* 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.
* 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.
* Don’t stifle humor. Humor is an integral part of comic-book adventuring.
* 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.