Doesn't anyone like low-powered campaigns?

[Jhereg]

I can’t help but notice that most of the Hero Players I meet online prefer High-powered campaigns. All the Champions campaigns seem to be 325 pts or more. And even the Fantasy/Sci-fi campaigns are 250 with superheroic house rules.

 

I just want to know if there’s anybody else out there like me, who prefers low-powered, realistic campaigns. I run my fantasy and sci-fi campaigns on 50+50. At most, if I want an action movie feel, I’ll go 75+75. And my Champions campaigns start at 100+150, or sometimes 100+100.

 

And it’s not just coming from me. My players love being underpowered, especially in any “real world†campaing. To me, nothing gets the blood pumping better than knowing the possibility of my character’s death is very real. Maybe it’s just a matter of taste.

[caris]

Re: Doesn't anyone like low-powered campaigns?

 

Originally posted by Plastick Hero

And it’s not just coming from me. My players love being underpowered, especially in any “real world†campaing. To me, nothing gets the blood pumping better than knowing the possibility of my character’s death is very real. Maybe it’s just a matter of taste.

 

Well, it very much is a matter of taste, but it is also a matter of perception. You percieve low points to be more "realistic" and more "dangerous". I have friends that see high power as more "epic" and more "thrilling".

 

I don't really think that either of you are right or wrong. It is just a matter of picking the tool that you feel works best to produce the feel you want.

[Dog Soldier]

Even the term 'low power' means different things to different people. I know of a group that thinks 300 + 150 campaigns are 'low power'

[Metaphysician]

In my mind, a Champions campaign of 350 points *is* low powered.

[Snarf]

Well, I'm starting a 75/75 Fantasy Hero campaign. That's pretty low powered but not at all realistic.

 

I started a 35/35 campaign earlier, which was even less realistic.

[Arthur]

Well, I wrote the "Realistic Supers" article that appeared in DH some time ago.

 

I'm a big fan of "let's inject superhumans into the real world and explore 'what would it REALLY be like?'" Would they dress in spandex and shout everything? Would you?

 

I like my Champions campaign at 75+75 or at most 100+100. However, the characters can purchase things like Weapon Familiarities and use mundane weapons at no further point cost.

 

If I were to play in a four-color game where I had to pay points for everything, I would still stick to 250 total (I prefer 125+125 over 100+150).

[BNakagawa]

Point values do not dictate power levels.

 

You can powergame at any point value. You can roleplay at any power level.

 

But some regions of the point/power scale lend themselves more readily to one style than the other.

 

I rather like low powered campaigns in that I prefer characters to be functionally limited. I think that what a character is incapable of is just as interesting a way of defining a character as what they are good at.

 

$0.02

[abalux]

My Fantasy HERO campaign (also my very first campaign) is a Heroic 125+75, and I've had no problems so far. I think it really is just a matter of taste.

[pinecone]

It really is just a matter of taste...I prefer to run Champions at the street level but most of my friends prefer a bigger more four color feel and so I usually end up near the middle. All scales have good points and bad points, which is best for you depends on which points make for the most fun for you and your group.....Back when I could run a lot I often ran a low power and a high power at the same time and swaped back and forth...but that was a lot of time that is seldom available .....

[ghost-angel]

If done right point values can have little to no meaning for "power level." Our current High Power Campaign has character point ranges from 600-800. Each one is as effective as the next, simply because it's what the characters can do, not how many points they did it with. but then, no one has munchkined this game - we never really had a chance to.

 

On that note one of my best ever characters started out as a mere 45pts total at mid campaign when everyone else was reaching just over 100.

 

I don't munchkin very well though, my character concepts keep getting in the way .. My GM jokes that he never has to worry about me munckining a game because I can't even do it when I try.

 

I like any level as long as I can fit my character idea into the game.

[farik]

Our Fantasy Hero game started at 25+25 and it's going great experience point rewards are so relatively large we can really see how our characters grow based on the adventures. Our biggest challenge is remembering to avoid traditional threats but instead it's exciting to fight "normal" thugs. Something as simple as a single Gaurdian Ape is a big climax for our adventurers. Fighting a sea troll requires cunning and intellect since we don't have the raw power to wear it down. It's great.

[Dust Raven]

I run several campaigns of various power levels, ranging from 150+100 to 300+150. I really wouldn't really call any of them 'low' or 'high' level.

 

I've played in a game that characters were build on 600+ points and it didn't last long for me. It was boring. Everyone had to spend a huge amount of point just to keep from dying due to where the characters went (lots of LS and movement powers). This really cut down on compatable concepts (not one martial artist or gadget guy, and our ubersense man had to have a pre-game radiation accident to spend his extra 300 points).

 

I've toyed with the idea of running a low powered (150 or less total points) supers campaign, but I think I'll skip it. I like to see cars flying around in a supers game. I haven't decided what level character will be at for the Rifts campaign I'm planning.

[Nevenall]

My fantasy hero campaign is up to 225+ total points, and my Star Wars campaign has just started, at 50 total points.

Both are fun, but I find my lower point campaign much more exciting. The characters have room to grown, and the NPCs they run into don't tend to be really powerful.

[austenandrews]

I prefer low-powered games, but oddly enough my current FH campaign is practically into Champions numbers. Go figure.

 

I do enjoy the feeling of real challenge and risk.

 

-AA

[Edsel]

I actually prefer Heroic-level games. My old Omega Team campaign was 75+75 and my next campaign will be 100+50. The Fantasy Hero campaign our group's other GM is about to kick-off is also 100+50. Our group seems to have a preference for gritty lower powered games. We have played 350 point games in the past but they have always been shorter lived affairs.

[Blue]

My campaign is 300. But I'm dying to run a Dark Champions level campaign or a teen champions game, both of which would be lower.

 

Too bad it's stacked up behind a half dozen other games that the players want to play.

 

Heh. How cool is that? There are 4 different GMs in my grou wanting to run right now. That's so many that I didn't even offer.

[lemming]

I tend toward higher powered games. I think I shocked people at my Con game with the characters.

[Vondy]

I run a "heroic level superhero" game. The powers levels tend to run between the Powerful Hero and Low Powered Superhero levels, but that doesn't reflect point totals. Many of the characters are built of 400+ points.

[Pegasus]

Honestly, I would love to try a low-powered game such as a teen supers set-up or such, but low powered as in trained normals holds no interest for me. I like a good dose of fantasy in my supers. It's a strong part of the appeal for me. Crimefighting and secret agent action is secondary. Gimme the mythology!

 

Low powered like old new mutants (old new? ) intrigues me, though, as does a mystery men oddball supers campaign.

[AnotherSkip]

Originally posted by Blue

Too bad it's stacked up behind a half dozen other games that the players want to play.

 

Heh. How cool is that? There are 4 different GMs in my grou wanting to run right now. That's so many that I didn't even offer.

 

actually too many GM's can spoil the plot.

 

Since every member of the group IM in qualifies as a GM (8 out of 8) I NEVER get to GM. I can't get to be a better GM.

ARRRRGHTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

However I do have some 230 point Champions characters generally designed using 4th Ed Rules though conversion would be pretty simple (and MIGHT raise them to 250 at the outside)

[Mike W]

Points and power level are not quite the same thing. When my GM decided to run a 350 point street level game, I took an old four color character whose background would fit and adapted him. It worked out fine. His variable pool got cut in half and replaced with more skills. A little other tweaking went on too, but he's basically the same character other than the VPP modifications. What makes it "low-power" is the increased restrictions on what yo can buy. We all want to play street level, so we accepted the increased power restrictions.

 

We did play a Star Wars game on 100+75 for a while too. You'd be amazed at how well it converts - once you get past the basic idea that Star Wars ships are designed in a way that NO ONE with even the slightest military background would design them.

[Kristopher]

Star Wars HERO: the first thing the two technically competent characters did was completely rebuild our ship to make some kind of sense in fight. We utterly broke genre.

[Metaphysician]

Originally posted by Kristopher

Star Wars HERO: the first thing the two technically competent characters did was completely rebuild our ship to make some kind of sense in fight. We utterly broke genre.

 

Heh.

[Badger]

I like both. But the way I look at it is no matter how powerful you are there is always a more powerful villain somewhere.

 

Though psychologically I guess people like the high powered because we are all (relatively) competent normals in real life. So why not pretend to be powerful and all. After all this is just an evolved game of cops&robbers that we played from youth. (Blasphemy I know, I think I heard some thunder going to hide under the desk to avoid getting hit by lightning:p ) So what ever you enjoy go with.

 

Ahh the game of cops&robbers

 

Kid 1: I shot you

Kid 2: No you didnt.

Kid 1: Yes I did you were just five feet away.

Kid 2: I dont care it missed me.

[Eosin]

I prefer a 150 point game with just a small dab of magic / supertech to it. Full color champions can be fun but it is rare for our group to have a sustainable supers game. When we do game with supers as often as not we use the Xmen and the X-verse as the setting so we are playing some high powered - down to medium powered characters but no one in the superman - surfer league.