Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

[bigdamnhero]

So my new Champions campaign is almost ready to go. It's a mostly Bronze Age, mostly 4-color comic book game, not set in the CU but borrowing heavily from it. I think I've got everything about ready to go, and am really looking forward to it starting.

 

But here's the thing. `Tho I've been GMing for something like 25 years now, I've mostly run sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. While I have played superheroes before, it dawned on me the other day that this will be the first superheroes campaign I've actually run. (I have run one-off supers games at cons and the like, but never a full campaign.)

 

So... any advice for a not-exactly-new GM? I'm not looking for rules issues (knockback yes, hit location no) or story ideas (I'm full of those). Just more philosophical questions about how running a superhero game is different from running other genres.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

 

bigdamnhero

"You will all go directly to your respective Valhalla's.

Go directly, do not pass Go, do not collect two-hundred dollahs."

[Vanguard00]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

So... any advice for a not-exactly-new GM? I'm not looking for rules issues (knockback yes' date=' hit location no) or story ideas (I'm full of those). Just more philosophical questions about how running a superhero game is different from running other genres. [/quote']

Well, without going into generic GMing advice and sticking with the letter of the question, there isn't a difference. Assuming you're prepared in all the ways you think you need to be (which means there will be one or two areas in which you are not prepared cuz you didn't think the characters would go there), and are familiar with the rules, the setting and the genre, then don't let it intimidate you. The best stories are those that can be transplanted from genre to genre without changing much (except maybe the setting), so just relax and have fun.

 

But yeah, know the setting and know the genre.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Congratulations, BDH!

 

If you've been GM-ing for "something like 25 years," then whatcha worrying about? If you have the 5th Edition Champions genre book, check out the section at the beginning about what makes the Superhero genre different from every other one. Aaron Alliston is far more eloquent about the subject than I could be, and I heartly reccommend anyone thinking about running (or playing in) a superheroic campaign to read it.

 

The only thing I would add to that is remember that pacing in a superhero game is crucial -- never let the action bog down too much or give players more than adequate time to think.

 

Matt "Working-on-my-own-campaign-at-work" Frisbee

[MisterBaldy]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

OK bigdamnhero...here's some small bits of advice.

 

First things first. Are you planning a primarily episodic campaign? If so, then I think that you are on the right track for superheroes gaming.

 

So many GMs (even experienced ones like yourself) fall prey to the desires of attempting to live out the "day to day lives" of superheroes. This is not a good thing. It's important to develop the "normal/alternate life" of the superhero, but you don't have to roleplay it all out. During PC downtime, get with your players individually, and delve into the development of thePCs personal lives. Do superheroes have normal lives? Sure they do, but you don't have to experience every waking moment of it...do you?

 

The majority of of the roleplaying should be dedicated to superheroing. I think a good mix is 80%/20% (Superhero/Secret ID). If you keep that balance (or at least close to it)...you'll do fine.

 

Just remember that although GMing can be a lot of work...HAVING FUN is Job #1. Enjoy yourself...and let the games begin.

[Mike W]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

While in any campaign different characters have different roles in a fight, remember that the power levels of the different characters are not equal, despite the point costs. The martial artist will have little trouble hitting people but can't hurt everyone. The brick can hurt just about anyone but may not have much chance to hit certain people, so try to construct opponents, especially villain teams with the idea of "match ups" in mind, at least a little bit.

 

Also, certain comic book bits like separating the characters don't necessarily work well. Death traps have their place, if you want to use them, but it depends on the players as to how you use them.

 

Finally, comic books work great episodically, but make sure that you get the characters connected into the game world. It doesn't feel right otherwise. This often means recurring guest characters and villains. Unlike may other genres, people don't die very often in a four color supers game so you can always bring them back. Also, superheroes tend to buy and use highly mobile contacts more often so make sure that you can account for any other local heroes and any contacts the players might have. Having a campaign newspaper is useful and can provide handy excuses for when the player says "I made my contact roll" and you tell them said contact isn't available.

[csyphrett]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Be prepared for anything and use what the players give you. Develop the archrival when possible. And being a superhero is also about saving the day more than any other genre.

CES

[input.jack]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

I totally agree on the archival thing. Its especially good if you get a Player who likes to keep a journal. They can prompt you on things a year after the game starts, if need be.

 

My main piece of advice would be to start with coming up with at least three "master villians". I mean people like Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Ultron, or Loki. Characters who, while not necessarily -in- the adventure, may have ultimately been responsible for the people involved being in the place they are in. Movers and shakers behind the scenes. I ran a game called Metaworld for well over five years based on the three original "Masterminds" I came up with. Eventually the Players exposed and defeated two of the three. The third they suspected existed, but didnt have a solid lead on.

 

If you -do- go with that idea, you need to also be careful NOT to have them (collectively) be responsible for more than about half to a third of what goes on. Otherwise its X-Files in tights.

 

Superhero games are awesome to run. Its my favorite genre as a Ref and as a Player. I try to keep my games fairly "realistic" with regards to cause and effect, yet maintain a certian level of optimism overall. Good -will- eventually triumph. It just may take a while, and Good may have a black eye, glass shards in its feet, and a limp. (Bruce Willis in Die Hard as the Avatar of Justice! Boo-yah!)

 

Ive also made it clear to the Players that there are two "unwritten laws" in my campaign.

 

One: People in masks do -not- usually try to actually kill other people in masks. If someone wants to play "Killgore Deathblood" the so-called "hero" based on some whack-job from Image Comics, they arent going to last long on Metaworld! This is because, in the social dynamic of the Supers world as it exists in the game, a Hero or a Villain who becomes known as a habitual killer runs a -very- good chance of getting killed right back. If the Villains know that American Eagle will thump them solid, and take them to jail, but Annihilator will disembowl them and decorate the nearby rooftops, theyre going to put a bullet in Annihilator's brain pan at earliest opportunity. Villains know that they run the risk of -very- hard justice from angry Heroes. Heroes know that killing people brings on the District Attorney. Balance is maintained.

 

Second, (and really its a two-parter), there's a campaign "fiat" that secret identities are harder to "pop" through simple observation than they would be in the real world. People dont follow Black Eagle around trying to get a hair sample to run a DNA analysis on. They dont seem to realize that she bears a -striking- resemblance to the lead singer of the Banshees (an all-girl rock group in the game). Even though Black Eagle is five-foot-four, blonde, and latina, with a -clearly- unmistakable mouth (she looks like Jessica Alba), even people like her agent, who knows her in both identities, has yet to put it together.

 

Along with that is the Supers social convention that you just dont go pulling the masks off of people. Sure, once someone is arrested and in custody, the police unmask them and print them, and run an ID check. But if a Hero unmasks a villain before the cops arrive, thats tampering with evidence. If villains unmask a Hero when they have him in their clutches, thats grounds for other Heroes to start -really- gunning for the villain. That, and in the campaign, theres a superstition among the underworlders that unmasking a Hero and revealing his ID is BAD LUCK. (And it is). There was a famous case in the 1950's of a thug unmasking a Hero and blabbing his ID to his underworld cronies, and immediately afterwards the criminal had a run of bad luck that would make Job seem like Longshot. So word kind of "got around".

 

I tried to think of some of the comics genre cnventions, and then think of ways to incorporate them into the game logically. (As logically as I could).

 

Oh! And most important: You need to let your Players know what kind of tone you want for the game. Nothing ruins a good, serious Hero game faster than one yutz thinking its "Stupor-friends" while everyone else is taking it seriously and trying to play more "WB The Animated Series". (Rappin' Rhino killed a game of mine, a while back).

 

Hope that helped

[Trebuchet]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Let me second input jack's advice about setting the tone: Make certain your players understand what type of campaign you're running before you start. Either sit down with them beforehand or produce some sort of handout (Mine from my 13 year old campaign included "No sociopathic loners" and "Team players only.") Tone is very important, and if you're trying to run a classic Silver Age/four color supers campaign and some players persist in trying to run angsty teenagers or Iron Age weapon-laden psychos it'll ruin it for everyone. Make sure everyone is on the same page.

 

I'd also recommend banning "joke" characters unless you're doing a comedy campaign. The Mighty Cheese Dip or Captain Meatgrinder may sound cute, but they'll poison your game very quickly. There's plenty of room for low comedy if that's what floats your boat, but IME supers work best as straight men. (Besides, what's funnier than grown men in tights and heroically-endowed women with plunging necklines griping about being treated as sex objects?)

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

One bit that works much better in superhero campaigns than in most others is missing players. They can be used to a super GM's advantage, if you're willing to. In a lot of cases, it can be good to have an occaisional player out, especially if you know in advance and aren't in the middle of a crucial involved arc.

 

The characters of missing players are perfect to do a lot of genre bits with, without having the player sit around all night. You can "Worf" him, demonstrating how powerful the villains are. They can be kidnapped, providing the scenario as the other heroes try to find and rescue them. Mind control, evil clones, shape-changing villains, mysterious illness, etc. can all be done easily.

 

And sometimes it's good to have them off doing their own thing, to see how the team dynamics change without that character there. Will someone else grow into more of a leader? Will two characters start to work together as more of a "team within a team" than before? What secondary abilities normally overshadowed by character X will get to come out and shine? (Hey, we get to use Cyclops' 13- Deduction now that Batman's not here!)

[RDU Neil]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

I just want to double emphasize the "talk to your players about what your campaign is about" point that Trebuchet made.

 

This is critical, because almost everyone has a different idea about what "superhero" means.

 

Ex. Someone says they want to have a Batman clone. Sounds good, until you start to realize... which Batman? Golden Age pulp guy with a gun? Silver Age "giant penny' campy? Bronze age Dark Knight Detective? Post Modern JLA "deus ex machina" Batman?

 

They all have the same name, but none of them are really the same character, nor are the worlds they inhabit the same.

 

Same goes for campaign worlds and multiple characters. To put it differently from Trebuchet. If you have a modern take on the metahuman, who eschews the whole spandex thing, and acts more like a super HUMAN than SUPERhero... but someone else wants to play a silly four color doofus in tights with a superdog named Biff... well, that is not going to work really in game play.

 

Most important... what kind of world do you, as the GM, want? I had to stop calling my game a Champions game for new players, because it caused too many expectations of four color silliness, which I despise. I had to have a very consistent message... my game was about "Power. You have it. What do you do with it?" There were no expectations that people conform to a certain genre... in fact I was about breaking some of the main comic genres I never liked. Death can and will happen... but it will never be gratuitous. OTOH, violence is never casual... repercussions come from such acts... you will be held accountable. That said, your characters can change the world... positive repercussions are possible. Want to spend time re-seeding and fertilizing the Gobi because your character has plant control powers... now that is cool and we get to explore the social and political ramifications of this. My game may have had trappings of superheroes, but it was really a "Metahuman s/f" style campaign... and once I had the words to describe this, it became much easier to get new players to understand and feel comfortable with the campaign.

 

That being said... I would also support the 80/20 rule... not just for supers but for any fast paced, action/adventure, high concept game. 80% of the time should be spent on "things that are important to the story and plot" and 20% on "day in the life." I"m actually more 90-10 on this. I'm really not interested in games where it is about hanging out and eating breakfast in character... unless something happens or is said at breakfast that is critical to driving the story.

 

The beauty of supers or metahumans or whatever... it really works well to have the rather contrived moments. Stuff just happens, a lot, that kick start adventures and put the PCs in a position to be at the center of the action. Just be creative about all the different ways... and don't just fall back on "The Bat-phone rings..." If you have players as experienced as you in gaming, then maybe they will trigger events as well. When one of them says, "My super-scientist is going to spend the next few days studying the warp drive of that crashed alien ship." Even if you hadn't considered it, that player just handed you an episode on a plate. Run with it... and it will encourage other players to throw out ideas... and you get the players involved in driving the story, not just looking to you to give them something to react to.

 

Good luck and have fun.

[ParagonAlpha]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Actually I would suggest bring what you know to the campaign. Use your background in Sci-Fi and Horror gamemastering to it's fullest advantage.

 

Both those genres work well together and when you throw in superheroes, you have the potential for an incredible sounding time.

 

Granted with a Bronze Age feel, and four color, things shouldn't need to be dark, but scary could still be the norm.

 

As for trying to keep the flavor of a comic book, I always try to think of each thing I describe as a panel in a comic book. I try and keep the pacing along those lines. Quick actions are those small panels, the dramatic appearamce of the Villian of the piece is a huge splash page, with insert panels of the Heros reaction.

 

It also allows for pacing the combat.

 

Either way best of luck.

[Mike W]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Ex. Someone says they want to have a Batman clone. Sounds good, until you start to realize... which Batman? Golden Age pulp guy with a gun? Silver Age "giant penny' campy? Bronze age Dark Knight Detective? Post Modern JLA "deus ex machina" Batman?

 

They all have the same name, but none of them are really the same character, nor are the worlds they inhabit the same.

 

QUOTE]

 

Actually, I would disagree with this somewhat. While it is true that the worlds the different versions of Batman inhabit are different(reflecting changing views of comics and what kinds of stories people want to read), the character is still very recognizable. Especially, the Dark Knight vs. "Deus ex machina" Batman. It's nearly the same character, the more recent version is just written as uber competent to help him compete on the JLA level, which isn't necessary. But the attitudes are much the same. And the JLA Batman isn't a good representation of how Batman is portrayed in his own books, especially now that his support system has been destroyed by recent events(part of which were due to Batman's mistakes). Making the character fit different "worlds" may require some work, but there are ways to do it that still leave the character recognizable. And many of the changes in Batman make sense. For example, he is a better fighter, so he doesn't lose as often.

[RDU Neil]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Ex. Someone says they want to have a Batman clone. Sounds good, until you start to realize... which Batman? Golden Age pulp guy with a gun? Silver Age "giant penny' campy? Bronze age Dark Knight Detective? Post Modern JLA "deus ex machina" Batman?

 

They all have the same name, but none of them are really the same character, nor are the worlds they inhabit the same.

 

QUOTE]

 

Actually, I would disagree with this somewhat. While it is true that the worlds the different versions of Batman inhabit are different(reflecting changing views of comics and what kinds of stories people want to read), the character is still very recognizable. Especially, the Dark Knight vs. "Deus ex machina" Batman. It's nearly the same character, the more recent version is just written as uber competent to help him compete on the JLA level, which isn't necessary. But the attitudes are much the same. And the JLA Batman isn't a good representation of how Batman is portrayed in his own books, especially now that his support system has been destroyed by recent events(part of which were due to Batman's mistakes). Making the character fit different "worlds" may require some work, but there are ways to do it that still leave the character recognizable. And many of the changes in Batman make sense. For example, he is a better fighter, so he doesn't lose as often.

 

It is not that the character isn't recognizable... that is never an issue. But in an RPG, the general iconic nature isn't as important as what are the specific powers and abilities. To play the Denny O'Neill Dark Knight Detective would be a very different point build than the "Deus Ex Machina' JLA Batman. Both could have very similar concepts... but the execution of those concepts in game play... the effect of those builds on defining the game world... is huge.

 

The Dark Knight could be a 15 STR, 23 Dex, 6 SPD martial arts and detective master... while the JLA Bats is probably a 25 STR, 30 DEX, 10 SPD dude with a massive "pull the exact right answer out of a hat" VPP... or some such.

 

I don't want to start an argument on "How would you build Batman?" That goes nowhere and isn't the point. The point is, if the game world defines a "human who has trained obsessively to be the best" as a 23 DEX, 6 SPD... that is a very different world where the same concept is a 30 DEX, 10 SPD. There are far reaching aspects of "What does it mean to be human?" and thus "What does it mean to be super?" with whichever build you choose.

 

In game play this will manifest in such ways as "Version 1: Batman requires tactics and thought and planning and stealth and surprise to take out a room full of gunmen and a hostage properly. Version 2: Batman whips up his deus ex device clobbers half the thugs before they can blink and then takes on Darkseid after lunch." Which you choose drives a very different game. Unlike in written works, where the character can be changed to fit the story that the writer wants to tell... in the case of RPGs, the character often IS the story, or at minimum determines which kind of stories are effective, based on build and player expectations.

[Hawksmoor]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Usually Darkseid clobbers Batman. It is just that a *mere man* dares face the dark lord that makes Batgod who he is. *

 

*Bats also had a loaner Mother Box granting him some added PD...he still was pummelled-HARD.

 

Hawksmoor

[RDU Neil]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Usually Darkseid clobbers Batman. It is just that a *mere man* dares face the dark lord that makes Batgod who he is. *

 

*Bats also had a loaner Mother Box granting him some added PD...he still was pummelled-HARD.

 

Hawksmoor

 

 

So you rolled an 18 on your "Detect Irony" skill, I see...

 

(And to serioiusly address your point... if a "loaner Mother Box" isn't a perfect example of Batman utilizing his VVP Deus Ex pool, I don't know what is.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

My advice... Know your campaign setting (be it a city, country, world or universe) and the NPCs that populate it SO WELL that you can vomit forth incredibly believable lies at the drop of a hat! (It doesn't hurt if you educate you players on their environment so that they can do the same and make leaps of faith by extrapolating from that which you've provided)

 

Oh, and make sure you jot down the specifics of those lies so you can work them into your story. They may be the best things you've ever done. It'd be a shame to forget what you did on the fly.

 

Who cares what your outline says; it doesn't matter! Your campaign is a living, breathing entity... Play it that way! (But afterwards do your homework and reset the campaign by incorporating the free style moments as permanent campaign credo.)

 

The best games come from a plethora of sources including proper planning, a great setting, fantastic villains and NPCs and Players that are good enough to react resourcefully to stimuli in smart and, often times, unusual manners that add to the adventure.

 

Oh, and leave your ego at the door. It’s your job to act the fool, rage like a megalomaniac, cry like a woman and blather like a hairdresser that found out his red leather jacket just went out of style!!! If you’re too busy trying to maintain your “cool image” you’ll never be able to add the proper impact to an NPC or villain. Lead your players into the realm of roleplaying… If done right you’ll have the best game ever!

 

‘Course, that’s just my silly opinion.

Sorry if this repeated any previous advice.

[Rikathos]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

I found sitting down with my group and asking them What they wanted and didn't want in the Campaign and wrote a list.

That helped me avoid overused plot hooks and helped me understand what kind of game the players wanted.

 

Flexibility, can't stress that one enough. Can't speak for everyone but I HATE being "Run over by the Plot wagon". You should have a basic plot in place but don't force it. Let the characters play through what you've given them.

If they don't go precisely in the direction you wanted you can gently nudge them with npc's or clues. This can make your job a little harder but it will increase the players enjoyment. At least in my opinion.

 

Remember their disadvantages. But don't beat them over the head with them.

Yes they are there to limit the characters and help add dimension to them.

But if you keep beating the characters over the head with it session after session it can get old fast. Example..Hunted by

"Oh look its Him...AGAIN!"

 

Consequences.

Never be afraid to ask what happens after they bring down the bad guy.

Or if the bad guy gets away....

This leads me to a brief aside. Even if you've spent hours making your villian or villians and the characters wack them in record time no matter how you increase their stun or defenses. Let it happen. If you think they would try to escape, let them try. But if the characters stop them. Let them...

 

Back to what I was saying. The bad guys lost? Who hired them? Will they send someone to shut up those that where captured? Suddenly your Heroes are protecting the Villians from something far worse then they first thought.

The Bad guys lost and now they get their day in court. But can your Heroes testify? Will it threaten their secret ID? What if the Villians will go free if the Heroes don't testify?

You can take the plot anywhere you want often with the Players help.

What they do should have an affect on the world and they will have to deal with the outcome good or bad.

 

If you want to keep a comic book feel, I like to describe the Comic book cover of the nights session. Following the classic style of putting a piece of the coming adventure in the picture you describe. It may sound corny but I enjoy giving the characters a sneak peak to pique their interest. And if I need to toss a few red herrings I can do it in the description.

[Mike W]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

 

It is not that the character isn't recognizable... that is never an issue. But in an RPG, the general iconic nature isn't as important as what are the specific powers and abilities. To play the Denny O'Neill Dark Knight Detective would be a very different point build than the "Deus Ex Machina' JLA Batman. Both could have very similar concepts... but the execution of those concepts in game play... the effect of those builds on defining the game world... is huge.

 

The Dark Knight could be a 15 STR, 23 Dex, 6 SPD martial arts and detective master... while the JLA Bats is probably a 25 STR, 30 DEX, 10 SPD dude with a massive "pull the exact right answer out of a hat" VPP... or some such.

 

I don't want to start an argument on "How would you build Batman?" That goes nowhere and isn't the point. The point is, if the game world defines a "human who has trained obsessively to be the best" as a 23 DEX, 6 SPD... that is a very different world where the same concept is a 30 DEX, 10 SPD. There are far reaching aspects of "What does it mean to be human?" and thus "What does it mean to be super?" with whichever build you choose.

 

In game play this will manifest in such ways as "Version 1: Batman requires tactics and thought and planning and stealth and surprise to take out a room full of gunmen and a hostage properly. Version 2: Batman whips up his deus ex device clobbers half the thugs before they can blink and then takes on Darkseid after lunch." Which you choose drives a very different game. Unlike in written works, where the character can be changed to fit the story that the writer wants to tell... in the case of RPGs, the character often IS the story, or at minimum determines which kind of stories are effective, based on build and player expectations.

 

 

That I would agree with.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Assuming you're prepared in all the ways you think you need to be (which means there will be one or two areas in which you are not prepared cuz you didn't think the characters would go there)

Only one or two areas?! Woo Hoo!!

 

Thanks for all the sage advice, folks. I had time to read them, but not reply, before last night's session. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious (like the importance of lighting & mood in a horror game, which it took me depressingly-long to figure out). As always, you gave me a number of helpful reminders.

 

The game went very well, `tho the pace did bog down a little at one point. I had already discussed tone and such with the players, so that wasn't a worry. As it turns out, the biggest thing I forgot was dry-erase pens for the battlemat; for the final battle we wound up scribbling X's, O's and arrows on a piece of paper like a bunch of Monday-morning QBs.

 

 

bigdamnhero

"VVP Deus Ex pool?" -- Gotta get me one of those!

[Mike W]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Dry erase pens work good, but I've taken to making standees for most NPCs. Thankfully, I'm in a Marvel/DC universe so it is easy to get pics. Just find the picture, shrink it down and print off the printer. Glue it to an index card and you're good to go. For the bases, use small wooden discs(available in any craft store). I usually paint them red for villains and blue for heroes. While you're in the craft store, look for stick on magnets. They come in small squares and work kinda like those foam sticky pads you use to put up posters. The magnets will stick firmly to the bases, so now just put the cardboard backed picture into a small binder clip and voila! The clip will stick to the base and you have an instant standee. Plus, since the picture is only on one side, there is never a question of what direction the character is facing.

[Evil102]

Re: Advice on GMing superhero campaigns?

 

Couple of recommendations I'd put forward. These aren't specific to superhero capaign, but definitely work well in them.

 

1) Use the old A plot, B plot, C plot approach. It's worked for TV for a long time, it works well in a campaign. In one issue, the A plot may be Dr Badguy trying to steal the fuel rods from the nuclear reactor, the B plot is a bounty hunter trailing one of the PCs because of a case of mistaken identity, and the C plot is the dirty tricks campaign being run at the university for the next prom queen.

The plots may run completely independently, or may cross over. The bounty hunter may end up getting drawn into the final confrontation with Dr Badguy and may complicate matters or help save the day. One of the PCs may be unable to honour his commitments to his girlfriend and her prom queen campaign when the power station gets attacked. The bounty hunter may go undercover at the university to trail the PC and get mixed up in the campaigning.

Plots may not be fully resolved, and may change precedence. In the next issue, the bounty hunter (who had only been a minor annoyance) may become the A plot when the PCs discover that he has taken photos of the PCs that - if shown to the wrong people - could blow their secret IDs wide open. Meanwhile the B plot involves strange behaviour by the security robots that the PCs' base, and the C plot has one of their old adversaries trying to get released from prison on parole.

 

2) Know your players as well as your characters. If you're going to have soap opera elements as well as the superheoric elements, figure out which players respond well to them, and which styles they go for. I've got one player who enjoys being misunderstood at work and dragged onto dates that aren't really dates, another who has no social skills but has to deal with a neice he's had foisted off onto him and one who's fighting to keep his company in the black and clean of dirty tricks. They're all enjoying the soap-stuff they've been dealt, but I don't think it'd work so well if I switched things around, simply due to the style of they they normally use.

 

3) Once you've got a handle on the characters and what the players want out of them, work out a story arc for each character. This could be developing the charcater's potential, resolving an old secret, dealing with a long-standing nemesis. Weave these into the campaign as you go along.

Thus while one issue may have Captain HeroicNPC going rogue as the A plot, the B plot may be a series of crimes being committed with technology from an old suit of power armour that the gadgeteer PC lost some time ago. Two issues later, the C plot has the city's traffic lights going haywire and the PCs eventually discover a hacker has used the PC's old security scrambler to spread a little chaos. The A plot an issue of so later is breaking up an auction of death-rays that many supervillains are attending. As the heroes bust in, the PC notices - gasp! - his old sidekick Gadgetboy in the crowd. Has the kid gone bad? Is he being blackmailed? Is it really him?

This allows each of the PCs (and their players) a chance in the spotlight. As well as the major storylines you have in place for the campaign, each player gets a spell in the sun as well.

 

4) Decide which style of campaign suits you. This one may seem a bit of a no-brainer, but it's still worth bearing in mind. As I'm a control freak, my last campaign was fairly tightly plotted in terms of which bad guys and plots would drive each adventure, and how they would tie into the main storyline. My current campaign, however, is a lot more fluid. I've got a bunch of ideas and concepts, the occasional fixed adventure, and a bunch of PC-driven ideas - and it seems to work a lot better.

As I said, figure out how you run a campaign best, and plan your campaign accordingly.

 

5) Get suggestions from the players. This can range from "I'd like such-and-such to happen to my character at some point", to their idle speculations ("The GM wouldn't do that to us, would he?") or general comments on the campaign. A simple comment of "Are we going to have a Halloween issue?" when we were playing in September led to some very amusing oddness a little while later...