Category Archives: Power-Sets

Prepping for Gateway!

  By Andy | 2016-08-30 - 2:56 pm | , , ,
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Hello again, in preparation for Gateway (LAX Hilton, Labor Day weekend), I’ve been updating some of the powers (Monster, Size & Shape, Earth, Animal) and also modifying and simplifying a type of power that I am now calling a ‘Helper’ power.

A Helper power is a power that gives you another character of some kind that works along with your Hero.  It might be an animal friend, a robot, a Detective on the police force, or an elemental creature you can summon.  All of these, I realize now, are variations of the same basic thing – someone (or something) that will do stuff for you.

Each of the ‘Helper’ powers is different and unique, but from a game-design perspective, they needed to be considered and balanced together.  Check out the rules for how to create these ‘Helper’ characters, and see some ‘Helper’ characters examples and basic animal examples.  let me know if it makes sense to you.

Cheers!

Andy A

Updated Size-changing Rules

  By Andy | 2016-03-04 - 5:14 pm | , ,
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Hello folks,

Big thanks to Sam U. who sent some notes to me regarding the larger sized characters (Base Size Increase 1: T-Rex, 2: Dia Kaiju and 3: Titan), to make them more playable.  This instigated an update of all the size-changing powers in the Monster and Size & Shape power-sets.  Check ’em out, especially if you have a character with one of those power-sets.

He also sent this fun video showing relative sizes of monsters, characters, robots and some ships in anime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XbeVosPszo.

Neat!

New ‘Force’ powers and also a Strength chart

  By Andy | 2015-09-25 - 4:14 pm | , , ,
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Hello folks,  I set a goal for myself to provide some kind of new material at least once a week, so I apologize for the delay.  I’ve been re-thinking how we balance the Powers in a Power-Set after the excellent play-testing at Gateway.

As a result, I have updated the Force power-set.

Additionally, I’ve added a brand new Strength chart, which also includes some rules about lifting and carrying very heavy things, AND how to use found objects as weapons.  Does your hero want to grab a small car and throw it at the villain?  Here’s how!

Finally, I’ll be at Con-volution over the 1st weekend of October!  I’ll run a few sessions of The Hero Instant, and I’ll also be presenting a game-design workshop!  Fun!  If you’re near San Francisco, come on down!

New Power-Set: Surfing!

  By Andy | 2015-09-01 - 7:41 pm | , , ,
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2015-09-01

Hot on the heels of Warping, we give you Surfer!

Surfing super-heroes are any that stand up to ride, or slide along, something that they might be knocked off of.  It might be goblin-themed glider, a cosmic surfboard, or a bridge made out of ice.

Many thanks to Jeff for playtesting this Power-Set recently.  It was one of the earliest ones I wrote, but it needed some love.

Remember, you can find me running games of this at Gateway in Los Angeles over Labor Day weekend.  Come by and play!

 

New Power-Set: Warping! (Teleporting and Scrying)

  By Andy | 2015-08-30 - 10:42 pm | , ,
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Updated 2015-08-31

After a couple of successful play-tests, I’ve added the Warping Power-Set.  If you’ve ever wanted to teleport to work or school to avoid traffic and get an extra few minutes of sleep, this power is for YOU!  Thanks to Jeff and Aldrin for creating characters with these powers!

I’ve also updated the Flight and Speedster Power-Sets to fix a mechanic that allowed people with a lot of movement to add too much of that movement into attacks.  Some is OK, but not as much as the players discovered.  This is why we play-test!  I’m grateful to Anders and Chad for their ability to min-max and find this problem!