PALLADIUM BOOKS PRESENTS

REVISED

UIIL.M.TED

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This Work is Dedicated to Mom, for her courageous battle against the foulest of all villains.

Other tities in the Heroes Unlimlted series include: Villains Unlimited'"' Aliens Unlimited'"'

Coming in 1996! The Nursery The UFO Conspiracy

Other Palladium RPG titles include: The Compendium of Weapons, Annor, and CastIes~ The Compendium of Contemporary Weapons~ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turt1es~ and Other Strangeness After the Bomb"' Ninjas and Superspies~ The Palladium~ RPG Robotech"' RPG Macross Ir RPG Beyond the Supernatural~ Rifts~RPG

Nightspawn~

Twelfth Printing - January 1996

Copyright © 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984 by Kevin Siembieda

Cover Art Copyright © 1984 by James Steranko.

Palladium Books, Rifts and Megaverse are registered trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda. S.D.C., P.P.E., Heroes Unlimited, Villains Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, Ninjas & Superspies and other titles are trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda.

Superhero(s) and Superpower(s) are registered trademarks held jointly by D.C. Comics, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, Inc . Their use in this text is solely as a descriptive term and is in no way meant to infringe upon said trademark .

All rights reserved under the Universal Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced in part or whole, in any form or by any means, without permission from the publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews. All incidents, situations, institutions, governments and people are fictional and any similarity, without satiric intent, of characters or persons living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

Revised Heroes Unlimited is published by Palladium Books Inc ., 12455 Universal Drive, Taylor MI 48180. Printed in the U.S.A.

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PALLADIUM BOOKS PRESENTS

REVISED

Written By: Kevin Siembieda

Editors: Alex Marciniszyn Florence Siembieda

Cover Art and Logo: James Steranko Interior Art: Michael Gustovich Additional Art: Jeff Dee

Kevin Siembieda Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird

Typography: Maryann Siembieda Key lining: Matthew Balent

Special Thanks to Randy Cartier, Roger Cartier, Chester Jacques, Erick Wujcik, Maryann and all my play testers.

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T ABLE OF CONTENTS

Page How to Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6 Glossary of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 8 Creating a Character ........... . . . . . . . . . .. 8 Step One: The Eight Attributes ............... 8

Attribute Bonuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9 Physical Strength and Weight . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9

Step Two: Hit Points & S.D.C............•.... 10 Recovery of Hit Points & S.D.C. . .......... 10 Surviving Coma And Death .............. 11 Optional Damage Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Step Three: Determining Super Abilities . . . . . . . . . . 12 Random Power Table .................. 12

Step Four: Education and Skills ...... . . . . . . . . . 12 Step Five: Rounding Out One's Character ........ 13

Alignments ......................... 13 Experience Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Experience Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Optional Ways to Round Out a Character ..... 18

The Crazy Hero (optional) ................... 19 Frenzy ............................ 19 Power by Association .................. 20 Multiple Personality ................... 21 The Crazy Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Insanity Tables .......................... 24

Education and Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Educational Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Available Skill Programs ................ 27 Secondary Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Skill Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Skill Notes ......................... 36

Hand to Hand Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Combat Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 S.D.C. Table ........................ 39 Hand to Hand Combat Skill Abilities ........ 40

Combat ............................... 41 Modern Weapon Proficiencies ............. 41

Robot and Vehicle Combat .................. 42 Called Shots ........................ 43 Missiles ........................... 43 Dodging Guided Missiles ................ 44

Car Combat ............................ 44 Maneuvers & Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Crash and Damage Rules ................ 46 Loss of Control Table .................. 47 Pedestrian Impact Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Critical Damage Table .................. 49

Air and Space Combat ..........•.......... 50 Aerial Maneuvers & Techniques ........... 50 Damage and Crash Rules ........._. . . . . . . 51 Random Tables ...................... 52 Emergency Landings ................... 52 Outer Space Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Alien Characters ......................... 55

Page Bionic Characters ........................ 60

Creating the Bionic Character ............. 60 Bionic Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Major Body Parts ..................... 61 Increasing P.S., P.P. & Speed ............ 61 Bionic Ear Features ................... 61 Bionic Eye Features ........ ~ . . . . . . . . . . 62 Bionic Hand Weapons .................. 63 Other Weapons ...................... 64 Bionic Lungs Features ..•............... 65 Bionic Mouth/Throat Features ............ 65 Bionic Body Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Experiments (characters) .................... 69 The Super-Soldier Option ............... 71

The Hardware Character ................... 73 Creating the Character ................. 73 The Electrical Expert .................. 73 The Mechanical Genius ................. 74 The Weapons Expert ................... 76 Weapon Gimmicks .................... 78 Building the Super Vehicle ............... 80

Magic Characters ........................ 88 Enchanted Weapons ...................•... 88 Enchanted Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Mystic Study ...•....................... 91 The Wizard and Spell Casting ................ 92 The Magician and Illusionary Magic ............ 94 Magic Spell Descriptions (Wizard) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Illusionary Spell Descriptions (Magician) ........ 101 Wizards and Circle Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 103 Protection Circles ....................... 104 Power Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 104 Summoning Circles ...................... 105 Monstrous Mystic Villain Creation Tables . . . . . . .. 106 Other Creatures of Magic .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 107 Mutant Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 108

Creating a Mutant Human ............. , 109 Creating a Mutant Animal . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 111 Biological Energy Points (animals) .. . . . . . .. 112 Human Features (animals) .............. 114 Mutant Animal Powers (animals) . . . . . . . . .. 115 Mutant Animal Psionic Powers (animals) . . . .. 116 Mutant Animal Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . .. 117

Physical Training Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 124 Psionic Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 127

Determining Psionic Abilities ............ 127 Psionic Power Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 128 Secondary Psionics ........... . . . . . . .. 133

Robot Characters ....................... 136 Robot Intelligences ...... . . . . . . . . . . . .. 136 Robot Body Types ................... 137 Skill Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 139 Background Data ., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 140 Robot Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 141 Body Frames ........•.............. 141 Power Supply ...................... 143

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PagePage

Legs and Locomotion ................. 144 Arms and Hands .................... 145 Sensors and Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 146 Weapons ......................... 147 Animal Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 150 Body Armor ....................... 150 Pilot Operated Systems ................ 150 Miscellaneous ...................... 151

Special Training ........................ 153 The Ancient Master .................. 153 The HunterlVigilante ................. 155 The Secret Operative ................. 156 The Stage Magician .................. 158 The Super Sleuth .................... 160

Determining Super Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 162 Random Tables ..................... 162

Super Abilities Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 163 Minor Super Abilities ................. 163 Major Super Abilities ................. 169

Weapons and Equipment ................... 193 Ancient Weapons ........................ 193 Oriental Weapons ....................... 195 Modern Weapons ....................... 198 Tissue Damage Ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 198 Cartridges (bullets) ...................... 199 Revolvers and Automatic Pistols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Sub-Machineguns ....................... 203 Rifles ............................... 204 Machineguns .......................... 207 Heavy Weapons ......................... 207 Energy Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 208 Incendiary Weapons ...................... 209 Gases and Grenades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 210 Firearm Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Other Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 212

Optics ........................... 213 Communication Equipment ............. 214 Surveillance Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 214 Sensory Equipment ................... 215 Detection Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 216 Underwater Equipment ....... . . . . . . . . . 216 Clothing .......................... 219

Vehicles 221 Military Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 222 Helicopters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Helicopter Optional Rules .................. 226 The Quick Roll Villain .................... 228

Vigilantes ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 The Law .......................... 231 World Hot Spots .................... 231

Adventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 The Mall of Terror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 One Dam Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Character Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

A Quick Find Reference Table Attribute Bonuses ........................ 9 Random Power Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Crazy Hero ......................... 19 Available Skill Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Hand to Hand Combat Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Aliens ................................ 55 Bionics ............................... 60 Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Hardware ............................. 73 Magic ................................ 88 Mutants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 108 Mutant Animals ........................ 111 Physical Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 124 Psionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 127 Robotics ............................. 136 Special Training ........................ 153 Super Abilities Random Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 162 Minor Super Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 163 Major Super Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 169 Weapons & Equipment .................... 193 The Quick Roll Villain .................... 228

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with deterioration. On the face of the sagging structure is a dirty, sunINTRODUCTION faded sign pleading "Office Building for Rent or Lease 220,000 square

Welcome to the REVISED Heroes Unlimited. The origirwl Heroes Unlimited appeared on the game shelves in August 1984 . One of the last entries in a tidal wave of nearly twenty superheroic-type games. We published Heroes Unlimited then. because we felt that it offered more than its competitors. More variety, more detail , and more accu­rately captured the super world of comic books . Three years later, Heroes Unlimited is one of the few superheroic fantasy role-playing games on the market and selling better than ever.

What's that you say? If it's so good , why change it? To make it better, of course. Heroes Unlimited was Palladium Books' first, major RPG book after the Palladium Role.Playing Fantasy Game. We pub­lished it when we did, not to cash in on the "superhero craze", but because we had some ideas for what we believed to be an excellent and most importantly, a FUN game. We succeeded, but the original fonnat was clumsy. Many of the ideas were overshadowed by others. The bottom line was that I was not 100% satisfied with the finished product. There were many things I would have done a little differently. In addition to my own lack of complete satisfaction, Palladium Books would get letters, or comments at conventions like: "How come you only get one (granted elaborate) power in Heroes Unlimited? I've mod­ified it so you get two. " (Hasn ' t everybody?). The other gnawing com­ment was always: "Gee, I thought Heroes Unlimited was supposed to be the definitive super character game on the market . So how come it doesn't have magic powers? How come no games really do magic?" Good questions . My answer was that I personally dislike magic in superhero comic books, so I didn't put it in my game. That seemed okay at the time, but it sure didn ' t satisfy the garners . Maybe I've softened on my anti-magic in superhero comic books stance. I think mostly it drove me nuts that we were not giving our readers/garners everything they wanted . I mean , after all, the title of the game is Heroes Unlimited! No magic sounds like a limitation to me. To make matters worse, comic books seemed to be coming up with more and more magic powered or mysticaIJy oriented superheroes. Especially the big two, Marvel and D.C. Comics . What's a publisher to do?

Due to popular demand, Palladium Books proudly presents the RE· VISED Heroes Unlimited, complete with multipLe power seLections and magic!'! Oh, there ' s more to it than that. I've beefed up and redefined many of the extraordinary powers and character classes . Com­pletely streamlined the clumsy and excruciatingly long task of selecting skills and education . Added more possibilities for robot design. Included are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness animaL mutation rules and vehicle rules . Plus, a few new twists, like the optional crazy hero. When we couldn't fit aIJ this great stuff into the old page count we just added more pages. Now this book I'm satisfied with. I hope you are too.

Oh, one last comment. The term "superhero" is a registered trademark held jointly by the Marvel Entertainment Group and D.C. Comics . The tenn "superpowers" is a registered trademark of D.C. Comics. Except in this introduction, where I specificaIJy refer to real comic books, I can NOT legaIJy use those two words : superhero or superpowers. Terms all us comic book readers know and love. WeIJ I'd hate to be sued, so you'll see references like super abilities, extraordinary powers, superhu­man, superbeings and so on. Sheesh, what a business, eh?

HOW TO PLAYA ROLE·PLAYING GAME

Role-playing games are really just an advanced form of regular board games. In fact, they are so advanced that they no longer use a board. Some of the elements are still the same; you still need paper and pencil, dice and players, but the main thing you need to playa role-playing game is IMAGINATION.

Lets Take It A Step At A Time

Imagine The Scene

Picture a shabby looking building; the brick is dull and crumbled

feet." As the sun dips behind the building the last of the downtown commuters heads for home .

Can you picture this scene? Try to keep the mental image in your head. Don't worry if you forget the details ; one of the great things about role-playing is the way your memory is improved with practice . Now you are ready for the next step.

Imagine The Setting

A dark sedan crawls out of the shadows, its pace slow and deliberate, as if looking or waiting for somebody. A light flickers from one of the second story windows . A moment later the front door opens; its frame filled with the bulk of a massive man. As he steps out, his hair brushes the top of the door frame . Your guess is that the man must stand 7ft tall and weigh a good 500lbs . You position yourself on the opposite roof for a better view. It would seem Benny the Stooly 's tip might be dead on this time.

Okay, we 've established a setting and some atmosphere. Now let's figure out where you, the player, fits into this.

Imagine The Character

Now here comes the tricky part . YOU are not on the neighboring rooftop, but there is somebody whose eyes you see through . That person is your character . An imaginary individuaL that is your playing piece in this game. It is your imagirwry character who has tracked down a lead regarding a drug operation. It is this imaginary "super" character who reacts and interacts with the other playing pieces ... the other characters.

Normally, you will spend an hour or more developing a new player character. Once the character has been created, you will probably con­tinue playing the character for many weeks, perhaps years .

In our example your character is peering over the edge of a somewhat smaller, six story building across the street. Just picture yourself, as your hero, crouched at the edge of the roof watching the scene unfold on the street below.

Imagine The Action

Actually, you need one, important, extra ingredient to make a role­playing game work, the Game Master . The game master (G .M.) is another player (a real person!) who controls all the characters in the game, except the different players' characters. In this case, You are the only player and I am acting as the game master (G .M.).

The game master says to you: " You hear a faint clunk behind you. What are YOU going to do?"

At this point you must decide what your playing piece, you character, is going to do. Does he spin around quickly, weapons drawn, ready for attack? Or does he casuaIJy glance back, trying not to let on that he's heard his would-be assailant sneaking up on him. The decision is yours . The game master wiIJ have your opponent(s) react appropriately 10 your character's actions. Like improvisational theatre . You , your feIJow players and game master are all building an adventure , a story, together. When the game is over you'll have a complete chapter of a larger story locked in your memory. A story that you helped create.

In a role-playing game there are no simple answers . There are also almost no limits to what you can do. The only restrictions are that you can not go beyond the physical, mental and emotional limits of your character.

What You Need To Play

Other than imagination, players , and a game master, you wiIJ also need the folJowing:

1. Dice: 2 four-sided, 4 six-sided, 2 eight-sided , 2 ten-sided and 2 twenty-sided.

2. Plenty of Pencils and Paper . 3. Game Master and players (at least a total of 2 plus the G .M.).

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