Querysphinx

Re: How do you handle Moments of Mastery/ Dramatic Comebacks? I grant you the benefit of different experiences. Every time that's happened to me, the GM's next (and usually the only logical) line is, "Okay, you die."

Re: How do you handle Moments of Mastery/ Dramatic Comebacks? Interesting. Because I see those moments as being reward for roleplaying above and beyond the call of duty. It's the reward for player effort rather than a negation of it. You the player have put thought and emotion into the project. You've set up the plan, you've made the personal sacrifices, you've taken the hits, you've initiated the bold and clever maneuver, you deliver the stirring soliloquy... and then you fall flat on your face because the dice said so. And if the GM is being honest, you die and the bad guys parade your head on a pike down main street. Perhaps this is because dice hate me and never fail to bungle those moments. Interesting article by the way. I wrote a similar one many moons ago.

Re: How do you handle Moments of Mastery/ Dramatic Comebacks? The World of Carboard speech is a good example. There's the end of the original Highlander movie, where McCloud is losing his fight with the Kurgan until his girlfriend interferes and then when the Kurgan attacks her Conner find his center and it's ON. Really it happened at the end of many, many stories when that last-chance shot simple can't miss. I want to say that I don't let the dice arbitrate those situations, but my response to the needs of the moment is not exactly codified. Sometimes it'll be: Don't bother rolling, the villain falls for the trick, or don't bother rolling that's a hit for maximum damage. Sometimes it will be more excessive than that. On the other hand, I have a whole menu of meta-powers that that players can buy that facilitate moments like these. Powers like Limit Break (an AID that boosts major stats triggered by dramatically appropriate circumstances), Heroic Recovery (A triggered healing power that goes off when the character is KOed.), and Moment of Mastery (which increase SPD and CV, triggered by dramatically appropriate circumstances). I think including powers like these tends to encourage play that brings them to bear. It's always a balancing act between mechanics and stories, but doing that balancing act is part of the fun/challenge of being GM.

My favorite moments in books, films, and stories of all sorts, are moments of mastery (where the protagonist in the midst of peril finally has his or her abilities all come together in a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts) and the Dramatic Comeback, where the hero had been beaten to death's door (metaphorically; any great loss will do) but somehow finds the wherewithal to come roaring back into the fight. I find, however, that such moments as these are very difficult to arrange in role-playing games. The mechanics of games are not as a whole designed to accommodate them. Sometimes, through a lucky series of dice rolls one will get a comeback, but as a dramatic construct conceived of beforehand as part of a story arc, they have an unfortunate tendency to fall victim to bad dice roles. It would be like the chase down the Death Star trench in the real Star Wars movie went the wrong way because either Han or Luke rolled an 18 or because Vader rolled a 3. So do you, as a GM or a player, ever just set the dice aside and let the moment live on its own, or do you consider the arbitration of the dice to be a feature rather than a bug, do you have some other way of handling it, or do you consider roleplaying to be a dry tactical simulation with no place fore drama? FWIW as GM, there are times I find roleplaying so perfect for the moment (even in dice-driven moments like combat) that the story trumps the dice. The needs of the drama outweigh the arbitrary fairness of the dice, but I'm interested in hearing other people's opinions about this aspect of storytelling in RPG's

Re: Widening Gyre review by John Taber

Re: Query's Art & Stuff Thread This pencil started out as a technical exercise in drawing reflections. It will serve as a technique template for a painting that I hope to use for a book cover.

Re: Query's Art & Stuff Thread Here's a recent colored pencil. A Scene from my current novel.

Re: Needing a Name for a Density Increase Super Heroine So she's a member of the 97%.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... That one's a keeper.

Re: From Superfriends to Watchmen: The Extremes of Superheroes I may be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time, but the tenor of you posts suggests you don't want an answer, you want an argument. Nevertheless: Realistic (adj): Conforming to reality and the empirical observation of objective facts. Complex (adj): Consisting of many interrelated parts. While it is true that there is a great deal of overlap between realistic and complex because reality is complex, not everything that is complex is realistic. When one plays a superhero game or reads a superhero story or watches a superhero movie, then one throws realistic out the window. Super powers do not exist. Period. If take them as given, however, we may then ask two different types of questions: "What does this do?" and "What does this mean?" These are not mutually exclusive, but they are used in different ways at different times. "What does this do?" questions generally revolve around using powers as tools in new and innovative ways to solve different sorts of tactical or strategic problems. "What does this mean?" questions generally revolve around moral choices and identity quandaries. (i.e. I can do this, but should I?). I like stories that involve both sorts of questions. Where characters are not defined solely by what they are fighting against, where there are more than two points of view and not necessarily only one correct answer. I want the players and their characters to have to work hard sometimes to figure out what is right, but unrealistically, I want to put triumph within reach.

Re: From Superfriends to Watchmen: The Extremes of Superheroes

Re: From Superfriends to Watchmen: The Extremes of Superheroes Generally it's too simplistic. You've got good guys and bad guys and not much grey. What I tend to like (and which most players apparently don't) is grey contests with at least three sides.

Re: From Superfriends to Watchmen: The Extremes of Superheroes Games aren't shows or comic books. I find the dilemma is that, when I run a game I want the character's to try and make their world a better place, but I have a very iron age sort of imagination. The Superfriends don't work for me because the character's don't suffer enough. The Watchmen don't work for me because ultimately they're all impotent (even the omnipotent one). I need something more on the order of the Dresden files meets Wild Cards.

Re: Needing a Name for a Density Increase Super Heroine Motherload Gravitas Singularity

Re: A slow rolling ball of destruction Is this something you need to build with points? If it's not something the player characters are going to be carrying around in their pocket, call it an environmental effect and be done with it. I used to be the guy who tried to figure out how to build absolutely everything in "champions terms." Then I realized no one was ever going actually check my my math. It was like, "Hey. I'm the GM. I need this to happen. Poof!"

Re: Black Enchantress The problem with the question is we don't know what she's up against or how you want her to stack up against your group.

Re: Make Your Own Motivational Poster

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

Re: Needing a Name for a Density Increase Super Heroine Hardbody Mjolnir (Super strong, super heavy, and only the truly worthy can pick her up. ) Pounder I was going to add Hardcore but I think that belongs on the X-rated thread

Re: Needing a Name for a Density Increase Super Heroine Building Tin Men...

Re: Make Your Own Motivational Poster There you go, ruining my perfectly delusional childhood memories by replacing them with facts.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. These look great, Storn, though one has to wonder how much double-sided tape Angry Bird goes through.

Re: Make Your Own Motivational Poster Jimmy Stewart's Shane would kick Chuck Norris's Walker's posterior.

Re: Query's Art & Stuff Thread This was my big project for December, a Christmas present for my niece (who is a role player).

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Are you sure Hades middle name isn't Fezzig?