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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: DC Superheroes Role-Playing Game
Message-ID: <15119@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Jun-85 10:42:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmath.15119
Posted: Tue Jun 18 10:42:54 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Jun-85 02:59:37 EDT
Reply-To: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 75

[...]

The DC Superhero RPG showed up in our local game store last
Thursday and initial opinion is positive.  Seems like something
you might actually want to play (as opposed to TSR's Marvel
Superhero RPG).

Like most other Super RPGs, this is a "buy your character with
points" game rather than "random dice rolls".  Combat is very
simple (perhaps too simple), but it has some nice features.
Unlike Champions, for example, where the person with the highest
DEX always moves first in the segment, characters add their DEX
to a D20 roll, and high result goes first.  That's the nice part.
The not-nice part is that there is no system for Recovery during
combat; you get hit, you stay hit (what are heroes going to do
without post-segment 12 or the chance to play dead for a bit while
you take a breather?)

Other stuff: the system is entirely based on logarithms (interesting
approach).  In other words, an increase in a particular characteristic
gives an exponential improvement in performance.  (Batman, for example,
who is simply a strong normal has STR 5; Wonder Woman who casually tosses
around cars has STR 7.)  Don't know how this pans out in combat yet -- no
one has really done more with the game than a few mock skirmishes -- but
it makes certain calculations really easy (adding logarithms to
multiply things).

The package includes a book of powers and skills (nothing new, but it
is as complete as Champions I, II, and III put together), a GM book
with tips on how to handle adventures and campaigns, an adventure with
the Teen Titan characters (a little too simplistic for my tastes),
and stats for a large number of DC characters.  For those who like
and read comic books, these stats are extremely useful.  Once and
for all, you can find out how strong Superman is and get a complete
list of his powers.  A friend of mine is busy at this moment translating
these stats into Champions terms for use in a Champions campaign
sometime soon -- the conversion process is not included in the game
(who's surprised?) but it is fairly straightforward.

Possible weaknesses: no provision for character disadvantages a la
Champions, Superworld, etc.  The rules DO state that you can choose
to role-play such disadvantages and that the GM can introduce stock
"sub-plots" that are based on Hunteds, Dependent NPCs, etc.  However,
no effort to encourage these.  Personally, I always thought the character
disadvantage concept was one of the nicest in other superhero systems.
It forced the player to make his/her character more than a list of
numbers designed to kill things.

Experience points can be used like karma points in Marvel Superheros,
i.e. you can spend your experience points during an adventure to improve
your chances of succeeding at a task or to add to damage done in combat.
They can also be used to upgrade stats, powers, or skills.  Observation:
it looks to me that characters change very slowly in this game.  Unlike
D&D where you get quantum leaps of ability with every level, I suspect
your characters will stay relatively the same for a long time, even more
so than in Champions.  Of course, I may find that I'm wrong once I've
had a chance to play the game for any period of time.

All in all, DC Superheroes RPG is a real game, unlike the Marvel
Superhero RPG.  (Very quickly, the Marvel version is too chaotic
to be able to play anything but the pre-defined characters that
come with the game.  Every time they get a new hero, they invent
a new set of powers to cover what the hero can do in the comics --
no consistent framework for creating your own characters or ranking
created characters.)  I don't know if the DC game is interesting
enough to draw people away from other superhero games (maybe there
will be some good modules), but if you've always been interested
in superhero games but have never started on one, it's well worth
examining.  If you're a fan of DC comics, the comparative stats are
probably worth the price of admission.  (Who's really more powerful;
Darkseid or Braniac?  You could be surprised.)

				Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo