Tips for running a great Supers Table-top RPG

[BlueCloud2k2]

Started watching this guy's youtube channel for his scratchbuilt and kitbashed miniatures, and found this little gem:

 

[pinecone]

That was very good! Thank you.

[CaptnStrawberry]

Surprisingly good!  The host has an almost Golden Age patter which fit the theme.

 

One comment: how do we know the real world doesn't have ninja crime families?  If they were good enough, we would never know. . . .

 

Another comment: John Williams' Superman score is still the best superhero theme out there, but kind of mutilated here.

[Nolgroth]

I love the bit about Batman failing his stealth roll being redirected to him deliberately dropping through the skylight to draw fire. That right there is improv gold.

[Scott Baker]

I love the bit about Batman failing his stealth roll being redirected to him deliberately dropping through the skylight to draw fire. That right there is improv gold.

That was my favorite part as well.

[zslane]

Was it plagued with dropping audio for anyone else?

[Nolgroth]

Sounded like bad editing to me, but there were a few jumps in the audio track.

[BlueCloud2k2]

Yeah a lot of his earlier videos had that problem

[Hugh Neilson]

Nothing is always. Everything depends. While I like the "Batman deliberately draws fire" approach, there is definitely a subset of players who would be incensed at the GM robbing them of their player agency by deciding what their character did, whether for the character's benefit or to their detriment. Those players may be best directed at other games, or even other genres, though.

[massey]

Nothing is always. Everything depends. While I like the "Batman deliberately draws fire" approach, there is definitely a subset of players who would be incensed at the GM robbing them of their player agency by deciding what their character did, whether for the character's benefit or to their detriment. Those players may be best directed at other games, or even other genres, though.

 

I like the idea of Batman crashing through the skylight.  That's a great way of making the moment more dramatic.  But I also understand that some players may not like that.  Perhaps giving players the option would be the best, in some situations.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Awful pacing and sound mixing, but he has a lot of good tips there.

 

 

 

there is definitely a subset of players who would be incensed at the GM robbing them of their player agency by deciding what their character did

 

I didn't get the sense he forced that on the player, just that was how it played out.  As in, he blew his stealth roll so he fell through the glass, which ended up drawing fire so the other PCs were able to move in rather than "OK Batman, you dive in to draw fire!"

[zslane]

If the issue is indeed poor sound mixing, and it is prevalent in his other videos, then somebody needs to teach him the concept of recording a couple minutes of room tone and blending it into the primary audio track. This is Videography 101, folks. If people can't be bothered to get the fundamentals right, then it's thumbs down from me and off to the bit bucket with ya.

[BlueCloud2k2]

Not everyone knows how to work video editing software. I know I don't.

[starblaze]

I thing the greatest obstacle to superhero role play is the D&D mentality.  Players get annoyed that they just can't kill the villains so that they don't come back.  They don't understand that this is the modern world and that simply isn't done.  I also agree that making too complicated characters can slow things down.  KISS is the way to go. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

The dungeon crawl/experience and loot building mentality is tough to get past as well.  The point of a superhero game is to get into adventures and do heroic things, not to get more powerful.   Its a pretty significant distinction from D&D type games where its usually very self-focused; how can I get more powerful, what's my next level, what items can I loot?  Superhero games are more external: what heroic deed can I do for others, how can I do deeds that protect and stop evil.  That's not to say it can't be reversed, just that's the general trend.

[BoloOfEarth]

One way to deal with the loot building mentality is to use in-game rewards.  In the past, I've awarded the players Favors or Contacts appropriate to a given adventure - a favorite was getting a Favor from Weird Al Yankovic for saving him from Road Kill.  They actually called that one in to help get Foxbat off their backs.

 

I've also given them free points toward their Base, Vehicle, or Followers.  ("In appreciation for stopping the Ultimates from trashing their east coast factory, IntellGen is offering your team free use of their prototype computer system.  All you have to do is provide monthly user feedback.")  Of course, my players tend to get paranoid about such gifts.  Can't imagine why. 

[zslane]

The morality compass is definitely pointed in a very different direction in the two genres. I remember encountering this first-hand when I transitioned from D&D to Champions back in 1983. After only a couple months of playing Champions, I found the notion of the typical hack-and-slash, kill'em-and-take-their-stuff mentality repulsive.

[CaptnStrawberry]

It does seem that typical 'heroic' behavior in hack n' slash frpgs doesn't differ much from villainous behavior in super-heroic settings.  But that is true to the swords & sorcery literary genre; in an original Conan story someone asks the Cimmerian "Why have you come?"  He answers: "Money. What else?"

[zslane]

Conan is a hero in a purely literary sense; he is the protagonist and the character you want to "win". But he isn't necessarily always good, and in fact he is probably better described in modern parlance as an anti-hero (or at least, a reluctant hero). The villains in swords and sorcery tales are distinguishable from the heroes only by the scope of their cruelty. Even as the king of Aquilonia, Conan had to be ruthless in ways that might resemble some well-known supervillains (Dr. Doom comes to mind).

 

Superheroes are heroes in a much more particular sense: that of selfless savior. In a post-nuclear world, the mantra of great power necessitating great responsibility has never been more keenly apparent. You had better hope and pray that there are more selfless saviors with the power of the sun than there are psychotic villains with the same power. Cuz that's the world you live (and play) in when it comes to supers.

[starblaze]

Conan did have a rough code of honor that set him apart from other characters in his story.  He kept his word, would help those in need and never abandon a friend.

[Scott Baker]

RE: the last few posts (#14 on) on D&D/frpg mentality.

 

That's why we call them Murder Hobos (http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Murderhobo)

[pinecone]

RE: the last few posts (#14 on) on D&D/frpg mentality.

 

That's why we call them Murder Hobos (http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Murderhobo)

 "So...this nun, who's nursing me back to health..." "How Hawt is she? Does she have any valuables sitting around?"

[Christopher R Taylor]

And most fantasy RPG characters have that kind of morality and perhaps a bit more.  They'll tend to fight for justice and to help people.  Its just that the D&D game isn't about that, and the superhero game is.  That's the difference in approach.

[zslane]

Depends on the alignment of the party and the nature of the campaign. D&D lends itself rather easily to a campaign wherein the PCs were evil and working on behalf of the Big Bad. Or at least it used to; I don't really know if that's been bleached out of it post-d20-era. But a group I used to play with in the mid-to-late-80s had great fun with that using AD&D 2nd ed.

 

But playing supervillains, as a campaign style, was never something I or any fellow Champions players were ever interested in (none of us would have been fans much of the Suicide Squad motif). And while you could have the occasional morally gray vigilante on an otherwise traditional team (ala Batman in the JLA) and still make it work, mixing villains and heroes on the same team was not only kind of pointless, it was awful to experience. Having a mix of personalities (and Psych Lims) is one thing, but having the equivalent to the typical D&D party alignment potpourri is usually really not-fun in Champions.

[TheQuestionMan]

Druss the Legend also had a Code that made him a Hero. Mostly because he survived it!