TROS Supers

[Jake Norwood]

So this came up really briefly at RPG.net, but it got me going...

TROS converted for super-heroes. Now in truth a lot would have to go--the whole "gritty and real" thing intentionally doesn't exist in most 4-color comics (then again, different is good...). The inclusion of SAs and of the basic mechanics, especially the "fighting over initiative" aspect of TROS combat, etc...

I hear mini-supplement!

Jake

[Mayhem1979]

Riddle of the Ridiculous.... I really must start formally working out the mechanics for that particular idea...  :)

And I'd love to see/help on that particular mini supplement.

[Stuart DJ Purdie]

The Riddle of Spandex?

On the wounds thing, I'd go for doubling the dynamic range of wounds: that is, instead of a level 3 wound being 3 sucesses over defense, it's be 5 (so wound increments at 1,3,5,7 and 9 [a level 5 wound]).  That would allow for bloddy noses, but far fewer crippling wounds and instant deaths.

Missile combat would need a degree of consideration for blaster powers, and probably firearms too.  Plus, using a blaster power in the middle of a hand to hand fight is quite foreseeable, so that would need to be covered.

In terms of theme and mood, I can see two options.  Either that the powers are dangerous, unless SA's are available (Same intent there as sorcery and blade combat), or that too much sucess is dangerous, and they become a hazard when passions run high.  The later, while a very nice idea, does run counter to other parts of RoS, but I thought I'd mention it for completeness.

Hmm.  Add a third:  powers operate at some fixed level, with a roll to modify that, either up or down.  Then once great power is ammased, casual application has problems, but before that, something has to be on the line to get lots of power out.

With that in mind, it would be best to avoid powers that give simple bonuses to strength or toughness or similar, but move towards extending the range of options.  Provided that all options desire the application of SA's, everything works.  5 extra points of toughness doen't support that option, in my opnion.

[szilard]

Hmmm... a while ago I had an idea for a non-superpowered vigilante game that focused upon nifty equipment, based upon the realization that someone with kevlar, a taser, and some other nifty (yet fully available) gadgets could effectively go out and be a superhero. Someone (Kirt, I think) suggested that I write it up as a RoS mini-supplement.

Stuart

[Mortaneus]

Perhaps extend the damage table much further out, giving more than 5 damage levels.  Maybe 10.  Maybe even 15.  Make it reflect the comic book laws of reality.  Have levels 1-5 do a decent amount of shock, maybe a little pain at 4 and 5, and not much else.  Sort of like the lvl 1 effects right now.  Have  5-8 be equivalent to the 2s and 3s, with 9 and 10 being 4 and 5.

Also, an way to reflect super strength and super tough is have them be additional dice that are rolled (against maybe a TN from a skill linked to the power, in this case super str or super tgh, reflecting how well you know how to use your powers).  Each success adds or subtracts a point of damage from a blow.

Just a thought.

[Ashren Va'Hale]

I would just take the priority system and wack it out a bit, make it a point based system so you could base out your power levels, and then take things over the top. Outrageous minor, standard, and Major gifts (flying, invulnerability, energy blasts etc) with fixed costs in points. And each bundle of attribute points would have a cost, as would proficiencies and so forth. With a human average of 4, I would make a Juggernaut characte with a toughness of 20 for example and a strength of 15 but stick him with
a piddly ma of 3 and a will power of 2 or something.

The toughest mod woudl be turning sorcery into powers.... or would you just scrap all of the sorcery stuff and make it all gifts, break the gifts into three levels and base them off of the sorcery pool model.....


TROS would make a really good gritty comic book style supers game, one where death is a possibility and passions motivate the story. I really like the comic Prophet when S. Platt drew it because it had that really gritty feel.

But we would need good modern fire arms rules and a creative damage table for some of the funkier things you could do...

[Blake Hutchins]

The Riddle of the Man of Steel....

Figuring out the dial between gritty and four-color would be a critical step.  IMO a lot of Supers games out there can't bridge the gap.  It's effectively a sub-genre distinction, I think.  Preacher doesn't play nice with Superman.

Best,

Blake

[Nick the Nevermet]

Good point.

I could see a TROS-based supers being very good at a question that Warren Ellis threw about a few times in Stormwatch & The Authority:  How would you fight for a better world?

[prophet118]

course you guys could just go out and buy Mutants and Masterminds..


huh?.. whats that... yeh i hear the boos and the hisses... too bad, i think its a fairly decent game, and except for being OGC cant even honestly be called a D20 game...except of course that it uses them... in fact it uses 1D20... and thats it..

[Nick the Nevermet]

I don't own M&M, so I can't say anything about it one way or another.  I've heard plenty of good things, though, and I'll happily accept it is a good game if you say it is.

With that being said, I don't think Jake started this thread with the intent of saying, "All other Supers RPGs are bad.  We need to prove to the supers crowd that the TROS ruleset reigns supreme!!!"  At the very least IMHO, that is what this thread should avoid.  TROS is not the One True Way, just like any other RPG.  However, its rules seem to have something to them.

Ron hit it good on the head when he wrote that system matters.  Different systems do different things.  TROS is about highly detailed combat  fueling a story based on the personal motivations of the characters.  IMO, the mechanics do a good job at succeeding at that goal.  

It sounds reasonable to say that a system that does that well may be an interesting game for superheroes.  It is definitely a subgenre to have highly detailed combat strategies, but it can be found in comics.  Put that along with a focus on motivations (which appear in a LOT of comicbooks), and I think it is a very interesting question on how to adapt TROS to supers.

It isn't about saying TROS can do it better.  Just that TROS can do it different in a way that may be interesting.  So, you are right, we could just play M&M.  But, since this is a TROS forum, and nobody has mentioned M&M, or Godlike, or anything else, why not? :)  Jake asked if anyone here could see a TROS-powered supers game, and people are posting opinions on how that could work. *shrug*

I apologize if this came across as a rant.  My summer game fell apart because a player insisted that we play a "conventional roleplaying game that isn't high fantasy."  What he meant by this statement was "I want to play Vampire or Torg," but the way he went about discrediting other things because they were cliched or too weird bothered me.  Something about your post, through no fault of your own, triggered a response.

[prophet118]

well a response is still a response,

personally im sick of D20... not really the games, just the system... and i pretty much cant talk one of our groups into doing anything thats not d20... so im giving up

[Nick the Nevermet]

personally im sick of D20... not really the games, just the system... and i pretty much cant talk one of our groups into doing anything thats not d20... so im giving up

Now I'm confused... your other post then was sarcasm?
It is the weekend after the semester.  Tequila makes me slow.

[prophet118]

M&M (mutants and masterminds) is a good game, and i enjoy it, and the system, however having played nothing but D20 games for the last year, im fairly tired of the system..lol

[Jake Norwood]

The reason for the thread is that I like TROS mechanics and I want to play a supers game.

jake