Hero vs Hero combats: Fun Stuff!

[Tech]

1. The fun fight

 

Once in awhile in our campaign, we have heroes fight each other. The 'whys' of the fights are as varied as there are superpowers. Some examples of those whys are below:

a) the most common: heroes (both as individuals but more commonly as groups) agree to host a public team duel with the proceeds going to charity

trickery - more difficult for the GM to pull off

c) mind control - not as fun but much easier

d) danger room - self explanatory

 

The most recent one started when our most experienced group (with liaison to the government) got a report about a superpowered fight occurring. When they arrived, they were shocked to find two heroes fighting it out amongst themselves. One hero called Wonder Girl (based on supergirl), was fighting another hero called Power Lass (based on powergirl). A battlemap was used with lots of objects to break (I mean avoid breaking ) with buildings drawn on the map. To complicate things, a few villains were there to take advantage of the situation and steal from stores.

 

The heroes were kept off-balance, trying to stop these two heroes from wrecking the place while trying to stop the villains at the same time. When one heroine tried to use reason to stop the battle, she got punched and stunned. This further confused the heroes: the two battling heroes were obviously intent on fighting each other and wouldn't tolerate interference. Many of the players asked if they could make perception rolls to see if anything was causing them to fight, which I allowed. They made their rolls and of course, they didn't see anything.

 

After the villains were either captured or left the scene (many turns later, both superheroines were still fighting it out!), the group spread out to look for the cause of the problem although a couple heroes made themselves targets to stop property damage. Finally, one of the searching heroes found a villain standing a block away in an alley; he got knocked out quickly.

 

Two fight stopped.

 

The villain had mental control over the heroes, and he had them fight each other to see who would go out with him. Since he'd done this earlier,he didn't need to be in sight and waited for them to battle it out. Why? He's conceited and egotistical. He wasn't out to steal things, just out to satisfy his own ego and powers.

 

The short end of this? It was fun! I'd even created a short video to show beforehand - sort of a trailer for the episode. The players got to cause some serious damage to the area, fight villains, fight each other and all-in-all, have a fun time.

 

2. Why is it fun to have hero vs hero fights?

 

GMs everywhere know that when they put together an episode where the heroes will be facing a foe, it is essentially the GM's mind vs all the players minds. A GM has to be able to do quick thinking, know the foes stats and abilities/powers/etc, keep combat flowing smoothly if/when it starts and still keep the game going and make it fun for everyone. Phew! That's alot! Players are an inventive lot: they can draw on each other for ideas whereas you have, well, you to draw on for ideas. Players being players, they may not be on the same wavelength of thinking when you start your adventure and may turn in a direction not counted on or wanted.

 

What does this have to do with a hero vs hero fight? Lots!

 

When a battle occurs where a hero fights another hero, the GM can sit back and take a break while the players take center stage while using their characters. A GM can design villains/foes but you're only one person whereas there are many players (generally) and they have all their creativity. When heroes fight each other for whatever reason, all their own creativity is pitted against each other suddenly; all the little nuances in their own characters gets challenged against another players, from one having a DEX 25 vs another's DEX 23 and so on.

 

The GM only needs to direct the combat here and there, make a few judgment calls but otherwise, doesn't have to concern himself with villain stats, how much Stun is left or End spent: the players are doing that now. If an entire team is pitted against another team, the entire episode can be built around that theme. We've done that numerous times in our campaign. Instead of players trying to guess a single persons thoughts and episode outline, namely the GM, they now have to contend with multiple players and their characters.

 

In one episode I ran, about 1/3 of it lead up to the inevitable but unknown battle of one team vs another. The other 2/3 of it was the fight. My GM intervention was not needed but I figured hey, stick around - I want to see them pound each other. It leads to fun camaraderie as well as letting players see how their characters compare to the next player character.

 

I encourage GM to try this if you haven't done so before and if you have, try one again. You get a break while they beat on each other and you can even start work on the next episode secretly.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Hero vs Hero combats: Fun Stuff!

 

Generally, the hero-vs-hero fights I've run have involved mental powers used on one or two heroes (usually the combat monster PC) and the others have to restrain him. Once, I did the opposite, though, and it led to an entire story arc.

 

I had an adventure where the heroes were going after the Destruction Company (armored battlesuit types from 4th edition, led by Power Tool, a gadgeteer/inventer). During the battle, Power Tool hit my friend John's PC, Hybrid, with some sort of dart. I asked John if Hybrid had a certain Life Support (knowing beforehand he did), then said "Okay, the dart apparently had no effect." The thing is, the dart had nothing to do with Life Support. It injected a genetic compound that caused Hybrid to generate anti-pheremones -- anyone spending any time with him got more and more irritated with him.

 

Over the next few sessions, I surreptitiously told the other players that their characters were getting angry with Hybrid, and to play it out. Things got to the point where they had a big battle and Hybrid temporarily left the team. (Prior to the fight with Destruction Company, John had mentioned he might take a break from gaming to help care for his new baby, allowing his wife to play more, so that's what he did.)

 

When things with the baby calmed down enough that John was going to come back to the game, I ran him through a solo adventure where Hybrid figured things out and got help to stop his body producing the anti-pheremone. All along, John knew *something* was going on in-game, but not exactly what it was or why his teammates were acting so hostile.

[Guest Goradin]

Re: Hero vs Hero combats: Fun Stuff!

 

I used to have heroes meet this way alot in my campaigns. You know Heroes meet, fight , team up and beat up the baddies the very stuff of comics.

[Doc Shocker]

Re: Hero vs Hero combats: Fun Stuff!

 

With my upcoming Teen Champions/Ravenswood campaign I'll be using the "Danger Room" scenario from time to time.

 

I have a few of variations in mind.

 

Save the Citizen - Straight out of Sky High with variations on the number of participants

 

King of the Hill - One PC starts in the target location the others try to remove/replace that PC. Team work optional. Only one person can occupy the "Hill" at a time. The person that remains on top the longest wins.

 

Blue vs. Bronze - Four on Four with various objectives such as Capture the Flag, Repel the Attackers and Protect the Objective. Of course, standard team vs. team combat is part of this.

 

Obstacle Course - Each PC tries to make it through a number of challenges designed for their power set while the rest of the PCs try to hinder their progress. The student to complete their course in the shortest time is the winner.

 

Hmmmm does anybody have any other ideas?

[Amused]

Re: Hero vs Hero combats: Fun Stuff!

 

Funny you should mention this. Our last Buffy/Dark Champions session nearly came down to a Hero Vs. Hero fight that didn't meet any of the criteria above. Of course, that had to due with opposing psych limitations: hates demons/vamps (kills on sight) & won't kill vampires unless she knows they are killers.

 

It came to a standoff to revival a western as Lauren stood over the body of a subdued vampire with her crossbow out daring Stewart to attempt to stake the vamp. If Phillip hadn't intervene and/or Stewart didn't already have another idea to get around this, there would have been a big blowout.

[Pariah]

Re: Hero vs Hero combats: Fun Stuff!

 

We did a superpowered Capture The Flag exercise in my old campaign. The two senior members, Black Cat and Gibraltar, picked teams, looked at their assigned locations in the Danger Room, and set up strategies. Then I let them knock each other around a bit.

 

But the really fun bit came when one of the villains (a clone of one of the earlier team members) broke into HQ in the middle of this, incapacitated the GMPC that was administering the exercise, and trapped the team in the Danger Room for three days. It took them a while to figure out that they had never actually left the simulation....

[Comic]

Re: Hero vs Hero combats: Fun Stuff!

 

..and sometimes our heroes just stand for opposed caused that come into conflict.

 

'Law and Order' vs. 'Protect Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness'

 

'Scientific Curiousity' vs. 'Keep My Employer's Secrets'

 

'Glory Hound' vs... 'Glory Hound'.