How many staffers does a superhero team need?

[Mark Rand]

How many full-time staffers does a four-color superhero team need? How many of those live-in?

 

The reason I'm asking is that the Champions seem to have only three staffers, Wendy, the housekeeper, Denise, the federal liaison, and Jeanine, the administrative assistant.

 

Thoughts, anyone?

[Clonus]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

And the X-Men usually had zero.

[Vulcan]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

It probably depends a lot on how much the team pitches in to help as well.

 

For example: is one of the team members the PRIMUS/UNTIL liason? Then the liason NPC is unneccessary. A speedser with AE TK to simulate doing things in an area very quickly can clean the base in a matter of phases, and then the maid is unneccesary. Is there a cahracter on the team with PS: Cook? Then the kitchen is taken care of.

 

Of course, all that assumes that the PC's are willing to do the aforementioned chores. The 'billionaire playboy' would be unlikely to do so, and would want a battalion of staff members to take care of such things for him. That way he can concetrate on being the terror of the night...

 

It comes down to what the PC's want. Some teams will want to have lots of staffers around to take care of the place. Other teams have little to no staff, fearing what the villians of their would might do to them.

 

(This is a big concern in the game I'm playing. The GM is a big fan of the Iron Age, and NPC's are forever getting whacked - or PC's are getting whacked saving them.)

[Vulcan]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

The X-Men are a prime example of the team taking care of the base themselves.

[assault]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

Generally speaking, none.

[Maelstrom]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

Generally none . . . but realistically? Jets take special mechanics, the hydraulic lift for the jets take special mechanics, etc. Who does the grocery shopping? Who takes in the newspapers when they're out saving the universe? They'll need gardeners, housekeepers, docents for the museum, janitors, a butler to manage it all. And they might all need security clearance, or at least background checks. And security. Yep, security! When one is out saving the universe, you don't want your second-best watch nicked.

 

It'd be like a small military base combined with a hotel. Say an Escort Carrier full of folks.

[GoldenAge]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

EPIC ALLIANCE (The group I GM) has 13 staff members:

 

Malloy (their very own Jarvis/Alfred)

Cap'n Jack (Dirigible Pilot/Chauffeur - and a great one at that, despite his idiosyncrasies and occasional costume fetish, Arrrrrrrr)

Chef (A Premier chef) and Sue (his sous chef)

+ 9 full-time staff made up of a multitalented crew with skills ranging from home & yard maintenance, air traffic control & security, domestic engineering and Librarian as well as computer and electrical technical abilities. All hand selected and personally vetted by Malloy.

 

All staff reside in the Viore Estate's luxurious 4-story boat house on Lake Conquest.

 

It takes a lot to keep the Viore Estate running.

 

Take a look: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32904

[assault]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

Jets take special mechanics' date=' the hydraulic lift for the jets take special mechanics, etc.[/quote']

 

Assuming the team has a jet, assuming the jet isn't maintained by members of the team, and assuming that maintaining the jet is a full-time job.

 

Who does the grocery shopping?

 

Valid point, I guess. Even the Justice League satellite requires toilet paper. Of course a lot of stuff would be dealt with by regular deliveries. Still, there could be exceptions, where Wonder Woman and Batman have to pop down to the shops to buy something. That could be the basis for a neat scenario.

 

In any case, not a full-time position.

 

Who takes in the newspapers when they're out saving the universe? They'll need gardeners, housekeepers, docents for the museum, janitors, a butler to manage it all. And they might all need security clearance, or at least background checks. And security. Yep, security! When one is out saving the universe, you don't want your second-best watch nicked.

 

All of this depends on what and where your base is. Anyone who can break into the JLA satellite isn't going to be looking to nick someone's watch!

 

BTW, I had to look up the meaning of the term "docents". It seems to be an American English word that isn't in other versions of the language. There ya go.

[BNakagawa]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

if one of the PCs is a tecno-wiz, you could go with robots.

[Mark Rand]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

In the campaign I hope to start soon, the team is using Doctor Arcane's house, which is based on the Mobius in the 4E book Mystic Masters. As the good doctor is there only about 5% of the time, at first all that was needed was his housekeeper.

 

The house, admittedly, has some mystical features that make her job easier. These include self-cleaning floors, walls, and ceilings, an oven that doesn't need preheating, a refrigerator that food doesn't spoil in, and a dishwasher that puts the dishes away.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

Get the speedster to do all of the spare jobs.

 

In fact, maybe there is a superhumanly fast character who sells his/her services to a number of superteams as combined secretary/maid/clean.

 

What would he/she be called though?

 

The Sonic Janitor? Supermaid? Domestic Goddess? Miss Macromaid? Cleanfreek? Super's Little Helper?

[Mark Rand]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

Here's the staff listing I have so far. Marie Anderson is the housekeeper. Her husband, David, is the butler. His mother, Helen, is the cook. Officially, Marie's in charge of the staff. Unofficially, the three of them are. Under David and Marie are the maids and housemen.

 

Helen's daughter, and David's sister, Mary Ann, is her mother's only assistant. Mary Ann's husband's in charge of the computers, one of which is in the pantry (an extradimensional room linking the dining room and kitchen).

[lemming]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

I'll have to dig out the sheets, but we had for the Protector's Mansion

Librarian, Mechanic, Driver, Gardner, a couple scientists, a staff of detectives, the base AI counted since it was the ghost of my character's sister.

 

I think there were a few others on staff that never got written up.

[Narratio]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

Let's see, the Avengers just had one, Jarvis, until the late 80's when it became a team of 6 or so. Justice League never had anybody, neither did the LSH until they modded Computo, used robots throughout. Teen Titans had nobody, Justice Society, Challengers of the Unknown, Doom Patrol, Outsiders, X whatevers... not a one.

 

So, it all comes down to how many do the players and GM want. The big questions to be answered are; How often will the GM use them as plot hooks? And would your players care to donate NPC's from thier DisAds to make up the support team- thereby solving 2 problems at once?

[Maelstrom]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

BTW' date=' I had to look up the meaning of the term "docents". It seems to be an American English word that isn't in other versions of the language. There ya go.[/quote']

 

They're usually covered in soot, and they hate Nazis.

[bubba smith]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

How many full-time staffers does a four-color superhero team need? How many of those live-in?

 

The reason I'm asking is that the Champions seem to have only three staffers, Wendy, the housekeeper, Denise, the federal liaison, and Jeanine, the administrative assistant.

 

Thoughts, anyone?

i think that'd do it

[MPT]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

First you must ask how many superhero staffers does it take to change the lightbulbs?

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

One of the aspects of The Dark Knight that I really enjoyed is the portrayal of Batman as an organization more than an individual. He had Alfred, Lucius, the entire R&D division of Wayne Enterprises, even Rachel, not to mention the crew rebuilding Wayne Manor. True, not all of these would be considered staff, but I thought it was an excellent way to show that nobody, not even Batman, can do everything by himself.

 

Now, when it comes to a team, the dynamic will be a bit different. It depends upon the make up of the members and their specialties in addition to individual constraints in time and resources. The FF was largely built and maintained by Reed and his computers. However behind the scenes were their rarely mentioned accountants and business personnel. Technically, the entire staff of the Baxter Building/Four Freedoms Plaza were FF employees. Standard maintenance, landscaping, etc. were handled by these people.

 

We may never have see anyone else in the Avengers Mansion or the X Mansion, but I have a hard time picturing Hawkeye mowing acres of lawn or the Beast fixing a clogged toilet. Robots and super powers can account for a lot of that stuff, however.

 

I think the way to staff a base is to ask two questions:

1) What are the tasks that need to be done?

2) Can you see a member of the group willingly doing this task?

3) Is it a task which can be handled by a non-member?

 

Take cooking. In a firehouse, the members willingly share this task. Can the same be said for your supergroup? If not, since this is not a security sensitive position, hire a cook.

 

Of course, there's NPC staff and then there's background staff. NPC staff are named characters that will appear and interact with the team, ie. Jeeves the Butler. Background staff are just off screen characters and there's no real reason to get everything detailed to the last man or woman, ie the landscaping crew.

 

That's my take, anyway.

[AnotherSkip]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

Whaaaat can't you see a Lawnmowing Arrow? (1/d6 RKA, AOE line, +4)

Or a Plunger Arrow?

 

 

Yes Hawkeye, Domestic Avenger!

[Mark Rand]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

I'm considering making the headquarters more like Dr. Strange's house, but with an unattached two-car garage. The place will be, take my word for it, somewhat eclectic.

[Beast]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

actually the X-Men had a staff of about 2

grounds keeper(x-military)

nurse

both human

back before their stint in australia

when the basic costume became bullet proof

 

 

The X-Men are a prime example of the team taking care of the base themselves.

[GoldenAge]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

Teen Titans had nobody' date=' Justice Society, Challengers of the Unknown, Doom Patrol, Outsiders, X whatevers... not a one.[/quote']

 

The Justice Society has Ma Hunkel taking care of most of the house chores...

The JSA museum's curator was Alex Montez until he got all killed. Jesse Quick also held museum curator duties while depowered. I think Ma Hunkel takes care of the museum now.

[lemming]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

I'm considering making the headquarters more like Dr. Strange's house' date=' but with an unattached two-car garage. The place will be, take my word for it, somewhat eclectic.[/quote']

 

That's how the Protector's was. Very Dr. Strange like, no actual floorplan because it changed depending on the whim of the house.

 

And the Gardner was a 300 point character, because the garden was the security system.

[Vulcan]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

actually the X-Men had a staff of about 2

grounds keeper(x-military)

nurse

both human

back before their stint in australia

when the basic costume became bullet proof

 

Oh, yeah, I forgot about them. As I recall, the groundskeeper was ex-military - I remember him guarding the tunnel from the X-Mansion to the Morlocks lair with an M-60 right after the massacre...

 

And then there was the first X-employee, Moira McTaggart - who busted into a battle in the mansion with an M-16!

[Egyptoid]

Re: How many staffers does a superhero team need?

 

how about a BRDM full of Troopers with a P-90 each