MEHRP design doc reference thread

As I have had a few vacation days to work on a full-conversion Mass Effect hack for the Marvel Heroic system, it was suggested that I do a megathread on current and upcoming projects instead of having to harangue my players about them on IRC. So be it.

I think this may beat out FATE for 'best narrative mechanics', if only because the player, rather than the GM, is compelling his character's aspects, so to speak.


I. Upcoming projects - ThreatDown

Currently I'm working on a few things, but the most likely to be immediately finished is a supplement called ThreatDown (thanks, Stephen Colbert) that catalogues a series of historical threats to the galaxy (Threats to the Galaxy was the original title but that's boring). It's not really a sourcebook per se, although several factions do have sample encounters.

So far, it includes:

Collectors - The first set that I've completed so far. Focuses largely on group tactics, although Captains being able to generate seeker swarms as of ME3 gives you some interesting narrative options. I ran into a bit of a snag when I started on the Collector ship, but I'll get to that in the next section.

Fallen - Like the Collectors, they don't have a sample encounter, but the resources at hand make it pretty easy to construct one. Datafiles for a few historical characters, including a couple dead ones if you want to go all alternate history, and powerset guides on making playable Fallen (something I couldn't really do with Collectors or Reaper troops) if you have a player who wants one.

Reapers - Not actual Reapers. Maybe the title should be 'Husks'. I might have to change that before releasing the document. Anyway, all the MP goofs you know and love, plus the Harvester and probably a Destroyer. One sample encounter is included for a party of between three and five people, depicting a Reaper attack on Firebase Reactor.

Cerberus - This started as an exercise in building mob units, and then once I had a pretty decent mob going I was like "Well, might as well go whole hog on Cerberus". Includes all basic MP units, plus the shield generator add-on (because I felt those informed a lot of the late-game Cerberus tactics and it'd be cool to include them). Two sample encounters, one of which is a 3-5 attack on Firebase White and one of which is a 4-6 showdown with Kai Leng et al during the Thessia attack. See if you can do better than Shepard did.

Beast Armada - From an alternate dimension that will never come to you thanks to the 'genuine curiosity' of forum members comes an opposing force that's pretty much explicitly designed to kill your party. I basically grabbed the basic NPC concepts Steel and I came up with, fleshed them out a little, and then went hog wild on creative SFX. Seriously, there's two nameds in here that you are mathematically very unlikely to kill if you fight them simultaneously. Instructional text advises Watchers to be extremely conservative with the Beast's named henchmen for a reason. One sample encounter for 3-5 is included, involving the players' ship being hit by a boarding party.

II. Space combat update

I started working on a collector ship and then realized I don't really have a way to properly model space combat. Obviously you could just have a ship be an individual powerset, but the problem is maintaining player agency - everyone in the party needs something to do because watching other people play while you can't is the most boring thing in the world.

While playing FTL, I had a moment of inspiration. You put crew members at stations and give each station a powerset (guns, engines, the helm, etc. - active stations, not boring shit like the shields, NPCs can do that) that corresponding specialties can work with. Whoever's going to be the captain would have less in the way of an actual powerset, but more SFX to work with (such as rerouting power between systems, target prioritization, etc). This accomplishes two things: one, it gives everyone a way to contribute, and two, it means you can sow chaos by having the ship boarded.

I should probably include a few sample ships, while I'm at it.

III. TLEHNTPAPA

ThreatDown is technically just a supplement, but I'm also working on a full-on sourcebook. It's called The Life Egregious: Or How Not To Portray A Pretend Alien, and as the title would suggest it focuses on slightly more comedic action than the usual.

Most of the powers and SFX are slightly more abstract, but the team dynamic essentially forces the same kind of narrative as canon: the rest of the team gets things done, but their actions fill the doom pool quickly and generously. 187, while not particularly effective from an action perspective, has a ton of abilities that lower the doom pool. So just like in the actual show, whoever's playing 187 is essentially running damage control, corralling his teammates as best he can, while they're busy wreaking total chaos in pursuit of whatever the objective is.

Six player datafiles are included, along with a whole host of NPC files from various points in the series' history (in case you want to do alternate-history versions of earlier seasons), suggestions on creating scenes or events tailored towards the team, and a mini-event called Deadline Day At The DDS.

IV. Some kind of guide to character creation and gameplay

I may need to push this up in production order because some of the datafiles you people are submitting in Fisher Krogan's thread are fucking dire. Seriously, ask for help or something if you've never played a game with the system before. Spiza showed me an unfinished one last night that, even in an incomplete state, was mathematically on par with the Green Goblin (who was supposed to be an even match for five player characters).

It'd probably include some stuff on SFX-to-powers ratio, character balance, specialties and stunt dice, playstyles, etc. Also I would have a chance to introduce new specialties (Biotic has replaced Mystic, but I still need to come up with something to replace Cosmic. We'll see).

Further updates as events warrant. Watch this space; I'll have some preview materials out soon.

This is awesome, I await the results eagerly.

I'll note that upon having had the comparability to the Green Goblin sheet pointed out to me when I asked for help I edited it down to something more reasonable.

However, a guide for character creation and what makes a balanced character would be appreciated. And I look forward to the guide you put out.

heh

Personally, I'm looking forward to this. As a GM of many games, an avid RPer, and a massive, colossal nerd, I love seeing individuals taking the time to construct personalized game universes and then publish them. Especially when said individual isn't being paid to do so.

*sigh*

Yes, Shepard Palmer, even you.