DC Comic Book Character Conversions: A ConversationAs a fan of Clint Black's recent foray into the realm of 4-color comics, I have begun planning a series of DC Comics character conversions. I am not the only person to have an interest in this subject, "therealtony" on the Pinnacle Forums has done a wonderful job. But being that there can be no
correct conversion of any given character, I will more than likely be repeating some of the same characters he selects from the hat.
I will be using a couple of resources, other than the comics themselves, for assistance in my conversions.
The DC Comics EncyclopediaComics Between the Panels by Dark Horse Publications
The All Star Companion edited by Roy Thomas (If you don't own this you are not a "real JSA fan).
The DC Heroes RPG 3rd Edition (my favorite Superhero system)
The DC Universe RPG by
West End Games using their excellent d6 system.
The first and the last of these books will be used to help with "background" information, it is much easier to look to a single source than to delve into the issues. The second will be used with regards to conversions of abilities and statistics.
Given any media to game, or game to game, conversion you have to have certain guiding principles; here are mine.
1) I must come up with "benchmarks" for each system. Where such benchmarks are provided, I will follow them as close as possible. An example can be seen in the "Carrying Capacity/lift" chart in Necessary Evil.
2) When converting from one system to another, ensure that you take into consideration the "core mechanic" of each. i.e. d20 vs. Hero have different base systems. What those differences are should effect conversion.
Okay...so let's start with the second principle.
In
Savage Worlds the "average" difficulty for any given task, under normal conditions, is 4. A d6 roll averages 3.5 (open ended 4) so d6 is the baseline for task resolution of 50% of a standard task. One could argue that this means d4 is actual human average since people don't tend to succeed 50% of the time on tasks which require (in RPG terms) a "roll," but that is a separate discussion. In this case, d6 will be considered average for ability scores and skills.
In
Savage Worlds combat difficulties when attacking the opponent are less than 50%
All Things Being Equal. What do I mean by this...a fighter with a Fighting skill of d8 has a parry of 6 attacks another fighter with a Fighting skill of d8 has a 37.5% chance of success (excluding wild card bonus die). The odds become 50% at the d12+2 level of skill. So "on average" the PCs have a slightly worse than 50%. In DC Heroes, they are exactly 50%. All things being equal, the character will need to roll 11 on an open ended on doubles (excepting double ones) 2d10 roll.
What this means is that d8 vs d8 isn't the same as 8 vs 8 in the DC system. To reconcile this small difference, I will "bump up" some characters and "bump down" other characters who are borderline within their areas of expertise. Is Batman a d12+2 type? Is Blue Beetle a d10 or d8 fighting? These questions will be asked after the application of broad benchmarks.
Now for the benchmarks:
DC has Nine Statistics and Savage has Five covering the same elements.
To convert one must decide whether, in the case of a "combined" statistic, to take the highest or the average. I tend to use averages, but review on a case by case basis.
DC to SW Attribute Correlation
Savage Worlds | Agility | Smarts | Spirit | Strength | Vigor |
DC Heroes | Dexterity | Intelligence | Average of Will and Mind or Aura and Spirit | Strength | Body |