Help with introductory adventure

[JmOz]

So I am getting ready to start my play test campeign (It is also going to help with the City section). The basic idea is that the heroes are "street level" supers who are gathered together by a mentor who can no longer defend his city. My quesiton is what hsould I run to get things started? I know I am intending to run alot of mob stories, and mysteries. I want to get the players into the action quickly,

[esampson]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

Is this an adventure to introduce players to a new campaign or is it to introduce players to Champions (looks more like the former but it would be good to be sure).

[JmOz]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

Mixed group, I have 1 experienced player, 2 semi experienced, and 3 noobs

[esampson]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

Well, first thing I would do is talk to the noob players before hand and find out what kind of characters they want. Steer them away from complex concepts in favor of simpler ones like 'Brick', 'Speedster', 'Blaster', etc. and then create the characters for them.

 

For the adventure itself I would start them right off with combat. Given your plot line I would think a good fight would be to have them stumble across a fight occurring between their already wounded soon to be mentor and some bad guys. Make the fight simple, just some minions, so that the players can beat the snot out of them, feel good, and be pumped up. Have the mentor start out injured. Sure, it's more dramatic to have him become injured partway through the fight when you're writing a story but when events that can't occur due to dice rolls happen in the middle of fights (even to NPCs) it reduces the feeling that the players had any appreciable effect and that things are just happening because that's what the GM decided. That's your introduction.

 

Then have the soon to be mentor explain to the characters that he needs their help. There's a plot afoot but due to the injuries he's just sustained he needs the players help. He doesn't have all the information but he knows enough to direct the players to a location where they get into another fight. After the fight the players collect clues which they bring back to their mentor. That's the first act.

 

The players return to their mentor who looks over the clues. Before the mentor can fully explain the clues the group is attacked. The attackers main goal is to kidnap the mentor but don't railroad it. If the mentor is captured then the players use something he said to find his store of information. Using this information and the clues they just gathered they are able to piece together what the villain's plan is and where they are located. If the mentor isn't captured then he can simply put the information together and tell the players what the villain's plan is and where they are located. That's your second act.

 

Players go to beat up the villains in their lair. If their mentor was captured they can rescue him. If not they are all about foiling the villain's plan. That's your third act.

 

With evil thwarted the mentor can tell the players how well they worked together, how he (or she) has decided that they need to retire but how they think that the new group of heroes can take over for them and how they will be happy to help the new group with their experience and resources they've developed over their years as a hero. Players get to chose a name for their hero group and make a corny statement about how evil better beware on the final panel. That's your denouement.

[Ninja-Bear]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

esampspon sorta beat me to the posting! I was going to suggest that the mentor was receiving some type of honor or perhaps dedication ceremony and at that event, the bad guys capture the mentor and the heroes band together to save the mentor. (This idea is not my idea, I got that from somewhere else but can't remember where)

[psyber624]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

k, bookmarking this thread.... what a simple yet elegant way to start a campaign esampson! I love the fact that in 6 paragraphs you boiled down the essence of what would be a 30-50 page adventure supplement that a new GM would have to pay $5-$25 dollars for!

[esampson]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

Thanks, but I can't take that much credit for it.

 

It's basically the structure of a three act play with setup, turning point, and climax. There's an extra fight in there in the first act (I called it the introduction, but it's technically part of the first act) that takes the place of some of the exposition that draws the group together (which is why it should be pretty much a cake walk for the players) but that's not all that unusual. The attack on the heroes is the second act turning point (bad guys have our mentor-to-be or at least know where we live) which builds to the third act, the big brawl.

 

Three act play is a great mechanism. You don't even have to look all that hard to see it in the Avengers.

You've got SHIELD blowing up, there's your introduction. You get introduced to Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Black Widow who then go and capture Loki and brawl with Thor. There's you first act. You have Loki escaping, the helicarrier damaged, and Phil Coulson killed. There's your second act. Then everybody gets together and slugs it out in New York. That's your third act. Then schwarma.

 

 

Some (probably a lot, in fact) literary techniques don't translate real well to the gaming table. That's one of the reasons I said to stay away from having Mentor-to-be getting injured during the fight. Works great in stories, doesn't really even harm the players, but in my experience it just causes these niggling feeling that the scene wasn't as interactive. Like the PCs are standing around for the GMs story rather than being in control of the players.

 

That said, some literary techniques tend to work really well, like the three act play. These are techniques that have been honed by countless authors over centuries, so absolutely steal like a maniac when you have the opportunity.

[esampson]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

I should also add that it isn't that difficult to write up a summary of a 30-50 page adventure that a new GM would spend $5-$25 for (as much as I appreciate the compliment). Ideas are the easy part. Lots of people have ideas. It's doing all the work to detail those ideas that takes most of the effort. Those 30-50 pages don't just write themselves

 

Take a look at Balabanto's progress on his Imaginary Friends supplement for a great example of that (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/86037-Imaginary-Friends-Update).

[csyphrett]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

I agree with the three act play idea because that's how I write my stories for the most part.

 

Intro the heroes. Who are they? Why are they heroes? What kind of powers?

 

Intro the villain. Who is he? What's his motivation? The motivation can be as simple as robbing people for money to wanting to expose the mentor for a weakling and getting some revenge.

 

Intro the villain plot. What does the villain do to get his way? How do the heroes try to stop him? What happens if they track him down and repulsed?

 

Mix and match to play to what the heroes do.

CES

[freakboy6117]

Re: Help with introductory adventure

 

The first idea that comes up for me is that the batman like master detective defender of the city has been killed and the PCs are invited to a lawyers office in there secret identities as total strangers.

 

They're sat down and shown the video will of the previous hero he has figured out there IDs and selected them as his heirs and offers them a share of his wealth and his organisation if they can solve his Murder. if they can track down his killer the players acquire some wealth a base and are assembled as the new defenders of the city.