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Guardians

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What if the original roleplaying game was inspired by colorful superheroes rather than Tolkienesque fantasy?

GUARDIANS is a super hero retro-clone compatible with the original fantasy roleplaying game and subsequent editions, and other “OSR” games that follow in the mould of the original game like Colonial Troopers, Warriors of the Red Planet, and others. If your tastes run towards super-powered four-color heroes and villains you’ve found the right book. In a tradition inspired by the psionic abilities of Eldritch Wizardry and the mutants of Metamorphosis Alpha or Gamma World, even a first level Guardians character begins with mighty powers!

Digest sized (5.5"x8.5")

What are people saying?

"They did what people have said couldn't be done for years. They designed a superhero game around the classic ... white box rule set. It is an amazing accomplishment! They did it with an old rule set and put it all in a digest sized book!! Try it!!! You might like it! And you might find that this small book does what all of the other over expanded rules have been trying to do for year! This is an amazing and noteworthy accomplishment. I wish that I had had this book to purchase when I bought my first white box set decades ago!" -Scott Shafer


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Reviews (5)
Discussions (41)
Customer avatar
Patrick L October 16, 2023 7:16 am UTC
PURCHASER
Big fan of this game, been using it on and off for a bit now. My main issue with it though, each round being a minute long feels a little wonky? I mean for melee combat that works, but for anything with range, it seems like you'd be able to get multiple attacks off in that time. I'm considering a house rule where a ranged attacker rolls their damage first, then can choose to attempt to split it between multiple targets, each with a different attack roll to represent the amount of ranged attacks you could reasonably get off in a Minute. Thoughts?

Movement also seems a bit wonky. The average human can run 100 meters (300-someodd feet) in 12-20 seconds, yet supers can only run 120 feet in 60 seconds? That's 2 feet a second, very slow. Time definitely seems a bit fungled
Customer avatar
Jeremy H July 10, 2023 7:07 am UTC
PURCHASER
I didn't see any explanations for firearms capable of burst and auto-fire. Is it in there and I'm missing it?
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Steve D July 10, 2023 10:45 pm UTC
Please take a look on page 69: Burst Fire.
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Jeremy H July 11, 2023 1:59 am UTC
PURCHASER
Very cool! Thanks! But no rules on "full auto"? Any houserules?
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Andrew G July 11, 2023 11:55 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Oddly I was recently reading Gunslingers and thought the idea of -4 to hit +2D6 Damage uses 10 rounds might work
Customer avatar
kristiaan L May 01, 2023 4:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Its probably super obvious, but i keep seeing "DR" but i havent read anywhere what it actually is. Im assuming Defense Rating?
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Steve D May 01, 2023 4:51 pm UTC
DR = damage resistance. Each point of DR stops one point of damage.
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kristiaan L May 01, 2023 4:53 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you!
Can you point out where in book it talks about it? I feel it should be obvious but cant see anything in the book that address's it?
Thanks again

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Steve D May 01, 2023 5:06 pm UTC
After a quick look in the printed book, there is some information that eludes to DR, but I do not see anything specifically tells us what DR is. Please look at pages 68 and 69.
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kristiaan L May 01, 2023 5:09 pm UTC
PURCHASER
That helps! thank again!
Customer avatar
Jon M October 19, 2022 9:56 pm UTC
PURCHASER
What happened to the POD version? I was about to order it, only to discover that it seems to have vanished...
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Thomas D October 20, 2022 3:56 am UTC
PUBLISHER
There is a site-wide upgrade to the paper being used for the POD books, so many of them have been put into revision until the printer approves the files. In my experience this takes weeks, sometimes months to get through the whole process before a book is approved to go on sale.
Customer avatar
Jeremy H May 28, 2022 3:09 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Any updates on this one ready to roll out? I've been waiting to get a copy printed for a few months now.
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Thomas D June 08, 2022 6:45 am UTC
PUBLISHER
No plans for an update any time soon. Though I have some really cool supplements I'd like to wrap up and publish.
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Jeremy H June 08, 2022 6:54 am UTC
PURCHASER
Sounds good to me. So is this A5, A4, Letter, etc.?
Customer avatar
Thomas D March 29, 2022 2:19 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
A dedicated forum is now available:
https://nightowlworkshop.freeforums.net/
Customer avatar
Andrew G March 29, 2022 12:37 am UTC
PURCHASER
Not sure if this will work, but here’s a link to my house rules
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nrsqyf7mzfoa53h/AABvrflkFCeUH2xXApfRolq0a?dl=0
Customer avatar
Henry P March 03, 2022 1:58 am UTC
PURCHASER
How do you go about giving PC’s money for their jobs? Or does this not play into the game?
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Customer avatar
Thomas D March 03, 2022 3:25 am UTC
PUBLISHER
This is the kind of detail left up to the Referee.
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Customer avatar
Henry P March 15, 2022 10:23 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I have a few ideas. How have you done it in the past?
Customer avatar
Timothy L November 15, 2021 3:36 am UTC
PURCHASER
Is there a character sheet for this game online?
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Customer avatar
Thomas D November 17, 2021 10:33 am UTC
PUBLISHER
The publisher offers a free Character Sheet Bundle https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/234190/Character-Sheet-Bundle
Customer avatar
dave B September 13, 2021 12:11 pm UTC
PURCHASER
For those that don't know Thomas D has a fantastic blog on this and other games he's involved with. He posted this excellent Vigilante class for Guardians.
https://dungeoneering.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-vigilante.html?m=1
Customer avatar
dave B July 20, 2021 10:40 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Question on the Ability Score Modifier Chart.
Some of the examples of Str do not match up on the existing chart. Was this due to changing of the chart during playtests?

Example of correct with the chart:
Record the Basic Ability Modifier parenthetically after the score, e.g., 18
(+3). For high strength only list the extra damage dice after a slash, e.g., 40
(+14/+8d)

Examples of incorrect with the chart:
EMBER
Supernatural Bruiser (5th level)
Str 22 (+4)

DAMASCUS STEEL
Mutant Bruiser, 1st level
Str 16/48 (+9/+4d)

VOLKSGEIST
Superhuman Bruiser, 10th level
Str 55 (+10/+5d6)
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Customer avatar
Thomas D July 20, 2021 11:12 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Example characters are a little off. They're being updated and will be put in the FAQ. https://bit.ly/3isflrv
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Customer avatar
dave B July 21, 2021 2:52 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Sweet.
Customer avatar
Thomas D July 20, 2021 6:12 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
There has been a recent surge in interest for Guardians. For those new and old to the game we have an errata sheet including suggestions from players. It is a work in progress and has some duplicate information and needs some cleanup. You are welcome to comment. If you do and would like credit for your contributions let me know. https://bit.ly/3isflrv
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Customer avatar
dave B July 20, 2021 6:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Loving it. Just sent off for paper copy. Good stuff.
Is the erratta on that bit.ly link? Can't get it to work.
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dave B July 20, 2021 10:01 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Scratch that got to it on my laptop. Android weirdness. Thanks for the link!
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Customer avatar
Andrew W July 21, 2021 1:16 am UTC
PURCHASER
That's great news! I've been posting a bunch of Guardians conversions up in the World of Supers RPGS group on Facebook, and a thread on rpg.net... This game deserves more attention!!!
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Customer avatar
dave B July 21, 2021 2:53 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks for the heads up on theconversions!
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Customer avatar
dave B September 13, 2021 12:08 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I think we need to find an old school forum oh, something friendly to this old school type of game and post our favorite Night Owl Workshop material and ideas there.
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Customer avatar
Thomas D September 19, 2021 4:45 am UTC
PUBLISHER
I frequent the ODD74 board a lot because it is a great group, discussions are civil and thoughtful (and they never talk politics!). They have a board for my Warriors of the Red Planet RPG, maybe with enough interest they could open a Guardians board. Tell them I sent you.
https://odd74.proboards.com/
Customer avatar
Andrew W July 18, 2021 1:01 am UTC
PURCHASER
Question about the super agent’s martial arts specialty… it says you get +2 AC when not wearing armor. Does this include the armor power? Or just the conventional armors listed in the back? Or both?
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Customer avatar
Andrew G July 18, 2021 2:06 am UTC
PURCHASER
I usually say the prohibition only applies to armour without a power point cost. Lot of my Batman-esqe characters have a 1 power point suit using Combat Atmour, Super Vision, and usually swinging
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Customer avatar
Andrew W July 18, 2021 5:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
That’s what I was thinking as well (since that armor power could be flavored as anything)
Customer avatar
Andrew G July 16, 2021 12:58 am UTC
PURCHASER
I’ve played around with a lot of house rules and thought I’d share a few
Super Attribute - the characteristic modifier becomes too powerful. I allow super attrib to work on secondary effects like damage and lift for strength or HP for Con. If you want a better characteristic mod, you can up a stat 2 points for a feature point
Teleport - way expensive in energy, it seems to be for big long range teleports. I added a Blink power (A1 cost) which basically lets you travel normal foot distance for 1 feature point in line with swinging.
Wall Crawling - should be a feature
Utility belts/Magic - for 2 power points you can have a 1 power point variable power that you can change on a successful save roll. A more limited option is you can buy a power and for a feature point be able to change that into another predefined power as a free action
Mind Sheild - should be a feature
Faster than Light - should be a feature

That’s about it, hope it’s useful to someone
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Customer avatar
Andrew W July 17, 2021 3:07 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Those are some great ideas! I love the simple VPP you came up with... easy and elegant! I've been going back and forth on whether the BAM modifiers are too high... On the one hand, super strong bruisers are downright deadly. But on the other, there are lots of High Armor classes and DR powers running around.
Reply
Customer avatar
Thomas D July 20, 2021 5:35 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Thanks. I'm taking notes.
Customer avatar
Neil S July 15, 2021 12:11 am UTC
How many powers
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Customer avatar
Steve D July 15, 2021 12:43 am UTC
I count 108 different powers. Also, there are 24 features which are like minor powers that count as 1/3 of a normal power. The list is extensive and can they can serve as a guideline for making your own powers.
Customer avatar
Andrew W July 13, 2021 6:11 am UTC
PURCHASER
Do the armor types listed on page 59 not provide damage reduction? I don’t see any values listed ( it does note that bruisers & power wielders can only wear ac 9 [11], but none of the armors that follow are listed in that format)
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Customer avatar
Steve D July 13, 2021 9:41 pm UTC
I don't see any mention of damage reduction, so no.

The armor values are listed with only their ascending value. They should have both listed descending[ascending] i.e. light armor vest 5[15], long leather coat 8[12], tactical body armor 3[17]. The author is using base 10 for descending armor class values. 20 - Ascending value = Descending value.

The class writeups state Bruisers and Power Wielders cannot wear armor giving them a base AC of 9[11]. However on page 59, there are three types of armor they could wear that do not exceed their base AC: leather jacket, spandex, and war bikini/jeweled harness. Each of these armors should have been listed with the AC stat 9[11].
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Customer avatar
Thomas D July 15, 2021 1:50 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Thank you, I collect this information for future reference. I also like to hear what can be added or improved. Cheers.
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Customer avatar
Andrew W July 15, 2021 4:09 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I see now... I mistakenly thought the way armor was written , ie: 3 [17] meant AC 4, DR 17. Now I realize it was referring to ascending / descending. Makes perfect sense.
Reply
Customer avatar
Thomas D September 19, 2021 4:32 am UTC
PUBLISHER
I should stop listing Descending armor in my rulebooks. At the time there was still a vocal faction amongst the "OSR" crowd that insisted that it was essential to the flavor of old school games. I think over time the general utility of ascending armor and its ease of use (particularly for new players) has far outweighed the nostalgia of the clunky descending AC system.
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Product Information
Gold seller
Artist(s)
Pages
98
Publisher Stock #
NOW1002
File Size:
2.61 MB
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This title was added to our catalog on February 01, 2016.