''Silver Age Sentinels'' is a superhero

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, 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 these roles within ...

(RPG) published in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

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'', an

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

-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 who worked primarily on role-playing games. Early life Jeffrey Ian Mackintosh was born in 1971, the son of Ian and Dorothy Mackintosh. Career Jeff Mack ...

, and Jesse Scoble, with Steve Kenson and was developed by Lucien Soulban. ''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 and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works exploring popular ...

, who had experience with packaging fiction for Green Knight Publishing, 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, founded by Mark C. MacKinnon in 2019, 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 Gu ...

''. 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'' line, was released two months after the ''Tri-Stat'' version. Many of its concepts were adapted to the d20 version of '' Big Eyes, Small Mouth''. 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'' '' d20 System'' 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 a British 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 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 his retir ...

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''. Career Ostrander studied theology with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest, but now describes ...

, Steven Grant, and

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

. '' 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. Both anthologies were edited by

Reviews

*''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...

'' - 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