u/Doctor_Mega

For a super power with the "device" point-buy reduction (high-tech laser rifle, Iron-Man style armor, etc) and/or a vehicle purchased with the "vehicle" power:

1. Only the Negation power can make it stop working. Malfunction is for regular non-super-powered devices.
2. The Negation OR Malfunction (with modifier?) powers could make them stop working. That's the price of saving those extra points.
3. Only the Malfunction power can make it stop working (I doubt many would make a case for this).

The second question I had for any GMs who've used Negation on players: Does the villain select which power(s) to negate, even if they haven't seen the heroes in action/don't know their power set? Or do you do some kind of random selection of a power in that specific circumstance? Obviously we'd want to keep it consistent for both heroes and villains.

Thanks in advance.

Wondering if characters can use a power stunt (SPC p. 30+) as a reaction. (Let's assume they have Super Science or Super Sorcery so we don't need to get in the weeds about whether the stunt is a legit use).

For example, could a supe about to be hit with a ranged attack throw up a 10-point Force Field as a reaction? Or a villain gets zapped with a Negation ray and stunts to boost their Spirit die by 5 steps to help save against its effects? Maybe a hero is about to get grappled so they boost their Athletics by several steps?

At least one of the stunt types, Interrupt, is specifically designed to be used as a reaction, but the others don't specifically say. I'm curious to hear how y'all would rule. Thanks!

Standard modern office building door. Is that something that could be done in a combat round (with picks)? Or is that more of a minute-long or more thing in your opinion (raises notwithstanding).

I have a villain who is intangible with the permanent modifier.

If she becomes incapacitated, then what?

I first figured she'd become corporeal on incapacitation or even mundane sleep, but the last caveats under that modifier makes it pretty clear (to me at least) that's not the intention:

>She can only be healed via natural healing or supernatural means (such as the healing power).

>The Permanent modifier allows the super to ignore the Power Down rules.

I'm imagining a scenario where the heroes might want to incapacitate her and put her in their base brig (which, by its nature, negates her powers so I'd say she would then be tangible and maybe in some kind of extreme discomfort).

How would y'all rule on this? Thanks!

Crit fails in combat are generally pretty prescriptive: Your gun jams, you drop your weapon, etc. Same for crit fails for physical tasks like climbing or athletics (assuming there's some kind of pressure element). But I struggle with things like out-of-combat crit fails on notice or common knowledge (I tend to fall back on these maybe more often than I should) when there are stakes but failure doesn't bring the game to a screeching halt. Stuff like finding a secret room with treasure or lore or what not.

I use the house rule that the crit-failer gets a benny, then I try to come up with something at least inconvenient, but sometimes on something like a notice or knowledge roll I just end up saying they're distracted for the remainder of the non-combat scene, which effectively just means the rest of the party has to carry the scene so I don't love it.

Anyway I searched this forum for some ideas and added them to my own burgeoning list but I'd love to hear some other ideas for out-of-combat crit fail inconveniences.

1. Lose a mundane item (walkie talkie, flashlight, lockpicks, etc); guess you just dropped it somewhere today?
2. Lower your wealth die a step (we’re using the wealth die system); you dropped your wallet or credit card or something
3. GM also gets a benny (this is often what I do when I can’t think of anything)
4. Player decides what happens - if I use that instead of what I come up with, they get a benny but otherwise no free crit fail benny (found this on an old thread)

tl;dr - if you're wondering whether to incorporate some of the modular tools from SWADE into your sessions, do it! You, like me, might be surprised at the reception.

Just thought I'd share an anecdote from the Supers game I ran Sunday to encourage folks who might wonder about dramatic tasks.

I was unsure if my players would enjoy this to be honest - I think they were itching for a big punch-em-up fight after a largely non-combat session two weeks prior - but it turned out they and I all had a blast.

The team of five characters had to track down the location of this criminal organization that's been bird-dogging them in their neighborhood. They needed 18 successes in 3 rounds with a max of 2 (success and a raise) per roll; a little harder than average (15). To encourage them to think creatively and use a variety of skills I stole an idea from an actual play I used to listen to (apologies I don't recall the name) and gave a penalty of -1 if they use the same skill from their previous turn OR some other player used that skill this round.

I completely forgot about complications, which is fine, but I also added a mysterious NPC who worked against the players to steal victory tokens (again with a max of 2 per turn, one turn per round). So that I guess effectively put the difficulty around 21 tokens, though I used some of the villain's weaker skills as to not completely sandbag them. He also went first in the final round and I had a backup plan for a partial success condition (13-17 tokens).

The players really shined and and seemed to relish in thinking of clever out-of-the-box ways to use their skills. Everyone had a lot of fun describing the various stages of this montage. It also helped they had very few failures over 15 rolls. I think only 2.

I've been running various iterations of Savage Worlds going on 15 years and it made me realize I'm really under-utilizing the various tools like this. I also have a player who created a super-vehicle, so we're doing more chases (which they also seem to enjoy).

Sorry this is rambling. I am feeling the love for my players right now (and SWADE!).

https://preview.redd.it/pibbqq34figh1.png?width=602&format=png&auto=webp&s=b5299f5d6aede019523404536b5025acaaad1d1b

I'm trying to create a puzzle for the roleplaying game I run for friends online. This seems like it should be easy but I'm scratching my head. (Full disclosure, I had a gummy earlier. Also I'm old and not as clever as I once was so this is probably a fool's errand).

The conceit is there is they are superheros trying to save the civilians trapped in the numbered vats, which are slowly filling with water. They need to flip switches on computers A, B and C in the correct order to turn off the entire system.

Each turn when they flip a switch, they can see which valves are on or off. For example, A turns off the vertical row but turns on the horizontal row, etc. They have 6 turns to figure it out and there are 5 of them. Each valve is on to start.

I monkeyed around with rows, odds/evens, primes, base 3, etc. and didn't come up with a version that I liked. FWIW, there will be a combat happening around this situation so it should be reasonably simple but not super obvious. Some of them will have to be fighting.

I tried Google but ended up with variations on the light bulb riddle, which isn't what I'm looking for. I probably just don't know what search terms to use.

Numbers/letters could change as needed. I could also reduce the number of vats if that makes things square up. If anyone can give me a fairly basic version of this I'll be eternally grateful!

Hi all. Trying to figure out if I was taken for a ride (and whether I should seek a different shop in the future).

Had an AC problem that turned out to be the AC clutch relay. The bill was:

$180 to diagnose/test/inspect everything. Probably fair and what I expected to happen first.

$120 for the relay and $30 for "shop supplies." The most expensive version of this I could find online (OEM?) was $47. Off-brand results came in around $25. A little Googling suggested shops fairly routinely mark up parts - especially inexpensive ones like this - by up to 100% but is this egregious?

$90 for labor to install the new part. This was a simple install in the engine compartment fuse box, which is easy to reach, and one I would have done myself had I thought about it. But maybe it's standard to charge a minimum hours' worth of labor for even a quick thing?

Again, just trying to figure out if I should look elsewhere next time I need a repair. They also replaced my serpentine belt last year and iirc that seemed pricey for the belt too - like $70.

Related question: Had I thought to do it, would a hand-held diagnostic computer have been able to tell the relay was bad? I bought one last year when I had a code pop up but didn't think to use it in this case.

Thanks in advance.

One of my players has a super vehicle with heavy armor. If they ram another vehicle (or creature for that matter) in a chase (SWADE p. 116) how would you resolve damage? They account for a disparity in toughness in the rules but don't mention heavy armor. Would the heavily armored vehicle just not take damage at all unless the target vehicle or creature was also heavily armored?

Thanks in advance.

ETA: Also, what if the situation was reversed?

I made a drinking game where I take a shot each time Vart goes "huh" or "wuuuuut?" in that fake confused voice and anyway I'm in the hospital