Post by mike954 on Mar 20, 2011 13:18:02 GMT
Hero Progression and war games:
Podcast #39 by The Overlords discusses this topic here:
www.theoverlords.co.uk/podcast/
I present my personal take on the discussion in this post. Reflecting my own familiarity with Games Workshop products, and perhaps those of others, I've taken their offerings as a starting point for this post. The ideas could apply to any wargame.
A lack of heroic character drama?
Nowadays it's hard to develop much of an attachment to the so-called "characters" fielded in wargames. They are simply another unit on the table, there for what they can do rather than "who they are". For instance as a force multiplier or glorified unit upgrade like Marneus Calgar or the Swarmlord. They are picked in the same way you would pick a Landraider or any other unit, merely another piece, albeit a powerful one, on the tabletop. Not as much personal emotional connection to their heroic glory as there could be (and dare I say should be?).
The road here:
Rogue Trader, which kicked off the WH40k phenomenon was RPG flavoured and gave plenty of scope for reflecting the character development of your general/rogue trader. Unfortunately, the temptation to treat it simply as an extra source of wargear was ever-present. This was also the case in Necromunda when generating gangs' skills & equipment at higher EXP levels, especially Spyrers.
I remember the PC version of Dawn of War reflected your heroes' campaign exploits by making them a little stronger as the story progressed, using wargear. By doling out the maximum wargear only if specific mission objectives were met, the game made sure you were doing something suitably heroic before you got the goodies.
Awesome Tokens
The Overlords podcast #39 discusses a fun system to put a bit of character into our current games called "Awesome Tokens". Players decide amongst themselves whether to use the the Awesome Token system or not. When playing people not using the system, just ignore the Awesome Tokens.
Each player nominates one of their own minis as a MVP (most valued player/person) at the end of a wargame. The mini ought to have done something suitably heroic or unlikely to succeed but pulled it off against all odds. A photo and paragraph of text for the MVP ought to be linked/added to a persistent thread on the club forum.
The MVP then receives an "Awesome Token". In all subsequent games the token allows the heroic fellow/vehicle to modify one dice roll once per game by +/-1. Each token will allow the modification of a separate, different dice roll in this way. All Awesome Tokens on a mini are lost if the heroic mini is killed/incapacitated, and you must start over.
The roll modified ought to be relevant to the way the Awesome Token was earned. eg. if earned for passing morale checks in unlikely circumstances like insane courage, then the mini can modify Morale check rolls by one. If a SM scout sniper manages to penetrate/rend on unlikely dice rolls, like 6 followed by a 6 then modify his penetration rolls made with a sniper rifle. If by a vehicle surviving rolls to penetrate or rolls on the damage chart then modify the opponent's roll on the damage chart or to penetrate, whichever is more relevant.
Summary
The system is pretty subtle and as such doesn't unbalance the game much. This means you don't have to rewrite your list to play someone who doesn't want to use the system. Awesome Tokens can add the sense of being on campaign without the problems.
The system does enough to make it worth commemorating cool events that occur in your games. Awesome Tokens add more of a story to each of your heroes which is personal to you. This means an emotional response to the cool stuff your painstakingly modelled hero gets up to. Maybe your Marneus Calgar will be more heroic than other players': Awesome Tokens will tell the tale!
All this, but without the seedy sense of things being tainted by having half an eye on the game-breaking wargear potential of any heroic attributes.*
Edit:*Well, at least the possibility of abuse is minimised somewhat. I am not about to claim it's beyond the bounds of human ingenuity to exploit any system.
Podcast #39 by The Overlords discusses this topic here:
www.theoverlords.co.uk/podcast/
I present my personal take on the discussion in this post. Reflecting my own familiarity with Games Workshop products, and perhaps those of others, I've taken their offerings as a starting point for this post. The ideas could apply to any wargame.
A lack of heroic character drama?
Nowadays it's hard to develop much of an attachment to the so-called "characters" fielded in wargames. They are simply another unit on the table, there for what they can do rather than "who they are". For instance as a force multiplier or glorified unit upgrade like Marneus Calgar or the Swarmlord. They are picked in the same way you would pick a Landraider or any other unit, merely another piece, albeit a powerful one, on the tabletop. Not as much personal emotional connection to their heroic glory as there could be (and dare I say should be?).
The road here:
Rogue Trader, which kicked off the WH40k phenomenon was RPG flavoured and gave plenty of scope for reflecting the character development of your general/rogue trader. Unfortunately, the temptation to treat it simply as an extra source of wargear was ever-present. This was also the case in Necromunda when generating gangs' skills & equipment at higher EXP levels, especially Spyrers.
I remember the PC version of Dawn of War reflected your heroes' campaign exploits by making them a little stronger as the story progressed, using wargear. By doling out the maximum wargear only if specific mission objectives were met, the game made sure you were doing something suitably heroic before you got the goodies.
Awesome Tokens
The Overlords podcast #39 discusses a fun system to put a bit of character into our current games called "Awesome Tokens". Players decide amongst themselves whether to use the the Awesome Token system or not. When playing people not using the system, just ignore the Awesome Tokens.
Each player nominates one of their own minis as a MVP (most valued player/person) at the end of a wargame. The mini ought to have done something suitably heroic or unlikely to succeed but pulled it off against all odds. A photo and paragraph of text for the MVP ought to be linked/added to a persistent thread on the club forum.
The MVP then receives an "Awesome Token". In all subsequent games the token allows the heroic fellow/vehicle to modify one dice roll once per game by +/-1. Each token will allow the modification of a separate, different dice roll in this way. All Awesome Tokens on a mini are lost if the heroic mini is killed/incapacitated, and you must start over.
The roll modified ought to be relevant to the way the Awesome Token was earned. eg. if earned for passing morale checks in unlikely circumstances like insane courage, then the mini can modify Morale check rolls by one. If a SM scout sniper manages to penetrate/rend on unlikely dice rolls, like 6 followed by a 6 then modify his penetration rolls made with a sniper rifle. If by a vehicle surviving rolls to penetrate or rolls on the damage chart then modify the opponent's roll on the damage chart or to penetrate, whichever is more relevant.
Summary
The system is pretty subtle and as such doesn't unbalance the game much. This means you don't have to rewrite your list to play someone who doesn't want to use the system. Awesome Tokens can add the sense of being on campaign without the problems.
The system does enough to make it worth commemorating cool events that occur in your games. Awesome Tokens add more of a story to each of your heroes which is personal to you. This means an emotional response to the cool stuff your painstakingly modelled hero gets up to. Maybe your Marneus Calgar will be more heroic than other players': Awesome Tokens will tell the tale!
All this, but without the seedy sense of things being tainted by having half an eye on the game-breaking wargear potential of any heroic attributes.*
Edit:*Well, at least the possibility of abuse is minimised somewhat. I am not about to claim it's beyond the bounds of human ingenuity to exploit any system.
