Marvel FASERIP to DC Heroes MEGS Conversion Calculator

My superhero game of choice is Mayfair's DC Heroes ttrpg, an out-of-print game from the Eighties, specifically the 3rd edition. The game system is commonly known as MEGS, Mayfair Exponential Game System. This choice was made for the simple reason it works best for me the way I like to run a game of supers. And this conclusion was reached after playing with Champions, Prowlers & Paragons, The Hero Instant, V&V, GURPS, Icons, Mutants & Masterminds, Supergame, and some others fairly niche and obscure. So, I feel solid with my choice, and have been running a satisfying game for several years online.

But there is only so much printed adventure material available stat'ed-up for the system. This has made for me to find ways to do conversions of other game systems into MEGS terms. 

The simplest conversion method is to plug in the values I believe the character or gadget, vehicle, etc. should have. This is made easy with MEGS, writing these characters and features up takes no time. But many times, I actually want to see how my players stack up against known superhero properties, and of course, how they stack up against each other. Fortunately, we have both DC and Marvel properties written-up for ttrpg's and this gives us all baseline data to know how players are going to do against She Hulk, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Superman, etc. There is even a conversion guide for Marvel Super Heroes/DC Heroes and back again already written. 

Problem is, I cannot make sense of the conversion guide found at the most excellent Classic Marvel Forever site (for everything related to the MarvelSuper Heroes Roleplaying Game published by TSR from 1984 to the early 1990's), so I have come up with my own. I am not saying the guides prepared by John Stafford are flawed in any way. They appear to be comprehensive and finely grained... but damned if I can see the conversion. And I am not saying I am an expert on the FASERIP system. I've played a few sessions of TSR's game, and I get it just fine, but I run games of MEGS.

Therefore, this conversion calculator is designed to work with the way I like to prep for live play. Quickly! I'm not concerned with the calculator being necessarily backward compatible, either. That is, converting MEGS characters into FASERIP characters. It is designed simply for the purpose of quickly converting FASERIP stats over to MEGS stats. To reduce it even a step more, the conversion calculator is to get at a Marvel character I want to crib for a villain in my current campaign and butter up that NPC biscuit fast!

Marvel Superheroes uses descriptive names for attribute values as opposed to numerical values. Oh, the numerical values are there. Just buried behind a thin patina of (useful) narrative flair. These terms are, from weakest to strongest; Shift 0, Feeble, Poor, Typical, Good, Excellent, Remarkable, Incredible, Amazing, Monstrous, Unearthly, Shift X, Shift Y, Shift Z, Class 1000, Class 3000, and "Beyond". I'm simply converting these named values into AP (Attribute Point) equivalents.

 0 AP = Shift 0

 1 AP = Feeble

 2 AP = Poor

 3 AP = Typical (My baseline assumption)

 4 AP = (10) Good

 5 AP = Excellent

 6 AP = Remarkable

 7 AP = Incredible

 8 AP = Amazing

 9 AP = Monstrous

10 AP = (100) Unearthly

11 AP = Shift X

12 AP = Shift Y

13 AP = Shift Z

14 AP = Class 1000

15 AP = Class 3000

16 AP = Class 5000

17 AP = Beyond

If I were to get cute I would find places to "jump" an AP to more closely the exponential curve of awesomeness which these fictitious numbers represent. For example. 

-5 AP = Shift 0

-1 AP = Feeble

 1 AP = Poor

 3 AP = Typical (My baseline assumption)

 4 AP = Good

 5 AP = Excellent

 6 AP = Remarkable

 7 AP = Incredible

 8 AP = Amazing

 9 AP = Monstrous

10 AP = Unearthly

12 AP = Shift X

14 AP = Shift Y

16 AP = Shift Z

20 AP = Class 1000

25 AP = Class 3000

35 AP = Class 5000

50 AP = Beyond

Now to transpose these "results" into MEGS Attributes and Powers and such. For me it is most important to have a correlation with the MEGS standard attribute matrix, how the attributes are not only valued, but whether they are rooted in Physical, Mental, or Magical class of attribute. If I can't fill up the attribute matrix then I cannot have any conversion. 

FASERIP stands for the list of attributes used by Marvel Superhero characters. These seven attributes are Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche. This does leave me two attributes shy of MEGS 9-attribute spread, but it is not unusual for different systems to have a different number of "attributes" for defining a character in game terms. I will work with what I have first.

Fighting = Martial Arts Skill. Yes, this does give any converted Marvel character to have Martial Arts skill in a DC game, but having characters with exceptional fighting skills, no matter how they are defined or acquired, is not a hard proposition to swallow in a superhero game. It does mean I now have to hand-wave three MEGS attributes, not two.

Agility = Dexterity. 

Strength = Strength.

Endurance = Body.

Reason = Intelligence.

Intuition = Influence.

Psyche = Mind.

Nothing too complicated here. The relations are rather organic and reasonable. For an example let us now look at She Hulk, a fantastic Marvel superhero, and write her up as a DC Heroes character!

Her Fighting of Remarkable gives her Martial Arts at 6 AP. Agility of Excellent gives a DEX of 5 AP. Strength of Unearthly offers a power level of 10 AP. The last of the three physical attributes is Body, and Endurance is are obvious corollary. 8 AP for Body. 

But FASERIP does have numbers for these words. I put them in () above so their progression can be easily seen. Should this be considered when making these kinds of conversions? If Good has a standard ranking number of 10, what are the APs for a ranking number of 100, which is Unearthly. Is 10 APs ten-times greater than 4 APs? Enough to matter? 5 APs is twice, 6 APs is three times, 7 APs are four times greater....7x greater. By my scale Unearthly is only 7x greater than Good, not 10x. That is a problem. Let us consider a solution... 

  

More MEGS DC Heroes Action

The game has been chugging along for a solid two years now with no signs of slowing down! The current roster of superheroes inhabiting Capitol City are Mettle, a master of magnetic control, Olympian, Kordarian of tremendous strength, Mr. Zozo, a demon inhabiting a human host, and Perperbog, an Inuit Shaman of mystic might.

Even Heroes Bleed Issue #37, part two

Even Heroes Bleed Continues To Rock and Roll

 This latest episode of the MEGS powered super hero game I've been running. The group of heroes has bulked out to four now. Mettle, Olympian, Mr. Zozo, and now introducing the Arctic Shaman Perperbog!

Even Heroes Bleed Issue #37 part one

EHB Issue #31 (part 3)

Part One Begins Here;

The rain was coming down in fistfuls by the time they pulled into the front parking lot of the Family Tree In-Home Health Care Companions, a retirement home in an expansive colonial house, three stories, with heavy brown wood siding and green trim. The place had a thick yard, un-mowed for some time, and the shrubs running along under the window sills and hanging flower boxes stood untrimmed. The glow of lights shone through the front door panes from the lobby. The rain was streaming so rapidly the age-old gutters could be seen spilling over everywhere. The manor house streamed waterfalls from the multitude of overhangs and window bays.

After telling the Uber driver not to go far, "We may not be long." said Mettle, handing over a three twenties to the driver, they bolted out of the car and under the short roof over the entry doors. They could see lights on in the lobby. The door was unlocked and they both walked in. Worn wood flooring creaked under  the woven rug in the middle of the room.  Mettle discreetly rung out her cap.

Nobody was in the lobby but swinging doors on the other side of the room blocked any further look into the home. A door stood closed in each wall to the left and right of them. The walls were mostly covered by a grey and blue wallpaper with antique-like scrolling , a bit yellow in places, and white chunky plaster moldings crowned the tops. A reception desk sat in the northeast corner of the room. A set of stairs going up to the second floor.  Began right behind the desk.

Giving Alex a raised eyebrow, Mettle crossed the room and looked over the reception desk. There was spiral-bound notebook on top of a pile of miscellaneous papers and delivered mail. Alex kept his hands in his pockets but moved closer to the swinging doors. 

"Its a feeding schedule for 30-40 residents." Mettle murmured.

"What are they serving?"

"I don't know. Its just numbers. Like Abraham Mercer is getting a number six today. Mabel Gerard will be having number one..." 

The sound of something being moved, or slammed stopped Mettle short. Both looked towards the swinging doors. The sound came from that direction, muffled, as if it had come from down a hall or other room out back. Mettle set the notebook back down and followed Alex as he pushed open the doors and went into the hall beyond. Well lit, a wider hall crossed perpendicular in front of him. An exit sign pointing in their direction was fastened above a fire extinguisher. The halls smelled of floor cleaner, but no further sound could be heard. At the intersection Alex called out.

"Hello, anyone there? Hello?" 

Nothing, except the murmur of the furnace and the falling rain could be heard. It rang against the leaded glass which looked out to a central patio where all the inner rooms seemed to face into. 

Alex flipped a coin and turned right. A greater common room was to his right. Where the hall turned north again doors to the kitchen and dinning room code be seen.  Striding through the hall Alex stopped at the first door and opened it. A darkened room, shades drawn. The glow of a heart monitor could be seen and the bed was occupied by an elderly gentleman, bald, breathing and asleep. Mettle turned on the light. The sleeping man did not stir. They proceeded down the hall, opening each door they passed. More residents, elderly, in bed sleeping, hooked up to a heart monitor. Alex, at one point, opened up an old lady's eyelid and clicked on his cigarette lighter. He waved it back and forth. Nothing.

"I don't know what is wrong with these people," he said. 

"I don't think we should touch them," said Mettle. "Forcibly trying to wake them up, I don't know? Could cause them harm."

"You agree this isn't normal, right?" Alex inquired. 

"Hell no! There is definitely EE activity behind this and it is not for the good. You can bet on that." Mettle answered. 

The end of the hall turned again into a perpendicular hallway extending to their left. You could see the end of the matching parallel hall that way. More doors to the rooms of residents lined each side. To their right the hall stopped short at a fire door, presumably leading outside. In the north wall, ten feet before the fire door was an open door. Light spilled into the hall and the sounds of a radio could be heard. 

Alex called hello again and walked up to the door. It was an office and it was unoccupied. the radio playing was perched on top of a file cabinet. A computer on the desk was still on, and a cold cup of tea sat untouched. 

"To hell with it, I'm going to try and wake one of these elderly folks up. I need more information." Alex announced while the two poked around the office. 

"I don't advise it, but I won't stop you. I'm going to go through some of the files and rifle the desk."

Alex stepped out and went down the hall three doors and opened the fourth. This one had a large, heavy set man with a good start on a beard. Under the sheets he was naked. The heart monitor indicated he was alive, but the breath was shallow, you had to lean close to hear it. He examined the mans arms. Injections had been given to his right arm on a regular basis and he had a tattoo just above the elbow and needle marks. Alex stood up, walked over to the door he had left open and swung it closed. On the back was a similar mark as the tattoo carved into the back of the door with a knife. Alex snapped a picture with his phone. He turned the doorknob to leave, but just then the old man sat up.

"Hello, you all right? Do you know where you are?" Alex asked, one hand still on the doorknob. The old man didn't reply but swung his legs off the bed and stood up on shaky, spindly legs. His crotch was obscured by the his prodigious gut. Drool flowed out of his mouth and he lunged for Alex. Alex quickly stepped out of the room and closed the door on the man. The old man started tugging on the doorknob. 

The other doors in the hall began to open. Out stepped additional elderly, naked and vacant eyed, all turning in Alex's direction and walking towards him.

He backed up to the office where Mettle was taking some notes and stuffing some papers into her pockets. "We got a problem, the old folks have woken up and they are coming at me here."

"What?" Mettle stepped into the hall with Alex. "Getting weirder."

"Welcome to my world," he replied. "I can't restrain them all without hurting some of them."

"I got this." Mettle replied. She lifted up her arms and with the force of her magnetic control ripped the exposed pipes for the fire sprinklers from the ceiling and pulled them down to create a make-shift barricade. The crowd of elderly crushed up against the pipes, oblivious to the water which now sprayed all over the hall from the ends of the ripped pipes.

"We should leave," Mettle said.

"Not yet," Alex replied, "I found some marks on them, and the doors. Not sure for who or what but it is an Infernal mark. Possession and corruption. Now I know what I'm looking for I've located the source. Its below us. In the basement, I reckon." 

"We leave by the fire door. We can then double back to the front door. Behind the reception desk there is a door under the stairs. Got to be stairs to the basement."

Mettle pulled more pipes down and reinforce the barricade. There were easily twenty or more souls by now clawing at the pipes in attempt to move them. Still, they made no noise. The fire door was locked.

"That's not to code." Mettle mentioned as she forced it open with a flick of her hand. Her magnetic power making the thrumming sound it always does when she used it. They found the front door had now been locked, "Someone was here, we just missed them." They both agreed.

The front door was easily forced with more magnetic manipulation and they crossed the lobby again, accessed the cellar door and descended. It was a damp concrete basement with the cement walls painted white. Partitions had been built to create storage spaces, but one padlocked door opened into a larger, unfinished space. It looked like the oldest part of the cellar. Granite rocks, joints smeared with old, crumbling concrete made up the foundation walls and the floor was dirt. In the middle of the floor was a small obelisk, Three feet tall. It once was plastered, a small ring remained near the bottom. There were marks on the plaster. These marks were matched with more being carved into the rough sandstone where the plaster had worn away a long time ago. 

"This thing is radiating infernal energy. For those who know the right incantations they can unleash its corrupting energy and create dangerous effects." Alex explained. “You’ll find the marks I was mentioning on the back of the door.”

Mettle examined the back of the door. “Yup, you got some strange symbols carved all over it. Can you stop it, stop this?”

“Yes, but we are probably going to have a lot of confused old people when I am done.”

“We’ll deal with it. I found some info from the office. Whoever is behind this has bought a lot of ammunition. The hell I’m going to let anyone turn Capitol City into a warzone again.”

“Okay. This might freak you out.” Alex began rolling up the sleeves on his rain jacket and he loosened his tie.

 

EHB Issue #31 Hope You Guess My Name (serialized)

The cable on my external hard drive wiggles loose during recording and leaves me with a corrupted audio file of the game session. Madness I say. Madness because I keep on trying to use the same set up and pretending everything will all turn out right. The stupid, stupid thing is I have a nice 30G thumb drive sitting in my desk which would make a nice "temporary" folder for audio output of the live game session. Fuck it sucks being such an ignoramous on a daily basis.

But the last session did happen and it did occur with the new player in the group, Mr. ZoZo, leading the way into macabre adventures into the mystical.

The session started off normal enough for the superheroes in Capitol City. Mettle and SAIC Sharp traded barbs on the phone over morning coffee and Bug pulled a typical Bug move and vanished from the scene. He did leave a note explaining what the next phase if his "career" was to look like. It meant renouncing his super powers and effecting positive change in the world without using them. And he was taking the jet.

This was going to piss off Bisbee Sharp to no end. Problem now facing Mettle was who would be a partner in her war against crime in Capitol City. Ultra-Rosa was out of the question. That vigilante has some problems. The least of which is the body count she accumulates when she is in action. 

Mettle's reverie on the rough looking shape  of the future  was broken by Floyd, a  regular at the St. Baltimore Food Bank. The food bank was another of Bug's pet projects. It is where Bug left his note for Mettle. 

"Some guy is asking around for Bronson." Jacob Bronson was one of numerous shifty greaseballs which made up the Balty's clients. He was a regular at the food bank, loading up on as much canned goods as he could get away with. Everyone new he would go hustle them later on the street. He was a thief and what friends he had were fellow drug addicts who would fight on his lawn in front of his house. Loser that he was, Mettle found the idea of someone snooping around the St. Baltimore irritating. Floyd pointed him out and Mettle went over to the young man in the wrinkled rain jacked and tie. 

"I understand you are looking for one of our clients?" Mettle addressed him in her natural disarming manner. 

"Not exactly. More like who he was seen with recently. Anyone he might have been fighting with? Have a problem with?"

"Why"

"Well, he died two days ago. Looks suspicious. I'm hoping someone here might know who he was associating with right before he died."

"He's not, well, he was not well like.  There are plenty of people in the neighborhood who wouldn't. I don't know. You are going to have a bunch of suspects." 

"Anyone  capable of casting hexes?"

"Excuse me?" Mettle heard what the guy had said, but she used the moment to do a quick scan of the stranger. He wasn't carrying a gun. He appeared relatively stable, could use a shave, but didn't look like he lived on the street.

"Curses. Did he have problems with anyone who thought they could cast spells and curse people?

Mettle's eyebrows arched and she smirked. "I don't think so?"

"Look," and the guy fished out a piece of paper from his rain jacket. "This note was found next to his body in his house." He handed it to Mettle. "And this is a picture of what he looked like when they found him."

He held up a print out of a color photo. The picture was of a dried cadaver on a carpeted floor.  Dead skin stretched tight over its skull. It looked of someone who had been dead for some time.

"No way." Mettle's eyes widened. "Floyd, when was the last time you saw Jacob?" She called in to the kitchen. The shade over the counter was pulled up and Floyd was there chopping produce.

"Three days ago. He was hassling everyone for a ride. He wanted to go to some store outside of town. He looked real bad too. I don't think he got a ride though. He stomped out of here all mad."

"Do you know where he wanted to go?" Mettle asked. Floyd looked at some older folk at one of the dining room tables. 

"Mabel, he tell you where he wanted to go?" Mabel had a plastic kerchief over her hair from the morning rain. 

"Huntsville Village. Wanted a ride to some new-age-y book store. He was sick and he was going to get some homeopathic bullshit. I said, no way.  I didn't want the covid. Told him to go home, wear a mask you dumb shit."

Mettle asked the guy, "Are you a cop?"

"No". The guy laughs a bit, shakes his head. "I just have an interest in suspicious deaths like this. I have a friend in the force, though. He passed it on to me. He knows the local will go with the corner's report, natural causes, and its done."

"And you think this is murder?"

"Well, read the note, what do you think?"

(continued here)

A Vehicle Car Chase

 I  ran MEGS rules for vehicle combat paired with the traffic generators I made while watching my Rangers bet flame out this Sunday on TV. I'm preparing for a downtown city supers chase scene. I'm hoping I can parse the rules to create a dynamic running gun battle between supers and bystanders which will light up the mind like Hollywood lights up the big screen with their visual tools.

This is a solo roleplay example predicated on the next upcoming game session for Even Heroes Bleed so if you are in a player in VTP's current house game you should pass on reading this blog post till later.

To try and make sure I could run a credible chase scene I took notes and had  the BoH rule book open to their optional rules for vehicle dog-fighting.

I'm making no deviation to the MEGS existing mechanics, only adding my random generators to provide on-the-fly content while I roleplay the game action. The Universal Modifier Table used in most contested skill checks will be adapted and used as situations require. 

So the tools on the table are the Universal Modifier Table and the Optional dog-fighting rules with random traffic generators for scene details.

 On page 182 of The Blood of Heroes Special Edition rulebook are instructions for an optional Vehicular Combat system. The rules are intended to  adjudicate  maneuvering into place to intercept and or shoot at your opponent in another from behind, on an opponent's "six" and blast it to pieces, like in an aerial dogfight. This is a vehicle chase with an airborne superhero so we have an aerial and land vehicle engaged with numerous environmental factors presenting obstacles which can hurt either one of the combatants. Of course, in any type of vehicle combat there is the opportunity to fire on an opponent at any angle a shooter may be able to manage. The important concept to remember, from a game mechanics point of view, is that the combatants are each trying to gain an advantage in positioning which will either allow one to escape or the other to force the other vehicle to stop.

At the beginning of each combat phase, just after rolling for initiative, everyone involved in the chase makes a maneuver check. Each driver rolls against an OV/RV 0/0, adjusted by the speed in PPs they are driving their vehicle (or speeding along as the case may be). Any degree of difficulty because of extreme maneuvering, damaging gunfire, or other environmental hazard which may make the maneuver fail can be added to the OV/RV.

Okay, I lied about not deviating from the MEGS rules. Adjusting the Maneuver Checks by the actors current speed is my own idea. Really, just spring-boarding off the rules and making good use of them in roleplay. Perfect example of trad play. I'm condensing the table narrative into a contested action, building up interest an tension as we approach dice rolling time.

Any RAPs earned on this action check are then allocated to enemy targets in any fashion the driver wants. In order to "attack" an enemy, the driver must allocate more of his maneuver RAPs to the enemy than the enemy allocated to him. In the situation of a tie neither pilot can attack (hit, shoot, cut off, etc.) each other.  This seems convoluted as heck. This is why I took notes as I went about play, and once again for me the internal logic of MEGS snapped into place and I foresaw needing to refer to the rule book again and again to lessen. 

When an "attacker" has been established they make an Attack roll using their appropriate skill versus the defender's appropriate OV. Any success with the attack indicates they achieved the maneuver and/or attack they were trying to make. The GM adjudicates the result of any "damage" done and another combat round of the chase begins.

For example: Distress is trying to get away from Olympian in a green Ford Mustang GTO. Croc is leaning out of the passenger side window trying to shoot at the flying Olympian as they speed through downtown traffic. 

Distress has a DEX of 4, a Land Vehicle Driving skill of 8 APs, and a car with a max Running speed of 7. Olympain has a max flight of 6 APs and a DEX of 6. Distress makes a hard left through two lanes of oncoming southbound traffic as he attempts to drive west on 24th Avenue. Olympian will attempt to catch the fleeing sports car and use his tremendous strength to stop its forward movement. 

Distress really wants to escape the EE so stomps on the gas and burns 10 VP on his initiative roll. Distress has a base initiative of 11 so he will be rolling with an initiative score of 21. Olympian has an initiative of 18 and for now is content to stay on top of the thieves in their speeding car and will not add any HP to his initiative roll. Croc is going to spray his M4 at Olympian and will take his shot when most opportune. Croc will not burn any VP to increase his initiative roll. Final initiative rolls are C 19, D 24 an, O 26. Croc and Distress announce their intentions before Olympian has to decide what he will do.

Now, before Olympian can take his three actions for the combat phase both Distress and Olympian must make their maneuver checks. Distress is driving at a speed of 5 PPs and making a dangerous 90 degree left hand turn into oncoming traffic (here I am just making decisions on modifiers as a GM as if I was in an actual live game session). This costs Distress +3 CS to the difficulty of making a maneuver at 5 PPs of Speed. An AV of 8 vs. an OV of 5 results in a 9 or better needed to make the turn. The OV gets +3 CS because of the 90 degree turn for a final target number of 15 or better. Distress burns 8 VP to give himself an AV of 16. Now Distress only needs to roll a 7 or better. He rolls a 13, so not only succeeds but gets 2 CS in his favor on the Results Table. Cross referencing his Land Vehicle skill of 8 versus a RV of 5 and 2 CS leaves Distress with 5 RPPs.

Olympian has a DEX of 6 and is flying at his max speed of 6. Olympian does not have to add any CS for difficulty because Olympian's flight power allows him to make 90 degree turns with ease. He only needs to roll an 11 or better to pass his maneuver check and stay on top of the speeding Mustang. Olympian burns 3 HP to give himself an AV of 9. He now only needs to roll a 7 or better now. He gets a 4 and fails, earning no RPPs. Distress has 5 more RPPs than Olympian and intends to spend them to increase the distance between his car and the flying superhero. Since Olympian cannot "attack" this phase he only gains 1 PP of distance on Distress (speed of the car 5 PPs vs. Olympian's flight of 6PPs. 20 feet. Just over the length of one car length. If we established the distance between Olympian and the Mustang at the beginning of the combat phase as 200 ft (4 PPs) than Olympian is now only 3 APs away, somewhere between 41 and 80 feet from the escaping villains, and due to intervening traffic (interpretation of Olympian's failed maneuver check) cannot take any action against them. 

Distress is up next and will attempt to swerve through different lanes of traffic trying to get Olympian to fly into a street light or large commercial vehicle, all in an attempt to increase the distance between them. Distress "attacks" with her Land Vehicle skill of 8. Once again she will burn 8 VP to give herself a land vehicle skill of 16. Olympian will burn 5 HP to raise his Flight power to 11. Since he did not have to use his Movement Power as a Dice Action this phase he can use it as his OV. 16AV vs. 11OV = 7 or better. 13! Success with 2 CS. 8EV (driver's skill) vs. 6RV (O's Dex) with 2 CS results in 5 RPPs. 5 is greater than 4 (once again GM decision/interpretation on the fly) so Distress is able to open the distance back up 1PP to 4 PPs of distance. The Mustang has shot through traffic and is once again 150 to 250 feet away from Olympian. Distress is driving through heavy downtown traffic at 50 mph (5 APs) while Olympian gives pursuit flying close to the ground at 75 mph (6 APs). 

Croc, since Distress won the "attack" for this vehicles maneuver check takes his shot against Olympian. Croc has a Dex of 6. The M4 has an AV of 4 so Croc will stick with his Dex. He uses 1 additional ammo point (the gun is an automatic) reducing Olympian's Dex OV by -1 CS. Croc sufferes +2 CS because of shooting from a moving vehicle (Universal Modifier Table). For a total of +1 CS in Olympian's favor. 6 vs. 6 = 11, plus 1 CS for a final target #13. Croc decides to make the autofire a Flailing Attack giving -2 CS to the OV. Croc now only needs a #9<, but will suffer +3 Cs to the RV in this attack. Croc rolls a 7 and misses. Automatic fire goes streaming harmlessly by Olympian. Croc ticks off an ammo expenditure of 2 and has 6 ammo points left. 

Another round of initiative. None of the characters involved in the chase decide to spend any APs on initiative. C 17, D 15, O 26. Distress declares another sharp hand turn north at the next intersection. Croc declares he will take another shot at Olympian if he gets a chance and Olympian decides he is going to try and land on the Mustang by pushing his Flight and close the distance of 4 PPs.

Time for the maneuver check. The GM decides to see if there are any hazards to be considered at this intersection. Using my Traffic Generator I roll for the type of intersection. It is a T intersection with the road continuing east and west. It dead ends north due to road construction. It is a serious excavation so there are numerous street workers ahead. Distress decides to waste no time and sail through the intense street construction. There are large cranes swinging large concrete vaults around and lowering them below ground for city services.

Speed of 5, hazards give +2 CS against Distress' Vehicle Skill of 8. 13 or better. 10, Distress fails. Olympian is rolling against a 6AV/6OV. 11 or better. 8 Olympian fails maneuver check as well. Distress drives out the other side of the road construction with Olympian still buzzing behind 100-150 yards. Croc cannot get a shot off because Distress failed his maneuver check. The ride through the road construction was bumpy enough to make shooting impossible. Olympian maintains speed so is able to close the distance to 4 PPs, somewhere between 160 and 200 feet (all this is GM fiat/interpretation of the dice rolls and what they mean for the current situation). 

Another combat phase begins. So far we have been through 8 seconds of chaotic action. In the next 4 seconds the north bound avenue changes angle 30 degrees to the right (random generator roll). There is a parked bus on the right unloading passengers. 9 people are crossing the street. Initiative is rolled. D 21, C 18, O 25. 

Distress declares his action, not giving one fig for the pedestrians safety, he stomps on the gas bringing hisspeed up to 7. Croc still awaits an opening to take a shot. Olympian is going to try and get between the speeding car and the innocent by standers. 

Maneuver Check. 8 Land Vehicle Skill vs. Speed of 7 PPs. 11 or better. Distress rolls a 10, failed. Distress will not get a chance to put any pedestrians in danger. Olympian is looking at an 11 as well, Flight 6 vs. Speed 6. Olympian wants to leave nothing to chance. He burns 5 HP bringing his Flight AV to 11. Olympian needs to roll a #5< to protect any pedestrians in danger. Olympian rolls an 8, success with no column shifts. Dex of 6 versus a RV 6 yields 1 RPP. Just enough to intercede! Since the pedestrians are all getting out of the way Olympian can launch his attack at the villains directly. With a speed of 6 it will take Olympian 1 second to reach the car. This gives him plenty of time to try and stop the car. He will attempt to get Distress to drive right into him. This is a "Trying to get Hit" combat manuever, -2CS OV/-2CS RV.  This gives Olympian an AV/EV of 6/15 (Dex/Bod). OV is Distress' Vehicle skill of 8 and RV is the Body of the car, 6. The Block modifiers leave us with AV/OV of 6/4. I see no reason why the GM should apply -4 to the cars RV so the RV stays at 6 for a final OV/RV of 4/6. Olympian needs a 9 or better and rolls a 3. Miss. Distress is able to weave around Olympian's Block attempt and goes sailing on by leaving paniced, but safe, pedestrains fleeing for the sidewalks. 

Olympian has been chasing Distress and Croc for almost 16 seconds through downtown traffic. Neither has been able to lose or stop each other yet. Fortunately for Olympian no one has yet to be killed in the mayhem. Perhaps he can put a halt to this madness before someone does! The GM rolls on random tables to see what the road ahead looks like...

Even Heroes Bleed AAR Issue #27

 The audio for the GM (me) was not picked up last game session, though it was live-streamed at the time. The episode was interesting. Bug player wasn't able to make the session, but we had an action-packed episode nonetheless!

Subplots, or at least the one between Mettle and Mayor Umpstead, was given more flesh to the bone. The payoff to Mettle involved Jimmie Mac, Star Pulse pistols and the murderous vigilante Ultra Rosa showed up and got involved. She told Mettle her new bag of money was hers. She needed to finance her war on crime. It was the price Mettle had to pay for Rosa not killing the city mayor, for the time being. If Mettle was going to extort the mayor to not traffic in human beings and extort innocent people for peace and profits, she was going to need to be in the payoff line too.

Mettle reluctantly agreed and let Rosa walk away with a bag of money, $400K I think it was. 

Bisbee Sharp called in a favor from Olympian. Wanted the mighty protector to go with Special Agent Madhur during a security inspection of Fordhem ChemTech Monday morning. Three other high-tech firms near Capitol City have been broken into and had sensitive technology and data taken. These break-ins had no sign of forced entry and no evidence of the intruder has been picked up. The thief is a mystery, a ghost. Fordhem believes they may be next. Their work includes government military contracts, top secret stuff. The Federal Government wants to know Fordhem is taking reasonable steps to protect their classified R&D. Sharp sees it as a great PR opportunity as well as a chance to start figuring out who is behind the thefts.

Dr. Janet Shane, the researcher who greets Madhur and Olympian at Fordhem ChemTech Monday morning, is an upbeat and fun-smart person. She gives the members of the FBEE the nickel tour and speculates out loud the insurance company is what has made this security inspection really necessary, but she promises to keep the PC and the NPC entertained. She has some experiments prepared for Olympian. The highlight being a palm-sized titanium ball for Olympian to squeeze. Being a top-notch physicist she plans on extrapolating a bunch of data from Olympian's exerted force. 

Fordhem has impressive research labs with sophisticated access control, face recognition software screening personal, and 7' tall Security Droids monitoring the entire commercial building. The robots are designed to withstand EE's with enhanced strength, and resilience, and energy blasters built into their chests. 

Right on cue an intrusion of the most sensitive lab occurred and put the place in a code red lockdown. During the ensuing chaos it was determined an EE capable of de-solidifying and sliding through concrete walls and steel had possession of the the "Energy Harmonizer", the project Dr. Shane is working on. Olympian gets a fix on the intruder's location and seeks to confront the thief. Olympian encounter's the leather-clad intruder in an office hallway, but the villainous EE stepped through the building's wall and outside to freedom. Olympian Mr. Kool-Aided his way after the EE, but not before he had to tangle with a security droid. For some reason it fixated on Olympian and tried to use energy blasts to injure our hero. The security bot fumbled on the attack roll and burnt out it's electric brain instead.

Meanwhile Mettle who had  been watching nearby (she is a wanted person subject top arrest) stepped out of traffic and released her powerful magnetic control to try and cage the intangible intruder who had so demonstrated an ability to go through anything while carrying things along with them. Basically an ability to make themselves and anything else they want intangible. Her attack slowed the thief down, but did not immobilize him. Before she could push her abilities any further she is attacked by the airborne Power Disc. An EE who can focus a neutral electrical charge and projected it as a forceful beam. He uses pieces of technology he calls "Force Discs" to focus this energy he can generate. He scores a direct hit on Mettle and sends her rolling in her helmet and motorcycle suit 30 feet across the lawn. The thief jumps into a waiting black Dodge Charger and peels off, Power Disc covering their tail.

Olympian now gives chase but has to halt. Croc, an EE with a large, grotesquely fanged maw, tactical gear, and a loaded M4 gets out of a green Mustang GTO and charges in. Olympian punches Croc back into his car. Both car and Croc careen into traffic creating an instant traffic jam. Olympian turns back to the injured Mettle. She needs to be okay before Olympian feels he should fly after the fleeing felons. 

[Audio Sessions continue here]

Even Heroes Bleed #26, the Life Form released

 Now we got the crew back up to 3 PC Heroes; Mettle, Bug, and Olympian confront what lies beneath the Pawnsville Mine.

This episode features a monster unlike any they have yet fought. It will take all their ingenuity and dramatic run of 18's to survive the initial onslaught. 

Even Heroes Bleed Issue #15 BAM! Bash

 Even Heroes Bleed Issue #15 BAM! Bash is now up on anchor for all you supers fan's listening pleasure. 

Frustratingly enough, this is the third issue in a row that has included the new supervillain NTROBee and the third issue in a row where all the scenes with NTROBee in it the audio got corrupted or the record button didn't get pushed down. Way to bad because the scenes have had a great effect on new tensions and drama being generated in game in real time and the player's reactions have been great. Also, the meta-currency of Hero/Villain points was on full display and showed how they worked really well supporting the genre and action intent. 

Here are the three action encounters featuring NTROBee in brief;

Red Runner's dad, Andrew Meyer, is in town on business and finds his son at the Wayward Journey, a bar where Red and his band Swollen Shut are set to play. During the gig NTROBee attacks Andrew Meyer. NTROBee is an eco-terrorist and Mr. Meyer works for an aggressive development corporation gobbling up important habitat for more skyscrapers and strip malls. Red Runner confronts the attacker and drives him off but not before 12 bystanders were injured and 3 killed from bee stings. 

Later, Bug and Red figure out what the villain is about and manage to track him down. In another violent encounter, NTROBee's power over killer bees is too much for Bug and Red to overcome and NTROBee escapes. 

NTROBee is confronted one more time at the Town & Campus bookstore and a tense stand-off ensues. In exchange for letting the eco-terrorist leave the city he won't kill the innocent bystanders shopping in the bookstore. 

With NTROBee chased out of the city the heroes return to their immediate problems; the Russian mob trying to kill them and catching those who firebombed the Baltimore.

The BoH Combat Record Sheet from the Champions Combat Record Sheet

 I was fucking around with the shitty Champions adventure Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth in an attempt to pull useful "stuff" for my current The Blood of Heroes supers campaign and the book has the utilitarian Champions Combat Record Sheet printed out with the stats of major NPC's at the back. King Cobra, Coil agents, lame-ass super henchmen, etc. Now one of the ways (and there are several) Champions failed my GM attempts was these GM aids didn't make anything easier. Smack in the middle of the form are the speed bubbles you can color in to keep track of the turn order during combat. All this form ever did for me was demonstrate how unworkable the Speed Chart, the organizing principle for combat turns, of Champions really is for me. It added no clarifying function which to help with my TotM (Theater of the Mind) impressions while gaming. In a superhero game this is kind of disconnect is terminal.

So I started penciling in BoH stats for villains involved in the campaign's current combat. Specifically I crossed out the Champions verbiage and replaced them with BoH stats. Not only does it work, it works, in my opinion, better for this system than the original intended. Fucked up, I know!

Take a look for yourself, here is a PDF of the rewrite. Everything in BoH is created with APs. Attributes, Powers, Skills, etc. The common stats referenced in combat are character's Dexterity, Strength, Initiative and Body. Mind and Spirit are important Resistance Values which can come up and a GM needs to be able to see everyone's movement capabilities in a glance. You also want a space for offensive and defensive powers. A character's perception, the Intelligence attribute, is another factor which comes up during combat on a routine basis. All these track easily to the  Champions game form and some busy work with InDesign has given me a great sheet for my preferred supers game! There is even a couple of columns left over for your own customization.  They are perfect spots for gadgets! Just write in the AV/EV, OV/RV stats and your good to go. Another example of how the MEGS system which undergirds BoH is a marvel of elegant design. Check out my current gang of NPC supers filling out this form, the Gulag Goons!

Even Heroes Bleed Issue #12 part 7 Ultra-Rosa X Over audio is up on Anchor

 The Even Heroes Bleed Blood of Heroes Special Edition campaign has returned to the initial game's original timeline and resumed their crusade against Capitol City organized crime! That is issue 13-14 combination podcast. 

This is the direct link to the ongoing Ultra Rosa X-Over episodes. part 7 is fairly complete.

ICON does what DC Heroes Already did, or ICONS/DC Heroes Conversion Guide

I’ve found Icons, one of the latest ttrpg supers game released with some decent popularity, to be completely backwards compatible with the old-as-dirt-old-school supers game DC Heroes. Currently the only copy of this great Mayfair game from the 80’s easily had is the retro-clone from Polaris called The Blood of Heroes. BoH is a complete set of rules which incorporate all the powers and mechanics through DC 3 edition. I like that it is also divorced from the DC Universe, emphasizing the best utility of the game is as your game system used in your own super’s hero universe. 

Icons should be noted lends itself to creating your unique superhero setting. It does this with its character creation process. World building and super villains are created the same time everyone is making up their random character. But I’ve used the Icons random character creation method generate BoH/DC Hero characters. The two systems are so compatible it fits like peanut butter and jelly.

Interesting, the game Icons bills itself as rather FATE-adjacent, with its inclusion of Aspects and the use of FUDGE dice, but really, it is just a recasting of Mayfair’s ground-breaking Exponential Game System! It also shows these “innovations” FATE’s story-telling system touts as a new way of playing ttrpg’s with a more player-focused set of rules is not. Early superhero games like TSR’s Marvel and Mayfair’s DC Heroes had these player-facing rules and mechanics consciously built into the fabric of these games. I’m obviously referring to the supers’ genre conceit of heroic flaws, disadvantages, drawbacks, complications, etc.   Every superhero role playing game at the dawn of the hobby included these character-driven world building and character-building elements. Really, a new game of Champions, or Villains & Vigilantes always started players and referee bouncing ideas off each other and coming up with their various enemies and power-origins. The act of character creation in any superhero game is automatically player-gm world building collaboration.

The next reveal this thought experiment of mine gave me is the relationship between the superhero genre and story-game intent. The juice of a superhero game is the soap-opera level drama players get involved with due to their alter-ego and the consequence of ultimate power. I mean SOAP-OPERA, afternoon television over the top back from the dead silly storytelling. And then you get to have a monster fight which wrecks cities!

This isn’t for everyone and running a supers’ game is a good challenge for Game Masters just on that point alone. It is a refreshing take from general murder-hoboing and the black and white moralities of the fantasy gaming realm. Supers’ games, like most games set in a contemporary setting, are NPC-heavy. A city street is a city street. It is the people who make the place fascinating, dramatic and filled with tension. The ordinary has to be made extraordinary without descending into camp. And this is what story games are really about. Spinning tales of interpersonal conflict in a very soap-opera way.

But back to the conversion method. Really, it is so simple I just went on the above rant to fill out the post.

Here is how the ICONS attributes translate to MEGS attributes:

Prowess = Influence

Coordination = Dexterity

Strength = Strength

Intellect = Intelligence

Awareness = Aura and Mind

Willpower = Will and Spirit

Stamina/2 = Body

Stamina is a derived stat in Icons and is a simple addition of two other attributes. When attributes are added together in BoH’s it is an increase in one point, not a straight addition. This is because the system is exponential, each number is twice the value of the number before it. 3 is twice as much as 2.

Now it is just a matter of plugging the Icons values into the appropriate BoH’s attributes.

Powers work the same way. A Flight of 10 in Icons is a 10 in Flight in BOH. Specialties are Skills. Qualities and Aspects are Drawbacks, Limitations, Advantages, and Bonuses from old-school BoH. Even resolution is identical. Both compare an Acting to an Opposing value and establish a degree of success. The spread of results, from terrible to nothing to exceptional success, is the same to.

Vehicles work the same way. You can take Icon stats and use them directly with BoH/DC Heroes rules, no modification!

I don’t have much interest in playing Icons. Blood of Heroes gives me a denser supers experience and the level of “crunch” and dramatic roleplay and pace of combat all come together perfectly for me with these rules. I don’t really much care for ICONS adventure material. I find the stuff terribly derivative framing of superhero cliches. Buuut, if you love your game of ICONS you have the whole DC Catalogue of heroes and villains all in ICONS numbers. Any of these old-school adventures can be dropped into your Icons campaign world with no mechanical prep required. The official Icons setting of Stark City and its sourcebook can be used with any DC Heroes/MEGS campaign you may have. Any of the Icons third party adventures and books can be used with your MEGS.

So that is really all there is to it. DC Heroes and ICONS are completely compatible games! It seems Steve Kenson has successfully traveled from writing a supers game on an old D&D chassis to writing a supers game on and old DC Heroes chassis and calling it some kind of original or different take on FATE, FUDGE and story-games is off the mark. The “neat” things ICONS claims in bullet points on the back of their book are old achievements by various old school games made a long, long time ago.

Multiple GMs

My first opportunity to roleplay in my own campaign world happened. Even Heroes Bleed had an alternate Game Master, one of the other players, this past Sunday and I was able to run an NPC Hero I created. Sitting on the other side was an incredible treat to see how the city smelt from the perspective of one. 

First "fact" of interest was campaign date. This adventure is occurring a month in the future from the current game action. This means the facts we established during the session are now future facts, events which will occur. My next thought of intrigue was how easy it was to become part of the player group. Makes sense, I've grown to know these characters right along side their players. Same with my PCs roleplay. I created the character and they have fought on the streets of Capitol City already. 

It also triggered some cool ideas for the current adventure I am running back in "real" world Capitol City circa May 2020. The entirety of the campaign's length is 7 days. A half a year of game play and we have advanced through seven days of activity. And what a busy seven days it has been! There is a record of history on each character which has so far appeared in the game, including the other Player Characters. This made for a deeper connection between my Player Character and the others. Ultra Rosa (my PC Hero) has formed opinions on her co-workers already and has had a chance to respond in kind. 

Last but not least, I got to "not know" what I was going to do because I was not in charge of pace. I could increase pace of action by having my PC do increasingly extreme actions in the game world right then. But overall, if the Referee says it is tomorrow, well, it is tomorrow gosh darn it! This type of control over pace is not something the players get to dictate as much as the Referee does. 

I have two more sessions (more or less) before this adventure will conclude and I am back in charge of the who, what, where of Capitol City and I intend to use Ultra-Rosa's guns before then. Before I have to release her back to the game world I want to see her light some shit up!

Long and short of it, I am sold on mixing up the game master work with the other players at the table. I don't know if any of the other Players wish to referee a game session, but I hope so. I think it is fostering greater and greater investment in the game world by everyone at the table.

Circling Back to Online Campaign Manager

 In an earlier post I talked about my use of an online campaign manager for my games. At the time I was running a fantasy game and a supers game. I also set up three others for my solo roleplaying. My reason for liking them was a permanent record available as long as I have an internet connection.

For the fantasy game the campaign was coming to a conclusion so my entries were more of a way to clean out some three ring binders and touch the history one more time before shelving. The supers game I need to have a place for stats and rules I needed to access quick because I was using Champions and there are to many rules for me to effectively adjudicate and maintain interesting banter. The solo stuff is perfect for the online campaign manager. I play at these so seldomly it saves space on my shelves and if I pick one up in three months all the details of what was going on are at my fingertips. Once again I can play these games on the road.

My current game, my only game I am running, is a continuation of my supers campaign but with the DC Heroes rules. Specifically the Blood of Heroes Special Edition rule book. 

As this has been going on I have been using three ring binders less and less. Has nothing to do with the use of a campaign manager though. I believe I have just settled into my "minimalist" approach to world building and game notes. 

I love these compact, hardbound notebooks for all my brainstorming and upcoming adventure building. The one in this photo has the Rom'Myr fantasy campaign from the time the PCs arrived in Zeu Orb to the finish and the Champions campaign which has now morphed into a MEGS campaign. The other book is a blank drawing pad. I have soft cover and hard cover books of these drawing pads and here I put down my drawings of the games action when inspired to do so. And this is all I'm using except having a hard copy of a games rulebook nearby. I'm not even writing things up on my computer anymore. My file folders for games are now just a repository for pictures I scanned, pics from the internet and character sheets so I can print out a villain's profile I need before a game. I sometimes write a session report, but I would rather draw some pictures of the action then write down the action. Besides I record all my game sessions so I have an audio record which is the best session report you are ever going to get. 

When I got back into gaming in 2012 I started with my USR Sword & Sorcery campaign and I have three to four thick three ring binders of the whole damn affair. Same for my second campaign Clockwork and Cthulhu. My shift to a minimalist approach began when I stumbled on means to record game sessions. And it has steadily refined into a not-time-consuming means of game prep and organization behind the scenes of my other overt attempts at taming the beast which is DM'ing. 

The point of all this is I don't use an online campaign manager. I take that back, I have a MeWe group for the game but this is just to post when the next game is and a quick way for anyone to get a hold of anyone else. I look at this as a continuous refining of an artistic process. I love to put pen to paper, to sketch, write and think. Compact size of notebook restrains going on and on with text. I hesitate to put anything down which isn't immediately relevant. A good way to stay in the meditative state of "the action is where the players are!"

I have come to the conclusion I have no use for online campaign managers, go figure.

Even Heroes Bleed Issue #5, part 1

 

Arsonist Arrested! Blood of Heroes Session Report

 This is the wrap-up from the previous post. 

The conclusion of our latest issue of Even Heroes Bleed had Mettle spinning about the city like a whirling dervish. 

She convinced the Nubians the principles behind the warring Civil Guard's actions is currently at Hannigan's Irish Bar & Grill. She also stresses the arsonist, this insano calling himself Jury, should be found there as well. Mettle lays out to Jimmy Mac the support of the biker gang by city police and now is the chance to cut off the head of the snake. Without a radical White Supremacist biker gang at their disposal it will be much harder for the police to get more minority neighborhoods burned down! Mettle even throws in the dead White Patriot's car, sans hood, a 1968 Ford Shelby Mustange. "You park that in front of Hannigan's and start playing Rap on the radio you are sure to flush them out."

The heroes get in touch with a different television news station and hand over their Go-Pro coverage of their fight with Jury and Wotan. Mettle also suggests, anonymously, the arsonist terrorizing the city is about to be arrested at Hannigan's Bar & Grill in the next hour. The last tip-off the dynamic duo makes is to the Federal Bureau of Enhanced Entities Capitol City HQ. They are actually trying to reach Superfrog. The power Wotan displayed has made Bug and Mettle desirious of a superhero with aproximately the same strength and damage capacity. Phillip Madhur, Special Agent in Charge (Garvick Nurse is missing) says the green superhero is not available but happy to take a message.

Madhur does his best to talk Mettle into coming into FBEE HQ's. He wants to see her get on the right side of the law. With the powers displayed downtown during the BLM attacks she is breaking the law by not getting registered. Mettle declines. Madhur does take her tip on the arsonist seriously and rolls three Chevy Suburbans stuffed with armed agents and heads for RedHill where the bar is located.

Bug is babysitting the bar, expecting to have to throw down if either of the dangerous supervillains is present. The Nubians park the mustang and start laying down some loud tracks. Not disappointing, angry bikers with pistols and AR's spill out of Hannigan's and start shooting at the Nubians, taking cover behind some parked pick up trucks. Nubians fire back with their pistols and shotguns. As soon as Jury leaps out into the street to wipe out the Nubians Bug drops down onto the street and confronts the Living Flame, that which Wotan transformed the arsonist into, a liuving embodiment of elemental fire.

The searing heat and flames streaming out of Jury's arms almost overwhelms Bug, but the insect-mimicking powers he possesses gives him the hardened protection he needs to stay alive. Bug's devistating punch sends Jury across the street and into a pick up truck. Jury hit so hard the pick up truck tips on its side before settling back down. The driver side of the vehicle punched in by the impact of Jury's body. The enhanced entity of Jury is knocked senseless at the hands of Bug again. 

At this point the Feds roll on the scene and gangsters on both sides flee. Some on foot, some in a nearby vehicle. The feds surround the still flame-flickering Jury and start blocking off the crime scene. With the arrival of the press it looks like the city will learn of the fire-bug who has burning down their homes. The FBEE will be able to put a feather in their cap with this high-profile arrest!

Mettle and Bug are disappointed Wotan (disguised as the Civil Guard leader Reico) was not there. This means the dangerous enhanced entity is still out there and capable of attacking the PCs with deadly force. Bug and Mettle settle in for the evening and begin planning their next step...