Post by Adminenkainen on Jan 28, 2021 14:44:46 GMT
Seven friends get together for a "session 0" -- a short meeting to generate characters for the new campaign together, do a little campaign planning, and meet in-character so they can start to get to know their characters. Beforehand, the game referee (Editor) gave them all assignment: to think about what DC hero, published by spring of 1940, they would want to play if the cover featured heroes of March 1940 are off the table. In fact, he tells them on game day, this will be a DC universe where Superman, Batman, Hourman, the Spectre, Red, White, and Blue, and the Flash (even though he isn't featured on the cover that month, it's his name on the logo) do not exist. "Your heroes will have to pick up the slack."
The six players have selected Zatara, Sandman, Doris Evans (supporting cast from Red, White, and Blue), Bart Regan (from Spy), Hawkman, and Sandy Kean (from Radio Squad). It looks like a solid block of fighters, except for one mysteryman (Sandman) and magic-user (Zatara). To shake things up, the Editor pulls out his printout of The Trophy Case v. 2 #5 for the spy class, and assigns Doris and Bart to that. Bart's player points out that the spy class sucks compared to 2nd edition characters, but Doris' player volunteers to go home that night and see if he can fix it.
The Editor next brings up the subject of brevet ranks. He knows some of these heroes have been around for some time by March 1940 and would have accumulated a lot of XP. In fact, one of the players visits comics.org on his phone, counts up the number of published pages of Zatara's feature to that point, multiplies it by 100 (he got this formula from reading Supplement IV), and comes up with the idea that Zatara should be 6th level already by now. Some players balk, since their heroes would be starting lower. Other players like the idea of brevet ranks, knowing how "squishy" 1st level heroes can be. It is ultimately decided that the fairest thing is to have each player roll randomly for what level they start at, on a six-sided die.
Rolls are made around the table. Zatara will begin at level 1. Sandman at level 3. Doris at level 5. Bart at level 3. Hawkman at level 5. Sandy at level 3. Everyone goes back to modifying their Heroes!
Zatara's player: "Don't worry about me, guys. I'll be leveling up way faster than any of you."
Sandman's player upgrades his hero, slightly. Rolling to improve stats, he only gets a slight increase to WIS, and his hp rolls are below average still. Everyone agrees that starting money should be upgraded to half the XP needed to get to that new level total. He's given three random percentage chances to get free trophy items and fails all three rolls, so he's forced to buy trophies with his starting money out of the trophy section. He still can't afford a gas gun, but he has a gas mask finally, and sleep gas capsules are as close as he can get to that gas gun he wants.
It turns out, Doris is now, short of Hawkman, the one who's been at this the longest (possibly since '38). Although, when looking at their initial stats, everyone was leaning towards Sandy Kean being the leader, now it's clear that Doris is the one who must have assembled this team. Doris' player rolls to upgrade her. He gets to upgrade three stats, and DEX high enough to now get a bonus to hit with missiles. Hit Point rolls are above average, making her a real powerhouse in combat. To emphasize that, the player buys a sub-machine gun for her, for when combat gets really intense. He gets lucky twice rolling for free trophies, both forms of transportation. The results of random rolling actually put the bulletproof windows on the scow, but scows don't have windows, so they were moved to the car. He has a lot of money now to buy additional trophies with, and Sandman's player begins pressuring him to buy him a gas gun. Doris' player decides to hold onto that money for now and maybe purchase more trophies at the end.
Bart Regan sees two WIS increases in a row, changing him from a short-tempered tough guy to a calm-headed spy who thinks before he acts. In fact, despite not being the most skilled member of the team, he's the one the others look to for advice, if not leadership. Bart's randomly rolled trophies, a mortar and rebreather -- particularly the mortar, suggests he had a military background and/or spent some time in the War in Europe.
The six players have selected Zatara, Sandman, Doris Evans (supporting cast from Red, White, and Blue), Bart Regan (from Spy), Hawkman, and Sandy Kean (from Radio Squad). It looks like a solid block of fighters, except for one mysteryman (Sandman) and magic-user (Zatara). To shake things up, the Editor pulls out his printout of The Trophy Case v. 2 #5 for the spy class, and assigns Doris and Bart to that. Bart's player points out that the spy class sucks compared to 2nd edition characters, but Doris' player volunteers to go home that night and see if he can fix it.
The Editor next brings up the subject of brevet ranks. He knows some of these heroes have been around for some time by March 1940 and would have accumulated a lot of XP. In fact, one of the players visits comics.org on his phone, counts up the number of published pages of Zatara's feature to that point, multiplies it by 100 (he got this formula from reading Supplement IV), and comes up with the idea that Zatara should be 6th level already by now. Some players balk, since their heroes would be starting lower. Other players like the idea of brevet ranks, knowing how "squishy" 1st level heroes can be. It is ultimately decided that the fairest thing is to have each player roll randomly for what level they start at, on a six-sided die.
Rolls are made around the table. Zatara will begin at level 1. Sandman at level 3. Doris at level 5. Bart at level 3. Hawkman at level 5. Sandy at level 3. Everyone goes back to modifying their Heroes!
Zatara's player: "Don't worry about me, guys. I'll be leveling up way faster than any of you."
Sandman's player upgrades his hero, slightly. Rolling to improve stats, he only gets a slight increase to WIS, and his hp rolls are below average still. Everyone agrees that starting money should be upgraded to half the XP needed to get to that new level total. He's given three random percentage chances to get free trophy items and fails all three rolls, so he's forced to buy trophies with his starting money out of the trophy section. He still can't afford a gas gun, but he has a gas mask finally, and sleep gas capsules are as close as he can get to that gas gun he wants.
It turns out, Doris is now, short of Hawkman, the one who's been at this the longest (possibly since '38). Although, when looking at their initial stats, everyone was leaning towards Sandy Kean being the leader, now it's clear that Doris is the one who must have assembled this team. Doris' player rolls to upgrade her. He gets to upgrade three stats, and DEX high enough to now get a bonus to hit with missiles. Hit Point rolls are above average, making her a real powerhouse in combat. To emphasize that, the player buys a sub-machine gun for her, for when combat gets really intense. He gets lucky twice rolling for free trophies, both forms of transportation. The results of random rolling actually put the bulletproof windows on the scow, but scows don't have windows, so they were moved to the car. He has a lot of money now to buy additional trophies with, and Sandman's player begins pressuring him to buy him a gas gun. Doris' player decides to hold onto that money for now and maybe purchase more trophies at the end.
Bart Regan sees two WIS increases in a row, changing him from a short-tempered tough guy to a calm-headed spy who thinks before he acts. In fact, despite not being the most skilled member of the team, he's the one the others look to for advice, if not leadership. Bart's randomly rolled trophies, a mortar and rebreather -- particularly the mortar, suggests he had a military background and/or spent some time in the War in Europe.