overgeeked
Open-World Sandbox
This idea was sparked by a post over on the What Does the RPG Hobby Need Now? thread.
At first, superheroes and Borg games might seem like a perfect mismatch. But I think you could do a lot with the idea. And others already have. There's already a few superhero Borg games out there.
To me, superheroes are all about the power fantasy.
And, to me, Borg games are all about the fragile characters and impending apocalypse.
Sounds incompatible, right?
Not if you tie them together.
A superhero Borg game where you are the apocalypse.
You start at level zero with 1 HP. Instead of dying at zero or negative HP, you level up.
Fighting empowers you rather than weakens you. You get more HP, another level, more kewl powerz, etc.
But what about fragile Borg characters? With that setup your PC would effectively be immortal. And what about the apocalypse?
When you level up you have to roll against your new level on a 1d10. If you roll under your new level, you can't handle the influx of power and you explode.
But not just a little boom. A big bada boom. Say something like 1 kilometer per level.
And yes, you absolutely could get daisy chains of detonating superheroes.
So players have to balance risk vs reward. The more scraps they get into, the more they'll get hurt, the more they get hurt the more they'll level up, the more they level up the more power they get...but the more likely they are to detonate and take out a wide swathe of people nearby.
The result would be something like a superhero horror-comedy. There's nothing more Borg than horror-comedy. Everything's so grimdark and over-the-top that it turns the corner and ascends to comedy before dice even hit the table.
Power fantasy? Check. Fragile PCs? Sort of check. Apocalypse? Check.
At first, superheroes and Borg games might seem like a perfect mismatch. But I think you could do a lot with the idea. And others already have. There's already a few superhero Borg games out there.
To me, superheroes are all about the power fantasy.
And, to me, Borg games are all about the fragile characters and impending apocalypse.
Sounds incompatible, right?
Not if you tie them together.
A superhero Borg game where you are the apocalypse.
You start at level zero with 1 HP. Instead of dying at zero or negative HP, you level up.
Fighting empowers you rather than weakens you. You get more HP, another level, more kewl powerz, etc.
But what about fragile Borg characters? With that setup your PC would effectively be immortal. And what about the apocalypse?
When you level up you have to roll against your new level on a 1d10. If you roll under your new level, you can't handle the influx of power and you explode.
But not just a little boom. A big bada boom. Say something like 1 kilometer per level.
And yes, you absolutely could get daisy chains of detonating superheroes.
So players have to balance risk vs reward. The more scraps they get into, the more they'll get hurt, the more they get hurt the more they'll level up, the more they level up the more power they get...but the more likely they are to detonate and take out a wide swathe of people nearby.
The result would be something like a superhero horror-comedy. There's nothing more Borg than horror-comedy. Everything's so grimdark and over-the-top that it turns the corner and ascends to comedy before dice even hit the table.
Power fantasy? Check. Fragile PCs? Sort of check. Apocalypse? Check.
