Not yet. I should be able to upload an update sometime today though.
I’ll post when that happens.
10 Likes
I think the villain/hero romance thing also depends a lot on the tone of the story/work. If it’s a more comedic story than you can get away with a hero loving a mass-murdering supervillain and play it off for laughs. In a serious story I think it’s not a sustainable model but can be done if along with the romance comes the redemption of the villain or corruption of the hero, and obviously the structure of this game makes that impossible since the end point is set with them still enemies on opposite sides.
11 Likes
Maybe the hero is not so good either ? If he/she is the same as from the TV series “the boys”, working as a hero only because of money and fame. Then the final monologue could well force the hero go to the dark side
4 Likes
I also think that the end where we are still opponents does not mean anything. Maybe the hero is already full of doubts by the end and his/her defeat will be the last thing that will break him/her and he/she will take the dark side ?
2 Likes
Okay, update is live. Link on Post 1.
The story is up to 30k words. The new content is Mission #2 (City Council).
If you find errors, please let me know and I will fix them this week. Between powers, skills, plot armor, motivations, goals, resources and impacts, there are a ton of moving parts. Some errors probably slipped past me.
Next up: Bar scene at the Rusty Schnauzer and the first appearance of Putty Queen!
Art by Matthew Orders
29 Likes
It’s a pretty good update, i’ll say, though i’m not sure exactly whether it’s domination or political change that helps towards the goal of ‘taking over the world’ like a proper classic villain in a creepy mask and robes. I will say though, literally every single check seems to fail. I don’t know if the system is working, because even when you get 40%, it doesn’t matter how many times you try, the check fails every single time. You can restart, try again, and it’ll still fail.
And speaking of powers, how will improvement work? For example, my ‘villain’ has an experimentation origin, right? Which means he gave himself powers through experimenting. Is he going to be able to, at least eventually, give himself more power, ot at least make himself more powerful? Because right now, you’re using 20% of your power to kill a few miserable unguarded politicians - that’s extremely weak for someone who’s going to take over the world.
2 Likes
Mr Moser am i right to assume that no matter what i do the mc will get relationship decreases at the beginning or am i just doing something colossally wrong?
Thanks I’ll been looking forward to this
It’s just a build up for the mc to start from a fly to a global threat. Chill the mc will reach full power eventually and do something more meaningful. I don’t mean killing if u don’t want bloodthirsty mc. Rather something that will leave an impact that will make the public doubt the heroes and fear the Mc
I think anarchy for alien should be something like the mc’s home world sent him to earth because they seen the potential chaos and destruction if the mc would’ve stayed and decided to send them to earth as some sort of last minute experiment
2 Likes
Either that or a last ditch effort to avoid their race being wiped out by a calamity of some type
1 Like
@GEPGUN the die rolls work fine, it’s just that the math is pretty stacked against you at the start. I just played 5 times and tracked my die rolls.
I got 10, 5, 6, 6, 7, 2, 4, 4, 1, 3. A human MC would have passed 5 out of 10, so 50%. A non-human MC probably would have passed about 3 out of 10, depending on your exact stat distribution, so 30%. It’s working just as I want it to. And there will be ways to improve your character, but it’s going to be a lengthy process (I plan to publish this in multiple parts). I could envision improvement mechanics that could include:
- Boosting your stats.
- Increasing Battery Points or lowering the amount of Battery Points used when you employ your powers.
- Increasing Health Points or lowering the amount of Health lost when you’re injured.
- Obtaining special weapons/upgrades/spells/etc that could give you more auto passes, increase the potency of your abilities, etc.
- Learning new Skills.
- Gaining new Plot Armors. But I’m going to be VERY stingy with these popping up.
- Getting a Sidekick or some Peons.
I’m not sure how much of the above I’ll incorporate, but definitely some of it.
@Servant_of_choices can you explain what scene you’re referencing?
@Christopher_Bull Yep exactly.
@kizzygm and @Christopher_Bull have to think about stuff like that. Origin-specific stories and backgrounds are cool, but I have to decide when the story gets to be so wide that it becomes unmanageable on my end. Some stuff will probably need to be head canoned by the player.
Edited to add: And yeah I am definitely going to make the early game more and more challenging. If an MC can just coast through the whole journey without setbacks, without having to make tough decisions and tough-to-stomach tradeoffs, without having to run away or avoid some confrontations even when your pride demands otherwise, well…why would it even need to be a game in the first place? It could just be a power fantasy book where the MC plows through everyone and everything.
Plus, a little bitterness creates better villains imo. 
So embrace the bitterness! Blame the heroes! Blame society! You’ll win in the end…right?
Stuff to be included in the next few updates this Fall:
- Bar Scene/First Appearance of Putty Queen
- First Appearance of Archenemy!
- First Upgrade Opportunity
- Mission 3
- Introduction of Romance/Smut
11 Likes
Hmm those will the 1st scenes with soledad garza and armastus sinclair , near the ending of their respective scenes where you get a huge decrease in their relationship stat.
1 Like
Oh yeah, those go down regardless of whether you succeed or fail. Soledad and the Council president are both going to hate your guts no matter what.
1 Like
Well, while it seems it’s unlikely that you would fail an 40% check over ten times in a row like i have, it doesn’t really matter for now, given you can’t really run out of battery.
In other note, however, i should note that the ‘motivations’ feel a bit weird. Political Change feels less like villany and more like boring activism. You’re not trying to conquer the city, you’re just trying to do stuff like hurting the banks or corrupt polticians. At the same time, Domination is on the other end of the spectrum where you just destroy stuff and beat or kill people for no discernible reason other than that you can.
Sure, that’s a good enough villain reason, but how can you be an classic mad scientist villain who wants to have their future lair in an country they rule and not have an motivation to Take-Over-The-World? That seems pretty standard for an supervillain, innit?
2 Likes
Just had a look at the new content and it is really good, hope you keep up the good work!
2 Likes
There is an extra bracket for the Experiment Origin choice
1 Like
still a fun read! quality as always
1 Like
I do love the idea and think it has a ton of potential. I do have to say that I hate the die roll system. Can’t stand it. It makes for a good gaming mechanic but badly mangles narrative in my opinion. I’d suggest an ability to turn it off in favor of a standard stat check so that it doesn’t impede the narrative for those less inclined to be forgiving of having their story compromised.
I also think the amount of battery should be variable depending on the skill. I like the battery idea though but after trying it a few times it seems strange to me that something like shape shifting would use the same amount of power as freezing an entire room of people. It is a minor gripe but still.
Either way, I do think it would be very fun over all and look forward to more chapters.
12 Likes
Morning all, I appreciate all the comments and suggestions,
@GEPGUN I necessarily have to leave the progression bars pretty vague for quite a long time. One of the biggest mistakes (imo) that a game writer can make is to get too specific with variables, trying to have the game remember too many specific details, events, etc. It ends up breaking the game. But as I see them, broadly speaking, working towards Justice means that you’re tweaking existing systems/structures more to your liking, but you won’t be ruling anyone. I think plenty of players will be interested in that sort of activism. Influence is the meter where you’re more about throwing your weight around, gaining respect, ‘becoming a player’ eventually. And Chaos is more about burning everything down without worrying about the consequences. I think hopefully there is something for everyone.
You can likely amass a huge fortune by focusing on Funds/Hedonism, but without having gained some Influence, you’d be more of a rich recluse than someone who controls the world. Same for Information/Knowledge, in that you could become a pure information broker, potentially affecting global dynamics from the safety of your lair.
A character like Dr. Doom is game-breaking as he would be focused on Legend Points AND Funds AND Knowledge so basically maxed out in every way.
@Random_Brit Thank you!
@Big_fan1231 
I shall fix that.
@ZipZoop Thanks!
@IRONHILLdwarf I might be in the minority, but as I keep developing games, I’m liking die rolls more as opposed to stat checks. I think die rolls need to be balanced against other mechanics, like I’m doing here, but honestly stat checks seem so arbitrary to me. At least with a die roll, I’m telling you your odds - success IS always possible. With stat checks, the player doesn’t know where the cut-off point is; they could pick a choice where failure is certain. Now, I wouldn’t write a game where every major choice was up to die rolls, but I like incorporating them as part of a balanced system.
Regarding battery, right now I need to keep them all consistent as to how much battery is drained by the various powers, because the rewards are tied to the objectives, not the power usage. Basically, I can’t have Cold use 20 Battery and Shape-Shifting only use 10 Battery if they both result in the same reward. That’s very unbalanced, and game-breaking in that it effectively rewards one power set over the other. It’s tough enough for me to brainstorm 8 different ways to approach each conflict, so I admit some solutions will seem more “epic” or “power draining” than others, but I have to treat them all equally resource-wise.
That being said…I do anticipate writing more and more situations where you have to decide how much of your Battery you’re willing to drain to pursue the goals that interest you.
3 Likes