''Silver Age Sentinels'' is a

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

(RPG) published in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Guardians of Order Guardians of Order was a Canadian company founded in 1996 by Mark C. MacKinnon in Guelph, Ontario. The company's business output consisted of role-playing games (RPGs). Their first game is the anime inspired '' Big Eyes, Small Mouth''. In 2006 Gu ...

, creators of ''

Big Eyes, Small Mouth ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth'' (''BESM'') is a tabletop role-playing game originally produced by Guardians of Order in 1997 that was designed to simulate the action of anime and manga. The title alludes to the common anime drawing style of character ...

'', an

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

-themed RPG.

History

moved into the d20 market beginning with their new superhero role-playing game, ''Silver Age Sentinels'' (2002), which was written by Mark C. MacKinnon,

Jeff Mackintosh Jeffrey Ian "Jeff" Mackintosh (January 22, 1971 – September 24, 2016) was a game designer and writer who worked primarily on role-playing games. Early life Jeffrey Ian Mackintosh was born in 1971, the son of Ian and Dorothy Mackintosh. Career ...

, and Jesse Scoble, with

Steve Kenson Steve Kenson (born June 16, 1969) is a writer and designer of role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction. Career Steve Kenson began working as an author and game designer in 1995. Kenson co-wrote the super-hero role-playing game '' Silver Ag ...

and was developed by

Lucien Soulban Lucien Moussa Shukri Soulban is a Saudi Arabian game designer and writer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Personal life Lucien Soulban was born in Saudi Arabia, where he lived for 12 years before attending school in Texas. He la ...

. ''Silver Age Sentinels'' was produced in both a Tri-Stat edition in July 2002 and then a d20 edition released at GenCon 35 later that year.

James Lowder James Daniel Lowder (born January 2, 1963, in Quincy, Massachusetts) is an American author, anthologist, and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works ex ...

, who had experience with packaging fiction for

Green Knight Publishing Green Knight Publishing was founded by Peter Corless in 1998. He had acquired the rights to Chaosium's award-winning '' Pendragon'' role-playing game after they defaulted on a loan from Corless with Pendragon as collateral. From 1999 to 2001, Gree ...

, moved to assembling book packages for other game companies, including some ''Silver Age Sentinels'' fiction for Guardians of Order (2003-2004). After Guardians of Order went out of business in 2006, White Wolf bought the IPs for some of the company's games, including ''Silver Age Sentinels''. White Wolf's ArtHaus imprint holds the rights to ''Silver Age Sentinels''. Dyskami Publishing Company, founded by Mark C. MacKinnon in 2013, has come out with ''Absolute Power'', billed as the second edition of ''Silver Age Sentinels''.

Description

''Silver Age Sentinels'' features an original game world inspired by classic "four-color" DC and

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

comic book series, updated to modern political and moral sensibilities. The Empire City Universe (referred to after its central location, an alternative version of New York City) has a distinctive history. The original system is a variant of the Guardians of Order ''Tri-Stat'' system, later ported into a generic form called ''

Tri-Stat dX Guardians of Order was a Canadian company founded in 1996 by Mark C. MacKinnon in Guelph, Ontario. The company's business output consisted of role-playing games (RPGs). Their first game is the anime inspired ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth''. In 2006 Gua ...

''. It expands the system, adding additional modifiers to allow more customized powers and characters. It also uses the ten-sided die (d10) as its base die as opposed to the six-sided dice (d6) used in Guardians of Order's previous RPG titles. A ''d20'' version, using a similar power creation structure modified for compatibility with the ''

d20 System The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast, originally developed for the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons#Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, 3rd edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The system is named after ...

'' line, was released two months after the ''Tri-Stat'' version. Many of its concepts were adapted to the d20 version of ''

''. The original ''Deluxe'' version is a full color hardcover, while the ''Unlimited'' version is a hardcover with a full color cover only. ''Silver Age Sentinels'' ''

'' version is also hardcover with a black and white pages. The ''d20 Stingy Gamer Edition'' was softcover. The game is also the foundation for '' The Authority Role-Playing Game'', a game based on

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is an English comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ...

's '' The Authority''. That game features a much higher power level, and uses twelve-sided dice (d12) as its main action resolution. Two anthologies of creator-copyrighted short stories tied to the SAS universe were published by Guardians of Order. ''Path of the Just'' (2003) featured an introduction by

Denny O'Neil Dennis "Denny" Joseph O'Neil (May 3, 1939 – June 11, 2020) was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until h ...

and included stories by

John Ostrander John Ostrander (born April 20, 1949) is an American writer of comic books, including ''Suicide Squad'', '' Grimjack'' and '' Star Wars: Legacy''. He co-created the Oracle persona for Barbara Gordon and created the second and modern version of t ...

Steven Grant Steven Grant (born October 22, 1953) is an American alternative rock and comic book writer best known for his work with ''Trouser Press'' and his 1985–1986 Marvel Comics mini-series '' The Punisher'' with artist Mike Zeck and for his creator-o ...

, and

Ed Greenwood Ed Greenwood (born July 21, 1959) is a Canadian fantasy writer and the creator of the '' Forgotten Realms'' game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for ''Dragon'' magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently sold the rig ...

. '' Path of the Bold'' (2004) featured an introduction by

Elliot S! Maggin Elliot S. Maggin, also spelled Elliot S! Maggin (born 1950), is an American writer of comic books, film, television, and novels. He was a main writer for DC Comics during the Bronze and early Modern ages of comics in the 1970s and 1980s. He is ...

and included stories by Robert Weinberg, John Kovalic, and

Mike W. Barr Mike W. Barr (born May 30, 1952) is an American writer of comic books, mystery novels, and science fiction novels. Barr has written for every one of the first four incarnations of ''Star Trek: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Tr ...

. Both anthologies were edited by

Reviews

*''

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

'' - Deluxe Limited Edition *''

'' - d20 Edition

References

{{reflist Alternate history role-playing games BESM/dX Canadian role-playing games Guardians of Order games Role-playing games introduced in 2002 Superhero role-playing games