Interest in a supers game of some sort?

[Solar]

Is anyone interested in playing a supers game? I'm happy to run one online, recently I've been playing in a Justice League International game with Mutants and Masterminds 3rd and really enjoyed the system.

The games I'd want to run are...

1) Some form of Justice League game, where players can be part of the "big seven" (Batman, Superman etc) or another big time superhero who has been admitted to the league. In the interest of making the league more than a few PCs, I'd play the NPCs who would inevitably operate onside the player characters.

2) An Avengers game, where the players take the roles of Marvel's premier super-team. Just like before, the players can play classics like Captain America or Iron Man, or other characters they like that have joined the team, and just like before I'd play the NPCs.

3) Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, where the team is a bunch of aliens and a few superhumans who hang out in space and fighter cosmic supervillains etc. More of a sci-fi game than the classic supers style, but still a lot of fun. As these characters are less well known, I'd be happy for people to suggest the kind of characters they like, and I'll try to find them a suitably team member.

All the games will be set in versions of their Universe which are like they are in the comics but slightly different for my own purposes, and to make the game more fun/run more smoothly. The DC game would inevitably be a higher level than the other two, since that's how the league roll, but the other ones would also probably be pretty high level with big-time stories, since that's how I like my superheroes!

So if people are interested, just post below with your preferences (or other ideas, I'm happy to listen if people want to play in, say, the X-Men or whatever, it's not my first choice but you never know) and we'll see what happens!

[SinbadEV]

I would put my hat into the ring as a "maybe, but I have never played M&M"... I think I would rather make up a new character... I like Marvel over DC, but only slightly.

[Mercutio]

Like Sinbad noted, I'd be interested, but prefer to stat up my own character. I'm just not a huge fan of playing established characters. I'd prefer either of the first two games (Justice League or Avengers are both fun), but with player-created characters instead of Superman or Iron Man.

[Haraphen]

I'd be interested especially in an avengers game (dibs on spiderman). I'm
Not highly familiar with M&M iv mostly use Marvel: Univers for supers games

[Reckless21]

I would be hugely interested! Anything Marvel would be awesome, DC is ok too though! I have the mutants and masterminds 3rd edition rule book already.

[RelentlessNight]

I'm happy to play in a Marvel or DC universe, would prefer to play our own characters rather than a pre-defined super-hero. Also not familiar with M&M system.

For system choice, my vote is Aberrant d10 :D

[Solar]

We'd definitely be using M&M 3rd ed RelentlessNight, since that's the system I like and feel is the best for the game.

I can see that people would prefer to play their own characters. I get that, but I do think that I'd like to have a least a few players who were using existing ones, if there are some people who resolutely demand to use their own creations then I think that would be OK, though I'd want to OK backgrounds first and if people can make legacy characters that would be preferable.

Anyway, definitely leaning towards Marvel, since I think it has a better selection of things to do. In order to clarify, I've also decided on a tone for the game, which will be mostly Cosmic/Alien/Mystical in nature. I'm a big Jack Kirby fan so stuff like the Inhumans, Eternals, Celestials, Kree and so on may certainly make an appearance, though regular Marvel characters will also be in there. I like my Superheroes to be higher in power level as well, so there's that too.

[Mercutio]

What PL would you look for? The M&M 3E versions of Superman and Batman are all PL 12 or higher.

My preference for creating my own character is mostly because I don't really like using characters that have an established history that I have to follow or else get blasted for acting against character. And I like to have ownership of a character I'm playing, which is hard to do with someone else's creation. I just don't think playing the umpteenth version of Superman or The Incredible Hulk is as much fun as making my own character, who may just be a big flying brick, but tailored more towards my personal tastes.

[Reckless21]

Sounds good, I'll take up a established character.. have to think who though, Thor? Hawkeye? Iron Man? I'm partial to Avengers and mutants

[SinbadEV]

I call Hyperion, Green Lantern, Deadpool, Guardian or Sasquatch.

[Mercutio]

Obviously if the preference is for established characters, I'd fall in line. I'd like to play in an M&M3E game more than I want to rock the boat.

If it's appropriate, I'd call Doctor Strange.

[Linklegacy77]

I might play, as I'd like to try M&M 3rd E, but I don't think I could play an established character, as I don't really follow comic books to be honest, and I'd have a lot of problems keeping up with canon and the story/history of any such character, and even just playing the personality appropriately. So if I could create my own character, I'll play.

[elpresidente]

In the off chance you end up doing Guardians I hearby call dibs on Rocket Racoon. If avengers then I'd be partial to a bit of Warmachine.

[Drenik]

I might be interested, but I agree with some of the others, I'd prefer to make my own than be an or be with too many already made characters (not to mention fan rage if i got details wrong). Perhaps if we were in the same universe but had our own thing going for the most part.

[Solar]

PL would in all likelihood be around 13, but the way I intend to do it is to set a PL and then let people get more character points, rather than less, if they voluntarily reduce their PL. So if the campaign was PL 13, then players could choose to be PL 12 and get 15 more points to spend on their character, or PL 11 and get 30 more points.

Basically it allows people to play specialised, powerful characters or more broadly skilled and powerful lower level characters. For a Marvel game I think PL 14 is a good base, since it lets people play powerful heavy hitters like Thor or very skilled guys like Black Panther, and I think I'm heading towards running an Avengers game of some sort. In the interests of making things easier for non-fans, I won't be directly referencing any of the continuity, so don't worry about that, and I am happy for people to put a spin on characters that are not typical in the interests of ease and fun, so don't worry about being blasted for not knowing character history. That said, if anyone has any questions I know quite a bit of it, so just ask.

So so far, I have interest from Drenik, elpresidente, linklegacy77, Mercutio, SinbadEV and Reckless 21. That seems like a solid group size. I have decided to let some people make new characters, but I would like it if at least half the team was made up of existing ones, so if people could post what they are interested in then that would be good. Also, every character should want to be part of the team, no badass loners who never work with anyone please (I'm sure that everyone will be fine, but just to make sure. I've seen people try to play the Joker in DC superhero games before).

So far elpresidente has said that War Machine interests him, Mercutio has said Dr Strange and Sinbad and Reckless a bunch of dudes. Linklegacy has said he would prefer to play his own creation.

[Mercutio]

I'll roll up a Dr. Strange at PL 13 in the next few days.

Or 14? Whatever PL you're going to run at, I'm going to that PL max. Dr. Strange isn't the most well-rounded character, after all. He's pretty focused.

[Solar]

I think, in retrospect, PL 14 seems to be a good choice

After all, I like my supers to be quite powerful and there is no shortage of powerful villains to chuck at you guys.

[Linklegacy77]

Alright, here's the concept I've got so far:

A blind hero with powers over light and darkness and fights with two blades, he can see via his psychic powers (just telepathy and touchsight). His name is Xerox (yes, the company is named after him), and he's hundreds of years old.

That's just my idea so far. Oh, and he draws his control powers from his blades (they're powerful magical artifacts from an ancient extinct civilization), one is pure white and the other pure black. I bought the book and am reading through it now to learn the system, so I'll have to see how well that translates into a real character.

He's going to have an interesting duality going on about his morals and views.

I'm also considering taking you up on your offer of playing at a lower PL for extra points.

[Reckless21]

I've found a interesting write up for Wolverine (Fan since late 80s!) He's PL11 but has 212 points used. Pretty well written up and doesn't go wild with the healing.

[Solar]

Linklegacy that seems like an interesting idea, what are his morals and views? Remember, this is an Avengers team, so bear that in mind. Still, looks like a good basic concept. Reckless if you want to use that build then feel free to do so, as long as you are aware that you will be playing a less powerful character than anyone else. If you want to bump him up to PL 12 and spend another 28 pts, then go ahead.

Basically, PL 14 (210pts), PL 13 (225pts), PL 12 (240pts)

[Mercutio]

The various builds I've found for Doctor Strange to use as a model are all PL14, but wildly out of proportion with power points, all up in the 300-350 range. Basically they've made his Magic Array insanely huge. I'm going to take one of the better looking builds I've seen and pare it down by about 100 points, and then rebuild from scratch to try to get to the same look.

[Linklegacy77]

Oh, he's definitely a good guy, but he sees things completely in black and white, no room for grey area at all. In any given situation, there are right things to do and there are wrong things to do. Everyone's views are either right or wrong. You're either good or evil.

I'm curious as to what people think of my hero concept, as I'm not quite as huge into comic books or supers as people like Merc are (I want your opinion Cameron!).

How original is this concept either? I'm sure it's been done before in some way, but if it's more or less original I'm quite happy with that.

I'm familiarizing myself with the rules, but I have one major question: where does one figure out how to design devices? My character concept has my character with two swords from which he draws his power, and therefore are major devices, but the section on devices has no rules at all on how to design them or give them stats/attributes, just how characters in game create them.

[Solar]

Devices are like powers. You build what they do, including everything you want from them, and then you add up the total cost. Devices that are Hard To Lose then cost 1pt less for every 5 spent. Device that are Easy To Lose (like, say, a Sword), then cost 2pts less per 5. Devices can be indestructible, but in that case their no points saved if it is Hard To Lose, and only -1pt per every 5 for Easy To Lose.

[Reckless21]

Link his concept sounds great. I haven't read since the 90s but that was when the Anti-heroes were big lots of grey. This character may butt heads with Wolverine sometimes since he tends to work in the areas of grey sometimes.

[Mercutio]

Link, the concept is really pretty good. It sounds like Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman with magic, which is a neat idea.

As for Devices - the thing you have to worry about is that if the swords get stripped from you, they could possibly be used against you, and you would lose all of your powers. When you get a tentative build done, let me take a look at it. I got a flash of an idea for some of his powers--like the blindsense stuff is ingrained, and the light/dark control is inherent but not actually part of the swords. It's off the top of my head right now, and I don't have time to crunch the numbers, but it would be something like Xerox has the powers, but can only use them if he has a sword in his hand. That way if a sword gets stripped away, you don't "lose" your powers and have someone use them against you. You just can't use them until you pick up another sword.

The great thing about M&M (and other effects-based games) is that you can get to the same end-point (blind swordsman who can control light and dark) any number of a million different ways.

[Linklegacy77]

I'm glad the idea doesn't sound idiotic.

As for the swords, it actually was a really integral part of him that the swords are psychically linked to him, and he gains the powers from his link with the swords, which are his power source. Not having the swords physically doesn't break the link so he can still use his powers, but if the swords are somehow destroyed or separated from him in a way where the link doesn't function (different dimensions, extreme distance like another galaxy).

So he's got minor psychic powers: blindsense (I'm not sure how in M&M you create blindsense with powers. Any suggestions?), and telepathy along with mind reading, but no telekinesis or mental attacks. He can manipulate shadows and light to use in combat as he needs, even hardening the shadows or light to attack with, and can take shadow form and a form of pure light, along with a hybrid form.

I've got so many ideas floating in my head, I don't think I'm gonna have enough points for it all lol.

Out of curiosity, how does one go about creating something like a power source? Green Lantern has his ring for example, how would you go about making his ring?

[Mercutio]

Check the M&M forums at www.atomicthinktank.com

I know the GL rings have been discussed multiple times.

Back to the swords, the way you describe them they sound like straight powers to me rather than devices. If you drop a device or it gets disarmed, you lose access to its powers immediately. What you're describing sounds more like "complication" than "limited" which makes it more like a straight power with a descriptor "swords" than an actual limitation that he has the swords in hand.

Let me think about it some over the next day or so and I can show you a power example for both a device and a straight power. The reason you get break on points cost for devices is that supposedly you will lost access to the device about once per adventure at least.

[Solar]

Yeah those would be complications.

[SinbadEV]

I really don't know anything about M&M so it could take me a while to get around to doing anything independently.

Are there any pre-made characters I could use somewhere on the internet?

[Mercutio]

Yes, there are. The basic PL10 (the starting "level" for the game) has a bunch. No official Marvel builds, though.

Good stuff here - http://grfiles.game-host.org/
You'll want to check out the files that start with "TheSentinels" as those are all pre-genned characters. You'd have to spend the rest of the power points yourself and increase the PL from 10 to 14.

Also, check out atomicthinktank.com, this subforum (http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewforum.php?f=14&sid=0a5ff62d6307beffa1b8d2bd8ad688ba), and look through this thread in particular (http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=37179&start=0). Jabroniville, the guy who did the builds in this thread, is awesome. You can't use his builds as written because he ignores the 15pp per level, as do most experienced M&M players when statting up pre-made characters, but they should give you an excellent base.

Taliesin's builds (http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=37074&start=0) are also awesome, and he's an actual paid designer for M&M, which doesn't make them "official" but carries a lot of weight, at least for me.

[Linklegacy77]

Sounds like it's time for you to request a forum

[Reckless21]

Mercutio beat me to it! lol

[Solar]

Taliesin's builds are also awesome, and he's an actual paid designer for M&M, which doesn't make them "official" but carries a lot of weight, at least for me.

Taliesin's build are the preferred ones for me, since I feel that they fit the kind of scale I prefer in PL to Jab's (who tends to stat lower). Jab's are pretty great though. I use theirs for a base quite a lot when statting out my own builds.

Also yeah, I think it's around about time for me to request a forum. I'll check out how to go about such now then.

[Mercutio]

I using arthur eld's and Taliesin's builds as models for my Strange.

[SinbadEV]

I think this Deadpool http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?p=708781#p708781 would be fun... The Avengers are well funded and could probably afford him... and based on what I've read he is more often a good guy who does unsavoury things than an actual bad guy.

Also this Hulk looks passable if we need something smashed: http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?p=766853#p766853

Unfortunately it looks like no one has given any love to Alpha Flight or Supreme Power on the linked sites.

[Reckless21]

SASQUATCH (Walter Langkowski)

http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?p=820417#p820417


There he is. Also a bunch of Alpha Flight characters further down on the first page.

[SinbadEV]

The person who was interested in a Green Lantern style character might like Dr. Spectrum http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?p=538420#p538420

[Mercutio]

SinbadEV, that's a 2E build, not 3E, so it is a bit different.

[Linklegacy77]

Alright, so it looks like the most complicated part of character creation is figuring out the powers, the rest of it looks quite easy.

Also, I think I'm going to put a bunch of points into the skill Close Combat: Swords rather than into Fighting as it seems like a more efficient use of points if my character's fighting style is 100% to use those swords, and put a few points into parry, which I feel would also accurately represent that he fights with his swords, but doesn't fight without them. Does that sound right?

[Mercutio]

Yes, that does sound about right. It's also a good way to shave points.

[Linklegacy77]

I'm curious if there are any rules I missed for voluntarily handicapping your character for extra points, like if you get extra points for playing a blind character.

[Lune]

Link: I seem to remember some ability like "precognitive combat" that basically allows you some kind of combat advantage. I was thinking that would fit well with your psionic powers for use in combat.

Also, a word from the wise about playing in a supers game with a character that only fights in combat with lethal weapons: generally in comics that isn't considered very heroic. In cases where your fighting robots, zombies or other nonsentient beings there isn't an issue with it. But teams like the Avengers tend to frown upon "heroes" who take life and death into their own hands. I've tried it as well not thinking it would be a major issue but my GM had plans that involved facing foes I didn't care to use my swords on. My suggestion: have some other form of offense.

[Mercutio]

Link - Not any more. In other editions there were, but now they've been done away with. There's a sidebar on the top of page 29 that explains their thinking.

[Mercutio]

I've posted a tentative Strange build in the forum.

[Solar]

If you want to play a blind character, then that would be a complication. Most blind characters in superhero comics are not actually blind though, so it's not a concern. If you want your character to have a blindsense that is in some ways better than regular vision, then just use the sense power and then add "actually blind" as a complication. That's how Daredevil is done by most builders, for example, and it works perfectly.

[Reckless21]

http://online-roleplaying.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1866

Avengers Assemble!