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| Tom, right, looks over the terrain assembled at his request for the 4 different Danger Rooms |
My friend Tom began running a superhero campaign set in 2025's misinformed, hate-filled world. Each player created a younger rookie and an older, experienced superhero (who really wants to retire -- partially because the Fake News being spread about the evil doings of superheros). We've played a couple times before with the old dudes. This past Sunday was our first with the rookies. Led by a couple of experienced heroes, we would be put to the test in our HQ's (we still haven't agreed on a name for our group...ha, ha!) Danger Room.
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| Dark Crusader leads the way as their team of three explores the Jungle Room, looking for a way out |
Tom is using a rules set called
One Dice Supers, which I am honestly not too crazy about. For a supposedly simplistic rules set (one dice and all...), it clocks in at more than 130 pages! Most of that is all about character creation and weaknesses, and (honestly) role-playing stuff. I'm convinced Tom is secretly trying to tug us back into role-playing, which is something we quit as a group a long time ago (but Tom still does with other friend groups). Though if you really think about it, what is the difference between a role-playing game and a small skirmish? We had this discussion on Lead Adventure Forum, but back in my teens when my friends and I (Tom, Joel, and Allen were all in that group, too) played D&D, we were really playing a skirmish game. We weren't acting things out or problem solving -- we were just kicking in doors and slaying monsters!
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| In the Lava Room, the unnamed Robot moves precariously across a bridge as Iron Duke flies by |
So, in addition to putting our rookie superheros to the test, Tom put Keith and I to the test with his last-minute terrain requirements. We'd known for weeks he wanted a Lava Room, Ice Cave, Jungle Room, and Urban Area. Keith and I split it up and I said that I would bring the Jungle (easy with all my
Vietnam stuff) and the Lava (which I had from our
Reign in Hell games). However, the morning of the game, Tom sent out a supplemental list of things that belonged inside said rooms. And it was a LOT! By the time I got home from the
Ohio History Center game and pizza with Jenny, Keith was fuming as he tore apart his basement looking for everything on Tom's list. It all worked out in the end, but we admonished Tom that he needs to let us know earlier. And that we'd probably host future games of Supers at Keith's rather than the usual Wallace's "Brewpub!"
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| Our trio of heroes (or mentor & 2 rookies) KO's a dinosaur that sprang out at us from the jungle |
I got to Wallace's a little early and had my half of the table set up before the others arrived. Tom was impressed, and remarked that we have convention quality games every Sunday night. I thanked him, but said it is more of a matter of collecting stuff, and always looking to upgrade or tweak your presentation. We helped Keith bring his stuff in when he arrived, and soon the Danger Room was ready for our test. Actually, the reason that two old timers were "mentoring" us was because both Keith and Allen had lost their sheets with their rookies and couldn't find them...ha, ha! And since character creation takes so long, Tom jumped at Joel's "mentor" suggestion!
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| Badger & the monk fight off the next ambush, as 2 raptors spring upon us this time |
Wallace's Shaolin monk (unnamed), my rookie Dark Crusader, and Keith's bully-boy Badger were off to the Jungle Room while Tom sent Allen's senior hero Rabbi (yes, that is his name) with Joel's Robot (ditto) and Stelzer's Iron Duke (thankfully...a real hero name!). As you can probably tell from the above, I'm not 100% sure Tom is satisfied with the "buy in" from some of the players! The goal for Dark Crusader, Badger, and the Unnamed Monk was too simply find the way out of the Jungle. We started in the center atop a flat-roofed temple, and there appeared to be a door in each corner of the room, which was overgrown with jungle foliage and crumbling Southeast Asian temple ruins. I thought my 2'x2' jungle part of the table looked really nice. It was fun to get the aquarium decorations I had flocked up on the table again.
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| Another look at the four different Danger Rooms -- Lava, Jungle, Ice Cavern & Urban area |
We quickly found out that most of the doors were the wrong ones and led only back into the room. We also discovered carnivorous dinosaurs who ambushed us from the cover of the jungle. Dark Crusader was sorely disappointed that the dinosaurs were immune to his camouflage cloak and shadow invisibility. Still, we dispatched all of the dinos fairly easily, although the monk was down to just one health point left when we found the exit. As we left the jungle and entered the control room, all wounds disappeared -- it was actually all a clever virtual reality or simulation, our rookies discovered.
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| The bridge crossings get more precarious for Robot, while his teammates simply fly past them |
We exchanged stories with the other rookies, Robot and Iron Duke. Apparently, their Lava Room had precarious ladders leading from rocky outcrop to outcrop. Their goal was to cross to the opposite corner, avoiding lava bombs and to keep from slipping and falling into the lava. Except, both Rabbi and Iron Duke had the flight ability! They could have simply flown to the other corner, dodging the intermittent lava bombs along the way. However, poor Robot -- in addition to not having a name -- was too heavy to carry (Tom said) and had to pick his way carefully along the precarious, burning ladders. In a solid show of teamwork, the others flew ladders into position for him and he eventually made it to the goal.
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| The final door -- HAD to be the correct one -- was guarded by a trio of dinosaurs, which we took out |
Tom put us all together in the urban area for our final mission. Terrorists had taken hostages and were threatening to kill them. They began the game hidden in the buildings, and one particularly sneaky one was disguised as an innocent civilian in the park. The team quickly sprinted into action. As we arrived, some of the terrorists opened up on us with gunfire. This was more up Dark Crusader's alley, as he sprinted across the street and dove through the first story window. The others asked me why I didn't go through the door. I said that it could have been locked or barred, plus this allowed me to surprise any bad guys waiting behind the door! My bad guy turned out to be on the next floor up, though, and Dark Crusader dashed up the stairs, used his powers to hide in the stairwell while locating the enemy. Then he heroically sprinted forward to take out the terrorist. It took two attacks to put him down, though, since he was wearing body armor.
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| Back on solid ground, the luckless Robot moves towards a terrorist firing at him from a building |
Meanwhile, my companions were making short work of the terrorists they encountered -- except for poor, heavy, nameless Robot. He was riddled with automatic weapon fire and fell to the pavement, sparking, fluids leaking, and looking like his new name should be "D-CEASED!" Rabbi tried to help him out, but was distracted when a terrorist emerged from a building with a gun to the head of a civilian woman. As Dark Crusader climbed down the walls of the building (another ability of his), he shouted for the others who had ranged attacks to take him out quickly.
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| A blur of motion, Dark Crusader rushes a terrorist in the 2nd story window, taking him down |
Rabbi threw some of Yahweh's wrath at the terrorist, Iron Duke missed, and the terrorist was still standing. POW! Down went the civilian. Click! On went the lights of the Danger Room. We'd lost that mission. We were 2-1 for the evening. After that failure, would the veterans approve our entry into the superhero group to help replace the retiring members? My guess is Yes -- otherwise, we'd have to generate new characters from that 135-page rule book! Ha, ha!!
I think we are s-l-o-w-l-y starting to get the hang of the rules. The big schtick of the rules is that each hero (or villain) has a store of "Stunt Points" for the game. You can use them to do a number of very beneficial things, including nullify damage done to your character. That's what we typically have used them for, so far. However, we began to branch out a bit tonight and used 2 points for a second attack, for example. It would have been a really good idea if someone with a ranged attack had thought of using stunt points against the terrorist with the gun to the woman's head. Dark Crusader is just saying...
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| Should a 'Quick and easy' game run to more than 130 pages? I wonder... |
Otherwise, characters have stats in a number of abilities, which are them multiplied or manipulated to give your other stats. Your equipment can add to stats, too. For example, when Dark Crusader attacks, he uses his base Strength (3), adds in his Melee skill of 1 (representing a Daredevil-like billy club), then adds the roll of 1d6. You knew that die roll was coming in somewhere, being "One Dice" Supers and all! You need to exceed the Defense of the character you are attacking. For example, Dark Crusader's Defense is a "9". Badger's is a 12 (which prompted Tom to take Keith's sheet and check his math). Obviously, some weapons add to the damage you inflict, allowing you to get through guys with really thick heads...like Badger!
Anyway, Tom has been easing us in to this campaign, giving us relatively easy missions to start us off. So far, other than the incident with the woman hostage, we've overcome our opposition fairly easily. Who knows what Tom has in store for us next time, though? Hopefully, he gives us a little warning about his terrain requirements this time...!
MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025
- Miniatures acquired in 2025: 288
- Miniatures painted in 2025: 194
TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025
- Terrain acquired in 2025: 36
- Terrain painted in 2025: 61
SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025
- Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
- Scatter painted in 2025: 159
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