27 March 2020

Using the Immortal Rules for Superheroes

I've wanted to run and/or play in a campaign combining the Incredibles universe and Men in Black and Dr. Horrible for a long time now, and I just haven't found a system that I feel would do the concept justice. Today I was inspired by a recent post at what a horrible night to have a curse talking about the Immortals set; I really think with a little bit of tweaking the Immortals set could be used to run a supers game. This is a brief outline of some thoughts of how I might go about it.



I think the most important aspect to consider are the Sphere of power and their associated greater and lesser talents. I guess maybe we could consider each sphere to be like the Classes of D&D. after reading through the gold box again, I think the Spheres act as a guiding philosophy and a determines the types of goals each character will set. So for now keeping the Spheres of Thought, Time, Energy, Matter, and Entropy to determine a base for a Super character we can move on to more specific changes in the rules.

A quick side note, I was thinking of reskinning Alignment as The Good Guys, Mercenary, and Villain, but I think keeping the Spheres and their associated goals overrides that.

Each Immortal has access to all magic spells and other immortal abilities like power attacks and the new forms of magic in the dm guide; the immortal simply has to spend the appropriate Power Points to use any ability. This is the first and most major change that needs to be made in my opinion. Super Heroes don't have access to unlimited abilities; they have specific ones that make them special.  So at character creation, each super gets a number of PP to spend to get specific abilities based on the PP cost provided in charts S1-4 in the DM guide. As much as I hate point buy systems, I don't really see any other reasonable option for customizing superheroes with specific abilities. All of the automatic abilities of Immortals like Anti-Magic, power attacks and shields and probes, and direct attacks on ability scores would all be included in the big list of powers to choose from with an appropriate PP cost.

I would convert the rules on forms to apply to superhero outfits/costumes. I think I will use the mortal form with some of the limitations of the incorporeal form as a basis for their secret identity, and normal forms as their costumed identity. They can have spare costumes(forms) that enhance certain powers. And applying the section about their common and true name to superhero/street name and their secret identity could work well. Also I would apply the rules of the home plane to the superheroes secret base.

I'm not entirely sure what to do with experience and advancement. I'm thinking of limiting each super hero to a single rank and they can move up and down the levels of that rank based on what their current power points are. So a Temporal would be a street level hero like Daredevil, and a Hierarch would be almost godlike like Superman. Or maybe I should just let each super advance as much as possible? Superman did start off as just Clark Kent in Smallville. I don't know, I'll have to think about that one.

Coming back to the costumes, each Immortal has an Aura they can use to charm or cause fear to mortals. I would like to keep this ability as dependent on when the superhero is wearing their costume.

As for our heroes who aren't actually super like Batman, the Green Arrow, Jay from MIB, etc. We can treat Artifacts as their superpowers. Artifacts simulate super powers just like all the high tech gadgets of those characters do, so instead of these characters spending PP to use their superpowers or increase the ones they already have, they would now spend PP to make new artifacts or magic items.

Most of the actual game system is in the players guide, but there is one thing I find really interesting in the DMs guide. On pg 16, 17, and 18 roles that Immortal might play, and the types of missions they might go on. I think the observers, controllers, and combinations section is great to apply to secret government agencies like presented in MIB, and the Projects and Investigations Sections can apply to both these organizations and individual heroes.

I just had a thought pertaining to the Spheres of Power. Each Sphere or Class determines the primary way in which a hero looks at and usually tries to solve a problem, and their powers are associated with that.

So Matter is Brawn, the hero punches everything. Gets in lots of fights, and doesn't take the time to think through a problem if a solution can simply be forced through violence. Example: The Hulk, Wolverine

Thought is Mind, the hero plans for everything. Always looks for the most efficient solution, and engages in combat only when they have the clear advantage. This hero always has a backup plan. Example: Batman, Professor X

Energy is Action, the Hero acts without thinking. Acts first without considering the consequences, just wants to do something, feels useless waiting. This hero may be mistaken for the Brawn class, but the difference is this hero just wants to do something, not necessarily a violent thing. Example: The Flash, Cyclops

Time is the Greater Good, this hero thinks long term and cares about helping the most people no matter the cost. this hero can often seem egotistical and act like they know more than other people. Their intentions come from a good place, but they may get carried away; these characters plot and scheme behind the scenes to achieve their ends, and may commit atrocious actions along the way. Example: Nick Fury, Magneto

Entropy is Destruction, this villain wants to destroy people or things for some reason. These characters are usually considered villains and the audience has no sympathy for them, they are just evil and that is explanation enough. Example: Thanos, Apocalypse

I'm really liking where these 5 classes are going, I think I will try converting the Immortal system to a Supers game.

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