Experienced Regular Folk

[Col. Orange]

I'm running a normals game within our group's Champions Universe, and I've got to the point where everyone has 18-20 DEX, ~15 STR, M.Arts of some kind, and a couple of levels.

 

My question?

 

In games where Normal Characteristic Maximum is a 0pt Disadvantage, how do you get stop characters who've racked up a fair amount of experience becoming "samey".

[Fur Face]

Hey Colonel,

 

Sounds like the blessing & curse of a normals game, and it really isn't that much different than a supers game. Once someone has reached his or her concept, has reached campaign restrictions on Active Point/Characteristic levels, then sooner or late you either have to raise the bar (by increasing limits) or you hand out other things(Bill Gates is thankful that you stopped the cyber terrorists, so he says he owes you a favor and gives you a security code allowing you access to any Microsoft System).

 

The Pointless Champions artical in Digital Hero addressed some of these issues.

 

Some even suggest that its time to start over, but I never advocate that unless everyone isn't having fun anymore.

 

Of course, these comments are offered having know idea of what your campaign rules are, so please ignore at your perogative.

[sbarron]

Re: Experienced Regular Folk

 

Originally posted by Col. Orange

In games where Normal Characteristic Maximum is a 0pt Disadvantage, how do you get stop characters who've racked up a fair amount of experience becoming "samey".

 

Ah...my good Col. Orange. One might just as easily ask the sun how it rises. There is no easy answer, unfortunately. This question has plagued Hero Gamers for centuries, and we are still looking for a perfect solution.

 

The truth is, players will gravitate towards efficient break points in their characteristics. It only makes sense. And encouragement from the GM to steer away from "saminess" will likely fall on deaf ears. Depending on the type of game you are running, their are a few things that help, though.

 

Team Game: Players are members of a SWAT team (or something simlilar). Encourage them to be experts in their chosen field. I mean extreme experts. Let them buy special abilities, characteristics above 20 with limits depending on their profession, etc. Allow them to become similar, because they will, but also allow them to develop extraodinary talents that sets them apart from the rest of the group. Let the Demolitions expert have a limited form or Danger Sense, only when dealing with explosives, etc.

 

Normals Bound: Put restrictions on how far particular character types can develop. If a character is very strong, tell him his max Dex is limited. If his Dex is high, do the reverse. Prevent the Scientist in the group from buying his Str and Dex up. Tell the MA no more Int. Just say no. I don't recommend this, but it is an option.

 

Well Enough Alone: Just let the characters continue to develop. There is nothing wrong with them being similar. And if it bothers them, they have only themselves to blame. Presumably they had some facet of their character that they focused on when they started, which they spent points on to the exclusion to something else. Once they break through the barrier of trying to acheive competence (by acheiving their effective breakpoints), they will again begin to develop in different directions, based on what they see their character doing. Thus, the problem solves itself.

 

Of course, if each of the characters is trying to be "Nick Fury," or if each is trying to be the "baddist normal in town," then this sameness problem will continue. But that only makes sense, as spending points effeciently is more science than art to experinced Hero gamers. Ecouraging them to diversify won't help in that situation.

 

I hope this helps.

[Arthur]

It may be too late now, but in lower-point games you should award fewer points. It's just a matter of ratio: to a 350-point character, 3 points is less than 1% of his starting total; to a 100-point Hero, it is 3%.

I usually award about 3-5 points in a Champions (250 pt) game, and about 2-3 points in a Heroic level (150-pt) game.

Doesn't really solve the problem, but it does forestall it.

And I envy you that you have had a single campaign last long enough for that to be a problem! I haven't had that "problem" for several years (moving around to snag contract work will do that - I have become a "technomad").

[TheEmerged]

Just a thought: in my experience, the "sameness" issue in NCM-default campaigns is more prevelant the narrower the scope of the campaign is. HERO's strength is in diversity, and at lower-point values I'd argue the campaigns should reflect this.