itsalwayssunny Posted November 27, 2011 Report Share Posted November 27, 2011 Anybody else a big fan of old-time superhero movie serials? In particular I really enjoy both Batman serials, the Captain America serial (as you can see from my avatar), and the Captain Marvel serial, though there are a whole mess of them out now on DVD that I thrill to whenever time/opportunity allows. I'm already tied up with some games on Hero Central, but when that winds down or I get more time I'd like to do one set in the world of superhero movie serials. I'd like to gauge interest. Obviously to recreate the world of the superhero movie serials, PCs would (generally) be very low-powered, maybe 200 pts. maximum, almost more like the pulp heroes of the 1930s than superheroes from the 1940s. Very few should have any true superpowers. It's okay for superheroes to carry guns and even shoot evil henchmen (at least Captain America sure did, even his secretary did!). Plots tend to revolve around a McGuffin that the bad guy either stole or is trying to steal, and which he will then use to extort his ransom or to rule the world. Every session should end with a cliffhanger where it appears the heroes face certain death. So, anybody else out there think this would be heaps of fun? --Kap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steriaca Posted November 29, 2011 Report Share Posted November 29, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions I would be intrested, but I fear with my recent rant over in Worlds Finest that I might not be alowed by you to join. In any case, you must promous me one thing...you have to do the two big chestnuts in the serials...the buzzsaw and the tied to the train tracks. Of course, I wonder how it will be with multiple heros. At the most superhero serials only have one costumed hero, and the goodguy suport system (which also at times act as the people the hero has to save). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsalwayssunny Posted November 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions I would be intrested, but I fear with my recent rant over in Worlds Finest that I might not be alowed by you to join. In any case, you must promous me one thing...you have to do the two big chestnuts in the serials...the buzzsaw and the tied to the train tracks. Of course, I wonder how it will be with multiple heros. At the most superhero serials only have one costumed hero, and the goodguy suport system (which also at times act as the people the hero has to save). If/when I have time for the movie serials game, I'll post on here to let everyone know. I'll also post the link to Hero Central. If you are truly interested, you should work up your concept and let me know what it is and you should also apply to be a player on Hero Central. If someone doesn't actually apply, I have no way of knowing that they are really interested in playing. Several people expressed interest in my current games here on the forums, but never applied to actually play in them. My games are first-come, first-serve in the sense that as soon as I get the needed/wanted number of players with acceptable PCs, I lock them in and start. My intention for the PCs in a movie serial game would be to have a plot so nefarious and so menacing to the city/nation/world that the heroes who ordinarily star in their own movie serials have no choice but to team up in one star-studded spectacular movie serial. For instance, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Batman & Robin have to team up to stop an invasion by evil robots from outer space, or to prevent Hitler from being cloned via the McGuffin stolen from the kindly elderly scientist's lab. I'd limit the PCs to 3-4 maximum. And every episode would have to end on a cliffhanger. Buzzsaw yes, train tracks unlikely but possible. Tied to a bomb or dangled over a vat of acid, of course. --Kap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted November 30, 2011 Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions How about the "beetween session" time? Even with game being on digital media, there will be time "off" between the story arcs. And it is supposed that characters actually do something in that time. That they actually do a lot in this time, because they are the Comic companies flagships. The most usual technique is afaik called "blue-booking" - the player just writes the story instead of playing it out. One way to make some incentive for this is to award experience points for these "short stories". I think I even saw that technique in one of the herocentral games. The player could for example write a story about he and "his good old friend" prevented a nuclear meltdown and with the XP he would buy the Skills shown/the contact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Tom 2009 Posted December 1, 2011 Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions I would be intrested, but I fear with my recent rant over in Worlds Finest that I might not be alowed by you to join. In any case, you must promous me one thing...you have to do the two big chestnuts in the serials...the buzzsaw and the tied to the train tracks. Of course, I wonder how it will be with multiple heros. At the most superhero serials only have one costumed hero, and the goodguy suport system (which also at times act as the people the hero has to save). You're forgetting about one of the other popular deathtraps: the spike-festooned walls which slowly close in on the heroes from either side. Major Tom 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsalwayssunny Posted December 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions You're forgetting about one of the other popular deathtraps: the spike-festooned walls which slowly close in on the heroes from either side. Major Tom 2009 There might not be spikes on the walls. The spikes might be in the pit that suddenly appears before you when the trap door swings open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steriaca Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Humm...how to solve the 'one costumed hero or one costumed hero and a costumed sidekick' problem of the serial... Well, let's see the typical hero cast list of serials... 1) The Masked Man (or woman): This is usaly the person the serial is named after. Strong jawed and rugged. Kind to women, children, and animals (which are not trying to rip him apart). 2) The Damsel (or love intrest, if the main hero is a Masked Woman): Young and spunkie. Usaly has a will of iron. Helpful at times, and someone to save at other times. Usaly there is a relationship with the Masked Man (sometimes romantic, sometimes profesinal). 3) The Young Sidekick: Well, young is a state of mind, but the typical sidekick for the hero is a young man/boy who still looks at things in a 'gosh darn' sort of way. Rairly is this position a young girl, but it could be. 4) The Solid Guy: He is the guy who the hero can relie on when things get tougth. He could easly be the hero except for one thing...he follows instead of leads. 5) The Profesor: He is the smart guy in the room. He has the ideals and science knolage...the hero has the mussel to make the ideals work. Well, that is my list. Note that only two positions are 'superheros' (well, one and a half...the sidekick is rairly costumed). Not all serials use the same lineup. Anyone you want to add to the list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlinggeek Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Humm...how to solve the 'one costumed hero or one costumed hero and a costumed sidekick' problem of the serial... Well, let's see the typical hero cast list of serials... 1) The Masked Man (or woman): This is usaly the person the serial is named after. Strong jawed and rugged. Kind to women, children, and animals (which are not trying to rip him apart). 2) The Damsel (or love intrest, if the main hero is a Masked Woman): Young and spunkie. Usaly has a will of iron. Helpful at times, and someone to save at other times. Usaly there is a relationship with the Masked Man (sometimes romantic, sometimes profesinal). 3) The Young Sidekick: Well, young is a state of mind, but the typical sidekick for the hero is a young man/boy who still looks at things in a 'gosh darn' sort of way. Rairly is this position a young girl, but it could be. 4) The Solid Guy: He is the guy who the hero can relie on when things get tougth. He could easly be the hero except for one thing...he follows instead of leads. 5) The Profesor: He is the smart guy in the room. He has the ideals and science knolage...the hero has the mussel to make the ideals work. Well, that is my list. Note that only two positions are 'superheros' (well, one and a half...the sidekick is rairly costumed). Not all serials use the same lineup. Anyone you want to add to the list? True enough, but i think the intent was to do some thing "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"-style. Where different heroes who would have been the title characters of their own serials, team up to take on a threat none of them could face alone. Sort of like the movie serial version of the Avengers or JLA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions There are some interesting lists of serials out there. Wikipedia, of course, is a good start, but more specialised sites exist as well. Looking through those, and finding plot synopses where they exist, would be potentially most inspiring. "Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes" is a fine example. There were a lot of near-superheroic pulp serials that could easily converted. The serial versions of characters like Batman are effectively indistinguishable from pulp characters like the Green Hornet anyway. There's a good chance a lot of this stuff is in the public domain and legally downloadable these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steriaca Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Well, the only thing which comes to mind with serial charaters joining forces is the old 80's cartoon show Defenders of the Earth, and that was only because Flash Gorden, The Phantom, and Mandrake the Magician all had serials (well, in Mandrake's part, I don't remember if there WAS a serial of him, but Chadu is close enougth to Mandrake to count, right?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Yes, Mandrake had a serial. Defenders of the Earth is a good parallel, as is League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsalwayssunny Posted December 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Well' date=' the only thing which comes to mind with serial charaters joining forces is the old 80's cartoon show [b']Defenders of the Earth[/b], and that was only because Flash Gorden, The Phantom, and Mandrake the Magician all had serials (well, in Mandrake's part, I don't remember if there WAS a serial of him, but Chadu is close enougth to Mandrake to count, right?) I have all those serials. And many more! They got thrown together for that cartoon because all three belong to King Features Syndicate (or did back then). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsalwayssunny Posted December 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Humm...how to solve the 'one costumed hero or one costumed hero and a costumed sidekick' problem of the serial... Well, let's see the typical hero cast list of serials... 1) The Masked Man (or woman): This is usaly the person the serial is named after. Strong jawed and rugged. Kind to women, children, and animals (which are not trying to rip him apart). 2) The Damsel (or love intrest, if the main hero is a Masked Woman): Young and spunkie. Usaly has a will of iron. Helpful at times, and someone to save at other times. Usaly there is a relationship with the Masked Man (sometimes romantic, sometimes profesinal). 3) The Young Sidekick: Well, young is a state of mind, but the typical sidekick for the hero is a young man/boy who still looks at things in a 'gosh darn' sort of way. Rairly is this position a young girl, but it could be. 4) The Solid Guy: He is the guy who the hero can relie on when things get tougth. He could easly be the hero except for one thing...he follows instead of leads. 5) The Profesor: He is the smart guy in the room. He has the ideals and science knolage...the hero has the mussel to make the ideals work. Well, that is my list. Note that only two positions are 'superheros' (well, one and a half...the sidekick is rairly costumed). Not all serials use the same lineup. Anyone you want to add to the list? No such problem exists in what I presented, since it would be the main heroes of different serials banding together against one terrible villain even worse than Fu Manchu. All the PCs would be assumed to have had solo adventures in their own serials before this adventure starts. The "meta" conceit, if you will, is that all your PCs serials are from the same movie studio and all made enough money that the studio head said, "Hey, if Captain Midnight, Mandrake the Magician, and Batman are successful by themselves, putting them in a serial together should make a fortune--and save money on special effects that don't have to be spread out over three productions!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steriaca Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions No such problem exists in what I presented' date=' since it would be the main heroes of different serials banding together against one terrible villain even worse than Fu Manchu. All the PCs would be assumed to have had solo adventures in their own serials before this adventure starts. The "meta" conceit, if you will, is that all your PCs serials are from the same movie studio and all made enough money that the studio head said, "Hey, if Captain Midnight, Mandrake the Magician, and Batman are successful by themselves, putting them in a serial together should make a fortune--and save money on special effects that don't have to be spread out over three productions!"[/quote'] Great ideal, Kap. I will not be joining the group, because of trying to acess HERO Central on my mobol device is a pain. But I can help out a bit. Some sergested house rules: 1) Normal equipment (like, say, normal guns) cost cash, not charater points. This, eveybody can carry normal guns, but say a sleepy gas gun or a lazer gun would cost charater points. 2) May I sergest the Resource Points ideal from Dark Champions, and redid in The HERO System Advanced Player's Guide pages 191-196? 3) Knockdown with a Pushback option (from Ultimate Martial Artest, and came up again in APG page176), as opose to Knockback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions 1) Normal equipment (like, say, normal guns) cost cash, not charater points. This, eveybody can carry normal guns, but say a sleepy gas gun or a lazer gun would cost charater points. 2) May I sergest the Resource Points ideal from Dark Champions, and redid in The HERO System Advanced Player's Guide pages 191-196? 3) Knockdown with a Pushback option (from Ultimate Martial Artest, and came up again in APG page176), as opose to Knockback. Rule one/two could make Gadget based/Power Armor characters less balanced (for their advantage or disadvantage). Unless of course all "normal"/money bought/Resource pool bought items have inherent limitations (like real weapon/armor/equpiment; limited special effects to choose from) that makes them less viable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steriaca Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Rule one/two could make Gadget based/Power Armor characters less balanced (for their advantage or disadvantage). Unless of course all "normal"/money bought/Resource pool bought items have inherent limitations (like real weapon/armor/equpiment; limited special effects to choose from) that makes them less viable. True. Most serial heros which come to mind are twofisted guys...all about punching and shooting. Gadgetearing charaters are not unknown, but tend to be known for one or two pieces of equipment above the norm (for example, Comander Cody, who is known mostly for his rocket backpack). Power Armor charaters ahla Iron Man are usaly unherd of. Of course, Kap gets final say on this. And first official say also. Come to think of it...Belladona could easly be modified to play in this story. She could easly be known for the Thorn Gun, and carring a real gun as for last resort. Shame I can't navagate the Hero Central site (but I am not going to ask for a change in venture eather). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Batman punched people, drove a car and hung out in a cave/basement. He'd be perfect in a money not points setup. The Green Hornet might have to spend a few points on his gas gun, if he used it in the serial. That would make him a slightly less effective HtH combatant or detective than Batman, which is fair enough. The worst that would happen would be over-representation of guys with cars and guns. That's nothing terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlinggeek Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions If I'm going to play a Serial Hero, I'm gonna be the guy with the jet-pack, leather jacket, and pistol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsalwayssunny Posted December 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Well, I haven't bothered to work out those particular details at this point for two reasons: (1) I'm already GM for 2 campaigns on Hero Central and don't have the time or energy to start a 3rd. (I was only planning on doing 1 but so many people seemed interested in both I didn't want to dash their hopes.) (2) There's plenty of time to work that out later, if and when the other games wind down or die. I was trying to see if anybody else was as interested in the superhero movie serial as a "genre" for a campaign. I personally would love to play in a game like that, or a "TV Superhero" type of game (with power levels and stories akin to the Wonder Woman, Incredible Hulk, Greatest American Hero TV shows from the mid-70s to early 80s). If there were enough players or potential GMs interested, I thought that might be the next thing to do once my 1960 and 1940 settings are kaput. Then I could GM. Right now I could only be a player as it doesn't eat up as much of my time. Really, though, I just wish I could get a fairly regular game going at a tabletop with some folks live and in person. --Kap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlinggeek Posted December 8, 2011 Report Share Posted December 8, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions Well, I was mostly just stating what my preference would be, given the opportunity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsalwayssunny Posted December 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions If I'm going to play a Serial Hero' date=' I'm gonna be the guy with the jet-pack, leather jacket, and pistol.[/quote'] If I get this off the ground sometime, I'll reserve that role for you! --Kap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlinggeek Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Re: Superhero movie serial-style Champions If I get this off the ground sometime, I'll reserve that role for you! --Kap In the immprtal words of Andy Kaufman; "Thenkyuvedymush." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.