DC Heroes RPG: Module Development

I've been on a superhero kick lately, specifically looking back at Marvel and DC RPGs. My computer is stuffed full of character conversions between these two systems, as well as conversions to Villains & Vigilantes. None of the systems ever seemed detailed enough to cover all the nuances of the characters, or they were just too complex to meld well into a role-playing game. I come from a D&D background, so if the opponent is not killed and looted it just seemed wrong. Also, most dungeon settings are static - they exist pretty much as is until the characters explore them. This is not always the case. I've run adventures in dynamic dungeons, but it's hard for the DM to keep track of the positions of all the creatures and objects that move around. This is better to do with a simple wandering monster random roll and then adjust circumstances to fit the dungeon setting. For example, if a wandering monster is indicated, determine which of the residents in the dungeon could be found in that area and what they are likely to be doing.

In a superhero RPG, though, the situations are NOT static. A hero team can decide to do just about anything (within reason), although the players usually wait for cues from the GM as to what will happen. I find that original characters created to adventure in a scenario are harder to control than pre-made, established heroes in the system. Original heroes generally have no established personalities, especially if the players are using them for the first time. Personality emerges during play, unless you are lucky enough to have a very good role-player in your group. Established heroes are generally easy to play - Superman is a super-powered boy scout with midwestern US upbringing; Batman is a grim and gritty hero with a tragic childhood and years of deductive reasoning; and Wonder Woman is a determined warrior who is secure in her pagan beliefs.

The written adventures should feel like a comic book plot. In other words, there should be interaction with the usual cast of extras (for example, Clark Kent interacting with the staff at the Daily Planet, Bruce Wayne having a soiret or board meeting at Wayne Enterprises, and Wonder Woman would be involved in a military exercise as Diana Prince). Action should NOT be the only thing in the module, although it could be! Combats are too random though, and cannot be easily scripted. Not all eventualities can be pre-determined - there are too many variables, especially with original heroes. Results of the combat are also not all able to be pre-determined. Comic books resolve some combats with ways that are not typical of role-playing games. Most players keep running combat until they defeat the villains (i.e. knocked out, killed, etc). Most comic book battles end with the villain escaping, having an obscure death, being talked out of continuing, or being duped into fleeing the scene. Character interaction is much more involved in the comics.

Also consider that plots are secondary in a role-playing game, but they drive a comic book story. So don't expect a plot to end the way it would in a comic. For example, take the plotline from Crisis on Infinite Earths. The heroes could succeed beyond what happened in the comics and save all the infinite earths from being compressed into one. They could have saved Supergirl and the original Flash from their "deaths." Or they could have failed miserably and the Anti-Monitor could now be lord over the entire universe - an anti-matter universe! The dice determine the outcome of combat, not the players and not the plot. The players' decisions are the next important, because they drive the actions of the characters. Finally, the plot is the least important, although a skilled GM can weave elements of the plot around the character's decisions to make circumstances follow a pre-determined path. The path taken may be different from that plotted by the GM, but in this case the end result is the same. This is the method that works best when writing adventures for superhero RPGs.

Now let's consider one game in particular. I've owned DC Heroes 1st edition for 30+ years. I never played it while it was popular. In fact, I learned the game only after the Third Edition printing, and by then it was obsolete. However, I prefer 1st printings of games. They give me insight as to why certain rules are used and the ideas behind the game design. So I've decided to revisit this version. It is simple to learn, but not so simple to run. The GM is called upon to make a lot of decisions in the game and resolve actions using the examples provided. But the system supports characters from as weak as Lois Lane (Str 2) to as strong as Superman (Str 50) in the same game. Everything is handled by comparisons. There are Acting and Opposing Values which are compared on a chart to see if an action succeeds. Then a second chart is consulted to see how well the Effect Value overcomes the Resistance Value. These values come from the characters Attributes, Powers, or Skills. All these abilities are rated with Attribute Points (APs), and these have a specific relation in the game.

If this version of the game has any shortcomings, it is that the lower-end of the heroes blends into normal humans and you can't expect any villain of the ordinary sort to defeat Superman. However, if role-played properly, Superman rarely if ever uses his full abilities against normal villains. This goes against ALL desires of typical players who seek a fast and effective resolution to most situations. The GM must know his players and steer their choices for characters to play. This is also the reason why it is suggested that the players begin using their own generated heroes before tackling the established heroes. But really, if you are going to play in a DC Universe, don't you want to play a DC hero?!?

Back to writing adventures... Instead of scripting a story like a comic book, you have to reverse engineer a story to become plot points and clue analysis. When making a story with a hero like Superman, you have to think on a grander scale than if you choose to play Batman or the Teen Titans. Most Batman stories occur in and around Gotham, but Superman can fly to the moon and back in a few seconds, could have adventures traveling in the timestream, or even respond to distress signals he picks up from deep space. The same applies to adventures for Green Lantern, who has an entire space sector to worry about! The less-defined a character's powers are in the comics, the more the player and GM have to work together to allow the power to work. Powers like Sorcery, Matter Manipulation, or Force Manipulation are open-ended powers that need a firm but fair GM to direct their use.

An adventure needs to be written with an introduction - this explains the adventure to the GM and the reasons why the adventure exists. It is the module's background history. Each adventure also has a list of recommended heroes, villains involved in the adventure, and any non-player characters involved. Then the meat of the adventure is a series of interconnected Encounters. These do not necessarily occur in order. Unlike a D&D adventure, the plot drives the story, not a location. A hero can visit various locations to get clues to set them on the right path, or the path may be linear with each Encounter leading to the next. Another departure from other games is that the characters are typically static - they don't change, but their actions change or affect people and places around them.

For example, in the first Teen Titans adventure (New Teen Titans #1), the heroes were assembled by Raven to rescue Starfire from the Citadel. Lots of background story happens for the benefit of the reader, but most of that has no bearing on the action of the adventure and is not written into the encounters. The first encounter is essentially the Citadel aliens attacking the United Nations building in New York City. Raven is an NPC in this adventure (as is Starfire). The remaining characters (Cyborg, Changeling, Kid Flash, Nightwing, Wonder Girl) must defeat the aliens and protect the human guards while trying to locate their mysterious ward (Starfire). While the others fight, Raven searches for Starfire, finally locating her in an apartment not far away. This apartment belongs to Grant Wilson and his girlfriend, and they are caring for the injured Starfire when the Citadel arrives to claim her. It is assumed that Raven locates her and teleports ahead after telling the others. Using their various powers they then arrive to help rescue Starfire. Failing that, they have to rescue her from the Citadel spaceship in orbit. This is a linear plotline helped along by the Raven NPC. The 1st encounter is a combat encounter. The 2nd encounter is a role-playing/combat encounter where the villain escapes with a hostage, and the 3rd encounter is a rescue mission on the spaceship with one half the heroes battling the aliens and the other half seeking a way to destroy or disable the spaceship before it can leave orbit. The action continued into issue #2 of the New Teen Titans comic, and the GM would expand the adventure to include that as well. For instance, the 4th encounter would be a role-playing encounter with the Titans returning to the apartment to see if Grant and his girlfriend are alright (followed by restitution by the Titans for destroying the place). The 5th encounter happens poolside at Gar Logan's mansion out in the Hamptons on Long Island, where the Ravager appears (with the Terminator) to attack and eliminate the Teen Titans (under contract from the H.I.V.E.), but several days have passed since their first meeting occurred. Obviously the GM can insert other non-combat encounters in between the action. This final encounter ended in the comics with the death of Grant Wilson (the Ravager) as a result of his powers (Fatal Vulnerability to using his Attributes at full strength). This should still happen, thus making the Terminator even more determined to kill the Titans (since that was his oldest son). It also sets up future adventures with H.I.V.E. as behind-the-scenes villains

The heroes did not change at all, but their actions not only stopped an alien slaver from recapturing an alien princess, it also reunited the team into a stronger version and created one of the Titans' most hated enemies (Deathstroke the Terminator). Subplots would continue from these initial adventures: Cyborg's anger issues with his father, Starfire learning about Earth cultures while dealing with the sadness of her exile, an unresolved past for Donna Troy, and Garfield Logan's unrequited romances. Raven should probably remain an NPC until such time as she confides in the Teen Titans and remains with the group for any amount of time. Starfire can be considered a player character as of the end of the adventure since she would now speak English (absorbed language through extended physical contact with Robin in issue #2).

The final portion of writing an adventure involves determining the rewards for participating in the adventure. Unlike D&D where Experience Points are amassed from creatures killed/overcome and treasure brought back to home base, DC Heroes uses spendable Hero Points to allow the characters to advance and also to be used during the game to soften blows, increase chances of success, and purchase new Powers, Skills, Equipment, and increase Attributes. In essence, Hero Points are Experience Points that assist the character in succeeding during the adventure. Unlike Experience Points they are expendable and the current totals is not reflected in a steady increase in power. This can be confusing to some people. After all, in order to improve the character, one must bank quite a number of Hero Points. However, spending Hero Points is an integral part of play and must be done for most heroes of the non-Superman caliber in order to succeed. Most adventures are written with the "15 Principle" in mind. In other words, the important plot points should be Dice Actions requiring a 15 or better to succeed. Therefore, the OV/RV of such actions are typically slightly greater than the matching hero's abilities. For example, if Cyborg has Scientist Skill of 4 and needs to figure out how to disable a Gordanian Computer, his expected OV/RV would probably be 8/8 in order to require a 15 to succeed. This would likely be a time where the Cyborg player would spend Hero Points in order to succeed at the important task. If he has none left, he is likely to fail, but doubles could come up on the dice to assist with the check. He could also Team Attack the problem with another teammate with Scientist Skill. All these considerations should be taken into account as the adventure is being written. Hero Points are gained for doing heroic things. Encourage the role-playing aspect of the game and discourage players from taking advantage of the numbers to make their decisions for them. Overcoming an obstacle or villain through difficult odds makes for a much more memorable adventure than playing the numbers game and succeeding at every task without risk or emotional investment.

So, unlike D&D or other adventures, DC Heroes adventures are written with a hero or group in mind, taking into account all their abilities and weaknesses to make the adventure fair but challenging. D&D modules are typically written for a group of a range of power levels and success requires cooperative play from all to succeed. Even so, death is a constant threat in D&D, but not really much of a factor in DC Heroes. In order to keep the plot moving in DC Heroes, the GM has to provide clues and hooks to lead the players along the path. How they arrive at the next encounter is not as important as having them get there; also some encounters could be skipped entirely if they figure out the clues ahead of time or are determined to come at the problem from an unseen angle. A good GM changes the plot and outcomes based on these decisions, possibly changing the environment to accommodate a good plan. In D&D, the environment is static and if the PCs don't have the right tool for the job, they may have to come back at a later time.

I prefer to use the actual comics as the bases for my adventures. In the past I have written adventures for new mutant characters in the Marvel Universe based off of X-Men #1, adventures for the all-new X-Men characters based on GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1 and X-Men #94-99. I have also used plots derived from the Manhunters in the MILLENNIUM mini-series for Green Lantern and Green Arrow solo play which was very successful but ended when I lost that player. I have not written much since 2001 since my group disbanded, but I did play in a Hawkman/Atom adventure that I helped to keep alive by role-playing well and helping better define the powers of these Pre-Crisis versions of the heroes. My current projects include writing Teen Titans adventures for the Pre-Crisis Titans based off their final encounter with Doctor Light, and the aforementioned New Teen Titans adventure that follows the actual events in issues #1 and #2. Future possible adventures include a Blue Beetle solo play, and possibly a Justice League of America adventure arc. I recently picked up the Legion of Super-Heroes sourcebooks, but I have yet to read much of their adventures, so I'm not that confident writing adventures for those heroes. I'd like to write a Wonder Woman solo adventure, but I'm still learning her Pre-Crisis history, since all I have to go on are 1970s TV plotlines and the Super Friends. I could do a post-Crisis George Perez version of Wonder Woman, but I prefer the 1980s version to the later versions.