Everything I Ever Learned About DMing I Learned From Comic Books

[Valiantheart]

This is probably why I play M&M now and have a real hardtime going back into a D&D system where half of your abilities are determined by the loot you acquire.

Give me comic book arcs and Mutants and Masterminds please.

 

[el-remmen]

Who dragged this old warhorse back from its pasture?

But it is still true, and should be listed in Mark's list of DM Advice thread , if it is not already!

Check out this thread: http://pub109.ezboard.com/faquerrafrm29.showMessage?topicID=17.topic

For a look at a more specific comic title that influences a lot of my DMing.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Comics now have more options than every before to add to a game.

Berserk, the manga, volume one is finally out. Great stuff for a grim world with supernatural horror.

The Cursed Sword has some pretty interesting elements.

Of course traditional super hero comics have their place. I agree that NPC use and situations are all good and useful but I've had problems with introducing long term villains that continue to scale in power. Unlike the comics, most characters are on a continual increase in terms of their power level and if the villains do not scale, will quickly become outclassed.

Of course this doesn't matter for those NPC's who aren't combat oriented. After all, how often did J.J. Jameson actuall physically go after Spider Man outside of a few stupid robot tricks? No, these NPCs will heavily rely on the law, their own financies, their own allies, friends, and if necessary, other things like cursed items, untrustworthy servants and even perhaps, changing their humanity in for power via template acquisition.

Long live the comic!

 

[ashockney]

I think this would be a great thread to list off some of the favored plot techniques used by the great comic book writers. We could then discuss how these same plot devices could be translated to D&D.

I'm in total agreement with the thread's originator, having been inspired by comics for over 15 years of DM'ing.

Here's an example:

Grant Morrison - New X-Men - Return of the lost supervillian (Magneto). Recently Xorn revealed himself to be the X-men's arch-nemesis Magneto. He had "similar" traits (head covered by metal, trapped in a metal prison when originally found, etc.). The villian then earned the trust of the Xmen under this disguise, subverting their followers/henchmen, turning them on the Xmen, and sabotaging them.

How could you use this in D&D?

What are some of your favorite "comic plot devices"?

 

[megamania]

I thourghly agree that the use of my comicbook reading and writing has influenced the way that I DM. I believe in using over the top characters (much more memoriable) and villians this way.

In my Storyhours I use many comicbook tools.

FORE SHADOWING
I have segments that give hints or sometimes details on villians to build the suspence of when they finally arrive. I love foreshadowing my villians.

UNSUNG HEROES/HUMBLE HEROES
I have many characters that follow the "I'm not a hero...I just did what was right at the time" motiff. Afterall, heroes have standards to live up to.

HEROES COMBATING HEROES
I have used the technique of getting two "do-gooders" to battle first before relizing that they are on the same side. It keeps everyone on their toes this way.

Currently, I have a Storyhour that directly borrows from comicbooks. If you ever wondered what Storm, Captain America, my namesake (Megamania) or the Hulk would play like check out Strikeforce: Morituri.

Captain America= 20th lv fighter recently with an artifact that resembles the abilities of his shield
Storm= an 18th sorcerer that uses only weather related spells and magic items.
Megamania= an 8th level rogue and 10 levels of unsaid prestige class with energy guns and clubs
(treat as Wand of Magic Missiles w/Ranged Touch attack)
and the Hulk.....well he is Maestro (evil future version) whom is an Ogre barbarian, fighter and Ranger multi class. (total CR=24)

 

[barsoomcore]

I think it says everything you need to know about Barsoom that my favourite comic books of all time are:

The Watchmen, Elektra: Assassin and Stray Toasters

Well-intentioned villains who end up destroying the world, psychotic heroes who are maybe not much better than the villains they fight and chicks with swords.

Grr, baby, grr.

 

[DanMcS]

I was thinking about this during a recent thread about a Buffy d20 game -- the Buffyverse itself isn't a really great theatre for rpging (who wants to play Zander, right?) -- but the way the show is structured offers great hints to DMs -- pretty much the same hints as comic books.

I'd play Xander. He's the only real hero on the show, for most of the run. Everybody else is a powerful witch or a werewolf or a demon or a vampire or a supersoldier or a slayer. Xander has no superpowers (besides, apparently, the ability to shrug off a blow to the head that would kill an elephant, but they all do that), and he's in there with the rest of them mixing it up with the forces of evil.

It's not terribly heroic for Superman to stop a bank robbery- he's in no danger. This is true, to a lesser extent, for most of the powerful beings in the Buffyverse. But Xander doesn't even have that level of power.

 

[Harker Wade]

I've often thought Xander's power was to see things clearly, hence the reason he loses an eye in the last season. I thought it was very symbolic.

Of course I always believed Buffy would hook-up with Xander in the end. So my heavy drinkin' days are still going strong...

 

[maddman75]

I've never been real big into the comics. I read Xmen for awhile, but got annoyed with the assumption that you read every frikken comic in the marvel universe to understand what was going on. So I stopped and never started again.

Buffy on the other hand, I love dearly. Even though it has its own (excellent) RPG, the show can teach you a lot about how to run a D&D game. They do an excellent job of introducing a villian slowly, how to make the 'end of the world' seem exciting and thrilling, even though they do it every season.

 

[Wraith Form]

Bump.


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