Difficulties for a challenge are based solely on two things:
This is very important and a key concept to the game. Therefore, you should have a rough idea of the capabilities of each of the players' heroes. Be sure to take into account any bad conditions or circumstances like poor weather, stress, and so forth. For example, take lifting a car. Spiderman can lift it against a difficulty of Formidable (Spidey has superhuman strength, but lifting a car is pretty hard for him). Thor could probably do it against a difficulty of Challenging or even Average (Thor is a lot stronger than Spidey). Superman could do it without working up a sweat (Easy). Daredevil could not do it no matter how hard he tried (Impossible), but maybe he could budge it a little if he pushes his Power (maybe Inconceivable).
Some actions should be automatically successful for certain heroes under ideal conditions; only make it a challenge under negative conditions or if it is important to the plot. In the lifting a car example, Superman should probably not have to roll when he lifts a car unless he is in a hurry, in combat, or it is vitally important to the story that he lift that car (say, if Jimmy Olsen is trapped underneath). Likewise, if Green Arrow has to bulls-eye a target at 100 yards, he should not have to roll to do it unless he is in an important contest. He would have to roll if he were trying to hit a villain at 100 yards, though.
Also keep in mind that a hero's abilities not only fluctuate over time, but depending on who the comic book writer is. In some issues, Spiderman can lift a truck, and in others he has difficulty lifting a small car. The difficulty of challenges without an opponent can fluctuate like this from time to time (this even happens to the Power level of villains on occasion).
You should feel free to assign bonuses to players for things like unexpected attacks, good tactics, or clever solutions to problems. Things that give the game a comic book feel, like snappy dialog, stirring speeches, heroic actions and self-sacrifice, and adding sound effects can give bonuses too. Of course, good role-playing should always be rewarded. Such bonuses can be allowing the player to re-roll the die, raising the hero's Power level or levels of effect, or lowering a difficulty, and can be cumulative with other bonuses (Specialties, Pushing with Heroism, etc). Remember that Power level cannot exceed d20 except in extreme and unusual circumstances (like if the hero is trying to save the world from destruction). Give out such bonuses wisely, lest the players come to rely on them too much.
Penalties can be assigned as a reduction to Power level, increasing a difficulty, or making the player re-roll and take the LOWER result. Penalties can be assigned because of circumstances (bad weather, the hero is impaired in some way, target size, etc.)- such penalties should be assigned as increases in difficulty for challenges without an opponent. Penalties can also be assigned for things like poor role-playing, unheroic acts, ignoring the hero's Motivation, and such, but these should be rare. Also keep in mind that Complications can be expressed as penalties as well (an unlucky hero should sometimes be forced re-roll a die and take the lower result).
Heroes and villains should also get bonuses to their Power level in conflicts against others, if it relates directly to their abilities. For example, The Flash should definitely get an advantage against an opponent who does not have superspeed if he is involved in a race.
It is up to you to decide whether or not a given bonus warrants raising a d12 to a d20, and vice versa (whether one given penalty will lower d20 to d12). Also remember that Cosmic Power level is never subject to any sort of bonuses or penalties.
As stated in Resolving Challenges and Defeat, a single roll of the Power die for a challenge can include one or more actions relating to accomplishing the task. For instance, a player may state "I do an acrobatic flip, bounce off the wall, and slug the villain!" This can be resolved with one die roll, since the end result is to hit the villain. How many such actions constitute a single roll is up to you, and it varies depending on what the hero is trying to accomplish and what his capabilities are. A single task or goal can often be broken up into multiple challenges (goal: break into the villain's headquarters; challenges: defeat security system, sneak past guards, ...). You can even allow heroes to take more than one action in a round, as long as only one of them is an attack of some sort (Powers like superspeed would especially allow the hero to act multiple times). If the players are being dramatic and not unreasonable when stating multiple actions, let them do it; it adds to the game.
You can also change the fact that challenges between opponents are resolved with one die roll. For example, if a hero and villain are fighting, a single die roll determines who hits and who misses. You can allow each opponent to make one die roll for attack; the opponent's die roll would represent his defense.
If using the Who Goes First option of allowing players to roll for order of action, you don't have to apply effects at the end of the round- this will give characters going before others a big advantage. Allow the players to use Karma to modify this order, especially if everyone rolls once before the conflict (they use Karma to change the roll every so often).
When applying levels of effect, you can be creative. Some Powers can have
extra levels of effect without the user Going For
Broke. Actions like
mind control or intimidation can have differing degrees of effectiveness depending on the levels
of effect achieved by the user, and can be totally effective at this level
without reducing the target's Power to zero. For example:
| Level of Effect | Mind Control | Interrogation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Target performs actions he would not normally do | Target reveals one important fact |
| 2 | Target performs actions he is opposed to | Target reveals half of what he knows |
| 3 | Target performs actions he is violently opposed to | Target reveals all of what he knows |
The main thing to keep in mind is to do whatever is dramatically appropriate, yet that is fair to the players.
How often heroes (and villains) get to use Heroism for Recovery is up to you. It should depend on what type of damage / effects they are recovering from, whether they have help (healing Powers, having cold water poured on their face, etc.), and (as always) dramatic necessity. Just remember that the difficulty for any recovery attempt is +1 to the total Power levels lost- since most attacks will have only one level of effect, heroes with high Heroism can shrug off light damage fairly easily (they will be rolling against a d6).
Don't allow players to try 'piecemeal recovery'- for instance, if a hero has taken 3 levels of 'damage' to his Power, don't allow the player to break the recovery into 3 separate Heroism rolls against a difficulty of d6; the player must try and recover from the damage as a whole (one roll against a difficulty of 3+1=4 levels, or d10).
Sometimes, failures should not simply be failures, but should allow the hero to succeed with some side effect, embarrassing result, or negative consequence, especially if there is no opponent involved. Often these negative consequences do not show up for a while, and the heroes may not even recognize them as such. A failure can even invoke a Complication. For example, a hero punches a villain. The results indicate a failure, but it does not necessarily mean that the hero missed. It could mean he hit the villain but did no damage. He could even hit the villain and knock him back into someone's car or an innocent bystander, and get harassed, sued, or have his popularity suffer. Another example- assume a hero with weather control Power is trying to stop a hurricane. The die roll shows a failure. Instead of just saying the hero did not stop the hurricane, you can say that he dissipated the hurricane, but in doing so, the hero has altered the weather patterns in another region for the worse. A final example- a super strong character is faced with a canister of radioactive gas that will explode in seconds. He decides to throw the canister into orbit. The die roll shows a failure. You can decide to say the canister does indeed go into orbit. However, unbeknownst to the hero, the canister does not detonate. It could stay into orbit until recovered or found by a nefarious villain, or a space station or satellite collides with it. Or perhaps it survives re-entry and lands near an unsuspecting village in the Arctic...
To make this effective, you should sometimes keep opposing die rolls hidden from the player. This also adds to the suspense and drama of the game. Care should also be taken to not make the consequences severe enough in order to keep normal failures and critical failures separate (of course, if you are evil enough, you probably don't care anyway…).
Goon Squads are simply a bunch of enemies that fight as a group- a group of agents, a horde of thugs, mindless undead minions, or whatever. Good Squads are assigned a Power level, and you roll 1 die for all their attacks. The heroes also attack each Goon Squad as one target. Each level of effect scored against them drops their Power level by that amount - When it reaches 0, they are defeated and are all knocked out, surrender, or flee. You can also have groups of Goon Squads, each with own separate Power level. If you wish, you can increase the Power by one or more levels, to represent heavy weapons and/or armor, or just lesser numbers of strong opponents. The Goon Squad takes action using the increased Power, but the base Power is still used to determine defeat. The reverse is true- you can give them a high Power level for tracking defeat, and a lower one for taking action (greater numbers of weaker opponents). Of course, you can do this for villains (and allow it for heroes) as well. You can even give a Goon Squad a special attack (like entangling nets or power draining rays).
To speed up combat, you can say that the Goon Squad loses 2 levels on each successful attack by the heroes- they can Go For Broke and get 3 by reducing their Power level by 1. This is best used with Goon Squads with a high Power level- there are dozens and dozens of them, but the heroes cut through them like a wheat thresher.
Goon Squads do not get Karma or Heroism / Villainy.
Some Power effects will be temporary, like entangling bonds or power nullification; that is, the hero will return to full Power level when the effects are removed (his Power is reduced by the bonds, but he is at full Power when he breaks the bonds). Some other Powers can have different effects- for example, a power that drains other powers can reduce the target's Power for purposes of attempting challenges, but will not reduce it for tracking defeat. Powers that do unusual or exceptional damage such as armor-piercing attacks may automatically do +1 or more levels of effect.
You and the players should be creative in defining various aspects of their Powers and how they affect others.
Most non-functional items (walls, furniture, lampposts, buildings, etc.) can simply be assigned a Power level to represent their structural integrity. Or, you can simply assign breaking them a difficulty, and say the object is bent / broken / crushed / destroyed / whatever if the hero succeeds. Complex objects with a function (machines, electronics, vehicles) will have a Power level as well, and their effectiveness will degrade as they take damage. As with Goon Squads, you can give items a split Power rating for effectiveness and damage tracking- a lower Power level for tracking damage could represent fragile equipment.
You don't really need a damage chart for things like falling, lightning strikes, fires, auto collisions, etc.; just make the Power level high enough to hurt the hero, or at least get his attention. Remember also that certain things can have different or higher levels of effect (like industrial acid). In the case of disasters (both natural and man-made), quick-thinking heroes may be able to stop them before they can spread or cause damage.
In the comics, heroes and villains land such mighty blows that the combatants go flying all over the battlefield and crashing into cars, trucks, and through walls (this phenomena is commonly known as Knockback in most superhero games). Such damage is considered to be factored into the result of the roll, but you can make extra rolls for Knockback damage if you wish. The level of the damage roll can vary depending on what the hero lands on (or crashes through) and how far he travels, but it should usually be one less than the original attack. Only direct physical and energy attacks should cause Knockback.
Heroes with appropriate abilities (such as acrobatics) can make a Power roll to avoid or lessen Knockback damage- the difficulty should be the level of the Knockback damage. Of course, heroes without such an ability can still get a roll, but the difficulty should be higher. A Knockback avoidance roll is usually based on Pizzazz (agility / acrobatics) or Mayhem (brute strength and toughness).
Sometimes a hero will want to use his powers in a totally new way, or maybe use his skills to try something he has never done before (a Power Stunt). Instead of buying the Stunt as given under Experience, you can allow the player to make a Karma roll. The difficulty should be high enough to make it a real challenge, and can be adjusted depending on how unique and/or unusual the new Stunt is. If the player makes the roll, he can permanently add it to the hero's abilities for less Hero Points.
The rules state over and over that Power level can never go above d20 due to bonuses or experience. So, what is the Cosmic Power level for? It is to represent cosmic-level entities (Galactus, Odin, The Spectre). A being with Cosmic level Power is never subjected to any bonuses or penalties to their Power level, and are pretty much able to do whatever they need to (they are mostly just plot devices anyway).
Some villains should be designed as 'world-class' villains- these are the master villains that regularly try to take over the world, and are a match for a whole team of heroes. You don't need to use the Power / Karma balance when creating such villains (just assign the Power and Karma you feel is appropriate). Also, all villains can use Karma and Villainy during the game, but don't overdo it. They should almost always be able to use Karma to get away at the end of the story, despite the best efforts of the heroes to capture them.
Villains only gain Hero Points through appearing in adventures, as stated under Experience. You should feel free to fudge this, because your villains may lag behind the heroes as they get more experience if you don't. You can also give the villains bonuses and extra Hero Points when the heroes act unheroically (ignoring innocent bystanders in peril, beat up unconscious villains, breaking the law, etc.).
Anyone who reads comics on a regular basis will know that death is not necessarily permanent. This is especially true of villains- if there is no body found, it is a sure bet that the villain has somehow escaped. Even if a body is found, villains have a nasty habit of returning from the dead to plague the heroes in the future. A hero or villain that is reduced to zero Power by a lethal attack (a long fall into a volcano, a nuclear explosion, whatever) can use the Deus Ex Machina rule to thwart death. Their return should be sometime later, and in a suitably dramatic fashion. Their Powers may have even been altered by the experience.
Here are some suggestions for rewarding experience Hero Points:
| Item | HP Award |
|---|---|
| Hero completed adventure | 1 |
| Excellent role-playing | 1 |
| Difficult adventure with many challenges | 1 |
| Exceptionally heroic acts, clever solution to a problem, etc. (see Bonuses and Penalties for more ideas) | 1 |
| Player initiates invoking hero's Complication | 1 |
| Poor role-playing | -1 |
| Acting unheroically or ignoring Motivation | -1 |
These are only suggestions. Heroes should never get less than zero Hero Points. Players should only get a Hero Point award for invoking their hero's Complications except in exceptional circumstances (like if it greatly added to the drama of the story).
Villains only earn Hero Points (call them Villains Points if you wish) for being in adventures; the amount is up to the GM.
[Writer / Artist] [Origin] [Superpowers] [Motivation] [Costume] [Hero!]