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.

 

STUFF HAPPENS - RANDOM ENCOUNTERS

Comics are full of deep plots, interweaving plots, metaplots and ongoing stories but there are also a massive number of seemingly random, short-term, or even one-off encounters that occur in nearly every title. While this tends to be the province of solo heroes like Spider Man or the Incredible Hulk, just about every hero and team of heroes has had encounters with enemies outside their usual cast of characters. 

To a great degree, these sorts of randomly encountered characters serve to allow comics creators to experiment with new ideas play around, and have fun. They are often less defined, sometimes less well thought out and sometimes very silly. Quite often these character are introduced with the intention of having them become recurring characters should they prove popular enough but in many cases, they come, go and are never heard of again, that is until another creator decides they want a crack at the character.

This is one of the greatest benefits of these characters for GMs. GMs are notoriously creative, constantly coming up wth new NPCs and characters. With many games it can be tricky to find a believable, useful place for all this creativity but superheroes games have it written int othe very fabric of the genre. Leaning into this will only serve to make your games feel more like the comics they are based on. If you have an idea, jot it down, scribble together some quick stats and file it away in you folder of random encounters to use when you and/or your players need a break. That woodchuck-themed villain may only show up for one ill-fated fight with your players' heroes but he will be remembered. 

Random encounters need not stay random though. As I have pointed out in several previous posts, these characters are right for creating questions, rectonning, seeeding. A seemingly random hero may develop over time, returning as a lost relative, an alternate self, connected to a character's origins. Random encounters can spin off into new player characters even much in the same way that Peter Parker's styslistc costume change in Secret Wars became the pehenomenon that is Venom and then all the symbiote maness that came out of that. the key is that they never have to though, allowing  GM to create and use them freely. 

ALIEN SPECIES - ANOTHER CLASSIC RECURRING ENEMY

 

Last time, I wrote about recurring enemies and how they are a great way to world-build and allow yourself, as a GM, some easy filler or convenient opponents to slip into your campaign, from time to time. This time, I'd look to look at another sort of recurring enemy that is also not a named team or villain - alien species. 

Whether it is the Skrulls, Kree, or Badoon, comic book universes are filled with nearly endless examples of alien empires, all with their own agendas, special powers, equipment and often even named characters. Many of these alien empire are framed as distant, warring factions who occasionally appear on Earth to cause trouble while others are shown to have machinations on Earth itself or, even better for the GM and your players, the PC heroes. they can come, go, stay or disappear as your cmpaign needs as well, only as present a you want them to be but often able to appear out of nowhere, despite seemingly gone.

When choosing which alien species to use, spend a little time considering what it is that you want them to do. Larger alien empires will have greater resources to bring to the fight, sometimes even having their own sperpowered operatives, like the Super Skrull or Captain Mar-Vell. While any race can be sneaky or warlike, different species are goign to play into this better than others. The Skrulls ae definitely a better fit for a secret invasion than say the Kree or Brood, even though any of them have shown an ability to hide among humans. 

One of the nice things about using alien species in your games is that they afford your the same scaleability as organizations, even more so in many cases. Additionally, their alien nature and often unimaginable technolgy can allow them to come and go freely and appear from nowhere, much like ninjas or secret organizatons can. When doing any of these, you needn't worry too much about the specifics of how they are doing what they are doing as comic book aliens are often given great leeway when it comes to the exact nature of their abilities and technologies, often coming up with previously unrevealed weapons and even powers as their presence progresses in the stories. 

Alien species, much like organizations are not confined to the role of enemy either. You can have them be as monolithis or complex as you like. Comic books are full of turncoats, traitors, subversives and subfactions among alien species and their empires. These anomalies add depth to the recurring aliens, allowing the players' characters to make friends and allies even while fighting the majority of the alien menace. the exact motivations and reasons for these anmalous characters can be as simple as differing opinions, politics, or even a person agenda that goes against the overall motivations of the species such as love, revenge, honor, or any other personal expression of emotion or intelligence. 

One last consideration with using aliens is that the universe is massive and comic book aliens often travel not just between planetary systems or even within the same galaxy but often from entire other galaxies or dimensions. Because of this, you can invent new alien as freely as you like without ever feeling like you have explain their existence. Even if they are from an area of "known space" such as the Shi-ar empire, you can explain them with just a few waves of your world-building wand. An alien may be from the farthest reaches of space or just around the cosmic bend and just simply never discovered or even kept hidden from detection. They might have simply blipped into existence or awakened after eons of slumber, or slipped into this universe through the fabric of time and space.

Aliens provide a rich tapestry of options for a GM to come up with endless encounters fo their players. They will provide characterful opponents that the players can love, hate, or love to hate. They can even provide the spark for new characters to be played by your players. The next character at your table may be a rogue member of a species or an advanced scout sent to prepare the world for a coming threat. 

What are some of your favorite comic book aliens?

How have you used aliens in your games?

Have you ever had any players make character from alien species you have brought into your games?

RECURRING ORGANIZATIONS - EASY ADDS FOR GAMEMASTERS

 

Comic book universes are full of organizations who have massive resources to bring to bear against the heroes and their enemies. Often, these are meant to be recurring, high stakes enemies that are constantly harrassing the protagonists at every turn. Other times they are a looming threat, popping up just when it's most inconvenient.

We see the latter with the Sentinels in the earlier days of the X-Men comics where they seemed ot pop up all the time. Other groups that tend to do this in more recent years are groups like SHIELD and HYDRA who frequently show up as part of long-running stories. Other organizations, such as The Hand or AIM seem to pop up less frequently, showing up when the twisting coils of the protagonists's lives bring them back into conflict, then dispappearing back into the shadows again when the latest plot twist is finished. 

Many times these enemies float from title to title, often connecting along themes such as martials arts, spy thriller, or simply mutant team members but no organization need be limited to their original or intended adversary. The Hand certainly came into conflict with the X-Men through both Wolverine and Psylocke and SHIELD shows up to deal with any superpowered threat. Organizations such as AIM or HYDRA might seek to capture a member of a team for their uses and Sentinels are notoriously dumb and innefective, often confusing non-mutants for mutants or even getting hijacked by other villains for their own uses. 

The use of recurring organizatons in games is a crucial tool for a GM. Not only do they make convenient, easily insertable opponents for your players but they also help you, the GM, establish a sense of place and world. Ruccuring enemies are like landmarks in a game, they remind players where their character are. They can guide players toward particular conclusions or they can be used to subvert the players' expectations. The Hand may be trying to kill the players at one time but later show up to save them, thus creating a strange dichotomy that keeps the players guessing. Even seemingly beneficent organizations such as SHIELD can suddenly be turned against a heroic team, either over some misunderstanding or even as fallout for the heroes' actions.  

It is important to distinguish these recurring enemies from the named teams and villains that heroes tend to encounter. Almost every team has a roster of named villains that the clash with in a seemingly endless loop of conflict. Organizations are great because they do not require you to come up with complex reasons for them to clash with the heroes. Simple goals and motivations are the trademark of these organizations. That is not to say that they don't even have deeper goals and they most certainly do, but you can throw a mob of ninjas or hi-tech agents at the heroes and give it the most basic reasoning andh ave it fly. Your players will enjoy a chance to throw agents around and break expensive equipment without having to pull too much strategy out of their hats to defeat a more complicated enemy.

Another thing to rememeber about organizations is that encounters with them are easily scaleable. you can have a hand full of agents show up, a single ninja, or a strike team with battlesuits, flying cars or mega-lasers. You can even scale on the fly if the fight goes too easily. That initial tactical team sent by SHIELD may quickly be handled and call in backup. The single ninja, leading the team on a merry chase may have only been the lure to get the heroes into an ambush situation. Organization encounters also scale into encounters with named enemies. Sure you may have started fighting AIM agents but next thing you know the Super-Adaptoid shows up and amps up the fight. We've all see nthe classic ninja fight where a mob of ninjas it thrown all over the place, only to have the music change, a door open, and out steps  much more impressive martial arts opponent, this time with special powers or techniques. 

When it comes down to using organizations as enemies, you should never feel hesitent to do so. Like anything else you do in your games just make sure it makes sense but also remember that what makes sense in comic book universes is a very broad and often ill-defined, so be cool with yourself. I find that, in the beginning, it is best to stick to a single organization as their primary organization to encounter. This will allow you to establish the teams connection to the organization as well as their rivalry. It's still okay to throw in other groups but do so sparingly until the first organization seems like it may be losing effect. But, once you get a few into rotation, you can mix and match as you like. Just remember. Anything can happen in comic books.

What are some organizations you have used in your games?

How have your players responded to recurring appearance by organizations?

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? 

CAMPAIGN IDEAS - MARVEL'S 50-STATE INITIATIVE

THE SETUP MADE FOR TTTPRGS

Whether you are a fan of the Civil War storyline and its aftermath, the concept of the 50-State Initiative is one that is ripe for use in tabletop games. Much like the West Coast Avengers and the Marvel Superheroes RPG book, "Avengers Coast to Coast" provided an outline and even in-game resources for creating their own Avengers teams, the 50-State Initiative creates and instant framework in which players can assemble a team. While gamers don't need these frameworks to create their own uniwque teams, they do make it remarkably straightforward - pick a state and make a team. 

Yes, Marvel  has already assigned a number of existing heroes and teams or created new ones for some of the 50 states but as any tabletop game is going to effectively become its own alternate timeline, you have total freedom to insert your own teams in their place or even come up wth reasons there might be a second team in the area. IT IS YOUR GAME. If you are not playing in the U.S. you could even assume that other countries take a similar initiative assembling and assigning teams in whatever state equivelants they have. This sort of canned team background gets you in and gets you playing without a lot of fiddly "why are we together" worries. Your heroes are together because it's their job. 

In the comics, the initiative was never fully realized and dispanded before full deployment but your game could always say otherwise. You might also come up with a way to avoid the questionable ethics (Superhuman Registration Act) that formed the initiative.

Have you played this sort of campaign before? If so, what state did you play and who was in your lineup?

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?

MAKE $&!# UP - WORLDBUILDING THE WAY THE COMICS GUYS DID

 

Alien invasions often come out of nowhere in comics, needing little to no up-front explanation.

Comic book universes do not com into existence full cloth. Rather they are the result of years, sometimes decade and pushing a century of consecutive layering of ideas and design. Much of this design work was done with a lot of intention and thought but, because comics have evolved overtime both in terms of art, writing, and even editorial attention, they have developed in a very piecemeal often haphazard and sometimes outright random manner. 

For every planned and tightly scripted story arc or metaplot there are countless clumsy insertions, random encounters and blatent market inclusions into any univers's long history. Doing so is often a necessity to fill the pages of books and to keep things moving. Deadlines must be met, delays happen, creative teams change and the ever-pressing need to try to develop new characters and concepts keeps comic under an endless push. What results are sometimes seemingly random or ill-thought events in comics, characters out of nowhere and a seemingly endless parade of new places, worlds, and realms. 

This is all great for superhero TTRPGs. 

Once again, the imperfect nature of superhero comics serves GMs and players of games set in those unvierses perfectly. Because the source material is built off these crazy developments, so to can your games. You can spend lots of time developing metaplots and story arcs, digging deep into the depths of characters and NPCs and their backstories but you are also perfectly fine not doing so. You can toil away trying to build you LEGO plot or, you can just make stuff up. More than likely nobody will know andif they do, it is unlikely that anyone who knows the genre will even care.

A follower said, in a comment...

"...The hero realm has always been crazy diverse where you could pivot a storyline from ultra serious and workd saving to beer and pretzel quirky and humorous. One day your ultra powerful and then suddenly your in a dimension where you feel 6 inches tall and barely qualify as a mouse. How you get in or out is 3 parts super simple and 2 parts complex. A day in the life of your character could involve talking to the guy at the deli counter, a character straight out of Mother Goose and an intergalactic superbeing all in the same hour and the reason could simply be Tuesday. Few other game realms offer as many possibilities without massive justification."

This comment really encapsulates what I am talking about here. Your tabletop game could easily be this random. Unless your characters are caught up in a serious, no wiggle room sort of plot, you could easily have the PCs go about their daily business, have a random encounter with a villain and then suddenly fnd themselves introduced to a previously unknown alien race or dimension invading the Earth for "reasons". 

The key is to remember that, as the GM for your superhero setting, you are filling the roll of most of the bullpen. You are artist (imagination-wise), writer, editor. your players also fill some of those roles but mostly just in the writing and aritstry behind their charcters. All you have to do is to have an idea, write the minimal stuff you need for it and then just wait to spring it on the players. If you are playing in an established universe and have lots of prewritten stuff it becomes even easier. 

Bat Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk were agents of chaos and seemed to exist in comics purely as a way to introduce whatever craziness writers wanted.

You needn't look far to find comic books using the most random reasons to throw characters together into situations. It is often the case that super battles spill over on top of the heroes as they are out and about. An entire organization may randomly and suddenly appear, hunting the PCs for some half-baked reasoning. Maybe somebody reported one of the heroes doing something illegal (especially good for heroes with low popularity). 

This is particularly perfect if game night comes around and you don't have time to prep anything amazing. Pull out a random character, alien race, deminsenional invader, or organization  and just throw them at the players. You can even do this with other heroes. Comic books are full of heroes who should have no real business fighting, actually fighting each other. It takes very little work to come up with a comics-appropriate reason to do so.

The last thing to remember is that, when it comes to the random occurences and encounters that you throw into your games, is that you don't hve to explain it and it doesn't have to make sense. You can give reasons and explanations but not doing so leaves things wide open for questions and answers (something I'll discuss another time) which can later be exploited or explained.

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. 

THE POWER OF THE RETCON

  

Comic books function on their own crazy sorts of internal logic. Explosions and toxic levels of radiation, poisons and energy give you superpowers. Science and magic exist side by side and the cosmos is a never-ending collection of new species, places with Earth itself seemingly full to bursting with secret lands, hidden places and powered people. Even Death itself seems to be mutable and there is always a way out or a twist to it. Much of the magic of comics comes from their emergent storytelling but a lot of it has to do with the almighty retcon.

Retcons have always been used with varying degrees of success in comic books. Often they are used for genuine storytelling reasons while other times they are used purely for production and marketing reasons. Many times this has to do with the ever-changing creative teams assigned to titles and characters. Guy before you kill off a character you really wanted to write or draw? No problem, just pitch great comeback or a story twist that invalidates what waas written before or rewrites it as something that was believed but untrue. but the use of retcons isn't alway a bad thing. Sometimes it creates truly interesting and memorable moments.

When running superhero RPGs, the retcon can be a useful tool in a GM's arsenal. moreso than any other genre, the retcon not only seems allowed but even welcome. It can be used to bring back seemingless dead villains, revive lost heroes, or even change the fabric of the campaign should you choose to do so. You can even use the recon to fix mistakes you might have made along your way. Wrote yourself into a corner? Guess what, things never were as the players thought they were. Plot twists can sometimes be retcons though they are not always and the better ones avoid being such.

The key when using the retcon effectively, is to make it feel as right or appealing as what it is being used to replace. A clumsy retcon will always feel unsatisfactory but a well-orchestrated retcon will feel like a plot twist or plot development. Make your retcon meaningful, even if it's just there to correct a mistake. If the villain you threw at the characters died too easily, then have their death come about in a way that leaves some ambiguity. Even if the death is very obvious and undeniable, you always have the fuzzy logic and weirdness of comics to use to your advantage. A dead villain can come backfro mthe dead, be remade, be copycatted, make a deal with the Devil, be a robot, be a body double, etc, etc. The list goes on forever, but whatever you do, put a little time into the retcon so that when the players figure out what is going on, they get some story with it.

If your villain comes back as a copycat, figure out why this new person is taking up the mantle of the dead villain. Are they a relative, an admirer, maybe they are that same villain from another dimension or time? Why is the villain suddenly more agile and energetic? Do they look younger? Is the motivation of a relative returning as the villain simply revenge or is there more?

There is more to retcons than returning characters from the dead. Maybe you've created an organization or team for your game but you really don't like the direction they are going. You can change their nature or character by simply deciding what their new direction will be and writing some logic to explain it. Perhaps you have created an organization that relies on high technology but the campaign really seems to be moving more into magical, supernatural territory. You could shift this organization behind the scenes so that their "tech" is actually magical in nature and simply masquerading as machines in the mundane world of men. Imagine the surprise when the powersuited baddy is destroyed only to reveal that a spirit was housed inside that armored shell.

The most important thing to remember about retcons is that they aren't there to let you be a lazy GM. Yes, they can clean up messed and they can provide some unplanned changes or developmets in your game, but it is important to always be intentional with your retcons and not use them haphazardly. Retcons should never be used to be mean-spirited. Sure comic book retcons often come in the form of gotchas but you should always strive for "wow" reactions and never groans from your players.

Have you used retcons in your tabletop games before?

MEGA TEAMS - THE SECRET TO FLEXIBLE GAMES

Tired of not being able to play when players don't show up? Worried that your campaign won't progress because of so much missed time? Do you have a player who's character dies all the time or who is fickle and never wants to play the same character? 

No problem, play a mega team! 

Mega teams are those teams that seem to have an endless membership. Justice League, Legion of Superheroes, Avengers, Defenders, or even The Green Lantern Corps. These teams usually have extensive memberships made up of an ever-changing, ever-growing roster of primary members, secondary and even back-up members. New members come, go and are and are not available as other missions take up their time or their own private lives keep them out of action. 

These sorts of teams allow for a nearly infinite flexibility in both individual adventures as well as campaign progression. They ccomplish this in a number of ways but it all comes down to allowing play to continue no matter who shows up. Three of the most common and useful to gamers are as follows - 

1) Guest Appearances

These are sessions where character who were not originally involved in the main campaign appear in one or more sessions. This can be done for a number of rreasons such as a new player joining the game or an occasional player being available on a given night. They are also useful for when a regular player has a character taken out of action. The popular Marvel Team-Up series is a great example of this but guest appearances are very common even in the main continuity of comics. 

2) Crossovers

Similar to guest appearances, crossovers have a bit more intent to them. These are best used when a GM know he's not going to have all of one or more of his regular players available for the game for a period of time allowing him to plan a crossover event that includes the characters that will be available. 

3) Spin-Offs

These games are most often played with completely new characters and are best used as palate-clensers, fill-in games, or ways to accomodate an influx of new players. Spin-offs can include characters from the main campaign but should not do so unless they take place at some other point in continuity or those characters are not involved in the main game anymore. They are also a good place to reintroduce returning regular players who may have been left behind by the main campaign. Good examples of this are Justice League International, The New Mutants, or West Coast Avengers. 

The main benefit to keeping campaigns going and enriching the overall campaign experience is that the game and thus the players' comic book universe is perpetually growing as each adventure and character comes with its own NPCs, settings, plots and world-building that grows the whole and creates feedback loop. It is also important to not get overly wound up on ironclad continuities. Comic book continuity has always been a bit loose at times using flawed logic, handwavium and retconning to explain things.

Can you think of any more benefits of mega teams?

Do you enjoy playing in mega teams?

SOLO HEROES - THE THING SUPERHERO RPGS DO BETTER

 

I have talked a lot about superhero teams and how they facilitate TTRPGs but there is one place that these games do better and easier than most other TTRPGs is solo games. 

When it comes to solo play (one player & one GM), superhero games shine. Superhero characters are generally quite powerful and capable on their own and do not suffer from systems requiring sinergy between a number of characters to function in play. This is further surpported by a vast collection fo inspirational materials showcasing countless heroes operating primarily on their own. Solo characters are also great for GMs as they often face a revolving door of enemies they face one-on-one, allowing creative GMs to constantly cycle through ideas and inspirations. Such characters can easily adapt to small groups of villains or even mobs of henchmen without needing much adjustment or forethought. 

Logistically speaking, these sorts of characters are great for players who may be isolated by real world availability, unable to coordinate with other players. A willing GM can run a solo character on the side and when the gaming stars align, set up a team-up for that solo hero to set out with - the regular group - or even other solo heroes. 

So, if you have a single player you can still run a very satisfying and meaningful campaign in a superhero RPG.

What sorts of experiences have you had running solo hero campaigns?

MORE ON THEMED TEAMS

 

I thought it would be fun to talk, some more, about theme teams.

A themed team can come in many forms. Whether is is a common origin, style, or focus the one thing they all have in common is that every member fits the theme in some way. Themes can be tight, like the Metal Men pictured along with this post, or loose like the X-Men who all adhere to the theme of "mutants" but are all over the place within that theme. Tight themes are, in my opnion, trickier to work with but ultimately mor satisfying from an artistic point of view but a looser theme can allow for much greater freedom for players to create their characters. 

Some themes are more stylistic, like the Serpent Society, which is a loosely themed team that relies far more on aesthetics and naming conventions than anything more concrete for its theme. The Green Lantern Corps is an incredibly tight themed team where all the members share pretty much the same power set with what variation there is based on their experience and whatever species-specific traits they might have. Power Pack has the theme of "kids" and, on the surface, that is it. But Power Pack also has a common theme in terms of the origins of their powers. There are some teams, like the Avengers, that have a theme that is so loose as to not really be a theme at all. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" is about the only real theme they have and that tagline seems relatively meaningless given the wide disparity it power level between the team's members. 

In my experience it is better to start with a tight theme and then loosen it as needed. If your theme is "mutants" but one player really has his heart set on playing an Iron Man type character then maybe work with him and let his mutant ability be something like hyper-intelligence, mechanical aptitude, or even some sort machine speech which allows him to make the suit and other cool stuff like the team's transport, training room, etc..Similarly, if the players were making villain characters who were members of the Serpent Society and a character wanted to make an Iron Man type character, you just need to make sure whatever battlesuit they make for themself adhered to the theme of "snakes". Just remember, tight or loose, the important thing is that every player makes their character fit the theme. 

When conceptualizing your character it is up to you, as a player, to make your character fit the theme. While this may seem chalenging at times, it is ultimately your responsibility, in an agreed-upon theme to make your character fit. 

A handy trick is to look at other themed characters and try to imagine them as something other than the themed character they are. When you realize that that spider-themed, web-slingers, could just as easily have been made as a battlesuit or commando with a handy bag of tricks rather than radioactive spider powers, this reverse engineering of theme can help you to realize that theme is really not all that tricky. 

So, next time you sit down to run or play a superheroes game, consider giving the team a theme. It can be challenging, creatively rewarding and in the end just plain fun.