Reading through JSA 19 this week, I found something that caught my attention, and it wasn't the fight scenes at all. It was the Spectre and how he was handled in the comic.
The issue shows the Spectre as a force that is moving through the edges of the DC Universe and people react to him even before he appears. Rooms feel wrong characters lower their voices. Even the JSA feels uneasy around the subject of the Spectre. I think this is important because a lot of superhero games miss this point. They turn mystical characters into just a set of stats and attacks.
The game DC Heroes actually has the tools to make this work right.
What I got from the comic was an idea for a campaign thread called "The Search for the Spectre."
The setup is simple.
Strange supernatural things start happening across the city. People vanish from rooms... criminals are found terrified and aged years overnight, and religious symbols crack or bleed green light. Witnesses describe seeing a figure with glowing white eyes standing nearby before each event.
The heroes are not hunting a villain at first they are following what happens after these events. This changes the tone away.
In terms of DC Heroes this becomes a storyline that's more about investigation than straight combat. Skills like detective work, knowledge of the occult, mysticism and even charisma become more important than having strong powers. Heroes like Batman become very valuable as do heroes with awareness or psychic powers.
What I liked most from the comic was that the Spectre should never fully explain himself.
I think this is a mistake that a lot of game masters make with beings. They talk too much and become like quest givers. In the comic the mystery around the Spectre creates tension. The JSA is constantly trying to understand what he wants not where he is.
So I would run the Spectre like an environmental event.
He appears, reality bends, someone who is panics and someone who is innocent gets caught in the fallout. Then he is gone again. When it comes to the game mechanics I would probably treat his appearances as actions that normal humans cannot resist. No need to roll dice to see if the room freezes over or if shadows crawl up the walls. It just happens. The heroes roll to react to what happens.
The comic also reminded me of how good the game is at handling different scales. The Spectre is beyond the normal player characters and the game supports that. You are not expected to fight him you just try to survive encounters with him. You try to redirect events around him maybe you can even figure out who the real target is before the Spectre judges the person.
This feels like it is straight from the comics.
No comments:
Post a Comment