Hi!
  So, this is the starting framework for the mechanics so far:
In order to resolve a conflict, we need to know 3 things:
1) What Traits your character is using
2) What Traits the other character is using
3) The Scope of the conflict. This determines what dice is rolled. For instance, a Personal conflict might be no die or 1d4, a conflict that effects a nation might be 1d20 and a global conflict might be 1d100.

To see how these Traits are made, see this thread:
http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10769

So, each side adds up the following:
100 for each Super Power used
10 for each Power used
1 for each Ability used
-1 for each Mark in play
-10 for each Weakness in play
-100 for each Super Weakness in play
  and adds their die roll (Players always troll the same size die).

  The winner gets a number of effect points equal to the amount that they won by (Their total-the other total). They spend those points to affect the game world:
Target:
One person - 0
Self - 10 (Add 10 to the other cost if you are not the only person affected)
2-100 people - 10
101-1,000 people - 20
1,001-1,000,000 people - 50
1,000,001+ people - 100

Effect
Add a Standard trait - 1
Add an Ability/Mark - 2
Add Power/Weakness - 20 per Arena Tag
Add a Super Power/Super Weakness - 100 per Arena Tag
Hospitalize - Net Value*
Incapacitate - Gross Value*

Duration
One Scene - 0
One Day - 1
One Week - 2
One Month - 5
One Year - 10
Permanent - 100

Notes:
Net Value = (100 x Super Powers) + (10 x Powers) + Abilities - Marks - (10 x Weaknesses) - (100 x Super Weaknesses)
Gross Value = (100 x Super Powers) + (10 x Powers) + Abilities

Caveat
  You cannot earn ANY Effect Points without having a conflict that involves both a PC and an NPC.

Example:
  Uber Man faces Rex Ruthless. He uses Super Strength, X-Ray Vision and Observant. And Rex uses Green Rocks against him. Rex is trying to control Urbopolis with a mind control ray, so the scope is 1d10 (the city). Uber Man's player gets to roll 1d10 and add 100+10+1-10 (101) and gets 105. Rex rolls and adds up his Traits for a total of 43. So Uber Man gets 62 effect points. He decides that about 1 million people in Urbopolis (the ones that know he saved them) will gain the Standard Traits "Seeks Truth" and "Seeks Fairness" for a year (50 for 1 million people, 2 for traits and 10 for the year).

  What do you guys think?

It looks like, almost all of the time, the Super Powers and Super Weaknesses will be the only things that are relevant?

AoF,
  Good point. That's why they have the limit of an Arena Tag. So for instance Uber Man couldn't use his Super Strength against the Riddler's Mental puzzles. He might be able to use other powers (X-Ray vision maybe) or abilities, but that is how you can wrangle in power gamers, is hit them where it hurts.
  Plus, that is why the dice slide in scale. I don't want people with super powers worrying about lame stuff, the only way their power will be on par is in a world threating crisis. In the case of a global crisis, the players roll 1d100, so that's on the same scale as Super Powers, right?
  You know, I am just picturing a guy playing Superman rolling a 1 for his Super Strength and wondering what that means to the game world. This guy can literally chuck a mountain, so a 1 still means he can do that, it just might not land where he planned on  it, right? So, I don't want the dice to be a deal breaker unless something big is on the line, do you?

Quote from: dindenverAoF,
  Good point. That's why they have the limit of an Arena Tag. So for instance Uber Man couldn't use his Super Strength against the Riddler's Mental puzzles. He might be able to use other powers (X-Ray vision maybe) or abilities, but that is how you can wrangle in power gamers, is hit them where it hurts.

If, for example, he's in an elaborate timed trap, does this mean he's not allowed to break out of it?

QuotePlus, that is why the dice slide in scale. I don't want people with super powers worrying about lame stuff, the only way their power will be on par is in a world threating crisis. In the case of a global crisis, the players roll 1d100, so that's on the same scale as Super Powers, right?

Is the game intended to have both low-scale challenges (like a gang of thugs), and also powers which can automatically beat these challenges (like Super Strength?).

QuoteYou know, I am just picturing a guy playing Superman rolling a 1 for his Super Strength and wondering what that means to the game world. This guy can literally chuck a mountain, so a 1 still means he can do that, it just might not land where he planned on  it, right? So, I don't want the dice to be a deal breaker unless something big is on the line, do you?

Does this mean that a number means different things depending on what dice it's rolled on? So rolling a 5 on a d10 is still worse than rolling a 4 on a d100?

AoF,
  The idea is that the die rolled, suggests the Traits that you would need to overcome random chance.
  So, to look at it from different perspectives:
1) A well trained normal human might be able to bring 10 Abilities to bear on a conflict. So compared to rolling 1d10 to save the town, his abilities are right on track and the other player is going to have to bring a similar number of abilities and not just hope for a good roll, right?
2) A character with Powers might be able to bring 10-30 point of Powers to bear on a conflict, this matches nicely with saving a nation which is a 1d20 Challenge. His roll is meaningful and his Powers mean that again, the other player (the GM probably) will most likely have to use powers to be able to match/counter his roll.
3) A character that can bring his super power to bear on a Challenge will get to add 100 or more to his roll, but he rolls 1d100, so again, their is chance, but his Trait mitigates the effect of chance a lot. And once more, the math tells us that it will take more than a lucky roll to thwart our Super Powered character. It will probably take another Super Power or a lot of Powers, right?
4) A well-trained normal human trying to save the world. Again, all he has to bring is maybe 10 Abilities. But he still gets to roll 1d100. So, he has the potential to save/change the world, but it will rely mostly on luck and the GM not bringing earth shattering powers to the table, right?
5) A character with powers can also try and save the earth. Again, they can bring 10-30 point of powers to bear on the Challenge and that makes a pretty big dent in a 1d100 roll. But there will still be some luck involved and the GM can still pretty handily thwart our heroes with a Super Power, right?
6) Conversely, if a Super Powered character tries to save the town, the dice will not be a major factor. He will pretty much automatically succeed unless the super villain brings his own super power. But when you roll 1d10 and add 100 or more, the range of results is fairly predictable. Just like the chances of Super Man saving Denver would be fairly predictable. Unless a Super power was used against him, right?

  As to a situation were Uber Man is trapped in a concrete room where there was a bomb that was about to explode. Or another elaborate trap. This might be two challenges, right? One would be a Physical Challenge with the Strength of the Containment being used to resist Uber Man's Super Strength. And a second Mental challenge to dispose of the bomb, right? I mean if he is a super hero, he can't just leave a bomb around to explode willy-nilly, right? And I am not sure I can think of an application of Super Strength that will not detonate the bomb, can you? Does that make sense?

I would like to see how a group of superheroes would interact with this.  Thus the Justice Avengers win because they have 8 powers to bring up vs the super villians two.   800 vs 200 with the big die roll.  This becomes important for me as most PCs come in herds, rather than solo.

You might find some inspiration for smoothing out these mechanics in Story Engine (Hubris Games) and Universalis.  

The concept of nesting subscenes, interrupts, and so on.

The reason I bring those up was this is a "war" so it would be resolved with 1d100. Now what happens if before I want to resolve this "war", I want to do a smaller thing that will have a greater impact on the end result.  

For example:  Villian wants to destroy the City  D100 etc.   City may or may not be destroyed, depending on roll and how it is used.

Hero will try to stop the villian, but he will ensure the innocents are saved (with his flying and super speed). So now you have to resolve that.  Small set of rolls.  Hero manages to get that going and may or may not save the buildings.

The villian might have minion which will be opposing the rescues, thus you will have fights with them (resolving the fights)

OR
The Hero could be using his powers and science to bring some Element X into the equasion. Since Element X would be a super flaw for the bad guy, he would do everything he could to stop that.  

So we have gone from saving the city, and resolving the Getting the Element X scene (whcih impacts the save the city scene).

And what about the minion who are going to fight to stop the hero before he can resolve the element x scene.

So depending on the small results, you have a group of scene going on and the results radically change.



Scene resolution works, but you will need to find a way for people interrupt or add their own small "bids" or emphasis to the big scene resolution.

Mooney,
  You are totally right, this math does not scale for groups. I will have to go back to the drawing board and figure that out, thanks!

Bringing back to the supers thread which help spawned this:

Might I suggest you go for Each Power being a Special Effect

So you can do a number of traits worth of Fire Power
If the power is very useful and very flexible, unless there is a "counter" in place for it,  you could use lets say 5 levels of it.

While a fire power user that is not very flexible might have one.

A comic character which has turned a very simple power (OPTIC BLAST) into a very useful power (all the various stunts, angles, bouncing, etc) might have three levels in it.

It is not just the powers, but how you use them that determines the effectiveness.

Now, you can utilize a "special effect" or "other trait" (NINJA, BRAWLER, ETC) in a scene, if you can utilize it in a description for how you are resolving the issue.

So you might have minion ninja (1 level) each, or the Super Ninja Villian that cuts a swath through the superteam due to tactics, distraction, and strong martial arts (If you keep people between you and the SUPERGUY, he can't smear you with his super strength), thus having five levels.

I would powers and some skills equal in their weight.  Tactics skill (Which Batman and Captain America have in spades) is a perfect example. If a man who knows chemistry and can apply it to the fight (Oh we are in a metal manufacturing facility, so I go over and get the chromium and xxx and prepare to use it against the guy when he uses his electrical power.), that would work.  If the super powers are "really super" perhaps just extra dice/ bonus when using them.

Now you just need to find a resolution system that work.  

Might I suggest dice pools, or even fudge dice.
Powers might start with 2d (at level one), while skills would be 1d6 at level one.. or somesuch.


Oh, and can it be just Moon or Hunter if you have to shorten it. Moony just drives me nuts.

Hey MH,
  Well, again, the goal of the system is to avoid a laundry list of powers.
  So, for instance, right now, there isn't even a Fire tag. If one character has Fire powers and the other has Ice powers, the both take and do more damage, so its a zero-sum game, isn't it? And if they don't have Ice powers, its just damage with a special effect tacked on, right? Basically, I am operating under the assumption that there are smarter and more creative people than me out there. And rather than hobble them with the world as I see it exactly, I want to enable them to create the EXACT hero they want. On another Board, one player suggest Eyeball control, Meaning he can control other character's eyeballs. I never would have though of that in a million years, you know?
  Yeah, I want Powers to really be Super human, like if you have a Strength Ability, you can compete and maybe even win a strong man competition or a world-class Weight lifting competition. If you have the Strength Power, you can hurl a Tank at your foes. And is you have the Super Strength Power, it means you are so Strong you can use it to overcome and Physical Challenge, including hurling a mountain if necessary. does that make sense?

All,
  OK, here is the revised mechanics.
  If no one sees any glaring holes, I'll put together a mock Actual Play Example and we can see what it looks like:

Turn Order:
Narration continues normally until one player (usually the GM) calls for a Challenge, then the following Turn Order applies
Initiating player sets the Scope of the Challenge (how many people are threatened)
Scopes are as follows:

• Battle of Wills: No die rolled
• Individual threatened: Roll 1d4
• Group Threatened: 1d6
• Village or Town threatened: 1d8
• City threatened: 1d10
• Region threatened: 1d12
• Nation threatened: 1d20
• World threatened: 1d100

Challenged Player sets the Arena (Physical, Mental or Social)

Players take turns narrating using Traits (Abilities, Powers, Super Powers, etc) to rise to the Challenge

Once all players involved have used all the Traits they want to bring to this Challenge, add up the following:
100 for each Super Power used
10 for each Power used
1 for each Ability used
-1 for each Mark used
-10 for each Weakness exploited
-100 for each Super Weakness exploited
Each side of the challenge (regardless of the number of characters involved) only rolls one die (not one die per player) equal to the Scope

The grand total is your Effect Points. This represents your characters ability to change the game world.

Whoever has the highest total Effect Points is known as the Winner of this Challenge. The other side is the Loser.

The Winner has one chance to spend points to cancel the Loser's Effect Points on a 1-for-1 basis (e.g., if I roll 160 and you roll 100, I can spend 60 of my 160 pts to lower your total to 40, leaving me with 100 left to spend). The only limit on this is it can only be done once and it cannot lower the Loser's total below zero.

If the Loser has points left, they have one chance to lower the Winner's total on a 1-for-1 basis following the same rules as the previous step.

If the Loser has any points left, they can buy whatever effects they like using the table below

The Winner can spend the remaining Effect Points any way they choose, with one exception. They cannot remove an effect created by the Loser. They can remove Effects created by any player (including the GM) in a previous Scene though.

Effect Costs:
Effects
Add Standard Trait: 1
Add Ability: 10
Add Mark: 5
Add Power: 100
Add Weakness: 50
Add Super Power: 200
Add Super Weakness: 100
Remove Standard Trait: 2
Remove Ability: 5
Remove Mark: 10
Remove Power: 50
Remove Weakness: 100
Remove Super Power: 100
Remove Super Weakness: 200
Hospitalize: (100 x Super Power Arena Tags) + (10 x Power Arena Tags) + Abilities - Marks - (10 x Weakness Arena Tags) - (100 x Super Weakness Arena Tags) - Target is wounded and is laid up in the hospital and unable to act Physically for the Duration
Incapacitate: (100 x Super Power Arena Tags) + (10 x Power Arena Tags) + Abilities - Target is unable to act physically, mentally and socially for the Duration

Duration
One Scene: 0 (This is 3 days or one scene, whichever occurs first)
One Day: 1 (Any number of scenes)
One Week: 10 (Any number of scenes)
One Month: 100 (Any number of scenes)
One Year: 300 (Any number of scenes)
Permanent: 200 (Another Effect can still negate this though)

Target
One person: 0 (Besides self)
Self: 5 (Add this to another Target if you are affected along with others)
2 to 20: 1 (Group)
21 to 1,000: 3 (Village/Town)
1,001 to 10,000: 5 (City)
10,001 to 1,000,000: 10 (Big city)
1,000,001 to 10,000,000: 20 (Region/Small Nation)
10,000,001+: 100 (Large Nation/World)

  So, what do you guys think?

Hi!
  I added Grit to this mechanic, what do you think:
http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=10922