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Truth & Justice
by Chad Underkoffler
(Atomic Sock Monkey,
2005. $25.00, softcover ID: 141060.)
Review by Elizabeth Barrette
Five stars
 The
name of the press gives you a taste of the sense of humor involved here:
a blend of the mundane and the extraordinary in a very wacky package.
Truth & Justice is a roleplaying game inspired by superhero
comics and animation. It uses the "Prose Descriptive Quality"
system designed by Chad Underkoffler, which is a streamlined method
of play for those folks who want to quit fussing with the rules and
get on with the game. You may remember it from the previous game Dead
Inside, and it works extraordinarily well with superhero characters
and plots.
So, you're a superhero (or superheroine). You get to describe yourself
with such fun phrases as "Roguishly Handsome," "Memories
of Past Incarnations," "Glass Jaw," "Computer Nerd,"
"Body of Flame," and "Power Theft," which define
what you're like and what you can do. Heroic actions earn you "Hero
Points" which you can use to change the odds in your favor, fight
harder, recover faster, improve your abilities, and do other nifty things.
Your friendly neighborhood game master will introduce you to plenty
of supervillains to make your life more interesting (as if getting your
Powers by being bitten by a radioactive rattlesnake, or whatever, wasn't
enough).
Truth & Justice is a well-organized game handbook which
explains the rules clearly but is fun to read even if you never get
around to playing the game. Chapters cover the superhero genre, game
rules, characters, superpowers, super-conflict, and gamemastering; plus
three detailed starter scenarios, "Second-String Supers,"
"SuperCorps," and "Fanfare for the Amplified Man."
If you enjoy superhero comics, you'll love this book. Most highly recommended.
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