The game system is designed to allow players to create virtually any type of hero or villain desired. In the late 1990s, Steve Kenson had an idea for a superhero setting that he had been contracted to produce. Through a series of misfortunes, the project fell through and he was left with a partially completed manuscript. Shopping it around to various publishers, none were interested (superhero game popularity had declined at that time) until he talked to Chris Pramas (President of Green Ronin Publishing) about the setting. Pramas made the offer to publish the setting if Kenson would also create a superhero game system based on the d20 System. Over time, it became clear to him that the game would need to be released only under the Open Game License.
Releasing the game under the d20 Standard Trademark License, as originally planned, would have prohibited the inclusion of ability generation and character advancement rules.
