Superspeed Roleplaying Game

Most superhero roleplaying games have a huge amount of overhead with rules and math bogging down the superhero action.  On the flip side, even the most rules light supers roleplaying systems, bog down with weird non-intuitive mechanics and slow overly detailed character creation.  This game’s goal is to make a system in which players can quickly CREATE the heroes and villains for a super human roleplaying experience as well as to promote fast and cinematic/comic book style action and stories quickly and without bogging down with rules.

SuperSpeed uses a set of polyhedral dice annotated as XdY where X is the number of dice to roll and Y is the number of sides the dice has.  In SuperSpeed you will likely need several d4, d6, d8, d10 and d12. 

Character Creation:

Like any roleplaying game, the first things you need to do are choose basic information and a concept for your character.  Think of a name, codename (if any depending on feel and genre), as well as age, appearance, and a power set you would like to have.

All stats, skills, powers and abilities in SuperSpeed have a sliding scale based on the size and number of dice used to determine success or failure.  The ranks go as follows

Rank/die type	Descriptor
d4	Weak
d6	Normal human ability
d8	Peak human ability
d10	Superhuman ability
d12	Cosmic superhuman ability
2d8	Godlike (Reserved for NPCs)
3d6	Unfathomable (Reserved for NPCs)

Stats:

Characters all have 7 core stats (Strength, Quickness, Precision, Durability, Persuasion, Mental and Perception) all starting at d4, players may pay character points to move these up a die size on the scale, d12 being the maximum. Characters have as many character points as needed to spend to get the character they desire, but characters who spend less points get a special Underdog benefit (see next page). Power level of a game can be roughly summed up by the number of points an average character spends on creation:

Number of points spent	Campaign Power Level
10-15	Normal Humans
15-20	Street Level
20-25	Young Superheroes
25-30	Superheroes
35-40	Space/Epic Heroes
45-50	Cosmic
50+	Godlike

Powers and Skills:

Players now write down any power or skill their character will have.  There is no list of powers or skills, players can literally use any descriptor they want. They then assign a die type and/or number to those skills/powers.  Also, note if something is a mundane ability, super-power, and any other tags you might want to give to it.  Powers and skills do NOT start at d4 and you have to pay 1 point to have even just the d4.

Sample Character:

Morgul the Kung-Fu Sorcerer

Strength: d10 (cost: 3 points)

Quickness: d10 (cost: 3 points)

Precision: d6 (cost: 1 point)

Durability: d8 (cost: 2 points)

Persuasion: d4 (cost: 0 points)

Mental: d12 (cost: 4 points)

Perception: d12 (cost: 4 points)

Skills:

Kung-Fu: d8 (cost: 3 points)

Powers:

Spellcasting: d12 (cost: 5 points)

Total (25 points)

Underdog Benefit:

To help balance out the uneven types of teams that are often featured in comic books, a special stat is added to characters that are deliberately weaker than their strongest teammate.  To determine who on any given team gets an Underdog Benefit, take the total of all characters points they spent at character creation. Whoever has the highest score does not gain an underdog benefit. For each 10 points less a character has, than the character with the highest total points spent, they gain an Underdog Benefit starting at d4 and then increasing by a die size for each 5 more points they are behind the highest point spender.

Example:

The  above Kung-Fu sorcerer (25 points) is in a group with 2 other characters who spent 15 points and 20 points on their characters.  Since the above character spent the most points, the other players will get an Underdog Benefit for each 5 points lower their character is than 25.  The 20 point character would get d4, and the 15 point character would get a d8.

Making Checks:

When you make a check, you can choose one stat, one power or skill, and if you have one, your Underdog Score. You must justify the use of any stat, skill or power die being added to a check if it is not inherently obvious why it would contribute to the action you wish to perform.  Roll the collected dice and keep the highest 2.  The Total is your check result.  Success is determined in one of 2 ways.

Contested checks – whenever someone is directly opposing you (be it the GM’s character, or another player) they make a check as well and you compare check results.  The highest check result is the winner.  If the totals are the same, the player with the largest die in their pool wins ties.  (d4 is the smallest, d12 being the largest).

Uncontested checks – All uncontested checks have a difficulty level of 8.

Modifying checks – As the GM, you are free to add or subtract to the difficulty of uncontested checks.  Generally a -3 to +3 range is the most extreme modifiers that should be applied to a check for circumstances alone.  This does not take into account Scratches (described under combat below).

Automatic Successes – The GM may decide, at any time, that if a character simply HAS a relevant skill or power the task simply succeeds. This should be used for situations where the game could not proceed otherwise.

Applying Effects of Powers:

Some powers might cause effects on the targeted character if they are successful; it is the GM’s job to determine what mechanical effects these powers will have on a target. Players are encouraged to narratively explain how a power will affect a target and propose a mechanical disadvantage or advantage that they impose.

Combat:

Combat is resolved by making opposed checks.  First, characters all make opposed Quickness checks to determine initiative order (who goes first) in combat.  Then, characters may perform opposed checks of powers or skills to attack and defend.  When characters fail to make a defensive check against a direct attack intending to do damage, they take a Scratch.  A Scratch is a permanent -1 to all checks until it is recovered by rest or healing (usually powers or skills). A character is knocked out and cannot act until the end of a fight if they have more scratches than the die size of their durability score.

Example:

Steve’s brute character has a d12 Durability so he can take 12 scratches before he is out of the fight.

Gaining XP and Failing Uncontested Checks:

Whenever you fail an uncontested check, you gain 1 XP. 5 XP can be spent between sessions to gain 1 additional character point to advance.

Teamwork:

If characters wish to work together to overcome a difficult foe, they can perform a Team Check.  Each character describes how they are contributing and adds a die based on the stat, skill or power they are using.  Then the team makes a check as though they were only one character using the 2 best rolls of the contributed dice.

GM Rulings and Reasonableness:

The SuperSpeed system relies heavily on GM moderation and collaborative fiction in order to make a cohesive story.  Power effects are up to player imagination, with player fiat being kept in check by the GM.  Checks likewise are subject to reasonableness per the GM’s opinion.  Obviously a character with a d4 Strength should not be able to lift a car.