Crafting the Super Hero Path: a jam session

[Christopher R Taylor]

OK I have a basic idea of a Champions campaign in mind that I'd like to build and write up, but this is a bit more ambitious than just a setting or an adventure.  My theory is to build a whole campaign story arc sort of like how Pathfinder has its Adventure Paths.  So I want to create a campaign setting and series of related adventures that a group can run through start to finish moving from just starting out to finishing a grand storyline in an epic fashion, growing along the way.

 

In theory that would mean starting new characters, just beginner superheroes, who meet up, learn to work together, form a team, grow as the team building up resources, contacts, and so on, and deal with a growing but uncertain threat.  Anyone who watched the superb Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Superheroes animated series has an idea of what I have in mind.

 

This would necessarily require a rather large investment of time and effort, bringing together a series of adventures that move toward the conclusion, but more it would require interwoven storylines that aren't obviously part of the main tale.  Sort of like how (too many) TV shows work these days, with each individual episode being its own story, but a larger story carried through from show to show until the end.

 

My theory is that you would have 3 basic plots in each adventure: the Main Story that each adventure moves along even if a small amount; at least one character's Character Story focusing on their background, complications, NPCs, or powers, and most obviously, that adventure's primary plot (the bank robbery, protecting a child from PSI, etc).

 

So each adventure would need not just the basic module of fighting and fun, but the ongoing story and at least a few tips on how to run character stories in this session related to the adventure.

 

I like Aaron Allston's description of various player types (Pro From Dover, etc) in Strike Force, and there are certain character archetypes that could be used too - not their powers, but their type (the wolverine type, the ingenue type, etc) such as was laid out in an Adventurer's Club magazine years ago.  With these two tools you could just give a few paragraphs about each: the Ingenue runs into a moral dilemma, the Combat Monster is forced to talk a guy off a ledge, etc.

 

However, this is a huge project with a lot to think about and I have a ton of questions and dilemmas to work out.  The initial scenario - or rather the one after the training session - is a major concern.  How do you get the team together, what's a good starting point that lends to a natural gathering of supers rather than "well we're all in the campaign, I guess we're a team."

 

The other major headache is the huge overarching plot and villain; what will the big storyline be?  It has to end up something truly epic that not only tests the PCs to their limits but gives a very satisfying feeling of "wow we really had to be there and saved the world."

 

So any thoughts or ideas on this would be very welcome because I think this would be a fun and exciting project - one that with all the minds around here we could really build into something special.

[Lord Liaden]

IIRC in classic comic book plots there are four main routes by which a team is brought together, although they all tend to have a degree of overlap: a crisis to which the heroes individually respond, and conclude they work better together; the shared origin, with all the heroes coming from the same background or gaining their powers at the same time; the patron/sponsor who gathers the team together for his own purposes or offers to support them; and the person or agency which overtly or covertly manipulates the heroes into forming a team, usually to prepare them to face a coming threat. None of these routes are mutually exclusive.

 

One of the more innovative examples that I've read comes from the Champions Universe, a description from The Mystic World of the current activities of the Babylonian god Marduk. This patron of cities and kingship has a vision of every city and nation in the world having its own resident superheroes ruling and protecting it, like the gods and demigod kings of ancient Mesopotamia. To that end Marduk secretly prompts superhumans to take up the heroic path, to go where they're needed, and to form teams -- new pantheons for the modern world.

[Dead guy on the tab]

I used to give each of the players a list of goal cards for things I was looking to be accomplished in the session.  I awarded extra XP if they accomplished these goals.  For the first session, everyone had the same goal of "form a team".  If I had subplots they would be there as well.  I found this helped clue the players in on what I had prepped and where I was going.  This might help with your path.  I have been through too many sessions where the players wouldn't/couldn't figure out where the GM wanted to go.  I remember one character's last appearance was when he was in an alternate dimension and couldn't figure out how to escape so the player had the character fall asleep on a rock.  A little co-operative storytelling might prime the players for your adventure.  If the players did like the idea, no biggie as they would still XP just not extra XP and they usually didn't accomplish all the goals so the total XP usually sorted out.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I'm thinking maybe an adventure that was so tough and barely pushed away a danger that will inevitably return so they have to work together to prepare for it.  Something they manage to beat but know will return much tougher.

[Lord Liaden]

All righty, then.   For that sort of plot I tend to favor the "scout" or "herald" scenario. I like to use a single very tough villain whom the heroes just manage to defeat or drive off, but who makes it clear he's only the first of many, or works for someone even mightier who's on his way.

 

Alternatively, you can use a "first wave" of scouts from an invading army or fleet, perhaps an elite unit, but implicitly only part of a much larger force.

 

An interesting variation is to have the initial fight be with someone who's actually fleeing from that greater threat. He might be a villain in his own right, or merely a refugee trying to stay ahead of the wave who fights out of misunderstanding.

 

Do you have an idea of what sort of greater menace you want to use?

[Christopher R Taylor]

Not really yet.  I was thinking some kind of invasion or return, a Cthulhu-like horror from the past, something from an old obscure religion (like La Brujería from Constantine TV show), or maybe an alien invasion or an extradimensional conqueror.  Something major and epic that the PCs have to deal with, one day, but know nothing about except that its awful and its on its way.

[Lord Liaden]

Since that's where you're starting from, here's an old campaigning tip which may work for you: you don't always have to define the long-term plot from the start. Sometimes it's more useful to leave it vague, see where the campaign goes, what elements the PCs bring to the table, what results from their actions. Those things may suggest a pattern behind what's "really" been going on, and ways to fit those elements into a bigger picture. Then when you make the big reveal you can pretend to your players that's what you had in mind all along, and look like a genius.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Well my theory is that this could actually be a product eventually, on the shelf.  I envision the first book as Champions 101, introducing the campaign idea, basic characters for starting players, tips on GMimg, and so on.   Just an out-of-the-box campaign to make play easier.

 

I like the goals idea, that's an interesting concept, and it could be a useful tool to help newer players along, too.

[SKJAM!]

Based on the Seven Soldiers of Victory's first plotline...

 

A dying criminal mastermind selects X number of low-powered villains (X=number of player characters) to execute plans he always meant to get around to.  In addition, he contacts each of the player characters somehow to give them a pointer to that crime (but obscure enough so that the hero has to actually investigate.)  As each minion is defeated, he/she/it provides a clue to the location of the mastermind.

 

Our heroes meet at the location, only to discover that what the mastermind didn't tell his minions is that each of them was rigged to transfer their powers to the mastermind upon defeat.  His real plan was to use this accumulated power to cure his illness and then kill a bunch of superheroes to announce his new invincible status.  The heroes must work together to stop this overpowered menace.

 

But there's a loose end.  This guy is a criminal mastermind, but not a scientific genius.  Where did the technology he used, unfamiliar to any of the heroes, come from?  It would probably be a good idea to stick together until they can find out.

[CaptnStrawberry]

I loved the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest series also, especially how they introduced 'guest stars' such as Spidey, the FF, and Wolverine, and reassembled them for the final battle in the last episode.  Various heralds of Galactus, in various parts of the world, setting up interdimensional beacons, if I remember, a sort of mini-campaign in itself. 

 

The DC animated universe could provide a model for assembling the team - I remember in the first episode of Justice League, the various characters are investigating the odd doings of shape-shifting aliens (White martians), which leads them to the same facility.  Shape-shifters are a classic comic trope, after all!  And once their disguise is revealed, beginning PCs should be able to take them down.  And they dropped the martian storyline for the most part after it achieved its purpose of bringing the characters together - you can save even hints of the big bad for later episodes.

 

Batman Beyond had an old, infirm hero intentionally training someone to take over his mantle (and providing a base, equipment, advice along the way) - that might be the easiest, perhaps a team of ailing heroes as mentors?  Or maybe they programmed the base AI to activate in the future when suitable replacements are found?

 

I know we have both commented that Champions needs a 101 beginner set.  Structurally, the first adventure could be carefully prescribed 'railroading', but even new players will soon start to deviate.  It's been a long time since I've run a supers rpg, but I tend to think that the genre is even more conducive to players going 'off track' than most - some gamers recommend designing villains and settings but letting the actual plot develop at the table, with only the bare minimum of pre-conceived ideas.  Balancing that seems like a core challenge - incrementally introducing choice and collaborative storytelling as the players and GM progress and get comfortable with the game, so by the time they finally achieve the campaign goals everyone at the table is. . . 201?  301?  Ready for grad school?

[Christopher R Taylor]

I've run a game where the PCs are trying to earn a spot replacing an old retiring superhero group but I want this to be more grass roots beginning, so no base or anything to walk into.  That Seven Soldiers of Victory plot sounds like a terrific concept, and old/obscure enough that with minor tweaking it would be very fresh and unique to the PCs.  I could see a very aging Dr Destroyer (he's gotta be, what, 130 now?) doing this sort of plot, and yet being able to get away to be more menacing later when his full power is unleashed.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I've run a game where the PCs are trying to earn a spot replacing an old retiring superhero group but I want this to be more grass roots beginning, so no base or anything to walk into.  That Seven Soldiers of Victory plot sounds like a terrific concept, and old/obscure enough that with minor tweaking it would be very fresh and unique to the PCs.  I could see a very aging Dr Destroyer (he's gotta be, what, 130 now?) doing this sort of plot, and yet being able to get away to be more menacing later when his full power is unleashed.

[Dead guy on the tab]

This thread makes me think of a couple of old plots you could look at and adapt:  

 

1) The Count Nefaria fight in Avengers 160's where the fight a couple of Masters of Evil that seem to be powered up, but lose their powers just on the verge of victory (which allows the heroes to understand where their character limits are before thrashing the villain).  It turned out that Nefaria had powered up the villains to steal all their abilities to himself and then the whole team had to fight him.

 

2) The Island of Dr. Destroyer is kind of like this with the Countessa option.  There is an uber big bad, but his Death Star has a fatal flaw which is given to the heroes by the traitor.  The players can't defeat Dr. D, but can foil his plan whereby he will leave and regroup for a later plot (Day of the Destroyer).  Plus the crystal statue of the Countessa is DoD is especially chilling for the heroes the second time around.

 

3) Voice of Doom is also good as the heroes have to help an established team that is being targetted for destruction by the Villains.

 

Just a couple of thoughts from old school scenarios.

[Lord Liaden]

 

Plus the crystal statue of the Countessa is DoD is especially chilling for the heroes the second time around.

 

 

Not a crystal statue. His traitorous former mistress's actual corpse, embalmed, stuffed, dressed, and mounted as a trophy.

 

Yeah, "chilling" is a bit of an understatement.

[Dead guy on the tab]

I guess that would turn the villain dial up to 11

[Christopher R Taylor]

Doesn't most of the Pathfinder path stuff use established, printed material and fit it together with backstory?

[Mister E]

Marvel's Doom 2099 originally woke up as a young man w/o scars on his face, suffering from partial amnesia, & in obsolete powered armor.

 

He got better.

 

The mystery was underwhelming but satisfying.

[Christopher R Taylor]

The outline I have in mind as a very basic vague concept is this:

1: Start out with diverse, beginning heroes first starting out or with little experience coming together to deal with a threat.  This would best be something simple and fast, to establish the party and introduce characters.

2: Have that event show clear, ominous foreshadowing that suggests the team might need to stay together to deal with the problem, and reinforce that with a scenario that either forces them together or requires all their combined efforts to defeat.

3: The team starts with no backing, base, vehicle, etc, and has to wing it with what they can.

4: Over time, the team gains esteem and influence with the community, other heroes, governments both local and federal, and the world at large.

5: Scenarios should hint at but not reveal a sinister overarching plot, tying together established printed or reprinted material as well as original content

6: The team gains a base, vehicles, agents, AI computer, contacts, etc over time and eventually becomes a major superteam.  These additional bonuses act as "treasure" for the team, gaining additional goodies from adventures other than experience.

7: The final adventure arc is the big bad guy of doom that takes all their resources, experience, training, and skill to defeat.

[procyon]

Just thoughts I have used with my groups over the years.

 

At the start, if you have the time and can manage it, run each of the characters in a session or two - separately. Now if a pair of characters happen to write their PC's as a team to begin with (say they decide their characters are brother and sister or such) you can run them together.  If you have fairly accommodating characters - you can even make this part where they get their powers.

Have each of the adventures be separate issues - but all leading to the same root cause or issue.  A root cause that reveals each of the PCs existence to one another and requires them to work together to overcome.  Or perhaps a patron that helps them to work together or supplies the one crucial item needed to accomplish the goal.

 

Now, on the overall arc - you kind of need to know what the story is going to be before you can put that one together.  You will need to know who the main anatomist is and what their goal is.  The actual details of how it will be reached can be left as general points, but the end game has to be set.

 

If you are particularly nasty, you can make the reason they have become heroes be the result of the main bad guy empowering them.  If you are cruel, you can make giving up those powers as a necessary part of defeating the bad guy and starting anew.

 

Another nasty twist is to take that initial patron, the one who guides them and helps them to become well respected heroes over the course of MANY adventures - be the big bad guy or his main assistant.  This can be rough plotline to follow so be prepared for how your players will react.  The betrayal becomes very real when it is revealed and can be rather personal to the PC's.  Particularly if the PC's have ended up succeeding in many adventures just to realize that all their successes have actually cleared the path and laid the foundation for the big bad guy.

 

It really is a bit like writing a story.  You have to really know what the story is about, what it's theme will be, and how the plot and characters will work together to create that story.  But if you can make the big bad guys goals and the PC's goals the same so that the PC's work towards them to achieve them - they won't feel like they are being railroaded or their actions have no lasting effects.  They will see their actions grow and feel like they have made a difference in their world.

Which will make the betrayal at the end all the more telling, and the character investment in undoing what has occurred even more compelling. 

 

Regardless what way you go, best of luck.

[Supabeasto]

Having a Champions 101 would have been very helpful!

 

Instead I'll be trying to run my very first game as a GM tomorrow, with very little plot outlined. I basically just came up with some sample scenarios I could use on the fly and just try to wing it.

 

Eventually though, I'd like to make my overarching story the return of Cosmic Shadow Hitler and the rise of the Fourth Reich.

 

Of course, I have no idea how I will accomplish this, hehe.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Supabeasto

[Christopher R Taylor]

I have been pondering an idea that came to me while playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.  That game has a lot of light/dark side emphases, with some equipment only available if you are dark side or light side enough.

 

What if... in a superheroic game you gave out hero and villain marks like light/dark side.  And when people got enough, they would pick up powers that went along with being either.

 

For example, a free hero point at the beginning of each adventure/session.  Or a once-per-turn power that lets you absorb the damage someone else would take.  Or a bonus to speed only to get that extra phase to help someone in need.  Or for villains things like a once per fight blast that keys into the target's vulnerabilities, or a once use teleport to get free from anything.  The idea would be to give players something to encourage heroic behavior, and make them better at it, but in a way that doesn't cost them experience points and isn't too unbalancing.

 

Perhaps a list of abilities could be given players, to choose from.

[Nothere]

Of course there are certain things you have to decide, but what you seem to be working with is along these lines.

 

Assuming none of the charecters are super yet. Their all hanging out in the park when the sky goes dark. Suddenly a red spot appears in the darkness. A red beam flashes downward attracting the players attention. A large heavily musled man appears at the end of the beam an starts attacking everyone The heroes suddenly find they have powers and stop the man. Before he melts into foul smelling goo he says.

 

"You have stopped nothing. The way will be prepared."

 

Course this also works if they already have powers, and tying in the main story arc if a bit difficult with this sort of intro. But that is the general idea correct?

[bubba smith]

that could happen at the end of ONE adventure signaling the beginning of another

[Christopher R Taylor]

That would be a good explosive beginning to a campaign, yeah.  At least it would provide a single Superhero Path that maybe if successful others could follow with new products.  I'd want to call it something else though, Hero's Journey maybe.  Something along the lines of a pathfinder series of adventures telling a story, but with Champions.

[SteelCold]

You could have the event happened centuries ago, giving someone immortality or other types of powers so he/she can await the day it will return to gain even more power.

 

Like Invictus or even Takofanes. Note he does not have to be the main bad guy just a random element maybe a shadowy patron.