With its focus on character-oriented stories and a new effects-based powers system, Dawn of Legends brings the award nominated Autumn Arbor: City of Legends to life in Pinnacle Entertainment’s Savage Worlds role-playing game license.

In the fifth Design Journal, Lee F. Szczepanik, Jr. gives us a preview of another upcoming new feature to the setting: Super-Teams.  More than just a random collection of heroes under one roof, Dawn of Legends takes Super-Teams into a new direction.

Super Heroes in comic books regularly form special groups with other super powered individuals, all working together for the common good.  Super teams are as much a staple of the genre as flashy powers and strange attire.

In Dawn of Legends, Super Teams are more than just a random notation of a cool name and a central base of operations.  They are living, breathing characters in their own right!

Forming a Super-Team

When two or more characters decide to work together on a regular basis, a Super Team is formed.  Once the team is formed, the group receives 10 team points per member with which to purchase a headquarters and Team Benefits.  The total points are determined by founding members only.  Heroes that later join the team do not add extra points to the team.

Super Team Wealth

A Super Team’s Wealth is equal to the highest Wealth Rating of its members.  This includes all members on a team, and not just the founding members.  Purchases made with a Super Team’s Wealth Rating belong to the team and are usable by all members.

A team’s Wealth Rating can be increased by recruiting a more wealthy member, and by purchasing the Increased Team Wealth benefit.

Headquarters

An expansive chart is included in Dawn of Legends detailing Headquarters size, features, and benefits that can be purchased.

Super Team Benefits

In addition to a Headquarters, Super Teams can spend team points on Team Benefits.  Like with Headquarters, a chart provides many possible benefits from vehicles to contacts to gadgets for the team that can be purchased.

Super Team Popularity

A Super Team begins with a Popularity Rating equal to the highest rating amongst its team members, minus the highest negative rating (if any) amongst its team members.  Team Popularity represents the overall view of the team as a whole, and cannot use the Specific Organization optional rule.

Just like with individual characters, a Super Team’s Popularity can fluctuate between adventures.  At the end of each Adventure, take the highest positive reward given to a member and subtract the greatest negative modifier sustained by a member.  The result is the adjustment to the Super Team’s Popularity.

Example:  The Sentinels of Society have just completed a mission.  Dragonfly received the highest positive reward: a total of +7 popularity (this was not his total Popularity for the adventure, but the positive reward he received before any negative modifiers were applied).  Unfortunately, Sure-Shot sustained the highest negative reward for allowing a villain to escape, grandstanding and causing innocents to be injured, and saying the wrong things in front of the media, for a total of –9.

Despite Dragonfly’s best efforts, thanks to Sure-Shot the Sentinels of Society have lost -2 Popularity.

Like with individual Popularity, various Popularity scores award certain temporary benefits.  What’s even better is that these rewards stack with individual Popularity.  In other words, if an individual hero on a team has a +1 Charisma modifier due to his own current Popularity, and the Super-Team’s Popularity also rewards a +1 Charisma modifier, that hero has a +2 Charisma modifier for the time being.

Gaining Additional Team Points

Building a Super Team comes with a lot of benefits, and it is a commitment not to be taken lightly.  In order to increase an ability or resource, the members must be dedicated to fostering the brotherhood that a Super Team requires.

A Super Team gains 10 additional Team Points for every 5 Experience points it receives.  However, the only way a team gains experience points is by its members transferring any or all of their own experience points from a session to the team.  Experience points transferred to a team no longer count toward a character’s personal advancement.  The character is, in effect, forgoing their own personal training and development to focus on expanding and increasing the team. 

As you see, using the optional Super-Team rules creates another layer of character and team development in Dawn of Legends, giving each individual super-team their own sense of character and belonging, just like the individual characters that compose a team.

Next Design Journal, we'll take a look at the nature of how we'll be handling the Plot-Point Campaigns.

To discuss this Design Journal, head on over to the Official Savage Worlds Licensee forums!