Hungry For Heroes TSR Marvel Super Heroes

Possibly my first game in Adelaide will be TSR MSH well my house version with lots of stuff developed in a twenty year house setting. Im settled in and have to get various licences and a course to work my regular job here which will slow my ability to earn here. There are three comic shops in city and lotsa nerd merchants so must avoid buying comics I've hunted for a while.

Ive seen published articles on MSH RPG which get the game wrong. One article tried to add a popularity score as if they didn't know it was a standard stat. Others say it has no character gen system. The Advanced blue box is the best version and it has at least three character gen systems. Rolled which is is original yellow box ref book. Also player describes and negotiates character with ref which I have used but you will always get people who think others turned out better or process biased, also novelty of this method wears fast. The ultimate powers book (pretty much a core book +dragon list of missed out bits) re stated and expanded characters creation. The magic sourcebook (was for basic set) presented a more complex magic system and character generation for wizards.

Im happy to be thinking up genre stuff and options for this game.

I have developed a few mods my self over the years so this is for players.

Stats
I have added a charisma stat as my game had heroes hidden and lots of plain clothes work. I thought Captain America would rely on charisma more than pop if he went to a new universe on a adventure. So I have Charisma as a stat and basic stats read as FASECRIP.

Rolled stats common in the game I have made this basic one.

               Feeble(2) Poor(4) Typical(6) Good(10) Excellent (20) Rm (30) Inc(40) Am(50) Mn (75)
Human   01-05       06-25    26-75        76-95        96-100
Agent                     01-05    06-25        26-75        76-100
Mutoid   01-05        06-15   16-40        41-60         61-70              71-80     81-90   91-100
Kaiju      01             02-05    06-10       11-20         21-30              31-50     51-70   71-90     76-100

Karma
Basic initial karma score derived from CRIP total is gained in daily or session karma points which can be used in action or added to saved karma pools. Award karma including instantly rather than add after fight. +5 Karma for snappy dialogue can be earned anytime and repeatedly. I might add others like physical performance for feats of skill or power or strength. Helps keep players moving, talking and showing off. Tough lone riders might claim they don't showboat but they do just more like steven segal idea of funny or showing off than spiderman.

I did toy with several alternate karma reward systems. Hero (standard) Avenger (killers like wolverine) Villain (standard boss wannabe package for schemers) Destroyer (kaiju rampage monsters and guys who just plunder and nab stuff like gang goons).

As a ref i like a list of everyone's contacts and i make a d10 random encounter table for the characters like here and here

my bonus option systems here and here (older version of character gen with talents and contacts in good detail)

Atributes for Creation
So basic humans are the building block of most hero types so making your human is a good first step.

Fighting: Poor (4)
Agility: Typical (6)
Strength: Poor (4)
Endurance: Typical (6)
Charisma: Typical (6)
Reason: Typical (6)
Intuition: Typical (6)
Psyche: Typical (6)

Two Talents
Two Contacts

So first can add five extra ranks to the above stats to a maximum for human of excellent. So one point can raise a poor(4) to a typical(6) or a typical(6) to a good(10) or a good(10) to excellent(20).

For every point put in a mental attribute (CRIP) you get a extra Talent
For every point put in charisma you get a extra Contact

A popular back ground option (later) is Veteran which makes your starting Fighting and Strength Typical instead of poor is common for fighting professionals or goons. Many professional talents give extra contacts.

Character Types

Metahumans are carrying meta dna making them living weapons intended to serve alien overlords. They are simple templates you slap on a basic human that gives you basic stat bonuses and good value. I started with 4 blood types in a game and announced a new generation occasionally and we are up to 5th gen in new game. Each gets numerous attribute boosts and can pick a remarkable and excellent power from a list of 20 (or roll) and a good power that defaults to the blood type. Occasionally some alien will try and exploit your body. Recommended for players who want to start hitting people fast. You can add your Ex power to your Default Gd power to make a single Rm version of the default power.
This article has rank mods for basic meta types
Also 20 choice powers for your Rm and Ex power and the default Good power

1st generation WW1-WW2 golden age
Alpha - strong armoured labour and hand to hand combat
Beta - hand to hand infiltration and covert operations and self repair
Gamma - agile recon, infiltrations and comms with threat evasion
2nd generation Cold War era silver age
Delta - smart tool users, high energy and matter users, uncanny investigators
Epsilon - versatile multirole aerial weapon platforms
Psi - mental enhanced leaders with paranormal senses
3rd generation public era of super humans bronze and iron age 
Lambda - charismatic hand to hand fighters with self amplification
Sigma - sentries and hunters with hand to hand combat and senses
Tau - resilient and strong builders, recyclers and tool users
Omega - infiltration with power manipulation and detection
4th Generation yet to be defined
Zeta - resilient multi role fast ground weapon platform
Kappa - brutal hand to hand combat giants
Mu - dominating combat psionics more resilient for field use
Omicron - teleporting saboteurs, hijackers and intelligence gatherers

Mutoids carry scrambled alien dna from a different source (or possibly they are bloodline zero). They roll random stats on the above mutoid table to replace or add to their base human stats. In addition they always get +1 Endurance rank. Finally can roll three random powers with random ranks on the mutoid rank table. I Use ultimate powers book for tables. Mutoids tend to be hated -10 POP if revealed. Recommended for players who have no idea what to create or possibly gamblers. Average characters weak but can also be lucky and be powerful. 

Mystery men are most versatile and are based on taking a human and adding more ranks on attributes or selecting powers. Basically after creating basic human you get to add extra ranks to put where you please. It is point based and encourages min maxing. You could take a single amazing rank or power or break that rank into more smaller ones that you can add to stats or powers. Having no superhuman attributes and a power is a bit weak in long run. Recommended for players who have experience stretching rules.

Amazing can break into two Incredible ranks
Incredible can be broken into two remarkable ranks
Remarkable can be broken into two excellent ranks

So if attribute added to rank of one higher or lower it is raised
If more than one rank apart just use highest score of bothCan add ranks to starting resources as a option too.

So I would break into four remarkables, two for powers, one a stat then break last remarkable into excellents for more attributes. You could put all into attributes or powers or whatever. Mystery Men get two extra talents and contacts on top of normal human.

No limits to origin as these guys could be spies, wizards, cyborgs, vigilantes or whatever. Can make a awesome human or caped freak. If you want you may choose a wizard and take sorcery as your power or take powers as spells lists with stunts being new spells under the basic spell. Ranks above Excellent are superhuman and require a origin or explanation like super science, mystic martial arts or miracle formula.

Kaiju characters are a bit unusual as you play a anti social giant alien monster that limits most role playing adventure. The player is encouraged to create contacts who act as the monsters eyes ears and eyes in the human world. When there is trouble the contacts call their monster ally who can sense their human pets are in danger. Contacts might not realize they attract kaiju. Roll FASE stats and power ranks as a Kaiju and also roll for random body armour rank and roll for one chosen power or two random rolled powers. Roll CRIP stats as a human for kaiju as they are not that bright. Start with two talents and 4 contacts. Height equals strength in feet high and the strength is used to determine mass also. A all kaiju game was pretty awesome. Recommended for players who can roleplay lots of characters and can be a bit silly.

Immortal are a older type of superhuman in hiding on earth for millennia. A typical Immortal has one Rm stat, four excellents and the rest are good. The have immortality and probability control options and they can pick 8 talents and four contacts including rival immortals.  You can detect a imortal within Unearthly rank and most hate each other. By sacrificing 3000 Karma and draining the cosmic power of a immortal you defeat in personal combat you can buy some additional cosmic powers like Cosmic Focus (+1 rank on any stat or power once per round) or other powers or start rank in sorcery. All start with Remarkable resources. Some choose other adversaries like vampires or werewolves or wizards. Recommended for players who would like to a be a mysterious seemingly human character good at lots of stuff.

Eternal are humans amplified temporarily from a patron who supplies a power source. Use a base human then add these mods on top. Sometimes being a normal human has advantages. All eternals get a costume option for Gd protection that appears when powers activated and a Parton and the regular amount of options. Each hero can use his powers per recharge equal to Endurance. Using several low powers is more efficient than using Rm full force beams. Full rank power in Endurance in rounds, -1cs in minutes -2cs in tens of minutes or as long as they please below that. Use Endurance score in amplified mode. It takes a hour to recharge and usually a sleep too. The source can be portable, hidden or a location and is considered a secret too dangerous to share.

Eternals have a universal power that can duplicate many stunts or feats of other powers based on the patrons choice. With Remarkable Uni Power a character has these standard feats: Fly, Force Field or Force Blast. May use multiple abilities and save power and divide power into three good abilities or a excellent and a good power. New stunts add a additional ability to the character repertoire and should suit the patrons theme. Recommended for players who would like to have a powerless secret ID and transform into a super identity who is good at everything. 

So you could fly about for 6-8 hours at only good speed and take a few shots with a force field all at once. Or burn all your power in 30-40 rounds in combat before needing a recharge. Weird forces might prey on your power source occasionally. Possibly you could swap power source for a pill or syringe but people frown on those heroes now days.

Spaceknights are alien cyborgs sworn to hunt dire wraiths and perform good deeds. Honourable and code bound they soar through space hunting evil. Remarkable for all physical and Excellent for all mental stats with +1 rank where desired on any one stat. All space knights have Rm cyborg armour and a Ex rocket flight which can be improved with stunts.

Player may choose to be bonded always to armour till evil banished (forever) or can store it away in subspace summonable at will with a piece of jewelry or item. In this case you will need to generate your alter ego as a human form. Your human form might help determine talents and contacts but when armoured you use those stats instead not in addition too. All spaceknights have a bonus weapon background option which can be stored in subspace and summoned at will. Mostly develop weapon stunts but alien cyborg body. Spaceknights mostly learn arts of war or space science. Contacts include friendly humans or other spaceknights. All space knights will be menaced by dire wraiths. Recommended for players who would like to have a lazy powerful flamboyant character.  

Others I had considered a tech type but kaiju or mystery men and options can do that, same for sorceror. Choice in styles of character and origin offer lots of choices or ways of streamlining or having no choice. Vampires and were wolves have been tried. Omegas kinda make ok vampires. And long considered a shape shifter basic type. 4th gen ones yet to be finalized with players. Considered other ways of adding options or go to my original mystery men system where they are very skilled humans with resources. Could still do this.