This month has been pretty crazy, and not necessarily in a good way.
Gaming schedules have been pretty much tossed out of whack. So far, only my Saturday gaming group has survived the chaos, though we've not gotten to do a whole lot of playing, though hopefully tonight will be a return to form, though in an unusual method (more on that later).
Back when Chris and Dave of the Order 66 podcast were doing their Kickstarter, I'd pledged enough to get to play in a Skype game run by Chris. Well, through a comedy of errors on both our ends, that session got delayed a fair bit with my finally able to join in on a Saturday game session. And to be honest... it was worth the wait. I had never gamed with any of the other folks that were playing, but we came together pretty well as a team. The adventure in question, "Dead Man's Hand" was fun to play, and even fun to run as I got the chance to run a demo game for some folks last night, and opted to use that one. Sadly, the players I had weren't quite as creative with their actions, though I suspect most of that had to do with just not being familiar with the dice mechanic that FFG used for their Star Wars system.
The Wednesday D&D game has gone belly-up, due in no small part to just general lack of interest. The GM had something going as far as a storyline, but that eventually just fell apart and fell into the "go fight stuff and swipe their loot" rut that has been the death of more than one D&D game I'm sure.
On a positive note, a suggestion I made on the FFG Age of Rebellion Beta forums, to rename the Knowledge (Galactic Civil War) skill to the more general Knowledge (Warfare) has made it into the Beta Updates, so hooray me. Most of the changes made so far to the AoR Beta have been fairly minor, with the biggest changes for the Week 2 update being the addition of some new talents for the Gunner and Commando specializations.
I've been chugging along with articles for the Gamer Security Agency, though my day job hasn't left me as much mental bandwidth as I'd like.
I'm also gonna call an audible here, in regards to the backer reward adventure that I'm to write as part of the Order 66 Kickstarter. I've had some tech issues, and several files got corrupted... including the adventure I was writing. I've got an older back-up copy, so the entire thing wasn't lost, but I did lose all of Act 3 and a fair amount of formatting, so that puts my way behind schedule, as I'd hoped to have it done by the end of October.
In other dour news, fellow gamer, Star Wars fan, and d20 Radio's resident furry Rikoshi had to reluctantly bow out of the Sunday Skype game that I play in. While I can understand why he did it, having seen the crapfest that his life has unfairly become over the past few months, it still sucks to lose such a fun member of one's gaming group. His antics as the Squib scoundrel Kirkinnery-tovante was always entertaining, jaunty hat and all. Hopefully he can get things in order and turned around for the better sooner rather than later.
There's an update for the Unofficial Species Menagerie in the works, prodded into higher gear due to events I'm not going to go into detail on. Hopefully, a few new things are in place on the updated version to avoid that sort of mess in the future. The species that have gotten official stats or are due to have them very soon have been removed, mostly as I want to play nice with FFG when and where I can. I've still got the versions that Ben and I came up with, but I can't say if they'll show up someplace else at a later date, though I know that a few of Ben's can be found over at the d20 Radio forums in the FFG Star Wars RPG section.
I've also been invited to partake in a paganesque ceremony on behalf of some good friends in the not-to-distant future. It's nothing crazy or criminal, but given the circumstances behind it I'm quite honored to have been asked to attend.
As for the Saturday gaming group, we're going to break out an old and rather unexpected RPG for a one-shot session, mostly as something to break away from our usual games. The game in question? The Dragonball Z Anime Adventure RPG by R. Talsorian. I was quite amused when the suggestion came up, having played a very short campaign of that game many years ago, and remember the main rulebook being an atrocious example of poor layout; it took the third book to make the came well and truly playable as well as providing a number of sensible rules patches to cut down on the curb-stomp battles that could occur all too frequently (particularly where extra actions were involved). It should be interesting if nothing else. I doubt there will be anyone with a Power Level that's over 9000 or people's hair turning gold from their extreme power, which is for the best.
Showing posts with label Marvel Heroic RPG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel Heroic RPG. Show all posts
October 19, 2013
December 11, 2012
And another campaign bites the dust...
Again, been fairly quiet, though it's at least been less than a month since I posted anything here.
Work... well, it's still hectic and still nuttier than a jar of peanuts. Everybody wants everything done at once, and as always I simply don't have the time, which frankly gets a bit annoying when half the stuff I'm doing really should be the responsibility of another department.
Got to hang out a bit and have a nice dinner with a couple of my former co-workers. After missing the November get-together due to illness, it was nice to see them again.
Still cranking out the Heroes on Demand articles on a weekly basis for the Gaming Security Agency, and to be honest I was quite tickled to hear Brian "Fiddleback/Agent 00" and Dave "GM Dave/Agent 42" give this long-running article series a mention on GSA Briefing #5. You can listen to it here: http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/11/27/gsa-podcast-briefing-5/
Also been watching episodes of Young Justice via Netflix, and I'm really enjoying this series. I never read the comic book, but I'm a big ol' fan of the DC Animated Universe, particularly the Justice League and Batman Beyond, and enjoyed Teen Titans as well, so I'm very much enjoying Young Justice, particularly Robin (just finished the episode "Downtime"). Also been getting in some older-school gaming by way of Final Fantasy I (level-grinding to get ready to take on the first Elemental Fiend) on my iPhone and Dragon Quest 8 (just starting on the monster-hunting for the fighting pit) on my PS2.
Sadly though, it seems that the Marvel Heroic RPG campaign I was in (in which I played Darkhawk, a favorite comic character of mine from back in the day that's seen a surge in recognition over the past few years after lingering in comic-book limbo) has come to an end, as the GM simply doesn't have time to come up with scenarios anymore (increased job responsibility and small child will do that to a person). In a way, it seems kind of fitting to the game's comic book roots that series staring our rather oddball cast of heroes suddenly got cancelled. Ah well, such is the way of things, and it was fun while it lasted.
Also, I think the semi-regular Dresden Files game, in which I play a youngish (early 20's) White Council Wizard by the name of Danny Copperfield, is winding to a close. The GM has set the stage for a potentially catastrophic event; you know the drill, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. If you're a fan of the series or at least know the background of the Dresdenverse, the short version is that someone (or more likely several someones) is setting the stage for the supernatural equivalent of World War III, dragging the Winter Court, the Summer Court, the White Court of Vampires, the White Council, the Denarians. and even a couple Freeholding Lords (such as Gentleman Johnny Marcone and Donar Vadderrung) into a big ol' apocalyptic fracas of a scope that would make Buffy crap her too-tight pants in terror. And it's up to a lone White Council Wizard, a freshly-minted Knight of the Cross, a junior SI detective, and a Summer Court changeling to find out who the guilty party is and stop this mess. So yeah, no pressure (I wonder if that counts as a self-compel on my "Habitual Snarker" Aspect?)
Upside though is the Saturday group (most of it anyway) is getting back into Legend of the Five Rings, so I get to step back into the role of Usagi Hiro, Topaz Champion aka the "KIller Bunny" (an in-game nickname give how devastatingly effective some of his batojutsu attacks have been as well as his Yoda-esque style of fighting). A bushi of the Hare Clan (one of the many Minor Clans in Rokugan), Hiro's been a fun character to play, being kind of the "odd man out" given the rest of the group are Major Clan samurai (Crane yojimbo, Mantis priestess, Scorpion socialite, and a Dragon investigator, though I think the last one is pretty much gone at this point). The GM has been using the "Heroes of Rokugan: Champions of the Sapphire Throne" series of modules, adapting them to a slightly different version of Rokugan.
As for the Wednesday group, while the Marvel game is done, I may very well be picking up the GM reins to run Star Wars: Edge of the Empire for them. Our next get together (which won't be until January) will be me running my conversion of the old Star Wars Gamer adventure "Rendezvous at Ord Mantell." I've not put this one the web, as I'd like to give it a second "shakedown run," particularly in light of some of the changes FFG made. As there is also the Beginner's Box due out later this month, itself with an introductory adventure, I may very well wind-up running that instead, following up with "Crates of Krayts" and "RatOM" if there's enough interest. Most of the players are interested in giving the new system a try, and I'm already playing in one EotE game so I don't mind being the GM once again. There was some initial talk about a campaign using D&DNext, but after how the last playtest went, that notion pretty much got sunk.
Speaking of Edge of the Empire, the Order 66 Podcast, the original podcast dedicated to Star Wars RPGs, had it's swan song for Saga Edition this past Sunday, bringing a close to several years of entertaining and informative podcasting about what I honestly think is the best d20 system to have hit the market (Mutants & Masterminds is a close second though). This however now paves the way for Order 66 to focus on Edge of the Empire and the later materials from FFG's Star Wars RPG line. Will be a tad odd at first to hear Chris and Dave jawing on about a system other than Saga Edition, but I'm sure it'll be just as enjoyable as their SWSE-based efforts.
Well, that's about it for this month. On the off-chance I don't make a post until next month, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Work... well, it's still hectic and still nuttier than a jar of peanuts. Everybody wants everything done at once, and as always I simply don't have the time, which frankly gets a bit annoying when half the stuff I'm doing really should be the responsibility of another department.
Got to hang out a bit and have a nice dinner with a couple of my former co-workers. After missing the November get-together due to illness, it was nice to see them again.
Still cranking out the Heroes on Demand articles on a weekly basis for the Gaming Security Agency, and to be honest I was quite tickled to hear Brian "Fiddleback/Agent 00" and Dave "GM Dave/Agent 42" give this long-running article series a mention on GSA Briefing #5. You can listen to it here: http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/11/27/gsa-podcast-briefing-5/
Also been watching episodes of Young Justice via Netflix, and I'm really enjoying this series. I never read the comic book, but I'm a big ol' fan of the DC Animated Universe, particularly the Justice League and Batman Beyond, and enjoyed Teen Titans as well, so I'm very much enjoying Young Justice, particularly Robin (just finished the episode "Downtime"). Also been getting in some older-school gaming by way of Final Fantasy I (level-grinding to get ready to take on the first Elemental Fiend) on my iPhone and Dragon Quest 8 (just starting on the monster-hunting for the fighting pit) on my PS2.
Sadly though, it seems that the Marvel Heroic RPG campaign I was in (in which I played Darkhawk, a favorite comic character of mine from back in the day that's seen a surge in recognition over the past few years after lingering in comic-book limbo) has come to an end, as the GM simply doesn't have time to come up with scenarios anymore (increased job responsibility and small child will do that to a person). In a way, it seems kind of fitting to the game's comic book roots that series staring our rather oddball cast of heroes suddenly got cancelled. Ah well, such is the way of things, and it was fun while it lasted.
Also, I think the semi-regular Dresden Files game, in which I play a youngish (early 20's) White Council Wizard by the name of Danny Copperfield, is winding to a close. The GM has set the stage for a potentially catastrophic event; you know the drill, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. If you're a fan of the series or at least know the background of the Dresdenverse, the short version is that someone (or more likely several someones) is setting the stage for the supernatural equivalent of World War III, dragging the Winter Court, the Summer Court, the White Court of Vampires, the White Council, the Denarians. and even a couple Freeholding Lords (such as Gentleman Johnny Marcone and Donar Vadderrung) into a big ol' apocalyptic fracas of a scope that would make Buffy crap her too-tight pants in terror. And it's up to a lone White Council Wizard, a freshly-minted Knight of the Cross, a junior SI detective, and a Summer Court changeling to find out who the guilty party is and stop this mess. So yeah, no pressure (I wonder if that counts as a self-compel on my "Habitual Snarker" Aspect?)
Upside though is the Saturday group (most of it anyway) is getting back into Legend of the Five Rings, so I get to step back into the role of Usagi Hiro, Topaz Champion aka the "KIller Bunny" (an in-game nickname give how devastatingly effective some of his batojutsu attacks have been as well as his Yoda-esque style of fighting). A bushi of the Hare Clan (one of the many Minor Clans in Rokugan), Hiro's been a fun character to play, being kind of the "odd man out" given the rest of the group are Major Clan samurai (Crane yojimbo, Mantis priestess, Scorpion socialite, and a Dragon investigator, though I think the last one is pretty much gone at this point). The GM has been using the "Heroes of Rokugan: Champions of the Sapphire Throne" series of modules, adapting them to a slightly different version of Rokugan.
As for the Wednesday group, while the Marvel game is done, I may very well be picking up the GM reins to run Star Wars: Edge of the Empire for them. Our next get together (which won't be until January) will be me running my conversion of the old Star Wars Gamer adventure "Rendezvous at Ord Mantell." I've not put this one the web, as I'd like to give it a second "shakedown run," particularly in light of some of the changes FFG made. As there is also the Beginner's Box due out later this month, itself with an introductory adventure, I may very well wind-up running that instead, following up with "Crates of Krayts" and "RatOM" if there's enough interest. Most of the players are interested in giving the new system a try, and I'm already playing in one EotE game so I don't mind being the GM once again. There was some initial talk about a campaign using D&DNext, but after how the last playtest went, that notion pretty much got sunk.
Speaking of Edge of the Empire, the Order 66 Podcast, the original podcast dedicated to Star Wars RPGs, had it's swan song for Saga Edition this past Sunday, bringing a close to several years of entertaining and informative podcasting about what I honestly think is the best d20 system to have hit the market (Mutants & Masterminds is a close second though). This however now paves the way for Order 66 to focus on Edge of the Empire and the later materials from FFG's Star Wars RPG line. Will be a tad odd at first to hear Chris and Dave jawing on about a system other than Saga Edition, but I'm sure it'll be just as enjoyable as their SWSE-based efforts.
Well, that's about it for this month. On the off-chance I don't make a post until next month, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
November 15, 2012
Been awfully quiet 'round these parts...
Not to much meat here, just a quick post to explain why it's been fairly quiet of late.
Main reason is work, plain and simple. Mandatory OT and amount of stuff that needs to get done (everyone else in the company can dawdle and twiddle their thumbs 'til the cows come home, but gods forbid I don't get everything done ASAP) pretty much doesn't leave me with a whole lot of mental bandwidth after the working day is done.
Also, a decent chunk of my time has been spent writing articles for the GSA website, ranging from homebrew species stats for Fantasy Flight Games' Edge of the Empire beta to RPG reviews (latest being one on for the 4th edition of Legend of the Five Rings) to the weekly Heroes on Demand column, which itself covers a gamut of RPGs.
The other big thing that's been gobbling up a lot of my time of late has been the Edge of the Empire beta, both in analysis of the official rules and experimenting with various rules tweaks, to say nothing of playtesting when and where I can. Though with the final update having been posted a few days ago (I even did a couple GSA articles running through the updates week by week), I imagine that will be quieting down a bit, now that the rules are more or less "stable" until the final product is released sometime next year.
Gaming wise, the Sunday Star Wars Skype game I play is still going strong, and there's been a positive reception to the notion of alternating between the existing Saga Edition campaign (which has proven quite interesting so far) and an Edge of the Empire campaign. It was even suggested that we might record the EotE sessions as a live-play podcast, a notion that's both exciting and daunting. If said live-play podcast does occur, it won't be the well-edited sort of podcast that Garrett of Threat Detected produces, but probably something more akin to Brev's Real Gamers podcast (though hopefully with far less Skype issues). But, we'll see.
I've also been playing in another Edge of the Empire game via Skype, this one a weekly game occurring on Friday nights. In this one, I'm playing a Clone Wars veteran named Auron Riggs (Hired Gun/Bodyguard/Mercenary), and he's proven to be quite badass.
There's also the bi-weekly Wednesday group, in which we're playing the Marvel Heroic RPG. The party are comprised of teenage heroes, with three out of the five players using existing characters (Darkhawk, Slapstick, and Patriot) with the two ladies are using (mostly original) concepts. As much as the MHRPG system didn't wow me when I first read through it, I must say it's really started growing on me, and I've still amazed at how much variety is available in the system with what a character can do, particularly when Slapstick (living cartoon) and Miss Hex (teenage spellsplinger) use their various abilities to create complications and assets. Me? I mostly just break stuff, including an film!Iron Monger knock-off.
Saturday gaming has seen some changes, as the One Ring game I was has pretty much come to a screeching halt. I was pretty darn sick that particular Saturday, so I don't know the full details, only that I wasn't the only missing player and that the remaining PCs wound up either dead or incapacitated and in the hands of some very savage goblins. But, in lieu of that, most of us are delving right back into Legend of the Five Rings, something that we had a lot of fun with, using modules from the Heroes of Rokugan II: Champions of the Sapphire Throne living campaign as the basic framework, though with some very different NPCs. I must say I missed playing my Hare Bushi, and getting the chance to let the "killer bunny" get back into the thick of things was a blast.
There's still the monthly Dresden Files game on Saturdays, with the GM promising a suitable holiday-themed session given it's the last session before Thanksgiving, and quite possibly the last Dresden Files game for the year. Looking forward to seeing what sort of mischief my "freelance paranormal consultant" aka White Council Junior Warden gets embroiled in next, particularly since the GM has moved the campaign to Chicago and has made it clear that she's diverting from the novels after the events of Changes. So no Harry Dresden, leaving me as Chi-town's resident wizard. Yeah, it's about as enjoyable a role as you'd expect, but at least there aren't prolonged periods of boredom. Granted, Danny might really like some boredom after the events of the past few sessions (such as getting dragged into a pissing match between the Black and White Courts of the Vampire Nation), but you don't get to be a respected member of the magical community by collecting bottle caps. Still haven't had a run-in with Gentleman Johnny Marcone, and I think I'd like to keep it that way for at least a little while longer.
So, that's whats been going on since I posted here last. I can at least look forward to a few days' respite thanks to being able to take all of next week off, so maybe I'll work on developing some material for this wee little blog of mine.
BTW, if you're interested, here's a few links to some of my recent work on the GSA website:
Star Wars: Edge of the Empire: The Game has Changed
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/09/27/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-the-game-has-changed/
Star Wars: Edge of the Empire: Is the Game Still the Same?
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/11/15/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-is-the-game-still-the-same/
RPG Review: Legend of the Five Rings, 4th Edition
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/11/14/rpg-review-legend-of-the-five-rings-4th-edition/
RPGs You Need to Play: Dresden Files
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/10/09/rpgs-you-need-to-play-the-dresden-files/
Main reason is work, plain and simple. Mandatory OT and amount of stuff that needs to get done (everyone else in the company can dawdle and twiddle their thumbs 'til the cows come home, but gods forbid I don't get everything done ASAP) pretty much doesn't leave me with a whole lot of mental bandwidth after the working day is done.
Also, a decent chunk of my time has been spent writing articles for the GSA website, ranging from homebrew species stats for Fantasy Flight Games' Edge of the Empire beta to RPG reviews (latest being one on for the 4th edition of Legend of the Five Rings) to the weekly Heroes on Demand column, which itself covers a gamut of RPGs.
The other big thing that's been gobbling up a lot of my time of late has been the Edge of the Empire beta, both in analysis of the official rules and experimenting with various rules tweaks, to say nothing of playtesting when and where I can. Though with the final update having been posted a few days ago (I even did a couple GSA articles running through the updates week by week), I imagine that will be quieting down a bit, now that the rules are more or less "stable" until the final product is released sometime next year.
Gaming wise, the Sunday Star Wars Skype game I play is still going strong, and there's been a positive reception to the notion of alternating between the existing Saga Edition campaign (which has proven quite interesting so far) and an Edge of the Empire campaign. It was even suggested that we might record the EotE sessions as a live-play podcast, a notion that's both exciting and daunting. If said live-play podcast does occur, it won't be the well-edited sort of podcast that Garrett of Threat Detected produces, but probably something more akin to Brev's Real Gamers podcast (though hopefully with far less Skype issues). But, we'll see.
I've also been playing in another Edge of the Empire game via Skype, this one a weekly game occurring on Friday nights. In this one, I'm playing a Clone Wars veteran named Auron Riggs (Hired Gun/Bodyguard/Mercenary), and he's proven to be quite badass.
There's also the bi-weekly Wednesday group, in which we're playing the Marvel Heroic RPG. The party are comprised of teenage heroes, with three out of the five players using existing characters (Darkhawk, Slapstick, and Patriot) with the two ladies are using (mostly original) concepts. As much as the MHRPG system didn't wow me when I first read through it, I must say it's really started growing on me, and I've still amazed at how much variety is available in the system with what a character can do, particularly when Slapstick (living cartoon) and Miss Hex (teenage spellsplinger) use their various abilities to create complications and assets. Me? I mostly just break stuff, including an film!Iron Monger knock-off.
Saturday gaming has seen some changes, as the One Ring game I was has pretty much come to a screeching halt. I was pretty darn sick that particular Saturday, so I don't know the full details, only that I wasn't the only missing player and that the remaining PCs wound up either dead or incapacitated and in the hands of some very savage goblins. But, in lieu of that, most of us are delving right back into Legend of the Five Rings, something that we had a lot of fun with, using modules from the Heroes of Rokugan II: Champions of the Sapphire Throne living campaign as the basic framework, though with some very different NPCs. I must say I missed playing my Hare Bushi, and getting the chance to let the "killer bunny" get back into the thick of things was a blast.
There's still the monthly Dresden Files game on Saturdays, with the GM promising a suitable holiday-themed session given it's the last session before Thanksgiving, and quite possibly the last Dresden Files game for the year. Looking forward to seeing what sort of mischief my "freelance paranormal consultant" aka White Council Junior Warden gets embroiled in next, particularly since the GM has moved the campaign to Chicago and has made it clear that she's diverting from the novels after the events of Changes. So no Harry Dresden, leaving me as Chi-town's resident wizard. Yeah, it's about as enjoyable a role as you'd expect, but at least there aren't prolonged periods of boredom. Granted, Danny might really like some boredom after the events of the past few sessions (such as getting dragged into a pissing match between the Black and White Courts of the Vampire Nation), but you don't get to be a respected member of the magical community by collecting bottle caps. Still haven't had a run-in with Gentleman Johnny Marcone, and I think I'd like to keep it that way for at least a little while longer.
So, that's whats been going on since I posted here last. I can at least look forward to a few days' respite thanks to being able to take all of next week off, so maybe I'll work on developing some material for this wee little blog of mine.
BTW, if you're interested, here's a few links to some of my recent work on the GSA website:
Star Wars: Edge of the Empire: The Game has Changed
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/09/27/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-the-game-has-changed/
Star Wars: Edge of the Empire: Is the Game Still the Same?
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/11/15/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-is-the-game-still-the-same/
RPG Review: Legend of the Five Rings, 4th Edition
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/11/14/rpg-review-legend-of-the-five-rings-4th-edition/
RPGs You Need to Play: Dresden Files
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/10/09/rpgs-you-need-to-play-the-dresden-files/
July 10, 2012
The Doom Pool podcast
If you've got an interest in Margaret Weis Production's Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game but haven't yet taken the plunge, either to buy the books or get this game on the table, then I encourage you to check out the brand new podcast, "The Doom Pool," to be found right here.
They just released their second episode, and so far Jason, Bryan, and Daryl have done a good discussion of the doom pool mechanic (1st episode) and the effect die (2nd episode), as well as giving several of the published hero files a pretty in-depth review, both how they work and don't work (and Sentry gets what is, in my opinion, a much-deserved bashing almost across the board). They've got an actual play segment at the end of each show, but sadly there's some audio issues that makes it very difficult to hear everyone, particular Bryan/Spider-Man (which is especially unfortunate as it sounds like Bryan was really getting into character) and Susan/Beast. However, that portion is prefaced with Jason discussing where he made mistakes as the GM/Watcher, and why he made some of the rules calls that they did.
They've also got their own sub-forum on the D20 Radio Network (which isn't quite as d20 dominated as used to be), located over here.
Seriously, give these guys a listen. They're informative and entertaining.
They just released their second episode, and so far Jason, Bryan, and Daryl have done a good discussion of the doom pool mechanic (1st episode) and the effect die (2nd episode), as well as giving several of the published hero files a pretty in-depth review, both how they work and don't work (and Sentry gets what is, in my opinion, a much-deserved bashing almost across the board). They've got an actual play segment at the end of each show, but sadly there's some audio issues that makes it very difficult to hear everyone, particular Bryan/Spider-Man (which is especially unfortunate as it sounds like Bryan was really getting into character) and Susan/Beast. However, that portion is prefaced with Jason discussing where he made mistakes as the GM/Watcher, and why he made some of the rules calls that they did.
They've also got their own sub-forum on the D20 Radio Network (which isn't quite as d20 dominated as used to be), located over here.
Seriously, give these guys a listen. They're informative and entertaining.
May 19, 2012
MHRPG - Giving it a test drive
So this past Wednesday, instead of playing our bi-weekly NJO campaign, we opted to give the Marvel Heroic RPG a try.
By dint of having a PDF of the book, I had a partial leg up on the other players, mostly as I'd already built my character (though Darkhawk needed and still needs a bit of fine-tuning), so I could help the others with their heroes. After an hour, we had four of the six possible heroes ready to go (the other two players were still trying to figure out which non-movie comic book character they wanted to be), so the GM decided to throw us into a quick scenario to let us try and get a feel for the system and possibly make any tweaks before we settled on our respective characters. The scenario itself was pretty simple, a group of separate heroes minding their own business in downtown New York City when a mad scientist criminal mastermind shows up to cause trouble.
The group of heroes (won't go so far as to call us a team) were a pretty interesting lot. Aside from Darkhawk, we had the following:
X-23: This one was pretty easy to build, since she's pretty much Wolverine as a teenage girl, so she used the official stats for Wolverine as her blueprint, dropping the Weapon X powerset and replacing Wolvy's enhanced strength with claws to get her powers (though her recovery ability isn't quite as potent) and not being as good a fighter.
Miss Hex: Drawing heavily on the base concept of DC's Zatanna, this one turned out to be much easier than Darkhawk to build, as she only had one Power Set and just a few powers within it. To say nothing of her player using the write-up that she'd made for a Mutants & Masterminds game I'd tried to run in the past but ultimately went nowhere, so she already had the core character idea in place, making it easy to determine Distinctions and Specialties.
Maverick: I'm pretty sure the name's been used elsewhere in the Marvel comic universe, but the fellow for this session can be boiled down to "Captain America as the result of intense training" with some commando gear instead of a mighty shield. Naturally, the official write-up of Cap was used as the baseline for this one. Since we're pretty much going to be playing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the player chose to have Maverick be part of S.H.I.E.L.D. in much the same capacity as Black Widow and Hawkeye.
The villain was Professor Haywire, which if you've seen BARON's character threads over on Green Ronin's Atomic Think Tank forums you'll probably recognize. In short, Haywire is a mad criminal genius that relies on his "techno-cane" for his powers and a blonde, buxom, leggy fembot named Miss Marilyn that can toss cars as his "gal Friday." The good professor also had a mob of street thugs for some added muscle, and I think his stated goal was to intercept a couple of armored cars to build up some "venture capital" for his next grand scheme.
As an added bit of fun, the group member that's big into HeroClix brought his figures over, and I was able to use the Darkhawk mini for my character. Now while MHRPG doesn't really have tactical rules, having a map on the table and minis to place certainly helps the other players keep track of who's where in the scene.
The Affiliation aspect was proven to be a great deal more variable than I first thought, but that could just be the GM willing to play a little loose with the rules in some respects, as Darkhawk and X-23 weren't forced to use our Team affiliation, though it did cut down on the assets we could be given; X-23 often went it alone rather than work in a group or with a partner, and Darkhawk really got a chance to shine when working in tandem with a partner, while Maverick and Miss Hex were definitely built to work in a group.
Combat in MHRPG moved pretty quickly after some adjustment to how the dice pools work. To give an example, let's say that Darkhawk, having just seen Miss Marilyn almost flatten Miss Hex with a thrown car, decides it's time to put the robo-moll down with a Force Blast.
I start off with Affiliation, which since I'm directly aiding a single hero, the GM approves my usage of my Buddy die. Next is Distinction, which I first think Edge Against Crime since Haywire and Marilyn are known crooks, but since this is more of a gut reaction on DH's part, I suggest Anger Issues instead, which the group agrees fits the scene, which gives me a d8. Next up are Powers, and while the rules say you can pick one die from each Power Set (of which I have two), nothing in the Armored Form set leaps out as being applicable, so I skip to Darkhawk Weapons and grab Force Blast for a d10. I also decide to bring his Unleashed SFX into play, and go with doubling by the die type, so I now add 2d10 to my pool. Of course, this means that if my attack fails, I'm going to give the bad guys an extra advantage (likely narrated as being some excessive property damage). Lastly are Specialties, of which I can only pick one, and Combat is the natural choice. So, Darkhawk's dice pool to blast Miss Marilyn is as follows:
d10 (Buddy) + d8 (Distinction) + 2d10 (Power) + d8 (Specialty)
I grab 3d10 and 2d8, and roll them out, getting the following results:
5 (d10) + 8 (d8) + 7 (d10) + 1 (d10) + 6 (d8)
Now you only get to keep 2 dice to determine the total of your roll, so I'll take the 8 and the 7 for a total of 15. I could choose to spend a Plot Point to keep an extra die, but I think a 15 is good enough. Since one of my d10s rolled a 1, I set that aside (we'll get back to it in a moment). Of the remaining dice, I have to choose one to set aside as the effect die, which determines just how powerful my attack was, and since I want this to count, I choose the other d10 (the result on the die doesn't matter at this point). Now since I rolled a 1 on that third d10, the GM can choose to exploit that to increase his doom pool (what he uses to power bad guy abilities and resist hero rolls that don't target a specific opponent), which he opts to do, giving me a shiny new Plot Point point in exchange. However, since I know that Miss Marilyn is one tough broad, I choose to spend that Plot Point to add that last d8 to my effect dice. If this attack hits, it's gonna leave a mark, and the GM is regretting having handed me a Plot Point for that one.
Now, since Darkhawk is attacking a specific opponent (Miss Marilyn), she gets a roll of her own to resist, using much of the same formula: Affiliation die (probably Buddy given her partnership with Haywire) + Distinction die + Power die (likely a resistance-based power) + Specialty die (probably her own combat die). The GM rolls it, and spends a die from his doom pool to try and boost an otherwise lackluster roll, but only manages a total of 9. Not only do I beat the GM's total, but I get an extraordinary success, allowing me to kick my primary effect die up one step, meaning Miss Marilyn is getting hit with a d12 and a d8.
Okay, but of rules fuzziness here, at least on my part, but the way stress (damage) is tracked, if the effect die of the most recent attack is higher than the degree of stress you already have, the smaller die is replaced without any added effect. But if the most recent attack as an effect die that's smaller than whatever stress die you currently have, the existing stress die gets bumped up a level. For instance, if Darkhawk already had a d6 on physical stress and got hit by a d10 effect, he'd step his physical stress up to d10. However, if the attack only did d4 stress, he'd go from a d6 in physical stress to d8. Now, what if you have two effect dice? It makes sense to apply the highest die first and then use any subsequent dice to kick it up, but the rules (at least from what I can tell) are vague on that point. That was how the GM ruled it, so that's how I'm playing it out in this example.
As d12 is the highest you can go in terms of stress (physical, emotional, or mental), Darkhawk's force blast causes Miss Marilyn to hit the top of her physical stress track. If I only had the one effect die, then she'd be battered but not out. However, since I do have that extra effect die, I'd force her to step her physical stress track up a die, but as it's already at a d12, she becomes "stressed out" which translates to her being taken out of the fight. So Darkhawk just took out the heavy hitter of the bad guy duo, but wound up drawing Haywire's ire in the process. Good thing Darkhawk's got a force shield to help protect him form the inevitable retaliation that's coming his way...
In the end, the impromptu quartet of heroes claimed victory of the crazed crook, and there was a surprisingly low degree of property damage (three store fronts, one billboard, an armored car, three civilian cars, and one police cruiser). I did have to use my Null Zone Repairs after nearly getting taken out by Haywire's reprisal. The way initiative in this game plays also works to reinforce a "group mentality" in that you do need to keep your fellow PCs in mind, and sometimes going last in the order can be a good thing for the good guys.
I'm still not 100% sold on this system, but at least it was fun, so I'm willing to give it another go at least once more. It's also an interesting crew, though I've still no idea what likely obscure character the other two guys are going to wind-up playing (they're both comic book geeks), but it should be interesting whatever they wind up choosing. Even if the character bore no resemblance to the comic book version, I'm now glad that film!Deadpool exists, as I shudder to think what the one guy that has a weapons-grade man-crush on comic!Deadpool would be like if he was allowed to play that character.
By dint of having a PDF of the book, I had a partial leg up on the other players, mostly as I'd already built my character (though Darkhawk needed and still needs a bit of fine-tuning), so I could help the others with their heroes. After an hour, we had four of the six possible heroes ready to go (the other two players were still trying to figure out which non-movie comic book character they wanted to be), so the GM decided to throw us into a quick scenario to let us try and get a feel for the system and possibly make any tweaks before we settled on our respective characters. The scenario itself was pretty simple, a group of separate heroes minding their own business in downtown New York City when a mad scientist criminal mastermind shows up to cause trouble.
The group of heroes (won't go so far as to call us a team) were a pretty interesting lot. Aside from Darkhawk, we had the following:
X-23: This one was pretty easy to build, since she's pretty much Wolverine as a teenage girl, so she used the official stats for Wolverine as her blueprint, dropping the Weapon X powerset and replacing Wolvy's enhanced strength with claws to get her powers (though her recovery ability isn't quite as potent) and not being as good a fighter.
Miss Hex: Drawing heavily on the base concept of DC's Zatanna, this one turned out to be much easier than Darkhawk to build, as she only had one Power Set and just a few powers within it. To say nothing of her player using the write-up that she'd made for a Mutants & Masterminds game I'd tried to run in the past but ultimately went nowhere, so she already had the core character idea in place, making it easy to determine Distinctions and Specialties.
Maverick: I'm pretty sure the name's been used elsewhere in the Marvel comic universe, but the fellow for this session can be boiled down to "Captain America as the result of intense training" with some commando gear instead of a mighty shield. Naturally, the official write-up of Cap was used as the baseline for this one. Since we're pretty much going to be playing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the player chose to have Maverick be part of S.H.I.E.L.D. in much the same capacity as Black Widow and Hawkeye.
The villain was Professor Haywire, which if you've seen BARON's character threads over on Green Ronin's Atomic Think Tank forums you'll probably recognize. In short, Haywire is a mad criminal genius that relies on his "techno-cane" for his powers and a blonde, buxom, leggy fembot named Miss Marilyn that can toss cars as his "gal Friday." The good professor also had a mob of street thugs for some added muscle, and I think his stated goal was to intercept a couple of armored cars to build up some "venture capital" for his next grand scheme.
As an added bit of fun, the group member that's big into HeroClix brought his figures over, and I was able to use the Darkhawk mini for my character. Now while MHRPG doesn't really have tactical rules, having a map on the table and minis to place certainly helps the other players keep track of who's where in the scene.
The Affiliation aspect was proven to be a great deal more variable than I first thought, but that could just be the GM willing to play a little loose with the rules in some respects, as Darkhawk and X-23 weren't forced to use our Team affiliation, though it did cut down on the assets we could be given; X-23 often went it alone rather than work in a group or with a partner, and Darkhawk really got a chance to shine when working in tandem with a partner, while Maverick and Miss Hex were definitely built to work in a group.
Combat in MHRPG moved pretty quickly after some adjustment to how the dice pools work. To give an example, let's say that Darkhawk, having just seen Miss Marilyn almost flatten Miss Hex with a thrown car, decides it's time to put the robo-moll down with a Force Blast.
I start off with Affiliation, which since I'm directly aiding a single hero, the GM approves my usage of my Buddy die. Next is Distinction, which I first think Edge Against Crime since Haywire and Marilyn are known crooks, but since this is more of a gut reaction on DH's part, I suggest Anger Issues instead, which the group agrees fits the scene, which gives me a d8. Next up are Powers, and while the rules say you can pick one die from each Power Set (of which I have two), nothing in the Armored Form set leaps out as being applicable, so I skip to Darkhawk Weapons and grab Force Blast for a d10. I also decide to bring his Unleashed SFX into play, and go with doubling by the die type, so I now add 2d10 to my pool. Of course, this means that if my attack fails, I'm going to give the bad guys an extra advantage (likely narrated as being some excessive property damage). Lastly are Specialties, of which I can only pick one, and Combat is the natural choice. So, Darkhawk's dice pool to blast Miss Marilyn is as follows:
d10 (Buddy) + d8 (Distinction) + 2d10 (Power) + d8 (Specialty)
I grab 3d10 and 2d8, and roll them out, getting the following results:
5 (d10) + 8 (d8) + 7 (d10) + 1 (d10) + 6 (d8)
Now you only get to keep 2 dice to determine the total of your roll, so I'll take the 8 and the 7 for a total of 15. I could choose to spend a Plot Point to keep an extra die, but I think a 15 is good enough. Since one of my d10s rolled a 1, I set that aside (we'll get back to it in a moment). Of the remaining dice, I have to choose one to set aside as the effect die, which determines just how powerful my attack was, and since I want this to count, I choose the other d10 (the result on the die doesn't matter at this point). Now since I rolled a 1 on that third d10, the GM can choose to exploit that to increase his doom pool (what he uses to power bad guy abilities and resist hero rolls that don't target a specific opponent), which he opts to do, giving me a shiny new Plot Point point in exchange. However, since I know that Miss Marilyn is one tough broad, I choose to spend that Plot Point to add that last d8 to my effect dice. If this attack hits, it's gonna leave a mark, and the GM is regretting having handed me a Plot Point for that one.
Now, since Darkhawk is attacking a specific opponent (Miss Marilyn), she gets a roll of her own to resist, using much of the same formula: Affiliation die (probably Buddy given her partnership with Haywire) + Distinction die + Power die (likely a resistance-based power) + Specialty die (probably her own combat die). The GM rolls it, and spends a die from his doom pool to try and boost an otherwise lackluster roll, but only manages a total of 9. Not only do I beat the GM's total, but I get an extraordinary success, allowing me to kick my primary effect die up one step, meaning Miss Marilyn is getting hit with a d12 and a d8.
Okay, but of rules fuzziness here, at least on my part, but the way stress (damage) is tracked, if the effect die of the most recent attack is higher than the degree of stress you already have, the smaller die is replaced without any added effect. But if the most recent attack as an effect die that's smaller than whatever stress die you currently have, the existing stress die gets bumped up a level. For instance, if Darkhawk already had a d6 on physical stress and got hit by a d10 effect, he'd step his physical stress up to d10. However, if the attack only did d4 stress, he'd go from a d6 in physical stress to d8. Now, what if you have two effect dice? It makes sense to apply the highest die first and then use any subsequent dice to kick it up, but the rules (at least from what I can tell) are vague on that point. That was how the GM ruled it, so that's how I'm playing it out in this example.
As d12 is the highest you can go in terms of stress (physical, emotional, or mental), Darkhawk's force blast causes Miss Marilyn to hit the top of her physical stress track. If I only had the one effect die, then she'd be battered but not out. However, since I do have that extra effect die, I'd force her to step her physical stress track up a die, but as it's already at a d12, she becomes "stressed out" which translates to her being taken out of the fight. So Darkhawk just took out the heavy hitter of the bad guy duo, but wound up drawing Haywire's ire in the process. Good thing Darkhawk's got a force shield to help protect him form the inevitable retaliation that's coming his way...
In the end, the impromptu quartet of heroes claimed victory of the crazed crook, and there was a surprisingly low degree of property damage (three store fronts, one billboard, an armored car, three civilian cars, and one police cruiser). I did have to use my Null Zone Repairs after nearly getting taken out by Haywire's reprisal. The way initiative in this game plays also works to reinforce a "group mentality" in that you do need to keep your fellow PCs in mind, and sometimes going last in the order can be a good thing for the good guys.
I'm still not 100% sold on this system, but at least it was fun, so I'm willing to give it another go at least once more. It's also an interesting crew, though I've still no idea what likely obscure character the other two guys are going to wind-up playing (they're both comic book geeks), but it should be interesting whatever they wind up choosing. Even if the character bore no resemblance to the comic book version, I'm now glad that film!Deadpool exists, as I shudder to think what the one guy that has a weapons-grade man-crush on comic!Deadpool would be like if he was allowed to play that character.
May 18, 2012
MHRPG - Random Datafile generator
In my last post, I mentioned that character generation for the Marvel Heroic RPG was pretty free-form.
Well, as it turns out, there's a free download offered by Margaret Weis Productions off their own website allows you randomly generate a character, and can be found at the following link:
http://www.margaretweis.com/images/stories/bonus_content/mhr_randomdatafiles.pdf
This could also be used as a set of guidelines for GMs to help their group make their own set of heroes. Especially if they're worried about potential system abuse, namely when it comes to powers and specialties, or the GM wants the heroes to have a unified theme (all-mutants, all cyborgs, all-aliens, etc).
Well, as it turns out, there's a free download offered by Margaret Weis Productions off their own website allows you randomly generate a character, and can be found at the following link:
http://www.margaretweis.com/images/stories/bonus_content/mhr_randomdatafiles.pdf
This could also be used as a set of guidelines for GMs to help their group make their own set of heroes. Especially if they're worried about potential system abuse, namely when it comes to powers and specialties, or the GM wants the heroes to have a unified theme (all-mutants, all cyborgs, all-aliens, etc).
Marvel Heroic RPG - Building a Hero
In my last post, I mentioned that I was willing to consider trying at least a one-shot of Margaret Weis Production's Marvel Heroic RPG due in no small part to how much I enjoyed the Avengers movies (which I've seen three times so far, enjoying each viewing just as much as the first time).
Well, as the Star Wars NJO campaign that I play in on Wednesday nights gets ready to launch into its end-game, the GM of that game pitched the idea of his running Marve Heroic RPG once the current campaign came to an end. Seeing as how the Avengers was still fairly fresh in our collective minds, we agreed. But the GM had two caveats: The first was that we had play a hero; not an anti-hero or borderline villain, but an actual heroic character. Also, we could use an established hero from the comics, but only if that character had not appeared in a movie form. So no Film!Avengers, or X-Men, or even Spider-Man for us. Truthfully, these really only annoyed one player that was eager to role-play Deadpool, but for most of us, this wasn't much of an issue.
Having only really gotten involved with comics during the early to mid 90's, I opted for my favorite character from that era, the novice hero Darkhawk. Seeing as I hadn't been paying all that much attention to Marvel comics for some time, I wasn't fully aware that he'd been brought out of relative obscurity and promoted to participant in cosmic-level events and that apparently most of the events of his old series had been retconned away as being one big delusion. Wowzers.
Well, as the GM was thinking of setting this in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that did give me some leeway in concocting Darkhawk's background for this campaign. So I gave some thought to that, decided I'd keep the core concept: Teenage kid finds a weird psuedo-magical amulet that transforms him into a super-hero. And I can always flesh out a background blurb later, deciding what aspects of his personal and family life from the comics I want to keep. For those of that have no clue who Darkhawk is, you can get most of the salient details from the fansite Darkhawk Zone, found here: http://nunoxei.com/darkhawkzone/
Okay, got my character concept, so on to character creation... and pardon the sarcasm, but this is where the real fun begins. In opposition to just about every other RPG on the market, character creation in MHRPG is almost entirely freeform. No points, no rolling, no classes, no hit points. You pretty much pick what powers suit your concept and slap the numbers together. Maybe it's the power-gamer aspect in me, but this just seems so ripe for abuse. Well, no matter, on to creating as faithful a PC version of Darkhawk as I can manage.
So, starting off, each character has three affiliations: Solo, Buddy, and Team. These form the basis of your dice pools in the game, and are generally based upon whether you're working alone, with a partner, or with a group, assigning a d10, d8, and d6 to reflect how good you under those three circumstances. Going by his solo series, Darkhawk seems pretty good at operating on his own, doesn't often work with a team, but seems to work pretty well with a partner, so I opted to set his affiliations a Solo d8, Buddy d10, and Team d6.
Okay, next step is Distinctions. Pretty much, these are three core traits that reflect either who the character is or their personality, and are added to your dice pool when they would apply. These can be used as d8s for a better chance at success when used, or as d4s which also grants you a Plot Point (in-game currency to do cool stuff). So, having read-up on Darkhawk's entry pages various web-pages, I chose to go with "Anger Issues" (never was the most level-headed person, even during his own series, "Edge Against Crime" (what he thought of himself as during the early part of his run), and finally "Into The Fray" (never really saw Chris as being one to hesitate to get into the action, which can easily be a double-edged sword).
Third, we come to the real doozy... Powers. If any section of a superhero RPG needs firm guidelines, it's the powers section. And when it comes to choosing the, MHRPG has little beyond "here's what they generally do, chose what feels right for your hero, but don't be a dick and pick straight d12s for your powers." Yeah. So, back to building Darkhawk, I figure he's got two Power Sets, which is the term that MHRPG uses to describe collections of powers, such as Wolvy having "Feral Mutant" for his healing factor and senses, or Iron Man having "Powered Armor" for his suit and "Weapons Platform" for the suit's weapons, or Captain America putting his 'peak human abilities' under "Super-Soldier Program."
So for Darkhawk, I go with two Power Sets, the first being "Armored Form" (I figure that since this is a starting-out version of Darkhawk, he's not really aware of the whole body-swap android body thing, and I may not even go that route with this character) and the second being "Darkhawk Weapons" to cover his amulet and claw bracer. For the Armored Form, I stick to Enhanced (d8) levels of Durability (resisting damage), Reflexes (reaction time), Stamina, and Strength, while also picking up a Senses power (labeled as Infrared Visor) at d8 and Subsonic Flight, also a d8. The last bit was a point of contention, as under his default form, Darkhawk is generally restricted to gliding, but since DH is also considered to be on par with Spider-man in terms of strength, the GM allowed it since I'd chosen to be weaker than Marvel has officially pegged the ol' bucket-head at being. For "Darkhawk Weapons," I take Force Blast at d10 (kid can do some damage with that sucker), Superhuman Durability to reflect his amulet-generated force shield (giving him an even better shot at avoiding damage), and Claw Bracer at d6 to round out the set. In the comics, his Claw Bracer also had a grapple line, but since my DH can fly, that's not really needed, and he's got plenty of powers already from his "Armored Form" power set.
Next step is to add at least one SFX and one Limit to each Power Set, which boils down to a special trick your hero can employ in regards to that particularly power set and something that works against you in regards to that power set, respectively.
As part of his new history, Darkhawk has access to something called "the datasong," which is a means apparently for the "Fraternity of Raptors" to communicate and work towards their goals. Over at the Doom Pool (a fan website for MHRPG, found here), the site's author gave his version of DH an SFX version of the datasong, giving a boost to noncombat rolls. I opted to just go with a straight Boost SFX, since this Power Set is only available when Chris is in the Darkhawk form. Another trait of Darkhawk is his "body swap to insta-fix Darkhawk's damage." That one gave me some trouble, and I ultimately wound up using something similar to Wolverine's Healing Factor SFX, which is a bit more powerful (especially if I spend a Plot Point), but the entire power set gets shutdown the reflect the "body swap." Allows for really fast healing, but can be very costly in terms of Plot Points if I need to do so in the middle of a fight. For this power set's limit, I again took inspiration from the Doom Pool's write-up and used a shutdown limit that allows me to just "switch off" any Armored Form power to gain a Plot Point, though turning that particular power "back on" isn't as simple.
For his Darkhawk Weapons power set, I go with the Unleashed SFX tied to his Force Blast, allowing him to really cut loose if need be, though at a risk of growing the GM's doom pool (pretty much what he uses to bolster NPC foes and make life tough for the heroes) if I fail my action roll, so something to be used with caution. I also tacked on a Limit that says if Armored Form is shutdown, so to is Darkhawk Weapons.
Okay, powers are resolved (phew!), which brings us to Specialties, which are MHRPG's equivalent to skills. This are pretty much macro-skills that cover what your hero is good at. A d8 rating means you're pretty good (better than the average joe by far), while a d10 means you're amongst the best in the world. For Darkhawk, I chose Combat (he's hand some martial arts instruction), Crime (both parents are involved in law enforcement, so he's bound to have picked up a few notions on crime-busting during dinner conversations), and Menace (his dark form and freaky voice are better suited to intimidation than friendly persuasion). Well, that was easy.
A
Last part to building a character are what's called Milestones. Pretty much, this is a way for your hero to gain XP to advance your character by playing in character with their particular story arc. For Darkhawk, I opted for the first one to adopt the "Amulet & Anger" Milestone from the write-up on the Doom Pool site, changing the first entry milestone to trigger when DH uses is Unleashed SFX, but keeping the 2nd and 3rd entries. For his second milestone, I decided to create my own Milestone to reflect that this version of Darkhawk is still a rookie crime-fighter and is a bit hot-headed.
So now that I've gone through all that, here's the final result:
Thanks to NunoXEI for his work on the Darkhawk Zone fansite, which proved quite helpful in coming up with my "Marvel Cinematic Universe" version of Darkhawk.
Well, as the Star Wars NJO campaign that I play in on Wednesday nights gets ready to launch into its end-game, the GM of that game pitched the idea of his running Marve Heroic RPG once the current campaign came to an end. Seeing as how the Avengers was still fairly fresh in our collective minds, we agreed. But the GM had two caveats: The first was that we had play a hero; not an anti-hero or borderline villain, but an actual heroic character. Also, we could use an established hero from the comics, but only if that character had not appeared in a movie form. So no Film!Avengers, or X-Men, or even Spider-Man for us. Truthfully, these really only annoyed one player that was eager to role-play Deadpool, but for most of us, this wasn't much of an issue.
Having only really gotten involved with comics during the early to mid 90's, I opted for my favorite character from that era, the novice hero Darkhawk. Seeing as I hadn't been paying all that much attention to Marvel comics for some time, I wasn't fully aware that he'd been brought out of relative obscurity and promoted to participant in cosmic-level events and that apparently most of the events of his old series had been retconned away as being one big delusion. Wowzers.
Well, as the GM was thinking of setting this in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that did give me some leeway in concocting Darkhawk's background for this campaign. So I gave some thought to that, decided I'd keep the core concept: Teenage kid finds a weird psuedo-magical amulet that transforms him into a super-hero. And I can always flesh out a background blurb later, deciding what aspects of his personal and family life from the comics I want to keep. For those of that have no clue who Darkhawk is, you can get most of the salient details from the fansite Darkhawk Zone, found here: http://nunoxei.com/darkhawkzone/
Okay, got my character concept, so on to character creation... and pardon the sarcasm, but this is where the real fun begins. In opposition to just about every other RPG on the market, character creation in MHRPG is almost entirely freeform. No points, no rolling, no classes, no hit points. You pretty much pick what powers suit your concept and slap the numbers together. Maybe it's the power-gamer aspect in me, but this just seems so ripe for abuse. Well, no matter, on to creating as faithful a PC version of Darkhawk as I can manage.
So, starting off, each character has three affiliations: Solo, Buddy, and Team. These form the basis of your dice pools in the game, and are generally based upon whether you're working alone, with a partner, or with a group, assigning a d10, d8, and d6 to reflect how good you under those three circumstances. Going by his solo series, Darkhawk seems pretty good at operating on his own, doesn't often work with a team, but seems to work pretty well with a partner, so I opted to set his affiliations a Solo d8, Buddy d10, and Team d6.
Okay, next step is Distinctions. Pretty much, these are three core traits that reflect either who the character is or their personality, and are added to your dice pool when they would apply. These can be used as d8s for a better chance at success when used, or as d4s which also grants you a Plot Point (in-game currency to do cool stuff). So, having read-up on Darkhawk's entry pages various web-pages, I chose to go with "Anger Issues" (never was the most level-headed person, even during his own series, "Edge Against Crime" (what he thought of himself as during the early part of his run), and finally "Into The Fray" (never really saw Chris as being one to hesitate to get into the action, which can easily be a double-edged sword).
Third, we come to the real doozy... Powers. If any section of a superhero RPG needs firm guidelines, it's the powers section. And when it comes to choosing the, MHRPG has little beyond "here's what they generally do, chose what feels right for your hero, but don't be a dick and pick straight d12s for your powers." Yeah. So, back to building Darkhawk, I figure he's got two Power Sets, which is the term that MHRPG uses to describe collections of powers, such as Wolvy having "Feral Mutant" for his healing factor and senses, or Iron Man having "Powered Armor" for his suit and "Weapons Platform" for the suit's weapons, or Captain America putting his 'peak human abilities' under "Super-Soldier Program."
So for Darkhawk, I go with two Power Sets, the first being "Armored Form" (I figure that since this is a starting-out version of Darkhawk, he's not really aware of the whole body-swap android body thing, and I may not even go that route with this character) and the second being "Darkhawk Weapons" to cover his amulet and claw bracer. For the Armored Form, I stick to Enhanced (d8) levels of Durability (resisting damage), Reflexes (reaction time), Stamina, and Strength, while also picking up a Senses power (labeled as Infrared Visor) at d8 and Subsonic Flight, also a d8. The last bit was a point of contention, as under his default form, Darkhawk is generally restricted to gliding, but since DH is also considered to be on par with Spider-man in terms of strength, the GM allowed it since I'd chosen to be weaker than Marvel has officially pegged the ol' bucket-head at being. For "Darkhawk Weapons," I take Force Blast at d10 (kid can do some damage with that sucker), Superhuman Durability to reflect his amulet-generated force shield (giving him an even better shot at avoiding damage), and Claw Bracer at d6 to round out the set. In the comics, his Claw Bracer also had a grapple line, but since my DH can fly, that's not really needed, and he's got plenty of powers already from his "Armored Form" power set.
Next step is to add at least one SFX and one Limit to each Power Set, which boils down to a special trick your hero can employ in regards to that particularly power set and something that works against you in regards to that power set, respectively.
As part of his new history, Darkhawk has access to something called "the datasong," which is a means apparently for the "Fraternity of Raptors" to communicate and work towards their goals. Over at the Doom Pool (a fan website for MHRPG, found here), the site's author gave his version of DH an SFX version of the datasong, giving a boost to noncombat rolls. I opted to just go with a straight Boost SFX, since this Power Set is only available when Chris is in the Darkhawk form. Another trait of Darkhawk is his "body swap to insta-fix Darkhawk's damage." That one gave me some trouble, and I ultimately wound up using something similar to Wolverine's Healing Factor SFX, which is a bit more powerful (especially if I spend a Plot Point), but the entire power set gets shutdown the reflect the "body swap." Allows for really fast healing, but can be very costly in terms of Plot Points if I need to do so in the middle of a fight. For this power set's limit, I again took inspiration from the Doom Pool's write-up and used a shutdown limit that allows me to just "switch off" any Armored Form power to gain a Plot Point, though turning that particular power "back on" isn't as simple.
For his Darkhawk Weapons power set, I go with the Unleashed SFX tied to his Force Blast, allowing him to really cut loose if need be, though at a risk of growing the GM's doom pool (pretty much what he uses to bolster NPC foes and make life tough for the heroes) if I fail my action roll, so something to be used with caution. I also tacked on a Limit that says if Armored Form is shutdown, so to is Darkhawk Weapons.
Okay, powers are resolved (phew!), which brings us to Specialties, which are MHRPG's equivalent to skills. This are pretty much macro-skills that cover what your hero is good at. A d8 rating means you're pretty good (better than the average joe by far), while a d10 means you're amongst the best in the world. For Darkhawk, I chose Combat (he's hand some martial arts instruction), Crime (both parents are involved in law enforcement, so he's bound to have picked up a few notions on crime-busting during dinner conversations), and Menace (his dark form and freaky voice are better suited to intimidation than friendly persuasion). Well, that was easy.
A
Last part to building a character are what's called Milestones. Pretty much, this is a way for your hero to gain XP to advance your character by playing in character with their particular story arc. For Darkhawk, I opted for the first one to adopt the "Amulet & Anger" Milestone from the write-up on the Doom Pool site, changing the first entry milestone to trigger when DH uses is Unleashed SFX, but keeping the 2nd and 3rd entries. For his second milestone, I decided to create my own Milestone to reflect that this version of Darkhawk is still a rookie crime-fighter and is a bit hot-headed.
So now that I've gone through all that, here's the final result:
Darkhawk
Affiliations: Solo d8, Buddy d10, Team d6
Distinctions: Anger Issues, Edge Against Crime, Into The Fray
Armored Form
Enhanced Durability d8, Enhanced Reflexes d8, Enhanced Stamina d8, Enhanced Strength d8, Infrared Visor d8, Subsonic Flight d8
- SFX: Datasong. In a pool including an Armored Form die, replace two dice of equal type with one die of +1 step.
- SFX: Null Space Healing: Recover your physical stress or physical trauma, or spend 1 pp to recover both and then shutdown Armored Form. Recover Armored From by spending 1 pp or during a Transition scene.
- Limit: Amulet Interference. Shutdown any Armored Form power to gain 1pp. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition scene.
Darkhawk Weapons
Claw Bracer d6, Force Blast d10, Superhuman Durability d10
- SFX: Unleashed: Step up or double Force Blast for one action. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.
- Limit: Restriction: If Armored Form power set is shutdown, also shutdown Darkhawk Weapons power set. Recover Darkhawk Weapons power set when Armored Form power set is recovered.
Specialties: Combat Expert d8, Crime Expert d8, Menace Expert d8
Milestones
Amulet and Anger
- 1 XP When you first use the Unleashed SFX of your Darkhawk Weapons power set.
- 3 XP When you first exploit emotional or mental stress to fuel a die pool.
- 10 XP When you either become emotionally stressed out or deal trauma to a foe while exploiting emotional stress.
Rookie Hero
- 1 XP When you first do something brash or unwise.
- 3 XP When you ask another hero for help or agree to help another hero.
- 10 XP When you join a hero team or turn down an invitation to a hero team and choose to go it alone.
Thanks to NunoXEI for his work on the Darkhawk Zone fansite, which proved quite helpful in coming up with my "Marvel Cinematic Universe" version of Darkhawk.
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