Game Theory

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.