What Is Invulnerable?
So you may be here looking for updates on the Invulnerable RPG. Awesome! Others might not know what we’re talking about; so here’s the deal.
(Apologies; this is kind of a long one. They won’t all be this tl;dr :) ).
Invulnerable is a tabletop super hero roleplaying game that uses the Cosmology RPG Engine, which was designed for the Dirge Dark Modern Fantasy RPG. I wrote Invulnerable so I could run the kind of supers game I wanted, without driving my players into what I call “math epilepsy.”
See, most supers RPGs are like taking a friend to a restaurant. You’re having a good time, right, and someone else has to cook? And then the chef shows up at your table, hands you a bunch of ingredients and a “How To Cook” manual, and takes off for the day. So now, you and your friend are left doing all the work, instead of having fun eating.
The other problem with a lot of supers RPGs and their point-based systems is, even when you figure out the system, you have to make compromises. Your flame-based hero is really good at controlling flames, theoretically, but in practice, it’s tough to make a hero that’s good at everything. If you spend a lot of points on Throw Fireballs At Bad Guys, you don’t have a lot of points left for Soar Through The Skies Like A Blazing Comet, or Turn Self Into Burning Effigy. So you have to compromise, or delve into more complex math to compensate. Or the game system might say, ‘Yes you can do that, as a special exception, and only if you spend Gumption Points to do it.’
Invulnerable’s power system lets you buy a power, and then choose Enhancements that expand on what you can do with that power. So your hero can be really good at a lot of things, right off the bat, without spending special points or breaking out a calculator to do it. It’s easy to make a hero that’s ready for action!
Invulnerable comes with a wide variety of Origins, and a large selection of Powers already written up and ready to use. The a simple Equipment system that doesn’t make you spend hours picking out gear for your crimefighter, and it includes a variety of land vehicles already written up, and a full vehicle creation system if those literally won’t float your boat.
Important to the game are your hero’s Determination and Motivations. You can spend Determination points to boost rolls and ignore certain effects, but beware. If you lose all your Determination, the stress of hero-dom becomes too much, and you hero will suffer temporary — or permanent — madness. Heroes can regenerate Determination by serving their Motivations, the things that make them want to be a hero. Justice, Truth Freedom, Law — you pick two. Beware; betraying your Motivations also causes you to lose Determination. The worst-fought battles are often within the hero themselves.
Task resolution uses 3d6 + Attribute + Basic Talent, and in some cases, + Advanced Talent. There are different kinds of damage, and you take damage to different body parts, but combat still moves fast and furious. The system rewards tactical thinking and careful strategy as much as good rolls or overpowering might.
The game comes with a built-in setting, Earth-Omega, with a long history and over a dozen heroes and villains included, of a variety of Awesomeness Levels. Discussions of how the existence of metahumans have changed human culture, and the history of Earth-Omega, give the setting depth and focus.
The current version is Year One Edition. The game is new, and we’re still finding some errata, but the response has been incredibly positive. It’s available at DriveThru, IPR, and Lulu for only $5 right now, so there’s no reason not to give it a try!