Smallville Roleplaying Game
Tabletop superhero role-playing game
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The Smallville Roleplaying Game is a superhero-themed role-playing game published in 2010 by Margaret Weis Productions, set in the universe of the television series Smallville (which is based on the DC comic book character Superman).
 Cover | |
| Designers | Cam Banks |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Margaret Weis Productions |
| Publication | 2010 |
| Genres |
|
| Systems | Cortex Plus |
Game and setting
Players may take the roles of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, other characters from Smallville, or their own original characters. The game mechanics focus on inter-personal conflict and narrative, rather than raw power.[1]
Character generation in the Smallville RPG is a collaborative process, with characters going through their lives together step by step and deciding how their histories are woven together.[citation needed]
There are two main ways to run the Smallville Roleplaying Game. Players might use the official Smallville setting, or the life-path system that encourages players to create an original setting involving a coming-of-age drama with superpowers.[2] The rulebook allows players to create Smallville itself using the game's character creation rules, demonstrated using the season 9 protagonists Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Chloe Sullivan, Tess Mercer, and General Zod.[3]
Cortex Plus system
The Smallville Roleplaying Game was the first of the new role-playing games from Margaret Weis Productions to utilize their new Cortex Plus system.[4] The Smallville Roleplaying Game was designed by the game's line developer Cam Banks, and indie role-playing game publisher, Josh Roby.[4]
Smallville is currently[when?] the only iteration of Cortex Plus Drama outside the generic Cortex Plus Hackers' Guide. [citation needed]
Supplements
Two supplements for the Smallville RPG were published before Margaret Weis Productions lost the license at the end of February 2013: Smallville: The High School Yearbook (for playing high school characters using the Smallville system) and Smallville: The Watchtower Report.[citation needed]
Reception
The game won a Judge's Spotlight Award at the 2011 ENnies.[5]
Reception upon publication was a mix of positive surprise.
RPGamer declared: "The Smallville RPG is perhaps the most peculiar release of this year. Everything about its cover screams 'mediocre at best'... But this volume proves that one should never judge a book by its cover" and the book "will reveal that Smallville is a great story game ideally suited for teen drama that has been cunningly disguised as a cheap TV tie-in".[6]
io9 was equally surprised: "So I'll admit that when I saw the Margaret Weis Productions booth at Gen Con stacked with Supernatural, Smallville and Serenity RPGs, a small voice in the back of my head was saying, 'These could be pretty bad'....The Smallville RPG is a finely crafted game that understands the quirks of the show and the things about it that its fans love."[1]