Being a longtime supers RPGer (Champions in the ’80s-’90s and Mutants & Masterminds now), I was eager to see what Genesys had to offer for the genre, and a bit disappointed that there were only a few pages devoted to it. (But I like the system overall!) I didn’t hear much about using Genesys for supers from other gamers either. And–I forgot about this. But now that the Superhero-themed Gamers Assemble GNC VI is coming up in 3 months, I thought this might be a good time to revisit the Genesys Superhero Tone.
First off, the Tones in Chapter 4 are not mechanics, but the Genesys term for the themes, play styles, etc. common to a given genre. Most of the example Tones, including Supers, do include optional mechanics. Much of the text and sidebars are focused on using the various Tones covered in the subsections.
Supers has 3 new optional mechanics. The first two are character creation rules. No Mere Mortal gives PCs +50 Starting XP. Note that this is not the same as the Experienced Characters option on Genesys p. 45 (or Knight Level in Force & Destiny). This additional XP can be used to buy up characteristics, but skills are still limited to rank 3. The second creation rule is designating Super Characteristics for each PC and nemesis supervillain, which can be any 2 of the 6. When rolling checks with a Super Characteristic, an additional Proficiency die (yes, Proficiency) is added to that pool for every Triumph rolled. If Triumphs come up on those added dice, you get that many more Yellows! Plus, “The player still gets to resolve all of the Triumph as usual.” That’s a “Have your cake and eat it too” situation. While lots of Triumphs will certainly allow super narrative (“punch[ing] opponents into the stratosphere” is mentioned), it will slow down play as additional Yellows are rolled and changes to the original pool result are recalculated, sometimes repeatedly. I can see Triumph spending negotiations between GM and player/s getting longer as well.
The big question, for me, was “Can you build playable characters with what Genesys core provides?” Alas, I have decided the answer is “No.” Where the core book is lacking, is any way to emulate most superpowers. A basic Brick or Speedster can be done by buying up Brawn or Agility, respectively, to 4 or 5 (doable under the No Mere Mortal rule) and designate it as one of your PC’s Super-characteristics. Then use the remaining XP on appropriate skills and/or talents. But most other classic supertypes aren’t possible, unless you have the time, interest, and aptitude to homebrew some mechanics.
Take the Controllers, supers with powers based around a particular type of energy, element, or other phenomena (e. g., cold, fire, weather, electricity). How do you represent those powers with the current Genesys mechanics? The book suggests, “[Y]ou can also use the magic rules and rules for constructing new talents to invent new superhuman abilities.” Okay, I can see using the magic rules. So let’s look at the Magic Rules, starting on p. 210. The Additional Effects Tables, III.2-5 to 2-11, could be useful for building various types of powers. I recommend writing down your usual ones ahead of time, including the Difficulty, or you will slow down the game. On the other hand, Table III.2–3: Penalties When Casting Spells doesn’t really apply to superpowers (except arcane supertypes like Marvel’s Dr. Strange) and results on Table III.2-4: Spending Threat and Despair on Magic Skill Checks for the most part don’t feel very comic book to me.
The biggest problem with using Magic Rules, is the linked skill/s. The various effects of a given hero’s power could cover more than one Genesys Spell Type, and there are 3 magic skills, none of them linked to all the Types. Do you require a PC to buy ranks in 2 of those skills in order to have access to all Types or do you create an “Energy Control” skill, or several Power Skills? Do you create/repurpose Talents instead, or in addition to, “reskinning” the magic skills? Or even resort to the Force Powers mechanics from the Star Wars lines? (I did find some homebrew superpowers on the FFG forums.)
All this is going to increase the cost of building superhero PCs–probably way above the extra 50 starting XP and certainly beyond the costs for PCs of other genres. Which is a deal-breaker for me. And we have gone beyond the Core Book Mechanics scope. Now, if you love homebrewing mechanics (and your group is happy with them)–great. Go for it! (And get with Wayne Basta about having it published on the blog because I would love to read them.) My point is, you shouldn’t have to resort to that level of homebrew if the generic/universal system (like Genesys) you are considering is a good fit for your genre.
Alas, as a friend pointed out to me, “The problem with ‘universal’ systems is that none of them works for every genre,” and sometimes the genre(s) it doesn’t work for turns out to be the very one your group wants to play. The Genesys mechanics just aren’t a good fit for the supers genre–yet. I am hoping, as are other gamers, that FFG publishes one down the road. If you backed the GNC VI Kickstarter, you already have access to GM Chris Witt’s unofficial “Aegis” Genesys setting. Otherwise, I suggest one of the superhero-focused systems, like Mutants & Masterminds 3e or Champions 6e.
Linda Whitson
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The trouble with any generic system that tries to tackle supers, to me, is that a superhero’s power set is really integral to the character. A big part of the attraction of superheroes is describing the strange and wonderful powers they have. So it just feels wrong to genericize that vast and convoluted world of superpowers into a small list of specific effects or treat them as just boosts to basic skills. The result of that is, I feel, if you’re going to play supers, you need a system that’s built around that as a core mechanic.
(Obligatory shill for the Greater Than Games “Sentinels Comics” RPG, Kickstarting in the next week or so here, a spinoff from the fantastic Sentinels of the Multiverse cooperative card game.)
I ran into a similar magic problem writing a Final Fantasy theme — Blue Magic can do just about anything, action-wise. My solution was to have the player pick 3 or 4 actions their magic can do to reflect their particular style. You could do something similar with superpowers.
In any case, I would give the superpower skill(s?) a default ability for typical/non-situational use but be very loose about which one any given roll is based on — e.g. Power (Ag) for ranged attack, Power (In) to carefully catch a plummeting monorail, Power (Wp) to exert maximum force and hold up a huge building, etc.