Now, some of you must be telling yourselves "not another RPG". Well yes indeed. Now lets take a look at what can make S3 different or similar to others. These are also some of the reasons that have pushed me to develop my own engine.
The Powergamer - The Way-Too-Super Heroes
I've been roleplaying for about 5 years now and what I've noticed in a lot of games I've played, one can take considerable damage and walk away from it.
Example: I'm playing a harden criminal that just got freed from cryo-sleep by some companions. We end up in a firefight with the security personal, I get shot in the thigh and limp my way to safety. One round later I get fragged to the chest! I'm split open like a Thanksgiving turkey. I'm not only not dead, but I'm pissing more blood than in a Tarantino flick. I've lost a lung and pretty much lost what was once my rib cage. I'm also conscious, hard-boiled, pissed and being dragged by one of my buddies while I pop out rounds with a heavy machine gun.
Enough with the examples. In most of these games, as you advance through the adventures the experience your characters gain make them stronger, tougher, and longer lasting. Literally more and more invincible.
I'm not gonna get started with my AD&D half-orc and my fellow elf companion. Long story.
That's not how it works in real life - but it'd be cool. In S3, you could be built like a brick shit house - or a shit brick house? - and it wouldn't make much of any difference against my Luger. Now I am also referring to melee weapons here too, cause its the same effect.
You will notice, as you read along through S3, that characters are fairly weak when compared to the weapons at their disposal.
It's All About Rules and the Rules of Rules
I don't think I need to delve deep here. You all know what I'm talking about. We've all been through extremely complex games which offered night-long studying and trial & errors and mathematical calculations which could account as a great exam a teacher could give his students. I've played AD&D for a about a year, used only one character and I needed the assistance of an experience GM and 2 or 3 books to build it. Still can't understand its damn rules.
I say if it takes more than hundred pages, more than a week to understand (mastering takes a bit more) its way too much bullshit. I love simplicity for the sake of time consumption, chases for example. Its fun to have quick moments go by. But I love complexity because it mainly offers in-depth play, those big-movie moments where the hero only has a few seconds to act and flawlessly perform that swing.
Thats why I will be integrating both simple and complex features to satisfy my thirst. The average game session will probably exclusively use simple rules. But sometimes, for the drama, the stress, the sheer thrill of the story, complexity will be praised. A good mix of the two can prove to be worth the time to learn, or at least crack open the book and look'em'up.