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Product History
Superworld is a superhero RPG created by Steve Perrin and published by Chaosium in the 1980s. The game is powered by the Basic Role-Playing System, which Call of Cthulhu uses, although it is tweaked to handle comic book style powers. Superworld was originally part of Worlds of Wonder (1982), a boxed set considered to be the first generic multi-genre role-playing system, and was one of three compatible games, the others being Future World, and Magic World. It was further developed into its own boxed set in 1983.
Superworld was available around the same time as the more popular Champions and Villains & Vigilantes games. A few adventures were published in 1984, Bad Medicine for Dr. Drugs, and the Trouble for HAVOC campaign. The Superworld Companion was the last product (1985). When Chaosium ran into financial difficulties, Superworld ceased being a viable game product and has never been republished. Despite the game’s absence, it is still sought after by Basic Role-Playing System fans.
The game’s biggest legacy is theWild Cards book line, which was written with a more realistic framework than most superhero universes. George R.R. Martin developed many of the characters and concepts for the novels while running a role-playing campaign using the Superworld rules.
Layout
Superworld is a boxed set with three b/w booklets: The Superheroes Book (32 pgs.), the Superpowers Book (40 pgs.), and the Gamemasters Book (40 pgs.). The boxed set also contains three pamphlets: reference sheets (charts and tables), character sheets, and NPC characters sheets. There is also a cardstock page with silhouettes that can be cut out. The game originally came with the standard dice as well. In 1984, Chaosium began putting a four-page errata booklet in the box, which my version doesn’t have. The booklets have a larger font than modern games, which makes them easy to read. The art, as well as the whole design of the booklets is very generic, much like the game itself.
Contents
The Superheroes Booklet
This booklet contains character creation, and game mechanics, including combat. Yes, all of this is crammed into 30 pages. One of the really nice things about the character creation section is that at every stage we get an example of how to calculate or apply the rules via the Stormbolt character. It’s a nice touch that many modern games are missing.
Before rolling up stats, players are encouraged to develop a normal/secret identity by choosing an occupation and coming up with an origin story. Superworld uses the standard stats of the Basic Role-Playing System, (STR, CON, SIZ, INT, POW, DEX, APP) and then adds the totals of all the scores together to derive the character’s Hero Points, which are the basis for the character’s powers. Hero Points in Superworld are similar to what Mutants & Masterminds calls Power Points. It is suggested that Hero Points be at least 91 or to let the player re-roll their stats. Then the player uses his/her Hero Points to buy “Levels” of his/her desired superpower, levels in this case resemble Mutants & Masterminds “Ranks”.
At this point in the process, players choose Power Advantages to create new, varied effects for their superpowers along with Power Disadvantages and Handicaps, which provide extra Hero Points. These are all detailed in the Superpowers Booklet. Superworld adds a new, important stat to the Basic Role-Playing System, called “Energy”. Superpowers use Energy like spells use magic points in Call of Cthulhu, although superheroes get more Energy points than investigators get Magic Points. Energy is derived by adding CON and POW and should be supplemented with the Energy Supply superpower.
The Game Mechanics chapter is fairly straightforward for those familiar with the Basic Role-Playing System, but it introduces the concept of “boosting” to allow characters to pull off amazing super-heroic feats. Boosting is the ability to expend extra Energy to push the superhero’s powers past their normal range. It improves the superpower’s Level by 50%, but each Level, above current superpower Level that the character has, costs three-times as much Energy. The superhero risks “burnout” from boosting, meaning they lose that power for awhile. Additionally, the superhero can boost without enough Energy and take damage. STR can also be boosted. Hit Points are also different in Superworld as Hit Points are recovered in terms of rounds rather than days, essentially making them Stun Points. If a hero takes more damage than he has Hit Points then he suffers Permanent Damage. Permanent Damage works on Hit Points, like Cthulhu Mythos works on Sanity in Call of Cthulhu by reducing the number of Hit Points available. Hit Points = SIZ + CON – Permanent Damage.
The Combat section is also straightforward and has new rules for shockwave, aura, and smash attacks. There are also expanded knockback rules in the damage section. I have seen a few web pages that complain about the damage rules, but since I have only rolled up a character and not played the game, I can’t evaluate this, as the damage rules seem adequate in the book.
Superpowers Booklet
The one-page introduction for this booklet states that Superworld provides four sources for superpowers: magical powers, mastered powers (training), mechanical powers, and mutated powers. There are three types of energy used in powers and they are: kinetic, electric, and radiation. There are 88 superpowers grouped into seven categories: Offensive, Defensive, Martial Arts, Movement, Super Characteristics, Supersenses, and Other. These groupings make sense, except for Martial Arts, as “martial arts” is the only superpower in the Martial Arts section. Chaosium should have just listed it in the Other section. Most powers cost three Hero Points per level, a few cost more and some cost less. The Energy use for each power equals the Hero Point cost or costs nothing if the superpower uses no Energy. Some examples of Hero Point cost per level for powers are:
Offensive: Illusion Projection 3, Mind Control 3
Defensive: Absorption 3, Extra Hit Points 1
Martial Arts: Martial Arts 20
Movement: Superspeed 10, Wall walking 1
Super Senses: Empathy 3, Retrocognition 10
Other: Insubstantiality 20, Stretching 3
All the standard powers are present, including super attributes, but there could be more. There aren’t any spells as Superworld does not have the magic system that other Basic Role-Playing System games use. If the character is a sorcerer, then the source for the hero’s powers is simply magic. Also the Gimmick power allows the character to create devices, either magical or mechanical, that bestow superpowers on the hero, but the hero might need to combine this power with the Invent skill.
The next section concerns Power Advantages. There are 13 advantages that help to define and improve powers and would be similar to Power Feats in Mutants & Masterminds except they are much more powerful and generic. Players buy Power Advantages with Hero Points but they usually cost less per level then Powers. Some of the more notable Power Advantages include, Combining (simultaneous use of two powers), Extended Duration, Power Transfer, Radius Affect, and Reduced Energy Cost. Without these advantages, powers could not be used in new and different ways, which is vital to a superhero game
The Skills chapter is next and it has many of the standard Basic Role-Playing System skills but there are few differences. The Superworld skills that differ from Call of Cthulhu are Command (leadership), Criminology, Meditation, Pathfind, Project Energy, Invent, Spot Weakness, and Total Recall. Invent is a must for those who want to create amazing devices or magical weapons and Meditation heals the Hero faster and allows the hero to break free of mind-controlling powers.
The next short section is Power Disadvantages. There are 12 disadvantages but the game encourages the GM and Players to create more. Power Disadvantages provide the player with extra Hero Points during character creation. They can be advanced like superpowers but obviously, provide the character with more Hero Points when they are advanced a Level. Disadvantages are similar to Power Flaws in Mutants & Masterminds and are generic so they can be applied to any superpower. Power Disadvantages have three tiers when it comes to the level of Hero Points they provide, 1/6 for a minor severity, 1/3 for a moderate severity, and ½ for a major severity, the fraction being the amount of the original power’s Hero Point cost. The GM determines the severity of the Power Disadvantage. Examples include: Burnout Chance, Conditional Use, Extra Energy Cost, Side Effect, and Vulnerable Device.
The last chapter in the Superpowers Booklet is Handicaps. Handicaps are similar to weaknesses of the 1st edition Mutants & Masterminds in that they provide the superhero with problems. Some of the Handicaps limit the hero’s abilities while others cause the hero ethical or social dilemmas. By accepting Handicaps the character gets more Hero Points during character creation. Examples include: Bad Habit, Clumsiness, Low Characteristic, Non-super Secret I.D., Personal Problem, Phobia, Skill Limit, and Special Vulnerability. All the Handicaps are straightforward and illustrate familiar superhero troubles from comic books, like Spiderman’s sick Aunt, to deadly Kryptonite.
Gamemasters Book
The last booklet is divided into three sections, gamemaster obligations, and two adventures. The gamemaster section is bare bones and discusses how to run a superhero campaign. It provides general advice on plotlines, superhero income, supervillains, and superhero groups. The most useful section concerns the Law because it gives descriptions and punishments for crimes although it is out of date. The chapter concludes with stats for animals.
The second section is an adventure called The Deadly Devices of Doctor Dread. It’s a familiar scenario, where the player characters take the roles of new heroes who join a famous group with an acronym name, i.e. FORCE. Through trickery by the supervillain, Doctor Dread, the heroes must rescue the “A list” NPC heroes during a major battle in a secret lair. It reads like an outline for a Villains & Vigilantes module. Its adequate but would not fly in today’s gamming world. In the last section the superheroes must confront cosmic evil brought to their dimension through the actions of a mad sorcerer who casts a horrible spell from the Shadow Tome, a book stolen by his operatives from the university library. Basically it’s an introductory Call of Cthulhu adventure with superpowers. Again it’s sufficient, but nothing to write home about.
Impressions
Superworld is a very generic game but the rules are sufficient for regular superhero gamming. It doesn’t come with a lot of supporting material like pre-generated characters or a well-defined campaign world. The character creation process is much longer than other Basic Role-Playing System games. I believe the reason for this is because Superworld has no hero archetypes, and thus choosing and defining powers is a subjective process. The players really need to know what they want. The rules are geared towards those who desire a lot of leeway in their characters and don’t like arbitrary concepts and powers forced on them like Villains & Vigilantes. Superworld has no means of quickly judging the relative power levels of heroes and villains and so the gamemaster has to spend extra time examining the powers and stats of the players and NPCs to ensure game balance.
Currently there are several good superhero games on the market, so it really would not be worth most gamers’ time to track Superworld down. However, if you are a gamer who uses the Basic Role-Playing System as a universal game system, then you would find these rules useful. One could adapt Superworld’s powers to play mutants in a Sci-Fi setting or as new powers and abilities for magic weapons. I adapted some of the Handicaps for Call of Cthulhu. One player wanted a few more points for stats so I let him have a drug problem for two points. The powers could also be adapted to Stormbringer providing level advancement and new abilities for demons. Boosting and Permanent Damage might have their uses as well, as long as game balance is closely monitored.
Pros
It’s simple, straightforward and has a lot of flexibility in the rules. If you know the Basic Role-Playing System it is easy to learn. Superworld introduces superpowers, Advantages, Disadvantages and Handicaps for the Basic Role-Playing System.
Cons
It is old, out-of-print, and hard to find. Several current games on the market are better. Character creation is subjective and somewhat time consuming when it comes to superpowers. Hardly any supplements were made for Superworld. Magic and gadget rules are too generic for most gamers.
Who Would Find It Useful?
Basic Role-Playing System fans, Chaosium game collectors, superhero RPG game collectors, folks interested in RPG rules development, and Steve Perrin fans.
Conclusion
Superworld is a solid, generic, 1980s superhero role-playing game. It’s not amazing and it’s not terrible. There is no reason to hunt for it if you aren’t one of the folks Who Would Find It Useful (see above).
NOTE
I think that Chaosium should re-release Superworld as a monograph, which is an inexpensive, photocopy, product line they publish. They could reassert their copyright and make it available to RPG fans for their homebrew superhero adventures.
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