Cartoon Action Hour implements a relatively simple ruleset. The core resolution system revolves around rolling a
d12, adding a number to it, and comparing it to a
Difficulty Number. If the result equals or exceeds that
Difficulty Number, the character succeeds in the task at hand.
Traits Whereas most RPGs give all characters an identical list of
attributes (such as Strength, Agility, Intelligence, etc.) and a variable collection of
skills,
Cartoon Action Hour rolls them all into one type of statistic known as
Traits. Each character will have a different list of Traits, with ratings ranging from −4 (nearly non-existent) to 4 (maximum human capability), with 0 being average.
Super-Ratings To represent Traits with superhuman or supernatural levels of ability, the designers use super-ratings. Characters with a Trait rating of 4 may have another number in parentheses, ranging from 2 to 5. This super-rating allows the player to roll more than one d12 when testing that Trait, taking the best result.
Special Abilities Superpowers, magic spells, vehicles, weapons, armor, racial abilities, animal companions,
psionic abilities, and magic artifacts—They can all be created using the Special Ability creation rules. Each Special Ability is designed by picking and choosing appropriate "components" that define it. For example, an energy blast would need the following components:
Damage Rating and
Range. This can easily be customized further by adding other components and modifiers, thus making the Special Ability truly unique.
Reflecting the Genre Every facet of
Cartoon Action Hour was created with an eye toward faithfully depicting the subject matter, using what the authors refer to as "cartoon logic". A few examples of this are as follows: • Characters cannot be killed. Rather, they just go "Out of the Fight" (or OOF) for the remainder of the combat scene. Characters
can die in a "Movie" episode, however, even there character deaths are not common. • Huge weapons (such as
bazookas,
rocket launchers, etc.) deal more damage to vehicles than to characters. In the cartoons, such weapons tend to blow vehicles to smithereens, but when it comes to characters, these weapons usually just hit
near them and the impact from the explosion merely sends them flying into a wall. Again, cartoon logic. • Characters receive experience for participating in After-Show Messages (
"... And Knowing is half the battle!"). • The rules institute a quick and entertaining way for characters to fight those swarms of nameless henchmen (such as Cobra Vipers from
GI Joe). These minion groups have a single score called Goon Factor, which acts as the
Difficulty Number for fighting them. Success means that the character dispatches them (and the player gets to decide how—like pulling the carpet from under their feet, shooting the ceiling and thus trapping them beneath the resulting rubble, and so on). Failure means that the characters are overwhelmed and are captured. ==Reception==