A ridiculous number of helpful friends
Jun. 12th, 2003 12:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gementWarning, game geekery.
So, when I wanted to explain why my last villain got trounced, I realized even a partial listing of the reasons would sound so cheesy it hurts. As a GM, I'm allergic to cheese. I hate it. I try like hell to never give anyone toys that don't match the nature of the world or seem too coincidentally convenient.
But I just took a long soul-searching look at the make-up of my game's cast, and decided that they're way overpowered.
A listing of characters and their toys
Bey - the Watcher. Made a deal with the Big Bad for a book that (with some very important but secret caveats) lets him learn anything he wants. [Yes, this one was a game-breaker, and I knew it when it happened.]
Phoenix - the King of Pain. You know, Mr. Billowy Black Coat. He's a very very very strong human, with everybody's favorite combat-monkey kung fu stats.
Calypso - the witch. The character is usually nicely scooby-powered, but she's been playing Fight Club with herself lately, and her second self isn't afraid to use her full magical potential. She's so useful and there's so much going on that the gang hasn't gotten around to turning her back.
Rob - the robot. He's a low-involvement player and a devotee of giant-robot anime, so I let him be a Buffyverse robot. He mostly is good for grabbing villains when the slayer tells him to, but he's quite strong, and it turns the tide of battle dramatically.
Hazel - the hacker. OK, she's a wussy-girl.
Taken individually, each of these things are soundly supported by game dynamics and reasonable back-story. But you can see how this team could make mince-meat of most standard power level plots.
So. They have a very powerful, nigh-omniscient Big Bad to face (the Djinn roughly outlined in the sourcebook), and they can't fight it particularly effectively with these toys, but it's making anything smaller a romp.
Do I cut down their power level? Accept that they're attached to their toys and up the other monsters? Or do I let them romp through the smaller villains because it obviously makes them happy to do so?
And am I missing any choices? How do people handle this situation, and how do I turn my heart to stone to stop giving them bonuses that "seem reasonable at the time"?
I throw myself on the altar of Good Plot and Fun Game. What must I do?
So, when I wanted to explain why my last villain got trounced, I realized even a partial listing of the reasons would sound so cheesy it hurts. As a GM, I'm allergic to cheese. I hate it. I try like hell to never give anyone toys that don't match the nature of the world or seem too coincidentally convenient.
But I just took a long soul-searching look at the make-up of my game's cast, and decided that they're way overpowered.
A listing of characters and their toys
Bey - the Watcher. Made a deal with the Big Bad for a book that (with some very important but secret caveats) lets him learn anything he wants. [Yes, this one was a game-breaker, and I knew it when it happened.]
Phoenix - the King of Pain. You know, Mr. Billowy Black Coat. He's a very very very strong human, with everybody's favorite combat-monkey kung fu stats.
Calypso - the witch. The character is usually nicely scooby-powered, but she's been playing Fight Club with herself lately, and her second self isn't afraid to use her full magical potential. She's so useful and there's so much going on that the gang hasn't gotten around to turning her back.
Rob - the robot. He's a low-involvement player and a devotee of giant-robot anime, so I let him be a Buffyverse robot. He mostly is good for grabbing villains when the slayer tells him to, but he's quite strong, and it turns the tide of battle dramatically.
Hazel - the hacker. OK, she's a wussy-girl.
Taken individually, each of these things are soundly supported by game dynamics and reasonable back-story. But you can see how this team could make mince-meat of most standard power level plots.
So. They have a very powerful, nigh-omniscient Big Bad to face (the Djinn roughly outlined in the sourcebook), and they can't fight it particularly effectively with these toys, but it's making anything smaller a romp.
Do I cut down their power level? Accept that they're attached to their toys and up the other monsters? Or do I let them romp through the smaller villains because it obviously makes them happy to do so?
And am I missing any choices? How do people handle this situation, and how do I turn my heart to stone to stop giving them bonuses that "seem reasonable at the time"?
I throw myself on the altar of Good Plot and Fun Game. What must I do?
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no subject
Date: 2003-06-12 01:49 pm (UTC)As such, you shouldn't worry if they grease minor baddies with nary a second thought. That's how this works. But make sure in every "monster pack", there is at least one monster that will give them trouble. Also, put them in environments that put them at a disadvantage. Such as a marsh that exudes dizzying fumes. Or on a slippery bridge over a chasm/spikes/hideous machine while facing agile/grippy-clawed beasties.
Also, don't feel bad about -temporarily- crippling heroes. Excitement thrives on adversity. Don't do the "you wake up naked in an unfamiliar room with all of your equipment gone" shtick, as they will most likely kill you. But feel free to take away powerful toys for a while, just to remind them of how frail they are without them.
Thirdly (and lastly, as I am getting long-winded) put them up against foes that are only weak against very specific attack forms. Like a mummy that is virtually invulnerable except for fire. Or a sentient computer virus that can only be destroyed by trapping it in a stand-alone system and then fried with a powerful jolt of electricity.
Basically, when the players get too powerful, the best thing (IMO) to do is to get crafty. Get creative. Get EVIL. But never be afraid to take away a tool that is too powerful and makes the entire party rely on it. The game is about the players, not the weapons. Yeah. *drags away the soapbox*
no subject
Date: 2003-06-12 01:58 pm (UTC)Let them keep their power level, more or less. Put strings on some of them, so there is perhaps an in-character cost for using the power (like that book, which could cause lots of trouble on it's own... make it so they won't want to use it except the most dire of circumstances).
Let them roll over the badguys sometimes. It *is* fun, and reminds them that they are powerful. This should be the equilent of Buffy staking a few vamps before the opening music rolls though.
Have a few different types of big threats. Maybe some that rely on numbers of average vampires. They should face some big "scaled up" monsters, and some unphyscial threats.
Make them make moral choices - the badguys are really possessed townsfolk, so you can't unleash your full strenght at them.
Turn them against each other. Let the robot get reprogrammed and send him against the group. Fun for everyone!
Do be careful on the new toys you give out, but don't stop... sounds like Hazel could use something fun, for example.
More Suggestions
Date: 2003-06-13 05:36 pm (UTC)I ran into a similar problem when I was running my Werewolf game.
One of the ways I was able to get around it was to go for the gut. I tried to avoid challenging the character physically. Instead I tried hit them emotionally.
One of the main elimantes of Buffy is the angst. When things look good, they always go bad. As a player you should never trust an easy victory, because you just know the Gm is around the corner ready to skull f*** you.
Try having the physical bad guys going for the PC's mundane family and friends. Go ahead have the Slayer's mother turned into a vampire. Let the witch's sister's soul be need to complete the world saving ritual. Force the King of Pain to dress in drag to infiltrate a pack of deamons. Just never hit them straight.
In the end they should feel like they clawed tooth and nail to finally save the day.
And they should learn to fear the GM.
Re: More Suggestions
Date: 2003-06-14 12:39 am (UTC)I'm reassured by what I've seen posted here. All my power toys have womping caveats, time limits, or other liabilities, most of which tie into the main plot and I can use to make them dance like puppets. I'm drowning the players in angst. I've got half of them peering suspiciously at each other. And as gravy (and to lighten the mood), they get to trounce the "bad guys."
Thanks, all three of you by giving advice that affirmed I'm doing the right thing, and giving some very helpful suggestions for tightening the ship even further.
By the way, I'd like to give Wistol a rules lawyer commendation and a cookie* for fixing the staking system for me! I'm actually going to put that in a separate top-level post just because I want to call attention to it.
* Cookie must be claimed in person in Eastern Washington.
Re: More Suggestions
Date: 2003-06-16 09:11 am (UTC)Your trying to bribe me to go to Eastern Washington. Tempting me with your tastey cookies.
HHHMMMMmmmmmmmm........Coookies