1. The fun fight
Once in awhile in our campaign, we have heroes fight each other. The 'whys' of the fights are as varied as there are superpowers. Some examples of those whys are below:
a) the most common: heroes (both as individuals but more commonly as groups) agree to host a public team duel with the proceeds going to charity
b) trickery - more difficult for the GM to pull off
c) mind control - not as fun but much easier
d) danger room - self explanatory
The most recent one started when our most experienced group (with liaison to the government) got a report about a superpowered fight occurring. When they arrived, they were shocked to find two heroes fighting it out amongst themselves. One hero called Wonder Girl (based on supergirl), was fighting another hero called Power Lass (based on powergirl). A battlemap was used with lots of objects to break (I mean avoid breaking) with buildings drawn on the map. To complicate things, a few villains were there to take advantage of the situation and steal from stores.
The heroes were kept off-balance, trying to stop these two heroes from wrecking the place while trying to stop the villains at the same time. When one heroine tried to use reason to stop the battle, she got punched and stunned. This further confused the heroes: the two battling heroes were obviously intent on fighting each other and wouldn't tolerate interference. Many of the players asked if they could make perception rolls to see if anything was causing them to fight, which I allowed. They made their rolls and of course, they didn't see anything.
After the villains were either captured or left the scene (many turns later, both superheroines were still fighting it out!), the group spread out to look for the cause of the problem although a couple heroes made themselves targets to stop property damage. Finally, one of the searching heroes found a villain standing a block away in an alley; he got knocked out quickly.
Two fight stopped.
The villain had mental control over the heroes, and he had them fight each other to see who would go out with him. Since he'd done this earlier,he didn't need to be in sight and waited for them to battle it out. Why? He's conceited and egotistical. He wasn't out to steal things, just out to satisfy his own ego and powers.
The short end of this? It was fun! I'd even created a short video to show beforehand - sort of a trailer for the episode. The players got to cause some serious damage to the area, fight villains, fight each other and all-in-all, have a fun time.
2. Why is it fun to have hero vs hero fights?
GMs everywhere know that when they put together an episode where the heroes will be facing a foe, it is essentially the GM's mind vs all the players minds. A GM has to be able to do quick thinking, know the foes stats and abilities/powers/etc, keep combat flowing smoothly if/when it starts and still keep the game going and make it fun for everyone. Phew! That's alot! Players are an inventive lot: they can draw on each other for ideas whereas you have, well, you to draw on for ideas. Players being players, they may not be on the same wavelength of thinking when you start your adventure and may turn in a direction not counted on or wanted.
What does this have to do with a hero vs hero fight? Lots!
When a battle occurs where a hero fights another hero, the GM can sit back and take a break while the players take center stage while using their characters. A GM can design villains/foes but you're only one person whereas there are many players (generally) and they have all their creativity. When heroes fight each other for whatever reason, all their own creativity is pitted against each other suddenly; all the little nuances in their own characters gets challenged against another players, from one having a DEX 25 vs another's DEX 23 and so on.
The GM only needs to direct the combat here and there, make a few judgment calls but otherwise, doesn't have to concern himself with villain stats, how much Stun is left or End spent: the players are doing that now. If an entire team is pitted against another team, the entire episode can be built around that theme. We've done that numerous times in our campaign. Instead of players trying to guess a single persons thoughts and episode outline, namely the GM, they now have to contend with multiple players and their characters.
In one episode I ran, about 1/3 of it lead up to the inevitable but unknown battle of one team vs another. The other 2/3 of it was the fight. My GM intervention was not needed but I figured hey, stick around - I want to see them pound each other. It leads to fun camaraderie as well as letting players see how their characters compare to the next player character.
I encourage GM to try this if you haven't done so before and if you have, try one again. You get a break while they beat on each other and you can even start work on the next episode secretly.
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