Vaarna_Aarne
Notorious Internet Vandal
So after a long time, I've started buying PnP RPGs again. Last week I bought Twilight 2013, and yesterday I bought two supplements to CthulhuTech and... Godlike.
Basically, Godlike is a superhero RPG set during WW2 and details a slightly altered history where in the Berlin Olympics, a man under his own power flew without wings, circling the stadium three times, finally landing to light the Olympic Torch. At his Hitler's side in the opening speech wearing a black flying suit with a swastika emblazoned on his right breast and an SS insignia on his collar, following the speech and some words with the Führer, the man floated to the center of the air above the stadium, and flew off to the Southwest at an unprecedented speed with a thunderous clap signaling his takeoff, becoming the first man to break the sound barrier. In the world of Godlike, that was the first parahuman, Der Flieger, and the dawn of the Super-Age.
Okay, but the thing is that the setting is actually really cool. While you might assume it's the usual superhero fare, it's not. You see, the chief comics that I could say Godlike takes note from are: Miracleman, and Watchmen. Basically the first element is that it's very hard sci-fi, there are no aliens, no genetic mutations, nothing like that. All parahuman Talents come from the mind of the Talent, and the mind alone. Keep in mind, just the mind, not the brain. There's no anatomical difference between Talents (the gameworld's popular term for parahumans, which is the scientific term) and the rest of mankind, of any kind. It's all just the Talent's will altering reality in a specific manner.
A nice thing about it is that World War 2 was not changed beyond recognition by Talents, and technology remained the same even with the existence of Hyperbrains and Talent Technology. The super-smart didn't change the world because they were absorbed in their mathematics and theories no one else could possibly understand, and even if they were the build a weapon they just couldn't because their immense intellect also gave them unimaginable empathy (could you build a bomb if as you instantly calculated the destructive potential, you also calculated the accurate probability of the pain it causes to victims, families, countries and economies, several years forward and right down to an intimate emotional level?). As for super-science, or Talent Technology, it was also handled really cool. Thing is, the seeming super-advanced inventions of certain Talents only worked because of the Talents mind, and were revealed to be just useless trash the moment the device left his field of vision. The jetpack was really just a bundle of wires in a silver casing and it did nothing without the Talent watching.
So, the thing I'm trying to say is that the setting has a very good sense of "realism" to it. It has grit. And mind you, I'll only say grit, because it doesn't have any sort grim overload beyond being set during the deadliest war in human history, with the realities of war being present even to Talents. The NPC characters presented are very well conceived and succeed very well in the everyman approach of the game, and what really helps is that many of them die ultimately very mundane deaths (ie, Der Flieger died in 1944 above London when a new secret weapon from America is used on him... Which was proximity fuse flak gun rounds), and in the war the Talents were just the step up from tanks and fighter planes. Generally I'm not sure if I'd call the setting any specific power level or low power as they advertised it (I'm not sure I could do that when a starting character can lift a tank and dodge bullets, even if he's not bulletproof). But I would say it's a very creative and harsh setting when it comes to superpowers, and leave it at that.
System-wise, it's also a good game. It uses dice pool mechanics similar to WoD crowd, but it's set apart due to having a very different roll resolution mechanic: Height and Width. When you roll your d10 pool, you're not aiming for a target number or a number of successes, instead you're aiming to get matches. And if you get a match, the number of the matching dice is the Width of the roll and the value of matching the die is the Height. So a roll of 9, 9, 9, 3, 5, 6 would have a Height of 9 and a Width of 3. It's actually a very well-thoughtout mechanic that operates on the basis of having a potential duality to the nature of success, with an example being that in a race someone who rolled 4x2 would finish first but is out of breath, while the other who rolled 2x10 was slower but is completely unexhausted. Like any good realistic system, the game also features damage locations and a good selection of simple but robust rules for covering various sources of damage.
Talent mechanics themselves are the coolest part. The idea is that because Talents are a manifestation of the mind and will, the Will derived stat and temporary Will points can be used to interfere with other Talents if you're aware of them in a Contest of Wills. Similarly, mental trauma, physical fatigue, serious injury and other elements are dangerous because they can simply make Talents powers vanish as his Will breaks. It's a really cool system that adds a whole lot to the connection between the setting and the game mechanics.
As for the rules governing the Talent powers themselves, I'd say they're good stuff. It takes a note from HERO and uses a gourmet pick n mix system with a good selection of powers available in the setting, but power creation is purely simple arithmetic so it's much easier to get into than HERO at the cost of not being as comprehensive and detailed. Still, the trade-off is sound, even though I think HERO has better power system due to larger number of options and flexibility, and I don't mind the math.
Overall, definately worth its reputation, one of the best RPGs I've ever encountered.
Basically, Godlike is a superhero RPG set during WW2 and details a slightly altered history where in the Berlin Olympics, a man under his own power flew without wings, circling the stadium three times, finally landing to light the Olympic Torch. At his Hitler's side in the opening speech wearing a black flying suit with a swastika emblazoned on his right breast and an SS insignia on his collar, following the speech and some words with the Führer, the man floated to the center of the air above the stadium, and flew off to the Southwest at an unprecedented speed with a thunderous clap signaling his takeoff, becoming the first man to break the sound barrier. In the world of Godlike, that was the first parahuman, Der Flieger, and the dawn of the Super-Age.
Okay, but the thing is that the setting is actually really cool. While you might assume it's the usual superhero fare, it's not. You see, the chief comics that I could say Godlike takes note from are: Miracleman, and Watchmen. Basically the first element is that it's very hard sci-fi, there are no aliens, no genetic mutations, nothing like that. All parahuman Talents come from the mind of the Talent, and the mind alone. Keep in mind, just the mind, not the brain. There's no anatomical difference between Talents (the gameworld's popular term for parahumans, which is the scientific term) and the rest of mankind, of any kind. It's all just the Talent's will altering reality in a specific manner.
A nice thing about it is that World War 2 was not changed beyond recognition by Talents, and technology remained the same even with the existence of Hyperbrains and Talent Technology. The super-smart didn't change the world because they were absorbed in their mathematics and theories no one else could possibly understand, and even if they were the build a weapon they just couldn't because their immense intellect also gave them unimaginable empathy (could you build a bomb if as you instantly calculated the destructive potential, you also calculated the accurate probability of the pain it causes to victims, families, countries and economies, several years forward and right down to an intimate emotional level?). As for super-science, or Talent Technology, it was also handled really cool. Thing is, the seeming super-advanced inventions of certain Talents only worked because of the Talents mind, and were revealed to be just useless trash the moment the device left his field of vision. The jetpack was really just a bundle of wires in a silver casing and it did nothing without the Talent watching.
So, the thing I'm trying to say is that the setting has a very good sense of "realism" to it. It has grit. And mind you, I'll only say grit, because it doesn't have any sort grim overload beyond being set during the deadliest war in human history, with the realities of war being present even to Talents. The NPC characters presented are very well conceived and succeed very well in the everyman approach of the game, and what really helps is that many of them die ultimately very mundane deaths (ie, Der Flieger died in 1944 above London when a new secret weapon from America is used on him... Which was proximity fuse flak gun rounds), and in the war the Talents were just the step up from tanks and fighter planes. Generally I'm not sure if I'd call the setting any specific power level or low power as they advertised it (I'm not sure I could do that when a starting character can lift a tank and dodge bullets, even if he's not bulletproof). But I would say it's a very creative and harsh setting when it comes to superpowers, and leave it at that.
System-wise, it's also a good game. It uses dice pool mechanics similar to WoD crowd, but it's set apart due to having a very different roll resolution mechanic: Height and Width. When you roll your d10 pool, you're not aiming for a target number or a number of successes, instead you're aiming to get matches. And if you get a match, the number of the matching dice is the Width of the roll and the value of matching the die is the Height. So a roll of 9, 9, 9, 3, 5, 6 would have a Height of 9 and a Width of 3. It's actually a very well-thoughtout mechanic that operates on the basis of having a potential duality to the nature of success, with an example being that in a race someone who rolled 4x2 would finish first but is out of breath, while the other who rolled 2x10 was slower but is completely unexhausted. Like any good realistic system, the game also features damage locations and a good selection of simple but robust rules for covering various sources of damage.
Talent mechanics themselves are the coolest part. The idea is that because Talents are a manifestation of the mind and will, the Will derived stat and temporary Will points can be used to interfere with other Talents if you're aware of them in a Contest of Wills. Similarly, mental trauma, physical fatigue, serious injury and other elements are dangerous because they can simply make Talents powers vanish as his Will breaks. It's a really cool system that adds a whole lot to the connection between the setting and the game mechanics.
As for the rules governing the Talent powers themselves, I'd say they're good stuff. It takes a note from HERO and uses a gourmet pick n mix system with a good selection of powers available in the setting, but power creation is purely simple arithmetic so it's much easier to get into than HERO at the cost of not being as comprehensive and detailed. Still, the trade-off is sound, even though I think HERO has better power system due to larger number of options and flexibility, and I don't mind the math.
Overall, definately worth its reputation, one of the best RPGs I've ever encountered.
for most people I'd reckon.
