The Start of Something Super

Our tabletop role playing game concept is one meant to act as a deconstruction of silver age superheroes, which is currently using the pun-based placeholder name The Start of Something Super. The system relies on a set of mechanics which enable players to create characters with a wide variety of powers to choose from, although it limits how many different powers a single character can have. The mechanics also serve to establish a clear difference between what a normal person and a super-powered person are capable of, so that in spite of being a deconstruction of the genre, players still feel empowered roleplaying as their characters. The general aesthetic that the group chose for the ‘default’ setting this system is meant to be played in is a modern urban environment, which was chosen because it’s very similar to the aesthetic is meant to pay homage to, allowing parallels to be drawn between the two. It is also worth noting that, while the system is generally best suited for deconstruction, showing what a mess a world with super powers could be, many of the auxiliary rules of the system can be ‘trimmed’ to better fit a more classical superhero campaign, if players chose our system over other superhero systems. The general ‘internal narrative’ of the system effectively writes itself, as a deconstruction of a genre is well cut out for stories which subvert classic hero-villain dynamics, meanwhile the mechanics give good potential for new stories about living with superpowers, both as a civilian and as the person with the powers. Lastly, the wide variety of powers allowed by the mechanics make it easily possible to create parodies of popular characters in media.

During Playtesting, the players each made characters. For spread documentation purposes, the power categories of the characters were 100/75/75 for physical, power, and unpowered, respectively, 100/150 for changer and power categories, respectively, and 100/150 for power and mental categories, respectively. This data is generally to be expected, as the Power category is made to cover a lot of abilities that traditional comic-book heroes have, and is expected to be one of the more popular categories in a game about playing a superhero/villain. 

On the topic of things that needed to be changed or improved, the original playtest of the system was found to be needing a streamlined character creation tutorial, as well as filling up spots we'd missed in the power category list. These issues are, presently, solved. But people who download the pdf and play the game are free to comment their suggestions and opinions, or just homebrew the game to work with their table's preferences.