Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

[Rhino]

I know I have seen this discussed in many different threads, but I have not seen it in a condensed form in a single thread. That is what this thread is for: A place for those that have pondered and practiced the essence and intricacies of power design in Hero System to put forth the core philosophies and principles of power design. I am not really sufficiently technically proficient in the Hero System to contribute much, but here is an example:

 

Elegance: This philosophy and principle of power design posits that simplicity is usually better. You need to really think about the essence of what the power is or does and disregard the exceptions, technicalities or details. Try and think about a way to build the power with the least amount of power modifiers. Be creative in the use of sfx to explain how the power works without the need to minutely quantify every piddly detail. Don't lose sight of the forest for the trees, as it were.

[Rhino]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Design by Effect: I know this is discussed in the book, but it is so important that it should be mentioned in this thread. This design principle posits that you should think carefully about what effect the power actually has in the game world. In other words, what is the result of using the power you are looking for. Then try and think creatively about how to model that result in game mechanics. Then try to think about the possible powers that can bring into being the end result you want your power to cause. This is to be distinguished from trying to design the power by trying to model what the power does first. I am at a loss as to how to better explain this principle. Perhaps it needs some examples to demonstrate the principles.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

I think the fact that the rules refer to "Powers" as the building blocks of character's powers confuses things. Personally, I like to differentiate the 2 by referring to the final writeup on a character sheet as an "Ability" with a unique name (like "Heat Vision"). Naming the "Ability" in question can go a long way in determining what "Powers" are used to build it.

[Lucius]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

I think the fact that the rules refer to "Powers" as the building blocks of character's powers confuses things. Personally' date=' I like to differentiate the 2 by referring to the final writeup on a character sheet as an "Ability" with a unique name (like "Heat Vision"). Naming the "Ability" in question can go a long way in determining what "Powers" are used to build it.[/quote']

 

Now that's a principle worth reputizing.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

the palindromedary says some things bear repeating

[Tasha]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

I recommend that anyone building an Ability. Whether it is a Superheroic Power, Fantasy Spell, or a Weapon. They should first write down in plain english what the ability needs to do.

 

ie

Firebolt: A bolt of flame arcs from the Heroine's hand to the target.

Flaming Surfboard: A Flaming Surfboard that propels the Heroine into the sky

etc.

 

I then Reason what Power (game Mechanic) to use to achieve that effect best. If I think of other uses for that ability I include notes for that ability as well.

Firebolt: Could either be a Ranged Killing Attack, Or a Blast (it could also perhaps be a Sight based Flash)

 

I choose which Power best fits the abilities' concept and campaign's feel best. Sometimes I will choose more than one Power. This generally suggests whether or not I will have a Multipower on the Character..

 

I also like differentiating between the Ability that is built with the Game Mechanic Power(s) from the rulebook.

[Greywind]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Flaming Serfboard

What does a superhero need with a flaming serf on a board? Is it the new Spanish Inquisition?

[John T]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Indigo Inquisitor, the newest Herald of Galactus.

[Rhino]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Creativity and Thinking Outside the Box: When you are Reasoning what Power or Game Mechanic best models the effect of the Ability you want, you need to exercise your creativity and really try to think out side the box. Brainstorm different ways to model the effect you want with different Powers, Advantages, Limitations and SFX. It is important to really put the time in on this step and to not limit your creativity. Brainstorm. For example, if you wanted an Ability to strike multiple opponents with gunfire, you could just build a RKA with autofire and a lot of skill levels with autofire attacks. However, instead of buying a lot of skill levels with autofire attacks you could build it as an Area RKA with Selective. Another example is the Speedster who can run so fast he can run up walls. You could take a lot of running and buy Clinging with the limitation Only While Running. However, there is the alternative build using Flight with the limitation Only While Touching a Surface. Another example, lets say you have a speedster you want to run around punching everybody. You can buy lots of running and autofire punch and lots of skill levels with autofire punch. Alternatively, you can buy an area of effect on a HA making it selective and variable area. Another example is buying superspeed with teleportation with a limit only to a point the character could reach by moving.

[John T]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Another example' date=' lets say you have a speedster you want to run around punching everybody. [snipped'] Alternatively, you can buy an area of effect on a HA making it selective and variable area.

A point to make here regarding the subtlety of design available to the game. I designed an almost identical power to the one described above, but built it as a selective, no-range, ranged aoe attack, because I wanted the attack to be "so fast that it couldn't be blocked, only dodged."

 

I'm all for taking the "simplest" approach possible to simulating the desired effect, but I'm pretty avid about understanding the nuances of exactly what a player is trying to achieve.

[Tasha]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Creativity and Thinking Outside the Box: When you are Reasoning what Power or Game Mechanic best models the effect of the Ability you want, you need to exercise your creativity and really try to think out side the box. Brainstorm different ways to model the effect you want with different Powers, Advantages, Limitations and SFX. It is important to really put the time in on this step and to not limit your creativity. Brainstorm.

 

For example, if you wanted an Ability to strike multiple opponents with gunfire, you could just build a RKA with autofire and a lot of skill levels with autofire attacks. However, instead of buying a lot of skill levels with autofire attacks you could build it as an Area RKA with Selective.

 

Another example is the Speedster who can run so fast he can run up walls. You could take a lot of running and buy Clinging with the limitation Only While Running. However, there is the alternative build using Flight with the limitation Only While Touching a Surface. Another example, lets say you have a speedster you want to run around punching everybody. You can buy lots of running and autofire punch and lots of skill levels with autofire punch. Alternatively, you can buy an area of effect on a HA making it selective and variable area.

 

Another example is buying superspeed with teleportation with a limit only to a point the character could reach by moving.

 

The real trick is knowing the benefits and limitations of each build.

 

ie it may be cheaper to buy flight with "only while touching surface", but you have to know that Flight has a turn mod. Running does not have a turn mode. Which makes Running with a bit of clinging a bit more flexable in certain situations. Of course the savvy Speedster has Flight "only while touching surface" purchased with "no Turn Mod"

 

There are benefits and disadvantages to each way you can buy an ability. It's up to the player to understand these and choose the right combination that meets their conception and Point budget of the character.

[Rhino]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

A point to make here regarding the subtlety of design available to the game. I designed an almost identical power to the one described above, but built it as a selective, no-range, ranged aoe attack, because I wanted the attack to be "so fast that it couldn't be blocked, only dodged."

 

I'm all for taking the "simplest" approach possible to simulating the desired effect, but I'm pretty avid about understanding the nuances of exactly what a player is trying to achieve.

 

IMO the more thought you put into distilling an Ability down to its Essence, its essential defining features with all non-essential details removed, the more Elegant your build will be. Handle all the non-essential details as SFX. Be severe in your distillation process when you pare the Ability down to its Essence. If I understand you correctly, this Art of distilling an ability to its essential defining features, and no more, is what you refer to as Nuance.

 

There are benefits and disadvantages to each way you can buy an ability. It's up to the player to understand these and choose the right combination that meets their conception and Point budget of the character.

 

Technical proficiency with the Hero System makes Elegant design sooo much easier. It allows you to select just the right combination of Powers, Advantages, Limitations and SFX to build the Essence of the Ability you imagined. I do not have sufficient technical proficiency to design powers very well. I enjoy thinking about it though.

[jp42]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

For me, the HERO system has always, if not demanded, at least implied the need to codify everything down to the most minor difference in how you use an Ability. It leads to discussions about how many points you need to spend for your fire mage to be able to light a candle at will, for example, or the perennial problem of a "light spell" to use Fantasy examples.

 

I have a hard time letting those sorts of things go, and simply saying that much of the nuance may well be better dealt with with a Power Skill. Which then leads me to the question of how much of a limitation it would be to say that an Ability can't be modulated and used in interesting ways by way of a Power Skill... old habits die hard.

[psyber624]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

A couple of other philosophies:

The Philosophy of Balance: When building a power ensure that it is both fair and reasonable as well for what you know about the campaign. It should be designed so that you are a contributing part of a team. If you are designing based upon achieving the highest possible raw power, or to try and one-up all the other players you are doing it wrong and will likely be a detriment to the game overall.

 

The Philosophy of Appropriateness: Build powers that are appropriate for your campaign. If you playing in a ninja campaign then designing a power that is based on a machine gun isn't appropriate. If your playing 4 color comics RKA/HKA's aren't normally appropriate. Find out what you can about the campaign the GM intends to run and design powers and a character in general that fits into his world design.

 

The Philosophy of GM Appreciation: Your GM is spending way more time on this than you are (generally, especially if he is any good at it.) Don't try to create characters that will give him headaches or be difficult for him to deal with. Check with your GM (and your fellow PC's) before creating a character that is a loner, an outcast, difficult to work with, a PKer, a PC Thief (steals from other PC's) etc. Be careful using rules supplements that the GM doesn't know or have access to. Make sure your powers are well designed and easy to read so that the GM will know what you are trying to do with them. And finally adding potential plot hooks into your powers, complications, background, etc. can help your GM design plots that will help you truly feel like a part of his world (although again check with GM's because some may not be interested in this.)

 

The Philosophy of Fun For All: Make your gaming mantra "Fun for all and All for Fun". PnP RPGing is a group activity. You cannot really do it on your own. So when you are building a character, and especially when you are playing him, make sure that you keep not just your fun but the fun of the GM and the other players in mind. Don't create characters that require very specific situations to be effective. (Playing a werewolf that is weak outside of a full moon isn't fun for anyone if that's not the point of the whole game). Don't create characters that create huge complications for your group (Make sure noone in your group is planning on playing a Ice based character before you take a huge susceptibility to being anywhere near ice for instance.) Don't create characters that are designed to steal the show or hog the spotlight. The game is more fun for everyone when everyone is having fun.

[Rhino]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

For me, the HERO system has always, if not demanded, at least implied the need to codify everything down to the most minor difference in how you use an Ability. It leads to discussions about how many points you need to spend for your fire mage to be able to light a candle at will, for example, or the perennial problem of a "light spell" to use Fantasy examples.

 

I have a hard time letting those sorts of things go, and simply saying that much of the nuance may well be better dealt with with a Power Skill. Which then leads me to the question of how much of a limitation it would be to say that an Ability can't be modulated and used in interesting ways by way of a Power Skill... old habits die hard.

 

I totally understand. With the Hero System you have the tools to be able to build all the minute details of any Ability you can imagine. It can be fun and intoxicating to do so; almost obsessive. However, just because you can does not mean you should. After experimenting with Hero System and Gurps quite a bit, I have decided that for me, it is usually better to focus on the Essence rather than the Details or Minutia. Let the sfx take care of those, with a Power Skill roll if necessary.

 

Think hard about the big picture. What is the net effect of the Ability. Don't get caught up in the details. Don't try and micro simulate how the Ability works if you can easily capture the net effect and flavor with a simpler build.

[Rhino]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Double Post

[Rhino]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

For me, the HERO system has always, if not demanded, at least implied the need to codify everything down to the most minor difference in how you use an Ability. It leads to discussions about how many points you need to spend for your fire mage to be able to light a candle at will, for example, or the perennial problem of a "light spell" to use Fantasy examples.

 

I have a hard time letting those sorts of things go, and simply saying that much of the nuance may well be better dealt with with a Power Skill. Which then leads me to the question of how much of a limitation it would be to say that an Ability can't be modulated and used in interesting ways by way of a Power Skill... old habits die hard.

 

I totally understand. With the Hero System you have the tools to be able to build all the minute details of any Ability you can imagine. It can be fun and intoxicating to do so; almost obsessive. However, just because you can does not mean you should. After experimenting with Hero System and Gurps quite a bit, I have decided that for me, it is usually better to focus on the Essence rather than the Details or Minutia. Let the sfx take care of those, with a Power Skill roll if necessary.

 

Think hard about the big picture. What is the net effect of the Ability. Don't get caught up in the details. Don't try and micro simulate how the Ability works if you can easily capture the net effect and flavor with a simpler build.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Something that gets lost in discussions like this is that all point balancing in the game is there to make the job of the GM easier. HERO Point balance really only matters for the player characters. It allows custom experience progression unlike almost any other RPG on the market. It also helps a GM with NPC's as well when he has access to books with pre-built antagonists but the point balance of those character's is not nearly as important as their final abilities (OCV, DC, SPD, PD/ED, Powers, etc...). The primary purpose of using points is to define exactly what Player Characters can do in a game. A GM is certainly welcome to use a low resolution scale of detail if he so chooses if that seems easier to him. See the many character write ups by Cassandra for examples of this philosophy of character design. It can work. It just means that ALL characters and campaign rules have to bend to that standard. This requires a lot of work to work well. If all players aren't made aware of this before characters are submitted for play it can lead to confusion and anger by those players who took the time to clearly pay for every ability of their characters on the sheet. They will likely feel shortchanged when they see what other PC's appear to get 'for free' that they designed and paid for explicitly on their own character sheet.

[Rhino]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Something that gets lost in discussions like this is that all point balancing in the game is there to make the job of the GM easier. HERO Point balance really only matters for the player characters. It allows custom experience progression unlike almost any other RPG on the market. It also helps a GM with NPC's as well when he has access to books with pre-built antagonists but the point balance of those character's is not nearly as important as their final abilities (OCV' date=' DC, SPD, PD/ED, Powers, etc...). The primary purpose of using points is to define exactly what Player Characters can do in a game. A GM is certainly welcome to use a low resolution scale of detail if he so chooses if that seems easier to him. See the many character write ups by Cassandra for examples of this philosophy of character design. It can work. It just means that ALL characters and campaign rules have to bend to that standard. This requires a lot of work to work well. If all players aren't made aware of this before characters are submitted for play it can lead to confusion and anger by those players who took the time to clearly pay for every ability of their characters on the sheet. They will likely feel shortchanged when they see what other PC's appear to get 'for free' that they designed and paid for explicitly on their own character sheet.[/quote']

 

Quite Right. If a player is explicitly building with CP what the others are doing with SFX and Power skill rolls, it would be best to give them them some extra points to compensate. This reminds me. I was reading CC in bed last night and trying to remember if I had paid for life support for the thin atmosphere and intense cold that my flying character might encounter. I don't think I did. Oh well .. just have to keep my altitude low.

[Rhino]

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

 

Deleted.