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.

Superhero Fun Review

I’m going to review some rules-lite superhero TTRPG games that I think are really good. The first one that I want to talk about is Superhero Fun by Jerry Joe Seltzer. I spoke about this game way back in 2013, but that review is gone – plus this game is worth another look.

Superhero Fun is a genuine hidden gem. You won’t find any other reviews for it out there, (at least I couldn’t) and that’s a real shame. The game uses a d6 dice pool system in the Westend Games model originally created by Greg Costikyan for Star Wars back in 1987, and everything fits on just six pages.

The six pages begins with a character sheet that includes rules for character creation. Characters are defined by four core attributes which the game calls the “Big 4 Stats”. These are: Brawn, Agility, Mind, and Charm. Players have 8 dice to assign to these with a maximum of 3 dice for any single attribute. The Big 4 Stats are fixed after character creation. Only a players “abilities” will improve during play.

Abilities are like skills. Each of the Big 4 Stats has six abilities listed beneath it except for Agility which has five. Players assign 12 dice between all of these Abilities, again with a maximum of 3 dice for any single Ability. All of this information is on the character sheet on page one.

The next two pages are super powers. Players can spend some of their creation dice to buy super powers. A super power costs 2 dice and changes the rules in some way. For example: “Bulky” adds 1 die to your Brawn stat and changes the max for that stat from 3 to 4. Following the super power list are some example limitations. Limiting a power changes the cost for buying the power from 2 dice to 1.

Pages four and five look more closely at the specific abilities and give examples of their use at differing difficulties to help the GM to set difficulty numbers based on what a player wants to do. Page six is an overview of the rules, all conveniently located on one page.

Every odd page has a copyright that reads: ©2010 jerry@seltzerpop.com - No rights reserved. Use however you want.

Jerry Joe Seltzer is an illustrator of children's books and author of D&D 5E supplements. Seltzerpop.com doesn’t exist anymore, and Superhero Fun is a game that you can only find if you really look for it. The PDF is housed on wikipedia commons. Jerry has a website if you want to take a look at other things that this incredible creator has produced for the TTRPG community.

Give Superhero Fun a quick look. It’s free. It’s only six pages. And I think It’s really awesome! What have you got to lose?

Favorite Game for December 24th

#1 Creature Caravan

Creature Caravan is by artist designer Ryan Laukat founder of Red Raven Games. Ryan is known for his incredible illustration work and for narrative games like Near & Far and Sleeping Gods. Creature Caravan is designed by Ryan but it's not a narrative game. Creature Caravan is an engine building dice placement card game.

Creature Caravan features a central board that's just a map divided into spaces that players are trying to traverse from one side to the other like pawns across a chess board. The further you move your little caravan piece across this map the more points you will get at game's end. At the end of each turn your caravan pitches a little tent where you have stopped. When you run out of tents, the game ends and points are totaled.

Movement is accomplished by placing dice on your player board into spaces that represent the terrain type that you want your caravan to enter. Clear terrain made up of green grass can be entered easily with almost any die, but things like mountains or water will require dice of higher values to enter.

In addition to movement you can also place dice to generate currency and to draw cards. You can have any number of cards in your hand, but if you want to play the cards down in front of you, that will require you to spend the aforementioned currency. There are three kinds of currency: food, gold, and supplies. Different cards will require different combinations of these.

The cards represent all manner of creatures and vehicles that will join your Creature Caravan. All of these cards feature Ryan's whimsical artwork and every card is unique. Some cards will score points depending on other cards that you have in your caravan providing a set collection challenge to the game. Many cards will provide new places to put the dice that you have rolled granting you more and better actions.

You may also need to place dice to fight enemies that endanger your caravan. Oh, yeah. Some spaces on the board contain enemies: Ember Zombies that will plague your caravan if you pass through their square. Defeating them will gain you points at the end of the game, but allowing them to harass your caravan unchecked will cost you points.

The combat is a cool thing, but it's not vital. I think Julie completely ignored the zombies in our last game, and she still won. The game is relaxing escapism in the best possible way. I called Explorers of the North Sea "board game comfort food." I think that goes double for Creature Caravan. I love this game. In fact, Creature Caravan is officially my #1 favorite game. 

Favorite Game for December 23rd

#2 Vantage

There are a bunch of RPG-In-A-Box style games out there. Vantage isn't one of these, but it looks like one. There are a bunch of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style games out there. Vantage isn't one of these either, but it looks like one. Vantage is best described as a mix of these two styles of games.

Like an RPG-In-A-Box style game, players have a character and character advancement. Like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style game, game play is about paging through a story to see what happens. Both of these experiences however, are ... reduced ... distilled. Vantage takes a little from both of these ideas and blends them together to create something that is (at least for me) greater than the sum of its parts.

Each player has a character card and a location card. On the location cards are actions that the character you "control" can take. You choose an action, and read from a book to see what happens. You might have tokens and other cards that represent things your character is good at, which can suggest a certain course of action to you. Once you have taken an action at a location it is time to move on to the next location to take a new action.

Actions require payment in resources to achieve. These resources are represented by tokens and dice rolls. You can place the dice on cards that you have acquired during play or pay the resource cost on a central board. However, you don't want to use the central board if you can help it, because those resources are finite, and once they are gone your adventure is over.

Vantage is a game of discovery. The fun is in both exploring the environment and in observing what your character is going to do next. You don't so much "control" your character as you "follow them around." The choices that you make aren't clearly defined. 

Frequently, when you select a course of action, what follows is nothing like what you were expecting. This seems to be the norm rather than the exception. For this reason, Vantage isn't going to be for everyone. Players have to be willing to relinquish a certain amount of control and just allow the game to entertain them. 

The game itself is mostly cards and a handful of tokens. There are "story books" but the entries are very brief. This isn't a narrative heavy game. Vantage gives you a taste of what's happening and wants you to create the details in your own imagination. The story entries are also available in app form that makes accessing them with your phone fast and easy.

Vantage is also single-session. Each game is unique and self contained. Players are not tied to a long term campaign. Set-Up is quick and each session plays in a few hours. Some experiences will be better than others. The first time I played, I wasn't sure that I liked Vantage. Once I figured out the kind of experience that the game was offering and leaned into that ... Well, Vantage is currently my 2nd favorite game of all time.

I don't know if Vantage will stay so high on my list, and I know that it isn't for everyone. Julie likes it. I really like it. It's a "big box" style adventure game in a regular sized box that I can get to my table and play. To me that makes Vantage kind of miraculous.

Favorite Game for December 22nd

#3 Stardew Valley: The Board Game

This game is based on the popular computer game of the same name. In the game you are doing all the same things that you do in Stardew Valley: The Computer Game. You are wandering around foraging for resources, going to the mines to dig for ore, working on the farm tending crops or caring for animals. You are going to town to meet people and make new friends. You are going to the local fishing spots to try to catch fish.

  

  

All of it. If you can do it in the computer game, you are doing it in the board game. This is a cooperative game. You have a community center that you are trying to rebuild by completing certain objectives. You also have some goals that you are trying to accomplish that were left for you by your grandfather. You have to accomplish all of this by the end of the year in order to win the game.

This game is very random. Your objectives are random. Success in the mines or fishing is determined by rolling dice, and then by drawing a random token from a bag. Everything is crazy random. Your goal is to just push through and do the best that you can. However, there is no guarantee of success.

  

  

Stardew Valley: The Board Game is one of those immersive experiences that I was talking about. You get lost in its world, doing its things. If you worry too much about actually winning the game, you might get frustrated. 

Julie and I haven't won this one yet, but we played recently and were only one objective away from a victory. I was so happy with that. I don't think that Julie was. Some of the objectives seem impossible, and the random stuff has to go your way just perfectly if you are to win.

  

  

So what? All that random stuff is fun. I like the experience of playing the game. Playing Stardew Valley: The Board Game is so immersive for me. If it was a competitive experience, then it wouldn't be good. All that random would not be fair to anyone. But, because it's cooperative and everyone is experiencing the fickle hand of fate together, I don't mind so much.

Favorite Game for December 21st

#4 Star Trek: Captain's Chair

Star Trek Captain's Chair is a deck building card game. In it players are each one of Star Trek's iconic Captains, commanding the crew of their star ship. This is all done with cards. Each Captain has not only a unique deck of cards representing themselves and their crew, but also a unique market of cards with which to build their deck. There's also a central market that all players may pull cards from. 

I've never seen a deck builder where every character has unique cards that are available only to them. This makes every character very thematic, and every character plays differently. In addition to the central market, there's a row of cards that are planets to explore. This is a sort of area control game. "Winning" a planet earns a player glory which are the victory points in the game. 

Glory tokens are placed on a chapter cards called Stardate cards. These act as a timer for the game. There are also missions that players can try to accomplish, and resources: Dilithium and Latinum that need to be managed. This is a fairly heavy game that has a lot going on, but everything is so thematic and intuitive that it doesn't feel heavy.

This is the newest game on my list and it premieres really high. Julie and I picked this one up during a recent visit to Ohio, and we've only played the game once. I think I like the game more than Julie does, but the Second Contact Expansion has Carol Freeman, Captain of the U.S.S. Cerritos from Star Trek: Lower Decks, and I think that will really win Julie over. (I love this game and will definitely get all of the expansions!)

Favorite Game for December 20th

#5 Chronicles of Frost

In Chronicles of Frost, players are adventurers in a fantasy world called Mistfall. The game is mostly made up of cards. There are location cards that create the world randomly as you explore, quest cards that give every player places to go and things to do, and ability cards that provide players with the resources that they need on their turn to perform actions.

  

  

This is a deck building game. There is a central market of 10 cards that come from two decks. There are 5 cards from the basic deck that cost 2 or 3 coins each, and there are 5 cards from the advanced deck that cost 4 or 5 coins each. When a card is purchased, it is immediately replaced.

Each player has a starter deck made up of 10 starter cards. These are unique to each character and they have the character's name on them. They provide the resources needed to perform actions. These resources are: movement, combat, investigation and wealth. 

  

  

Every card has a top and a bottom half. You gain the resources and effects from the top half of a card simply by playing that card. The bottom half of the ability cards need to be unlocked. This is done by using a skill token (all characters start with one) or by "pushing" your character, which requires you to take a little damage.

Location cards have a rest ability on them which is always something good, but these too have to be unlocked, by defeating the enemy on the location. Locations also have a discovery bonus which is gained by the player who first places the location. So, players are encouraged to explore.

  

  

Each player has two personal quests chosen at random. Once any player has completed both of these quests, which all require going to a particular location and spending some resources, the game end is triggered, and all other players get one more turn. Then, points are scored.

Chronicles of Frost is a "euro-style" adventure deck building game. Players choose where to go and which monsters to fight. Your character can't "die" and can always choose to forego their regular turn to return to the inn and heal up.

  

  

Mechanically, Chronicles of Frost is simple and streamlined. It plays in around 90 minutes at two players. Thematically, the quest cards are well written and immersive. (Don't skip reading them.) Physically, the game is just cards and tokens. It fits in a small box and occupies a tiny amount of shelf space.

This is the adventure game that I would create. Sadly, it flew way under the radar when it came out and the company that made it went out of business. Any time I mention this game, even to other board game hobbyists, they have never heard of it. This is a tragedy, because I love this game.

Favorite Game for December 19th

#6 Explorers of the North Sea

In Explorers of the North Sea, players are Vikings exploring a shared world and trying to gather wealth and resources better than their opponents. Players control the world that they are creating together. Each turn players draw and place tiles, and decide where they go and what their world looks like. Players select a tile from a few available and find someplace to fit it into the world like putting together the pieces of a puzzle.

Then players sail their little Viking ship, or walk their little Viking meeples overland to capture livestock or conquer settlements. Some tiles have enemy ships that you have to fight, but you can always choose to avoid these if you wish. The viking meeples and the little livestock meeples (sheeps, pigs, cows and chickens) actually sit inside your little viking boat, and once the boat is full it's time to go back to the mainland to unload.

  

  

Explorers of the North Sea is "board game comfort food" for me. I love placing the tiles to create the waters and the lands of the North Sea, and then sailing my little boat around. I get so involved in discovering and experiencing the world of Explorers of the North Sea that I often forget that I am playing a competitive game with scoring objectives. 

  

  

I don't think that I have ever actually won a game of Explorers of the North Sea. I think it speaks pretty highly of the game play experience, that Explorers of the North Sea, a game that I have never won, is my #6 favorite game of all time.

Favorite Game for December 18th

#7 Meadow

Thematically, Meadow is about taking a walk and enjoying nature. This is something that I am very good at doing, when it doesn't actually involve leaving the house. This makes Meadow the perfect game for me. Mechanically, Meadow is all about collecting and combining sets of cards, and what beautiful cards they are!

Every card in Meadow is a unique watercolor painting. Playing the game is relaxing and joyful. The cards themselves have symbols that represent what the card requires to be placed. This creates a kind of ecosystem that makes sense. Birds need to live in trees. Predators need prey. Things like this.

Creating sets in front of you gets you points, and points wins you the game. Adding cards to your hand involves selecting cards from a grid. Every player has little pointy card board bits representing pickets - as in the slats that make up a picket fence, and places them to point at the card that they want.

The pickets have numbers on them (1-4 and there's one wild.) When you place your picket pointing into a row or column, you count a number of cards into the row or column equal to the number on the picket and add that card to your hand. You then have the option to play one card from your hand to the table in front of you if you want to. This is usually a good idea, assuming you have a good place to fit the card into your ecosystem.

In addition all pickets play double duty. You can shove the flat side of your picket into the ground at the campsite (a separate board) to take a special action. These actions allow you to play extra cards, take extra cards, or add new areas where you can play special landscape oriented cards.

Planning for the placing of cards is essential and the action economy of the game is tight. All together Meadow is a very satisfying experience. It's beautiful, it's relaxing, it's fun ... it's perfect.

Favorite Game for December 17th

#8 Origin Story

Origin Story is a Trick Taking Superhero themed game. Wait! What? That's right, "a Trick Taking Superhero" game. This game seems catered to my interests. In fact, the first video that I ever saw talking about the game had me geeking out, and I turned to Julie, who just smiled at me. "I already ordered it." she said calmly. "It will be here Wednesday." Gosh! I love my wife.

Players play 5 rounds of a pretty standard trick-taking game. Before each round, players choose one from three different cards showing super powers, picking a power to permanently add to their player board. Each round a new power is added creating your hero's origin story as you go.

The powers are used to influence card play during the card "battles" with the other players. At first everyone can do just a little to change the game and break the rules, but by the fifth round players have a full powered superhero and can impact the card play from trick to trick quite a lot.

Origin Story is fun! It's surprisingly thematic, and it plays well at two players.