Super Squadron

Superhero RPG

Review by Michael Dawson

Written by Joseph Italiano
Adventure Simulations PO. Box 182, Mitchham 3132, Victoria, Australia
Released: August, 1983
Price: $14.95
Complexity: Low Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: None

Super Squadron is a superhero role-playing game that features a system for the random creation of superheroes. However, guidelines are established in the system that allow those who prefer a custom made player-character (pc) to design a character that meets their criteria. The game divides superheroes and super villains into character classes like "mutant, supernatural, or alien," and has a large list of superpowers. Super Squadron also contains sections on experience, character background, artifacts, encounters, combat, creating the world, romantic involvements, and existence in the world, as well as a blank character sheet. A separate book contains several scenarios, from a simple encounter with muggers to a major assault on a super villain base. 1wo pages of blank character silhouettes for costume design are also included. The artwork is mediocre and obviously done by an amateur.

Super Squadron is a good compromise between the all random superhero generation system and the all choice superhero role-playing game. While the author strongly encourages the player to create a character randomly, he has also realized that many people would rather design their own hero. it is refreshing to find an author who is willing to admit that some readers might prefer to run Super Squadron differently than the author does. While the system works best as a random generator, it does not do a bad job as a choice oriented system. Super Squadron is a good choice as an entry-level superhero role-playing game for 10-13-year-olds.

What keeps Super Squadron from being a great deal of fun to play is the lack of a comprehensive reference section for quick reference during combat or skills resolution. Super Squadron combat and skills rules are full of wargamer style die modifiers that would take a great deal of time to memorize and are not compiled in any one place in the book. Aside from that, the Super Squadron rules system is enjoyable as long as you are looking for a fast, uncletailed combat system that offers the characters a limited number of options in a fight.

Some people will really enjoy the way that the system allows them to generate a very powerful character with little to restrain its abilities. Since Super Squadron is not an effects based game, it is possible to have a character capable of lightspeed flight within the atmosphere, time travel five billion years into the past or future, and other really amazing things that are unfortunately not explained well enough by the game system for the referee to be able to run them with ease. The author has never told the referee what happens when a character runs into a super villain at 9/10ths of the speed of light, for example.

Since the rules are rather simplistic, the replay value of this game for advanced players is low, but younger players could probably enjoy the Super Squadron system for a few years of scenario or campaign play before deciding to move on to a more complex system.

There is not much in the rules system that actively works against the construction of a campaign true to comic books, but there is one section that seems a bit force- ful. Super Squadron contains a section on the effect of ego on a character's choices regarding retreats in a combat situation. A player is not free to decide how brave or cowardly his character is, and he cannot choose the time that a clever or wily character would play possum or make a strategic retreat. A pcs ego statistic generates a pair of percentile "skills" called Compulsory Retreat and Willing Retreat. A character must make a roll in a combat situation to retreat if he wants to, and to avoid retreating if he does not want to.

Super Squadron also dwells overly long on the day-to-day grind of a character's secret life. The detail in the game is much too heavy for such an otherwise light and fast rules system. Like the rules regarding combat retreats, the long rules governing work, school, and private life are best ignored.

In contrast, the encounters section is much too simplistic, particularly in dealing with the concept of patrolling. Using the provided system would tend to turn a superhero's daily patrol through his home town into a fray through a comic book dungeon. These rules should not be removed; they should be replaced. The things that a superhero encounters on patrol are too wild and unpredictable to be handled by a simple encounter system.

The combat system does not favor any one type of character over another. it would be more correct to say that it hinders every type of character equally. The average superhero or super villain will be hard-pressed to land a ranged attack on anything that is even feebly trying to get out of the way. Combat can be resolved fairly quickly once someone manages to land a blow, but it looks likely that beginning characters, regardless of powers, will often be forced to close to hand-to-hand range with their opponent in order to connect.

Moreover, once a character is injured, he will be handicapped for a long time because of the slow rate at which wounds are recovered. However, the rate that characters recover the "action points" that allow them to fuel things like energy beams, shape shifting, or other active powers is even more dreadfully slow. An average superhero can spend nearly a week recovering from a few seconds of combat. A power called Fast Recovery is usually overlooked when players create their first characters; it is certain to be a favorite by the time that they want to create their second one. For an entry level game, Super Squadron does a fair job at simulating a comic book world. By eliminating or severely limiting some of the more extreme powers, the referee can control the energy level of the campaign. The nice things about Super Squadron is that it has been written in a stvle that does not lead the reader to think that every word in it is sacrosanct.

The only negative thing about the style of the book is the poor punctuation that is rampant throughout. It is obvious that the staff of Adventure Simulations lacks a proofreader with strong skills in basic English sentence structure. The author's over-use of commas is comical after the first few pages, but becomes annoying after the first few chapters.

The scenario book included with the basic game presents the necessary information in a logical way, and acts as an escalating introduction to the Super Squadron world and mechanics system.

However, there is one design flaw that strikes to the heart of the game system. The later scenarios are likely to kill one or more player-characters. This would not be a surprise if this were a fantasy game module, but since this is supposed to be a simulation of a superhero world, the death of any character who did not decide to sacrifice himself is out of genre. In mainstream comic books, superhero characters do not die easily, even against incredible opposition. This is one of the basic tenets of a comic book world, and the game system and the scenarios both ignore it. It should be much harder for a character to die in the Super Squadron system than it is.

Nevertheless, the system is playable and enjoyable in a simple sort of way. Beef up the character's defenses, get rid of the ego rules, and lighten up on the damage, and a fast and easy system best for beginning gamers is yours.

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© Copyright 2000 by Dana Lombardy.
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