one question...

[varden]

when you guys play, how do you add more flavor to the game? i mean in a non-killing supers game, how do you guys spice it up.

 

right now i've got guys doing 5-9d6 in a 45 active pt game....

 

it's kinda like, why don't they all just buy it up..

 

this does not include the fastball special, flash,nnd secondary attacks.

 

just the primary configuration attacks are all so...blah. here's my 8d6. followed by me too but it's an EB...

 

 

????????

[SleepyDrug]

Re: one question...

 

well, any attack (eb, rka, ha, str) is just a means of delivering stun and body damage. i focus on what fits the character concept and i have my own range markers based on the 4th ed BBB commentary of the mechanics of combat and math of stats.

 

For example, it stated that average defense should be 2x maximum dc and max defense should be 2 1/2x maximum dc. Thus in your game (9 DC max) the average def should be 18 and the max def should be 23. I run a 12 dc game with an average def of 24 and a max def of 30. These numbers do not reflect special attacks or defenses.

 

As for spicing up the game....

 

1) character -- villains and supporting cast don't die or disappear often. thus rivalries, fueds, and recurring characters are a staple feature. make your players look forward to crossing swords with evilvillainman again.

 

2) continuity -- i publish a "newspaper" (which is basically headlines and 3-4 sentinces) so the major supporting cast and villains can establish a history, sub-plots can be introduced, and the campaign world can reflect on the characters. in one campaign, the editorial feature on our group was actually written by the secret id of one of the players (a shazam type multi-form); it created havoc when his id was exposed to the group. "you called me an idiot!", "what do you mean i have no sense of tactics?", "if you don't like my piloting, you fly the jet"

 

3) nifty places to fight -- in super heroics, you can fight almost anywhere. We've pitched battles in city streets, undersea bases, starships in deep space, floating platforms high above the city, university campus's, and villain bases. be creative

[Dust Raven]

Re: one question...

 

In an established game, reducing defenses is probably not a good idea, and simply increasing the damage is probably just as bad. But there are alternatives.

 

I'm assuming you're looking for a way to make combat, in general, be more exciting than "oh, my turn? okay I shoot... that one. who's next?" Causing more damage could be more exciting, but not for long. Then it's just the same old thing.

 

Some suggestions:

 

Location. Location. Location. Stage your fight in weird and unusual places. Remember the fight on the train in Spidey 2? Think like that. Have a fight take place in the middle of a football game, completele with players on the field. Perhaps a chase scene fight that moves from the bank, to the street, to the subway, to the sewer, through an apartment complex/hotel then jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Put some interesting stuff in these locations, like out of control vehicles, collapsing buildings, and not so innocent bystandards that want to get involved in the fight.

 

Unusual Opponents. No one says you have to balance the villains the same as you balance the heroes. Cheat. Make a bad guy with too high defenses and a fear-of-god attack, but low DEX and SPD. He can't hit the heroes, and the heroes can hurt him, so what do they do? Figuring that out could be exciting.

 

Hope this helped!

[Vanguard00]

Re: one question...

 

It sounds like the "flavor" you're looking for is a way to get away from the purely technical aspects of the game. Your example of "me too but it's an 8d6 EB" is what I'm basing this on.

 

First, in regards to the strength of their attacks--don't make an issue of it. That's what they wanted when they created the character, so in some way they're trying to stay in context. Make sure they each have a bad guy they can hurt somewhere along the way and let them keep their individual powers at individual levels.

 

In regards to the descriptions of their attacks, perhaps you should lead by example. Don't say "You're hit by Villain's EB". Say something like "a searing blast of superheated plasma strikes you in the chest, singing your hairs and briefly making you think your armor is melting. Once the steam clears, though, you realize that you've been fortunate enough to get away with a serious sunburn."

 

Promote such descriptions in play, asking for technical descriptions only when necessary. If a player says, "I shoot him with my EB for 8d6", reply "Okay, HeroGuy fires his lightning blast at full power, causing Villain to scream as bits of electricity arc over his armored form." If someone says, "I hit him with my fire blast," don't ask him how many dice. Ask him "Full power, half power, something in between?" Try and lead them into descriptive responses rather than merely technical ones.

 

When players start doing the same thing, reinforce it with "Nice description" or something similar. Also, give an extra XP to the guy who stayed in character most often and let them all know that's why he gets it.

 

G'luck with it.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: one question...

 

when you guys play' date=' how do you add more flavor to the game? ...just the primary configuration attacks are all so...blah. here's my 8d6. followed by me too but it's an EB...[/quote']

 

No wonder it's boring! Try focusing on the special effects rather than the dots on the dice. A number is just a game mechanic (yawn), but "a ripple of space-time that warps and distorts reality, frying electronics and stunning organics..." now that's interesting.

 

Game mechanics are only there to help keep everyone on the same page, and to help forestall disagreements. They aren't the focus of the game. Describe what happens to the characters.

[varden]

Re: one question...

 

i know what you guys are saying...but i think it is me, more than my players...we do throw cars around, crash out of skyscrappers and stuff...i guess it is me, partly cuz i know the rules the best...i do like your suggestion to ask them if it is high powered or low-powerd blast etc..and for the most part i am very descriptive it's just maybe all i see is stun and body at the end.

 

m u s t......r e a d...m o r e....c o m i c s

 

i just have to maybe get really descrptive in the end, and write it all down.

 

one player is a comic artist and another DOES write our world's media reports and timeline.

 

don't know what's bugging me....more players maybe? i dunno... more action or roleplaying...

 

to them ..they're having a great time. i would like to also.

thanks for your suggestions thus far guys.

i appriecate it.

Varden

[BNakagawa]

Re: one question...

 

One of the interesting drawbacks to the hero system is that for certain power/point levels, it's not only possible for a character to do everything, it's possible for every character to do everything.

 

In this sort of circumstance, it's probably a good idea for the GM to start taking the lead by writing up adversaries with things like extra defenses only versus a certain SFX or not versus a certain SFX. (something like vulnerabilities, but not quite as drastic)

 

This way, even though all the PCs are throwing nearly the same amounts of damage, some of them will be dramatically more effective against some adversaries, and it's up to them to figure out why/how this works. Sometimes it'll be pretty obvious, sometimes it'll be a little obscure.

 

On the offensive side of things, it's more interesting if you build attacks with a vanilla base of oh, say 8d6 or so, then start adding extra bits with conditions.

 

So you could have a 8d6 EB, that's also AP, but only versus Force Fields. Or you have 8d6, with +4d6 if you're attacking somebody from surprise. Or 8d6 +4d6 that only works if you hit by 4 or more, pro rated so you get 11d6 if you hit by 3 and so on.

 

Try doing the same things with levels. You could buy OCV levels that only work against certain opponents or in certain circumstances. You could buy levels that only serve to offset DCV bonuses from combat maneuvers, you could buy OCV levels that only serve to make the attack more difficult to block/deflect and so on.

 

By combining conditional defenses, offenses and levels, it's a lot easier to make PCs and villains that are dangerous versus some foes, and vulnerable to others, even if they all have exactly the same power levels.

 

Once you have this sort of thing in place, assuming you have recurring villains, then you're bound to find people picking their specific nemesis out of the crowd (and their favorite whipping boys).

[Vanguard00]

Re: one question...

 

Varden, if you think that you might be the cause of the current unease, perhaps you should take a break. Skip a week of playing and see a good movie (X-Men, Spiderman, etc), and/or read a couple of good comics or trade paperbacks. Take a break from the actual mechanics of the game and get back into the fun part of it. I know Marvel has some comics online (not that I know which ones) if you'd prefer not to read any.

 

There are a couple of good books regarding superheroes, as well. The Wild Cards series edited by George R.R. Martin; "Superheroes", a collection of short stories, edited by John Varley; "Other People's Heroes" by Blake Petit. There are others, I think, but these are the one's I've read and liked enough to recommend.

 

Heck, instead of gaming one night, maybe you can get your players together for a movie night. Pop in both X-Men films and have a good time, pointing out what you like and what you don't. Remind yourself and your players that this is the stuff you enjoy most--the action, the witty banter, the figuring out of puzzles...whatever it is. Not the actual mechanics. Cyclops doesn't say "I'm gonna use my full 12d6 on this one." He just cuts loose with a full power blast. Wolverine doesn't say "I'll do my 3d6 HKA and add strength in." He just pops claws and cuts.

 

Maybe all you need is a breather to get your head back into it. Consider taking a week (or two) off from gaming. Whenever it's convenient, of course. In fact, if you can arrange a cliff-hanger before your break, so much the better

 

I'm sure you'll figure it out. G'luck to ya.

[SleepyDrug]

Re: one question...

 

On the note of taking a break my group will juggles campaigns to keep things fresh. We skip between Dark Champions, Champions, and Star Wars/Hero

[Vanguard00]

Re: one question...

 

On the note of taking a break my group will juggles campaigns to keep things fresh. We skip between Dark Champions' date=' Champions, and Star Wars/Hero[/quote']

 

 

That's a good idea. I know a group who routinely switches GMs just to keep things fresh. They have one regular GM, but every so often he steps down to player mode and someone else takes over, even if it's just for a session. He says it helps the players realize what he goes through, plus it gives him a chance to stretch his "player muscles" and take a break from the mechanics.

 

Good call, SD.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: one question...

 

A few suggestions:

 

(1) have a diceless sequence. Make it a group dream (maybe someone mystic trying to warn the heroes of something while they sleep), so their actual power levels don't really apply. This gives you a reason to ignore the damage levels and just get descriptive.

 

(2) run an all-NPC intro to a plotline. Maybe have the players temporarily play the villains they're going to face later on. Give them a general idea of what their powers are, but not details (since they're going to face off against them later). This is kinda like a teaser sequence in a comic, giving the players some info that will become important later. Have them roll to hit, but you "determine" damage off the cuff. This gets away from the game mechanics and adds some variety to the game.

 

I had the players play a bunch of normals (and one low-powered villain), paired off against each other, with a disk of information what they were all after. After that was run, the players went back to running their own characters, find the disk, etc. This was done to add some interesting roleplaying to the game, but the principle can be altered for your game.

 

Overall, you need to have fun too. One way I have fun is by coming up with subplots and behind-the-scene machinations that the players rarely learn about (but frequently feel the effects from). And when they do ferret out one of those subplots, it's a lot of fun for both me and them. Or I try and develop an NPC that the PCs will want to interact with on a regular basis. Friends or foes, the supporting cast can be tons of fun for the GM to play.

[Kirby]

Re: one question...

 

I think there have been some great suggestions, but I'll go ahead and add my opinion as well.

 

when you guys play' date=' how do you add more flavor to the game? i mean in a non-killing supers game, how do you guys spice it up.[/quote']

In a non-killing game? Well, I've never really thought of a "killing game" to be flavorable by design. One thing we try to do is have one person of each "type" so-to-speak. Such as one brick, one mentalist, one martial artist, etc. If we have two that want the same type, one gets to shine in one area or two (maybe strength & def), while another shines somewhere else (hardened defenses, dmg red, regen, lack of weakness, et cetera).

 

right now i've got guys doing 5-9d6 in a 45 active pt game....

What kind of game are you running? Can players be any type of character they want, or is it specific? Martial artists? Super agents? Normals?

 

it's kinda like, why don't they all just buy it up.

 

just the primary configuration attacks are all so...blah. here's my 8d6. followed by me too but it's an EB...

Are you the GM by chance, or another player? I can see where a brick, martial artist, gadgeteer, energy projector, and weapons expert all with 9d6 attacks could be monotonous. IF this is the case, my suggestion would be to start varying the abilities and damage. Have the brick spend his XP on STR & def, maybe the martial artist has to do skill levels or more maneuvers, the weapons expert armor piercing attacks, the gadgeteer buys more powers (maybe some that no players have) and the energy projector buys area effect powers.

 

I like what others have suggested about taking time off and alternating GMs. In my last group, we only had two GMs and we'd run an adventure and then switched. This wasn't too bad, since we gamed once a week. However, in my group *before* this one, we gamed twice a week, Saturday's and Sunday's. Each night had it's own GM/DM and they'd run an adventure and rotate games. We had seven players, four of which ran games. Two players rotated GMing one night; two rotated the other. We each had between 1-3 games we'd run (nine total, divied up) and so we rarely got bored.

 

I hope this helps. Take care.

[zornwil]

Re: one question...

 

I'd like to make a 180 suggestion - forget about the combat!

 

I think what may be happening is that the combat is over-emphasized and if you have too much, yeah, it'll get same-y. There's only so many ways to fight, ultimately, particularly as characters/teams develop effective tactics.

 

So go "around" it. Create more non-combat situations. Have some mystery-oriented or espionage settings ("go in, ensure NO agents see you, NO agents are "gone missing", so there's no suspicion, then take the Iranian or Russian or whatever "Death Ray' and return it home"). Or if they're "combat", make situations such as tight-timing ones where every second counts and it's a race from one end of a deathtrap (just for example) to the other.

 

Or maybe you do this and I'm way off base...