Revision as of 13:08, 1 June 2009

Postmortem discussion

Edmiao I very much liked the episodic nature of supers, and i think that worked quite well. It really captured the comic book genre well, with some villians captured, and others getting away, but us being too busy to spend all our time in a particular episode trying to track down a bad guy from a previous episode. they were out there in the mist somewhere, or in jail stewing. I agree, the episodic nature means a fast paced plot, which means a lot of preparation, but also a more fun game for me. I get bored trying to weasel information out of some reluctant NPC for too long.

One way to use the hero system to allow characters to be more flexible in their superness would be to allow VPP to all characters, and be generous about their use in game as folks think up a new power. trick would be not not slow down the game, but i think if the focus stays on cinematics rather than exact power construction it's doable. All the big superheroes essentially have VPP.

Some of the sessions where we really shined were when there were only two people present, i think at that small census it really lends itself to a faced paced session, which is genre appropriate. one thing about having more folks around is that characters scatter to the wind to investigate this or that, and it's hard to keep up the pace.

i enjoyed the villians and the combats. there was often a hint of something bigger going on in the background, and many plots started to intersect each other. interesting for a building plot with an episodic nature, but true episodic plots may have disconnected storylines.

I quite enjoyed Viho, and put a lot of time into making him, i think this is thanks to the fact that he's recycled from exemplars, so i had a lot of time to mull over his persona in my head. he was also very super-like because all his powers were essentially VPP: followers bought with multiples, vehicles bought with multiples, super-scientist gives every science skill. one worry i had was that he would over-dominate the game world because he had the base and he was rich and he was well known; this made him the de-facto leader/spokesman of the group. I tried not to let him overrun the plots and I think it worked out ok. very entertaining to play him.

GABE: I actually didn't know we were just gonna stright cancel the game... Um anyway, I liked the game. I liked most of the villains, and the whole those with power vs. those without.

While not having huge arcing stories is nice, I fealt maybe the episodic nature maybe wasn't episodic enough? Does that make sense? The fights went pretty well as far as the Hero system is concerned.

I'm going to be blunt, one of the biggest problems was GM cancelation. Too many times for this game it would end up being canceled, so it made me wonder if the game would even run and not really get hyped for it, I don't like being disappointed so I worked on the idea it would be canceled.

I think the whole this story will run for X meet ups is a great idea. But overall I really enjoyed the game. Although I'd love to find another system for supers that is a bit easier.

Thematic Clarification

A clarifying (as in butter) discussion from Dieter's talk page:

--Dieter the Bold 17:11, 10 June 2008 (MST) Let me rephrase it this way: Are we like (1) Fantastic Four/Spider-Man (lone superheroes in the world but everyone seems to like us and be all cool, for the most part), (2) Batman (where no one really knows too much about us, passes us off as kinda' a myth, but those in the know thinks us a threat), or (3) X-men (feared and reviled)? I'm all for helping people and the like, but a lot of the mythic stuff superheroes do is only vaguely connected with "helping people". Usually, saving the planet from alien domination or destruction. There are definitely lots of "help small group or lone individual", and definitely guardians of a specific place stories, but in terms of mythic, at least how I understand it, it really doesn't have too much specifically to do with particular people.

JASON: I dont know anything about your game theme, but I do have an understanding of the game mechanics of this idea. When I said symbiote and organism before, I meant those as abstractions. In reality, your character is an extremely powerful and elegant collection of machine code that exists within the electronic framework of whatever device it inhabits. You could make a robot body for convenience, or you could jump into one of the PCs phones and be in their pocket, that wouldnt matter. In game terms you have Mind Control vs electronic class of minds, automaton power doesnt take stun from physical attacks (the host device does, however), and Extra Dimensional Movement only through electrical circuitry. You could hack into opposing computers (using mind control), sabotage devices carried by enemies (Body Drain vs electronic devices) or look through security cameras (Clairsentience).

--Edmiao 17:34, 10 June 2008 (MST) matt wrote: "Theme-driven: The best heroes are quasi-mythical, and are about something - they have themes. Heroes for this game will have primary themes, the essential story of the character. The theme of the overall game is about "outsiderness" (since everyone will be neccessarily different), either fore- or backgrounded by the intersection of the themes of all the heroes. Which is to say, I'm sure the group's heroes will share some very interesting themes, and I'd rather have the game be about stuff the players have built into their characters than something I've arbitrarily decided." Thus, i would interpret this to be, if you want to play batman darker setting, make batman. if you want to play lighter, make spider man. He will adapt the game world to you. I would interpret that the world will react to the characters based on their actions. if they are heroes then they will be seen as heroes. if they wreak damage all over the city blithely during combat then they might be viewed in a darker tone. Matt, this correct?

--Matts 17:48, 10 June 2008 (MST)Perfect, thanks Ed!

--Dieter the Bold 18:02, 10 June 2008 (MST) Okay, definition understood. Explanation needed on how, as random example, my Captain Marvel character's theme will be fitting in with Gabe's Daredevil's character's them and Ed's Tony Stark theme? (I know those are totally not (except for maybe Ed) the heroes we're theming our characters off of). I'm still seeing a disconnect between group loyalty and activities (which can be simply arranged) vs. the actual themes (I must crawl among the scum of the sewers to protect that little boy over there vs. I fight the grand Illuminatus in a battle of the minds for control over the Worldstone and the fate of humanity). I hyperbolize because I'm not sure how to shrink it down to more specifics. Also, Jason, you're nailing it on the head for what I'm thinking. Thanks, and awesome.

--Matts 21:23, 10 June 2008 (MST)What you're describing is basically the JLA or the Avengers - How does the agenda of a Norse God line up with that of an abusive scientist and a cold war relic? The answer, at least as I see it, is this: Each story arc, a hero could be highlighted - Batman calls in the JLA cavalry when the heat gets high in Gotham; Aquaman can't just can't take it anymore and has to be retrieved from the depths of the sea; Wonder Woman is castigated by her Amazonian whatevers and drags the team along on a vision-quest.

Translated to the context of this game, think of it this way. I'm gonna take all the themes for all the characters and put them in a bag. Each story arc, I'll pull out themes until I feel I've got a good basis for a story, choose some villains for it, and build a scenario. As the game progresses, a history will develop, and I'll pull from that too.

So, to directly answer your question: Sometimes the group will be examining the ravages of capitalism courtesy of Tony Stark, and sometimes the group will be slogging through the mud protecting homeless babies. Hopefully, Captain Marvel gets some needed perspective out of helping clean up the streets, and Daredevil can't believe it when he helps defeat Proctor Maximus Devourer Of Worlds.

If everyone's theme was the same, then every session would be the same. I'm sort of forcing at least one common theme (you are different from the common man), but to me the more themes the better, kind of like how a five color deck is fun: the interactions between discrete elements can be surprising and entertaining.

--Gdaze 21:28, 10 June 2008 (MST) Yeah... we are a super TEAM, thus I believe there should be a theme that covers all of us kind of, while allowing times for each person's own theme to come to the front. As long as we aren't always just digging stuff up all the time! Kekeke.

--Dieter the Bold 17:44, 17 June 2008 (MST) My vote for name: The Gemini League. As much a danger to each other as to our enemies.

--Edmiao 20:37, 17 June 2008 (MST) don't even joke about that.

GABE: No... that would be every other group we have, lets work together this time. That said, what is gonna be our name? It should incoperate magic and technology. The Technocrats!