Monday, December 28, 2009

Zenith Comics Presents: Ultimate Guardians

Well the die is cast and I am underway working on my Ultimate Guardians campaign. There has been a lot of enjoyment in my mind of working out various things and such.

The question of system is still up for debate (my declaration of BASH as a winner earlier may have been a bit premature) and it seems the old FASERIPer is in the running, but maybe as 4C. I will know as soon as I start to write stats down.

I have also teamed up with my buddy Longbow from the Super Buddies forums and he has started doing some art for me in the Bruce Timm style from the DCAU.

The first piece up is my old favourite, Lady America;

This is an old costume of hers and not her final look for sure, but it was nice to see her come to life in the first costume I ever designed for her!

While she isn't a Guardian at the start of the campaign, she will be an ally of them team.

The characters (no art yet) are as follows;

Galvanos - A Japanese Robot in the Shogun Warrior style controlled by a handicapped Japanese youth.

Max Plastic - A smart mouthed former-crook-turned-hero who can stretch and shape himself into almost anything.

Kestrel - An angry young mutant with the looks of an angel. His temper is legendary.

Traxx - A speedster who embraces all the traditional stereotypes about speedsters.

Zero-G - An ex astronaut turned superhero with power over gravity itself. A southern gentleman.

Arrow - A soldier/archery expert with hand-to-hand skills to match. He is secretive about his past.

Cascade - A mutant aquatic woman form Australia who studies marine biology and is at best a relunctant hero.

Now the game will be set in Capitol City, which I am going to do an big overhaul of. I am going to make it sort of a Chicago of the East, more on that later.

The big trick to the game is this. All the characters are from the older campaigns I have run, but this time it won't be the player who made them playing it. For example, Galvanos' player won't be playing Galvanos, etc... Really shaking it up.

More as it develops

7 comments:

  1. So... for clarification, the players are going to play the equivalent of pre-gens or will there be an option of creating new characters?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am debating this in my mind and let me explain why. In the past I have allowed players to create their own characters and while it mostly works out, there are often times problems and characters are seen one way by the player and another by the GM, or the other players, etc...

    I start pregenerating characters about 9 years ago and the campaigns have gone much smoother. In fact in the campaigns where I don't there is a great degree of chaos and clashing, as opposed to not.

    Now that said, I am debating possibly not doing that this time. Seeing where character creation takes us, but in such a case I might be tempted to go with random character creation.

    Do you have an issue with either way? Or a preference? Or a "I won't play if it's pre-gen" condition?

    Please let me know :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Personally, I'd *much* prefer to get to make the character myself- or if we are using pregens- use them from an established comics universe- like Marvel or DC.

    ReplyDelete
  4. And I'm also not a fan of "random" superhero generation. You end up with a few good characters, but a lot of nigh-unplayable ones this way. Better if the players can create something that they envision, imo.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I disagree Rorschach. Here's why, actual experience with random hero creation. Yes you have a large potential to get wacky characters, but if you use the randomness as a guideline and not a straight-jacket it can be a wonderfully creative process.

    Also, this prevents the inevitable "Well I see Captain Power as X, Y and Z! Not Z, Y and X the way you do!"

    Not all players do this, but enough do and there will always be a bit of disappointment when a hero doesn't get treated or viewed the exact way the player wanted. GM's are not psychic, but we try darn'it ;)

    Pre-gened characters provide good rolepayers with a set of powers, a short background and some roleplaying notes. They then are challenged to make that character their own the way an actor would in a film, play or tv show.

    It can be a very rewarding experience for all involved, but again only if the players are open to it and the GM is good.

    ReplyDelete
  6. When it comes to superheroes, I am solidly in the random or pregen camp. The reason is that all of the mechanical fiddlybits are exclusively focus on the hero, his/her/it's powers and how they can be awesome. I personally couldn't care less, to be honest.

    What really matters to me is the alter-ego, the Peter Parker behind Spiderman. This part all comes from the player and (controversial statement ahead) if the game is done right, this part of the character will feature prominently. Otherwise it's just a super-powered wank-fest.

    ReplyDelete
  7. There's a swingin' town I know called....
    Capitol City!

    People stop and scream hello in...
    Capitol City!

    It's the kind of place that makes a bum feel like a king.
    And it makes a king feel like some nutty, coo-coo, super king!

    It's against the law to frown in... Capitol City.
    You'll caper like a stupid clown when you chance to see...
    Fourth Street and 'D'! Yeah!

    Once you get a whiff of it, you'll never want to roam,
    From Capitol City, my home sweet, swingin' home!

    ReplyDelete