Barnum

Hello! Terrific site. I love that you are taking on this idea. I'll be watching with great interest. We have just finished up our second year of running a game similar to what you're attempting here, though admittedly, our format is less player-driven (GM input and player input are about equal in our game). We have 3 GMs and 21 regular players (5 of whom are villains). I am interested in what innovations you guys come up with here, so that I can perhaps improve on what we are doing. Anyway, since you are taking suggestions, let me add to what's been said here with some of my experiences: Additional Power Combos to Watch: -Impervious. In a game like the one you're suggesting (and like ours), where lower PL characters and higher PL characters regularly interact, high levels of the impervious extra can suck the life out of an encounter for the lower PL characters, especially if you allow trade-offs. We ended up with a bit of an "arms race," with everyone buying impervious on their toughness and everyone taking ranks of penetrating. -Luck. In a game where the players control the pace, you (the referees) should expect that in every combat the participants will be at full strength with all of their Hero Points (1 + ranks of Luck). In fact, in a game where the players control the frequency at which they have to fight, there is no good reason not to pile on the luck. Some Things to Consider: -Since we're on the subject of Hero Points, you will need a very precise definition of what marks the "end of a session/adventure" with respect to when HPs recycle. Every new thread? When the refs say so? -Also, the "number of posts" method of awarding PPs just won't work given the differences in posting styles. You may very well have great writers getting on two or three times a week and writing a wonderful full-page of descriptive prose. You may also have two players get on in one evening and carry on a conversation a line at a time, thus making 20 or so posts in a few hours. Whatever the criteria you decide on for awarding PPs, it should be very specific. I would strongly recommend you avoid the "the referees will just eye-ball it" method. PPs are a reward that players should know specifically how to work toward, and PPs should reward the things you want to be happening in the game. -You will also need a way to monitor the basic passage of time, not minute by minute of course, but some threads/stories may need to advance a month or so of game time in a week of real time, and in other threads, months of real time may pass while only a few hours of game time passes. We have "resync" schedules (about 5 a year), where everyone needs to wrap-up their threads, post a "catch up" post so that everyone gets back on the same time. It doesn't work perfectly, but it does work pretty well. -Since not every challenge is appropriate for every hero group, if referees do run scenarios that will contain characters over which they had character-creation input, some players will end up not having any fun at all (like the mentalist who tries to play in the "all the bad guys are robots" scenario). Players should be given some heads-up as to the fitness of their particular concept to any given scenario, and referees should have the ability so reject players from their specific scenario if they just aren't appropriate. Anyway, I hope that helps. Good luck. I'm very excited about what you're trying here, and am watching with great interest.

Hello! Terrific site. I love that you are taking on this idea. I'll be watching with great interest. We have just finished up our second year of running a game similar to what you're attempting here, though admittedly, our format is less player-driven (GM input and player input are about equal in our game). We have 3 GMs and 21 regular players (5 of whom are villains). I am interested in what innovations you guys come up with here, so that I can perhaps improve on what we are doing. Anyway, since you are taking suggestions, let me add to what's been said here with some of my experiences: Additional Power Combos to Watch: -Impervious. In a game like the one you're suggesting (and like ours), where lower PL characters and higher PL characters regularly interact, high levels of the impervious extra can suck the life out of an encounter for the lower PL characters, especially if you allow trade-offs. We ended up with a bit of an "arms race," with everyone buying impervious on their toughness and everyone taking ranks of penetrating. -Luck. In a game where the players control the pace, you (the referees) should expect that in every combat the participants will be at full strength with all of their Hero Points (1 + ranks of Luck). In fact, in a game where the players control the frequency at which they have to fight, there is no good reason not to pile on the luck. Some Things to Consider: -Since we're on the subject of Hero Points, you will need a very precise definition of what marks the "end of a session/adventure" with respect to when HPs recycle. Every new thread? When the refs say so? -Also, the "number of posts" method of awarding PPs just won't work given the differences in posting styles. You may very well have great writers getting on two or three times a week and writing a wonderful full-page of descriptive prose. You may also have two players get on in one evening and carry on a conversation a line at a time, thus making 20 or so posts in a few hours. Whatever the criteria you decide on for awarding PPs, it should be very specific. I would strongly recommend you avoid the "the referees will just eye-ball it" method. PPs are a reward that players should know specifically how to work toward, and PPs should reward the things you want to be happening in the game. -You will also need a way to monitor the basic passage of time, not minute by minute of course, but some threads/stories may need to advance a month or so of game time in a week of real time, and in other threads, months of real time may pass while only a few hours of game time passes. We have "resync" schedules (about 5 a year), where everyone needs to wrap-up their threads, post a "catch up" post so that everyone gets back on the same time. It doesn't work perfectly, but it does work pretty well. -Since not every challenge is appropriate for every hero group, if referees do run scenarios that will contain characters over which they had character-creation input, some players will end up not having any fun at all (like the mentalist who tries to play in the "all the bad guys are robots" scenario). Players should be given some heads-up as to the fitness of their particular concept to any given scenario, and referees should have the ability so reject players from their specific scenario if they just aren't appropriate. Anyway, I hope that helps. Good luck. I'm very excited about what you're trying here, and am watching with great interest.