Fainting Goat's Pew Pew Returns

 

Fainting Goat is running a small Kickstarter for the latest version of their Pew Pew game  - see it here. I've posted about them before and went into the rules there but if you want a light, loose, Star Wars-ish RPG this is something you should look into. Each booklet is a one-shot adventure and there are a few of them out now already so it could be a recurring thing for your group if one goes well. I figure it would be a great game to run at a con - the right players could make it pretty memorable. It's all of $8 to jump in so if it pushes any buttons at all take a look.

Pew Pew! Bounty Hunters in Space

 

It occurred to me after mentioning it in last week's post that I ought to talk about PewPew as a game because it's a great little effort from one of my favorite small publishers Fainting Goat Games.  They've made a lot of interesting things over the years, particularly superhero adventures for games like ICONS.  This game was a new direction for them and I really like it.

First up it is very rules light - if you're looking for crunch and "builds" this is probably not going to work well for you. The whole thing is less than 40 pages and includes the rules, pregen characters, and an adventure. Around half of the page count is spent on opposition and NPC's and a map for the adventure. This is a full-color production as well and it looks good. I give bonus points for the "action figure" marketing on the back - this is another Fainting Goat signature item like the snack cake ads in their superhero adventures and it tells you where they are coming from.

As for the rules themselves they are simple but interesting. They are borrowed from Havoc Brigade, a game I do not know beyond what I can see on DTRPG, but I may have to look into it. In a larger sense they are borrowed from Marvel Heroic, or Cortex+. When a character needs to do something they roll a d6 looking for a 4+. Beyond that basic d6 though you are looking to build a dice pool  - one from your skills, some from your equipment, (one for each relevant piece of gear), two from each relevant drive ... you get the picture. While it is only d6's, unlike Cortex+, you can build up a pool fair quickly and each 4+ is a success and this is how the whole thing works whether you are shooting someone, flying a ship, schmoozing your way past a guard, or repairing a ground vehicle. There is not a ton of structure here beyond the building of that pool. Some things have limited uses - like the armor on the sheet up above, or medpacks and some other items noted in their descriptions. 

Your character can have a spaceship and there are some equipment you could add to it and some basic rules for space combat and ship repair. There are no points or tech levels or speed ratings here - it's more about the flavor than the technical details.

Also much like MHR there is no character creation system. There are 6+ pre-gens and the suggestion is to tweak one of them if you don't like it. This is a game meant for drop-in type use, not an extended campaign so I am OK with this.

There is metacurrency in the form of "Embrace the Chaos" (steal the GM's dice), "You Owe Me One" (re-roll your pool dice) , and "Carefully Crafted Plan" (add 2 dice to a pool)which players can use a limited number of times per adventure to really push things over the top. These are entirely genre-appropriate and look like a lot of fun.

The GM uses NPC stats when opposing the players directly and the "Chaos Pool" for general difficulty levels not tied to an active opponent or as bonuses to add to a particularly capable opponent. This is very much the Doom Pool from MHR and begins with X dice based on the situation or location and grows when the PC's screw up. The players can, once per game per character, use the chaos pool themselves for some ridiculous stunt they want to pull off. Let me use their own description and example here:

Chaos can also be used to the bounty hunters’ favor. Once per game, every character can use the chaos to their advantage. Grab all the dice in the Chaos Factor Pool (whether the GM's rolled them this turn or not) and describe some awesome but unlikely thing that happens that benefits your character or describe an amazing action your character is doing. (For example: it turns out the infant that is your bounty secretly has telekinetic powers and uses them to oppose the attack of the monster who was about to kill you.) The GM rolls against you at the base suspicion value for the area.

After the PC has used the Chaos Factor Pool, it refreshes to the default level for the area.

I think that communicates the spirit of this game pretty well.

Some of this will be an exercise in justification - again like MHR - but is likely to be less strict about it since it is an even looser style of game.  There is no grid or range incrementation or variable difficulty levels - a lot of this is eyeballed by the GM and defaults to "roll more 4-ups's than the other guy" which should work just fine for this. 

The whole idea here is a one-off adventure for a team of bounty hunters in a vaguely Star-Warsian-Outer-Rim type setting. There are at least 3 other add-ons in this line and each one pretty much contains the rules and basic info plus an adventure and some other odds and ends - a random character generator, a random adventure generator, etc. As a fill-in game I think it's set up with just enough "system" to be fun without requiring a bunch of rules-reading and explanation and going through character generation. It's much more "pick something you like and get going".  I have not tried it out yet but it is on the short list for the next opportunity.

For those who want more structure there is a Savage Worlds version of these same books which runs off of that system and converts everything to those stats. The adventure is converted to a Savage Worlds One-Sheet format and is a little more structured. I can see a lot of groups preferring that so it's great that that version is out there and it would nicely supplement an ongoing Star Wars style campaign with some drop-in NPCs and an adventure complete with map. Given some of the crossover potential in Savage Worlds campaigns - like Rifts - having a one-shot like this with a limited scope and a set scenario can be a godsend and a heck of a lot of fun. 

When I get a chance to actually try it out I will post about it here.

The Cortex Prime Handbook

 

I really like this book. It is exactly the kind of shoring-up or reinforcement that is useful to someone who already has a Cortex game like, say ... Marvel Heroic Roleplaying! Yet it is also an up-to-date full presentation of the system and the concepts behind it that a new player could use to begin playing. 

I won't break down every part of it because if you've played one of their games before then you have a good idea of how the system works. This is the most comprehensive presentation of that system published to date. The structure:

• The Core system - tests are the big focus here
• Characters - Stats, powers - all the different categories that might appear on a character sheet, experience, and yes - character creation, which was a source of complaints in the Marvel version at least. I don't see any gaps here.
• Scenes - this is a primer on how the game is structured and how conflicts work - combat and other types of conflict as well.
• Sessions - GM advice and how NPCs work in this system.
• Settings - this is one area I mainly skimmed because it has some good advice on defining a setting for this system specifically, with examples. I liked that. Then it goes into 3 new settings for the game. They're fine but I wasn't really looking for new settings with this book.
• Powers, Abilities, sample milestones, vehicles, and some sample characters.- it's the "stuff you can use in play" chapter. 

One refreshing thing is the way options are presented - as "Mods": equally valid choices you might use in any game, not as a Standard with some optional Variant rules. This is nice and it does discuss why one might be a better fit than another depending on the setting or just on what the GM and players want the game to do. The Doom Pool form Marvel is one option. Assets and Complications have some options. Your "Prime Sets", those different categories on your character sheet, are variable depending on the campaign. It looks to me like it takes every option they have ever presented in one of their prior games, refines them, and presents them side by side. It makes me think a lot of the 4th edition Champions BBB where we finally saw all of the options that the Hero System had been building over the prior decade presented in one volume. It's that good. 

I still love these character layouts - everything you need to know is right here!

Like that Hero book I think this one might be a lot to digest for someone totally new to the system. It's great but it's also somewhat generic in presentation and given the abstract approach of the rules it might be hard to picture what is happening with some of the rules interactions. There are examples and they do help but it is quite a bit different than most RPG's, especially if someone is coming from a strictly 5th edition D&D background. I think a totally new player would be better off finding a copy of one of their prior releases that covered a specific setting. Like ...

Yes, I will probably always view Cortex through a Marvel lens - a superhero lens at least as you could easily run DC characters with this as well. I think it's a great setting for playing characters you already know which is probably why they had so many licensed settings and why character creation was not tightly defined when this book was released. I've never been big on playing "known characters" in any other genre, and not many other systems, but for this one it just became the default for me and my kids and friends have had a ton of fun with it over the last 9 years. This book should only add to the fun.

If you want to see the system in play here are some examples of how it can go:

Session 1 from our campaign

Session 2

Session 3

Some thoughts after building some new characters in the system

There have been additional sessions beyond these but I never wrote them up. It has been one very drawn-out campaign with players and characters coming and going but it has always been a great game to play, with much laughing and much quoting of old books/shows/movies of course. A lot of that is the setting and characters but the system drives that as well. I am very happy to see a current, in-print book that could allow others to discover the fun we have had with this game. 

Modern Marvels Session 3 - Enter Hercules!

We had a chance to get a game together but not all of our Pathfinder crew was available so we settled on ... Marvel Heroic! I ran it as a continuation of our previous games which you can see here:

• Session 1
• Session 2 
• Link to the campaign discussion that started it all

Yes, it has been a couple of years since we last played. I wasn't going to let that stop me - the boys are still interested, I have notes/recaps, and I'm making more of an effort to finish things I start 

With Paladin Steve joining the campaign he was going to need a character and I had one in mind as soon as the option to play Marvel came up - Hercules! He's brash, he's bold, he's unquestionably a good guy, and while his usual approach is to punch things he almost lives like he's playing in a big game - I knew my friend would have a good time playing him and that he would add a lot to the team. Steve took him on with no hesitation.

Apprentice Blaster continued with Black Panther while Apprentice Who continued with Colossus.

In a cut scene, Zeus summons Hercules then tells him that foolish mortals are monkeying around with the Serpent Crown again and it's time to intervene. "Go and get it before they hurt themselves or do something even more foolish" is the gist of the conversation. Herc is more than ready to help!

Emerging from a mystical gate hidden deep in a cave the prince of power isn't exactly sure where to go but the closest landmark to him is a large structure best described as an ice fortress. Closing in on it he notices two flamboyantly dressed men also approaching the place and decides to introduce himself as only the mighty Hercules can!

A brief but loud conversation (complete with backslaps and strong handshakes and promises of shared drinks later) ends up with Herc's new friends "Black Panther" and "Colossus" agreeing to investigate the ice fortress as they too seek the Serpent Crown.

Seeing no obvious entrance Hercules challenges Colossus to a contest - "Let us smash our way through this ice" - basically the first one to something interesting, like an interior room, wins.

This is one of the reasons I love Marvel Heroic's milestone system - it directly ties XP into character traits like this in a really fun way.

Swinging away, the two mighty-thewed heroes bash a tunnel into the ice and The Mighty Hercules is just mightier enough that he smashes into a large open cavern/room first! Black Panther follows at some distance, mostly trying to stay clear of flying ice chunks. Emerging from the tunnel, they see a large ice/stone room with a throne-like seat. A man sits upon the throne:

He has long, shaggy hair, an equally unkempt beard, a yellow costume, and a blue cape. When he shifts in the chair, they see an S upon his chest. They have no idea who this is. Warily, they approach.

"I do not know who you are or why you have disturbed my solitude but go now and you may leave in peace. I wish to remain alone, not to fight, but I will fight if I must."

• Hercules is confused - he doesn't really understand brooding
• Black Panther is interested but wants to know who this guy is before getting too involved
• Colossus is concerned and breaks out the armchair psychology

Colossus only gets so far before the multiple mentions of the "terrible things I've done" starts to get in the way of further conversation. Befuddled, Peter pauses ...

...and Hercules takes over! Falling back on what he knows best Herc touts the virtues of wine and song and comradeship and beating badguys and good times and drink and winning in general. Faced with this unstoppable torrent of optimism, the stranger's "... almost godlike assurance that he’s guilty" is overwhelmed by Hercules Godlike Positivity!

He stands, brushed the hair out of his face, walks over to Herc, smiles, and puts a hand on his shoulder: "Perhaps you are right old friend. Perhaps I have forgotten how good life can truly be. Perhaps it is time I returned to the world. Thank you." With that, he flies straight up and out of the room into the sunlit sky.

Hercules is extremely pleased with himself. Panther still wants to know who that was. Colossus wants to know what he meant by "old friend". Still pondering, they head for the large skull-shaped mountain in the distance, certain that their goal lies there.

At the foot of the mountain they find a village - a primitive village. As the heroes approach, a group of inhabitants gather. Many have obvious mutations. A four-armed giant of a man moves to the fore and points back the way the party came - "go".

Hercules asks for the ancient custom of hospitality. "Go".

Herc asks again. "Go".

Sensing trouble, Panther fades into the nearby foliage.

Annoyed, Hercules announces/lectures that it is customary for villagers to welcome travelers with food and drink. "Go".

As the last straw breaks, Herc punches the village champion. The mob gasps! Panther moves out of the bushes and into the village, leaping to the top of a hut.

Wrong heroes, but you get the idea

Then Colossus punches Hercules and a huge brawl erupts!

• The big mutate drops, flattened in one punch by the mighty Hercules
• The mob charges the mighty Hercules
• Hercules grabs his jaw - "so that's it, eh?" and slugs Colossus back
• A sniffing sound at the base of his hut causes Panther to leap into action against a particularly animal-like mutate
• One mutate with an oddly shaped head tries to mess with the King of Wakanda's mind

Hercules versus Colossus quickly becomes Herc versus Colossus versus the mob as the two titans beat on each other without regard for the swarm of bodies around them. Colossus feels Hercules struck without provocation while Herc feels that the villager was rude and insulting and so the punch was completely justified. over the next few minutes they agree to disagree and to handle the mob together and they quickly bash the primitive brutes into submission.

Panther's leap from the rooftops dispatches his wolflike opponent in one move. Feeling himself under mental attack he picks out the mental mutate and the "Peerless Strategist" faces off with a "Super-Genius". It ends a minute later with Panther reversing a surprisingly strong attack and knocking out the mentalist.

As the heroes gather together Herc is hit by a psychic attack - it wasn't just the one mentalist! Seeing a woman peering from the door of a hut Herc throws a rock at her, cursing her interference! Panther joins in and throws a rock and insults her as well. Somewhat reluctantly, Colossus does the same thing and the woman runs out of the village, crying out in fear and shame.

The heroes pause to catch their breath.

Then Hercules punches Colossus, and the heroic contest resumes. Panther watches silently, arms folded, tapping his foot. Herc eventually wins using some Greco-Roman wrestling tricks Peter had never seen before. It ends with a handshake, much backslapping, and promises of drinks together.

The skull mountain awaits ...

 

Modern Marvels - Session 2 "Into the Savage Land"

We open with a Transition Scene: Knowing they were dealing with a magical artifact the team contacted the only expert they knew - Dr. Stephen Strange. He traced the location of the item to Antarctica but could not pinpoint it. He offered to teleport the heroes but admitted he was not sure he could return them given the fuzziness of the signal. He gave them a card - "Nick Fury - Director of SHIELD" - and suggested that they contact this person and explain the situation. He would be interested in the situation and it was likely he could provide transport.

I decided Strange was at least sort-of-known as an expert on the occult to local NYC heroes, even the new ones.

Meeting with Mr. Fury the next morning he had already talked to Strange and agreed that the threat should be pursued. He shares that he has a file on all three of them and is willing to "deputize" them and provide them with transport to the Antarctic. 

Castle bows out at this point - he has a war to wage here, not at the other end of the world.

Apprentice Who decided that he wanted to take a different hero for this mission

Iron Man says he has to check in with his employer first and heads out. 

Apprentice Red had to go to work earlier so he was not available

Fury announces he's bringing in another "resource" to help out as he doesn't want Panther going alone and can;t spare any of his normal agents. He introduces T'Challa to Peter Rasputin, code name "Colossus". They jump into a (Flying Car? Does SHIELD still use those? Momentary confusion, ended up giving them something like a quinjet. I figure it's an earlier version that Stark has developed and the more advanced one will eventually end up used by the Avengers.) SHIELD jet and head south - waaay south!

Apprentice Who decided he wanted to try out Colossus instead of Punisher so now we have an interesting situation where Colossus has ties to Nick Fury and SHIELD - do the other X-Men fit into this too or is it just Peter? What about Professor X? Is SHIELD behind the X-Men somehow? We will have to explore this some more down the road a bit.

The estimated location of the Serpent Crown has been loaded into the S-Jet's Nav system so navigation is not an issue. Panther makes an easy Vehicles check against the Doom Pool. 

Unexpectedly, in the middle of the icy wasteland the whiteness gives way to a verdant green valley! This is where the Crown is located! Is it responsible for this tremendous climate change?

Attempting to get the lay of the land they spot 3 areas of interest: a mountain with a skull carved into it, something that looks like some kind of ice fortress, and something that looks like a modern-ish installation. The jet is acting up so they decide to land an equal distance from all three structures to minimize travel time. The VTOL system engages and they land in a clearing, in the jungle ... in the middle of what should be Antarctica.

Scene Distinctions now in effect: "Dense Jungle" and "Dangerous Flora and Fauna"

Feeling that the jungle is at least something like familiar territory, however unexpected, Black Panther debarks the jet and climbs a tree to take a look around. Colossus loiters near the jet and is suddenly jumped by 3 velociraptors! Shifting to metal form the "Russian Farmboy" uproots a nearby tree and tree-slaps all 3 of them into next week! Panther looks down in amazement - he didn't even have time to jump out of the tree.

This was creative action and an awesome roll by Who backed up by some pretty vivid descriptions of what he was doing and a nice justification of how  "Russian Farmboy" applies to fighting dinosaurs in Antarctic jungles. The answer is that he pulled up a lot of trees working on the farm and used to swing them around like baseball bats for fun - sounds good to me!

Fortunately for Panther's ego, 3 more raptors emerge from the jungle, this time circling and approaching more warily "Surrounding" the metal man. (Imposing the "Surrounded" condition on Colossus) Panther leaps out of the trees, sinking his daggers into one of the beasts - he's never fought dinosaurs so he's not taking any chances.

Line of the night, Apprentice Blaster:"... that's a d6 Weapon for my daggers because I'm going to stab him, then a d8 for Enhanced Strength, because, uh, I'm going to stab him really hard ..."

The remaining 2 dinos attack Colossus whose steely skin resists their tearing teeth.

Apprentice Who learns the awesomeness of the "Invulnerable" SFX: Spend a Plot Point to ignore physical stress or trauma unless caused by electromagnetic effects" - yeah. The dinos don't have a chance after that. The kid gets pretty giddy because he has about 5 Plot Points when he discovers that.

Colossus finally gets to go and sensing his chance he leaps into the air, snatches a Pterodactyl, lands back on the ground, and proceeds to beat a raptor senseless with it.

He wants to use the "Dangerous Flora and Fauna scene distinction to do this - WTF? I made a face, and then it was pointed out to me that he's playing a metal man fighting dinosaurs in a jungle in the middle of antarctica. I decided to allow it Heck, that one is right out of the basic book and dangerous doesn't have to mean only to the player characters..

Black Panther goes next and throws a dagger "really hard" and takes down the remaining raptor.

T'Challa is pretty vicious in melee

Raptors handled, the heroes turn to discover the face of a huge T-Rex peering at them from behind some trees - then it emerges from those tress and steps on their jet!

"Threat to Wakanda!"

'Denied! - with the jet destroyed he's stuck here just like you so Wakanda is safe!"

Colossus is kicked like a football into the jungle when the beast charges. Panther runs up the dino's back and looks for a good place to execute his tried and true anti-dinosaur strategy. Then with a roar of full-throttle boot jets, Iron Man flies in!

Apprentice Red is home now and jumps right in!

The Unibeam charges up and unloads - doing absolutely nothing! Those Rexes are deceptively quick! 

A ferocious furball of snapping jaws of giant teeth, punching metal fists, stabbing daggers, and more metal punches end with a T-Rex on the ground and 3 slightly battered heroes still standing  The Doom Pool ends at 2d6 and a d10. In the distance, three interesting structures beckon ...

Notes: Progress continues and this one went much smoother. The basics are down. I added the scene distinctions this time and they actually saw use! I am using elements of both the RPG.net campaign I mentioned in Session 1 and the material in the basic rulebook that is Act 2 of Breakout - if you have it you might as well use it!

Blaster got in a bit of a rut with Panther's dagger attacks and I pointed out he might as well play Wolverine, but he did handle the plane stuff and did some scouting around as well.

Plot Points flowed freely - Apprentice Who rolled three "1's" at one point - and the Doom Pool was rising. Who sat on his quite a bit to keep his new favorite ability going. Red and Blaster got pretty comfortable with theirs, spending them on stunts and adding in extra total dice too.

I really like the concept of "Scene Distinctions" as a way to include the setting and the scenery in the game mechanically. I think any location deserves at least one and they will be a part of my notes from now on.

I'm still figuring out Complications. I went with "Surrounded" as the three dinos closed in but as soon as Panther dropped one the question came up: Is he still surrounded with only two? I said he was but then once we're down to one it doesn't really make sense anymore. There's a fairly subtle note there that I think a complication really has to apply only to the target, without requiring anything further of the inflicting party, or it can fall apart in the next round. Typically I think the target should have to use some kind of effect to offset or counter the Complication but against weaker foes it may just be easier and quicker to wipe them out in spite of the complication, rather than wasting a round to undo it. I need more practice here.

I also need more practice sing Hordes (like the raptors) and Large Threats (like the T-Rex) as I thought it was all clear then once the game started I got a little fuzzy on how it all worked. I'm sure we will see more of each type. 

Finally, we all  still keep forgetting to use an opponent's condition against them. Hopefully we will get past this eventually.

The best part - we kept laughing all through the game as it was a blast. Something about the Marvel thing combined with the mechanics of the game leads to a very different atmosphere when we're playing this one, even over ICONS and it's fairly relaxed structure. I think it's that Marvel is something we all are familiar with to some degree and so we all "get it" when someone makes a reference or does something interesting with a "known" character. I can't really pin it down just yet but it's just a lot of fun.

Next up: Exploring the Savage Lands! What could they possibly find down there?

Revelations from a Month of Character Building - Marvel Heroic

Making characters in Marvel is actually pretty easy once you start trying it:

• Affiliations: Easy enough, especially with an existing character of some kind
• Distinctions: Also pretty easy when you're working on an existing character, maybe less so for something with no history
• Powers/SFX/Limits: These are more mechanical than the parts above. It really affects how you want this character to work mechanics-wise, especially in combat. Some rely on plot points, some modify the doom pool, some let you use multiple powers at the same time - there are a lot of options in print and it's pretty easy to modify them to fit another hero, taking parts form here and there.
• Specializations: Pretty easy, comparable to skills in other games.
• Milestones: One of the most flavorful parts of a character. They directly encourage certain behavi or (ideally in-character behavior). Many of them have nothing to do with die rolls and quite a few have nothing to do with combat, possibly coming up any time.

More than some RPG's, Marvel really comes together in play rather than in-book. D&D 4E had the same problem. Maybe that had something to do with both games somewhat disappointing reception. Both suffer from a weird effect where you can read them several times and not "get" them, but one play session clears things up darn near instantaneously. Listening to an actual-play podcast can help here too. Building Pools, spending Plot Points, choosing what kind of Stress to inflict or whether to create an Asset or a Complication as the Doom Pool escalates reads like a confusing mess of terms but one session brings it all to life in a real "Oh" moment - at least it did for us.

In comparison Mutants and Masterminds is easy to "get": d20 roll + mods vs. a target number. That's nothing uncommon, and only Hero Points come in to change things up.

ICONS has a similar mechanic but the rolls tend to cancel out leading to a fairly predictable  stat vs. stat comparison a lot of the time but it does have Determination to mix things up some of the time.

Compared to the simplicity of those two games, there are a lot more decisions to make with each action in Marvel. Building the pool is one set of decisions, then whether to use any SFX to modify it, then whether to spend any of those plot points, then whether to do anything that triggers an XP from a milestone - each action uses this process, so while it's a narrative game, and fairly rules-light, it's not mechanics-light and that keeps it fun for those of us who like some crunch. For this game, the crunch happens during your turn, not when you were reading the book before the session and updating your character sheet.

I think Marvel and ICONS share this characteristic as well - there's really no "build" game for either one of them. ICONS base assumption is random generation and Marvel's is "Make it up!" with a random option. We really didn't have much of it in older versions of D&D but once 3rd Edition came out boy it moved in and set up camp and has yet to leave, even with 4E and Pathfinder. This makes "builds" a basic assumption for a lot of more recent players. So much energy is expended nowadays on "builds" that I think it blows some peoples' minds that there are RPG's where you really don't have optimization, or point-hunting, DPS, feat chains, or all of those other things that fill up charop or build forums. This used to be a thing with Champions, and still is to a degree, but M&M 3E/DCA  de-emphasized it as did ICONS. I wonder if this is a negative for a certain section of the RPG population.

The Best Parts to Steal for Other Games:

• Affiliations - I really like having a simple, mechanical way to show a character's preferences when it comes to being alone or with a group. I also like that it's effectively a bonus, with the preferred scenario getting a bigger bonus instead of the traditional bonus for good, no-change for median, and penalty for worst. In this system Wolverine doesn't get a penalty for being on a team, he just gets a smaller bonus than when he is solo. It's a subtle thing but it matters For ICONS maybe the least-favored one is a Challenge and the most favored is a Quality, allowing a character to soak up some Determination when it's bad then spend it when it's good. Now that I read that, maybe it should be the other way around ...
• Physical, Mental, and Emotional Stress - other games have tried to model this kind of thing but I can't recall one that builds it into the system as seamlessly as this one does. The mechanics are the same whether you're punching someone, confusing them, or frightening them - there's no special mechanic needed, no special ability or power, you just declare what you're doing and describe how you achieve it, then roll the dice. I'll have a lot more on this in another post but it opens up a lot of options for players in an encounter. Think about Luke at the end of Return of the Jedi - he is physically down and has no hope of defeating the Emperor in combat, so he begins screaming at Vader, who suddenly turns on his master and ends the fight. How would your favorite game model this? A single skill roll doesn't seem adequate as it takes several minutes for this to happen. Does the DM have to whip up a skill challenge on the fly? That's tricky to do in the middle of what is otherwise a combat encounter. Plus, what skill is being used here? It's not intimidate, and persuasion doesn't seem like one of Luke's strong suits. Marvel has this kind of thing built in to the main mechanics and it's a pretty big win.
• Milestones - ICONS handles some of this with Qualities and Challenges, especially with things like Catchphrases and Epithets. M&M has a little of it with Complications but they don't work in quite the same way. I need to look at this more myself and see how I can adapt it to other games.
• Assets, Resources, and Complications: being able to make an attack that boosts someone else's chances rather than just doing damage is another big win. M&M can do this with the various Conditions fairly well, especially if your character has an Affliction as an Alternate Effect or can stunt into one with a Hero Point. The main lack is that there's not a good way to boost an ally - conditions are bad and meant to be inflicted on an enemy. They are debuffs, not buffs, to use MMO language. I'll have more about this in another post too as there's a lot to think about.

Modern Marvels - Session 1

This campaign began a few weeks before the announcement that the latest Marvel RPG was kaput. I'm pretty disappointed with that as I think with some time the game could have made some serious inroads amongst that section of the RPG playing crowd that likes different mechanics, narrative play, and has at least some interest in superheroes. Unfortunately it won't have any more time, but I've rarely let a game's production status decide whether we play it or not so this campaign will be going on for some time. I've sketched out 6 events with around 3 acts each for our "Season 1". As long as the boys are interested, we will continue.

I am totally stealing the campaign concept from this thread on RPG.net. The more I read it the more I loved the idea so that's what I used. The main conceit is that the time is now but the Marvel Universe is just getting started - the Fantastic Four have been around for about a year, Tony Stark's bodyguard about the same, there are some rumors about a secret mutant group running around, and a few costumed villains have appeared and robbed banks and the like but there's been no big, open, super-event to bring it all together. SHIELD is a covert organization that has been assigned to stay on top of these new powered types and find out what's going on.

Our initial cast:

• Iron Man, played by Apprentice Red
• Black Panther, played by Apprentice Blaster
• The Punisher, played by Apprentice Who

(Of course this means that our version of the Avengers may end up with Punisher as a founding member. It's weird but we will manage.)

The legendary Serpent Crown is about to be placed on display at the New York Museum of Fictional History. A private party for donors and bigwigs associated with the museum is the kickoff for this exhibition.

• Black Panther is there because the name "Serpent Crown" triggered some vague memories of some old Wakandan legends. He is not in costume but is instead attending as a Wakandan diplomat.
• Tony Stark is there because it's a party and there will be free drinks and he might want to buy the crown for his collection.
• Frank Castle is there because he figures someone is bound to try and steal the thing or maybe just rob the patrons and he can make a very public example of anyone who tries this.

(Yes, I made the boys come up with reasons for their characters to attend. They did a good job)

There is some general hobnobbing then a group of large men shove their way to the front of the large room. One seizes the crown from it's display case (SMASH!) , places it on his head, then announces he is their new ruler. His men begin pushing the crowd back.

Frank gets the party started right by pulling dual .45's from beneath his long coat and unloading on one of the thugs in a very Matrix-esque move.

T'Challa pulls up his hood, sheds his jacket, then leaps onto the platform, claws out. He attacks and wounds Paul Destine, new holder of the Serpent Crown!

Stark steps out into the hall, opens his briefcase and armors up!

The villains go next as Destine and Sidewinder take on Panther, Cobra goes after the Punisher, and a woman starts herding the crowd to one side of the room.

(Here we learned about bad decisions and the interesting MHR initiative system as the bad guys got to go twice before the heroes got to go again at all)

Punisher and Cobra are tied up in a duel of guns and fangs and Frank declares war on these serpent guys. Panther declares Destine a Threat to Wakanda and is in a brutal close-quarters slugfest with him and Sidewinder who constantly teleports behind the beleaguered king.

Iron Man rockets into the room and is promptly grabbed by the female villain's stretchy arms - Anaconda!

After a momentary struggle he breaks free and blasts Destine with his repulsors. Enraged, Destine flies up (another power of the crown) and smashes a display case over Iron Man's Iron Noggin' - which does absolutely nothing! Seeing his chance, the Invincible One fires up the unibeam and blasts Destine with maximum firepower!

In mid-air Destine, realizing this is not his time (and realizing he has d8 emotional stress and d10 physical stress) raises his arms, begins to chant, and then he and his 3 minions disappear in a flash - gone!


DM Notes: This was a straight-up fight as we get back into the Marvel system, but it was a lot of fun. There is a learning curve with the game but it only takes a session or two to get the basics down. I really could have added some scene distinctions like "panicked crowd" or "large high-ceilinged exhibit hall" but we didn't really notice the lack. I was mainly focused on getting the basics of the system down - totals, effects, plot points, and the doom pool - so we left a lot of the flashy stuff for next time. We also kept forgetting to use an opponents stress dice, but we will be watching for that next session. By the end Punisher & Panther both had some stress and Iron Man had none.

My goal was to get the doom pool to 2d12 as soon as possible so I could end the scene before Destine was defeated as this would make the next scene and the rest of the event a lot tricker to set up. It's nice to have a mechanic to do that beyond just "the DM says he leaves" - there are actual mechanics at work in building up the pool and mechanics for spending those dice. It ads a little structure to it and puts a clock on the scene that everyone can see - Nice!

Fun moment: As we're getting started the boys are checking out milestones and figure out that if Stark drank too much at the party (he gets XP for this), then Punisher could call him weak and pathetic for doing so (he gets XP for that) then Panther could declare Drunken Iron Man a Threat to Wakanda (XP for Panther) and so everyone could gain some XP before anything else happened! They thought that was both very funny and pretty cool.