Pyramid Review: Supermegatopia: The Roleplaying Game

Pyramid Review

Supermegatopia: The Roleplaying Game

Published by Nightshift Games

Created by The Brothers Grinn (Brian & Stuart Burke)

48 pages; $9.95

Supermegatopia is the latest release from Nightshift games and is based upon a slightly controversial web site by the same name. Nightshift games have never been a company to shy away from innovative ideas or possible controversy; this game pushes the boundaries of taste and playability, but seems to work.

Like the UNsanctioned game also published by Nightshift, Supermegatopia uses the Paradigm Shift rules set. Characters are given three main stats: Mind, Body, and Agility. Skills add points to one of these basic stats to give a value that is rolled on a d20. Roll that number or above and you succeed. In addition to skills, characters may purchase talents, which enhance natural skills and abilities, which are essentially super powers. Character generation is quick and relatively balanced. Combat is likewise fast and easy to run; though this is not surprising considering Paradigm Shift is a proven and true system. The book ends with a short, two-page, tongue-in-cheek adventure that is reminiscent of R. Talasorian's Teenagers from Outer Space. Supermegatopia is definitely designed for fast, "anything can and does happen" roleplaying.

Only 10 pages of the 48-page book are devoted to the game system. The system is more than adequate for the source material, and written in a concise (though irreverent) . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: July 6, 2001

Copyright © 2001 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.