Sentinel Comics Roleplaying Game

The Sentinel Comics Roleplaying Game, created by Critical Hit Studios and Greater Than Games in collaboration, is the long-awaited RPG version of Sentinels of the Multiverse, set after the game/storyline's climactic final crisis crossover/big reboot of the OblivAeon expansion.

Built from the ground-up to be a superhero game, it uses a novel dice pool system called GYRO, standing for Green, Yellow, Red, Out, and an equally novel method of task resolution, with the ultimately-successful aim of attempting to emulate the storytelling of a superhero comic at the tabletop.

Initiative is handled by a pass-off system, with each actor in the turn order deciding who goes next until everyone has resolved their turn for the round. Most scenes are on a timer, with green, yellow, and red segments; if it counts all the way down to zero something really bad happens. Scene trackers vary; some are shorter, some are longer, some are dominated by one color.

Characters usually roll three variable-sized dice on most checks; picking one die from their Powers and one from their Qualities, then using a third based on their current hitpoint threshold, called the Status die. With a few exceptions, for the basic resolution, roll all three dice and pick the middle value (as in, the second-highest/lowest, rather than the one that physically lands between the other two); this is called the "mid" die. That said, every hero also comes with a list of "abilities" that also make use of the "min" or "max" dice, so all three rolls are important some of the time.

To simulate the way heroes tend to pull out more and more stops as the situation or their own well-being degrades, abilities are themselves divided into green, yellow, and red; heroes can only use yellow or red abilities if the scene tracker or their own Status, whichever is lower, has hit one of those thresholds.

The average Scene is usually pretty chaotic, with enemies running around to fight, problems that need solving, a ticking clock, and all that good stuff. All attacks that do damage automatically hit; there is no hit/damage division and healing abilities are fairly rare, though even fragile heroes can take a beating and some even have their Status die go up as they hit lower hitpoint thresholds. Trying to deal with problems without punching them (defusing a bomb, rescuing a hostage from a death trap, navigating the enemy base) is considered an Overcome action.

Most Overcome actions succeed, but most successful Overcome actions generate Twists. For a Minor Twist, maybe defusing that bomb notified the villain and caused him to start something else, maybe that hostage is too weak and you have to burden yourself carrying them around on your back until they're strong enough to walk, maybe you accidentally navigate in the right direction but into a guard post with an extra team of enemies inside. For a Major Twist, maybe the bomb tears off part of your mask, exposing your identity, maybe the hostage is injured on the way out and needs immediate medical attention, or maybe you've led the team right into the main reactor room, where the slightest mistake could mean a catastrophic explosion. In general, Twists should complicate successes without negating them.

Character creation involves selecting various Archetypes, Occupations and so on off a list, with deliberately broad parameters and overlap. It's noted that almost every character in the card game fits several Power Sources, for instance. These determine your Powers and Qualities (you get to choose what they are, but the die sizes and number shake out here), as well as the pools of combat powers you can draw on. You also pick two Principles, which are simultaneously important roleplay components, your primary means of generating the XP-equivalent, and a source of Twists for the GM to draw on.

Enemies are either minions (represented by a single die, need to save vs. damage dealt every time they take damage or be removed completely, and go down a size even on a success), lieutenants (a single die, rolls a save vs. damage dealt every time it gets hurt and goes down a size on a failure), and villains (who are built much more like heroes, with Powers, Qualities, Status, abilities, health, and so on).

The Environment also gets a turn, much like in the card game, and in some scenarios it's the primary obstacle and antagonistic force. Some Environments just spawn enemies, others introduce Twists each round that then need to be resolved themselves.

The game is finally went into its first edition in the latter half of 2020 (COVID-19 has fucked up the scheduling), but several playtest adventures were released in the meanwhile to show off the mechanics, including a six-issue story arc chronicling the last great adventure of the Freedom Five, then a few one-off adventures for the new teenage superhero team Daybreak, both involving pre-generated characters.