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First off, I was impressed with the sheer size of the book – 338 pages. As a comparison, the 3.5 D&D core books all come in at 320 pages.
The book is broken down by well-defined chapters, starting with an eleven-page overview of the history of comics. I found this to be interesting, as I (up until about a week ago) found it hard to believe that there could be anyone who wanted to play a supers campaign without really knowing about comic-book-heroes. The first chapter ends with the standard example of “what is role-playing?” but also goes into the concept of a “silver age” hero.
Chapter 2 is character creation, and this is one of the things that I like best about SASd20. Standard d20 rules apply with some exception – STR bonuses are not used in the “To Hit” calculations (to avoid having a powerhouse hit all the time), and similarly DEX bonuses are not used in AC calculations. SASd20 makes use of the class/level system that is common among d20 games, and introduces 9 new classes to that effect. However, character creation is largely a point-based affair (with both attribute scores as well as power-points coming from the same pool).
The capability of generating characters strictly by using the SASd20 book seems to fly in the face of the OGL, but I enjoy the fact that it makes the game that much more self-contained. The majority of the chapter is devoted to the various powers, how they work and how they would be retrofitted into a more traditional d20 system. The fact that many of the powers were very open ended (for example, the power “Special Attack” [a 1d6+2 per power level] could be a fireball, sonic blast, martial-arts strike or energy sword depending on what the player wants) gives an extreme amount of flexibility to the system, where the concepts are just as important as the mechanics. The powers also work on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest), so that two characters that might have similar powers could have them on extraordinarily differing scales – something that is woefully lacking in other super RPG’s I have seen.
The next portion of the chapter is devoted to Skills, which is another way that SASd20 differs from a more standard d20 system. There are no Feats in SASd20; Skills are used for both combat and non-combat abilities with this regard. Then the idea of “Character Defects” is brought into play, something else I think that was particularly well done. From the blurb on page 94, we see the game designers’ thoughts on what comprises a “Character Defect”:
"My Overconfident, Lazy, Stubborn Honourable Superhero
"No, you don’t get any Bonus Points for creating overconfident characters in Silver Age Sentinels. Or truthful ones, or sadistic ones, or shy ones. Less desirable personality traits should appear in the game through role-playing, not Points on a character sheet. If your character is a coward, then portray him or her as cowardly. It’s just that simple.
"Defects represent disadvantages over which your character has little or no control (i.e. no free will). One example is Phobia – a person with the irrational fear has no choice to be afraid of the specific trigger. A Phobia is not a personality trait."
Chapter 3 details the mechanics of the d20 system with regard to Ability Checks, Skill Checks and how combat functions. The chapter is reasonably exhaustive in that just about everything superhero-related is touched on at least briefly.
Chapter 4 details the creation and modification of both vehicles and equipment, and to be completely honest I didn’t spend much time on this chapter.
Chapter 5 deals with “Playing Superheroes,” and to that end is geared toward providing sample character concepts and examples of how each might be implemented. Combined with the next chapter – “GMing Superheroes” – there is quite a bit of useful material for not only those new to superhero role-playing, but also for the veteran who might just be looking for a different angle for the campaign at hand.
Chapters 7 gives ideas for the building of your own superhero world, but also details a pre-existing world – and is covered in the next several chapters. NPC’s of note, cities, timelines – everything that would realistically be needed by both GM’s and players alike for an existing world is given so that the game could be played pretty much as soon as character creation was completed.
The NPC’s that are detailed also bring me to something that I have not previously brought up, and that is the artwork. The chapters are divided by the “covers” for the (fictitious) comics that involve the heroes and villains provided, and the villains and heroes all are prominently featured in the artwork throughout the book. The art is all very similar (in a good way), however it is all in black and white – a minor annoyance, to be sure.
On the whole, I could not be more pleased with Silver Age Sentinels d20. Not only does it function very well by itself, but is also integrated into more traditional d20 system with little difficulty.
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