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There are a number of elements in the Smallville RPG that are potentially derived from the indie scene and could be called "innovative." Rather than physical or mental characteristics, the main attributes of a Smallville character are Values based on their dedication to certain theme elements — Duty, Glory, Love, Truth, Justice, and Power — and their ...

The Watcher never rolls against himself. In cases where the Watcher character is unopposed, such as this, they use their action to apply a die from their datafile (one of the ones that would be in their dice pool) directly as an effect. So, a Watcher character with Godlike Strength d12 could spend their action smashing the heck out of a Scene and add d12 ...

If a villain wants to do an action that doesn't target a specific hero, what happens? It works. Either the heroes try to prevent it (and then, they are the ones rolling against), or it happens automatically. There would be no point in having the villain try to do his 'villaining' unresisted, and fail just by himself, right? So, no rolls. On the other ...

Let us use simple math and probability. The standard starting doom pool is 2d6. So for starters we get difficulty < 4 66% of the time with d6 effect. That is pretty easy and not really challenging to most heroes. So what would challenge the heroes? Let's say that a difficulty that they can overcome only 30% of the time is really challenging. How many ...

As written, the Assert rules (p66) don't explicitly say, so it's up to you. But, there are clues suggesting that it's reasonable. Complications are basically the Fixer's Assets, and the game blesses the players using them. ("Complications and Player Cleverness", p 112-113) The game also lets players create assets that change NPCs. "The Role of Assets" ...

The "spotlight scene" doesn't necessarily exclude the other heroes, but the focus of the attention should be on the wounded character; the trade-off here is one additional dangerous scene for him or her rather than losing the character for the rest of the Act or moving the timeline forward enough for them to heal. (It shouldn't be the next Action scene ...

I believe that RPG.net had an interesting article about it -- basically, instead of the standard "attribute plus skill", it changed the focus to "attribute plus motive". If your character is about honor, then you do better at things that focus on honor. So, it's less simulation and more story-telling -- instead of letting the best person win, it's more ...

I've found that the Doom Pool is best built through introducing Complications early for the PCs to focus on. Rather than pitting them immediately against a villain, allow them to use their efforts to fight smaller independent problems; in "Breakout," for example, I introduced things like "Blackout d10" and "Panicked Crowd d8." This gives them a chance to get ...

Well, I have an answer of sorts, as Cam Banks answered to my question somewhere else. Since Cam has an account here, I will remove this answer if he ever passes by. Here is his answer: There is actually an order in play here. Firstly, he exploits his own stress, including it in his reaction. After rolling the dice for his reaction, his stress is ...