Evolved - Part III (Doing Stuff)

From Iron Man's armor to Batman's utility belt, gear is an important part of comic books. That's why there is quite a bit of space devoted to equipment, gadgets, and vehicles. Unlike classic DCC (with its gold based economy), characters in Evolved use a system called Wealth. This means you don't have to track every penny of your character's money. No need to go through everything, but characters have access to a plethora of weapons, gear, and vehicles to help them fight. An interesting addition to the equipment charts is a listing of which time (2026, 2051) the items are available. Armor in Evolved is simplified. Instead of several different armor material types (such as plate. leather, etc.), armor is more broadly defined (light, powered, etc.). It can also be modified. The equipment chapter also includes a nice little Superhero Trope sidebar. The vehicle section includes ground vehicles, ships, and even mechs. Mechs are an interesting addition, because while they are vehicles, they're given monster stats.

At its core, Evolved combat is the same as DCC. This means that it's like most D&D derived games, but with numerous Fumble and Crit Tables. There are four different fumble tables which correspond to different weapon types. There are five different class related crit tables. There are also firearms and grenade/explosive versions of these tables. There are several foe related crit tables. Tables like these are one of my favorite parts of DCC and its derivative. 

Evolved contains robust vehicle rules. If you are familiar with the Umerican Survival Guide, they'll look pretty familiar. Again, like most games with DCC dna, there are several random charts to roll one for vehicular crits and wipeouts. And like the critical fumbles, the wipeouts are divided into types. Even in modern games, I don't use vehicles often. I feel like, in general, vehicle rules are clunky or ill-defined. That's not the case in Evolved. While there are a lot of charts and things, the rules for vehicles fall in line with the rules for everything else.

DCC Warriors are known for the Mighty Deeds of Arms. Instead of a static to hit bonus, you roll a die and proclaim that you're doing something cool with the attack. Again, this is one of those aspects that makes me love DCC. It's not just swinging your sword. Concept is dynamic. Two of the Evolved classes  can do their own Mighty Deeds. There are a few examples presented. This is extremely helpful for groups, though players are encouraged to come up with their own Mighty Deeds. Of the samples my favorite is an iconic X-Men maneuver, the Fastball Special. 

The section on combat ends with a collection of useful rules for conditions and complications in the game. Essentially it's a handy catch all for miscellaneous things that will need rules for in the course of a campaign. 

While I originally wanted to feature the rest of the games rules that I hadn't touched on in this post, I decided to break things up. My next Evolved post will focus on Judge rules and content.