GM Diaries #2: The Characters

The first session of the game went fairly well. The players each made superhero-style characters, each coming up with an origin, an idea of what their powers would be, and then using the HERO rules system to model those powers so that the outcomes of their efforts could be determined. The HERO system does this by providing an array of generic abilities and the means to limit or expand them. I have four players, one playing an incorporeal alien from a black hole, one playing a wonder-woman inspired daughter of zeus with a sword and shield, one playing a government agent with the power to grow into a massive, super strong, flying hero, and one playing a Genie trapped in a child's form who transforms himself into the characters he likes from TV and comic books.

There's a lot of wrangling at this point over the exact makeup of these characters powers, to make sure every character is basically what they were envisioned as and has the ability to be a badass at least once or twice a session, with no one character outshining the rest, and without them having the ability to solve every problem with a simple application of those powers. Also, each character is given weaknesses for me to exploit, to keep the obstacles I throw at them from seeming trivial.

I explain to them the background of the setting, and ensure that their characters will fit the setting and atmosphere of the game. (generally this involves making sure they at least generally care about saving people's lives and aren't completely ruthless about it.)

With all this done, I introduce the characters to their first encounter: They're all at the mall, for one reason or anther, when a gang of criminals with guns holds the place up...