Superhero OVA

[slashd20]

My players have used OVA for a few campaigns now, mostly classic anime stuff like Kenshin and School Rumble, and the system has worked great. The simplicity of the pick up and play fit right into those styles. However, lately my players have shown an interest in playing a superhero style OVA game, along the lines of the Iron Man or X-Men anime, as well as some elements from Tiger & Bunny.

However, I'm at a loss as to how to accurately capture some of those powers, like Quicksilver's speed, or Wolverine's healing factor. I realize that that the game wasn't designed to capture that style, and I would probably be better off with a system more geared for that like Mutants and Masterminds. But my players like the openness of this system, and as a DM, i like the ease at which I can design quirky misadventures that aren't about beating up the villain of the day.

So, the question is, has anyone run a campaign like this? If so, how did you go about it? Would the regeneration just be healing with the "self only" drawback? What about super speed? Just a whole bunch of quick? How well does the system feel when running a superhero like campaign?
Thanks for any input.

[Chris Brady]

Scale?

[slashd20]

Wow, I feel like a complete idiot now. I forgot all about scale as it had never come up in any of my old games, so I never used it. That is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. So,basically I just add 5 dice to any kind of check for a super power coming into play in a check? So in the case of the Superman, for instance, I would only buy 4 strong, same as someone like Iron Man. But if they are trying to stop the speeding train, Superman gets 11 dice, where Tony only gets 6. Am I understanding this all correctly?

[Clay]

Despite the fact a lot of Superhero RPGs treat the subject matter as if it can be pigeonholed into convenient charts, handling super powers is tricky at best.

If we were to focus on one power, say super-strength, and look up canon examples, you’ll see Wolverine can lift around a ton (maybe two with artistic license), Spiderman 20 tons, and a mad Hulk 100 tons. Plenty of supers games would be more than happy to assign each of these a distinct rating. But that’s not really what happens in the comics, is it? These characters can go toe to toe without any decisive winner despite the drastic differences in their strength. The same argument can be made of speedsters to. Everyone Flash fights isn’t capable of outrunning jet planes, yet somehow they remain formidable adversaries.

So yes, I think scale is your best option here. That way, when you WANT the Hulk to lift a train, he can roll a whole bunch of dice. But on the other hand, when he gives Spidey or Wolverine a good punch to the gut, they don’t necessarily have to go splat. Same goes for Iron Man and Superman, or any other pairing where LOGICALLY they’re not in the same class, yet for the sake of storytelling often are.

[ludwig5]

About regeneration ,considering that healer needs an action to be used,l was wondering how much endurance should cost to use it as a free action.

[Atmo]

About regeneration ,considering that healer needs an action to be used,l was wondering how much endurance should cost to use it as a free action.

I would rule the double of normal Endurance cost.

[Sabersonic]

And speaking of Regeneration, just how would OVA2e write that out? I've always assumed that it was simply the Healer Ability with the Self-Only flaw, though how that's written without having to put it in the Attack Moves list, I haven't the foggiest.

Or was there a topic that I had missed that addressed this?

[Joe_Mello]

I've wanted to do Hero TV for awhile using a heavily modified Gamma World engine, but haven't found a good venue for it.

For RPG purposes, I would consider superhero characters to be one or two specific powers, and then a whole bunch of style. Nathan Seymour, Johnny Storm, and Roy Mustang are all pyromancers, but they all have distinctly different flavors. Also, with a game like OVA, I wouldn't get into the crunch too much, because that misses the point. Yes, I imagine scale would be an important tool, but the numbers only fill out so much of a character.

[ludwig5]

About regeneration ,considering that healer needs an action to be used,l was wondering how much endurance should cost to use it as a free action.

I would rule the double of normal Endurance cost.

l don't get it ,healer has no endurance cost by default ,what should i double ?
l was thinking of a flat cost (20 or more)

[Joe_Mello]

If you want to put a cost on permanent regen, here's some inspiration from the men's room.

Regeneration: You have the ability to quickly bounce back from anything, even a Malicron Death Laser! At the beginning of a combat round, instead of refooting, you may roll your Regeneration dice. You can pay Endurance Points up to the amount that you rolled to restore an equal amount of health (or vice versa). In addition, the Heal ability and Short Respites restore twice the amount of health as normal.

[ludwig5]

If you want to put a cost on permanent regen, here's some inspiration from the men's room.

Regeneration: You have the ability to quickly bounce back from anything, even a Malicron Death Laser! At the beginning of a combat round, instead of refooting, you may roll your Regeneration dice. You can pay Endurance Points up to the amount that you rolled to restore an equal amount of health (or vice versa). In addition, the Heal ability and Short Respites restore twice the amount of health as normal.

i'm not sure ,it seems a little bit redundant :every character is able to use endurance to soften heath loss by default.
By the way l'm thinking of using the official rules as much as possible ,so healer with self only,trigger (half health or something like that)and continual effect seems fine.The only thing that bothers me is the cost for a permanent effect.

[Joe_Mello]

By the way l'm thinking of using the official rules as much as possible ,so healer with self only,trigger (half health or something like that)and continual effect seems fine.The only thing that bothers me is the cost for a permanent effect.

1) I think my concept of regeneration is different than yours
2) I know you want to do Rules As Written, but if you want a cost for a permanent effect, I would use an unwritten rule at character creation. If you want your character to regenerate, then you can't take Tough and/or Vigorous, and possibly even take flaws.

[Clay]

Another idea that lines up with the current healing rules, create a new ability:

Regeneration: For each Level in this Ability, you may heal once using the "Healing Through the Day" rules, but at any time you wish. This does not require an action.

So Regeneration +5 would let you roll your healing dice five times through the course of a typical adventure.

[Osakasensei]

Some of the native abilities in OAV may already be pretty impressive, as 40 Health and 40 Endurance may be the norm for PCs but not for the typical person on the street. Even a Frail OVA character would be harder to KO than your typical salaryman, office lady, or housewife.

It's when we get to the high end that we have use Scale creatively. DBZ characters are tough, but you can scale them against each other because ALL of them are tough. Even Goku's put-upon non-Saiyan wife ChiChi is not someone you want to mess with (as Goku has learned on more than a few occasions). The typical person isn't even a minion -- he's scenery. You could slay dozens of them without a roll if you really wanted to, but if you can shatter the planet with a kiai shout why bother?

So don't rate Vegeta relative to moderately-skilled "mortals". Rate him in comparison to Goku.

[Chris Brady]

Truthfully, Anime heroes ARE superhuman, to be honest.