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Created by Dennis Detwiller. Game Mechanics by Greg Stolze.
Published by Hobgoblynn Press (now Eos Press)
4739 University Way NE #1604 Seattle, WA 98105
http://www.eos-press.com http://www.arcdream.com/godlike
354 pages, hardcover
$39.95
ISBN: 0-97106-420-2
Grade: B
Reviewed by Lisa Padol
Superhero games tend to involve more numbers crunching than I like. Godlike is no exception, but what makes the game interesting to me is the lovingly detailed background.
The PCs are soldiers in an alternate World War II, one where they and others have superpowers. Such people are known as Talents. The only superpowers one can't create with the system are those the authors deliberately decided not to include, and the mechanics of character creation are pretty straightforward. Where things get interesting is the resolution system.
Players roll a number of ten sided dice. Rather than adding these together or taking the highest, the object is to make a set of the same numbers. If you roll five dice and get 2, 2, 2, 6, 6, you can make either a set of three 2s or a set of two 6s. The first set has a height of 2 and a width of 3. The second has a height of 6 and a width of 2. When buying dice for Talent powers at character creation, one can buy Wiggle dice, which are wild dice that can have any value the player wants, and Hard dice, which have the same, fixed value every time. In general, the width of a roll is more important than its height -- except when it isn't.
The previous sentence sums up my main problem with Godlike. I have played in a demo of the game, having a fine time, but I still do not understand when a player should be trying for wide set and when she needs a high set.
I also do not quite understand the Zed Talents. People develop powers under high pressure situations, and these tend to be the kinds of powers either directly related to their peril or that they subconsciously feel is "right". In other words, it is a power that breaks the rules of reality in a way that their minds can comprehend, at least subconsciously. The most powerful people are those who do not accept the rules of reality at all. These people are insane, but supremely powerful.
Zeds are Talents who can cancel the use of any single power with a visible effect by saying, "Men can't do that." So, logically, Zeds don't believe in these powers. Or do they? They can selectively cancel powers. They must know that these powers exist. I do not see the rationale for their power to cancel powers, nor do I quite understand to what degree they can cancel the effects of the insane Talents.
But my interest in Godlike was in the background, not the mechanics, and the background is where the game shines. There is page after page of a detailed chronology of World War II in a world of superheroes. No promises of Mysterious Timelines to be doled out one piece at a time, everything is here. The crowning touch is the authors' care to indicate which events in the timeline happened in our World War II and which are fictional. As a history ignoramus, I am grateful.
With the full timeline, GMs can decide to focus on one pivotal event, to run scenarios only for events she creates, or to change the timeline. Having all the details is not limiting; it is empowering.
The layout of the book is clean, and the art appropriate to the subject matter. The book could have used one more round of proofreading for things like misaligned charts and references to page "xx".
I recommend Godlike to anyone who wants a grittier superhero game or game set in World War II with superheroes. I also recommend it to anyone who wants to see how to create a detailed, complete timeline for a setting that still allows players and GMs a great deal of freedom. Finally, the system can easily be tweaked for more of a four color comics feel. For those who prefer this, I understand that the forthcoming Wild Talents will modify the rules of Godlike for just this kind of campaign. (Note that Godlike and its line of related games are now being published by Arc Dream Publishing, http://www.arcdream.com)
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