REAL TALK - CHANNEL UPDATE

 

Hey all,

So, it's time that I face facts. When I started this blog, it was with the idea to share my thoughts, colelcted wisdom, whatever you want to call it, about superhero RPGs. There is a lot to be said for running the genre and I think I said a lot of good stuff. The problem is that I may have said it too fast and with too much excitement.

When I kicked off the blog it was with the intent of posting two featured post a week. This seemed fine as I had a backlog of material I had posted on my Discord going back a couple of years but the problem arose as I reached the end of that material and I found it harder and harder to come up with new things to write about. Even adding the From The Folder Friday series seem to help as it just added more work and doing character conversions and updates proved a bit more work than I had thought. While I did manage to write more, the ideas came less regularly and didn't seem to understand deadlines. the blog fell behind and pressure grew which started to work against my ADHD to make it something to avoid. 

Further complicating it all was a lack of feedback, comments, and interaction over the posts. People were visiting the blog, if the stats could be believed but nobody was engaging with the material - not here or at other places where I posted the releases. this served to further negatively effect my ADHD. I'm not full enough fo myself to write/talk for the sake of hearing myself speak and I genuinely enjoy sharing ideas and methods with people but that stops being enjoyable when people aren't responding, so, again, I slow down. 

So, what's the answer?

For me the way forward seems to be to write when I have an idea and try to keep the Friday write-ups going. This may mean a post only every now and again but it will mean that content keeps coming out without the pressure that kills my motivation. Maybe if I can drum up some traffic, feedback, interaction that gives me new ideas or provides momentum things will pick back up. At the end of the day, there is only so much that can be said about running superhero RPGs. 

Thanks all,

-Eli

THE POWER OF FOUR

Comic book teams come in many forms. From solo heroes to teams with a seemingly never-ending roster, there is a great diversity in team organizations. Some teams are very static, never taking on new members while others have a very open membership, accepting new champions to their roster on a regular basis. Some teams are official organizations while others are a loose confederation of heroes bound only by a common belief, objective or motivation. There is, however, a very useful, commonly seen team organization that repeated throughout decades of comics - the four-man team. 

Much like the vaunted five-room dungeon of fantasy RPG fame, the four-man team looks to digest the concept of the super team down to its bare essentials. This team formula is not meant to be a strict layout for a team but rather the most elemental building block of a solid team structure. Adding to it and refining it is certainly allowable and even adviseable but this basic layour will get you going and give yo ua plyable team if you choose to go no further. 

At the core of the four-man team are four distinct roles. These can vary but these four are the most commonly expressed. The four key roles are as follows - 

The Brain: Often but not always the leader, this character is the thinker, strategist. Their powers may or may not helpto define their role or be completely unrelated. Character such as Mr Fantastic are a prime example of this role but others such as Cyclops from the X-Men or Captain America from the Avengers also fit the trope. The important thing for this character type is that they are inclined to provide command and control for their team.

The Brick: Frequently a huge, hulking figure such as Thing or Hulk, this character's primary role is combat and defense, often combining toughness, physical damage output. They do not need to be huge, imposing figures though and there are a fair number of examples of more normally proportioned Bricks, like Rogue. A variant on the Brick is the Brawler, trading skilled fighting for simple brute force. Example of this variant are Puck, Wolverine, and Beast.

The Blaster: The primary ranged combatant in a four-man team come in the form of the Blaster. These characters unitlize ranged attacks or mobility to engage the team's opponents. Guns, energy blasts, or psionic abilities are common manifestations of this role but also a teleporter or speedster might fit the roles as well. It is not uncommon for this role to be duplicated across another role in a team as well such as Cyclops being one of the X-Men's primary blaster characters while also being a leader. 

The Support: The most broadly defined of the roles, the Support often manifests any combination of powers that allows them to defend, obscure, transport or otherwise provide useful backup to the other members of the team. Magic characters and characters with very versatile power sets often fall int othis role and may have characterstics of other roles. Storm and Jean Grey are both good examples of Support characters even though Storm has the ability to fire blasts of lightning. 

A team that possesses some combination of these four roles will be set up for success, however with such a small team it is important that the character in each role is designed to fully support their role on the team. It is also recommended that each role have some overlap into other roles and this can be done freely between roles. There is, for example, no reason, a Leader cannot also be a qualified Brawler or a Brick have abilities that allow for Support. Doing so will help assure the team can function well enough with a member down or should the team get split. 

Once you have the core four set up, it is easy to expand a team, adding additional members who fill one or more of the roles or who do not specifically fill any of the four roles. Larger teams tend to repeat on the combat roles of the Brick/Brawler and Blasters first, with additional Support being added after that. The X-Men have a Leader who is also a Blaster but Also has a Support who is a Blaster. They have both a Brawler and a couple of Bricks, depending on the specific team lineup. 

This brings me to one of my personal variants of the four-man team which I like to use specifically for villain teams. This formula is one I noticed on a lot of villain teams, specifically in the 90s and it produces and interesting dynamic. Rather than the Leader, Brick, Blaster, Support roles, this team is broken down into the Master, Monster, Killer, and Weirdo. In this lineup characters are built more along themes than specific team roles but they tend to end up creating interesting teams nonetheless. 

The roles for my four-man villain team are defined thusly - 

The Master: Thsi character is the leader of the team but not always through virtue of being the most qualified. They are often the most powerful or more brutal ofthe team and therefore keep the rest in line through fear and their will alone. They are often gifted with a lot of power or tech that makes them able to stand on their own.

The Monster: Much like the Brick, the Monster is often a hulking, brutish figure though they may be some sort of creature or at least look the part. Savagery mixed with brute strength and endurance typifies the Monster. Monsters often have abilities beyond simple simple brute powers. 

The Killer: Killers are similar to Brawlers though they are not always combat oriented. Sometimes, the killer is more of a stealth support sort of character. They are often indicated by savage weapons, natural or otherwise. 

The Weirdo: This is the most outlandish of the four villain types in this model. The Weirdo is usally some sort of strange being such as an alien or demonic life form, a being of pure energy, or an unspekable horror from beyond reality. Weirdos often have strange powers, making them something of a Support character.

As you can see the basics of the four-man team can be altered with a little thought along the lineso f themes or style rather than specific tactical roles. You should never feel limited by the four-man team either, whether it is the just the basics unit o your team or the entirety of it, creativity really is the only limit.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE - DOES A NEW CHARACTER NEED A FULL ORIGIN?

There are many characters with extensive backgrounds stretching back to the earliest days of the comics industry. Everything from science, to magic, to the wonders of the body’s own genetics have been used to explain the wondrous powers of comic books heroes and villains. What many people don’t realize is that these origins were often never conceived of when the character was first created and only became canon later in the character’s existence.

In the long history of comic book characters there are even some characters who have never had a definitive origin revealed in the pages of any book. Oftentimes, characters' origins are unknown to themselves and their comrades and thus kept from the reader until some story element or elements finally reveal them. The mystery and uncertainty of an unknown origin can add to a character’s charm, allowing room to grow and areas to surprise readers later on down the road when the character might be getting a little more known and predictable.

In RPGs making the decision to keep the exact details of your character’s origin a mystery can be fun for you as a player as well as your GM. It allows players to get into playing without the burden of trying to come up with a complicated backstory and the GM has the opportunity to fill the blanks in for you later on. Most systems require you to roll or make a choice about your character’s power source but you can leave it at that and not specify anything until later. A scientific accident can be left at a simple, “An explosion in the lab..” or, “due to an unexplained laboratory accident.” If your character has a mutant background you can leave the origin very basic with just a glimpse of their childhood and early life, filling in specific events later. Your alien character only needs to know what species they are a general reason to be on Earth.

The most important thing to understand if you choose to do this is that you are allowing your GM a lot of room to play. You are essentially surrendering the details of your character’s origins to the campaign and entrusting your GM to figure it out as you play. With this decision, you will need to display a fair amount of willingness to play along and collaborate with the choices your GM makes for your character. That is not to say that you have to accept everything your GM comes up with. Ultimately your character is yours to play and such an agreement is still at the consent of you, the player. GMs should be willing to work with the player, adjusting when a player voices displeasure at a direction taken with their character’s true origins.

Another thing to consider when taking this approach to a character’s origins is to have a discussion with your GM about anything you absolutely want to take off the table when it comes to revealing a secret origin. You can also agree ahead of time just how long you want to keep that origin secret and what, if any, lasting effects the revelation will have on your character. This should help to ensure that the final reveal is as seamless and satisfying as it can be.

Choosing to play a character with a secret origin is a big decision to make but it can be a lot of fun. It can take as little or as much time as you want and just remember some of the most famous characters took half a dozen to a dozen issues for their true origins to be revealed while others have gone literally years, even decades without having theirs revealed. Just be willing to play along and see where the fun takes you.

YOU'VE BEEN PLACES - BUILD YOUR CHARACTER'S LORE THROUGH NPCS

Decades of comics have given the characters found within the countless pages extensive backgrounds, each a rogues gallery of friends, allies, and enemies. These, of course, were developed with time and successive layers of story, something we seldom get to have in tabletop games. To this end, it can be worthwhile to not only create your hero but a few other characters from their background.

Many games assume that a character is starting at the beginning of their heroing career, however this is not always explicitly stated. Many systems allow for starting power levels that are on par with well-established comics characters and so it would be completely reasonable to decide that your character has been adventuring for some time before the start of play. As such, there is plenty of room to create a few secondary characters to fill in that time. They don’t have to be enemies or anything spectacular but a few nicely thought out NPCs can really round out a character.

At minimum it is worth your time writing up any every day NPCs that your character interacts with, unless they are interacting with established characters from the universe. Think of what family members, work associates, and other people in the neighborhood your character might have interacted with. If you are running a street-level campaign these characters might be a local grocer, a street kid, or even a homeless person that your character interacts with on a regular basis. If you're playing a character with a strong connection to their home life, like Spider-Man these could be immediate family or close relations, perhaps even dependants. Alternatively, they could be people that your character knows from their alter eog’s professional life, fellow scientists, engineers, social workers, etc. They needn’t be friendly to the character either, as designing rivals, nosey neighbors, or low-level bad guys can add texture to your characters. You can even design employees, if your character is the sort to have them.

In addition to everyday NPCs, a player can and should think of at least a couple of villains from their past. Not only is this a nice gift for your GM who can then use them against your character later (as you wrote them or otherwise), but these sorts of NPCs can help your GM establish the sorts of themes and tone you want to explore with your character. Darker themed NPC villains will establish your character as the sort who fights those sorts of enemies while a bunch of mystic ninjas tells you GM of a very different sort of feel. If at all possible, you should at least write up any enemies who have appeared in your hero's origin or background as such characters have a tendency to resurface later in a hero’s career. Again, you are trying to flesh out your character to enrich your play by inspiring your GM with some personalized content for your character.

Besides everyday and enemy NPCs there is also room for creating other heroes your character might have worked with in their past. This is especially useful if the campaign is taking place in a place other than where the character established themself. These sorts of characters might have been partners, sidekicks, mentors, even friendly rivals or teammates. If they are from another location than the character’s current stomping ground, they can be a handy off-camera backup, rescuer, or source of plots and stories for your hero. An old ally seeking help or bringing news from your character’s old patrol makes for a great introduction to a new adventure. These sorts of characters can be used by the GM to great effect but also provide handy backup characters for players who have a character with a reason to look in on their main character should something happen to them.

One last form of NPC to consider creating for your character is an entire organization. This may seem daunting at first but when you consider that new characters in comics often have ties to existing organizations or even invent new ones, it’s definitely a route to go. The famous Weapon X program, later named Weapon Plus, wasn’t in comics until 1974 when it was mentioned in The incredible Hulk #180. Organizations can be big or small and give you the opportunity to play with something that could very much add to your campaign’s universe. Organizations are a topic that warrants its own post but they can definitely be a fun project.

In the end, lore goes beyond just NPCs but I find that the NPCs are key to the lore of a hero. These characters you create, whether enemies, rivals or supporting cast, will generate ideas and stories that give your character the feel of having come from somewhere, with several issues under their belt before the start of play. A little thought and time spent will slingshot your character into a campaign with more definition than a freshly rolled set of stats.

GET OUT OUR COMPASS - MORALITY MAKES THE HERO

It is undeniable that the vast majority of comic book protagonists are heroes. While there are some that stray from the heroic path most, most fall very much within the construct of "hero". It is important that when you create your characters, you decide in which direction their morale compass points.

Because comic books have, for the vast majority at least, a very decided general tone, you are best served by creating characters that fit that tone and the conventions of the comics, if you want your games to feel like the comics themselves. You don't have to and certainly good stories can be told by straying from the heroic path but this means that the tones of your games will either fit a very specific sub-genre of super heroic comics or something altogether different. 

A hero's morality is , however, not a simple matter of good or evil. Every hero possesses a complex set of values and bonds with those things which are important to them. Family, friends, duty, honor, the preservation of an entire species or world, the list is practically limitless. Choosing one or two key, guiding principles for your character will certainly be enough to play with but delving deeper will make for a much more satisfying role-playing experience, adding layer and nuance. Many heroes have a broad motivation for truth, justice, law, and/or order but what does this mean to them? What else is important to them? Do they value connection, love, faith, friendship and how do they reconcile these with their role as a hero?

Peter Parker is famous for having a mess of a life in which he constantly juggles his family, friends, relationships and even his day job with his life as Spider Man, a state of constant stress and chaos that has fueled his titles for decades. The X-Men have always walked the line between a high social morality and search for justice and equality but each and every character in that team has struggled with interpersonal relationships driven by their individual brand of a heroic moral code. Even a character that seems so simple and laser-focused as Captain America has found himself struggling with the more complex elements of his love for his country vs his general stance on truth and justice. 

What you choose for your character should certainly fit the nature of the campaign. If you are playing a high justice, paragon superheroes sort of campaign, throwing in a broken, murderous, loner type is not going to work. Likewise, having an overly docile, pacifist character might be a tough sell for a gritty, street-level campaign. Fitting your character's morality to the setting, campaign style, and even the team they are in, is critical for an overall satisfying campaign. This doesn't mean your character can't be your own and unique, but all players are best served by making sure their characters mesh. You can take this even further by working with other players to create characters with complementary motives and morality. This does not mean they have to be identical but that they can benefit one another in different ways. Having a gruff, aggressive type in a team works well with another character who is more calm, reasonable, or empathetic. A contemplative character with a more restrained sense of morality can benefit from a teammate who is more flexible in their morality and quicker to act.

It just takes a little thought and you can create a rich sense of morality and motivation for your character. Doing so will not only improve role-play and enrich your campaign, it can even score you some handy Karma. Remember, your GM is looking for reasons to throw Karma your way. Do yourself a favor and set them up to do so.

 

CONTINUED DELAYS

 

Apologies for yet another Friday with no post. Statting up characters tends to tak a lot of time and things are just getting away from me me on that front. I am working on some characters from my gaming past, so stay tuned and they will come out.

Just blame it on Spider Man. 

YOU THINK YOUR ORIGIN IS WEIRD - THE CASE OF THE ORIGINAL SPIDER WOMAN

The other day I was rewaching an episode of MerryMarvelite, a YouTube Marvel comics lore channel. This particular episode was on the very strange and convoluted backstory of Jessica Drew, the original Spider Woman and it hit me. A perfect example of why players shouldn't shy away from those randomly generated, seemingingly nonsensical combinations of powers and backgrounds.

Rather than go in depth with a rehash of her background, I have posted the inspiring video above but leave it be said that Spider Woman's origin is a convoluted mess of magic, super science, brainwashing, time travel (via hybernation), and retconned recollections. But there is much that can be taken away from this. Her nanny was a cow woman (and then she wasn't, but she was..) for Stan's sake!

Too often we get caught up in tightly crafted origins and backstories and power sets that manifest in clean, logical ways, but this is, for the most part, a very modern comic books convention. For many years, origins weren't always a given and might often be thrown in as an afterthought and through various bits and pieces as the character progressed. A character might go through a dizen or more issues before we even glimpse their true origins. Often the the layers of weirdness were brought about through various layers of different creators' writing and influence, each trying to put their own mark on the character or attempting to fill in perceived holes or "fix" things.

The characters we create can simulate the sort of long-form, winding, twisting road by just accepting the rolls we roll and finding ways to make them work. I talked abou this in my previous post but I feel that Spider Woman is a great example of this and so worth repeating the point for. It's perfectly fine to have a tight background and origin for your character but there is nothing wrong, and in fact a lot of fun to be hand, in embracing the weird and rolling with it. Generations of comic books will certainly back this play.