Character Creation: Simply Super

You know I love a good supers game! But I'll do this one anyway.

The Game: Simply Super
The Publisher: The C. Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

I got this game in a bundle some time ago. It's a superhero game, and I guess it's meant to be four-color, but there is literally no attempt at world-building, just a (kind of strange) game system hung on a few vague indicators for the genre.

The game jumps directly into Character Creation, no intro, no handshake, so OK, let's do this!

First thing we're meant to do is choose a name. All righty then. My guy's name is Gabriel Gunderson, keeping the great tradition of alliterative superhero names. I'll wait to decide his alias and, like, anything else about him until later in the process.

Next we choose Age. That is, child, teen, or adult. I dunno. I don't want to be a child. I guess adult. That means my speed is Normal, I can be small, medium, or large, and I have one Core in which I always have Edge. Don't know what that all means, but on we go. 

Choose an Origin! The Origins are Human, Alien, Powered Animal, Hybrid, and Artificial. Human's fine, thanks. That means:

Ooh, Cores are next! Good, 'cause I keep hearing about them. Cores can be Physical, Mental, or Social Learned. They're basically Attributes and Skills combined, I guess. Let's see. I get 2 Strong, 4 Good, 3 Weak, and then I get to pick one that I always have Edge in. Also, I can add one additional Strong or two additional Goods. Why is "gain" capitalized in the above box? Might as well as why the boxes that list the Physical and Mental Cores are labeled "Traits" instead of "Cores". It's a mystery. 

(It's not that much of a mystery.)

I think Gabriel is a magician. Maybe worked as a comedy magician in the 90s, but never got famous and now manages a big box store and does kids' parties sometimes. I'll my from Strong Cores Sleight of Hand and Quick, then. I'll put Clever, Likeable, Alluring, and Flexible under Good. And then under Weak, I'll put Bold, Intimidating, and Lying. I see this guy as a good performer but not really blessed with the gift of gab. 

Sleight of Hand is my "always have Edge" Core, and then I need to add another Strong or two more Goods. OK. Let's add Focused and Resilient as Goods. 

And now we do Core Criticals and Core Ranges. And OMG, there are So Many Unnecessarily Capitalized Words. Also, I've read this section a bunch of times and I have no idea how it's supposed to work. There's no example of chargen, of course, but there are a bunch of pregens, so let's look at their Cores And See What to Do.

OK, it looks like we're taking 3d6 and using that to generate our Criticals, which is a number that is gangbusters if rolled. I get 8, 8, and 7 (wow, these dice suck). OK, I'll put 8 and 8 in Strong and Good, and 7 in Weak. I use that to find my Ranges on a chart. The confusing thing is that the book doesn't just "use the chart," it says:

Gobbledygook

Anyway, my Core Controls are equal to the number of Cores I have in that particular area, so Strong 2, Good 6, Weak 3. 

And now I get 1 Power. I...huh. Like, OK. I'm fine with low-powered settings. But like, not all powers are created equal, and some are more flavor than anything else. Also, there are three levels of power (for Powers): Genesis, Gifted, and Super. A lot of the Powers don't get Interesting until Gifted, and at Genesis they Downright Suck. For example, Mediumship (which is not a word) allows you, at Genesis, to see ghosts. That's it. Not talk to them, hit them, kiss them, borrow money from them, just see them. And, sure, that's cool and everything, but I could also use my one power to take, I dunno, Elemental Mastery and control fire. And how is the GM supposed to write adventures for my "I see dead people" loser?

Well, whatever. What power should Gabe have? Ooh, how about Time Manipulation? I have to choose one particular effect, but like, the effects are Slow Time (you move fast relative to others), Reversing Time (which...huh? I guess you retake actions?), Time Stop (FOR A FULL MINUTE SWEET JESUS), or Time Travel. Christ. I'll take Slow Time, thanks, because I think Time Stop is too much. My Power Modifier is 1d4+1 so...3 (oh, and it's actually Power Control, but sometimes it's called Modifier WHY DIDN'T YOU GET A PROOFREADER). Power Critical is 4d6 drop the highest...14.

Power Manifestation, that is, what it look like? I think Gabriel does a flourish with his hands and does a simple magic trick (flowers out the sleeve, coin out your ear, that kind of thing) and then, to an outside observer, he gets all blurry and they just focus on the trick, but from his perspective, he starts moving faster. 

Complications! I get a Minor and a Major. A Minor is a permanent limitation on my Power. A Major...well:

Bulldlebyshit

 I have no idea what I'm rolling the die for, or exactly when this would come into play. Anyway, for my Minor, I'll say Gabe needs a prepped magic trick to activate the power. For the Major, I'll say he becomes disoriented and experiences random time "stutters" for 1d8 rounds. 

Money and Objects, yeah, whatever. I have magic tricks. That's fine. All I need is an alias. I think "the Magician" is a little too obvious. I actually think "Flourish" works - a little camp, maybe, but I can live with that.

Flourish generally does hero stuff in a tux with a cape, but the tux is specially designed with concealed pockets everywhere. He's not a fan of punches and fights - he can fight if he really needs to, but that's not his skill set. Mostly he'd rather set off some flash paper and handcuff a dude before he knows what's happening. Dealing with powerful supervillains, then, isn't something Flourish should do alone. 

Gabe Gunderson is tall, thin, and had blond hair as a younger man, but it's starting to go grey. He got his power after going into a cabinet he found in the basement of an old chap he used to do magic shows with; there was a whole labyrinth in there. He solved it in what felt to him like hours, but he was only gone for a minute, and ever since then he's been able to futz with time. He has a feeling that even greater mysteries away in that cabinet, but he hasn't worked up the courage to go back. 

That'll do it! Fun character, game's kinda crap, though.