I had this whole series typed up before
I made the first post. This section keeps changing as the evaluation
shifts. I decided to go ahead and post this so we can move on even
though I know this is not the final state of what we have learned
from this first session.
The first thing I learned is that I am
racist. One of the characters on the team is a ninja in similar garb
to the Tsoo (Triad) NPCs. The character was raised and trained by the
Tsoo so moves like them as well. In the very first session I made a
perception test on the part of the player characters to see if they
could differentiate their teammate from the other ninjas. I first did
it because all that is showing on any of them is their eyes. It
became a running gag and the ninja's teammates were constantly
confusing him with other ninjas each and every session. Story wise
they have only known each other a few days so it is something I can
phase out, but I laughed way too much at this.
Another thing I learned is that while
Icons is built upon Fate, Icons is not Fate. The biggest difference
is not the inclusion of powers and stats in place of skills, but the
spread of abilities and the ability to have multiple numbers cranked
up rather than a single skill or two. Starting Fate Core characters
have skills ranging from +1 to +4 with several sessions before they
can get a single +6 skill and can not have more skills of a given
rank than the rank below it. For instance, a character can not have
two +4 skills and a single +3 skill. The character must have three +3
skills so they can change one of those +3 skills to a +4 skill if
they want a second +4 skill. This means that most skills are either
at zero (not on the sheet), or +1 or +2. Icons goes from +1 to +10
with an additional +1 to +3 for specialties with much fewer
restrictions on how many abilities reach those upper limits.
Icons also uses the d6-d6 dice variant
instead of the default 4dF which helps some as there is less chance
of rolling -1 to +1 (roughly 45% versus roughly 63%) and -5 and +5
actually exists, but it's not enough to compensate. I am sorely
tempted to bump the dice system to a d8 or possibly even a d10 if we
have another go. The spread is wide enough to where a +1 natural roll
result while activating qualities still fails so I personally would
like to see a wider spread. Another solution might be to have
activating qualities provide a +3, or maybe even a +4 bonus as right
now qualities don't shift the results enough for the players to
bother with unless they want a reroll.
One mechanical difference was I had the
players make all the rolls. The new version of Icons actually has
both the GM and the player roll a d6 and add it to the attribute
being tested. I had the players use a macro to use the old +d6-d6
instead. This was for two reasons. The first is that with roll20 this
meant only one person had to use the dice rolling macro. The second
reason was only players could spend determination (Fate points) to
reroll the dice if the GM never rolls. NPCs could use determination
for a bonus or to activate a penalty on a PC, but this left the fate
of a character more in the player's hands.
Having no Damage Resistance is deadly
if your character can be hit. Having too much makes a character
practically invulnerable. The reason the characters dragged Pinnacle
into the lake was partially because the player acting the part of the
Creature from the Black Lagoon found it fitting, but also because
they could not damage him. Even Mr Silk at the end was DR6 and only
taking a single point of damage if hit until I let the players
activate qualities (aspects for Fate folks) to increase damage. I may
be missing it from the book, but I do not think that is a normal part
of the Icons rules.
Having a character with average Human
combat stats means she will rarely hit or dodge attacks in this game
as most people in a superhero setting have at least some combat
training. We had one character whom was fresh to his powers with no
experience in a fight, and I could tell it was frustrating the player
because the character was taking every hit that came his way while
not being able to land hits on basic mooks with experience roughing
non-powered people up. He did amazingly well with what he was given
and tanked like a boss, but I think the first thing he is probably
going to do is ask the resident ninja on the team to teach him some
basics. Speaking of the ninja, I think he got hit twice over the
course of the campaign, and there was quite a bit of combat. This
meant I had heroes that could not hit NPCs even on slightly above
average rolls without activating a quality every time they wanted to
attack, and those same NPCs could not hit a different PC without
activating multiple qualities on top of coordinating their attacks.
I made some adjustments to combat as
well. Regeneration was something where we spread out the healing
benefit because applying it all ten turns after getting hurt meant
characters with regeneration would get knocked out early in a fight
then pop up fresh later when most of the work was done. Something
else that evolved through play was there were a lot of counterattack
opportunities if an NPC missed a hero. City of Heroes oftentimes sees
heroes facing off against large groups of enemies, and I would need
to keep the number of NPCs quite small if the heroes were not
countering their attacks. I was constantly adding complications to
the heroes if they were hit hard. I would ask them first if they want
the complication or to go unconscious. There was only one time a
player opted to have their non-sidekick character go unconscious.
Sometimes these complications were minor such as being knocked down
and giving up part of their next panel (turn) to stand up, but would
still be able to either attack or move (but not both) upon standing.
Other times it was more severe such as losing the next panel entirely
or gaining a complication that remained for the rest of the scene or
longer which NPCs could activate. There was once or twice where the
effect of a complication gained from staying conscious opened up
future options such as one character's armour having a piece cleaved
off and crawl away on its own after being separated.
I need to learn to keep better time.
The original aim was three hour sessions. Every session has gone at
least four hours. We do not start for the first fifteen minutes, and
it can take upward of fifteen minutes to get rolling so maybe it was
only three and a half hours for the shortest session, but even with
those considerations most are still four hours or more. I do manage
to squeeze in one to two big combats in that time along with some
roleplaying elements. I am still finding that balance.
I enjoy creating specific villains with
specific heroes in mind. What's more, I liked introducing pity hero,
Wildtide during a session in which her hero's player was not able to
attend the session. The first time that player even heard about this
villain Wildtide was already on the scene and believed by all to be a
hero. What was less effective was that the same hero's player was
only able to play part of the last session so missed the fight
including said villain. I am also enjoying weaving in various little
threads along with other villains. Oddly enough, the one villain I
was certain I would be able to fit in as he seemed perfect for volume
one has yet to make an appearance.
One problem I ran into is I put more
time into figuring out what was happening on the global/city scale
than the party scale. It was helpful knowing what was happening in
other parts of the city, but it also led to the party getting swept
up by the city's issues rather than their own. This was not a bad
thing, but I think in the future city issues will be more in the
background as they continue forward than they had been in volume one.
I learned I am blessed to be part of an
amazing group of players. They all know the setting better than I do.
They will point out holes in my own knowledge, but they are forgiving
of those holes and roll with them. Most of the players that showed up
at the beginning for the world and character creation sessions stayed
through to the end as well. Those that did not had priorities or
other commitments to where I can not fault any of them for not making
the games regularly. I have faced some anxiety over this game, but it
was never because of the other people involved and always due to my
own mental hang ups. I am glad I got involved with this game. This
really is the most consistent fun I have had in decade or longer.
The Icons of Paragon City Series
Part Three: The Lessons of Icons of
Paragon City - This Post
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