Getting my nephew into roleplaying via CAH!

[urbwar]

So my nephew has wanted to learn how to roleplay for a few years now. I chose to wait until he turned 13, since that was the age I first played D&D (oh so many moons ago). I gave him a choice of 3 games to choose from: BESM, CAH and Feng Shui. After thinking about it for about 5 days, he decided he wants to play CAH. When I asked him what kind of game he was interested in, he told me he wants to do a superhero setting, along the lines of Static Shock. Tomorrow we sit down and discuss what kind of character he wants to make, some background stuff, etc, so I can sit down and start creating a series. This should be kind of interesting....

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

First of all, tell him I said he has great taste in games.  ;0)

Second of all, I'm glad to see that CAH can appeal to the younger crowd and not just us crusty old '80s fossils.  LOL.

Please let us know how everything goes.

[urbwar]

First of all, tell him I said he has great taste in games.  ;0)

I'll pass that along

Second of all, I'm glad to see that CAH can appeal to the younger crowd and not just us crusty old '80s fossils.  LOL.

Please let us know how everything goes.

Well, he and I watch alot of cartoons together. We used to watch Gargoyles all the time, and we both watch Justice League and Static Shock and X-Men Evolution together. Checked out the new Spiderman cartoon on MTV the other night too. So we can communicate ideas on what he and I want to do. His main problem is writing stuff down and details. He can think it, but when it comes to putting it down on paper, he has trouble. So I tend to help him write it out

Since I got your attention Cynthia, maybe you can give me a hand here.

We got some of the basics worked out so far. His character is a superhero named Blaze, who is a kid around his age. We did his appearance and Personality, discussed his powers, and came up with some story hooks. Do these sound appropriate in severity?:

Secret Identity (Blaze's real name is Gino Farelli)- moderate
Believes in the power of Justice- Major
Powers don't work in water, or versus flame retardent material- moderate
Takes double damage from cold based attacks- moderate

The other thing I could use help with is one of his powers. He wants a general purpose one for controlling fire. So he could light up charcoal/wood to start a fire, absorb fire (thus putting out a house on fire, etc), create a flare. I know it will be a misc SA. My thoughts on doing it falls to this:

Medium SA (4 CP), Duration 1D12 minutes (2 CP), Area of Effect (radius TBA). I figure at least 8 CP, maybe 10-12. Sound about right? I'm still iffy on the Misc SA's. His other powers will be easy (flight, a flaming shield, and a fire blast).

Oh yeah, and we came up with some cool, non-game affecting special effects for the character. When he is in his hero identity, his hair and eyebrows are flaming, and when he flies, his hair leaves a trail of flame behind him, and his eyebrows have flames coming off them as he flies. Pretty neat, huh?

[Eddy Fate]

Since I got your attention Cynthia, maybe you can give me a hand here.

We got some of the basics worked out so far. His character is a superhero named Blaze, who is a kid around his age. We did his appearance and Personality, discussed his powers, and came up with some story hooks. Do these sound appropriate in severity?:

Secret Identity (Blaze's real name is Gino Farelli)- moderate
Believes in the power of Justice- Major
Powers don't work in water, or versus flame retardent material- moderate
Takes double damage from cold based attacks- moderate

I'm not Cindi, but it looks good to me.  Just a point - if there is an SA that has Double Damage against flame, it doesn't add with the Story Hook (although he still gets access to experience, if you use it).

The other thing I could use help with is one of his powers. He wants a general purpose one for controlling fire. So he could light up charcoal/wood to start a fire, absorb fire (thus putting out a house on fire, etc), create a flare. I know it will be a misc SA. My thoughts on doing it falls to this:

Medium SA (4 CP), Duration 1D12 minutes (2 CP), Area of Effect (radius TBA). I figure at least 8 CP, maybe 10-12. Sound about right? I'm still iffy on the Misc SA's.

That's a good way to represent it.  Maybe a Rating to roll against for controlling the fire, instead of a duration?  Either method is perfectly acceptable - it depends on how your nephew envisions the power.  :-)

Oh yeah, and we came up with some cool, non-game affecting special effects for the character. When he is in his hero identity, his hair and eyebrows are flaming, and when he flies, his hair leaves a trail of flame behind him, and his eyebrows have flames coming off them as he flies. Pretty neat, huh?

Cool!

[urbwar]

I'm not Cindi, but it looks good to me.  Just a point - if there is an SA that has Double Damage against flame, it doesn't add with the Story Hook (although he still gets access to experience, if you use it).

Well, I was thinking sometime in the series he'd fight a villain with cold powers, so his weakness to cold would come out then

That's a good way to represent it.  Maybe a Rating to roll against for controlling the fire, instead of a duration?  Either method is perfectly acceptable - it depends on how your nephew envisions the power.  :-)

He just basically said he wanted a power to let him control fire, as I described it; he didn't really give me details.

I have some other thoughts on the game so far. I was thinking of calling the series "Blaze of Glory". We also said that when he changes into his costume, the song "Disco Inferno" would play in the background (so each time he changes, "Burn Baby Burn" would be heard in the background, lol)

[Eddy Fate]

Well, I was thinking sometime in the series he'd fight a villain with cold powers, so his weakness to cold would come out then

Oh totally.  I'm just saying that if you made the villain's SAs with the Double Damage modifier against flame, it probably wouldn't add up to QUADRUPLE damage.  :-)

I have some other thoughts on the game so far. I was thinking of calling the series "Blaze of Glory". We also said that when he changes into his costume, the song "Disco Inferno" would play in the background (so each time he changes, "Burn Baby Burn" would be heard in the background, lol)

Sweet!  That sounds very cool!

[urbwar]

Oh totally.  I'm just saying that if you made the villain's SAs with the Double Damage modifier against flame, it probably wouldn't add up to QUADRUPLE damage.  :-)

I hadn't even thought of adding in a double damage modifier. I figured the story hook weakness would be more than enough in itself. From our discussion yesterday, my nephew will probably be taking a few average stats (to represent that he is a teen), though I am thinking he should take higher trait ratings for ranged attacks (maybe even a specialty for his flame attack)

I have some other thoughts on the game so far. I was thinking of calling the series "Blaze of Glory". We also said that when he changes into his costume, the song "Disco Inferno" would play in the background (so each time he changes, "Burn Baby Burn" would be heard in the background, lol)

Sweet!  That sounds very cool!

Yeah, he and I got a good laugh out of that part, but since we are from NYC, and italian american, poking fun at Saturday Night Fever seems so appropriate lol

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Wow!  I look away for a few minutes and this thread erupts.  LOL.

Everything sounds great to be honest.  I agree with Eddy that a rating might be appropriate for the flame SA.

As for the "Takes double damage from cold based attacks" Hook, I would personally just say that he suffers additional damage and rather than inflicting more Hurt Points, allow him to roleplay out the additional effects Maybe he stumbles around the next turn or immediately falls to the ground -- that kind of thing.  Just a thought.  :)

[urbwar]

Wow!  I look away for a few minutes and this thread erupts.  LOL.

Yeah, Eddy and I have been chatting all day about this :-)

Everything sounds great to be honest.  I agree with Eddy that a rating might be appropriate for the flame SA.

Ok. I re-read that section, and I agree that it makes sense

As for the "Takes double damage from cold based attacks" Hook, I would personally just say that he suffers additional damage and rather than inflicting more Hurt Points, allow him to roleplay out the additional effects Maybe he stumbles around the next turn or immediately falls to the ground -- that kind of thing.  Just a thought.  :)

That sounds like a good way to play it

[urbwar]

Ok, got another specific question.

One of the Blaze's story hooks is that his powers don't work in water, or if he was covered in something that retards flame (ie like a fire extinguisher's foam). Would I include this as a disadvantage when designing the SA's themselves? I was considering adding this into the point costs for the Flame Blast, Fire Shield, and his flight, but not to the fire control power (since you rarely have a flame on water, unless you count oil fires, etc).

Would this be appropriate, or just leave that to the story hooks?

[Eddy Fate]

Ok, got another specific question.

One of the Blaze's story hooks is that his powers don't work in water, or if he was covered in something that retards flame (ie like a fire extinguisher's foam). Would I include this as a disadvantage when designing the SA's themselves? I was considering adding this into the point costs for the Flame Blast, Fire Shield, and his flight, but not to the fire control power (since you rarely have a flame on water, unless you count oil fires, etc).

Would this be appropriate, or just leave that to the story hooks?

Honestly, either way works, but if you build them into the SAs, they remain SA specific, and you get CPs back as well.

[Valamir]

I have some other thoughts on the game so far. I was thinking of calling the series "Blaze of Glory". We also said that when he changes into his costume, the song "Disco Inferno" would play in the background (so each time he changes, "Burn Baby Burn" would be heard in the background, lol)

Then you can have the villain be from New Jersey and whenever Blaze is getting his butt creamed you can have that old Bon Jovi song playing...;-)

[urbwar]

Honestly, either way works, but if you build them into the SAs, they remain SA specific, and you get CPs back as well.

That's one of the reasons I asked. If I could shave some cp points that he could use elsewhere, I would

[Eddy Fate]

Honestly, either way works, but if you build them into the SAs, they remain SA specific, and you get CPs back as well.

That's one of the reasons I asked. If I could shave some cp points that he could use elsewhere, I would

Then go for it.  :-)

[urbwar]

Then go for it.  :-)

Ok, I will :-)