Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Marvel Heroic Stress Test: Report

Hey, readers!



Earlier in my "What I'm Playing Now" post, I mentioned the Marvel Civil War game that I'm going to be involved with starting next week. I have a few updates to what I said there.

-My second character is Spider-Woman now. I like her quite a bit as a character, even if she's technically the Skrull Queen in the mainstream universe during this point in time. Now, I don't know what our GM's opinion is on that, but I'd prefer it if she was, y'know, Jessica Drew. Like, legit Jess. I mean, if she was the Skrull Queen, I'd have to play it at a whole 'nother angle, and stuff.



-My misgivings about having such a large group have been put slightly at ease due to the practice session that I will report on here. The internet connection didn't go out in the two or so hours that we played, and the game seemed to run smoothly enough, at least on my end.

That being said, our group had a 'Stress Test' to make sure the point above would be stable. You can actually watch the whole session if you're so inclined, but I will summarize what happened here if you'd rather not sit through two hilarious hours of a bunch of guys playin' superheroes.

(I'm in the Screenshot!)

Session Summary:

So, our session was based on an Avengers Assemble comic from last summer involving a collection of cosmic weaponry and those who are looking to get it.

Our team consisted of Thor, Bruce Banner (Hulk), the Thing, Moon Knight, Wonder Man, and myself as Wolverine. Apparently, our team had been travelling around the world collecting cosmic artifacts like the Cosmic Cube, the Ultimate Nullifier, and other such paraphernalia you likely have sitting around your basement. We have been hounded by Zodiac, which is a team of twelve recently cosmically imbued former henchmen that are all modeled after the twelve signs of the Zodiac.



So, our assembled Avengers team is hanging out on the SHIELD helicarrier. Thor has a keg of ale that he's drinking from, which Logan is sharing. Then, out of nowhere, a huge hole is blown in the side of the Helicarrier and we are attacked by the entire group of the Zodiac. Wonder Man tried to negotiate using his star power, which didn't go so hot. Banner tried too, but the return insults made him so mad he Hulked out. The rest of us more martial powers went to town, gutting, slicing, and punching whoever got in our way. Moon Knight was kinda doing he solo thing, hanging out in the shadows and hitting stuff with moon-based weaponry.

Needless to say, with such a large group, a blow-by-blow account would be difficult to map out, however, I can show off the highlights. The Hulk resisted an attack by roaring and slamming the ground to scare those assaulting him. Thor threw a guy who had burned out and took out most of the opposing team while saying something about Asgardian kittens. And, y'know, Wolverine gutted and sliced people, which is always cool, since I was playing him. And stuff.

Once the Zodiac was defeated, Thor and Wolverine went back to drinking, until Thanos crashed into the Helicarrier, demanding the Cosmic stuff. When we said no, he did a cosmic attack that knocked out everyone, except Thor, who was invulnerable, the Thing, who left for a date before Thanos arrived, and Moon Knight, who escaped via the Moon Copter. Thor and Thanos had a pretty epic duel, involving a lot of grappling and throwing around cosmic might before Maria Hill activated the self destruction sequence on her ship and blew it all sky-high.



My Reaction:

First of all, I have to say, it was great seeing and playing with these guys again. They're a great bunch, and the new guys that I haven't met before were also cool. Everyone did a great job staying to character and there was a lot of creativity going on.

The Doom Pool got pretty huge this session, which makes sense, considering there were six players and a mob consisting of twelve d10, which is pretty insane in of itself. However, it made a lot more sense than stating out each individual villain, and made things run much more smoothly. Well, smooth enough. Thanos was likewise very powerful, and backed by the mighty Doom Pool, he was virtually unstoppable, which makes sense, since in this comic, the Guardians of the Galaxy popped in to help at this particular point.

Other than that, I wasn't expecting much since this was a stress test, and had a good time! Looking forward to next Monday when Civil War proper will begin.

Hope you enjoyed my post about this stress test! If not, here's a funny picture.

-Wes



Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Marvel Heroic X-Men: Session 2 Report

Hey, readers!

One of my new groups that I'm playing with just had a session of X-Men the other night, and for my benefit and yours, I'm going to summarize and rant and stuff. I was thinking of possibly doing these as in-character journal entries, but we'll see.

Anyway, the team is currently Beast, Mr. Immortal (a probationary X-Men member on leave from his team 'The Great Lake Avengers'), and myself as Rogue with Ms. Marvel's powers. This was the first session where we actually had the entire team assembled, so that was cool to see the dynamics and how everything functioned.



We're playing through an old Marvel TSR module (FASERIP as I like to call it, 'cause, y'know, ripping off faces is creepy and cool) which is called 'Breeder Bombs.' I somewhat wish that he didn't mention it was a module because I have a terrible habit of looking stuff up and spoiling things for myself, which I kinda did. I only skimmed, but still!...



Session Summary:

Anyway, the session began where the last one left off, which was Rogue and Mr. Immortal in the Danger Room going through an exercise when things start to go haywire and someone is attacking the mansion. Come to find out it was Mr. Fixer who crashed into the kitchen to confront Beast, yelling about how he killed his partner and was here for REVENGE!

So, combat begins, of course. Mr. Immortal tried to slam into him, but was easily repelled and flung out the giant hole in the wall. Then Beast tried to distract the villain by juggling rubble, which was.. Interesting! Nicely enough, it slapped a d12 complication on the guy, which allowed me to piledrive Mr. Fixer and knock him out in one shot. Usually, I'm not too fond of Rogue when she has Ms. Marvel's powers, as I feel it cheapens the super-awesome power stealing stuff, but I must admit, it makes her a heavy hitter and a great asset to the team. The way I'm playing her is that the whole Ms. Marvel incident was fairly recent, so she's still getting used to the fact that she can punch guys fifty-feet away in one hit.

With that done, we picked the villain up and brought him over to the infirmary so that we could question him. The Professor probed his mind and found a video in his equipment that showed a rooftop battle where Beast was fighting Mentallo and apparently killed him. Beast had no memory of this, and spent a day scanning the video for errors or idiosyncrasies. He discovers that it was in a warehouse in New York, so he decides that we need to go take care of it. Unfortunately, Scott and his A-Team have the Blackbird, so we have to settle for Mr. Immortal's 'Quinnjetta' car. Rogue rode shotgun, changed the station to country and broke the knob.

Yeehaw!



The team made it to the warehouse and spent a good amount of time examining the crime scene. Not finding much evidence, we decided to enter the warehouse and see if anything was going on inside. Come to find out, there's Mentallo in a vegetative state hooked up to a weird machine! We trip a laser-wire and two laser guns pop out of the floor. Beast tries his best to wrestle one to death, not doing so well. Rogue threw a crate at one, and when it tried to shoot her, she dodged, causing the laser to hit a metal crate and somehow reflect back and destroy it.

Isn't comic-logic great?

As the team tried to work on the second turret, two figures break through the wall! It's Beast and Mentallo, somehow! Beast, enraged by the prospect of this doppleganger who tried to implicate him for murder, assaults his double, but manages to get slammed into a pile of crates and knocked out. Mentallo shot his laser pistol at Mr. Immortal, wounding him slightly. However, using his hurt pride to propel his attack, Mr. Immortal did a crazed flying crotch kick of some kind that I couldn't even visualize, sending Mentallo into d12 stress and revealing that he was a robot! Rogue then picked up Mentallo and slammed him against this force-field that appeared around the strange machine, smashing him to pieces.

The remaining laser battery shot at the two remaining heroes, but Rogue was able to absorb the energy and use it to amplify her strength. In a final move, Rogue used her enhanced strength to rip the laser cannon from the ground, spin around, and send it flying into the Beast robot, destroying both in one move.

So, yeah. Rogue is awesome. But we knew that.



The force-field went down, and we peeled the real Mentallo from the strange machine. In an attempt to bring a little deeper story, and play with the Rogue-angst that I love so much, I decided that Rogue would try to touch the villain and get his memories to see how this all happened, despite Beast's protest. Unfortunately, I failed the roll, but I do plan to factor in the scattered pieces of Mentallo's psyche into Rogue's in the future.

We wrapped up by heading back to the mansion, each of us trying to work on a different piece of the puzzle. Rogue and the Professor worked on the vegetative Mentallo. Mr. Immortal healed up in the infirmary and was bragging to the others about their experiences. Beast was working on the severed heads of the two robots, trying to get more information. What he found was a map to several locations across the world and a video feed revealing the supposed culprit: Magneto!

My Reactions:

So far, I'm having a good time with this group. I'm the 'senior Marvel Heroic player' it seems, which is funny, considering I'm the youngest. The other players are so far doing a great job portraying their characters. Our Beast has the character down to a 'T', dialogue and all. Mr. Immortal's player has actually made a seemingly useless hero useful in a team, which is a great accomplishment on its own, not to mention his good jokes and ideas. Our GM is pretty good too, though sometimes he's a little scatterbrained or jokes a bit too much, but it's all in good fun, and he's doing very well with both moving the story along and making sure things run smoothly.

The only major issue I'm having, which I've had in a lot of other online groups in the past, is this... Weird... Thing. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it, other than it has to do with what's in character and what's out of character sometimes. See, like, most people use their normal voice to portray the character they are playing, since not many roleplayers are actors. I like to throw some theater into it since that's my background, using a more feminine voice if I'm playing a woman or tossing in an accent or way of speaking to differentiate my character speech from my regular speech. However, sometimes someone will say something in-character that sounds out-of-character, or make a joke out-of-character that's kinda in character. Or, even worse, someone will say something in-character, and someone will make a joke, interrupting the flow of conversation. This prevents me from getting into character a lot, which means I'm usually quiet or preface my in-character dialogue with, 'My character says, "-" '

And this is a real shame, since most of my enjoyment in roleplaying games is being in-character and interacting with NPCs and the other players. Hell, the best sessions I've ever had usually had very little combat and a lot of talking, emotions, and character growth due to stuff that's going on. I can get this in my Teen Titans game, but that's different, since I'm running it as opposed to playing. With a lot of these online groups, this sort of thing is harder to get since there's a degree of unfamiliarity with each other at first, and the best way to get comfortable is to make jokes and seem likable, and sometimes that doesn't stop.

Maybe one day I'll get this kind of thing in a 'pick-up group', and I've come close with a few groups, but that's a personal thing. I do get some fun out of beating the snot out of villains and making quips, but like a Disney Princess, I can't help but want...

More.

Other than that rant, there was a rule clarification that I was happy to get. It had to deal with exceptional successes in regard to counter-attacks, which I wasn't totally clear on. Apparently, if you do the option to counter attack and you exceed the attacker's total by five or more, it is treated as an exceptional success. This is good to know, as it can make villains just a hair more dangerous, especially if they are supported by a huge doom pool. The unfortunate recipient of this action, Beast, was a bit put-off by the potential power that it gives the GM, but I think it's completely fair, given what the players are able to do, such as one-shotting Mr. Fixer.

Overall, I'm enjoying myself, and I do hope that this doesn't come into conflict with my Civil War game that is coming up next week. We'll see how that goes. Either way, hope you enjoyed my rant! (I would love some comments on my IC/OOC rant to see how other people feel.) If you didn't, here's a funny picture.

-Wes

Friday, May 24, 2013

Teen Titans Modern: Milestones and Unlockables

Hello, readers!

As an addendum to the previous post, I thought it would be interesting to share a few of the Marvel Heroic specific things I've developed for this campaign.

For many people, milestones and unlockables are the trickiest part of running this particular system if you are not going through an already published adventure. This is understandable, since this bit is all at once one of the best and worst things about the system. The idea of milestones is an amazing storytelling incentive, a way for the player to tell the GM how he wants his character to grow and focus on through the story, and it encourages character-based roleplaying, which I absolutely adore. However, I've never been a fan of experience points (I don't use them at all, usually) and with a system that encourages you to build a character  at or near their peak, using XP for advancement usually seems wrong, which gives the incentive to develop unlockables. Only problem with that is, unlockables are a tricky beast to develop, and there aren't a whole ton of examples to work off from.

Milestones are also tricky to develop sometimes, but there are more than enough examples throughout all of the books that you get the pattern and feel for them relatively quickly.

That being said, here are my unlockables and milestones for this event so far. I'm always adding more... At least as far as milestones are concerned. Feel free to steal, edit, etc. Some aren't perfect, but they've been working quite well so far.

(My favorites are Bane of the Future, LexCorp Conspirator and Titans Go!)

Teen Titans Modern Milestones:



World's Greatest Assassin? -

1 XP When: You confront the world's greatest assassin, Deathstroke.

3 XP When: You best Deathstroke in one-on-one combat.

10 XP When: You join the League of Assassins to usurp Deathstroke's famous legacy, or dedicate your life to shutting down the League.

Joke's on You -

1 XP When: You take emotional stress from the Joker or Harley Quinn.

3 XP When: You deal emotional trauma to the Joker or Harley Quinn.

10 XP When: You kill the Joker in a disturbingly amusing or ironic fashion, taking a step towards continuing his legacy, or you effectively stop one of the Joker's most devastating gags or jokes.

Blood War -

1 XP When: You witness a ritual of the Cult of Blood or see evidence of one that has occurred.

3 XP When: You break up, disrupt, or prevent a meeting or gathering of the Cult of Blood.

10 XP When: You form a temporary alliance with the Cult of Blood to learn more of their power and get rid of Deathstroke, or you wage a personal crusade against the Cult.

A Raven in the Flock -

1 XP When: You reach out to the mysterious outcast, Raven.

3 XP When: You confess a secret to Raven, or she confesses one to you.

10 XP When: You save Raven's life from extreme danger, or she does the same for you.

We're Not Gonna Take It

1 XP When: You have a confrontation with VATOR forces.

3 XP When: You successfully destroy a VATOR taskforce or evade capture.

10 XP When: You avoid VATOR capture forever by illegally getting onto the coveted “Override” list, or you become a figurehead in the movement against VATOR.

Bane of the Future

1 XP When: You discuss technology's effect on society.

3 XP When: You defeat a tech-based villain and use his actions as an example of how technology is harmful, or you defeat a non-tech based villain using modern technology to show how it can be used for good.

10 XP When: You take up the Neo-Luddite cause and join Bane's crusade, or you confront and defeat Bane using your own philosophy on technology.

Lex Corp Conspirator

1 XP When: You make a connection between current events, Lex Luthor, and Lex Corp.

3 XP When: You discover concrete evidence linking Lex Luthor and his company to an immediate situation and follow-up on it.

10 XP When: You confront Lex Luthor with your conspiratorial evidence and show his hand to the authorities, or you agree to keep silent and give up the evidence to Lex Corp. in order to obtain something.

Titans, Go!

1 XP When: You take charge of a situation and give orders to your fellow teammates.

3 XP When: You settle an inner-team dispute, coordinate a training session, or push the team towards a common goal.

10 XP When: You are officially recognized by your teammates as team leader during a monumental situation, or you decide to give leadership to a better qualified team-member at a critical moment.

Cleaning the Streets

1 XP When: You take action against one of the various city gangs or the mob.

3 XP When: Your actions are able to topple the power of a reigning gang or arrests an influential mob leader.

10 XP When: You're hailed as a hero by crippling gang activity and decimating the Mobs influence in Detroit, or you end your crusade against organized crime and gang violence to save yourself from the retribution to come.

Super Celebrity

1 XP When: You are thanked by a citizen for a specific heroic deed, or asked for an interview by a reporter regarding your current super-heroics.

3 XP When: Your fame creates trouble, causes a situation to get worse, or distracts you from doing your duty.

10 XP When: You use your fame to solve an impossible situation or generate support and adoration for superheroes everywhere, or you give up the superhero lifestyle out of guilt or in order for someone else to be saved.

Good Student

1 XP When: You relate something you've learned in school to a current situation.

3 XP When: You choose to study instead of participating in an important event related to your superhero career.

10 XP When: You use something you've learned to defeat a major villain at a critical point, or you flunk out of High School in order to further pursue your superheroics.

Mentor

1 XP When: You approach a significant member of the superhero community for help or advice.

3 XP When: You work closely with your chosen mentor to overcome a significant obstacle.

10 XP When: You choose to partner up with your chosen mentor in a more permanent fashion, becoming an heir to their legacy, or you dismiss the teachings of your mentor and abandon them completely.

Love and Spandex

1 XP When: You flirt with another member of the superhero community.

3 XP When: When you begin a relationship with another hero during a stressful event.

10 XP When: Your love is an important factor in overcoming an impossible situation, or you break up in order to better focus on the task at hand.

Teen Titans Modern Unlockables:



[Green Arrow's Arsenal] 5/10 XP: For 5 XP, you can unlock the use of the Green Arrow Arsenal power-set. However, if it is ever lost, stolen, or broken, only Oliver Queen can repair it. Spend 10 XP to learn how to repair it yourself, gaining it as a normal powerset.

Green Arrow's Arsenal:

Enhanced Durability d8
Weapon d8

SFX:

Shoot to Kill: Add a d6 to your dice pool for an attack action and step back highest die in pool by -1. Step up physical stress by +1.

EMP Arrow: Target multiple robot or computerized opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.

Armor Piercing Arrow: Step up physical stress you inflict by +1 when your target uses a Durability power in their reaction pool.

Tear Gas Arrow: Target multiple opponents. For every additional target, add d6 to your pool and keep +1 effect die.

Explosive Arrow: Step up or double Weapon for one action. If the action fails, add a die to doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.

Limit:

Gear: Shutdown Green Arrow Arsenal and gain 1 PP. Take an action vs. doom pool to recover.

[Police Support] 5/10 XP: For 5 XP, you can unlock some support within the local police department. When you spend 5 XP, you are able to create resources at a Master level for the following disciplines: Crime, Vehicle, Covert. For 10 XP, you can call in the police to assist you for an action scene, gaining a squad of cops to fight at your side.

[Super Hero Club] 5/10 XP: For 5 XP, you start a Super-Hero club at the local High School, which attracts the attention of some local teenage heroes who are "still in the closet," so to speak. You can call upon them for support in one action scene. For 10 XP, you can unlock one of your choice as either a playable character or an NPC'd permanent team-member.

[The "T" Car] 10 XP: For 10 XP, you can have Green Arrow whip you up a souped up and incredibly advanced vehicle for your team.

The "T" Car:

Durability d10
Speed d10
Gun Turret d8
Cybernetic Senses d8

SFX:

Oil Slick: Spend 1 PP to introduce the Slick Streets scene distinction to the action scene.

Turbo: Step up or double Speed (spend 1 PP to do both). Stepdown Speed -1.

Room for Everybody!: Spend 1 PP to remove you and one other character from the Scene. Other characters may tag along for 1 PP from each of them.

Limit:

Just a Car: When the player takes d12+ physical stress while driving the "T" Car, step down physical stress to d8 and Shutdown The "T" Car powerset.Bring the hulking mess back to Oliver Queen during a recovery scene to get it back.

Mutually Exclusive: Shutdown your current powerset to activate The “T” Car. Shutdown The “T” Car to recover your powerset.

[Connections with the Big Leagues] 5/10 XP: For 5 XP, you can call into the scene one of the big-name Superheroes that you are allied with who will offer support for the remainder of the scene. For 10 XP, you can call them in to take out one villain, then leave.

[Heroic/Dangerous Superhero] 5/10 XP: For 5 XP, you can earn the reputation in the city and the world for either being a noble hero in the eyes of citizens, or one that is dangerous and destructive. This will grant a fourth distinction that can be used until the end of the Act. For 10 XP, this distinction lasts until the end of the Event. Some examples of distinctions include: “One of the Good Ones” “Public Liability.”

[Hacked into VATOR] 5/10 XP: For 5 XP, you or a close ally has broken into the VATOR network, able to track communications and look up database entries. You can create a Master resource in preparation for a future encounter. For 10 XP, you can call in VATOR forces once to end a scene in your favor.


And, there you go! Hope you enjoyed this look at milestones and unlockables. If you didn't, here's a funny picture.

-Wes




 

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Teen Titans Modern: The TV Show Format in Action

Hey, readers!

Piggybacking on my last post, I thought that it would be nice to explain in a little more detail the nitty gritty details of how you would implement the TV show model in preparing for a campaign. Rather than go through a long, step-by-step tutorial in which I go into too much detail, I'm actually going to show you my notes for the campaign set-up and explain them.

As with everything, this is just the way I did it. By no means is it the only way, or the right way, or a good way. It's just the way that worked for me. I'm typically a notes-light GM, usually foregoing notes altogether and just letting things pour out based off a loose framework in my noggin. So, that's your disclaimer.

Anyway, let's get to it, shall we?



The Basic Framework:

Teen Titans Modern

Tentative Season 1:

24 Episodes:

End Goal for Team: Grow together as a team. Become friends and one fighting unit. Make a decision whether or not to live the superhero lifestyle.

Main Arc: Deathstroke, under the order of Ra's al Ghul, begins a war against the Cult of Blood in Detroit.

Secondary Arc: The Joker and Harley Quinn try to profit from the ensuing chaos, starting a gang of misguided teenagers and playing both sides against each other.

Tertiary Arc: The government has declared war on the Superhero community, apprehending both heroes and villains in order to get them to register to be a government agent, or kill them.

Commentary: What I did first was set a groundwork number of episodes that I wanted to shoot for. This could change, of course, but I determined that you could either go half season (12 episodes or so) to a full season (22 episodes or so). Since Marvel Heroic broke things into acts, I went with a nice even 24 that I could split into three acts with eight episodes each.

The next thing I did was set some goals that I wanted the team to accomplish over the course of the season. If we get to the end and all of those things are true, I know I did my job. Each character has their own goals, but those are listed elsewhere.

Next, I set up the A-story, B-story, and C-story for the season, the basic arc that the campaign will travel through. While these elements are all set up, not all of them will come into play immediately, or even come into play every session, but every episode works to either build on these arcs or work on the goals.

Main Villains: Brother Blood, Deathstroke

Secondary Villains: The Joker, Harley Quinn, The Government

Tertiary Villains: Bane, Riddler, Lex Luthor, Murmur and Onomatopoeia, Suicide Squad, Professor Ivo and Amazo

Main Supporting Cast: Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), Black Canary (Dinah Lance), Firebird (Bette Kane)

Secondary Supporting Cast: , Starfire (“Tori Anders”), Beast Boy (Garfield Logan), Terry Sloane, Raven

Tertiary Supporting Cast: Batman (Bruce Wayne)

Setting:


Detroit, Michigan

Commentary: What I did here was lay out the basic set-up for NPCs that will be involved in the arcs and the story. This list is here so that I can stat them out, if need be, or so I have a good visual of villains I want to use or potential allies ordered by importance. By ordering them like this, I know which villains and allies I need to emphasize and really flesh out, and which ones don't really need all that much emphasis. I also put the basic setting down here, though that could obviously be expanded.

The Episode List:

Act 1:

Episode 1:
“Lockdown”
Main Villain: The Government, Suicide Squad
Main Plot: The first meeting of the Titan Initiative is disrupted by an attack by the government's new taskforce, “Vigilante Arrest and Termination Organized Response” 'VATOR'

Episode 2:
“Blood”
Main Villain: Blood Cult, Brother Blood, Deathstroke
Main Plot: The team begins investigating a budding gang-war that seems to be funded by powers unknown with the only clue being the blood scrawled message, "Where is Brother Blood?" Meanwhile, Juan has to work on a school project with a very unusual partner.

Episode 3:
“Laughter”
Main Villain: Joker, Harley Quinn
Main Plot: When the Joker publicly challenges the Dark Knight by causing chaos in the Detroit area, the Titans are the first response. Are the Joker's crimes carrying a deeper message? And how does Dullahan's past factor in with the laughing mad-man and his crew?

Episode 4:
“Stars”
Main Villain: Dr. Light
Main Plot: It's Christmas time in Detroit! The Titans deck the halls of the mansion for the upcoming holiday when Johnny realizes he hasn't gotten anything for his new girlfriend. A trip to the mall turns terrible as Dr. Light attacks, amplified by the festive lighting for the season. Johnny's blow to the head sends him on a rather detailed trip through a familiar Christmas favorite.

Episode 5:
“Conspiracy”
Main Villain: The Government
Main Plot: VATOR forces return to the streets of Detroit, taking a more subtle approach. Suspicions arise as their actions seem to follow Green Arrow's own plans for cleaning the streets. How exactly did Oliver Queen clear his own name and get the government out of his city in the first place?

Episode 6:
“Survival”
Main Villain: Professor Ivo, Solomon Grundy
Main Plot: A group of teen heroes are kidnapped by the mysterious Professor Ivo and set on an island. Infected with a disease that is working through their system, they must journey across the wild jungle in order to find the antidote, but they are not alone...

Episode 7:
“Override”
Main Villain: The Riddler
Main Plot: The entire Detroit underworld competes in the Riddler's insane games for a chance at getting on the fabled “Override” list that promises VATOR immunity. Will the Titans play along to apprehend criminals, or go for the illegal prize themselves?

Episode 8:
“Shutdown”
Main Villain: Bane
Main Plot: After an encounter with a group of fanatical Neo-Luddites testing an EMP, Ray Kord finds that he can no longer transform into the Blue Beetle.

Episode 9:
“Blackout”
Main Villain: Bane, Deathstroke, Brother Blood
Main Plot: ?

Commentary: Here we see the first act already listed out. What I obviously did here was give every episode its own name, determined which villains were involved, and did a basic plot summary. Some plot summaries have an A and B plot, some do not, depending on the needs of the story. I listed these out before the game even began using some of the information above. However, there were changes that I needed to make based on player desires, such as a Christmas episode, and an episode where the team was trapped on an island with Solomon Grundy which stretched the first act to nine episodes instead of eight.

What I try to do here is make some episodes spotlight characters. For example, Episode 4 is centered around Johnny while Episode 8 has to do more with Ray. This way, the players get their own episode to shine, define who they are, and grow.

Just for some particulars on how this relates to the framework, I have decided that the first act will mostly deal with the tertiary plot arc while laying seeds for the main and secondary arcs that will explode into fruition in the final episode of the act. We are currently on episode 7, having taken a long hiatus as Dullahon's player went to England for a semester and we had trouble coordinating times with her. Hopefully in June we will begin again and finish out the season by the end of the summer.


And that's all I gotta say about that! If you guys want more details on how these episodes went down, let me know! I also have milestones I can share and no shortage of datafiles. Hope you enjoyed this look into the TV Show format in action. If you didn't, here's a funny picture.

-Wes




Tuesday, May 21, 2013

A Game for a Season: Running a Campaign Like a TV Show

Hey, readers!

Today, I'm going to share a campaign layout that has changed the way I think about running games in general. To be honest, I'm not 100% if someone else has thought of this before or laid it out the way I have. Personally, this is from my own brain and not ripped off from someone else's ideas. (At least not intentionally.)

With that out of the way, let's address a common assumption.

Most people think of role-playing campaigns in one of these two mediums: books and movies. And why not? For a long time, books and word of mouth were the main ways that stories were communicated. Film is also a huge contender these days as a viable visual medium that tells about the lives of people, the terrible things that happen to them, and how they try to resolve it.

What do these two mediums have in common?

First of all, most books and movies follow the basic plot mountain scheme. Remember this from High School?



They both tell one story about a character or group of characters that follow this main arc. We meet the people involved, something happens that set larger things into motion and creates a problem, the characters try to solve the problem and get into more situations until it all explodes in one climatic scene, then the issue is either resolved or unresolved, someone or something has changed, and it ends. There can be sub-plots, but that's the basic stretch of the narrative.

You also get this story told to you over a reasonable amount of time. For movies, that ranges from an hour and a half to about three hours typically. For books, that really depends on the length of the book and how fast you can read, but unless you are an incredibly slow reader or the book is a tome, it won't take you more than a few weeks at most to finish.

However, if you try to place this model on an extended roleplaying campaign, it starts to break down in some rather distracting ways.



First, most roleplaying campaign plots don't fit neatly on plot mountain there. Sometimes the exposition is muddy or thrown out completely. 95% percent or more of the time spent in the game is dealing with the rising action while the climax, falling action, and resolution are usually resolved in one session. Not to mention the tendency of a lot of games, especially when D&D is involved, to just go from town to town or dungeon to dungeon with a loose narrative tying it together to make it somewhat cohesive, which makes the plot a series of hills rather than Mt. Everest.

Not to mention, there are sections on the 'Rising Action' slope that are boring and tedious which can consume entire sessions, making certain characters feel left out or abandoning an element someone enjoys completely. Dungeon crawls, anyone?

Secondly, roleplaying campaigns are not completed in a timely matter whatsoever. Most groups, if they're lucky, meet once a week, every two weeks, or once a month with a session that typically lasts anywhere from two to three hours or more. If you're going from start to finish, it could take a year or more to finish a campaign. Most games don't even survive that long! People move away, get new job schedules, can't make it on gaming day anymore, or the campaign just fizzles because you're stuck on the Rising Action slope. How many campaigns are actually finished, or even reach the climax, which is supposed to be the best part?

Not many.



So, maybe there needs to be a new model. What sort of entertainment offers a story about characters going through problems in reasonable time chunks where plots are more like a series of hills in a mountain range offered over an extended period of time?

TV shows.



If we model our campaigns and sessions after TV shows rather than movies or books, we open up a more satisfying and compatible system to work off. Just think about your favorite TV show for a second or two. What elements are in play here?

-A somewhat stable cast of protagonists and antagonists that appear every time.

-Episodes that have a beginning, middle, and end, usually with a climax included.

-Episodes that don't last more than 12 minutes to an hour.

-Sometimes they include an overarching story and meaningful changes based on events that happen (Continuity). Sometimes they don't.

-Groups of episodes are divided into seasons that typically have anywhere from 12 to 22 episodes.

Now, let's translate those episodes into role-playing campaign philosophies. 

-The cast consists of the player characters and any important recurring NPCs.

-Every session deals with a unique issue that is resolved by the time the session is over, with a climax included!

-Plot mountains can be completed within the span of a session with a smaller scope.

-Sessions have the opportunity to build off of one another and create an overarching plot that is advanced in some way by the smaller plot mountains that the season consists of. However, if you do not want to stick to continuity too much, depending on your style of game, you don't have to! 

-You can end the season whenever you want! You are not necessarily waiting for the huge payoff that the climax gives, so you can wrap up loose ends, shut the game down, and renew for another season if you want to return to those characters/stories again!

I'll go into more details in the nitty gritty by showing you how I've done this for my Teen Titans game in the future, but for now, these are just some things to wrap your mind around. I will say that this system and model will not work for every group template or group in general, but for some of them, it is so much easier on the GM and more satisfying for the players.

Hope you enjoyed my long post! If not, here's a funny picture.

-Wes


   

Saturday, May 18, 2013

What I'm Playing Right Now

Hey there, readers!

While I do seem to be cursed to run games until the day that I die, I do get to play every so often! This has been happening a lot more lately since my current life situation has separated me physically from a lot of my real-life groups. I've been getting my playing fill thanks to the wonderful people I've met over the Margaret Weis forums, Roll20, and Google+.

So, as a companion post to the last one, I'll go over what games I'm involved in as a player right now and in the near future.

What I'm Playing Now:

X-Men (Marvel Heroic)



I've got two confessions this time.

First.

I fuckin' love the X-Men. They are, by a fairly large margin, my favorite team in Marvel comics, maybe comics in general. Sure, it's usually a flawed series plagued by an incredibly large cast, Mary Sue/emo characters out the whazoo, and plot lines that seem to fly in the face of the rest of Marvel's continuity, but I love it anyway. The characters that are well written are amazing, their plight always seems to be culturally relevant, and they actually have a reason to be a team other than "Well, we're all good superheroes with sub-par rogue galleries; let's team up to sell more comics!"

I'm lookin' at you, Avengers.

Second confession.

I fuckin' love Rogue.


I'm serious. She's my favorite Marvel character. I've got her action figure on my wall, still mint in box. A Rogue figurine is dangling off my phone, showing everyone my heart-throb every time I get a text. I could create an entire post about why I adore this Southern Belle, but I doubt you guys want an in-depth character analysis. If you do, let me know, and I'd gladly share why this girl has taken my number one spot.

Anyway, back to the game. I'm currently in a new group that is running an X-Men game based off of an old TSR module. It's a small group, which I love, and I finally get to play Rogue, which I also love. We've only had one session so far, but I'm looking forward to more!

What I'll Be Playing Soon:

Civil War (Marvel Heroic)

Last August, I got involved in my first Marvel Heroic game over Google+ run by a rather talented GM. We were playing through Breakout, which is the introductory scenario in the back of the Marvel Heroic book. However, our GM was clever enough to extend it by an extra act and even throw in a few twists to make sure that this was the Breakout we would remember. While I know some of my readers were actually involved, for those who aren't in the know, you can watch the entire game on Youtube!


I played none other than Wolverine, which is another character that I'm quite fond of. It's not often that I get to take on the gruff, macho, bad-ass role, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Starting in June, we're going to be doing Civil War, the first full-campaign module put out for Marvel Heroic, in the same universe as our Breakout game with all of the same people, plus a few more!

I'll be taking on the role of Wolverine again, and I get to pick one another character, but I'm a bit stumped on that avenue. I want someone that is different than Wolverine in both personality and play-style and someone I'm somewhat comfortable portraying. Ergo, no brooding gruff bad-asses. Not a scrapper (For those of you who have every played City of Heroes). No one too obscure. I've still got some time to make a decision, so, I'll come up with something.

While I am looking forward to the game immensely, I am a bit concerned about the number of players. If we are going to have, what looks like, eight players and the GM, I'm not quite sure how that's going to fly. I've ran for and played in large groups, and it's not easy. Not to mention that having the video feed for nine people is going to wreak havoc on certain internet connections.

But, I hope for the best!

And that's pretty much it! I was in a New Warriors campaign that sort of fizzled out, but if that comes back, I'd be willing to play again. Also, a group I played Escape from Mos Shuttaa with may be delving into The Long Arm of the Hutt, so that's another possibility.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed my brief foray into my current playing schedule. If you didn't, here's a funny picture.

-Wes


Friday, May 17, 2013

What I'm Running Right Now

Hey there, readers!

So, if you read my last post, you would know that I have a bad case of Perma-GM syndrome with all of the real-life groups I've created in the past five years or so. It's not a huge problem, as long as I have some sort of outlet for my playing desires every couple of months or so.

Besides, I'm a much better GM than I am a player! At least, I think so.

Unfortunately, due to my current life situation, I'm not running much, but that is due to change! In this post, I will be explaining what I'm running currently, and what the immediate plans are for the summer. Expect play reports in the future from these things!

What I'm Running Now:

Teen Titans Modern




I have a confession.

Ahem.

There are a lot of things about the DC Universe that I think are stupid.

There are also a lot of things I like, but the stuff that irks me almost spoils the bunch. Almost.

Therefore, I've taken it as a personal project to reinvent the DC Universe to a point where it is tolerable to me. Throughout this process, I've changed the origins of many heroes, entire histories, swapped around powers, sources, toyed with iconic images and made them unique. It's one of my many pet projects, and one I'm rather proud of.

I call it DC Modern.

In order to explore one aspect that was mostly left underdeveloped, I decided to run a game in this universe centered around teenage heroes using Marvel Heroic. I gave my players the choice to create unique characters or adapt existing Titans to fit in the universe. Here's a short roster:

Blue Beetle II: The youngest team member. His father was the original Blue Beetle, and when he was killed by Deathstroke, the scarab armor bonded to young Ray Kord, transforming the awkward teen into a still awkward superhero.

(A professional artist's rendition of the player as the hero)

Dullahan: A mysterious teenager with a past he cannot even recall. James Ulysses (naming himself after the author of his favorite book) has a head composed of ethereal thought tentacles that can move things about, read minds and the histories of objects, and do some things we're not even sure of.

(The player is a very talented artist!)

Johnny Thunder: A deadbeat teenage runaway with the power of sound projection! While his abilities seem to be a mutation or the result of some sort of accident gone wrong, they are actually magical in nature. He also has an amazing vehicle, "The Fuckin' Car"

Schrodinger: Juan Cervantes was born with an unusual quirk. He is, constantly, everywhere in the universe at once, and with an expression of will, he can move his 'physical body' anywhere, or expose more of his physical bodies at any given time. From birth, he was trained to be an assassin by Lady Shiva, and has only recently left her care.

So, I'll likely be putting up 'Episode Summaries' since I run this game in a TV Show like fashion that I will elaborate on later, but that is the basic premise. A grittier, more urban Teen Titans set in my own DC Universe.

What I'll Be Running Soon:

The Barrier Gem Prophecy: Civil War

This will be a sequel to a fantasy campaign I ran for my college group a little more than a year ago. I won't go into too much detail here since there's still a lot of variables with this one, but the main premise will be an 'Early Fantasy Civil War Arms Race.' Doesn't that sound fun?

Edge of the Empire: Escape from Mos Shuttaa

My first group that I created in freshman year of High School is getting together again for a few months this summer, and since we've all been playing Star Wars rpgs for forever, we're going to give this one a try! I'm really digging this system so far, and I'm hoping that I don't muck up this cute little module too much when I run it next week.

Something Else?

A big part of me wants to return the favor to all of the wonderful people over Google+ (Who are likely my only audience at the moment! <3) who ran games for me in the past half a year or so. So far, since most of them have been using Marvel Heroic, my inkling is some sort of game using that.

An experiment I've wanted to do for a long time was to create a revamped version of the Marvel Universe, much like I did with DC, but in a different fashion. Basically, I would run an Origins game for a certain aspect of the Marvel Universe, like.. Fantastic Four Origins, or X-Men First Class, or something to that effect. Instead of me asking my players to build things up from something I've already established, the players would craft the universe with their characters, backstories, and what happens. It'd be, like, a mutual universe creating thing-a-mabob meets the Ultimate Marvel basic idea of retooling stuff.

If that sounds cool, let me know!

Anyway, that's what I'm running now and what I'm running in the future. Hope you enjoyed it! If not, here's a funny picture.

-Wes



Thursday, May 16, 2013

My Credentials

Hello, readers!

Before we dig into the nitty-gritty of my life as a gamer in the present, I do believe it is important for you to get a better understanding of where I come from as far as the hobby is concerned.

I mean, I may have wonderful gaming advice and delightfully humorous anecdotes, but that kind of loses its zing unless you have some credentials to back yourself up.

I'll begin with a bit of history of how I jumped into the deep end of the pool without swimming trunks, and then I'll give you a delightful list of random facts about my gaming career that are sure to educate you much more fluidly than a long drawn out game-by-game analysis of everything I've ever ran/played.

The Backstory:


(How many motivational posters is this guy gonna use?)

Unlike many people I've met, I was not led to the Holy d20 by an evangelist of the hobby. I discovered roleplaying all on my lonesome in a most peculiar way. As a young boy, I was very into Star Wars (still am!) and was browsing the quintessential 'Star Wars' bookshelf in Barnes and Noble when a lengthy tome caught my young twinkling eye. 

Star Wars d20 Revised Core Rulebook by Wizards of the Coast.

I pulled it from the shelf, plopped down on the floor, and read as much as I could before my Dad pulled me out of the store. Immediately, I was enraptured by the concept which sounded like the perfect way to live out the many Star Wars adventures I had playing in my head.

My chance to begin in this hobby didn't come until years later when I was able to snag myself a copy and convinced a few of my friends to try it with me. I taught them the game, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Random Facts About Me!

-I've GM'ed five games to absolute completion.

-I've GM'ed at least a baker's dozen other games that were not completed.

-My favorite group size is three. Two players and a GM.

-Through my personal RPG evangelism, I have brought at least ten people into the hobby who have remained with it.

-I have a terrible case of Perma-GM syndrome.

-When I do get to play, I typically play female characters.

-My GM style is primarily based around story, character interactions, and drama as opposed to combat (though there is still plenty of that regardless).

-I've run more Star Wars games than I care to recall.

-The name of this blog comes from an occurrence where a player violently threw a d20 at another player during a perception check and declared, "PERCEIVE THINGS!"

-My favorite systems are Storyteller and Cortex+ (Yay die pools!)

-I sincerely wish I was a better player.


So, those are my credentials. Hope you enjoyed getting to learn a little more about me! If not, here's a funny picture. Have a lovely day.

-Wes


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Gotta Start Somewhere

Hey there, reader!

I know what you're thinking.

That's right, got mind readin' abilities here.

You're probably wondering how you've stumbled across this blog and why you should care. In fact, most people who show up to this page may skip this post entirely or just skim my words and cast it off as another irrelevant 'I'm making a blog, yay me!' post.

And you would be right! Congratulations.

But seriously.

Should you care to peruse about in the future, you will find out all about my current life in the role-playing department. The 'let's roll dice and play pretend' kind, not the 'I'm a fireman and I just saved your life, let's have sex' kind.

I'll put up game reports, tell you all about what I'm running and what I'm playing, complain and critique about systems I like and loathe, and ramble incoherently about whatever RP stuff I feel like.

Hope you stick around! If not, laugh at this picture and have a lovely day.

-Wes