There are a couple of other things about the characters
that I want to touch on.
Metaphor
First is that each one of the characters as a metaphor –
some aspect of American life that they embody. This is a narrative device more
than anything else, but it takes the place of ‘alignment’ in the classic super
hero universe. (Another way of replacing alignment is having each hero
represent a certain part of a group psyche, but everyone being a metaphor is a
bit bigger than that, and the JAA is a game of big things).
In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about here, the
idea of the metaphor is “being a superhuman is like being X”, with X variable
for the setting. In the X-Men books it went from being a mutant is like being a
teenager’ to ‘being a mutant is like being a member of a minority’ to, the
Bryan Singer movies, ‘being a mutant is like being gay’. The 1980’s Teen Titans
books are an even better example, where being a super-hero was like being in a
parent child relationship, and everyone had a different flavor of it: Cyborg’s
scientist dad so wanted him to become an engineer that he literally turned his
son into a machine; Raven is the ultimate child of an abusive father; each of
the characters can be mapped on a particular parent/child dynamic.
In any event, in this game being a member of the JAA is
like being an American (as it should be, otherwise they’re just the Justice
Alliance). Vigilante embodies the reconstruction amendments: he has spent 150
years fighting for voting rights and equal protection under the law. It’s what
he does, it’s who he is.
Firestorm is the question of integration: His fusion of
an older, foreign born Asian cultural archetype with a younger, native born,
barely tied to his parent’s culture epitomizes the struggle to keep the
cultural identity while embracing the American experience.
The Question is the obsession with Conspiracy Theory: you
can’t understand the 20th century without understanding the nature
of conspiracy theory, the need to find connections and deeper truths.
Aquaman is the spirit of exploration – as with Star Trek
where the aliens were really about human problems Aquaman is exploring a whole
other realm but the aliens are humans.
Jason is still noodling on Superman’s metaphor right now
(he’s been a Populist, an Immigrant, the Secular Humanist Savior, a Reagan
Democrat and various other things depending on when it was). Secular Humanist
Savior may come back, or the spirit of compromise, or Generation X.
Comic Book Titles
The other idea I’m playing with here is what comics the
hero is appearing in that aren’t the Justice Alliance. These sorts of team
books have heroes who have their own books and those who don’t, where those who
don’t get more screen time and subplots because this is the only place they’re
showing up. This is why in the Avengers we spend so much time with the Wasp and
Ant Man relationship, or the Vision Scarlet Witch Quicksilver Wonder Man
dynamic. It’s not as visible in Morrison’s run on JLA where six of the seven
core heroes have their own book or books, but it was very evident in the Silver
Age were the Hawks, Elongated Man, Zatanna and Red Tornado kept their subplots
confined to JLA.
To capture that vibe in this game, as well as to bring in
some more narrative mechanical ideas, is that players have scene framing chips
that let them pull away from the GM’s planned plot (yes, I’m old school enough
to still have one of those) for subplot scenes with another character. Given
that these mechanics are designed to produce single session games most times I
want to be able to limit the number of subplots kicking around to avoid subplot
kudzu, so there can’t be a ton of these.
My original idea was that if the player chose to have
their character appear in one or more other books they got extra character
points to build them but fewer subplot chips – they have more potential
spotlight for planned scenes but less spotlight time for subplots. The problem
is this runs counter to the pretty smooth hero point mechanic that I already
have, where the more powerful characters become more tightly constrained by
negative hero points. That makes scenario plotting a ton easier and I refuse to
give it up.
Since it’s a general reality that some players love
emotionally powerful subplots and some see them as either awkward or a
distraction from play we’re going to build on that. The player decides how many
books their hero is in every month, and that does two things: First, It
broadens their rogues’ gallery: More books equals more bad guys (6 per book, 3
or so callbacks and 3 new), and more things for the GM to draw on or call back
to. Having your villains show up as part of the plot increases your spotlight
time almost by definition. Second, tt determines their subplot tokens.
If your hero ONLY appears in JAA you start with one
initiating token and one joining token. You are allowed to play your initiating
token and frame a scene that includes anyone who has joining tokens left to
spend. If your hero also stars in their own title you have a joining token but
not an initiating one, and can be part of one other character’s subplot. If
your hero stars in 2 or more books a month he doesn’t have either, and can’t/won’t
be pulled into subplots – he’s the guy who is so busy he is never hanging
around the base
If there aren’t any heroes with initiating tokens
remaining then either you have no subplots or two or more players can initiate
simultaneously with their joining tokens, sharing the scene framing and having
a quick interpersonal scene.
Since this is entirely player driven I’m not stating
anything about the starting heroes – if you have a group of players who all
love subplots then none of them have their own books and they look like the
Detroit era JLA. If everyone wants just pulse pounding action with no subplots
then everyone is in their own book or books and there are no initiating tokens
and few joiners, which looks like Morrison era JLA. If it’s an even mix then
you’re in the Silver Age team where we watch Red Tornado muse about his
humanity to the Hawks who worry about losing their culture white Zatanna starts
dating the recently widowed Flash. It all depends on what your table dynamic is
like.
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