RPGClix Basics RPGClix is a merging of the Marvel Super Heroes “Rules” and Heroclix miniatures and scaled maps. The idea is to add a fun tactical part to the fairly vague MSHRPG rules, and also provide a use for the 1,000’s of useless plastic pieces known as Heroclix, which lack a decent rules set with which to use them with. The players should have a sheet of laminated paper or small whiteboard and a dry-erase marker, or a small notepad. Each player should have a miniature to represent their character, and a token or stone to use for marking the map. The judge should also have a dry-erase marker and a small whiteboard or piece of laminated paper, as well as miniatures for the bad guys. As of this writing there are 30+ Heroclix maps depicting just about any scene you can imagine, in addition several of the newer maps have a blank grid on the flip side. With a laminated map and a dry erase you can depict most anything. THE ROUND Once the Judge initiates Combat the game slows down into increments called Rounds. A round consists of each combatant activating in a certain order. Initiative: The order in which characters act is determined by rolling for Initiative. Unlike the Players Rulebook, we will determine Initiative individually, for each combatant. The Initiative modifiers from the Players Rulebook for high Intuition still apply. • Shift-0 – Poor - -1 • Typical - Good - +0 • Excellent – Remarkable - +1 • Incredible – Amazing - +2 • Monstrous – Unearthly - +3 • Shift-X - +4 • Shift-Y – Class 1000 - +8 • Class 5000 - +10 Before rolling for Initiative each person should write down in short hand what they plan on doing. Players may confer with each other, but the Judge shouldn’t reveal what the villains are planning to the players. Everyone reveals their intended actions for the rounds activation, if a player is planning on moving somewhere they should indicate the square they intend to end up in by placing their token in the square. Pre-initiative rolls are made (this is typically any Dodge rolls, explained later). Initiative is then rolled, and the order should be jotted down in shorthand. Actions are then resolved in the order in which the Initiative falls. A player or non-player may change their course of action after Initiative is rolled by making a Green Agility FEAT roll. Even after making that roll all actions performed are subject to a -1CS modifier. A quick recap: 1) Write down (declare) actions 2) Reveal actions and place tokens on the map indicating where characters want to move 3) Resolve any Dodge attempts 4) Roll for initiative 5) Resolve each action in order Rolling for initiative each round can be time consuming. So if you are dealing with a mob of weaker opponents you are probably better off rolling once for all of them. It’s also helpful to use a board with markers for each character, then sliding them around to represent the order for that round. ACTIONS There are 3 types of actions a character can perform on their turn: Quick, Standard and Tough. • A character may perform a quick action once per round no matter what. • A character may double his movement rate as a tough action. • A character may move up to his movement rate and perform a standard action. • A character may not move and perform a tough action. If a character performs a tough action he may not move for the rest of the round. Some examples of Quick actions: • Reload a gun with the Guns or Law Enforcement talent • Throw a switch • Open an unlocked door • Unsheathe a sword • Drop a weapon • Adjust facing • Regenerating • Human Torch flaming on • Invisible Woman turning Invisible • Kang raising his personal Force Field • Nightcrawler teleporting • Jean Grey telepathically telling her team to duck Some examples of Standard actions: • Close Combat Attack • Ranged Combat Attack • Reload a gun without the Guns or Law Enforcement talent • Get into or out of a Car • Pick up an object • Break down a wall/door/barrier • Ant-Man shrinking • Giant-Man growing • Deal grappling damage on a held target • Spider-Man making a web wall • Starfox using his Emotion control power • Invisible Woman putting up a Force Field • Moon Knight sliding down 100’ of swing line • Mystique changing shape • Dr. Strange discharging an eldritch bolt • Mr. Fantastic stretching up to his Monstrous rank • Professor Xavier psychically attacking an enemy Some examples of Tough actions: • Initiate a Grapple • Perform a Grab • Perform a full Strength Leap • Take an aimed shot • Evading • Blocking • Escaping • Charging • Attempt a multiple attack Fighting FEAT • Bruce Banner transforming into Hulk • Karnak studying an opponent for a weakness • Thor summoning a lightning bolt • Cloak opening a portal and teleporting away • Karma possessing an enemy • Dr. Strange casting a spell • Ulik creating a local Earthquake with his fist-pounders • Moving double your movement rate Individual powers should have their action type agreed upon prior to playing. MOVEMENT Movement (Endurance Based): • Feeble - 1 squares • Poor - 2 Squares • Typical - 3 squares • Good - 4 squares • Excellent - 5 squares • Remarkable + - 6 squares An agility of Remarkable or greater adds one square to the movement per CS greater then or equal to Remarkable, up to a maximum of +3. • Remarkable - +1 square • Incredible - +2 square • Amazing + - +3 square Example: Sabretooth has Remarkable Endurance and Remarkable Agility. His Movement is 6 + 1 for a total of 7 Movement. Example: Spider-Man has Incredible Endurance and Amazing Agility. His movement is 6 (capped at 6) + 3 (for Amazing rank Agility) or 9 Movement. These values apply to walking (running) on land. Assuming a character is a competent swimmer water based rates should be no more then a 2 square movement rate. The original rules scale movement strictly off of Endurance. The result is slow bruisers like Juggernaut end up being speedsters in combat. A character may also possess a movement power that allows for a rate of speed that exceeds his normal base speed. If the character rolls up a power for a mode of transport he already has (typically Lightning Speed / Hyper-Running) and its rank would result in movement less then his base rate then increase the rank of the power until it exceeds his normal movement. This rule doesn’t apply to alternate transportation such as flying, digging, and swimming. Example: Sneaker-Man has Incredible Endurance and Amazing Agility. His movement is 9. He rolls up Hyper-Running at Good rank, this is actually less then his base movement of 9, he can increase it to Excellent and he can now use his power rank in place of his normal movement rate allowing him to move 12 squares (or 24 with a tough action). Example: Shrew Master has Incredible Endurance and Amazing Agility. His movement is 9. He rolls up Hyper-Digging at Good rank, although this is actually less then his movement of 9 it isn’t running so the Good rank stays. This allows Shrew Master to move through normal soil (Good strength material) at 8 squares (or 16 with a tough action). Movement (Powers): • Feeble - 2 squares • Poor - 4 squares • Typical - 6 squares • Good - 8 squares • Excellent - 12 squares • Remarkable - 20 squares • Incredible - 30 squares • Amazing - 45 squares • Monstrous - 65 squares • Unearthly - 90 squares • Shift-X - 125 squares An Agility FEAT is required to turn or perform a standard action. The Agility FEAT is matched up against the current speed. Example: Aurora has Shift-X Flight. She has Excellent agility, if she is flying at Good speed a Green FEAT roll against her Excellent agility is required. If she is flying at Excellent speed a Yellow roll is required, at Remarkable speed a Red FEAT is needed. If she is flying at Typical speed no roll is required. If she is flying at Incredible speed she must concentrate on flying and can't make sharp turns or perform other actions. Example: Quicksilver has Shift-X land speed and Unearthly agility. Once he accelerates to even Shift-X speed he can perform actions with a Red FEAT roll against his Unearthly agility. Pretty bad ass. Super-speed and Map based combat: At some point a characters effective speed may exceed the boundaries of the map and the area where the non-speedsters are fighting. Obviously the movement doesn’t need to be plotted out square by square, the player only needs to indicate any attacks he is taking during his move and where he intends to end his round. Remember to make the proper FEAT roll as stated above if necessary. Super-speed is rarely handled accurately in comics either; most fights and plots could be ended rather quickly by the Flash using a steel screwdriver to all villains’ eye sockets within a 100 mile radius. ATTACKING AND DEFENDING Damage in Close Combat: Attacking with items and weapons: A character (barring powers) will inflict damage equal to his Strength rank. If the character is attacking with a weapon with material strength greater then his Strength then the damage is increased to the lower boundary of the next highest rank above his Strength. If the material strength is less then Strength then the higher boundary of the material rank is used, this is useful if you don't want to obliterate somebody but simply knock them out. Example: Ben Grimm and his Monstrous strength wants to take out some common thugs, he hurls a 2 square wide lamppost at them, dealing the Excellent max rank damage (25). Had he walked up and punched one in the face, the unfortunate thug would likely be a bloody paste.