Into the Null Zone

Wow. I got something DONE - I put together a cover design for Doc #50, with the first foray into the fabulous Null Zone. I actually feel the cloud lifting a little today, and I haven't taken my two morning naps, so progress! Still not feeling math, but at least I was able to focus long enough to get this finished. Feels good.

And it gives me a chance to blog about an actual idea that has something to do with gaming... someone posted on FB somewhere about how Sandman could basically just kill anyone. He can send a little bit of sand into your heart or brain and cause a stroke and boom. In effect, many super-heroes could do this. If they really used their powers in a smart way, many supers could just cut off oxygen to their foes and end fights quickly... but they obviously don't.

And that got me thinking about why playing superhero RPGs is in many ways harder than other types of games - you have to willingly suspend your disbelief to have your character conform within certain standards, even when you have better options. As a fighter, your best option is going to be your long sword. If you had a fireball spell, you would use it. Every time. A supers game basically says, 'yeah, you have unlimited fireball spells, but wouldn't it be fun to conjure flame here and see what happens?' Everyone at the table has to be in agreement that this is the way the game is going to roll. You could use your force field to choke Simian Prime out in one round. But you don't because... you pull punches? You are dumb? 

Because it's a convention of the genre.

I have some built-in safeguards with Stalwart Points and ways you can use your powers in 'unusual' ways, but there's no rule saying that knocking out your foes with your force field isn't the 'usual' way you use that power, except that it's not a comic book way to do it.

Therein lies the rub for supers gaming. If you have one player at the table who's like, 'uh, logically, I just use my teleport to teleport the criminal directly to prison', then the game is already over. In effect, the players have to choose fun over winning. It's a mindset everyone has to agree to. Building a game that has traditional XP progression and advancement rewards players for winning. A supers game, to my mind, has to have rewards that have little to do with 'winning' the encounter, and more to do with 'enjoying' the encounter. Fun has to be the reward.