Is Champions/Hero System cinematic?

[Spence]

"It's RPG.net. that's how they roll over there." - Lather. Rinse. Repeat. It's a shame things seem to go that way.

 

I dusted off my RPGnet account and logged in last week when I noticed a couple threads here by Herophiles.  Noticed it hasn't changed a bit, haven't been back. 

 

I would really love to find a true multisystem RPG board, but that simply isn't going to happen....

[NuSoardGraphite]

By the gods, i made the mistake of clicking the link and reading the thread. i cant that hour back now.

 

Cinematic has nothing to do with the games mechanics and has everything to do with how the gm presents his game and utilizes the system in a way to support fast moving action/adventure. some systems configure their mechanics to mimick this style specifically, but any game can be run in this fashion.

 

When i'm running a cinematic combat, there are a lot of system details that get glossed over when i'm describing a combat scene in an effort to maintain cinematic integrity. i dont usually count "hexes" of movement unless its important in the context of a chase or timed scenario (must reach the bomb or victim in time)

 

A lot of times i'll simply ask for a skill roll and away we go. if the players want their characters to do something, i just make sure they have the means to do it, then let the dice decide the outcome.

 

For example, i was running a heroic fantasy game where the pc's were at a college of magic users that was under assault by the forces of a dark lord. the teachers and students were well prepared to defend the keep, but did not expect the initial attack, which was a miasma of depression sent ahead of the enemy army to defeat the mages resolve to fight (and blot out the sun to remove the penalty for the orcs in the army fighting in daytime) and after several days of dealing with a continuous drain to ego, pre and mental defense, the pc's decided to see if they could find the source of the miasma and disable it.

 

Doing some scouting, they determined the source of the depression clouds were a group of mages at the rear of the advancing army engaged in a continual ritual to keep the miasmas effects from fading. thus the pc's decided to hop in their trusty magical airship and go have a talk with these sorcerors.

 

The pc's decided to make it look like they were simply fleeing the scene. then they flew up toward the clouds to hide themselves (not difficult with the miasma) changed course and headed to the back of the army above the ongoing ritual.

 

This scene ended up with the pilot diving the airship from out of the clouds at a dangeous angle, right above the ritual without being seen, then as the pilot pulled the ship out of the suicide dive, the pc's lept from the foredeck of the ship and dropped death from above style to land among the shocked and awed mages and proceed to slaughter them handily.

 

I didnt worry about how many hexes of movement the ship could do diving from the clouds. i just had the helmswoman do a piloting skill roll at penalties to successfully pull the ship out of the dive without crashing or significantly damaging the ship. at a penaloty of -5 to her skill roll, she succeeded with 3pts to spare.

 

When the pc's lept from the deck of the ship just as the helmswoman pulled out of the dive, i didnt worry about their movement, just that they had the ability to land safely. the ships captain had the ability to command minor elemental spirits and she called to the air elementals to set her down safely (small VPP, configured to gliding). the party's mage had a feather fall spell, which she cast. the groups theif was half dragon (something revealed to him mid game) and he was exploring his draconic powers...he was able to manifest wings during a mild dragonoid transformation and fly down safely.

 

I had the mages make 1 perception roll. they failed miserably (a 16). the pc's took them completely unawares. they landed amongst the shocked wizards and went to town. i didnt even have the players roll damage, just to-hit rolls. their goal wasnt necessarily to kill all of the sorcerors, just to disrupt the ritual. the pirate captain was using a florentine weapon style using two slender swords. i had her make 4 to- hit rolls. as she was doing that, i had the others roll as well. the party mage was performing area effect mental blasts at the enemies. 4 successful to hit rolls from the pirate queen and i described her running through the ranks of the magic users, disembowling them as she zipped by, taking down 4 of them in the blink of an eye. The player of the dragonoid character rolled a critical success to hit. he brandished his weapon and decapitated his target. the magess finished up by unleashing a telekinetic shockwave, knocking down and stunning the rest of the enemy mages.

 

It was about this point that the enemy soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the mages began to react, but they were stopped short by arrows and bolts fired from the pirate crew.

 

The pirate ship was maneuvered above the pc's and ropes thrown out. the captain and the mage lept up and grabbed the ropes to swing aboard. the dragonoid simply swept his wings, lept skyward and landed on the foredeck with flair.

 

The magical engines of the airship flared to life and the airship sped back toward the keep, all the while the crew was firing arrows and ballista bolts at the enemy army. the pirate captian commanded air elementals to rain lightining down on the enemies below and thw pc mage and the ships mage (an npc) rained magical destruction down on those below. the miasma began to dissipate as the Soaring Mermaid flew back to the keep to the chears of the defending mages as their courage and mental faculties began to return to them.

 

I didnt ask for to-hit rolls or damage rolls as the airship flew back to the keep, just aked what the characters were doing at that moment, then described to them the effect it was having on the enemy as they flew overhead.

 

That whole scene was cinematic as hell, and played out very quickly because i didnt allow it to get bogged down in minutia. i ascertained the goals of the PC's, asked for the appropriate rolls to implement the task at hand and described the action based on said rolls.

 

I ran the vast majority of that campaign that way, and my players loved it. they still talk about that game.

 

Cinematic is a mindset and method of presentation. mechanics are simply there to model physics in game terms. and if you want to run a cinematic game regardless of the system you are playing, much like hollywood, never let the laws of physics get in the way of a good action scene!

[phoenix240]

I have to admit it is hard for me not to jump in what I see things like the following

 

 

 

I think Sansa, for me, would be easiest to think of as a GURPS character.  GURPS is one of the few games I know of where its possible not to take *any* combat skills at all, no matter how much you level up.  Any d20 game, or any class based game honestly, gives PCs *some* combat ability.  Granted, Wizards and the like might not be excellent combatants compared to fighters, but a 10th level Wizard still fights better than a 1st level one.

With GURPS, its completely possible (and viable depending on the game) to avoid taking a combat skill if one doesn't wish to.  So, Sansa would be easiest to stat out in GURPS.  (I'm sure HERO could do this too, but GURPS doesn't require the math degree. )

 

Math degree? Come on, how long has that bit of misinformation been floating around... or am I mistaken that addition, subtraction, multiplication and simple division don't require a "math degree".

 

*admittedly even less in 6th edition

And for that matter GURPS character generation require.. *gasp* Addition, subtraction multiplication and division