Signature Power Campaign

[Dynamo]

I'm starting a new campaign in the Spring, and I'm planning something a little fruity. I'd like to hear from anyone who has tried a similar scheme or just has some thoughts they'd like to share.

 

First off, there will be no pre-established AP, DC, Spd, CV or other limits. Once all the characters have been submitted, they will be considered in comparison to one another, and tweaks will be suggested and/or required.

 

Additionally, the players will be encouraged to choose a "signature power" or shtick. This can be a single Power or tightly defined suite. The more they screw themselves in other areas, the more I'll let them get away with in their shtick. Yes, I'm driving at deliberately unbalanced characters here.

 

I use entirely home-brewed write-ups of opponents, both original and ripoff, so I'm not worried about balancing the PCs against published bad guys. Plus, I'm aiming at a roleplay and story driven game.

 

My group is not made up of highly experienced Hero players. I've played since 1st edition, but my wife has played in two short Champions campaigns and the others in one, all with me as GM. We've played lots of GURPS and D&D together, with everyone trying their hand at being screen jockey, so we've built up a lot of trust that no one is on a power trip and working against the group's collective fun.

 

So given the above, what stumbling blocks do you think I should be looking out for? I have a couple caveats in mind, but I'd like to just open the floor for general discussion.

[Lord Beavis]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

Atleast you have played together for a good length of time. That will help.

 

I always love the inexperienced players who end up with mega scale characters. That is where the game will grind to a halt.

 

If you want more role-playing and a signature move or power, I would start at a low point total.

[Bengal]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

Please don't encourage unbalanced characters. Everyone makes unbalanced characters from time to time (or more frequently). Strive for balance.

 

 

But the idea of a signature power, that's a wonderful idea. In fact, I would have the players sit together and decide on who gets what power, even the most basic- only one guy with an EB or RKA, only one person with resistant defenses, only one with flight, and so on. That would make for a great team, emphasis team.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

sounds a lot like the original X-Men who I seem to recall were based in large part on the different aspects of the powers of Superman.

 

HM

[Dynamo]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

Atleast you have played together for a good length of time. That will help.

It may be the single element that really lets this work.

 

I always love the inexperienced players who end up with mega scale characters. That is where the game will grind to a halt.

Oy. Luckily, this is a small group, so I can stay familiar with their powers. Last time we played Hero, I encouraged them to describe what they were attempting in non-game terms and broke it down into mechanics for them. I was pleasantly surprised at the stunts they came up with, given that none of them are big fans of comic books.

 

If you want more role-playing and a signature move or power, I would start at a low point total.

I plan to have them build two versions of their characters; one at 250 pts with super powers, and one at any lesser value without. All abilities present on the normal version should remain on the super version unless the power concept includes the loss of some aspect of the character. So the librarian will probably have more points available for powers than the special ops agent, but the special ops agent should have better stats to deal with situations outside the realm of his power(s).

 

This will be a "secret supers" game, with a very low population of superbeings operating in total secrecy, strategic assets exploited by governments and megacorporpations. I plan to use a lot of Heroic options, like not charging points for equipment, with a mix of Superheroic, like full knockback.

 

Once I know more about their characters, I'll concoct a plan to get them in one place, give them several hints about their nature, and then throw some violence at them. The violence, in combination with other stimuli, will activate their latent powers, in a dramatic way if I can pull it off, and hopefully get them in trouble with the agency that has gathered them together.

 

Then the turds can really start flying.

[zornwil]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

I kinda did this but strayed immediately in that characters quickly got more diverse. For where I felt the campaign should go that was fine, but I will say that as players spend XP they definitely seem to stray from the singular schtick thing.

 

I see two major issues: one is that players don't like getting knocked out easily for defenses they don't have, so you have to go kid gloves and/or work with your players to get them to be very okay with getting KOd and understanding it doesn't mean they've lost the battle or war; the other is to discuss/consider character growth and how that will be handled, particularly how the PCs will fare as they go up against more powerful (and balanced) villains if they remain unbalanced.

 

It should be fun, though, in any case. I always have allowed for rather odd character builds and "imbalance", though as stated people gradually balance their characters as they grow.

[Dynamo]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

Please don't encourage unbalanced characters. Everyone makes unbalanced characters from time to time (or more frequently). Strive for balance.

Not quite the input I was looking for, but I'll take it in kind.

 

The whole point of the exercise is to break the mold of the "standard" Champions game where characters frequently come out pretty similar when you look past the special effects. Everyone seems to have a standard attack at the campaign limit, defenses at the campaign limit, movement at the campaign limit, CV at the campaign limit. By chucking the concept of the "balanced character", meaning Def, CV, Spd, DC, and Move all in a mainstream range of values, I'm hoping to get PCs that let everyone feel super in their own way.

 

But the idea of a signature power, that's a wonderful idea. In fact, I would have the players sit together and decide on who gets what power, even the most basic- only one guy with an EB or RKA, only one person with resistant defenses, only one with flight, and so on. That would make for a great team, emphasis team.

That's the general idea, except it's too tied to the game mechanics. I want signature powers like Throws Flame, Gets Big and Strong, or Makes Ice.

 

I also want to avoid shoehorning them into a "complete team" concept. If they want to take the initiative and do it to themselves, then OK, but I've always preferred letting players make the character they want as long as group fun is not negatively affected.

 

If I can't craft a plot and/or an opposition that challenges the powers that they have rather than the powers I wish they had, then I need to turn in my GM card. Similarly, I'm looking forward to exploiting gaps and redundancies in their collective powers to create tension and other story opportunities.

[Dynamo]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

sounds a lot like the original X-Men who I seem to recall were based in large part on the different aspects of the powers of Superman.

Yeah, pretty much. These guys are second generation supers from a population of narrowly focused superbeings. The first generation are mostly one-trick ponies, though some have developed an array of power stunts. "1st Genners" all manifested their powers as adults (for reasons to be revealed as the plot progresses), and many have health difficulties due to side effects. However, they have all been recruited by various governments, corporations, and movements, and they all have extensive experience, both combat and power-use, and access to organizational resources.

 

2nd Genners have possessed actual powers or latent potential for most of their lives. Their bodies are better adapted, they tend to have greater raw power, and they use their powers more instinctively, but at first they'll be total neophytes and easy pickings for their elders. I intend to keep the PCs on the run as they learn about their enemies and then give them an opportunity to turn and fight.

[OddHat]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

I've done similar things, and I don't worry as much about point limits as I do about how much fun the character will be in play. I think a "signature power" game works fine. Still, I think it will be easier to run if you design all of the characters yourself, based on the players' descriptions of the character's powers, backgrounds and personalities.

[Rapier]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

I dumped campaign limits (DCs, AP, CVs, etc) a long time ago and it has greatly improved my game.

 

The only way to truly balance a campaign is hand all the players the same character sheet. Some characters are always going to be more effective at some things than others. Its no big deal.

 

The schtick is really no different than a normal campaign. Most of our characters had a unique power or two and a few of them have one shotters (a power with a HUGE AP and usually enough Increased END to knock them out).

 

It'll be fun.

 

Oh, I should mention the players will probably like to frequently switch out characters (at least mine did). An Avengers/JL type campaign would allow each player to have a few characters and they can switch between adventures if they want. This will allow them to tinker with powers and discard a character (or backshelf him) if they don't like him.

[zornwil]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

Not quite the input I was looking for, but I'll take it in kind.

 

The whole point of the exercise is to break the mold of the "standard" Champions game where characters frequently come out pretty similar when you look past the special effects. Everyone seems to have a standard attack at the campaign limit, defenses at the campaign limit, movement at the campaign limit, CV at the campaign limit. By chucking the concept of the "balanced character", meaning Def, CV, Spd, DC, and Move all in a mainstream range of values, I'm hoping to get PCs that let everyone feel super in their own way.

 

That's the general idea, except it's too tied to the game mechanics. I want signature powers like Throws Flame, Gets Big and Strong, or Makes Ice.

 

I also want to avoid shoehorning them into a "complete team" concept. If they want to take the initiative and do it to themselves, then OK, but I've always preferred letting players make the character they want as long as group fun is not negatively affected.

 

If I can't craft a plot and/or an opposition that challenges the powers that they have rather than the powers I wish they had, then I need to turn in my GM card. Similarly, I'm looking forward to exploiting gaps and redundancies in their collective powers to create tension and other story opportunities.

I don't normally apply the schtick thing, but I've never run with Damage Caps, Rule of X, or the like. I do run with total points caps at creation, though I know some who do not, notably lemming. You can definitely run a good game without a strictly-applied series of caps or guidelines.

[OddHat]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

I don't normally apply the schtick thing' date=' but I've never run with Damage Caps, Rule of X, or the like. I do run with total points caps at creation, though I know some who do not, notably lemming. You can definitely run a good game without a strictly-applied series of caps or guidelines.[/quote']

 

Myself, I like to stick to point limits at creation in order to make thing faster, simpler and roughly "fair". Since you can never be entirely fair unless everyone is playing the same character with different SFX, I like to use quick rules of thumb to decide if something will or won't fit in the game; the story and how well the player and character will fit into the group trump almost everything else from my point of view. Running everything through formulas to make sure that no one has a tiny mechanical advantage over anyone else seems over-complicated, and glaring mucnchkinism is easy enough to spot.

[Dynamo]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

I kinda did this but strayed immediately in that characters quickly got more diverse. For where I felt the campaign should go that was fine' date=' but I will say that as players spend XP they definitely seem to stray from the singular schtick thing.[/quote']I'll have to think about this. Could be a blessing or a curse. Characters deficient to the point of fun-loss should have a chance to bulk up a bit, and character development within concept should be encouraged, such an electrical character gradually increasing Dex, Spd, and ED to reflect a supercharged nervous system and energy tolerance.

 

On the gripping hand, we'll want to avoid loss of focus. I'll probably have to watch only one player. He's got more enthusiasm than sense (I'm certain you all know one of those), and focus isn't actually in his vocabulary. Left to their own devices, the others have demonstrated a preference for hyper-developing one or two tight ability groups, like my wife and her fencing fire mage in GURPS.

 

I see two major issues: one is that players don't like getting knocked out easily for defenses they don't have, so you have to go kid gloves and/or work with your players to get them to be very okay with getting KOd and understanding it doesn't mean they've lost the battle or war;

Here's where I'm lucky to have built up some trust. I've beat their butts into the ground before and used it to further a good story. It comes from my tendency to let the dice fall where they may and adapt the story on the fly.

 

Heck, a year ago, a run of 20s killed all their 1st level D&D characters on their third encounter. I called a munchie break and told them not to throw their characters away just yet. When they got back to the table, I'd promoted them to 2nd level, multiclassed with classes of my choosing. They woke up on slabs to the fading echoes of sacred chanting and were told that they'd been subjected to the Rite of Joining. Their departing souls had been united with those of another group who had failed in a quest, hence the added classes. They were now charged with the completion of the quest as payment for returning them to life. Then I jumped them past the encounters I'd planned to get them up to 2nd level and the plot hook to get into the quest in the first place, and dropped them right at the entrance to the catacombs. The other souls gave me an excuse to feed them info to expedite the plot and added a whole new dimension to the characters. And they were SO creeped out when they found the bodies...

 

...the other is to discuss/consider character growth and how that will be handled, particularly how the PCs will fare as they go up against more powerful (and balanced) villains if they remain unbalanced.

Actually, the villains should be pretty imbalanced themselves. See my "one-trick ponies" comment above. True the bad guys will frequently have guns and body armor, but the PCs can get those things too.

 

It should be fun, though, in any case. I always have allowed for rather odd character builds and "imbalance", though as stated people gradually balance their characters as they grow.

I sure hope so.

[Dynamo]

Re: Signature Power Campaign

 

I've done similar things' date=' and I don't worry as much about point limits as I do about how much fun the character will be in play. I think a "signature power" game works fine. Still, I think it will be easier to run if you design all of the characters yourself, based on the players' descriptions of the character's powers, backgrounds and personalities.[/quote']I've tried this and never had it work out. This group is real hands-on when it comes to their characters; they don't like pre-gens at all. But they are amenable to active coaching, especially when they know I've got something up my sleeve.