10 - Origin
Where do the PCs come from? Some genres and styles of game put more weight on this than others.
Superhero media starts with the origin story so regularly that not doing so gets a film headlines. The importance of origin here makes sense because the characters are generally unusual in some way. And in gaming it fits because starting superhero PCs are built to last, and can be so varied that specialising really helps.
The breakthrough superhero RPG Champions was an early point-buy system unlike the earlier Villains & Vigilantes, and that became more common than random generation in and out of supers. Both have their advantages - points are good for creating what you want and an attempt at balance but encourage tinkering with builds, random can prevent minmaxing and reflects some of the odd power mixes out there but can go too far with that or leave you with something you’d rather not play.
Nowadays games like ICONS have both with chances to switch from randomness if something sparks an idea.
Random tables can also be more helpful as a starting point for villains.
The first supers game I ran, Golden Heroes features random generation with options for nudging like switching powers and advice for negotiated modelling, an early lesson for me in different ways players and GMs can work together on a premise.
And there are other approaches like Powered By The Apocalypse playbooks, used in supers in Masks: A New Generation where the powers are a small check box as part of defining your role in the world and team. They get you into the game very quickly, but mostly work for that particular playstyle, a step up from pregens.
10a - 3, 8, 6
Where, Grateful, Art
The PCs are among the crowd at the unveiling of a statue to a fallen hero. Then an old enemy attacks! Can they become the heroes the city needs today?
No comments:
Post a Comment