M&M First Session- Advice Needed

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Hi, all:

I've been deep into the M&M books, and I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed. I love the overall feel of the books, the layout, the art, the versatility of the power system, and the simplicity of the combat system. It conveys a sense of completion severely lacking in most d20 products I've found- in other words, it really looks and feels professional.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to running a campaign, and have been kicking around several ideas for villains, supporting heroes, and somewhat-neutral third parties. I think I have the opposition covered.

My problem is this: how do I run a superhero campaign such that it doesn't become monotonous (i.e., simply a series of encounters/challenges)? What kind of roleplay is there in which a group of superheroes would want to participate? Going to the store and buying stuff isn't really going to get them anywhere, as anything effective costs Power Points. Running 4-6 separate alter-egos simultaneously could prove to be extremely difficult. Of course, there could be a Fantasic Four type of setup, where all of the characters generally remain within a central base of operations, but that might not leave much room for roleplay. My problem is mostly with trying to run Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Peter Parker all at the same time. Do they all go and hang out at the same bar, or would that be too risky in the sense of preserving the secrecy of their respective alternate identities?

Maybe you comic book junkies out there could give me some four-color process insights here. No hickies allowed (professional humor- I'm a lithograph printer). Any advice will be summarily rejected, but taken into consideration nonetheless...

Thanks

 

[WayneLigon]

Part of the solution, you already named: it depends on what the 'set up' is. If they all know each other before gaining their powers, then it's pretty simple. They hang out as they always have. If they don't know each other or have really good reason for hiding their identity, then it becomes a little more difficult. It was quite some time before even the various members of the JLA trusted each other with their real ID's. After a few sessions, though, it usually is good policy to find some reason they trust each other enough to reveal this secret.

Having their own HQ makes things a lot easier. They have time for downtime and social RP without having to show each other who they really are.

Other non-fighting RP depends on the exact focus of the group, but here are some other suggestions:

Charity work. Heroes in the comics do this stuff a lot. Pose for pictures, sign autographs, demonstate their powers for a paying audience.

Be interviewed on a talk radio show.

 

[Insight]

Hi, all:

I've been deep into the M&M books, and I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed. I love the overall feel of the books, the layout, the art, the versatility of the power system, and the simplicity of the combat system. It conveys a sense of completion severely lacking in most d20 products I've found- in other words, it really looks and feels professional.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to running a campaign, and have been kicking around several ideas for villains, supporting heroes, and somewhat-neutral third parties. I think I have the opposition covered.

My problem is this: how do I run a superhero campaign such that it doesn't become monotonous (i.e., simply a series of encounters/challenges)?

Same way you run a fantasy game that doesn't become monotonous, or a sci-fi game that doesn't become monotonous, etc. Come up with a wide variety of challenges. Not every adventure has to be about one villain trying to rule the world. There are plenty of other ways to challenge superheroes. Think about a villain causing some sort of a natural disaster, attacking a public work (like the electrical grid or water system), or even non-villain related threats, like street-level crime or a fire breaking out in a high-rise.

You can also have the heroes use their powers to investigate the criminal activity as well, not just pounding the villain into the dirt. Perhaps some of the heroes are better suited for investigation than fighting. Or, you can even include scenes unrelated to the adventure at hand, such as appearing at a charity function or working to keep their identity secret.

What kind of roleplay is there in which a group of superheroes would want to participate? Going to the store and buying stuff isn't really going to get them anywhere, as anything effective costs Power Points.

The sort of roleplay involved really depends on your players. Ask them what they would enjoy doing with their heroes. Unless you are running a Justice League style game (where the characters really don't have much of a personality), these are people before they are superheroes, and have various needs to satisfy outside of bashing things. They need money, love, attention, etc., and any or all of these motivators can creep into your roleplay. How about having the heroes go on dates? Or having to take care of things in their secret identities? Think about the things a normal person has to do on a daily basis, and then consider how a super-powered person might deal with them.

Running 4-6 separate alter-egos simultaneously could prove to be extremely difficult. Of course, there could be a Fantasic Four type of setup, where all of the characters generally remain within a central base of operations, but that might not leave much room for roleplay. My problem is mostly with trying to run Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Peter Parker all at the same time. Do they all go and hang out at the same bar, or would that be too risky in the sense of preserving the secrecy of their respective alternate identities?

Again, this is going to depend on the style of play in your group. It is far, far easier to have the heroes in a team. Come up with the concept or reason behind having the team, and roll on from there. Perhaps the first session could be spent getting the team together - like the old tavern scene we have all seen too many times in the fantasy genre.

The characters are not tied to each other - if it makes sense that they would spend all their time together, fantastic, but it's not required. As the GM, you should try to get them to act as a team when in costume, but in their secret identities, anything goes. A lot of GMs will actually start an adventure with everyone in the secret identities, and work from there.

I hope some of that helps. Let us know how your game goes.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Rejected, but duly noted... PR is a good idea. Being the mild-mannered nobody I happen to be, it's hard for me to envision the everyday life of someone as glamorous as a supehero. I was thinking of playing in Freedom City, a place saturated with those of superhuman ability, but I find myself leaning more towards a world where superheroes/villains are extremely rare, and anything even remotely smacking of phenomenal cosmic power would be national (read: National Enquirer) news.

Maybe the superheroes could have met through the internet or somesuch, and just fly around the world defeating evil wherever it rears its ugly head? Then they wouldn't have such a problem with the local population discovering their true identities...

I like alot of flavor in IMCs, as RP is a large draw to RPGs for me, so please, feel free to bombard me with inspiration...

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Again, this is going to depend on the style of play in your group. It is far, far easier to have the heroes in a team. Come up with the concept or reason behind having the team, and roll on from there. Perhaps the first session could be spent getting the team together - like the old tavern scene we have all seen too many times in the fantasy genre.

The characters are not tied to each other - if it makes sense that they would spend all their time together, fantastic, but it's not required. As the GM, you should try to get them to act as a team when in costume, but in their secret identities, anything goes. A lot of GMs will actually start an adventure with everyone in the secret identities, and work from there.

Good ideas here. I might try that. It seems, however, that you lead me back to my initial dilemma: "but in their secret identities, anything goes."

How am I to retain the attention of several people at once when I have each of them acting out separate "ordinary" lives? What does player X do while player y is fending off the armed robber at the Quickie Mart when he went out to get diapers?

Maybe it would help to have some examples from other people's campaigns of how the game runs outside of "superhero mode"... Just a general overview would be great. See, I've never had anyone GM a really intriguing Modern, Sci-Fi, or Superhero game before. I'm exploring uncharted territory here, and I'd like to have some kind of a reference point...

 

[drnuncheon]

When my players split up to do investigations (when we're not using the investigation montage technique from Church & State) or roleplay, I generally have the other two take on the roles of NPCs that are involved in the scene. I give them a brief synopsis of a character (anything from 'a concerned bystander', leaving the rest open, to a full 'name, age, personality, here's the information that you know' writeup).

They seem to enjoy it, even when they're throwing obstacles in each other's paths (like the lecherous doctor who showed up when our shapeshifting robot was disguised as a nurse).

J

 

[The Grackle]

My problem is mostly with trying to run Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Peter Parker all at the same time. Do they all go and hang out at the same bar, or would that be too risky in the sense of preserving the secrecy of their respective alternate identities?

If you can get the players to cooperate, it's better if they hang out both in and out of costume- like the X-Men. It might not be true to most comics, but it allows roleplaying between the characters that otherwise wouldn't happen, and it frees up the GM from having to run seperated characters constantly. Plus there's something really funny to me about superheros patrolling the city and complaining about their girlfriends. I can only imagine that superheros have to feel really, really isolated- even if they're famous and beloved by the populace. It only makes sense they would associate with other people like themselves.

Another great thing to mess with players is publicity. Anytime they do something, it's going to get photographed and video taped- I mean, if you lived in Metropolis wouldn't you always have a camera on you? One of my PCs is always seen as villain b/c he does so much property damage, and another one never gets publicity b/c his powers and costume aren't flashy enough. No one will ever believe he's a superhero unless someone vouches for him. "yes, officer, he's with us..."

 

[Henry]

Some of the following advice is in the Mutants and Masterminds Campaign Section of the rulebook.

1. Not all challenges are villains. Some challenges are natural disasters. Think Superman; when he's not beating up criminals, he's saving people in plummeting helicopters, he's holding up collapsing suspension bridges, he's saving collapsing buildings (and the people inside). Spider-man is jumping into burning buildings rescuing babies; he's stopping runaway trains. How will your Blaster Super react when HE's the only one who is available to help with a burning building?

2. Personal dilemmas, as noted, but be aware that personal dilemmas do not need to be individual. What if the Blaster Super, in his secret identity, is about to lose his company to a conglomerate of evil businessmen? He calls on the Stealth Super to help "procure" some documents from the bad guys' personal files to send him to jail, or get him to back off. What if the Stealth Super's daughter has been diagnosed with a wasting disease, and they need some rare flower in the Amazon to save her? The whole team may need to get in on that.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

When my players split up to do investigations (when we're not using the investigation montage technique from Church & State) or roleplay, I generally have the other two take on the roles of NPCs that are involved in the scene. I give them a brief synopsis of a character (anything from 'a concerned bystander', leaving the rest open, to a full 'name, age, personality, here's the information that you know' writeup).

They seem to enjoy it, even when they're throwing obstacles in each other's paths (like the lecherous doctor who showed up when our shapeshifting robot was disguised as a nurse).

J

GREAT!! Thanks. Just the sort of thing I'm looking for. I had already had a similar suggestion during a previous semi-threadjacking I performed. My idea was to create a slightly overpowered (PL 12 or so), frail supervillain with high marks in possession (flaw: mind switch). His objective would be to steal the tank's body and kill his former shell, thereby effectively doubling his power. Someone suggested that if I were to intentionally kill a PC in the first session, I should hand over the villain's sheet to the PC to play until the conflict was resolved. This seemed to be an entirely reasonable plan, and you have just expanded upon this concept, greatly broadening my options.

Thanks a ton.

 

[The Grackle]

How am I to retain the attention of several people at once when I have each of them acting out separate "ordinary" lives? What does player X do while player y is fending off the armed robber at the Quickie Mart when he went out to get diapers?

Don't have them act out day-to-day type stuff. Skip the really mundane things or just make reference to them. "You're going out to get diapers from the 24 hour quickie mart when..." It's much more appropriate in a modern/supers game to skip over big chunks of downtime to keep a story moving fast. Players don't mind as much when you take a bit more liberty telling them where they are and what they're doing in the next scene.

When it comes to their secret identities give them one or two recurring dilemmas. Think Spider Man: Aunt May loves Peter but hates Spidey, Peter can only survive by selling photos of Spider Man to the Bugle, It's hard to have a girlfriend and be a super hero. And somehow he always has to deal w/these problems as Peter AND as Spider Man.