CorPse Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Just curious to see what power level Pulp Hero fans prefer to play their campaigns at... My guess would be 75+75, but I'm just curious to see if I'm right. If you'd like, give reason(s) why you prefer your chosen level. Thanks! CorPse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorPse Posted January 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Just wanted to give this a little bump... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? I set my little excursion up as 125 + 75 and it seemed to work out okay. Mostly, I just wanted to build some characters without a great deal of Disadvantages, but I gave the players a chance to liven things up a bit. I wouldn't go much higher than that power level though. You risk transforming the game into a sort of Golden Age superheroes campaign. Nothing wrong with that, but there is a line I'd think. If I were to set up a whole Pulp campaign, it would depend on the intended mood. Globetrotting adventure: 100 + 50, Crimefighers 75 + 75, and Weird Tales 50 + 50. Just my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? My last Pulp game was 75+75; had some neat characters. No one was particularly superpowered or too weak at that level. Has anyone experimented with giving characters a pool of points to be used solely for superskills? I was wondering the next time I did a more heroic level game if that might work. Like 75+75 or even 50+50 for the standard character and then 50 points just for neat stuff that they can do that sets them apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? I've run almost all of my Heroic level games at 250 total points for years and years, and Justice Inc. was no exception (I haven't revisting Pulp in 5th edition yet). It allows good cinematic characters. I dislike having to trim out or condense background skills in order to fit a lower point structure, and these days the cost of Package deals & templates are such that you can easily eat more than 150 points on packages alone if you're not careful. Plus, at the 250 point level Characters have enough points to occasionally invest in the more expensive perks like Followers, Vehicles, Bases and the like, tho if I were to run that kind of Pulp campaign in the mdern ruleset I'd probably use the Equipment Allowance rules to avoid the huge point sink such perks involve. It makes chartacters like Doc Savage or the Shadow much easier to fit into the scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? My last Pulp game was 75+75; had some neat characters. No one was particularly superpowered or too weak at that level. Has anyone experimented with giving characters a pool of points to be used solely for superskills? I was wondering the next time I did a more heroic level game if that might work. Like 75+75 or even 50+50 for the standard character and then 50 points just for neat stuff that they can do that sets them apart. Not in the Pulp Genre, but in one of my Star Hero games I gave all characters an extra 50 points for "Special Traits" to encourage a very wild feel. All expenditures from the pool were subject to strict GM regulation, and they could be left unspent for potential "radiation accidents". Worked out pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? My typical Pulp game has characters built on a 75 point base with 50 points in disads. (I've found that many players have difficulty coming up with 75 points worth of meaningful disads at this level so I opted to remove the incentive to try, but I wanted them to have more points than a 50 point base would provide.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Last time around I was running Pulp Hero on 150+100. The Pulp characters I'm interested in simulating (Doc Savage, Tarzan, the Shadow, the Spider, G-8, the Green Hornet, Jon Carter, etc) are a pain to fit into 75+75 without feeling like you're throwing away half the cool stuff they manage to do. Some of them are easily 500+ point characters in HERO terms. 250 points makes it easier to build a Jungle Lord, Man of the City, or Master of Eastern Mysteries who really feels in play like the character he's a homage to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorPse Posted January 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Interesting... thanxs for the contributions thus far... There are definitely more things at the higher end of the point scale than I would have thought... Anyone else??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Last time around I was running Pulp Hero on 150+100. The Pulp characters I'm interested in simulating (Doc Savage, Tarzan, the Shadow, the Spider, G-8, the Green Hornet, Jon Carter, etc) are a pain to fit into 75+75 without feeling like you're throwing away half the cool stuff they manage to do. Some of them are easily 500+ point characters in HERO terms. 250 points makes it easier to build a Jungle Lord, Man of the City, or Master of Eastern Mysteries who really feels in play like the character he's a homage to. Were there a lot of 20 across the board stats? My experience has been that it takes a good player with a strong concept to pull off a heroic game at that level. It isn;t just doable if you have them, it is wonderful because it captures that feel so very well. Treasure these players if you have them. About half the group I was running would have been able to put together great, playable in the setting, non-Munchkin characters with that point level in a heroic setting. The other half... not so much... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Were there a lot of 20 across the board stats? My experience has been that it takes a good player with a strong concept to pull off a heroic game at that level. It isn;t just doable if you have them' date=' it is wonderful because it captures that feel so very well. Treasure these players if you have them. About half the group I was running would have been able to put together great, playable in the setting, non-Munchkin characters with that point level in a heroic setting. The other half... not so much...[/quote'] Here are the sheets. I never worry too much about munchkin; my players rock. Sadly, the game didn't last past the first multi-session arc (Escape from Mongo!) and about a dozen episodic adventures, many of them with only one or two players. The gang wanted to get back to Superheroes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? 75+75 for my two Pulp games. Makes good characters for the genre IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Here are the sheets. I never worry too much about munchkin; my players rock. Sadly, the game didn't last past the first multi-session arc (Escape from Mongo!) and about a dozen episodic adventures, many of them with only one or two players. The gang wanted to get back to Superheroes. Nice Characters. Sounds like your players are a lot like my old group. At the 250 point Heroic level, there HAS to be a certain amount of trust and understanding between the players and the GM. Munchkinisim happens. It's nae the end o' the world, as long as everyone muchkins at an acceptable level and approximately the same degree. Abusive munchkins can be dealt with. I find a sharp rap across the nose with a rolled up newspaper does wonders. On a more serious note... To answer Publis... In my case, I found most characters would spend around 100 points on stats, give or take 5 points, unless exceptional stats are a character schtick. Usually 1-2 stats at or above NCM, with many in the "Heroic" range (around 15). CV's were all over the board, but had a soft cap of 13. Martial arts are pretty common, as are special abilities. At the time, neither Deadly Blow nor Combat Luck were in the system (tho theres no reason the builds wouldn't have worked), and I'd probably watch them both carefully these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Our Pulp Hero campaign is 75+75, although we've kicked around the idea of going to 100+100 to get a feel more like Oddhat's awesome Billy Deighton campaign. I suspect we'll stay where we are, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Billy Deighton is actually Scott Bennie / GestaltBennie's campaign, and is indeed awesome. The 1905 campaign that Treb and Mentor run is also a great read, and looks like a blast to play. I highly recommend the threads. My own campaign is an Alternate Wold Newton game. My timeline can be found here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? I originally planned for a system of 100 + one "package deal" + one extra "special ability" per player + enough points to bring everyone up the the level of the highest package deal taken ( I took out the "mystery man" or whatever it is called, the most expensive package). However things got out of hand in the creation process and I allowed them TOO much; now I think that the P C's have too many points ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamrok Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? 50+50. That's enough to be pretty good at one thing, and that suits what I want out of group players. I also don't like making pulpy characters come up with 75 points in disads which can feel like a burden on some character builds. 75+75 gives a tad too many options to make things gel properly in my experience. 150 point characters feel too self reliant to be good group members. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamrok Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Last time around I was running Pulp Hero on 150+100. The Pulp characters I'm interested in simulating (Doc Savage, Tarzan, the Shadow, the Spider, G-8, the Green Hornet, Jon Carter, etc) are a pain to fit into 75+75 without feeling like you're throwing away half the cool stuff they manage to do. Some of them are easily 500+ point characters in HERO terms. 250 points makes it easier to build a Jungle Lord, Man of the City, or Master of Eastern Mysteries who really feels in play like the character he's a homage to. From my perspective, the problem with having all those guys played at the same time is that to challenge that group, you'd need super-villains that would be more at home in a champs game. If your group is scaled more like Ram Singh or the Fab Five, it is easier to run villains and plots that feel more authentic (ar least it is easier for me.) When I run a pulp game, I always start with the master villain and work back - that tends to get me character guidelines that give players a good challenge. Of course, my average group size for pulp games has been pretty big, so that figures into it as well - too many Doc Savages spoil the pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? My last PH game was 150+100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? OK, this was maybe 18 yrs ago, but I did it with 50 base, 50 disad's, and 50 that the players and I work on together to get the feel of the C right. It was set just before the 'Golden Age' of heroes. The PC's were those that came before, those mystery men of the day. They also had a 'team pool' of points to buy needed equipment, bases, followers, etc.. It worked, but after a few games they didn't have to feel for it anymore so it ended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? From my perspective' date=' the problem with having all those guys played at the same time is that to challenge that group, you'd need super-villains that would be more at home in a champs game. If your group is scaled more like Ram Singh or the Fab Five, it is easier to run villains and plots that feel more authentic (ar least it is easier for me.) When I run a pulp game, I always start with the master villain and work back - that tends to get me character guidelines that give players a good challenge. Of course, my average group size for pulp games has been pretty big, so that figures into it as well - too many Doc Savages spoil the pot.[/quote'] That wasn't my experience. I mostly worked it by having villains also built on the same point level or lower (see Avinashi Chopra), a boss villain built on as many points as was needed (see Sun Koh), and hordes of minions. Of course, my group was only three players, with many of the one shot adventures played out with only one or two. I feel my plots were very authentic, inspired as they were by period fiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdamnhero Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? All the PH games I've run so far have started at 75+75, because the characters were starting out as (relative) normals. Generous XP awards helped them build towards Doc Savage/Tarzan levels, rather than starting out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? All the PH games I've run so far have started at 75+75' date=' because the characters were starting out as (relative) normals. Generous XP awards helped them build [i']towards [/i]Doc Savage/Tarzan levels, rather than starting out there. Yes, but did you let them have any +1 Tableware to use just until their XP got high enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdamnhero Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Yes' date=' but did you let them have any +1 Tableware to use just until their XP got high enough?[/quote'] It's an Everyman Skill in my world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Gillen Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Re: What's Your Favorite PH Campaign Power Level? Last time around I was running Pulp Hero on 150+100. The Pulp characters I'm interested in simulating (Doc Savage, Tarzan, the Shadow, the Spider, G-8, the Green Hornet, Jon Carter, etc) are a pain to fit into 75+75 without feeling like you're throwing away half the cool stuff they manage to do. Some of them are easily 500+ point characters in HERO terms. 250 points makes it easier to build a Jungle Lord, Man of the City, or Master of Eastern Mysteries who really feels in play like the character he's a homage to. The one game I ran the characters were 100+100 and at least one still wasn't getting the requisite amount of stuff for his Mystery Man concept. The Wednesday group I'm in now has a GM who ran a Western (more like The Wild, Wild West) game where we were Very Powerful Heroic (125+125) and that's probably what I'll have to use if I ever get to do Pulp HERO again. Even so, I want the PCs to actually worry about Tommy guns or wild animals on safari, so I'd limit them to NCM stats, 1 level of Deadly Blow with one category (if they can even qualify for that) and 2 levels (6 DEF) Combat Luck. JG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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