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?

Pitch sounds groovy. I was reading through the core book and the set up for its themes is neat. My interest remains.

Evrything sounds good, and therefore I confirm my interest again. Except for the "teen heroes" bit... Not sure if that possibility is on the table, but I'd rather play with adult heroes, if you ask me.

Read the comics cover to cover. Kirkman's trick of building something that looks like deconstruction but is actually a straight-up love letter to the genre is what makes it work. Global Guardians for me. I want the world-stage stakes and the weight that comes with that tier.

Been at the table a long time — running Marvel Multiverse right now, deep White Wolf roots, familiar with YZE from Forbidden Lands. The push mechanic feels tailor-made for Invincible where every escalation costs something.

Character-wise I'm thinking someone at that Global tier who's seen what a careless punch does to a city block and still suits up. Happy to develop once we know the team. Daily posting no problem.

Yeah, still interested.

Have to admit I don't really enjoy sex in my RP. Daily posting would also be a challenge so I'll pass. Hope to watch the game though, started reading the book and really like what I've seen of the mechanics.

Alrighty, will be looking at spending some time getting this in shape this weekend. Not sure on firm timing for assembling a group and getting things launched, but it won’t be too long. Also, I may have over-stated the hanky-panky angle. If you’re familiar with the comics and the show — that’s the vibe.

Is this still open to new interest?

Haven't chosen the players yet, Sean -- what's your interest and experience with the game and IP?

Alrighty -- for those interested, I think I've settled on a Global Guardians style game. So think Guardians of the Globe / Avengers / JLA in terms of power-levels and archetypes. For those who were hoping for a Teen game, there can still be young heroes and heroines who have to balance fighting demon-ninjas from space and getting to class on time, but young adulting won't be the sole focus of the game -- you'll be a kid in a brutal and exciting adult world.

To help me decide who gets into the game, feel free to post thumbnail ideas for characters here, or in PMs. Nothing mechanical, just thoughts on the powerset, origin, personality, etc.

I had two ideas but not very familiar with the mechanics as to how they'd be implemented. One an infernal trickster type (Loki meets Nightcrawler) inspired by Darkblood. Sort of short range teleportation (+/- something dimensional if it has any relevance), small sleight-of-hand adjacent magical effects, supernatural presence/persuasion.

The other someone caught in a malfunctioning multidimensional quantum computer experiment that ended up creating a partial superposition of states across her own timeline as well as multiple dimensional versions of her. Probabalistic foresight, partial phasing, etc. I like the idea that she struggles with predicting rare and unlikely events because she's dependent on likelihoods not knowing the future. In terms of personality she is an amalgam of all the different versions of her so can switch rapidly from one to another and generally has a sense of not quite being all there.

So,character ideas.

One idea I had is a sort of flashy hero-as-a-brand kind of character who styles herself as a masked wrestler but isn't professionally one herself. She is the protege of one,however. She's not exactly a gloryhound but reasons that playing up a character gives the public an easy way to feel inspired and hopeful against daily villainy-caused disasters. Her powers appear to be super strength and durability,but secretly her ability is to control gravitational force in a narrow area around herself or with contact. This allows her to adjust the mass and density of things she touches in order to seem stronger or more durable to observers and accomplish impressive physical feats. But it also adds the angle of her worrying about being seen as a fraud,with the possibility of her powers failing and it being revealed that she doesn't actually have super strong muscles or impenetrable skin.

Another idea I had,if we run with a setting that's more amenable to supernatural stuff or lean into the hell lore of the existing setting is a struggling archaeology/history student who unwittingly binds a small demon familiar and gradually becomes more attuned to supernatural forces, using them to fight villains. She's enthusiastic about finally being good at something, but is oblivious to the possibility of the demon supplanting her as it grows in power and consciousness. Kind of like modern Spidey symbiote lore I guess,but magical instead of alien.

Edit:

A gruff, late-30s local mechanic in a bad part of town who saw friends and family fall victim to organized crime, either working with it or losing all they had to it. Assembled a combustion-powered mechanical suit from scrap and car parts and proceeded to demolish several criminal operations. Wanted by the remnants of the mob but also the police due to the attacks derailing investigations and causing some collateral damage. If the campaign starts with them as an established hero, they'd probably have refined their suit and have done some work to make amends with the law. Rough, coarse, but well meaning. Plays up the thuggish image to intimidate criminals.

I could also run with some kind of tech/martial artist vigilante role,maybe. If no one fills that niche.

Oh, are we doing this? I was actually hoping to choose a pregen but I don't have the book yet.

Anyway, my concept pitch is maybe a little overdone but it hasn't been done by me, and I want to try it. The premise is a character who was targeted because of her powers and kidnapped to be a black ops soldier. Conditioned, brainwashed, given enhancements to her natural abilities and training in combat. I'm thinking a low or moderate level of super-strength but no super-toughness, only regeneration (expect a lot of gore), topped with being exceptionally good at fighting. Of course, eventually she escapes her captors with most of her memory gone. Right now, she's in a spot where she's really angry at the world for what happened to her and has difficulty relating to others due to her amnesia. But she also craves human connection and tries to do good to rekindle her humanity.

Among the many different worlds of Earth, there was one where a sorcerer took over. His name was Solon and he ruled as the Dread Tyrant. A shadow of tyranny was cast by his dark magic and the Stygian Legion that served in his name. To secure his power, his legacy, he took on many wives, and the children he made with them were put in the Imperial Tower. They were set against each other in a deadly game to name his successor.

Zarda, the eighth daughter of his ninth wife, was the favored choice. She was an excellent sorcerer and a shrewd manipulator. Her half-siblings were the frequent victims of the last attribute. Many of the promising contenders tended to disappear when she was around. But she had a weakness.

Hayat was the heir’s blood-sister. Where Zarda was firm, she was mellow. Her magic was to mend and return. She did so through her guitar. This was at odds with Zarda’s preference for breaking and warping. Her instruments were far sharper. The blood-sisters were close despite their clear differences. They understood and respected each other as much as was possible in the Imperial Tower. Zarda protected her blood-sister from the malice of others. It was a familiarity that Solon disliked. He often hurt Hayat to encourage Zarda to become more "perfect."

When Hayat was 19, Solon made the decision to search for other Earths to conquer. He decided to sacrifice Hayat to open the portal across the multiverse. Zarda killed her father in a flash halfway through the ritual, declaring herself the next Dread Tyrant. She tried to save her blood-sister but the destabilized magic propelled Hayat across different dimensions until she landed on the present Earth.

The Global Defense Agency took the bewildered Hayat in their custody. As she explained her story to them, the GDA took an interest in her ability to combat paranormal threats. A "deal" was struck where she would provide her services in the arcane while the GDA would help her find a way back home (although the likelihood of that was slim). She soon took on the persona of Cadence at 20—trying to do the best for the people providing her a sanctuary.

Concept: An outsider, connected to the multiverse, attempting to find her place in a strange world. She is a sorcerer with the guitar as her wand. Her magic falls under the broad categories of "mend" and "return" — her role in the team would be support-based.

Ok, here we go!

Real identity: Ahmed Kamal
Super name: Marid

Ahmed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, owns an antique shop specialising in objects from ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire. One day, he found a ring in his stock that turned out to be the legendary Seal of Solomon.

When he wears the ring, it allows him to use minor, discreet powers (probably something related to influencing) but he needs to shapeshift into Marid, a huge djinn, to unlock the rest of its powers, like flying, wind control and super strength. Thanks for reading!

(an example pic I found online, can alter it to suit the needs of the game)

Conflict Cub
A new arrival from Dornin who claims to be the honored son of none other than the legendary Battle Beast. Calling himself Conflict Cub, he eagerly joined the Guardians of the Globe to "face battle" and "defend the worthy". In actuality, he has no relation to Battle Beast at all. But, he knows Battle Beast came to Earth, fought Monster Girl and Invincible, deemed them inadequate, and left, so CC thinks he'd never return and find out CC's lie.

CC wants glory and wants to be seen as a hero. He's a good fighter (nowhere on the level of Battle Beast, because really... who is?). Also, he's intrigued by "nofurs" (humans) as interesting folks... even if they're weak and impressionable (it makes them more adorable).

Some great ideas in here, folks, and after revisiting some of the IP myself over the past week or so... I have some ideas gelling around the mission / conceit. Thanks for being patient -- I hope to find the time to get this up and rolling in the next couple of weeks.

Sounds great,looking forward to seeing it!

I can see in the game thread that you also accept pre gens. :) Great! I think Rex Plode is a perfect character for me, so still counting on the seat in this game:) But take your time with preparations, just wanted to state that I'm still very interested:)

Hi there,

Curious whether this is still happening? :)

Yup. But I have a job that flares up from time to time, and when it does I tend to focus on my active gaming projects rather than new ones. That's happened the last couple of weeks, but I'm predicting clearer waters ahead for a bit...

I assume the list of accepted applicants has been narrowed down already?

It has not -- I was able to stand the game up, but the solar work flame has consumed my free time since then. Hoping in the next week or so to make those decisions and get things launched. But no promises as another Monday awaits... ;)

Duly noted