Game Concepts and Changes

Wow an Update!!!

Yeah, sorry about that. I'd give you a snarky excuse, but I don't have one. Truth is, I've been so busy working on other projects such as the upcoming Smallville Role Playing Game for the awesome people over at Margaret Weis Productions that I haven't updated the blog. That is not to say that work hasn't progressed on Superhuman, ho no.

In fact, playtesting is a funny thing. you get to see where many of the weaknesses of a game are that you never noticed before. For example: Melee Combat.

Previously, Each player's turn ended with a Melee Combat Phase. In this phase, as you can expect, models in base-to-base contact engaged in hand-to-hand combat. This is all well and good. However, there is a rule in the Melee phase I am very fond of called Knockback.

Knockback is very steeped in comic shtick. When you hit someone and are able to do damage to them in hand-to-hand combat, you throw them in inches equal to the amount of damage dealt through walls and other models directly away from your model. I love this rule- it reminds me of every panel I've ever seen of the bad guy thrown into the brick wall by Superman's fist. However, it proved problematic for a while.

Both players had a Melee Combat Phase, but all combat phases happened after both players' Movement phases. Why did this matter? It meant that for the most part, the second player never got a Melee Combat Phase. Knockback usually caused the models to break apart by several inches and without the benefit of certain powers, that was a gap that could not be filled until the following turn. And I am not a fan of anyone losing a turn.

The easy solution was to drop Knockback. Hell no! That rule is the spirit of Superhuman and is one of the rules that separates this game from every other mini game out there (there are other factors of course, but I can wax ecstatic if I wish). No, I had a simpler method: Phase restructuring. I like the staggered turn sequence we use presently (Low initiative Move, High Initiative Move, High Initiative Combat, Low Initiative Combat) but a tweak could solve all the issues entailed.

So here it is, the new turn sequence:
1 Initiative
2 Low Initiative Movement
3 High Initiative Movement
4 High Initiative Ranged Combat
5 Low Initiative Ranged Combat
6 Melee Combat Phase (all engaged models)

In the end, we've found that having a single Melee phase did a few things. Yes, it allowed Knockback to be suitably effective but more than that it slimmed down turn length and seemed to concentrate the focus on that last phase in the turn.

Next up...
Power Pools by Faction and why different Factions have different Powers
and then (or maybe before) Getting to know Your Demo Team: High Society (villains)

Cheers,
~Dr. Mono