SOS UltraRob! Naruto HERO One Shot Saves the Day!

[UltraRob]

Campaign GM: "UltraRob! SOS! I can't make gaming night tomorrow! Can you run? I repeat...Can you run?":idjit:

 

UltraRob: "Relax o revered GM! UltraRob is on the case!"

 

So, with that, UltraRob sped into action! He had one night to prepare, but what was he going to run? Having just finished watching a bunch of Naurto live action fan videos online, and having been wanting to take a stab at a Naruto HERO game, even for a oneshot, the choice was obvious!

 

So, how to put together a winning one-shot for a bunch of gamers of variable HERO experience that will only last a few hours? Here's how I went about it!

 

Step One: Find a bunch of Naruto fanart of original characters from deviant art. This guy fit the bill.

 

Step Two: Pick the following: one character for each PC, an equal number of NPC ninja pictures, and one to be a teacher.

 

Step Three: Grab Hero Designer and whip together a generic Genin (Ninja Cadet/Student) Ninja Template. I made them on 125 points, buying equipment with points, but gave them no disads at all! (See below for why.)

 

Step Four: Mod the template to fit each picture (I mostly played around with stats and gave one or two unique skills to each), giving each one or two Jutsu (funky ninja powers) in addition to standard Ninja equipment and skills. I gave my characters each a unique power, but that's not quite by the book for the setting:

 

From Wikipedia:

The academy is where would-be ninja start; they are not actually considered ninja until they graduate. Academy students take formal and practical tests of all sorts and are taught basic ninja skills, such as martial arts, techniques, physical fitness and the way of the ninja. Basic weapon usage, such as kunai and shuriken, is commonly taught. Elementary ninja techniques, though they vary from village to village, are also taught. These include the Transformation Technique, Rope Escape Technique, Body Replacement Technique and the Clone Technique.

 

Step Five: Print out character sheets and pictures of both good guys and bad guys, make sure nothing is double-sided. (I cheated with the opposition, using just the generic template and modding it with notes, but had full sheets for each picture.)

 

Step Six: Go to game.

 

Step Seven: Show the players only the pictures of the PC group, and have them pick the sheets with the pictures on them they think would be good to play. (Tell them nothing else!) Once each one has picked a picture, have them flip over the picture and on the blank back of the page write 5 interesting things about that character in point form. (Personality, goals, quirks, whatever). (Tell them they will be rated on these. (optional))

 

Step Eight: (optional) Once they're done, they hand them to the GM, the GM then rates what they wrote on a scale of 1-5 and that number is the number of Hero Points they get for the game. These are my generic metagaming points which I used to reward players and keep things heroic in games like HERO which lack any such system. Each point can be used to a) reroll any die in the game, or not die from a shot that should have killed you, only leaving you badly wounded.

 

Step Nine: Hand the players out the actual character sheets which go along with each picture. Let them read it over and explain anything that needs explaining, especially in regards to special abilities.

 

Step Ten: Run Game

 

The Tutorial- The players, genin (apprentice Ninja in this setting) arrived at a forest clearing in the morning to find their teacher Tenchi-Sensei (a white haired genius Ninja girl) waiting for them to put them through their morning exercises. Their instructions were simple- beat her up and don't hold back. Of course, she's much higher skilled than they are, so she's mostly playing defensive while they get a feel for their characters. In my game, she used a Ninja Duplicate technique partway through when they couldn't see her, and then they found themselves facing 3 of her, each of which could hit normally, but disappeared if they took 1 BODY damage. (The real teach had at this point taken off to watch from a nearby tree anyways, as they soon discovered.) The key here is just giving them practice, don't let this run longer than 2 full turns before she calls it quits. She then informs them that they have a mission, tells them the mission, and lets them know they need to show up at the city's South Gate at lunchtime. They have a few hours to get anything ready they'll need on the trip.

 

The Mission: The players are to escort a local merchant through the forrest to a city 3 days away. He's driving a large wagon and a full team of oxen, and the players will be expected to walk beside him and keep him safe for the trip. There's no danger, they're told, it's a simple babysitting job. However, if they do encounter any opposition, they're to bring them in alive for questioning under any circumstances. When the players meet the merchant "Mr. Taro", they'll find he's a curious and slightly lecherous old man who will ask them lots of questions and provide them with as much trouble and comic relief as the GM wishes.

 

The Complications: At the same time, there is a group of NPC Genin students being told by their teacher the following: "another group of Genin are escorting a man to the city on the edge of the forrest, capture him and return him here. You are under no circumstances to seriously hurt them, just knock them out and leave them. You leave at dinnertime today, any questions?"

 

So, as you can see, the actual scenario is more or less a game of hockey, with each side trying to get the puck (the merchant) into their own net. Whether they need to get his cargo there or not too is up to the GM, but I suggest against it as it might slow things down.

 

The Result: In my game, the players foiled an attempt to sneak the merchant out during the first camping night and decided to make a run for it. (Or as fast as an ox cart moving at night could handle.) This led to a bloody confrontation on the road just before dawn of that night which left half of each team incapacitated and the others at a stalemate. The ones who remained negotiated a withdrawl and both sides retreated to lick their wounds and try again. The PCs then prepared plans to fortify their position the next night to keep the NPCs out, but the game had to be called there on account of time. (We only had 3 hours to play.) To understate the case, it was a rousing success all around, which is why I thought I'd post it here for others to consider. I should note that all but one PC actually had either seen or read some of the Naruto comic/anime, and they filled in the unfamiliar one quickly. ("We're ninja cadets.")

 

Notes:

 

Funky Ninja Powers

 

I built their Jutsu (techniques) as 45 point multipowers, each with 2 clearly labelled slots. These multipowers had the limitation Gestures: Requires Both Hands.

 

Their Jutsu were powered by Chakra Pools (END Reserves) of 3x their EGO, with a REC of 1/2 their EGO per hour. Depending on how much you want them using their abilities, this may be too much or too little.

 

Standard Ninja Stuff:

• +3" Running
  
• +6" Leaping
  
• Kunai Throwing Irons (multipower: 1 1/2D6 RKA/HKA, 6 recoverable charges)
  
• Explosive bombs smoke/explosives (20 active points, charges)
  
• Herb Healing Patches (given to the group medic), 1D6 healing, 20 charges. (use carefully)
  
• Shirken (RKA with 4 recoverable charges)
  

[Nolgroth]

Re: SOS UltraRob! Naruto HERO One Shot Saves the Day!

 

I know very little of Naruto, but the whole premise of your game was absolutely cool.