Advice on a Possible New Group Game

Started by LunarSage, August 20, 2012, 09:24:37 AM

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LunarSage

So I've been wondering if the Arkham City setting would make a good group game.  One would think at first glance that it'd be awesome.  No police.  A completely lawless setting where might makes right.  Players could be street level vigilantes like Batman, Robin, Catwoman and Huntress or villains like the Joker, Two Face or Penguin (I'm sure someone would want to play him).  Heck, even thugs or helpless victims that need to be rescued. 

My question is... how would one make it work properly?  Is pitting players against one another a good idea?  If not, how to work it so there's little to no PvP?  Damn it all, I'd love to be able to make this work.  I need your advice, fellow GMs!

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Healergirl

#1
Unless nobody plays a villain, PvP is is unavoidable.  Even if all players are villains... PvP is likely.  Efforts to avoid or forbid PvP would be artificial in the extreme.  hmm.

Playing Catwoman might be fun.  One thing that has always bugged me about film portrayals of Catwoman ( I have been out of the comic book habit for a long time) is the way her sensuality is emphasized. I have nothing against that, but the fact is, cats are lethal little buggers, perhaps the deadliest solitary predators in the world.  So how about Catwoman who is truly dangerous to cross, or to even have her think you've crossed her?

As a rule, I shy away from playing established characters.  but... Catwoman the passionate lover, the coldly efficient killer.... puurrrr, in several meanings of the term.

GothicFires

#2
While I don't GM any longer i think I can give some good advice here.  ::)

When it comes to PVP the players involved agree who is going to win before they write out the scene. If it is critical to the plot that one character win then it is easy. If it doesn't matter however, the issue that may come up here is player ego when both say 'but I want to win'. When that happens they just send you a dice roll. The one with the higher dice roll wins and the other makes an amazing escape after getting their ass kicked.
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AndyZ

I think what I'd do is not OOCly ban PvP, but set things up so that ICly, whoever's currently running Arkham City (whether it be the Joker, the Penguin, or whoever you set up) puts down the rule in game that killing someone is wasting a resource and is therefore prohibited without the consent of said authority.

This wouldn't stop things like broken bones, beatdowns into unconsciousness, and so on, but would keep people from killing each other off.  If someone does, then an investigator (and there's some crazy talented ones in the DC universe) determines who the murderer was and that person gets killed as well, unless there's some reason for the detective to rule that it wasn't intended to be a killing.

I'm not sure how well that would work for you, but it's a possible suggestion.
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Healergirl

AndyZ,

That is a great way to give the game a comic book feel, actual deaths among "title characters" would be very very rare.

kckolbe

Lunar, there are a few ways you could do this.  The first would be to use a system of some kind, even a diceless one (I have a post in the system games thread you might like), and I have actually been working on a simple one for superheroes. 

Another, which you might like, is just deciding before play starts which chars would win over others.  I know you gave a few examples of that in the X-Men OOC. 

Lastly, as each char is created, make them acknowledge an equal number of characters that they would win against one on one to the number they would lose against, again before play starts.  That could cause problems if both players think their char would win, but could work out.
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LunarSage

Thanks for the advice, everyone.  I'm not sure I actually want to take on running another group game just yet, but it's a concept that I really like. 

Isn't it weird though that there were absolutely no female criminals in the prison, but they put Harley Quinn in there?

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Healergirl

they did?  I'm not up on the comics in detail  anymore but... not even Poison Ivy?  Huh.  well, Harley is a piece of work, hardly a defenseless damsel.  And as the Joker's moll - when she isn't pissed at him and shacking up with Poison Ivy - she'd get a bit of protection from His rep.

LunarSage

Ahh yeah, Ivy was in there too... it's just odd that they'd be in there but no regular female prisoners, from a legal standpoint.

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Healergirl

Legally, yes, very interesting.  But in terms of Comic book universe.  Hmm.  It strikes me that DC is lacking in notable female villains.  Marvel does seem to have more.  but again, I am way out of date.

But for Marvel, Emma Frost and The Enchantress sprung to mind at once.

DC, Catwoman but I'm still thinking.  Amanda Waller has no powers, but shehas considerable unofficial backing and can be very villainous when the metahumans really wind her up.  Queen Bee?  A foreign head of state, locking her up is very very dicey.