The 4400

"Steven Jones" <stevenj76 RemoveThis @aapt.net.au> writes:

> Should all the PCs be 4400s, or have some normals in there as well?

One piece of advice here: Many fictional character groups consist of
characters at significantly different power levels (point totals, in
GURPS terms). These work well in the show because of dramatic devices
used to keep the high-power characters limited, and the low-power
characters fortuitously getting the limelight.

In a roleplaying game, this doesn't often work: you can't expect the
players of high-power characters to be satisfied with the kind of
dramatic devices constantly employed by fiction writers to keep those
characters in check; but without that, the low-powered characters will
be outclassed all the time.

So, making your PC group of similar point totals (at least in the
beginning) is advisable to allow each character to shine during each
adventure.

How this translates to the particular story you have in mind, you'll
have to decide.

> Some of my players are fans, so the whole 'what happened to us?'
> concept is out.

That one's simple (to answer, perhaps less simple to implement): Make
the information they got from the published story a sham or cover
story, and the *real* truth is something only known by you. This lets
them play with their existing knowledge somewhat relevant, but allows
them the same voyage of discovering the truth that made the published
story interesting.

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`\ Alaska. Now Santa Claus is missing." -- Steven Wright |
_o__) |
Ben Finney
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Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au> writes:

>"Steven Jones" <stevenj76 RemoveThis @aapt.net.au> writes:

>> Should all the PCs be 4400s, or have some normals in there as well?

>One piece of advice here: Many fictional character groups consist of
>characters at significantly different power levels (point totals, in
>GURPS terms). These work well in the show because of dramatic devices
>used to keep the high-power characters limited, and the low-power
>characters fortuitously getting the limelight.

>In a roleplaying game, this doesn't often work: you can't expect the
>players of high-power characters to be satisfied with the kind of
>dramatic devices constantly employed by fiction writers to keep those
>characters in check; but without that, the low-powered characters will
>be outclassed all the time.

An interesting exercise might be trying to work out point values
for plot devicey sorts of things. There's some of that already
with Destiny/Wyrd and Serendipity and others.

Or maybe (in a different system) having point values reflect
"spotlight time" instead of power/rarity/utility (or whatever
GURPS points are thought to represent). Actually I think there
are systems that work that way.



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jmbay.TakeThisOut@Stanford.EDU (Joseph Michael Bay) writes:

> Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au> writes:
> >In a roleplaying game, this doesn't often work: you can't expect
> >the players of high-power characters to be satisfied with the kind
> >of dramatic devices constantly employed by fiction writers to keep
> >those characters in check; but without that, the low-powered
> >characters will be outclassed all the time.
>
> An interesting exercise might be trying to work out point values
> for plot devicey sorts of things.

No need: we already have plenty of them. Dependents and Enemies,
Unluckiness and Cursed, Destiny and Secret, Duty and Sense of Duty --
all of these can be applied during the plot by GM fiat, all of them
have detailed point cost discussions. And that's before we even touch
on the dozens of problems that allow resistance with a self-control
roll.

If the GM wants to, she can require a pile of these traits on any
powerful character. My point is, beyond a certain level the player is
no longer in control of the powerful character they wanted to play,
but is instead an observer as the plot devices puppet their character
around.

It's for the GM and players to negotiate where that threshold is, but
my advice is: don't underestimate the arbitrary fiat applied in
fiction which features powerful characters mingling with
mundanes. It's often entertaining for an observer of that story, but
much less so if you want any illusion of free will for your character
in that story.

Unless all the characters are roughly equal in power, the game will
quickly get unbalanced -- either because the powerful characters
overwhelm the story, or because the GM overwhelms those characters
with arbitrary problems to keep their power in check.

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`\ is that there is no 'them' out there. It's just an awful lot of |
_o__) 'us'." -- Douglas Adams |
Ben Finney
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On 6 Aug 2006 03:19:30 -0700, "zard" <jmerlin.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:

>Steven Jones wrote:
>> I'm starting a new campaign based on the TV series 'The 4400', but don't
>> know where to begin.
>> For those not in the know, the 4400 are a group of people that were snatched
>> into the future, given strange new abilities, then sent back to their time.
>> An institute was set up to investigate these cases.
>> Since each episode only focuses on one '4400', I can't think of adventures
>> that would be suitable for a group.
>> Should all the PCs be 4400s, or have some normals in there as well? Some of
>> my players are fans, so the whole 'what happened to us?' concept is out.
>
>You could play it from the side of the investigators; highly trained
>government agents tracking down "supers". That way there'd be no
>arguments over who gets to play a 4400. As for the "what happened to
>us?" concept, surely you could do that as your plays wouldn't dare to
>bring OOC info into the game, would they?

Don't know the "specifics" of the show, it was never on local cable
station. The investigators could be members of the 4400 without
knowledge of thier status. Either the government caught them and
adjusted thier memories, they were snached and returned to exactly the
same time and place, or a third unknown party has altered them.

--
Grant
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