Streamlined Superheroes

Streamlined Superheroes is a rules-lite superhero TTRPG by John Fredericks published by Sharp Mountain games. The PDF is available on DriveThru and the print version of the game can be found on Amazon. Streamlined Superheroes takes the “if it’s not broke – don’t fix it” approach to game design. Everything here is familiar. Players roll a d20 + Attribute to succeed vs a default difficulty number of 10. Then they roll damage. The damage (called effect) is subtracted from HP.

Dice rolled for effect are variable, and this is where powers come in. A hero might have super strength of d10. Then when rolling to do damage they would roll a d10. But that’s not all. What if one of your powers was Investigative Reporter? No problem. Everything works the same way. If you were trying to find a clue at a crime scene, the hidden clue might have its own HP – referred to as Hit Points when it’s a hero or a villain’s life force, but referred to as Hurdle Points when it’s an obstacle to be overcome like an avalanche or a ticking time bomb.

(Can I just say that I think the term, "Hurdle Points" is so clever!)

The GM can use Hurdle Points to establish the time and effort a character must place into completing a task. But, what if you don’t really want to use Hurdle Points for a certain thing? That’s cool. Roll the effect die any way. If the task roll succeeds then the Effect Die is still consulted in combination. Any result on the Effect Die of 6 or greater provides a boon. In the case of the investigation roll above, perhaps the character gleans some additional information from the clue that they found.

Heroes are defined by four attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Charisma. The names are familiar and no time is wasted explaining how these work. They are what you would expect. The four attributes are assigned ratings from the array: 0, 1, 2, and 3. Then four powers/skills are chosen. The game recommends three powers and one skill but any combination is possible. These are assigned effect die sizes from the array: d6, d8, d10, d12. That’s it. Character done.

Having 0 in an Attribute isn't bad. It's average, normal, ordinary. It means no bonus is applied and there's nothing special to talk about. Likewise, the default normal Effect Die is the d4, and it's use is assumed when a character isn't employing a defined power or skill.

Physical weapons or other devices like Green Arrow’s Bow or Captain America’s Shield are also powers, but they constitute a weakness for the character because they might be taken away. A hero can have one weakness. If you take a weakness, then you get one additional power or skill with an Effect Die value of d6.

Armor just adds its effect die value to your HP, but there are alternative rules for using your armor power to make soak rolls to avoid damage. There are also roll for entanglement type powers that use their effect die as Hurdle Points that the entanglement target must overcome in order to break free. It’s all very intuitive and just ... easy.

Advancement is Milestone based and allows players to improve an Effect Die or increase an Attribute Ranking by +1. Attributes cap at 8 and Effect Dice cap at d12, but there are alternative rules for allowing an Effect Die to go as high as d20 by increasing in increments of +2.

Everything that Streamlined Superheroes does is intuitive. The game works at an almost instinctual level. Players can jump in and start playing this with no prior knowledge of the game and learn what they need to know at the table. This is one of those games that is just playable.

The rules are super clean and easy to read and use, and the author John Fredericks even does his own illustrations. The game also has a few pieces of public domain comic book art. These pieces are well chosen and nice, but I much prefer John’s own artwork. I think his drawings add a charm and flavor to the entire presentation that pushes Streamlined Superheroes from great game to unbelievably great game.

I love Streamlined Superheroes. I can just see myself playing this one, and I can’t wait to get it to the table.