Solo playtest of Power Legion (with pictures).

[Legionnaire]

Basically the Hero (The Crimson Shade) was built on about 750 points, the goons totalled 999   and The Immortal Ogre in itself 666  !!! I determined that the Hero would have 2 Fate points and the opposition none. Further, in the opening scene if he won the Intimidation by 4 points (Major effect or more), the rest of the bar people would run away instead of taking a swing or two at the Hero. The Device to control The Immortal Ogre was D10 Telepathy (Limited to Immmortal Ogre), but The Crimson Shade had first to spend an action and win Mind vs D6 to figure out how to use it, then the Device would give D8 Telepathy in his hands vs The Immortal Ogre's Strong Will of D8, succeed at 4+ (Major Effect) and Bob's your uncle!!! Easy peasy.

This was great fun!!!   The mechanics are quite simple, roll the die indicated versus a resistance die, REROLL ties and the best result wins. Combat is a lot more interesting than subtracting hit point with the Minor/ Major Effects. At the whole it is very easy to just "pick the attributes you want" and then totalling the points for the cost of the hero/ villain, even vehicles and monsters can be created quite easily.

It works quite well for solo gaming as well, as you choose EITHER to take ONE action with a figure in the "team" OR to roll for it. On a 1 the figure doesn't act and the turn immediately ends for that side, going over to the opposition, 2-3 is one action, 4-5 two actions and 6+ three actions. So basically one guaranteed action (move, attack or something else) or take a gamble. Which makes it interesting and a little bit uncertain, more vital to choose in this situation when there only was one Good Guy, and I rolled a 1 once missing that turn for him.

The only (slight) gripes I have really are that a few entries have been missed out, due to oversights and miss in proof reading I'm sure (Danger Sense cost is listed, but no Trait description, can find it in other sections, Superleap is listed but have missed the point cost, a couple of Traits ARE listed with cost but taken out of the final version...)

[sundayhero]

thank you for this solo game report !

When you say

It works quite well for solo gaming as well, as you choose EITHER to take ONE action with a figure in the "team" OR to roll for it. On a 1 the figure doesn't act and the turn immediately ends for that side, going over to the opposition, 2-3 is one action, 4-5 two actions and 6+ three actions

How do you manage the villains actions ? How do you determine they will move or attack ? And how do you manage the "gamble" of activation ? Do you roll for villains, or do you pick just one action ?


Very interesting. What I like, in a solo gaming point of view, is that this game seems fast and easy, wich is an important aspect of solo playability. Another reason I'm interested in this game is the fact that I bought about 30€ of dice (d4 to D12) for Force on Force, and I don't have any other game using this kind of dice 

[Legionnaire]

thank you for this solo game report !

When you say

How do you manage the villains actions ? How do you determine they will move or attack ? And how do you manage the "gamble" of activation ? Do you roll for villains, or do you pick just one action ?


Very interesting. What I like, in a solo gaming point of view, is that this game seems fast and easy, wich is an important aspect of solo playability. Another reason I'm interested in this game is the fact that I bought about 30€ of dice (d4 to D12) for Force on Force, and I don't have any other game using this kind of dice 

You are welcome. When I play my solo games I do it to enjoy myself, therefore I amuse myself during it with implanting some kind of characteristics on the "Villains" (Ed here is thick as two bricks and need a moment to get in gear, 1 Action, Frank has an animal cunning, Bank Action and Roderigo here can do things of surprising brilliance and stupidity, dice for it). I mostly just go with what seems like it could be cool, the thugs lay down heavy gunfire but misses the hero (due to poor rolls), who retaliates with devastating accuracy, meanwhile, the Thug Leader takes the chance when the Hero is distracted to try to get the objective done!!!  As long as I had fun it's a successful game.

Yes, the rules might take a read through or two to remember most things but essentially the rules are fast and easy. I enjoyed them and will now try them out for the continuing adventures of Tyger and Gargoyle 

[sundayhero]

Thanks

I found some interesting solo mechanic for Songs of blades and heroes, maybe it can be used for PowerLegion too ?

http://dogui.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/solitaire-song-of-blades-and-heroes/

[Legionnaire]

Thanks

I found some interesting solo mechanic for Songs of blades and heroes, maybe it can be used for PowerLegion too ?

http://dogui.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/solitaire-song-of-blades-and-heroes/

Because you actually only roll ONE single die for activation I don't think it will. Maybe a D2 to see if they take the guaranteed single action or take the gamble to do more but also risk a Turnover. Maybe a dice roll to see what kind of action they take? Offensive, Defensive, Aiding, Objective related, Evasive?

[sundayhero]

I'll work on this, I bought the rules tonight.

[sundayhero]

I just finished to print the book, the biggest issue for me is the lack of campaign rules    In SuperSystem, campaign ("series") is a major feature of the game.

I just "diagonal readed" the book when I was printing it, so maybe I missed something !

[Legionnaire]

I just finished to print the book, the biggest issue for me is the lack of campaign rules    In SuperSystem, campaign ("series") is a major feature of the game.

I just "diagonal readed" the book when I was printing it, so maybe I missed something !

The current version gives the winning team 1 Fate per won game, so the stats doesn't increase but you have more chances to re-roll and use Trait Tricks. But there's nothing stopping you from coming up with a simple experience system, maybe (just off the top off my head) 25 points to the TEAM for winning the game, 10 to the losing one and distribute as you see fit amongst the members?

[sundayhero]

I'm currently reading the book, and I like what I read. 

 Concerning campaigns, we could also imagine some characters beginning with low dice powers, and they could level up one or more powers depanding their battle results. So a d6power becoming a d8, etc...

[Cosmotiger]

This is just brainstorming, but the way I would envision a superhero campaign has less to do with the characters advancing in their skills, and more to do with a narrative plot.  I think more in terms of a branching "if-then" flowchart, for example:

Scenario 1: Joker and henchmen try to locate and make off with the security code for the Gotham City Resevoir. Batman and Robin attempt to stop them.

If Joker is successful in Scenario 1, then Scenario 2 is Batman and Robin attempt to stop him from poisoning the Resevoir.
If Batman is successful, then Scenario 2 is Joker breaking out of the Police station.

Although if you want to map out all options in advance, rather than come up with ideas on the fly, you will probably want to re-use some of the scenarios (possibly with minor tweaks). Otherwise you'll need to come up with a lot of different options, due to the doubling in each step.

[obsidian3d]

For superhero campaigns I really feel like you need a campaign runner. Each scenario should have some rewards, based on what's happening in the game.

As mentioned above, the rulebook provides Fate rewards to teams for victories. They also allow you to purchase new tricks permanently for 2 Fate.

If you want to customize your games a bit you could also level up powers or gain new powers based on the narrative of the games you play. For example, if a character performed a particularly lucky or amazing feat using one of their powers (like a super-tough shot that should never hit at 3xLong, but you roll a hit and do tons of damage), then they could improve that power die permanently by one shift. Of course you'd have to increase the cost of the character on their profile.

I also like the idea of coming up with unique tricks for characters that they can learn over time, and the Aces for your team could provide some interesting twists from game to game. In the end I'm actually quite wary of constantly increasing the powers of your characters, because after a while your street-level Batman type dude will end up as a cosmic-powered wrecking machine.

[Legionnaire]

For superhero campaigns I really feel like you need a campaign runner. Each scenario should have some rewards, based on what's happening in the game.

As mentioned above, the rulebook provides Fate rewards to teams for victories. They also allow you to purchase new tricks permanently for 2 Fate.

If you want to customize your games a bit you could also level up powers or gain new powers based on the narrative of the games you play. For example, if a character performed a particularly lucky or amazing feat using one of their powers (like a super-tough shot that should never hit at 3xLong, but you roll a hit and do tons of damage), then they could improve that power die permanently by one shift. Of course you'd have to increase the cost of the character on their profile.

I also like the idea of coming up with unique tricks for characters that they can learn over time, and the Aces for your team could provide some interesting twists from game to game. In the end I'm actually quite wary of constantly increasing the powers of your characters, because after a while your street-level Batman type dude will end up as a cosmic-powered wrecking machine.

I mostly play solo superhero games, so I make up the scenarios/ stories for my own amusement and if someone else like them, great!!!  I don't like the idea of "levelling up" Traits either, as you say, after a while they become "much more". Maybe a way around it would be to start some heroes/ villains at a lower level (sidekicks/ associates?) and then arbitrary, for instance say, they can improve ONE attribute by 1 die reflecting intensive training in some aspect, and maybe a total of TWO Traits (or buy ONE new within reason) up to a maximum of X die (D10 maybe in a Streetlevel campaign).

I think the Fate reward seem to work well (buy a permanent Trick) and reflecting that little extra "umph" of experience, skill and just pure dumb luck  .

[sundayhero]

A lot of good ideas here !

First I'm glad to be mistaken about campaign rules, the fate reward is a nice and simple way to bring some level up in a campaign.

Concerning levelling, I believe that it's not opposite to story. Imagine a tech specialized hero (like ironman) who add a new feature to his battle armor. Even "natural" superheros often shows some level up in their stories, for instance a young mutant discovering his powers, and learning how to masterize them. Even a powerfull superhero like Spiderman had to learn how to use his powers eficiently.

 Or you can simply imagine a story where heroes evolve, for instance a supernatural comet approaching Earth, giving extra power as the comet come close. Etc, etc...

That's the kind of levelup I was thinking about Since I will mostly play solo, I will be free to create this kind of rules. Maybe we could imagine a max level, or a "perfect profile" for a super or villain wich cannot be exceeded.

In one word, more than XP or levelling, I would say "growing to full potential".

[sundayhero]

Another idea for campaign games in the rulebook is to give one extra ace card for a victorious team. I believe it's another good idea to give some "xp" evolution to a team.

Another campaign idea in the book is the "coup de grace" for KOed characters. I can see some use in solo gaming for this (to handle hero or villain Nemesis behaviour).

Finally, PL gives some useable nice ideas for campaigns !