[Goalsystem] Super Mission Force

[Erny]

I've played a test of four street level villains against two regular heroes. I don't want to give away the end as I plan to write it up but I can say that the two heroes found it difficult.  The villains were able to gang up very easily, compared to the heroes they effectively get to attack twice and have roughly twice the hit points. The heroes’ combination of multiple powers does help a fraction and if you remember archetype special moves they too help even the odds. Obviously once one street level is down things even up a little more even but the street level villains certainly aren't fragile. Overall I don't think it is overly unbalanced just a very tough battle, the end was close and that perhaps is a good thing. To be certain I guess I need to do another game or two. And then maybe take a power house against the same four villains.

[fourcolorfigs]

I've played a test of four street level villains against two regular heroes. I don't want to give away the end as I plan to write it up but I can say that the two heroes found it difficult.  The villains were able to gang up very easily, compared to the heroes they effectively get to attack twice and have roughly twice the hit points. The heroes’ combination of multiple powers does help a fraction and if you remember archetype special moves they too help even the odds. Obviously once one street level is down things even up a little more even but the street level villains certainly aren't fragile. Overall I don't think it is overly unbalanced just a very tough battle, the end was close and that perhaps is a good thing. To be certain I guess I need to do another game or two. And then maybe take a power house against the same four villains.

Excellent! Keep us posted.

I ran the Hulk (powerhouse) against two villains and he crunched trem, but it was close.

[Erny]

I replayed the exact same fight, same villains, same heroes and with a slight change of tactics for the previously losing side and a shift in the dice gods favour I got the opposite result. I'm pretty happy that in at least this case four street level villains are the equivalent of two regular heroes. Perhaps I should try Hulk against the four villains just in case.

[fourcolorfigs]

Ok, uploaded latest version.

Changes include:

-- Magic Hammer changed to Magic Artifact to make it more general

-- Magic Artifact now available to Bricks and Wildcards. Now you can do a poor man's Green Lantern or Starman with it instead of using the more complex Sorcery major power

-- Added an example to Magic Artifact

-- Changed Shield's rules to make it mechanically simpler (no chance roll to recover it needed when you throw it) and added a ricochet attack to it. To pay for this I lowered its range to 5"

There's a few other changes in there, but I cannot think of them now!

[Nojoy]

The shield change looks good!
I can definitely see how it can be re-purposed for batarangs and billy clubs now.

[fourcolorfigs]

The shield change looks good!
I can definitely see how it can be re-purposed for batarangs and billy clubs now.

Yep, that's a nice side benefit. Re-skin away!

[Erny]

I've moved on to looking at henchman and I'm not sure the veteran ability is quite working as it is.

If I create 10 ninja I can have melee weapons and super agility giving me some good rerolls a base 2D that rises to a fragile 7D in combat and 10  body and 10 psyche. They can also run up walls.

If I make them veteran I can choose either melee wepons or super agility not both. Lets say I choose super agility to enable my ninja moves. I now roll 3D in combat with no rerolls, rising to a fragile 5D with no rerolls. That doesn't look that good compared to 10D[2]. I do have 3d[2] defense as opposed to 2D[2] however my body and psyche is 5.

Legion adds 5 to the group and another potential 2D. That's a decent swap for access to a power, particularly for the types of troops legion is meant for.

[Erny]

Yep, that's a nice side benefit. Re-skin away!

Maybe you could allow rebounds off walls not just other hit figures. Adds a tactical nuance, represents shield and billy club use in the comics well. Could even enable a round the corner shot if you get lucky. Something like, "Your first target may be a wall or pillar, in which case you designate a point within range and LOS upon a wall or other hard surface. You do not damage your first target but otherwise treat it exactly the same as a shot rebounded from a character target."

[Cait Sidhe]

Speaking of henchmen, there's mention of throwing groups of henchmen and treating them as single figures/medium objects etc. There are no rukles for throwing stuff in the game though, is this something accidentally carried from SuperSystem?

[fourcolorfigs]

I've moved on to looking at henchman and I'm not sure the veteran ability is quite working as it is.

If I create 10 ninja I can have melee weapons and super agility giving me some good rerolls a base 2D that rises to a fragile 7D in combat and 10  body and 10 psyche. They can also run up walls.

Ok, let's look at this. Your 10 man group has 2D base. The max numbers bonus is +3D, so they'll max at 5D. If you give them Super-Agility that's 5D[2].

Also, they have 10 hits, period. Not 10 Body and 10 Psyche. Each man = 1 damage point, no matter the damage.

If I make them veteran I can choose either melee wepons or super agility not both. Lets say I choose super agility to enable my ninja moves. I now roll 3D in combat with no rerolls, rising to a fragile 5D with no rerolls. That doesn't look that good compared to 10D[2]. I do have 3d[2] defense as opposed to 2D[2] however my body and psyche is 5.

Well, your math up top is wrong.    But I may give Veterans one extra power selection as well. That might solve things. How best to make that happen? I'll look at it for a bit.

[fourcolorfigs]

I clarified the text on Henchmen damage to make it clear what I was trying to communicate.

Henchmen and Damage
Henchmen Groups don’t possess Body and Psyche ratings; they instead have a damage capacity based on their numbers. If a group of seven of Dr. Simian's Plasti-Men is hit by a ranged attack and takes two Body damage, remove two members of the group. If that same group later takes two Psyche damage from a mental blast, remove two more models--they’re now down to three Plasti-Men!


In campaign games a wiped out henchmen group always returns at full strength during the next battle if it’s part of the player’s regular team line-up. They do show up a tad late however, arriving on the scene at the beginning of round two via their normal deployment edge.

[fourcolorfigs]

OK, this should tidy up the Henchmen / Veterans issue,I hope!

Veterans (henchmen minor power)
You comprise a small, crack group of well trained fighters. Add +1D to any dice pool you possess, but your numbers drop from 10 to 5. You can decide whether your group are veterans or not before you select their powers. Veterans cannot also possess the Legion minor power.


Here's what the Archetypes look like now:

Melee Henchmen Archetype
These hordes do their best work close-up and personal!


Basic Stats
Move: 6”


Numbers: 10


[  ] Veterans (Yes____ / No____)


Minor Powers (choose two)
[  ] Melee Weapon   [  ] Legion [  ]  Resistance  [  ] Super-Agility  [  ] Super-Strength


Suggested Backgrounds (choose one)
[  ] Arcane  [  ] Art  [  ] Athletics [  ] Blue Collar  [  ] Business [  ] Criminal  [  ] Espionage  [  ] Exploration  [  ]High Society  [  ] Medicine  [  ] Military  [  ] Monarch  [  ] Performance [  ] Public Safety  [  ]  Science  [  ] Social Science


Ranged Henchmen Archetype
Whether blaster-wielding shocktroopers or fire-breathing demons, these legions harry foes from distance!


Basic Stats
Move: 6”


Numbers: 10


[  ] Veterans (Yes____ / No____)


Minor Powers (choose one additional power)
[ X ] Power Blasts   [  ] Armor  [  ] Legion [  ]  Resistance  [  ] Super-Agility 


Suggested Backgrounds (choose one)
[  ] Arcane  [  ] Art  [  ] Athletics [  ] Blue Collar  [  ] Business [  ] Criminal  [  ] Espionage  [  ] Exploration  [  ]High Society  [  ] Medicine  [  ] Military  [  ] Monarch  [  ] Performance [  ] Public Safety  [  ]  Science  [  ] Social Science

[fourcolorfigs]

Speaking of henchmen, there's mention of throwing groups of henchmen and treating them as single figures/medium objects etc. There are no rukles for throwing stuff in the game though, is this something accidentally carried from SuperSystem?

Yep. I removed this. Unneeded complication for SMF. Thanks!

[Nojoy]

Looking over henchmen, I have to ask if there is a reason that there are two different archetypes for melee and ranged? Wouldn't it be better to just give one  archetype and have all minion powers as options?
The basic henchmen seem to have the same stats, am I not seeing something that would really differ between them other than Power Blast, Melee Weapon, and Super Strength? With only two minor powers, how unbalanced could it be?

[fourcolorfigs]

Hmmm.  Consolidation to one archetype? It could work. Let me think on it.