Character 12 of the Character Creation Challenge - Superworld Role-Playing Game

 

Character 11 is Superworld by Steve Perrin. It was published by Chaosium.

This is a game that I own but have never played. I have modules because of the time when their modules would have conversions to Champions and V&V 2.0 in the back of the book. Different Worlds magazines published articles and characters for it. While there are others games (Superhero 2044 and Golden Heroes) but for me Champions, Villains & Vigilantes, and Superworld are the founding trio of Superhero Role-Playing Games.

For the #CharacterCreationChallenge (I am not able to hold to the 31 day part) I will be following the rule books as written. This means I will need to start with a character idea. I have used previous player characters I have played since they are a fully more realized concept. I will do it again.

He wasn’t my first V&V character but he was my first successful. I do not measure success in a Min/Max kinda of way. My measurement is based on how fun is the character to Role-Play outside of combat as well as in combat. In combat does the character allow me to be creative and defeat my opponent both efficiently and with flare/style?

Cougar checked all the boxes. He was a random roll in V&V but I rolled everything on the Skills table which is the smallest powers table in V&V 2.0. So the variability is limited and you get a certain style of character. After I rolled the powers, among them 2 powers spark my imagination. It was Heightened Senses and Heightened Expertise. This was either 1984 or 1985 so the Heightened Senses on Wolverine. For those don’t immediately click on the timing, this would be Days of Future Past was first published in 1981. So at that time Wolverine was the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past. So Cougar would be a mutant with Heightened sense of smell and night vision. Now for Heightened Expertise you get improved chances to hit with a single weapon, a group of weapons, or everything. When I saw anything in the rule book I flashed on Bullseye from Daredevil. In 1979 Daredevil (vol 1) issue 160 there was an epic fight between Bullseye and Black Widow where he was using a hair dryer and other item in her apartment to defeat her. Later in 1982 there was the class Daredevil Electra arc, when Bullseye used this ability to escape prison which culminated in the issue 181 Bullseye versus Electra fight. Frank Miller’s art on all those issues is fantastic. So I chose everything.  I had rolled Natural Weaponry but instead of choosing claws (to close to Wolverine) I chose Martial Arts. To ensure that Cougar wasn’t just a mix of the two characters with the final powers rolled, I created trick Bolas. When the Bolas wrapped around the target the momentum of the cables pulling the balls (weighted ends) would release the trick effect. I have gas – paralysis and explosives as two of my trick Bolas.

The Heightened Expertise worked too well. The GM had ‘someone’ spy on Wayne Wilcox in his apartment but Wayne smelled him. Wayne nearly took him down with a perfectly thrown vase. I still think it was Stormlord from the Crusher but I never found out. The GM state that the ‘everything’ portion was too powerful. So he backed it down to all weapons. The gas bola was still extremely effective so I didn’t complain and continued to play with Cougar for many great adventures.

Here is the most recent version.

So I quickly scan the powers book of Superworld. I see the power Catseye and the skill Throw. I bet I can create Cougar to his original concept. First is to select name, gender, weight etc. Easily done and I put it on the Character Sheet. I am going old school and printed out the Character Sheet from the Companion to Superworld book.

Next is to pick a career which will determine income. I review both Martial Artist and Military. I have created variants of Wayne where his back story was ex-Military. Military provide income but not the right skills. So Martial Artist it is, no income but the skills I wanted. I complete the Skills section with of the character sheet with the skills Wayne gained from his career. The sheet shows a base amount for 1 level. I entered that amount in the line next to it to show I have. The skills of Camouflage, Meditate, and Spot Weakness aren’t on the sheet so I add them to a blank spot and put their starting percentage in. Camouflage isn’t in the Powers book so I used Disguise for the determination of the percentage. This follows the example in the rule book where Photography was set with the same as Craft. I also have skills in Fist, Grapple, Kick, and Hand to Hand Weapons. These are listed in the combat section and not the skills section. I decide to not do anything with those yet.

Next I roll for the Characteristics. The roll is 2d6 + 6

Strength (STR) = 12

Constitution (CON) = 8

Size (SIZ) = 14

Intelligence (INT) = 13

Power (POW) = 14

Dexterity (DEX) = 13

Appearance (APP) = 14

I did not roll very well. The super hero minimum characteristic should average 13. So I could roll an 8 and keep if I rolled high like a 17 or 18. I total up all my characteristics which are 88. This is below 91 so I get to reroll my lowest characteristics until I exceed 91. I reroll CON. I get a 14 so now I am at 94. So I stop rolling.

Strength (STR) = 12

Constitution (CON) = 14

Size (SIZ) = 14

Intelligence (INT) = 13

Power (POW) = 14

Dexterity (DEX) = 13

Appearance (APP) = 14

Now I get to add previous experiences that I can add levels to my existing skills from my career. The levels are determined by taken the characteristics (94) and divided by 7, for 13 levels. I increase those and mark (PE) on the character sheet to show the levels which were increased by this.

Next is getting the number of Hero points I have to spend on Superpowers and Skills. It is equal to the Characteristics which are 94. So I have 94 Hero points to spend and thing beyond this will have to covered by taking disadvantages and handicaps with provide Hero Points as well.

Now it is time to buy Superpowers and Skills.

I start with his mutant abilities

Super DEX for 12 points

Super CON for 5 points

Supermove 2 Levels (+12 meters per Action Round) for 2 Hero points (will need to spend 2 Energy ERG to use)

Leap 2 Levels (+10 meters per Action Round) for 2 Hero points 2 ERG

Catseye 1 Level (1 km in the dark) for 2 Hero Points

Super Hearing 1 level (100 meters) for 2 Hero Points

Super Smell 5 levels for 10 Hero Points

Defense (This is matrix style super dodging) 12 hero points for 20% chance to dodge (this is per Companion of Superworld update on the hero point costs per 5%

Now I add new Skills

Pathfind 5 levels for 5 Hero points

Track 5 levels for 5 Hero points

Throw 10 levels for 10 Hero points

Now I need his equipment.

In the rule book there is the archaic weapon of club for 30% to hit, 1d6+2 damage, no range for 4 Hero points. I buy but rename it to Nunchaku

In the rules under modern weapon is a Gas Grenade 3d6 Gas (no ERG shown) for 9 hero points. I enter 1 level so show he has 1 grenade.

I made the last weapon. Under the Superpower Snare I get 5d6 for it. I apply ½ to hero points because it is on the same level as a gun for being able to be taken away. It is 4 Levels for to increase to 5d6 damage. The Snare used 15 ERG.  I spend 8 Hero Points and 8 in Disadvantage (equipment)

I see in the rules in the Dr. Dread adventure that a Power Supply can be both specifically for the equipment. So I buy a 60 point power specifically for the snare. That is 6 points. I have 4 Snares (Bolas).

Now I am balanced, I want to take 2 more Superpowers with the handicaps I can take so I add them now

Martial Arts 2 levels for 40 Hero Points

Armor which will protect for 5 points each against Kinetic, Energy, and Radiation (5K/5E/5R). To lower the points from 15 (as the levels show) to 7, I take vulnerable device costume which lowers by 1/5 (3 points) and Failure condition of 25% for 5 points. This means there is a 25% chance the attack will miss the armor and hit me.

Now I need 48 points of Handicaps to balance to zero. The Handicaps I pick I try to tie to a power I have like having super hearing makes me vulnerable to sonic attacks or to part of the back story. In the Gamemaster book it mentions that The Omega Institute supports and experiments on mutants. It has a history of being good or bad depending on the regime. It mentions that it will pay mutants to participate in tests. So with Wayne being a mutant and having no income I will use The Omega Institute as a handicap as well.

Handicaps

Add Damage: +1 per die versus Sonic Attack for 6 Hero Points

Add Damage: +1 per die versus Gas Attack for 6 Hero Points (I could have done +2/die versus bad odor/stench attack but I decided to use a common list power instead of a rare unlisted since the GM is me and I am bias towards me. I will save that for something more important later … foreshadowing)

Personal Problem: arch-enemy Black Maria for 5 Hero Points

Personal Problem: competitive with Fury for 5 Hero Points

Personal Problem: Obligated to The Omega Institute since they are his source of income for 10 points

Bad Habit: Prefers to hunt and track alone for 5 Hero Points

Psychological Problem: Strict Code vs Killing for 5 Hero Points

Psychological Problem: Love to fight other Martial Artists (have to beat the best to be the best) for 5 Hero points

Bad Habit: comments on when a person last took a bath for 1 Hero points

All that is let is to do the math can complete the stat blocks.

Idea roll is INT times 5 (65%). This is the mechanic for allowing the player playing a PC with High Intelligence to get the answer or idea from the GM. This can be used by the GM when the PC has a lower IQ than the player to roll to see if the PC is capable of thinking of what the player did.

Luck roll is POW times 5 (70%).

Agility roll is DEX times 5. There is a max limit of 95% so (95%)

Aura is equal to Appearance. There are skills which can improve this but I don’t have them.

Energy is CON + POW (add Power Supply if bought as a Superpower with Hero Points) (33)

Recharge is Energy (33) divided by 10 (3)

Hit Points is the average of CON and SIZ (17)

Damage Bonus is STR + SIZ, reference to a table (1d6, +3 ERG – even super characteristics can require Energy to use)

Action Ranks are DEX minus by 10 until subtraction is less than 1 (25, 15, 5)

Movement Rates is Melee Round divided by 3 for Action Round. Take base movement divided by 3, then I added my supermove to walk and run for Action Round and then multiple to 3 to get new Melee Round. For Leap I add my +10 to 2 for action round then multiple by 3 for Melee Round

That finishes the stats block.

Now is the Combat chart.

The first one on the list is FIST. It has a base 50% to hit. I tell the GM that I have skill in Fist shouldn’t I get a bonus from my career as even those without the skill start at 50%. The GM (me) thinks I have made a very logical and sound point. I decided giving a 5% bonus for the career skill of 1 level is reasonable and won’t break the game. So a +5% is award to Fist, Grapple, Kick, and my Hand to Hand weapon (Nunchaku).

The martial arts superpower provides a bonus as well. I decided to add the martial arts power description to my campaign notes of my Character Sheet so I can learn the different options quicker as I use them in game play.

I have 2 levels of Martial Arts so I get a 20% to Fist, Grapple, Kick, and Nunchaku with my 5% bonus for career. So I add 25% to the base each under the Attack Column

For damage I get +1d6 for my damage bonus and +2d6 for 2 levels of Martial Arts so I put that down for Fist, Grapple, and Kick. The Nunchaku started with 1d6+2 so I add the +3d6 to it and write it down.

I get a parry bonus for my 2 levels of Martial Arts so I write down the 25% bonus on my parry for Fist. I explain that my hand melee weapon is like Fist since is it a hand melee weapon. The GM (me again) allows me to write the parry % in the Nunchaku as well. I write down the ERG costs from my bonus damage. I forgot to write it down for Grapple, but it should have it too.

Smash is the crashing into an opponent. I have no bonuses so I write down the attack. The damage is based on move which is variable so I will have to figure damage each time I use it.

Throw I add my 10 levels (50%) to the base for a 95% Throw (yeah! Bullseye's ability, how I missed you)

For the Gas Grenade and Snare Bola is use the Throw attack percentage as these are thrown, the damage is what I bought it at. The range is the Throw range of 20m and the 15 ERG is per the equipment purchase.

I write the % possible of ID smells in my skill section so I won’t forget what it is when I need to roll for use of my super smell power.

I am really happy with Cougar. Superworld did a really good creating the original concept of the character and I was able to capture all the key elements of him.

Now I am wishing Steve Perrin would run a Superworld game at the next North Texas RPG con he is able to attend. Playing any of his provided characters would be great; I would love to play Fury.

So here he is Cougar, with his motto: “The Hunted can’t outrun the Hunter!”