Mayfair Exponential Game System
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The Mayfair Exponential Game System or MEGS is a rules system developed for tabletop role-playing games. It is noteworthy for its use of using an exponential system for measuring things in the game. This curve makes it possible to have character's with wildly differing capabilities, yet be able to interact. For example, in DC Heroes, the first game to use MEGS, Superman's strength is several orders of magnitude more than Batman's. In the MEGS system, this wildly differing strengths are scaled so that while Superman would have a clear advantage in a brawl, Batman is at least able to take several hits.
MEGS was originally developed for the company Mayfair Games for the modern superhero RPG DC Heroes. The system was heavily modified for Mayfair's cyberpunk war veteran RPG Underground. The original incarnation of Pulsar Games licensed MEGS from Mayfair Games and used it in their modern superhero RPG Blood of Heroes. Blood of Heroes is very similar to DC Heroes, mostly replacing the superheroes created by DC Comics with new ones for the Blood of Heroes universe.
The core idea in MEGS is that all measurements are done using an exponential scale. These units are called "attribute points" or "APs" in the superhero games and simply "units" for Underground. Because of the scaling, 0 APs was a meaningful, positive value. Indeed, negative APs could still represent positive values.
In the superhero games 1 AP corresponded to 8 seconds, 20 feet, 100 pounds, 2 cubic feet, $50, or a typed page of information. A single increase of an AP doubled the value, so 2 APs of weight would be 200 pounds while 6 APs of weight would be 1.5 tons. These games defined -100 APs to correspond to absolute zero.
In Underground a 1 Unit corresponded to 125 pounds, 12 feet, 5 seconds, 64 cubic feet, or a bit more than a paragraph of text. An increase of 3 represented a doubling of the related value, so 4 Units of weight would be 250 pounds while 7 Units of weight would be 400 pounds.
Because of the exponential numbers, several calculations are simplified into addition and subtraction. Speed is measured as distance per single AP of time. So distrance travelled over time was Speed added to Time. The time to travel a given distance was Distance minus speed. A PC's strength directly correlated with the APs of weight. The distance a PC can throw something is equal to the item's weight minus the character's strength.
| Role-playing game systems |
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| BRP • CODA • d20 • D6 • FATE • Fudge • Fuzion • GURPS • Hero • Interlock • MEGS • Megaversal/Palladium • Storyteller/Storytelling • Tri-Stat • Unisystem |
