Superheroes and Pulp Alley

I’ve always loved American comics and their superheroes. Even before they became popular in the UK, I remember in the 60s, Mum made me a Batman outfit for a fancy dress competition. An entry that would have been common today but before the advent of the Marvel franchise, something unusual. I came second as a frogman! However, the desire to play a superhero game as a skirmish game has continued, with many failed attempts.

Superhero Skirmishes - Unique Problems

Playing the superhero genre produces its own unique problems. How to get the epic feel in such a small space when a speedster hero can circle the earth in minutes. The most popular set of superhero rules, currently is Marvel Crisis Protocol (MCP). A spin-off from the famous Marvel franchise, the figures are of a high standard, and the rules are simple, with the character cards providing the nuances for a character. Having played several games, I decided the MCP was for someone else. Card-heavy games have never appealed. Secondly, MCP focuses on competition games and lacks a narrative storyline.

Rules

If you read any of my blogs, you will soon discover that the storyline is very important for my gaming experience. So, I set out to find another solution to play superhero games. Here are my requirements,

• a good narrative element to the games that can be expended into a campaign,
• scenarios, and campaigns are available commercially or can be easy to put together.
• solo rules or the mechanism support the solo play,
• good community on the forums
• comic agnostic, so I can switch between comic houses and my own homemade heroes.

The starting point are the excellent rules by Four Color Studios which have several versions using different dice mechanism. Most have a solo option and some of the rules have been designed particularly for solo and cooperative play. Finally, the support from the designers are excellent. However, I am currently trying to reduce the number of rules sets I use. This gave me the idea that why not try to adapt Pulp Alley for the superhero genre. Superhero comics have their origins in the Pulp comic and the rules already have several low power ‘Shadow’, like heroes. However, some house rules would be needed to extend the rules, to better reflect this comic genre.

Pulp Alley and House Rules.

Levels and Team Formation

I decided to make the average superhero level 3, this allowed for the Superman types to fill the level 4 spot. Whilst the Epic Character was reserved for Galactic heroes and villains (Thanos types). Lesser heroes filled the level 2 slot, whilst level 1 was reserved for low powered henchmen men and street fighters in whatever form. The gangs rules remained unaltered

Abilities

To give a better superhero feel, I increased the number of abilities available by 1.

Some abilities I renamed to reflect the genre. For example, Shock (level 2) became Sunwing’s Sunburst power. For this trial it was not necessary to add any new abilities. However, I thought that to encompass all the possible variations found in the superhero genre would require adding numerous additional abilities. 

I also made two additions to the rules to replicate comic book skirmishes.

Knockback

In superhero comic book a blow or blast from a super can send their opponent flying. Enter the knockback rule. For every success not blocked or dodged (both brawl and in shooting), the opponent (prior any Health Check) character is driven back 1 inch. Threat this as an involuntary move, p. 43, so follow these rules if the losing character collides with either another character or building.

The victor can follow up if they want.

Throwing Objects

Another feature of superhero combat is picking up large objects and throwing them at the enemy. The active player who is trying to throw the object makes an opposed roll using his Might (this covers both physical and mental strength) versus the object’s size.

• Size 1 Street items, Car, dumpsters large crates 2d6
• Size 2 Kiosks, vans 2d8
• Size 3 Large trucks and buildings 3d8
• Size 4 Large buildings 3d10

If the test failed, the item is dropped or cannot be lifted. Any success not cancelled out by the size throw means the object can be thrown 3 inches. Once the final position of the thrown item is determined, draw a path the same width as the item (like the path for movement and line of sight), every character in the path starting from the start to end point draws a peril card, in essence the path become perilous terrain. The object is then destroyed and removed from the game.

The Game - "Rumble at the Docks"

Using the some figures from Kitbash Games', Super Unlimited range plus some old fantasy figures, I set up a game in 1980s San Diego. The plot is very simple, an evil biochemist, Dr Nicholas Amargus (DNA) has been conducting his evil experiments on the people of the city. Every day a red mist floats in from the sea, and when it makes contacts with citizens of the city, they undergo some severe mental disturbances.

Red Mist, Traitor and Drones

However, one of Amargus's lab technician had turned state evidence and crashed a lorry carry Amargus' work near the port. The UN has dispatched an Aegis Team (Star Phantom, Sunwing, Night Eagle and Primor) to recover the samples. Amargus, however has uncovered the plot and leads a group of his associates (Troll, Immulator and Mayhem) to recover the hideous cargo. The game is based on Charlie Stout III's scenario Dark Secrets, with the humans being being replaced by drones. The drones and the red mist being controlled by random throws.

The game developed into two distinct actions, with an areal combat between where Star Phantom and Sunwing took on Immulator. On the ground Troll provided ground support before coming to blows Night Eagle. On the ground, a fight developed around the overturned lorry between Mayhem and Primor. The former being outclassed by the Demi-god form an alternative universe. Throughout DNA concentrated on recovering his lethal samples, throwing the occasional vehicle or lamp post with his mental power. Throughout the our heroes and villians had to be mindful of the growing red cloud that had slowly drifted in from the sea.

In the end the game ended in a draw. Whilst Dr Amargus recovers two of the samples, Night Eagle managed to gain a sample, giving Aegis and its associates a chance of analysing the compound for an antidote.

Conclusions and Thoughts

Here are a couple of photos from the game, which was enjoyable and for me generally captured the superhero genre. However, I thought it missed something, probably because the powers were not distinctive enough, a blaster and melee game. Here are some other thoughts

• The investment in some flight stands helped the appearance of the game. As both teams had a couple of members who had the flight ability the game was a one of quick manoeuvre, with shots coming from the sky. In the future I will add a penalty of 3 inches to change levels.
• The Knockback rule work well so no changes.
• Throwing objects need some fine tuning, so if anyone has any suggestion they are welcome.
• I need to add more powers to the abilities lists, and maybe rewrite these tables to better reflect the genre.  

Next Steps

The next steps is another games in my DNA campaign and to assemble a WWII era Justice Society of America. However, that is another story/blog.