I have a lot of roleplaying games (RPGs) in my horde. (Not a collection: “collections” are organized, while a horde isn't.) By far, the majority of them are rulebooks and supplements for various editions of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) or Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D). These span from the “Red Box” and “D&D Cyclopaedia” that I first DMed, through First Edition, Second Edition, Third Edition, 3.5, 4, and even the basic three rulebooks of 5th Ed. Fantasy RPGs certainly predominate the rest – Rolemaster, MERP, LOTR, Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC), Discworld, the Palladium Fantasy Role-playing Game, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying System (WFRP), Talislanta, and RuneQuest, among many others. I have quite a few space opera/science fiction games, like SpaceMaster, Star Frontiers, Star Wars (D6, D20, Revised Core Rules D20, SAGA edition), Serenity RPG, a several different Star Trek RPGs, including one that's actually mostly a supplement for d20 Modern, the Starship Troopers RPG, and so on. There's also the post-apolcolyptic genre, represented by Metamorphosis Alpha and every edition of Gamma World, as well as the Western genre, including several editions of Boot Hill, and Aces & Eights. There's games in the Super-Hero genre, as well as the Spy genre. I've got some “horror” games, like Call of Cthulu, Beyond the Supernatural, and Ghostbusters. Then there are the “generic” games, like GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System), the HERO system, d20 Modern (and its supplements, d20 Past, d20 Future, Urban Arcana, etc.). Name it, I probably have an RPG for it.
Some of these games I haven't played, others I haven't played in decades. Whenever I'm at Half-Price Books, or Recycled Books in Denton, I visit the RPG section, just to find out what's there. One such RPG (purchased at Half-Price, and never played) is in the Super-Hero genre: “Silver Age Sentinals” (SAS). SAS is a d20 game, using the Open Gaming License, and requires the use of the D&D Player's Handbook (3.0). If you don't happen to have the 3.0 rulebook, the 3.5 one would work fine; for that matter, the information is also in the d20 Modern Handbook, and the first two WOTC-published versions of d20 Star Wars. There really isn't much that the SAS book doesn't include that you need. That being said, SAS is an odd duck. Ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, etc) are apparently rolled randomly (“Refer to the Players Handbook”), but can be increased by point-buy. There are no Feats: they are replaced by Powers, and purchased by that same point-buy system. You can get more points to spend via buying “Defects.” The point limitations are set by the Gamemaster (GM), and range from “normal” to near godlike. The table that tells you how many points you have to spend, also states the “Experience Level.” There are nine character classes, who advance using the XP table in the D&D Player's Handbook (or those other ones I mentioned – they're all the same). It isn't clear if a character starts at the lowest level in the Power/Experience Level chart. The book starts out with a great overview of the history of comics (up until when it was published, in 2003.) Chapter three is noteworthy. This section does in twelve pages what takes D&D one whole book and notable parts a the second to do: it tells you how the game works in play. Checks are the same as in D&D -- roll a 20 sided dice plus your skill, save, or BAB, plus bonuses and your related attribute modifier, and roll as high as you can. Combat takes a page from the Palladium RPGs; you roll to attack, the target rolls to dodge or to block. Any armor, whether from armor or a power, reduces damage, although it increases your chance to be hit by slowing you down. Combat is suitably knockback-inducing; even a 'moderate' special attack will send a super flying through a wall. Rules are included for grappling, superstrength's effects on melee weapons (if you try to add your +8d6+15 Superstrength to a 1d6 damage sword, you may well break it), how to fight a superspeedster trying to hit-and-run, dangerous environments, falling, crashing, psychic combat, taking shock (similar to d20 Modern's Massive Damage Threshold, but based on the character's HP instead of the genre of the game). The experience rules are also in this chapter: characters can gain more experience at any time as represented in class levels, but they can't just go out and buy a level of Superstrength whenever they have 4 points free. Actions are initiative-based; you divide your initiative by your actions to see when you go. For example, if you have 5 actions and you roll a 20 on initiative, you act on Initiatives 20, 16, 12, 8 and 4. This is going to be a headache whenever you roll an initiative that doesn't divide evenly by the amount of actions you have. Plus, in d20 it's quite possible to roll an initiative of 0 or even negative; what then? By the way, crash damage beyond 2500 mph increases by 1d6+2 for every 2500 mph, instead of continuing the progression of whenever the crash speed doubles. I'm sorry, Flash, but if someone trips you in SAS, you're chunky salsa. The game includes lots of campaign information. The default world is very well described, and feels very “four color” – very much in tune with the Silver Age of Comics, although set in the “modern” time, rather than in the 1960s & 1970s. The powers and attributes of supers – both heroes and villains – are pretty well thought out, but it seems weird to have classes to deal with, too. Mutants & Masterminds seems to have done the job better, but I'll withhold final judgment until such time as I've actually generated a few heroes & villains & run 'em through an adventure. Silver Age Sentinels is an interesting treatment of a genre that I always wanted to play in (not so much gamemaster, more just playing). If you find a copy, and you enjoy RPGs and the super-hero genre, I highly recommend picking it up. Grab some dice... we're leading the way, Commodore Tank Clark, SFMD Team Leader, 33rd STARFLEET Rangers (“The Paladins”)
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Commodore Tank ClarkCommodore Clark has been the Team Leader of the 33rd STARFLEET Rangers for several years. His monthly articles about games (usually Role-Playing Games -- RPGs -- but sometimes about other tabletop forms of entertainment) appear regularly in the Regulator Charge!, the ship's newsletter. Archives
September 2017
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