Adventurers: "We don't want your kind around here."

[Herpes Cineplex]

In settings that emulate the feel of the X-Men, you have to come at it from a different angle, though - it should never be about the feelings of the general populace, because people taken as a whole hate and fear you. In settings that have this "misunderstood, hated, and feared hero" backdrop, it should always be about the individual; trying to change the feelings of the general populace is like the fool who stands before the storm. The reward in these campaigns (at least outside of XP and treasure) should be about the changing of the attitudes of the few; if you can make just that one person see you're not so different from them, then you've made a difference.

Yes.

And also, in order to emulate the feel of the X-Men, you have to come at it from the angle of having a hidden refuge from the general populace, and hopefully a stealth fighter jet and some other cool tech-toys, plus an underground support network that keeps you insulated from the worst prejudice the world can throw at you.

For every time that someone in the X-Men is confronted with an angry mob of mutant-haters and must bemoan the tragic isolation of their existence, there are about thirty times when they're off on a big secret mission to fight evil mutants and save the planet or having a soap-opera love triangle with their friends or playing superpowered baseball inside their protected campus or whatever. They get to do a lot of stuff that makes them feel heroic, or even just normal, in the course of their stories; the part where they're an oppressed and hated group is just background in most of the issues.


Now, if you want to emulate the feel of District X or maybe even NYX, that's a different story. Those titles revolve more around genuinely oppressed and hated mutants who don't have the luxury of being able to basically ignore the society around them, and there's not a lot of heroism or good times to be found in there. Lots of despised outsiders just barely scraping by in a world where normal people would gladly walk across the street to spit on them, and instead of getting to worry about big external problems like saving the world, they have to worry about just surviving. Grim, dark, and very non-heroic.

....which makes you wonder if perhaps that's why neither of those titles sold well.


Anyway, in a game, you can actually make the PCs outcasts and have it work, but only, I think, when the players are looking to be exactly that. If you pitch a game as just being D&D (where the "adventurers = rock stars" image is practically assumed) and then have the townsfolk throw rocks at them all day, that's not good. But if you tell them up front that adventurers and other violent outsiders are justly shunned in this setting and that a lot of the game will revolve around dealing with narrow-minded "good citizen"-types and protecting them despite their ingratitude, the players will know what to expect and can have fun with it. (Or tell you up front that they hate the idea and refuse to play it, I guess. )

--
we had some very fun games where the characters were essentially despised by everyone
ryan

 

[Felikeries]

Pain,lingering fears,abhorance of a foe or cause....face it folks the ways of an Adventurer are there due to the reality of being unwelcomed is expected to be found,met with,known,never really removed from a campaign so i don't see what the fuss is about

 

[painandgreed]

IMC, adventuring is a respectable career choice but mostly because adventurers are usually the extra sons and daughters of noble families whose older children were able to get even better careers. Still, nobody trusts unknown adventurers. Some are good and some are evil and most are dubious. Reputation is what countrs and what is the difference between "not wanted around here" and "nice to have around". For lower levels, groups tend to stay around their home towns and thus do okay because they and their familes are pretty well known. As the move outside that area, they encoutner trouble if their reputation hasn't preceeded them, or if it has and it's not good.

Another choice would be to have a lawful area and adventurers just don't fit into their social scheme. Adventuring parties may have to be licensed or even constantly under the employ of a local noble to be within the countries limits. There could also be a caste system and a heroic adventurer will never be respected because he was born a farmer.

 

[Desdichado]

I think it could work, but as some others have mentioned, being a hero is mostly why the pcs are playing the game. There isn't much fun in being universally hated.

Oh, really? You state that as if it's a truism, instead of simply a taste and opinion.

In my current campaign, I've done something sorta like that; the PCs actually are part of the Inquisition, at least in an adjunct capacity. They don't interact too much with "normal people" but if they did, normal people wouldn't want much to do with them. Then again, this setting does have a few post-modern conceits, such as relatively easy and common travel. People wandering around aren't necessarily percieved as adventurers per se, simply travelers, and they could have all kinds of reasons; legitimate or otherwise, for being so.

 

[Desdichado]

Ive got to chime in here and state something that has already been said once in this thread. It is great fun to READ about these guys, but in most cases it actually sucks to BE them. They are shunned and misunderstood outcasts, often forsaking any semblance of a "normal life" for the unforgiving and thankless job of saving others. This makes for a cool read, but I personally would be depressed playing in this type of campaign (at least in the absence of the cool superpowers and supervillians to beat the hell out of). YMMV!

That's why my character is one and not me.