[01-7998] Supers.pdf

Written by WILLIAM H. STODDARD Edited by ANDY VETROMILE

Cover Art by DAVID DORMAN and JOHN ZELEZNIK

Illustrated by JOHN HARTWELL, GREG HYLAND, GREG KIRKPATRICK,

and DOUG SHULER

An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS ®

STEVE JACKSON GAMES

Stock #37-0302

Version 1.0 – July 27, 2007

C ONTENTS

Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Best Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Love Interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Point Values for Dependents

and Allies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

A RCHENEMIES AND R OGUES ’ G ALLERIES . . . 69

The Schemer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

New Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

The Antithesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The Dark Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The Double Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The Good Conspiracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The Nuisance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Villain Team-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

The Rogues’ Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

E NTANGLED R ELATIONSHIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Watchers and Rivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

I NTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Racial Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

High Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Attributes and Skill Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

S TRENGTH AND S UPER -S TRENGTH . . . . . . . . 24

Under the Hood: The Cost of

Super-Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

A DVANTAGES , D ISADVANTAGES ,

AND S KILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Itching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Modular Abilities and Modifiers . . . . . . . . . 27

New Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Perks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

New Disadvantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Quirks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

New Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Meta-Trait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Power Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Skills and Super-Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Wildcard Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

N EW P OWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Animal Function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Elasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Phasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Plant Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

T EMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Wildcard Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Sleight of Hand Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Enchanted Items as Signature Gear . . . . . 55

A TTACK A BILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

M OTIVATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

D UAL I DENTITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Your Own Worst Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

1. L ARGER THAN L IFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S OURCES AND I NSPIRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Masked Avengers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Superhumans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Prodigies of Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Lost Races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Extraterrestrials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

H ISTORY OF THE G ENRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Originals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Golden Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Silver Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Comics Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Darker Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

New Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Retro Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

T HE F ORMULA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Secret Identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Code Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Costume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Powers and Abilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Origin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Alternative Naming Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

The Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

V ARIANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Other Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Darker Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

The Achilles’ Heel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Limited Powers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Single-Source Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Heroes without Personae . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Supers . . . but Not Super Heroes. . . . . . . 12

Crossover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

C AMPAIGNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Genre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Breaking the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4. S ETS AND P ROPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Tools of the Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

One Use Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Hybrid Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Unusual Background and Equipment . . . . 75

B REAKABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Taking Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

E QUIPMENT AND E XTRA E FFORT . . . . . . . . . . 76

C OSTUMES AND A RMOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Disguises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Adaptable Clothing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Armor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Acquiring a Costume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Exoskeleta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Shields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

P ERSONAL G EAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Sensors and Computers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Stealth and Intrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Medical Gear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Gizmos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

W EAPONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Consumable Signature Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Gun Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Weapons as Gizmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

U NIQUE E QUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

T RANSPORTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Personal Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Swinging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Rider-Powered Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

H EADQUARTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Concealment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Structure and Fortifications . . . . . . . . . . . 88

P ETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

S ERVANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

M AGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Enchanted Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

2. H EROES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

P OWER L EVELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

O RGANIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Solo Hero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Full-Time Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Legion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Non-Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

O RIGINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

E LEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Passive Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Wild Advantages and Disadvantages . . . . 22

3. S UPPORTING C ASTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

T EAMMATES AND T EAM O RGANIZATION . . . . 64

Extra Team Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Team Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Teams as Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Teammates as Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

T RUSTED A SSISTANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Under the Hood: Multiple

Appearance Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

S IDEKICKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

M ENTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Wildcard Skills for Supporting Cast . . . . . . 66

P ERSONAL R ELATIONSHIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

GURPS System Design

❚

STEVE JACKSON

Production Artist

❚

ALEX FERNANDEZ

GURPS Line Editor

❚

SEAN PUNCH

SHELLI GALEY

and MONICA STEPHENS

Marketing Director

Print Buyers

❚

Indexer

❚

THOMAS WEIGEL

PHIL REED and JUSTIN DE WITT

Managing Editor

❚

PAUL CHAPMAN

❚

PHIL REED

Sales Manager

❚

ROSS JEPSON

Production Manager

❚

MONICA STEPHENS

Errata Coordinator

❚

ANDY VETROMILE

Art Direction

❚

WILL SCHOONOVER

GURPS FAQ MAINTAINER

❚

STÉPHANE THÉRIAULT

Lead Playtester: Jeff Wilson

Playtesters: Frederick Brackin (The Tinker), Jim Cambias (Doctor Thoth), Peter V. Dell'Orto (Martial Arts Guy), Scott Michael Harris (The Pontificator), Martin Heidemann (Pomphis), Steve Kenson

(Mastermind), Jason Levine (Reverend Pee Kitty), Patrick Ley (Hexslinger), Christian Maillefaud (Cosmic Catman), Phil Masters, Brian Rogers (Agent of THEM), and Emily Smirle (Gal Dynamo)

GURPS , Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid , Supers , e23 , and the names of all products

published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. GURPS Supers is

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C ONTENTS

Page Design

Alchemical Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Divine Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Spell Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Did You See That? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

The Mechanical Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

No Evil Shall Escape My Sight. . . . . . . . 107

Reading the Hearts of Men . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Looking Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

How Not to Be Seen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

M ASTERING THE M IND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Hiding Your Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Concealed Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Influencing Other Minds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

C OMIC -B OOK W IZARDRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

I NVENTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Sabotage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

V ERSATILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Modular Abilities and Skills . . . . . . . . . . 112

A MAZING J OURNEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

B EYOND THE L IMITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

One-Use Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Latent Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Godlike Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

S PENDING C HARACTER

P OINTS ON F EATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

S PEED AND M ANEUVERABILITY . . . . . . . . . . 126

C OMBAT T ELEPORTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

D UEL OF THE M IND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Mental Grappling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Psychic Duels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Mental Crippling and Killing . . . . . . . . . 127

5. A LL -N EW A DVENTURES . . . . . . . . . 91

O N P ATROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

P IECES OF THE P UZZLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

First Encounter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Exposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Complications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

The Final Confrontation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Deathtraps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

A LTERNATE A DVENTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Catastrophes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Detective Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Elsewhere or Elsewhen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Helping Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Invasions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Mob Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Oppression and Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Other Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Time Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

A DVENTURE S EEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Character Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

8. U NIVERSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

O NE P REMISE OR M ANY ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

One Origin, One Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

One Origin, Many Places. . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Jane’s All the World’s Superhumans . . . . . 129

Many Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

T HE B EGINNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

N UMBERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Overall Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

First-Person Super . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Regional Distributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Top Twelve Rankings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Local Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

C AREERS AND H ISTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Individual Career Length. . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Historical Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Retrospective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

R OLES OF S UPERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Villains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Mercenaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Supers in the Workforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Supers in Private Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

H ISTORICAL I MPACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Heroes and the Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Varied Power Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

C ULTURAL I NFLUENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Popular Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

National Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Science. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Self-Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

W IDER H ORIZONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Advanced Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Alien Races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Lost Races and Hidden Realms . . . . . . . 142

Microworlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Other Dimensions and

Supernatural Beings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Parallel Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Time Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

C AMPAIGN S EEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Prior Art: Supers Settings in GURPS . . . 145

7. C LASHES OF T ITANS . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

F OUR -C OLOR C OMBAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Rules for Cinematic Campaigns . . . . . . . 116

Rules for Four-Color Campaigns . . . . . . 116

Rules for Silly Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

A M ATTER OF L IFE AND D EATH . . . . . . . . . . 117

Hard to Kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Flesh Wounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Four-Color Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

No One Dies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

A World without Death? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

M ASTER AGAINST M ASTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

O NE -M AN A RMIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

M IGHTY B LOWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Big Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Improvised Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Throwing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Bodies Flying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Under the Hood: ST Requirements . . . . . 121

H UMAN A RTILLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

B ULLETPROOF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Parrying Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Damage Reduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Unkillable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

M AN VERSUS M ACHINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Fists of Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Lifting and Grappling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Collisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Benchmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Huge Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

The Fragile World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Cosmic Scale Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

6. A MAZING F EATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

F OUR -C OLOR R OLEPLAYING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Rules for Cinematic Campaigns . . . . . . . 100

Rules for Four-Color Campaigns . . . . . . 100

Rules for Silly Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

R AW S TRENGTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Lifting Enormous Weights . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Bending Steel Bars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

A MAZING S PEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Travel Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Maneuvering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Under the Hood: Maximum

Travel Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Time and Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

I NDESTRUCTIBILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Corrosion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Optional Rules: Speed Talent

and Skill Bonuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Decompression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Electric Shock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Heat and Cold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Immersion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

R ULING THE E LEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Chemical Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Friction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

P ERCEPTION AND M EMORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

S UPER -A BILITIES TABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

B IBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

I NDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

About GURPS

Steve Jackson Games is committed to full support of GURPS players.

Our address is SJ Games, P.O. Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760. Please include

a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) any time you write us! We can

also be reached by e-mail: info@sjgames.com . Resources include:

Pyramid ( www.sjgames.com/pyramid ). Our online magazine includes

new GURPS rules and articles. It also covers the d20 system , Ars Magica,

BESM, Call of Cthulhu, and many more top games – and other Steve

Jackson Games releases like Illuminati, Car Wars, Transhuman Space,

and more. Pyramid subscribers also get opportunities to playtest new

GURPS books!

New supplements and adventures. GURPS continues to

grow, and we’ll be happy to let you know what’s new. For

a current catalog, send us a legal-sized SASE, or just visit www.ware-

house23.com .

e23. Our e-publishing division offers GURPS adventures, play aids, and

support not available anywhere else! Just head over to e23.sjgames.com .

Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but we

do our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata sheets for

all GURPS releases, including this book, are available on our website – see

below.

Internet. Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.sjgames.com for errata,

updates, Q&A, and much more. To discuss GURPS with SJ Games staff and

fellow gamers, come to our forums at forums.sjgames.com . The GURPS

Supers web page can be found at www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/supers .

Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bibliographies, and

we’re putting them online – with links to let you buy the books that interest

you! Go to the book’s web page and look for the “Bibliography” link.

Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the GURPS Basic

Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that begin with B refer to that book, not

this one.

C ONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

The publication of GURPS Powers gave GURPS players a

powerful new set of tools for describing the abilities of supers

in game terms. With its help, almost any power from the

comics can be defined and balanced against other abilities.

But there’s more to supers than powers. Their adventures

are an entire genre, with its own themes and conventions.

Stories whose characters are as powerful as comic-book

heroes, but don’t follow those conventions, are better classified

as science fiction, fantasy, or horror. And there have been many

comic book heroes with no powers at all.

GURPS Supers is a guide to the supers genre . That is, it’s

not about powers or mechanics; it’s about stories, characters,

and worlds. Building on the material in GURPS Powers , it

shows how to use that book to run a campaign that feels like

stories about supers.

Not that it’s devoid of mechanics. Players who love game

mechanics will find some here, especially in chapters 6 and 7.

But the emphasis isn’t on mechanics for their own sake; it’s on

making the mechanics serve the needs of the genre.

Other chapters talk about the genre in its own right, and

about translating it from comic books to roleplaying sessions –

without sacrificing the essence of the super adventure: the

reader’s sense of wonder, and the characters that embody it.

Chapter 1 of this book reviews the history of the genre and

examines its key features. Chapters 2-4 look at the heroes

themselves; their supporting casts; and their equipment, cos-

tumes, vehicles, and bases. Chapter 5 examines the typical

plots of comic book adventures and shows how to make them

work in a game. Chapters 6 and 7 provide game mechanics for

superhuman action. And Chapter 8 discusses the construction

of supers universes as campaign settings.

Blankenship’s exploration of the political realities of a world

with active superhumans, built on further by Robert M.

Schroeck in GURPS IST , was a stimulus to the discussion of

campaign settings in this book’s Chapter 8.

A BOUT THE A UTHOR

William H. Stoddard acquired an early enthusiasm for

reading and the English language, partly with the help of Silver

Age comic books. This eventually led him into a career as a

developmental editor, specializing in scientific and scholarly

materials. He discovered roleplaying games in time to play

Superhero 2044 and Villains and Vigilantes when they first

came out; he currently plays in two campaigns, runs three, and

writes game books, including the Origins Award winning

GURPS Steampunk and his most recent book, GURPS

Fantasy . All this gives him more reasons for indulging in his

other favorite hobby, research. The supers genre is still one of

his favorites. He lives in San Diego, California, with his girl-

friend of twenty-plus years, in an apartment that holds one

computer, two cats, and far too many books – despite which he

still visits two libraries as often as he can. Don’t even ask about

the garage!

P UBLICATION H ISTORY

GURPS Supers has had two previous editions, both

designed for use with GURPS Basic Set , Third Edition . The

first edition introduced game mechanics for a wide array of

superhuman abilities, many of which were grouped into “pow-

ers,” though not in the same way as the current rules. Nearly

all of this material has been incorporated into GURPS Basic

Set , Fourth Edition and GURPS Powers , most in substantially

revised versions. So have the gadgeteering rules. In addition,

the first edition provided rules for super combat and feats,

advice on running a supers campaign, and a “worked example”

campaign world, the setting of the International Super Teams

(IST). The second edition did away with “powers” as groups of

abilities and added more depth to the other content.

All of this material was inspirational for this volume, but

almost none of it was specifically incorporated into it. This is

partly because the mechanical aspects have already been incor-

porated into the core GURPS rules, producing a more smooth-

ly integrated system – rather than laying the same foundation,

this book focuses on customizing that system to the needs of

the four-color genre and a specific campaign world. And it’s

partly because this book does not provide a setting for a supers

campaign, so there is no IST material here. However, Loyd

T HANKS

The author is grateful to Eben Brooks, game master of the

Metahuman Vector campaign, for giving him a chance to play

GURPS Supers under his own rules (as “La Gata Encantada”),

and to his fellow players, Allison Lonsdale (“Bulletproof”),

Doug Poston (“Doctor Lock”), Tim Sallume (“Gravitas”), and

Dave Thun (“Shrike”), for helping to make it entertaining.

I NTRODUCTION

L ARGER

THAN L IFE

The corridors of the temple were dark, especially here below

the ground. The Scarab moved cautiously, not wanting to stum-

ble over anything. Drawing attention to himself would be a bad

idea; this part of the building was off-limits to the public, even

during the daytime. The devotees might be eccentric, but many of

them were wealthy; the police would side with them against a

masked intruder. But his questions were too urgent for him to be

bound by legalities.

There, up ahead, was a source of light: a single fixture mount-

ed above an alcove. Shielding his eyes, he peered into the shad-

owed space below and made out a door, and a still figure – a stat-

ue? no, it was moving now – a man, standing guard.

As it stepped out into the light, the air seemed to shimmer as

if his vision had blurred. Then there were three figures, not one,

all clad alike, and each holding two knives. They came down the

corridor toward him; there must have been enough light for them

to see him.

He briefly considered whether it would be better to retreat –

but any room guarded by a sorcerer would surely yield important

information. And if he left, he couldn’t hope for another chance,

after putting them on guard. He raised his staff. At least in this

narrow corridor it would be hard for them to get behind him.

Two of them moved ahead of the third. He struck one with his

staff, but felt no resistance. Were these glamours of some kind,

then? But the one at his left slashed at his arm, and he felt the

impact as the blade glanced off the metal bands of his armor. His

counterstrike passed through that one’s knife hand, instead of

breaking its grip; the three figures’ movements interwove in com-

plex patterns, like a dance with changing partners.

The three figures spoke, in unison, in a carrying whisper.” We

are Legion. You cannot defeat us.”

He fell back into a defensive stance for a moment, to give him-

self time to observe. Listening carefully, he could tell that one of

the three figures was breathing audibly, and he could feel the

vibrations of its footfalls on the wooden floor. The other two had

no such physicality. Having found his true target he struck out,

and as his staff slammed against its head the two creatures of

goetia shimmered and faded away. He pressed forward against

his dazed opponent, batting the knife from his left hand. An

instant later he parried the right-hand knife, and then jabbed his

foe’s torso, knocking him to the floor. One final blow and the sor-

cerer was unconscious.

Now to see if he could get through the door. But he didn’t have

much time to investigate . . .

Supers adventures, as a genre, came into being in 1938 with

the first appearance of Superman in Action Comics . Every ele-

ment of the story had precursors in earlier fiction, but the com-

bination was new – and wildly successful. It was quickly imi-

tated, as publishers rushed other titles into print. Over the fol-

lowing decades supers dominated American comics, and

branched out into other media: film and television, novels and

short stories, and roleplaying games. Games about supers are

one of the more popular genres, and the ability to handle them

smoothly is widely regarded as one of the most demanding

tests of a game system’s flexibility.

Supers aren’t science fiction, though many have science-

fictional origins and adventures. They aren’t fantasy, though

some cast spells, or wield magic weapons, or face magically

talented foes. They aren’t detectives, though most of their mis-

sions involve fighting crime. Supers adventures are set in a

world where all these types of material can coexist; where an

alien with strange powers, a brilliant inventor, a spellcaster,

and a detective who’s good at punching out his foes can team

up to save the world. Most genres try to limit their wonders

and marvels, tracing them all back to one fantastic premise;

supers adventure usually piles them up, creating a world of

open-ended possibilities. If the GM wants to run a campaign in

such a world, this book shows him how.

S OURCES AND I NSPIRATIONS

Several literary elements went into the creation of the first

supers. All of them were changed in the process. Characters in

such campaigns can still find inspiration in the older concepts.

Some operated in historical settings, such as the Scarlet

Pimpernel (published 1905), the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh

(published 1915), Zorro (published 1919), and the Lone Ranger

(aired 1933); others were present-day adventurers, such as the

Shadow (published 1931 after earlier radio appearances) and

the Green Hornet (aired 1936). In an early example of shared

continuity (see p. 7), the Green Hornet was the Lone Ranger’s

nephew.

M ASKED A VENGERS

Earlier 20th-century fiction featured many heroes who

fought crime or oppression in disguise and under pseudonyms.

L ARGER THAN L IFE

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