Building the Super Team from the ground up

[Prince Cherico]

hey blood angel what did you think of my back up charaters?

[Prince Cherico]

woo sorry just I was told that we should submitt ideas I did full write ups I
fully acept them being disregarded

Id still like to have one of my back ups be a astral lord though is that all right?

[Tinker Dragoon]

woo sorry just I was told that we should submitt ideas I did full write ups I
fully acept them being disregarded

Id still like to have one of my back ups be a astral lord though is that all right?

You should handle this matter through private messages, not the forum.

[Iczer]

I'm Sublime?

I'm trying to figure out if it's a compliment or a let down.



Batts

[Sentinel]

In my most successful campaign, I let the players bring themselves together, as they were at the time minor heroes beginning to get noteriety. They did most of the real work, and I provided subtle insight with a competent NPC.
The way it worked was that all the players were leftovers from previous campaigns, and they decided to band the best of them together. It worked pretty good I have to admit.

[ApocalypseZero]

With my game of 5 players, I am doing a very different approach to bringing together the team. First off, I did reject some character ideas based on 'fitting' with the game. (Mainly the robotics). I got mainly Mutants, which works out wonderfully.

As for the story and bringing the team together, I am working with them individually and in smaller groups introducing them and soliciting their help. (These are going to make up my Prologues.) After I have them together, then I will bring out the basic works, teamwork, trust, power explorations. After that, I will start dropping the big baddies and seeing what happens. I do have one perticuliar event I am looking to use to test the unity of the group.

[Prince Cherico]

why would a astral lord be on earth?

heres a story to anser that question

"I was younger then inexperenced, in the distance I could hear the kaisers troops
artilary slam into my home towns fort. It was 1914 and I was 10 years old. My father
served in the belgum army as a rifle man. I despretly wanted to see him so I snuck close
to the battel field and saw my father charging into the german lines his body was torn up
by machine guns. I saw war that day and I wanted to be some were else any were else.
I then saw a stray artilary shell coming at me I screamed and a pain awoke deep inside my
mind. That day I went into the astral plane. I dont know how long I wandered in the endless
sky of floating clouds originally I thought I had died and been sent to heaven. Eventally
though a millek found me his name was Yohawn Yosloth and he took me in. He taught me
much of the astral plane and many other things. I was his pround student after a time I discovered
that I did not age in the astral plane but I had no desire to leave just yet. I spent decades just
exploring a eternal child of ten years old. No matter what I did or learned I was always a child
my mind my soul had matured by my body though remained a childs I did every thing I could
to compensate I learned foren languages I learned the history of the planes but I was still a
adult traped in a childs body and would be doomed to recieve a childs amount of respect. So
I decided to come back to earth in order to become a adult the world is much differnt from
when I left planes are no longer toys, cars owned by even the poorest men. Magic boxes
with pictures in them that talk. This new world scares me beyond belife but I will make my
way in this town called century station I will become a adult or die trying"

[Uncle Servo]

I'm Sublime?

I'm trying to figure out if it's a compliment or a let down.



Batts

You sure he didn't mean he wanted to fertilize around you with lime?

Actually though, I'd have to agree with him. I do like the concept of Bramble as well as how he's been used; I know I keep repeating myself but I love the idea of using the acorns as weapons of mass destruction!

Bramble's teaming up with Wildlife is -- pardon the pun -- a natural combination. I think those two got along better than any pair of characters in the entire campaign. An environmentally friendly 'dynamic duo,' if you will.

As for the 'how do you get 'em together' question -- to quote Shakespeare, "Ah there's the rub!" If you gather 'em together in an obvious railroading attempt it could come off as being cliched and corny if you're not careful. On the other hand, if you start eveyone off separately then it could drag on and on and on until they finally all get together. Even then you run the risk of the togetherness being only short-lived as they're more than likely pursuing different agendas and are used to flying solo.

Ask yourself questions like "what would bring them together?" and more importantly "what would KEEP them together?" (NOTE: Please, no singing of old 70s 'Captain & Tenille' songs) The group needs a common purpose for existing -- otherwise it'd be just like another Marvel Team-Up for only one or two issues. Groups like the Avengers and the JLA stay together because they are essentially a line of defense against super-baddies where a city/state/country/planet is threatened. Groups like the X-Men stick together because they share a common dream (better human-mutant relations).

Also, you have to appeal to the characters' self-interest when trying to get the group together. Maybe it's the availability of resources that a character might not have access to otherwise, or maybe the character's a reformed criminal who gets a shorter sentance if he/she plays the game of the 'good guys,' or maybe even it's for a steady paycheck doing what comes naturally to those with super abilities -- or as Guido Carosella ("Strong Guy") put it, "I'm in it for the money."

I realize this may not be quite the answer/feedback you were looking for. Unfortunately, the only consistent formula is 'big monster/menace threatens the city/planet and it's up to a group of super heroes to come together, defeat the menace, and then decide to form a group afterwards.' While it may still work nowadays, it's kinda been done to death and requires a new spin to make it interesting (such as the main baddie being a future version of one of the group's members ).