Four Color Dreams in RPG's

Ah, comic books.

As a sweaty awkward teenager I read many MANY comic books. Though I no longer read them with any frequency, there is something wonderful about comic books for me. Morality was clearly defined for the most part, bad guys were BAD, and good guys tried to do right.

The "Golden Age" comic books are of particular interest to me. Such books were published from the 1930s-late 1940s/early 1950s, and were where the Superhero genre began. In these comics, heroes battled weird monsters, ghosts, zombies, giant robots, mad scientists, Nazis and the Japanese. They fought with two-fisted justice and won because of their guts, grit and ideals (and powers).

This isn't to say that Golden Age comics were necessarily "kid stuff" by modern standards. Before the coming of The Comics Code Authority in 1954, comic books were enormously varied in content. Supernatural Horror and stories involving brutal murders were quite common (and very graphic).

Even superhero comics could be brutal by todays standards. Superman in his Golden Age persona had no problem killing enemy soldiers and particularly nasty criminal types. Batman was also responsible for the death of several gangster-type baddies. Of course America was in the Great Depression, and racketeers were seen as satanic villains. So there wasnt much public outcry to comics that fantacised about their doom.

And people think superheroes always had to save everybody...


Superhero Role Playing Games
Role Playing Games that feature "Supers" are a hard sell. As it is very VERY easy for players to get stuck on the characters powers rather then focussing on what makes the character a HERO. To make a super character, you have to determine from the get-go why this guy does the hero thing. Is it vengeance, an ingrained sense of justice, a duty passed to you by your home planet? After that is determined, you can create the other bits and push this motivation into everything that you do or say.

Game systems for this sort of thing are tricky. Because of the sheer number of potential powers, most super game systems are incredibly complex to the point of gross tedium. Still, some mutant math majors out there like these systems, though I am not one of them. I prefer "rules light" game systems for superhero games, ones that allow you to get to the action, and enjoy the world in which the character lives. I recommend the following game settings and systems:

Aberrant (White Wolf): A well thought out setting and using a version of the Storyteller system. Fun and well thought out, it features one of the best system for creating potentially unstable superheroes much like the X-Men and their many mutant friends and foes. Now out of print, but can be found at RPGnow.com.

Heroes Unlimited (Palladium): A bit clunky mechanic wise, but alot of fun.

Four Color (Homebrew/Fan Made): This is my favorite. Lightweight and easy to understand. It being free, AND only having 14 pages in the main Players Guide is a big bonus.

Also, for those who are artistically challenged. Check out the Hero Machine. Its an online character art generator for those wishing to have a kewl character portrait to accompany their hero (or villain) character!

Below is a trailer for an interesting animated movie.



It depicts a future setting in which the old villain Ultron defeated the superheroes of the world. For those who dont know, Ultron is an evil robot whose "skin" is made from Adamantium, the unbreakable matal that Wolverines skeletons and claws are made from. This makes him REALLY tough and strong, though in the past heroes have defeated him by destroying his internal components by sending a shrunken hero in through his mouth. Why a robot needs a mouth is apparently a question we are not supposed to ask...

Strange Eons: Magic Items

The Microlite 20 system is beautifully simplistic, with just enough complexity to keep you in the rhythm of the game, but loose enough to allow more of a storytelling environment. This open-endedness allows a world designer (me) to add in all kinds of tidbits for flavor.

Magic Items in Strange Eons
Magical devices are found thruought the worlds of Strange Eons, from simple talismans to the crowning achievements of the ancients and the weird sciences of the Xenogen. The creation of magic items is always accomplished during "off hours" and are the subject of long hours of study, with the creation of more powerful items being restricted to ancient mages or Xenogen.
Magic items should enhance the game, not overwhelm it. That said, gamemasters are advised to dole out such items only when it is important to the story. This is supposed to be a game about HEROES, not their toys.

Spellwrought Devices
These items carry a spell effect, drawing hit points from the user to power the effect. Some examples can be found below:

Ring of The Executioner
These grim rings are typically worn by mortal servants of evil beings who are put in command of undead monsters. There are many versions of these rings, each housing one or more spells from the school of necromancy. all of these rings at least possess the spell Detect Undead, and Command Undead with some possessing one or more of the following spells- Animate Dead, Desecrate, Ghoul Touch, Speak with Dead and Vampiric Touch. These spells are cast as though by a cleric of equal level to the wearers own level.


Skullcap of the Overlord: This close fitting skullcap is greatly prized by evil overlords from across the known worlds. This device, when worn allows the wearer to cast Detect Magic, Hypnotism, Detect Thoughts, Hold Person and Scrying as though the wearer were a Mage of equal level to her own.
These spells still drain the wearer of hit points as per a mage, and thus the trifty despot must be careful.

Blade of the Alien Hunter: A device created to cause great harm to Xenogen, delivering the effects of the Banishment spell upon a successful hit. This effect is cast as though the weilder were a Cleric of equal level to his own.

Talismans
Devices that help or otherwise enhance the use of spellcasting in some way. Some examples can be found below:

Wizard Staff: Many wizards carry staffs, either as a weapon of last resort (as per a quarterstaff) or to help with travel as a walking stick. Still, the true Wizards Staff is a magical device in its own right, made from the wood of a magical tree such as a Treant or a Dryads Tree.
A Mage or Cleric in possession of a Wizards Staff may count one additional signature spell per level (see Magic in the Microlite 20 Core Rules for details). As each additional spell is gained, the staff twists, warps or otherwise changes somehow to reflect its magical nature. If the staff is lost or destroyed, the spellcaster no longer has access to those spells at a reduced price.

Hands of Doom: These devices are a favorite of those mages who specialize in touch attack spells, as the possessor of a hand may deliver touch spells (shocking grasp, vampiric touch, etc) through these items. Hands of Doom that are owned by a spellcaster act on the mage or clerics turn, and any spell cast through them draws spell energy (hit points) from the caster as-normal.
The Hands of Doom appear as floating hands with eyes and act more like creatures than items. Hands of Doom have the following statistics: HD1 (7hp), AC13, Natural +3 (1d8-5).

Artifacts
These are magical devices that always work, and draw no Hit Points for their use. All such devices are legendary in status, and cannot be created by player characters, being the creation of god-like beings, and possibly the result of terrible accidents of magical engineering or the body parts of vast supernatural beings. One examples can be found below:

Stargate: Portals that connect the different worlds. These magical wonders create permanent Gate effects between themselves and one or more other gates. Most known gates appear on the planets of the solar system, appearing as ornate "doorways" that once activated create a "tunnel" to another gate. One gate, located in orbit around the glacial world of Themis (Europa), and is large enough to cause tidal effects on the chill seas of Themis.

Intelligent Items
Any magical device may be intelligent, including Riding Golems and Vimanas. Such devices have Mind scores and levels in the Knowledge skill, the levels of which is up to the Gamemaster. Intelligent items are completely aware of their surroundings and can talk to the player characters. If the item itself has magic powers, the intelligence has access to them (draining hit points from the person holding the item to do so). Intelligent Items cannot normally self-animate.