The Trophy Room

[OddHat]

I was thinking recently of a gadgeteer who started as a Kid Sidekick to a Super Team. Every time they defeated a gadget using bad guy, the gadget would go into the trophy room. Now, the team has vanished. While they're gone, the Kid Sidekick is trying to keep order by using the trophy room gadgets. Mechanically it's a simple build: He pays for the base and the vehicles normally, and the gadgets are a VPP, may only change in the trophy room, slightly limited choice of gadgets.

 

Thinking more about that, and about something Hugh mentioned, would you make your characters pay any points for the gear they take off of villains and store in the trophy room? Would they pay for that gear at 1/5, like other gear in a base? 1/5 plus limits as they will very rarely use it? Less? More?

[Fox1]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

I was thinking recently of a gadgeteer who started as a Kid Sidekick to a Super Team. Every time they defeated a gadget using bad guy, the gadget would go into the trophy room. Now, the team has vanished. While they're gone, the Kid Sidekick is trying to keep order by using the trophy room gadgets. Mechanically it's a simple build: He pays for the base and the vehicles normally, and the gadgets are a VPP, may only change in the trophy room, slightly limited choice of gadgets.

 

Thinking more about that, and about something Hugh mentioned, would you make your characters pay any points for the gear they take off of villains and store in the trophy room? Would they pay for that gear at 1/5, like other gear in a base? 1/5 plus limits as they will very rarely use it? Less? More?

 

 

I wouldn't because (except for special plots likely of my own creation) they wouldn't be using it. It's not part of their character concepts.

 

In general I think this whole idea of paying points for stuff like this or for mundane items (flashlights, etc.) comes from the defeat and loot days of rpgs. Superhero games are all about concept, if you're playing the game that way and built your character that way- I don't see questions like this coming up.

[incrdbil]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

I'd preferably keep 'Trophy room' Items as a plot hook only basis. Still the VPP part is possible, but such items really couldn't be used off the base could they? I'm sort of wondering that all of the limits to prevent such a thing from being abused would make you just want to revert back to the plot hook device level.

 

Or you just give your villains a lot of Independent (-2) Foci, with gradual breakdown rolls that can't be repaired

[OddHat]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

I'd preferably keep 'Trophy room' Items as a plot hook only basis. Still the VPP part is possible, but such items really couldn't be used off the base could they? I'm sort of wondering that all of the limits to prevent such a thing from being abused would make you just want to revert back to the plot hook device level.

 

Or you just give your villains a lot of Independent (-2) Foci, with gradual breakdown rolls that can't be repaired

 

As far as the character is concerned, he will pay points as per any other character and the "Trophy Room" limit is not much different from "change only in lab". I was more interested in how people would handle the traditional Super-Trophy Room.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

Sounds like a fun character.

 

If a particular character wants to keep and use the focus, he pays points.

 

If it sits in a case until it's a plot device, no one need pay points.

 

Of course, in our games it's rare when we keep a villain's FOCI - usually turned over as evidence, etc.

[lemming]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

I was thinking recently of a gadgeteer who started as a Kid Sidekick to a Super Team. Every time they defeated a gadget using bad guy, the gadget would go into the trophy room. Now, the team has vanished. While they're gone, the Kid Sidekick is trying to keep order by using the trophy room gadgets. Mechanically it's a simple build: He pays for the base and the vehicles normally, and the gadgets are a VPP, may only change in the trophy room, slightly limited choice of gadgets.

 

Thinking more about that, and about something Hugh mentioned, would you make your characters pay any points for the gear they take off of villains and store in the trophy room? Would they pay for that gear at 1/5, like other gear in a base? 1/5 plus limits as they will very rarely use it? Less? More?

My own version of a similar concept:

Scavenger

Hero Designer File

[incrdbil]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

err, sorry. My misread--I thought the character would be the items bought from a VPP paid for by the base.

 

As a character concept, the trophy room would substitute as lab. All sorts of fun you can have with it--he runs to the trophy room, needing MegaGun4,

(sadly indistinguisable from megagun 1,2, and 3) and finds the auto-robo cleaner has performed spring cleaning and everything is mislabeled. Hope he feels lucky

[Fox1]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

hmm. I think I may be confused about the question at hand.

 

Are we talking about a character with a background concept, or the idea of requiring characters to pay for a trophy room period?

[rjcurrie]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

I'm not sure I'd make the players pay for anything stored in the trophy room unless it was being used on a regular basis. The occasional "Wow, you know, we could use Dr. Destroyer's Dimensional Disintegrator to ..." use of the object is pretty well balanced by the fact that Dr. Destroyer (or some other villain) may occasionally try to steal it back or simply trash your base for taking his toy.

[prestidigitator]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

...interested in how people would handle the traditional Super-Trophy Room.

I think the way I would handle it would be to buy it through the base (that way it could be shared), make it a Multipower or VPP, and maybe even give it No Conscious Control, so that it is merely a way for the GM to say, "Oh yeah! Now that you think of it, there may be something in the trophy room that can help you." That or give it a low Activation Roll so that characters can't simply fall back on it for everything.

 

As for the character who wants to do it, make it a Multipower or VPP, and handle the rest through Special Effects (maybe the character even share's the base's trophy room, but knows it really well, has special permission to use it, is a mechanical wiz, or whatever).

[OddHat]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

hmm. I think I may be confused about the question at hand.

 

Are we talking about a character with a background concept, or the idea of requiring characters to pay for a trophy room period?

 

The idea of making people pay for a trophy room period.

[MitchellS]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

As others have said I feel the trophy room is just a plot device and shouldn't be paid for. To some extent it sounds more like you're describing a weapon's locker than a trophy room. If the players will be using captured items on a fairly regular basis [every few sessions] then I'd consider them to be part of the base's weapons locker and expect the base to pay for them accordingly.

[Blue]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

Variable Power Pool: Gadget pool. Only changeable at "lab" (Trophy Room), Only to gadgets from previously defeated villains, Instant (Since you'd just walk in and grab stuff). Kind of a neat idea.

 

The only Trophy Room in my campaign was the Warden's office at THE KEEP. Once it was discovered that the Warden was conspiring with a major villain to end the world, he fled... and the inventory of his office looks proper with the paperwork... but it seems he may have had a few things that were "off the books".

[OddHat]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

Variable Power Pool: Gadget pool. Only changeable at "lab" (Trophy Room)' date=' Only to gadgets from previously defeated villains, Instant (Since you'd just walk in and grab stuff). Kind of a neat idea.[/quote']

 

Thanks, it came from the picture below.

 

Eventually I got to like the idea of a comic-relief sidekick trying to cary on the fight after the real heores vanish. Makes for a different sort of legacy character.

[Dust Raven]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

To me, a trophy room is just more art and furniture and isn't worth any points. If the PCs have plans for something specific in the trophy room, like using Dr. Invincible's Power Ring as a source of power for the base or using that Transdimensional Relocator they took away from those dimensional raiders a while back, they'll just pay for what they use, and usually get a bonus from an associated Disadvantage (Hunted, Unluck, etc.). Otherwise, it's just a trophy room and anything and everything it in is just there to look at until the GM wants to do something with it.

[lemming]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

Thanks, it came from the picture below.

 

Eventually I got to like the idea of a comic-relief sidekick trying to cary on the fight after the real heores vanish. Makes for a different sort of legacy character.

Hmm, I swear Superman was just flying around picking up trash and giving it to Jimmy at that point...

[zornwil]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

Just to answer OddHat's question, what Dust Raven said, it's just furniture, basically, and that's how the PCs have played it and so it's safely no points or concern. Those players who would take a trophy and learn from it to replicate something already have a VPP or similar.

[KA.]

Re: The Trophy Room

 

Two different questions here, so two different answers.

 

For the character that was a gadgeteer, based on using 'trophy room' items, he would, of course, have to pay for them like anyone else with a VPP that could only be changed at fixed locations. I would build into his character some type of gadgeteer skills that would allow him to really understand how these gadgets work, and how to use them properly, recharge them, etc.

 

As far as having a trophy room as part of a base, that would only come into play during a "Mega-Villains invade the base and the only chance to survive is using the stuff in the Trophy Room" plot, I would say to purchase them as part of the base, and add on a limitation of "One Charge that Never Recovers", which means that you can only use The Penguin's Rocket Launcher Umbrella once, and then it is junk. (Because you just grabbed it up and used it without really knowing how.)

 

So why can't everyone on the team just buy the Gadget skills to use all the trophy room stuff over and over?

 

Because:

a) They didn't pay the points for the VPP.

It isn't in their concept to do that sort of research.

c) They don't want to be seen using "evil" weapons.

d) Game Balance

e) Because you are the GM and you say so!

 

(Sorry, didn't mean to go into a mini-rant there, but sometimes I see questions from new GM's that basically say:

"I let one player do this once, and now they are all walking around with mega-blasters from Doctor Destroyer and armor suits from Armadillo and all kinds of other stuff because they said that if one character could do it, they all could if they spent 3 pts. on Gadgeteer."

 

So, I just wanted to provide some bud-nipping material for any new GM's out there. )

 

KA.