author Richard Woolcock System Metahuman Uprising Tricube Tales < Imagine a world much like our own, except that super-powered “metahumans” live among us, and always have—Zeus was simply a metahuman who controlled electricity, Hercules was another who Background had preternatural strength, Ra could absorb and project energy from the sun, and so on. Figu Design For a long time, metahumans were few in number and consigned to the annals of mythology. But in Story Symbols recent years, their numbers have exploded, and they can no longer hide their existence. Humanity has Delapouite, Lorc, Skoll reacted with fear and confusion, leading to escalating tensions and violent confrontations. Game-icons.net < You are metahuman heroes who have chosen to protect society from supervillains and other threats, Illustrations using your powers for good—while taking care not to reveal your real identities. Jeshields Character Creation Resolving Challenges Beating the Bad Guy Each player creates a character as follows: If a player attempts something risky, they roll 1-3 Roll on the following tables to determine the type 1. Choose a trait: Agile (used for reflexes, dexterity, six-sided dice and must equal or beat a difficulty of scenario (there are examples on the next page): stealth, and ranged combat), brawny (covers strength, of 4-6 on at least one die. Succeed on multiple dice The heroes must deal with... vitality, athletics, and melee combat), or crafty (covers for an exceptional success (narrate an additional A A mad scientist D A callous mercenary smarts, charm, alertness, and mental/social combat). benefit). Rolling “1” on all dice is a critical failure B A young villain E A crazy fanatic 2. Select a concept: Journalist, lawyer, professor, (introduce a complication to the scene). C An evil genius F An ancient “god” businessperson, socialite, detective, or scientist. The GM chooses a trait and difficulty for each Who plans to kill, capture, or steal... 3. Select a perk: Telepath, energy control (specify challenge. Most are difficulty 5, but a particularly A A political figure D Government secrets type), matter manipulation (choose type), animal easy or hard task might be difficulty 4 or 6. Some B A lucrative target E A military officer abilities (specify one animal), shapeshifter (define challenges (e.g., combat) require multiple rolls. C Another metahuman F Ordinary civilians one alternate form), signature device (describe it), Players usually roll 2 dice, but roll 3 dice if the With the further complication of... or molecular paragon (choose one specific ability challenge matches their trait. If a challenge falls A Personal obligations D Undesirable allies that you can only use on yourself, such as flight, completely outside the scope of their concept (e.g., B Meddling humans E Innocent bystanders teleportion, elastic flesh, invisibility, intangibility, a socialite debating case law), they lose 1 die. C Gung-ho minions F Plans within plans speedster, duplication, etc). 4. Pick a quirk: Honorable, naive, overconfident, caring, violent, wisecracker, or judgemental. Karma and Resolve Running the Game 5. Grab 3 karma tokens and 3 resolve tokens. Each player has 3 karma and 3 resolve. Spend 1 The GM should describe the opening scene, react 6. Make up a name and a metahuman alias, and karma after rolling to reduce the difficulty by 1, if to the players’ decisions, and assign the traits and introduce yourself to your group (e.g., “I’m Dieter you can justify how your perk helps you. Recover difficulties for challenges. Offer players karma in Darker—aka Spiderguy—an agile journalist gifted 1 karma if you increase the difficulty by 1 before return for complications based on their quirks! with spider-themed animal abilities, who is also a rolling, narrating how your quirk hinders you. well-known wisecracker”). If you use a quirk and succeed at the challenge, you may recover 1 resolve instead of 1 karma. Playing the Game Need some Super Inspiration? For dangerous actions (such as combat), failure The players should make all of the rolls, narrate If you’re having difficulty deciding which super- costs 1 resolve (or 2 on a critical failure). If a PC the outcome of their actions, and drive the story power perk to take, you could always roll on the runs out of resolve, they are eliminated from the forward whenever possible. They can also spend “twist” table (at the bottom of the next page) and scene—but death is primarily a narrative conceit, 1 karma to influence the story or discover a clue use the symbol for inspiration! and the PC usually returns later at full resolve. through their perk, at the GM’s discretion. Supervillains Dastardly Plans Complications Described here are example supervillains for the Described here are examples of villain objectives Described here are example complications for the adventure generator (first table): for the adventure generator (second table): adventure generator (third table): 1. Doctor Squid 1. Senator with an Agenda 1. No Rest for the Wicked This mad inventor has eight mechanical tentacles A charismatic senator has been playing on public One of the heroes has a critical deadline that they bonded to her spine, and she uses them for rapid fears to advocate for metahuman registration and need to meet at work, and their supervisor keeps movement, as well as to aid her in combat. segregation laws—and that’s just his first move. phoning them with questions and requests to do 2. Joyrider 2. The Heist additional shifts or overtime. A troubled teenager recently developed electrical The villain plans to use their metahuman powers 2. The Girls powers, and she has been using them to hotwire to commit a high-profile bank robbery. But is it A group of vigilantes known as “The Girls” like to cars and rob ATMs. But now she appears to have just cash they’re after, or is there something more hunt down and kill metahumans, and they rarely set her sights on a much bigger target. valuable locked away in the vault? differentiate between heroes and villains. 3. Megalomaniac 3. Batteries Not Included 3. Feckless Flunkies Rex Ruthor is a scheming business magnate who The villain needs a young metahuman to use as a The villain is accompanied by bungling minions, envies the metahumans—and if he can’t take their literal power source for their nefarious plan. This who are likely to cause plenty of trouble through powers for himself, he’ll destroy them instead! plan may well prove fatal for the “volunteer.” their incompetence and lack of discipline. 4. Legion 4. Super Serum 4. Glory Hounds This dangerous mercenary can duplicate himself A top-secret government agency is rumored to be Another team of metahuman heroes has decided dozens of times, becoming a one-man army. developing some sort of “metahuman serum.” But to join the action, but they seem more interested 5. Dark Jester does it grant powers—or remove them? in personal glory than protecting the public. This scheming madman is dressed like a macabre 5. The Colonel 5. Human Shield court jester. His agenda is inscrutable, and many An influential colonel is secretly kidnapping and The supervillain likes using hostages and ensures believe he just wants to watch the world burn. experimenting on metahumans. He believes they that there are always innocent bystanders around 6. Cold Case pose an existential threat to humankind. whenever they might get into a fight. An old criminal has resurfaced, but he is far older 6. Transhuman Terrorism 6. Designated Decoy than most people realize. He was once known as Some supervillains have no higher purpose—they The entire mission is nothing more than a feint “Boreas,” the mythical winged god of the north simply wish to drive fear into society by racking to keep the heroes distracted while another villain wind and bringer of winter! up the highest possible body count. executes their own dastardly plan! adding a twist to the story For further inspiration, roll two dice on the table below and use the symbol as an improvisational prompt (you don’t need to interpret it literally). For example, C B might indicate a romantic interest or a personal secret, while rolling D B could represent a hospital, medicine, or a metahuman with regenerative abilities, and B B might mean literal thorns, a thorny problem, or a metahuman with the power to control plants. AA AB AC AD AE AF BA BB BC BD BE BF CA CB CC CD CE CF DA DB DC DD DE DF EA EB EC ED EE EF FA FB FC FD FE FF