Friday, March 29, 2013

The Heroic Age...Of Around 11 - Part II

Continuing my majestic monologue of manic matters in the mighty Marvel manner...

In the Marvel Heroic session I ran months ago for the RECESS Game Event, I seem to recall no more than two 6-sided die, one 8-sided and one 10-sided being added to the Doom Pool in the entire four hour session with six players at the table.

When I ran the game at the study center last Sunday (March 24th), in the first few moves (only Wolverine, Human Torch and Scarlet Witch had actually taken actions), I already had two 8's and a 10 (not including the two 6's the standard Doom Pool always starts with). By the time Thor went...and than Thor rolled...

I was honestly caught in a paradoxical state of extreme sadness and chocolate-milk-out-of-my-nose laughter.

Scarlet Witches attempt to transform the molten, hotter than hot earth beneath Hulk's feet into stone and trap him failed. The Scarlet Witch's Player also rolled a 1 (an opportunity for me). I tweaked the rules just slightly and gave her not one but two Plot Points. It was a great idea and a good effort but if the Hulk avoided it than she negated the Complication (the ground was now solid stone, not lava-like).

Invisible Woman was up next and did the smartest and simplest thing she could think of. The Player had Sue create a force field wall with her and Wanda (the Scarlet Witch that is) on one side and Hulk on the other. Invisible Woman than gave the next move to Thor.

Editor's Note:

In Marvel Heroic, the Watcher/GM chooses who goes first and than that person chooses who goes next. The last person to go chooses the next person to go and so on and so forth until all the participants, NPC heroes, allies and enemies, have taken an action.

This means if you don't let the bad guys go in between the moves of yourself and your friends, then at the end they all get to go. This is not cool. I mean, it's cool for the Watcher but not for your fellow supers.

At first, this was a bit tricky for the kids to grasp but they eventually got the idea. Also, since they are middle school kids, they were being careful to pick people to go next who would actually help them (friends) and not those who would ignore them and simply attack the Hulk ('cause they have cooties or whatever kids think these days).

Now Thor...poor Thor. Sue's Player chose Thor because they had seen the Thor and Avengers movies and knew a little mythology and figured, if anyone of them could halt the advance of the Hulk, it's had to be Thor.




"’Cross the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard,
Where the booming heavens roar,
You’ll behold in breathless wonder,
The God of Thunder, Mighty Thor!"


Versus

"Doc Bruce Banner,
Belted by gamma rays,
Turned into the Hulk.
Ain’t he unglamo-rays!
Wreckin’ the town
With the power of a bull,
Ain’t no monster clown
Who is as lovable.
As ever-lovin’ Hulk! HULK! HULK!"
 
Thor certainly wins on theme song lyrics and better hair but the Norns did not look fondly on the Son of Odin that fateful day. The Player decided that the God of Thunder would hurl great Mjolnir at the Hulk and rolled...dismally. Three 1s. One of which was on a 12-sided die. I gave the fellow three Plot Points and than discarded one die from the Doom Pool to have Hulk retaliate on his Defensive Action.
 
As the Hammer misses Hulk and turns in the air to fly back to Thor, Hulk grabs it and uses it to carry himself to the Asgardian. One Player balked that, "Hulk can't lift the Hammer, he isn't worthy!". I applauded him for paying attention to the mythos but Hulk wasn't lifting it or wielding it in any way. Mjolnir was heading home to Thor's hand and Hulk just hitched a ride. Hulk proceeds to punch Thor (Well, not so much punch as be drawn to him via the Hammer with his big, green fist forward) and my roll was...devastating. Seriously. Hulk knocked Thor from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.
 
Falling back to Terra Firma (Thor was in the air when he threw Mjolnir and when Hulk struck him), we found the class was running out of time. We decided as a group to give Hulk his move and he (I as Watcher as Hulk) made an Area Attack. Clamping both hands together, Hulk hit the ground with earthquake inducing force. I added the D12 from the Doom Pool to really leave an impression. Unfortunately I was outsmarted...by Reed Richards.
 
 
 
 
Spending a Plot Point on his Defensive Action, Mr. Fantastic calls for all the earthbound supers (that is, anyone who can't fly) to jump back through the Transportation Portal that brought them all to New Mexico. With a little help from Captain America (who also spent a Plot Point to grab The Thing), the flyers took to the air while Wolverine and Spidey made a mad dash and leapt back through the Kirby Krackle clouded gate to the Baxter Building.
 
Right before we ended, Richards came up with an interesting plan. "If we postulate that the Hulk is being driven to this higher rate of madness by some imbalance, illness or outside force, we need not defeat the Hulk to stop him. We simply need to calm him down and perhaps he can fight it himself."
 
Mr. Fantastic plans on devising a sedative-like elixir, to be delivered by Captain America, to get the Hulk back to the normal level of rampaging green giant we all know and love.
 
Be here in thirty, for a story we could only call...
 
 
Stay strong True Believers!
 
AD
Barking Alien



 
 

4 comments:

  1. Oops! Forgot to talk about my April A-to-Z Challenge Project.

    Oh well, expect a weekend post.

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  2. I can't figure out if the randomness of the die mechanics in MHR is fun or annoying sometimes.

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  3. I am still trying to wrap my head around the mechanics as it's so poorly explained in the book. I don't think I have nearly enough dice either.

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