{DitV] Dogs in New Hero City....

[Doc Blue]

Now, this post is going to reveal my nature biases in gaming, so bear with me....  ;)

I see that there has been discussion about Dogs in other Genres, has anyone put any thought into using DitV for Super Heroes in the Comic Book World genre?

This idea was one of the first that struck me when I read through the book.  By virtue of thier powers, Supers are the final authority.  Their Costume is their Coat.

It would require a shift in the escalation to remove guns and insert super powers and perhaps a shift in the Sins, but perhaps not.  I've not thought it all the way through, but since 'normals' don't have powers, perhaps they can't escalate damage upwards on 'supers' to the lethal level.

This is particularly attractive, because I am interested in a game where interpersonal relationships carry as much weight, if not more, as super-powered combat. I can see the 'Dogs' mechanic being useful for running a conversation between Parker Peterson (secretly the Jade Scarab) and his girlfriend Jane Marie - as well as - a high-level narrative based battle between the Jade Scarab and Professor Mantis.

Any thoughts?  Any suggestions as to how I might proceed (or not as the case may be?)

Thanks in advance!

[Eric Provost]

Hrm... A few thoughts from the top of my head:

Escalating to Guns in Dogs just means that you're really ok with killing the person your in conflict with.  So, with that in mind, what if, instead of putting Powers on the escalation chart, instead have each individual character's powers define what die of fallout is taken when used on someone?  

For instances:
Can leap over the tallest building:  d6 fallout
Lasers spring from my eyeballs:  d10 fallout
etc.

-Eric

[Doc Blue]

Technocrat - actually, your thoughts echo mine.  I imagined something like  
* Talking,
  * Non-Powered Physical,
    * Super Powers,
      * Combat/Lethal Super Powers

where Leaping Tall Buildings is a mere 'Super Power' and Laser Vision is a 'Combat/Lethal Super Power'.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I considered adding a category to push Lethal Super Powers up to d12, but my gut is that messes with the play-tested mechanic too much

[Eric Provost]

Hmm...

I still think it would be best if powers were left out of the escalation chain.  Entirely.

Let's say that I'm a player.  I want to create my hero with a power I call The Voice.  All the Voice lets me do is be Super convincing when I talk.  Should I have to escalate beyond physical to Super Powers when I'm still just conversing?

In Dogs, each level of escalation is directly tied to two attributes, and nearly-almost tied to a specific level of fallout.  Would Super Powers be all tied to the same two attributes, and would they all have the same level of fallout?  The non-lethal super-powers that is.

-Eric

[Doc Blue]

Okay, I see what you are saying now.

So, with that in mind, what if, instead of putting Powers on the escalation chart, instead have each individual character's powers define what die of fallout is taken when used on someone?

For instances:
Can leap over the tallest building: d6 fallout
Lasers spring from my eyeballs: d10 fallout
etc.

I had not thought of attaching the fallout to the powers.  That makes a lot of sense and messes with the overall mechanics less. Very good suggestion. Thanks for your patience in re-stating.

[WiredNavi]

Personally, I suggest that Powers, no matter what the type, should get that extra d4 that guns normally get.  Powers are weird, fantastic, and scary to the normals.  They set you apart and make people expect things of you, and they make you a target and reveal your secret identities.  In other words, Powers make things complicated.

[Lance D. Allen]

Interesting. The core mechanic would require little tweaking I think, but the whole "town building" would require some fairly heavy changes to work.

As I see it, crime in the super hero world is pretty cut and dried. The only thing that goes into shades of gray is motivations; Why is Professor Winter trying to ice the entire city? Is it because he just despises warmth, or is he convinced that it will somehow save his wife?

Without those sorts of motivations, the complicated, shades of gray situations that drive Dogs aren't really going to be possible. You'll have to allow for that, or find something else entirely to drive play.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

We're doing a "Peking Space Opera" with a Western tinge. Since wuxia martial arts are effectively indistinguishable from superpowers, take a look at what we've done and maybe it will help.

Note the fallout and the link to martial arts.

[Brian Newman]

I'm really interested in this, but I'm getting a 404 error on that wuxia game writeup.  Is there a new location for it?