A GM Centered thread. Concider using the spoiler button to avoid giving away info to your players.

Anyone have any V&V GM Tips for me?  I'm running a game in rpol and there are a wide range of characters & powers.

Even tho it's virtual gaming, I think I need a printout of PC's and some concepts or them + maybe a more solid/well-crafted NPC 'gameplan' and locations.

Then again, I've played so many rpol games where we never go longer than 1 virtual day...  Maybe I could have encounters and then some OOC 'time lapses'?

I keep a notebook with stats on all of the baddies and pretty detailed notes on how characters are handling challenges.  I find it helps, especially if there is a RL hiccup or pause in play.

I also try to take notes of what is more powerful & less powerful than I thought it would be in-game.  I find it's easy to over or underestimate a characters (especially a Villain's) effectiveness in V&V.  When 1 guy is taking on a team of 5, something that seemed like a "level the playing field" power can actually be a game breaker (otherwise known as a good-guy killer- which I DON'T like in a game- as a player or a GM) OR a pillow-fight power, not actually doing any damage.

Keep in mind, that my style of game is to make players sweat, but not actually die, and think to avoid further complicating situations, as well as consider matters of "Super Power Ethics."

Your style of game may be different :)

I keep many, many spreadsheets of NPC's and tend to make characters for them on the site to maintain character sheets and other stats.
Unfortunately, this detail means I have goals and plans for all the NPC's which leads to lulls when the heroes don't have plans and the npc's aren't ready to move on. Therefore I have a single character sheet set up for Carol Ann Enfodder (she usually goes by her first initial) to throw into things when it gets dull.

Do you folks drag your players to the next thing,
or let them initiate?  I'm just figuring out my group
-- so far seems like a 'drag them along' type.

It's like fishing, sometimes you just throw some bait in and sometimes you have to chum.

So, those of you in here who have GMed V&V. When you make up villains do you do everything randomly (including level) or put stuff together to fit a vision? I ask because the random level generation in the rules actually has reasonable odds of generating villains quite a few levels higher than the heroes.

In the past, I've typically done it randomly.  Having a villain higher level than the heroes works because he's usually badly outnumbered.

Of course it all depends on powers.  But solo villains tend to do better when they've got levels on the hero team.

What about the 'automatons' and 'solid illusions' acting at Level 4?

Seems like a bit of a game imbalance at lower levels, eh?

It depends for me as far as villain level.

I roll up random baddies, but I will also "design" a boss so that it provides a deadly foil for a team.  I will also make a pecking order among the baddies, and a loose affiliation / inter-personal relationship network, to give the game's villains a "communal" feel.

So "Rocket Rat" of the "Evil Axis" may get along well with "Xenophobia" of the "DeathStalkers", but actually hate- to the point of attacking if in proximity- "Flamebroiler" of the "Wastrels."  I like the villain communities to not necessarily get along- like rival gangs- and the heroes playing the role of the cops (everyone hates the cops)

For plot points, I don't bother with a character at all. Plot point affects connected with a specific NPC just happen, and to explain them away in terms of game mechanics I've gone as far as claim an extra-dimensional entity of great power took momentary notice and made it happen.
It's actually possible to take characters created by previous players and re-write them as villains, then set their levels as appropriate to the role they are to take. That way, they've been randomly generated but can be themed specifically.

Some other questions for the GMs in here. How do you go about putting together a world/setting so everything doesn't feel cheesey or contrived? How do you decide what sort of setting you want? Putting together "adventures" seems much easier in fantasy games, how do you go about doing it in a game where the setting/time is at least somewhat realistic? How do you determine where in your world the group will be based?

I guess I am wondering because I am still wrestling with wanting to do something with V&V. I have done one-shots before with supers games and that is easy enough, I just am not sure how to put a whole world together for a longer campaign. Give me post-apoc or fantasy and I have no problem, I just am not sure how to go about doing a more contemporary setting.

Sidenote -- I've been making 'GM only' threads for tracking combat and NPC's & initiative -- working ok so far.  (sometimes I have 3 windows open at a time tho & the rule book...!)

No thoughts, advice, suggestions?

In reply to Bonespike (msg #14):

I'll kick in!

So, the random method in the book can work to spark inspiration, and if you don't like something just roll again.

I usually try to get a story together- an arc with specific challenges and baddies, and plot them out. I also will usually try to develop some ethical component to the story, as well as complications- regardless of outcome- that can lead to further adventures.  I also try to have two or three things going on at a time so that he PCs can pick up any thread they like, or follow more than one if they want.

I'm also a big fan of "the big story arc," or the main "theme" of the story. In comics, this would be "The Secret Wars" or "the civil war" or "the alien invasion" or whatever the bigger framework for the specific missions.

Hope this helps.

In reply to The Watcher (msg #15):

Definitely food for thought.....I have many thoughts running through my head but one I keep coming back to is a campaign taking place back during the Cold War (I know someone else had thought about it before but the idea stuck in my head). Maybe early 60's but Vietnam had not started in this timeline. Kennedy would already have been assassinated and tensions are running high as speculation runs rampant. Back in the days when the face of your enemy was much more obvious than it is now and when it seemed the world was a sneeze away from nuclear annihilation...