How would you describe to a new player just what the playbooks represent? In a games such as champions you might describe a character as a brick or a blaster, but that doesn’t work for masks.
How would you describe to a new player just what the playbooks represent?
How would you describe to a new player just what the playbooks represent?
So, you can’t really classify them as bricks or blaster, because except for certain cases, the power levels of the books can be all over the place, and so can what role they fill in the team. If you’re the Delinquent and your psychic weapons are giant hammers and wrecking balls, that is very different from your psychic weapons being very small explosive energy marbles. The former makes a solid tank, the other is more of a thiefy type. The same applies in a lot of cases to every playbook.
Your best bet is to go with their descriptions as given in the book. The Beacon is powerless but committed to being an adventuresome hero. The Bull is ridiculously tough and is capricious. The Nova is so powerful they’ll probably wreck everything. The Doomed is going to die. The Transformed can’t go home again. Focus on the narrative arcs of the books, because that is what they represent. There is a world of difference between an Outsider whose heliokinesis is laser beams and an Outsider whose heliokinesis is actual 100% control of the light spectrum. What the powers specifically do is up to the players, so what roles they’ll fill is any group’s guess.
Archtypes for the teen superhero genre.
Does that work?
The playbooks represent their drama, not their tactical combat role. So, “angsty loner,” “rebel,” “whiney goth,” etc. probably go a lot further in summarizing the playbooks than “brick” or “blaster,” since pretty much any playbook can grab any set of powers, if they put their mind to it.
they are teenhood aspects which are represented with powers which reflect that teenhood archetype and its matching mood
They’re not about what powers you have, they’re about how you feel about being a superhero.
Sebastian Baker can you elaborate a little on that, Sebastian?
David Benson Sure. In my view, the playbooks seem to be defined by how they relate to their superpowers and to the superhero world in general. For example, imagine all the playbooks (except the Beacon) with the same power set. Let’s say, superhuman strength. For the Bull, being super strong is great, it lets her protect her love, beat her rival, and fight bad guys. For the Delinquent, it’s a way to stick it to whoever they don’t like, but it also means people will have all these annoying expectations of them. And for the Doomed, her strength is a curse, something that’s slowly but inevitably tearing her apart. Et cetera. Even with the same powers, the way the characters interact with those powers will be very different.