Powers That Be

User summary: Powers That Be is a well-developed role-playing game that is presented in HTML on a free site. The rules assume basic familiarity with role-playing processes and terms. Characters start with a Persona (narrative) and Stats (Attributes) including Physical Stats (Strength, Adroitness, Agility, Fortitude, Endurance, Appearance) and Mental Stats (Reason, Memory, Intuition, Willpower, Boldness, Charisma). Characters also have numerous derived values (Awareness, Resistances, Dodge, Physical, Mental, Initiative, Action Points, Health, Vim, Vigor, Recovery, Healing Rate). Characters also have Powers (supernatural abilities) that have a variety of measures (Fervor, Focus, Fortress, Source, Essentia, Tricks). Character creation is based on point expenditure; play results in gaining experience points which are spent to improve the character. Because Powers are highly variable, action resolution also is complex--depending on the situation. Generally, Stat ratings are used in a step-die system to determine a dice pool. Tactical time occurs in rounds where characters spend Action Points to perform specific actions; when all Action Points are expended the character cannot act more during that round. The game is atypical in that Powers need not be, though they usually are, analogous to traditional "super hero" powers. They may be magical powers or power derived from unique heritage and so forth.