Negative Space Presents:

The Other Superhero Role-Playing Game

by Jerry Stratton

3rd Edition, 2nd Printing

2026

https://www.menandsupermen.com/

Men & Supermen™ ©1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999 Jerry Stratton.
Men & Supermen™ and Negative Space™ are trademarks of Jerry Stratton

Introduction

Foreword

Men & Supermen, in some form or other, has been around since 1980. I couldn’t have done it without the many playtesters. Their heroes survived the early days of the world’s creation and the fundamental changes in the laws of physics which followed. Their names shall forever be etched in the Chronicle of Heroes, on the Life Stone in the Caverns at the End of Time.

And again there shall be wonder,
as the singer draws the pen,
And legends fill the story
as the eagle learns its ken,

As heroes fight for freedom
on the planet, end to end,
They shall strive a fight for justice—

Men, and Supermen.

—The First Circle of Earth

Special thanks go to Rory Keating and Thor Brickman, who spent many hours arguing with me over various rules and the game as a whole. This book is dedicated to Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, creators of Superman™ and to E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, creators of the Dungeons and Dragons™ role playing game. If it weren’t for them I’d spend all my free time reading romance novels and playing bridge.

Jerry Stratton, https://www.menandsupermen.com/

The Hall of Heroes

Agent Aura “Kincaid” Ange (Darryl DeLeeuw)

Agent Bobo (Russ Nelson)

Ape (Thor Brickman)

Black Cat (Rory Keating)

Blue Disc (Darryl DeLeeuw)

Brat (Rory Keating)

Brinn X’Halikso (Rick Turner)

Bob (Rory Keating)

Daklin (Chris Eitniear)

Dark Horse (Thor Brickman)

Elektra (Irish McWhorter)

Eric Exploso (James Stratton)

Ian McKellan (Vince Kimball)

JC-9 (Vince Kimball)

Lightwave (Rob Reed)

The Lugnuts/New Wave Heroes
(Rob, Rory, Vince, Thor, Linc)

the Lurking Grue (Rory Keating)

Pale Destroyer (Ron Watkins)

Pulsar (Kevin McMinn)

Rayzon (Rex Bowers)

Razz (Andee Kunza)

Roach (Virginia Walker)

Shaman (Thor Brickman)

Tween (Rory Keating)

Contents

What is Role-Playing?

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!

How to Play Men & Supermen

Player Characters

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

2. 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.

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

4. Never attack anyone who hasn’t either committed a crime, or 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.

5. 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.

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

Editors

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

2. 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.

3. 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.

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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

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.

Limited Glossary

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).

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.

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

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.

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

Abilities and Attributes

Basic Abilities

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 such 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.

For Learning greater than 18, divide learning time by Learning minus 13.

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.

Attributes

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.

Example of Horrification: Seraph and the Nightgaunt

Cerest-Ranon, Seraph, and Gremlin come across a Nightgaunt with a Beauty of -4. The Editor rolls 1 for the Horror Roll. Cerest-Ranon’s Beauty is 16 and her Willpower is 72. Her save is vs. 62. Seraph has a Beauty of 31 and Willpower of 80. He saves vs. 68. Gremlin’s Beauty is 6 and her Willpower is 60, so she saves vs. 54.

Half of the Q (round up) of 1 is applied as a penalty to his Willpower, so each has a penalty of 6. Half of the Q (round down) is applied to the time paralyzed, so that’s an extra 1d6 segments, for 2d6. Cerest-Ranon’s player rolls 45, so she’s not horrified. Seraph’s player rolls 78, so he is. Gremlin’s player rolls 9, so she isn’t. The Editor rolls 9 on 2d6 for Seraph, so Seraph is paralyzed with horror for 9 segments.

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.

Round the penalty to the most negative.

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.

Height is the character’s height in meters.

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.

Figured Attributes

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.

Skin Temper is applied after Ignore Damage.

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:

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.

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.

​Making Rolls

Action Rolls

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 its 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.

Abilities cannot be increased so far that the ability will drop to less than 0.

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).

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.

There is no penalty applied to Healing Rolls because of low EP or low DP.

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.

On a failure, the character still jumps, but not as high.

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).

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.

In order to turn, the character must use 1 Q point per 45 degree turn.

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.

Movement is passive with a Performance Time of 6.

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.

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.)

The Throwback penalty Q is added to Pushback.

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.

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.

The speed of the object will be the same as the distance, in meters/segment.

Example of Movement

Seraph starts running. He has a strength of 11, an agility of 22, and a height of 1.791. His Move Roll is 22 (agility) plus 5 (half of strength), plus 1 (height on the square chart), or 28. He rolls a 5 and a 1, for 6. The 1 is re-rolled, getting a 4, bringing the result to 2. The Quality of the Move Roll is 28-2, or 26.

Seraph puts 9 of the Q points towards reducing the EP cost to 0. This leaves 17 Q points. He applies all 17 points to Speed, for a speed of 10 dm/segment, or 1 meter/segment. Later (segment: 81) he decides to try and increase his speed. He rolls again, but since he’s got 17 Q in speed already, he has a penalty of 17 to his Bonus Pool, for a total penalty of 10. He rolls 18, plus 10, or 28, for a Q of 0. He cannot increase his speed, and his EP cost just went to 5 EP/round (so he pays 5 EP). He tries again on segment: 87, rolling a 14, for 24 and a Q of 4. He uses 1 point to bring his speed Q to 18 (or 11 dm/segment) and uses the other 3 to reduce the EP cost to 2 EP/round (using 2 EP). He’s not satisfied with that EP cost, however, so on segment: 93, he makes another roll. His Bonus Pool is now -18 (for a penalty of 11). This time, he gets 17, for a Q of 0. EP is back up to 5 EP/round, and he uses 5 EP. He tries again on segment: 99, getting 13, (+11 gives 24) for a Q of 4. He uses this to reduce the EP cost to 1 EP/round (paying 1 EP now, and again on segment: 100, a Payment Segment). He tries one more time on segment: 105. This time he’s more successful. He rolls 5 (+11 gives 16) for a Q of 12. He uses 9 points to bring the EP cost down to 0, and puts the other 3 on Speed Q. This brings the speed Q up to 21, but since 21 and 18 are the same on the Sphere chart, his actual speed doesn’t increase.

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.

Performance Time: It takes 3 points of Q to half Performance Time.

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.

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 Rolls use d100. Ones do not reduce the die roll for 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.

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.

​Creating a Character

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.

Determining Abilities

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.

Hero Types:

Class Powers and Special Powers have no ability requirements. Package Heroes do have ability requirements.

I. Class Powers

1. Animalistic Powers

1. Bear

2. Bird

3. Cat

4. Dog

5. Huge Animal

6. Snake

7. Spider

8. Sting

9. Water Animal

10. Rodent

2. Cosmic Powers

3. Psychic Powers

4. Superhuman Powers

II. Special Powers

III. Package Heroes

1. Civilian

2. Intelligent Robot

3. Combat Skills

1. Archer

2. Boxer

3. Marksman

4. Martial Artist

5. Weaponmaster

4. Mad Scientist/Eccentric Professor (for this package all listed attributes except learning are maximums)

5. Magician

6. Special Agent

7. Wizard

Package Hero Ability Requirements

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%.

Roll for extra powers until the chance is missed.

Choose 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

The remaining attributes are height, beauty, and build.

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).

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

Optional Rules

Use the optional rules that you wish to use or that your Editor requires you to use.​

Filling Out the Character

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 Scientist/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.

Hair Type: (d10)

Hair Color: (d10)

Eye Color: (d10)

Intensity of Skin, Hair, and Eye Color: (d6)

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.

Eye/Hair/Skin Color (d20, roll each separately)

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

Intensity of Skin, Hair, and Eye Color: (d3)

Sex: (d100)

Skin Characteristics: (d12)

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.

All characters

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).

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

Known Family

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

To determine order of birth, roll d100 for each sibling, including your character. The highest roll is the oldest sibling, the next highest is the next oldest, on down to the lowest roll, which denotes the youngest sibling. If any two siblings roll the same number, either they are twins (80%), or one is adopted (20%), give each sibling an even chance of being adopted, and age difference is plus or minus d6 months). There is an 80% chance that twins are true look-alike (zygotic) twins. Otherwise, twins are fraternal twins. Fraternal twins do not have the same genetic code, and do not usually look alike.

To determine the age of each sibling, roll the dice given on the table used to determine number of siblings, from the column Age Difference. Add the result to your character’s age. This is the age of your character’s nearest older sibling. If there is an even older sibling, roll again, and add to this age. Continue to do this until there are no more older siblings. For younger siblings, do the same thing, but subtract the result from each preceding age.

Parents’ Age: To determine the age of your character’s parents, use their oldest child’s age. For the father, add 14. Then roll d3, add 1, and roll d6 this many times. Add this in for your dad’s age. For the mother, add 12. Then, roll d3, add 1, and roll d6 that many times. Add this for your mom’s age.

Death or Disappearance in the Family: Each sibling has a 5% chance of having died or disappeared (Player’s option). The chance for each parent is 15%. If both parents are gone, there is a 60% chance this occurred at the same time. For each parent who is gone, there is a 20% chance that this occurred near when your character was born. Otherwise, roll d% and multiply by your character’s age to determine when loss occurred.

If only one parent was lost, there is a 30% chance, plus your character’s age minus the age your character was when the parent disappeared, that the remaining parent remarried. If you have any younger siblings born after the loss, the remaining parent has a 90% chance of having remarried.

If both parents died/disappeared, and this occurred before your character was 18, there is a chance your character was adopted immediately. This chance is 18, minus your character’s age when the parents disappeared, times 5. If not adopted immediately, divide that chance by 5 for the chance your character was eventually adopted. If your parents disappeared at your birth, and you have younger siblings, then you were adopted, either (1-4 at birth, 5-6 later).

For remarriages, subtract the remaining parent’s age at the time of the loss from the parent’s present age. For late adoptions, subtract your character’s age at the time of death/disappearance from 18. Multiply that number by d% for the number of years it took for remarriage or adoption.

Economic Status

Ask your Editor how detailed you character’s economic status should be. Some Editors will require that you only determine Economic Level. Others will also ask you to determine Net Worth, and possibly Disposable Income.

Net Worth is how much something will reasonably sell for. Net Worth includes the character’s car, home, wardrobe, etc. It can include debt as well. Remember that Economic Level takes precedence over Net Worth. A rich character with a negative net worth still lives a rich lifestyle.

Disposable Monthly Income is the amount of money left over after taxes, food, and upkeep on Net Worth. If negative, the character must acquire the overrun or reduce Net Worth by it, each month.

Modify Worth and Income by the character’s Learning and Age: If the dollar amount is positive, multiply by (half Learning on the Sphere Chart, plus Age on the Doubles Chart) and divide by 10.

If the dollar amount is negative, multiply by (Age on the Doubles Chart plus 10) and divide by (half Learning on the Sphere Chart plus 10).

If the character is a minor, the Net Worth and Disposable Monthly Income rolled is for the parents. You’ll need to roll their Learning. If there are two parents, average their Learning and Age. The character’s Weekly Allowance is the parents’ Disposable Monthly Income, divided by 10, divided by d4, and divided by the number of kids. Modify this as normal for your Age and Learning. Of course, you could get a job.

Knowledge

All Possible Knowledge: Well, maybe not everything. Area lists possible areas which the knowledge could fall under. The player can choose which area applies. The Hours listed is for learning this area after the game starts.

Language: Your character will know one language with a Knowledge Score of five times learning.

General Knowledge: You have a number of points to be used in determining what knowledge your character has at the start of the game. The base number of points is your character’s learning. If your character’s learning has changed since you rolled it up, use the original learning, unless your character is an Intelligent Robot, you changed learning under the Civilian rules, or you roll d100 less than or equal to four times your character’s newoen.

The base number of points is modified as follows:

Intelligent Robots divide the number of points by 10, then multiply by (2d6 minus 2), round down.

For any character, subtract twenty from the character’s age (zero if the character is a robot) and look this up on the Doubles Chart. Multiply this number by 2. Add this to the character’s knowledge score in (General) History, and add the same amount to the score in the History of the character’s area of birth. Also, add this to the number of points the character has.

No character can have more points than age times newoen divided by 20, read to the sphere chart. A four year old with a ten newoen can’t have more than two points; a ten year old with a fourteen newoen can’t have more than seven points, and a 20 year old with a fourteen newoen can’t have more than 43 points.

Each point your character finally has can be used to increase any Knowledge Score by d20. Or, a point can be used to gain 2 Training Points. These Training Points do not apply to Experience, and cannot be saved beyond character creation.

You must use at least one point in each of the following areas: Mathematics, Science, and Language/Literature. If your character doesn’t have three points to use, the requirement does not apply.

Hobbies: You may also have a number of points which must be used entirely for hobbies. Divide your character’s Normal Charisma by 4, round up, and make this positive. Your character has this many hobby points. Hobbies are marked on the Knowledge List. Hobby points are like general knowledge points, except that the d20 roll cannot be greater than the character’s newoen.

Skills

Driving: Most characters will have a driving level of d3 plus 1. Characters who are not from Great Britain or North America, or who are under 16 years of age, have a 70% chance of having to divide that score by 6 and then multiply it by (d6-1). Intelligent Robots and Mad Scientists/Eccentric Professors divide their level by 2. Round each of these up.

Combat Skills: Most characters start at level two in each of these skills: fist fighting, clubs, and thrown clubs. Mad Scientists/Eccentric Professors and Intelligent Robots start at level 1. Most characters start at level 1 in Firearms.

Power Use: Characters start at level 2 in Power Use for each power. Mad Scientists/Eccentric Professors start at level 1, if they have a power.

Other Skills: You have a 20% chance of being able to choose an extra skill. This can be rolled until it is missed. The skill’s level is rolled for with the Starting Dice.

Other Skills: You have a 20% chance of being able to choose an extra skill. This can be rolled until it is missed. The skill’s level is rolled for with the Starting Dice.

Base (Headquarters)

Your character has a base 1% chance of having a special headquarters. Add 1% to this for each 6 points of learning, 1% for every 4 points of the character’s highest charisma, and 1% for every 8 points of newoen. Different Hero Types have different modifications to the chance (if your character has more than one Type, choose the least modification).

Position of Base: If a character has a base, the player must decide where it will be. It must be in an accessible position, and in a spot which is consistent with the character’s powers and origin.

Fittings: The player rolls 2d6 times on the table below for what is in the character’s base. (d100)

If the base has a computer, roll for type divided by 3 special abilities. Where applicable, the computer has a Knowledge Score of 20+d100 in areas rolled here. (d20)

Defenses: Roll on the following chart for defenses:

Main Wall Material: The base’s outer walls will be able to ignore 2d10 points damage, have a maximum ST of 4+d4, and a maximum DP of 10 + d60. The player must keep this in mind when designing the base.

Rooms: If the character has a headquarters, the player should choose 3d8+6 of these special rooms for it.

Laboratory: Electrical, Chemical, Physics, Biological, Psychological, Photographic, Medical, Botanical, or Observatory.

Standard Rooms: Infirmary, Recreation, Room, Kitchen, Dining Room, Sleeping Quarters, Gymnasium, Library, Garage (vehicle storage), Trophy Room, Conference Room, or Projection Room

Working Areas: Woodworking, Metalworking, Vehicle Workshop, Recording Studio, Landing Bay/Hanger, Super-Criminal, or Holding Facilities.

If your character has a base, consult your Editor for clarification.

Pet

Your character has a 2% chance of having a pet. If your character has a pet, consult your Editor. You can use the following rules to create your pet.

First, choose an animal that fits with the character’s origin and powers. All pets have a bonus of 1 to both Learning and Newoen.

Pet Powers

Pets will generally have powers and abilities based on the powers and abilities of the player character. If they don’t, use the Generic Pet table. Pets have a 12% chance of having extra powers, and this can be rolled until it is missed. For extra rolls, roll d8 on the Generic Pet table, rather than d10.

Intelligent Robots’ Pets: There is a 90% chance that a robot’s pet is also a robot, in which case it will have to be created on the Intelligent Robot chart. Otherwise, use the Generic Pet chart below.

Special Agents’ and Combat Skilled Heroes’ Pets: There is an 80% chance that a Special Agent’s or Combat Skilled Hero’s pet is a trained fighting animal. Add 2d4 to its Weapons Ability in unarmed combat (fighting with its ‘fists’). Also, add 2d4 to either its agility or its strength. If the pet isn’t a trained fighting animal, roll on the Generic Pet chart below.

Wizards’ and Magicians’ Pets: A wizard’s or magician’s pet has an 80% chance of having a magic spell (Roll on the power, Magic Spell). If so, it has a 50% chance of having another one, and this 50% chance can be rolled until it is missed. Half the chance for Minor Spells for the pet, however. If the wizard’s pet does not have spells, roll on the Generic Pet Table.

Special Powered Characters’ Pets: Pets of characters whose main power is a Special Power have a 40% chance of having the same power, but not the same Power Roll. Otherwise, use the Generic Pet Table.

Everybody Else’s Pets: For any other character’s pet, there is a 60% chance that it will roll up powers or determine its skills, etc., in the same place that the player did. Otherwise, use the Generic Pet Table.

The Generic Pet Table (roll d10)

Animalistic Powers (roll d20)

Handicap or Weakness

Your character has a chance of having a Handicap or Weakness. Add half the number of Class Powers your character has to the number of Special Powers, add 2, and then subtract half the number of weaknesses already rolled up. Square this. This must be rolled until missed. Two or more weaknesses can be combined into a single, more debilitating weakness (which will still counts as 2 in the formula above). If you do roll up a weakness, consult your Editor. You and your Editor must take into account the character’s abilities and powers to determining the exact weakness or handicap.

For example, Pulsar’s player rolls up Power Related Physical Weakness, and then rolls up Affects Another Ability/Power. Pulsar has the power Gravity Control. Every time he initiates this power at a level which uses one or more EP per round, his strength becomes 13 minus the number of EP being used per round. These lost points return at Pulsar’s healing rate per hour when not using Gravity Control. Pulsar’s normal strength is 13, so this is an effective weakness. If Pulsar’s normal strength were 47, a small reduction of 1-5 wouldn’t much affect Pulsar at all. In that case, Pulsar might have to lose strength equal to two or three times the EP used, or simply interpret the weakness in another way.

For more examples of weaknesses, see the Rainbow Wizard, in the Starter Kit, and Prism and Shale, in the adventure A Taste of Jasmine (also in the Starter Kit).

To determine type of handicap/weakness, roll a d10 on the following chart. If the result is impossible (Power Weakness for a Civilian) use the next result up.

General Description

Power Weakness: This affects one or more of the character’s powers.

Power Related Physical Weakness: This is related to/affected by one or more of the character’s powers.

Origin Related Physical Weakness: This was gained at the same time the character’s powers were gained, and relate to that origin.

Physical Handicap: Although this handicap is not related to anything, it should still fit the character.

Origin Related Mental Weakness: Something happened to the character’s mind in the formation of the character’s powers.

Power Related Mental Weakness: One or more of the character’s powers affect or are affected by a mental problem.

Mental Handicap: Like Physical Handicap, this is a problem unrelated to powers or origin, yet it should still fit the character.

To determine the exact weakness, roll d100, and cross-reference the result on the Weakness table.

Some weaknesses, mainly mental ones, may be violated by choice of the player under dire circumstances. Some (such as Phobia) will require a saving throw of some sort if the character wishes to violate it, depending on what the player and Editor have already worked out for the weakness. Others (such as Conviction) can be broken at the player’s option, but the character will gain no training points from the adventure in which the character broke the restriction, and characters in the same adventure with that character multiply training points gained by 8 and divide by 10.

Sample Weaknesses

See Carol Channing, Prism, Shale, John Koll, and the above description of Pulsar’s weakness. Here, also, are some other weaknesses pulled from some of the author’s adventures.

Armadillo: Mental Handicap, Low Self-Control. Armadillo must make a saving throw vs. his learning plus his willpower minus VP/DP lost, on d100, or go berserk—attack until his opponent is down or Armadillo himself is unconscious. He is allowed another saving throw under certain circumstances, if friends try to calm him down, or he actively tries to throw off the berserker state. For an example of a normal saving throw, if he took 10 points damage he would have to save vs. 48 on d100 or go berserk.

Black Violet: Power Weakness, Limited Use, two weaknesses combined. If deprived of ultraviolet light, Black Violet’s electric whip will not function, and his powers disappear at 10% of the maximum PR per minute, disappearing completely in 10 minutes.

Brinn X’Halikso: Power Weakness, Limited Use. If Brinn uses his Slide Molecules power for a period of time greater than twice his PR rounds, he begins to lose control of his molecules. He loses 1 DP, penetrating, per round that he continues to slide molecules.

Diamondback: Handicap, Mute. Diamondback is physically unable to speak. Diamondback also has the Handicap, Tires Easily. After 4 rounds using 1 EP or more per minute, he has -1 to his Combat Pool. Every 2 rounds after that, he gets another penalty of 1 to his Combat Pool, due to his fatigue. These penalties disappear at 1 point per minute when resting.

Jake Kotter, the Man with the Cosmic Guitar: Power Weakness, Focus. Jake cannot use his Transducer (cosmic energy to sound energy) without his Cosmic Guitar—the guitar which was with him when he gained his powers.

Leviathon: Power Related Physical Weakness, Be Original. While using his Get Tall power, Leviathon becomes completely deaf.

Prototron, Android: Origin Related Physical Weakness, Vulnerability. Prototron is based on positive electricity/electrical flow. Negative electrical attacks do 3 times normal damage to him. Negative electrical fields reduce his EP and all senses by a percentage equal to the square root of the potential difference from ground. 100 volts of negatively charged field reduces his EP and senses by 10%. 400 volts by 20%, and 10000 volts by 100%—shutting him down.

Spiro Poseidon: Power Weakness, Limited Use. Spiro’s magical trident (normally getting +3 to Combat Close, +1 to Combat Ranged, and returns to the thrower) must spend 8 hours out of every 24 in the ocean. After 16 hours, for every half hour it spends out of the ocean it loses 1 plus, and after two hours it loses its ability to return to the thrower.

Star Knights: Origin Related Physical Weakness, Restricted Healing. When not subject to starlight, the 5 Star Knights cannot heal EP or DP.

8-Ball: Handicap, Tires Easily. 8-Ball uses twice normal EP for any action requiring EP, and regains EP at half the normal rate.

Latent Powers

Latent Powers are powers which haven’t yet shown up. Each character has a chance of having latent powers. Since the character will not know about these, the Editor should check for them, so that the player doesn’t know, either. The base chance is 4% for Civilians, Mad Scientists/Eccentric Professors, 1% for Special Agents, Combat Skill Heroes, and Wizards, and 10% for everybody else (If a character falls under more than one category, choose the one that gives the lowest base chance). Subtract one from this for each Class power and Special power the character has. If the character has a latent power, roll d8 for the kind of power, and then roll for the power on the appropriate table.

The Power Roll is made as normal. The power will require a triggering event before it shows up. At that time, the character will be level 1 in Power Use for the power, and %Control must be rolled normally, then halved, if %Control is applicable.

Psychic Immunity

Intelligent Robots have Psychic Immunity on a d10 roll from 2 to 10. Other characters have Psychic Immunity on a roll of 100 on d100. Normals have it on a roll of 10000 on d10000. Psychic Immunity makes characters nearly impervious to psychic and magical mind probing or mind attacks (such as psychic illusion). The player rolls 2d100 for the amount of Psychic Immunity. Normals only get d100. Also, there is a chance equal to newoen, rolled until missed, that another d100 can be added to the characters Psychic Immunity score. The Psychic Immunity score is added to any saving throw vs. mind probing or mind attacks. Half this is added to saves vs. mind control (such as possession). If there is no saving throw, the Psychic Immunity score is the chance of ignoring the attack.

Finish

Now, calculate your character’s Figured Abilities. You will also need a name, identity, and costume for your character, as well as a personality and background.

​Examples

As an example, the following section details the creation of Seraph. For other examples, see the Rainbow Wizard, Viking, and everyone else in the Brand X Starter Kit.

Biff Turk Creates a Sample Character

First, Biff rolls three sets of abilities, getting:

Hero Type: Second, he decides he wants to roll for a Special Power as his first Hero Type. Using the Special Powers table under Hero Types, he rolls d100 as instructed, getting a 36. On the Hero Type table, this is Electricity.

Extra Powers: Third, he determines his extra powers. He decides to roll for extra powers on the Superhuman table. This is a Class Power, so his chance of doing so is 15%. He rolls d100 and gets 15, just making it. Going to Hero Types, Class Powers, he rolls for the number of powers and finds he has 4. Using the Superhuman table, he rolls d100 four times.

His first roll is 87, Skin Temper + d5/5 or Ignore 2d5 points damage.

His second roll is 18, Agility + 3d8.

His third roll is 38, Constitution + 3d8.

His fourth and final roll is 45, Beauty + 3d6.

He rolls again for extra powers, this time deciding to use his increased chance of getting an extra Special Power. His chance is 45%. He rolls d100 and gets 17, succeeding. Returning to the Special Powers table, using the Extra Power column, he rolls 47 on d100. This is Healing.

For his next extra power, he decides to try for another Special Power. This time his chance is normal, 35%. He rolls 36, just missing it. He has no more extra powers.

Choosing Ability Set/Charismas: Fourth, he chooses which group of abilities he wants to use. He decides to use group II. In this group his active charisma is 11 and his normal charisma is 12. He could switch them, but he decides not to.

Power Rolls and Percent Control: Fifth, he rolls his Power Rolls (Power Rolls) for each power, and %Control for each applicable power.

Electricity: He rolls 4 times for this one, since it was his first Special Power and he rolled for his first power on the Special Powers table. He rolls 5, 10, 12, and 17 on 3d6. His PR is 17. Rolling %Control, he gets 93 %Control.

Skin Temper +d5/5 or Ignore 2d5 points damage: He chooses a Skin Temper increase, and rolls 4 on d5, for a bonus of .8 to his Skin Temper. It is only partial protection, and protects 42% of the time.

Agility + 3d8: He gets +11, for a agility of 22.

Constitution + 3d8: He gets +17, for a constitution of 32.

Beauty + 3d6: He gets a bonus of 13.

Healing: He gets PR 7 on 3d6, and 92 %Control.

Attributes: Sixth, Biff rolls for his attributes. He rolls 57 on d100 for his height, so his base height is 1.693. On 2d100 he gets 98, so his total height is 1.791 meters.

He rolls 20 for his build, plus 11 (he’s male) gives him a 31 build. He rolls 18 for his physical beauty, and adds 13 because that’s one of his powers, for a physical beauty of 31.

Age: For base age, he rolls 4, so his base age is 9. He rolls 5 on d10, so his age is 14. He determines that his age of maturity is 18. He gets to add 4 to his %Controls, for a %Control in Electricity of 97% and in Healing of 96%. Biff’s character was born on 11-16, November 16th. As I write this, it is May 13, 1986. November 16th hasn’t passed yet, so Biff’s character was born in 1985 minus 18, or 1967.

Appearance: Biff is not mutated. He rolls on the Normal Looks table, getting light white skin, wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes, and blood type A Positive.

Handedness: Biff rolls for handedness and is left handed.

Birthplace: For his Continent of Birth, Biff rolls 3 on d20. He was born in North America. For the relative population density he rolls 12. He was born in a city. He chooses Fort Vermilion, Alberta, Canada.

Family: Biff rolls a 55 on the Siblings chart. He has two siblings. Rolling d2 for sex (1 means female, 2 means male), he determines that he has 1 brother and 1 sister. He rolls d100 for each for order of birth and rolls 31 for himself, 25 for his brother, and 93 for his sister. He has one younger brother and one older sister. For age differences, he rolls d3 X d3. For his sister, he rolls 2 on the first d3, and then rolls 2d3 for 5. She is five years older than him. For his brother, he rolls 1, so rolls 1d3, getting 3. His brother is three years younger than him.

He determines his mother’s age. Her oldest child is 23. Adding 12 gives 35. He rolls 2 on d3, so adds 3d6, or 10, to that, for an age of 45. His mother is 45 years old. For his father, the base age is 14 plus 23, or 37. He rolls 2 on d3 again, so adds another 3d6, this time 8. His father is 44 years old.

He rolls for Death/Disappearance, and determines that his original father has disappeared. Rolling for when, he determines that this happened when his character was born. Since Biff’s character has a younger brother, his mother has a 90% chance of having remarried. He rolls 95, so she hasn’t.

Economic Status: Biff rolls 23, Middle Class. For his Net Worth, he rolls 11, for $22,000. For his Disposable Monthly Income, he rolls (2,6) 8, minus 6 is $200.

Biff’s Learning is 11. His Age is 18. He multiplies the above dollar amounts by 5 (half Learning on the Sphere Chart) plus 5 (Age on the Doubles Chart), or 10, and divides by 10. This is 1, so it won’t change the above numbers.

Knowledge: He chooses to know English as his native language. He has a Knowledge Score in English of five times his learning, or 55. For general knowledge, he has 11 points. He first rolls d20 once in each of the four mandatory areas. This gives him a mathematics score of 17, a Canadian history score of 8, a chemistry score of 1, and a French language score of 4. He has used up four points, so he has 7 points left. He uses half a point to gain the hobby Hunting, and gets a score of 15 for that. He uses another half point to get another hobby, this time Survival, getting a score of 19 there. This leaves him with six points. He uses another half point to raise his Hunting score, getting an additional 10 on the d20 roll, bringing his Hunting score to 25. He uses another half point to gain First Aid, and rolls a score of 4. He now has five points left. He decides to take up Forestry, using one point to roll a score of 7. Considering this too low, he uses another point, increasing it by 11 to 18. Wanting a still higher score, he uses another point and increases his score in Forestry to 36. He has 2 points left. He uses one for Fishing, rolling a 1 on d20, and decides to use his last point to increase this again. He rolls 18, and has a Fishing score of 19.

For hobbies, he has a normal charisma of 12. This gives him three hobby rolls. His newoen is 20, so he doesn’t have to worry about rolling ‘too high’. He decides to use his hobby points on Climbing (rolling 8), First Aid (rolling 4, increasing his First Aid to 16), and Climbing again (rolling 12, increasing his Climbing to 20).

Skills: Biff rolls level 3 in driving. He misses the chance for extra skills.

Base and Pet: Biff has a 1% plus 1% (learning) plus 3% (normal charisma) plus 2% (newoen) minus 4% (Special Powers), or 3% chance of having a base. He rolls 12, so he hasn’t got one. He also misses the pet roll.

Weakness: His chance of having a weakness is half of 4 (the number of Class Powers he has) plus 2 (the number of Special Powers he has) plus 2, or 6, squared, or 36. He rolls 38, so he hasn’t got a Handicap or Weakness. (See Carol Channing, the Rainbow Wizard, for an example of someone who does.)

Psychic Immunity: He also misses the roll for Psychic Immunity, with a roll of 56.

Latent Powers: His Editor rolls to see if Biff’s character has a latent power. His chance is a base 10 minus 6 (he has 6 powers) or 4%. The Editor rolls 3, so Biff’s character does have a latent power. The Editor rolls 6 on the table, so it is a latent Psychic power. Going to the Psychic Power Table, the Editor rolls 95, or Psychic Invisibility, and then rolls a PR of 9. When Carl discovers this power, Biff will have to roll %Control and half it.

Name: Biff’s character has now been created. He chooses to call his hero Seraph, secret identity Carl Friedman. Look at his Character Record Sheet at the end of this book.

Being a Superhero

Modifying Character Creation

The rules provided here (Creating a Character, Hero Types, and Lists and Tables) are guidelines. They are designed to create a hero or villain falling into relatively specific, common areas. They are not, however, rules.

If you have an idea for a hero, talk with your Editor. Be specific about your idea, and have it written up as well as possible. You can use the rules here to flesh out the areas you haven’t thought about. Once you and your Editor have worked out an acceptable (by the campaign’s standards) character, do not worry about forcing it to conform to these guidelines.

The only limit to what you play should be your own imagination and experience as a role-player. You may have to resort to Special Immunity, Power Enhancement, or the Magic Spell power to create the character’s powers, or create a power yourself, but these rules were designed to allow any conceivable hero from the most powerful to the least.

That said, do not completely ignore these guidelines. Creating random characters often produces results that you would never have come up with yourself. I have found that the characters I most enjoy playing are those that surprise me in some way, those that manage to diverge from any preconceived notions of what I thought the character would be like—characters who have lives that take over from me.

Unless you have definite ideas about your character, it is usually easier to mold the random creation into something you want, rather than start from scratch and build a character up on your own.

I also recommend that first time players create their characters completely at random, so that they can more fully appreciate the scope of superhero roleplaying. The superhero genre encompasses variety, and this variety can be hard to grasp at first, even for role-players experienced in other forms of role-playing.

Playing Tips

Here are a few tips on how to have more fun playing this, or any, role-playing game.

1) Be Organized: It is too easy to believe that you can remember everything of importance. You should make a practice of writing down often used pieces of game information (weapon statistics, spell effects, etc.) and keeping this information handy during play. It will greatly speed up the flow of the game. Also, don’t expect the Editor to fill you in on everything that your character noticed last week. Your Editor can only tell you what he or she thinks you thought was important, not what you actually thought was important.

2) Show up on Time: If you cannot show up for a scheduled game, try to contact your Editor about this, so she or he can plan accordingly. When games are scheduled, make sure that you really can make it at the agreed upon time. It’s better to schedule a game for 7 PM and show up at 6:30 than to schedule for 6:30 and show up at 7.

​Types of Heroes

Those of you who are familiar with classes, professions, and occupations in other games might be inclined to interpret Men & Supermen classes and packages similarly. However, the Class Powers, Special Powers, and Package Heroes are simply guidelines to help you create a character who fits in a superhero world. Players are in no way confined to using any of these guidelines.

Equipment

Some of these types of heroes carry some pretty strange pieces of equipment. The tables in this section will sometimes ask you to roll on the Normal Equipment table or the Advanced Equipment table. Here they are, along with the related equipment tables for special kinds of equipment.

Normal Equipment

Advanced Equipment

Belts and Bags of Tricks

Roll 3d4 times on this table for the number of items in the character’s collection of tricks.

Special Weapons

Roll to see if the weapon has special abilities. Add d4 to any previous level with the weapon, unless the character gained the weapon under a Combat Skill Package. Bonuses are only effective while using the weapon.

Transportation

After rolling the vehicle, roll on the Vehicle Abilities table.

Vehicle Abilities: For most vehicles, roll 2d4 abilities.

Class Powers

A player who takes a Class Power rolls up a group of powers which are related. The character gains 3, 4, or 5 powers. To determine how many, roll 3d4 and consult the following chart:

There are four basic types of ‘Class’ powers: Animalistic, Cosmic, Psychic, and Superhuman.

Animalistic Powers

These are powers based on the abilities of animals.

Players rolling here can choose to take their last roll on either the main table or the table dedicated to their animal type. The last table reinforces the ‘feel’ of that animal type for the collection of powers.

There is an Animalistic class of powers for large two-legged animals (bears, apes, gorillas), large four-legged animals (elephants, rhinoceri, bulls), avians (birds), felines (cats, small and large), canines (dogs and wolves), water (fish), lizards (snakes), rodents (rats, squirrels), arachnids (spiders), and stinging flying insects (bees, hornets).

Bear, Ape, and Huge Two-Legger

Avian

Feline

Rodents

Canine

Elephant, Rhino, and Huge Four-Legger

Snake

Arachnid

Sting

Water

Cosmic Powers

Cosmic powers are those derived from the unknown universe. These powers link with the energies of the space/time continuum, sub-atomic energies, and dimensional shifts.

Psychic Powers

These are the powers of the mind. They are often called psionic powers, psi-powers, and ESPer ability.

Superhuman Powers

Superhuman powers usually enhance normal abilities. Often, they can be explained as the result of extended training, and other times as genetic or body alteration.

Special Powers

Special Powers are single powers which can stand on their own, as powerful as one of the collection of Class powers. The player can also roll the PR four times, and choose the best roll.

Players who choose Special Power as their Type of Hero roll on the Type of Hero column to find their character’s power.

Characters who roll a Special Power in the Intelligent Robot rules use the Robot column here to find which Special Power is gained. Robots who simply gain a Special Power as an extra power, roll on the Extra Power column.

Any character who gets Special Power for an extra power or who rolls up Special Power on another Type of Hero table uses the Extra Power column to determine which power is gained.

Special Power Subtable (d10)

Animalistic Power Subtable (d10)

Intelligent Robot Subtable (d4)

Package Heroes

The themes behind these heroes are all far more concrete then the previous Types of Heroes. The player chooses either a Civilian, someone with special Combat Skills, an Eccentric Professor, an Intelligent Robot, a Magician, a Special Agent, or a Wizard. For all except Civilian and Robot, the character must meet certain ability requirements (See Creating a Character or the specific Package Hero).

Special Power Subtable (d10)

Animalistic Power Subtable (d10)

Intelligent Robot Power Subtable (d4)

Civilian

The Civilian is just your everyday kinda joe. The Civilian can be a newscaster, a schoolteacher, a politician, or any of the other strange professions that crop up in comic books.

Abilities: The Civilian player can change the character’s starting abilities (strength, agility, constitution, charismas, learning, newoen, sight, hearing) by moving points from one ability to another. A player cannot, however, increase or decrease anything beyond the normal human maximum or minimum. For all the 3d6 abilities, this means nothing decreased to less than 6 or in­creased to greater than 15. For the 4d6 abilities this means nothing less than 8 or greater than 20. Abilities beyond those limits cannot be changed. Abilities can only be changed when the character is created.

Knowledge and Skills: The Civilian has learning plus d4 points to use for knowledge, skills, and abili­ties. One point equals 20 points of knowledge or 10 Training Points (see Training, under Worldly Matters).

Combat Skill

So you like weapons, hm? Well, whether you’re a Bear or Glock fan, or get your jollies from fifteenth century swordsmanship or twentieth century cinematic footwork, we’ve got the fightin’ package for you. Batteries not included, some assembly required. Each Combat Skill Package has ability re­quire­ments which must be met.

Equipment: Characters from these packages (except Martial Artists) have a 20% chance of gaining something from the Normal Equipment Table. If a character gains a second weapon, level with it is 2d4.

Choices: There are five Combat Skill packages: archer, boxer, marksman, martial artist, and weaponmaster.

Archer

The archer uses bows and arrows. Traditional archers like to use all sorts of neat gadgets with their arrows. Some modern retro-punks prefer the simple broadhead. It’s a bit bloodier, and can be harder to explain down at the precinct.

There is an 80% chance, rolled until missed, of being able to roll on the Special Weapons table, under the Fringe Benefits Normal Equipment Table. The character will have d4 of each special arrow rolled up. The character’s quiver will hold 15 + d20 arrows total.

Boxer

There was a time when boxing was the ‘way out’ of the slums, a ticket to both stardom and simple respectability. Likewise, boxing was a good way to become a superhero. Same job: punching people and looking good.

Marksman

Big trouble requires a big gun, and the first rule of a gunfight is to bring one. The marksman in a superhero world has a tricky job. Remember, you ain’t supposed to hurt anyone, at least not permanently. So, be careful where you aim that thing, and see if you can get some rubber bullets.

There is a 40% chance, rolled until missed, of being able to roll on the Special Weapons table, under the Normal Equipment Table.

Martial Artist

When most people think of martial arts, they think of the Japanese and Chinese versions. This package is for any fighting skill that uses as much acrobatics (at least, in the movies) as it does hitting. Kick-boxers may also apply.

The player must choose 3-5 skills:

The character cannot ‘double up’ on these skills. The major skill will have a level of 8+d4, the second skill will have a level of 6+d4, and the third a level of 4+d4. If there are any further skills, the fourth will have a level of 2+d4, and the fifth a level of d4. These are the skill choices:

In addition to the previous skills, the Martial Artist gains a level of 2d2 in Evading Attacks, and a level of 2d2-1 in Rolling With Attacks.

Martial Artists also have a chance of having a weapon. This chance is 20%, and is rolled until missed. One of these rolls can be taken on the Normal Equipment Table if the player so desires. If the character gains a weapon, level with that weapon is 4+d4, and there is a 40% chance that the player can roll on the Special Weapons subtable of the Normal Equipment Table for each of the following weapons rolled up:

Weaponmaster

If the weapon requires more agility than strength, those two requirements may be switched.

There is a 40% chance, rolled until missed, of being able to roll on the Special Weapon subtable of the Normal Equipment Table.

Armor: Roll to see if the character has armor.

If so, roll d10 on the Types of Armor subtable to see what type of armor it is.

Types of Armor subtable:

If the armor gives a bonus, but their armor is normal, the weapon or something worn that provides the bonus is equivalent to a shield.

If the character does have armor, the character also has a level of 2d4 in Armor Use for that type of armor (Shield Use for Shields).

If the armor is ‘harder’, ‘lighter’, or ‘more durable’, use the following table:

Eccentric Professor or Mad Scientist

A character cannot have any ability score greater than these:

In addition, the character must have a learning of at least 16. A Mad Scientist automatically has a Reverse Talent in Action (see Optional Rules), if that Optional Rule is used.

Laboratory

The character will have a laboratory and equipment. The player must roll for ‘points’ to ‘trade in’ on equipment for the character. Roll 4d6+10. If the dice come up a combination of only ‘sixes’ and ‘fives’, there is a 50% chance, rolled until missed, of being able to add d20 points to the total.

If the player wants some equipment not on the list, use listed point costs to find points for unlisted equipment.

Mad Scientist Equipment List

Analyzer 9

Astronomy Equipment 4

Atom Smasher 40

Biological Equipment

Simple 2

Average 4

Complex 10

Biological Samples

Single/Few Celled

Simple 2

Average 2

Complex 5

Animals/Plant

Simple 4

Average 4

Complex 6

Building/House (greater than average size; fit with defensive or passive things: trap doors, secret hallways, etc.)

Large 5

Immense (Castle, Estate) 8

Chemicals

Simple 1

Average 6

Complex 12

Chemistry Equipment

Simple 3

Average 6

Complex 12

Computer type/4 + # abilities/5

Dimension Travel Device 50

Electron Microscope 10

Electronic Workshop & Tools

Average 4

Complex 10

Freezer

Very Cold 8

Near Absolute Zero 28

Geology Equipment

Simple 1

Average 3

Complex 7

Human Helper 4

Library (one subject) 4

Life Box 35

Mathematical Equipment

Average 1

Complex 2

Mechanical Workshop & Tools

Average 3

Complex 6

Medical Equipment

Simple 3

Average 5

Complex 8

Meteorological Equipment

Simple 2

Average 3

Complex 7

Microscope power/400

Nuclear Reactor 35

Physics Equipment

Simple 2

Average 5

Complex 9

Planetarium 15

Psychology Equipment

Average 2

Complex 6

Radio, Communications

Basic 1

Extensive 3

Radio Telescope 7

Robot Helper 8

Rock Samples

Simple 1

Average 3

Complex 6

Satellite Antenna 3

Spaceship

Interplanetary 30

Interstellar 40

Teleport Device 55

Telescope power/100

Time Travel Device 60

Van de Graaf Machine 3

World Maps, Specialized 1

Other Bonuses of Mad Scientists

Mad Scientists and Eccentric Professors only have half the chance given under the Learning description for photographic memory.

Mad Scientists and Eccentric Professors gain an Inventing Level of 2d4. This is completely general and works in any area.

The Mad Scientist or Eccentric Professor gains a bonus to learning of 2d10.

The player has a number of points equal to 6 times learning. These points can be added to any one knowledge score, or divided up between many knowledge areas.

Intelligent Robots

Intelligent Robot players must roll for senses, powers, miscellaneous equipment, and must determine a power source. Once the player chooses the group of Abilities to use for the character, any one except newoen may be rerolled twice, take the best; any other may be rerolled once, and this roll taken if it is better than the original ability/attribute. When determining the Maximum and Minimum Temperatures for the character (see Situations), double the total of constitution and damage points for that purpose.

Body and Mind

Build: Roll d6 and subtract 1. Roll d20 this many times and add this to the robot’s build.

Thinking: Intelligent Robots automatically get Think Fast, Power Roll d20. They also automatically have Memory Training of d20.

Senses

Touch: 90% of robots have touch sense equivalent to a normal human. Those who don’t, have a Touch Sense of d100 minus 1. This is the robot’s base chance of noticing if damage has been taken. Multiply it by the amount of Damage Points the Robot took from the attack for the true chance that the damage will be noticed, at least by ‘feeling’ it.

Smell: 70% of Intelligent Robots have a smell sense equivalent to that of a normal human. Otherwise, the robot has no sense of smell at all.

Sight: Roll d2 times on the Visual table:

Robots have a 60% chance of being able to transmit in Light, Infrared, and Ultraviolet if they have those senses. They have a 90% chance of having to transmit on any of the other visions in order to use them.

Hearing: Roll d2 times on the Audio table:

Robots can talk as well as hear with these senses. If they have the ability to hear sound, there is an 85% chance that they can hear Normal sound, 45% that they can hear Ultrasonic sound, and 50% that they can hear Subsonic sound.

Powers

Roll 3d4 to discover how many powers the Robot character has.

Roll for that many powers:

Equipment

‘Equipment’ is sort of like powers, but it has that mech-E feel.

01-02 Think Fast

03-05 Anti-Grav (as Anti-grav belt, d100%)

06-21 Rocket Flight (as Rocket Pack, usually Ape)

22-30 Roll once on Normal Equipment Table

31-40 EP+2d50

41-42 Grappling Hook (rope is Type d10)

43 Roll on skill list; weapon use: +d4, base 1

44-48 Extra or Odd Body Part

49-60 Minor Equipment: Player chooses 2d6:

1) internal clock

2) compass (directional)

3) calculator (learning squared digits)

4) an internal box, dimensions totaling: 7+d100 cubic decimeters

5) One of the following electrical outlets:

a) 120 V, 60 Hz (normal home socket)

b) 220 V, 60 Hz (heavy house socket)

c) variable DC: 0 to 12.5 Volts this uses up 1 EP per heavy appliance per hour; heavy scientific equipment will use 3 EP per hour.

6) Can openers, corkscrew

7) tool kit: flathead screwdriver, phillips screwdriver, adjustable wrench

8) crowbar

9) hammer (for nails) with nail remover)

10) pliers, wire stripper, soldering iron

11) drawing compass, straight edge

12) random number generator

13) mechanical pencil, pen, eraser for both

14) internal garbage disposal unit

61-75 Modem

76-77 Supersensitive Touch

78-83 Repair ability: heal DP using Healing Rate

84 Lifting

85-96 Learning + d10

97-98 Roll on Special Powers Table, Robot

99 Increased Healing Rate

00 Roll twice more on this table

Power Source

Each robot is assumed to be able to store a certain amount of energy (equal to their maximum EP) in their body. However, unlike humans, robots don’t get energy by eating food. Each player playing a robot must roll d20 on the following chart to determine their character’s power source:

Healing

DP: Any DP taken by a robot cannot be healed: it must be repaired (unless the robot has Repair circuits or Increased Healing Rate). Various knowledge areas allow a person to repair a robot. Metalworking will allow repair of bludgeon­ing damage. For a robot who is basically electronic, Electronics (characters with Amateur Radio may try, using one-quarter their knowledge score) will allow repair of penetrating and injury damage. For a robot who is basically mechanical, Mechanics (characters with Vehicles knowledge may try, using one-quarter their knowledge score) will allow repair of penetrating and injury damage. Robotics will allow a person to repair any kind of damage on a robot. A person can try to repair 1 point DP every (500 divided by knowledge score) minutes, with a chance of success equal to knowledge score minus the number of DP the robot is from maximum. Any one repairer can try only once to repair each penetrating DP lost, although the repairer can try again to repair bludgeoning damage. If the repairer misses the chance of success, a save must be made, rolling d100 less than or equal to half the repairer’s knowledge score minus the amount of DP the robot is missing, or the repairer accidentally does 1 point more damage, of the type being repaired.

VP: Robots will heal VP by their healing rate like any other character.

EP: All EP that a robot uses is considered EP that heals per hour. This EP heals back at the robot’s healing rate per hour whether resting or not. Note that robots do not lose EP like normal humans do for staying awake. The robot character must roll d24, and this is the amount of EP the robot loses, every 24 hours of activity. Robots shut down at 0 EP.

If a robot gains Increased Healing Rate as a power, assume the calculated Healing Rate is 0, unless repair circuits are also had (see Miscellaneous Equipment). For example, a robot with Increased Healing Rate PR 4, but no normal repair circuits would assume the robot’s normal healing rate to be zero for purposes of that power. In all other respects, Increased Healing Rate gives the same advantages to the robot as it does to any other character.

Bleeding: Robots do not bleed.

Pushing Abilities: Robots cannot push abilities (unless the robot has the power Willpower).

Wounds: Robots do not gain permanent damage.

Robot Malfunctions:

When an injury roll is made, robots do not gain permanent damage or lose consciousness. If loss of consciousness is indicated, the robot has a temporary malfunction. If permanent damage is indicated, the robot has a longer-lasting malfunction, of severity as if it were a permanent wound. Malfunctions will be caught if the repairer makes a perception roll with a bonus of the repairer’s knowledge score divided by 10. Roll d20 to see where the malfunction occurs. It is up to the Editor to determine exactly what malfunctions with respect to the following table:

If, for any reason, all power is shut off, but the ‘brain’ or CPU remains intact, there is a 75% chance that learning will be retained upon power up. There is only a 25% chance that memory will be kept. If memory is lost, %Control will be divided by 2 on every power that a human would roll %Control on.

Other Robot Junk

Aging: Robots do not age.

Astral Forms: Robots do not have astral forms, unless the power Astral Projection is rolled. Note that souls and astral forms are not the same thing. It is up to you whether or not Intelligent Robots have souls, if that is even important.

Magicians

The Magician does not control magic, but controls the observations of those watching so that the actions look like magic.

The Magician must have these ability scores:

Magician Tricks: Any Magician can do the normal magic tricks seen on stage: card tricks, pulling a rabbit out of a hat (well, almost any magician… “Hey, Rocky!”), and various specialties they develop. These work automatically and require that both the stage and the audience be prepared. This is reflected by the Magician’s Knowledge Score in Magic, which is the magician’s Learning plus 2d20. In addition to this, however, the Package Hero Magician will have 4-5 (d2+3) skills/powers. Use the following table to determine what each skill/power is:

Magic-simulating skills are skills that look like magic if they’re done correctly. They look a lot like egg on your face if they’re not done correctly…

Magic Simulating Skills

See skill descriptions.

‘Normal’ skills that ‘heroic’ magicians know tend to be things that allow them to break laws. Some heroes…

Normal Skills

Some magicians are magicians to hide their psychic powers. Others happened upon superpowers in the course of their adventurous magician’s life.

Super Power

Modern science (and modern magic…) can make the magician’s job much easier.

Special Equipment

If the character has some form of trick cards, the player should roll for d6 of them. The character starts with d4 of each type rolled, but has the ability to acquire more. These do not have to be cards. They can be dominoes, pens, computer disks, or twinkies™.

Trick Cards

The character is Weapons Skill level 1+d6 with these Throwing Star-like cards.

Special Agents

Special Agents are usually members of an organization such as the FBI (SIT) or the CIA (AIM), but may also be a member of a secret organization such as Future Study or another organization) or even loners (Private Detectives). Here are the minimum abilities:

Knowledge/Skills: All Special Agents have the following skills, without having to trade in points for them (if the player chooses one of these skills again under the rules below, it costs as if chosen a second time):

• Will Resistance

• Evading Attacks

• Rolling With an Attack

• Memory Training

• Evading Pursuers

• Awareness

Special Agents will have extra skills and/or knowledge: Divide the Agent’s learning by 4, round up, and add 2d6. This is the number of points the character has for gaining knowledge or skills pertaining to their job.

The player can trade in one point and gain a score of 20+2d20 in any Knowledge area. To choose an area a second time requires 2 points, and only 2d20 can be added to the previous score. No knowledge area can be taken more than twice.

The player can trade in two points and gain a skill. See the skill description for the level. The player can choose a skill twice, but the second time it uses up 4 points. No skill may be taken more than twice.

The player must choose at least one knowledge area and at least one skill.

Wizard

There are certain requirements which must be met to become a Wizard Package Hero. The character must have a newoen of at least 14, an agility of at least 10, and a learning of at least 13. These requirements do not restrict people learning magic after the game starts. It only restricts those who choose Wizard as their original Package Hero.

Beginning of Training: The character learns magic by training for a certain number of years. The character starts training at the age rolled up in the section on Creating a Character, unless this age is less than 13. If so, the training starts at the age of 13. Subtract the age rolled from 13 for the number of extra Minor Spells the character will receive (see General or Special Wizard).

Duration of Training: The apprentice will train for 4+d3 years. Multiply this by 100 times Learning/10 (add the character’s Talent in Magic to Learning, if the character has that Talent) for the number of ‘Creation Points’ which will determine how much magic the character knows.

Knowledge: At the end of training, the wizard will have knowledge in Wizardry increased by 2 per year of study. Modify the total by adding or subtracting the character’s talent or reverse talent in Magic, if such exists.

Types of Wizards: The player can choose to play any of five different types of wizard. The types are classified by the manner in which spells are learned (General or Special Wizard) and the manner in which they are cast (Classical or Mnemonic Wizard). The fifth type, Weaver is completely different from the other four. The five types are:

• General Classical Wizard

• General Mnemonic Wizard

• Special Classical Wizard

• Special Mnemonic Wizard

• Weavers

Magic Items: A wizard has a 15% chance, rolled until missed, of being able to roll for a magic item. To find which spell is on the magic item, see the power Magic Spell. If the spell Pervert Effect is rolled up, there is a 30% chance that the player must roll again for another spell, and this spell was perverted when it was placed in the item.

To determine the level of effect of the spell(s) in the item and the chance of success, some of the original caster’s abilities must be known. Use the following table if they are unknown. The Editor may want to specify a creator beforehand, however.

Level: Add d12-1 to the spell’s level. If 12 is rolled, add another d12-1, until 12 isn’t rolled.

EP in the Object: There is spell level + 2d20 EP in the object, if necessary.

You’ll also need to know how the spell was placed in the item:

The Performance Time for using Magic Items is 10. The character can take training in that item (as Combat Skill) to decrease the Performance Time.

The chance of success for using a magic item is equal to the chance of success the original caster would have had, as is Casting Time, Range, and all other parts of the spell. The user may reduce the level the spell is cast at, however, in order to reduce EP used, or Casting Time, just as if it were a normal spell.

You may want to roll on the Magic Item table to see what the item actually is.

General Wizards

Fifty creation points are required to play a General wizard. This gives the character a 3 Wizardry, a Level of 0, and Newoen plus 4 Minor Spells.

Multiply the final level the character is going to be by 50, for the additional creation points required.

Each spell the character knows costs Spell Level plus Study Time creation points. The sample wizard, Cerest-Ranon, is a general classical wizard, created with 850 creation points (5 years).

Special Wizards

Twenty-five creation points are required to play a Special wizard. This gives the character a 1 Wizardry and half Newoen Minor Spells.

Each spell the character knows costs Spell Level plus Study Time creation points. Additional levels in a spell cost Study Time times the number of additional levels.

Classical Wizards

It costs no points to be a Classical Wizard.

Mnemonic Wizards

It costs 30 points to be a Mnemonic Wizard. Levels in Impressing cost 5 creation points per level per level. That is, level 1 costs 5 points, level 2 15 points (5+2*10), and level 3 costs 30 points (15+3*5), etc. Level 10 costs 255 points.

Mnemonic General wizards cost 80 points per level instead of 50, and half the number of points to learn spells.

Mnemonic Special wizards cost half the number of points to learn spells and increase in spell levels.

Weaving Wizards

It costs 200 points to be a zero level Weaving Wizard (or a six pack of Grant’s Imperial Stout, but that’s something else entirely). Each level in Weaving Wizardry costs another 100 points. The player can also pay for levels in Gesticulation and Loquacity at 40 points per level.

These rules add variety to characters. Some simply add options for character origins. Others also add a little complexity to the game. The use of these are up to the players and Editor. Percentages and rolls are given to aid in character creation.

Magic Item Table

​Optional Rules

“All Rules are optional. But some rules are more optional than others.”

Item-Based Option

There is a 1% chance that all the character’s powers derive from a device. If not, there is a 1% chance, rolled for each power, that it is derived from a device. To determine the device, use the Magic Item Table under Lists and Tables or choose a likely device that is consistent with the character’s powers. In the unlikely event that no instructions have been found for this item, Percent Control is divided by 3. Only 8% of items allow the user to Push their abilities. Each point will take d100 minutes to return. Note that strength, constitution, and agility increases derived from an item do not increase mass.

The player rolls d100 to determine how the item is powered.

An item uses Endurance Points just as if it were a person. If the power in the item does not use Endurance Points, there is a 60% chance that the item will work forever. Otherwise, it has 2d20 uses (or hours, if it is a power whose effects last over a duration) before it must be refilled (or recharged).

For example, suppose the player decides that the character’s Sixth Sense power is in a ring. Sixth Sense doesn’t use Endurance Points. So, d100 must be rolled, and if the roll is 60 or less, the ring will last forever. Otherwise, the ring will work for 2d20 hours before it must be recharged. If there is more than one power in an item, roll for Endurance Points or uses as many times as there are powers in the item (whether the power uses Endurance Points or not). For example, suppose a character has Electricity, Magnetism, and Power Beam in a staff. Rolling on the power table above gives a 42. Then 4d6+8 is rolled three times, for a total of 12d6+32 Endurance Points stored in the staff. Do the same for the amount of time it takes to recharge. For the amount of Endurance Points recharged per hour, roll that many times, but do not add the results together. Simply take the best of the rolls. The example staff will take d100 minutes to recharge. The player and Editor decide that the staff must be placed within a powerful magnetic field for 24 minutes to be recharged.

Optional Transformation

There is a 1% chance that the character has two forms: a superhero form (in which all powers may be used), and a normal form (in which no powers can be used). It costs no EP to change back and forth. Upon going unconscious, the character automatically reverts to the normal form. The change can take place on any of the character’s Actions (and can be done simultaneously with any other action). Many characters with animalistic powers have a form similar to that animal. Characters with Optional Transformation have a 50% chance of having a new Physical Beauty in the new form.

Alien Option

Each character has a 1% chance of being an alien. If a character is an alien, an Age Multiplier must be rolled up, because most aliens age differently than normal Earth humans. Roll 2d4, add 5, then divide this by 10. The player has a 50% chance, rolled until missed, of rolling the 2d4 again, adding 5, dividing by 10, and multiplying the previous number by that. Now, whenever the Editor must roll something that has to do with age (for example, Old Age Deterioration effects, or Youth—see Old Age and Young Age), multiply the character’s earth age (the age on the character sheet) by the Age Multiplier for the character’s biological age. Aliens are also affected differently by temperature extremes. Add 2d8 minus 9 to maximum and minimum temperature rolls. There is a 50% chance that this is a penalty to one, and a bonus to the other. Otherwise, determine a separate modifier for each.

Optional Talent/Reverse Talent Rules

Characters may be better at some areas of knowledge than they are in others, and even highly intelligent characters can find some areas of knowledge hard to study. Each character has a 26% plus newoen chance of having a talent. Roll this chance until missed. Once that is rolled, the character has a 35 plus half learning minus 5 times the number of reverse talents already gained, percent chance of having a reverse talent. This is also rolled until missed.

For each talent and reverse talent, the player rolls below to see the area the talent or reverse talent is in. In areas in which the character is talented, d4 is added to the denominator (the lower number) in the fraction which determines how long the character must study for knowledge scores in that area. In areas in which the character is reverse talented, d6 is added to the numerator (the upper number) in that fraction.

Bonuses and penalties are cumulative, if rolled more than once on the same area. Also, add five times the character’s addition to the denominator to any inventing chance, and subtract four times an addition to the numerator from any inventing chance, in the area to which the addition applies. When determining the character’s original knowledge (see Creating a Character), add the addition to the denominator and subtract the addition to the numerator to and from each die roll in the applicable area(s).

Electronic/Animal Control Option

A character with psychic powers (probably not magic spells, unless the wizard is a robot) whose powers manipulate the mind may choose to instead have these powers be effective against electronics, and intelligent robots who are normally Psychically Immune. Such powers will not work on robots who aren’t Psychically Immune (see Psychic Immunity, under Creating a Character). For example, a player who decided to say that his characters Illusion powers, instead of being able to affect organic life, affect electronics, could cause electronics (a camera, a radio, a computer, intelligent robots, etc.) to perceive the illusion. Non-sentient electronics have a newoen of zero.

Another option is choosing to affect animals, rather than sentients. For a creature to be an animal, it must have a learning of less than 3 and a newoen of less than 4. Otherwise the decision is up to the Editor.

Astral Effect Option

Characters with the ability to travel in the astral planes may have powers that work in the astral planes, towards astral beings, rather than in the physical planes, towards physical beings. See Astral Plane Travel. Likewise, most skills apply only physically— Evasion applies in physical combat, but not in mental combat. Players can decide that such skills are Mentally oriented rather than Physically.

Immortality Option

Mature characters with the power Immortality have a 20% chance of being older than their rolled age. For actual age, subtract the character’s age of maturity from the rolled age, multiply by the immortality multiplier (from the power, Immortality), and multiply by d%. Add this to the character’s rolled age. If you do not know the age the character matured, roll d4, add to 15, and add d12-1 months.

Example for Talents/Reverse Talents:

John’s character, Panhandler, has an 8 learning, 11 charisma, and 15 newoen. Panhandler has a 41% chance for Talents. John rolls 26, which succeeds. He then rolls 22, which succeeds again, and finally 53, which fails. Panhandler has 2 talents.

He has a 38% chance for Reverse Talents. John rolls 27, succeeding the first time. His next chance is 38 minus 5, or 33. His next roll is 39, so Panhandler only has one Reverse Talent.

Magical Styles

A character wishing to be a wizard can, instead of studying all magical spells with equal aptitude, choose to study magical styles, specializing in specific areas of magic. These styles can extend up to four levels—class, area, type, and kind.

To create a style, choose one entry each from these levels. You do not need to extend all the way to kind. A style could be as simple as Intensive, or as restrictive as Extensive Ceremonial, Create Matter.

Levels of Styles:

A wizard who is trained in a magical style will gain bonuses when casting and learning spells of that style. The Style Number is the number of levels specified in the style. The first style example above has a style number of 1. The second example has a style number of 4.

There are also penalties when casting or learning spells outside of the style. The Style Difference for a spell is the number of levels that do not correspond. The spell Earthquake, for example, is classified as Extensive Special, Attack. If a caster specialized in Extensive Ceremonial Create Matter uses this spell, its style difference will be 2, because 2 of the levels specified in the style do not correspond with the spell’s classification. The same spell used by a wizard with the simple style of Intensive magic would have a style difference of 1—only 1 of the levels specified in the style does not correspond with the spell’s classification. The style difference can thus never exceed the style number.

Style Bonuses:

Style Penalties:

Magical Symbols

If a spell does not require a magical symbol, then such a symbol can (depending on the magic’s tradition) increase the chance of successfully casting a spell. Spells must be cast to a point within the symbol. The symbol must be drawn perfectly, or the bonus is not gained— instead, an equal penalty is gained. If the target/effect is moved from the symbol, the spell is immediately canceled. If the symbol is broken or ruined while the spell is in effect, roll on the magic screw-up table. If the caster is still concentrating, it is a standard screw-up roll. If the spell was a duration spell, the roll is made with d100-20. EP losses go to the target or whoever is nearest. For results 41-60, EP loss is quadrupled and nothing happens. For results 21-40, EP loss is quintupled and nothing happens. These symbols are drawn from the European/Judaic tradition. Other traditions will have different symbols.

How to Make a Hero in Half an Hour

and still have time to grab some munchies…

If you need to create a character quickly, you can’t determine its entire family history. Here’s how to create a character in less than thirty minutes.

1. Roll the six 3d6 abilities (strength, agility, constitution, active and normal charisma, and learning). Re-roll the lowest. Move them around however you want. Don’t forget to add one to female characters’ constitutions.

2. Roll the five 4d6 attributes (newoen, sight, hearing, build, beauty). Re-roll one. Move them around however you want. Remember that build has 10 (females) or 11 (males) added to it.

3. Roll height by adding 2d100 millimeters to 1.693 meters (male) or 1.663 meters (female).

4. Choose your character’s age. If you can’t decide, use your age.

5. Your character knows English at five times learning, and has learning ‘General Knowledge’ points. Look up age minus 20 on the doubles chart. Double this for the character’s score in History and Local History, and add it to the number of points. Use one point each for the knowledge areas science, math, and a foreign language (usually either French or Spanish, sometimes German or Latin). Choose a profession, and, during the game, use your remaining General Knowledge points as necessary to fill out your professional knowledge. Occasionally add to your character’s verisimilitude by using a point for knowledge unrelated to your profession.

6. Your character has the skills driving at d3+1, and fists, clubs, and thrown clubs at 2 each. If your character has any powers that require skill, he or she is level 2 in those powers as well.

7. Roll four powers from a class powers table or one power from the special powers table. There are no extra powers. Roll PR as normal. Ask your Editor whether you’ll be rolling %Control or simply getting %Control at 100.

8. Determine mass, damage points, virtual damage points, endurance points, skin temper, willpower, and perception as normal. Your character has four editing points, 2 fate points, and age plus learning, divided by 10 points of forgotten knowledge. Determine Action Rolls as needed during the game.

9. Go get those munchies. You’ve got five minutes to hit the store and come back.

Simpler Combat

If you wish to use a less descriptive system of time, you can use the following Combat Turn rules instead of the Combat rules given later in this book.

There are 5 Combat Turns in a round. While Combat Turns are thus 10 segments long, this is unimportant: you’ll never divide a Combat Turn up that way. In a Combat Turn, combatants simply take turns making their action.

You can use this Combat System all the time, or you can use it when it’s not quite as important to play out everything segment by segment. You can switch back and forth between the simpler system and the standard system. It’s easiest to switch on segments that are a multiple of 10. If any actions are currently in progress when you switch to the abbreviated system, divide their remaining Performance Time by 10 and round down for the number of Combat Turns remaining, as below (Combat Turn). If any actions are currently in progress switching from the abbreviated system to the standard system, multiply their remaining Combat Turns by 10 for the number of segments. If no Combat Turns remain, use the character’s Initiative (subtracted from 10) for the number of segments that remain.

Combat Turn: Divide an action’s base Performance Time by 10 and round down, for the number of Combat Turns the action takes. If the action takes less than 10 segments, it takes one Combat Turn. Add 10 minus the action’s base time to the character’s Bonus Pool. An action with a Performance Time of 6 will take 1 Combat Turn and add 4 to the Bonus Pool. An action with a Performance Time of 24 will take 2 Combat Turns to complete.

Announcing (Order of Declaring Actions): Players announce their actions in order of learning (from lowest to highest). Players whose characters have the same learning announce at the same time.

Players can delay their character’s announcement. Each point of delay subtracts that much from their bonus pool for their action that Turn. A character with a Learning of 11 announcing on 15 will have a penalty of 4 to their bonus pool.

Initiative (Order of Actions): Each player rolls d10 at the start of each combat. This is the character’s base Initiative. The character with the highest initiative goes first. A player can, at the start of any Combat Turn, expend one Editing Point to re-roll their Initiative (and take the better of their previous Initiative or the new roll). These Editing Points are halved, then go to training in the action being performed.

Combat Roll: The same rules for the Combat Roll (and other Action Rolls) apply, except that Performance Time cannot be reduced below 1 Combat Turn. Quality Points can be used to increase Initiative for that Action on a 1 for 1 basis. Quality Points can be used to increase Damage on a 1 for 1 basis as well (instead of using the Doubling Chart).

A character can make a Combat Roll against anyone who is within range when it comes their turn to go.

Multiple Opponents: The Multiple Opponents system works the same. But rather than each attack working on subsequent Segments, the character’s Initiative is dropped by 1 for each attack.

Pushback: Pushback does not apply. If you want to, you can apply Pushback as a penalty to the character’s Action Pools next Combat Turn.

Passive Actions: A single passive Action Roll (such as Movement) can be made on the character’s Turn. This is in addition to the character’s normal Action Roll. Making a passive action adds a penalty of 1 to the character’s Action Pool for any other actions that Turn.

Ongoing Actions: Ongoing actions (such as movement or defensive shields) are paid for when they’re started, and at the end of every fifth Turn.

Movement Roll: Move at the end of the Combat Turn. At the end of the first Combat Turn of movement, the character can elect to continue moving (using normal movement rolls) or stop moving.

Multiply the character’s movement (in decimeters/segment) by 10 for the number of meters moved that Combat Turn. For example, Bear (with an Initiative of 9, and a Movement Roll of 21) makes a Movement Roll. He rolls (9,3) 12. His Quality is 9. He uses 4 Q to reduce the EP use to 1 EP/round, leaving 5 Q for movement. 5 movement Q is .5 meters/segment, so at the end of the Combat Turn he’ll move 5 meters.

To change direction (only in the initial Combat Turn—afterwards, direction can only be changed as normal), 45 degrees of change requires 1 point of Q: Bear, above, could have reserved 2 points of Q for changing direction (thus only moving .3 meters/segment), and thus could have changed direction by up to 45 degrees twice.

To change direction (only in the initial Combat Turn—afterwards, direction can only be changed as normal), 45 degrees of change requires 1 point of Q: Bear, above, could have reserved 2 points of Q for changing direction (thus only moving .3 meters/segment), and thus could have changed direction by up to 45 degrees twice.

Simpler Combat Example

Two grunts duke it out with their fists. Fists require 1 Combat Turn (15 segments divided by 10 is 1). The Grunts each have a Combat Roll of 10, a Combat Pool of 2, and a Movement Roll of 18. They do 6 points of damage in hand to hand combat. They have 32 EP.

Grunt #1 is Sinister. Grunt #2 is Dexter.

Sinister rolls 7 on his Initiative Roll. Dexter rolls 8. Dexter will usually go first.

Combat Turn One:

Dexter and Sinister are 10 meters apart. They each roll their Movement Roll. Sinister rolls (2,6) 8 and Dexter rolls (3,5) 8. This gives each of them a Quality of 10. They use 2 points to reduce EP use to 3 EP/round, and the other 8 to move at .7 meters/segment. They each move 5 meters and stop (they could have moved up to 7 meters, but would then have run right past each other). That’s the end of this Combat Turn. They’ve each used 1 EP (for movement).

Combat Turn Two:

Sinister rolls (10,8) 18 for his Combat Roll, failing by 6. Dexter rolls (4,4) 8, succeeding by 4. He uses 2 points to increase Attack and 2 points to increase damage by 2. On his Initiative (8), he does 8 points of damage to Sinister.

Sinister failed by 6. On his Initiative (7), his Defense decreases by 1 (to -1).

They’ve used 4 EP each (1 for the Combat Roll, 3 for the Damage).

Combat Turn Three:

Sinister rolls (3,1-4) 0, succeeding by 12. Dexter rolls (10,8) 18, failing by 6. Sinister uses 3 points to increase his Initiative by 3 (to 10), 5 points to increase Damage by 5 (to 11) 2 points to increase Defense to 1, and 2 points to increase Attack to 2. On his Initiative (10), he does 11 points damage to Dexter.

Dexter failed by 6. On his Initiative (8), his Defense decreases by 1 (to -1).

They’ve used 4 EP each (1 for the Combat Roll, 3 for the Damage), for a total of 9 EP each.

Combat Turn Four:

Sinister rolls (6,7) 13, failing by 1. Dexter rolls (4,4) succeeding by 4. He uses 3 points to increase his Initiative to 11, and the remaining 1 point to increase his Attack to 1. On his Initiative (11) he does 6 points damage to Sinister (who has now taken 14 points damage).

Sinister failed by 1, and doesn’t do anything.

They’ve used another 4 EP each (13 EP each total).

Combat Turn Five:

Sinister decides it’s time to leave. He makes a Movement Roll. He rolls (9,4) 13, succeeding by 5. This is .5 m/segment, or 5 meters total.

Sinister rolls (4,1-10) -5 on his Combat Roll, with a penalty of 1 (for using a Passive Action), and plus his normal bonus of 2, brings this to -6, or a Quality of 16. He uses 5 points to bring his Initiative to 12. He uses 6 points to increase his Defense to 3. He uses the remaining 5 points to reduce the EP cost to zero. Sinister has no plans to do damage this Action. Dexter rolls (10,4) 14, failing his Combat Roll by 2.

On 12, Sinister’s new Defense takes effect.

On 8, Dexter misses.

At the end of the Combat Turn, Sinister runs 5 meters, and elects to continue running.

Sinister used 5 EP for movement. Dexter used 4 EP (Combat Roll+Damage). Sinister has used 17 EP, Dexter 16 EP.

Combat Turn Six:

Sinister rolls (7,6) 13 for his Movement Roll. He has a penalty of 5 to his Pool (since he’s already moving). He succeeds by 0, and will continue his normal speed, moving at the end of the Combat Turn. Dexter decides to chase, and rolls (3,10) 13. for a total Q of 5. He uses all for movement, for .5 meters/segment.

At the end of the Turn, each moves 5 meters. They’re still 5 meters apart, and each is now using 5 EP/round. Sinister has used up 22 EP (since this is the start of a new round), Dexter 21 EP.

Combat Turn Seven:

Sinister rolls (6,9) 15, +5 is 20. He has failed by 2. Dexter rolls (4,4) 8, +5 is 13. He succeeds by 5.

Sinister failed by only 2, so this doesn’t reduce his speed or increase his EP usage.

Dexter adds his 5 Q to his Movement Q of 5, bringing it to 10. This is .9 meters/segment.

At the end of the Turn, they each move. Dexter moves 9 meters, Sinister 5 meters. Dexter moved 4 meters more than Sinister, so they are now 1 meter apart.

Sinister has used up 27 EP. Dexter is at 26 EP.

Combat Turn Eight:

Sinister rolls (4,5) 9, with a penalty of 5, for 4 Q. Dexter rolls (6,6) 12, with a penalty of 9, for 21, failing by 3. He continues to move at .9 meters/segment (10 Q). Sinister adds all of his Q (4) to his movement, for a total of 9 Q, and .8 meters/segment. Dexter also makes an attack. He rolls (9,4) 13. He misses by 1, but uses 4 EP for the attack.

At the end of the Turn, they move. Dexter and Sinister move 9 meters. Dexter moved 1 meter more than Sinister this time. They are on top of each other again. Sinister is at 32 EP. Dexter is at 35 EP, or 3 below zero. He decides to give up.

Combat Turn Nine:

Sinister rolls (10,1-2) 9, with a penalty of 8 (9 Q on movement already) for 17. He succeeds by 1, for 1 Q (which he uses to decrease EP use to 4 EP). Dexter, trying to stop, rolls (5,6) 11. He has a penalty of 10 to his Pool for movement, and 3 for his low EP. This is 13, or a penalty of 9 to the roll. This brings his 11 to a 20, which fails by 2. Since he’s trying to stop, though (see Move Roll) he can automatically decrease movement Q by the total movement Q (Sphere), minus half the 2 failure. He decreases speed by 9 (Move Q, Sphere) minus 1 (half the Move Roll failure) or 8. He has 2 Q in movement, and is moving at .2 meters/segment.

Sinister has moved 9 meters. Dexter has moved 2 meters. Sinister is at 36 EP, and Dexter is at 40 EP. They’re 7 meters apart and widening, and Dexter will stop on the next Turn.

Skills, Powers, & Tools

​Knowledge

Knowledge Scores are general topics of learning. On the Knowledge List (see Creating a Character), the Learning Time and Area are listed after each Knowledge. Learning Time is the number of hours that characters must study the topic in order to increase their Knowledge Score with the topic by 1 point.​

Talents

Characters who are talented or untalented in certain Areas will find it easier to learn Knowledge in some Areas than in others. See the Optional Rules. Some Knowledge is associated with more than one Area. In this case, the character can choose to specialize in only one aspect of the Knowledge. A character who is talented in Writing may decide to specialize in the Writing aspect of Journalism, ignoring the Empathic aspect. Characters may even choose to specialize in aspects that aren’t associated with the Knowledge, with approval from the Editor. A character could choose to specialize in the Empathic aspect of Law, rather than the Bureaucratic aspect. This will tend to limit the character’s use of the Knowledge.

Specialization

Characters can specialize in specific subjects of knowledge topics. Rather than knowing History, the character can know American History, History of the American Indian, or even The American Indian in Florida in the Late 1800s. This will grant the character much greater knowledge in that specific area of expertise, limiting the character’s knowledge in the more general topic.

See the knowledge list under Lists and Tables for a more comprehensive list. This section describes out of the ordinary knowledge, and knowledge that requires some explanation.

​

Knowledge Descriptions

Acting: The character knows how to act. Acting is based on charisma, as well as learning. Average charisma and learning, and use as learning for purposes of determining the Learning Modifier.

Amateur Radio: In order to decipher Morse Code, the character must have a Knowledge Score in Amateur Radio equal to the speed in words per minute.

Artwork: Specifically, Artwork covers drawing and/or painting. Charisma figures into art as much as Learning does. Average charisma and learning to determine the Learning Modifier.

Climbing: This knowledge covers climbing natural objects, such as mountains and cliffs. Agility figures into this as much as learning, so average agility and learning in order to find the Learning Modifier.

First Aid: This is simply the ability to apply quick treatment to wounds or other bodily disasters. A character with First Aid knowledge can stop bleeding. The character must roll less than 5 times their Knowledge Score, at a penalty equal to the number of penetrating DP lost, plus a penalty of 10 for each previous attempt. It takes 1 round to try and slow bleeding. Characters without First Aid knowledge can attempt to stop bleeding, but must roll less than or equal to learning on d100, with the same penalties. A successful roll halves the time between Bleeding Rolls.

Game, Mental/Luck: The character knows some sort of game. The Learning Time varies with the game. Dice Gambling tends to be about 1 hour, whereas Chess or Card Gaming is 2 hours. Fantasy Role-Playing Games have about a 20 hour Learning Time. Or at least, sometimes it seems that way.

Magic Tricks: This is show trickery. The magician must have time to set up the magic tricks. Magic Tricks involves agility and charisma as well as learning. Average agility and charisma together, and then average that with learning, to find the Learning Modifier.

Medical: A character with Medical can cure an amount of penetrating damage in the field equal to Knowledge Score divided by 25, rounding up. This can be done once for any wound. This takes 2d10 minutes, plus the number of points in the wound squared, minus half the character’s Medical score. Neither injury nor permanent damage can be healed in the field.

In the hospital, a patient’s Healing Roll and Bleeding Roll pools have a bonus of the doctor’s score divided by 10. This may be modified downward (and may even become negative) if hospital conditions are particularly bad.

In a properly equipped hospital, a doctor can use surgery to heal up to knowledge score divided by 25, round up, injury points, and knowledge score divided by 10 penetrating points. Again, hospital conditions can reduce the doctor’s knowledge score.

Permanent damage might be able to be cured under surgery. Subtract ten times the original point score of the wound (permanent damage only) from the physician’s knowledge score. Subtract d100. This is the percentage of the original wound that can be healed. If this is negative, it does increase the points of the wound, unless the doctor makes a save vs. knowledge score minus 5 times the Wound’s points. Normally, healed permanent damage simply becomes injury damage, which then heals at the normal rate.

A doctor can bring an unconscious person conscious, as long as the patient does not have more permanent body/head injuries than the patient has damage points. The doctor must roll d100 less than or equal to twice knowledge score, minus the ten times the number of points the patient is below zero. The doctor must also make another roll against the same number, or the patient loses 1 DP, penetrating, to the body. There is a bonus of up to the doctor’s knowledge score on both of those rolls if the attempt is made in a properly equipped hospital. The patient can then stay conscious according to the rules for remaining conscious when at less than 1 DP.

If a wound is worked on by more than one doctor, it will take a better doctor to do any good. The new doctor must heal more than what the previous doctors did, and the wound is reduced by this extra amount (the amount over what the previous doctor(s) did).

Double the doctor’s knowledge score if the doctor is specialized in the area in question (and half the score if the doctor is specialized somewhere else). Medical includes all the knowledge of First Aid, at double the score (a Doctor with 45 Medical effectively has First Aid at 90).

Memorized Words: A character can attempt to memorize words. The number of pages memorized is Knowledge Score, squared. Thus, a character could Memorize the Constitution. The Constitution is about 6 pages, so a Memorized Constitution Knowledge Score of 3 is required.

Partying: This is a social skill, involving knowledge of how, where, and when to party. This involves charisma as well as learning, so average learning and charisma when determining the Learning Modifier.

Playing an Instrument: The character knows how to play a musical instrument. This involves both charisma and agility. Average charisma and agility, and then average this with learning, to determine the Learning Modifier.

Psychiatry: A psychiatrist is a doctor of the mind and brain. A psychiatrist can reduce the amount of time a patient is insane. Roll d100. If this is less than or equal to the doctor’s knowledge score, divide the time insane by the square root of the difference between the roll and the psychiatrist’s knowledge score. If this is greater than twice the doctor’s knowledge score, increase the amount of time by a number of days equal to the difference between the roll and the doctor’s straight knowledge score.

Sculpting: The character knows how to sculpt statues or sculptures. Charisma figures into this, so average charisma and learning to determine Learning Modifier.

Singing: The character knows various singing techniques. As in most performing arts, charisma is important. Average charisma and learning to determine Learning Modifier.

Speed Reading: The character increases the rate of reading by a percentage equal to the knowledge score. Cramming speed can be increased by this percentage.

Sport, Physical: The character knows a physical competition sport. Each sport will have a different combination of abilities for finding the Learning Modifier. Average those abilities together, and then average the result with learning, to determine Learning Modifier.

Stereo: This is the art of working a stereo system, for maximum volume, penetration, and (to a lesser extent), clarity. Average charisma with learning to find the Learning Modifier.

Teaching/Training: A teacher increases the ability of a person to learn skills or knowledge.

For knowledge, multiply the teacher’s Teaching knowledge score by the teacher’s knowledge score in the knowledge being taught. Divide by the student’s knowledge score.

For skills, multiply the trainer’s Training knowledge score by the trainer’s level in the skill. Divide by the student’s level.

Look up the result on the Doubling Chart. divide by 10, and add to 1. Multiply the time spent studying (or the Training Points Used for skills) by this, for time/points for the knowledge score/skill level increase. For example, Carol Channing wants to learn how to play chess better. Her current chess score is 27. She finds a chess teacher who has a chess score of 40, and a standard teaching score of 20. Twenty times 40 is 800, divided by 27 is 29.6. This corresponds to 2 on the doubling chart, for a 1.2 multiplier. If she studies 5 hours while under the tutelage of the chess teacher, she has learned as much as if she had studied 6 hours alone.

The teacher does not need to be present at all times, but must be available to guide the student. If the teacher has a knowledge score/level of 0, use 1/2 as the knowledge score/level. If the teacher has a teaching score of 0, use 1/2 for that, also.

Students who did not choose to be taught (public school students, for example) must make a saving throw vs. Willpower to take advantage of a teacher.

Writing: The character knows some form of writing techniques. Charisma plays a part here. Average the character’s charisma with learning to determine the Learning Modifier.

​

Skills

Skills are abilities the character can learn. The character’s proficiency in the skill is measured by the skill’s level. Examples for random starting levels are given in parentheses after the skill title. Unless otherwise specified, skills do not use EP.​

Acrobatics (3d6): This is the ability to execute tricky acrobatic maneuvers. The Bonus Pool for Acrobatics consists of Agility and half Strength. Acrobatics uses row 2 of the EP Use Chart (3 EP/round).

Armor Use (3d6): The player adds Level times 5 to the armor’s Cover Chance. Armor Use applies only to one type of armor—Cloth Armor, Link Armor (such as chain mail), Plate Armor, Shield, or Personal Armor (Skin Temper and Ignore Damage powers). Armor Use uses row 3 of the EP Use Chart (2 EP/round).

Astral Combat (d4): This makes possible special attacks while in Astral Combat. See Astral Combat, under Worldly Matter, for more information.

Awareness (3d6): The character has twice level added to perception at all times.

Body Hold (d4): This gives the character greater skill in grabbing onto and holding opponents. The character’s damage bonus applies both to grabbing damage and to keeping the opponent from escaping. Add the character’s skill level to the roll to keep the opponent from escaping, also. The character can decide to do a Full Body Hold which replaces up to skill level points of bludgeoning damage with penetrating damage.

Body Smash (d4): The character uses various parts of the body to smash into the target. There is a penalty of 3 to the Action Roll when using Body Smash, and a bonus of d6 damage. A Body Smash can do up to half level, round down, points of penetrating damage (replacing an equivalent amount of bludgeoning damage points).

Body Throw (d4): This is an attempt to lift and throw the target. The character must use 5 Quality Points from the Combat Roll.

The attacker’s damage is compared to the defender’s damage. If the attacker’s damage is greater, the defender is thrown half the difference, in meters. The defender also takes damage equal to the difference in the two rolls, in addition to any damage taken from flying into walls, etc.

If the defender’s damage is higher, the attacker loses a number of segments equal to half the difference between the rolls, as surprise.

Ciphers/Codes (3d6): This is the ability to create and solve ciphers and codes.

Combat Skill (d4): This is the ability to use a specific weapon (or fighting style: see the skills Martial Punch, Martial Kick, and Martial Throw).

Combat Pool Bonus: Add this to the character’s Combat Pool with that weapon.

Aiming at Armor (Special Option): A skilled attacker can give a penalty up to the attacker’s skill level, to the defender’s Armor Cover roll. Each Quality point reduces the armor’s Cover by 5.

Starting Level: Characters will be level 0 for all weapons and fighting styles with which they are completely unfamiliar (guns in a pre-industrial civilization, or karate in a western culture). Characters will be level 1 for weapons and fighting styles which are common in their culture but which they haven’t received any training in. Characters will be level 2 for weapons/fighting styles which are taught or culturally imparted to all members of the culture. Thus, most characters in modern cultures are level 1 with Firearms, level 0 with Swords and Martial fighting styles, and level 2 with Fistfighting.

Certain Combat Skills are part of a larger Umbrella. Characters can train in the Umbrella skill, rather than the specific weapons, at twice normal Edit Point cost. The following Umbrella skills are recognized:

If a character with moves from one skill to another beneath the same Umbrella, skill level is halved. A character with skill level 7 in Handgun is effectively skill level 4 in Rifle and Shotgun. If the character were to actually train in Rifle, however, the player must pay a certain number of Editing Points in order to have a real level of 4 in Rifle. Subtract the current real level from the current effective level, for the number of Editing Points required. In the above example, if the character has a real level of 0 in Rifle, it will take 4 Editing Points to get a real level of 4.

The same is true for moving from a single skill to the Umbrella skill. The character above has an effective level of 4 in Firearms, so it takes 4 Editing Points if the character wants a real level of 4 in Firearms.

The same is true when training in an Umbrella skill. If the character has Firearms, skill level 5, the character is effectively skill level 5 in Shotgun. If the character decides to train solely in Shotgun, however, the character will have to pay the difference between real and effective Shotgun level, in Editing Points.

There are also two Combination Skills currently recognized: Martial Arts, and Wrestling. Martial Arts consists of the single skills Martial Punch, Martial Kick, Martial Throw, and Rolling With Attacks. Wrestling consists of Body Hold, Body Smash, Body Throw, and Rolling With Attacks. Combination Skills require 3 times the normal Editing Points.

The character’s effective skill level in the single skills of a combination skill is the character’s level in the combination skill. However, if the character wants a real level of that size, see the above paragraph on Umbrella Skills for the Editing Point cost. If a character who has trained in all of the skills within a combination skill wishes to start training in the combination skill, take the lowest of the single skill levels for the combination skill level. The character must pay that many Editing Points.

If a player decides to take an umbrella skill or a combination skill when creating a character randomly, instead of a normal combat skill, the roll is d3 instead of d4.

Confidence Art (3d6): Confidence Art has a performance time of 2 minutes. The Bonus Pool consists of Charisma. The target is allowed a saving throw vs. Willpower. The Con Person can reduce this save by 3 for every Q point applied to it. This is the ability to convince a target to take an otherwise unreasonable course of action, such as buy a set of encyclopedias.

Contacts (3d6): Choosing the Contacts skill is a way of saying that the character knows a lot of people in a certain area. The player can choose New York Street Contacts, University Physics Contacts, Federal Government Contacts, or any type of contacts desired, within reason. Characters can have a General Contacts skill at three times the normal Edit Point cost.

To find a contact at any given time, the player must roll 2d10 less than or equal to the character’s Contacts skill level. The Editor may modify this roll as desired. The Performance Time is random: d100 hours. An unsuccessful attempt takes twice that time.

The Quality of the roll determines the Expertise, Amount, and Indebtedness of the contacts. A successful roll indicates one contact of Expertise 1 and Indebtedness 1. The player can use the quality points to gain more contacts of Expertise 1 and Indebtedness 1, or can raise any contact’s Expertise or Indebtedness by 1. A Quality of 9 could be used for one Expertise 10 contact, 10 Expertise 1 contacts, 3 contacts of Expertise 3, 2, and 5, or any combination. In each of those, Indebtedness is 1, but that can be changed in the same way.

Expertise rates how good the contact is in a desired skill. Each point of Expertise indicates a Skill Level of 1 in the desired skill, or a Knowledge Score of 10 in the desired field. Indebtedness indicates how attached the contact is to the character. An indebtedness of 1 means that the contact is likely to do anything of reason within the contact’s area of expertise. A contact with an indebtedness of 2 will likely help even outside its expertise. An indebtedness of 4 or higher indicates fanatical loyalty to the character.

The player can try to raise the base indebtedness, amount, or expertise of the base contact by taking a penalty to the roll. An unsuccessful roll still has the same Performance Time, however. If the player takes a penalty of 2 to the roll, and puts this onto Expertise, the base contacts will all have an Expertise rating of 3.

The character must have a reason for having a contact or set of contacts. If the character doesn’t have a reason (childhood friend, professional acquaintance, etc.), indebtedness is halved (round down). An indebtedness of zero means no contact.

Counterfeiting (3d6): The character knows how to counterfeit documents. The chance of someone else noticing is the other person’s perception minus twice the counterfeiter’s skill level, assuming that the other person even examines the document.

Create Optical Illusion (3d6): This is the ability to make things seem different than they really are—larger, smaller, farther away, etc. Those viewing the optical illusion are allowed a Perception roll, at a penalty equal to twice the illusionist’s skill level.

Detection (3d6): When looking for some obscure clue that will help solve a mystery, the character’s perception is increased by three times the Detection skill level.

Discipline (3d6): This adds twice level to the character’s Willpower.

Disguise (3d6): This is the ability to maintain a change in appearance. The power roll is the number of points by which abilities can be changed to duplicate a person. In order to look like another person, physical beauty, height, and weight must be made the same. Changing physical beauty requires 1 point per physical beauty point changed. For height, 5 centimeters requires 1 point. For weight, 10 kilograms requires 1 point. Going down always uses half the number of points. Changing sex requires 5 points. If all these statistics are exactly the same as the person being duplicated, then the character looks exactly like the person being duplicated.

There is a chance that close scrutiny by someone who knows the target may reveal the discrepancy. This person is allowed a perception roll, at a bonus of the number of points which are needed to fully duplicate the target, minus the disguised character’s skill level.

Double Action: This skill allows the character to combine two other skills (or the same skill twice). The character can train in firing two weapons, using a sword and a dagger, or even two swords, or riding a bike and playing a guitar. The ‘skill level’ in Double Action is treated as %Control (starting at zero), and a %Control roll must be made each time the character attempts the double action.

If the roll is successful, the player makes an Action Roll for each action, with a penalty of 10 to the Bonus Pools for each. If unsuccessful, the character loses a number of segments equal to half the amount the roll was missed by, as surprise.

The Bonus Pool penalty can be reduced by 1 for every 10 points the %Control roll was made by. %Control cannot be greater than 100. Double Action uses row 3 of the EP Use Chart (2 EP/round).

Driving (3d6): This is the skill of driving a specific type of vehicle (cars, planes, boats). Use the character’s skill level as a weapon skill for purposes of attacking with the vehicle, and as acrobatics skill for purposes of acrobatic maneuvers with the vehicle. The bonus pool is half agility.

Endurance (3d6): This adds twice level to the character’s Endurance Points.

Escape Artistry (3d6): The character has studied means of escaping from traps and bindings. If the Escape Artist was conscious when trapped, a roll vs. Escape Artist level can be made to escape, modified as the Editor sees fit. If the Escape Artist was not conscious when trapped, the skill level is halved. If the Escape Artist does not have the small, easily hidden tools available, there is a penalty of 5 to the roll.

Evasion (2d4): The character has Level points that can be used for Defense. Increasing Defense by 1 requires 2 points Adding another opponent costs 1 point (this applies only to Evasion). Evasion uses EP, starting at row 7.

Evading Pursuers (3d6): The character is skilled in getting rid of tails and chasers. The tail/pursuer’s Perception roll is at a penalty of twice the evader’s skill level. There will be bonuses to this roll depending on circumstances, from up to 100 on a plain, to 0 on a crowded street. If the evader does not know where the tail is, the tail has a bonus of Learning to the roll. If the tail is openly following the character (including chasing!), there is a bonus of 25 to the roll.

Falling (3d6): When the character falls, damage can be reduced by skill level. The character must have 10 segments to prepare. (Performance Time: 10 segments)

Focussing (d4): This acts as a bonus to the bonus pool for focussing Intensive Spells.

Forgery (3d6): Characters that have studied Forgery can, with practice, recreate another person’s handwriting. Those who scrutinize the forgery are allowed a perception roll, at a penalty of twice the forgers skill level. If the forger had an exact example while making the forgery, (copying a signature, for example), this penalty is three times skill level.

If the examiner has reason to believe it is a forgery, that person has a bonus to the perception roll equal to Learning, and a bonus equal to the examiner’s skill level with Forgery.

Gesticulation (3d6): This skill is useful only for Weaving Wizards. Points of Gesticulation can either add to the character’s Agility for purposes of Arcane Gestures, or decrease the amount of time that such gestures add to a spell’s Performance Time. Each point of gesticulation reduces the Performance Time penalty by 1.

Hide Objects in Plain Sight (3d6): The character can reduce the chance of someone seeing something by twice the character’s skill level, minus the smallest of height, length, or width, in decimeters, of the object.

The Editor may apply bonuses to see, due to circumstances.

Hide Objects On Body (3d6): The character can hide things on the character’s body. Those searching have a penalty to their perception roll equal to twice the character’s skill level, and a bonus equal to the largest of height, width, or length, in decimeters, of the object.

Hold Breath (3d6): Add this to the character’s Hold Breath Roll.

Hypnosis (3d6): This is the skill of hypnotizing subjects. The chance of successfully hypnotizing a willing subject is the subject’s willpower plus twice the character’s skill level. Unwitting targets are allowed a save vs. willpower, at a penalty of the character’s skill level. Unwilling target’s who know that hypnosis is being attempted are allowed a bonus of willpower and Learning on the save.

Hypnosis takes d6 minutes to complete. If there are many distractions in the area, a penalty to the success chance, of willing targets, or bonus to the save for unwitting targets, of from 1 to 50 is given, at the Editor’s discretion.

If the hypnotist wishes to implant a post-hypnotic suggestion, a roll vs. skill level must be made. Every time the suggestion should be carried out, the target is allowed a saving throw vs. willpower, at a penalty of the hypnotist’s skill level. Once the target successfully makes this roll, the suggestion is lost.

Ignore Damage (d4+3): This increases the character’s Ignore Damage by Skill Level divided by 4, rounded down. The Cover Chance is 73%. An attack that hits the head, neck, arms, or legs is not affected by this.

Intensive Spells (3d6): Add twice skill level to the chance that the character is focused correctly to attempt casting an Intensive Spell. See Using Spells Without Knowing Magic.

Interrogation (3d6): This is the skill of extracting information from unwilling subjects. Targets are allowed a saving throw vs. willpower, at a penalty of the interrogator’s skill level. If violent interrogation methods are used, the penalty is twice the interrogator’s skill level, if the interrogator has the ability to do damage to the target. However, the interrogator must save vs. skill level on 2d10, or the target will take the failure as damage, directly to body DP. Skin Temper and Ignore Damage will not modify it.

Each attempt at Interrogation takes a number of hours equal to the target’s Newoen minus 2d10 (+ Damage if violent interrogation is used). Under special circumstances, the target may gain a bonus of up to willpower on the saving throw.

Inventing (3d6): This is the skill of tinkering. The player must roll an Action roll less than or equal to the skill level to create an invention.

If the inventor has already invented such a device, and is using their invention as a guide, add the guide’s Reliability to the bonus pool. If the inventor is using someone else’s invention as a guide, add half its Reliability to the bonus Pool. Half those bonuses if the inventor is simply using a description of the guide, rather than the guide itself. Those two bonuses are not cumulative.

Double the bonus if the inventor is reproducing the invention exactly, and add 1 per previous successful reproduction. In this case, the invention’s reliability cannot exceed the guide’s reliability.

There is a bonus to the pool for complexities of complex or less. See the chart below.

Inventing Examples: For the first example, Professor Star tries to invent a Type 1 time machine. The Professor’s Inventing skill is 3. He has been studying time travel physics (a very theoretical discipline, until now…), and has a Knowledge Score of 50. His Electrical Engineering score is 60, but the Editor rules that this has a modifier of 1/2. So, the total Knowledge Score is 50+30, or 80. This gives a bonus of 8. Time Travel is Improbable. This gives a penalty of 8. His total bonus pool is 0. He decides to double the amount of time spent on the Action of Inventing, 5 times, to 192 hours. It will cost him $2500*192, or $480,000 before he’s done. This gives him a bonus to the Inventing Roll of 10, for 13. At the end of this time, he rolls 8 on his Action roll; the Quality of the Roll is 5. This is applied to the Machine’s Reliability, for a Reliability of 5. See Equipment for an explanation of Reliability.

For another example, Professor Star takes up Photography, and decides to build his own camera. A camera is very simple, so he has a bonus of 8. Cameras are not Typed. His applicable Knowledge Scores are Optics (30), Photography (15), and Mechanics (20). Mechanics will be halved, so the total is 30+15+10, or 55. This gives a bonus of 6. He is using a description of a camera with a Quality of 30. Since this isn’t his and he is only using a description, this is halved twice to 8. His total bonus pool is 8+6+8, or 22, or 11 on the Sphere Chart. He decides to double the amount of time once, to 12 hours. This increases his Inventing skill to 5. His camera will cost $1*12, or $12. He doubles this three times, bringing it to $96, to increase the Quality of the camera by 6. He rolls 10, minus the bonus of 11, gives -1. This is 6 less than the needed 5, so he has created a Reliability 6 camera—but he spent extra money to increase the Reliability 6 times, bringing it to Reliability 12. Not bad for a first try.

Repairing Inventions: Items can be repaired. The roll is the same as for Inventing, but the cost is at 10%, and the base time is 1 hour instead of 12. There is a penalty to the roll equal to the number of Reliability points missing. The Quality of the Roll is used to increase the Reliability of the item. The item’s Reliability cannot be increased beyond the item’s original maximum Reliability.

Jumping (3d6): Add this to the character’s Jump Pool.

Loquacity (3d6): This skill is useful only for Weaving Wizards. Points of Loquacity can either add to the character’s Learning for purposes of Magical Words and Phrases, or decrease the amount of time that such utterances add to a spell’s Performance Time. Each point of loquacity reduces the Performance Time penalty by 1.

Magic Tricks (3d6): This is the ability to do magic tricks without a stage or preparation. There may be penalties to the Magic Trick roll, depending on circumstances and the trick. Pulling flowers out of a hat, for example, has a bonus of 15. Putting someone in a closet and making them disappear has a bonus of 2.

Maneuverability (3d6): The character has a bonus of level to the amount of Q that movement can be reduced by, and can move up to half level Q in order to change direction (reducing movement Q in one direction and adding it to another). Both of these can only be done at the same time as a Move Roll, although the Move Roll doesn’t need to be successful.

Martial Kick (d4): This is a special kicking attack. See the Combat Skill for level bonuses.

Half of hand damage may be added to the damage of the Martial Kick. If the character focuses (using 1 EP per bonus), the character can gain a Penetration of up to half level, rounded down.

If the character has a strength of less than 10, reduce the damage rolled by 10-Strength, on the Doubling Chart.

Martial Punch (d4): This is a special hand attack. See the Combat Skill for level bonuses. There is a penalty of 5 to the Attack Score, since this must be a Death Shot. There is no save against it, however.

One quarter of hand to hand damage may be added to the damage of the Martial Punch. If the character focuses (uses 1 EP per bonus), the character can gain a Penetration of up to half level, round down. The character can also do penetrating damage instead of bludgeoning, as desired.

If the character has a strength of less than 10, reduce the damage rolled by 10-Strength, on the Doubling Chart.

Martial Throw (d4): This is a special attack. See the Combat Skill for level bonuses. The character attempts to throw the target.

Compare the attacker’s damage to the opponent’s Mass (Square Chart). If the attacker’s damage is greater, the defender is thrown the difference, in meters. The defender also takes damage equal to the difference, in addition to any damage taken from flying into objects.

The attacker can use Martial Throw Quality to reduce the opponent’s effective Mass: each Quality point moves the Mass down 1.

If the defender’s mass is too high, the attacker loses a number of segments equal to the difference between the numbers (Sphere Chart), as surprise.

Mass Hypnosis (3d6): This is the skill of causing large numbers of people to see and hear things that aren’t there. Each target is allowed a saving throw vs. willpower, with a penalty equal to twice the character’s skill level. If the target knows that Hypnosis is being attempted, a bonus of willpower is gained.

The hypnosis can cause people to see illusions, but not to suffer from them.

Memory Training (3d6): Add twice the character’s skill level to perception, for purposes of remembering details seen earlier.

Mind Combat (2d4): This skill increases the chance of successful Mind Travel, and makes possible special attacks while in Mind Combat. See Mind Combat under Worldly Situations for more information.

Nerve Pinch (2d4): This skill is the knowledge of the correct nerves to pinch which will cause the target to fall unconscious. The attacker must hit with a Called Shot to the neck. The target is allowed a saving throw vs. perception, plus agility. The attacker can penalize this by 3 for each Quality Point applied to that. If the save is failed, the target will be unconscious for a number of rounds equal to the Q applied to that, modified for Ignore Damage and Skin Temper.

Nerve Pinch has a Performance Time of 20. See Combat Skill for more information on level bonuses for Nerve Pinch.

Opening Locks (3d6): The character must make a 2d10 roll vs. Level minus the Type of the lock. The bonus pool consists of half learning and half agility.

A skill level 7 person with a 10 learning and 10 agility, trying to open a skeleton key lock (type 1) will roll vs. 7-1, or 6, with a bonus of 9 (10 on the Sphere Chart). This is vs. 15.

Performance Time to Open Locks is the lock Type times 10 segments.

The character may leave a trace of tampering with the lock (which may set off an alarm) whether successful or not. Each try, the chance for not leaving a trace is level times 5 percent, plus the difference between the above Skill Roll and the die roll. Roll less than or equal to the chance on d100.

Picking Pockets (3d6): This skill applies to any action designed to take something from someone else surreptitiously. The character must roll 2d10 vs. Level. The target is allowed a Perception roll, at a penalty of three times the picker’s skill level. There is a bonus to the Bonus Pool of Agility minus 10, halved.

Picking Pockets has a Performance Time of 20.

Power Use (d4): Characters can train in their powers as for Combat Skill. This gives the same bonuses as Combat Skill, to the character’s Combat Roll with that Power.

Quick Change (3d6): The Performance Time to change one piece of clothing with another is 4 segments. The character can attempt to change multiple pieces of clothing at the same time, with a penalty to the bonus pool of the number of items being changed. The character’s Agility minus 10, halved, is a bonus to the Bonus Pool.

Quick Draw (3d6): This reduces the Performance Time for drawing a weapon by level segments, and reduces the time needed to sheath/holster a weapon by twice level segments. Quick Draw applies to only one weapon type, though the character can study it multiple times for additional weapon types.

Read People (3d6): When attempting to read a target’s mindset, the character gets a bonus of five times level on the perception roll. If the target attempts to foil the reading, reduce the chance by the target’s willpower.

Remote Attack (d4): If the character wishes to be able to attack with a remote-controlled weapon, the character must take that weapon as a Remote Attack skill. The character does not necessarily need to know how to use the weapon personally.

Rolling With Attacks (3d6): Add twice level to the character’s Virtual Damage Points.

Running (3d6): Add this to the character’s Move Pool.

Scaling (3d6): The character is able to climb walls and other structures. There is a penalty to the bonus pool equal to the number of degrees from straight up, divided by 10. A straight wall will subtract 0, and a flat ceiling will subtract 9. A flat floor will add 9. Also, subtract or add depending on the material being scaled:

The roll must be made every round that the character is moving. Movement is reduced to one tenth normal while using this skill. Add half Agility to the bonus pool.

Searching (3d6): This is the ability to find hidden things in an area. The character gets a bonus of three times level on the Perception roll to find the object/person. Searching for a small object in a small area takes ten minutes per 3 by 3 meter area. Searching for a large or moving object (that leaves traces, such as a human) in a large area can be done at the one tenth normal Movement rate, searching an area of one tenth Movement (in kmph) kilometers on a side, every hour.

Sex Appeal (3d6): Add this to the character’s Charm Pool (Beauty).

Sneak (3d6): Reduce Perception rolls involving seeing this character by three times the character’s level. When using this skill, the character cannot move faster than .1 m/segment. Doing so gives a bonus of 5 for every .1 m/segment to Perception rolls to see the character.

Special Use: Many times, players will come up with special uses for their powers. A character with power over Magnetism might decide to create electricity by rapidly varying a magnetic field around metal. This is a logical thing to be able to do. There are two ways to deal with these Special Uses. It is up to the Editor and Player to decide which is best applicable for each case.

Speed, Specific Action (3d6): The player can reduce the Performance Time of the Specific Action by the character’s Skill Level. For example, a character with Speed, Teleportation, level 10, subtracts 10 segments from the Performance Time of Teleportation.

Teamwork (3d6): Characters must study Teamwork together. If characters with different levels of Teamwork attempt to work together, the lowest level applies to the group. Teamwork skill levels only apply with the group the character trained with. It takes less training to learn Teamwork multiple times, however. When a character who already has Teamwork with one group attempts to learn it with another, it only takes 1 Editing Point times the character’s skill level, to gain the same Teamwork level with the new team.

Advantages of Teamwork: When attempting to Combine Attacks, the group’s Teamwork level is added to each member’s agility. The group’s Teamwork skill level is also used as a combat pool that each member can draw from. The amount that the character draws from the pool is added to the character’s Bonus Pool. That amount is also unavailable to the rest of the group.

Tracking (3d6): This is the ability to follow trails left by animals, people, or any moving object. The character’s perception is increased by level times 5 for purposes of following the trail. Generally, trails fade with age. Look up the number of minutes since the trail was made on Column 1 of the Doubling Chart, and multiply by 4, for the penalty to the Perception roll. In areas where the trail is less likely to fade, reduce the multiplier. Certain conditions can give penalties or bonuses to the Perception roll also.

Trailing (3d6): There are two facets to trailing—following someone without being seen, and keeping them in sight. Trailing can be combined with Sneak. Trailing gives a penalty to the target’s Perception roll of level. In order to keep the target in sight, the character must make a Perception roll, with a bonus of level times five. There will be other bonuses depending on circumstances.

Use Incorrect Hand: This allows the character to do any one thing with the character’s off hand (left hand for right-handed characters, right hand for left-handed characters). The character starts at 0% Control, and may train upwards as normal for %Control. This skill has no level.

Weight (3d6): Add this to the character’s build for purposes of determining the character’s mass.

Weightlifting (3d6): Add this to the character’s Lift Pool. This applies only to specially designed weights (such as barbells). Use half the character’s skill level (rounded up) as the bonus to the character’s Lift Pool for normal items. Use one quarter the character’s skill level for the bonus to the character’s Throw Pool.

Wizard Block (3d6): This skill uses EP, starting at Row 7. The character can reduce a specific caster’s chance of successfully casting a spell by skill level (minus 1 for each Newoen divided by 10 meters away the caster is). This skill is rare, and players who choose it must know where their character learned it. A character cannot have a level in Wizard Block greater than half Newoen.

​Powers

Powers are listed in alphabetical order by name. Most powers have certain Basic Effects that define what the character can do with the power, and a Performance Time, which defines how long it takes. Some powers have Automatic Effects which do not use Endurance Points. For most powers, the PR is determined with 3d6. A few powers have a dice roll listed after the name, specifying the dice to use for the character’s PR.

Absorption: This is the ability to absorb other powers by touching the person who has them. Three types of Absorption can be chosen from: powers, material, and psyche.

Material Absorption is the absorption of Skin Temper, Ignore Damage, and DP of substances.

Psyche Absorption allows the absorption of knowledge, psychic powers, and intelligence. The character will absorb the memories, learning, and any psychic powers the target has.

Power Absorption allows the absorption of any power except robotic, item, or psychic. Power Absorption does not steal the basic abilities (increased Strength, Cosmic Rays). It steals the effects (Hand to Hand Damage, Cosmic Blast). Things that can be stolen include Hand to Hand Damage, Blasts, EP, DP, Carrying Capacity, Movement, Skin Temper, and Action Modifier. The abilities are only taken if there is a corresponding power. Hand to Hand damage will only be absorbed if the target has increased strength, for example.

Powers/Abilities that are automatic, such as Special Immunity, have a chance of working equal to the percentage taken. If the character steals 50% of the victim’s Immunity to Sausage, and is then attacked by a Vienna sausage, the Immunity has a 50% chance of working.

The character using this power must hit for DP, or use 3 Q points from the Combat Roll, to absorb powers from the target. Also, note that all the relevant powers or abilities are absorbed, including weaknesses if relevant or oriented towards the type of absorption (i.e. susceptibility to X-Rays for power absorption, phobia of zucchini for intelligence absorption, solubility in water for substance absorption, etc.)

Basic Effects: (Percentage Taken)

Percentage Taken: The percentage of power/material/ psyche taken per hit (per segment) is PR times 5. A character with Material Absorption PR 7 can steal 100% of a steel girder’s properties, after 3 segments of touching it. Upon absorption, the target must save on d100 greater than or equal to the percentage of power taken times Skin Temper (normal ST for physical powers, Mind ST for psychic powers), or fall unconscious for d100 rounds. Targets for Material Absorption will not fall unconscious or lose Skin Temper, Damage Points, or Ignore Damage.

Automatic Effects: (Duration)

Duration: Power/material/psyche is lost by the character with this power, and regained by the target, PR rounds after it was taken.

Acid Production: This is the ability to create acid and use it as a weapon. The acid type is equivalent to the character’s PR. See Acid, under Equipment.

Basic Effects: Acid Type, Range

Acid Type: The Acid Type is half the character’s PR, on the Sphere Chart.

Range: Maximum Range is PR minus 3, meters. Short Range and Range Set are PR (Square Chart).

Agility Bonus: Roll the dice given where the bonus was rolled up and add this to the character’s current agility. This power does not use EP.

Air Control: This is the power to control air motion.

Basic Effects: (Wind Speed, Wind Blast, Range)

Wind Speed: The maximum Wind Speed the character can bring wind to is PR times 10 kmph. The wind speed loses speed at the rate of 1 kmph for each meter beyond Maximum Range.

Wind Blast: The damage done by a Wind Blast PR/4, round down.

Range: The character can control air at up to PR (from Result to Square Chart) meters. This is also the Maximum Range of the Wind Blast. Short Range and Range Set are PR.

Alchemy: This is the ability to transmute matter from one form to another. Most (80%) of characters with this power must choose a specific matter that targets are transformed to. The rest can transform targets to any element.

Living things attacked with this power must save vs. constitution (Sphere Chart), on 2d10. Unliving things generally have a Constitution of 0. If this save is not successful, the target is transmuted for a duration equal to the amount it was missed by (Result to Sphere), minutes.

The character using this power in combat must either hit for DP or use 4 Quality Points from the Combat Roll in order to touch the target.

Basic Effects: Mass, Saving Throw Penalty

Mass: If the character cannot transmute all of something, none of it can be transmuted. The PR required for mass is the mass in kilograms (divided by 10), on the Sphere Chart.

Saving Throw Penalty: The character can give a penalty to the target’s saving throw of 1 per PR point.

Anti-Matter Production: The person with this ability can create tiny amounts of anti-matter.

Basic Effects: (Explosion, Range of Center)

Explosion: This does one fifth PR, rounded up, d6 damage as an Explosion (see Combat). It has a Short Range of PR divided by 5, Range Set of PR divided by 10, Maximum Range of PR divided by 4, and gets a bonus of twice PR to the Explosion Combat Roll.

Range of Center: The center of the explosion may be sent up to PR times 3 meters away from the person with the power. See Thrown Objects, under Combat, for what the character must do to attack the correct area. The character gets a bonus of 3 to Attack, since it isn’t really being thrown, but created at the target spot.

Half of these characters can create an even smaller amount of anti-matter and control it so as to keep it from blowing up immediately. The anti-matter appears as a glowing black sphere, PR/3 centimeters in diameter.

Astral Planes Travel: The character is able to travel in astral form anywhere, nearly instantly, if the character has already been there.

Basic Effects: (Movement, Passengers, Saving Throw Change)

Movement: If the character doesn’t or can’t travel instantly, astral flight is possible at normal movement times PR on the Doubles Chart.

If the character can travel instantly (usually because the character has already been to the destination before), look the distance (in km) on the Doubles Chart for the number of rounds the trip takes. The character can reduce this by up to PR rows.

Passengers: The character can only bring PR/3 passengers (round up) along on any astral trip, and each must make a save vs. Willpower minus the saving character’s Learning or be unable to become astral. Passengers can easily become lost in the astral planes. The EP used for taking passengers along is only used once—to bring them. It is not necessary to use EP to keep them there.

Passengers who are forced to come along are allowed a save vs. Willpower plus Learning.

Saving Throw Change: The penalty/bonus to targets’ saves is the character’s PR.

The character may also have access to another astral plane. Roll a d100 to see what plane(s) are accessible:

Planes Accessible: (d100)

Medium Planes: (d10)

Major Planes: (d10)

See the descriptions of these planes for what the character can do there.

Being in a dream plane allows contact with other people by dreams.

See Astral Planes Travel, under Playing the Game, for combat and rules for the Astral Planes.

Beauty Bonus: Roll up the bonus with the dice given where this power was gained, then add it to the character’s Beauty. There is a 1% chance that a hero should actually subtract the roll from beauty, a 5% chance that Intelligent Robots should do so, and a 20% chance that villains should do so. This power does not use EP.

Brain Wave Hearing: The character with brain wave hearing has a hearing multiplier of 1/2. This is not ESP. The character can only hear what someone else is saying or directing mentally at the character, and the character can talk normally, but what is said is heard in the mind(s) of the target(s). In this case, learning is substituted for strength for loudness. This power does not use EP.

Breathe Water: This is the ability to breathe oxygen from water. Due to the fact that at greater depths there is less oxygen, the character will only be able to breathe at depths up to Power Roll divided by 4, kilometers. Fifty percent of characters with this power also have the ability to survive greater pressures. The character can reduce the Bonus Pool penalty due to high pressure by the character’s PR. This power does not use EP.

Burrow: This is the ability to burrow and tunnel through soil and ground. The character can move through non-cohesive materials (like soil and dirt) easily.

Basic Effects: (Movement)

Movement: Burrowing speed is normal movement, using PR as Move Q. When burrowing, divide this speed by the density of the material being burrowed through. If the character attempts to burrow through cohesive material (like wood, iron, cement), also multiply by the Skin Temper of the material.

Chameleon: This is the power to become almost invisible by changing color and hue to that of the surroundings.

Basic Effects: (Hiding)

Hiding: Subtract twice PR from the perception roll of those rolling to see the character. Defense is increased by half PR, round up. EP is only required to change color with chameleon, not to remain that way, unless the character moves around, in which case EP is used normally.

If the character is attacking, reduce the Defense Bonus by 4 and divide by 2.

If the character is moving, those rolling to see have a bonus of 1 per movement PR.

Charisma Bonus: Roll the dice given where the bonus was rolled up and add this to one of the character’s charisma scores. The character can divide the bonus up among both charisma scores if so desired. There is a 25% chance that villains who roll up Charisma Bonus are fear-inspiring villains. This power does not use EP.

Clairvoyance: Clairvoyance is the ability to see places other than where the person is. There is a 50% chance that the character can also hear things in the area being watched.

Basic Effects: Distance, Senses

Distance: Look up the distance to the desired target (in kilometers) on the Doubles Chart for the PR required. The character must either be looking at a specific distance and direction, or be looking at a place familiar to the character.

Senses: Sight (and Hearing, if the character can hear) for the power are equal to the character’s PR.

Constitution Bonus: Roll the dice given where the bonus was rolled up and add to the character’s constitution. This power does not use EP.

Control Chance: This is the ability to affect probabilities.

Basic Effects: (Chance Change, Hex Blast, Range)

Chance Change: The character can modify other people’s 2d10 rolls by up to PR (three times PR for d100 rolls). The modification is directly to the roll, not to the bonus pool.

Hex Blast: A hex is a random blast which warps probabilities at the target area. For example, causing a wall in New York City to choose that moment to topple, or causing a vehicle’s electrical system to stop working. The Editor should adjust the chance of a hex working, depending on how probable the hex is. The base chance will be the PR, on 2d10.

Range: Look up the distance to the target on the Sphere Chart, for the PR required for range.

Control Similar Animals: The character is able to control one or more species of animal (wolf, lion, house cat, etc).

To determine what type(s) of animals the character controls, roll 3d6. A result of 3 or 18 indicates control of all animals. A result of 4 or 17 indicates control of all of the type which the character represents (that is, all cat-like creatures, all bird-like creatures, water creatures, etc). 5 or 16 means control of d4+1 species, and anything else indicates one species.

Basic Effects: (Quantity, Distance)

Quantity: The character may control twice PR in Damage Points of animals at one time. Those numbers are those that can be explicitly controlled with exact commands. Five times as many can be controlled through emotions.

Animals are allowed a save vs. their willpower plus learning plus DP, minus this character’s PR, on d100.

Distance: The maximum distance at which animals can be controlled is PR (from the result column to the Sphere column) meters, times 2.

Convert To Energy: This is the ability to convert one’s own matter to energy and travel in the same manner as that energy does. The player must choose an energy form. As energy, the character automatically travels at the speed of light or below, with no EP cost. Some examples of energy forms: Radio waves, heat, light, electricity.

Basic Effects: (Extra Mass, Energy Blast)

Extra Mass: Besides the character’s body, up to half PR kilograms of continuous matter can also be converted.

Energy Blast: The character can use an energy blast doing up to half PR damage.

Automatic Effects: (Ignore Damage, Extra DA)

Ignore Damage: Energy forms will be immune to most physical attacks, but not to most energy attacks. They can ignore damage (energy) equal to their PR divided by 3, round up, when in energy form.

Defense: The character’s Defense can be increased by up to PR when in the energy form, but Attack is reduced by the same amount.

Cosmic Awareness: The character with this ability may attempt to know things.

Basic Effects: (Question)

Question: The player asks the Editor a question. The chance of finding the answer is a 2d10 roll vs. PR. It takes a number of minutes to find the answer equal to d100 minus the Q (plus the Q if the PR roll was failed). Roll 2d100 for the percentage of that time that the character perceives. (If 50 is rolled on 2d100, the character thinks that only half the actual time has gone by.) This power does require EP for the actual time.

Cosmic Rays: This is the power to create cosmic rays in a high intensity beam.

Basic Effects: (Damage)

Damage: The character’s cosmic ray does PR damage. Short Range, Range Set, and Maximum Range depend on the PR applied to damage: Look up the PR, from the Result column to the Sphere column, for Short Range. Move down 4 rows for Range Set, and up 5 rows for Maximum Range. Ranges are in meters.

Darkness: This power allows the character to negate light in a certain area. From the outside, this appears to be a perfectly black sphere, dome or whatever shape the character makes it. In this area nothing can be seen by normal methods. The character can even make the dome or sphere hollow, thus allowing light sources inside the shape to work, but not allowing light to flow into or out of the shape.

Basic Effects: (Size Points)

Size Points: The character has up to twice PR points for Range and Radius. Range is the maximum distance away that the center of effect may be placed. Each point used for Range counts 1 row on the Sphere Chart, for meters. Radius is the radius of the darkness sphere. Each point used for Radius counts 1 row on the Sphere Chart, for meters.

Half of those with Darkness can stop Ultraviolet light. Half of those with Darkness can stop Infrared light. Two percent stop all electromagnetic radiation, including radio waves.

Death Touch: This is the ability to kill with only a touch.

Basic Effects: (Death Touch)

Death Touch: Characters using this power must hit for DP for it to take effect, or spend 4 Quality Points from the Combat Roll. Targets are allowed a save vs. maximum DP plus constitution (Sphere Chart) minus half the Death Touch PR (Sphere Chart), on 2d10. If the save is not successful, the target dies (gains d% of half PR as Death Points). If the save is successful, the target merely loses PR EP (as EP that heals back sleeping), and half PR DP (as penetrating damage), saving throw not allowed and unmodified by Skin Temper or Ignore Damage.

Density Control: This is the ability to change density. The player must roll a d100 to see in which direction the density change occurs: 01-50 means both directions (but roll a separate PR for both), 51-75 means Lower Density, and 76-00 means Increase Density.

Basic Effects: (Low Density, High Density, Extra Mass)

Low Density: Half the character’s mass for each PR. See Atmosphere, under Special Rules, for changes due to very low density. The character can ignore PR in bludgeoning damage at the low density, and can multiply Jump Score by the PR.

High Density: Double the character’s mass for each PR. The character can ignore half PR in damage, and gains a bonus to Skin Temper equal to PR (Doubles).

Extra Mass: The character can bring along up to PR kilograms.

Duplication: This is the ability to duplicate physical powers, mind/psychic powers, or skills. The player must choose which to take. In order to be able to duplicate a power or skill, the power must be known. To know a power, the character must study someone with it for the amount of time needed to gain 2 training points. Learning a new power requires that these 2 training points be diverted to it also.

Basic Effects: (Number of Powers)

Number of Powers: The number of powers a character can hold at one time is the PR divided by 3, round up.

Automatic Effects: (Known Powers)

Known Powers: The character can know a number of powers equal to PR.

Remember also that EP is required to use the power as if the power were the character’s.

Only 20% of Human (Organic) characters can duplicate powers by studying a robotic/mechanical user, and only 60% of Robotic/mechanical characters can duplicate powers by studying a human/organic user.

Duplicate Person: This is the ability to duplicate the face and shape of another human.

Basic Effects: (Changing)

Changing: Multiply the PR by 2 for the number of points by which abilities can be changed to duplicate a person. In order to look like another person, beauty, height, and weight must be made the same. Changing physical beauty requires 1 point per beauty point changed. For height, 5 centimeters requires 1 point. For weight, 10 kilograms requires 1 point. Going down always uses half the number of points. Changing sex requires 5 points. If all these statistics are exactly the same as the person being duplicated, then the character looks exactly like the person being duplicated.

Close scrutiny by someone who knows the target may reveal the discrepancy. That person is allowed a perception roll, at a bonus equal to the PR needed to fully duplicate the target, and a penalty equal to the PR used to duplicate the target. Skills (such as Ventriloquism or Disguise) can also directly affect the perception roll, at the Editor’s option.

EP is only required to change with this power, not to remain changed.

Electric Power: This is the ability to control and create electricity.

Basic Effects: (Damage, Skin Temper, Lift/Throw, Control)

Damage: Electrical blast damage is PR/3 (round up). Add 50% if the target is grounded, and double if the target is well grounded.

ST: The character can increase Skin Temper by half PR (Sphere Chart).

Lift/Throw: The character can use static electricity to lift and move objects. The Strength for the Lift/Throw roll is the PR applied.

Control: The character can control a number of points of electricity equal to PR. Reduce PR by the distance to the electricity in meters, on the Sphere Chart.

Emotion Control: This is the ability to affect people’s emotions mentally.

Basic Effects: (Save Penalty, Range, Reactions)

Save Penalty: Targets are allowed a save vs. willpower minus twice the character’s PR, minus any modifications due to predisposition (already angry, already attracted, etc), on a d100. If the character concentrates on only one target, use 4 times PR instead of twice PR for the reduction. If the target realizes that emotion control is being attempted, willpower can be added to the saving throw.

Range: The emotion control will work on anyone within PR meters.

Empathic Healing: With this ability, the healer can take wounds from another person. 80% of Empathic Healers may take on penetrating damage. 75% of these can take on injury damage. 50% of these can take on permanent damage.

Basic Effects: (Wound Size, Restoration Rate)

Wound Size: The character can take wounds at the rate of half PR points per round.

Restoration Rate: The PR indicates the number of bludgeoning damage points the healer may heal from that which was taken, every round. Penetrating damage points are regained at half this rate. Injury and permanent DP are regained at this rate every minute.

Example: The Chessman loses 5 DP from a gunshot wound—4 Penetrating and 1 Bludgeoning. Healer (who has 6 DP) heals Chessman. Healer has a PR of 2, so it takes 3 rounds (2 and a half) to take the wound away, using 15 EP. Chessman now no longer has the wound, but Healer does, and is down to 1 DP. Healer heals the Penetrating Damage first (his choice), at his maximum rate of 1 per round. It takes 4 rounds to do so (using 20 more EP). Healer decides to let the Bludgeoning Damage heal on its own, since he’s already used 35 EP.

Remember that the empathic healer actually has the wound, and any bleeding or other effects of the wound take place on the healer.

Characters with this power cannot heal their own wounds with this power—those are healed at the character’s normal healing rate. However, 25% of villains who have this power are only able to heal themselves—by transferring their wounds to another person, in the same way as normal Empathic Healers transfer wounds to themselves. However, in this case the wounds transferred do not heal on the other person, except as normal.

Empathy: Empaths have the ability to feel other people’s emotions.

Basic Effects: (Bonus to Chance of Success)

Bonus to Chance of Success: To determine a target’s emotions, a roll must be made under perception plus the target’s newoen, plus five times PR, minus the distance in meters to the target (Sphere Chart), on d100. Touching the target adds the Empath’s newoen to the chance. If the target realizes what is happening and resists, subtract the target’s willpower from the chance. The empath will know what the target is feeling, towards whom, and what kind of a feeling it is.

80% of Empaths can show targets the empath’s feelings. The chance is the same as above, except that the empath’s willpower is used in place of perception + target’s newoen. Half of empaths who can Show Feelings can show fake feelings. That is, they can make others think the empath is happy, when actually angry, etc.

Empaths can scan the area around them. The chance of picking up emotions for any individual is the same as above. Roll only once. This scan is vaguer than a direct attempt (the empath only detects the kind of feeling), but it has a chance of picking up any individual in the area. The scan can be directed towards a particular direction, if desired, to weed out undesirable targets.

Explosive Touch: The character with this power can cause explosions upon touching solid matter.

Basic Effects: (Explosion)

Explosion: The character with this power can do PR/4 round up, d6 damage just by touching something, and can add this damage to Hand Damage attacks. The carrier attack must do DP, or the attacker must use 4 Quality Points from the Combat Roll.

Short Range for the explosion is the damage PR, millimeters. Range Set is the damage PR centimeters. Maximum Range is the damage PR decimeters. The explosion gets a bonus to Attack others of twice the damage PR. The explosion gets a bonus of half the damage PR (Sphere Chart) vs. Skin Temper against who/what ever was touched. This cannot bring a skin temper below one.

Half of these characters may cause explosions which do PR/5 round up, d6 damage when touching liquid matter.

The explosion does not go towards the character causing the explosion. Thus, people behind this character will not be affected by the explosion either.

Extra Appendage: This will usually be an arm, tentacle, etc., depending on the situation and planned origin of the robot. Some ideas are: telescoping arm, vise hand, normal appendage, eye in back of head. This will not add to any ability, basic or derived, although it should give advantages. The person with eyes in the back of the head would be allowed a full sight perception roll for attacks on all sides. A person with four arms won’t gain extra attacks/round, but will be able to hold 2 things while still fighting normally, etc.

This does not use EP.

Fire Coat: This is the ability to light up like a Roman candle, control fires, and create fire blasts.

Basic Effects: (Damage, Distance, Weight, Blinding, Skin Temper)

Damage: Damage is the PR/2. The character can spread the beam to get a better chance of hitting. For each point taken from damage, 1 can be added to the Combat Roll. Fire blasts may be forked, also, dividing the damage between more than one target. Attack Q must be supplied for each target. The Maximum Range for the Fire Blast is determined separately from the damage. See Distance, below. PR applied to Maximum Range cannot be applied to Damage.

Distance: The character can control fires at a distance of up to PR, read from the Result Column to the Sphere Chart, meters. This is also the Maximum Range with the Fire Blast. Short Range and Range Set are standard.

Weight: Weight is the mass that the character can cause to go into the air (caused by heat rising). This includes the character. Remember that the character is on fire when flying. If the character wishes to cause something else to fly on its own, it must be given a fire coat, which is likely to burn it up. Look up the weight being lifted on the Square Chart, for the PR required. Remaining PR can be used for speed in decimeters/segment.

Blinding: There is a chance that others will be blinded if the character lights up completely. Those in the area must make a Perception roll vs. blindness. If the save is not made, roll damage for the number of segments the target is blinded. All people in the area are targets. There is a penalty to that roll of the PR used for blinding, times 4.

Skin Temper: The character with this power can increase ST by PR divided by 2 rows when flaming.

Automatic Effects: (Safe Temperature)

Safe Temperature: The temperature of the fire is the PR applied to damage, times 100, degrees Celsius. Add this (using maximum PR) to the character’s Maximum Safe Temperature (see Temperatures under Situations).

Flight, Slow: This is the ability to fly.

Basic Effects: (Movement, Combat Bonus)