Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #468
5 Ways to Create Cultures
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
5 Ways to Create Cultures
Game Master Tips & Tricks
- Realism Tips
- GMing Tips For Dark Heresy
- Introducing One's Family To RPGs
- Be Enthusiastic
- Another Book Recommendation
- Long Term Campaign Tips
Johnn Four's GM Guide Books
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A Brief Word From Johnn
Congrats To Hannah On Her First Product
Roleplaying Tips Editor Hannah Lipsky published Martial
Flavor today, a D&D 4E compatible supplement that
features five martial cultures you can drag and drop into
your campaign.
I read the book and it oozes with flavour and roleplaying
hooks. Even though it's 4E, I'm scooping a couple of the
cultures for my upcoming Pathfinder campaign.
Congrats Hannah! You did an awesome job.
Martial Flavor
Readers, this week's feature article is written by Hannah.
It should give you a hint of the great stuff inside Martial
Flavor.
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Get a game or three played this week!
Cheers,
Johnn Four,
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
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Reader Tip Request: Large Scale Sci-Fi Battles
Dear Johnn,
Just wondering if you have any tips on large-scale battles
where the PCs can influence the outcome. My entire campaign
has been to get to the point where my players can be part of
a battle that they could possibly do different things where
the outcome is not pre-scripted. It's theirs to win or lose.
I GM a Star Wars Saga game, so it's likely to contain big
starships and starfighters, as well as ground forces with
blasters and Jedi. What's the best way I can manage this
without going insane? Splitting the party is bad enough.
- Melissa
If you have any advice for Melissa, email me at
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
Thanks!
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5 Ways to Create Cultures
By Hannah Lipsky
A question I get a lot is, "How do you come up with this
stuff?"
Many GMs want to create unique and fun cultures that affect
the game in ways beyond just color. Many players just want
to sell their loot in a shop, get drunk in the bar, and head
back out to the dungeon, without reading ten pages of
backstory on each location.
How do you create a compelling culture that makes a
difference in the game, without spending ages crafting
something intricate that's sure to be ignored? I asked
myself that question a lot while working on Martial Flavor.
Here are the answers that I found. They aren't the only
answers out there by far, but they worked for me and they
can work for you.
1. Twist a Gaming Trope
I ride horses, and I've found having semi-realistic horses
in a game is a lot of fun. But I've never been a huge fan of
the "knight in shining armor" archetype when it applies to
RPGs. So what I wanted was a culture that revolves around
horses, but isn't a bunch of nobles or paladins.
I took that standard trope and reversed it to come up with
the Elessim. They're a bunch of semi-nomadic savages with
little education or money, a loose moral code, and really
nothing like what most people would consider to be
civilization.
Then I took that base and tried to see where I could go with
it. They don't have a system of writing, but every culture
has some way of passing down information, and usually some
kind of art. So the Elessim use a complicated system of
knots to record and pass on knowledge. Since horse tack
includes a lot of knot-able parts, it's perfect.
Now, how to make the culture relevant to the game? Since the
Elessim are semi-nomadic and raid a lot, I created some
feats and powers that were all about being maneuverable on
horses. It's a different style of mounted combat than plate-
wearing knights, and something I hope will be a lot of fun
in-game.
Everything else flowed from those decisions. The simple
statement, "Most mounted warriors in games are heavily
armored knights and that annoys me" led to a rich, game-
impacting culture.
2. Twist a Mythical Trope
As the previous example suggests, I like reversing things.
I've found most myths and fiction involving gypsies explain
that they are nomadic because they made a bad decision.
Somewhere in their past they did something wrong, and now
they are cursed to wander forever.
My first thought was to have an entire setting where the
opposite held true: all the peoples of the world were bound
to one place, except for one, which was blessed to roam
free. It wasn't enough for a setting, but it was plenty for
a culture.
Whether it's true or not, the Sijara believe that they alone
are free to roam the world at will. Outsiders who travel
often encounter misfortune, and the Sijara point to this as
signs of their curse. Unfortunately, the same wise choice
that led to the Sijara escaping that curse also rendered
them unable to claim a craft of their own, and so they
became the swindlers and thieves that gypsies are often
portrayed as.
There's an unending supply of mythical tropes just begging
to be reversed. What about the belief that humans are
fundamentally flawed, which is present in more myths than
just the Garden of Eden? What if a culture believed that
humans were created to solve some problem, to do something
that only they can do?
3. Combine Cultures
There's a lot of cool stuff out there in the real world.
Most of it is pretty recognizable, and a lot of it has
already been done. How to make it new and fresh? Take a
couple of cool cultures, and combine them.
Take a well-known fantasy staple and combine it with a more
obscure Earth culture. For example, my city of Arytis is a
combination of Rome, the Eternal City we all know and love,
and Gortyn, an ancient Greek town that only the most
dedicated classicists have heard of.
While some aspects of Rome show through clearly - the
legions and the complicated politics, for example - many of
the details are drawn from Gortyn. The stages of
citizenship with their own requirements and legal codes are
a cool cultural aspect of Gortyn that work well when
blended with the more recognizable Roman tropes.
Those two cities aren't very far apart in time, but what if
you took cities that were? Ancient Babylon and modern-day
Chicago, or near-future Tokyo and medieval London would make
interesting combinations.
4. Grow From An Idea
It's all well and good if you have a trope or a culture you
want to build from, but what if your starting idea is
something different? You can still take that seed and grow
it out into a full culture, it just takes a little more work
on your part filling in the details.
When I came up with the Ikanoi, all I had to start with was
the notion that I wanted a culture where tattoos held
spiritual importance. This immediately brought to mind two
big questions: Why are the tattoos important, and does the
culture display or hide the tattoos?
I decided the tattoos were important because they told the
story of the history of the Ikanoi as a tribe, and also the
history of the individual Ikanos who wears them. Each member
of the tribe dreams of adding to this collective history,
having their own story inked onto the skins of their
descendants.
But do the Ikanoi show these markings off, or hide them away
like a sacred relic? The Ikanoi hide them at all times,
which brought two climates to mind: the desert and the
arctic. Both places require people who live there to cover
up. I went with the arctic.
The rest of the culture grew from the foundation of
tattooed, arctic-dwelling ancestor-worshipers.
Take an idea, find a couple of ideas that it leads to, and
the rest will come.
5. Fill A Gap
Sometimes it's not enough to sit around and dream up a
culture. Sometimes, there's a blank space on the map you
need to fill, a menace you need to build, or a backdrop you
need to paint.
Instead of starting with an idea, you're starting with a big
empty space with sharply defined edges where it's supposed
to fit in with the rest of the puzzle.
I say, let those edges be the inspiration. It's similar to
growing from an idea, but instead, you're growing from a
restriction.
When I was working on Martial Flavor, I had four cultures
done, and I needed another one that had rangers and
warlords. What group could possibly be composed of rangers
and warlords?
Well, what do rangers and warlords do? Rangers are a little
bit stealthy and a little bit nature-y and deal a lot of
damage. Warlords lead people, but they can also do some
damage themselves, and they can heal. What sort of group
needs both of those traits? A group of mercenaries.
That's how I came up with the Daikort Pack. I figured a
group with a lot of rangers would probably specialize in
hostile terrain, so now the Daikort have some elemental
abilities. Continuing on with that led to the pack-animal
theme, and everything else grew from there.
Whatever's missing in your world, you can fill it in by
asking, "What could possibly go here, and why would it be
that way?"
* * *
Want more characters from cool cultures, and all the
information you need to make your own? Check out Martial
Flavor.
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Game Master Tips & Tricks
Have some GM advice you'd like to share? E-mail it to johnn@roleplayingtips.com - thanks!
1. Realism Tips
From: BertraM
Hello Johnn! Long time reader here.
Dungeon Master Video Game
When making proper ecologies in dungeons, I recommend every
GM plays a game of Dungeon Master video game from Bullfrog.
The DM learns that he has to keep food, leisure and payment
in steady supply, unless he likes his guards rioting.
Another option is How to Host a Dungeon, a solitaire pen and
paper toy that simulates the creation of a dungeon.
http://planet-thirteen.com/Dungeon.aspx
It takes you from primordial activities, through some
civilization digging first tunnels, to monsters entering and
humans coming and building a castle above them. It finishes
with a resourceful individual becoming the Dungeon Master -
the Big Bad enslaving the monsters and trying his luck with
world domination, all with varying degrees of success.
How to Host a Dungeon
How to Host a Dungeon creates a vague blueprint for the
whole dungeon, leaving DMs with some knowledge of how the
rest of the underground system works, even if he doesn't
make individual floor plans for everything straight away.
The game is rather ingenious in having the inhabitants
conflict with each other and create a rich, plausible
history for the dungeon. Battles are remembered, Delvers
still have a grudge against the Ants for stealing their holy
relic, elders remember jokes about the weak dragon that came
to the dungeon but couldn't bully anyone into paying
tribute, so he ran away....
The mechanics are simple once you get through one game. It
only uses paper, 2d6 and two-colored markers. It's short and
sweet, just the way it should be. It being solitaire anyway,
no one minds if you improvise where stuff gets bogged down,
although sticking to the rules can create cruelly realistic
stories.
For example, my dungeon started out rich with diamonds, an
average gold vein, some fate caverns.
Dwarves came, mined all the gold, didn't detect any diamonds
nor did they strike fate caverns, so they left. Monsters
came, a swarm of wyrds to the left, earth devils in the
middle, and a single minotaur to the right.
Humans established a castle on top of it all, but it takes
them a long while till they join the fun.
Many memorable conflicts were had. The dragon came, failed
miserably for 3 times and left, the earth devils whom I
secretly rooted for slew the minotaur in an ambush.
The swarm divided into two hives, improving their looting
odds but significantly weakening their defensive power. The
first swarm made a ceremonial grave for their queen...lots
of history, many opportunities. The game suggests keeping a
history record, it's worth it.
Often monsters modify the existing tunnels to accommodate
loot and population, creating even more dungeoneering
opportunities. With a bit of creativity, everything gets its
own flavor.
The abandoned yet preserved dwarven barracks is probably
professionally carved and terribly dusty by now, and I
imagine the earth devils as being particularly fond of
smooth, round corridors, something adventurers don't see
nearly as often as they should.
The game doesn't give you a perfect dungeon as in 100%
complete. You still have to add some fluff, personality to
the inhabitants and historical events.
One-or two-word descriptions are usually good creativity
boosters: "smug nobles", leading human expeditions into the
deeps; "detail-freak" earth devils, demanding everything be
as smooth as possible; "clumsy hivemind" leading the
surviving ants.
Summary
What I'm saying is, learn to make reasonable dungeons. Think
of dungeon making as a computer game, with limited resources
and lax rules. It will give detail-freaks like me more peace
of mind.
Personal, finishing note: Do not resort to "it works because
it's magic" for anything. (Not even magic.)
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2. GMing Tips For Dark Heresy
From: John WS Marvin
I've been GMing Dark Heresy for over a year, starting with
beginning characters, and the campaign and game system have
been very successful.
You start with low scores, forcing players to find creative
ways to improve their odds. In combat, they ambush, fire
from close range, use automatic fire and gang up in melee.
During investigation they role play, find the right piece of
high tech, and assist each other. All of these things add
hefty bonuses.
Take Silent Move. A starting player may indeed have a 30%,
and an easy (stone floor) gives only a +30%. But the tech
device known as a Stummer gives another +30. So you're at
90%. And you haven't even improved your character yet.
Players looking for higher level challenges might find Rogue
Trader more to their liking. It is a compatible game that
starts out with skills in the 30s and 40s. Players will
still need to figure out how to improve their odds, so that
might still be too low for some.
Here's my review of Rogue Trader:
http://johnwsmarvin.blogspot.com/2009/10/game-book-review-rogue-trader-rpg-core.html
I love Here are a few tips Dark Heresy I've come up with
that help me GM this game.
1) Grim and Gothic. The most important aspect of GMing Dark
Heresy is to get the atmosphere down.
Some of your players may have read every 40k supplement and
book ever published. You don't have to. But you do have to
evoke the 40k background, which is a great draw for your
players.
Over the top grim and gothic is what you want. Play it
straight and your players will laugh anyway. Mine do, the
sickos. It's a miserable world, the people suffer, and the
only things worse than the Empire are the enemies of the
Empire. Look at the critical hit tables and read the
descriptions to get yourself in the mood.
The man didn't get hit by the gun. He is torn apart by the
heavy stubber, splattering bits of bone and gristle over
everyone nearby and polluting the already foul air with the
stink of perforated bowels.
The woman didn't eat lunch. She shivered as she choked down
cold, congealing grey gruel, stopping only to cough and
whisper obscenities from time to time.
The rich and powerful may bathe more often, but depths of
depravity they sink into can put the under-hivers to shame.
The nobleman didn't mistreat his servants. The nobleman's
manual laborers had it easy; they were outfitted with
explosive collars and got to spend most of their time out of
his sight. The house help, however, reflected the nobleman's
passion for silence. They no longer had vocal cords,
tongues, or mouths. Just a flat piece of skin below their
nose. They ate via a tube on the side of their neck.
And yet there is great heroism as well, often tragic. The
guardsman didn't die helping the acolytes. His broken body
lies amid scores of slain mutants and spent shell casings.
He looks up at the acolytes, and coughs up blood. "Did I do
right?" he pleads. "Did I slow them down enough to please
the Emperor?" He looks up at the acolytes hoping for a final
blessing.
When things aren't grotesque, point that out. It's the new
weird. The Empire is vast, and there are some worlds that
are not dying, some people who love and help each other, and
some lives that are worth living. While most adventures will
focus on the bad places and people, allow your acolytes to
see who and what they are fighting for from time to time.
2) Skills and Talents. Note your player characters's skills
and talents. Their choices tell you what kind of game they
are looking for. If they choose Forbidden Lore (The Warp)
bring that into the game from time to time.
Look at the level of their skills. If they are trying to use
a skill, ask them how. With new players, help them with
getting modifiers to increase their chances. Let them assist
each other.
If the players have access to the core book, tell them where
to look for modifiers. If not, type up a cheat sheet with at
least the combat modifiers.
Let them know about equipment that can improve their
chances. The players start out with skills in the 30s (out
of 100), so they need to work on getting modifiers. That is
by design. The players shouldn't just roll dice to succeed,
but they should describe how to do a task in a way that
maximizes their chances.
In combat make sure they know about range modifiers and how
to aim. Remember that semi-automatic and automatic fire get
bonuses to hit and can hit multiple times.
Almost all ranged combat will be in close range when they
are inside a building or starship. Point blank happens. In
melee point out whenever people have bonuses for
outnumbering opponents.
It's OK to ask a player you've just hit if they want to
Dodge.
A good way to teach your players combat skills is to call
out as you use the rules against them. "The three mutants
covered in orange scales swarm around your character,
creating a three on one combat."
3) Fate Points. Spending fate points to re-roll or heal is
part of the game. I like to hand out fate point markers
(glass beads or poker chips work well) at the start of every
game. The players put them in the pot as they spend them.
Burning Fate Points to avoid death allows the GM to really
go after the players in furious combat. As long as they have
fate points to burn, you won't cause a TPK.
A little meta-gaming for the GM here: if you clobber them
hard enough to kill one or more of the players at the start
of the session, and they burn a fate point, they are
unconscious and out of play for a while.
Having an NPC on hand for the player to play while the rest
of the gang tries to win the day for the Emperor helps a
lot. If they avoid death by burning a fate point at the end
of the session, consider allowing them to wake up soon
during the next session. Since it's a new session, if they
have any fate points, they will probably want to use them to
heal right away.
Awarding fate points: too many fate points creates
characters who are hard to challenge. The sample adventure
in the core book gave a fate point at the end of the
adventure. That's not a great model unless your players are
burning them left and right. Pay attention to how many
points your players have, and how it affects the game. Five
or more fate points is too much for me. One or zero can make
an intense game, but over many sessions it can also be a
drag. I like to keep them in the two to three range.
Guilty GM secret: Yes, I do gun for the guy with the most
fate points.
4) Supplements. You can play with just the core book. The
adventure in the back is good for starting players and GMs.
The free adventures are free, so look them over.
There are free adventures on the Fantasy Flight web site for
Dark Heresy. Click the Support tab.
GM Kit. I always buy the GM shield, but you don't need to.
The GM kit has a GM screen, an adventure, and some other
useful information, such as how to make new creatures and a
nice selection of poisons.
Inquisitor's Handbook. This is a player friendly supplement,
and your players will love using the stuff in here. The GM
will hate not having an index. It has useful character
customizations and equipment plus a powerful career choice:
Adepta Sororitas.
If a player chooses one of the Sisters of Battle, be sure
she plays as a strict puritan or create some dire
consequences.
Purge the Unclean is a set of three adventures. I liked the
first two better than the third. I modified the third and
enjoyed how that played out:
Scenario Modding on Baron Hopes for Dark Heresy
Disciples of the Dark Gods is one of my favorite supplements
for any gaming system. Amazing building blocks for the GM to
construct challenging adventures with. Cults, conspiracies,
mysteries, heresies, and more. Drips with "Over the Top Grim
and Gothic." Has a nice higher level adventure that
showcases the cults and creatures found in the book. My free
adventure "Scrivner's Star" references Disciples of the Dark
Gods, so you'll need a copy to run that adventure.
Creatures Anathema is a creatures book, full of xenos and
chaos badness. It's not just a monster stat book, there is
plenty of flavor text to help you use and describe the
creatures. It also introduces the use of Mooks (minions in
4E speak) to Dark Heresy. I use the "2 hit point Mook"
extensively. It's a mook you have to hit twice, unless the
first hit was a big one.
Tattered Fates is a high level adventure with plenty of room
for GM customization. It references some of the same themes
that the adventure at the back of Disciples of the Dark Gods
does, and could be played just before or just after that
one. Tattered Fates is the first part of a planned trilogy,
but the other two adventures aren't out yet.
The Radical's Handbook is about members of the inquisition
using forbidden and heretical knowledge and tactics to fight
the Emperor's enemies. It is still at the printers, but the
previews look good. It might be useful to have at the start
of a campaign, especially if your players want to work for a
radical inquisitor.
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3. Introducing One's Family To RPGs
From: Rafe
Hey Johnn,
I realize the loop may be closed on the topic, but I just
wanted to chime in and say that I disagree with Dragon
Dave's advice. D&D is one of the worst games to introduce
new gamers to because of how everything is numerically
represented. Without learning what the numbers mean, it all
looks like jibberish, and if you have to completely explain
a system to someone for them to play it, you'll lose them.
You have to be able to show, not tell.
Hell, it would take 10 minutes to explain to my mom
what all the D&D dice are for, and lots of time lost every
time a roll was needed due to having to remind her.
Indie or small-press games are generally easier for new
gamers than established, "800 lb gorilla" RPGs simply
because there tends to be less emphasis on expressing
everything with a number, or if they do, there are far fewer
numbers.
Angela's suggestion of Dread is fantastic, and it's a great
game to start people off on. Another good one is Dogs In the
Vineyard, especially for Western movie enthusiasts (like my
dad).
Dogs In the Vineyard allows almost everything to be
expressed in phrases with minimum quantifiers. Number of
dice and dice sizes represent how good something is. It
doesn't take a genius (or veteran gamer) to recognize that
"I'm a good shot, 2d6" is better than "I'm a good shot,
1d4." The entire premise is moral decision making, and the
conflict resolution system is very much like playing poker,
simplified.
Both Dread and Dogs In the Vineyard easily support one-off
games.
As soon as something looks like more work than fun, parents
will usually turn off and stop engaging the system. They
want to spend what leisure time they have doing something
they enjoy and not learning a new complex system. For that
reason, I would keep D&D and similar systems out of the
picture entirely.
Cheers!
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4. Be Enthusiastic
From: Kev Dash
re: Roleplaying Tips Issue #466
I wanted to make a quick comment in addition to those made
by Glenn in the "More Advice For Game Masters" section of
issue #466. Specifically:
"You, the GM, have a product (adventure, dungeon, etc.). You
have to sell it. You have to get the party interested in the
story or adventure. You have to hook 'em and reel 'em in.
It's easier said than done."
There is another tool at a DM's disposal - enthusiasm.
In character - If there are NPCs who are enthusiastic about
the (continuing the example) Caves of Chaos, the PCs will
pick up on that.
Breathing life and enthusiasm into NPCs is easy and it is
infectious! The PCs will be much more interested in the
Caves of Chaos if the old man that tells them about the
caves nearly falls over when describing "Treasure as far as
the eye can see!" Or if the barmaid bursts into vengeful
tears, shaking her fist, when telling how "The caves took
m'husband! I can't stand the thought of those vile things
w'their slimy paws all over his dead body!"
If the NPCs are moved by the Caves of Chaos, then the PCs
will be too - don't be afraid of hamming it up a bit, it'll
only serve as a reminder to the PCs when they're down in the
Caves getting their asses handed to them - "Stupid barmaid!
Slimy paws my ass - that thing had claws dripping poison!"
Out of character - As a DM you need to show enthusiasm in
the physical world, too. Sit up straight, raise or lower
your voice (as appropriate) and use the players' senses. If
the old man is a little creepy, get up from behind the
screen and invade one of your player's personal space.
Don't *read* the flavor text you've prepared as the heroes
approach the caves - *paint* it! Practice reading it
out loud, gesture with your hands and use the tone of your
voice. Show some enthusiasm and your players will pick up on
it and get more excited themselves.
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5. Another Book Recommendation
From: Nate Lee
re: Roleplaying Tips Issue #466
Loved Gillian's list! My 2 cents - Leo Frankowski's "Conrad
Stargard" series. It is SF rather than fantasy, but Leo's
portrayal of (accurate) day-to-day in 12th century Poland
(at least for the first couple of books; you'll see why not
so much later, but I doubt you'll stop reading!) is useful
and eye-opening.
Also, John Bellairs (an author that started as an adult
fantasy author ("The Face In the Frost", excellent), and
then due to bad editorial advice went solely into children's
(pre-teen/young teen) work. But all good stuff anyway.
Return to Contents
6. Long Term Campaign Tips
re: The secret to a long campaign at Campaign Mastery
From: Zzarchov
zzarchov.blogspot.com
I run almost exclusively games of this nature and length.
Here are a few tips to help long campaigns last.
1) Choke points for personal power. I created a keypoint
system where characters could only advance in 5 level
increments until they achieved certain levels of heroics.
For example, you can't top level 10 till you save the world,
level 15 until you change the fate of gods, demonprinces or
whole planes, etc.
This allows more lingering at different play levels (being a
king at level 5 vs. level 20 is a big playstyle change; at
level 20 your kingdom only slows you down).
2) Slow Down. You don't need to adventure constantly. Have
turns pass as seasons. What are you doing during the winter?
Earning some more trade income? Getting married? Building a
tower?
Military campaigns can take years or decades to complete.
Slow the pace to a realistic level. People don't constantly
jump from adventure to adventure and never slow down to
rest.
From: Loz Newman
Hidden truths are the secret to a long campaign.
A Champions superhero campaign of mine lasted ten years. PCs
came and went, sometimes killed off, but mostly because the
players adopted a multiple PCs per player approach that
allowed them to spread out the XP (i.e. slow levelling-up)
and vary the gaming experience. Changing characters as a new
concept appealed, leaving ready-made characters available
for new players.
N.B. There where only three levels of power available to
players: Starter hero, Veteran and Powerful, with *hard*
initiation solo scenarios required to pass to the next level
after approximately 15, 30 and 50 scenarios respectively.
(After those levels came Demi-God, God and Pantheon head -
NOT available to players.)
Criminal organisations were a must (allowing individual
villains to be defeated yet have some support/help). Hidden
truths about the sources of powers in the game (and NPC
motivations, and PC families, organisation founders and
true objectives) became the basis for sub-campaigns and
megaplots.
Each organisation had its own projects, and if the players
let them advance too far then the projects came to fruition
and became that much harder to stop/undo.
Also, I sometimes challenged assumptions and changed
supposedly stable elements.
For example, during a fight defending their U.N. Manor, the
team strongman rolled a critical on his ground-shockwave
attack, pulverising the enemies and the manor!
Unknown to them, the organisation chief was a power-hungry
manipulator already unhappy with their success. Two sub-
campaigns later the players were shocked to find themselves
to be outlaws running for their lives from the NEW U.N.-
sponsored super-teams (plural!) and the full ponderous might
of the U.N. propaganda/legal machine.
Their support system turned against them, their backup
super-gadgets (and ammo) confiscated, their families in
prison....
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