Subplots

[Doug McCrae]

I've been trying to think of subplots for my campaign. What I would like are sample subplots, preferably similar (or even identical to) those in superhero comics that would be appropriate for a roleplaying game.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Re: Subplots

 

Well...subplots are generally tied specifically to the characters, but some classics might include:

 

Villains actually being related to the heroes somehow...

 

Heroes and villains being romantivally involved or otherwise associated with each other(like as romantic or professional rivals).

 

Maybe the heroes are destined by fate to perform some great deed or serve as a protector of a "chosen one."(Good for martial artists.)

 

The heroes' origin isn't what they thought it was. Investigation ensues...

 

 

There's a few....I'm tired and can't think of more at the moment...

 

Rob

[Jarekk]

Re: Subplots

 

Do you have an over-sized character? (Thing, Hulk, Hellboy) HAve him try to find a pair of shoes that fit. Seriously. That can't be easy...

 

Or, have a new arena be built--a superhero gladiatorial complex. All contestants are volunteers (or, rather, employees) but it's brutal and dangerous--and more than one "superhero" member has been seriously injured in the ring. Is it wrong to watch people brutalize each other? Id it when all parties are willing members of the show?

 

-What if a member is approached? Would they join?

 

-Or, how about one of the injured 'warriors' being fired for not following the rules (before injury) and thus losing his health insurance. What happens when his bigger, badder brother comes to get revenge? Can the heros stop the rampaging vigilante? Would they want to?

 

 

How about an alien invasion--on par with the "Brittish invasion?" Some alien planet is sending us all their pop-musicians because they're tired of the whiney, self-indulgent jerks. Only problem is, their music is terrible, and it's inciting riots everywhere! How do the heros solve this crisis?

 

Any of those any good? (%)

 

Edit--crap! Guess I wasn't paying attention, sorry. I don't know if any of those have been done in the comics... Usually, they jsut kill someone and have people deal with the loss. :;sigh:: so cliche...

[SKJAM!]

Re: Subplots

 

The Conspiracy

 

Several corrupt government officials are working behind the scenes to replace the current administration (city, state, country as appropriate to the player characters) with one beholden to their interests. They're not supervillains themselves or on the massive scale of VIPER, so they have to be relatively subtle and behind the scenes.

 

This subplot would play out over a number of sessions, with the conspirators doing things like hiring villians through proxies to mess with reform candidates, sabotaging the infrastructure, smear campaigns and the like.

[Vanguard00]

Re: Subplots

 

Real TV

 

During the course of the heroes' current adventures it becomes clear that they are being followed. Any investigation/confrontation will reveal that it's a news crew documenting their exploits for an in-depth "Who's Watching the Watchmen?" type of exposé. Will this help or hurt the heroes? Have they revealed anything about themselves that they shouldn't have? Will anyone use the footage to more nefarious ends? How will the heroes react to being "public domain", similar to celebrities? Will any of this set a precedent that might have even more far-reaching repurcussions?

[Blue]

Re: Subplots

 

My game is so riddled with subplots that are customized to the charactes that it's not even funny.

 

-Russian Immigrant Orland, who has powers he doesn't understand, fought a detachment of the former Soviet Militia who seemed to recognize him and suddenly abandoned their original booty and any combat with the rest of the team just to try and capture him. Why?

 

-Hunter, a sewer dweller with amnesia, happened upon a villain who treated her amicably, as if they knew one another.

 

-Billy Ray, former bodyguard type, has a former client in town; an heiress who got off on murder charges. He quit because he thinks she bought her way out of prison. She wants him to come back to work for her.

 

-A steampunk Time Traveler character, while on an unrelated mission beneath the city, came across a robot... one that he designed over a hundred years ago but could not make work! But there it is, wandering around...

 

-Dr. Terwelleker (a player character) has taken great pains to collect the DNA of team mates, surreptitiously. What's he planning on doing with it?

 

-The entire team had to break into the super prison in order to stop an uprising that was taking place in secrecy behind the walls. Now that they've done it, they've exposed the place as vulnerable to attack, and discredited the city council inadvertently, and wasted some built up trust they had with the city (but not the public). This is an ongoing sub plot.

 

-Time Traveler Rift has an individual named Tachyon appear to him and give him info. No one else can see Tachyon but him. He claims to have been a program that Rift has not yet invented. Is he right? Is he friend or foe? Do you trust his intel?

 

-Orland has made friends with a former superpowered KGB agent who claims he can help the youth develop his powers. Does he have an agenda?

 

There are easily a dozen other sub plots seperate from whatever crime the characters are pursuing.

[Hermit]

Re: Subplots

 

I've been trying to think of subplots for my campaign. What I would like are sample subplots' date=' preferably similar (or even identical to) those in superhero comics that would be appropriate for a roleplaying game.[/quote']

Some ideas

 

A Male PC's DNPC lover/spouse is acting mysterious, and having a secret 'meeting' with someone. If the PC investigates, he discovers she thinks she might be pregnant. If the PC has true super powers, she might also confess to being worried about 'complications'.

 

A villain keeps attacking the hero, then after a bit, try to get away. Each time in a different fashion, and yet he doesn't seem to be trying to beat the hero, so much as study him. If/when the villain is captured, he will explain he was hoping to learn some of the PC's fighting techniques because "Someone is trying to kill me, I have to get better, and fast, or I don't stand a chance.." The Villain is also deathly afraid jail may not keep him safe from this hunter for long.

 

A fan club for a PC starts up, mostly consisting of enthusiastic teens. This is fine and dandy, until they get closer to the action and try to make themselves useful. How will the PC handle it?

[John T]

Re: Subplots

 

One of your PCs is replaced with a clone/android version, or the original is mind controlled. With the player's cooperation, give them an agenda (maybe a couple of minor "identity flaws" as well) to follow and let them run with it for a while. Important note: keep the relevent player in the dark about the identity of the person(s) responsible for the switch; makes the final outcome just as much fun for them as the rest of the players.

 

John T

[Guest Worldmaker]

Re: Subplots

 

This one works really well on heroes who don't wear masks. After fighting a new, never-before-met villain team, have one of the bad guys get a close brush by on the maskless hero while the cops/Until/Primus/Whoever are walking him to the takeaway vehicle. The bad guy stops in his tracks and stares at the character. Then, as the cops are dragging him away, he starts yelling "Wait... Tony (or whatever the hero's real name is... make sure you use the character's actual name)? They told me you were dead! Carlos even saw your body! You bastard! You sold us out! You traitorous bastard!"

 

 

Where you go from there is up to you...

[Guest Worldmaker]

Re: Subplots

 

The guided tour of normals through the hero's HQ is always fun... especially if they are still there when the bad guys attack.

[Kirby]

Re: Subplots

 

I've been trying to think of subplots for my campaign. What I would like are sample subplots' date=' preferably similar (or even identical to) those in superhero comics that would be appropriate for a roleplaying game.[/quote']

I think you've been given several great ideas already. The best, in my opinion, are those dealing with DNPCs. You can make up short stories for each and weave them into your campaign. Also, great subplots deal with the PCs' background.

What I also tried was doing subplots that would deal with the next adventure plot. Maybe if the plot dealt with VIPER, I'd do an aside about someone (say, Foxbat) who was preparing a plan.

I also tried doing subplots on Viperia (4E version) from her time leaving Malachite. I lowered her stats and planned on running subplots with her until she joined VIPER. I had the PCs interact with her once. They *almost* caught her, which would have totally changed my plans. Whew!

 

A Male PC's DNPC lover/spouse is acting mysterious' date=' and having a secret 'meeting' with someone. If the PC investigates, he discovers she thinks she might be pregnant. If the PC has true super powers, she might also confess to being worried about 'complications'.[/quote']

We had a GM run this type, but it was the PC's parents and they were involved in a magic summoning thing. I think it was in the Aliens book, but I'm not sure.

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Subplots

 

Thanks a lot for the suggestions everyone.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Subplots

 

A little word of warning about subplots, throwaway characters, and so on: they can grow out of control and become the real plot.

 

Not that long ago, in the game I co-GM, I had my character (a sorcerer - scientist) be called in for what amounts to a "soul audit" by the shadowy cabal of mages to which he, as a good mage, owes at least nominal alliance. The calling in was due to my recent use of a very powerful but very evil artifact to save the lives of a couple of teammates. Supposedly the grilling was to determine if he'd been 'contaminated' or 'compromised' by the Soul Rend talisman. Dr. Anomaly didn't put up a fight, because, quite frankly, he was feeling rather down and heartsick about the matter himself...not only had the psychic backlash been bad, but he hadn't expected there to be a physical reaction...the thing is called the 'Soul Rend', after all...but when he used it on the VIPER superhuman, there was a massive spray of blood that drenched him (Dr. Anomaly) head to foot -- a very shocking and gruesome experience. It didn't kill the VIPER agent (thankfully) but did make them retreat...again, thankfully, since over half the team was down and out at that point and pretty much all the VIPER personnel were still functional.

 

Now here's the real reason I had this 'calling in on the carpet' happen in the aftermath of the 'VIPER' incident: it was my turn to GM and I was intending on running a semi-mystery. Under those sorts of circumstances, it's not a lot of fun to play your character (with an INT of 40) in such a way as to not give away the plot, or have your character solve your plot and leave everyone else as sort of spectators. Therefore I figured the best way to deal with this was to simply have a reason for Dr. Anomaly to be absent while I was running this particular adventure, and this seemed like a good and believable excuse.

 

Well, it backfired.

 

I'm still not sure what I did or said 'wrong' in character as Dr. Anomaly before leaving for the 'grilling', but it left several characters with the impression (that they built up more and more talking among themselves) that Dr. Anomaly was convinced there was more to this 'calling in on the carpet' than just the grilling, and that he could not say anything about his real concerns because of an oath of secrecy he'd sworn to this society of mages (partly true...the oath of secrecy not to talk about the society part, anyway). They became convinced they had to come to his (my) rescue! As a matter of fact, they became convinced there was some kind of major 'something's rotten in Denmark' sort of situation in the council of mages, that Dr. Anomaly was going to be used as some kind of scapegoat, and that someone powerful and manipulative wanted to get his hands on the Soul Rend talisman for his own nefarious purposes.

 

Now, I could have told the players "Look...this was just a way for me to get my character out of the way while I run a mystery, okay?" but I generally don't operate like that. My philosophy is that for the campaign to be a true shared storytelling experience, there has to be room for the players/PCs to reach a wrong conclusion...and then turn out to be right. Not only does it give a real sense of accomplishment to the players ("Hey, we managed to figure it out! Wow!") but it also avoids the feeling that they're being rail-roaded and that their actions have no real impact on the history of the world.

 

So they set out on what darn-near ended up being an epic-level adventure to find this hidden society of mages (about which they weren't supposed to know), talk their way in through the more-elite-than-thou attitudes, deal with the Machiavellian 'office politics', avoid being used as scapegoats themselves, deal with an assassination, discover the killer, face down him and his minions while protecting the rest of the council of mages during a huge, climactic battle, and then have a few personal interactions in the aftermath with a few mages who had come to realized that maybe, just maybe, these non-magical types might be people, too. It sprawled over almost 2 months of gaming, had absolutely no relation to the plot I had intended to run, left me barely keeping ahead of the players with setting up clues, situations, explainations, and so on...and everyone had an absolute blast, including me.

 

In the end, it certainly worked out for the best, but be warned: players have a real habit of fastening on to the most minor little comment or remark, and turning it from a low-level subplot into a major 12-part miniseries! If you keep that in mind and can roll with the punches, chances are you'll have a pretty good time...even if it means your 'actual' plot gets derailed, discarded, or forgotten.