[2] The rulebook allows players to create Smallville itself using the game's character creation rules, demonstrated using the season 9 protagonists Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Chloe Sullivan, Tess Mercer, and General Zod.

The process starts with their Origin (Rich, Ordinary, Gifted, Strange, and Alien or Metahuman), where each character establishes their core values and how strongly they hold them, how they relate to others, and any resources or powers they may have.

This process involves creating the most NPCs and locations in the setting which are most important to the characters, and indicating how strongly the various PCs value them.

[5] When it was produced, the reception was positive but surprised, with RPGamer declaring: "The Smallville RPG is perhaps the most peculiar release of this year.

You should instead judge a book by its inside cover, which features a crew of up-and-coming indie designers in the main credits and a laundry list of Evil Hat veterans in the special thanks section.

If covers aren't enough a read-through, will reveal that Smallville is a great story game ideally suited for teen drama that has been cunningly disguised as a cheap TV tie-in".

[6] io9 was equally surprised: "So I'll admit that when I saw the Margaret Weis Productions booth at Gen Con stacked with Supernatural, Smallville and Serenity RPGs, a small voice in the back of my head was saying, 'These could be pretty bad'.