Smallville Pathways System

[MidnightBlue]

Smallville...I loved the TV show. When I heard that both a DC Universe RPG and a Smallville RPG were releasing the same year, I was very surprised that Smallville wasn't just going to be a sourcebook add-on to the DC game...like a campaign world for running young-heroes.

I am SOOOOO glad that Smallville came out as it did instead.

The way Cortex Plus works in Smallville...I'd never seen a system that was BUILT around creating and roleplaying drama like this. It was a great find for me in my love of new and original RPG systems.

But what grabbed me most of all...the Pathways creation system.

Just before I started seeing some of the preview material, I'd been having a discussion with my online/PDF group about how I was disappointed that we didn't spend more time creating indepth and related backgrounds between our PC's and the game world...something that a GM could use to build character specific scenarios.

Then I saw the Pathways rules...and there it was...like a prophet coming down from the mountain with a couple of tablets in his hands (yes...drama queen).

Was character creation easy? From a guy that did a trial run with six characters through the full Pathways system all by myself...no, definitely not easy...it took time and thought. You couldn't just throw a dice pool around a few times and be ready to play. You couldn't just make a character on your own and just show up to the session ready to go. The group had to work together to make their characters.

But when it was done...wow...was it worth it!

The Watcher was ready to start building stories that could directly tie to the important aspects of each character...and you could have main villains as part of your player group!

This was such a great addition to my colletion and I'm very thankful for MWP for giving this to me (literally speaking where the PDF is concerned).

Sadly, I haven't actually had the chance to play or run a game...just my character creation example...which was INVOLVED.

Is anyone playing Smallville now?

Are your groups kicking it up in Smallville or are they bringing meteorfreaks and metas to other locales? I had the idea of running an early/pre-Batman game in Gotham that I thought could be fun.

I've actually heard that there are groups using the rules for other drama-based TV properties, like Glee. At first, yeah, I balked at the idea. But now I can see that it makes sense.

What are you using the rules for?

[malachi666]

Hello Midnight,

I was just wondering how the Smallville RPG could interface with MHR? I haven't read the Smallville rules, but from your summary, I wonder if it would add depth?

Ideas?

[dvus]

I'm currently running a Smallville PbP game. It's been running for about 10 months now, and it's going strong. We're not using any of the characters from the show, or any DC characters at all. They haven't run into any meteor freaks, but that's because they're all focused on either Magic or Technology. ... Actually, I just remembered. I did introduce the first meteor freak in the newest Episode we started.

Smallville is my favorite game. I love it and the Pathways System is something that I really love about it, as well. It's full of options and flavor/fluff cues.

@malachi666 - Both Smallville and MHR run off the same base rules system (Cortex Plus), but they are both distinct games. That being said, you definitely could hack some parts of Smallville into MHR, and vice versa, but I'm not sure it's necessary. One idea I've been kicking around in my head is pulling the Smallville back and forth Contest over to MHR. So, instead of a single roll and a single reaction, both parties go back and forth until one can't beat the other's roll. However, I think dice rolling in MHR already takes long enough, so implementing that, while cool flavor-wise, may just end up making those Contests drag out, more.

Your questions has sparked a rather interesting idea, though. It could be cool to try and make a Pathways system for MHR. I think I'd use the random datafile generation as a base for that...

[MidnightBlue]

Hello Midnight,

I was just wondering how the Smallville RPG could interface with MHR? I haven't read the Smallville rules, but from your summary, I wonder if it would add depth?

Ideas?

Hey yourself!

Yeah...dvus has some good points on the two systems. They are similar, but designed for two different styles of play.

But that said...an MHR Pathways hack would be very interesting.

Though for me, the best parts of the Pathways system were in world building (Extras and Locations) and in determining relationships between the characters and world as well as the values that drive each PC.

I think you could take that part of the Pathways system as is without really needing to hack it much.

Just go through from Origin to an established point on the chart and add locations and extras as well as relationship tags as suggested onto the Pathways map.

I'd ignore any drives/asset additions except maybe as inspiration for your character's powers/specialties as well as helping you build your character's personality if you don't already have one in mind.

You could do a more complex hack that would actually work with Power/Specialty generation, but working it with just the aspects above will greatly help to add depth to a player generated world that the Watcher could then stat out as needed.

I know this isn't a very detailed suggestion, but off the top of my head, I think it could be a worthwhile exercise to build depth to your MHR campaign.

[MidnightBlue]

I'm currently running a Smallville PbP game. It's been running for about 10 months now, and it's going strong. We're not using any of the characters from the show, or any DC characters at all. They haven't run into any meteor freaks, but that's because they're all focused on either Magic or Technology. ... Actually, I just remembered. I did introduce the first meteor freak in the newest Episode we started.

Congrats! I hope it stays strong!

Yeah, the six-character Pathways exercise that I ran through by myself was seeing how well I could port over my original TSR Marvel Superheroes (and my first related villain) over to the Smallville system at least in concept.

It worked VERY well since I already had a basic concept in mind and the Pathways system required me to fill even MORE of these beloved characters' backgrounds and world than I had with years of roleplaying them!

A person can say anything they want about the Pathways system, but you can't say that it doesn't give you an indepth setting and character backgrounds ready to exploit.

[malachi666]

I'm currently running a Smallville PbP game. It's been running for about 10 months now, and it's going strong. We're not using any of the characters from the show, or any DC characters at all. They haven't run into any meteor freaks, but that's because they're all focused on either Magic or Technology. ... Actually, I just remembered. I did introduce the first meteor freak in the newest Episode we started.

Smallville is my favorite game. I love it and the Pathways System is something that I really love about it, as well. It's full of options and flavor/fluff cues.

Dvus any room in your game? I have been looking to work PBP into my gaming repetoire. I am limited to gaming exclusively online (via Fantasy Grounds).

[dvus]

Not in my Smallville game, sorry. I am collecting players for a Marvel game, if you're interested.

[malachi666]

I am interested.

[dvus]

So, I took this inspiration and ran with it. I've made a Pathways chart for Marvel. The thread is here.

[kimble]

dvus,

How did you make a pathway map? I believe that can be difficult without being at the same room as the other players. How did you draw it?

What rules did you change to make the PbB?