The Price of Immortality Trilogy would be pretty fun to run (Crypt of Everflame, Mask of the Living God, City of Golden Death)
Search Posts
What the topic title says. Does anyone know whether the robots on Aballon have a native language? 1010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 Translation: I bet it's Binary.
Feelings unknown and alien to such beings as these, like desperation & fear. It's all a question of motivation, but the reason better be a good one.
A couple of the Dresden Files books have some great takes on the summer/winter courts of the sidhe.
Marvel Super Heroes RPG system, circa 1985. Most of the stuff is out there for free on the interwebs and they really expanded and refined the superpower tables. Also, assign point builds to your players instead of random rolls, the random part is fun but it can also result in one person being Thor-like while another is Hawkeye-like. All you need are two ten sided dice and you're rolling.
There's a long list of tools a GM has to challenge his table, but what form should the challenges take? Here's some things to consider: The players. Are we dealing with a group who favors the more boardgamey aspects, or do they prefer roleplaying and go with alot of backstory? Whatever the case, answering that question is the most important aspect of your game because that sets the overall tone. If the group likes killing stuff, then go for things like enhancing the encounter's action economy (substitute creatures w/ multiple attacks, swarms, haste/slow, etc). The previous entries have great ideas to that effect. Don't worry if you forget stuff, you'll get better as you go which will make the high level stuff easier for you. If the group prefers intrigue then you can play around w/ moral quandaries like introduce a tribe of neutral to neutral-good creatures that you need to find a way to clear them out or live in harmony w/ them. Have consequences for the players actions and have that drive the narrative. Incorporate aspects the players backstories or incorporate their backstories into the AP. Best case scenario, you run w/ both. Just remember action economy is one of the keys to making an encounter challenging.
If you ran Spoiler:
a group of orc/half-orcs from a different tribe who'd been ravaged by the tribe depicted in the module that would actually be pretty cool. Not to say you couldn't do it, you'd just have to do a lot of reworking.
You can also go minds eye if your players are amenable to it; particularly if you RP more than you do combats. However, I'd do the end fights and complex events w/ either a map or draw the area out. White board, ftw.
If you're using Pathfinder then Crypt of the Everflame or Godsmouth Heresy are good introductory modules, but if you're thinking campaign beginners you can go w/ APs, Thornkeep or Emerald Spire as well.
Soooo, a character with an 8 intelligence found a logical flaw in a religion on Eberron? That's both hilarious AND adorable. After I stopped laughing ala Rocket Raccoon I wanted to respond. Any character with an intelligence of 8 might have a point when it comes to arguing any religion, but whether or not anyone will listen is another matter entirely. Unless the low intelligence characters have a bluff skill in the double digits they can't help but project their low intelligence. But working in the Barbarian's favor is his reputation and intimidation. Because anyone knows that arguing religion with a Barbarian is probably not a good idea no matter who is correct. But really, if a cleric of whatever God loses in a straight debate with any character with an 80 IQ that cleric should receive no spells from said God for the rest of his or her life - full stop.
Depends on what the strength of your campaign is. If it's combat then as you can see by the several entries prior to mine, there's some good mechanical options. A strong narrative/story also solves alot of these issues because it puts focus on roleplaying and social interactions instead of violence. That being said, creating an environment where each player can shine is key. Obviously when it comes to combat you know your Ranger will shine brightly. So create situations where the other players can shine as well. Think about what each player likes and cater to that. It sounds tough but it's actually pretty easy after awhile. Here's an example off the top of my head. HOLD THEM OFF - this is a simple situational diddy, and there's a ton of different versions of this and even more ways you could implement the situation. A number of players have to hold off a group of enemies while the other players do X. The challenge lies in making X worth the character's time and effort. X can be anything but if it were me I'd make it a diplomacy or a knowledge arcana challenge, something to highlight one of the other players. As for the players holding off the bad guys, make it your Ranger and a couple other players maybe on ballista or arrow carts or an Arcane Resonance Chamber that enables the Sorceror to shoot out 20 Levels of offensive spells. Really it's up to you at this point since I don't know your table like you do. I'd just throw in extra things and spice this simplistic situation up. When you start thinking in these terms it opens up a lot of possibilities but the key really is knowing your table, what they like, etc.
+1. If you run WEG without the wild die fails or successes, it's a far better, more balanced game. However, if you used Character points to influence your rolls you could roll again if you got a six. The way we did progression really lent to a long-running campaign and it was essentially if you used the skill you could pip it up and it was one pip up per session. It worked great.
Thus setting up the very real possibility of Coulson & SHIELD vs Maria Hill in a possible season 3. Nice.
Purple, I think Ultron is as close to Sentinels as Marvel will come - I could be wrong, however. BTW, are we taking predictions about either who or what organization Mac and Bobbie are working for? Spoiler: It could be Hawkeye
Brother Fen and I are sympatico, I ran a module series where I started w/ Crypt of the Everflame (1-2), Masks of the Living God (2-4), Fangwood Keep (3-5) and ended with City of Golden Death (4-6). They all take place around the Lake Encarthon(?) area. Three of the modules comprise what's called the Price of Immortality Trilogy (Feast, Masks, and City) but I found Fangwood to be a great bridge and easily assimilated into the trilogy. If you should plan to run this as a campaign there are a lot of little story nuggets that would result in further adventures down the line-real good stuff. A little warning, however: if you run it campaign-style you should be fine if you level them as you go. PFS style is a bit trickier because running Masks at level 2 can be brutal and City of Golden Death for a group of 4th or 5th level characters is almost suicidal for the final chapter. It's incredibly fun, however.
Or if you're a sorceror, you can buff your pet with Mage Armor wand and Shield for a cool +8 AC. Had a Spinosaurus in PFS but it's not currently allowable-if anyone knows different by all means let me know because I loved that dino. If you're homebrewing it, Spino is really the way to go - 28 Strength unbuffed at HD7 plus Power Attack = good fun. Amulet of Mighty Fists is pretty nice for an AC once you can afford the 4k. Hmm is dead on - cats and dinos win, Roc if you want something with flight, Thylacine is meh but has a high CON and you can buff w/ Bull Strength. Flight-wise, is there anything better than a Roc?
I couldn't help but notice that no cats were listed under animal companions in additional resources. Does that mean cats are no longer legal?
I think a very cool campaign to run would be the characters starting out as either family with, or a part of the country's leadership mechanism. As they level up, put them in a position where they are part of at least 3 factions vying for influence over the country. Using your metaphor of Russia, put the players in a place where they become Stalin or Lenin, and see where they go with it. Set up a situation where they are either told to or are approached by the Cult of Razmir in a bid to invade Nirmathas. Either that or they learn their country is doing this and they have to prevent it from happening, or they happen to hear that the Cult of Razmir is planning to take over Nirmathas via Tamran and is having none of it, because no one is taking over Nirmathas but Molthune of course. There's a fair amount of angles your table could take. There are also some modules that take place in the Nirmathas/Molthune/Lake Encarthen area that would give you some good ideas - the Price of Immortality Trilogy of modules would have some good stuff in them but mainly from the Cult of Razmir angle. Fangwood Keep takes place in Northern Molthune and has some potentially cool information.
The most sage advice I can ever give a fellow GM/DM is "Know Thy Table", which loosely translated means if you know your players will like the moral subplots, then by all means make like Captain Kirk and fire away. Sanctioned PFS still gives you a little leeway but you have less time to get to know your table. I had to run 7 players through and though it was still a fun time, I would've put more townsfolk in danger, like a kid running to his injured dad, and seeing what the players will do. Stuff like that can be fun. This scenario is an excellent one because it's got alot of potential for a continuing storyline. You can stick around a be a member of the town afterwards. Maybe the leader of the Spoiler: was hired by someone else above him, and that's just one of many possibilities to continue to play in the region.
bandits And the biggest hook of all for an AP out of this: Spoiler: Who is the kid's REAL father? That's something you can have tons of fun with
The problem with 2E is no one actually remembers how it went anymore thanks to rose-tinted glasses and Alzheimer's. :) They're called bifocals, whippersnapper! = ) /waves cane menacingly Roll Initiative!! /rolls d10, adds weapon speed, minuses 1/2 levels of fighter, minuses dex bonus, minuses any magical pluses
OP, 1E and 2E made you use the rules as guidelines because of the inconsistencies and because they only allowed for a limited amount of classes. You had to literally invent your own rules using their books as a base. The rules we came up with to enhance our own experience was both nostalgic and fun. It was advanced problem-solving, essentially. We gamed out a more robust system using 2E as a baseline. I remember rolling with a version of D&D Mystara (expert/basic) along with Advanced rules (1E/2E), we just went with whatever worked and did stuff that made sense to us. I don't remember anything too hard about it, either. Literally the funniest thing about the old system were the level limitations of anyone who wasn't a non-human - if memory serves for some weird reason certain races could only get to certain levels in certain classes, but you could level forever if you went with a Thief. I don't think we called them Rogues back then. I also remember each level you had a different title. I think Rogue was level 2, cutpurse was 4, Burglar was 6, Thief was 9, Master Thief was 10, stuff like that.
An idea for Shore's End would be organizations as well like the local Thieves' Guild - maybe more than one for competition, two crime syndicates perhaps. Magical Guild - for arcane casters, and a Security Firm re: Fighters Guild. You can even mix and match. Make three Priminent families involved in politics, base them off historic figures like the bush family or the Saudi Royal family (awesome information there), and don't forget temples for divine casters.
If you're doing random starting rolls then take whoever rolled the highest add his numbers and have everyone make a character off that. Attributes are important and everyone should have an even start. Failing that, you give everyone the same starting points to stat their character up with. The other thing is, always err on the low side for CRs, if something looks challenging to you then for Pete's sake, lower it or give the players something (a one-shot device) that evens it up. When you make mistakes (and you will just a fact of life) it's always best to err on the side of anti-climax rather than killing everyone. I GMed a session where the characters were 3rd level and I set up an encounter with 9 Bugbears, a shaman and a sub-chief - and I saw I had made a mistake and they were going to lose big-time, so I had a Roc come by, grab 4 Bugbears in either talon(one was the shaman) and just fly away. You can do variations of this with floors falling away, cavern cave-ins, and if you have a cleric who worships a luck God it's even better when you do this kind of thing - it looks like you had actually planned it!
If you don't go with the Iron Will feat you're going to want either a teammate to give you some sort of Will save buff or get a cloak of resistance +4 to help with will saves. Really just anything you can think of. Once you hit 11 or 12 it doesn't matter if your twf or thf they're both excellent, it just takes twf longer to "get there". Given the extra feats you received @ first level TWF is a great choice. /high five
I'm with Rynjin, if I were adjudicating the Wall of Fire if it was conjured on top of someone or if it damaged any opponent of said caster he would immediately become visible. If he saw some folks coming down a hall however and cast the wall of fire I would do a couple of things depending on the distance and the enemy I would roll them perception to see if they can hear the spell being cast or hear the sound of the fire. I picture a wall of fire would make a noise not unlike a roaring fire, lol. Blade barrier would be more ideal than a wall of fire.
When you look @ the statblock for the Migo, one could interpret the rules to read 4 limbs as one attack instead of 4. The reason being, this thing has essentially 12 attack attempts at 3-5 (4 att, 4 grapple attempts, 4 fort saves to avoid stat dmg). It seems like a bit too much. If I was running a group of 3's, I would run the 4 limb attacks as one attack, and the encounter might still be a TPK.
Raptortamer, Also, if a CR1 Encounter says 400 xp, then the amount of xp 4 players earned is 400/4 = 100xp/player. I also tend to give bonuses to XP after sessions depending on play. If it was a great session with alot of good roleplay and the party of 5 earned 10,000 xp then I'll bump it up to 15k and award everyone 3k experience. downerbeautiful is right, it is distributed however you want, but be mindful of the progression. Particularly in Pathfinder it's not required to speed through the first 3 levels, there's some good content and RP at those low levels.
Good thread here. Whenever I've run a campaign I always want to demonstrate motion in the campaign. For an example, if the players pass through a town I won't read them flavor text - I may tell them there's a dilapidated tavern but across the street from it there's a new tavern in the midst of being built. Flavor text is NOT needed unless you want to explain an action as a backdrop, but that's no Later on after a few sessions and some time passes they come back into town and lo and behold that tavern is all built and the one across the street is destroyed. It's the player's decision to get involved and I will have a small story planned but I'm a good enough GM to expand on that if the players react to it. Motion is always a constant and interesting NPCs that are influenced by the character's decisions. Consequence-heavy plotlines that define morality aren't required but I personally prefer them because if I know which way the characters lean it will greatly influence the tone of the campaign I run, and it makes things more organic. But I come from a background pre PFS & LG - for years all I ran was home-brew, shotgun-based sandbox campaigns with episodic content and usually one meta-arc with plenty of flexibility on my end for other player-driven arcs. I had a good idea where I wanted to end my "season" but how we arrived was in the hands of the players and more than once I had to change my season-enders because my players had "one-upped" me and made it even better. It made for some incredible situations and truly dramatic moments. But in my six months in PFS I have to say I enjoy it as well. It's single-serving goodness and I find as a GM I have to be more on my game and more on-point to deliver the material with as much energy and enthusiasm as I can. I don't look for ways to change the information provided in the scenario, I look for ways to deliver the material in an interesting and innovative way. It can make all the difference.
I think (hope) James' point is that it can't use the Eviscerate when it grapples a creature, only against one that is grappled and it successfully maintains a grapple, which would only be once per round as a standard action (though at around +19 to maintain, that's auto damage for 1d4+2d6+4 as well). Yeah, either way it's ridiculous damage. Actually, the next one, "Dark Menagerie" we had a pretty tough fight Spoiler: With a Deathtrap Ooze. Ambushed us & killed the Summoner and a Low-HP Archer who provoked an AOP in the same fricking round. Attack + Acid Damage + Grapple/constrict + more acid damage for 40+ damage at 5-7 is high grade plutonium nasty.
To the OP, I would have given SA damage on the first attack due to surprise depending on the players of course - Divination School and other mitigating factors nonwithstanding. Sometimes guidelines can be open to interpretation - just make your best judgement and game on.
In PFS if you play a Wizard or Sorceror you should invest in 3 2 prestige wand purchases: Infernal Healing
At low levels MM is the best - Sure a martial class does alot more damage but keep in mind, they have to actually roll to hit, which at lower levels can take the fighter up to 3 rounds to hit something - whereas the sorceror keeps blasting away for the last three rounds with his guaranteed 2-5 damage and kills the baddie. There are times in Society play where the dice go cold and no one can hit - and in those moments, Magic Missile holds sway over all in it's path. It sees it's enemies driven before it, and hears the lamentations of the women...
We actually overcame this guy because: Spoiler:
the 5th Level Sorceror was paranoid from getting jumped by someone invisible in an earlier scenario so he had (and used) 2 scrolls of see invisible so we immediately negated the Migo's surprise ability. Unbeknownst to us the premade Iconic Kyra was potent enough bait to lure the Migo and his summoned creatures out into the main room where we could maneuver, my sorceror threw down a glitterdust and got the main fighter as well(d'oh). The Visitant was a tough hombre but seldom did it get its full attack, it tried to go invisible but with the see invisible & and glitterdust, we were able to slay it. The heavy hitters in the group did a splendid job busting/melting faces--or arms in this case. it was a great team effort I'd love to know how many parties of mainly 3-4s actually win this fight however, because if you've got nothing to counter what the Migo does, even with a group of 5s if you get a couple rounds of say low D20 rolls, that would be enough time for V to take down one, maybe two party members and that doesn't bode well. Our formula was preparation, knowledge, "don't go into the room, that's a Migo, lure it out here!" and 4-5 tier characters.
We're level 2 and my new GM threw a mob at us with +23 to hit... instantly murdered the level 1 gnome sorcerer.Assuming that was meant as a fair combat encounter you might want to have a talk with the GM. That is absurdly unbalanced. Holy cow, if he was running off a module or scenario maybe he was looking at the wrong tier??. Several scenarios are for 1-2, 3-4 and even 6-7 sometimes so it was possible he used a 6-7 statblock when he should've gone w/ the 1-2. Bad mistake to make if you're a GM though.
DerCed, This may be something you're already doing, but if you're running modules/scenarios, skim through them a couple of sessions beforehand and use the NPCs/info in there for stuff they'll do prior so when you introduce them the players will have that all-important recognition factor. When I ran Crypts, I introduced the Ranger in Masks as a contact/mentor to one of the players (there's some trouble in Kassen, check it out for a couple of weeks), and their eyes lit up when they found out that their NPC was the key contact during Masks. When you get the chance to foreshadow anything you know is coming up in future sessions, do it - players feel more like they're a part of the overall world.
I agree with the earlier posts re: weddings or funerals. tailor-make it to what you want to have in your campaign. Just one idea would be that whoever died bequeathed their ship to the players as a group, and work this now-dead person into the backstory of all the player's characters in some way, shape or form. Beginnings to campaigns are as hard as you make them. Keep things simple and straightforward to start - if you don't know the players make sure you communicate to them the challenges of making a character concept with a backstory that would make them not part of a team. I'm actually a huge proponent of having a backstory just be a couple of sentences and then build the backstory as you progress. I've always viewed beginnings as incredible opportunities to seed future events not based off what I have planned, but based off the player's actions. That way what they do counts alot more and it helps when you can adapt the campaign to your players.
And now we see both the positives and negatives in making a TV show that is supposed to coincide and/or cross over with feature length films. The slow start had to have been due in large part to this crossover - which was awesome, don't get me wrong - but the negative side was the stuck in molasses nature of the first batch of episodes. All said, IMO it's more positive than negative. You don't see many other studios like Marvel even attempting to do this kid of thing much less pulling it off successfully. There was Defiance but that's an MMO-TV event that didn't call for as much "Long Game" planning as Marvel. And speaking of the Long Game, my vote on Agents of Shield is that this was the season not series finale. I'd be surprised if it doesn't get renewed for another season at this point. Even if it doesn't take a significant bump in popularity after this crossover event, I Disney/Marvel has the resources to run this for another couple seasons if it really wants to.
I'm also getting the sense that Ultron will be rewritten to have been a Bruce Banner creation. That would be one way to go with it but I'm thinking it'll be more of a Tony Stark thing - it would make more sense imo. Blending Ch'Tauri tech with a new set of armor or upgrading Jarvis with Kree or Asgardian tech would seem to be a valid plot-point due to Tony's fear of not being able to protect the earth. I say this since Spoiler:
Paul Bettany who voices JARVIS is officially cast as the Vision, and in the comics Vision is created by Ultron to...you guessed it...help kill the Avengers. Of course, it all depends on what Stark Enterprises has Banner working on, but in the comics it was Henry Pym who is responsible for creating Ultron - and even though there will be a Hank Pym in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (played by Michael Douglas) I'd be willing to bet he won't be the one responsible for Ultron.
If you go to war in Golarion, you better have the support of an organization that can field mercenary adventurers to either a) enhance your offensive capabilities or b) mitigate the damage an enemy spellcaster can do, or c) both A&B. If I'm a General in Golarion I want the Divination School prevalent in members of my staff, and I would not go to war without them. Any military campaign in Golarion would be a nightmare in terms of strategy and planning, because wizards completely change the game - heavy cannon is the least of the danger that just one wizard would cause. Take a small skirmishing force of 250 men. You'd want the group to be versatile, so 100 of these men would be cavalry - make sure they all have bow and arrow or some type of ranged attack. 100 would be infantry and 50 would be support specialists - Rogues, Experts, Rangers, Clerics. The leader would either be a Cavalier, Paladin or Fighter 7, and his "staff" would be comprised of exotic levels like Wizard, Magus, Inquisitor, Ranger, Rogue, Witch, and Alchemist between 3rd and 5th levels. Having a Wizard, Alchemist and Oracle all at 5th level would make this small skirmishing force quite effective and give it a wide range of mission possibilities. I see Golarion military strategems being closer to contemporary military strategy - strike first, strike hard, and strike quick. The epic stuff you see in Lord of the Rings would be an exception, because anyone in Golarion would know that a group of 5 or 6 murder hobos with proper motivation could flat-out destroy a couple hundred troops within minutes.
Whenever my players and I have different visual setups of the room/area, I default to what their visual setups are. After all, it's their world, I'm just GMing in it. I had a player in a hospital hallway say "I tear the fire extinguisher from the wall, fling it at the bad guy, and shoot it while it's in the air so it blows up", and I thought that was such a cool rendition of what was around them that I just went with it, but I did include a caveat, I had the shot pierce a hole in the CO2 cannister, which launched it in a straight line at the baddie and took it clear out the window at the end of the hall, and it turned what would've been a quick but violent altercation into a tense running battle that was far better than had actually visualized in the first place. Whenever I thought it was going to crucial, I used to have a whiteboard so everyone was on the same page.
Normally I'd say as soon as you meet the requirements, but it comes down to what domains you have. Because it may be in your best interest to nail down the level 8 domain abilities before you go Holy Vindicator - for feats I'd look into Shield Mastery for the +1 and Extra Channels, because you'll be channel-starved.
That's life for you. One-shots and Limited runs are your best bet. Maybe you can get them interested in a session of Call of Cthulu. If your characters live and/or are still sane the GM is slacking. = )) If you still want that ongoing campaign feel you could put the players in a situation that spans years between adventures. Just make sure when you get together your session is resolved at the end - no cliffhangers! As far as maintaining player interest - when it's a month between sessions then it's on the players themselves to maintain interest.
I'd just like the show to get back to a typical weekly broadcast. They hyped up the Sif episode, which took a month to get on the air, only to take two weeks to get another episode out. If they were airing them out of order, we might have another Firefly on our hands. It makes alot of sense what with the "Uprising" teasers they've got going on. Could be very cool, and just what the show needs to get back on its feet.
Also, Am I the only one that wishes they'd stop releasing these clips for the Captain America movie? I mean, you had me at the first trailer, stop revealing more of the movie! I'm not saying the clips aren't good, they're great in fact, but seriously...you had me at the first trailer. Stop, already! = )
what do you guys think about tonight's Marvel: Assembling a Universe documentary? I like the previews/concept art for Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver! :) Nice additional shots from Guardians of the Galaxy as well... :) It's good to know that Marvel is being as forward-thinking as they are in terms of future movies, to the point where not only are they out in front of other studios, they continue to move at a faster pace, they have a plan, and they're following it. If I'm going to be a bit critical or nit-picky about it, the show told me nothing I didnt' already know - in fact, the high point was looking back at how humbly the whole thing started. If Iron Man tanks there is no Avengers movie - simple as that. Pretty cool stuff. On the plus side, I'm hoping it results in a boost to the viewership for AoS next week. The interval of new episodes did not do much to help them. Sounds like they've got some good episodes coming up.
Y'know along that line of thought, it would also be nice to see Betty Ross in some upcoming episodes. Could be she's part of the team that's working to "keep interested parties off Bruce's scent" as Black Widow alluded to in Avengers, but if you're keeping the power levels low, she'd be an excellent guest star, even as part of a recurring role or even a regular cast member in the future. It would make alot of sense and give the show even more "connective tissue" to the Marvel Universe. Conventional wisdom would suggest they bring her character in to the Avengers franchise since she still presumably has a relationship w/ Bruce. I don't see that character in the game-plan.
If Coulson had authority, then he would have known the code phrase. The guards were well within their rights to use lethal force. Agreed, Kthulhu. If you're going to create a scenario where there is going to be violence then don't half-ass it. It would've been a great opportunity to reveal both guards as LMDs. It remains to be seen as to whether or not there will be consequences for what they did, but seeing as how high up in the command structure both Coulson and Garrett are, I sincerely doubt it. BTW, that place HAD to be valuable to SHIELD. It didn't make sense having 2 greenhorns guarding it. It should've been either an automated defense network or some kind of Reagan or Clinton-era Stark weapon system.
Looks like they're setting up Skye as a new Super-powered Operative unique to the show or they're going Captain Marvel with it.... Ambrosia, I wholeheartedly agree. Carol Danvers should be on a major motion picture-type horizon - I'm hoping instead Skye is used to take us on an origin of the Ch'Tauri. It would be a good move if they intend to use this alien race more. I wouldn't be surprised to see a move like that, but there's alot of different ways they could go with it. I'm liking the amount of forward-thinking they seem to be putting into the story. I'm interested enough to keep watching, especially this whole upcoming "Uprising" thing that you know is going to coincide w/ the Captain America movie.
Looks like they're setting up Skye as a new Super-powered Operative unique to the show or they're going Captain Marvel with it. If the GH body is a Kree then I'd say Skye is part Kree since her body was able to handle a direct injection. It's a testament to the quality of the writing that aspect is still unclear. But since Marvel doesn't own the rights to either the Badoon or the Skrull, this might be an effort to build on the Ch'Tauri alien race and start crafting their own origin story using Skye to inform that storyline and SHIELD's involvement in said storyline. It would make sense from the point that the creators want to differentiate the show in terms of the Marvel Universe while still having it be within the Marvel Universe - that's the challenge of the show, walking that line. I for one am more than happy w/ alterations & additions to the lore, because if you look at the Marvel Universe, there's been plenty of reboots of the lore already. I believe Iron Man's original origin story was that he got the heart-wound in Viet Nam. The other change in Marvel Lore will be in introducing Ultron in the next Avengers movie - the story on Ultron is that Hank Pym creates Ultron, and Ultron creates the Vision to kill the Avengers. If the Vision is Jarvis then we can logically assume that you substitute Stark for Pym and it becomes Stark that creates Ultron, or at least has a hand in it, perhaps aided and abetted w/ 084 tech. IMO it makes for a great story, I can picture Ultron mockingly calling Tony Stark "Father" while wiping the floor with him. Just my 2 cents we'll have to see where they go w/ it.
If your GM allows you to play Chaotic Evil characters than
I ran a Vampire: Dark Ages campaign and learned two things: even if you have only one evil person in the group, it makes for delightfully tense character vs character moments(which were cool), but even more tense player vs player moments(which weren't). It's just not very advisable in a "Table Dynamic" sense. With 6 to 10 players on average(I had 3 to 4) it's a wonder you can make it through one session. It's been my experience that playing evil characters even in an experienced group of friends often leads to these situations because eventually someone will "step over the line". In some instances they can even become a "habitual line-stepper". If you disagree, see all the previous posts. I'm not saying it's not possible - note the previous qualifiers - but it would be the exception not the rule. Honestly, I'd just try running something where everyone's alignment was Neutral to Good and see what happens.
|