My thanks to blog friend Siskoid and the folks at the Fire and Water Podcast Network show Hero Points Podcast for pointing out the existence of this DC Adventures role playing game.
As a fan of role playing games in general and specifically the Mayfair DC Heroes RPG, I was thrilled to hear about this. In particular, the idea of there being a heroes and villains book of stats and histories made me think I need to hunt these down. This is the closest I have seen to a Who's Who book in some time.
And it has measurable stats! Once again we can see who is stronger, faster, smarter.
This site being what it is, I thought I would share the Supergirl pages. Thanks again to Siskoid for sharing them.
This is definitely the Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle era Supergirl. The picture is Josh Middleton’s cover from Supergirl #43, smack dab in the middle of their run.
Her history and personality are based on that run. This is a Supergirl dealing with tragedy all around her. She lost her world. She thought she lost her parents. She gets them back only to lose them again. That grief really motivates her.
And the idea that Supergirl is more powerful was one floated by Jeph Loeb early in this run. The explanation that her youthful vigor might make her less controlled in battle is a decent one. I do wish that somewhere in this was a line about her optimism, or maybe something that she will do what she can to spare others the pain of what she has gone through.
I do think there is one mistake here. I don't think Kara was rocketed from a domed Argo as she was in the Silver Age. I thought she was rocketed from Krypton at the same time as Kal to protect him.
I do wish that I had a better understanding of the actual stats. I am old school D&D, where stats are based on a maximum of 18. I doubt that is going on here.
I was very happy to see that Matrix gets a paragraph, a doorway I suppose for someone to try to convert the Kryptonian stats into ones for the Earth Angel.
And I love that Reactron is named her arch enemy. He deserved that title back then.
I'd love to hear from anyone who played the game, especially if they played Supergirl.
Thanks again Siskoid and the Fire and Water Network!
That's a very nice book! And I like it's the Gates and Igle's Supergirl. Have you noticed her profile COMPLETELY skips over the Loeb/Churchill and Joe Kelly eras? Yes, I thought so.
ReplyDelete"And the idea that Supergirl is more powerful was one floated by Jeph Loeb early in this run."
And been a source of strife between fans who refuse to believe Kara may be her cousin's equal.
"I do think there is one mistake here. I don't think Kara was rocketed from a domed Argo as she was in the Silver Age. I thought she was rocketed from Krypton at the same time as Kal to protect him."
No, no. Action Comics #869 and Supergirl (Volume 5) #35 clearly state she was rocketed from Argo when a Brainiac drone was tearing the city up (and Allura asked her to find and look after her cousin).
I think you're remembering her first, thrice-retconned "origin" given by Jeph Loeb in Superman/Batman #9.
"I was very happy to see that Matrix gets a paragraph, a doorway I suppose for someone to try to convert the Kryptonian stats into ones for the Earth Angel."
It's nice, although I should like a mention to the original Supergirl and her sacrifice to save Superman and the Multiverse.
Even so, I'm happy that Post-Crisis Supergirl is acknowledged. After very harsh beginnings -thanks to editorial incompetence and mishandling- she became a true hero and a great character. I miss her.
Yep. You're right about the reboot, something I wrote about long ago!
ReplyDeletehttp://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-supergirl-35.html
I even praised it then for the soft reboot and smoothing out the details!
Ah, a mind is a terrible thing to waste!!
Unfortunately I've never got a chance to play Kara but I do know the rules. :)
ReplyDeleteDC Adventures uses the same ruleset as Mutants and Masterminds. Basically the number of an attribute is the bonus you apply to a 20-sided dice roll.
A completely average person would have a rank of '0' in her attributes (ie. no bonus.) As you can see from her attributes Kara is above average in everything, though how much varies. Her Strength (STR) is godlike, her Stamina (STA) not much less godlike while her other traits are good, but definitely human scale. For instance her Intelligence score (INT) is definitely above average, but far below that given for Lex Luthor or Batman (who get a score of 11 and 8 respectively.) Likewise Kara's Presence (PER) - a kind of measurement of force of personality, charisma and persuasiveness - is a well above average 3 but trails Wonder's Woman's Presence score of 6.
Compared with Superman Kara is physically slightly weaker and mentally similar if less experienced and therefore with a lower Fighting score (FGT), but marinally more Agile (AGL).
In DC Adventures your Power Level (PL) is a bit like your Character Level in D&D terms. Kara is PL 12, which makes her more powerful than the standard 'generic' player character (PL 10) but below the Trity (PL 15.) In her specific case Kara hits really, really hard, but her skill at hitting things is only okayish for a superhero. Her build is very much a kind of 'naturally talented but inexperienced hero' kind of thing.