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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watmath.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!jagardner
From: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Anything but D&D
Message-ID: <14641@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-May-85 11:37:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmath.14641
Posted: Fri May 24 11:37:23 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 25-May-85 07:17:28 EDT
Reply-To: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner)
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 52

In article <2949@garfield.UUCP> michael3@garfield.UUCP (Mike Rendell) writes:
> Would anyone out there
> throw screaming tantrums of rage if gamers suddenly start-
> posting articles on Traveller and Champions?
>
> I've also noticed that, unlike other newsgroups, we never
> seen to get any reviews.In an expensive hobby like this one
> reliable reviews are invaluable. Not to mention rare. (In
> particular, is TSR's Marvel Super Heroes really as wretched
> as it sounds?)   

TSR's Marvel Superheroes is mostly a game for munchkins.  It lets
you play all your favourite Marvel heroes (if you have any), but forget
trying to roll your own character.  Every time they bring out a new hero
description, they invent new powers or new glitches to the existing rules...
in other words, they have to kludge their system for every hero in the
universe.  The character generation system is a joke.

On the other hand, they have one interesting glitch that imitates one
aspect of comics better than other superhero RPGs: the concept of "karma
points".  Karma points are experience points in some sense, since you
can trade in karma points to improve your powers and skills.  However,
you can also trade in karma points to improve individual dice rolls.
I think this is very true to the comics: when your punch absolutely has
to connect, you can spend those points to make sure it does.  In that
final second when only you can save the world, you can...provided that
you've saved up a few points for emergencies.

I have adapted this to fit in my Champions campaign.  One Champions
experience point buys one Karma point.  At the cost of one karma point,
you can dictate one 3D6 roll without rolling.  Therefore when you
absolutely must take down the villain, you say "Surprise, I roll a 3"
(which in Champions is an automatic hit).  When you are going to die
if you don't make your DEX roll to grab the flagpole as you're falling,
you can roll a 3 there too.  Activation rolls for armour, luck rolls,
EGO rolls...all those things can be purchased with a karma point.  But
once you spend the karma point, it's gone and so is the experience point
you used to buy it.  In my campaign, where heroes average 2 experience
points a week, this means that karma points are grossly expensive.
Moreover, I have set a limit of 2 karma points at any one time, which
means that you can't save up to waltz through emergencies.  They are
only used in direst emergencies.

By the by, the way Marvel Superheroes awards karma points is silly.
For example, you can get more karma points spending two weekends with
Aunt May than saving the world.  Also, if you ever take a human life,
you automatically lose all your karma points.  This means that villains
seldom have points they can use against you, but it's hellishly difficult
to play a character like Wolverine and get anywhere.

				Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo