How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

[simplygnome]

I am about to start GMing a 4-colored supers game based in a very dark location. The mood of the world is very dark with feelings of hoplesness and despair, however I need to keep the 4-colored feel alive at the same time.

 

The characters will be asked to make characters of 200+100 (about 25pts of limitations will be a few mandatory campaign specific flaws). They will be told to use any origin and BG story they like, with any specific origin of power (except magic, because it has no place in this world set). All background flaws will be disfavored (for reasons Im about to explain), while psych. and phsic. limitations will be looked upon favorably.

 

However, at the start of the game, the characters will find themselves separated and locked in confinment cells, with no recollection of what happened. They will everntually remove themselves for their cells and take a tour of the compound, which will have sirens blaring and be heavily on fire....

 

Once the characters make it to two specific locations (one being the main control room of the compund, the other being ANYWHERE outside the place), they will find the world they know in shambles. They will find themsevles stranded in the middle of a hidden compund somewhere in the mountians of Colorado. The nearest town will be destroyed, almost completely obliterated, with only a handful set of people left cowering in the shadows.

 

Come to find out, the PCs memory stops about two years ago. At this time a terrorist organiztion led by a master villian began capturing the world super teams, and using them as powerful strike forces to make the world cower in fear....the PCs are one such group that has been, for the last two years, terrorizing the cities they once protected... They are recently free from their bondage by reasons unknown to them....

 

-------------------------

 

Now....How do I turn this bleak out look into a good four-colored hero type game? Any types of GMing tips would be great....Story hooks even better....

 

How extensive should I make the "damage" to the world....?

 

I'll be honest, my superhero DM skills are not the sharpest, as Ive been using Hero for Fantasy games more often than not.....

[caris]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

Well, part of the key here is to keep an eye on things like tone. Just because things are bad now, if there is hope that things will get better in the future, it keeps things from getting too depressing. To help things at the very beginning, I would not make the escape from the compound to difficult. You need the players to be able to feel like that in time they can take out the villain and make the world a better place.

[simplygnome]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

Actually, yes the escape was going to be relatively easy. There would be a lot of confusion though, as is the point. Theyd run into a good set of mooks (50cps or so...meh), one 'decent' mook (150cp?) surrounded by normal mooks, and then a super hero from the outside world (who actually came there to blow up the facility, and inadvertantly destroyed the source of our Heros mind control....at this facility that is...). That last encounter has several different outcomes....

 

Im just not sure what to do right after that...How to insert them into the world and how to start the rebuilding process...

 

See, I dont want the heros COMPLETELY engrossed in the main plotline of restoring the world and taking out the person who controlled them etc etc.. I want a standard set of hero subplots and such, common robberies, unrelated supervillians...and I can think of many senarios, just not a way to really set the heros up...Its not like they live in Titan Tower or anything

[freakboy6117]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

Four colour don’t destroy populations key infrastructure centers of power of the organizations the villain wants to usurp

So the UN building would be razed as would the statue of liberty mount Rushmore would be blasted the pentagon smashed but most population centers would have minimal damage (just enough to make the populous fear and respect their new master) unless somewhere were strategically important like the town near the command center its should be relatively unscathed.

 

Just a couple of suggestions for themes

 

Not all heroes where co-opted

There is an underground perhaps its lead by another master villain dismayed by the success of his rival will you help him?

 

Building the resistance finding resources freeing other heroes little victories will keep the game nearer four colours

 

Make sure the heroes come face to face with the acts they committed whilst mind controlled destroyed cities, destroyed lives.

 

One of them is hunted by a legacy hero out to avenge her father who was slain by the heroes can they convince her that they had no control will she join them?

 

Memories from that period start returning as horrific nightmares can you still be heroes knowing what you've been made to do?

[Sean Waters]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

Thanks for the invite. Like the premise a lot.

 

Couple of ideas. Maybe the heroes were captured strapped into a machine that transferred their powers to doppelgangers. It was the doppelgangers that terrorised the cities. This means two things:

 

1. The PCs will be treated with fear but haven't personally done anything wrong (even with mind control they'll get the agony of 'couldn't I have fought the control harder?'). This means they have been in comas for a couple of years and are probably relatively weak, so they can get increased XP awards at the start if you like as they (rapidly) recover. Lightens the tone instantly by removing SOME of the angst.

 

2. The same applies to other 'hero' teams - the PCs can fight them direct or try and find the hidden bases where the real heroes are in storage. Instant hope.

 

How did the PCs escape? Well, maybe their was a fire or earthquake that broke the connection to their doppelgangers, or better yet one of the PCs powers flared (maybe a doppelganger got hit with a power that reversed the connection?). The doppelgangers are still out there but rapidly losing power even as the PCs gain it: they'll have to strike soon to recapture the PCs or they will lose their power completely. That could be a good way to explain the back plot and make the heroes feel betetr about themselves PLUS if the fight happens in Century City (the nearby razed metropolis) the good citizens will SEE that it was not the heroes who have gone bad, but rather imitations which have terrorised them, at least someof them will: the PCs will need some people to believe in them - the've got a world to re-take!

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

See, I dont want the heros COMPLETELY engrossed in the main plotline of restoring the world and taking out the person who controlled them etc etc.. I want a standard set of hero subplots and such, common robberies, unrelated supervillians...and I can think of many senarios, just not a way to really set the heros up...Its not like they live in Titan Tower or anything

 

I think it will be very difficult to do this. Given how you plan on starting the campaign, and the state the world is in, the players SHOULD want to spend every waking minute trying to take this villain down.

 

And trying to do a 4-color campaign in a dark world will be difficult.

 

If your players are being held to 4-color standards in a world that doesn't cooperate, and are prevented from pursuing the villain that mind controlled them and used them to help take over, I can see some very frustrated players.

 

To do it successfully would take a lot of work and thought on how to do it right, and it would be a fine balancing act. Personally, I'd suggest reconsidering how you want to do the campaign.

[simplygnome]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

I think it will be very difficult to do this. Given how you plan on starting the campaign, and the state the world is in, the players SHOULD want to spend every waking minute trying to take this villain down.

 

And trying to do a 4-color campaign in a dark world will be difficult.

 

If your players are being held to 4-color standards in a world that doesn't cooperate, and are prevented from pursuing the villain that mind controlled them and used them to help take over, I can see some very frustrated players.

 

To do it successfully would take a lot of work and thought on how to do it right, and it would be a fine balancing act. Personally, I'd suggest reconsidering how you want to do the campaign.

 

Thanks all for the help. Theres some good ideas here

 

Supreme Serpent, I understand that this should be hard, but what Im trying to get across is that the PCs are HEROES in all accounts. When you stand for something as controversial as justice and truth, youre going to face opposition from all directions....

 

In a campaign that will last a very long time, I need the ability to break off every now and then........

 

A GREAT example of what Im going for is SLADE from the new Teen Titans cartoon. He is ALWAYS a threat, but NOT ALWAYS a target. Thats how I want to make the several main plotline points in this game.

 

As to the response Ive been getting so far, I dont this its as unattainable as you think, and I daresay that any game needs deviation from time to time from the main story points...

 

Thanks for the help all...Please, continue if it suits your fancy!!!

[Vanguard00]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

Im just not sure what to do right after that...How to insert them into the world and how to start the rebuilding process...

 

I think it's already been mentioned in some form, but I would work slowly. Try and visualize a television series where the heroes have to build a foundation from which to work. Give them a small adventure wherein they free/help a medical facility. Those people are grateful and offer the PCs a place to stay. Poof! Instant beginnings.

 

From there they should start small, solving small crimes and/or stopping minor villains. A slow public-relations building action at first, preferably with more successes than not to put them in the right frame of mind. Don't necessarily use or even mention the main bad guys each and every time, and certainly don't bring in the Big Guns to deal with the PCs for a long while.

 

Imagine if you will a rebellion of sorts in an area that's supposed to be secured. The regional commander doesn't want it to get out so he tries to handle it (say, a Colonel or something in your terrorist organization--high ranking but not "Inner Circle"). He flubs it a few times, but the PCs have a sort of "junior nemesis" to work against as they build their base, resources, support, etc. Try and keep it episodic and not so Grand Scale...at least at first.

 

You should consider doing small scenes that show what the bad guys are up to in the most general sense. You can also use it to build foreshadowing.

 

For example, the PCs have escaped. So have a small interlude that foreshadows pursuit of some sort.

 

Grunt: "Sir, there are reports that some metas have escaped detention."

Little Bad: Negligent wave, "We'll catch them. Dispatch Tiger Squad."

 

From there you can have a couple of unrelated mini-adventures that leads into some sort of confrontation with the first serious threat from the bad guys. Of course the PCs should emerge victorious, but it's a good place for another interlude.

 

 

Grunt: "Sir, Tiger Squad is totally defeated!"

Little Bad: Concerned look, "Hmm, I may have to take a hand in this personally."

 

Now you've got the main bad guy involved. Time to up the stakes a little bit. Find a way to pit the PCs slowly-but-surely against their local nemesis, and culminate the adventure in a cool battle between Good and Evil.

 

Now that they've defeated the local bad guys, the Overall Bad Guys take notice.

 

Big Bad: "Why didn't you bring this to our attention sooner?"

Little Bad: "I thought I could handle it, Your Immenseness."

Big Bad: "Obviously you thought wrong, and now they have a foothold."

Little Bad: "Your Supreme Evilness, if I could have two more squads and a little more--"

Big Bad: "Enough! You've lost us three squads already! They cannot be easily replaced, as you well know." Pause for evil consideration. "But you will. The Meta-Tanks need volunteers. I think you'll do."

Little Bad: "What? No! Please! I'll do better! I'll--"

and so on The PCs now get the idea that they just graduated to the Big Leagues.

 

Eventually they should either defeat the regional threat and graduate to the Big Guys, in which case long quests and campaigns should be the order of the day.

 

Just keep it gradual and always keep a television/movie/book series in mind. Build the action and the level of the threats. Let the PCs do some real good early on to both boost their confidence and put them in a more positive frame of mind after imprisonment.

 

Hopefully some of my long-winded ideas will help

[Trebuchet]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

This background is awfully dark for a "four color" campaign. It's much more Bronze or Iron Age. Four color doesn't generally start with the destruction of civilization; what you have here seems as dark as a graphic novel.

 

Trying to run Four Color in a background like this may be impossible. It will certainly be difficult, particularly for someone who has only limited experience as a GM. I'd recommend you either lighten up the back story a bit or rethink trying to bend this into a four color game. Nothing wrong with your idea, it's just not really four color.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

What I would suggest in order to make it work:

 

Start out with a more traditional 4-color game. Heroes form team, become popular, powerful, well known, etc. Run with this for 6 months or so IRL (assuming roughly weekly games) and a few years game-time. During this time they encounter and thwart the main villain a few times.

 

Then switch it up. The main villain beats and captures them. Next session, they wake up and escape - only to discover how long they were out and how much the world changed. In the intervening X years, the villain has taken over, etc. Don't have the heroes being used as mind-controlled pawns - instead say the villain was able to use them to grant their powers to his mooks temporarily (of course, the mook burns out quickly). It was the super-mooks who were his shock troops, not the heroes themselves. (note - make sure the characters are types where this would work - more actual "powers" and less mystic/tech characters)

 

Now the heroes emerge, and have to repair the world and defeat the villain. They are already established as 4-color characters in gameplay, and should continue to act accordingly. They aren't directly tainted as the villain's pawns. The public can remember them "as they were" and hail their return, like Captain America returning after being frozen for so long. Their return helps spark the rebellion, with the PC's old allies and contacts coming out from hiding to help, etc.

 

Longer setup, but I think it would work much better.

[Sean Waters]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

The light shines brightest in the darkness, Oh Noble Trebuchet.

 

OK I do talk BS but carefully handles I think that a cynical beaten world could really benefit from a few four colour heroes. if you can pull it off it could be a real classic.

[simplygnome]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

Thank you Vanguard, for the help...Ill take that into consideration!

 

Trebuchet: Quick clarification, I dont have limited GM experience...Its limited Super hero campaign XP. Just fyi =D

 

And secondly, I dont know. The whole death of superman series was pretty dark. What about Hal Jordan/Paralax killing every GL in the galaxy and destroying the guardians wasn't dark (or snapping Mephistos neck with his bare hands)? Or how about when the JLA was taken out of the reality stream and the world suddenly turned against them, while now suppoering their enemies, leaving them alone and hated worldwide. These these remained four color themed despite eveything, yet were very dark indeed.

 

Im not saying its the easiest thing, but I certaintly think that the setting and events will not be the only thing that dictate the overall tone. The npcs reaction, the PCs setting in society, and the daily dealings with the world will.

[simplygnome]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

What I would suggest in order to make it work:

 

Start out with a more traditional 4-color game. Heroes form team, become popular, powerful, well known, etc. Run with this for 6 months or so IRL (assuming roughly weekly games) and a few years game-time. During this time they encounter and thwart the main villain a few times.

 

Then switch it up. The main villain beats and captures them. Next session, they wake up and escape - only to discover how long they were out and how much the world changed. In the intervening X years, the villain has taken over, etc. Don't have the heroes being used as mind-controlled pawns - instead say the villain was able to use them to grant their powers to his mooks temporarily (of course, the mook burns out quickly). It was the super-mooks who were his shock troops, not the heroes themselves. (note - make sure the characters are types where this would work - more actual "powers" and less mystic/tech characters)

 

Now the heroes emerge, and have to repair the world and defeat the villain. They are already established as 4-color characters in gameplay, and should continue to act accordingly. They aren't directly tainted as the villain's pawns. The public can remember them "as they were" and hail their return, like Captain America returning after being frozen for so long. Their return helps spark the rebellion, with the PC's old allies and contacts coming out from hiding to help, etc.

 

Longer setup, but I think it would work much better.

 

 

I DO like that setup SS. I dont know if it would work better, or just easier.

 

I am torn on one issue. On one hand, I like the effect of the heroes themselves being tained by what they had done unintentionally (or at least the clones method). It gives the a very Vash-like (trigun) plight to get over...having to fight valiantly for people that hate you, even if it is in blind ignorance....Having the struggle to re-clear your name, fight against the odds, and hey...even Supes had his dark hours, right?

 

On the other hand, the two other methods given so far do keep more of a four color tone to it....

 

I 'think' a balance can be met, and I dont think I have the patience to wait 6 months before running the game .

[Trebuchet]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

Thank you Vanguard, for the help...Ill take that into consideration!

 

Trebuchet: Quick clarification, I dont have limited GM experience...Its limited Super hero campaign XP. Just fyi =D

 

And secondly, I dont know. The whole death of superman series was pretty dark. What about Hal Jordan/Paralax killing every GL in the galaxy and destroying the guardians wasn't dark (or snapping Mephistos neck with his bare hands)? Or how about when the JLA was taken out of the reality stream and the world suddenly turned against them, while now suppoering their enemies, leaving them alone and hated worldwide. These these remained four color themed despite eveything, yet were very dark indeed.

 

Im not saying its the easiest thing, but I certaintly think that the setting and events will not be the only thing that dictate the overall tone. The npcs reaction, the PCs setting in society, and the daily dealings with the world will.

In the cases you cited, those characters (Justice League, Green Lantern, etc.), the heroes were already long established as four color heroes. Taking established four color heroes into a darker story arc is far different from starting new supposedly Four Color characters out in an Iron Age game.

 

Vanguard has given excellent advice above. If you're going to put four color heroes through this scenario, at least let them play for a while in a four color game so they can get the feel. Otherwise you can be pretty sure the PCs will rapidly turn as dark as the campaign universe even if they start out four color. Character darkness will almost inevitably reflect the campaign universe and vice versa.

[caris]

Re: How to keep the 4-color mood, while in Gotham....???

 

Treb, the silver age had a number of post apocalyptic type worlds floating around in it. The Atomic Knights come to mind right off the bat. Wasn't the original series set on Earth after a nuclear war. Wasn't there the "Last Boy" about a savage boy working with scientists in a future where civilization had pretty much collapsed? What generally makes a setting more Bronze Age or Iron Age is the tone in which that setting is presented.