Overwatch - Futuristic Hero Setting

By Kualan, in Your Settings

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Last Update: 8th February 2019 - Current draft: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PWg7tbWxGQJyg8MeauddwsEODn-8yNWb/view

- Completed faction pages and NPC stats for Vishkar Corporation, the Shambali, the Junkers and the Shimada Clan.

- Updated several NPC stat blocks.

- Further updates to the talent list & custom setting rules.

Hello folks!

Statutory WIP warning follows - this is currently early days but here's what I'm working on at the moment:

It's a setting document based on the video game Overwatch, which is developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Although the game itself is a team-based shooter, the story and the lore behind it has a really wide, diverse canvas that I think is perfect for players to develop their own superhero-like characters in. After musing round some of the subreddits yesterday enquiring on interest, I decided to start putting pen to paper (erm, I mean fingers to keyboard?) today and the above is what I have so far.

Let me know your thoughts/feedback/requests even. Hopefully there's a few Overwatch fans kicking around here that will get something out of this when it is done.

Big credit/thanks goes to Korlall's template files for Genesys pages and stat cards which I used as a foundation for much of this along with their incredibly helpful tutorial documentation, and to TheSapient's Genesys Talents Expanded project.

Edited by Kualan

Updated with the first stat blocks. Posting them here separately as I'm curious what people think of the characters' unique talents - they're supposed to be two of the more powerful NPCs in the game so I want their abilities to feel like they can turn the tide of a fight without being wholly OP. For those unfamiliar with the IP think of Tracer as a time-hopping Flash, and Winston as a gorilla version of the Incredible Hulk:

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Edited by Kualan

Tweaked Winston's stats a little - gave him a buff to his wound threshold, but added an additional strain penalty to his special ability. Also completed two more characters but will likely tweak them some more over the coming days:

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Edited by Kualan

Tweaked Soldier 76's tactical visor "aimbot" ability - it didn't make sense to ignore defense, so I lost that but gave him the ability to trigger Auto Fire without needing to increase the difficulty when tactical visor is activated.

Next heroes to be worked on are likely to be Mercy and McCree, but after them I will probably take a step back from NPC stats and instead focus on the character creation rules. I want to build a framework for players to be able to craft their own heroes with a good mix between custom talents/abilities/items that are similar to the "canon" characters for those who want to draw inspiration from the game, and more unique distinct ones for those who want to cut loose.

Today's update:

- Updated the WIP document in the OP.

- New sections include Blackwatch and Talon pages.

- Added stat blocks for Doomfist and Reaper.

- Tweaked existing stat blocks.

The stat blocks for those who want them separately. Continuing to look for feedback on their unique abilities - they're supposed to be powerful since these are boss-level NPCs, but am trying to root out any possible gamebreakers or abuses ahead of time:

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Edited by Kualan

Update: 27th January 2019

- Completed first draft of the Skills & Talents chapter.

- Completed stat blocks for Moira, Widowmaker, Sombra and Maximilien.

- Updated stat blocks for Doomfist and Reaper.

- Added a 'Credits' page at the front of the document.

As always, individual stat blocks for those who might want them:

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Edited by Kualan

Today's heroes - Torbjorn and Mercy, bringing us up to 11 heroes + 1 NPC out of the 29 playable characters currently in the game. Once the "canon" characters have all been statted up, I can move on to making the generic NPCs for the setting (Talon mercenaries, Helix agents, omnic citizens, etc):

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Edited by Kualan

The plan is to have all the factions/NPCs/adversaries written up for the end of this weekend. To this end, started first drafts of members of the Deadlock gang:

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Edited by Kualan

Latest update: 2nd February 2019

- Completed first draft of The Rules chapter.

- Added section about supplement-exclusive rules - Shields & Obligation

- Completed faction pages for Overwatch, Talon, the Deadlock Gang and Helix Security International. Still to do: Viskhar Corporation, Volskaya Industries, the Crusaders, the Junkers, Null Sector, the Shimada Clan and M.E.K.A.

- Completed first draft of Chapter III: Skills & Talents chapter.

- Completed stat blocks for Winston, Tracer, Soldier: 76, Ana, Torbjorn, Mercy, Doomfist, Reaper, Widowmaker, Sombra, Moira, Maximilien, Pharah, McCree, Ashe and B.O.B.

- Completed stat blocks for all Talon adversaries; Assassin, Enforcer, Heavy Assault, Sniper and Trooper.

- Completed 'Credits' and 'Table Of Contents' page at the front of the document.

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Edited by Kualan

I love Overwatch and this looks really high quality! I’ll have to keep an eye on this moving forward.

17 hours ago, Johan Marek Phoenix Knight said:

I love Overwatch and this looks really high quality! I’ll have to keep an eye on this moving forward.

Thanks, glad you like the look of it! Almost finished the setting chapter / NPC adversary blocks. After that I just need to finish off the Character Creation and Encounter Ideas section.

Latest update: 8th February 2019

- Completed faction pages and NPC stats for Vishkar Corporation, the Shambali, the Junkers and the Shimada Clan.

- Updated several NPC stat blocks.

- Further updates to the talent list & custom setting rules.

One slight critique I have is that Tracer’s Blink seems like it should allow her a third Move maneuver. After all, she can blink 3 times in a row. In both lore and gameplay she is typically supposed to be incredibly mobile, moreso than usually possible.

50 minutes ago, Johan Marek Phoenix Knight said:

One slight critique I have is that Tracer’s Blink seems like it should allow her a third Move maneuver. After all, she can blink 3 times in a row. In both lore and gameplay she is typically supposed to be incredibly mobile, moreso than usually possible.

Thanks for the feedback - initially that is exactly what her Blink ability was going to do, but on reflection I made the decision to keep her limited to the "2 maneuvers per turn" limit but mitigate the strain cost. If she could move from Short to Long range in a single turn, I was concerned she might prove too imbalanced. That said, when I finally get to playtest this I'll be able to try out different iterations of the same ability to see if it works (and I encourage anyone using this setting to do the same!).

Oh boy this is a treat! I haven't read it thoroughly yet but from little I saw it looks great. Keep it up.

First, love this thing you are doing, really well done. Second, I have a question. How does one create the powers or equipment for player characters? Because there are all these statblocks for the characters of the game, but besides the archetypes and the careers (Which are still missing which skills each career has, but that is a minor issue), there are no rules to make new powers or equipment.

For example, in one campaign I will run in a few weeks (or more), one of the characters want to make something of an illusionist (Thief), who use a combination of vishkar hard light technology (modified to suit his needs) plus mind affecting poisons and sounds. Creating holographic copies of himself, using the hard light to create labyrinths, and other stuff. So how would one create such powers and gear mechanically in the game.

On 2/23/2019 at 5:23 PM, happilyevil321 said:

First, love this thing you are doing, really well done. Second, I have a question. How does one create the powers or equipment for player characters? Because there are all these statblocks for the characters of the game, but besides the archetypes and the careers (Which are still missing which skills each career has, but that is a minor issue), there are no rules to make new powers or equipment.

For example, in one campaign I will run in a few weeks (or more), one of the characters want to make something of an illusionist (Thief), who use a combination of vishkar hard light technology (modified to suit his needs) plus mind affecting poisons and sounds. Creating holographic copies of himself, using the hard light to create labyrinths, and other stuff. So how would one create such powers and gear mechanically in the game.

Thanks, glad you like it so far. Yeah, Character Creation is only half-completed, and the reason why actually links directly into your question about powers/equipment funnily enough.

I'm currently hashing out the next part of character creation to give every player character their own unique kit in the form of a Signature Weapon and an Ultimate Ability.

The Signature Weapon mechanic is going to be an extrapolation of the Heroic Ability of the same name in Realms Of Terrinoth, but instead of having four base templates in RoT (Melee Light, Melee Heavy, Ranged, Brawl) there will be a wider variety of 'base profiles' for the character to build on, including traditionally non-combat skills like Computers, Mechanics, etc. I'm also trying to come up with the best way for a character to upgrade or 'level up' their Signature Weapon as the story proceeds.

The Ultimate Ability mechanic will, at its core, be a reskinned Heroic Ability system (minus Signature Weapon of course), again with a greater range of broad templates for the players to build their own flavor into. These will follow the same principles of costing Story Points, being upgrade-able over time, etc.

By giving each player character both a Signature Weapon and an Ultimate Ability at character creation, I'm hoping PCs will feel suitably unique and powerful whilst still having reasonable limitations (Ultimates will be once per session and cost 2 Story points to begin with).

I don't plan to use the suggested Superhero mechanics from the Core Rule Book as these feel better suited to Marvel/DC-style superheroes, which fits some characters in the Overwatch world but not all. I may repurpose some of the CRB mechanics as Ultimate Ability templates in their own right, rather than having them be a universal part of the setting.

For your Illusionist PC, for example, they might create a Signature Weapon that runs off of Deception or Skulduggery (flavored as a Vishkar wrist-gauntlet from which they control their illusions/holograms, for example) and then pair that with an Ultimate Ability that lets them influence other NPCs (flavored as them poisoning their minds and making them hallucinate). The base profiles still need writing up and this is what is holding up my next big update to the WIP file but hopefully the above gives an idea of what I'm aiming for.

Hey there!

Thanks for all the hard work, this ruleset is a really nice one. Hope, work is still in progress.