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I wish, when I first opened Capes, that there was a warning that told me to put away my preconceptions about RPGs. If I had done that, rather than trying to force my “round” expectations into the “square hole” of the Capes rules, I would have grasped the game a whole lot faster.
This was a hard review for me to write in retrospect. Capes is unlike most RPGs I am familiar with and it took some time to really grasp the style of play it promotes. Once I did, however, I ended up with a Supers game that I am quite proud to own and had a blast playing. Capes is also a game that I desperately want to like even more- but some missteps like difficult to understand jargon and some obtuse rules make it so I can’t rate Capes any higher… no matter how much I want to.
A little background on why I sought out a copy of Capes… about a year ago I saw the Incredibles and absolutely loved it. From then on, I wanted to find a game that I could play in the Incredibles setting- something fairly light and whimsical and that specifically promoted Supers-style play. Eventually, I tracked down a copy of Capes after reading the ad-copy and perusing it at Origins 2005. It seemed like the best-fit for the type of game I was looking for.
When I first started reading through Capes, I thought I made a mistake. I had a hard time grasping the rules and reading through the new Capes-specific jargon. Once or twice I had to go back and re-read sections, trying to figure out what I was getting wrong. Once I pushed my way through the book, I understood what I was doing wrong and I was making my understanding of the game one hundred times harder because I wasn’t really absorbing what Capes was suggesting- instead I was trying to fit it into the rpg paradigm I was expecting.
The problem was not with capes, it was with what I was trying to do with Capes. Square peg, round hole.
Once I altered my expectations on what I could do with Capes, it turned out to be exactly what I wanted and a great fit for a couple games set in the Incredibles world. Capes promotes a different style of play than most roleplayers are used to, one that I can best summarize as “competitive storytelling.” Capes is a good game for comic book emulation and despite a few problems, gets a big thumbs up from me.
Production values are quite good if not outstanding. For an indie product the book itself and the art inside are quite good, but up against the more professional rpgs out there, it is nothing special. Art inside is standard pencil B&W. Much of the art has an anime feel. The art in Capes matches the writing of the page and facilitates the understanding of the rules (lots of example illos to facilitate the rules- a godsend). Binding is solid and pages are nice and thick. The book is the smaller size we see nowadays- like some of Eden’s products. The cover is a reasonable comic-style pic of a hero in green tights knocking out an Ironman-wannabe.
The thing I really like about Capes’s production qualities is the use of graphics and art as a teaching tool. The art within the book is straightforward and understandable, making the rules easier to understand. I wish more games spent the time to do things like this and it is a big plus in my opinion. To further aid the understanding of the rules Capes uses bullets with page numbers inside them to help direct a reader to clarifications of rules. So, while the art is nothing spectacular, the way it is used makes all the difference and greatly improves my opinion of the presentation of Capes.
Now, to the meat of the book: the rules. First off, there is NO GM in Capes. Yeas, you read that right, there is no GM. This was the source of a lot of my problems with understanding Capes. Once I wrapped my head around an rpg with no GM and how you go about playing such a game, Capes becomes a refreshing look at roleplaying. The key to playing Capes is focusing on competitive storytelling- each player taking turns deciding on what a particular character does. Each player takes turns setting up the scenes and deciding the number and types of conflicts. The other players add description to the scenes and help the lead player decide how things should be resolved. Then with some rolls of the dice (discussed later) the group figures out what happens and how it goes down.
Capes uses a lot of comic-book terms. Unfortunately, these terms sometimes become a bit of a burden to understand. There are “Pages” (much like rounds in other games), “Control” (narrative control), “Scenes” (a collection of pages), ‘Conflicts” (figuring out who gets to narrate the problems), and “Gloating” (a continuing action if the bad guy remains undefeated). Capes has a lot of jargon and it is daunting at times to work through it- even with the use of the art and numbered bullets.
To the game’s credit there are examples of play throughout the book. While the rules may be obtuse at times, the author made a special effort to show the reader what typical play might be like. Again, the visuals and graphics of the game are often married to the examples of play going one step further in accessibility. Bravo.
The basic mechanic in Capes is simple. Players get a base D6 to use to compete with the other players to see who can roll highest. The highest roll on a particular event indicates who narrates the outcome. Thus, if you roll your dice and come up with less than someone else at the table that has a character involved in the event- then they get to decide what happens. The loser in most rolls (the guy who does not “resolve the event” and does not get a chance to narrate) gets some sort of consolation prize they can use in later rounds- usually in the form of “inspiration” (and bonus dice”). Players can also cite special cases where the character has a vested interest or uses its powers to gain bonus dice- improving their odds at controlling the scene.
The character design process is inspired. In short, a player uses a series of paired interlocking characteristics to help define their characters. This is where the use of art and graphic design really come into their own in Capes. Players take powers and careers on the left side and pair them to personalities on the right. In this way, new characters are a breeze to develop and on-the-fly NPCs take only a few seconds to develop (extremely important). There are ways to personalize each character or design your own… but the “click and lock” process is quite nifty and very useful.
Capes also includes a whole slew of advanced rules. Some of these rules, like “Phenomena” (advanced ways to frame a scene or define a conflict) use easy to use tables and more nifty graphic design to aid the telling of the story. There is a chapter dedicated to tactics- very useful for putting the rules into context. In fact, I would highly suggest that any prospect player of Capes take the time to read the tactics section- there are a lot of hints and subtle suggestions that help fill in the holes about actual gameplay.
Capes is all about competitive storytelling. While the players are not outright opponents of one another, they are adversarial in the fact that only one gets to narrate at a time. This takes some getting used to and certain personalities will have a rough time with theis style of play. In particular, those players that like to really work as support players, to see the group as a whole prosper, are not going to deal with capes very well. Over time, emotional investment in one character or another and the desire to see those characters succeed certainly helps (and instills the proper amount of competitiveness). In this way Capes has more in common with the cooperative boardgame Arkham Horror than it does with Mutants and Masterminds.
My Final Thoughts:
I still don't know if I should give Capes a 3/3 or a 4/4. While I think the rules are pretty strong and obviously promote a new style of gameplay (deserving a 4)… they are hard to understand at times and their clarity needs improvment (deserving a 3). Also, I dig on the graphic design a good deal for its utility and believe that the effort to link the tect and the examples to the art is laudable (deserving a 4). However, the art is a bit spartan and usually simple black and white drawings- nothing terribly special (which deserves a 3). So, If I was rating Capes against other Indie games it would get a 4/4… but against more professional works, it falls down a bit. All told, I want to give it a 3.5/3/5 to reflect that it is above average- but not quite in the top 75% in either category.
Decisions... decisions.
So... averaging my feelings I round up. Capes gets a reluctant 4/4 from me on the srength of some refreshingly useful graphic design and my enjoyment of seeing a new style of play. Its just different and exciting enough to deserve the 4/4 in my opinion.
