Getting the heroes together (the first time)

[Plex]

I've been trying to figure out how to get the players all together for the first adventure and seem to have hit a wall. I know exactly what i want to do after this point, but I just cannot think of a good "first issue". I want to stay away from the cliche, like D&D always seems to start out in a tavern, I'm just at a loss. Just wondering how other GM's here solved this issue. The group will consist of a brick-Titan, a speedster- Rush, a mentalist- Psyche, a master of the mystic arts- Arcane, a gadgeteer/suit guy- Vulcan, and perhaps a martial arts/skill monger with some shape shifting- Persona. PC professions - Psych and Persona work together in their own detective agency; Titan is an artist who makes a living drawing and writing comics; Rush is a medical doctor specializing in metahumans; Vulcan is a scientist/engineer for a major R&D firm with a reclusive CEO. (The CEO has actually be missing for years- he and his super group are trapped in an alternate dimension- and it is the AI VIRGIL that the CEO created that is running the show in the guise of the CEO.) If people want to know histories or anything else, let me know and I can let you know. Any help here would be GREATLY appreciated.

[OctoberRaven]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

Sometimes the tavern is better than nothing.

 

That being said, here's a few ideas:

- The "Legion of Substitute Heroes" route: The group are wannabe Champions who were either rejected or put into an auxillary team together.

- The "Good thing you guys showed" route: A villain's rampage is discovered in a way that all the PCs arrive at approximately the same time.

- The "We take ONE day off" route: The supers of the city group together for a wedding/funeral/other special occasion and bad guys crash the party. Everyone gets quickly dispatched (or otherwise unable to fight back) save the PCs.

[Rapier]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

There are a couple of ways you could go about this. You could:

 

1) Roleplay the introduction to the team. Everyone meets someplace and bumps into each other...the oh-so-tired, "you're in a tavern having a pint or three and a dwarf with an axe walks in." While as common a staple as, well, dwarves with axes it does get the job done. The problem is, as always, that it seems rather artificial...especially after the 40th time such an intro has happened to you. There is also the problem of WHY everyone is in the tavern to begin with, WHY they would strike up a conversation with each other, WHY they would deign to hang around with one another, etc. Wouldn't it be interesting if all the characters were in the unemployment line and were assigned to the group? That sounds kind of like fun :makes note:.

 

2) Ignore the intro. Assume that the team has been together for a while. You ignore the first few months (or weeks, days, hours, etc) and just jump right into it. As time goes on, either fill in the intro with some prose or roleplay it as a cooperatively planned one-off.

[ParagonAlpha]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

Okay here's something off the top of my head.

 

While meditating in his sanctuary, Arcane has a vision of a group of heroes engaged in a lethal battle with some evil, powerful being (leave out details). The heroes are not readily recognizable (after all they have been trapped in an alternate dimension for years). A few days later while walking through a local city park, he happens to see a well dressed businessman who looks exactly like one of the heroes from his vision. The businessman is in deep conversation with a man who just screams "I'm a scientist" (Vulcan). A handful of large, dark suited men unobtrusively escort them.

 

While sitting in a local park doing sketches of people in day to day life (something every artist I've ever met does), is Titan, he happens to be sketching a picture of two men sitting on a nearby bench, wrapped in discussion.

 

For weeks they'd (Psyche and Persona) been trying to find a way to get close to the CEO of Whatever Corp., but he's been incredibly reclusive, but the money to deliver this package to him was too good to pass up. They'd gotten a lucky break, supposedly he was supposed to be taking a brief "outdoor" sojourn, a working meeting. Well the park is busy and sure enough there he is, his entourage in tow.

 

It was the third case he'd (Rush) seen like it in less than a month, thankfully it wasn't proving to be a matter of life and death, but he now had a theory that some ailment was specifically affecting the metahuman population, sort of a superhuman common cold. A walk in the park always had worked in the past to clear his head.

 

Team Alpha was in position. Team Beta was set. Team Delta was prepared for evac. Intel was correct, the target was making a rare "public appearance", his security force was small. The field officer still wondered why 3 Teams had been taken. Obviously the Nest Leader wanted this target captured very badly. "Mission Go!", he whispered into his communicator.

 

 

 

Hope it helps.

[Cold Steel]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

Use the PC's professions to kick start the campaign.

 

For example:

 

Psyche and Persona are hired to investigate shady goings on at Vulcan's firm regardings rumors about the CEO.

 

Meanwhile Rush is visiting Vulcan to discuss his input on a prototype medical bio scanner the firm is developing.

 

Titan is hanging around nearby looking for inspiration for his next issue.

 

Arcane's mystic powers detect the presence of some superpowered thugs out to raid the firm's R&D area.

[red_eagle123]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

You could modify one of the earlier suggestions.... say, they're all invited to a wedding in their civilian ID's, due to various connections. For some reason a super-villain attacks the wedding and the PC's are the only ones able to respond....

[MitchellS]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

I like things to move a little more slowly. I'd start with someone hiring the two detectives to investigate Vulcan in his civilian identity. This person has some idea that things aren't right with the CEO at the company and feels Vulcan might be behind it. The mentalist might pick up on a random thought and learn the person is Vulcan. That leads to a friendship and sense of mutual acquaintance. Now they must find out about this person who hired them.

 

Meanwhile Arcane and Titan cross paths when Arcane notices something in one of the comics Titan is drawing. There's a hidden glyph of power on one of the pages. This leads Arcane to confront Titan in his civilian ID to learn about the situation. Eventually it might turn out that some demon lord has been sending Titan subliminal messages to draw these glyphs in the hope of weakening the seal trapping him in his own dimension [but that's for a later conflict].

 

The guy who hired the detectives to find out about Vulcan has a metahuman child who is sick. The doctor has been treating the child and will be present when the other 3 heroes find their way back to his home. Now there's a conflict between the doctor who feels he must protect the child and parent and the other 3 heroes who want answers. The doctor slips out and returns as Rush. Now it's a mutant child and Rush against the other 3 heroes.

 

Of course the man who wants the information lives right next door to Titan, who happens to be getting the visit from Arcane. They hear the commotion and each goes to investigate in their own way. Now you have all the heroes in one spot in a showdown type of situation. That's when the major villain who's trying to get the mutant child shows up. Little does he understand that 6 heroes are there waiting for him.

 

The villain gets vanquished, you learn all the secrets of why the man thought Vulcan was behind the situation at the R&D firm, the mutant child gets introduced, and the heroes all decide they need to work together to help the child and all of society.

 

Add the flavor where you need it based on backgrounds and various psych limitations.

[CourtFool]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

The PCs are all shopping at the local grocery store when Grond crashes in fleeing from the bank across the street where he just stole over a thousand dollars in change.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

My favorite campaign intro was having the PCs all attacked by servants of a timelord bad guy. In his personal timeline, the team they formed has caused him numerous problems, so he came back before they formed to kill them. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that his interference is what caused them to join together in the first place...

 

Another one I want to do is to have the PCs start out waking up together, having obviously lost a fight but with no memory of it or the last few days. They backtrack their previous detective work and discover they had teamed up against a new supervillain group in town, one of whose members has an attack that can affect short term memory. They have to scramble to stop the plot and beat the villains they know little about and that already beat them once...

[Comic]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

It almost sounds to me like you want Virgil to hire them and form a team to fulfill the role of the one that is lost..

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

It was called the Shiva Project.

 

A team of superheroes devoted to bringing Dr. Destroyer down.

 

He killed the first three teams.

 

The fourth disappeared.

 

Now a new team forms, the best, last hope for justice.

 

They are Shiva Team 5.

[Alverant]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

VIRGIL gets a signal from the CEO from the dimension he is trapped in. It's a warning that a new threat from that dimension is coming to earth and to execute plan Bootstrap. In the event that the CEO is unable to continue his superhero duties to the city, VIRGIL is programmed to seek out and monitor all metahumans in the city. Then determine which ones would work best as a replacement group. Plan Bootstrap is bringing together the canidates and wedge them into a group. (Computers usually don't have "people skills".) Vulcan is the easiest to recruit. VIRGIL has files on the other PCs including ways to force them together. Now the trick is getting the PCs to WANT to stay together after being railroaded like this.

[Clonus]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

Personally I think a group of superheroes meeting in a bar is totally non-cliche. No team of superheroes has ever gotten together like that. Cliche for superheroes is "A giant robot attacks the city" or "A bunch of heroes all have been tipped off about this warehouse full of drugs" or "Your wheel-chair bound patron introduces the heroes he's gathered together and introduces them to each other". Of course the bar-room meeting does set a certain tone for the group.

[Greywind]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

Better to start in a tavern than a prison...

[CourtFool]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

Better to start in a tavern than a prison...

 

"Are you going to use that soap?"

[Drhoz]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

all abducted from Earth by a visiting alien collector "Bricks! Speedsters! Mentalist! collect the whole set!" but don't make it too difficult for them to get away... you can throw in a few security robots or other exhibits as opponents, whilst they're trying to find their way out of the display-case.

[Doc Samson]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

I like the cliche' tavern brawl, in our games it's usually a Bank Robbery. Here is an example of how I might set it up...

 

Titan - XXX City First National Bank happens to be on the same block as Titan's comic book studio.

Psych and Persona - are on a stakeout (jealous wife/ business man nooner type) accross the street from the bank

Rush - is in the bank making a deposit for his successful practice.

Vulcan - is at the bank getting the details of the stock split that is about to take place on the firm's stocks

Rush, Psyche, and Persona - all happen to be on patrol in the area or hear about it over the police ban (or something else equally appropriate based on their professions).

 

Scenario 1 - a team of minor villains arrive to knock over the bank. Thier reps let the players know that their individual characters cannot defeat them alone.

Scenario 2 - a major villain arrives to knock over the bank, rep as above.

Additional Circumnstances/ Reluctant Heroes - if any of the heroes, for whatever reason, aren't into stopping a robbery and saving people, take a look at their disads. Throw a DNPC or set off a Psych. Lim. if needed to get them to participate.

 

I hope this at least gives you a few ideas.

[Plex]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

It almost sounds to me like you want Virgil to hire them and form a team to fulfill the role of the one that is lost..

 

 

That comes later, after they form the team. That is also how they are getting their base. VIRGIL is going to behind a lot of what happens to them at first. He's going to hire the team in the guise of the reclusive CEO and give them use of the base he built. (In actuality it's the CEO's super base for him and his team that are lost in an alternate dimension. VIRGIL doesn't know what happened to the CEO and the original team- vulnerability to magic and the dimension they are trapped in is magical.) VIRGIL is doing this for two reasons at first:

 

1.) He wants to find out what happened to his creator and the original team.

2.) In an effort to try to find out what happened on his own, VIRGIL created something bad and needs to stop it. (Mechannon)

 

So he's been looking around for unknowns to get together and work for him, but it needs to look like it happened "naturally" not a set-up. VIRGIL will eventually act as, for lack of a better term, Professor X for the team in the guise of the CEO. VIRGIL will not let anyone know the CEO is missing or that he is actually pretending to be the CEO because he's been programmed to protect the CEO and his assets. (Of course this will eventually come out, but not for a long time.)

 

One way VIRGIL has already interfered with the PC's is with Vulcan. In his background, Vulcan finds a secret lab in the company he works for. After staking it out for a while, he realizes that no one else knows it is there. He finally enters and finds a lab with a prototype suit 75% built. He finishes the suit and then tests it in another adjacent danger room. He then needs to do his first live field test. (VIRGIL led him to this secret room and helped him with the build and tests. VIRGIL also knows that he needs a "live" person to be the face of the company and has chosen Vulcan to be that person. The original CEO had tagged Vulcan as a possible "heir" someday anyway, though Vulcan has no clue about any of this. VIRGIL can only use holograms and replicate robots for so long before someone catches on and demands to know what happened to the CEO.)

 

As a side note, I'm using the Champions Universe as my campaign world, with Millennium City being the base of operations.

 

Hmm, maybe the beginning is there, and I've just been over looking it. I need to read the rest of these posts first, though. (I'm answering questions, or things I feel need answering as I get to them)

 

Thanks for everyone's input so far, it definitely helps. Especially when I can talk with people who won't be playing the game and bounce ideas around. If anyone is interested in more about what I've planned let me know and I'll post a synopsis here.

[Karmakaze]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

Personally I think a group of superheroes meeting in a bar is totally non-cliche. No team of superheroes has ever gotten together like that.

 

I think the Superhero equivalent of "you meet in a bar" is the Bank Robbery or Giant Robot Rampage. For my University of Hellenback games, I tended to drop "Introduction to Underwater Basketweaving" on everyone's schedule and let players take "Addicted to coffee" so I could use either "So, you're all in Underwater Basketweaving..." or "So, you're all in the coffee shop..." as starting points.

 

As far as the poster's group. I see a few people have already spotted Vulcan as a rallying point. You could also use Rush. As a metahuman doctor, he has reason to know all of the PCs. If you want to stick with the "right place right time" bit, they could all be in the waiting room when a villain attacks. Alternately, Rush could have found a virus attacking metahumans and the PCs are all people he knows to be affected (or all unaffected, depending on what the virus does) - it could be Genocide trying to destroy all metas (like the legacy virus in Marvel), VIPER putting out mind-control nanites, or an attempt of some mysterious government agency to 'tag' metas for monitoring.

[Plex]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

. Alternately' date=' Rush could have found a virus attacking metahumans and the PCs are all people he knows to be affected (or all unaffected, depending on what the virus does) - it could be Genocide trying to destroy all metas (like the legacy virus in Marvel), VIPER putting out mind-control nanites, or an attempt of some mysterious government agency to 'tag' metas for monitoring.[/quote']

 

 

Yet another future plot that I had in mind with the IHA/Genocide specifically tailored to Rush. I was thinking how horrible it would be if all his medical records on metahumans got into the wrong hands. He doesn't just see superheroes, he also gets called in to see the villains too at whatever prison or sometimes "house" calls. He would probably know some weakness and vulnerabilities just so he cold actually treat these people. What a great knowledge base that would be for the right, or wrong, group to take out all the metas with a single swoop. Yeah, I'm definitely doing that.

 

I'm also running a mostly Bronze Age game. (can you tell?)

 

This is great, people.... Thanks

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

Personally I think a group of superheroes meeting in a bar is totally non-cliche. No team of superheroes has ever gotten together like that.

 

Shadowpact did.

 

It's certainly not common enough to be a Supers cliche, but it's definitely an RPG cliche.

[Rapier]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

"Are you going to use that soap?"

 

So I was reading a little and decided to scan ahead real fast...but this kind of grabbed my attention as it scrolled past at medium speed.

 

I'm thinking the natural response is "OHHHHHH YEAAAAAAH ."

[Lord Fyre]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

I know it is a lot of work, but you might try this . . .

 

Send each of them a short intro story featuring their character.

• In each story give them their own thread that leads them into the main story.
  
• Also have that thread lead them eather to meet all at once - at the start of the live session or have them meet as two or three small sub-groupings at the start of the first session.

This has the advantages that each character will have something to bring to the table, it gets the players involved in the story very quickly, and may even get them a head start on role-playing.

[McManus]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

My favorite campaign intro was having the PCs all attacked by servants of a timelord bad guy. In his personal timeline' date=' the team they formed has caused him numerous problems, so he came back before they formed to kill them. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that his interference is what caused them to join together in the first place...[/quote']

 

I really like this one. Though it seems to give the players Plot Defense until they have fulfilled their destiny. I can think of some fun ways around that though.

[Greywind]

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time)

 

I really like this one. Though it seems to give the players Plot Defense until they have fulfilled their destiny. I can think of some fun ways around that though.

The future is always fluid. Only the present may be changed.

 

Of course, time/dimension hopping master villains never quite realize that and keep altering reality attempting to change their past.