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.

 

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.

WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS? - INTERPRETTING ODD CHARACTER CREATION ROLLS

The Ultimate Powers book, while providing an amazing array of powers and abilities is also famous for creating some really weird combinations. 

The Classic Marvel Super Heroes RPG utilized a random character generation system as its core method of creating characters.  While random character generation is a time-honored and popular method of generating characters in TTRPGs that, it can lead to some bizarre characters. In this article, I hope to provide some hints and tips for making the most of wild random results. 

While other methods of character generation were proposed, such as modelling and and the point build system in Polyhedron Magazine, issue #72, random generation was the primary method and one that was most often used, in my experience. There is something enjoyable about discovering who and what your character is through a series of random rolls. Sometimes these are completely random with little or no choices to be made along the way and sometimes they are more guided, with each roll leading to another. MSHRPG's method is very much the latter, with each roll determining a chart or column that you will roll on for the next part of your character. 

Early versions of this method found in the original boxed set and then the Player's Book of the advanced set, kept these options pretty tightly confined, but as the game grew and supplements such as the Ultimate Powers book were released, the random options, while still guided through charts and tables, became much more sprawling, complex and often convoluted. This made for a seemingly endless number of combinations and options but the results could often be very strange and hard to reconcile, especially for newer players. Usually, the powers and origins generated are perfectly fine and can be meshed together with little problem, however it was quite possible to end up rolling something wild like a plant/robot or a character with fish communication and fire powers. It is these strange cases which I seek to address.

1. Substitution

One of the easiest ways to handle the rolling of seeming incongruous powers is a simple method of substitution. To do this, allow a player to exchange a power for two ranks in other powers. Additionally, I have found it simple enough for the player to decide which of powers they wish to keep and simply substitute unwanted powers for either a new roll or choosing a power more appropriate to the theme set. This gives the player a chance to hone their powers. You can even allow a player to sacrifice ranks to gain new powers, should they feel the need to expand their initial powers beyond what they rolled. This should be done at an exchange of two power ranks from one or two powers to gain another power. A GM should be careful of abuses using these exchanges. It is advisable to allow no more than one or two new powers using this exchange method.

To further reinforce responsible power and rank exchanges, a GM can reward a player for maintaining a tight theme to their powers, giving them a +1 Column Shift bonus to powers that fit a particular, narrow theme. It is important, when doing this, that the theme be well defined up-front, so as to make sure the player isn’t trying to scam the system. GMs should work with players to firmly establish the theme while also being willing to listen to creative interpretations of powers (see #2 below). 

Doctor Doom classically combined hi-tech and science with magic.

2. Interpretation

The more complicated way to do this is also the more interesting way. Instead of changing out oddball powers, a creative GM and player can choose, instead, to spend some time getting creative with how to interpret powers to bring them into a usable consistency. This may require some mental gymnastics but comics have proven that no combination of powers is truly impossible. Mixing magic and science are well-established in comics, often in some interesting combinations. In addition to powers, sometimes origins can seem a bit disjointed with players having to reconcile how they might be a mutant robot or an alien deity, etc. 

In these cases I find it is best for a GM to really listen to the creative vibes that the player brings to the discussion, keeping an open mind and listening from a position of wanting to make it work. Marvel comics has given us alien mutants whose mutation is the ability to feel compassion or a mutant character whose powers allow him to speak with and channel the dead. Classic characters, such as Scarlet Witch, blended magic and mutant abilities and we have seen magical robots like the Asgardian Destroyer or alien, psychic, cyborgs like ROM and the Space Knights. Anything can be done if you simply apply some creativity. Now, I realize that not everyone is as well-versed in comics tropes and lore and so that may not be such an easy undertaking, so allow me to give you some tips on how you might accomplish this. 

Magick was a character that combined mutant, sorcerous, and demonic powers all into one

One great method for making these disjointed powers work together is to recontextualize them. Consider changing their nature or the exact effect and how that produces the final power. Control powers can always be reframed based on the type of energy they are using. In addition the source of the manipulation can change to accommodate the theme of the character. A classic version of this is the force field or elemental control powers. Force fields can be expressed in any number of ways. While one character might generate an energy field of force from a technological device, another might simply generate telekinetic force with the power of their mind, while at the same time another, insect themed character, might create a wall of insects that provides some defense in a similar manner. Elemental control characters might use technology, a magic item or the power of their mind e.g. pyrokinesis. 

It is important to understand that all of these methods can crossover without any real need for explanation. If your character roles computer communication or machine speaking and you rolled a mystical origin, just have the abilities work by reading the electronic code as if it were a language to be translated, energy to be manipulated like any other, or even the spirits of the machine being contacted. Even some of the more esoteric powers can be linked together through theming. Imagine you roll a bunch of incest-themed powers but then time control. You might be tempted to drop the time control ability but, maybe it’s just a matter of researching which insects have a mythical or folkloric connection to time. Chances are most insect abilities will work together regardless of the insect type and now you have a very unique character.

The same applies to combining backgrounds and origins where a magical cyborg can make perfect sense when we consider the various Asgardian mechanical constructs of the techno-magic of the Dire Wraiths, Doctor Doom, or Apocalypse. Just remember, one of Marvel’s most famous characters is an undersea hero who can fly (Namor) and there is a super acrobat who is the byproduct of demonic possession (Puck). You just need to be willing to bend with the rolls and sometimes squint until you see the hidden picture in the mess.   

MULTIPLE THINGS CAN BE TRUE - HOW INCONSISTENCY CAN WORK

 

The true disposition of Madrox was left in a weird state of limbo for years with multiple possible version of the "real" him in play.

When playing TTRPGs it can be easy to believe that everything needs to make perfect sense - all nicely wrapped up in logical bows and perfect story writing. This is, of course, the benefit of a type of game that is often written with very specific encounters, pacing, events and characters in mind. Comics, are not always written this way and so you can relax a bit and even capitalize on this when you run your games.

Comic books are famous for inprecise, often contradictory canon which is sometimes intentional, sometimes the product of layers of writing and sometimes just plain lazy. While most tabletop campaigns will not run for the length of time it requires for these sort of wrinkles in continuity to develop organically, they may still come up in games and can, in many cases, be used to your advantage. More importantly, it needn't be a point of worry when your players catch you in an unintended mixup. No, instead you can embrace the fact that it is very possible for multiple things to be true at the same time in a comic book.

The origin of the Maximoff twins has been retold so many times that it has required compiling into a single origin several times. 

There are plenty of characters in comic books who have existed in states of uncertainty. Often these inconsistencies are fixed with later retcons or story development but they can remain unspecified for decades. Scarlet Witch and Qiicksilver have had their origins written and rewritten time and again through various layers of unreliable narration and even outright deceit. Captain America was at one time dead but active and then only later revealed to have been frozen while an imposter was carrying out his duties. Jean Grey and the various fallout of the Phoenix Saga have left that character in an indeterminate state of reality from the 80's all the way to the present. 

As a player and a GM, acceptance of these inconsistencies can actually enhance the experience of being in a comic book universe. Going back to my earlier psots about creating questions, planting seeds and retcons, this is where so many of those fun comic book elements are often born. Being okay with them means you are leaving yourself open to the possibilities and creating a much easier time of it for your GM to develope comic book style stories. Who cares if you are sure that the villain in that last scenario should have been half a world away when you encountered him? it's just another mystery to unravel. 

So, what sorts of inconsistencies have you encountered in your games?

What are some of your favorite comic book inconsistencies? 

SEEDING - CREATING CHARACTERS AND SCENARIOS THAT KEEP GIVING

 

In previous posts I have spoken about making things up, asking questions and just generally being fearless and absolutely open when it comes to creating characters, stories and laying out plots. As you develop your universe, more and more threads will present themselves into which you can weave more characters and stories. There are, however, ways in which you can even set these up intentionally and in addition to asking questions without answers, you can also create options and opening, seeding future scenarios. 

One of the things comics do best is to build off of previously established lore and events. Whether or not these things are planned or developed after to the fact (sometimes very much so), the key is that they all take some small bit of established lore and turn it into the next big thing. In many ways this is similar to asking questions but instead you are laying out potential plot threads, even if they might not be fully defined. 

Krakoa spawned several twists and later plot developments layered on by future creators

As you create characters and write your scenarios consider where the characters and events of the scenario might lead. This can almost me thought of front-loading questions. Think of any little angle that could be used from a character or situation. Does your villain have a power or ability that lends itself well to a new story atfer their defeat? Does your current scenario involve a lot of people? How might other victims of the scenario's events change or react to the scenario? 

Take Jean Grey, for example (there is a reason I used her for the pic on this post). Jean is a character who has been through a ton of changes and developments throughout her long and storied career as an X-Man. Now, we have the benefit of looking back on that all and thinking "what a wonderfully robust saga" but so much of that is he result of subsequent layering of new ideas and the development of questions either asked up front of left unanswered until a creatore decided to answer them. Sometimes, those creators invented elements whole cloth and restroactively added them intothe canon (retconning). I am pretty sure, that when Jean Grey was originally created, the Phoenix Saga, Madeline Pryor, Inferno or any of the other plotlines that developed were nowhere in anyone's mind. But, we can take this and use it to guide us.

The origins of Havic and Cyclops both spawned several future plotlines involving a third brother, their parents and even Mr. Sinister

As a player, when you create a character, ask yourself what things might develop from your character's powers and background or, even better, write things into those backgrounds that are undeveloped. The questions will help you an your GM later. A mysterious benefactor or a gap in a character's memories is fertile ground for a GM as are unknown parentages. Sometimes even your entire origin can be a mystery or series of questions. When your character gets into an accident, survives, and developes powers you can leave it at that and fill in the blanks later. It's also entirely okay to feed development ideas to your GM. Players who create seeds for their characters will be rewarded with stories that tie into their characters specifically.

In a recent scenario I wrote for my X-Men West campaign, I had a mutant out of control and causing massive wildfires in California (I know, topical). After writing that scenario, I got to thinking of another scenario that develops in the aftermath of that event - psionic manifestation of hate and anger that was born of the deaths and trauma of the fires all centered around a psionic NPC who was among the victims. I don't have the details worked out, but I took a moment to jot down the basics of that scenario idea so that, when my players get to that scenario, I have this noted down, to develop either right after or maybe down the road whe neverything seems to have settled. 

The Sentinels have made their way into countless books beyond the main X-verse titles.

Sometimes planting these seeds can be as simple as choosing to tap into existing elements of the setting that have already been proven as sources for twists and turns. For example, you might choose to have the Sentinels play a part in a scenario, tying the scenario into the greater Sentinel metaplot or perhaps, like I did, you have some Marvel Universe tech bro decide to use Sentinel tech in his new robot and watch as things go wrong. Just make a note when you insert these elements, preserving any ideas that come to mind as you write up the scenario. 

In my experience, seed ideas come naturally as I am creating. They are a natural byproduct of the creative process and, like many byproducts, are valuable in their own right. Learn to become aware of these seeds as they trickle out of your brain and practice keeping them noted down, either in the margins of your scenario or in some dedicated place where you put all your ideas. This will serve you well as your campaign progresses. This goes for players seeding for their own characters, as well and they would be well-served to make notes of any ideas they have for things that could happen to their character as they make them, pasing them to the GM. 

So, next time you make a character or write a scenario, keep these tips in mind and take notes. Don't lose those precious seeds. You can even go back through existing characters and already played or written scenarios and mine them for seeds. 

Have you made any characters with built-in seeds?

Have you ever written seeds into your scenarios? 

CREATE QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS - SIMPLE TIPS FOR CREATING ROBUST CAMPAIGN

 

Reading comics over a long span of time can give the impression of vast, spanning tales but the simple fact is that very few of the sagas we know are the result of thought-out, well-planned stortelling. Many are, in fact, the result of questions let unanswered only to be answered at a later time in the characters' timelines. 

Questions, in this context, are any sort of unanswered, unaddressed plotpoint that can be/is later expanded upon, adding to the story. Deaths, disappearances, and ambiguous fates are some of the mainstays of comics. So too are mysterious relations, vague or unknown pasts. Any unanswered question or unfinished business is fuel for the campaign. 

A willingness to create questions and accept their answers is one of the stongest tools for players and GMs to use when playing a superhero campaign. A willingness to explore the answers to questions will, over time create the same sorts of wild stories that bring comics fans back time and again.

DON'T ASK

A simple tip for creating robust campaign. 

While everything said above is still good advice another piece of advice I have almost seems contrary to what I have already said. Acceptance is a useful trait for players of superhero games (and other games) to develop. While creating questions is a time honored tool for telling comics stories it is just as important to trust the process and accept the creative, obscure, and sometimes seemingly obtuse answers that develop for those same questions. 

This, of course, requires faith in your GM and a "trust the process" sort of mentality but it also requires your GM to come up with interesting and imaginative answers to questions that are created during play. Get comfortable letting things play out. Villain you though was dead is back? Great! Now you get to figure out how this happened. Is it truly him? A clone? A successor? An unknown sibling or child? Is it all a clever ruse perpetrated by another, as yet, uknown villain? Maybe it's a manifestation of the hero's own guilt coming back to haunt them? Because comic books themselves are so wild with their questions and answers, you should feel no hesitation in doing so in your own games. When your GM throws a curve at you, just swing and not worry about whether or not you have any chance of hitting the ball.

CREATING QUESTIONS 

When creating questions I find the simplest way is to take brief notes about how encounters play out. Make specific notes about any interesting things that occur during fights or other interactions like collatoral damage, the types of attacks that inflict certain results. These things will give context for potential questions to ask yourself (as a GM) after the game. 

After the game, go through your notes and for each noteable event during the encounter make a few "questions" for each item on your list. 

Some types of questions you might ask are listed below - 

Did a building get damaged or destroyed? If so did anyone survive? 

Does anyone hold a grudge? 

What was in the building and could it have created an origin accident that created a new villain or even hero? 

How was the vilain defeated in an encounter? 

Did they flee? 

Were they killed in an ambiguous manner? 

Were the heroes able to verify their defeat? 

Were they sent somewhere else? 

Who might take issue with the villain's defeat? 

Were any of the heroes' loved ones or important NPCs in the area when a battle occurred? 

How were they affected? 

Is there anyone who might now see the heroes in a new light? 

Is there any interesting fallout from the use of the heroes' or enemies' powers? 

The questions are nearly limitless and a GM should feel free to get as crazy and creative with them as possible. It is also perfectly acceptable to include the players in this. Ask your players if they can think of any cool ideas that might spawn from a session and write them down. The players will never known if or when you will use them but like any comic book reader, they will be asking those questions with every subsequent session.

What are some instances in which you creating questions and how did you play them out later?

IN THE BEGINNING - SOME THOUGHTS ON PLAYING OUT ORIGINS

While I have never had an opportunity to play out the origins of a superhero character, the idea of doing so intrigues me. There are, of course , some things to consider before approaching this sort of campaign. You may have even heard of this or seen it in other games systems. White Wolf called it a “prelude” in their Vampire the Masquerade game and the concept is very much the same in superhero games.

1) HOW MANY CHARACTERS IN THE CAMPAIGN?

Playing out the origin of a character requires a certain amount of commitment to action and story that takes place before the main campaign begins and the number of players in the campaign should really be the first thing you consider as it will inform all other decisions when it comes to approaching the idea of playing out character origins. If you are playing a campaign with a single character, this shouldn't be too great a concern as you have only the one player's time to worry about. If, however, you have a few players, then you really should consider how much time to spend on playing out the characters' origins stories. Ideally, the amount of time spent on each character's origin role-play should be reduced for every character in the campaign. Obviously, if you have a particularly large group of players it may not be practical to play out their origins except in a few instances as I will discuss further along in this article.

2) DO THE PLAYERS PICK THEIR POWERS?

This step, while completely optional, is very important and has huge ramifications on the tone and action of your campaign. The decision as to whether or not the players begin play with fully created characters and simply go back to play out their origins or if they begin as blank slates is absolutely something they should agree to before you attempt to try this. If you go this route, your players are putting a lot of faith in you as their GM to create interesting and playable power sets for them to play with

3) HOW FAR BACK?

After you have figured out how many players you are going to have in your campaign and whether or not they begin playing knowing what powers they will have, you can now think about how far back you are going to go in their origins. If the players have created characters with full determined powers, then you are free to play out their origin stories with this information and use it to guide the play.

If, however, the players have agreed to start as blank slates, you will have to construct stories that position the characters to receive their powers or play out the manifestation of spontaneous powers. Such “retellings” may be more involved as you have to play through the getting/appearing of the powers and is best done only for smaller or solo games.

4) SHARED OR INDIVIDUAL ORIGINS

This last step is one that can very much simplify most of the above steps if not all of them. Not a complicated question, it is still no less important. A shared origin will mean that you are only really telling a single origin story to which each individual player will bring their character’s experience. Because of the efficiency of time created by a shared origin, the GM can add more detail and take the time to tell a more robust story, should they want to. Shred origins are particularly useful if you are playing a campaign where the players do not know what powers they will have because the GM can at least give some sort of general idea - all gods, alien heroes, space cops with power rings, etc./

Separate origins are where the GM really needs to ride a fine line in managing time. No origin story is identical and some may require more time and effort than others. A lab accident or granted powers might be a very simple story while a character who grew up with their powers might have a lot to unpack and much more story to tell. These examples are not universally true but the key is to recognize what each player needs for their character’s origin. Make sure that you talk to the players about who will need more time and should a player require a lot of time for their origin, consider setting aside a separate time to play that out.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It is important to remember that playing out a character's origins is neither normal, nor required for a good campaign. It is a completely optional step and can be done without. Just understand that playing out origins means that both the player and GM are both accepting the responsibility for the character.

How do you feel about playing out origins?

Have you had any experiences with doing so that you would like to share? 

WHY NOT BORROW A HERO FOR YOUR NEXT HERO? - USING SUPERHERO TROPES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

 

It is safe to say that nearly any concept for a superhero character has been tried, done, and likely done to death. This can often lead to a feeling frustration when trying to come up with a new character to play in TTRPGs but it doesn't have to.

The truth of the matter is that the massive body of comic book work has already provided you with all the character ideas you will ever need. Find yourself a character you like and ask the time-honored comic book question of "what if?". This what if can take any form but the idea is that you are going to remake the character in your own way. A new name, and a new take on the theme and Ben's your uncle and you have a new character. Even if you are making a new version of a very iconic character that exists in the game world you are playing in, it doesn't matter. There are plenty of cities, alien worlds, other dimensions, alternate timelines and kingdoms in hidden parts of the world to justify the existence of your character. How do you think the real comics folks do it?

If you're still not sold, just remember that the professionals have been swiping character from each other for decades, even duplicating characters that exist in their own comics universes. If that's still not enough, remember, David Kraft created Demon Hunter for Atlas Comics then recreated the exact same character as Devil Slayer for Marvel and then later Buckler, an artist who worked with Kraft on the previous two incarnations of the character, took the same character to his own own Galaxia magazine as Bloodwing.

Have you ever made your own version of an existing character?

Share some of your characters based on existing characters.