I'm passionate about comics and feel that there has yet to be a superhero game that truly captures the medium. To this end I've spent some time putting together my own rpg system called High Stakes.

I know that there are many superhero games out there but I'd thought I'd ask if you'd kindly look over my rough draft at the below link.

http://www.mediafire.com/?myyxmmjxyzd

What I've tried to do is give the player the flexibility in the definition of their powers and abilities, giving them as many options as possible while keeping the system simple.

It's based around the idea that heroes expend energy (either their powers, their luck, or other resources). When they fail at a task they become weaker but if they succeed they usually recover their strength, getting their second wind.

As such the core mechanic is a cut down version of poker. When trying to succeed at a task the GM sets a target number (placing a card with correct face value face down). The players stake chips from their three hero pools (power, plot and resources) and if they stake equal or above the target number they pass the task.
So they can pass most checks but if they stake to much they'll get weaker faster.

In combat all parties pick a card, highest wins but they don't reveal this until everyone has staked at least 1 chip and someone calls. The winner gets an equal number of chips from their opponents ante as they staked so players can continue to stake in the hope of draining their opponents reserves and become stronger. Even if they have a losing card they can see if their opponent decides to 'fold' which means the opponent only loses half his ante.

So there isn't a health system. Players just run out of resources. I think this better duplicates the ebb and flow of comic fights. The players can be as inventive as they like as they describe how they're using their various hero pools.

Players are also rewarded with chips to replenish their pools by doing things typical of comics such as involving their supporting cast, patrolling and making revelations about their character.

I've run a few sessions to playtest it and its gone well. The system was able to handle a character who was a spirit that possessed inanimate objects, a speedster who used her media empire just as much as her powers and led them through an exciting high speed chase and final battle on pier as it collapsed into the sea.

Please let me know what you think if you read the rules or even if you run a game using it.

Thanks

I can see that quite a few people have downloaded the pdf. Has anyone had the time to look over it? Any suggestions? Ideas?

Thanks

While using cards is solid, I er...don't like games within games*. You're taking too much away from the "in the characters head", even if for a person that is just "Let me think up snappy dialogue to say to the bad guys..'

That is in essence your making people worry about the mechanic, not the in genre dialogue and action.

Now that may be something you want, it isn't something I want. (I really like the idea of stakes, and your game name is fitting. It's a REALLY good idea.)




*I've got a wild west game I was working on that isn't too dissimilar and that's the experience I've had in testing it. I'm hoping to come up with a solution. So far though, the game within a game takes more away from play than I want to accept. If I find a solution that works for me I'll mention it to you.

Thanks for the feedback.

Could you explain what you mean by 'a game within a game'? Do you mean that game of drawing the card and staking becomes a game within itself, drawing focus from the normal process of roleplaying?

I wanted to incorporate things such as banter having an effect on conflict resolution because I want to encourage these comic-book elements into the normal course of play. If a player doesn't want to use quips they don't have to but if someone wishes to play a wise-cracking hero not only will it be a character trait but it can help turn the tide of battle.

What I was going for with using the cards was to avoid combat being a slow process of each person rolling dice, calculating damage and so on. I wanted the whole conflict to be a battle of wits, each person knows what their card and the tension is how much they're willing to stake that their opponents have a lower card or that their nerve will break. I thought this better represented the flow of a comic book fight with ever escalating action.

In practice this leads to a nice pace of a player describing what they're doing, staking their chips and the process then moves on to the next person. The others don't have to wait to see if each players declared action succeeds or fails, they just incorporate it into their description until someone plays their card.

I think it also helps avoid a situation where one player is more effective them everyone else. For example the guy with an offensive power like claws outshining the nimble mentalist. In this system, since as long as someone in the group has the highest card the whole team wins. So being part of a team is important but a single opponent can still provide a good challenge, leading to an action packed scene of staking.

Quote from: highstakes;270175Thanks for the feedback.

Could you explain what you mean by 'a game within a game'? Do you mean that game of drawing the card and staking becomes a game within itself, drawing focus from the normal process of roleplaying?

In practice this leads to a nice pace of a player describing what they're doing, staking their chips and the process then moves on to the next person.

Aye that's the problem: The practice of "staking chips", the player is making an unknown risk--thinking about the tactics of the MECHANIC, not the tactics of the character's choices. The character would know the risks better from an IC viewpoint than the player can, your mechanic focuses on guesses made by the player.


If it works for you as is--then don't worry about it; write what you want, I love superhero games, it is why I wrote one.

I too went an unusual route but I tried hard to focus everything back into the "In character" side of things.

 A player may know nothing of real combat with a sword, that doesn't prevent his character from being the super hero "Fencing Fox", master of the saber. The player actions that make sense but the character would know more about how things will go, so in my opinion the game should work to encourage the character being cool, and making the "right" choices. Less on the player doing so. (All RPG's have this more or less, but I like diminishing it, so that a player can play something different and more skilled or less skilled than they themselves are at a given set of abilities or tasks.)

Ah, I see.

From a game view point the difficulty of task has to be kept secret otherwise the players could just stake the exact amount straightaway. From a character point of view they know the more effort (stake) they put into something the greater their chance of success so the decision becomes how much effort do they want to put into something.

I wanted this to be one of the core choices in the game. A hero must be willing to make sacrifices and so the system allows them to do just about anything. They have to balance their desire to succeed against how exhausted they're willing to become.

I'm hoping that expending chips will drive the other parts of the game such as making the support cast an important part of the game (as they restore chips) and makes sure that the players work together to overcome the trials they face.

In a conflict the drawing of the card allows the character to know how good they'll be in the fight but their opponents skill is an unknown factor, something that I think emulates a comic book fight.

There are various advantages that allow people to draw two cards and pick the highest indicating a higher level of skill.

Being that you've written your own superhero game (which I have read and enjoyed), did you have any thoughts on the Gamesmaster advice section? I've tried to put together everything I've learnt from years of running various superhero games over the year. Hopefully people will find it helpful.

Quote from: highstakes;270283Being that you've written your own superhero game (which I have read and enjoyed), did you have any thoughts on the Gamesmaster advice section? I've tried to put together everything I've learnt from years of running various superhero games over the year. Hopefully people will find it helpful.

Depends on your prime audience. If you are aiming the game at people with gaming experience you want to skip some of the basic stuff--and look at efforts on how to build connections/relationships amongst both teams, their families/friends and their enemies to keep them interesting.

If you are talking about writing it towards inexperienced players and GM's then it depends on what you want to say and how you want them to teach them.