Free equipment side discussion.

[tarragon]

Free equipment is getting a lot of discussion over in 6th ed. I wanted to run an idea past people before I write something up for 6th forums.

 

My goal was to make a system for a supers campaign where vastly different power level can interact in a meaningful way but to prevent very un-comic booky situations like a lucky shot killing a super villain. In one campaign a beat cop killed Red Rapier after he helped defeat the heroes. As a side effect this system should make free equipment work well in HERO.

 

The plan I have for my next supers game is to invent a scale of Superness. It's runs from Normal, to Super, then Galactic. [1]

 

As you move up the scale powers have half effect. A cop's Normal gun does half damage to a Super, and a normal pair of handcuffs has half the DEF and BODY when Super level Grond tries to break out. A borrowed normal radiation suit works to get a Super hero safely into the reactor core but the Unobtainium-235 powering Dr. Megaton's flying fortress produces Super Radiation and cuts right through it. A hero's innate Super fire blast does half damage to a Galactic villain who just dropped by to eat the world. Finally a cop's Normal pistol does 1/4 damage to the Galactic villain.

 

Moving down the scale has no effect. A Super fire blast does NOT do double damage to a normal.

 

Anyone including supers can get free Normal equipment they might be reasonable able to get. Anything available in the real world, basically anything in production, that you could buy with money and the right contacts is available as normal equipment. That includes military hardware with is still classed as Normal.

 

In addition Normal equipment alway has the "real" limitation. A Super can carry a flash light, but they have find a way to carry that in their tights. A super flash light can be small and easy to carry, it could even come from hammer space when needed.

 

The distinction between super equipment and normal equipment is based purely on concept. Cops are normals with normal level equipment. The Champions are Supers.

 

A Super can get free equipment, but they can also can pay points for a Super version of it. A SWAT sniper's rifle does half damage against pulsar. Gunguy's otherwise identical rifle that he paid points for is super equipment and does full damage. If Gunguy's gun gets knocked out of his hands his backup free pistol does half damage.[2]

 

Finally agents are Normals who have some super equipment. They can play in both worlds. That lets them get shot up by teh SWAT team, but also pose a credible threat to Supers.

 

Comments?

 

[1] The number of levels really doesn't matter, as long as there are levels. You can define more and narrower levels to get a different feel in the campaign. Normal, Teen Hero, Super, World Shakers, Galactic.

 

[2] Something I hadn't thought of before, what if Gunguy picks up that SWAT sniper rifle. 1/2 damage or full? Hmm.

[JmOz]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

Free equipment is getting a lot of discussion over in 6th ed. I wanted to run an idea past people before I write something up for 6th forums.

 

My goal was to make a system for a supers campaign where vastly different power level can interact in a meaningful way but to prevent very un-comic booky situations like a lucky shot killing a super villain. In one campaign a beat cop killed Red Rapier after he helped defeat the heroes. As a side effect this system should make free equipment work well in HERO.

 

The plan I have for my next supers game is to invent a scale of Superness. It's runs from Normal, to Super, then Galactic. [1]

 

As you move up the scale powers have half effect. A cop's Normal gun does half damage to a Super, and a normal pair of handcuffs has half the DEF and BODY when Super level Grond tries to break out. A borrowed normal radiation suit works to get a Super hero safely into the reactor core but the Unobtainium-235 powering Dr. Megaton's flying fortress produces Super Radiation and cuts right through it. A hero's innate Super fire blast does half damage to a Galactic villain who just dropped by to eat the world. Finally a cop's Normal pistol does 1/4 damage to the Galactic villain.

 

Moving down the scale has no effect. A Super fire blast does NOT do double damage to a normal.

 

Anyone including supers can get free Normal equipment they might be reasonable able to get. Anything available in the real world, basically anything in production, that you could buy with money and the right contacts is available as normal equipment. That includes military hardware with is still classed as Normal.

 

In addition Normal equipment alway has the "real" limitation. A Super can carry a flash light, but they have find a way to carry that in their tights. A super flash light can be small and easy to carry, it could even come from hammer space when needed.

 

The distinction between super equipment and normal equipment is based purely on concept. Cops are normals with normal level equipment. The Champions are Supers.

 

A Super can get free equipment, but they can also can pay points for a Super version of it. A SWAT sniper's rifle does half damage against pulsar. Gunguy's otherwise identical rifle that he paid points for is super equipment and does full damage. If Gunguy's gun gets knocked out of his hands his backup free pistol does half damage.[2]

 

Finally agents are Normals who have some super equipment. They can play in both worlds. That lets them get shot up by teh SWAT team, but also pose a credible threat to Supers.

 

Comments?

 

[1] The number of levels really doesn't matter, as long as there are levels. You can define more and narrower levels to get a different feel in the campaign. Normal, Teen Hero, Super, World Shakers, Galactic.

 

[2] Something I hadn't thought of before, what if Gunguy picks up that SWAT sniper rifle. 1/2 damage or full? Hmm.

 

Interesting idea, I don't think I like it as a standard rule, but I do think it makes a good (official) optional rule, probably in the SUPER HERO* book

 

1) if it is a optional rule the GM can set the number of levels, might be worth a disad to be on a lower level than everyone else, as for the 1/2 effect going down consider instead of x2 damage 1/2 Defence (would help with some of the tank insanity)

 

2) I would say it depends on how he built his super rifle. I would expand the foci rules to include a modifier that would allow similar lower tech equipment to be used at the normal level, so if Gunguy's gun is a -1 OAF, to bad, if he has a -3/4 he can use any similar rifle, and -1/2 he could use any ranged weapon...the weaopn would do (on scale) the amount of damage the weapon normaly does or up to the level bought by the character, whichever is lower. The character can always use it "as is" as well (So if Pistol-Chick has a 1d6 RKA gets ahold of a Bazooka that does 4d6 but one level below she might choose to do 2d6 instead)

 

 

 

 

* I KNow I won't get it but I would like to see a sister line to Champions that is purly generic Super Hero stuff, no characters or world buildings but equipment, power builds, that sort of stuff

[tarragon]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

2) I would say it depends on how he built his super rifle. I would expand the foci rules to include a modifier that would allow similar lower tech equipment to be used at the normal level' date=' so if Gunguy's gun is a -1 OAF, to bad, if he has a -3/4 he can use any similar rifle, and -1/2 he could use any ranged weapon...the weaopn would do (on scale) the amount of damage the weapon normaly does or up to the level bought by the character, whichever is lower. [/quote']

 

I like it. It's like the difference between a standard OAF and and OAF or opportunity. Hmm... In fact, it's just like it.

 

If Gunguy bought his rifle a plain OAF (-1) then the rifle itself is a special rifle that is Super level equipment. Gunguy's power schtick is owning Super level equipment. When he picks up the Normal rifle it's just a Normal rifle. If a cop picks up Gunguy's gun then he's got a Super level attack until it runs out of ammo.

 

If Gunguy bought it as an OAF Normal rifle of opportunity (-1/2), then he has the ability to do Super damage with a Normal rifle. Maybe Gunguy has a Super aiming power. He could trade his rifle for a Normal SWAT rifle and do Super damage with it while the SWAT guy with his gun is still doing Normal Damage.

[JmOz]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I like it. It's like the difference between a standard OAF and and OAF or opportunity. Hmm... In fact, it's just like it.

 

If Gunguy bought his rifle a plain OAF (-1) then the rifle itself is a special rifle that is Super level equipment. Gunguy's power schtick is owning Super level equipment. When he picks up the Normal rifle it's just a Normal rifle. If a cop picks up Gunguy's gun then he's got a Super level attack until it runs out of ammo.

 

If Gunguy bought it as an OAF Normal rifle of opportunity (-1/2), then he has the ability to do Super damage with a Normal rifle. Maybe Gunguy has a Super aiming power. He could trade his rifle for a Normal SWAT rifle and do Super damage with it while the SWAT guy with his gun is still doing Normal Damage.

 

Kind of the basic idea was a better defined version of weapon of opportunity to make it have a couple levels instead of just one

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

The general idea reminds me of the weapon/defense differences between characters and various size/classes of vehicles in the old Star Wars RPG. I like it, but it might be to big of change for a regular rule. I like the idea of it as an optional rule, preferably with at least one prebuilt model.

[Vulcan]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I like it. It's like the difference between a standard OAF and and OAF or opportunity. Hmm... In fact, it's just like it.

 

If Gunguy bought his rifle a plain OAF (-1) then the rifle itself is a special rifle that is Super level equipment. Gunguy's power schtick is owning Super level equipment. When he picks up the Normal rifle it's just a Normal rifle. If a cop picks up Gunguy's gun then he's got a Super level attack until it runs out of ammo.

 

If Gunguy bought it as an OAF Normal rifle of opportunity (-1/2), then he has the ability to do Super damage with a Normal rifle. Maybe Gunguy has a Super aiming power. He could trade his rifle for a Normal SWAT rifle and do Super damage with it while the SWAT guy with his gun is still doing Normal Damage.

 

I like that one!

[Diamond Spear]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I don’t think this is a great idea as it seems to be trying to “fix” a problem that doesn’t really exist. Supers take less damage from, for instance, a cop’s gun because they have higher defenses. Making the weapon do half damage against them just because their character costs more than x amount of points doesn’t seem to make any sense. In addition HERO is set up so that the points value of a gun determines how much damage it does. For instance if we say that a .44 magnum is a 2d6 killing attack than the cost is 30 points of killing damage. Why should that 30 points only have 15 points of effect just because the target has been labled “superhero”?

 

If you want bigger effects you pay more points. If you want someone to take less effect from something then they need to buy more defenses. Doing anything else seems to violate the basic HERO mechanic.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I'm with Diamond Spear on this. Maybe the Super should pay for this free "damage reduction". The idea that 1 point of xp causes a large subset of characters to become radically less effective against you doesn't work for me.

 

I think my character would have a broad-based Transform to change people up and down the scale to adjust the damage others do to them. Since these various levels of character don't cost any specific points, that would be an unmodified major transform, right?

[prestidigitator]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

Hugh and D. Spear are right on. And if the intent is to make normals relatively insignificant in a superhero game or something, just flavor your game that way, or make it a high-point game.

[JmOz]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I don't agree with you guys

 

I feel the following about this idea

 

1) IT should definatly be OPTIONAL, and is only really appropriate in some (sub) genre's. Furthermore the GM should set the catagories not the book (But the book might have a example)...Basicaly i feel that this rule should only be included in the SUPER-Hero genre book and even then not used in every type of game

 

2) The points are not what creates the catagories, but rather a GM Desision about the NPC. Without some kind of NCM like disad the PC's should all be of the same catagory

 

I feel that it could be a usefull tool in some circumstances...for that matter I can see it being adapted to either a scale or tech system in star hero games

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I don’t think this is a great idea as it seems to be trying to “fix” a problem that doesn’t really exist. Supers take less damage from, for instance, a cop’s gun because they have higher defenses. Making the weapon do half damage against them just because their character costs more than x amount of points doesn’t seem to make any sense. In addition HERO is set up so that the points value of a gun determines how much damage it does. For instance if we say that a .44 magnum is a 2d6 killing attack than the cost is 30 points of killing damage. Why should that 30 points only have 15 points of effect just because the target has been labled “superhero”?

 

If you want bigger effects you pay more points. If you want someone to take less effect from something then they need to buy more defenses. Doing anything else seems to violate the basic HERO mechanic.

 

This is a really eloquent version of the post I was about to write; Diamond Spear is exactly right. A super is a super because they have 350 points to spend. A super who doesn't buy any kind of defense is undefended. Period. They take normal damage from weaponry, because they handle it normally, like anyone else.

 

SupraMentalist, the ... super mentalist... if you will... is a TP/TK. When Supra is paying attention, she can put up a Force Field that absorbs 30/30. If you catch her off guard, well... she has normal PD/ED and no resistant defense. It's already hard enough to 'kill' someone, and having a super take half damage "just 'cause" makes no sense to me, personally, and I'm usually all for rules adjustments that improve the distinction from Heroic to Super Heroic.

 

This, though, seems to fall under the category of "curing a problem that doesn't exist." Now, if you want to house rule that all Supers, by nature, have 50% Damage Reduction against 'real weapons,' hey, GREAT. You can do that! The rules account for that, the option is already there. But I would not condone this being any sort of official sanctioned guideline.

[jtelson]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

Interesting idea. It's a bit like the idea of scale from FUDGE. While this isn't a problem that I've seen in my games, I can certainly understand that there are game concepts or game worlds that might benefit from instituting this system or one like it.

[tarragon]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I initially built this idea (unplayed) trying to get a feel of a world where supers were a scale above normals. Different scale people still interact just fine but unless the aren't much of a threat. Lower scale people aren't much of a threat but can be if they work together or simply overwhelm with numbers.

 

Think New Mutants (Teen Hero scale) and X-Men (Hero scale). A single Sentinel (Hero scale) is a significant threat to the NM, but the X-Men take out 2 or 3 each.

 

At the same time I didn't want the higher scale people to be a lot more points. In direct comparisons of power levels the X-Men aren't that much more physically powerful than the NM. They're just a level above.

 

For instance if we say that a .44 magnum is a 2d6 killing attack than the cost is 30 points of killing damage. Why should that 30 points only have 15 points of effect just because the target has been labled “superhero”?

 

The only answer I have is comic book feel. In a comic a soldier hitting a villain with a an RPG has less effect than a fire guy hitting that same villain. Yet if they had both hit a wall instead they would blow the same sized hole.

 

Anyway, the main point of bringing this up is free equipment. To me it seems like this idea solves many of the problems of (points) free equipment in a supers game that have been brought up in bunch of threads. If normal equipment can be grabbed freely, but it is only 1/2 effect then there is still incentive to take it where appropriate. It will be useful against other normal people and things but not overpowering in the supers world.

[Diamond Spear]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I initially built this idea (unplayed) trying to get a feel of a world where supers were a scale above normals. Different scale people still interact just fine but unless the aren't much of a threat. Lower scale people aren't much of a threat but can be if they work together or simply overwhelm with numbers.

 

Think New Mutants (Teen Hero scale) and X-Men (Hero scale). A single Sentinel (Hero scale) is a significant threat to the NM, but the X-Men take out 2 or 3 each.

 

At the same time I didn't want the higher scale people to be a lot more points. In direct comparisons of power levels the X-Men aren't that much more physically powerful than the NM. They're just a level above.

 

 

 

The only answer I have is comic book feel. In a comic a soldier hitting a villain with a an RPG has less effect than a fire guy hitting that same villain. Yet if they had both hit a wall instead they would blow the same sized hole.

 

Anyway, the main point of bringing this up is free equipment. To me it seems like this idea solves many of the problems of (points) free equipment in a supers game that have been brought up in bunch of threads. If normal equipment can be grabbed freely, but it is only 1/2 effect then there is still incentive to take it where appropriate. It will be useful against other normal people and things but not overpowering in the supers world.

 

The GM simply needs to enforce the genre being played and the players need to be cognizant of it as well. Four color superheros don’t go around picking up guns and should be built on enough points that guns won’t bother them. This also begs another question, if you are going to halve the effectiveness of guns what about body armor? If a Kevlar vest gives 5 PD/ED to a cop won’t it give the same to a superhero? Using the HERO system it has to. How would your optional system handle that?

 

To address your example above with the RPG there’s a problem with your assumption that an RPG shouldn’t damage a superhero, an RPG should damage most superheroes; it is, after all, a weapon designed specifically to destroy armored vehicles. Saying that an RPG and a fire power used by a character should have the same effect on a wall but different effects on character, depending on how many points that character is built on (and I know I said this before but it bears repeating) violates the core principles of the HERO system. Implimented, even as an optional rule, would irrecoverably change a core mechanic of the system.

 

Now I’m not saying that your idea can’t work, I’m not even saying that it isn’t a letgitimate design decisison to use when designing a superhero game. I’m just saying that it’s not a good design decision to try and implement in HERO.

 

All that said, I am very glad to see people looking for ways to improve and expand the system and generate discussion about it so please, keep coming up with and posting ideas, even ones some of us don’t like.

[jtelson]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I find myself more and more intriqued by the idea of scale as a way of simulating some comic book scenarios.

 

The Joker with a .45: scary, 10 thugs with .45's: not scary.

 

Build the Joker's gun differently? Rework the standard .45 (and all other guns) so as to be less scary? Encourage players to build in thug scariness reduction? Some combination of the 3?

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

To address your example above with the RPG there’s a problem with your assumption that an RPG shouldn’t damage a superhero' date=' an RPG [i']should [/i]damage most superheroes; it is, after all, a weapon designed specifically to destroy armored vehicles.

 

In some games I play I want an RPG to be a credible threat, in others I want my superhero to be immune to it. This is a way of sliding damage that isn't currently a tool in the toolbox.

 

Now I’m not saying that your idea can’t work' date=' I’m not even saying that it isn’t a letgitimate design decisison to use when designing a superhero game. I’m just saying that it’s [i']not [/i]a good design decision to try and implement in HERO.

 

I would say that it is a legitimate tool to add to the toolbox for when you are designing your HERO game. It may not be for everyone but it is a way of implementing a game feel without adding too many points to the players stuff - it only affects (if I read it correctly) the way damage interacts with defences - no impact on anything else.

 

I know there are campaigns I would use something like this in, for vanilla HERO games it isn't what we expect or look to though to make that kind of distinction.

 

Doc

[Vulcan]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

The GM simply needs to enforce the genre being played and the players need to be cognizant of it as well. Four color superheros don’t go around picking up guns and should be built on enough points that guns won’t bother them.

 

That's the trick, because a .50 cal. pistol is a 2d6+1 RKA, +1 ISM according to Dark Champions. So it can do a maximum of 13 BODY and 78 STUN. I don't know about you, but a 78 PD is a bit high for most games I've seen.

 

And even a lowly 9mm can do 35 STUN. 35 PD is still pretty high.

 

Sure, the GM can just say that a guy with a pistol has no effect on Superguy, but what about the soldiers manning the heavy machine gun?

 

Scaling the damage in the manner proposed isn't a bad solution for the 'bullet-proof super' problem in HEROS. Sure, it's not for everyone, that's why it's being proposed as an optional rule, not a default rule!

 

This also begs another question, if you are going to halve the effectiveness of guns what about body armor? If a Kevlar vest gives 5 PD/ED to a cop won’t it give the same to a superhero? Using the HERO system it has to. How would your optional system handle that?

 

According to your earlier point, why would a super bother with such a puny defense? It cuts the same both ways.

 

Besides, a super with a bulletproof suit usually gains a lot more than a mere 5PD/ED out of it. Call it super-grade material and have done with it.

 

To address your example above with the RPG there’s a problem with your assumption that an RPG shouldn’t damage a superhero, an RPG should damage most superheroes; it is, after all, a weapon designed specifically to destroy armored vehicles. Saying that an RPG and a fire power used by a character should have the same effect on a wall but different effects on character, depending on how many points that character is built on (and I know I said this before but it bears repeating) violates the core principles of the HERO system. Implimented, even as an optional rule, would irrecoverably change a core mechanic of the system.

 

Who says an RPG should do damage to a superhero? Lord knows Superman has shrugged off much larger 'normal' weapons in his time!

 

Once again consulting Dark Champions, the M72A3 LAW (since the RPG somehow failed to make the book, so this is the closest equivalent I could find) is a 6&1/2d6 RKA Explosion () +1 ISM. That's 39 BODY and 234 () STUN! Somehow I doubt anyone's writeup of Superman includes a PD of over 200. 40-50 sounds more typical.

 

But if he's a Cosmic scale superhero by the rules above, then the 'normal' LAW does 10 BODY and 60 STUN instead. Apply that agaisnt the 40-50 PD Superman and that's much more like what the comics portray.

 

Now I’m not saying that your idea can’t work, I’m not even saying that it isn’t a letgitimate design decisison to use when designing a superhero game. I’m just saying that it’s not a good design decision to try and implement in HERO.

 

All that said, I am very glad to see people looking for ways to improve and expand the system and generate discussion about it so please, keep coming up with and posting ideas, even ones some of us don’t like.

 

All right, fair enough. I don't know if I'd use it either, but as an optional rule, it's pretty cool to think about!

[Guest steamteck]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

For supers and the stun lotto problem our board member Cassandra has an interesting solution. I quote

 

" My solution is to apply the STN multiplier only to the BOD that gets through resistant defenses. This makes 'invulnerable' characters genuinely invulnerable to low-dice, non-AB/Find-Weakness-enhanced KAs - a tremendous boon when simulating the supers genre - without sacrificing any of the unpredictability of KAs when used against normal or non-invulnerable supers."

 

This seems compatible with the scaling idea also if one wants to implement it.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

For supers and the stun lotto problem our board member Cassandra has an interesting solution. I quote

 

" My solution is to apply the STN multiplier only to the BOD that gets through resistant defenses. This makes 'invulnerable' characters genuinely invulnerable to low-dice, non-AB/Find-Weakness-enhanced KAs - a tremendous boon when simulating the supers genre - without sacrificing any of the unpredictability of KAs when used against normal or non-invulnerable supers."

 

This seems compatible with the scaling idea also if one wants to implement it.

 

I think we did this by accident at one point, then threw it back out, because it made STUN too weak for our purposes, when a sword strike deals 7 BODY/21 STUN on average, and we use the Hit Location Table. I think it's a viable alternate rule, but not one that worked in our game.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

" My solution is to apply the STN multiplier only to the BOD that gets through resistant defenses. This makes 'invulnerable' characters genuinely invulnerable to low-dice, non-AB/Find-Weakness-enhanced KAs - a tremendous boon when simulating the supers genre - without sacrificing any of the unpredictability of KAs when used against normal or non-invulnerable supers."

 

This seems compatible with the scaling idea also if one wants to implement it.

 

It makes the KA pretty much useless against any serious opponents in many games. How many characters lack the rDEF to avoid taking significant, or any, BOD from a campaign-typical killing attack?

[Guest steamteck]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

It makes the KA pretty much useless against any serious opponents in many games. How many characters lack the rDEF to avoid taking significant' date=' or any, BOD from a campaign-typical killing attack?[/quote']

 

 

That's kind of the point. Its supposed to enforce the military has real problems with supers concept. I don't use it myself but I thought it was an interesting idea for a certain style of campaign.

My campaign is lower power level and what I is do make liberal use of damage reduction for bricks whose defense are 20- so you can damage them but takes lots to put them down. armored characters with hard suits resistance DEF tops out at about 20 ,mostly lower, with up to an extra 20 vs stun. This makes them hard but not impossible for conventional weaponry.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

That's kind of the point. Its supposed to enforce the military has real problems with supers concept. I don't use it myself but I thought it was an interesting idea for a certain style of campaign.

My campaign is lower power level and what I is do make liberal use of damage reduction for bricks whose defense are 20- so you can damage them but takes lots to put them down. armored characters with hard suits resistance DEF tops out at about 20 ,mostly lower, with up to an extra 20 vs stun. This makes them hard but not impossible for conventional weaponry.

 

Settles the guns. What about characters with killing attacks? Their attacks are just as neutered by such a rule.

[Guest steamteck]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

Settles the guns. What about characters with killing attacks? Their attacks are just as neutered by such a rule.

 

 

I don't see the real problem with the genre simulation here. If you're doing silver/early bronze age fits just fine seems to me. Sucks for iron age but since I loathe iron age it would work for me. As I said I don't actually use it, just throwing out for a campaign style which would yep kinda neuter killing attacks. Hey everyone always says killing attacks are to cheap anyway.

 

If you're taking about my use of damage reduction ( I don't think you were) it still just a design philosophy not a rule and the damage reduction does count towards the campaign defense soft cap.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

I think that's the thing of it; you're talking about this application towards a specific genre (Supers) and I am approaching this in terms of the rules. The toolkit itself does not require this; perhaps a new Champions book may employ something made out of this level of handwavium, but I would not. That focuses my other issue; this is a handwave. Given the option to use the toolkit itself (Damage Reduction) that seems to have been summarily dismissed. So if you don't want to apply a given rule from the text towards the self-imposed problem, that drives this back towards the land of handwave.

 

Supers take half damage from Real Weapon because we say so.

 

Which, again, is fine. But it isn't following a rule, it's a very specific campaign type limitation. I still see no reason to apply this to the game wholesale. As an optional sidebar buried somewhere in a text talking about how to make supers interact with the 'real world,' and as a Campaign Rule they all get DR 50% vs. Normal/Human Equipment?

 

Sure. But as a broad spectrum application? Oh, heck no.

[jtelson]

Re: Free equipment side discussion.

 

Well it's not like there aren't already rules that vary based on genre. Combat Skill Levels, Weapon Familiarities, and Pushing are all applied differently in Supersheroic Games per the basic rules.