Hold on. Somebody needs to fill in some details about the RPG that is going to be revealed at GenCon. How long has this been in the works? Are we looking at a 2015 or 2016 release? Any info (the more the better) would be appreciated. For example will we be making our own characters or playing the iconic ones? So many questions!
This was mentioned in another post about Gencon. Craig said they'll have a post up next week about it.
Will say though a RPG series of games on the forms could be fun....
I've been wanting a well-done Super Hero RPG to play for a long long time. And playing in the Sentinels universe (multiverse) would be a dream come true. I really hope this is a thing!
Me too. I remember when Marvel put out its game back in the day. It just wasn't very good. Getting the balance between character danger and reward progression is a tricky thing. I am really excited about this.
I hope you're not talking about FASERIP. That was a delightful system.
Didn't Laurinus have a Sentinels game on his website that we'd never heard of or something?
>G Guys, I don't know if you're hiring freelance writers or editors for this, but please let me know if you are.
I can gladly furnish a full resume and published works list, if required.
This sounds really exciting. Can't wait to hear more! :D
I know that there's somebody who sent them a pitch in January. I believe he commented on something to the effect of a favorable reception.
He didn't cop to any involvement in this when I sent him a query the other day, though. Maybe that's timing, maybe not. (He does good work, so I'd be happy to see him take it on. Otherwise, I'd love to see it be the Evil Hat crew, but their plates are way, way too full.)
I love FATE as much as the next guy, but I almost would like to see SotM have its own specific rpg-system, especially if it can achieve the (nigh-impossible) task of making Expatriette or Mister Fixer work mechanically on a team with Ra or Legacy.
That said, I'd be very interested in freelancing as I have some significant experience in superhero-rpgs and rpgs in general.
Let me add that Platinum Warlock's Cold Steel Wardens gets a seal of approval from me!
Yeah, the guy I mentioned has designed at least one system from scratch. I think his other project was FATE-based, but has the coolest setting.
I'm going to wait to out him by name in case he really is involved with the project and has been playing mum because of being obligated to do so until GtG gives the go-ahead.
Saw this interesting picture on Twitter today..
https://twitter.com/cthulhuchick/status/622540945670676480/photo/1
Nice find MigrantP. That sheet of paper from that perspective looks huge though.
Ooooo. You get different powers as you get more injured, interesting…
Combined with this tweet looks like some sort of succeed-at-a-cost mechanic if you roll bad enough.
We got another character sheet to look at:
https://twitter.com/DaveTheGame/status/625713835849203712/photo/1
I have been meaning to post/shamefully beg that if the playtesters (when they get access) need a player, I am happy to volunteer. But no worries if not as well. I can wait.
I'm hoping after Gencon there is more information available publicly but I don't think it will be much. The character sheets seen so far certainly have me intrigued.
I'm really hoping playtesters get to see this before Gencon!
If you haven't gotten it by now then I highly doubt it. Gencon is this weekend and per their Twitter, GtG should be in Indianapolis or almost there tonight so I don't think any playtester files would be sent.
Then I am extremely disappointed. Christopher said he was going to try to get the files to us first, and I'm very sad that random Genconners will get to play before those of us who have paid for our playtesters status (and work hard for it too).
I'm a very sad Silverleaf if that's the case.
There is still a chance and I hope he can deliver to you.
Looks like they could use some playtesting - Quick Insight says "When create a bonus or penalty using Science, use your Max die." Presumably, there's a "you" missing there. My kingdom for a playtester! 
They opened up a 2nd table for people that didnt get tickets. I got to play legesy and got it signed by designers everyone will love it.great game.
Check out @dshields73kcmo’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/dshields73kcmo/status/626859732477833216?s=01
I find it interesting so far that their HP in the SotM board game is the same for max stress in the RPG.
Here's some shots I took of other folks playing. I was lucky enough to get a session tomorrow morning - looking forward to it.
Thanks!
I really like the Principle mechanic it helps to have guidelines to really get the character traits in light.
Dshields or anyone who was playing or just paying close attention while watching:
*I assume you can use the higher statuses during lower statuses (Bunker, Legacy and AZ all indicate this), but I'm asking about the other way around.
i can intuit a lot of the rest from the leaked sheets and my knowledge of Fate and Marvel Cortex. I really love this from the looks of it.
1) Define a kicker -- When rolling to attack or overcome (not sure about create or defend -- didn't use those) you select three dice. One comes from which of your powers you are using. The second from one of your qualities. The third is based on the maximum of either your person stress level or the scene's stress level. For example, Absolute Zero might get a D10 die for using 'Cold Control', a d8 die for using his quality of 'Shooting', and another d8 die because his personal stress level has reached Red. THEN, he might decide to use one of the 'kickers' that's available to him, such as Thermal Schockwave. Thermal Schockwave isn't available until AZ's or the scene's stress level reaches Red. Thermal Schockwave would then do something like allow him to attack multiple targets, and/or use some die other than just the middle die when determining how well he succeeds.
2) Correct: Yellow and Red kickers/statuses (note: this is just a working name for these things) are only available when the character and/or scene have reached those statuses.
3) I don't recall an attack or overcome being resisted, but it may be that we simply didn't get to it in our playtest. I do know that it's possible to have kickers/statuses that occur as a reaction to something else. AZ, for instance, uses his Coolant Blast kicker/status whenever he personally changes from one zone (green, yellow, red) to another.
4) Modifiers to a die. Not sure how much of this was actually in the rules, but in our demo we were playing that under certain circumstances one of the results of an overcome role could be to add a positive modifier to some future attempt to overcome. The idea was that instead of attempting to overcome something yourself, you're attempting to help someone else overcome that obstacle, so instead of applying the mid roll to the attempt to overcome, you take the _min_ roll and that becomes a positive modifier to some other heroe's future attempt. NOTE: A lot of the rules are still very much in flux!
Our group also had a tendency to keep wanting to do multiple things at once. Our DM allowed us to attempt that, but only by taking various minor and major costs.
5) Initiative: It's about the same as 13th age, if you happen to know how that works. Typically, the main villain starts. Before taking their turn, whoever's turn it is decides who will take the next turn. Everyone must act in each round before anyone else can take a turn.
6) Goons and villains and their play behavior: The scenario we faced was a bunch of goons attempting to blow up a new wormwhole/gate device that was designed to make transport to Wagner Mars Base easier. The heroes were at the scene for various reasons. The goons, masquerading as scientists, planted charges to destroy the gate. After the charges blew, the minions pulled out ray guns and started firing at the heroes. The GM put down a series of index cards representing our obstacles: Fix the gate, which was pulsing with weird energies; Calm the paniced crowd; Defeat the minions; Put out the huge fire; Stop the robots that were attacking the crowd; Stabilize the pillars/roof that were threatening to collapse. Only the minions were taking an action, but everything else was still a direct threat that needed to be dealt with. Each minion was represented by a D8. When attacked, the 'effective' die (my adjective) was compared against a D8 roll by the minion. If the minion was equal to or _less_ then the attacking die, it was destroyed. Otherwise, it dropped down to a D6. If a minion was a D4 and would otherwise be dropped down, it was destroyed. On their turn, each minion would attack one of the heroes, rolling their durrent die and causing that much stress.
I've never played a real pencil/paper RPG before, so I have no idea how this all works, but it looks very cool. I wonder how I'll get to play this
Wow, awesome. Superhero stories (in whatever medium) always have this weird dynamic that the heroes never use all their powers, typically reserving big guns until later to build up tension. In the card game, this is reflected by things like Tachyon's Burst mechanic and by the need to build up and find key cards in general. In Tactics, it's more about power selection than about build-up. Interesting to see how they reflected that in an RPG.
Some of what is said there is mildly disappointing, only getting abilities that kick in when you're "HP" is low is fine... but that kind of necessitates a "battle" of some description to get to the "cool stuff", I get just as much enjoyment using my abilities in non-combat situations to solve a problem and limiting my abilities just because I have not been "hit" is disappointing.
I realise the rules are in flux and all this is based on one person's post on what they experienced and that this could all change/be wrong... and that's half why I'm posting, to see if what I say can make a change.
Andy, much thanks for doing your Gen Con reports, one question if I may, who was your GM?
Also, is GM the official term?
Matchstickman I think you missed the comment about the scene stress level also allowing you to use those red or yellow abilities as well. So far it's not dependent on just your character being low on stress.
Do we know what the official name is?
True. I did miss that Scenes have a stress track too!
This is great! Sounds again like an adoption from MHR mechanics, but not ones I disliked. Did these scene elements also have dice attached to them that had to be beaten-or-reduced by player dice results? This was SO fast and easy to make fun narrative design for scenes in MHR, so if so, that's another great thing to steal from the system. So far, it sounds like everything I liked about MHR, and none of the stuff that frustrated me so much about it.
But you're saying you attacked and rolled, minion rolled, if your die beat it, the DIE that beat it had to be a bigger DIE SIZE? Just to confirm, which would mean my above excitement was true.
Ummm ... I'm not sure I'm following what you're saying with these. At this level of detail, perhaps waiting 'til you get to see it is best.
Thinking on this more
i would agree that there are times you just want to go all out from the beginning. I would think it could be worked out that you can use a yellow or red ability from the beginning but suffer some setback(or have Setback join your team) because of it.
That might be what those costs on the side of the character sheet are, huzzah!
Maybe! The costs on the side are used for all sorts of things, as described on both the RPG Cheat Sheet we can read from Legacy and from the Status Kicker abilities indicating Costs from time to time. Costs and Stress are both used to pay for certain things, as far as I can see.
So, paying to activate out-of-Status kickers could also be a Major Cost item, even if we see nothing on the cheat-sheet or character sheets to indicate it, or if not, would be an easy and fair fix to let it happen in your game. I think that'd be a great balance for its premature use! But that'd be above and beyond the uses of those costs we've seen thus far.
Also, if I'm not wrong, since this is a Cam Banks game: never hesitate to do something that doesn't need dice. If the scene makes sense for you to just wave your hand and say it happened, without even rolling, go for it. So if you're playing a powerful hero facing down a barely described gang of mooks, and you say you want to rain hellfire upon every one of these rent-a-goons-- I think we all agree he probably can, and so he just does, and if we have to, maybe throw a penalty on his sheet for it. Narrative doesn't need to be anchored by dice, but dice SHOULD be anchored by narrative. Mechanics surpassing story logic is the mark of playing a bad board game design, instead of a good roleplaying game experience. Story logic surpassing mechanics, on the other hand, shows that your game has experienced some good growth and transcended the need for crunchy numbers in all situations-- bootstrap your game to fit the needs of the story, don't strangle the story to fit the needs of your mechanical limitations.
My $0.02 anyway.
Think I'm gonna transcribe the text we've found so far from printed sheets soon as I get home...
On BGG's live stream, they just announced their schedule for their RPG block tomorrow. Sentinels RPG (I guess the official name) was on the list.
Phillipe
Dunno!
I couldn't agree more. The rules, especially in RPG's, should always exist to enhance the story; not get in the way. At least that's my perspective on what makes a good RPG. I'm not as interested in crunching stats and movement grids as I am in simply crafting an attractive narrative for everyone to take part in. This is exactly why I love Edge of the Empire.
And in the end, the GM exists to make judgement calls on these sorts of things. If you don't think something makes sense within the context of the story you want to tell, change it! You have that power.
Overall, I'm not sure what to think of the Sentinels RPG; it seems like something I'd have to playtest for myself to get a true feel for. I love the idea of actions succeeding at a major or minor cost though I'm still a bit curious how character creation is going to work given all of these properties assigned to each character. I'm looking forward to learning more.
Gen Con goers! Please please please give us as many details as you can!
I am expecting (but I am not guaranteeing you!) character design will go a lot like it did for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: "here's all the things-- decide how good you are at what." It was the first game that challenged players NOT to do minmaxing, because there was no "generation costs"-- you, and the DM negotiating, decided what was D12, what was D6, and how many Skills you should have. I do hope this is a similar concept here.
That said, all the decks are "supposed" to be equal for SotM, so if this is a Super game with some sort of point-buy system, I won't be too upset. They SHOULD all match one another in capacity, to some degree, if we're emulating the decks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doElWCspHDA
People in this thread might be a little bit interested in viewing that video
It's been 7 and a half minutes since I posted and the video is only 7 minutes long, what's taking you all so long?!
Things that they did not mention that I think we can infer from the video
"Max Die" is a term meaning highest die rather than the middle one.
Er... I'm out!
That explains a lot.
Thanks for that video! I've been transcribing like I said, so I kinda blanked out on checking updates. It sadly didn't tell me much I hadn't already deduced (the RPG cheat sheet made it clear how dice-assembly worked, and Andy helped hammered out the dice a bit where my suspicions were leading), but it was awesome to watch it be put together! I might write a transcript of the explained rules from that video if I'm really desperate.
Speaking of transcripts, the youtube Closed Captioning was AMAZING on this video.
Aaaanyway.
I went ahead and made a character sheet template out of the Tachyon sheet, and then copied all the info we could see. I had to make assumptions on the text for the first green Status Kicker for Unity, and I had to make assumptions on the text for the first two green Status Kickers for Absolute Zero, and I had to make assumptions on basically all of Unity's Mechanical Minions, and I am going to sleep before I finish making the assumptions for Bunker's Mode sheet. It's killing me. I wish there was better shots people took of all these sheets!
Also, no one has any photos of Wraith I can use, so I'm helpless there.
But here's what I have for now: https://imgur.com/a/BbYWY
Thanks for that video link! I just finished it and a lot of my initial questions were answered.
First off, I absolutely love the dice pool assembly. The Star Wars RPG works in a very similar way (albeit using their own special dice with its own crazy symbols), and is something I think works extremely well for story based RPG's, especially combined with the "succeed at a major/minor cost" element.
I also love that the major/minor costs are not limited to the character sheet and that the GM can ultimately rule what happens. I know Christopher said that the player can say "I don't want that cost to happen; I want it to be a cost from my sheet," but in my mind, I'd hope the end decision would still lie with the GM and that the player can simply offer an alternative. I think game systems work best when, yes, players can influence the story heavily, but the GM still is the lawyer in saying what can/can't happen. Overall though, those are semantics that can be grinded once the release is close.
I never played Marvel Heroic, but based on how Christopher laid out the video, it does seem very similar to what you are describing. As for all decks being equal, I think that is a hard balance to strike in an RPG. In a board/card game like SotM or Tactics, it's very easy to just make the numbers fit. Legacy rocket punching a minion group from orbit does the same damage as Mr. Chomps biting on a minions leg? Sure, why not. It can be made to fit because a card game and tactical game exist to be balanced first and thematic second.
However, an RPG exists to put yourself into the shoes of that world and those characters, so balancing can be a bit more touchy. When you have a character like Legacy whose bullet proof, super strong, flying, spidey sense self can solve most problems by blinking an eye, you need to put him in the same universe as The Naturalist who can turn into a Rhino and say "Yep, these two are equally powerful." That sort of balancing challenge is definitely made possible through narrative story telling and I'm glad the Sentinels RPG seems to be going that route.
The same issue was pressed with Edge of the Empire characters existing in the same room as Jedi characters from Force and Destiny. How the hell is a smuggler supposed to stand confidently beside a Jedi Knight and say "Yeah, we're basically the same power level." And the answer for F&D at least is the Morality system. Whenever you make a key decision as a player, depending on the result, you can be given Conflict. At the end of the session, you roll a D8 and subtract the conflict from the result, and the net number is the increase/decrease in your Morality. So basically, yeah, if you're a Jedi and you want to be uber powerful Min Max McAwesomesauce, you can…but… your character is going to go down a dark path very quickly, because I guarantee the GM is going to be putting some difficult decisions in front of you.
I hope to see some similar mechanic in Sentinels (or perhaps one already exists in Marvel, which will be transcribed in some way) as I think that's a great way to give all characters of ridiculously different power levels a sense of balance. And overall, I'm yapping endlessly about something we have very little confirmation on anyways, so maybe it's just best to be patient.
Finished the last one visible, Bunker's Mode Sheet. This was a nightmare. I will be honest, it's practically impossible to tell some of the d8s from d10s from the photo references I was able to scavenge, so this is all pending adjustments. Additionally, some of the text was unintelligible, so guesses had to be made based on vague letter-shape and inferences from Bunker's pre-existing mode. Same problems I had with Unity's Minions.
I wish someone grabbed a real photo of Wraith's sheet! Only one I haven't been able to reconstruct. Reconstructing each of these took about an hour, some less, due to the difficulty in deciphering the far-away-photos taken by Dshields. Couldn't've gotten these done without his sneaky photos!
Pretty sure I could genuinely give a shot at running this thing, based on my detail parsing. Wish I could've sat in on a demo, but I suspect I get 80% of this at least. And it looks to be my favorite RPG already. All the things I like about MHR, none of the things I dislike, and then FATE actions, Apocalypse World costs, some nuD20-system hit point tiers, some SWRPG maneuver mechanics and then some awesome original design (Principles) all wrap together to make a Super-Adaptoid of Superhero RPG. I'm stoked beyond words!
Link for the full gallery again: https://imgur.com/a/BbYWY
Thanks for posting all this info! It looks amazing. Huge potential for creativity in collaborative storytelling. Really looking forward to the first time I play it. :)
Oh man, the more I see of this the more I want to play it.
Like now.
I'm definitely intrigued. The echoes of Marvel Heroic are strong, but the game seems very heavily weighted towards the "story" end of the GNS spectrum--nothing wrong with that in my eyes; just a different look at things.
Could say that! Thanks!
Wow, the Wraith has a lot of qualities with high stats. But, most importantly... her costume now has shoulder straps! :D
Did anybody get a picture of the back of the cheat sheet?
100% agree with this assessment. I have a friend who is not a fan of Cortex Plus, Fate, or any of those types of games because what Narrativist-slanted people see as a feature, he (a Gamist-slanted person) see as a flaw. Myself, I am a HUGE fan of Fate, and a fan of Cortex Plus. The SCRPG approach so far is speaking to me.
I got in a demo of this. I like where they are going with it so far. I agree with the assessment about the status zones unlocking other kickers being a bit forced; there should be at least some sort of exception, where you can use a different zone kicker if you take it at a cost. Otherwise, brilliant!
Qualities are like skills, so the Wraith having lots of high-dice Qualities make sense to me.
The only photo of the back of the RPG cheatsheet so far has been covering a character sheet turned at a distance-- I can't make it out enough for transcription, and I'm pretty good at that sort of thing. I really hope it surfaces. It's now the only missing piece of available material outside of the opening adventure, which I'd LOVE to get my hands on! It'd tell me so much about bad guys beyond just what players experienced. I'd love to glance under the hood just a touch more to make sure I'm on track.
I'm planning to actually try to rework an opening MHR intro game into this system. Think it'll transplant well with a few tweaks. See how the sheets play. I'm excited to give it a college effort. But I'd love the flip side of that RPG cheatsheet at least!
I like a ton of different roleplaying games, with different games scratching different desires. For a four-color, Silver Age comics game, I'll gladly go to ICONS. For a Bendis-esque Marvel-style "Event" comics game, I'll pick up Marvel Heroic. For a gritty, street-level game, with lots of investigation and moral conflict, I use my own game, Cold Steel Wardens.
There are a ton of great comics games out there. I'm eager to see where SCRPG fits in that grand scheme of things.
It definitely makes sense! I was not trying to imply that it didn't. Rather, I was trying to show that I was impressed with the Wraith's awesomeness. :) And shounder-strap-havingness. :D
Hooray for shoulder straps!
love Wraith, all the skill but lower physical stats, heavy dependence on stealth and equipment, with both being strong.
Really like what I've seen so far, can't wait to see character design and advancement.
can I play this solo or with my imaginary friends?
Unless you have some severely divergent personalities, RPGs generally cannot be played by yourself. Some social contact required.
I've also heard really good things about the Mythic Game Master Emulator, but I've never used it myself. I'm never desperate enough to play an RPG by myself. That's what video games are for.
This all looks and sounds amazing. A question for GtG staff; are you still looking for playtesters or has that ship sailed?
I'm hoping my proximity to AtlasGames (and thus Cam Banks) could work in my and DanMarshall14's favor for play testing!
Anyone snap a pic of the back of that cheat sheet? I did not have the presence of mind to do so in my demo.
I wish they did! Can you tell us what it said, at least?
There was mention of Recovery rules, and a certain level of success healing you up to the minimum of the next category up. E.g., if Legacy is down to 17 stress (yellow), a complete success (8-11) would heal him up to 25 (minimum stress for green). Other than that, I don't remember anything.
Interesting! Recovery rules. I saw some mentions of Recovery in the rules, so I was wondering about that. Can't wait to see more on that. But I'll assume, for my current plan to bootstrap it to a MHR adventure I'll modify, that it's a standard roll (take mid unless modified by your kickers or principles) for Recovery, and needing a complete success for the next tier. That will do. Thanks!
But yes. I hope someone took those sheets or got a picture!
BTW, thanks for putting together the IMGR files!
You can say that again! I'd love to give the system a proper go. We could probably muster something up from the Character sheets you've recreated as well as your knowledge of the Marvel system, but it would be nice to have a prototype of the rules as well.
Some other things I gleaned from the demo and jotted down. I jotted it down in a doc but forgot about it until tonight, so I'm sharing now:
Scenes
three scene feature categories: threats, obstacles, and challenges
Threats hit back. often tied to a villain (as spoken by the GM). Threats were individual dice (d6, d8, etc.). If your attack result > die type, eliminate threat, otherwise step down the die (d8->d6, d6->, d4->defeated).
unresolved obstacles increase the scene stress, in the example it was one point per obstacle.
challenges take multiple successes to overcome. if they are not resolved by the time the track gets to "out," bad things happen.
Scene zone colors & stress
Green: 2 or 3 points
Yellow: points = # obstacles
Red: 2 or 3
Out
Laid out like:
G:OOO | Y: OOOO | R: OOO | Out
Mark 1 circle per obstacle left at the end of the round.
Does that help?
Awesome notes, man! Thank you. That totally changes how I interpreted Arenson's explanation of the scene dice. I must've just read that one wrong-- but this is interesting.
What would a "challenge" be, versus an obstacle? Is it just the increased (well, challenge) to overcome it-- so instead of a small fire, it's a roaring fire burning down a building? Or what?
Thanks for the help to flesh this out some!
An obstacle only required one success to overcome, and it increases the urgency of the scene. E.g. a small localized fire.
A challenge takes multiple successes to overcome, does not increase the urgency of the scene, but has a consequence when the scene gets to the Out (Black) zone. E.g. A blazing fire which threatened to burn the building down and everyone in it.
(Side Note: Christopher called the system GYRO: Green, Yellow, Red, Out)
In the demo, the challenge we had to get three or four successes to beat it.
Oh yeah, initiative worked mostly like MHR, but you probably figured that out.
Hmm. I just approved an account for ChattyDM. I wonder if he'll be showing up here soon...
I'd be surprised if he doesn't, now that his summer season seems to have settled down.
Hey everyone,
I ran several sessions of the RPG over at Gen Con and I bet you have questions. I'd be happy to answer some about the game as I ran it, but I won't talk details about the minutia of the game or where we're headed as the everything is still very much in flux.
Suffice it to say that the game engine seems very solid so far, players enjoyed it a lot. We're very excited about the whole thing and we're launching into the next part of design: Character Creation so you can play the type of heroes you want.
Cheers!
Hi!
Oh yes. Ask ChattyDM a lot of questions. I even gave him a Designer badge!
@TheChattyDM
What's your favorite color?
A what now?
Hey thanks!
=D
Favourite Colour (notice Canadian spelling here): I'd say Yellow, that's where the really cool stuff starts.
Speaking of colour, it's worth noting that when characters unlock their kickers in a new colour zone, they don't lose access to those they already had. And as mentionned, once a scene hits a specific colour, all kickers of that colour are unlocked.
So can red and yellow abilities be used before your stress level lowers you to that level? If so, what is the penalty from that?
At the time we played at Gen Con, they couldn't.
But we've noticed your interest about paying a cost to get access to such kickers. We're all probably thinking about it and will discuss this soon when next we work on the rules.
What has been the philosophy regarding party balance? For SotM, the idea is that any team can take on anybody, theoretically, and there isn’t this idea of needinh a particular role, like a healer.
We didn't go for an "established roles" type of philosophy. Many SotM characters are based on superheroic tropes we recognize and can tap easily into. We wanted that too.
Much like the card and tactics game, characters perform through finding creative ways to tap into what they do best (as driven by dice traits, kickers and principles) and then discovering synergies between characters. For instance, picking the order of who acts next during a turn can be key in overcoming a specific type of obstacle or beating a specific type of villain.
So no we're not aiming specifically at "balanced characters" but more making all of them, including the ones you'll design, fun and challenging to play at the table. In that, our Marvel Heroic RPG roots kinda show.
What storyline did you go through at Gencon?
Good question (as I wrote the adventure, tee hee)
As Grand Warlord Voss planned to invade Wagner Mars Base, he sent Gene Bound humans to infiltrate the Wagner Space Centre in the outskirts of Megalopolis. He needed them to create a diversion during the unveiling of an experimental wormhole portal so they could find and recuperate the codes to deactivate the base' Self-Destruct sequence.
The heroes all attended the unveiling in various roles the players chose to play. For instance, in almost all cases, Tachyon played a role as a scientist on the project. Wraith often attended as Maya Montgomery, among the VIPs.
The portal exploded upon activation (sabotage!) and a LOT of things went wrong at the same time, giving each character more than one problem to act upon. So it was what I call a "complex scene" where combat and non combat threats had to be dealt with before the scene went critical (i.e. went passed RED) and everyone got sucked in the collapsing portal.
Then, all heroes were sent to Mars to kick out Voss who had launched his assault of the base. This was a more straightforward combat encounter using both a supervillain, many minions and the environment itself (who also as a turn, rolls dice and has various kickers that also double as costs for when thinmgs invariably go wrong).
Is the official term GM?
Also, when does the RPG take place? During SotM? Tactics? Or something else?
We haven't settled on a term for the Game Master. It's what we've been using as a default. My personal belief is that each RPG doesn't need a different name for that, but that may not be the final choice. I'm not even sure we talked about it formally.
As for the when, Christopher said that they aim to have the RPG set right after the very last Sentinels of the Multiverse card game expansion. That's all I know.
Right before, actually. Right after would be a VERY different game...
SPOILERS!
Anyway, yeah, right before.
Oops, my bad. :)
Tease!
Hi!
Here's a question for you, how familar where you with the Sentinels before you started work on the RPG?
I had played the card game extensively (altough not with all expensions available at the time) and had some play experience with the Tactics game. The card game is a favourite of my play group.
Dave and Cam also know a lot about the Sentinel Comics universe. And if you count Christopher as part of the design team, I'd say "All our bases are covered". :)
What was one of the things the players chose to do that you didn't expect (as the designer of the scenario)?
How do you take into account that Tachyon could do a whole lot more in the same time window as another hero?
How well do you think that the SotM RPG will do at representing specific eras/sub-genres within comics?
As in, if I ran a Darkwatch game set in Rook City, what in that game would set the game apart from a cosmic-based game that featured Captain Cosmic, Sky-Scraper and the like? I'm thinking both mechanically and thematically, here.
For now, I'm just gonna be friendly and say "Hi, Phil!"
Actually, no... I'll ask this: You've said the card game is a favorite of your play group. Which hero is a favorite of yours in the card game? Does that change for heroes built in the RPG so far?
Is the Voss scenario part of the game or is it from an earlier time? If earlier are there plans to make scenarios for earlier storylines?
Maybe that's a question for Christopher.
Personally I am incredibly excited for RPG material, I love telling stories as RPG's.
I was surprised however by how the game, as incomplete as it might still be, could handle ANYTHING the players tried to do without having to force thier actions to game mechanics. The mechanics could handle pretty much anything you'd expect from a superheroic game.
Good questions!
We have plans to address running different styles/themes of campaign.
Hi Jeff!
I love playing the Sentinels. I really do. I love thier synergies and fragility. I've been thinking a lot about making them viable characters in the RPG (and I can't reveal details yet). I also currently love playing Chrono-Ranger, bounties are awesome. But the character I'm most comfortable with is The Wraith, I played her so often I really can get the best out of her.
The Voss scenario was an original story from the earliest days of the Freedom Five. An exemple of "making your own comic books." I wrote it to outline what the game could do.
Have you had a chance to playtest it with those who have not had exposure to SotM before? And what about those who have never had exposure to Fate and/or MHR? How have those people received it?
Assuming you also meant "you" in the plural, we have tested the game with people who've never:
1)Played SotM in any other form: Success!
2)Played Fate or MHR: Success
3)Played any RPGs at all: Success
(But to my knowledge, not all three together).
As a new line in an established IP with very dedicated fans, the RPG will be easier to get into for many because they already know the tropes (narrative shortcuts and clichés) upon which Sentinels Comics are based on. At Gen Con, people who'd never played RPGs sat down, picked their favourite heroes and had a BLAST.
I'm looking forward to seeing how character creation works for this game - I don't really like playing pre-gens as they don't feel like "my" character. I haven't really read much about the rules so far (or spent much time looking at the Freedom Five character sheets that have been posted up), because I can never eem to understand a game when it's laid out like that - I tend to need to actually be needing to look stuff up as I'm playing it myself, or whatever. Given the diversity of power types present in the card game, I'm hoping that maybe it'd be easy to run a game in the RPG that basically reskins the set-up from superheroes to, say, Fantasy, considering how many power types could easily be described as magic (Naturalist is a shapeshifter, Adept is a Bard, Parse shoots arrows, etc). Seeing how much stuff there is in the card game that presumably will be included in the RPG somehow, I hope that means it'll be easy enough to apply the rules to pretty much any kind of setting and have them work :D.
You know, I'm not usually a fan of playing pregens either. However, I have to say that playing Legacy was one of the most fun experiences I've had in an RPG in recent memory.
I'm a huge fan of hacking existing games to create different play experiences. We did publish a Fantasy version of Marvel in the Cortex Plus Hackers Guide.
So I hear ya and while I can't comment, as a gamer and game designer, I'm with you on this "reskinning" thing.
Jeeze. I always look away JUST when someone sits down…
Hey, @ChattyDM, @Bsessio here-- great to have you join us on these forums! Hope you don't mind I've been deconstructing the game. 
Let's see, you only want to discuss the game you ran, not the game theory, so no questions about things like the influence of Apocalypse World, hrmmm…
Can you tell us about what was all on the RPG Cheat Sheet side 2-- that talked about obstacles and challenges and recovery and such? Or, heck, scan it? 
Can you tell us about the stats on the bad guys, both goons and principle villains and how those work…ed in your game?
Love your guys's interest in the out-of-status-kickers cost design consideration. Cool stuff! In general, I love everything I've seen so far-- it's got all the best parts of MHR as far as I can tell, all of the stuff I disliked about MHR gone, and Principles are an amazing touch. Distinction replacements that define character play style and roleplay nudging, genius.
What kind of carbonated beverage do you most enjoy? And do you refer to it as "soft drink", "soda", "pop", "soda pop", or "coke", and how do you feel about people who say it differently than you? This is a very important question for me, as I live in Minnesota, and we're a Soda/Pop division state.
Well, I'd be lying through my teeth if we didn't come out and say we were inspired by our previous work and some of the most influencial roleplaying games of the last decade. So you'll see some Apocalypse, Fate, Marvel and some D&D in there.
I openly said before that I've long wanted to have a game that not only had "success as a cost" as part of its core mechanic, but one where the burden of coming up with costs didn't solely reside on the shoulders of an already very busy game master. Dave, Cam and I came up with things that went far above and beyond my initial expectations.
On to the actual questions then
1) The back of the sheet explained how Reactions worked, what happened when you rolled triples (score XP), what were spotlight callbacks (when you called back to previous adventure to offset a minor cost or max a die), how heroic principles worked and the rules for recovery. I guess I could attach it if the forum allows PDFs. I'll talk to Craig about this. It's kinda public after all. Although seeing you champ at the bits for it is also fun. :)
2) You guys have worked out how minions work. We have rules for more important minions (we call them lieutenants) too. Villains work like simplified heroes. They have just three dice traits and colour coded kickers (Green and Red, emulating when they 'flip"). For example, Voss, while in green mode summons minions and makes them stronger. While in red, he attacks violently and summons big ass starship minions (with special rules).
3) Thanks!
4) Here, we call them Boisson Gazeuse in formal French (or Carbonated Drinks) and Liqueur in common French (liquor, weirdly enough). In English, it's soda, although we almost always refer to the product's actual brand. And Pepsi outsells coke here... one of the reasons Pepsi is used as (one of the many) cultural slurs to refer to us French Canadians.
Hope that helped.
Yup, I see the Costs and Kickiers interaction as Apocalypse World reminiscent with also it informing on Principles, the Overcome/Attacks as FATE, the actual "different sequences of hit point levels affecting play" element reminiscent of newer D&D elements ('bloodied', so on), and then it's all put onto an MHR chassis. That's all my best-guess side-glancing from pictures and reports from GenCon with no personal experience, though! It's a beautiful little thing which greatly benefits from inspirations and then blows them away with some of the innovations I gleam.
Definitely helped! Love the info on villains. I imagine that wasn't seen as clearly by the players just responding to it. Trying to bootstrap this to maybe try running it for DanMarshall14 and some locals, so I'm definitely biting at the edges to try to reconstruct it.
I have so many design principle questions that must wait... but stuff from the game played...
1) What are the villain dice traits? Generic hero stuff like "SUPERSTRENGTH", I assume? Lieutenants work how? Not that critical; I think re-rigged MHR bad guys could fill in until you guys come out with official stuff, but it'd be nice to do it right.
2) Was there any element in the played games (I know you said the mechanics were very permissive for actions) that surprised you or made you re-evaluate how a particular design choice worked, whether positively or negatively? I know the "players" didn't surprise you, but maybe the rules in conflict and action did.
3) Assuming you've read comics, what was the most impactful storyline/event/graphic novel you've read?
4) You guys need an intern?
Time travel is such a big part of SotM, however, we know very little abot the "rules", and every book/story/movie takes their own approach. Will the RPG have its own rules or leave it up to each group?
On a related note, will we know what the Fixed Points are, the few points in time that can't change?
We're not there yet. Sorry. 
Let me broaden the question then:
The mechanics of the card card do not require the multiverse to have establised rules. Is the goal to establish these types of rules for the RPG, or let everyone do what they want?
Think more colourful and flavourful, if you were a Supervillain (i.e. I'll exagerate your traits) I'd probably assing one of your dice as Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10 For more details, you'll have to wait for the Playtest package.
Yes… and I sadly won't go much into that. But I can say that the game overdelivered, in my opinion. in terms of allowing actions that FELT superheroic rather than just "roll to hack into the mainframe". The game will be much more than combat and that's a huge attraction to me as a player. I didn't expect the game to do it so well.
There are many. For superheroes,I'd say the Powers "Who Killed Power Girl" graphic novel. Accross genre, I'd say Locke and Key, by far.
We're good for now. But I suspect your feedback during public playtest will ber INVALUABLE. Thanks for being so infectiously enthusiastic about it all.
We're pro-options designers, we like to provide as wide a playing experience while staying true to what makes the Sentinel Comics universe tick. I for one believe that the game becomes yours once you bought the book and if you want options to bust out of the limits of the setting, they should either be offered up front (if time and space in the book allows) or easily hacked by fans.
I don't expect Canon (and the laws of the multiverse) to be an obstacle in the game, but a guiding concept to power the games you want. Some players love to play within that sandbox… others want sandtesseracts…
That being said, Time Travel is HARD to model in a RPG, I'd suggest having a look at Kevin Kulp's TimeWatch RPG to see a great way to address the design challenges of such a type of play.
I ran several SC RPG demos at Con in the Castle a couple weeks before Gen Con. In one of those demos, I had 4 players. One was a very experienced RPG player, but had never heard of anything from Sentinel Comics. One had never played RPGs, but played Sentinels of the Multiverse with some regularity. And the remaining two had never played any RPGs and were not familiar with Sentinel Comics, but had heard that the demo I was running was fun and decided, "Why not?"
That may have been the most fun game I ran that weekend. I gave everyone a brief overview of each of the characters and my usual run down on the rules. The 3 brand new RPGers did not need any more information than the experienced RPGer. The game is REALLY easy to pick up. Everyone got the characters quickly. But, then, that's the beauty of the Freedom Five. Sure, they have their depth and complexities, but they can be a straight-forward, easy to understand team. Each of the players naturally gravitated to certain characters, and soon, Bunker, The Wraith, Absolute Zero, and Unity made their way to the Wagner Space Center in downtown Megalopolis to attend the unveiling of the teleportation portal.
The game was a huge success. I was pleased that the experienced RPGer didn't overpower the other three. And it wasn't because he was showing restraint. The mechanics of the game make it so the game rewards imagination more than it does deep familiarity with rulesets. And the one player who knew the Sentinel Comics world wasn't nay-saying the other players. Everyone played their characters perfectly. Hell, the Bunker character did a BUNCH of things as Tyler Vance out of the armor, making me come up with stats for that on the fly. (Which, in turn, made me realize Lieutenant Vance will need some un-armored stats in the core game. Hooray! Successful playtesting!)
Anyway, I just wanted to share that success story, because that game made me realize what a fantastic system Cam, Dave, and Phil have come up with. I am honored to be working with them.
Even when Cam does this.
Would you say that it is a Sentinels RPG or a super hero RPG that takes place in the Sentinels setting?
That is a fascinating question!
What would you say is the difference, in your mind?
Also, a think that I super like about the game is that it's not just a super hero RPG, it's a comic book RPG. Your "back issues" matter.
I do love that adventures, and harkening to them, is a GAME MECHANIC and also your experience track. (Although less experience track: MHR broke me of any interest in 'experience'. Can't we just play the character we want? And sometimes sheets change per story?)
As per superhero RPG vs. sentinels RPG: FFG Star Wars, or West End Games Star Wars, are phenomenal games. But it is first and foremost a Star Wars game. Any juryrigging to make it fit other games is tough work.
MHR is a superhero RPG that uses Marvel. if I remove Marvel, I could plug in any superheroes-- or, for that matter, just about anything (although fantasy races is harder and requires a BIT of hacking, but hacking has been done!) -- see for reference the ease of which Cortex+ Hackers allows for tweaks, or, for an example near and dear to my heart, SCRPG. :)
I suspect it's a _comic book_ (thanks, Christopher!) RPG that uses the Sentinels universe. Especially as you all talk about the importance of making this work for custom characters.
Perfect! I'm glad to see the MHR/FATE goon stats end up here, essentially. "Goon d6" and the like. So any time they behave "Goonishly" or I "Monomanically Reverse Engineery", our trait is used. Perfect. Thank you!
Also thank you for the add to my signature.
In the SC RPG, experience is less about "leveling" and more about "character progression".
How would you respond to this take:
I'd say it's an unfair assessment with points I personally disagree with. While I know some players won't necessarily like the game, this seems a weighed judgement apparently based solely on observing the character sheet. I'm even quite unsure that arguing the minutia of those points with whomever wrote them would be conducive to a constructive discussion.
I will say that as a Game Master (and not one of the designers), I didn't see this in play.
We have however identified the "there's a lot of combat moves on these sheets" element as something we should broaden to non-combat actions. Good thing the game is still in development, huh?
As for "automatic success" it's to avoid needless dice rolls like "Can Haka lift a car?" Sure he can! Instead, we want the game to focus on things like "can Haka move the family car out of the way of the locomotive before it crashes into it?" More importantly, how does he do so? The player gets to describe how... and what he or she is willing to pay to suceed if the dice don't deliver. That, in our minds is where storytelling (another dangerously weighed label in gamer talk...) lies...
Edit: I found the source, a YouTube comment. Yeah, not at the top of my credibility list, but my answer stands. :)
That all sounds fair. For the record, I know that guy personally and he is a good friend of mine, but he is notorious in our circle for his myopic opinions on such things.
One more question: How in the world did you guys get involved in this process in the first place? That is a story I want to hear.
Thanks for your follow up.
I'll let Christopher field your question when he comes around. :)
A random idea, but if you wish to have an alternate name for the DM/GM, and this is a Comic Book RPG, how does Editor sound? GMs can be Editors (or Editor in Chief) to really bring home that comic book feeling.
How many times did you say the word Freedom?
This game seems much more like acting a part than writing a character.
Compare to the traditional dice rollers where you start with your stats and develop the character as you go. This game gives you a lot more and asks you to maneuver tha character through scenes.
I hope that makes sense, and if it does would you say that is a fair assessment?
I thought of something...Does the game rely on you knowing/having an interest in various things specific to the superhero genre? I'm not really interested in graphic novels/comic books - I play Sentinels because it's fun, co-operative, and immensely replayable (card randomness and all that) and while it's cool that the characters have their own backstories and stuff, none of the fluff really has any influence on my playing the game because for me the storyline is just sort of a background thing that I'm aware of and don't think about at all when playing. If I'm introducing a new player to the game, I'll give them a bit of the backstory of whichever decks we're using but that's about it. I suppose this fits in with my earlier comments on being interested in "reskinning" the game to make it Fantasy (because that's my favourite genre) and basically ignoring the superhero/comics aspect. I'm hoping there won't be a bunch of terminology or references in the rulebook which can only really be understood by someone who's into superheroes and has read a bunch of other stories and is familiar with existing ones or whatever. I'm guessing that it's fine and there's nothing like that, otherwise there wouldn't be so many comments on how easy the game is to pick up by those unfamiliar with it. But then, said comments tend to revolve around familiarity with either RPGs in general or the Sentinels setting, not superhero stuff.
I won't get too worried, though - it sounds like things are gonna be okay :).
I'm tempted to say that if you want a fantasy RPG you should go for a fantasy RPG rather then trying to hack a system that's specifically designed for a completely different genre. You can put a screw in with a table knife but you're much better off with a screwdriver!*
I'll reserve judgement until I see the rules though.
*I've been building a deck this week. It's colouring all my thoughts. ;)
With most systems, I'd agree. This, however, looks like it might be generic enough it could work with other genres; Mutants and Masterminds certainly was.
Though really, isn't the superhero genre typically just a fantasy genre with a modern backdrop? Though I suppose they're probably thinking more along the lines of Tolkeinesque fantasy.
I’m definitely in agreement here. There are more than enough “generic” game systems out there–I’d much rather have a game that focuses specifically on a specific genre or sub-genre than a game system that acts as a “catch-all” for any genre out there.
Honestly? That may be my biggest worry in terms of the SCRPG. Superhero comics are a huge umbrella, wherein lurk everything from hard sci-fi to investigative crime drama to grindhouse horror to geopolitical spy games to cosmic psychedelia.
There are a ton of superhero games out there already that cover “superhero comics”: Mutants and Masterminds, Champion/HERO, Heroes Unlimited, and a ton more less-well-known systems. The problem with most of these is exactly that: they try to do everything and end up taking a middle-of-the-road approach that doesn’t do any justice to the specific genre tropes of those comics within the umbrella. They might be good systems, but they’re rarely built with any of those smaller approaches in mind. They choose breadth over depth.
I wrote Cold Steel Wardens: Roleplaying in the Iron Age of Comics for the opposite approach. I wanted to create a game where being the World’s Greatest Detective mattered just as much as your combat ability, where a ‘mask’ who wasn’t careful would fall in a hail of bullets, and where moral dilemma had a tangible impact on the game on a regular basis. As such, I built in rules to emphasize these elements. I chose depth over breadth. I’m well aware that my game may not appeal to some people. That’s fine–people enjoy different things. However, my time running full tables on the convention circuit tells me that there’s quite a bit of interest in this type of supers-gaming. It’s not for everyone, but it’s definitely perfect for some people.
I asked the question up above regarding specific sub-genres–which was answered well, if with the vagueness that comes with discussing an unreleased game–for specifically that reason. From what I’ve seen thusfar, the SCRPG seems more intent on focusing on the tropes of the comics themselves (pages and panels, dramatic challenge scenes, and the like) coupled with the tropes specific to the SotM universe.
In approach, this reminds me most of Cartoon Action Hour–a game meant to emulate 80s-era animation. CAH does this by including items in their rules-set that replicate 80s cartoons: characters can’t curse, heroes with a Sword of Power never actually use it to slash or stab anyone, and there are actual rules for commercial breaks. However, CAH has a series of “dials” in their GMing section that really helps you articulate the differences between, say, a game meant to ape Masters of the Universe from a game meant to resemble Jem and the Holograms.
I’m really hoping that the SCRPG has those sorts of ‘dials’ to help with adjusting the scale of an SCRPG game. Darkwatch patrolling the streets of Rook City should feel different than the Freedom Five fighting robots on Wagner Mars Base, which should feel different from Captain Cosmic patrolling the Enclave of the Endlings. To me, the more that’s built into the system to articulate those differences, the better the game will be.
You have two groups sitting down to play the same RPG system. Both groups are very familiar with SotM, and neither group is told the name of the RPG.
I think it is safe to assume that after the session, Group A would say "We just played an great Sentinels RPG!"
However, would Group B say the same thing, or would they say, "We just played a great super-hero RPG!"
To answer that you would have to figure out what is sentinel comics minus the characters and setting. The card game has play power draw, tactics has the tac-dice system, if you changed the names and images Sentinels comics would be something different.
How would a brand new game with new mechanics lead you to believe it belonged with things nothing like it?
I don't understand how that would ever be accomplished.
It can be done by relying on the themes of the world. By haivng similar struggles, confrontations, and story rules, they can transcend the specific mechanic limitations of each medium. For example, you can easily have a Star Wars game withtout any of the main characters, or any character you have heard of by maintaining the theme. The struggle between the light side and the dark side. Or, you can easily have different types of Cthulu games by having a major dark presence, issues of insanity, etc. You can take these main ideas and themes and plug them into different mechanics.
If the only thing that makes this a Sentinels RPG is the name of the specific characters, then it is more of a super-hero RPG with a Sentinals setting, not a Sentinels RPG. There is nothing inherent in the game that makes it "Sentinels".
That being said, it would be an interesting conversation as to what makes Sentinels, Sentinels. The reliance on super-hero sterotypes and homages can hinder the uniqueness of the world, which could be why so much of the info we have been giving seems to point to a super-hero RPG with Sentinels setting. It is hard to distinguish what makes Sentinels unique.
This was one of the reason why I brought up the idea of time travel. The simple idea that nothing that happens is permanent seems to be a big part of the overall theme, at least for certain characters. Knowing that things can be changed, albeit with difficulty, adds a certain unique feel to the game. Add to that that there are specific points in time that must happen, and you have a possible unique theme for Sentinels. I am not saying that this is THE Sentinels theme, but it is one that seems to motivate a lot of actions.
How did Tactics accomplish that self-same question you are asking?
EDIT: Stupid ninjas
There's a difference between playing a pregen of some character you've never heard of before vs. a character you already know.
For the new-to-me character, I've found I enjoy pregens if I get some full, interesting backstory.
For the already-know character, I've found I enjoy pregens if I get to do the things I expect to be able to do.
Phil mentioned above how the rules could handle all the various things that players were trying to do. I agree. I played Absolute Zero and at one point decided that I was going to ask Unity to move a bunch of stuff together and then I'd freeze it all in place. Phil was able to map that to a support action and a primary action (my words, don't remember the in-game terminology) and then, based on the rolls made, assign how effective it was.
Iv never played an RPG before. As a GM, will there be guides to stories to run through included or is it going to be up to the GM every game to put together their own narrative and setting?
Maybe in a more direct sense, will there be story settings from actual Sentinels Comics to play through? For example, the Moonfall storyline where Barron tries to pull the moon into earth, or the Sunrise storyline with Dawn?
Based on my experience with Cam's work, and also every-RPG-outside-of-D&D, yes, a Base Adventure will likely be included in the book. Or even the beta, good chance is.
There is also a good chance of separate adventure gamebooks. All of these come with cues and prompts for the GM.
Either way, there will undoubtedly by a chapter on being a GM and what to do.
Teaching GMs to run a game, including how to run pre-written ones, modify them or build new ones are things near and dear to me. My particular expertise in this project gravitates around making the GM experience as smooth and as exciting as possible.
It is the hardest job around the table, but it doesn't have to be a chore, expecially when plenty of tools are made available to make it easier and more rewarding. Those who've been following my blog these last years know how dedicated I am to the art of running games. :)
Also, I like the name "editor" but like I said before, too early to tell.
As long as the GM/DM role isn't called "Didio". (Heyo! Obscure-ish comic book industry joke!)
Gonna need to follow that blow of yours, then! I am a perma-DM, basically. I used to hate it, but I've grown to appreciate the role.
As somebody who has read Phil's stuff on and off through the years, I'll second that he cares a lot about helping bring new GMs into the hobby, whatever their background is.
Thank you Phil for all the information you've given us. Two questions if I may;
1) Can you talk a little bit more about how experience will work?
2) What sort of timeline are you looking at for the beta/getting more playtesters involved and are there any open slots for playtesters?
Chief Editor, so we can have a two character acronym, CE, instead of GM or DM.
This would be very good to know. As it will likely be me introducing this to my normal game group, and none of them are RPGers like myself, anything that could be done to make it accessible to noobs is gonna be a plus. At least for my demographic.
Sticking with Editor on this. Dunno how obsessively into comics you are, but it's given a two-letter abbreviation in comics all the time, a la:
[See issue #14 of Freedom Four -Ed]
Plus, then we can always call the GM "Ed". Which is funny.
Well, I think it's funny. 
I also approve of being called Ed as opposed to GM. It seems a lot friendlier and less prone to presumptions of genocide. "Uh-oh, we pissed off Ed" sounds a lot less ominous than "Uh-oh, we pissed off the GM."
Chalk me up for another vote in favor of EDitor. Alternatively, Editor-in-Chief (EIC). But yeah, I like ED better...
It's been a pleasure!
At the end of an adventure (that can last from one to a few sessions) all players tally up thier spotlight moments. The character(s) with the most are featured as the main character(s) of that particular issue. And the group names the issue appropriately. (ex: Legacy #52: Peril on Mars) or (Legacy and Unity Special #2: Portal Trouble in Idaho). All other players are considered secondary characters in that issue.
Players mark both types of issues on their character sheets: Spotlight ones and ordinary issues where they were secondary characters. There are mechanics to make it harder for players to get consecutive spotlight issues.
So XPs are like a comic book collection that tells of your previous adventure.
You tap into them in two ways:
Callbacks: Once per spotlight issue per adventure, you can callback to a previous adventure where your hero did something that would help you in a particular situation. Doing so either counts as minor cost to offset a minor failure, or allows you to Max out one die of your pool after a roll.
Trade Paperbacks: Once you get 6 issues in your collection, regardless if they are spotlight or not, you trade them away and your character "levels up" and gets a dice size increase on a power/quality and other options we're working on.
I'm real excited about these (as I came up with a few of the ideas behind them, refined by Cam and Dave. amazing designers that they are.)
You can find my blog here (if Craig doesn't kill the link with fire... he he he)
http://www.critical-hits.com/blog/category/critical-hits/columns/chattydm/
Be forewarned, there's like 950 articles in there... It harkens back to D&D 3.5...
:)
That's my entire reason of the suggestion. Helps that my name is Ed
Also players should be called True Believers! For reasons
This seems very reminiscent of the classic Deadlands methodology of XP, wherein you could spend Fate Chips for rerolls and to activate in-game benefits, but those same Fate Chips acted as your character's personal XP.
It's worth noting, I think, that a lot of games have moved away from this, based on the tendency for players to be reticent to "burn their experience points" for a one-time bonus. The current edition of Deadlands–and Savage Worlds in general–don't use this method; experience and Fate Chips are kept entirely separate.
While I tend to like games that include some form of meta-currency–Bennies, Fate points, Hero points, Vigilance dice, etc.–I don't think tying that currency to a character's advancement is a great idea…
I think it isn't quite like that. I think you have X comics in your past. Each adventure you can harken back X times (once per past comic) for a boost. And, once you've collected 6 comics, you level up. Once you level up, I guess you can't call back the spotlight events from the previous comics because they're "spent". So, you both get to have the boosts and eat them too (for a level).
If you're able to do both, that's fine.
The way it was worded earlier, it sounds like it's an 'either/or'. Could we get clarification?
I like editor too, but the abbreviation ED isn't a great direction, unless we are going to have ads with Mrs. Parsons talking about how Paul got his passion back.
Thanks for answering questions, I thought of some more:
1) I'd like to hear how two different groups solved the same problem in different ways in the games you ran. Combat or Non-Combat problem, or both if you are feeling generous.
2) Did all the groups finish the storyline you had prepared? How long did the sessions take? (I ask becasue I'll be a new GM with new players and am curious what kind of time we'll need, I know it will vary from group to group, but I'm curious how long it took from hook to Voss showdown).
3) I may only have myself(GM) and two other players, is it reasonable to run a two player adventure or like the card game its designed for 3+ heroes? Or 2 players is possible but I'll have to modify the rules/senarios?
Well, that's if you call it ED… if you call it Ed, less so!
I had already thought of that. But yeah. There's a huge difference between "Ee Dee" and "Ehd" in pronunciation and meaning.
I'm not Phil, but:
Most narrative-focused games work even for one player. Hell, even crunchy games can, but you have to supplement the character (in D&D, this would be things like lots of health potions). My ideal game is for 3-4 players at a table. Less isn't bad, but more tends to be. The less players you have, the main problem ends up being those players having to share a lot of burden for pushing their story. With more players, you can hope for a little distribution of interest in that way. But if your players are really interested in the subject and the game, less players might be better and let you tell more intimate, richer stories.
I ran an MHR game for two players for a while. It went very well. I would be shocked if this did not work just as well.
You get to tap into your spotlight issues until you hit six issues, then you'd have to trade them.
As I said, work in progress, in need of further testing.
In the interest of expediency: What he said.
GenCon Interview with Christopher about Sentinels RPG posted. Not a lot new in it, but some mechanics discussion. And a lot of Christohper being Christopher.
Well some of the mechanics are clearer now for me so it's worth a read if you didn't get to sit at the demo. It sounds awesome and it may give the system with the flow to give life to a really weird superhero game we were working on.
"New" video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ-AcEAPXvQ
Nice interview. There was one tidbit that I had missed earlier: the characters will have more than two principles, and will have two principles active at any one time. That reminds me of the Sentinel Tactics mechanic.
Another year before it's out.
I'll live. :)
"A lot of Christopher being Christopher"
I'm going to take that as a compliment...?
That would totally be a compliment if I said it. I can't speak for Pwatson though!
It sounds like everyone that got to play really enjoyed the game. I hope that remains the same when the kickstarter comes out! :)
@eviltoon: On your Legacy Character Sheet, Lead From the Front (green) and Inspirational Charge (yellow) are exactly the same power. Was that intentional?
Also, did anyone figure out what was on the backs of those cheat sheets? Like when you try to recover but roll a 5, do you recover any stress at all?
