GURPS STEVE JACKSON

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41. LARGER THAN LIFE.5SOURCES AND INSPIRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Masked Avengers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Superhumans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Prodigies of Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Lost Races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Extraterrestrials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6HISTORY OF THE GENRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7The Originals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7The Golden Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7The Silver Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7The Comics Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Darker Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8New Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Retro Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8THE FORMULA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Secret Identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Code Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Costume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Powers and Abilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Origin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Alternative Naming Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10The Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10VARIANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Other Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Darker Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11The Achilles’ Heel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Limited Powers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Single-Source Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Heroes without Personae . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Supers . . . but Not Super Heroes. . . . . . . 12Crossover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13CAMPAIGNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Genre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Breaking the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162. HEROES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Racial Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22High Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Attributes and Skill Defaults. . . . . . . . . . . . 23STRENGTH AND SUPER-STRENGTH . . . . . . . . 24Under the Hood: The Cost ofSuper-Strength. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES,AND SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Itching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Modular Abilities and Modifiers. . . . . . . . . 27New Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Perks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31New Disadvantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Quirks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33New Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Meta-Trait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Power Modifiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Skills and Super-Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Wildcard Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38NEW POWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Animal Function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Elasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Phasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Plant Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40TEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Wildcard Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Sleight of Hand Magic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Enchanted Items as Signature Gear . . . . . 55ATTACK ABILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58MOTIVATIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59DUAL IDENTITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Your Own Worst Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62POWER LEVELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18ORGANIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193. SUPPORTING CASTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Solo Hero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Full-Time Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Legion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Non-Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20ORIGINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21ELEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Passive Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Wild Advantages and Disadvantages . . . . 22Extra Team Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Team Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Teams as Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Teammates as Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64TRUSTED ASSISTANTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Under the Hood: MultipleAppearance Rolls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65SIDEKICKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66MENTORS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Wildcard Skills for Supporting Cast. . . . . . 66PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67TEAMMATES AND TEAM ORGANIZATION . . . . 64GURPS System Design STEVE JACKSONGURPS Line Editor SEAN PUNCHIndexer THOMAS WEIGELPage Design PHIL REED and JUSTIN DE WITTManaging Editor PHIL REEDProduction Manager MONICA STEPHENSArt Direction WILL SCHOONOVERFamilies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Best Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Love Interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Point Values for Dependentsand Allies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68ARCHENEMIES AND ROGUES’ GALLERIES . . . 69The Schemer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69New Enemies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69The Antithesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70The Dark Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70The Double Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70The Good Conspiracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70The Nuisance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Villain Team-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71The Rogues’ Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71ENTANGLED RELATIONSHIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Watchers and Rivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724. SETS AND PROPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Tools of the Trade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74One Use Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Hybrid Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Unusual Background and Equipment. . . . 75BREAKABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Taking Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76EQUIPMENT AND EXTRA EFFORT . . . . . . . . . . 76COSTUMES AND ARMOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Disguises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Adaptable Clothing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Armor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Acquiring a Costume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Exoskeleta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Shields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78PERSONAL GEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Sensors and Computers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Stealth and Intrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Medical Gear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Gizmos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80WEAPONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Consumable Signature Gear. . . . . . . . . . . . 81Gun Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Weapons as Gizmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82UNIQUE EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82TRANSPORTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Personal Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Swinging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Rider-Powered Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85HEADQUARTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Concealment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Structure and Fortifications . . . . . . . . . . . 88PETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88SERVANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89MAGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Enchanted Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Production Artist ALEX FERNANDEZPrint Buyers SHELLI GALEYand MONICA STEPHENSMarketing Director PAUL CHAPMANSales Manager ROSS JEPSONErrata Coordinator ANDY VETROMILEGURPS FAQ MAINTAINER STÉPHANE THÉRIAULTLead Playtester: Jeff WilsonPlaytesters: Frederick Brackin (The Tinker), Jim Cambias (Doctor Thoth), Peter V. Dell'Orto (Martial Arts Guy), Scott Michael Harris (The Pontificator), Martin Heidemann (Pomphis), Steve Kenson(Mastermind), Jason Levine (Reverend Pee Kitty), Patrick Ley (Hexslinger), Christian Maillefaud (Cosmic Catman), Phil Masters, Brian Rogers (Agent of THEM), and Emily Smirle (Gal Dynamo)GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, Supers, e23, and the names of all productspublished by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. GURPS Supers iscopyright 1989, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2007 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Some art copyright www.clipart.com. All rights reserved.The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this material via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal,and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage theelectronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.CONTENTS2

Alchemical Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Divine Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Spell Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905. ALL-NEW ADVENTURES . . . . . . . . . 91ON PATROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92PIECES OF THE PUZZLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92First Encounter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Exposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Complications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93The Final Confrontation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Deathtraps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94ALTERNATE ADVENTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Catastrophes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Detective Stories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Elsewhere or Elsewhen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Helping Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Invasions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Mob Scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Oppression and Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Other Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Time Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97ADVENTURE SEEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Character Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976. AMAZING FEATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99FOUR-COLOR ROLEPLAYING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Rules for Cinematic Campaigns . . . . . . . 100Rules for Four-Color Campaigns . . . . . . 100Rules for Silly Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . 100RAW STRENGTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Lifting Enormous Weights . . . . . . . . . . . 101Bending Steel Bars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101AMAZING SPEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Travel Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Maneuvering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Under the Hood: MaximumTravel Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Time and Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103INDESTRUCTIBILITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Corrosion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Optional Rules: Speed Talentand Skill Bonuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Decompression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Electric Shock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Heat and Cold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Immersion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104RULING THE ELEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Chemical Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Friction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106PERCEPTION AND MEMORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Did You See That? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106The Mechanical Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . 106No Evil Shall Escape My Sight. . . . . . . . 107Reading the Hearts of Men . . . . . . . . . . . 108Looking Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108How Not to Be Seen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109MASTERING THE MIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Hiding Your Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Concealed Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Influencing Other Minds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110COMIC-BOOK WIZARDRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110INVENTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Sabotage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111VERSATILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Modular Abilities and Skills . . . . . . . . . . 112AMAZING JOURNEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112BEYOND THE LIMITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112One-Use Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Latent Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Godlike Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113SPENDING CHARACTERPOINTS ON FEATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147. CLASHES OF TITANS . . . . . . . . . . . . 115FOUR-COLOR COMBAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Rules for Cinematic Campaigns . . . . . . . 116Rules for Four-Color Campaigns . . . . . . 116Rules for Silly Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . 117A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH . . . . . . . . . . 117Hard to Kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Flesh Wounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Four-Color Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117No One Dies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118A World without Death? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118MASTER AGAINST MASTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118ONE-MAN ARMIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118MIGHTY BLOWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Big Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Improvised Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Throwing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Bodies Flying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Under the Hood: ST Requirements . . . . . 121HUMAN ARTILLERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122BULLETPROOF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Parrying Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Damage Reduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Unkillable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123MAN VERSUS MACHINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Fists of Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Lifting and Grappling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Collisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Benchmarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Huge Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125The Fragile World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Cosmic Scale Damage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125SPEED AND MANEUVERABILITY . . . . . . . . . . 126COMBAT TELEPORTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126DUEL OF THE MIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Mental Grappling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Psychic Duels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Mental Crippling and Killing . . . . . . . . . 1278. UNIVERSES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128ONE PREMISE OR MANY? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129One Origin, One Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129One Origin, Many Places. . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Jane’s All the World’s Superhumans. . . . . 129Many Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130THE BEGINNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130NUMBERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Overall Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131First-Person Super. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Regional Distributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Top Twelve Rankings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Local Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133CAREERS AND HISTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Individual Career Length. . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Historical Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Retrospective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134ROLES OF SUPERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Villains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Mercenaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Supers in the Workforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Supers in Private Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136HISTORICAL IMPACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Heroes and the Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Varied Power Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138CULTURAL INFLUENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Popular Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139National Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Science. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Self-Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141WIDER HORIZONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Advanced Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Alien Races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Lost Races and Hidden Realms . . . . . . . 142Microworlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Other Dimensions andSupernatural Beings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Parallel Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Time Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144CAMPAIGN SEEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Prior Art: Supers Settings in GURPS . . . 145SUPER-ABILITIES TABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . 146BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149About GURPSSteve Jackson Games is committed to full support of GURPS players.Our address is SJ Games, P.O. Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760. Please includea self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) any time you write us! We canalso be reached by e-mail: info@sjgames.com. Resources include:Pyramid (www.sjgames.com/pyramid). Our online magazine includesnew GURPS rules and articles. It also covers the d20 system, Ars Magica,BESM, Call of Cthulhu, and many more top games – and other SteveJackson Games releases like Illuminati, Car Wars, Transhuman Space,and more. Pyramid subscribers also get opportunities to playtest newGURPS books!New supplements and adventures. GURPS continues togrow, and we’ll be happy to let you know what’s new. Fora current catalog, send us a legal-sized SASE, or just visit www.warehouse23.com.e23. Our e-publishing division offers GURPS adventures, play aids, andsupport not available anywhere else! Just head over to e23.sjgames.com.Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but wedo our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata sheets forall GURPS releases, including this book, are available on our website – seebelow.Internet. Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.sjgames.com for errata,updates, Q&A, and much more. To discuss GURPS with SJ Games staff andfellow gamers, come to our forums at forums.sjgames.com. The GURPSSupers web page can be found at www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/supers.Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bibliographies, andwe’re putting them online – with links to let you buy the books that interestyou! Go to the book’s web page and look for the “Bibliography” link.Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the GURPS BasicSet, Fourth Edition. Page references that begin with B refer to that book, notthis one.CONTENTS3

INTRODUCTIONThe publication of GURPS Powers gave GURPS players apowerful new set of tools for describing the abilities of supersin game terms. With its help, almost any power from thecomics can be defined and balanced against other abilities.But there’s more to supers than powers. Their adventuresare an entire genre, with its own themes and conventions.Stories whose characters are as powerful as comic-bookheroes, but don’t follow those conventions, are better classifiedas science fiction, fantasy, or horror. And there have been manycomic book heroes with no powers at all.GURPS Supers is a guide to the supers genre. That is, it’snot about powers or mechanics; it’s about stories, characters,and worlds. Building on the material in GURPS Powers, itshows how to use that book to run a campaign that feels likestories about supers.Not that it’s devoid of mechanics. Players who love gamemechanics will find some here, especially in chapters 6 and 7.But the emphasis isn’t on mechanics for their own sake; it’s onmaking the mechanics serve the needs of the genre.Other chapters talk about the genre in its own right, andabout translating it from comic books to roleplaying sessions –without sacrificing the essence of the super adventure: thereader’s sense of wonder, and the characters that embody it.Chapter 1 of this book reviews the history of the genre andexamines its key features. Chapters 2-4 look at the heroesthemselves; their supporting casts; and their equipment, costumes, vehicles, and bases. Chapter 5 examines the typicalplots of comic book adventures and shows how to make themwork in a game. Chapters 6 and 7 provide game mechanics forsuperhuman action. And Chapter 8 discusses the constructionof supers universes as campaign settings.Blankenship’s exploration of the political realities of a worldwith active superhumans, built on further by Robert M.Schroeck in GURPS IST, was a stimulus to the discussion ofcampaign settings in this book’s Chapter 8.ABOUTTHEAUTHORWilliam H. Stoddard acquired an early enthusiasm forreading and the English language, partly with the help of SilverAge comic books. This eventually led him into a career as adevelopmental editor, specializing in scientific and scholarlymaterials. He discovered roleplaying games in time to playSuperhero 2044 and Villains and Vigilantes when they firstcame out; he currently plays in two campaigns, runs three, andwrites game books, including the Origins Award winningGURPS Steampunk and his most recent book, GURPSFantasy. All this gives him more reasons for indulging in hisother favorite hobby, research. The supers genre is still one ofhis favorites. He lives in San Diego, California, with his girlfriend of twenty-plus years, in an apartment that holds onecomputer, two cats, and far too many books – despite which hestill visits two libraries as often as he can. Don’t even ask aboutthe garage!PUBLICATION HISTORYGURPS Supers has had two previous editions, bothdesigned for use with GURPS Basic Set, Third Edition. Thefirst edition introduced game mechanics for a wide array ofsuperhuman abilities, many of which were grouped into “powers,” though not in the same way as the current rules. Nearlyall of this material has been incorporated into GURPS BasicSet, Fourth Edition and GURPS Powers, most in substantiallyrevised versions. So have the gadgeteering rules. In addition,the first edition provided rules for super combat and feats,advice on running a supers campaign, and a “worked example”campaign world, the setting of the International Super Teams(IST). The second edition did away with “powers” as groups ofabilities and added more depth to the other content.All of this material was inspirational for this volume, butalmost none of it was specifically incorporated into it. This ispartly because the mechanical aspects have already been incorporated into the core GURPS rules, producing a more smoothly integrated system – rather than laying the same foundation,this book focuses on customizing that system to the needs ofthe four-color genre and a specific campaign world. And it’spartly because this book does not provide a setting for a superscampaign, so there is no IST material here. However, LoydTHANKSThe author is grateful to Eben Brooks, game master of theMetahuman Vector campaign, for giving him a chance to playGURPS Supers under his own rules (as “La Gata Encantada”),and to his fellow players, Allison Lonsdale (“Bulletproof”),Doug Poston (“Doctor Lock”), Tim Sallume (“Gravitas”), andDave Thun (“Shrike”), for helping to make it entertaining.INTRODUCTION4

CHAPTER ONELARGERTHAN LIFEThe corridors of the temple were dark, especially here belowthe ground. The Scarab moved cautiously, not wanting to stumble over anything. Drawing attention to himself would be a badidea; this part of the building was off-limits to the public, evenduring the daytime. The devotees might be eccentric, but many ofthem were wealthy; the police would side with them against amasked intruder. But his questions were too urgent for him to bebound by legalities.There, up ahead, was a source of light: a single fixture mounted above an alcove. Shielding his eyes, he peered into the shadowed space below and made out a door, and a still figure – a statue? no, it was moving now – a man, standing guard.As it stepped out into the light, the air seemed to shimmer asif his vision had blurred. Then there were three figures, not one,all clad alike, and each holding two knives. They came down thecorridor toward him; there must have been enough light for themto see him.He briefly considered whether it would be better to retreat –but any room guarded by a sorcerer would surely yield importantinformation. And if he left, he couldn’t hope for another chance,after putting them on guard. He raised his staff. At least in thisnarrow corridor it would be hard for them to get behind him.Two of them moved ahead of the third. He struck one with hisstaff, but felt no resistance. Were these glamours of some kind,then? But the one at his left slashed at his arm, and he felt theimpact as the blade glanced off the metal bands of his armor. Hiscounterstrike passed through that one’s knife hand, instead ofbreaking its grip; the three figures’ movements interwove in complex patterns, like a dance with changing partners.The three figures spoke, in unison, in a carrying whisper.” Weare Legion. You cannot defeat us.”He fell back into a defensive stance for a moment, to give himself time to observe. Listening carefully, he could tell that one ofthe three figures was breathing audibly, and he could feel thevibrations of its footfalls on the wooden floor. The other two hadSOURCESno such physicality. Having found his true target he struck out,and as his staff slammed against its head the two creatures ofgoetia shimmered and faded away. He pressed forward againsthis dazed opponent, batting the kni

GURPS books! New supplements and adventures. GURPS continues to grow, and we’ll be happy to let you know what’s new. For a current catalog, send us a legal-sized SASE, or just visit www.ware-house23.com. e23. Our e-publishing division offers GURPS adventures, play aids, and support not available anywhere else! Just head over to e23.sjgames .