CoH tabletop intro help

[Firon]

This isn't me asking for a tabletop game for CoH (I'll be using Mutants and Masterminds) but I'd like to know what I should include in a "Setting introduction"

What's important for newbie ones to know about the setting? What would be good hooks? That sort of thing?

Please and thanks

[jonsp1170]

Well, for my own game, I plan to start by showing the players the original CoH trailer. (Search "City of Heroes Official Trailer" on YouTube, if you're interested; also available here (long download) http://www.cityofheroes.ca/media-and-downloads/videos/index.html ) It doesn't give a detailed history of the setting, but I think it gives a nice feel for it, and some nice visuals of the city (even if it is a little corny). Also shows clips of the Rikti War, which is sort of the major excuse for why things are the way they are in Paragon City at the start of the game. (I'm starting my campaign right at the beginning of CoH, before the destruction of Galaxy City, the arrival of Ouroboros, even before the Hollowing; so of course that determines the information the players start out with).

After that, I plan to:

• Give a quick overview of the Rikti War. Probably throw a few dates and details at them from the wiki page. Important points:


• The Rikti attacked for unknown reasons. Planting a seed for adventures down the line where they discover the story behind the war.


• Many superheroes were killed. Show them the wiki page for the Surviving Eight. Also emphasize the importance of the player characters, stepping in for the heroes who were lost.


• The main invasion ended with the Omega team sacrificing themselves to close the portal to the Rikti homeworld. Another seed for later adventures (opening up the time capsule, encountering The Honoree, the Rikti's attempts to reestablish a portal to their homeworld)


• Tell them a little about Statesman and the Freedom Phalanx. Partly because they might be curious after seeing him in the video, partly because he and the Phalanx are sort of a "reference point" to the setting, like the JLA for the DC Universe, or the Fantastic Four or Avengers for Marvel. Using NPCs to give the setting more personality.


• Statesman was the first known superpowered individual in the modern era.


• He claims that his powers come from tapping his "inner will." Another seed: the players will discover this is a lie when I bring in Incarnates and the Well of the Furies down the road.


• Statesman founded the Freedom Phalanx in 1932. The group is currently the premiere hero team in Paragon City. Quick rundown of members.


• The supervillain Lord Recluse is Statesman's arch-nemesis. Rumor has it that they have known each other for a long time and might have actually been friends at some point. Mention that Recluse is the leader of Arachnos and that they're based in the Rogue Isles, off the east coast of the United States.


• At this point, it's tempting to also mention Ms. Liberty, The Vindicators, Longbow, and Freedom Corps, but I think that's getting into information overload, so I'll probably feed the players that information during play.


• Explain a couple setting elements.


• Paragon City has always been a hotbed of superhuman activity. In the chaos following the Rikti War, with law enforcement resources stripped to bare bones and many superheroes dead, numerous supervillains, gangs, cults, and other superhuman groups and individuals established footholds in (and under) the city. This is why the city needs so many heroes, and it gives the player characters an overarching motivation: without them and the other new superheroes holding the line, the city would descend into chaos and become a war zone again, this time with the various villain factions fighting among themselves and the civilians caught in the middle.


• Briefly explain the FBSA and its departments (GIFT, MAGI, etc.). I'm going to use the FBSA and the original hero contacts as the players' initial signposting for their adventures. Give them SmartComs (a freebie, not going to make them pay points for it; basically just a Feature that allows them to communicate with each other and their FBSA contacts, get information and messages about goings on in the city).


• Origins. Just going to mess around with this one. Present origins (mutant, natural, etc.) as a classification system the FBSA came up with to assign heroes to work with their different departments. Lots of heroes (and the threats they face) fall within two or more origins or even fall outside the system entirely. But the FBSA stil insists heroes declare only one origin when they register. Basically just a little snark on government bureacracy. I'll let the players finish their characters first, then introduce origins as an FBSA regulation. Don't want to stifle anyone's creativity. Also be fun listening to them grouse about having to stuff their characters into pigeonholes that don't quite fit.


• If you're going to use the hospital teleporter network, probably want to introduce them to that up front too. I've decided not to use it myself--too easy an out in bad situations, and I anticpate having to constantly come up with heavy-handed ways to thwart them ("Whoops! Looks like the Circle of Thorns rerouted your teleporters to their magic crystal prisons. Tough luck. Here's a hero point."). Might keep it as a system used by paramedics and other emergeny responders in extreme situations. Just teleport critical patients directly to the emergency room instead of loading them on ambulances or helicopters. Naturally, this would get used a lot on heroes. Chance to play up the courage and dedication of emergency workers, and maybe keep the heroes a bit humble: sometimes the norms save the superheroes.

Hm. Anyways, rambling.

So that's what I plan on doing at this point. Everything else I figure they can discover during play. Some of the information will probably be things the characters knew all along, but I won't worry about telling the players until it becomes relevant. (For example, why explain war walls until they actually see them, or Hero Corps until they encounter them, or hazard zones until an adventure takes them into one?) I'll just decide case by case if it seems like something the characters would reasonably know, given their backgrounds (liberally supplemented with Expertise and Intellect checks and uses of the Well-Informed Advantage).

Hope this helps.

[Battlechimp]

Jonsp1170 covered a lot of great points.  One thing you should do is ermine where in the timeline are you setting your a me.  Right after the Rikti War? Maybe where the game ended?  Are you players going to be established heroes in their own right, just not from paragon City, or are they new heroes just starting out in Paragon

If they are going to be new heroes, they should not know a lot of details about the city.  The history of things that wereon the plaques would be public knowledge.  They would know about the Freedom Phalanx, the Vindicators, just not necessarily specific things like what happened to the Omega Team.  What they would know is what the Rest of the world would know, they were heroes who went though the Portal and never came back. Why... they don't know.  If they are new heroes the only things they'd know would be what is general public knowledge

The knowledge of the villains would be general, nothing specific. Think of the story arcs where villain groups are introduced, Circle of Thorns, they're images that are kidnapping people, their background with Orangebagel they'd need to discover over the course of the game.  I would say keep it general, they will find out the rest of the details as the game progresses, those are the story hooks that can get them into the setting.

Why are these ninjas running around.... why are two street gangs developing supernatural powers... what's turning these people into green rage monsters... why does it seem like there's Morse code going through my head when I drink this new Crey Cola while standing next to my 70" Crey TV set.  Not knowing specifics about villain groups gives the reasons to look further into them

[Firon]

These are all really good ideas.

The party's actually considering going villain, actually. (I will be preventing anything too Phipps-y)

The timeline IS something serious to think about...I could start early, and use downtime, or we could start later and have them be new arrivals...that's definitely something I'll have to ponder.

[jonsp1170]

I will be preventing anything too Phipps-y.

Yeah, if you go villain, I'd say making sure your expectations for the game are in synch with your players' is top priority, much more so than with a heroic or even vigilante-style game. Villains just provide so much opportunity for going hog wild. Which is part of the fun of playing them. But that can easily tip over into uncomfortable, unmanageable, or even just boring.

A couple other things to watch out for/consider:

• Villains who can't work together as a group. Backstabbers, psychos, monsters, or just the old gaming cliche of the independent loner. I think it's even easier to create characters like this when playing villains, often without even intending to.


• How much backstabbing and intra-party conflict are you willing to deal with? How far are you willing to let it go? If you don't want to deal with it, I don't think it's unreasonable to put it on your players to come up with backstory explaining why their villains are loyal to each other, or at least are willing to work together for their own interests.


• Rampaging monsters and full-bore psychopaths as player characters. Oooooh the temptation to just cut loose. But unless you find a way to flesh out the psycho or monster--give them some goals other than just random destruction--they're just a one-note character that quickly becomes boring.


• The classic problem of City of Villains: what kind of villains do your players really want to play? Are they satisfied playing thugs and mercenaries doing odd jobs for others? Or do they want to be grand schemers hatching their own ridiculous plans for world domination?

Curse you, Firon. You've got me thinking about this stuff and now I'm all antsy to start my own campaign. And I have two others that I have to finish first. :-)

[Firon]

I'll basically be starting it like this, I think.

We're gonna start with the Dr. Graves contest, that'll be a good way to let me get a feel, give them something structured, and a good reason to start working together. There will be no "Destined one" crap, and it'll be closer to the Mortimer Kal thing, where as they do jobs, they get details on people to talk to, hints for ways to gain power, influence, money, or territory, and since it's tabletop, they can just scheme themselves.

[jonsp1170]

So sort of a mix of doing jobs for NPCs and pursuing their own schemes? That sounds like a good plan. Some direction when they might need it, plus the experience of building up a network of contacts, acquiring resources and influence to put their own schemes into play. I think that would capture the feel of the Rogue Isles nicely.

Hearts of Darkness was a fun storyline. Should make for a good tabletop scenario.

[therain93]

These are all really good ideas.

The party's actually considering going villain, actually. (I will be preventing anything too Phipps-y)

The timeline IS something serious to think about...I could start early, and use downtime, or we could start later and have them be new arrivals...that's definitely something I'll have to ponder.

See post 66 for other particular points in time:  http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10172.50/topicseen.html