Thursday, August 8, 2024

New Salem: Renaissance - Supers Modules and what did we learn

After a month spent on this I think I have a few observations on what I in particular am looking for in a supers module. 

  1. If it is designed for an existing supers property...
    1. Iconic: I want it to thread the needle between what is iconic for that property and its history and being portable to different heroes if that's what the purchaser needs. The MSH Modules Lone Wolves and Time Trap were both really good for this, and Don't Ask! managed in in a different direction, where your heroes had an Ambush Bog story invade their normal affairs for a while, just as he did in DC. 
    2. One and Done: Since its unlikely you're playing an ongoing campaign with the the heroes in that supplement - not impossible but unlikely - it should have the assumption that this is a one shot/con game that focused people can do in 3.5 hours. You can have a bunch of optional stuff in there, recommendations for if you have more time, but the idea should be you are getting together one day to run this adventure for these heroes, and then like the Leverage crew all walk off in different directions. 
  2. If this is a Scenario (rather than a Supplement, see below)...
    1. Modular: You can drop it into any existing campaign as an outside event happening to the PCs, just as Don't Ask! does. There needs to be a clear on ramp for any group of PCs to enter into it - it shouldn't involve Generic Government Agent giving them an infodump and pointing them at the problem - and a reasonable way for them to skip it if t's really out of character. Now, they likely won't skip it because of table contract, but the fact that it is skippable makes it something you can insert into a sandbox game, with ramifications.
    2. Clear Stakes: The stakes need to be clear, self-contained, and optimally low for the broader game. This lets the GM either drop this in as a two issue event or an annual and everyone knows the wheels are on the rails. Of the GM can easily modify it so it's a seamless part of the game, foreshadowing and integrating it as part of the sandbox. That increases utility. 
    3. Classic and Clever: Scenarios should be riffing off classic tropes as a way to show the GM how to do this sort of thing and let the players experience the types of stories they love with their characters in a well presented way. They also need to not be completely generic. Terror By Night lets them fight a vampire and do the circus thing, but has some nice twists to break it up. Enter the Dragons Claw: HONOR is you fighting Ninja! But it's also 1980's high finance business politics. A scenario should always have a neat spin. 
  3. If it is a Supplement...
    1. A Single Book: I know this wasn't the style at the time, but if Death Duel with the Destroyers and Island of Doctor Apocalypse (or FORCE and Assassin!) had been a single longer book, with the lead in stuff that Dawn of DNA had for the hints of the organization (but which fell down on the master plan) you would have something ideal. A clearly defined villain group that had plans and fall backs and ways for the heroes to encounter them again and again, and maybe get ahead of them to give the players real agency.
    2. Easily Integrated: Supplements are bigger than scenarios in that they define a larger part of the milieu...nope still feels weird to use that out of D&D... game setting and therefore they need to be pretty easy to integrate into anyone's game. The design of smaller teaser encounters before one of the big plots kicks off. A n explanation for how the group had stayed under the radar for so long or had just been created. How the villains interact with the world in a general sense.
    3. Sandbox-y: This ties with easily integrated but while Scenarios should be a little sandbox in that the players can just ignore them and their limited stakes play out, supplements should be sandbox in that the seed the setting with stuff. FORCE and Assassin together present several different plots going at once under different identities and umbrellas. Make the GM aware of all of these and their respective time tables so if the heroes go somewhere they may stumble into something. Also the information on the group should make it clear how they would react to another group either from a different supplement or the GM's campaign - how would Force react to Doctor Apocalypse, or vice versa? 
  4. In all cases...
    1. Supers adventures need clear organization: The DC Heroes lead-from-the-front synopsis to the GM about what is going on is a huge deal, as is their flowchart and the "troubleshooting" sidebars. That being said the flowcharts need to have more options to get from A to Z, with things the heroes might skip, branches of investigation, etc. Modern mystery design from Gumshoe games are a big help here and should be emulated in the way to start ay A, end at Z, but many paths to it, and enough information for the GM to end at M if that's what the PCs do. The ideas of how the big final fight should be explained, but not made mandatory. I know the genre conventions lead to certain things, but a troubleshooting bar of "if the PCs figure this out faster than you think, alternate endings are..." 
    2. Investigation needs to be part of it: Lots of heroes have detective skills or information discovery powers, and the adventure should have those. Just going straight to  When it comes to the information gathering beats, the GM should get a clear list of the names of the people who might be questioned and what they know (as MSH did in Lone Wolves, and DCHeroes did in City of Fear, and kind of needs to do with the mechanical nature of DC's interactions).The classic V&V modules only do this in the most cursory sense, but I think it's needed to capture the investigation pillar of supers. 
    3. Maps are Neat but not Needed: I love the location maps for the V&V modules, especially the area maps with points of interests, but the room by room maps with descriptions feel like holdovers from the D&D design era. We don't see supers in comics doing room by room searches of places (unless it's the funhouse in Terror by Night, which is part of the plot), especially if there's a time limit. If the base matters, give it in broad stroke areas and what's likely to be in there, with where the villains are and how the base responds. We don't need every room detailed. (also there were a lot of clues in rooms that PCs might never enter, making it easy or hard to solve certain plot points based on whether the PCs tore every room apart, or it all happened off screen after the last fight? This is a place where more abstract works. 
    4. Theme Matters: When you're building your villains, try to give them a coherent theme based on the setting or scenario. If your fighting Ninja they should all feel Ninja-y, your not what he seems Vampire should have similar sidekicks, etc. The useless side bit in Assassin! investigating the bio-engineering place would have been 100% better if all the security guards had powers based on the place's work rather than being hired supers guarding this isolated business. the Dr. Apocalypse series would have been better served with the Elementals portrayal of the doctor making them rather than recruiting them. If Dawn of DNA had been a Supplement you could have started with the Aberrants because that's all Doctor DNA could fine, and then newer created supers or recruited heroes could filter in over time. That the Organizer's supers in Organized Crimes are not under his control fits when the middle bit relies on that team falling apart, but the ad hoc nature of the villains in Battle Beyond the Earth does not. 
    5. Don't play favorites: Please don't have a favorite NPC who centers in the module. Just don't. I shouldn't need to tell you this. 
I think that's it, but will add more if they come to me. 

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