So I’ve been (slowly) reading and trying to parse Capes, from Muse of Fire Games. It’s slow going.
… and then I actually went to the site and started going through the Flash Demo of the game. That’s f’in slick, y’all — even if you have no interest in a GM-less supers game, I recommend looking checking it out as (a) a wicked-cool game demo (b) some pretty neat mechanics (c) a wicked-cool g– nevermind. Said that already.
Anyway. Pretty darn neat game.
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Huh. May have to do that. Been thinking about the supers thing (table-top) of late.
Though, unless there’s a pun I’m missing, there’s a typo in that post title.
Yep, there is (was).
I’m not sold on the whole thing, yet. It’s a simple system that LOOKS complicated as hell, not a little bit because of the delivery.
But still… yeah. We could get a hell of a good story going with a game like that, and (from a selfish-GM standpoint) I think it would be education as all get out to see what kinds of things people introduced as scenes and conflicts when they have complete and total freedom to do so — it would really help me see what kidns of things I could deliever for their enjoyment in more traditional GM-y games.
Also, I’ll point out that I’m reading With Great Power as well — and THAT’S a pretty slick supers game as well… just a bit more ‘normal.’
Okay, I will say that is the most effective use of Flash I’ve seen in a looooooong time.
That said —
— well, on the one hand, the scenario provided creates a very nice story —
— but, damn, talk about mechanics dictating action. Part of it is because it’s an explanitory piece. But it’s more that it all feels highly choreographed.
Put another way, I’d feel a lot better about a game where Valiant and Manelli screech at each other out of characterization than because of trying to game the system for points and tokens and advantages.
And it looks complicated, though, again, that’s a familiarity thing. 🙂
Still …
I really don’t know that it’s fair to say they *aren’t* doing it out of characterization — they just get points for it, too.
Dunno. That’s the same conversation we had yesterday, really — we’re so used to roleplaying games that never actually acknowledge that we’re roleplaying (in a mechnical-rewards sense) that it’s almost as though we’re self-conscious when we encounter one that does.
I’ll also note that I find the character building design interesting. Limiting perhaps (and I’m not convinced you could play interesting characters, vs. create interesting situations), but it’s kind of cool how you mix/match, then take away, then rank.
I’d have to see it in action. The “Click and Lock” system is, historically, apparently one of the big draws of the game.
I’d have to say that with the cross-out, then rank thing, you could build a LOT of different kinds of characters using the exactly same two ‘pieces’, and ranking them differently.
And again, I dunno how limiting it is… In broad terms, which the characters certainly are, Hangtime is about… five powers.
Energy Blasts
Flight
Speed
Invisibility
Okay, make that four. Five, if you count the force-fieldy stuff from his Epic Pool. I haven’t looked at the other archetypes to see if there’s something better for him on the personality side of things, but I could even make the thing from that example work for him, easily.
It is, as you say, a really interesting system, and lets you build a new guy for a new scene in pretty much no time.
There’s also a flash tool for that as well — do it all through the Flash, then print it out all pretty.
You make a good observation about the good story versus good characters — this particular game is not really about “my guy” — you’re playing different people in a lot of scenes — YOU are getting the Story Points, not your character, and you’re getting them for USING that character to push the story along and push conflicts — in some ways, they are tools in the same way that your pieces on a board are, really, but more personal.
But yeah, it’s a story-telling game more than a role-playing game — in that the roleplaying is designed to facilitate the storytelling.
Certainly, that’s a fair departure for some folks, and if they show up wanting a ‘normal’ RPG, it may really turn them off.
I think if folks went in know what they were going to get, it could be very fun, but yeah… different fun.