Spirit of the Search for Identity in Post-War America

A Mutants and Masterminds Noir campaign run by devlin1
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devlin1
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Spirit of the Search for Identity in Post-War America

Post by devlin1 »

Albert has expressed an interest in switching the game from M&M to Spirit of the Century, and while normally I'd enjoy nothing more than making Albert happy, in this case I'm reluctant to switch systems so late in the proceedings.

However, at least three of us now -- Albert, Andy, and myself -- are at least somewhat smitten with SotC, and Andy's already successfully incorporated SotC's Aspect system into his Ptolus game, so I say we try to do the same. I suggest doing what he did, which is this, the thing I am about to tell you now that follows this sentence immediately upon its conclusion, which is occurring now.

Everybody gets 10 Aspects. Six of them, you make up yourself, then each other player gives you one, then I give you one, for the aforesaid total of 10. If you already have a Complication, like "Alcoholic" or "Elderly Aunt that the GM Can't Ever Seem to Work into the Game," automatically counts as one of your first six Aspects.

Mechanically, they work pretty much like they do in SotC. Invoking an Aspect costs a Hero Point, and they can be compelled in exchange for Hero Points, as well. No Aspect can be invoked or compelled more than once per round. And so on.

What exactly happens when an Aspect is invoked is another issue, though. I know in the Ptolus game it means rolling another die and adding the result as a bonus to your primary roll, but I'm reluctant to do that given M&M's D20-exclusive nature. The easiest is just to stick with SotC's reroll-or-+2 mechanic, but given the wider range of the D20, +2 really isn't that much. Maybe +4. I dunno. Give me your ideas.
Mike Olson
‎"In this economy, it's not easy to feed a growing family. So we eat Haunkkah gelt for dinner and look at a picture of broccoli." --Paul F. Tompkins
Spirit of the Blank: A blog.
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jimmy corrigan
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Post by jimmy corrigan »

+4 mod sounds tight.
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mordraine
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Post by mordraine »

The bonus we have in Ptolus is pretty much only applied to the d20 rolls (which we've decided, maybe unwisely, to be 2d4+2).
Hey man, I'm slinging volume and fat stacking benjies, you know what I mean? I can't be all about spelling and shit!
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SpaceMonkey
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Post by SpaceMonkey »

sotc in general: I'll go with the majority on this one. Can't say I'm familiar with the system, but if everyone else is down, I won't be the anchor ;) I like playing with mechanics and such, but that's not what I RP for, so the system is mostly a secondary concern for me anyway.


Aspect Bonus:

"What exactly happens when an Aspect is invoked is another issue, though. I know in the Ptolus game it means rolling another die and adding the result as a bonus to your primary roll, but I'm reluctant to do that given M&M's D20-exclusive nature. The easiest is just to stick with SotC's reroll-or-+2 mechanic, but given the wider range of the D20, +2 really isn't that much. Maybe +4. I dunno. Give me your ideas."

So we are keeping some aspects of M&M still (like the all d20 mechanic?) I must admit to mostly ignorance of the sotc rules, but doesn't it have things to replace the things we were using, or is it not a system per se but something else?

Anyway, since you couched the question thusly,:

I know we probably aren't going to skyrocket in levels during the noir game, but I always like a solution that can work within the game system at large. Since M&M scales so highly, I would say that the bonus should as well, so something like 'equal to power level' (may be too high) or '2 + 1/2 power level' would work there. rolling everytime to determine your bonus is what I likes to call tedious ;)
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devlin1
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Post by devlin1 »

I'm not actually down with the bonus die/dice thing, unlike certain dice-whore friends of mine; I prefer a flat bonus for the sake of simplicity and time. Scaling may be a good idea, but then again, it's not like you guys leveling every second session or anything--if we make the bonus is 1 + 1/2 PL, that's likely to end up meaning the same thing as making it +4.

In a perfect, we-thought-of-this-from-the-beginning world, I think I may have toyed with the idea of the bonus from the Aspect being another attribute to be bought and improved, like BAB, but without a stat modifier. But that's kinda crazy talk.
Mike Olson
‎"In this economy, it's not easy to feed a growing family. So we eat Haunkkah gelt for dinner and look at a picture of broccoli." --Paul F. Tompkins
Spirit of the Blank: A blog.
Roll Some Dice: Another blog.
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