Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!floyd!clyde!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!parsec!ctvax!uokvax!rigney From: rigney@uokvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.games.frp Subject: Re: Let's see some superheroes - (nf) Message-ID: <4377@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 8-Dec-83 04:50:54 EST Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.4377 Posted: Thu Dec 8 04:50:54 1983 Date-Received: Sat, 10-Dec-83 02:40:04 EST Lines: 73 #R:ihuxw:-60600:uokvax:2400020:000:3484 uokvax!rigney Dec 6 12:51:00 1983 >This is a continuation of the remarks in the last response. 4) Consider and apply the effects of superpowers on the outside world. Wars, Laws, Espionage (national & industrial), Industry (munitions) Politics, and especially News. The more detail and thought given to the logical effects, the better. 5) Weave a tangled web. Foreshadow later events, even if you're not sure what the events will be. Throw in subplots. Use events from the murky past as causes for current events. The more tangled, the better, as long as you can keep everything straight and the players aren't overwhelmed. This is particularly good when hidden Masterminds are manipulating events to their advantage. The larger and older your campaign, the better this will work. 6) Require pictures. With the aid of character outlines even the least artistically talented can produce pleasing results, and pictures of heroes and villians add immensely to the enjoyment. If you're lucky enough to have a artistic player with some free time, (s)he might do sketches of the major scenes, or even an ocassional informal comic. 7) Give the major villians style. Some badguys are losers, just fodder for the heros' egos; I use ENEMIES I & II for these. But there should be some villians that the players have to pull together and execute perfect teamwork to have any chance of defeating. Examples are Magneto and Dr. Doom. An example from my campaign would be Quadros, which has a reputation for infallibility so great that the players despair at the very name. Quadros isn't overly powerful, just 4 (maybe 5) 250 point villians, who can casually wreck a dozen unorganized 200 point heroes with teamwork and planning. At the other extreme of style, the players' favorite foe was Ratman, with his ratility belt and insane giggle. (and his sidekick, Raven the Girl Wonder, along with the other members of the Society of Thanatos: Ghoul and Darkling) He always lost, but he did it with great style, and the issue was always in doubt - he *could've* won, he just didn't somehow. An example: Two heroes on a dock are holding a yacht over their heads (for reasons we won't go into now). Ratman sneaks up behind one with his Ratblaster, snickering softly, and taps the unsuspecting fool on the shoulder. As he turns, Ratman triumphantly squeaks "Byebye, superchump!" and pulls the trigger, blowing the hero into the bay. With a funny feeling he's forgotten something, Ratman looks up to see the unsupported ship descending on his head! With a frantic "Uh Oh!" he throws his cape over his head, which does no good at all, as the boat piledrives him through the dock into the bay. The first hero (who can breath underwater, fortunately), then grabs the soaked Ratman and tosses him back up, where the other hero bats him with the boat. Exit Ratman, sailing off into the night, where his aching body will be scooped up by the Ratmobile (a volkswagon with whiskers and tail) and trundled back to the Ratcave for some Rathealing. This sort of thing *always* happened to him, but never the same way twice, although he had a tendency towards aerial exits. (No, Ratman doesn't fly. At least not intentionally.) It was immense fun anticipating his defeat each time, despite (or because of) all his clever plans and low cunning.