Foreword

Role-playing is getting together with friends to write a story. It’s joining around a campfire or a dining room to spin tall tales. Role-playing is being creative and having fun.

Role-playing games have rules to help players play certain kinds of stories. Men & Supermen helps you play stories about superheroes.

In most role-playing games, one person is the referee, who can be thought of as the Editor of the story. The Editor will, with input from you describe a world--a setting. You and your friends, as Players, will take a character in this world, a protagonist, and you will guide your character through the story that you and your friends create.

Each player takes a different character, and each character interacts with the other characters. Role-playing is a lot like acting. You imagine what the Editor describes. You imagine your character’s response to the situation, and describe that response to the Editor and the other Players. They each do the same with their characters, and the story unfolds.

No Winners, No Losers

In most games--board games, card games, and gambling--there is a clear way to win and a clear way to lose, and winning is the goal of the game. In role-playing games--much like life itself--the very concepts of winning and losing do not have to exist. Your goal as a Player is to help create a story and to have fun. You may give your character other goals, but your character’s success at these goals has no bearing on your winning or losing the game. As the cliché goes, it’s not so much whether you win or lose, its how you play the game.

Adventures

That’s all well and good, you say, but what actually goes on? What do these characters do?

Characters have adventures, like the main characters in novels, comics, television shows, and movies. What these adventures consist of--whether it be chasing a supervillain, saving a world, or baking a pie--is up to you.

Playing Pitfalls

Cecil Adams (author of The Straight Dope) said with regards to role-playing games: “a lifetime of Parcheesi does not adequately prepare you for this.” There are no ‘moves’ in role-playing games. You make choices for your character as creatively as if you were writing a book.

People used to board games can find this difficult, and fall into two ‘rules-lawyer’ traps. Games have rules that explain what happens when, for example, your character is attacked by a dragon, or what happens when two space vessels race to the same destination. These rules are almost always there as guidelines. They describe what normally should happen, not what always must happen. The first rules-lawyer trap is insisting on following the rules, even when there’s an obvious discrepancy between how the Players and Editor want the game to proceed, and how a game rule says an event should turn out. The overall game should be more important than any specific rules.

Many times, games will not have a rule to cover an odd situation. The second rules-lawyer trap is believing that every situation must have its own rule. In this case, you waste time and interrupt the flow of the story by searching through the rule-book for rules that aren’t there.

It is easy to develop an adversarial relationship with your Editor. Why? Because you are playing the ‘hero’ and the Editor will be portraying all of the ‘villains’ that the hero meets. Players must remember that this is not a competition between the Players and the Editor. The goal is to have fun, creatively, together.

A related trap is to consider the Editor an omnipotent being in relation to the game, and to consider the game world to be the Editor’s world alone. The game must be for all the Players. The Editor is, however, the final arbiter of game disputes and questions. There’s no need to waste time arguing when you could be playing!

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Player Characters

* Don’t Panic!A cool head is the most important piece of equipment any superhero owns.

* Never allow an innocent bystander to come to harm, even at the expense of your own or a fellow hero’s well-being. Avoid attacks which, if inaccurate, could endanger the lives of those you are protecting. Move fights away from inhabited areas.

* Don’t forget that your character also has a non-superhero life that can be role-played. Life isn’t all busting supervillains.

* Never attack anyone who hasn’t either
a) committed a crime, or
b) attacked you.
The law is on your side, but assault is assault, whether the victim is a super villain or not and even if the accused merely ‘created a reasonable apprehension of assault’ in the mind of the victim.

* Never use more force than is necessary to subdue a villain. Never kill a villain unless it is necessary to protect the life of someone else. And, never attack an unconscious villain. Your status as a crime fighter is extremely precarious. Take care not to wind up a villain yourself. As a private citizen you are not subject to the restrictions of the police, but neither are you covered by the legal protections society gives it’s official protectors.

* Never attack any villain who is more powerful than you without a darn good plan. A dead hero cannot protect anybody.

Editors

* Don’t Panic! Do not allow the complexity of modern game mastering to overcome you. Follow the next rule and keep cool.

* Be Prepared. Know thyself and know thy non-player characters. Villains seldom act without a plan. Know it. Be prepared for heroes who will try both orthodox and unorthodox ways of interfering and halting this plan. Be prepared to use your imagination when players think of something you didn’t.

* Take full charge of your dramatic license. If the adventure absolutely requires that something happens (or if it would merely be fun for that to happen) ignore the results of the dice and allow it to flow. Vary the adventure style between combat, mystery, suspense, thriller, comic, and any other genre you can think of. Don’t modify rolls you make for characters, but only rolls you make as the world--weather, random events, etc.

* When in doubt, allow it. If you’re not sure whether to allow a player to use power X to do action Y, and can’t decide, then allow it. If you’re not sure whether to give the player a 50% or a 60% chance of success for an action give a 60% chance. And remember--this rule works for non-player characters also.

* When creating adventures, give everyone a part--from the most to the least powerful. And don’t forget about the other side of superheroing--the characters’ personal lives.

* When creating adventures, err on the side of toughness. Heroes are known for being able to take on even the impossible. However, you must at least attempt to accurately judge how tough an adventure should be.

* Do not hide reality from the players. There is hunger, disease, and bigotry in the real world, and combating these villains is a rewarding part of being a Hero.

Men & Supermen was designed to allow variable power between heroes. In comics, it is perfectly possible for a god to fight alongside an average human. The game system of Men & Supermen allows for this, without losing the differences between powerful and less powerful heroes.

Running the Game: Besides the Eight Commandments on the previous page, some more general hints are in order. On the first game, an Editor who is not used to dealing with characters of differing power may want to limit the number of extra power rolls to one or even none, thus gaining experience running slightly different characters before & running highly different characters.

If a player evinces interest in playing a Wizard, this character should be created before the other players arrive. Have that player arrive a half hour before the others.

When in doubt about whether a character can do something, assign either a general percentage or an ability to determine the chance that the character can succeed. For example, if a character has fallen into a pit, and wants to grab the side of the pit so as to not fall in, you could instruct the player to save on a 2d10 vs. Agility. That is, the player must roll a 2d10 and get a number less than or equal to the character’s Agility. If there were a bar or flagpole sticking out, there might well be a bonus of 1, 2, 3, or 4 to the bonus pool. Saving throws can be made against any ability. General percentages are useful when the character has no control over the outcome. For example, if a character wants to hail a cab, you might assign a 25% chance that a cab is nearby. That is, you (or the player) must roll d100 and get 25 or less for there to be a cab in the area.

The game is modular in design. Parts can easily be added or deleted without losing that elusive element called ‘game balance.’ Almost all of the rules beyond the basic rules can be dropped or replaced at the Editor’s option.

Abilities: Abilities are variable aspects of characters. Abilities are strength, agility, constitution, charisma, and learning.

Action Rolls: Action rolls determine whether or not an action, such as an attack, is successful. Action rolls are almost always made on 2d10.

Attacker: Attacker in these rules refers to the person(s) directing the attack in question.

Attributes: Attributes are generally invariable aspects of characters. Newoen, Sight, Hearing, Height, Build, and Beauty are attributes.

Character: The term character refers to people within the game, both Player Characters and Non-Player Characters.

Defender: Defender in these rules refers to the character(s) against whom an attack is directed.

Dice: Dice in this game are important--they determine outcomes when outcomes are random. This game requires six dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20. The d4 is the four-sided die, the d6 the six-sided, etc. The notation ndx means this: roll the x-sided die n times and add each roll to the previous. For example, 4d10 means roll the ten sided die four times and add these rolls together, for a result from 4 (minimum) to 40 (maximum).

d100) roll d10; but a “ten” means “zero”; multiply by ten, and roll d10 again. If two zeros are rolled, this is really 100.

d1000) roll d10 and multiply by 100; add d100; if greater than 1000, subtract 1000. “Tens” mean “0” unless all three come up zero, which is 1,000.

d%) roll d100; this roll is used to generate a percentage. If told to multiply by d%, divide the roll by 100 first, then multiply.

The most common dice used are 2d10 and d100. Each uses two ten-sided dice. When rolling d100, roll one of the dice. That is the tens. Roll the next die. That is the ones. If a 0 and a 5 is rolled, the result is 5. If a 3 and a 9 is rolled, the result is 39. If two zeroes are rolled, the result is 100.

For 2d10, roll the two dice and add them together. Zeroes are considered to be 10. So, if a 0 and a 5 is rolled, the result is 15. If a 3 and a 9 is rolled, the result is 12. And if two zeroes are rolled, the result is 20. Usually, when a Special Character rolls 2d10 and a 1 is rolled, that die can be rolled again and its result subtracted from the previous total. So, if a 1 and a 9 is rolled, that is a 10. Re-roll the 1 and subtract that from 10. If both dice come up 1, both dice will be re-rolled, and their total subtracted from 2. Dice are only re-rolled once.

Distance: The basic unit of distance is the meter. The meter is divided up into ten decimeters, one hundred centimeters, and one thousand millimeters. One thousand meters equals one kilometer. For conversion to feet, multiply meters by .3048. For conversion to miles, divide kilometers by 1.6.

Knowledge: Knowledge is measured in Knowledge Scores, and is a measure of what characters know.

Miniatures: If miniature figures and hex (or 8 square) sheets are used, let one hex (or square) be one or two meters during combat, depending on the total area covered and personal preference.

Non-Player Character (NPC): Non-player characters are characters controlled by the Editor.

Normal Character: Normal characters are characters who are not the main characters of the story. Most innocent bystanders are Normal. No player characters are Normal.

Percent Chance of Success: When a Chance of Success or a Percent Chance is requested by the rules, roll d100. If the result is less than or equal to the chance of success, the roll is successful. Otherwise, the roll fails.

Percent Control (%Control): Percent Control measures the amount of control a character has over a given power, ability, skill, or knowledge. It is usually only applied to powers, however.

Player: The term Player in these rules generally refers to the people playing the game,that is, the people who roll the dice and control the player characters.

Player Character (PC): Player Characters are the characters that players create and play.

Power Roll: Power Rolls are measures of the strength a character has in a specific power. Power Rolls are usually treated the same as the Quality of an Action Roll.

Quality: When an Action Roll is made on 2d10, the dice total is subtracted from the Action Roll needed, and the result is the Quality of the Action Roll. The lower the dice, the higher the Quality.

Roll until missed: If the rules say to “roll this chance until missed,” roll once. If the roll is made, the character has whatever was rolled for, and the player can roll again, for another one. The player can keep rolling until the chance is not made--“the roll is missed”.

Saving Throws: A Saving Throw (or Save) requires that the player roll a d100 or 2d10 (depending on the instructions) and get a number less than or equal to the number, score, or ability given, in order to succeed at a task or survive a danger. Saving Throws vs. an ability or skill are usually made on a 2d10, and saves vs. Willpower and Perception are usually made on a d100.

Saving Throws vs. Mind Control, or Illusion type powers and spells are made as soon as the power or spell takes effect, and any time afterwards when the target has decent reason to believe that it is an illusion, or is controlled into doing something far against the character’s principles.

Certain Saving Throws (especially against illusions and mind control) allow for a bonus of up to the character’s Newoen or Willpower. For a character to get the full bonus of Newoen/Willpower, the character must truly know what is going on. In the case of an illusion, belief must be so much that the character would be willing to ignore the effect--for example, not run from or fight the monster, or walk right through the fire.

Skills: Skills are abilities that characters can learn. The amount of skill a character has in a skill is measured with Skill Levels. The higher the level, the more skilled the character is.

Special Characters: Special characters are characters who are important to the story. All player characters are Special, and most non-player character superheroes and supervillains are Special.

Editor: The Editor is the player who is creating the adventures and interpreting the rules.

Target: In these rules, targets refer to a person, place, or thing against which an effect/attack is aimed.

Abilities describe what the character can do, and how well the character can do it. Basic abilities are those abilities that all characters have because the abilities are inherent to being alive. The basic abilities are Charisma, Constitution, Agility, Hearing, Learning, Sight, and Strength.

Agility: Agility is a measure of bodily dexterity and natural skill. Agility measures the character’s fluidity and physical speed. Agile characters can run faster than non-agile characters, and they are better at “fine” movements suh as dancing, sewing, and spellcasting.

Charisma: This is a measure of the character’s force of personality: how well the character gets along with others, how the character is viewed by others, and the character’s self-esteem. Each character has two Charisma scores. The first charisma is Active Charisma. This is the character’s charisma in action/adventure oriented situations. Usually, this will apply in a character’s superhero identity. The second charisma is Normal Charisma. This applies to normal situations--the everyday, bland existence, usually in the character’s secret identity. It will also usually apply to the superhero identity when the character is involved with close friends who know of that identity. A character can be very charismatic as a hero and uncharismatic normally, or vice versa. The player is allowed to choose, before playing the character, which charisma goes with which identity.

When charisma is involved in a Figured Statistic, the choice of charisma to use is up to the Editor, and should be chosen according to the situation.

Characters with high charisma can charm or enthrall other characters. The character makes an Action Roll vs. Charisma, with a penalty equal to the target’s charisma. If the roll is successful, the target is allowed a save vs. Willpower. If the Willpower saving throw is failed, the target can attempt additional saving throws later: Subtract half the target’s Newoen from 0, and look this up on the Action Chart, from Result to Doubles, for the number of months (assume a month is 30 days if needed). Each time an additional save is attempted, add 1 to this number. An average person (14 Newoen, -7 on the Chart) will make a second save after 3 hours (.004 times 30 days). Their next save will be about 6 hours later (.008 times 30), and their next 12 hours after that (.18 times 30).

The standard Performance Time for Charm is 5 minutes. The Quality of the Action Roll can be applied to reducing the Performance Time (by halves, as normal), reducing the target’s saving throw (a penalty of 3 for each point of Q), or increasing the amount of time between saving throws (up 1 row).

Charmed targets will want to help the charmer. They may feel a close tie of friendship, or they may be in awe of the charmer, depending on the situation. Charmed targets are nearly unquestioning followers.

Characters with charismas less than 0 are not charming. These characters are usually evil. They can attempt to cause fear, rather than charm. The Action Roll is the same (as if the character’s charisma were positive), as is the target’s saving throw. The result is that the target is either scared into following the orders of the villain, or simply paralyzed with fear, depending on the situation.

Once a save vs. charm or fear succeeds, that target is immune to further charm/fear attacks by that attacker for the duration of the adventure. Also, the target of a Charm or Fear attempt may have a bonus of up to Willpower on the saving throw, depending on the situation.

If a charisma of less than zero is averaged with learning (for determining certain Learning Times, for example), make the charisma positive for purposes of averaging. Also, when losing charisma, there is no charisma between 1 and -1: If a character with a charisma of 1.2 loses .8 charisma points, that character now has a charisma of -1.6. The 1.2 dropped .2 points, and then the remaining .6 brought it ‘up’ from -1. If a character wishes to change charisma from negative to positive or vice versa, it costs Editing Points equal to the charisma score.

Constitution: Constitution is a measure of health, endurance, and the ability to stand up to punishment. Female characters have 1 added to their rolled constitution.

Learning: Learning measures how much memory the character has, how fast the character can think, and how fast the character learns. The learning modifier for learning is given below. Generally, multiply the time it takes to learn something by the modifier.

Characters with a high learning may have photographic memory (total recall). Total recall does not mean something is understood, just that it is remembered. Photographic memory must be applied. It is not automatic. At least one action must be used. The chance for a character to have photographic memory is learning minus 16, times 3. If the character later increases in learning, there is a 2% chance per point of increase of gaining photographic memory.

Characters with an extremely high learning will have picked up a lot of miscellaneous information, and as such the player has a chance of being able to ask the Editor questions. This chance is the character’s learning minus 20. Even if the character does know something about whatever is asked about, a roll must be made under willpower, to simulate making the connection between what the character is doing and the immense amounts of random information at the character’s disposal. This roll may be made once every 2 turns (2 rounds in combat if the information pertains to the present situation).

Animals generally have a learning of 1 or 2. Plants and inanimate objects will have a learning of 0.

Strength: Strength is the power of the character’s muscles. It and mass are the main determinants of how much damage can be done in hand-to-hand combat and how much the character can lift.

Strength also determines how loudly the character can talk. See Hearing. If the character really wants to yell, others in range can become deaf. Divide the strength of the yell by 10, round up, and roll d6 this many times for the number of segments of deafness. Subtract 10 times the distance in meters to each target, for how long that target is deaf. Targets are allowed a perception roll to avoid deafness, at a penalty equal to the number of dice done and a bonus equal to the number of meters from the yelling character. Hearing is applied as a modifier also, but as a penalty.

The attributes are Beauty, Build, Hearing, Height, Newoen, and Sight. Attributes cannot be changed with training, although Build and Beauty can be changed with Experience.

Beauty (4d6) measures how pleasing the character appears physically. Beauty modifies reaction rolls only the first couple of times the character meets someone. After that it’s all Charisma and actions.

Beauty can act as a bonus or penalty depending on the circumstances. The non-player character in love with FireBlade might resent a handsome hero, but will feel no jealousy towards an ugly one.

A character with high Beauty will often charm, similar to the Charisma charm. Charming generally only works on the opposite sex. The Charm Roll is half the character’s Beauty. Standard Performance Time for Charm is 12 minutes. The target is allowed a saving throw vs. Willpower, with a bonus of Beauty (Sphere). If the saving throw is failed, additional saving throws can be made later: Subtract half the target’s Newoen from 0, and look this up on the Action Chart, from Result to Sphere, for the number of months (30 days). Each time an additional save is attempted, add 1 to this number. An average person (14 Newoen, -7 on the Chart) will make a second save after 3 days (.10 times 30 days). Their next save will be about 4 days later (.13 times 30), and their next 5 and a half days after that (.18 times 30).

Q from the Action Roll can be applied in three ways. It can reduce Performance Time (as normal--3 points reduce time by half). The Charmer can apply a penalty to the target’s saving throw (a penalty of 3 per Q point applied), or the Charmer can move the save progression up 1 point on the Result side.

Characters with low Beauty may horrify others. The Horror Roll is the negative of the Horror’s Beauty. Targets are allowed a save vs. their willpower, with a penalty equal to Beauty (Sphere). The Weirdness Bonus modifies this save as well. A horrified character will be inactive (paralyzed by disgust, possibly even retching--Editor’s option, depending on the circumstances) at least 1d6 segments. Q points from the Horror roll can increase this: look up the Q points applied on the Sphere Chart, and the result is the additional d6 segments. Q can instead apply a penalty to the target’s saving: a penalty of 3 to all targets, per Q point applied.

Each time a save vs. horrification is successful, add 2 to the character’s Weirdness Bonus. Each time a save vs. horrification is unsuccessful, subtract 1 from the Weirdness Bonus.

Targets of a Charm or a Horrify attempt may have a bonus of up to Willpower on the saving throw, depending on the situation.

If Beauty is less than 0, see Terror, using the negative of the Beauty for the number of Terror Points.

Once a character has successfully saved against a specific person’s or thing’s Beauty charm, horrify, or terrify power, that character is immune to further attempts by that person or thing, barring significant changes in Beauty. Both Horror and Charm may be used against multiple targets at added cost: There is a penalty to the Action Pool equal to the number of targets. (Terror occurs automatically, and is not under control of the player, barring a paper bag.)

If the character’s Beauty is greater than 20 or less than -20, it may be used to Charm or Horrify involuntarily. Roll less than or equal to Beauty minus 20 on d100. If successful, the character makes an involuntary Charm/Horror roll. The player may still control how excess Q is used.

Build (4d6) measures the character’s body size. Female characters have 10 added to their build, and males have 11 added to build.

Hearing (4d6) measures a character’s ability to hear. To determine if a character can hear something, add the strength at which it was said (a person can talk at a strength up to the character’s own strength, but normal speaking is at a strength of from 2 to 3) to the character’s hearing score, and subtract the distance, in meters (Sphere Chart), the source is from the listener. The character must roll less than or equal to this on 2d10. If a character gains the power, Hearing Power, divide the true distance something is from the character by the power for the distance it seems to the character. The Hearing Power can reduce the penalties for being unable to see. This table corresponds hearing powers to: a multiplier for the penalty for being unable to see.

Characters can have different kinds of hearing, such as Microwave, Ultrasonic, and Radio Frequencies. Normally, the original Hearing Score is used for each type, but players have the option of re-rolling hearing for each type of hearing.

Newoen measures the metaphysical side and the character of the character. It determines how well a character can evade magical and psychic attacks. High newoen characters can discern good from evil.

Newoen can never be changed, through training or otherwise. If newoen changes, the character is, literally, a new person.

Animals have a newoen of 1 to 3. Plants and most unliving objects have a newoen of 0.

Sight measures the character’s sight ability. If a character with below average sight wears glasses or contact lenses, average the character’s sight with for the character’s apparent sight while wearing the glasses/contacts. For example, a 5 sight character wearing glasses would have a 10 sight--5 +14, divided by 2, is 10. Round up.

The player must roll 2d10 less than or equal to Sight, in order to read/identify a target. This can be rolled once per round. Subtract the distance in meters the target is (Sphere Chart), add the height in millimeters (Sphere Chart), and subtract the character’s height in meters (Sphere Chart). There is a bonus if the character is shorter than a meter tall or the target is closer than a meter away from the character, and a penalty for things smaller than a millimeter.

For objects that are within a number of meters equal to the height of the character, add the Close sight adjustment to the roll. Otherwise, add the adjustment to Ranged combat for sight. In addition, Nearsighted characters have a penalty of 1 to the roll for things further away than their height. Farsighted characters have a penalty of 1 to the roll for things nearer than their height.

The following table gives the modifiers to the Attack Score in Close and Ranged Combat. The bonus or penalty for Ranged Combat will not be greater than the number of Range Sets to the target, plus the Close Combat bonus/penalty.

Farsighted characters can’t have microscopic sight. Nearsighted characters can’t have telescopic sight. Players whose characters have a Sight of less than 14 should choose either Farsighted or Nearsighted.

If a character has a Sight Power, divide the distance something is from the character by the sight power for the distance it seems to be. This reduced distance will apply to Short Ranges and Range Sets, but not to Maximum Range.

Fog, dust, and darkness can decrease vision. If such conditions exist, modify the sight die roll by a number from 0 (normal visibility) to infinity (zero visibility). Heavy fog will be about 10. Light fog will be about 5. A few feet underwater, the modifier will be 3.

Characters can have different kinds of sight (infrared, ultraviolet, normal). Usually the same sight score is used for each kind. However, the player has the option of re-rolling sight for each type of sight.

These are all derived from the Basic Abilities, Attributes, Powers, and Skills. If there is a common abbreviation for the derived ability, this is given in parentheses after the full name.

Mass: Subtract 10 from Strength, and look this up on the Sphere Chart. Divide by 10. Add Build to this, and Constitution divided by 10. Multiply this total by the cube of the character’s height (height times square root of height if height is less than one) and divide by 2.2. This is the character’s mass in kilograms. If the character’s Mass is less than 50, the character has a penalty to Skin Temper, and the character’s opponents in combat have a bonus to Skin Temper, equal to Mass divided by 100, on the Doubles Chart. This number also applies as a penalty to Martial Throw and similar rolls.

Damage Points (DP): This is the amount of actual physical abuse a character can take. To compute Damage Points, divide Build by 5. Look up the character’s Mass, if greater than 50, on the Square Chart, and subtract 7. Add this in for the total DP. Round up.

This DP score is Body DP, the amount the body has. In the case of the certain attacks, the character must know how much DP specific parts of the body have. Multiply normal DP by 3/5 for Head DP, 1/2 for Neck DP, 2/3 for each arm, and 3/4 for legs. Round each of these scores up.

Resist Death: Add the character’s Maximum Body DP and Newoen together, and subtract 14. Look this up on the Doubles Chart. The character’s Resist Death is added to Injury rolls.

Virtual Damage Points (VP): This is the amount of cumulative physical damage the character can ignore before losing DP--the player subtracts the damage from VP instead of DP. This damage is dodged, rolled with, or otherwise bypassed. VP is figured by adding agility to strength, adding one third of learning, and one third of newoen, and dropping fractions.

If the character’s Active Charisma is greater than learning, it may be substituted for learning in the above calculation.

Endurance Points (EP): These measure how long a person can work without resting. Each character starts with twice constitution plus half strength and half body DP Endurance Points, ignoring fractions.

Skin Temper: This measures the toughness of the character’s skin. Damage done to the character is multiplied by the character’s Skin Temper. The base Skin Temper is 1 (Row 0). Divide Strength by 50, and Constitution by 25, and add these together. Look it up on the Doubles Action Chart. Move Skin Temper up this many Rows on the chart below.

In Mind Combat, Skin Temper is normally 1. For newoens greater than 20, subtract 20 from newoen for the number of rows to move up. For charismas higher than 20, subtract 20 and divide by 10 for the rows to move. Use the appropriate charisma.

If Skin Temper is modified (either by low Mass or by weapons which gain a bonus vs. Skin Temper), each bonus of 1 vs. Skin Temper moves the Skin Temper down 1 line. So, 1/5 goes to 1/4, 1/3 goes to 2/5, 4/5 goes to 9/10, and 9/10 to 1. Normally, a weapon cannot reduce Skin Temper below 1. However, Skin Temper modifications for low DP or for certain powers (such as Vibratory Power) can. For these, once Skin Temper has been reduced to 1, start going back up the list, but reverse the numbers. So, 1 becomes 10/9, then 5/4, then 3/2, etc.

Willpower: This is the ability of the character to withstand psychic, magical or other similar attacks. Willpower starts at newoen times 4.

Perception: The base perception is newoen divided by 2 plus learning divided by 4, round up.

When using perception, use these modifications for senses, if the sense is applicable to the situation:

hearing hearing, and four times the number of digits in the character’s hearing multiplier.

sight sight, and four times the number of digits in the character’s sight multiplier.

A power such as magnetism or electricity can aid in searching for another such power/power source: Add the PR to the Perception roll.

There is a penalty of 1 for each other character attempting the same roll (Sphere Chart).

Weirdness Bonus: This is ten minus the character’s Beauty, if Beauty is less than 10. Otherwise, this is 0.

Special Abilities: If some basic abilities or attributes are very high or low, special abilities are gained. See the basic ability or attribute for a description of the special ability.

Learning: If Learning is greater than 16, there is a chance for photographic memory. If Learning is greater than 20, there is a special Chance to Ask.

Charisma: If charisma is greater than 19, there is a chance to charm. If charisma is less than 0, there is a chance to horrify.

Experience: This starts out at zero. The player adds all editing points ever used here. If 1 editing point is used to increase Evade Attacks from level 0 to level 1, 1 point is added to Experience. Training points gained from practicing (see Training Points) are not added to Experience.

Editing Points: The character starts the game with 4 Editing Points. These Editing Points cannot be used for training until the first game session is completed. They can be used to modify Action Rolls during the first game.

If the character is experienced, multiply the editing points gained from adventures by the Editing Point Multiplier, before recording them here. See Editing Points, under Metarules, as well as the Hero’s Guide.

Ignore Damage: This score is zero for most people. It is increased by certain powers--such as Ignore Damage.

Fate Points: Characters start the game with 2 Fate Points. Characters gain 1 Fate Point for every 10 issues (game sessions) they appear in. Non-player character Specials (and Pets) start the game with 0 Fate Points, but gain them at the normal rate.

Forgotten Knowledge: Your character knows more than you think. Add your character’s true age to your character’s learning. You can put this many points into Knowledge Scores when needed. Immortals tend to have quite a bit of forgotten knowledge.

This measures knowledge that you forgot your character knew. You have to come up with a reason for the knowledge at the same time you use the points. If you can’t remember how you got the knowledge, you don’t remember that you have the knowledge. You can only make the increase (or gain the ‘new’ knowledge) when the increase is necessary.

%Recognition: This is the percentage of the normal population that recognizes your character. For most characters, this starts at zero. However, consult your Editor if you know of any reason it should be different for your character.

Action Rolls use 2d10. If the 2d10 result is less than or equal to the Action Roll in question, the Action is successful. The Quality of the success is found by subtracting the die roll from the target number (the Action Roll). When a 1 shows up on one of the dice, that die can be re-rolled, and its second result subtracted from the first. Example: a player rolls 2d10, for 1 and 7, this totals to 8, but the 1 is rolled again; the next die comes up 6, which is subtracted from 8, for a total of 2.

Bonus Pools

Many rolls will have a Bonus Pool also. Look up the Bonus Pool on the Sphere Chart, for the bonus/penalty to the Action Roll.

Initiating Actions

Only one action can be initiated on any segment. No action (except passive actions) can be initiated while another action is in progress. Initiating a passive action moves all pending actions back one segment.

Performance Time

Q can usually be used to reduce the Performance Time. Three points are required to half the Performance Time. (One point can reduce by 10%, 2 points by 20%.) For example, a character with an Action Roll of 15 is deciphering a cipher, and taking 12 hours to do it. The character rolls 7, for 8 Q points. Three points of Q bring this time to 6 hours. If the character applies Six Q points, it will only take 3 hours to solve the cipher.

Saving Quality

The player can transfer quality from one action to the next on a two-for-one basis. The next action must be started immediately after the first action is finished, and it must be the same kind of action. For every two quality points ‘saved’, one is added to the next action’s bonus pool.

Duration

Once an Action Roll is made, the player can continue to use that roll, as long as the action is continuous. The player can also choose to re-roll the Action Roll (with the same performance time) to rearrange the Q distribution. If the action is not continuous (such as a Combat Roll or a Throw Roll), an Action Roll must be made for each performance of the action.

If Q can be applied to more than one thing for continuous actions, Q can be redistributed each segment.

Dropping an Action

There is no problem dropping most sustained actions once the performance time has been completed. Dropping an action during it’s performance time is a little trickier. Dropping an action is itself a passive action that takes 10 segments. It requires a roll vs. Learning (Sphere) plus Agility (Sphere). There is a bonus equal to the Q of the action being dropped, and a penalty equal to the number of actions in progress (including the action to be dropped and the drop an action). The roll automatically reduces Defense by 1, although the player can apply Q to bring it back up (but not by more than 1).

If the roll is failed, the character’s Defense is reduced by the failed amount until the next non-Passive action, and the failure amount is applied to all Action Rolls that follow, as for surprise (see Combat). Dropping an Action starts at row 6 for EP use. On a failure, the character can either choose to try again, or pay extra EP equal to the amount missed by (the Defense and Action Roll penalties will still apply).

EP Cost

Many Action Rolls use EP. If the action is a sustained action (such as lifting an object), the EP cost is per round. If the action is a single action (such as throwing an object) the EP cost is per attempt. An action normally has an EP cost of 5 EP (Row 9 on the EP Use Chart). The Quality of the Action Roll can usually decrease EP cost, with each Quality Point reducing the EP Use Row by 1.

Often, a player will want to re-roll a sustained Action Roll in order to reduce EP cost (or, in the case of the Move Roll, to increase speed). The character doesn’t pay the EP cost for these re-rolls, unless the EP cost is greater than what the character has already paid since starting the action (or the last Payment Segment, whichever was closest). If the EP cost is greater, only the difference is paid. So, if a character starts an action at 3 EP/round on segment: 15, and makes another roll on segment: 35, which results in an EP cost of 4/round, only 1 EP is paid.

Passive Actions

Passive actions (such as Running) can be started while the character is still within the Performance Time of another action. The character must wait at least one tenth the Performance Time of the previous Action, rounded up, before starting the passive action. For example, Maria begins firing her rifle on Segment 39. Her Performance Time is 15. She can’t start a Passive action until 2 segments later, or Segment 41.

Starting an Action during the Performance Time of another action (or actions) adds 1 to the Performance Time of the action or actions in progress (adds 1 to the Pushback--see Combat).

Magic Rolls (Casting Spells) are passive, and wizards can start casting new spell(s) before the old spell(s) is completed. For example, if Cerest-Ranon casts a spell that takes 50 segments, she can start casting another spell 5 segments later. If she starts casting fly on segment 23, she might start casting night vision on segment 28.

Ability Rolls

Action Rolls based on Abilities cannot usually be increased by spending more time doing them. This requires skill.

Ability Rolls only need to be rolled when in a stressful situation (such as combat, or extra effort). Otherwise, a die roll of 7 can be assumed.

The character can make an Extra Effort when making an Ability Roll. The character can increase any ability after the roll is made, in order to increase the Quality and to succeed at the roll. The ability that was increased is immediately decreased by the same amount it was increased. If a character with a 17 strength makes a Lift Roll, and increases strength to 24 (8 point increase), strength drops immediately to 9 (17-8). These lost ability points return per hour when resting.

Combat Roll: Look up twice Agility on the Sphere Chart for the character’s Combat Roll. Combat Q can be applied to Attack, Defense, Speed, or Damage. The Combat Roll costs 1 EP (it starts at Row 5).

Speed: Three points of Q divide Performance Time by 2. One point reduces Performance Time by 10%, 2 points by 20%.

The character’s Attack must be greater than or equal to the opponent’s Defense. If the Combat Roll fails, apply the negative Q evenly to Attack, then Damage, then Defense. It’s possible, if unlikely, that the target has a negative Defense, so a negative Attack can still hit. Note that the miss goes directly to Damage, not to the Doubling Chart. Defense Q is still divided by 2 and rounded towards 0.

Sight bonuses/penalties to Combat, Size Difference modifiers, and learning divided by 10, round down, are all added together, along with any other modifiers, for the Bonus Pool to the Combat Roll.

Attack and Defense only apply to one opponent. If the character wants extra opponents, each extra opponent counts as a penalty of 1 to the Combat Roll’s Bonus Pool. The character’s Defense counts against all opponents. The player must apply Attack separately for each opponent. In order to attack multiple opponents, they must all be in front of the character, and the character must be able to attack them in a ‘sweeping’ manner, such as with a telephone pole, a beam power, or a semi-automatic weapon. Each attack takes place on successive segments (except for automatic firearms). Whether or not a multiple attack can be performed must be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Discernment Roll: The Discernment Roll is vs. half Newoen, rounded down. This is the ability to know what is the right, true, and good course of action. If successful, the character knows what the good or evil action is in that situation. The Discernment Roll doesn’t use EP, and has a Performance Time of 6.

Hand Damage: This is the damage done by a character when attacking unarmed, and the damage added to a weapon which depends on strength. Look up mass divided by 10 on the Doubles Chart, and add strength divided by 4 (round down). If Strength is greater than Mass, add Mass/4 instead of Strength/4.

Hand Damage is not normally rolled. A character with a Mass of 100 kg and a strength of 14 will do 7 points of hand damage on a successful fist attack.

Hand Damage starts at row 7 on the EP use chart. When characters use their maximum Hand Damage, it costs 3 EP (that heal per round). The EP cost can be reduced by doing less damage. Use the standard EP cost progression, but start at 3 EP (Row 7). A character who can do 9 points Hand Damage who decides to do 7 will use 1 EP. If the character does 6, it only costs 1 EP for every 5 attacks. Note that Hand Damage costs EP whether or not the attack is successful.

Healing Roll: The Healing Roll is an automatic roll. It costs no EP and cannot be increased via Extra Effort. The roll is vs. Constitution (Sphere Chart). The character’s current Body DP is added to the Bonus Pool.

If the roll is for mental healing, there is a bonus equal to newoen divided by 4, round down, to the Pool.

Physical Healing Roll Q is automatically applied to healing DP, strength, agility, constitution, and EP, in that order. The Healing Roll is made each hour (for Bludgeoning DP, for abilities that heal per hour, and EP that heals per hour of sleep). It is made each day (for Penetrating Damage), and each month, for Injury Damage.

Mental Healing Roll Q is automatically applied to healing EP (Astral Form), charisma, and learning, in that order. It is made each hour (for abilities that heal per hour, and for EP that heals per hour of sleep).

VP and EP (things that heal per round) are handled slightly differently. Take the Healing Roll and add the Bonus Pool (Sphere Chart, of course). Half this (round up) for the VP that is restored each round. The same amount of EP (round down) are restored each round. The character must be resting to regain lost VP and EP.

Hold Breath Roll: This is vs. Constitution plus half Strength, with a bonus equal to current Body DP. There is a penalty to the Quality equal to the elapsed time, in rounds, on the Sphere Chart. The Quality reduces EP cost. The roll is only made once for any specific attempt, and the elapsed time penalty builds as time passes, thus increasing the EP cost. When Quality becomes less than 0, EP cost moves beyond Row 9. At Q of -1, the EP cost is 6 per round (Row 10).

For every 5 points of EP lost in one round, 1 point of DP (bludgeoning) is lost, to the head.

The Performance Time for Hold Breath is 10. If the character hasn’t completed Holding Breath before the necessary time, the character is affected by whatever gas was being avoided. If the character was simply trying to hold breath before air was lost (due to a vacuum), there is a penalty to the roll equal to the number of segments remaining for the Performance Time. If a character starts to Hold Breath at segment 34, and all air is sucked away at segment 36, the penalty is 8.

Jump Roll: The Jump Roll is vs. agility plus strength. There is a bonus equal to twice height (on the Square Chart). The Quality can be applied to reducing the EP cost and to the height of the jump. Look up the Q applied for the height on the Result column, and read to the Square Chart, for the height in centimeters.

The amount of time (in segments) the character is in the air is found by looking up four times the height jumped (in meters) on the Square Chart.

The distance a character jumps horizontally depends on speed at the time of jumping, and the amount of time the character was in the air. Take the character’s speed in meters/segment and multiply by the number of segments the character was in the air for the horizontal jump distance.

For purposes of grabbing something, characters can add up to their height to either the height jumped or the length jumped. A Combat Roll (close combat) is required to actually grab something in a jump.

Jumping, like movement, is a passive action, and has a Performance Time of 6. It can be started on the same segment as Move is started.

If the character’s density is extremely low, multiply the time in the air by the atmospheric density plus the character’s density, and divide by the character’s density. Movement should be multiplied by the same amount.

Lift Roll: The Lift roll is vs. Strength minus 9, plus the character’s Mass on the Sphere Chart. The Quality must be the object’s mass (Sphere Chart). Quality can also reduce the EP cost and Performance Time. A failure costs 1 EP. The Performance Time for a Lift is 10 segments.

For powers, the Performance Time is 20 segments. For powers that can lift at a distance, look up the distance to the object, in meters, on the Sphere Chart for the Q required for distance.

Inanimate objects (ropes, webs) do not normally need to roll the Lift Roll. Their Lift Q is the Roll plus the Pool (Sphere Chart, of course).

Pushing and Pulling: You can push or pull just about anything, depending on the amount of friction that must be overcome. Make the Lift Roll as normal, but if the roll is missed, double the Performance Time for every point the roll was missed by. Friction is applied as a penalty directly to the Roll. Very low friction (such as most wheeled vehicles or between a floating object and water) is 1. Pushing a box up a dirt road will have a friction of 5. A friction of 20 is impossible to overcome. If the roll is missed by more than 20 minus the friction number, the object cannot be pushed/pulled.

Move Roll: The Move roll is vs. Agility plus half Strength (round up), plus the character’s Height on the Square Chart. The Quality can be applied to increasing or decreasing the character’s current speed, to turning, or to reducing the current EP cost for movement. EP cost for movement (at the end of each round) is always the cost of the last Move Roll.

The character’s current speed is the total Q so far applied to speed, on the Sphere Chart (a Q of 0 and 1 are practically the same--.9 vs. 1). There is a penalty to the Move Roll pool equal to the total Q so far applied to speed. If negative Q is allowed for movement (using the fractional results on the Sphere Chart), this does count as a bonus.

If the roll is missed by more than 5, subtract the amount the roll was missed by from the current movement Q total. Also, add 1 to the EP cost row for every 5 points the roll was missed by. This extra EP cost will last until the player makes a successful move roll or stops moving.

When attempting to decrease speed, the character can automatically decrease the movement Q total by the current movement Q, on the Sphere Chart. A Move Roll is required, however, and if the Move Roll is failed, reduce the decrease by half the failure.

Speed is in .1 meters per segment (decimeters/ segment). Each .1 meter/segment is equal to 5 meters per round, 25 meters per minute, and 1.5 kilometers per hour.

Always round Movement to 2 digits, unless you want to make a complex rule really tough. If a player wants to, Movement Q can also be applied to Defense, with 2 points of Q adding 1 point to Defense (against all enemies). In this case, the same amount that is added to Defense is subtracted from Attack, if the character is attacking. The Defense Q must be re-applied every time a new Move Roll is made.

You don’t need to handle movement on a segment by segment basis. Determine how far a character has moved only on the character’s action, or when the character is being attacked. Editors and players can always call for a movement update for everyone, in order to plan an upcoming action or area-effect attack.

Maneuverability for Vehicles:The 45¡ mentioned above is the Maneuverability of humans. Vehicles usually have a lower Maneuverability. A vehicle’s maneuverability is simply the number of degrees the vehicle will turn using one Q point.

Throw Roll: The Throw roll is for throwing things. It is vs. Strength minus 9. There is a bonus equal to the character’s Mass (Sphere Chart). The Q is used for the object’s mass (Sphere Chart). It can also be used to reduce the EP cost or to increase the distance the object is thrown. Look up the Q applied to distance on the Result column of the Action Chart, and read to the Sphere Column, for the distance in meters. A Combat Roll must still be made to hit a specific distance or location.

If the Throw Roll fails, the object is still thrown a small distance. The EP Cost is 5, and the negative Q is looked up from the Result column to the Sphere Column, just as before.

Lobbing and Tall/Short Folks:For more precision, assume the object is at a height equal to half the character’s height. Look up this times 4 (character height times 2) on the Square Chart, for the number of segments in the air, and the Q is applied to speed. Multiply the number of segments by the speed for the distance. If you use this calculation, you can allow characters to lob the object. For each point of Q applied to lobbing, add the character’s height to the effective height the object starts at. Thus, 1 point of Q here means that height times 6 is looked up on the Square Chart for segments in the air. Two points means height times 8, three points height times 10, etc. That much height must be free for the length of the Throw.

Attacking with a Thrown Object:When throwing something as an attack, an Attack Roll must still be made. The Maximum Range is the speed. The Short Range is equal to the Q used for speed, and the Range Set is half this. Performance Time for a Throw is 15.

Throwback Roll: Characters who are punched, blasted, or otherwise attacked, may be thrown by the force of the blow. The Throwback Roll is the character’s Mass, on the Sphere Chart. The Throwback Roll has no bonus pool. There is a penalty to the roll of the damage done before skill, Skin Temper, or Ignore Damage modified it. If the character was only hit for VP, there is a bonus of the highest of agility or strength (Sphere Chart). If the character took DP from the attack, the bonus must be strength.

For a character to be thrown back when only VP was lost, the character must have been surprised. If the character lost DP in a surprise attack, the bonus due to strength is halved.

If the Throwback Roll is failed, make the negative Q positive, and look this up from the Result Column of the Action Chart to the Sphere Column, for the speed in meters/segment and the distance in meters that the character is thrown. Half this for attacks that do mainly penetrating damage. Half again for small projectile weapons, such as handguns and rifles.

(For more precision, assume that the character is at a height equal to half the character’s height. Multiply this by 4, that is, multiply character height by 2, and look this up on the Square Column for the number of segments in the air. For most characters, this is 1, making the speed equal the distance.)

Under certain circumstances, you may want to apply throwback for positive Q (making it negative), thus resulting in fractional throwback, but this should be rare, as it is quite tedious.

Skill Rolls

Skill Rolls can be modified to increase the chance of success, or to decrease the performance time.

Increase Action Roll: To increase the chance of success, characters can spend more time attempting a skill. For each doubling of the time spent on the attempt to use the skill, add 2 to the character’s Action Roll. The character cannot increase the Action Roll by more than twice the character’s Skill Level.

Decrease Performance Time:To decrease the amount of time spent on an attempt at using a skill, a character can hurry. For each penalty of 2 to the Action Roll, divide Performance Time by 2, and round down (though an action can never take less than 1 segment).

Quality (or Q) can be used to increase Defense or to decrease Performance Time. Each skill will usually have other uses for the Quality of the roll as well.

Defense: Characters can use 2 Q points to add 1 to their Defense for the duration of the action. If this is a Passive Action, the character’s Attack will almost always be reduced by the same amount Defense is increased. A character who is zigzagging (Movement), and firing a gun at the same time might use 4 Movement Q to increase Defense by 2. This will reduce the character’s Attack with the gun by 2 as well.

Setting Aside An Action:Some actions must be finished completely in one sitting. Others can be set aside and worked on periodically. Those that can be set aside must be completed within a number of days equal to the Performance Time in hours. In other words, if an action will take 5 hours to complete, the character must actually find time to spend 5 hours on the task before five days is up. Otherwise, the character has lost track of what they were doing.

Power Rolls

Power Rolls are not random. The Quality of the Power Roll is the character’s Power Roll with the Power. Most powers have a Performance Time of 20. A combat roll is required to attack with the power, and the combat roll Q can be used to decrease the performance time. The Power Roll can also be used to reduce the Performance Time.

Power Roll PR can be used to reduce EP Cost and to increase any of the power’s Effects the same as Quality for skills. A character can use a power for as many passive actions as desired (as well as one active action). For each specific action, the total of the Q for the action’s effects cannot be greater than the character’s PR. Each action uses EP separately.

Most defensive aspects of a power, such as setting up a power shield, are passive actions. Most mind-based powers (such as telepathy) are also passive. Performance Time for passive power actions are usually halved (which will usually mean a Performance Time of 10).

Maintaining an Attack: Most blast/ray attack powers can be maintained. The Performance Time is divided by 4 (usually meaning 5 segments), and the same Attack is used. There is a penalty of 2 to the Attack for each successive action (that is, -2, -4, -6, etc.), and a penalty of 1 to the EP use row for the blast.

Power Example: Sun-Ruler has a PR of 12 in Fire Coat. He enters combat with Seraph. On segment 1 he starts firing up to increase his Skin Temper. That’s a passive action, so it only has a Performance Time of 10. He’ll be done on Segment 11. He uses 8 PR for that (increasing Skin Temper by 4 rows), using 1 EP per round. Now, on segment 6, he initiates a fire blast, using all 12 PR. He rolls 17, missing (he needed 13 or less: 12 plus his pool of 1). He uses 5 EP for this attack.

Extra Effort: It’s up to the Editor and Player whether a specific character can use Extra Effort (see Ability Rolls) with a specific power, and whether the power returns its PR with the physical healing roll or the mental healing roll.

Opposed Actions

Everything in the world is not a rock waiting to be lifted. Some rocks fight back. If you’re competing with someone, and your goal is as much to keep your opponent from succeeding as it is to succeed yourself, that’s an Opposed Action. Obvious examples are arm wrestling and tug of war--in those cases, only one person can win.

Here’s an example of arm wrestling. Arm wrestling is likely to be based on Lift, so two people arm wrestling each make a Lift Roll, as if lifting no weight. If one fails, then that person loses. If both fail, they use maximum EP (5) and try again. If both succeed, they can use the Q to reduce the EP used, as normal, and Q can also be used to reduce the opponent’s Q, at a 2 to 1 ratio. It takes 2 points to reduce the opponent’s Q by 1 point. If a person’s Q is reduced to less than 0, that person loses.

Knowledge

Knowledge can affect Skill Rolls. Knowledges with the same name as a Skill give a bonus equal to the Knowledge Score divided by 10 to the Bonus Pool.

Knowledge Rolls

Knowledge scores range from 0 (no knowledge) to anything. There is no upper limit on knowledge scores. The knowledge score is useful in determining what a character knows in that field. If a player wants to know if the character knows something in a field, give that possibility a modifier, depending on how likely it is that the character knows it. This modifier is a multiplier. A character with Chemistry, for example, will have a multiplier of about 20 for knowing the symbol for an element, making this knowledge nearly automatic. Knowing the formula for an obscure substance found on the planet Regorius ½ might have a multiplier of 1/4, depending on the circumstances.

A Knowledge Score of 15-20 indicates competence in a field. A brilliant chemist with a Ph.D. might have a chemical knowledge of 50, while someone with only high school chemistry will have a 1 to 5. A score of 5 indicates good general knowledge.

How Good is the Roll?

If you need to compare two different Knowledge Rolls, compare the difference between the target number and the roll. If a character with American History (75) rolls 50, that’s 25. If another character with History (90, but halved for American History, to 45) rolls 40, that’s 5. The character with the 25 knows much more about the subject at hand than the character with the 5.

Skills

Skills can modify Knowledge Rolls. Usually, a Skill with the same name as a Knowledge will give the character a bonus to that Knowledge equal to the Skill Level. A character with Sailing 7 (Skill) and Sailing 52 (Knowledge) will have a bonus of 7 to Sailing Knowledge Rolls. This is even the case when the character has no knowledge score at all in the area. So, a person with a Skill of 7 in Magic Tricks Skill and no Knowledge Score of Magic Tricks will have, effectively, a Score of 7 in Magic Tricks Knowledge.

If you follow these character creation ‘rules’ you will get a good superhero character. These rules, however, are only for people who don’t already know what kind of hero they want to play. If you know what you want, you can create your character without rolling any dice at all, simply by writing down your abilities, powers, and background.

Your final character is subject to approval by the Editor and possibly the rest of the players, whether you created it with dice or not.

Abilities and Attributes

Copy the following box onto some scrap paper, or use the Character Creation Worksheet:

Now, roll three sets of these. Roll 3d6 for the first 6 (abilities), and 4d6 for the last 3 (attributes). You do not have to choose which of the three sets you will use until later. When you do so choose, you are allowed to switch active and normal charisma.

Powers

Decide what Hero Type you want. For information on creating heroes of each type, read the appropriate description under Hero Types.

Extra Powers

There is a chance that you will be able to roll on another Hero Type table. The chance of doing so depends on what you chose as your first Hero Type and by what extra Hero Type you want. You must choose which of the following chances you wish to take before you roll the dice:

^*The first time that a player whose first Hero Type was a Special Power rolls for an extra Special Power, this chance is increased to to 45%. Any later rolls for an extra Special Power are at 35%.

Choosing Your Ability/Attribute Set

Now you must choose which set--I, II, or III--you wish to use for your character. Then, decide whether or not you want to switch your active and normal charismas in this set. If your character is going to be female, add 1 to her Constitution.

Power Rolls and %Control

Roll Power Rolls for each power you have. Normally, Power Rolls are found by rolling 3d6.

Roll %Control for each applicable power. %Control is found by rolling 4d6 and adding the result to 76. %Control does not apply to skills, attributes, abilities, or certain totally automatic powers such as Luck and Magic Resistance. Intelligent Robots do not require %Control for any of their powers. Whenever a power with %Control is used, a roll must be made on d100 less than or equal to the %Control for that power. For power uses that last a period of time (such as flying) the roll must be made once per Panel (once per round in combat). If the roll is missed, the power in question failed to operate. EP is not used for the power the round or Panel it failed. %Control can be increased later, by training in it. One Training Point increases %Control by 10 points.

Remaining Attributes

Height: Roll d100 and consult the following chart to determine your character’s base height. To this, add 2d100 millimeters (2d100 divided by 1000 meters).

d100 Roll Male Base Height Female Base Height
01 1.217 meters 1.166 meters
02-03 1.336 meters 1.290 meters
04-06 1.455 meters 1.414 meters
07-10 1.574 meters 1.539 meters
11-90 1.693 meters 1.663 meters
91-94 1.829 meters 1.794 meters
95-97 1.965 meters 1.925 meters
98-99 2.102 meters 2.057 meters
00 2.239 meters 2.188 meters

Build and Beauty: These are determined by rolling 4d6. Female humans add 10 to build. Males add 11.

Age

Roll 3d6 to determine your character’s age. If your character is a Special Agent add 2 to that roll. If it is a Mad Scientists/Eccentric Professor, add 4. Intelligent Robots have a 70% chance of having an age of 0. Otherwise, subtract 2 from their 3d6 roll. Look up the roll on the following chart for the character’s base age, and add d10.

If you roll up an age less than 16 (and your character is not an Intelligent Robot or Wizard) that age is the age your character received any powers he, she or it has. Your character will start the game at 15 plus d4 years (plus 0 to 11 months, depending on your character’s birthday)--the age the character physically matures. If you roll up an age that is greater than your character’s age of deterioration (see Old Age) then go through the rolls for Old Age, starting from the age of deterioration and ending at your present age, ignoring any result which calls for your character’s death. Any character who starts playing at an age other than that rolled will have increased %Control. Subtract the age rolled from the age the character starts at. Add the result to any %Control scores your character has, remembering that %Control cannot increase above 100.

Birth Date: Roll d12 for the month and d32 for the date (until a date that exists is gained). To determine the year, check this date against the present date. If this date has already passed, subtract the character’s age from the current year. Otherwise, subtract it from the last year, for the year the character was born.

Appearance

Most characters have a 1% chance of being mutated. Aliens have an 85% chance, Intelligent Robots have a 20% chance, and Normals have a one in one million chance. If a character is mutated, use the Mutated Appearance tables. Otherwise, use the Normal Appearance tables.

Normal Appearance:

Skin Color (there is a 15% chance of rolling this more than once, thus getting mixed ancestry): (d10)

Hair: The player rolls, first, for hair type--curly, wavy, or bald--and then for hair color. The intensity of the color must also be rolled for. See lower.

Blood Type: Roll d1000 (Robots and Aliens must roll on the Mutated Appearance Table for this):

Mutated Appearance

Any player whose character has mutated looks must roll up a mutation% first. If the character is an alien, roll a d4. If the roll is 1, the alien's mutation% is d100, otherwise it is 100. Robots have a mutation% of 40+d60. Normals who are mutated have a mutation% of d80. Other characters have a mutation% of d100. See Mutants, under Special Rules for more effects of being a mutant.

Use the mutation% to find out what visible parts of a character's body are mutated. For each aspect here, roll d100. If this roll is less than or equal to half the mutation%, roll on the table for that aspect. Otherwise, use the Normal table, above.

Multiple Color Pattern Chart: If the character gained multiple colors on the above chart, use this to determine the color pattern. (d4)

96-00) hermaphroditic (players of aliens roll again, to determine the number of sexes in the race; the character is two of them; if this result is rolled twice, the character is three of them, if more than two sexes exist)

Fingers/Toes: Most races have the same number of fingers as toes, so only roll once for both: (d24)

Blood Type: Robots always have odd blood, even if without a Mutation Percentage. So do some humans. (d100)

The Special result means that the player must make up something that goes with the character’s powers or origin. A fire controlling hero, for example, might have veins of fire.

Unusual Feature: This must be rolled until missed, at half the character’s mutation%. For each unusual feature the character rolls up, a specific unusual feature must be chosen. Examples include horns, a tail, strange shaped head, strange shaped hair (flame hair, for instance), wings on feet, cosmic eyes.

Handedness: Intelligent Robots have a 40% chance of being ambidextrous. Otherwise, roll d100 to see which hand your character favors:

Ambidextrous characters gain +1 to the Combat Pool if using hands, and suffer no penalty for using the incorrect hand.

Continent of Birth

Roll d20 to determine where your character was born. Aliens may use this to determine where they landed, or may ignore it (as can anyone, as stated earlier).

1-10 North America 11 South America
12-13 Europe 14-15 Great Britain
16 Asia 17 Africa
18 Australia 19 Greenland
20 Island

Population Density: Roll d20 to determine the population density where your character was born:

1 Isolated Area 2-3 Rural Area
4-6 Town 7-10 Suburban Area
11-15 City 16-20 Metropolis

Known Family

Siblings Roll d100 and consult the following chart for the number of siblings your character has:

No Winners, No Losers

Adventures

Playing Pitfalls

How to Play Men & Supermen

Player Characters

Editors

Limited Glossary

Abilities and Attributes

Attributes

Figured Attributes

Action Rolls

Bonus Pools

Initiating Actions

Performance Time

Saving Quality

Duration

Dropping an Action

EP Cost

Passive Actions

Making Rolls

Ability Rolls

Skill Rolls

Power Rolls

Opposed Actions

Knowledge

Knowledge Rolls

How Good is the Roll?

Skills

Determining Abilities

Abilities and Attributes

Powers

Extra Powers

Choosing Your Ability/Attribute Set

Power Rolls and %Control

Remaining Attributes

Filling Out the Character

Age

Appearance

Normal Appearance:

Mutated Appearance

Continent of Birth

Known Family