Sentinel Comics RPG Core Rulebook

Hero Advancement
The heroes of Sentinel Comics don’t stay static. As
they go through different experiences, they learn
new things, they change their tactics, they gain new
allies, and the nature of their powers might even
develop into something new altogether.
As we discuss on pages 8-9, a single session of
the RPG translates roughly into the story of one
issue of a comic book, so we call it an issue. Six
issues become a collection. Between collections,
you might want to change up how your hero works
based on what happened in the storyline.
Collecting Six Issues Into a
Collection
As soon as your hero has six issues on their hero
sheet, it’s time to turn them into a collection. Erase
all the issues from your sheet to start anew for
the next session. Then, the group should work
together decide what the collection from that
issues is called. Sometimes this will just be the
name of your super team, such as: “Sentinels of
Freedom, Volume 1.” This might also be a clever
book name: “The Lost and The Found.” Or it
might specifically relate to the storyline you played
through: “Hail… the Final Duchess!” As long as it’s
something that will remind you all of the different
adventures you’ve been through together, it’s a
good title. Write that title under Collections. You
now have access to that collection to call back on
in future adventures (see page 32 for details on
how to use collections).
Changing Your Hero
Between Collections
The collection is designed to be the end of one
storyline, and may include character developments
for the heroes involved. Your power suit may be
irrevocably broken, your shapeshifting abilities may
have been permanently altered by a mystic artifact,
or you’ve been swapped with an entirely different
version of yourself from another reality. Between
collections — or whenever is necessary for the
story depending on what happens — you may
make some changes to your hero.
Depending on the scope of the changes, the
following are options:
• Make cosmetic changes
• Change details of the hero
• Majorly rewrite the hero
Starting Collections
The heroes in the Archives of this book all start
with a collection, containing their first appearance
in the pages of Sentinel Comics. This isn’t a part
of standard hero creation though, as your hero
might not necessarily have previous appearances.
However, if the GM wants to start the story further
into your comic book career, each player can start
with a collection. This can be one that all the heroes
were a part of if they shared an origin story, or
different collections if each hero had their own
“solo title” first, or some mixture.
Make Cosmetic Changes
The hero may not have been affected much by the
events of the story they just experienced, but that
doesn’t mean they can’t make minor changes like
a different hairstyle, codename, or costume. These
changes don’t require any special permission from
the GM and can be done freely between collections.
Even still, it’s worth coming up with story reasons
for these changes. What inspired your hero the
change their hair color? Is there a notable influence
that make them ditch the cape from their costume
at this point?
Change Details
Some storylines result in the hero changing their
personality, outlook, powers, or training focus. These
major character changes require altering their hero
sheet in bigger ways, digging into the details from
the hero creation steps.
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Hero Advancement