Since I have been sharing long term plans this week, the next on the list is our next major RPG campaign. In a couple of months (possibly earlier), at least one of our Pathfinder campaigns will be coming to an end (Extinction Curse), and I expect the Carrion Crown campaign to conclude by the end of the summer. As such, this leaves a gap in our schedule, and several of the players have been asking about the next storyline.
In particular, the request has been for a more mature game – not necessarily adult in content, but more focused with serious roleplay gamers, rather than the arguably more “casual” gamers. This would have the benefit of reducing the group size (10 players is definitely a challenge), but also will help everyone become more invested in their character and the storyline, rather than just throwing away a character every few sessions.
For myself, my main goals are to reduce the player count (for the same reasons), try something other than Fantasy for a bit, and remove the challenges and hassles of a split live/remote group. Although having players available on Discord is workable, it has been a technical challenge at many stages. At this point, I am more interested in either everyone remote, or no one remote – and I much prefer the in-person format.
The result of these discussions is a move to Hero System for our next campaign, and specifically with a Super-hero themed story. Historically, that has been more Marvel instead of DC, if you understand the difference, but the world is not intended to be a mirror of the popular movies. Instead, I envision a unique universe, similar to our own, but with super powered individuals. For the players, none have played the system in a very long time, and only one has ever played the game – so if you are familiar with Hero, there is a notable learning curve. Adding Superheroes to the mix, where literally anything goes, will make that a challenge.
As a result, I am laying out the story in what seems to be a unique process for our group – everyone starts out as a normal person. I have directed all players to develop a concept – anything they want – as long as it is a human being that could exist today in the world. This gives everyone a frame of reference, and they can develop personality, backgrounds, concepts and motivations. From there, our Session 0 will be basic learning the world – how dangerous is dangerous? And over the first few sessions, they will begin to discover their abilities and powers, and the origin of the same. In other words, they will “evolve” into their characters, rather than having to generate a full character before the game. During events, they will discover new powers or abilities, and a few weaknesses more by trial and error rather than just from reading a sheet of paper. And I can advance the complexity at the speed the players can absorb, without overwhelming them with the crunch of the system.
Obviously, some autonomy is being lost from the players in this format, they have to trust that I can give them a reasonable combination. But the gain is the mystery and discovery, and how the common circumstances bind the group together with a common challenge. Powers themselves will be pseudo-random – I am selecting each style and set based on the standard tropes (brick, speedster, etc), but matching the powers to the character background in hopefully unexpected, but fully logical ways.
Of course, the storyline will be recorded and broadcast on the YouTube channel, if only so that we can laugh at ourselves years from now. But perhaps it will be the start of an epic new hero’s journey.
