Team Building

[Cassandra]

I was playing around with a Hawkgirl build, and I was thinking about giving her a space ship, and had a thought.

 

"What if she could give her fellow JLA members a ride?"

 

This made me think. Most builds are indivdual superheroes, not members of a team. They might have a radio for convience, but can't really help out members who don't have a Batmobile or Invisble Plane.

 

There are ways around this. One suggested before was to have two character builds, one as a member of a team, and one for solo adventures. The team member Green Lantern could have an FTL and LS useable simultaneously with others, for example.

 

How do you build your teams?

[Enforcer84]

Re: Team Building

 

Usually with perks.

Membership

Base and Vehicle Contributions

 

Some groups that doesn't make sense for, of course.

[Cassandra]

Re: Team Building

 

The X-Men are good example of that. Professor X has the Base and the Vehicle and sends Cyclops out with the team.

[Balabanto]

Re: Team Building

 

The answer is, ask what resources the team has and make them pay points for it.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Team Building

 

Yeah...didn't see her say not to pay points. She was wondering if you build Team versions of characters differently than Solo versions.

[psyber624]

Re: Team Building

 

I don't entirely understand which you are asking.

 

The "thought exercise" view where you are trying to build a team from an established canon? Probably try to simulate it as best as I can. Avengers: Stark bought it all on his character sheet, JLA? Batman did the same. Others? if they have "team" gear look at where it comes from in the source material. If not readily defined probably use the "team contribution" as generally suggested in the rules and have everyone chip in a number of points.

 

The "NPC" view? I generally don't worry about it. Unless my vehicle/base/gear is incredibly combat effective I just say the NPC/Villain team has it. You need balance among PC's to ensure that everyone feels they are contributing equally, You don't need any such balance in an NPC team as you control them all yourself. (And besides, Villains are frequently not going to have the same point totals as your PC's anyways).

 

The "Player Team" view? I would either A. Leave up to the players to either buy (and share if they wish) or pool (as suggested in the rules) OR B. They have a "benefactor" that provides such to the team as a whole (retired hero, government agency, wealthy sponsor). This keeps them from having to spend points on it (and in some cases can prevent them from arguing or wasting gobs of play time trying to come to a consensus on a build.)

 

I really don't get the two build idea, unless you are talking about representing a character at two different points in his career (once where he was a team member, once where he was solo). I know as a GM I would probably NEVER allow a player to have two different "versions" of a character that he could play in the same game (nor would I allow a Multiform to simulate something like this). Now, I don't know if you were advocating that or not, just saying what I would do in this situation.

[Greywind]

Re: Team Building

 

I don't believe Wayne is the sole source of funding for the League. He was vocally against some of the big ticket items the League had. Like the satellite and the Watchtower.

 

In fact the League was shown doing construction on the satellite and it was commented that humans, Kryptonians, Thanagarians, et al. all had different ideas on how to build things.

[Cassandra]

Re: Team Building

 

Right, like Hawkgirl and the Thangarian clocks. lol

[Cassandra]

Re: Team Building

 

I'm on yahoo messenger right now. cassandraharbinger

[psyber624]

Re: Team Building

 

yeah Greywind, unfortunately my finances have had the effect of severely limiting my access to comics so most of my knowledge comes from more readily available material. In the Justice League tv show Wayne has the Lighthouse built before he even really proposes the whole Justice League concept to the rest of the heros. Certainly later other heroes may have contributed, and I am sure that this is different from what has been presented in various comic incarnations of the League...sadly I don't have access to those stories.

[Greywind]

Re: Team Building

 

My collection has suffered in recent years, but my reading of comics goes back to about '72.

[JmOz]

Re: Team Building

 

The ONE MAJOR PROBLEM in this area however is the x2 rule. If the Batman character wants a car, and his teammates talk him into it they can EACH have a vehicle for a very small point expendature. A character could build a 200 point vehicle (40 point) and then have 3 spares for his buds for 10 points, or 7 spares for 15. Adds up FAST....

[psyber624]

Re: Team Building

 

Yeah, but honestly, unless you are putting high end weapons in said car, does it really have any impact in the game? 1 of them, yeah, it substitutes for a movement power, but 10? if you want the nice garage full of fancy cars so be it, but having more than 1 (even 1 per hero) really isnt game breaking.

 

I do agree you have to watch that doubling thing tho and make sure they arent trying to do something cheaty with it (ie building a gun with 8 charges to get the cost way down, then buying up a whole bunch of guns on the cheap)

[Sketchpad]

Re: Team Building

 

I always made up Package Deals for my teams.

[esampson]

Re: Team Building

 

Yeah' date=' but honestly, unless you are putting high end weapons in said car, does it really have any impact in the game? 1 of them, yeah, it substitutes for a movement power, but 10? if you want the nice garage full of fancy cars so be it, but having more than 1 (even 1 per hero) really isnt game breaking. . . .[/quote']

Even with high end weaponry on vehicles I have never found it to be all that game breaking. You simply move the combats into locations the vehicles can't go (inside buildings, underground, etc.). Minions with weapons with the limitation "Only vs. vehicles" (for ocv bonuses and/or for a large portion of their damage) are also great equalizers (especially against flying vehicles which will end up either crashing into a building or else far from combat). And of course the characters still have to buy the skills to use the vehicles.

 

There's a good reason why vehicles only cost 1 for 5.

 

Now I'm not suggesting that you as a GM let your players invest lots of points in the vehicles and skills and then take them away like that. Rather point out to your players that if they overly rely of vehicles you'll be forced to take steps like that. Most of the time your players will probably work with you and use their vehicles primarily for transport.

[Orion]

Re: Team Building

 

I would never design two versions of a character to model solo and team play. I find the idea so bad that I'd seriously consider not playing in any world that did such. (An aside: I find *way* too many things unacceptable for proper gaming - I need to loosen up.) Comic book writers often do not agree on how to write a character, but that doesn't mean I need to design them that way. I do not require that all team members be equally capable, so do not see a need to nerf a character just because they are in a team. If equal capability is important to the players (I've yet to meet any that thought it anything but highest importance), then they need to design them that way from the start.

 

As for teams, I pretty much make all team gear be free. Design the characters, then give me a list of what the team wants. If it is logical and possible given the characters, then they can have it. If the gear makes them more effective, then I just use better opponents. I suppose it could be listed on the character sheets as perks, package deals, or shared equipment, but I'm too easy-going about it to care. As long as it is noted on the character sheet, I don't care if it was part of the original character design, borrowed from another character, or from the warehouse of never-ending equipment.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Team Building

 

In my most team-oriented game, the characters broke up the costs: The guy who wanted a vehicle made it a little bigger so he could take the team with him, the playgirl based the team in the secret floor under her penthouse, the inventor made communication devices for everybody. The other two basically got a free ride. I'll grant, it was luck having three players willing to spend their own points for the stuff, but everyone was happy. It helped that they were veteran Champions players. My current group is 'why do we have to pay points for a building anyway?' I have introduced them to the zero-point HQ, built entirely from disadvantages. I believe they're coming around.

[Greywind]

Re: Team Building

 

The group that I ran before, the base and vehicle were paid for mainly through corporate donations. The vehicle was mainly a plot device to get them from *here* to *there*.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Team Building

 

That's a valid choice, and I've done it before. If the base and the vehicle are for the GM's convenience, maybe you shouldn't make the players pay for it.

[Greywind]

Re: Team Building

 

That was my take. One mission allowed for missiles to be mounted on hard points. After that mission several of the players complained that they didn't have them all the time.

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Team Building

 

I would never design two versions of a character to model solo and team play. I find the idea so bad that I'd seriously consider not playing in any world that did such. (An aside: I find *way* too many things unacceptable for proper gaming - I need to loosen up.) Comic book writers often do not agree on how to write a character' date=' but that doesn't mean I need to design them that way.[b'] I do not require that all team members be equally capable, so do not see a need to nerf a character just because they are in a team.[/b] If equal capability is important to the players (I've yet to meet any that thought it anything but highest importance), then they need to design them that way from the start.

 

As for teams, I pretty much make all team gear be free. Design the characters, then give me a list of what the team wants. If it is logical and possible given the characters, then they can have it. If the gear makes them more effective, then I just use better opponents. I suppose it could be listed on the character sheets as perks, package deals, or shared equipment, but I'm too easy-going about it to care. As long as it is noted on the character sheet, I don't care if it was part of the original character design, borrowed from another character, or from the warehouse of never-ending equipment.

In the OP and the post about 2 Batman write-ups both refer to the Team version being more powerful (in the OP being able to transport everyone else, in the Batman example that the Joker is a challenge in Gothom, yet Batman can tangle with Darksied). It probably doesn't change your stance on the 2 character sheet issue, but it completely negates the main reason you give for it.

[Greywind]

Re: Team Building

 

I would argue that if Batman doesn't bring something to the League, as he is, then he has no business being a member of the League. That doesn't mean ramping up the character.