So after sitting on my shelf for a couple of months (digitally speaking of course but I am considering using Lulu to print off a cheap spiral bound copy for use at the table) I’m finally getting around to reading it.
Mainly since it looks like we’re going to use it to replace the system in a longish running game. Seriously, we’ve tried three versions of Marvel (Saga, stone-based and Heroic) and none them have sat well with the entire group. Since Dungeon World has proven a success with the group, our GM is hoping that Worlds in Peril will have the secret sauce.
Now comes the difficult task of converting characters over. And this is where I’ve hit a couple of problems. The first is powers. My character is like a junior iron man without the emotional baggage. Basically a teenage super genius with gadgets and a battlesuit. Now, if I’m readying the powers section properly, thinks like gadgets and power armour are considered Advantages and not “powers”. So I’m a little stumped what do put under simple, difficult, etc. Anyone started up an iron man or gadgeteer type character that I can use as a reference.
Secondly, I’m having problems picking an Origin book for a character that became a superhero because he idolises super science heros like Stark and Richards and wants to use his knowledge and skills to help people and half a little fun while doing it, instead of being stuck in some stuffy research lab.
I haven’t found the options for science based characters all that great, myself. I think (and this is off hand, since I don’t remember the names), push the boundaries was the closest you’d get to reed. Unsure about stark.
As for powers profile vs powers summary, think of it like this. The summary is the list of EVERYTHING you can do that a normal person cannot. Be it fly, shoot lasers out your ear drums, whatever. The power profile is how you use those powers to interact with the fiction. It isn’t that you’ll have moves like “use ice breath”… Because that doesn’t act as a conclusion, but more as an introduction. So for an iron man expy, it’d be things like
Simple:
-fly at slow (goose or duck) pace
-shoot target with hand laser with pinpoint accuracy.
Difficult:
-fly at quick (bird of prey) pace.
-lift up to a small car in weight.
-jury rig an electronic device to play bluegrass music.
-prototype new tech.
Borderline
-wipe out wide swath of mooks. (Probably with chest laser, but other options are open.)
possible:
-be able to build it in a cave! With a box of scraps!
Basically, any time you say ” I want to do this in this way” you add a new power to the profile. “I want to use my retrorockets as a defensive counter measure. I’ve never done it before, but it seems simple, so it goes under that category. So ‘burn off grappling opponents’ goes in simple.”
The narrative base of the power profile is a bit odd to me, so unsure if I explained it correctly, but that’s how I’ve been interpreting it; hopefully that’s understandable.
The way it seems to describe it, anything that can be taken away (like gadgets or suits) is an Advantage. Like it says:
“So anything that a hero can do with just their body alone and without anything else should go under the Powers Summary and anything they can do with the aide of something else, like gadgets and technology, for example, should go under “Powers that are Advantages” immediately below in the Powers Summary.”
Yeah, basically. Those go in the summary as well. They let you do the things that other people cannot. So you’ll have
advantage: kickin’ robot suit
Or
Advantage: flashbang grenades
As “powers” on your summary.
Yeah, the armor would be an Advantage, but still acts like powers. You can either write down everything you want it to be able to do, or you could play it a little loose if your EIC is ok with it with the general understanding that it’s got the Iron Man-type thing going on.
So the thing to remember with your Simple~Impossible Powers Profile array is that they are things that you’re going to be doing, so you probably want the ones you start out with to be the ones you’ll do the most since you’ll be able to do those things without having to Push (i.e. roll for it). So you need to think about it like he’s just getting started, he’s got this suit of armor that can do a bunch of stuff theoretically, some tested and he knows for sure (the stuff that is in the Powers Profile), and a bunch of other stuff that should work, but he’s definitely not used to it/has never tried it so anything could happen (the stuff that’s listed in your Powers Summary).
For Iron Man, I’d probably do something like (and this’ll depend based on how many powers you get starting out, what your concept is for him as he develops his armor/powers as you might need to add a few):
Simple:
-Chart a course through complicated terrain to navigate through it at breakneck speeds.
-Repulsor blast
Difficult:
-Reroute power to single system to bolster and channel output to chestbeam.
Borderline:
-Map trajectory and accurately hit up to 10 targets in the immediate area.
Possible:
-Hack into/Decipher any system on Earth given enough time.
Impossible:
-To store the armor within the bloodstream and to control it via techno-kinesis. (That’d be crazy)
As for Origin books, the My Legacy might be one if he’s trying to take up the mantle of Iron Man or Reed Richards after they disappear or something. There are a bunch of science-oriented Drives, but not many Origins because typically just wanting to do good is not really an Origin story as it’s what all heroes do and have in common, so there are Drives to cover that. Origins are more for the story hooks to give you and your EIC good background info to build into the game.