A fully OC supers MU
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Yeah, I loved playing on them, so I'm thinking of standing one up.
I'm strongly considering an Academy style game where the PCs are students. I have a lot of world and lore already built. I love to run scenes, build stories, and do long plots.
I'm partial to the Mutants and Masterminds system for MU resolution, though I am reading a few other supers rulesets right now, because total dork.
How does that bounce off of people?
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Mutants and Masterminds is complicated AF, leads to really, REALLY long combat scenes, is the kind of thing you really need to know what you're doing to build an effective character, and in general is just kind of... great for tabletop, not so much for MUs, in my experience. Not without some tweaking to make it user friendly!
I played on an OC-only game that had that system, never really got above 8 players logged in at a time. The learning curve was just too steep.
A Sky High kind of setting is nice for mixing your teen drama with your superheroics, but I'd go for setting it in some fictional city, open up the amount of characters one can be. You already have a niche system, adding a niche theme on top of that would probably kill the game before it got started.
I've played a few OC-only games, enjoyed them, too! But the typical people who want to play superhero games don't also want to try and tackle a system so complicated it makes White Wolf blush, in my experience.
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I would really love to see an OC supers MU*.
I have given some thought to setting up something in a lesser-used setting, just to have some existing thematic infrastructure to fall back on, e.g. Astro City or the Valiant universe. I even played around a bit with the Valiant RPG to see how it might be suitable, since it's pretty lightweight.
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I am very much down for this. Especially if it's M&M 3e. I'd be happy to chip in to get this going, however I can; including paying for host space.
@BlondeBot : The newer Deluxe and Basic Hero's Handbooks have optional character generation where you pick a basic Archetype, then go through a quick 4 or 5 choice decision tree to flesh out the character & powers. And you're done in about 20 minutes real time or less. It's a very simple system to get you a fairly unique character that you want to play and fits your style/vision, getting you into the game quicker. Later, as you're more familiar with the system, you can go full point-buy on character generation, or just use the rapid generator system again; whichever you're more comfortable with.
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@Atomic I was She-Hulk on the original Crucible City, we were an all OC superhero game that used M&M. I've been looking for an all OC superhero game for forever.
I'm not a huge fan of superhero school setting style games, I'd prefer more of a big city or whole planet setting with your friendly neighborhood supers etc, but I'd still be happy with this given the OC superhero goodness. -
Which is more important to players? Describing their character in a set way, describing their character however they want with little effect, or fast combat?
I have a waggish sense of humor.
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@Misadventure Yes.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel Fast, Cheap, Good: Pick a maximum of two.
Oh fucking well.
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@surreality said in A fully OC supers MU:
Fast, Cheap, Good: Pick a maximum of two.
It's like the options at the local brothel.
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FYI.
There have been previous attempts at using M&M (at the time it was 2ed) for mushes, as well as the newer Margaret Weis MSHRPG system on superhero mushes. Both had issues maintaining a playerbase because the majority of superhero mushers are either used to (or prefer) the diceless/freeform "stat description" system.
While I love M&M and MSHRPG, you may want to poll or get an idea who would step across that picket line for an OC-only game. In my experience you may have high interest in the game idea, but choice of dice system or its complexity could hinder that.
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@Kay said in A fully OC supers MU:
@Atomic I was She-Hulk on the original Crucible City, we were an all OC superhero game that used M&M. I've been looking for an all OC superhero game for forever.
I'm not a huge fan of superhero school setting style games, I'd prefer more of a big city or whole planet setting with your friendly neighborhood supers etc, but I'd still be happy with this given the OC superhero goodness.I used to play on a mutant game on IRC, where instead of -just- a school, it was basically a whole city block structure that supportant mutants of all ages. It held apartments, ye ol' dinner, probably a school?
It would allllllllso be hilarious (if sticking with the school-specific-setting) to offer night classes for adult education. Open it up to some older characters without restricting them to teachers/staff at the school.
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I've seen DFRPG (based on Fate for those not familiar) be basically one-for-one swapped in for an OC super table top game without issue. The power sets already in place can describe just about any super power set out there and with OCs you don't have the problem of "but this FC is the best!"
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@WildBaboons said in A fully OC supers MU:
The power sets already in place can describe just about any super power set out there and with OCs you don't have the problem of "but this FC is the best!"
This is why FC-saturated places make me shy away. I remember one place a long time ago where it said, 'The Hulk is the strongest there is. Period. You can never beat the Hulk at anything strength related.' and it had stuff like that for other FCs as well. Just, no contest allowed.
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Would be nice to see an OC game.
A couple of thoughts. I think if the system is meaty, potential new folks lose some interest in a supers game (if an OC Champions game opened, I'd have no interest). Inversely, I think while stateless works/hadsworked, there are quite a few folks that want some dice, but more action (fast combat) oriented not loaded down in powers/feats/abilities. KISS - a system folks can grab easily without needing 3+ books to understand the mechanics is good. Simpler the better, which makes it hard with powers I know.
As for Sky High/Academy, this is what we did three'ish years ago with Coral Springs. But to be different it was in the water, not floating in the sky. It had a good run. That said, I think the city idea would be good. It could have some meta/mutie/Sky high but not be limited.
While you have a lot of lore ready to go, I'd ponder lessening it to simply the essential stuff. Let players build into the lore. You don't need a Legion of Doom (Villain group), but what's wrong with a player apping into the Academy side trying to do good despite Legion of Evil Parents being at their back. I'm thinking, and could be me, but in an OC game, players like to contribute that sort of stuff, its their char BG/development, but contributes to a growing OC world. Secondary to that, its good you have a solid basis of world but check for potential collaborators too, a few other sounding voices at least could help contribute to a theme more inclusive.
From Coral Springs, I can say there are plenty of imaginative players ready to play OCs, given the right tools to create what they want, just be ready to stick to guns on the weird/banned concepts (like if you don't want time manipulation or completely invulnerable).
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I am all for an OC heroes game, but yeah, got to be careful of what system you use. Anything too numbers-crunchy runs the risk of potentially keeping people away. Not sure what's new and/or improved, though. Am out of the loop, myself, but it looks like others are up to date with all the neat new systems out there. Keep us posted if you do this, please. Would love to check it out!
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I'm currently in love with Supers! Revised Edition. It's simple, fast-paced, and really easy to scale things with.
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The accessibility issue goes both ways. I know a dozen or so online M&M players that would be interested in joining a MU using the M&M system, but have no idea how to play on one in terms of a client, commands, etc.
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I suppose eventually I'll have to develope my Tiers System a little further. It basically posits that there are Tiers of power and you function, in areas, within them.
I'll write up more if I get some time in a bit.
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So, to out myself as a complete nerd:
I got started with Champions in the 80's -- Mutants and Masterminds, to me, seems like a speedy and streamlined(simple) combat resolution system, perfect for online use. Of the recent supers games I played on, those that used the system had pretty great playerbases, and there was that edge of spice you get when you cannot utterly predict an outcome(and usually no narrative arguments).
Additionally, I ran a lot of scenes. The biggest slowdown was never the mechanics of the system; it was, of course, pose lag or slow player response. +rolls and interpretation thereof didn't take long at all by comparison.
That said, I have been looking at a couple other systems. I know that the M&M system has had several MU iterations and has been coded numerous times, and that the other systems if I use them might need some developing from scratch. If there's usable M&M code out there, that makes life a lot easier.
As for actual setup, I'm looking at a couple hosting solutions. If anyone has advice there, I'll happily take it. I figure I'd grab a yearly package and stand it up, then look for assistance with tool code depending on which codebase I go with(again, advice taken).
..and then I'll talk about my other OC supers MU idea. >.>
