SimComm Posted August 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! Hugh Neilson: I've tried splitting them up, but well, BloodClaw doesn't have a lot of impetus personally, I think mostly because he has very few skills, none of them investigational, so he mostly hangs around the party until there are things to hit. Checkmate, Doug McCrae: I guess it's alright that players like different things... I've been wanting to do a rival sort of thing, but he hasn't ironed out his backstory. Vondy: The smell... oh... it's almost a character in and of itself. When BloodClaw tries to do his "Batman" routine and sneak up on people, I usually let them roll a PER smell roll. It's always fun to let the villains try and figure out what's going on. I think I had one villain execute a minion because he thought the minion broke wind in the middle of his speech... Best, -SC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yansuf Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! The smell... oh... it's almost a character in and of itself. When BloodClaw tries to do his "Batman" routine and sneak up on people, I usually let them roll a PER smell roll. It's always fun to let the villains try and figure out what's going on. I think I had one villain execute a minion because he thought the minion broke wind in the middle of his speech... What a guy! I assume that all his minions are terrified of him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimComm Posted August 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! Yansuf: Oh, oh yes. I had to have a "kick the dog" moment with the villain, as he was kind of silly. (I was aiming for making him sort of like Goldfinger and he came out more like The Monarch). Now that I can remember it, let me see if I can remember his rant, "And then after our masterstroke we shall... shall... (sniff) (sniff, sniff)" :checks under shoe: :turns to nearest minion: "YOU! Did you just break wind in the middle of my speech??!!" Completely white-faced Minion: "No, God, no, no I didn't no! please!" "LIAR! You dare to sap the power of my carefully planned monologue with your bodily functions?! Do you think we're in kindergarten??! This insult will NOT stand." :death beam/minion screams & explodes: -SC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! This is one of the things that I think we need to sit down and write for Steve or someone so that they can do it properly. It is a common trope in HERO games that I have been involved with that they inevitably end up with people tending toward damage types and defences that are pretty similar and looking for better descriptors to try and make things distinctive. Why should the squishy character be forced to get defences - because the story says she should or because the system means she has to or else she wont enjoy the game (or can roleplay healing in the hospital). I think this is mainly a system encouragement that good GMs can try to avoid. I tend to avoid big nemesis villains because I think that they are either too good for a party of heroes or they get too quickly beaten. I tend to work with a villain team or a bad guy with lots of mooks. I think that your group probably need to be looking at this kind of solution as well. The squishy PC can find herself fighting from the shadows against normal human mooks and may once or twice find herself in hand to hand with these. Much less dangerous for her, while Mr Slashy goes toe to toe. You make sure that the right powers are put against the right PCs - that's the way the comic book writers do it. Work on how she gets to enter contests that do not come down to CVs and defences but more about mental agility and knowledge while Mr Slashy gets to fight hordes of zombes or robots or the big bad guy. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimComm Posted August 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! Doc Democracy: Thanks for the comment! I know she actually does like the fact that her character is very squishy, and that she has to work hard to keep her from being squished. I also know she likes to coordinate the heroes and do "end runs" if everyone else has the villains occupied. -SC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! I know she actually does like the fact that her character is very squishy' date=' and that she has to work hard to keep her from being squished. I also know she likes to coordinate the heroes and do "end runs" if everyone else has the villains occupied.[/quote'] Mentalists that are squishy and want to keep that character "feel" need to use terrain and distance to maintain their health. Clairsentience and Mind Scan can keep the character at a distance from any combat. Invisibility is another way to keep alive. Having the character buy some light body armor is a good idea, just in case the tactics/distance/invisibility options fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! Hugh Neilson: I've tried splitting them up, but well, BloodClaw doesn't have a lot of impetus personally, I think mostly because he has very few skills, none of them investigational, so he mostly hangs around the party until there are things to hit. It's not that hard to force the issue. If they don't split up voluntarily, split them up. He has no skills and he stinks - why would I let him tag along on an investigation or a diplomatic mission? Because there's a giant neon sign saying "PC" floating over his head? The PC's are defeated in combat, and the villains take off with the three that don't stink and they are confident they can restrain. Or the guy is kidnapped in his sleep from under his bridge - he can break out, but how does he get back? Not without communicating with someone. This assumes you want to break him out of the crutch of leaning on the other PC's, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimComm Posted August 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! Steve: Well, it's funny you mention the Mind Scan and Clairovoyance mix, as for a little while Dreamy was our "arm-chair" general, staying a few blocks away and coordinating things until one combat when things went south and they really needed help. Bless her heart, she went out into the battlefield and managed to gum up the works until the PCs made enough recoveries to get out of there. Since then, she's made it a point to be in the thick of things, better or worse. Hugh Neilson: Nod, he's kind of a weird character, which is why I have difficulty writing an adventure around him. He almost seems kind of random at times, and I don't know how he's going to react to things... besides eventually them of course... Thanks for the ideas about getting him involved. I'll keep trying. -SC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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