SuperSystem 4th Ed. Play Unplugged Designer's Log

[fourcolorfigs]

Folks, I wrote the 5th Designer's Log in my series for Play Unplugged!  Read it here:

http://www.playunplugged.com/2014/04/designers-log-5-archetypes/

Thanks!

[SgtHulka]

I think it's great that you can instantly identify each of those archetypes as real characters. Back in the heyday of Champions, there was the "250 point project". It was a multi-author effort to create 250 point versions of all the famous superheroes published in comics. Before that, everyone naturally tried to make the published superheroes more better more awesome than regular player characters, usually clocking in at 500 or 600 points. But someone realized that if you didn't take the Marvel Handbook literally, you didn't need to go that high on the power scale. Superman really could perform a lot like superman in the comics, but only at 250 points. So what if he didn't have that obscure power that showed up in Man of Steel Issue 264? Or if he wasn't as fast as Flash? Or he couldn't literally pick up an aircraft carrier like he can in the comic? He's still really strong, he can fly, and he can shoot nasty stuff from his eyes. Done. It was a breakthrough because now player characters could feel important and could have that awesome experience of meeting, rescuing, or even battling real superheroes.

These archetypes remind me of that. Captain America, Wolverine and Batman at 85 points each. That's so much better than Batman at 120 points.

The old Marvel Heroes RPG is available for free in PDF now, along with all the scenarios. I converted All This and World War 2 for Supersystem, including 85 point stats for the Invaders. But it will be so much easier to simply plug in the archetypes.

[YPU]

Good read, always interesting to get a peak at the design level below the actual stats. Could you give any big name example of the lucky striker or is he your own invention?

O and sgtHulka its 75 points not 85. Which makes your point even better I guess.

[fourcolorfigs]

Good read, always interesting to get a peak at the design level below the actual stats. Could you give any big name example of the lucky striker or is he your own invention?

O and sgtHulka its 75 points not 85. Which makes your point even better I guess.

Thanks, guys!

The Lucky Striker was a character I played twice in two different supers RPGs.  He has no direct analog in comics, AFAIK.  We could stretch and compare him to Longshot, I guess.  Yeah, I think Longshot is a pretty good fit with a few tweaks.