Campaign Character Creation Choice!

[Rabbitman]

Ok, here's the low-down on my current question:

I'm planning on starting up a new campaign for about 4-5 players to roll up new characters, the campaign is going to be multi-dimensional and the overall plot will have the PCs go from being powerless (although not necessarily human) teenagers from their respective planets/dimensions who are summoned to an extra-dimensional nexus by a higher power and granted powers and guidance in order to form a hero team to save the universe/multiverse from disaster.

The use of different planets, cultures and dimensions will allow the powers the characters get to be drawn from essentially any genre, and ideally I'd love the powerset themes to be as varied as possible to highlight the scope of the campaign and allow each character to have a defined niche within the group dynamic (plus the roleplaying opportunities my players will hopefully take advantage of).

The concept is that the powersets themselves are inherited, being the powers of previous heroes of the universe/multiverse granted to the new generation in their time of need, and potential plot hooks may involve some semblance of the previous heroe's consciousness lingering in the powers, but that's a discussion for another time.

The issue I'm stuck on at this point in time is the advantages and disadvantages to allowing the players to draw up the concepts and build the powersets for their characters to inherit, or whether I should assign them myself, or whether we should create a list of previous heroes and secretly roll to assign the powers to each character at random.

The thought behind having the players only have creative control of their unpowered selves is that part of the campaign will involve the characters and players discovering the full range and limitations of their inherited and mysterious powers (and the history attached to each of them) so I'd like there to be some level of secrecy and GM control in the process, but I'm also conscious of potentially leaving players with a powerset that is out of their comfort zone to the point that it makes the campaign less fun for them, and the benefits of allowing player input in the creative process are also a factor.

So, after my circular rantings, I'll open it up to the Think Tank: What do you think would make for the most interesting and enjoyable game for both the players and myself, do you lean strongly to one side or another, or is there an ideal hybrid suggestion you can offer?

[Damren]

I would try it half & half. You can outline the worlds, let them out line the powers. Or, maybe switch it around. Have you talked to the players to see if they have a preference?

[fsedb]

Mystery and suspense centered around a character and their powers is something I have wrestled with before and always decided against it. While it would make a fantastic story and is the staple of many books it is rather difficult to do in a game setting. The reason I have had problems is just like you said, players who don’t like the direction their character is going in will be less inclined to participate in your game.

To make it work best you should sit down and have a chat with each of your players while they are making their characters. Work out together a strong character concept for the unpowered hero complete with a short history, hobbies, habits and moral compass. The idea here is that if you and your players work together on the unpowered characters personality you will have a better understanding of where the player wants to go with the character and what kinds of power would best fit. The more you understand who your player is the better a feel you will get and the better the powers you hand out will match with what the player is looking for.

I would stay clear of actually talking about the powers the play would like. The more you concentrate on who the character is/was instead of what powers the play would like the more likely they are to accept the powers. If they ask for plasma blasts and get super strength they probably will be a little disappointed.

[Rabbitman]

I'm definitely having the actual characters created in the usual way, the players will be playing who they want to play, and I'll be helping workshop the concepts for those who have trouble or need help nailing down and fleshing out details, it's just the inherited powers that are in question.

I'm leaning towards building a full stable of 8-10 former heroes each with a primary and secondary focus to their powers and giving the players a list of the "gameplay focus type" descriptions rather than the specific concept of powerset ie. Melee Brick, Energy Blaster... etc. I should be able to find out which of the powersets each player doesn't want to play as without revealing too much, and then when the powers are randomly assigned I can fudge any randomisation to prevent anyone getting stuck with a focus they want to avoid.

Thoughts?

[fsedb]

Well it sounds to me like you have it pretty well worked out. I would say try it out. If it works and everyone is having fun then stick with it and if it’s not working then backtrack a little and change how you are giving out the powers. We can talk about it all you want but we are never going to know if it will work or not until someone actually tries it out.

[Rabbitman]

Should be kicking off the first session on Friday