Noobie GM help

[chaos018]

Yea, I got roped into Gm'ing. Me, the quiet dude in the group I am in, a GM. I feel screwed. I got no experience doing this and was wanting to know if anyone was able to help me with tips, advice, even fleshing out a really nice campaign. Seeing as I will essentially be the expert in a new system for my group (they and I never played this RPG so I am, at least, good for a little bit), minus one guy who is starting to get the hang of it already and nearly broke a PL5 mad scientist dude with just having minions (dunno how but sounded broken, lol). Once I get them used to making characters and the combat system through a few pre-mades, I will then "wipe" their character's memories and allow them use them in my own setting. A couple of my groupies are GMs themselves and they gave some advice that sounded good. Such as making the setting within my hometown of Birmingham, AL (don't come here, screwed up bad, and I was raised oblivious to it, ). PL-wise, I was really leaning towards PL5, though I have finally decided on the norm of PL10 just to allow my roomy to fully realize his character concept, and have some kind of Wild Card virus (without most mutagenic properties, maybe a very rare side effect) leaving the world now nearly empty and those with gifts to come out unscathed. The 1st BBEG or BBGG, depending on what my group wants to be, was one I hoped I would not ever have to hurl at them (breaking 5th lvl character was the deciding point, ), a cross with Bane from DC and Juggernaut from Marvel. Total carnage if I get him right, lol. I want to make a world with this in mind but I dunno even how to make enough plot hooks or world build, much less keep them interested. Anyone able to help me,

[hellica]

When looking at PLs you have tto like, grasp what each one means.

A well trains soldier alone is probs lvl 4-5 so unless you want a very low powered super game, it isnt recommended to have them this low.

6 is like, very low end superhero, probs only like, one or two minor powers in all likelihood. and if theyu have strong powers tehy wont know how to use em. They're still vulnerable to the PL5 special forces teams. tbh, they'd have alot of trouble with it. It's very hard to afford any powers at this level.

8 is like, street level superhero. Lower than standard, more reliant on skills normally than pure powers. this is my preferred level because I like to do lower key darker game.

10 is the standard, you get a fair bit of power, but definitely need to be a team. This is probs the best to start at really as it is the standard experience.

12 is pretty high powered, you're going to be heroes who can hold their own individually so threats have to be pretty big.

Hope this has helped a bit you'll probs wanna go with 8 or 10.

[chaos018]

having it at PL5 was my hope, but I did decide on the standard PL10. This is the suburbs of B'ham, AL we're talkin' here, y'all don't know the monotony, downtrodden (BS work conditions compared to others) life you have here, lol.

With a Wild Card type of thing happening, crime would go up, yea, but not so much as to be much of a difference except the survivors moving into the city, I think. The virus I was hoping to bring up the possibility of newfound mutations, powers even. A time for many--magical, mundane, or mutate--to step up and prove themselves. In my setting that I am hoping to bring out, these powers would be relatively new, starting off sometime around 20yrs. ahead of the "incident". The group itself is forming as we speak, two of my groupies are making there characters. Imagine Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and you have my roommate. The other is getting a multitude of low level but smart powers with lots and lots of minions. He's seeming more the more lawful evil type from the looks of it. After I run them through a few premade modules, I figure get this setting already made and ready for them, just to see them run the gauntlet, .

But......I dunno how to make a setting, ANY plot hooks, anything to keep them interest (power gamer type of group, gotta make it HARD while try to troll them into all sorts of things, lol). I usually just sit there in my playing, providing support and generally being quiet. Hell, I read a lot, but this is making me express any literary ideas and I....am not good at expression, /shrug. Helpful advice, fleshing out meh idea, even the first big bad evil/good guy for the group to take on (spoiler juggernaut/bane mix, insane tactical intelligence combined with a defense to put fort know into infancy, total slaughter delight) and his lieutenants being stat reducers. Not direct damagers, per se, like touch of idiocy in DnD, reduce stats to nothing and make others drolling pools of stupidity, clumsy, senile, nauseous, etc. May make the grunts the blasters just to make them think otherwise.....I am cruel, I know, but hey, they'll like it.

[Hirlindale]

Hey Chaos,

First, welcome to the Brotherhood of Game Masters. Never let you or your players forget it's just a game.

Sounds like you have a lot going on. I agree with Hellica, you should use PL8 or PL10 so that your heroes are actually super.

What helped my players and I learn the rules was just running a few PvP matches (I have 8 so it was 4 on 4) with me as the GM explaining powers, advantages and skills as we went along. I use the premade characters from DCA but if you could also use the Character Archetypes so you don't have the argument over who gets to play Batman This also gives players a good idea of what powers they may want to use when they make their characters.

As for a setting, using your hometown is cool but if you have never built a world and being new to the system I would look for a prewritten world. I used DC for mine because my players knew the world better than others. However there are some really awesome settings, many of them on this site, that could work great for your group.

Hope this was helpful

[chaos018]

Thanks, Hirlindale, . Would love to place my group in the DCU and I have thought about it. I know DC way better than Marvel. Even have three ideas cooking up in meh head right now. But the DCU Adventures are not officially printed in the 2nd ed (I apologize for not mentioning the edition. I do not have a pdf copy of it handy and have just bought the hardback copy of MnM 2ed.). All I have are custom sheets made from ppl right here in ATT, which I thank them by the way. I figure I could place my hometown into the DCU but the major heroes, sidekicks, and 3rd rate heroes would make it real hard for them to shine. Now if we could finish a few settings and I get finished with my ideas (fleshed mostly out and available), I could spring this to them. Right now, being new to this RPG as I am, I thought familiar home setting would be better. All it would take to find a map and stats on places would literally take seconds while DCU info would take longer. Plus me and my roomy are more versed in DC while the others in our groups are Marvel, hence my first big bad being an homage to both. The PVP idea sounds fun though. lol. Jack Harkness versus all round competent scientist with lots of minions. EPIC, . I will go PL10 though. Roomy's idea of him takes no less than 150 points, he says. They all agree to power down their character once my setting is made, if I wanted them too. I will see how well they fare in the premades first.

[mrdent12]

Since you are a new GM there is a a lot of things I could tell you, but that could fill a book. So I will try to break it down.

1) If a power seems overpowered(summoning 25 minions at once, killing in one touch, time travel, precognition, etc), it probably is. M&M is very simple to make over powered characters in and two PC's of equal PL could be leagues apart. For example, 10PP's give total concealment form all senses. Combine that with insubstantial and attacks with the affects substantial and the PC can walk around the room popping people off while sipping a beer since no one can hurt them. As a GM, you need to balance out the characters. Someone with lots of minions can easily steal the spotlight from everyone.

2) Every GM has their own style when it comes to plots. I like to have a basic outline of the NPC's plans and the settings, than set it up so the PC's can force the plans to change or find out what is going on. For example, evil guy has plan to do actions X,Y, Z to dominate the world. The PC's stumble across X which leads them to figuring out Y or modified version of Y. Y leads to Z or modified Z. The biggest point here is to stay fluid with the plot. If you plan a rigid plot of first A than B than C the PC's might do something crazy like blow up a city(it happened in a game I was in) that makes B and C moot. If you have a general outline, you can adjust accordingly.

3) To follow up on 2, the PC's will take the plot in a different direction than what you plan. It is only a matter of time. If this happens, you need to be able to roll with it.

4) For plot ideas, I usually steal from movies/TV/Books and make them my own. In your case if you want a Bane type villain in a post apocalyptic world, set him up as a warlord trying to seize control of the region your city is based in with your city as his home base for some reason(least affects, he likes the weather, etc). He could be trying to take out people who can threaten him, so the PC's have to take him out first. This allows you to toss in random encounters to allow the PC's to use their powers in fights, but still have some investigation.

5) For plot hook creation, I would suggest coming up with a grand overall summary. Bane clone wants to wipe out all competitors, so anyone with powers must die. From there you already have a couple plot hooks. One could be the PC's finding Bane, another could be getting jumped by Bane's underlings, and still another could be PC's being forced to work for Bane because of some device. A lot depends on your players and what stuff they would have fun with as well as what you as a GM would have fun running.

6) When building the setting, make it as close as possible to the world as is now with only minor elements changed. So imagine your city, just a lot less populated because of the Wild Card virus. How would some of the criminal elements react to gaining powers? How would the cops/local authorities/federal authorities/etc handle a disaster like the Wild Card virus? There are a lot of things that are area dependent. I haven't been down in the area and know less than I would like of the area, so I can't give any specifics.

7) Most of all, have fun Gming. If you are not having fun the players won't either.

[chaos018]

Many tips there, mrdent, . and I thank you. Going to hafta make sure to save this page when I close my window for extra examination.

1) already planning on that, lol. this guy is ex marine, and know what he wants when he makes a character and even now, just learning this system, he is already nearly breaking this character of his. broke it entirely at PL5 with 1000 minion, and was going to get the summon all at once power feat. insta-army, too broken for my tastes. I am also already homeruling without me even starting the game. He wanted to have a forcefield power to project over others without touching them. I told him to pay as normal for a regular forcefield with extending ranked 2 (1 for touching then each rank being a level up in progession on the range increment table) and it was only very temporary, like 1 or two rounds maybe at most. the mental energy of that would be strenuous at most.

Now for the Bane mix, I was going to use him mostly for the Juggy side for evil but if my group wanted to be more villainous, then I would go more to Bane (think the scene in the Secret Six comic when he quizzed his daughter's lesbian lover about her possible STDs, that kind of good, bout best he can do, lol).

[hellica]

Tbh mate, the minions power isnt really intended for the PCs. the equivalent is sidekick, and honestly, I'd barr both since they make a whole lot of work for you while being overpowered. Same with duplication powers and monster summons.

If you wanna make your own setting, the easiest way is the inside out method/ Just detail a city in very broad strokes.

How high is the crime?
Mob bosses?
Supercrime?
Climate?
Pevalance of supers?


Things like that.

That is really all you need to get started.

I'm curious though how a jack harkness kinda character takes so many points and sucha level. I'd have the guy pegged at like 6.

[Belial666]

A few guidelines to help you eyeball powers there:

1) The inexperienced average human soldier is PL2. He has a submachinegun or machinegun which is ranged multiattack damage 4 at +0 attack. The most elite special forces /SEALs are PL5 at most, with ranged multiattack 5 at +5 attack.

2) A tank is less accurate than most human shooters. It has +2 attack but it usually has Improved Aim (all that sensor/rangefinder/smart guidance systems) and aims before firing for a +5. Its main gun is Ranged Damage 10, usually with increased range 2. It is ridiculously easy to hit, with Dodge/Parry 1, and has an impervious toughness of 11 (making it immune to 6 damage or less). So a tank is PL 6.

3) A battleship has impervious toughness 16-17 (immune to 9 damage or less) and no active defenses to speak of. Its cannon batteries are multiattack ranged damage 13-15, with attack +5 to +3 and 7 ranks of extended range. A battleship is PL 9.

4) There's a full Giant Robot example in the book. Giant Robots are PL 8.


Now, you're talking about characters at PL 10. The simplest PL 10 example archetype - the Powerhouse - can attack with Damage 12-17, depending on how much he power-attacks. He can lift 1600 tons, 3200 tons with effort. A tank or locomotive are both less than 100 tons so he can casually pick them up with one hand and throw them three city blocks. That's all it takes him to beat a tank; a single round's worth of casual effort. He can lift a fully loaded Jumbo 747 with one hand and not break a sweat and a full-power punch by him can level a skyscraper.
The slightly more complicated Paragon archetype can deal as much damage, though he can't lift as much. He is faster though; he can casually fly with 1,3 times the speed of sound over long distances, outpacing all civilian and many military aircraft. In combat if he gives his full effort he can fly at 4 miles per round - that's over Mach 3, easily outpacing all military aircraft except the SR-71 and some experimental models.


So those powers that may seem overpowered to you may be just fine for PL 10 characters. If you want a good idea on what low-end PL 10 characters can do, look up the X-Men builds in the Roll Call - most of them are PL10 or lower. If you want to see what a high-end PL10 character can do, I can give you a link to one of my builds.

[hellica]

huh, i always thougth 2-3 was like a thug and a soldier above it. My bad.

[hellica]

Nah, it says a normal soldier is pl 5 in the heroes handbook. Your bog standard militan type is a full 4 aswell, that seems a bit high to me tbh.

That seems a bit weird really. I thought 5 was special forces. By that logic a special forces soldier should be 6 or even 7. Pretty inflated if you ask me. But then I always did think the third edition downgraded heroes alot.

[Belial666]

This is obviously a mistake/problem with the "typical infantryman or enlisted" entry. You'll notice that the SWAT officer, part of an elite team of special weapons and tactics, is also PL 5. Typical enlisted personel aren't PL5 by any means - highly trained ones are.
Also, keep in mind that a PL5 hero has access to powers and 75 pp while the PL5 combatants don't and have 55 points on average - plus they might be minions to boot. A PL5 powerhouse with impervious toughness 9 can wade into a small battallion of those combatants and rip them apart while a mystic throws in a Range Burst Damage 5 Secondary Effect fireball spell and deep-fries them. The speedster with superspeed 8 moves in from half a mile away, punches them all in the face and moves out before they even realize he's there.


Also, the tank is still PL 6. Even a special forces guy can't take on a tank in a straight fight and thus wouldn't warrant PL 6.

[hellica]

Hey never said it made sense. I agree with you. I'd recon you'd be better off making different kinds of soldiers up separately.

[chaos018]

@hellica, Starting inwards going out, I would be having my big bad at the biggest building my city with his right-hand lieutenant along with him. the city itself would is then carved up into thirds with a lieutenant in each, each having a personal "army" that kept the area in control in their own ways (have yet to create them so no idea on their themes). Of course, the higher ups are gong to be supers, just not sure on their alignment until the group I will be GMing decides on hero or villain.

Now with the incident, when it started with its widespread death, there was, of course, a real high rise in crime. Looting was commonplace and the more fearful survivors were very afraid for their lives. Most were appearing to be immune to the virus and once the initial downfall of the virus subsided, they reached out and began to rebuild. Problem was that what was supposed to be immunities were actually mutations in some. A few were benign, superficial appearance changes, boosts in intelligence & speed, and the like. But others were wildly obviously changed. Psionic powers, elemental, etc. There were even a smattering of magic users outta the survivors. At the time I will begin my setting, very few will have been born to their powers but there will be those who have, no older than 19, at the oldest.

Mob bosses? I see a few, yea. I think I may have them believe they just "came" up with the idea, most of them. The Older generation, those that initially survived, will recognize them as they are but as younger ones go, they just don't listen and think themselves smart, ya know like normal, .

Supercrime? There will be. Even if only a small fraction of the mutations were active, human nature, even mutated humans, aren't perfect. There will be those who will try to take the low road and use their for their own needs. The higher echelons of my Big bad will most certainly be super criminals who got the power if my group goes hero. Maintaining the power through whatever means they want or need.

Climate may be set in the winter which is when I will be starting, I think. There won't be many who will be out but it's actually a perfect time to find scavengers, aggressive but lazy raiders. Some with a mutant gene active.

I won't be making everything my group goes against supers. Better at the start, I think. To get the handle on the situation. I agree with you on Jack Harkness. In fact, I could prolly make a barely viable Jack with my orginal PL of 5. Just need 10 ranks in healing regeneration and the feat diehard.

@Belial & hellica together, Now now, guise, just keep it simple. Just remember that I win always and everything comes together awesomely, . lmao.