Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

[Gummibear]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

Me' date=' either. That's why I look over [b']two dozen[/b] 350-point superheroes in my annual GenCon Bring Your Own Brick game.

 

RPG01143, Friday 8/15, 8am-noon, Union Station Southern Room.

 

How many years have you run that game? I ask because I played/won a game titled My Toughest Hero about 13 years ago. I was wondering if it was still being run. It was great fun.

If it is I might be inspired to bring my battling doctor Gummibear and make it to the next one.

 

As far as characters and BYO con games I think that's one of the watershed moments for any GM. You get to be faced with relative unknowns; all the player's munchkinism previously described and(if we are to be honest with ourselves) that we have all gone through ourselves. Then in the heat of the game attempt to balance it, and occasionally disallow it, while attempting to maintain harmony at the table. Good times.

 

I am reminded of a non-Hero, 5-10the level D20 BYO game that I ran where a late comer brought his own half dragon half human to the game. I allowed him in because I knew his type and knew he would be predictable.

He had a bag of holding that he kept pulling everything out of under the sun while dutifully attempting to not be part of the group. He had a habit of shifting into his dragon form secretly, so when a dragon suddenly appeared in a house the group was fighting in it immediately became the much greater threat and the team attacked him. Ironically so did the villains-common enemy and all. The character fled the house the whole time trying to figure out why everyone had attacked him. This was shortly followed by the player leaving the table to pursue some "other game." He offered some half-hearted apology "Sorry to have destroyed your game." This was responded to pretty unanimously at the table by "you didn't-you were a nice amusing diversion."

The punchline was later in the game when one of the other players (a thief) that had "obtained" the half dragon's bag of holding was fighting an Ogre. He suddenly reached into the bag and said "I'm pulling out a +5 knife of Ogre Slaying because you have to know that its in here." The table errupted in laughter and I gave it to him.

Good times.

[GreyGuardian]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

Using player generated characters would be possible if character creation guidelines could be provided to everyone registered for the game at least a few weeks before a convention. Those character guidelines would need to be more restrictive than build a 350 point super hero using any hero system rule or variant. A "living game" like the rpga d20 living greyhawk might be possible if you had enough people with enough spare time that could write clear guidlines and coordinated scenario releases / publication.

 

With that said, expect convention games to use pre-generated characters because it solves several potential problems. 1) No character legality check needed, 2) game master knows what the characters are capable of and can balance opposition to provide whatever level of challenge is desired, 3) player character agendas and dynamics can be set to get players "into the character" and give them each something unique to strive for as well as providing built in role play opportunities within the player group.

[mattingly]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

Yeah' date=' but you have that ace up your sleeve. Anyone who looks out of whack is used by you as the opposition.[/quote']

Shh! that's a secret.

 

How many years have you run that game? I ask because I played/won a game titled My Toughest Hero about 13 years ago.

That wasn't me. I've been doing this for 5 or 6 years now.

[CTaylor]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

One of my favorite games I ran at a convention I let people bring any character they wanted, no matter what the build or point cost, rules raping or what have you, and they played their guy in one fight easily defeating the bad guys. Then, the next morning, they woke up in Stronghold prison... as the bad guys they defeated, their minds swapped by a device used in the fight. They had to escape from prison, get to their base, beat up the bad guys, and clear their names, while somehow figuring out a way to swap their minds back. Meanwhile the bad guys were in their hero bodies, which were these unchecked monstrosities with munchkinized stats.

 

It was lots of fun. Would have been even more fun in an ongoing campaign, as the bad guys were spending every waking moment smearing the names and reputations of the heroes, since they knew the swap would reverse automatically in a matter of days. Painting swastikas on synagoges, groping little girls, saying terrible things in public, going on drunken rampages, etc.

[HalloweenKnight]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

One of my favorite games I ran at a convention I let people bring any character they wanted' date=' no matter what the build or point cost, rules raping or what have you, and they played their guy in one fight easily defeating the bad guys. Then, the next morning, they woke up in Stronghold prison... as the bad guys they defeated, their minds swapped by a device used in the fight. They had to escape from prison, get to their base, beat up the bad guys, and clear their names, while somehow figuring out a way to swap their minds back. Meanwhile the bad guys were in their hero bodies, which were these unchecked monstrosities with munchkinized stats.[/quote']

 

In a word, brilliant.

 

When I was still GMing, my players never needed the "your character is too powerful" lesson very often...but if they did? This would've been the way to go.

[CTaylor]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

Once the new Champions Universe and edition is out I'll look at rebuilding it and writing the adventure up for publication, you never know I might be able to even sell it to Hero. It was a somewhat uneven adventure largely because I was feeling ill by the end, but the concept was a load of fun. My experience running games at conventions has been a mixed bag because I usually end up a wreck by the end of the game.

[casualplayer]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

Many moons ago, think it was '90, my buddies and I descended on PacificCon in San Mateo, CA. We had HERO gaming in our sights, this being the birthplace of Champions and all. I couldn't score an event ticket though due to the popularity of the Champions events however my friend Dylan did. He shows up to his BYO event with Dr. Arcane, a mystical elemental multiform character who was BTW the son-in-law of Mallonee's Dr. Arcane. The GM took one look at the 6 character sheets that Dylan handed him (human, earth, air, fire, water and void) and said "Hell, no!" My buddy desperate to still play bummed a character off me, Onslaught, who he then proceeded to have a blast with. See, Dr. Arcane spent a lot of time making up his mind which spell to use (VPP) or which form to be in (Multiform) or Recovering from getting walloped. Onslaught was built to take a licking and keep on ticking, with a 50 CON, and Dylan was giddy that he didn't get Stunned once during the whole game.

 

So I would whole-heartedly recommend against bringing a Multiform character to a con game.

[Silbeg]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

So I would whole-heartedly recommend against bringing a Multiform character to a con game.

 

I have to say, were I to do a "bring your own" character game, I would be very hesitant to allow a multiform character. Not because they are intrinsically unbalanced... but that it would take too much of my time to review them.

 

All this talk makes me want to do a "build your own" battle royale game next CotN... Have to have a session prior to the game to build characters... all characters have to have their math, etc., checked by entry in to Hero Designer. 8 heroes enter, only one walks away!

[BNakagawa]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

I have to say, were I to do a "bring your own" character game, I would be very hesitant to allow a multiform character. Not because they are intrinsically unbalanced... but that it would take too much of my time to review them.

 

Also, because at a convention, you may not (and probably don't) have any clue whether or not this particular player can competently play a character with multiform.

[Bloodstone]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

At a Con game, I'd be really wary of Duplication, VPP's and characters with abnormally high SPD. In the wrong hands, these powers can easily slow a combat to an absolute crawl for the rest of the players.

 

Many GM's look down on the following powers as game breaking, especially for games with a mystery to solve: Mind Scan, Telepathy, Precognition, Retrocognition/Psychometry.

 

Any power can be pretty game breaking if the GM isn't ready for it thogh. I had a GM put Grond up against a team of supers that included a Human Torch homage and a White Queen level Telepath...

[SteveZilla]

Re: Name Something You'd Allow That The GM At The Convention Didn't

 

The next time I happen across a BYOC Hero game at a con, I might try something like this just to see what kind of reaction I could provoke:

 

10 DEX (+100 Lighning Reflexes w/ Speed Drain)

12 SPD

 

10D6 Speed Drain - AoE: Radius, Megascaled Area(1"=1000 km), Zero END, Personal Immunity, Penetrating; and No Range.

 

1 PIP RKA - Penetrating x4, Armor Piercing x4, Zero END, and Personal Immunity.

 

 

I'd of course have a real character to play after I tell him that was a joke.