A superhero RPG

[John Wick]

[kwill]

aces as full pages are neat, but what about spreads or fold-outs? :grin:

quick question: is the comic layout model supposed to be strongly or not-so-strongly enforced? for example, do I have to wait for a page to be completed before playing an ace (ie, it can only be played where a real full-page panel could happen)

similarly, a player would be limited by the end of a page, perhaps being able to play only 1 or 2 panel action

if strongly enforced, a blank, panelled mini-comic of some sort would be a *very* helpful game aid

ron has mentioned previously that he used to run a supers game "by the comic book" in terms of pre-plotting; do you see that being something of a guide here? (I'm not familiar enough with the framework, but let's say there's usually a full page panel on page 10, if you're going for a comic feel it may be a good idea for the group to be aware of this kind of thing)

I think this kind of metagame restrictioning (or guidelining) would be interesting to work within

hey, this is also a great deconstructionist tool! pick up your favourite comic and figure out what cards were played! (damned deconstructionists)

[John Wick]

On 2001-11-08 07:25, kwill wrote:
quick question: is the comic layout model supposed to be strongly or not-so-strongly enforced? for example, do I have to wait for a page to be completed before playing an ace (ie, it can only be played where a real full-page panel could happen)

Strongly enforced. If you have an ace in your hand and it's the middle of a page, playing your ace is "wasting" it, but then again, if you need it right then and there, and it saves your super-butt, you really didn't waste it, did you?

if strongly enforced, a blank, panelled mini-comic of some sort would be a *very* helpful game aid

Count on it.

ron has mentioned previously that he used to run a supers game "by the comic book" in terms of pre-plotting

There's no real "format" I know of to writing comics. You look at an Alan Moore book, it has 9 panels per page. You look at a Frank Miller book, it usually has no more than 4.

I think this kind of metagame restrictioning (or guidelining) would be interesting to work within

I agree.
But then again, I like writing within structure. It isn't very popular these days (that whole "down with discipline" thing), but write, read and play like what you like and leave the rest alone. :smile:

[Mike Holmes]

Oh, hell yeah, you have to stick with the book format. And you should have to draw the comic as you go as well. Really terribly, if nothing else, and to keep pace, but definitely draw little stick men sending each other for loops. Serves as a record for post game. I'm seeing something like the little blue books for exams but with nine lightly demarked areas that can be more boldly outlined as the character uses them up. Or at least sheets to photocopy in the book.

No, really.

Mike

[Tim Gray]

We were recently playing a modern horror/mystery type game using the Castle Falkenstein rules, and we ran across something that would occur in your outlined system too: if you don't have any cards of the right suit, you're screwed and players tend to feel frustrated.

This could be even more dire in your version, as it looks like the trait itself plays no part in the result once it's given you a maximum number of cards to play. So Mr Mento, Master of the Mind, is targeted by Hypno-Bum's Mind Control power and wants to resist. Although the number of cards he could play is high due to his trait and power ratings, his hand of 10 cards contains none of the appropriate suit. So he succumbs, not because of his opponent's superior force but because his own power mysteriously fizzles out.

(I'm pretty sure this is what you outlined, but the forum software won't let me see it right now to check!)

One defence, presumably, is that you could use a Spade-fuelled plot alteration to escape instead.

I think it's more important than ever in the supers genre that PCs are not rendered arbitrarily helpless, given the focus on super-competent individuals. As written, you may be risking that.