Keys for a superhero game..

[nahualt]

Hello, can anyone give me some examples of keys for a Superhero/Villain setting?

[joshua neff]

Well, if you were GMing a superhero game, what kinds of superhero-ey things would you like to see players get points for? If you were a player in a superhero game, what kinds of superhero-ey things would you like to get points for?

[James_Nostack]

I'd suggest Key of the Impostor, Key of Vengeance, Key of Bloodlust, and Key of Glittering Gold from the text.  I think Clinton posted a link to the official list somewhere on this forum.  I'd also suggest Key of the Guardian for folks like Aunt May or Mary Jane, and maybe Key of Fraternity for a sidekick or "young ward."

You might also want to come up with Key of the Super Patriot (points for doing patriotical stuff), Key of the Brooding Anti-Hero (1 XP for moaning about your mysterious/tragic origin, 2 XP for scaring crooks, and 5 XP for doing stuff so egregiously disturbed that it makes the other players go "ick"), and maybe--depending on how your group handles issues of sexuality in comic books-- Key of Latent Homoeroticism and Key of Woman In A (Super)Man's World.

[shadowcourt]

I'd consider something like a Key of the Nemesis, which would provide experience points for sharing scenes with your arch-foes, though not necessarily thwarting them for every experience advance. Consider maybe 1 for simply interacting, 2 for uncovering more about them, and 5 for foiling their plans/facing their minions, etc. The buyoff seems fairly obvious. Key of the Guardian works nicely for more than just Aunt May-- consider the environmental superhero with a modified version of this Key. A Key which was linked to increasing your popularity or fame would be great for some media-savvy characters, but you might also want a Key which is geared more towards the science hero (who maybe gets experience points for new discoveries, inventions and plans which save the day, or just exploring the setting and all of its eccentricities more). For vigilantee characters the Key of Vengance, as was already stated, is an optimum choice, but what about a Key of Opposition to the polce, as well? These characters take the law into their own hands, and so giving them a Key which reflects the local law enforcement animosity could be interesting, if you want to make those conflicts an element of your game.

I guess the question posed by Joshua Neff is really a good one; what kind of game are you interested in running? Pulp? Noir? High adventure? What sort of classic superheroes would be right at home in this story you want to tell, and then expand out what their motivations might be. Keys are a great way to encourage players to interact with the setting in exactly the way you'd like them to; different ones would be appropriate for a Justice League style adventure than, say, Batman running around solo and fighting dangerous maniacs, which would even be different from a pulpy/Shadow style adventure, which is all completely different from (though possibly contained within) something which came more out of Warren Ellis' "Planetary."

Remember to keep in mind that the scaling nature of Keys seems to point to larger rewards for taking risks, doing exciting things, or placing yourself or things you care about in danger, so if you design new ones, think about the nature of the story, and how often your players are likely to run into the scenarios the keys are triggered by.