House rules and hacks...

[Doc Hydrogen]

First off, thanks for the great Marvel game Cam and others. It's a blast to play so far and I'm looking forward to more. And congrats on the forums, you'll be overloaded in no time.

The only house rule I've seen that I'm a fan of is allowing players to get 2 dice from their powers despite the number of power sets they have. The reason being players making characters in bizarre ways to get the second power set on a character that really doesn't have one.

The best hack I've seen so far is the D&D hack over on Critical Hits, which uses race and class as power sets, leaving everything else alone. Nice, clean, and simple.

[pksullivan]

Well, I might as well toss my hat into the ring. MHR and Mass Effect 3 hit about the same time. They've both been occupying my brain space so it was inevitable that the two would merge to spawn some unholy get that would wreak bloody vengeance upon the internet.

...too melodramatic and self-critical?

So here we go: my hack of the Marvel Heroic RPG for Mass Effect. And because I'm a masochist, I initially set out to convert the story from Mass Effect (just the first game) into a Marvel Heroic Event. That led to me making the hack and writing up character splats for Shepard's squad in the first game (plus my version of Shepard from my main run). Here is the outline for Act 1: Exposing Saren up on my blog. Feel free to click around and look at the other characters and my assorted ramblings. The boards here limit me to just two links, so just click around for the other stuff.

[Doc_Nova]

D&D hack sounds interesting...

As for house rules, our game has several.

First, we put in the Intellect power trait for those super genius types. We also included a Willpower and Stability power trait that acts as Stamina for Mental and Emotional stress (accordingly).

Second, we allow D6 ratings for all powers, including Strength and bump "normal" folk to D4s.

Third, our game will use Rookie level specialties.

We contemplated a counter-attack variant, but Grimmshade's wisdom eventually wormed its way into my head.

Fourth, we're working on a means to enable the shifting of stress to a Complication, as the general notion that "Blinded D6" is a lot more exciting than Stress D6. On that one, however, we are somewhat stymied due to the accelerated recovery time of Complications vs. Stress.

One possible workaround is Complications converted from Stress (usual PP cost to shift damage to another type) lasts for the scene, so it only fades when you shift to Transition scenes, or someother major narrative reason. This might make it too potent, however. Another option has been to use the above, but to also allow a reduction of the Complication either per round or per PP (personally, I am inclined toward the latter).

Oh, every player-created hero goes through a group consensus, to ensure all the characters operate dynamically and dramatically within a team (note, that does not say they must cooperate or get along).

On that notion, I have also disallowed characters to start with D12s in any power trait. First, that limits upgrading. Second, I have 9 players, if all of them could potentially throw D12+ stress each hit, conflict will be over before teamwork, set-ups, and the like really have a chance to be established.

[SomeDude]

We contemplated a counter-attack variant, but Grimmshade's wisdom eventually wormed its way into my head.

Any possibility of posting a link to this discussion?

[Doc_Nova]

Here's the link to our discussion about counter-attacks:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?616 ... ers/page51

While I do still see the possibility of the "opportunity-based" counter-attack, further reflection, some careful analysis of several comic movies and cartoons, and a bit of discussion with the other players in my group brought about the conclusion that keeping counter-attacks as-is would be more beneficial from a narrative standpoint than without. One of the biggest points that helped change my position was the realization that counter-attack effects, while they cannot be directly mitigated via durability, can be shifted to another stress track, or with the house rule our group is employing of allowing stress to be shifted to appropriate Complications (its how that Complication is recovered that we're currently debating).

My issue with counter-attacks never was their existence or the ease with which they allowed handling mobs of foes on a skilled hero, rather how it could potentially stack up against a single "boss" villain with no means of mitigation. Shifting stress actually helps with that tremendously. So does the fact that counter-attacks go both ways and, truthfully, the PCs will do more rolling, collectively, than the Watcher. Finally, if you apply the comparative "no way" assumption that the benchmarks elude to in the durability trait description, then lesser attacks require creative narration to produce effects, which really just helps support good cooperative story telling, which, in turn, makes for a more enjoyable game. And that's really the only part that matters.

[Supplanter]

What turned me around on counter-attacks - meaning, led me to embrace the rule as written - was considering the limit case of the outnumbered solo hero. e.g. Daredevil fights the Enforcers. The turn sequence could easily run

DD
Fancy Dan
Ox
Montana
-------
Montana
Fancy Dan
Ox
DD

If Daredevil can't do something to his opponents between the top of the first turn and the bottom of the second, he's SOL.


Jim

[Mouse]

I was recently posting something about this on Google+ in regards to a Vampire: the Masquerade hack. The idea was to really embrace the whole, "Supers with fangs," thing.

Affiliations were Mental, Social, and Physical. Sort of a shout out to the attribute categories.

I would allow d6s in all powers, even Strength and such. This would be to give supernatural beings a sort of baseline to compare with humans.

All vampires would get the basic physical powers for free, all at d6. This would be to represent spending blood points, physical Disciplines, etc.

Specialties would have a d6 rating as well, mostly so that humans had more stuff on their sheets.

Since I haven't had a chance to run this, that's all I've got for it. I'm really not sure I actually need much more than that. It should be simple enough to reskin some stuff to fit vampires better, without really needing to change more than the names of things.

[pksullivan]

If any of you have been following my Mass Effect hack, here's Act 2: Finding Liara (Therum)

[atminnie]

Shifting stress to complications could be interesting. Reminds me of how in FATE you can choose a consequence rather than lose health or composure. Of course the complications can still stack up against you, and it still costs a PP.

Another house rule someone has mentioned is allowing Stunts on Scene Distinctions. I rather like that one, just to give a bit of incentive to interact with Gawking Onlookers or Power Lines rather than just fall back on Wisecracker or Friendly Neighborhood Hero.

[Doc_Nova]

Another house rule someone has mentioned is allowing Stunts on Scene Distinctions. I rather like that one, just to give a bit of incentive to interact with Gawking Onlookers or Power Lines rather than just fall back on Wisecracker or Friendly Neighborhood Hero.

Ooohhh, I -really- like this idea! Consider it added to my above list!