What's My Role?

Figure 1: Recruitment side of the card

One of the new features for Pulp City SE that emerged during the design process was the classification of Supremes (and Minions) into 'Roles' - a way of identifying for players what kind of rules or function to expect with specific models. Initially this was more about the type of Actions and Powers a model had, but pretty quickly we realised we could take things a step further.

So it was that we created a specific Power for each of our 8 Roles. For example, a Tank such as Iron Train has the same Tank Power as Rook. Because of their respective Tank Powers, both are good at protecting their allies. Rook has a further edge, because he has additional abilities specifically geared to protecting Team-mates.

Figure 1 & 2: Howler is a Blaster, so you pick him knowing he will offer decent ranged Attack options. His Blaster Power shows he gets extra dice in the right situation.

Figure 2: Howler's Blaster Power

Those Role Powers changed a little over time as we developed Pulp City SE, but that is what led us to the stage that when you select a Supreme for your Team, its Role will tell you what it is good at, and its Role Power will emphasize that contribution.

Your front-line fighters will be Brawlers, Blasters and Powerhouses.

Infiltrators, Speeders and Supports have more specialist functions, either for objective grabbing or AP fuelling. 

Leaders are there to buff your Team and most of them can handle front-line battles.

Tanks are useful because they straddle a couple of functions: they are highly durable; most pack a decent primary Attack; and they can protect your more fragile models.

As I continue to add to the blog, I will be sure to add the appropriate Role tags to update the various Supremes and Minions I have posted over the years.

Team Building Reloaded (SE Version)

With the upcoming Pulp City Supreme Edition Kickstarter delivery, I thought I would take an opportunity to talk about what amounts to some significant changes to Team construction.

In the previous edition, a Team had to have an equal or as equal as possible Level 1 and Level 2 Supremes. It could have a Level 3 model if playing a Level 12 game or above. All models had to be Hero or Villain (Hero/Villains could be fielded on either side).

We have changed that for Supreme Edition!

We set out to stream-line and improve the game, but also improve the game experience. One of the things we had to change was to make Team recruitment more permissive. Now you can field you own combination of Levels, with the restriction of no more than one Powerhouse (a 'big guy' model) and no more than one Leader. Teams can be built according to Alignment (Hero or Villain as before), or they can be built around Factions. And some of those Factions have quite an eclectic line-up to say the least. Better yet, some Supremes qualify for more than one Faction...

Consider the following models:

• Chimp Chi (Hero/Villain; ARC; The Way)
• Chronin (Hero; Heavy Metal; The Way)
• Crimson Oni (Hero; The Way/Freelancer)
• Stormblades, Libra Sensei (Villain; The Way; Ulthar)
• Tanuki (Hero/Villain; Jade Cult; The Way)
• Twilight (Villain; Coven; The Way)

As well as their usual respective Factions, they are all members of The Way, which means that models that previously could not be fielded in the same Team now can take the table together.

So those models could be fielded as a Level 8 The Way team. or a level 5 Hero Team, or a Level 5 Villain Team.