...Comes Great Responsibility or Supers RPGs Part 2

 Greeting Adventurers!

Taking a break from writing Hydra Hobbies products here for some pondering and reflection on rules and superhero gaming. I've been a supers RPG gamer since back in the early 80's. I started reading comics back in the 1970's with Batman, Justice League, Captain America and the Fantastic Four. As it progressed into the 1980s my brother and I got heavily into comics especially the Marvel Universe. It started with Micronauts, GI Joe, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. There was some Marvel subscription deal where if you got so many titles in your subscription you got another title free. So, with our free one we choose X-Men because the name sounded cool. No other reason. We had never even read or seen an issue. While we were waiting for our first issues I went to the local drug store (the only place in town where you could buy comics) and bought an issue. It was X-Men #134. John Byrne. Smack dab in the middle of the Dark Phoenix saga. 

We were both gobsmacked and we were hooked. Avengers quickly followed as well as other titles like The New Mutants and Alpha Flight etc. I started to branch out into DC Justice League, Green Lantern, Firestorm, and Teen Titans among others. Ah, the late bronze age. We also subscribed to Dragon Magazine. Around 1983 I saw an ad in Dragon Magazine for the yellow box Marvel Superheroes RPG Game (FASERIP) and knew I had to have it when it came out the next year. On a trip to the Twin Cities, I found a copy at the famous Little Tin Soldier (the hang out of Dave Arneson and crew of the Twin Cities Military Miniatures Group) hobby shop. As my brother was buying his Traveller little black books I grabbed up all the MSH stuff: the yellow box, Breeder Bombs, the GM Screen etc. It was my first foray into supers gaming and it was amazing. Amazing for a 12-year-old that is. 

My interests moved on and in 1989 The Batman movie came out and I picked up a copy of the DC Heroes Batman Gamebook while I was at some mall in Chicago. This was a separate "full game in a book" for DC Heroes. I was intrigued while reading it so I also bought some Batman sourcebooks for that system at Gamer's Paradise at the nearby Harlem Irving Plaza mall. The rpg was somewhat complicated and really didn't play well at the table. It's complicated AP system really dragging things down. More on that later.

Years later, I gave the Hero System a try and played both Spider-man and Captain America with some friends. I was a player and not a GM for that and it appeared kinda cool. I began to dabble in other supers games and found V&V. I played a bit of that with the classics Crisis at Crusader Citadel and Death Duel with the Destroyers but I was a bit taken off by having to play "as myself" with powers, which were rolled randomly (I had stretching and telepathy!) I liked the Hero system a bit better but didn't own any of the books and none of my local FLGS carried it so I forgot about it and moved on.

Forward to the early 2000's and my time at Steve Jackson Games. I was invited into a Hero/Champions game run by a local comic/game store owner and had a very fun but short romance with that system, more on that later as well. During this time, I started to experiment with other supers systems like Supergame and Superhero 2044. Also, since I did work for SJG, I did have a fling (call it a summer fling ala Spider-Man: Far From Home) with GURPS Supers but that didn't last long as that system really didn't do well with Supers, at all. That campaign eventually switched to MSH FASERIP and the Karma advancement system really killed the vibe of that game. My players felt let down with the difficulties advancing their novice supers spoiling the really excellent combat system.

I went back to the HERO System 5th (Champions) and really got into it. I traded books with Steve Long of Hero Games and got nearly everything in print for that system. I dug in hard. I made super after super not only from the Marvel Universe but creations of my own and ports from other games I had played in. I really dug it for a time (I even had the cool special d6 Hero Dice that you really didn't need because standard sixes were really all that was required). Sadly, this system fell very short at the table with its copious amount of math and bookkeeping required and the fact that combat that literally took hours and hours to play out.

I was left still looking for a system that could scratch my super itch. I explored Golden Heroes, Godlike, Silver Age Sentinels and Heroes Unlimited. All of which were lacking or very complicated. About this time several Marvel games came and went. All very lackluster except for the Marvel Heroic RPG by Hickman and Weis. It appeared cool but when brought to the table became lackluster and a tad confusing for my players, it only lasted one session.

A friend of mine then tried to sell me on Mutants & Masterminds and I didn't really "buy in" at first. I think I got the free Quickstart and toyed a little with the DC Adventures official port on a borrow from my friend. I took a deep dive into Green Lantern and the system opened up for me like a pandoras box. It combined the best of character point power creation from the Hero system, the simplicity of the "roll 20" for everything system of D&D 3.0, and a unique "death spiral" of conditions rather than traditional hit points. Its level system was also really good without having actual character levels. It's a bit complicated to explain but works great in practice allowing the GM to dictate the power level of their campaign without restricting the advancement of the PCs supers. Much more on this later. I really got into this system like I did Hero and boy it came at a sweet spot at that time because Green Ronin was really cranking out products for M&M 3e and I was loving every one of them, especially all of the officially licensed DC Universe stuff. It has slowed down since then and they are coming out with a 4e (which I'm avoiding because I'm still really diggin 3e and I have so many physical and digital copies of everything that I feel that I'm into that system with what we call in business "sunk costs" and don't want to change. Not to mention that 4e is going to be backwards compatible and is just a tweak of the rules rather than an entire complete change of the mechanics. I'm staying with 3e.

I brought M&M to the table and it worked. It was fast and it was fun. I got raves from a friend in my old group that worked for the DC Online game (she was a big-time producer there) and we didn't even use the DC port! Now that is saying something.

I sorta shelved it for a time as the players in my group have really focused on D&D 5e here for the last few years. In the meantime I've checked out some other supers games such as ICONS, Masks: A new Generation, Capes, Living Legends, BASH, Paragons, Base Raiders, Comic Book Adventures, Heroes who wear Masks, Sentinel Comics RPG, Super Atomic Supers, and new versions of The Batman Game, Hero System (6th I think?), Marvel Multiverse RPG (the newest MSH RPG which shows promise but I've yet to really take a deep dive with it) and the new SWADE Supers add on which includes the fantastic Doom Guard (another one I need to take a deep dive into. I know SWADE really well but not the Supers part). As I mentioned before I also got the .pdf of Mighty Protectors and then the hardcover. Recently, that con game with Jeff Dee has lit a small spark with me.

For the last part of this series, I'll take a trip through all the Super RPGs that I've mentioned with some more depth to those I took to the table and a smaller personal review blurb to those that just didn't fit my style and the reasons why.

With Great Power...

 Greetings Adventurers!

A few weeks ago, I attended the extremely fun and well-run game convention TFest in Pflugerville Texas. This was about 10 minutes from my house and was organized by Kennon James who had done the last cover for my adventure The Dungeon of the Tormentor for DCC rpg. The convention was very popular and when I registered many of the games I wanted to play in were already full. I managed to get a spot for a classic Traveller game, a tabletop game called Western Legends, a D&D BX game, and I managed a slot to play in Jeff Dee's Mighty Protectors superhero RPG game. This was the highlight of the convention for me. I had no idea that Mr. Dee lived here in the Austin area and was gleefully surprised to see him at his booth. He was gracious and informative. He beckoned me to sit down and gave me a demo of his new prehistoric caveman/dinosaur game that used a unique pebble/stone system instead of dice. It played very fast and my poor caveman succumbed to some wolves after getting separated from my hunting party. I enjoyed this demo but caveman/dinosaur games isn't really my thing. I then asked him about his newish superhero incarnation of Villains & Vigilantes called Mighty Protectors.

I had told him I owned the .pdf and had checked it out but really didn't do a deep dive into it. He was more than excited to give me a bunch of highlights that this new V&V v3 could offer, including a very unique and interesting vehicle design system. I had many questions about gadgets, powers, and mechanics and he spent quite some time going over many of the features of this "new" (well, it came out in 2017) system. Our conversation continued and then we spoke business (he is quite a famous RPG/Comic artist having illustrated his own games as well as working for TSR back in the 80's) and discussed an opportunity for me to commission him to do my next adventure cover, which I was very excited about. I spent nearly an hour chatting with him and in the end purchased a hard cover copy of the Mighty Protectors rule book (and later came back the next day to buy a physical copy of the adventure Market Forces for the same system). In departing, I mentioned I would be playing in his game on Sunday and that I was very excited to try out this "new to me" system.

Sunday rolled around and I had a great time playing Mighty Protectors with GM Jeff Dee. What a rush to play with one of the super RPG industry founders (after all V&V was one of the first superhero RPGs ever created!) I played Shutterbug, the internet blogging super who had been bitten by a radioactive insect, think Spider-man without the webshooters. Shutterbug, along with Hot Shot (think Human Torch) and the mighty Gilgamesh (think Thor or Hercules from the MU) faced off against a big bruiser supervillain (I can’t remember his name) and a band of CrimeTech baddies who were trying to steal a highly technological component from a space shuttle on display aboard the floating aircraft carrier museum, the USS Intrepid in New York. As we were playing Jeff was gracious enough to go over and highlight many of the rules and mechanics of the game specifically for me as I had mentioned I really wanted to learn this system and wanted to  try out my newly purchased book version of the .pdf I had already owned...not to mention I had brought a copy of the inserts to the MP GM screen I had purchased from DriveThru RPG the night before, which came in very handy as the small space we had to play in had prevented Jeff from using his awesome purple screen. William and Shutterbug to the rescue!

During the game some interesting developments in game mechanics caught my attention. First the combat was kinda slow paced. There were lots of rules needed and interpretations of said rules required in order for the system to work. Now, this isn’t surprising as it is a supers game where magical maces, spears, flames, burning auras and where a giant fighter bomber was picked up and slammed down on the bad guy so this is expected but it seemed that there was a tad bit of crunch to be encountered as a GM running the game. Second, it is a roll low system which is always a bit awkward, at least to me, and criticals have to be confirmed (natural 1's and 20's) by rolling a second time. What is very cool is there are two awesome critical hit and critical fumble tables, what was sad is that we never were able to confirm any criticals to use said cool tables, which I felt was a shame (RAW). After all, this is a supers game and cool stuff should happen and happen fairly often, at that. Third, it appeared odd to me that I had a fair bit of super strength, a wildly high DEX and pretty good fighting but I struggled badly to take out a few of the CrimeTech mooks and was hit several times by these bad guys. Fourth, it seemed with all the other cool mechanics available like knockback, pushing your powers, making inventions, and sucking up damage by using Power Points (think of them like endurance points) that it lacked any easy way to do acrobatic attacks or multiple attacks. Yes, multiple attacks are available but at a steep cost (like at -3 to hit each) and my super did have a sort of cool "martial arts" kick but it was at a -2 to hit and only did like +2 damage (which in this game is pretty easily soaked by the aforementioned Power Points). Lastly, Jeff is a master with the system, yeesh he WROTE it! yet he had to look up several specific things that occurred, especially things like falling into water from a great height, ripping holes into walls (yeah but that one is pretty cool, as there is a table that tells you how big a hole you make with what strength you have vs the material you are ripping up), and figure out some rather complex interpretations of rules to adjuvate some of the crazy things we tried to do (like me jumping off the aircraft carrier to rescue a baddie I knocked unconscious and with knockback- knocked off the carrier deck and so that he would not fall into the water, ala Gwen Stacyish death, and or drown, and flame guy trying to melt the bad guys getaway boat control panel.) Now, this is no Hero System/Champions type system in complexity but neither is it FASERIP Marvel Super Heroes (of TSR fame). While playing I found myself thinking, "this might be pretty hard to run" especially if someone had a complex character ala Green Lantern or Dr. Strange let alone if I had a big bad villain with lots of power options like Doctor Doom or geez, the Mandarin and his ten rings!

So, in our timeslot we really only had time to complete the one combat (which I think was like 4 hours) and we did successfully prevent the theft and defeat the baddies but we didn't do anything else. There wasn’t time to do any investigation, story stuff, or interlude role-playing. I know this was a convention game but it seemed that combat was so complex that we missed out on some of the other cool stuff a supers RPG consists of, especially things like said investigation or dealing with death traps, and some cool super-science. I was also bugged (pun intended) that there wasn't a meta-currency that could be rewarded or spent to do heroic actions. Like the "Hero Points" found in M&M, “Bennies” in SWADE or "Karma" in TSR's MSH. Shutterbug did some really "in character things" (as did the other supers especially Hot Shot continuously taunting the big bad) like stopping to film some blog entries and that saving a bad guy from a fall to his death situation. It was too bad that there wasn’t a “in game” reward for this super trope behavior like other games.

This got me thinking about all of the supers games that I have collected over the years and which one is really going to be my "go to" for superhero roleplaying. I've got to admit I have a bunch of them and I really struggle to find out which one works for me and what delivers the fun aspects of superhero gaming. Currently, I'm doing somewhat of a deep dive and reading the Mighty Protectors rulebook and I keep harping back to Mutants & Masterminds and how elegantly they do powers (which MP does pretty well too) and how elegantly the mechanics of the game fit the supers genre. I find myself comparing the mechanics of both systems while I read. I'm on an airplane right now flying over Illinois on my way to a layover in Chicago following on to Duluth to get to Hayward Wisconsin to help my Mom. I've got some time and my pad (which contains .pdfs of all of the supers games I own that are available in digital form). I think I am going to do a bit of thinking and comparison "shopping" for one to be MY supers RPG system. I know I have some that are right out due to finding out some really big disasters (aka huge holes in the gaming systems or stinky mechanics) when they were actually brought to the table (Hello- MSH/FASERIP bad advancement system, Champions the mega math game and the venerable yet confusing DC Heroes AP system by Mayfair Games I’m talkin to you guys) and I know there are some that are a nogo because I just think I want a crunchier system that handles character creation (I'm talking to you Cartoon Action Hour and sadly Steve Kenson's ICONS.) My next post I'll list all the games I have and talk about each of them...some in more detail and others just a short mention. So, stay turned true believers.

The Hamlet of Tellos is now available on DriveThru RPG!

 Greetings adventurers!

Our next product: The Hamlet of Tellos is now available on DriveThru RPG and it's PAY WHAT YOU WANT. That's right, you can select what you want to pay for this excellent starter location or don't pay anything at all! You heard it, you can simply pay nothing to try out our excellent products before you buy one. 

This location is great for any starting party of gongfarmers or first level adventurers. Set on Nelson's Lake this is a perfect start for The Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor, or it could be the little town down the road from the keep in Sailors on the Starless Sea or maybe even a town to the south of a certain nation facing necromantic troubles in our soon to be released: The Dungeon of the Tormentor, coming soon!

This quaint little hamlet includes locations especially suited to help outfit starting Dungeon Crawl Classics adventurers. NPCs are statted for DCC but the location is generic enough for any OSR system like OD&D (really any D&D!), Castles & Crusades, Old School Essentials, OSRIC, Tales of Argossa, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, BX, White Hack, Knave, Cairn, or even Shadowdark! The .pdf is 18 pages filled the excellent black and white line art and maps you've come to expect from the folks here at Hydra Hobbies. From the back:

Come explore the quaint hamlet nestled along the shores of Nelson’s Lake. Whether you’re a devoted servant of Law, an outdoor enthusiast, or a food lover, there’s something for everyone in Tellos!

Visit the Church of Law and drop a coin in the poor box, then head to the Angelic Hammer Tavern for a glass of their signature mead but watch out for the angry bees. Savor Gerlad’s salted fish or try the bear liver pâté at the Sour Bear Inn before retiring for the night.

Before your adventures begin, don’t forget to stop by Herlad’s Treasures for a lantern or a few trusty iron spikes. Your visit to Tellos wouldn’t be complete without indulging in one of Glanna’s trademark strawberry tarts at the bakery.

This is an adventure starting location suitable for characters of any level. It is designed for Dungeon Crawl Classics but can easily be used for any OSR game system with little conversion.

This product is 100% human generated and, to the author’s knowledge, no AI was used in the creation of this product or its artwork. YUK! Who wants icky AI art anyway?

The Pipeline is Finally Moving!

 

Greetings Adventurers!

There has been some great news for us here at Hydra Hobbies. The Dungeon of the Tormentor has just been approved by the Dark Master himself at Goodman Games and we are about to send it off to the printer. Currently, the last pass has been completed and I believe that it is ready for print. After the physical copies are sent off to Goodman Games I'll be releasing the .pdf on DriveThruRPG. Furthermore, I hope to get our Pay What You Want adventure starting location The Hamlet of Tellos out to GG for approval this weekend and once we get the go ahead that one will be put up on DriveThruRPG as well.

As a teaser here is the cover for 'Tellos:

Next week I'll be jet setting off to Wisconsin to further help out my Mom then making stops in Chicago to visit my brother and Melbourne, Florida to wrap up some financial dealings before returning back home to Austin. Once I'm back I'll be stopping at the printer to get 'Tormentor rolling. So expect a September release date for The Dungeon of the Tormentor. During my trip I hope to begin revising, re-writing, and converting The Ruins of Castle Mondu Kotch for DCC. In the meantime, get your swords oiled up, prepare your prayer beads and study your spells adventurers.

I Know It Has Been Awhile

 Greetings Adventurers!

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much in the last few months. I know, I know. Things here at Hydra Hobbies have been in a bit of turmoil. My father recently passed away and I'm now become the caretaker of his estate. This means my new job is to deal with all of the properties, investments, accounts, military vehicle collections and massive amount of STUFF my father acquired over the decades of collecting and thrift store blitzes. To say he was a hoarder is to put is mildly. Not only that I'm dealing with BOTH my grandparents estates as well. Included into my Dad's stuff is a house and a six flat apartment complex in Chicago which is thankfully being renovated by my brother who has recently moved there, which is one less worry for me. And yes he is de-hoarding that location as well.

To this end I have been hopping back and forth between my home here in Austin, TX and the properties in Northern Wisconsin and Chicago. By properties I mean four full warehouses and a home. All of which are full to the brim with stuff. Some junk but much of it a collection of very unique items. These include model trains (an over 50 year collection), full sized train memorabilia (yes, this includes a full sized caboose!), lots of tools, construction equipment, heavy machinery, and (the cherry on top) several military vehicles dating as far back as World War II (one of them is a full sized fully operational DUKW, possibly used on D-Day during the invasion of Normandy.) Oops! I forgot to mention the collection of militaria such as field gear, uniforms, hats, helmets, weapons and accessories, including many world war two era weapons systems (yes one of them is a non-functional 60mm Nazi mortar!) and other assorted military hardware.

I'm also helping take care of my Mom, who is blind and has mobility issues...after all she is 84. I'm helping her deal with all sorts of financial and tax issues as well as organizing/de-hoarding her house so that she can actually get in and out of it. This has been quite a job. To say I haven't had time to work on Hydra Hobbies projects is an understatement. 

For those of you still with me here I do have some HH news progress. The Dungeon of the Tormentor adventure has been fully edited and laid out with art and cartography. It is fully playtested and I recently got the cover delivered by the wonderfully talented Kennon James. It needs one last read through, some small tweaks and checks (for rules stuff) and some minor layout fixes (like adding the cover and getting the stupid page numbers to line up!) and it will be ready to go off for approval to Goodman Games, then hopefully off to the printer!

Here is the beautiful cover art as a teaser to wet your appetite for this crazy heavy metal inspired adventure. 

Next up is a PWYW supplement of a small village called The Hamlet of Tellos, for DCC of course, This product will be available on DriveThru RPG and is designed as a starting point for any adventure that does not include a town or city as a base to begin at. That one is written, fully laid out, has art and cartography and has had a deep pass from my wonderful editor, Ben Klima. Sadly, I have not had the time to incorporate his suggestions, fixes, and adjustments. I will need about another 40 or so hours to get that bad boy done and then off to GG for approval. 

In closing, Hydra Hobbies (ie Me) will be attending TFest gaming convention in Pflugerville, Texas this August 7-9. We aren't big enough for our own booth but we will be hanging out at the Goodman Games booth with my good friend Matt Robertson. I've been too busy to prep to run any playtests at the con but I will be playing in several games as a player at the Con. Stop by the GG booth and pick up a copy of  Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor. I'll be happy to sign your copy as well as chat with you about our upcoming releases and maybe even join you for a game, if I'm lucky enough to get a seat. If you haven't gotten your badge yet I suggest you do so today as the open game seats are rapidly filling up. I wasn't even in time to get a slot to attend Matt's game: Golden Idol of En-Tridar!

Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor PDF is on sale!

 Greetings Adventures,

Goodman Games is having a blowout 25% off sale of PDFs at Drive Thru RPG for Dungeon Crawl Classics and The Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor is included. So for a limited time, grab yourself a copy and while you are at it check out all the other products for DCC that are on sale.  Keep your sword sharpened, your holy symbol polished, and your spellbook handy, until next time!

The Gaming Gang Reviews Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor!

 Greetings Adventurers,

For various reasons I've decided to travel far into the north to a freezing city in the woods called Hayward, Wisconsin and take up an epic quest. Although it is April, snow is on the ground and the wind is freezing. Away from my network of roguish informants I was unaware until yesterday that Hydra Hobbies epic tale: Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor has been reviewed by our fantastic friends at The Gaming Gang. If you are interested please click here to watch the amazing Jeff McAleer take a deep drive and preview of our wonderful adventure available through Goodman Games and Drive Through RPG. 

For you megafans: our next adventuer-Dungeon of the Tormentor is written, laid out, edited, and proofread. The cartography is complete, artwork has been purchased, and preliminary playtesting is complete. We are waiting on the AMAZING Kennon James to complete an awesome cover and then its off to GG for approvals. Hydra Hobbies hope is to have it in print at the beginning of the summer. 

Well, I'm off to take a rest to gain the hit points I have lost today and hopefully my cleric (real life preacher Matt Lewis) will be able to heal my ability damage. Tomorrow it is back into the dungeon.