[Super World] Some Basics

Working on a hack for playing a superpowered campaigning with an AW base. Primary inspirations is part Marvel and part Aberrant RPG, I guess you could say. What is important:
 - People are real people, with superpowers.
 - Personal relations are central. Stuff that are what makes the supers people, just like us, the players.
 - No measuring of the exact tonnage the hulk can lift or of how far spiderman can jump.
 - uhm, more, I guess. It'll get clearer.

Some basic moves
These feel really basic, and maybe too flat or something. Many do just what the AW basic moves do but with different wording, I think...

When you fight for something, you get worn and hurt. Roll+strong. On a strong hit, you choose three. On a weak hit, you choose two:

• You get what you fight for
• You opponents are defeated
• You are not worn
• You are not hurt
• There is no collateral damage

When you try to outspeed someone or something, roll+fast. On a strong hit, you're fast enough. On a weak hit the MC tells you what it will cost you if you keep speeding, like getting you worn or hurt or causing collateral damage, for example, and then you choose.
 
When you defy the odds, roll+cool. On a strong hit, you pull through. On a weak hit, you can choose to do it, but the MC will tell you the consequences, like getting worn or hurt or causing collateral damage, or something else depending on the situation.

When you set something up, describe what you do and how it gives you or an ally +1forward, and roll+bright. On a strong hit, it goes as you say. On a weak hit the MC tells you what consequences you must accept if you go through with it and lets you choose.

When you push people to do as you want by telling them something good or bad that will come to them if they do or don't, roll+suave. On a strong hit, they take your word for it. On a weak hit, they need you to prove it before they do as you say.

When you go up against superior numbers, take -1ongoing against them if they're a bunch. Take -2ongoing if there's a shitload of them.

When you attempt something that is obviously out of your league (according to the MC's judgement), you just can't do it.

The last one might be a bit superfluous, but it's there as a reminder that, since we don't measure how super someone is, there's going to be some calling to on the MC's part. There's an "obviously" there, because it should be apparent from how things are established in the fiction, but the MC needs to be the one to ultimately call it. I think.

Also, I guess setting something up should give you hold to spend instead. I'll rewrite that.

Next up, a different way to do injury and the like...

Getting worn, getting hurt, and Recovering

 
When you get worn, you check one of the worn traits and follow what it says, and the same with getting hurt. If you have one checked, you cannot choose it again, obviously.
 
Worn traits:

• Angry: you take -1ongoing when you do things that requires calm demeanor or a friendly face.
• Stressed: you take -1ongoing when you don't go for immediate results.
• Down: you take -1ongoing when you do things that require confidence.
• Desperate: you take -1ongoing when you don't act self-destructively.
• Scared: you take -1ongoing when you act boldly.

Hurt traits:

• Stunned: you take -1forward directly after you get bruised.
• Lost balance: you take -1forward when you need to be quick with a follow-up.
• Slowed: you take -1ongoing when you need your speed.
• Hurting: you take -1ongoing on everything you do that requires your health.
• A mess: you take -2ongoing on everything you do that requires you health, but this does not stack with Hurting.

When you spend some time recovering in some way with at least one other person, like chilling out, sparring to blow off steam, getting drunk, having sex or something similar that means recovering in some way, you can remove one of the worn traits.
 
If the recovering includes getting patched up or healed in some other way, you also get to remove one of the hurt traits. This has to take some reasonable time, depending on how you are hurt.

Yes, recovering is very much based on refreshment scenes in Solar System/Shadow of Yesterday. I've had so much fun with that in the last few years.

The idea with the hurt traits is of course that you take the "lesser" ones first, and then you have to take the harder ones. Also, in a physical fight, you generally would prefer to get worn instead of hurt, since getting worn usually does not ruin your ability to fight on. But they are all ongoing, so you'd probably like to get rid of them soon. Thus, more recovery scenes, for that lovely change of pace in the session.

Of course, there will be character moves that will trigger from these traits and manipulating them. I'm thinking a standard toughness move will let you become worn instead of getting hurt.

Oh, and since I don't track damage the same way AW does, I need different gang rules. Hence the rather primitive -1/-2 move above. I'm not sure if this is a bit lame or not.

Stuff on threats, and lives, and super types will follow, but thoughts on just this is welcome!

I think the worn/hurt and refresh scene thing will work really well in an AW hack (without having tried it, obviously). As you develop it, I'd add some slightly more specific choices to the moves (not super specific, just like the way act under fire has "offer a hard bargain, a worse outcome, or an ugly choice"). As it is "the MC will tell you the consequences" doesn't give the MC much in the way of inspiration, and having every move that way takes away some opportunities for tough but interesting player choices. Are powers gonna just be moves?

Jeff, thanks for the pepp!

Powers, I was going to do that real descriptive, to a large part just letting the players define what their characters can do and then how they do it. I want to stay very far away from the Mutants & Masterminds way of quantifying how strong super-strong is, and letting the fiction dictate when regular moves trigger. Here, two very primitive drafts of super types:

The Brick

You are very strong and durable. Take strong+2 and choose other stats between -2 and +1 so they sum up to +1. You get these two moves:
    * Super-tough: Whenever you get hurt, you can choose to get worn instead.
    * Super-strong: When you fight, you can always choose to defeat your enemies, on top of you regular options and even on a miss, but if you do you have to cause collateral damage. Choose how strong you are:
          o Heavy-weight: You push down doors, knock people out with one punch and can even turn over a car.
          o Super-human: You punch through sheet steel, throw cars down the streets and kick people through walls.
          o Godlike: You tear down buildings and juggle aeroplanes.

Also choose some of these:
    * Berserk: Whenever you get worn in a fight, you get +1forward to fight back.
    * Quick healer: You can recover from being hurt the same way as from being worn.
    * Intimidating: When you push people by threatening them, roll+strong instead of rolling+suave.
    * Tank: Never take a penalty for going up against superior numbers.
    * Ram: When you want to ram someone or something at full speed, roll+fast to set it up instead of rolling+bright.


The 'Porter

Take +2cool and choose other stats between -2 and +1 so they sum up to +1. Choose one of these:
    * Teleport: you disappear from one place and instantly reappear somewhere else.
    * Portal: you make an opening in space where you and anyone else that fits its size can pass instantly to another location. That is, both friends and enemies can use it while it is open.

One of these:
    * You cannot 'port when you are hurt.
    * 'Porting is not discreet. Lights, sounds, maybe smells, make it apparent you've gone or come.
    * You cannot 'port repeatedly, you must rest a bit between 'ports.
    * You can only 'port to places you know well or have seen yourself.
    * (etc)

And some of these:
    * You 'port fast enough to use in combat; when you do, roll+cool instead of roll+strong.
    * You can take people with you if you teleport, or choose who comes through if you make portals.
    * You can 'port to different dimensions and worlds.

So, powers are basically descriptions of what you can do. Actions you take, with or without using powers, trigger moves.

Um, yeah.