I just got
done reading a thread about the Hero system. As many threads eventually
go, it got somewhat ugly rather quickly, mostly because people post
things that provoke responses, whether the posting is done
intentionally or not. But that's not what I want to write about. One
good point from the thread is that it doesn't matter if a system
attracts certain kinds of players, what's more important is how your
group interacts with the system.
With my group I know that any system that gives you the freedom to
design your own character is going to be abused by certain players, for
good or ill. This is why I came up with random character generation
tables for my Star Trek game. This is also why I didn't want my players
to read the rules and design their characters from the rules for the DC
Heroes game. I wanted them to describe their characters and then I'd
create the crunchy bits for them.
That more or less failed, which is why I had to change, sometimes
radically, every character. That's my fault -- I rarely say no, I just
try to encourage certain behavior. So everyone created these characters
and they were trying to fill in holes so that as a party they would be
covered. Another fallacy since I want characters that are generalists
because you never know who will show up for a gaming session -- and if
the player isn't there the character isn't there.
Going into the first session I knew that I'd have a problem with Pick
and that Woo would be no problem, everybody else it depends. For Pick,
I don't think it's so much that he creates abusive characters -- and
for this game he consciously tried to create a supporting character --
but it's that he creates characters suitable for his style of playing.
Pick plays with a post-apocalyptic setting mentality: us against them,
law of the jungle, acquire resources.
Woo on the other hand plays uncomplicated characters. By that I mean he
rarely, if ever, plays sorcerers or mentalists or anything but basic
fighter types. He's definitely a good roleplayer, but his style is
supportive and subdued. He doesn't have to have the spotlight which I
appreciate, and he's also perfectly willing to take the ball and run
when I give it to him, which I also appreciate.
|
Shannon I also
knew there was going to be a problem. He's said he has three character
types -- but the things they have in common are that they tend to be
information or social people that deemphasize combat. Not that he
hasn't played combat fighters -- it's just that they're combat fighters
who talk a lot. Now one type of character that I hate gamemastering are
information types -- characters that can gather information with little
effort, such as characters with telepathy or precognition or who are
undetectable. It just makes it harder to plan an adventure.
Conversely, one reason why I'm less comfortable running Pick and
Shannon is that I feel that I have to raise the level. I have to play
against my style and I'm not good at it. I'm arbitrary, I play fast and
loose with the rules, I fudge a huge amount, I like to control the
situation, in short I don't run consistent physics. Now, the other
players don't notice it or don't care or understand that's the way I am
because I was that and more in the BattleTech campaign. But I know that
Shannon and especially Pick want to control their environment, they
don't want things happening just because "it forwards the plot". And
that's why I get nervous when I run because I keep thinking that I'm
running a game they inherently won't like.
Donald also has a problem character which I toned down some. But his
concept is an undetectable ghost -- can't be seen, heard, smelled, or
touched and can go through walls. Wow, talk about a character whom I
should just kill and save myself the headache. But I don't want to ruin
Donald's concept, especially since he takes so long coming up with one
in the first place. And he's willing to roleplay being less capable --
because of morality or whatever -- so it's a matter of him knowing when
to be abusive or not. A fine line in my adventures.
Fulton has the only other problem character (yeah, that's like half the
PCs). Rowe and Sweet have more or less straight up characters and
they're not around that much anyways. Fulton has a gadgeteer. The
problem with gadgets for me is that they give you a point break with
the drawback that sometimes you lose those gadgets. My problem is that
I don't like taking stuff from people so it's going to be a bit hard
for me to keep Fulton more or less in the same power level as the rest
of the PCs.
Which I guess doesn't really matter since I started up a Friday
session. Now I have Donald, Woo and Fulton getting twice as much
experience as everyone else. But I really need to actually run
adventures at a faster pace than is my wont. Otherwise this campaign
takes three years and at that rate I will never get to run all the
campaigns that I want to run in the next decade plus.
|