Litigation in Superhero 2044

More art by Mike Cagle

In general, Superhero 2044 accom-modates standard tropes of the genre, but there are also some concessions made to 'realism.'  In a world where the antics of costumed menaces cause copious amounts of property damage, there will certainly be lawyers attempting to capitalize on the situation.  Such legal activity is rarely addressed in the comic books; litigation is ill-suited for graphic narrative.  However, in the setting of Superhero 2044, characters must not only fight villains, they must also suffer the slings and arrows of civil law.

Litigation is covered in four slight paragraphs on page 24 of Superhero 2044 and I am devoting an entire post to it – longer than the actual litigation rules themselves.  So sue me.

The default setting for Superhero 2044 is the island of Inguria, where the activities of superheroes are tolerated.  (Page 3 says, “Cash rewards are available to those who help the government by fighting crime or by aiding in time of disaster.”)  Although they are officially condoned, superheroes are still subject to lawsuits.

As explained in a prior post, characters possess a handicapping score called Damage.  By being cautious so as to avoid causing property damage and harming innocents, characters gain a higher 'Damage' score.  When a character attempts to thwart a crime while on patrol, a 'damage result' is determined based upon the type of crime, the severity of crime, and the character's Damage score.  Higher results mean less damage; a high enough result means no damage was caused.  If any damage was caused, a lawsuit results.

Each lawsuit requires that the character spend a block of time (six hours) “in court” the following week.  This rapidity of legal resolution is somewhat less believable than people throwing energy bolts and flying under their own power.  For the sake of playability (as opposed to realism) I appreciate the need to address lawsuits in such a speedy manner.  Still, although the character is deprived of a block of time that could have been put to better use, the player chooses which time block to be in court.  For instance, 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. is acceptable in the Ingurian justice system, a convenience unmatched in the annals of law.

In litigation, there is the plaintiff – the party filing the lawsuit – and the defendant – the party being sued.  Characters are defendants.  Each party rolls a die.  Unfortunately, the rules are not explained very well.  This is one of those occasions where the example serves only to further confuse the issue.  The rules state that the plaintiff's result is subtracted from the defendant's.  This is reversed in the example provided.  It seems that the rules describe the correct method, rather than the example.

If the total result is positive, the character/defendant must pay a number of 'pseudodollars' equal to the result multiplied by one one hundred (minor lawsuits) or one thousand (major lawsuits).  If the result is zero or negative, the character prevails and nothing is owed.  Of course, before the dice are rolled, the player can file a counter-suit for 1,000 pseudodollars.  In such a case the character is awarded money on a negative total result.

The actual fact pattern of the incident at issue (i.e, the cause of action) is not important.  (Since the 'incident' was a patrol encounter, it was not role-played.)  What does come into play is the 'Stop' result generated for the incident; it determines which dice to roll.  If the crime was stopped and the perpetrators captured, the plaintiff rolls 1d20 and the defendant rolls 1d8.  If the crime was not stopped and the perpetrators escaped, the plaintiff rolls 1d8 and the defendant rolls 1d20.  With any other combination of 'Stop' circumstances, both parties roll 1d20.  So, winning or losing the lawsuit (and the degree to which it is won or lost) is affected by how successful the character was in thwarting the crime.

In 'real life,' of course, the defendant's Charisma would be a factor in winning or losing the case; perhaps a bonus to the roll equal to Charisma / 10 (round down).  The quality of a character's legal representation should also be taken into account.  Perhaps the defendant pays for which die to roll, more sides being more expensive.  The cost of the die might also be based on the 'Stop' rating of the incident.

Superhero 2044 also offers the option of liability or malpractice insurance.  With either of these, lawsuits are handled out of court.  The character doesn't even spend a block of time; however, there is no possibility of counter-suit awards.  The insurance costs are fixed – liability costs 500 pseudodollars per year and malpractice costs 1,000.  'Realistically,' insurance should become more expensive in proportion to the number of lawsuits settled. 

The Sorry State of Civilization

Like many bloggers, I offer a variety of links that may be of interest to my readers.  I hate encountering dead links on other sites, and I don't want them on this site.  Occasionally, I check the links that I provide to make certain they're still active.  When I find a link that is no longer good, I get rid of it to save my readers from disappointment.

Anyway, in my latest sweep, I discovered that two links are no longer valid.  First, the Judges Guild site (JudgesGuild.org) is now offline; this is unfortunate, but understandable.  The second invalid link is nothing short of unconscionable.  The target of my “What is a thoul?” link was Wikipedia's “Thoul” article.  Notice my use of the past tense – the information elitists at Wikipedia have decided that “Thoul” no longer deserves an article; searches for thoul are redirected to a page called “List of Dungeons & Dragons monsters (1977–1999).”  What is wrong with these people?  Seriously, “Eggomania ” and “lipstick on a pig” get articles, but “Thoul” gets nixed?

When our civilization eventually falls, it won't be due to WMDs or economic collapse or some similar catastrophe.  No, the end of civilization will occur because self-appointed 'administrators' will have dismissed critical information in favor of Punky Brewster episode synopses.  Remember this the next time Jimmy Wales starts asking for handouts.

Given these execrable circumstances, I am compelled to create a 'What Is A Thoul?' page.  After all, if you want something done right, then do it yourself.

Handicapping in Superhero 2044

More Mike Cagle art

As I stated previously, Superhero 2044 is a scheduling game.  Each player plans out his or her character's activity a week at a time.  According to page 12:

Each week each character must submit a planning sheet to the referee.  This sheet should tell the status of a hero at the beginning of the week.  The referee uses this information to calculate how many and what kind of crimes are encountered during the week.

The 'weekly planning sheet' has a calendar of sorts where the player indicates what the character does in each six-hour block of time.  Then, the the total blocks of time devoted to various options are calculated.  Options include:  patrol, rest, school, practice, and research.  Room is provided for 'other' activities – I expect that 'employment' would be fairly common – but there are only five pre-listed options.  The time blocks must equal 28 (i.e., seven days times four blocks per day).  Confusingly, on the sheet they are called 'hours' rather than 'blocks.'  This results in the peculiar line, “TOTAL = 28 HOURS.”

Each character must devote at least ten blocks toward rest.  However, there can be – at most – four blocks between rest periods and no more than three rest blocks in a row.  According to page 14, “Rest blocks represent not only sleep, but minor recreation, eating, and shopping for basic needs.”

Most prominent on the planning sheet are not the character's prime requisites, but instead his or her handicap scores.  These scores help determine what happens when the character goes out on patrol.  There are eight handicap categories, each having a value from one to ten.  The rules state that the total Handicap value ranges from 10 to 8, but it seems to me that it would range from 8 to 80.  Anyway, the handicap categories are:

Prevention – “ability to prevent criminals from operating.”
Location – “ability to locate criminals.”
Stopping – “ability to stop crimes in progress.”
Capture – “ability to capture criminals.”
Conviction – “ability to convict captured criminals.”
Leads – “ability to get leads.”
Damage – “tendency to cause damage while stopping crimes.”
Injury – “tendency to be injured or captured.”

(Actually, according to the example provided in the rules, 'Damage' should be, “tendency to avoid causing damage while stopping crimes,” and 'Injury' should be,“tendency to avoid being injured or captured.”)

The referee determines the value for each category by means of a handicapping scenario.  In essence, the character encounters a crime in progress.  The referee evaluates how the player has the character handle the situation and rates the categories appropriately.  A character's handicap scores can be evaluated as frequently as three times per week but cannot be evaluated less frequently than a monthly basis.  Apparently, “each new evaluation supercedes the previous one.”  However, I assume that previous scores are supposed to influence the results of any given evaluation.  'Prevention' at least is supposed to be indicative of a character's reputation.

So, what exactly do these handicapping scores accomplish?  Well, characters are expected to go out on patrol and fight crime and the handicap scores help to determine what happens during patrol.  (For any given week, I suppose) a character's 'Location Effectiveness Number' is determined by subtracting 'Prevention' from 'Location' and checking the result on a table.  In a time-block, a character can patrol one 'area' from a selection of areas  (e.g., industrial, suburbs, government, et al.).  Each area has a 'Crime Density Number' which when multiplied by the 'Location Effectiveness Number' and further multiplied by the number of six-hour blocks spent patrolling that area generates the number of crimes that are encountered.  With me so far?

In the world of Superhero 2044, there are 32 types of crime – from assassination to soliciting and illegal pollution to poaching.  Different crimes are more or less likely in different areas.  For instance, skyjacking does not occur in the suburbs and jailbreaks do not occur in the resort area.  Percentile dice are rolled and the 'Crime Frequency Table' is consulted to determine one of the crimes encountered.  For each crime, the 'Crime Data Sheet' provides modifiers for the handicap categories corresponding to Stop, Capture, Convict, Lead, Damage, and Injury.  For any given instance of crime, 2d6 are rolled for each category to determine severity.  Crime data is added to severity and the sum is multiplied by the appropriate handicap score of the character.  Each of these products is checked against the 'Patrol Results Table' to determine what happens.

For example, let's say that a hero with a Capture score of 5 comes across some smugglers in flagrante delicto.  An 8 is rolled for severity and the capture modifier for smuggling (per the 'Crime Data Sheet') is -4.  Thus, (8 - 4) x 5 = 20.  According to the 'Patrol Results Table,' a product of 20 means the criminals escape.

Each type of crime has a certain number of reward dice associated with it.  The dice are rolled and the total multiplied by 50 to determine the number of 'Psuedodollars' received.  Presumably, the perpetrator(s) must be captured and convicted before a reward is earned.  In the example the book provides, the character receives only half of the reward dice because – even though the miscreants were caught and convicted – the character did not stop them from committing the crime.

Characters in Superhero 2044

More art by Mike Cagle

Last week, we discussed the first step in Superhero 2044 “character design.”  Specifically, 140 points are allocated among seven 'prime requisites' which, in other games, would be termed 'characteristics.'

The next step is to select a “group” for the character – either Unique, Toolmaster, or Ubermensch.  (I would have called them Phenomenals, Equipment-Users, and Specialists, respectively – but whatever.)  Uniques “are true supermen possessing powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men...The archetypal [Unique] is Superman.”  Toolmasters are “men and women who are self proclaimed technological experts...an excellent example of a heroic toolmaster is Iron Man.”  Ubers “specialize in one or more fields and are trained to the utmost in those fields...A classic Ubermensch is Lord Greystroke [sic], Tarzan of the Apes.”

Prime requisites are modified based upon “group.”  Ubers receive a bonus to all prime requisites other than Ego, Charisma, and Mentality.  (They actually get a penalty to Mentality.)  Toolmasters get a bonus to Mentality, but a penalty to Vigor, Stamina, and Endurance.  Uniques get a bonus to Charisma.

Next, up to fifty bonus points can be used to define the character's abilities.  Saxman's 'Rules Enhancements' (published last month on Thoul's Paradise) demonstrate how to apply points to represent a variety of concepts.  Of course, this material was not available twenty-five years ago to purchasers of the game.  Oddly, there is no listing of powers that provides details about how said powers relate to game mechanics.  Simply stated, Superhero 2044 is a superhero role-playing game without superpower descriptions.  I know it's old school and that – because it's old school – many of the rules are open to interpretation.  However, this is like D&D without spell descriptions.

At least Saxman provides three sample characters “not to be used, but rather to illustrate the principles of character design.”  They are good examples as far as they go, but they are not sufficient to provide a thorough understanding.

The Charmer is a Unique.  After the Unique bonus, she has a Charisma of fifty.  As a superpower, she can use her Charisma “as a mental attack and can force humans only to follow her vocal commands.”  OK, that's simple enough.

Apollyon (the destroyer) is an Ubermensch.  He is “a master of disguise and of computers.  (His 50 point bonuses are gained in these areas).”  This would seem to be what the Rules Enhancements call a “Superb Skillset.”  So far, so good.

The Avenging Knight is a Toolmaster.  “He built a special set of powered armor which magnifies his puny stamina twenty times (albeit with a considerable loss of dexterity) and has an intrinsic Vigor of 100...”  Prime Requisites for his armored form are not listed.  Are we to assume that he has a Stamina of 200 when wearing his armor?  The Avenging Knight can also fly and “has developed a weapon that disrupts matter and can be set to stun or completely disintegrate.”  We are left in ignorance as to how the fifty bonus points were distributed to gain these abilities.

The appendix provides two more characters.  (Presumably, these can be used.)  Sunburst (The Radiant Man) is a Unique.  He possesses infra-red vision and “can project laser like beams.”  He can also generate an effect like a flash grenade.  Multiplex (The Multiple Man) is another Unique.  Multiplex is actually a pair of twin brothers who can merge into one being.  Alternately, “each twin can split into two bodies.”  The single being is the most powerful; each split results in weaker versions.  Additionally, “each body can project an image of itself.”  The descriptions for Sunburst and Multiplex do not provide the 'cost' of their respective abilities.