Mr. Negative
Aug 21st, '03, 10:46 PM
I've been wanting to do a Fantasy campaign, but the group of players I have can't all get together consistently (and it seems that Fantasy really needs a group with skill specialists). Therefore, I decided to do a Superheroic game, as it seems that superheroes, while they CAN use teamwork, don't depend on it like Fantasy Heroes do.
While I'm doing a low powered Superheroic game, I am going to run it off 150 + 100, but limit the powers fairly strongly, as well as the attributes. My idea is running an urban superhero genre, much like Frank Miller's run on Daredevil. I really want "powers" to be mystical in nature (much as Stick hinted to Matt that his sensory abilites weren't a mutation/chemical accident, but an ability to be connected to others which we all can chose to develop. Furthermore, the world must be ignorant of "superpowers", so no one can have powers which are obviously "super", but may only appear to be exceptional mortals, or have great luck. Some of the villians may violate this rule, but they must keep those powers hidden as well. For the villians, I'm planning on using a mix of "normal" criminals from thugs/street gangs/Tongs and a series of mystical opponents, much like the Hand from Daredevil (a conspiracy of evil mystics and assassins). The PCs will have the opportunity to train with each other under a wizened teacher, but this will not be necessary to the campaign, nor particularly encouraged (he'll be there if any players want to explore that side).
Here's my ideas of how to limit the points for the characters. I'm looking both for any commentary on my ideas for limitations, and any good suggestions for particular mystic villains.
Most attributes will be limited to either a score of 30, or an active point total of 30. Normal Characteristic Maxima is not allowed.
Str 40 Max (I thought that perhaps this should be limited to 30, but perhaps it would be better to rekey the strength chart so that Str doesn't double lifting capacity every 5. I wanted character to be able to deal substantial damage without HAVING to use martial arts, and 6d6 while substantial, isn't very difficult to achieve with martial arts.
Dexterity 20 Max (I know that seems low, but I really wanted players to spend more on skill levels and penalty skill levels than just having a great basic CV. I'm open to making it 30 max if people think that would be more appropriate.
Con and Body are both 30 max (not that anyone other than my Stone analog would pay for 30 CON and BODY.)
Int, Ego, and Pre, as well as Com, are all 30 max
SPD is 6 max
PD and ED are 12 max, with a max of 1 rPD and rED (more can be obtained from body armor and the like, but no character may have skin/force fields/whatever that innately grant them more than 1 point of resistant defenses. This is really important to my conception, as I want the players to have to take normal thugs with guns and knives seriously.
REC is 15 max.
END and STUN are both 75 max.
All "powers" are limited to 30 Active points if not limited, and if limited, they must both be below 30 Real Points and cannot have more than 30 "base points". Thus, you could have a 2d6 Armor Piercing Killing attack, provided that you had some limitations to reduce the real cost back down, and, of course, providing you had some explanation of how it worked (perhaps a sword blade replacing your left hand, or whatever),
Again, all powers must essentially be "invisible". The character cannot exhibit abilites that would convince people that he MUST be superhuman. A lot of the "non-powered" powers from the UMA and Ninja Hero will be in use here.
Characters will not pay points for normal equipment (this further encourages them to carry a billy club or a sai, instead of sinking points into Killing Attack powers. Thus, they end up spending points on more flavorful powers, like Radar sense, or Desolidification, only to avoid damage, requiring a Dex roll).
I'm STRONGLY inclined to disallow Increased Damage Classes, as I have always hated this mechanic. If a player wants to do more damage, I really want them to:
Increase their Strength
Use a weapon
Use a vulnerable hit location
Use skill levels to increase damage
Push or use a haymaker
Buy some mystical ablility (Ghost Palm, or Quivering Palm, or Really-really sharp fingernails)
To me, Increased Damage Classes really let the martial artist, who is the quick, agile, skillful fighter, totally step all over the big bruiser, who is slower, clumsier, and less skilled, but should at least hit harder. However, they seem to be INSANELY popular with the martial arts crowd.
I'm inclined to limit OCV (before martial maneuvers) to 10 as a starting max, and limit DC (including martial maneuvers, but not pushing or haymakers_ to 10 as well. This may be too low of a limit for OCV/DCV, but as maneuvers themselves aren't included, I hope it would work.
I'm going to, of course, lift some of the Daredevil characters, avoid giving them "supervillain names" (what evil assassin picks a catchy name for themselves?) and use them in the campaign. Bullseye will be present, as well as Electra (less as a villian or ally, but as someone they might cross, much like Catwoman in Batman). However, I never really read a whole lot of Daredevil, and many of his foes seemed to be costumed supers, so I need suggestions either from your own campaign, or from people with a better knowledge of the comic, for more ideas in the above vein.
I'm also looking for "in-game" ways to communicate and enforce the "powers must be hidden and secret" idea. Of course, the Hand wants to control/sacrifice/recruit those with mystical abilites, and perhaps the authorities would be inclined to imprison and study any "aberrations" that they discovered, but I really don't want to turn it into a Vampire: The Masquerade or X-Files theme. Perhaps the threat of the Hand and the pressure of intrusive press/media attention will be sufficient. Any interesting ideas for this are also welcome.
Any comments on my game limitations or ideas for villians?
While I'm doing a low powered Superheroic game, I am going to run it off 150 + 100, but limit the powers fairly strongly, as well as the attributes. My idea is running an urban superhero genre, much like Frank Miller's run on Daredevil. I really want "powers" to be mystical in nature (much as Stick hinted to Matt that his sensory abilites weren't a mutation/chemical accident, but an ability to be connected to others which we all can chose to develop. Furthermore, the world must be ignorant of "superpowers", so no one can have powers which are obviously "super", but may only appear to be exceptional mortals, or have great luck. Some of the villians may violate this rule, but they must keep those powers hidden as well. For the villians, I'm planning on using a mix of "normal" criminals from thugs/street gangs/Tongs and a series of mystical opponents, much like the Hand from Daredevil (a conspiracy of evil mystics and assassins). The PCs will have the opportunity to train with each other under a wizened teacher, but this will not be necessary to the campaign, nor particularly encouraged (he'll be there if any players want to explore that side).
Here's my ideas of how to limit the points for the characters. I'm looking both for any commentary on my ideas for limitations, and any good suggestions for particular mystic villains.
Most attributes will be limited to either a score of 30, or an active point total of 30. Normal Characteristic Maxima is not allowed.
Str 40 Max (I thought that perhaps this should be limited to 30, but perhaps it would be better to rekey the strength chart so that Str doesn't double lifting capacity every 5. I wanted character to be able to deal substantial damage without HAVING to use martial arts, and 6d6 while substantial, isn't very difficult to achieve with martial arts.
Dexterity 20 Max (I know that seems low, but I really wanted players to spend more on skill levels and penalty skill levels than just having a great basic CV. I'm open to making it 30 max if people think that would be more appropriate.
Con and Body are both 30 max (not that anyone other than my Stone analog would pay for 30 CON and BODY.)
Int, Ego, and Pre, as well as Com, are all 30 max
SPD is 6 max
PD and ED are 12 max, with a max of 1 rPD and rED (more can be obtained from body armor and the like, but no character may have skin/force fields/whatever that innately grant them more than 1 point of resistant defenses. This is really important to my conception, as I want the players to have to take normal thugs with guns and knives seriously.
REC is 15 max.
END and STUN are both 75 max.
All "powers" are limited to 30 Active points if not limited, and if limited, they must both be below 30 Real Points and cannot have more than 30 "base points". Thus, you could have a 2d6 Armor Piercing Killing attack, provided that you had some limitations to reduce the real cost back down, and, of course, providing you had some explanation of how it worked (perhaps a sword blade replacing your left hand, or whatever),
Again, all powers must essentially be "invisible". The character cannot exhibit abilites that would convince people that he MUST be superhuman. A lot of the "non-powered" powers from the UMA and Ninja Hero will be in use here.
Characters will not pay points for normal equipment (this further encourages them to carry a billy club or a sai, instead of sinking points into Killing Attack powers. Thus, they end up spending points on more flavorful powers, like Radar sense, or Desolidification, only to avoid damage, requiring a Dex roll).
I'm STRONGLY inclined to disallow Increased Damage Classes, as I have always hated this mechanic. If a player wants to do more damage, I really want them to:
Increase their Strength
Use a weapon
Use a vulnerable hit location
Use skill levels to increase damage
Push or use a haymaker
Buy some mystical ablility (Ghost Palm, or Quivering Palm, or Really-really sharp fingernails)
To me, Increased Damage Classes really let the martial artist, who is the quick, agile, skillful fighter, totally step all over the big bruiser, who is slower, clumsier, and less skilled, but should at least hit harder. However, they seem to be INSANELY popular with the martial arts crowd.
I'm inclined to limit OCV (before martial maneuvers) to 10 as a starting max, and limit DC (including martial maneuvers, but not pushing or haymakers_ to 10 as well. This may be too low of a limit for OCV/DCV, but as maneuvers themselves aren't included, I hope it would work.
I'm going to, of course, lift some of the Daredevil characters, avoid giving them "supervillain names" (what evil assassin picks a catchy name for themselves?) and use them in the campaign. Bullseye will be present, as well as Electra (less as a villian or ally, but as someone they might cross, much like Catwoman in Batman). However, I never really read a whole lot of Daredevil, and many of his foes seemed to be costumed supers, so I need suggestions either from your own campaign, or from people with a better knowledge of the comic, for more ideas in the above vein.
I'm also looking for "in-game" ways to communicate and enforce the "powers must be hidden and secret" idea. Of course, the Hand wants to control/sacrifice/recruit those with mystical abilites, and perhaps the authorities would be inclined to imprison and study any "aberrations" that they discovered, but I really don't want to turn it into a Vampire: The Masquerade or X-Files theme. Perhaps the threat of the Hand and the pressure of intrusive press/media attention will be sufficient. Any interesting ideas for this are also welcome.
Any comments on my game limitations or ideas for villians?