets.
Skill Group – Science (1): +1 on all rolls related to the sciences
Skill Group – Technical (1): +1 on all rolls related to engineering or technology
Wealth (5): access to 50 Million dollars

Power Attributes:
Dynamic Powers (4): Force field effects, area is 10m, range is 100m, Duration is 1 round, can target 1 person or 50 kg where appropriate.
Force Field (7): Blocks 100 points, defense reduced by 20 points each time it’s penetrated. Air Tight, Regenerates 20 points of defense per Defense action spent. Area is 100m, range is 100m.

Defects:
Famous (-3)
Significant Other (-1) Deirdre/Silver Dragon
Less Capable (-1) Body counts as 5 for Strength purposes
Less Capable (-1) Body counts as 5 for Endurance purposes
Reduction (2): Only gains Defense Mastery against those he has judged with his Combat Technique.
Burns Energy (-3) Zach loses 5 Energy points each time his force field is hit.

The translation is, to my eyes, pretty clean. Here are some changes of note

The SAS mechanic of 2d10 vs. your Stat (or stat + skill) all but requires the character to have good stats to succeed in things, even if the GM is giving copious bonuses to rolls (as the default is “how hard is this for the average super-hero to do?”). That 8 Body is a little higher than I’d like given Dr. Z’s V&V stats, but it does match his 15 Agility, so I pegged it there and gave him two levels of the Less Capable defect to lower his Strength and Endurance. The mechanics easily capture his nearly post-human intellect and his impressive charisma and presence. The averaging of all 3 stats for your base Attack Value makes him remarkably combat savvy, but it fits the character well enough.

His health score appears high, but it’s not far off from his 17 HP and 75 Power in V&V – in both cases he can nearly take the highest level attack in the game without falling over (roughly 100 pts for the default characters in SAS, or a 1d20 Power Blast in V&V). SAS has “Energy Points” as an option that mirrors V&V’s Power, so I included it but only applied it to his Force Field. Everything else his has for power cost in V&V is nickel and dime stuff, so there’s actually a speed of play advantage in SAS. His field can take 25 solid hits before Dr. Z is exhausted, which again matches V&V.

SAS is much more detailed when it comes to powers and skills than V&V is, but the attributes map over well. His inventing is neatly encapsulated in the Gadgeteering and Gadgets attribute, and the Wealth attribute handles his money. I added the one level of Features because Dr. Z was envisioned as looking like Rock Hudson, so making him a little handsome made sense. His Weakness Detection is partially captured by his Mind playing into his Attack Value, but since SAS has the Judge Opponent attribute it made sense to pick it up, and then tie the defensive advantage to it. I prefer SAS’s skill groups to its full bore skill system (even if they are less mechanically efficient) so one level in both Science and Technology captures his V&V Backgrounds of Science & Engineering. There isn’t any real way to map his ability to analyze his opponent’s powers to trump them other than trusting the GM to let such things work, since that’s part of the scientist hero paradigm, but I think his stats well reflect that potential.

His power attributes are also easy enough to translate. I’ve always considered Dynamic Powers to be one of SAS’s best features. Three levels of it let Dr. Z have up to six attributes running at level 1 or up to two running at level 3, as long as he can tie them to his Force Fields. That maps well enough to his tricks in V&V – he can mirror Telekinesis at the 100 Kg range, super strength at the 8 KT range, pick up heightened hearing or environment manipulation or knockback based Special Attacks – and best of all it’s not an awkward, math-intensive arrangement.

His actual Force Field is harder to map because SAS relies on damage resistance rather than V&V’s damage avoidance. Looking through the SAS sample characters I saw that the highest damage attacks were around 100 points, so the force field had to block that much. The SAS mechanic has the force field get weaker each time it’s breached, which, if not the same as V&V, is a pretty clever thing. I just gave Zach the option to regenerate it, though it can still get breached multiple times and battered away. The optional Energy Points rule means that Zach can still get whittled down mentally and exhausted by repeated hits to the field, so that aspect carries over as well.

Dr. Z’s non-power defects are just role-playing aspects in V&V, and they’re a minor part of SAS characters so it’s easy to delineate them. Fame is a freebie in V&V and a defect in SAS. Zach is in love with his teammate Deirdre, which is awkward since she’s only 21 and the daughter of some of his best friends (I told you he was the Reed Richards analogue!), but it’s not so secret or damaging that it reaches the level of being a Skeleton in the Closet. I’ve already discussed his Reduction, Less Capable and Burns Energy defects.

All of this works out to costing 175 points, which according to the rulebook is the boundary point between an average and high powered game. That feels about right for the League’s adventures. I particularly like the clarity in SAS and V&V both where you can strip away Dr. Z’s Powers and see that he is still a formidable adventurer, which was exactly the way I picture him – in SAS he stats out to 102 points that way, or just inside the range of a Lower Powered game. As an note for other point systems, Dr Z’s Force Field powers take up 40% of his available points. 

Having seen how the character can map over with a minimal loss of fidelity, how would it work in play? 

Having run SAS at this power level before, I think it would work pretty well. Dr. Z would be more potent in SAS, but not overwhelmingly so. He would be much more able to ignore or eliminate lesser opposition, since there would be no chance of them penetrating his field the way there is in V&V, but he could still be overwhelmed by masses of opponents. The problem would be an opponent who is meant to be a threat but who can’t reach that 100 point damage threshold – Dr. Z could almost certainly ignore any attempt to do direct damage, turning what was on a paper a credible villain into a minor nuisance or someone whose main threat would be collateral damage on others, which could get dark quickly. Those who can penetrate the 100 point threshold will be major threats, but Dr. Z can likely take 1-3 such hits before being taken out – assuming the GM isn’t using SAS’s busted critical hit system. (But that’s a rant for another time.) He can also deliver more damage in SAS than in V&V, though that can be hard to capture given the differences in how the systems handle damage. 

Depending on the GM, his Dynamic Powers would require more rulebook references than this Force Fields in V&V, but not so much as to be a serious drag on play. On the plus side, the existence of actual mechanics for his force fields versatility puts more control in my hands as a player in case there’s some trust issue with the GM. I generally don’t play with GMs with whom I have trust issues, but everyone might not be as lucky. 

Tomorrow I’ll go easy on myself and map him into the old Marvel Super Heroes rules, and then tackle the nightmare that is DC Heroes. 

Supers Thought Experiment - Does System Matter?

One aspect of the supers RPG market that I've been commenting on for a while is that there is a dearth of "focused" games, unlike the fantasy market. Fantasy gamers know that D&D is going to offer a very different experience than Runequest, which is in turn different from Warhammer, and that one shouldn't use D&D to capture the feel and tone of Warhammer, and vice versa. No comments on which is a mechanically superior system, as they are aiming for very different things. 

In contrast, until recently the Supers market has been dominated by systems that claim to do all sorts of Supers equally well - they can handle Heroes for Hire and the Avengers, Dark Knight style Batman and the Justice League, Tom Strong and the Authority all with equal ease. In my experience, this is hogwash, and while I have played enough supers systems that I could say that I know for sure, I want to do a little experiment: taking a single character from a finished campaign and seeing how he looks in every major system I can. How do the mechanics of the system shape the character, what he can do and how he might be played. I am hopeful that some of the other supers gurus reading this - whswhs wrote GURPS Supers, Chadu wrote Truth and Justice, mnemex was a playtester for Marvel Diceless, Cambias wrote for Hero, and whoever else has a preferred system - might take their hand at translating the character to their preferred system, but if not I'll go it alone. 

The character is Dr. Zachary Zevon, the Indestructible Man, the Smartest Man on Mars, from Dan Harvey's defunct Liberty League PBEM. Dr. Z is the leader and Reed Richards analogue of a team of adventurers and explorers who gained their powers over kinetic energy via a failed attempt to recreate the Philadelphia Experiment (the offshoot technology of which was what made Martian colonization after WWII possible - the game took place in New Philadelphia on Mars). His particular power is projecting invisible force fields, which he uses to give the world the false impression that he is personally invulnerable and superhumanly strong. His force fields are highly versatile, and he also has an array of personal inventions that he carries with him on missions.

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Level 

1. Heightened Intelligence A: +17: Irradiated by IF energies when an attempt to replicate the teleportational effects of the Philadelphia Experiment, Dr. Zevon, the smartest man on mars, gained his power of indestructible force fields.
2. Heightened Charisma A: +11
3. Weakness Detection. 1 action, 170' range, learns target weakness scientific basis for powers and combat style (gaining +4 to hit and -4 to be hit by that target).
4. Force Fields (Modified): Zevon can generate invisible fields of nigh-indestructible force. These attack as Force Field, with a Power Requirement of 1 per blast, 0 to catch, 1/2 impact damage repelled or all impact damage that penetrates. Zevon's fields can lift things and exert force -- an attack or free-standing field has capacity of CxLvlx5, while a field braces on the ground can support ten times as much. His current field strength is 400lb, with a blast damage of 1d6. This has a range of 130'. Each Force Field takes 1 action per turn to maintain, and as a defense it reduces the base chance for most physical attack types to a 0.

Weight: 180           Basic Hits: 4  Agility Mod: 0
Strength: 12           Endurance: 13
Agility: 15               Intelligence: 35
Charisma:20          React. Mod.: 3
Hit Mod. 4.14         Hit Points: 17
Dmg. Mod.: 5         Healing Rate: 1.2
Accuracy: 2            Power: 75
Carrying Capacity: 273          Base HTH Damage: 1d6
Movement Rates: 40 " Running (Base)
Det. Hidden: 24%   Det. Danger: 28%
Inventing Points: 9 Cash: $ -
Inventing: 105 %
Origin and Background: (Martian/American) Science x2, Engineering
Legal Status: Recognized by New Philly/Mars government & police.
(Sec. Clearance = 0 )

Other Information: Zachary is known as the smartest man on Mars. He's knowledgeable in most fields of science, and an expert in the high energy physics connected with the Philadelphia Experiment and Project Rainbow. This means he's skilled at modifying, designing and building anti-gravity, space drives, high-energy power sources, dimensional sensors, and other aspects of advanced tech. He's also an expert at analyzing powers, their uses and their weaknesses.

Inventions
One of Zach's more profitable inventions is Energy Fabric - a material with an indeterminate IF charge, making it highly resistant to damage, able to adapt to the IF powers of its wearer and a effective form of insulation. Uniforms made of Energy Fabric give a x2 "roll threshold" for firearms, heat & cold. Obviously, Zach's own uniform (red slacks & shirt, silver gloves, boots & belt, League emblem [silver liberty bell with red dot in its center and two silver ‘moons’ in ‘orbit’ outside of the bell] on breast) is made of this material.

Another significant invention is his design for Artificial Intelligence Emulators: these are not true AI, but incredibly complicated fractal programming techniques that do a good job of simulating it. These serve as processors in the Liberty Lair’s computer systems and as the operating software for Roberto, the Lair’s robotic butler. Otherwise Roberto is a modified Gibson Industries robot. Zach makes quite a bit licensing the AIE to Gibson Industries, but Roberto’s programming is generations more advanced than the commercial versions.

Using the processing power of the linked AIE systems, Dr. Z was able to make limited nanite surgery possible. This is his Nanite Reconstruction Surgical Equipment (NuRSE for short). Those inside one of NuRSE’s chambers regain their healing rate in HP after 5 minutes of confinement, and another in one hour – after that initial burst of closing wounds, setting bones and so on, it acts as general medical supervision, increasing daily healing by x1.75 (1/20th Zach’s INT, as per the V&V rules, p. 27). The system also gives additional chances to resist poison or disease at the 5 minute and 1 hour marks. This bulky prototype is still under wraps in the Lair

The League’s Communicator Systems use cutting edge IF technology, sending messages through parallel dimensions to other communicators. They are not affected by distance or obstacles and can’t be traced or intercepted. They do still suffer from lightspeed limits, but are a step towards Zach’s goal of Ansible technology.

Finally, Zach developed Personal Environment Generators for the League when operating outside the domes or in space. Using a limited gravity attraction force field to hold in atmosphere (and the warmth of that atmosphere) They will provided an unprotected body about 5 minutes worth of uncomfortable life in hard vacuum. For a someone with resistance to environments, a protective spacesuit or just in the standard Martian climate, it provides several hours of warm, clean atmosphere through oxygenation and air scrubbing, but no combat defenses.

These represent his five spent inventing points. Everything else is just tinkering existing gear.

Gear
As mentioned, Roberto is a modified Gibson Industries robot. Gibson industries is an Earth firm, once owned by Americans but heavily invested in by an unnamed Japanese company located in Chiba. Roberto’s 1-4 were purchased before this near-takeover, and Zach has double checked them for security purposes before uploading his more advanced software. Roberto’s higher AIE’s make him much more lifelike than others of the type, and at Jack’s instance Zach gave the robot a more human appearance to go along with his more human attitudes – he followed Jack’s direction on the robot’s appearance, who now bears a striking resemblance to the Earth actor Cheech Marin. Jack would change this, but the public perceives Roberto as a human employee of the League and would react poorly to Zach modifying him now. (Roberto is treated as an “Android” in V&V rules, with a body power of interfacing with the League’s comm system, an 80% human appearance and an Endurance of 25. He has no special combat abilities, but is treated as 2nd level through experience. This is far superior to the average GI robot, but only through the introduction of Zach’s AIEs. It is possible that people with more skill at facial molding could get a higher % human when combined with the AIEs.)

Zach also carries a StrattonTech Scanner, a common enough device in labs, with a design made popular by the Star Trek TV show. It is about the size of a hardcover book, and looks much like The Book from the Hithchiker's Guide TV shows, but with a larger screen. The Earth versions act as PDAs, cellular phones, wireless computer-links and a small holographic display potential. Martian Versions add air quality testers and sensors to pick up the strength of the local gravity field for people going outside the domes. Scientific versions add in scanners for electromagnetic radiation scanners for work in physics labs. Zach’s is a top of the line Martian Scientific version upgraded with his faster AIEs and linked via his extra-dimensional communicator tech to the League’s computers (which lets it act as an emergency remote control for their vehicles). This is often his first line of attack with any scientific problem, but the machine is limited even with his advancements.

Zach’s toolkit is an impressive device -- actually it’s three toolkits, each small enough to fit into a pocket, and combining in a variety of ways to give him any conventional tool he may need. These are not uncommon on Mars, and heck for enough money Sharper Image will sell them. Zach’s is the best available, provided for free by the company -- a sort of celebrity endorsement. Just having him be seen to use it is a big boostss potent "skills" in V&V - out of a possible 7 + weakness. V&V offers a sizable range of power levels inside a single team, and a lot of variation in how those powers interact and what the player can do with them. His "inventions" are all an expenditure of the games "Inventing Points", which are one use resources that increase each level. His fame and fortune are just player decision with GM agreement, as the game doesn’t have mechanics for those. He is, in many ways, a pretty standard V&V player character when it comes to power level.
V&V can, in play, be either highly fluid or very rigid when it comes to how a hero’s powers work. Dan was a fluid GM, letting me use the force fields to mirror super-breath by pushing people away, heightened hearing by setting up large resonating membranes, explosive strength by sliding force fields into cracks and expanding them and a super-loud voice with an invisible megaphone. Few of these are listed in the power description, but the write up for Force Field gives the player a lot of leeway in the creation and manipulation of force field shapes. The mechanics of the V&V Defense system mean that Dr. Z was reliable invulnerable to physical assault, though it would tire him out if his field was repeatedly hit. Most of the threat came not from the amount of damage in the attack but the small chance that any one attack would score a "hit" and therefor