Friday Night Game Report - DC Heroes RPG, Session 0 Modern
Rather than continuing on with the Coriolis - The Third Horizon RPG campaign that they are playing, the Friday night gaming group agreed to play a session or three of the DC Heroes RPG of four-colour comics and super-heroes, as I'll be running that game at CanGames, the local gaming convention in May.
For those who don’t know, the DC Heroes RPG was first published by Mayfair Games in 1985, and is the super-hero roleplaying game set against the DC Comics universe(s) of the time. The Second Edition of the game, published in a boxed set, came out in 1989, and the Third Edition of the game was published in 1993. Also called the Mayfair Exponential Game System (or MEGS, for short), the DC Heroes RPG uses a logarithmic scale for character Attribute Points (APs for short). For example, a value of 3 APs is double the value of 2 APs. The scale allows characters of wildly different power levels to co-exist in the game; thus Superman has a Strength of 25 APs while Jimmy Olsen has a Strength of 2 APs. Anyway...
Since they had not played the game in quite some time, the players decided they wanted to do a Session Zero to begin with; heck, one of the players (Peter) had never even heard of the game before! I started off by going through the basics about the mechanics of the DC Heroes RPG, showing the players the lists of Powers, Skills, Advantages, Bonuses, Limitations, and all the other goodies that go with the game, and explained how Factor Costs work. I answered questions they had, covering everything from the game mechanics to the modern day world of 1983-1985 in the DC Comics universe of the time, and a few other things. Peter was quite enamoured of the Attribute Points system, loving how APs basically converted from one unit to another and thus could be used for measuring time, distance, temperature, speed, and various other elements. And then we moved on to character creation.
Character generation in the DC Heroes RPG is a relatively straightforward, somewhat easy to get through process, but it does require a modicum of thought about one’s character, and the making of choices. And a bit of math... That said, half the fun of the character generation system for DC Heroes is going through the various steps and coming up with a character concept and style of character the player really likes and wants to play.
While I was going to run a campaign set against the background of the Legion of Super-Heroes and taking place at the Legion Academy just before the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, the players felt it would be simpler to start with character heroes for a modern-day campaign, set in the “present” of the DC universe (the mid-1980s for my purposes). It was a very interactive process between me and the players, with the others also helping Peter “visualise” what he wanted to play and give him some advice (as he was also one of the few players who had only read the Marvel Comics back in his younger days). The characters that the Friday night players created for the DC Heroes RPG are an interesting, somewhat eclectic mix, to say the least. Here's what the Friday night players have got.
*****
KathyB - She decided she wanted to create a Spider-Man-like character for the DC universe, and called her the Webslinger. The character has the powers of Cling and Danger Sense, as well as Glue and Snare for her webslinging (no Gadgets for Kathy here!) as well as Scientist and Artist (Photographer). The character gained her powers from the bite of a radioactive spider (what else?? :)) and is still learning her abilities.
Angela - She had a tougher time deciding what she wanted to play, having several character concepts in mind, but eventually settled on Grounder. The character has Earth-based powers (notably Life Sense, Joined, Earth Control and Earth Animation). A student in England, Emily St. Johns was on a trip to one of the minor henges when she fell afoul of a group of cultists. Their ritual attempts backfired, and Emily gained the powers of the Earth from a spirit that she calls "Atansa". Lovely stuff.
Ellie - My goddaughter knew exactly what she wanted. She created the heroine Pyroclasta, with the powers of Flight, Flame Being, Flame Control and Flame Immunity. The character is a high school chemistry teacher who had a lab accident, and gained her unwanted powers.
Mark - He kind of surprised me with his power choices, as he decided to take a character with a mystical bent to him. He created the character of The Shill :), with the powers of Animate Objects and Animate Images. A practicing magician and fortune teller (he took the Occultist Skill), David Carillon comes from a family that passes on supernatural abilities derived from a deal with a demon centuries ago in the male line. He also has a sideline as a bit of a thief.
Peter - I was worried about what he might take and whether he’d have a cohesive character, but I needn’t have been concerned. Peter kept it simple, and created Green Bolt, a super-hero with the powers of Flight, Energy Blast, Energy Absorption, and Force Shield, all of which are based unsurprisingly on electricity. All of his powers have a greenish energy tinge to them, not surprising given the hero name he chose. His work as a linesman for the local electric company, he was involved in a major accident when lightning struck the pole he was working on and he gained these amazing powers.
*****
All in all, an interesting group of characters with a lot of potential if I were running a modern-day game, and the players had a good deal of fun with the process (especially juggling the Factor Costs), and really did a good job of giving their characters a little bit in common, so that they don't start in the gaming void of not knowing each other. While they didn't struggle with any of the game elements per sé, Peter (and two of the others) admitted to having a difficult time doing the math a bit, and trying to pick some Limitations and Drawbacks to counter the APs spent on the stuff he wanted. Overall, the players quite liked the character generation system for the DC Heroes RPG, and are now looking forward to the next session when they create their Legion Academy characters (with much fewer Attribute Points to play with) in a couple of weeks.
For that matter, so am I! :)
For those who don’t know, the DC Heroes RPG was first published by Mayfair Games in 1985, and is the super-hero roleplaying game set against the DC Comics universe(s) of the time. The Second Edition of the game, published in a boxed set, came out in 1989, and the Third Edition of the game was published in 1993. Also called the Mayfair Exponential Game System (or MEGS, for short), the DC Heroes RPG uses a logarithmic scale for character Attribute Points (APs for short). For example, a value of 3 APs is double the value of 2 APs. The scale allows characters of wildly different power levels to co-exist in the game; thus Superman has a Strength of 25 APs while Jimmy Olsen has a Strength of 2 APs. Anyway...
Since they had not played the game in quite some time, the players decided they wanted to do a Session Zero to begin with; heck, one of the players (Peter) had never even heard of the game before! I started off by going through the basics about the mechanics of the DC Heroes RPG, showing the players the lists of Powers, Skills, Advantages, Bonuses, Limitations, and all the other goodies that go with the game, and explained how Factor Costs work. I answered questions they had, covering everything from the game mechanics to the modern day world of 1983-1985 in the DC Comics universe of the time, and a few other things. Peter was quite enamoured of the Attribute Points system, loving how APs basically converted from one unit to another and thus could be used for measuring time, distance, temperature, speed, and various other elements. And then we moved on to character creation.
Character generation in the DC Heroes RPG is a relatively straightforward, somewhat easy to get through process, but it does require a modicum of thought about one’s character, and the making of choices. And a bit of math... That said, half the fun of the character generation system for DC Heroes is going through the various steps and coming up with a character concept and style of character the player really likes and wants to play.
While I was going to run a campaign set against the background of the Legion of Super-Heroes and taking place at the Legion Academy just before the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, the players felt it would be simpler to start with character heroes for a modern-day campaign, set in the “present” of the DC universe (the mid-1980s for my purposes). It was a very interactive process between me and the players, with the others also helping Peter “visualise” what he wanted to play and give him some advice (as he was also one of the few players who had only read the Marvel Comics back in his younger days). The characters that the Friday night players created for the DC Heroes RPG are an interesting, somewhat eclectic mix, to say the least. Here's what the Friday night players have got.
*****
KathyB - She decided she wanted to create a Spider-Man-like character for the DC universe, and called her the Webslinger. The character has the powers of Cling and Danger Sense, as well as Glue and Snare for her webslinging (no Gadgets for Kathy here!) as well as Scientist and Artist (Photographer). The character gained her powers from the bite of a radioactive spider (what else?? :)) and is still learning her abilities.
Angela - She had a tougher time deciding what she wanted to play, having several character concepts in mind, but eventually settled on Grounder. The character has Earth-based powers (notably Life Sense, Joined, Earth Control and Earth Animation). A student in England, Emily St. Johns was on a trip to one of the minor henges when she fell afoul of a group of cultists. Their ritual attempts backfired, and Emily gained the powers of the Earth from a spirit that she calls "Atansa". Lovely stuff.
Ellie - My goddaughter knew exactly what she wanted. She created the heroine Pyroclasta, with the powers of Flight, Flame Being, Flame Control and Flame Immunity. The character is a high school chemistry teacher who had a lab accident, and gained her unwanted powers.
Mark - He kind of surprised me with his power choices, as he decided to take a character with a mystical bent to him. He created the character of The Shill :), with the powers of Animate Objects and Animate Images. A practicing magician and fortune teller (he took the Occultist Skill), David Carillon comes from a family that passes on supernatural abilities derived from a deal with a demon centuries ago in the male line. He also has a sideline as a bit of a thief.
Peter - I was worried about what he might take and whether he’d have a cohesive character, but I needn’t have been concerned. Peter kept it simple, and created Green Bolt, a super-hero with the powers of Flight, Energy Blast, Energy Absorption, and Force Shield, all of which are based unsurprisingly on electricity. All of his powers have a greenish energy tinge to them, not surprising given the hero name he chose. His work as a linesman for the local electric company, he was involved in a major accident when lightning struck the pole he was working on and he gained these amazing powers.
*****
All in all, an interesting group of characters with a lot of potential if I were running a modern-day game, and the players had a good deal of fun with the process (especially juggling the Factor Costs), and really did a good job of giving their characters a little bit in common, so that they don't start in the gaming void of not knowing each other. While they didn't struggle with any of the game elements per sé, Peter (and two of the others) admitted to having a difficult time doing the math a bit, and trying to pick some Limitations and Drawbacks to counter the APs spent on the stuff he wanted. Overall, the players quite liked the character generation system for the DC Heroes RPG, and are now looking forward to the next session when they create their Legion Academy characters (with much fewer Attribute Points to play with) in a couple of weeks.
For that matter, so am I! :)