Amazing Heroes vs BLACK SEVEN

Compare Amazing Heroes and BLACK SEVEN side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Amazing Heroes	BLACK SEVEN
Genre	Superhero, Modern	Modern
Tags	Beginner-Friendly, Rules-Light, Family-Friendly, Superpowers, Narrative, Fiction-First, Cinematic, Theater of the Mind, One-Shot Friendly, Strong GM Support	Espionage, Mission-Based, Rules-Light, Theater of the Mind, Fast-Paced, One-Shot Friendly, Beginner-Friendly, Cinematic, CC-Licensed Rules
Core Mechanic	Each hero has four traits (an occupation, a body attribute, a personality attribute, and a superpower) assigned a d6, d6, d8, and d10 at creation. When the outcome is uncertain, the player rolls the relevant trait die against a difficulty of 3 (easy), 4 (normal), or 5 (hard), adding +1 if a body or personality attribute fits. Rolls of 1 or 2 on a normal or hard test inflict a condition like 'tired' or 'hurt'; a repeated condition becomes 'really [X]' and imposes a –1 penalty, and a third hurt condition defeats the hero. Defeating a villain requires successes equal to the villain's level times the number of heroes.	Roll 2d6 + Trait, 11+ succeeds. Characters have 12 Traits organized into three categories, each with four Traits linked to Body, Speed, Mind, or Communication: Infiltrate (stealth and access), Force (open combat), and Mob (silent takedowns). An abstract positioning system tracks agent status through Exposed and Noticed states rather than using maps. Threat escalates from 3 to 5 as agents are detected, with guards only returning fire at Threat 5.
Dice	d6–d12	2d6
Complexity	Very Low	Very Low
Availability	Paid	Paid
Runnability	3 of 5 book tools	2 of 5 book tools
License	Proprietary	CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	Not yet researched
Publisher	Amazing Tales	Zero Point Information
Year	2021	2011
Languages	English	English
Best For	Mixed-age tables wanting a fast, narrative superhero RPG that genuinely works for kids aged 7+ alongside adults: sessions are designed to cram an hour of TV-style action into a single sitting.	Groups who want fast, low-prep espionage one-shots inspired by stealth video games like Deus Ex and Splinter Cell, with abstract facility infiltration and no maps required.
Highlights	Trait dice carry transparent in-fiction meaning at each step (d6 is 'best in your country,' d12 is 'best in the world'), so players and GMs negotiate power level by description rather than parsing stat blocks. Conditions like 'tired' or 'shaken' replace HP entirely and stack into 'really [X]' with a –1 penalty before a third instance defeats the hero, keeping damage in fiction while still tracking toward a losing point. The GM receives plot points equal to the number of players each session and spends them on cinematic moves (villain ambushes, escapes with a planted clue, perfect disguises, 'missing body' recurring foes), encoding superhero-TV pacing as a budgeted resource.	Abstract facility infiltration system replaces maps with positioning actions and escalating Threat levels. Three tactical approaches to every encounter: sneak past, ambush silently, or go loud. Character creation fits on an index card and takes minutes. Optional cybernetics and psionics modules expand the near-future setting.
Considerations	Superpowers have no defined list or mechanical effects beyond a die size, so the GM must adjudicate what each novel use of a power can do on the fly. Advancement caps at d12+1 and amounts to larger dice plus secondary powers branched from a parent power, so long-running heroes don't gain meaningfully different mechanical options from starting ones. Villain fights accumulate flat successes equal to villain level × number of heroes with no incremental damage per hit, which can grind against tougher foes when most attack rolls only mark a single tick of progress.	47-page rulebook with limited content beyond the core loop of facility infiltration. No advancement or campaign mechanics: designed for one-shots and short arcs. No bestiary or NPC variety beyond guards and researchers. Sample adventure is the only published scenario.