Interest Check: Invincible Superhero Roleplaying

Short and sweet -- any interest out there in GPlandia to do a little tire-kicking on the new YZE-powered Invincible supers game from Free League?



(It is not yet released, but I have the pretty finished-looking pre-release materials from the Kickstarter and can share key mechanics and character generation goodies as necessary.)

There are some pregens, but also full rules for creating a fully-fleshed out super. Four "Hero Ranks" are covered in the game: Teen Upstarts, Street Defenders, Global Guardians, and Cosmic Champions. If you show interest here, please also indicate what mode of play / rank most interests you.

Yo! Love the Invincible comics, love your superhero GMing, interested to see YZE handle other genres. I like world's greatest heroes/Justice League level supers, which sounds like Global Guardians rank.

You know- I JUST received the books via PDF after supporting them on Kickstarter. However, I confess that I haven't had an opportunity to read through it. I'm interested and able, I just don't know it yet...

Eager to try it out! Playing something like a Teen Upstart ,or Street Level Defender sounds like fun, but I’m happy to go with a higher-tier heros too.

The Year Zero Engine is fantastic for keeping mechanics grounded while allowing for epic storytelling. As a student of Digital Media & Strategy at Mackenzie São Paulo, I’m always fascinated by how different Ranks from Teen Upstarts to Cosmic Champions, change the data and probability of a game session.

Thinking about hero ranks reminds me of a struggle I had last year. I felt like a teen upstart trying to handle cosmic champion level stress at university. My focus was failing and my academic results were dipping. I realized I hadn't properly calibrated my own 'Character sheet.

I assume the campaign will refer primarily to the preview materials and therefore heavily utilize the existing Invincible setting and the events/people therein?

I haven't read the comic this is based on, but I'm eager to try how YZE would play in the supers genre. I'd prefer the Global Guardians level of power.

I've already run a few YZE games and I really like the system. I'm interested in trying out the Global Guardians level of power.

Big fan of Free League's games and also backed the Kickstarter. Would love to give it a spin

Well, I'm at least familiar with the show and I love how it fakes out a deconstruction of the superhero genre and ultimately ends up being a reconstruction. So, I'm definitely interested.

EDIT: I'm a sucker for teen drama so that's what I'd go for, but they all seem fine to me.

Sounds good. I've just starting watching the show following this post. I think the middle 2 tiers are most interesting. Never actually managed to play in a supers game on here.

Looks like plenty of interest in the system -- someone else might want to step forward to run as well!
Mmm, yes and no. The draft indeed has a lot of background and setting information about the world we see in the comics and on the Amazon Prime show... but that multi-versal world is wide in scope. If we want to just carve out our own corner -- and not constantly interact with the known characters, there's zero reason we can't do that. Conversely, if people want to work for Cecil and the GDA, and bump elbows with some of the known supers... not a problem.

Do understand that this is a very specific kind of superhero world / story / system. This YZE engine models what you see in the (gloriously four color but at times brutal) comics. Punching a normie with superstrength can be messy. Civilians die and shit gets wrecked in big super-battles -- this is not the Super Friends.

On that note...
That's a great way to put it! It's absolutely post-modern supering, and while it's more Watchmen and Robinson's Golden Age than it is pure Silver Age square-jawed good-heartedness, the stories are chock full of adventure, wonder and heart -- in addition to the shock-value stuff some people seem turned off by. It's awesome, but it's definitely a specific vibe.

I won't be able to take everyone, but I'll reach out when I get this off the ground.

If there's a spot left, I'm interested when this gets going.

Well,if you'll have me I'm interested. I'd be interested most in the Street Defenders tier,but it seems there's a trend in the prospective participants so far to bump that up to Global Guardians and that'd work too.

Dialing this in a bit since there is a lot of interest. Let's look at CATS.

Concept: A Four-Color Supers Game set in the Invincible universe, using the pre-release materials for the Free League Invincible RPG. Players will make PCs using materials provided by the GM, or chose from a limited set of pre-gens.

Aim: Agree on a Hero Rank, build/pick characters and play a mission or two as a team. If everyone digs the game and is having a good time, it might become a longer-lasting game. The posting rate will be daily and I expect the game to last at least 4-6 months.

Tone: Like the comics and TV show. Sincere, ironic, hopeful, violent, satirical, earnest, brutal. It's meant to be loaded with familiar supers beats that often get turned on their head, deconstructed and reconstructed.

Subject Matter: Again, like the subject matter its based on. It can be *very* violent, and romance and sex are often in the air -- at least for the teen heroes. We won't get into anything too over the top, but will likely be shooting for a TV-MA rating due to the gore, wanton killing and implied / off-screen steamy scenes. Basically, there's lots of relationship stuff and all the sound and fury that goes along with that. Also... cursing and some realistic emotions that go along with losing loved ones or having them constantly be in harm's way. Emotions should run high.

Let me know if you're not still interested.

Hi! I'm avid reader of your games Harrigan! Read the whole DCC one, and now caching up with Brandonsford that recently ended. I really dig your style. And for me it is (also?) the story and PC <-> N/PC interaction that matters the most, never about min-maxing. But love me some good and reasonable mechanics. My favorite is The One Ring system, but I like very much Y0E too (especially T2k version). So I would really want to try this iteration of Y0E with You! :D Maybe super heroes is not my favorite genre, but this one seems not 100% serious and very elastic... So probably will allow for wild imaginative ideas :) I will definitely want to play some of the pre-gens (I like to check myself in new "role") so it would save us some time.

Hoping of getting a seat in this game! Cheers!

I can certainly roll with all that,I've been wanting to participate in a superhero roleplay for a while now and am interested in exploring some moral ambiguity and tension as per the setting.

Though I must say I'm not at all familiar with the Invincible setting and ongoing story beyond the general outline of the first two seasons,so for that reason and overall I understand not being first pick to participate in this.

Not really into relationship/steamy so count me out. Interesting to hear how the rules flow though.

I know you have a bunch of interested folks, Harrigan, but I'm also interested, esp with the CATS update. I backed the KS and have access to the release materials, too.

Definitely still interested. The one thing I really like about the gritter setting is that every fight can potentially have serious consequences – and emotional fallout. Does the Hero Rank has anything to do with how relatively new characters are to ‘hero-ing’? Meaning, can we play young adults, still getting the hang of things, even if we’re operating at something like a Global Guardians power level?