how to write good superhero scenario

[sinmaan]

Hello all...

I am quite new to the genre but my players wanted to move away from the grim reality of WoD and warhammer 40k so I got selected to run a superhero game...

Reading the m&m books (well the DC one) I realized I have no clue how to give the superhero format justice...

How do you prepare your scenarios? And more importantly, What do you prepare?

How do you go so your scenario is not a simple series of combats?

How do you come up with your plots? You create a villain with a plan and you involve the players somehow?

I realize that rpg and movies are two very different forums and that is my main issue as I base my superhero experience on what is offered at the theatre. I really don't know how to prep and present a scenario that will be stimulating in a superhero way for my players.

Any advices?

NOTE: We are considering mostly the silver age...so nothing dark.

[BedLlama]

How do you prepare your scenarios? And more importantly, What do you prepare?

I like to start out with the plot hook that will draw in the players. This should be something simple and engaging that points them in the direction you want to go, and depending on the campaign could range from a clue at a crime scene, an anonymous tip, orders from a supperior, or a conveniently overheard news report. Whatever it is should be compelling enough to want the PCs to check something out without having to throw a second hook at them, but also something that gives the players some leeway in to how they want to go about the task at hand. What I prepare is generally an escalating timeline of events that assumes PC non-interferrance, maps of all story critical locations, stat blocks for the NPCs involved, and notes on which points in the story would be good places to invoke the player's personal complications.

How do you go so your scenario is not a simple series of combats?

Generally the same way that comic books and movies based on comic do. Your PCs will generally have non-heroic lives to attend to, so drag those in to the plot by making things personal. Additionally, involving a healthy dose of mystery solving is pretty much required to make cerebral villains like the Riddler in to credible threats, and to seperate arch-villains like Doctor Octopus from mooks like Doppelganger.

How do you come up with your plots? You create a villain with a plan and you involve the players somehow

Eventually this will just become second nature. Until then, just steal stuff from movies and comics and throw it together until you get something workable.

[Unbeliever]

Yeah, I feel the OP's pain. I'm pretty terrible at this. I am, however, pretty good at making villains and NPCs. It just takes me a while to come up with what they are going to do. Maybe pillage comic book plots?

[saint_matthew]

Reading the m&m books (well the DC one) I realized I have no clue how to give the superhero format justice...

How do you prepare your scenarios? And more importantly, What do you prepare?

[...]

Any advices?

NOTE: We are considering mostly the silver age...so nothing dark.

I do mostly contemporary games, with a very strong preboot DC meets Busiek Era of Avengers vibe: Strong on universe building, an versimiltude, but without the realism trend coming along and killing the genre.

Now i can't tell you how to run an awesome game, but i can tell you my process. Really i start with the following, which is the base of every single good superhero story

THINGS YOU NEED
1. A well defined, well statted villain. Yes i know the book advocates for bare bones villains, but i hold that most DCA/MnM players want an experience similiar to absorbing a new comic book property. That honey moon phase where you meet new characters, especially villains is part of that.
2. A form of narrative conflict for the players, usually whatever the villain has planned.
3. A form of narrative conflict for the villains, usually whatever artifical road blocks you need to throw into the villain path that they need to overcome to achieve there goal.

Okay, those are your ingredient, but heres how you cook them, to get an adventure, rather then a gawd awful mess.

Taking one of my numerous villains at Random: Dragon-Rune. Dragon-Rune is the spirit of vengeance, she is a young Asian woman, who has been branded with the mark of Nashu, the Eastern Dragon of Vengeance. The dragon is a mystical mark upon her skin that allows her to utilise Nashus powers, but also compels her to seek out people who have escaped vengeance.

For step two and three we have already established the narrative conflict from both sides
Dragon-Rune wants to kill guy A & heroes want to stop her. Now all you have to do is define who Guy-A is, why he deserves to be killed, how she is going to do it & what the plot hook to introduce the heroes to the narrative is.

So for example: Guy-A is another villain, the heroes have been hunting, but just as they are closing in, they stumble onto Dragon-Rune standing over this other villain; beaten and blood, ready to go for the kill. Heck the heroes might not even realise that this person about to get killed is the villain, especially if its a gender disguising costume and male villain turns out to actually have a female civilian identity (like what happened in the old Thunderstrike comic with the villain Blood-Axe).

Now its just a case of having two opposing narrative conflicts. What do the heroes do? Do they wait around, do they give the villain the protective custody that only the heroes can offer. OR do they turf the guy over to the feds? An if they do take him on, are they just going to wait for Dragon-Rune to hit, or are they going to get proactive.

Best of all is what happens when they leave the villain in the Headquarters in a cell, with a single character to guard him (while doing follow up research), because thats when the double cross happens & you find out that this was all a trogan horse gambit to get the villain into the base, through the fire-walls, because inside the villain has a wi-fi cracking computer virus dispersal system inside his body, which shuts down the bases defenses & communications, so that Dragon-Rune & this villain can take down the one remaining team member who both villains want taken down for different reasons.

*sharp inhalation from run on sentence*

An there you've got a plot. After that its just breaking it down into whatever scenes you think your PC's will need, based on your understanding of there characters abilities & there own play styles; an you can mostly wing that.

An that all comes out of those three vital things every adventure/plot has. An thats how i write my adventures.