Callahan's Crosstime SD Saloon (Come and discuss your games!)

Isn't fear the same as love?

I'm quite aware of Phantom's doings, no offense to him, but in the Stargate SD I did with him as co-GM I rapidly saw all my designs being replaced by his own, me having then too little expierence and backbone to put my opinion forward.

That's why I didn't join in the first place. Post-human basically screams 'WANK!'

Yet I never seem to escape from your constant punishments

But I wanna ninja. Who was a ninja bear. And could shoot ninja-laserbeams from his ninja bear eyes.

*ahem* Not exactly my own designs, they were forwarded by other SD participants involved in SG: Olympus. It was not an easy job because I had to balance these suggestions then combine them into something that would be widely accepted by the players.

It's a reason why Olympus was quite popular because many of the ideas came from the players and were actually successfully implemented. That made a very appealing to them to continue playing until you gave up.

Here's the secret of being a successful GM is simply listen to the players for these ideas and concept and find common ground for these stuffs. That's why I repeatedly recommended you to get instant messenger or chat software like AIM, MSN, Yahoo, or mIRC so you could keep touch with the players.

I wouldn't mind a Superhero SD either.

I would add magic or the mystic in as another option of how people got their powers, mainly because I tend to prefer spell casting heroes and the like. Probably because I always liked Dr. Strange, Zantanna, etc they were my favorite heroes.

Perhaps an option might be for someone to pick an archetype they wanted their powers in, and then use the table to generate more specific details?

Either that or use random generation for the powers, but leave the exact mechanics etc of how the char got the powers and the power's source up to the player. (Within reason of course)

Didn't he say "Fear me but follow!"?

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Crud. Than I guess I'll wait until you create yours, and than just keep spinning the numbers until I get what I want

Machiavelli said it is better to be feared than loved. The Comissar would probably agree.

I personally find that sort of random generation to be a MAJOR deterrent to joining an SD. I don't believe in taking core elements of character creation out of the players' hands like that.

I'm not saying it's a horrible idea, but it sounds like the sort of thing that would be better suited to pencil-and-paper RPing, rather than a story-writing game like an SD.

If I'm going to create a character (superhero or otherwise) that I'm going to write stories about, I'm going to build him/her from the ground up, starting with a basic premise or theme, then expanding upon it.

In a superhero game, theme is an especially important part of character creation, and taking that decision out of the players' hands encourages a sense of apathy and indifference toward the resulting character. Creating your own character from scratch helps to foster feelings of empathy and personal attachment towards them, which is what you need if you're going to be writing stories from their perspective. The moment the GM starts TELLING you who your character is and what they're all about, it ceases to be YOUR character, and that personal connection is lost.

It's one thing to limit what a player can do with their character for the sake of balance and fair-play. It's another to effectively dictate their character to them. It's the sort of thing that screams 'Control Freak', and makes the player feel like nothing more than a minute cog in the GM's master plan. I'm not saying that's your intention, but that's the sort of visceral, instinctive reaction it provokes.

If you must use randomly-generated powers, I would recommend that you hand them out before character creation, so that the players can build their characters around the powers, rather than just tacking them onto a concept that doesn't really fit them.

I'd advise against dictating the origins of the powers though. At that point, you might as well just create the entire character yourself, then hand it to the player fully-formed, with a note saying "This is what you're playing. Deal with it."

Sorry if this sounds like a rant, but freedom of creativity in character creation is something I feel very strongly about.

What? How could 'Energy projection' and 'Matter manipulation' be overused. Surely they weren't vaguely defined powers to give him an excuse to make an overpowered anime character!

There is a point. Would Wolverine be Wolverine without SNIKTYSNIK? Would Ben Grimm be the Thing without the orange rocky hide and the ability to say 'It's Clobberin' Time!'? Would Aquaman be more than a odd sea dweller without the ability to talk to fish?

I feel compelled to start a Superhero SD, just to spite LT, and than hope someone else takes over when I'm bored

Though I don't necessarily agree with randomly generated powers, they do add a certain unique flavor to Misty's threads.

Regardless however, if a superhero thread appears, I will join it.

Saying you'll join the game is like saying you'll be breathing today.

On the random-powers debate, I don't see much problem with having a character's powers or even the source of those powers (magic, mutation, technology) chosen by dice-roll. I'd prefer to be able to define the specifics of how the character received the powers, his history, and his nature, as well as how he got to where the SD start point. If the story and universe is outlined in the SD, it's easy enough to incorporate.

I prefer to make my characters from the ground up because I generally try to explore something with them, and select powers and source based on certain themes. While I understand the aversion to 'pet characters' and the meta-engineering, they're also easier to choose what character aspects you want to choose for them. For example, I don't like playing overly-combat characters that much, so I'm more likely to take mystical or psychic abilities that alter the environment than physical prowess or energy blasts. It's not too much of a problem to adapt what's given to you, but it does force you to pick from limited archetypes. While that's LT's point (to make people write outside of comfort zones), some people are not comfortable with certain aspects that negate their choice themes.

I usually create characters that are fairly pertinent to the setting anyway, so it probably won't be an issue. I'd give randomization a try, if only because I haven't done it yet and I try to play a different archetype and style each game.

Somehow, I get the feeling I have been tricked into this


But first to try and cease the debat on random superpowers on my part, it's main appeal is that it is new and different, and I just want to go back to ole' school. Plus it's easyier for GMing and subplotting if you choose powers with a specific purpose.


As for a SD, a background and plot is slowly developing, and here's some ideas thrown out:

-It starts with the public and brutal murder of a very prominent superhero.
-The world knows about superhumans, but mainly about those few who are corporate or goverment sponsored, with their villains being much the same. Think JLU-style superheroes, who've been popping around since WWII.
-A different but more numerous group has grown into existence, who never gained the same praise and adoration, but instead are resigned to living 'normal' lives, or become street heroes and street villains.
-The Metas, as the old-style public superheroes are called, look down on the 'mob', creating a rift between the two groups.
-A new breed of villains appear, not caring for theatrics but for results. They inmediatly show they're serious, with the earlier mentioned murder as a message to the superheroes and the world.
-It takes place in LA.

The funny thing is Damar's outline sounds almost exactly like a book I just read.

Interestingly enough, a book praised for taking the superhero tropes and exploring them.

I don't mind it so far. In fact, I can't wait to zap Captain Superultra with my Luddite Ray and turn his Doomobile into a Model T.

Lay off, Alan Moore!

I set out some background, but have no real plot yet. Hence me now asking for someone else to throw out an idea I can use.

Right now, I was thinking of a situation where the Metas are unable to contain the current aggresive crimewave, with the goverment establishing a new group that is about being more practical-minded and more focused on dealing with crime than stopping cosmic disasters or saving kittens from trees, with a few Metas thrown in to make up for public appearance in fear of the population not accepting a superhero group that includes the 'unwanted' type of heroes.

Interesting. What's the book called?

I personally wanted to combine DC's big top heroes like Superman and Green Lantern with Marvel's lower classes like Spiderman and the X-Men, and make it seem like they organically developed a classes system, which is now shattered by the villains who've gone from daylight one-on-one fights in costumes as silly and bright as the heroes, to nightly backalley beatings and murders in Armani suits.

The old-style villains still exist, but they either joined this new wave, nostalgically(some might say desperately) still wear their costumes and rob banks in broad sunset, or are the few who are too powerful and intelligent to care about petty crime and continue their plans of world domination or humiliate a certain hero or group.