Playing an event it's not playing a planned plot!

[adam]

Hello everyone! New guy here. While me and my friend are waiting for our paper copies of the game to arrive, we occasionally argue about MHR; he says that he has no interest in playing an event built on comic story arcs because it's like playing with a planned plot with a story that's already happened. While I totally want to play custom events, I also really like the idea of rewriting a canonic event just to have it my own way, but it seems I really can't explain him how he's wrong. He even compared the game in a negative way to Montsegur 1244 (strange thing since he liked a lot that game!)

Can you help me here? Someone with ideas clearer then mine can explain him that playing with an official event isn't playing a planned plot?

[edit: typos]

[mocachild]

Really every time you play an Event that is from a Comic Event like Breakout or Civil War you are really creating your own "What If?" comic book. You are in effect creating your own multiverse reality; so while it is similar in scope the Event plays out very very different than the comic.

You can also use the Event as an outline and make whatever changes to it that you want to customize it and give it a completely original feel.

[MidnightBlue]

As I've sort of said in another thread or two, I look at an Event book as simply providing me with setting material.

I have no interest in replaying, exactly, what I read in the Civil War comics. However, I think an original campaign happening at the time of Civil War and with the political and social strife that is taking place could be a great game.

If the players wanted to run original characters or even take established characters out of their roles in the established Civil War storyline, then I could see moving the game away from the comic book's established action.

Maybe I plop the group that we are using down in Arizona...away from the craziness and chaos of New York.

The team decides that they want to fight crime around Phoenix.

I ask...are you Registered heroes?

If so...maybe I saddle them with a government overseer and the game revolves around the friction between doing what the players feel is right and how the government tries to use them. How do the PC's react when they are tasked with arresting an unregistered hero? What if they have to let a villain escape justice when they are told that arresting the hero takes priority?

If no...maybe I come up with a SHIELD arch nemesis and mob teams trying to track down and arrest the PC's all while they are dealing with a villain arch nemesis at the same time. Talk about a two-front war! How do they react when a registered hero tries to bring them in?

And that's only the beginning of the options available in a Civil War era campaign and none of it has to follow the established storyline if you don't want it to.

[adam]

gee, I'm embarassed, I did not reply until now because I was totally sure I had activated email notifications on this topic! I hope this is not considered necro-posting.

The handbook just arrived so I passed to see what was happening in here... Well, thank you both, I really appreciate your effort, I will redirect my friend to this topic hoping he will understand what you were saying!

[MidnightBlue]

gee, I'm embarassed, I did not reply until now because I was totally sure I had activated email notifications on this topic! I hope this is not considered necro-posting.

The handbook just arrived so I passed to see what was happening in here... Well, thank you both, I really appreciate your effort, I will redirect my friend to this topic hoping he will understand what you were saying!

If he doesn't, have him feel free to discuss his issues with the community here.

Goodness knows that I love to chat up anyone about these great games.

[Spatula]

I don't think the published events are any different than playing through a well-known D&D adventure like Tomb of Horrors or Temple of Elemental Evil. The relationship between the two is different - the gamer stories told about those dungeons are based on the published adventure, whereas the published event is based on a particular comic book story. But it's the same idea. The comic story is like one group's experience with the event. Your group will almost certainly have a different experience with it - you'll probably have a different cast, and the random nature will change what happens even more.

[MidnightBlue]

I'm actually intending to use the Civil War material like I would a campaign setting book...like, say "Forgotten Realms Campaign Book."

No matter what other goodies will be under the hood of the book, I'll at least have a decent understanding of the setting to run any original game I want in the spirit of "Big Brother is Watching!"

Heck...I could see using the setting info and roleplay ideas to do a Checkmate/OMAC storyline for a DC campaign.

Tons of possibilities here...

[Stacie_Winters]

create your own Events and settings. I know after I run a few sessions of a modern Marvel game I am going to shift to a Galactic Marvel game set in the 25th century in space.

[MidnightBlue]

create your own Events and settings. I know after I run a few sessions of a modern Marvel game I am going to shift to a Galactic Marvel game set in the 25th century in space.

The Annihilation Event book might give you some help on that front when it comes out.