Review: Streamlined Superheroes

It is no secret that I have been a longtime fan of superheroes and have been a reader of comics since I was little. It was common sight to find me running around with a Batman action figure in one hand and a tattered comic book in the other hand. This love of superheroes eventually transferred over to my enjoyment of tabletop gaming and I have had some great experiences with Aberrant and other systems. Though, supers is one of the genres where the games are commonly complicated and stuffed full of rules. This has led me to search for supers games that are rules light but cover some of the important aspects of the genre. This has led to discovering Supercrew (which is an unknown game that deserves more recognition), leaning on  Triumphant, and writing Onedice Supers. 

I came across Streamlined Superheroes by John Fredericks when I should have been in bed and was mindlessly scrolling through youtube. 

Presentation: The PDF clocks in at a total of 17 pages that include the cover, an introduction page, an introduction adventure, a character sheet, and a rules summary. It is presented in a standard two column format with a font of something adjacent to Comic Sans. It is organized as overview/character creation/rules format.  

There is some full color art that ranges from 1/4 page to 3/4 page coverage. The art is a mix of public domain art and I believe some art that the author drew himself. The mix of the art brings a feel of the old school newspaper style four color comics from the 70s/90s as well as keeping the DIY vibe alive.

Character Creation: This section starts out with this paragraph to get you in the mood, "What kind of hero will you be? You might want to play your favorite comic book or movie hero, or one of your own creations. They’ll need a superhero name, and a “real-life/alter ego” name as well. A page of blank character cards is at the very end of this book, or just grab an index card and write down what you need." Then the section breaks down the various steps of getting your character down on paper that follows:

1. Place four predetermined values in the attributes of Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma.
2. Choose a combination of four powers and skills/professions. There is some suggestions given about how it is common for characters to have three powers and one skill but this is not a hard rule and these choices vastly depend on character concept. Each of these four are called "Effects" and each is assigned an effect die out of a d12, d10, d8, and d6. A list of powers and skills are provided to assist the discerning player. 
3. Choosing a weakness is optional and characters can only have one. A weakness provides a negative effect that can be exploited to hinder the hero or represent items that can be broken/stolen/disarmed. A weakness provides an additional d6 effect option. 
4. Characters have a starting Hit Point rating of 20. 

Resolution: The core resolution is a simple two step process. The first step is to determine success by rolling 1d20 + Attribute vs a target number of 10+. If the roll is successful, then an effect dice is rolled to determined the amount of success. The effect is chosen by the player to determine how the hero is attempting to overcome an obstacle or solve the problem. The result on the effect dice subtracts from the Hit Points of the opponent or the Hurdle Points of a Stressful Situation (like disarming a device, etc.) There are some subsystems that affect the above core resolution or alter it:

• If there not a creative way a character can use an effect in a given situation, the effect die is a d4 that represents general skill/common sense/etc
• In a non-combat situation, an effect roll of 6+ is considered an exceptional success
• Advantage/Disadvantage is used instead of modifiers by rolling 2d20 and choosing the highest or lowest
• Group Checks
• Opposed Checks
• Assist Rolls
• Called Shots
• Ensnaring 
• Retreat
• Reaching Zero Hit Points

Combat utilizes the same core resolution but adds in a initiative system that provides three options. The first option is a narrative approach where an hero acts, then an opponent, then an hero, and so on until everyone involved in combat has acted and a new round starts. The order is chosen by whoever wants to go and whatever opponent the game master wants to use. The second option is acting in descending dexterity order where ties act simultaneously. The third and final option is to use side based initiative with a d6 (1-3 opponents go first, 4-6 heroes go first). Regardless of which method is chosen, initiative stays the same for the entirety of the combat.

• In true four color fashion, supers done die. When reduces to zero HP they are just knocked out until the next scene when all of the action is over. HP is full recovered when they become active again
• Vehicles are treated has an effect die, having their own

There is also advice for designing opponents that range from henchmen all the way up to major opponents, determining how to scale stressful situations and how to allocate Hurdle Points to those situations, and setting a timer for those stressful situations. 

Finally, there are rules for advancement. When the characters advance is determined by pure GM fiat and allows an increase of an attribute (to a maximum of 8) and to increase an effect die by one step (to a maximum of d12). 

 

Final Thoughts: Streamlined Superheroes lives up to its name and they mechanics do not get in the way of any four color action. What I enjoy about this game is that (like the other games I have mentioned earlier) is it encourages players (and by extension) the GM to become creative with effects and how to use them to handle situations in unconventional ways. The various sub systems all play off of or utilize the core resolution mechanic without adding any additional crunch outside of remembering how to do a group roll or an assist. The entire game does what it sets out to do to capture the four color comic vibe in an easy to play package. It was also refreshing to see that powers are considered to be "always" on or always usable and does not require a roll unless it is a combat situation, being used in a stressful situation, or chance of failure would be interesting. By extension, this same logic is applied to skills as well but skills are generally not meant to be singularly specific skills like woodworking (though they can be and some of the example characters have a more specific skill). They are more meant to cover professions or possible a cliche. So, instead of listing woodworking as an effect, a more appropriate effect would be carpenter or something similar.  

 

The game also provides examples for heroes, villains, stressful situations, and combat. 

 

I also enjoyed (and I found it a unique take that I have not seen before) how armor/toughness/rock skin/etc is handled. You basically have the maximum effect due to the supers HP but that effect cannot be used for anything else. 

 

Though, with that being said there are a few caveats and things that I would have liked to see or clarifications needed:

• More examples
• Explanations in some areas are vague (reading the rule summary helps), especially when it comes to Ensnaring. How I understand that specific circumstance may be different that what was intended but how I read is that Ensnaring Effects break the normal combat sequence in that instead of rolling an attack "to hit" the opponent makes a save to avoid the situation, and if the opponent fails then they are stuck and allows a test to break out every round. The HP of the bond is equal to the maximum result of the effect die (12/10/8/6). 
•  Examples of social situations 
• As a DIY guy myself and as someone who cannot afford an editor for their own work, I never begrudge anyone int he industry for typos or formatting errors. Though, there is some.  
• More of the authors Art!

You can find the game and other resources here:

• Drivethrurpg 
• Sharp Mountain Games Youtube Channel
• Review by Solospelunking Table Talk 
• A four part solo play by Magehammer's Game Table  
• A Quick Look by Tabletop Wanderer