Campaign-Style Play

[Grimmshade]

First off, Grimmshade, I never got back to you. How did you handle those unlocks? Did they give bonuses to set rolls, act as special power sets, or what?

--Crion

Here are some mechanical examples of unlocks from my home game.

10xp - Pig & Cat (My wife's character owns a pig and a cat...) - With the animals present, step up an animal stunts off specialties by +1.

15xp - Queen in hell - Change a Distinction to “Queen in Hell.”, Add a d6 Doom Pool and step up “demonic” Covert or “Followers” Combat resources by +1.

15xp - Demon Magic - Study under demons and with ancient tomes to gain the Mystic Specialty at Expert level.

5xp - finding a cause - Change Distinction “Something to prove” to “Mutant Activist” or similar.

5xp - You have a contact either in the X-Men, or in the Brotherhood.
10xp - The contact can get you in touch with one of the big names from the group.
+10xp - If your group is the X-Men, contact and train under Emma Frost. Step up either Mental Blast or Mind Control +1, for a price.

[Drudenfusz]

Has anyone found characters growing too powerful in a campaign-style game?

Too Powerful? In system that allows one to play most powerful characters from the start? Honestly, I have never seen a character I thought that was too powerful. In most games I give my players at least twice as much XP as the game tells me the maximum should be. I am all for powerful characters in the hands of the players, so I am not worried how much XP players get in MHR (but it feels weird to me that I haven't the urge to increase the amount of XP my players will get... haven't started yet, but guess I will find out soon how the campaign will go).

[Crion]

Here are some mechanical examples of unlocks from my home game.

10xp - Pig & Cat (My wife's character owns a pig and a cat...) - With the animals present, step up an animal stunts off specialties by +1.

15xp - Queen in hell - Change a Distinction to “Queen in Hell.”, Add a d6 Doom Pool and step up “demonic” Covert or “Followers” Combat resources by +1.

15xp - Demon Magic - Study under demons and with ancient tomes to gain the Mystic Specialty at Expert level.

5xp - finding a cause - Change Distinction “Something to prove” to “Mutant Activist” or similar.

5xp - You have a contact either in the X-Men, or in the Brotherhood.
10xp - The contact can get you in touch with one of the big names from the group.
+10xp - If your group is the X-Men, contact and train under Emma Frost. Step up either Mental Blast or Mind Control +1, for a price.

Thanks for that input! That gives me some ideas to promote unlocks in my session.
Just a couple quick thoughts:
1) For training by Emma Frost, I assume the "For a Price" is an in-game, RP-based price, or something else?
2) You mentioned before about unlocking a scythe. A player of mine mentioned potentially breaking out a spirit-based weapon on an old sorcerer character as an unlockable (not as a power set), so I'm curious if they were along the same line.
3) I assume a good bit of those unlocks are just RP-themed ways of getting the permanent boosts?

Too Powerful? In system that allows one to play most powerful characters from the start? Honestly, I have never seen a character I thought that was too powerful. In most games I give my players at least twice as much XP as the game tells me the maximum should be. I am all for powerful characters in the hands of the players, so I am not worried how much XP players get in MHR (but it feels weird to me that I haven't the urge to increase the amount of XP my players will get... haven't started yet, but guess I will find out soon how the campaign will go).

*throws a d8 into the Doom Pool*

I've run far too many games where the goal of most players was to get the highest capabilities and go from there. What I like about most cinematic (and more thematic) games is the slower progression; it doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's huge and well-timed.

Taking some of the sample characters into account, I wonder how long it would take for their powers to be only at d12, with various reasons as to why new power belong into the set in the first place.

Anyway, I like the idea of having competent and very powerful characters, but I don't really see a huge shift in the characters of the Marvel Universe unless something dramatically appropriate occurs. Usually, a power set changes slightly, or gets replaced, but seldom does it truly improve in the game mechanics sense.

As my current party is already looking at breaking out their own custom characters, many of them with a specialty power (or powers) at d10, I'm looking forward to that RP-based progression and unlocks instead of simply "I save up enough XP for a boost. . .now what?"

[nohspeak]

I'm starting an ongoing campaign in a much different way, though one that is familiar to any Video Game RPG players.

Players will start with one self created character and use XP they earn from session to session to advance their rookie and to "unlock" more player characters that are only accessible to them. During the initial event they start as humans and we discuss what their background is, then I throw them into a situation where they are suddenly given powers (e.g. A giant space rock lands in downtown El Paso and transforms everyone in the vicinity into Super Powered Beings. The stories for these characters naturally progress out of the questions from this initial event...what bad people also got powers? where did these rocks come from? Are there more of them? Was this intentional? etc. )

We will still play the released events, but players will only be able to play Pre-existing Marvel characters one time unless they unlock them through XP after the event ends e.g. Player 1 chooses Wolverine for the "Breakout" event. In all future sessions Wolverine will not be an option for that player unless he pays the 12 experience to unlock him. This forces players to choose different characters for each event. Preventing stagnation (hopefully), and forcing players out of their comfort zones.

Here is the highly subjective mechanic for how this will work. I am giving all datafiles/characters a die Ranking according to their relative importance/power level, just like Power Sets: D4-D12. The easiest way to do this is just look at Power Sets and Specialties. If a character has a D12 Godlike ranking for anything. Then they are ranked D12 and cost 12 experience (or double it to 24, if you want it to be more of a challenge unlocking characters)

I'll probably use a more nuanced (read: biased) approach ranking each character according to my own prejudices. Armor is a D8 at most. Black Panther, Captain America, Daredevil are all D10's. Thor, Hercules, Hulk, Silver Surfer are all D12's.


D4 characters are human. With no Super Powers or special training.

D6 characters are either highly trained humans or newly created/inexperienced Super Powered Beings (D-List characters like Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Doug Ramsey...all of my Players' initial characters )

D8's are a lot of the B-List characters like Alpha Flight, X-Factor, New Warriors (obviously there may be exceptions all over the place that you can change or not change as you and your players see fit. In fact I'll probably rank characters with all my players in our first session.)


At the end of the first session let's say Player 1 now has 8 XP left that he did not use in game. He has a number of options.
1. He could save it for next session, keeping only the new character datafile he created and starting with any Marvel character besides Wolverine in the next event. (He's hoping to end the next session with enough to purchase Wolvie)

2.He could spend the 8XP to unlock Armor (or another D8 character) as his own personal character whom no one else can play.

3. He could step up his own character from a D6 to a D8 describing some events/training/power boosts that his character undergoes between this game session and the next.

4. He could purchase a D8 Character and step it down into 2 new D6 characters from scratch.

you see how this works then.

Each player then has the option of using any of his characters "troupe" style in future events. Other players cannot use his characters (unless perhaps if that player is not in attendance that game session). If another player REALLY wants to use Wolverine, then you can allow him to purchase Age of Apocalypse Wolverine, or Daken, or X-23 instead. The end result being each player with a "team" of Heroes to choose from for each Event and the ongoing story.

To address a few of your other issues I'll also have the following standard "Heroic Milestones" present in all events.

1XP When you save a Non-Player Character's life or apprehend a human criminal(s)

3XP When you bring a Super-Villain to justice (apprehend and hand over securely to the authorities)

XP equal to your character's die rating stepped up by one when you sacrifice your character's life in spectacularly heroic fashion or when you turn to the dark side (give up your character to the Watcher to become a villain) in a way that makes the story really dramatic and cool.

(This final one can only be triggered when a character is on the brink of being stressed out, or taking lots of trauma.) Also Plot Points would have to be spent, depending on how powerful the effect the player intends.

Character's killed or turned into villains can be revived/rescued by any player who wants to spend the XP to unlock them, but also an entire event must be built around retrieving them from Mephisto's realm or whatever. Until this is done, they're dead (or bad) and no player may play as that character.


sorry, that was long...what do you guys think?

[Shingen]

To me, the expenditure of Xp can be modeled on the comics.

For example, specialties are bought and increased over time, because those are regular skills like people have and can be improved.

Powers, on the other hand, should remain mostly static. What should change, though, are SFX. While in the comics most powers don't keep getting better, the characters do often learn how to use them in different ways. So I think both SFX and specialties should be fair game for XP increases, although I would have to see the math long term also.

For powers, I would require something akin to old school AD&D training between levels. If you have Element Control d8, and you want d10, that is a big step up. You need to find more power and get finer control, etc. So I would expect the player to buy the new level, and then have to go a certain series of missions building it up and smoothing it out, and spending off screen time training and studying. If it has an investment in time as well it would feel more natural.

If they wanted an all new power, I would do the same. Buy it first, and we will discuss what it is, etc. And then over the course of the game I would add scenes and such that involve that character finding a new power, or expanding it, and come up with ways to build and develop the new power in play over time. So eventually the character could have new powers, but they wouldn't just pop up over night.

[Mystrich]

Has anyone found characters growing too powerful in a campaign-style game?

Too Powerful? In system that allows one to play most powerful characters from the start? Honestly, I have never seen a character I thought that was too powerful.

Yes, but power levels are set by die size. It takes only a few game sessions, and Spiderman can suddenly arm wrestle Thor without a problem, despite Thor being one of the physically strongest characters in the game and truly in the Marvel universe. Hell Black Widow could even become stronger than Thor with only a few game sessions where she hit milestones. I'm guessing that's what he meant by too powerful, not necessarily too strong to meet challenges (though if your players are rolling a d10 affiliation, d8 distinction, 2d12 from powers, and d10 master specialty for every situation, there's little that can challenge them then too).

[EldritchFire]

I think one thing to keep in mind is that most XP expenditures are "reset" after each event. Sure, Spidey can spend all his gained XP for d12 strength,but the next event, he's back to d10.

Also remember Your character's "theme." Is Spidey supposed to be that strong? No, so why does the player insist on upping Spidey's strength all time? For example, I have a player who made his own hero, and he is ex-Air Force, and his powers make him a living fighter jet. It was a conversion from the FASRIP game, so he gave his char godlike strength. I just asked him, "Why would a living fighter jet need that Strength score?" We went back and forth and decided to give him enhanced strength d8 with a SFX that allows him to activate an opportunity to step up his Str to d10.

Just my 2¢.

-EF

[gebeji]

I think one thing to keep in mind is that most XP expenditures are "reset" after each event. Sure, Spidey can spend all his gained XP for d12 strength,but the next event, he's back to d10.

Duh !? And where is that stated in the OM exactly ?

@nohspeak I like your idea for basic Heroic Milestones, although something less extreme might be better at the 10XP level, like : When you unravel the current story plot and foil the villain's plans OR when you fall short of expectations and allow the villain to win the day.

[Dunlaing]

I think one thing to keep in mind is that most XP expenditures are "reset" after each event. Sure, Spidey can spend all his gained XP for d12 strength,but the next event, he's back to d10.

Duh !? And where is that stated in the OM exactly ?

@nohspeak I like your idea for basic Heroic Milestones, although something less extreme might be better at the 10XP level, like : When you unravel the current story plot and foil the villain's plans OR when you fall short of expectations and allow the villain to win the day.

OM109 says:

After the close of the Event, something new comes along. You might exchange hero datafiles with another player, grab a new one, or play the same hero next time. Likely, your hero starts over, with a brand new datafile prepared for the new Event.

So, technically, Spidey has a new Datafile at the start of the next event. Of course, it's up to your group whether that new Datafile has Superhuman Strength or Godlike Strength. But the way the rules are written, if you played Spidey in Breakout and bought his Strength up to Godlike, and the next Event you played was Civil War, you're just supposed to grab the Spidey Datafile from the Civil War Event and use that. And that Datafile certainly doesn't have Godlike Strength.

[EldritchFire]

I think one thing to keep in mind is that most XP expenditures are "reset" after each event. Sure, Spidey can spend all his gained XP for d12 strength,but the next event, he's back to d10.

Duh !? And where is that stated in the OM exactly ?

@nohspeak I like your idea for basic Heroic Milestones, although something less extreme might be better at the 10XP level, like : When you unravel the current story plot and foil the villain's plans OR when you fall short of expectations and allow the villain to win the day.

It's not said specifically that way in the OM, but Cam confirmed it here.

I'll admit, I didn't understand at first either.

-EF