Aberrant RPG - Ideas for a One-Shot...Need Advice!

[Cytorak Ruby]

I'm going to be running a one-shot this weekend of Aberrant.

I am running into a few hitches:

#1: As time is limited and to avoid twinking, I am making pre-generated characters with 45 nova points. These are the 6 characters I had in mind with general power listings:

Gargoyle: Armor, Invulnerability, Density Increase, Growth, Mega Stamina, Claws, Flight

Moleculo: Growth, Shrink, Full Density Control

Mr. Brightside: Elemental Mastery: Shadow, Shroud, Mega-Dex, Mega Wits, and Mega Perception

TK: Telekinesis, Flight, Force Field, Mega Strength, Immobilize, Quantum Bolt

Ms. Fixit: Disrupt, Quantum Forgery, Disimmunize, Quantum Leech

The Mentalist: Telepathy, Disorient, Mental Blast, Mirage, Strobe

Is this a balanced team? I'm trying to keep all the characters within a theme, but I figure Mega attributes are pretty much fair game, regardless of their "main" powers.

#2: Obviously, I want to make all the characters have an equal chance of making an impact in the story. But, I have a short amount of time to get everyone good to go and ready to complete the mission, and I want them to be challenged, not one-punching main villians to death.

Any ideas on a story hook? I am coming up blank and time is running out. Just some ideas, since I haven't been ST for Aberrant for a long time.

The game is going to last between 4-6 hours. I don't necessarily have to follow the Aberrant Universe storyline, especially since all the players are big Marvel fans.

Any help would be appreciated.

[phoenix]

I'll just throw in some constructive criticism.

Mega-Attributes may or may not be fair game - I personally wouldn't give Mr. Brightside mega-dex or mega-wits (though I don't know what theme you're going for with that set). On the other hand, Ms. Fixit seems a little under-powered; maybe she could do with some mega-atts somewhere. I'd also drop mega-strength from TK, mostly to encourage him to use his title powers more often.

It's not really a big deal in a game like Aberrant, but some of your superhero names leave something to be desired (and I object to Mr. Brightside as a music lover as well). But this shouldn't matter overly, especially if the characters' backgrounds are well-fleshed out.

Mr. Brightside might actually appreciate a nice Shadow bodymorph more than a power suite.

That's all I can really think of. In general, your characters seem solid, and you did a good job getting them to cover different areas of power.

In terms of plot, since this is supposed to be a one shot game, I would say just go nuts. Have the Primacy stage an all-out attack on Boston, various mitoid gangs unite in opposition and alll-out war breaks out, with your characters in the middle of it as the biggest novas there. If you find yourself in need of a plot, you can let some internal Teragen schism unfold. There are enough factions that that shouldn't be too difficult.

One other thing, on a purely subjective note - I'm not sure how I feel about your power levels. To me, a team of Spiderman types is a lot more fun than a team of Superman types, because the latter team has less reason to work together - they kick ass on their own, and they know it. But hey, I'm playing a pretty high-powered nova in BlueNinja's forums game right now, and having a blast, so do what feels good to you. Good luck with the game; and don't worry, you have plenty of time. ::ultracool

Edit: another reason you should make your team less powerful is that they'll have more reason to stick together if they feel that a big enough enemy might beat them into the floor. 45-point novas don't get that feeling often, trust me.

[Alex Green]

I'm trying to keep all the characters within a theme, but I figure Mega attributes are pretty much fair game, regardless of their "main" powers.

They are.

Is this a balanced team?

Unclear since we don't have the gross levels of powers or skill levels, but probably not. For example "Full Density Control" functions very differently at 2 dots as opposed to 5. EM: Shadow can create total darkness if he can count on four succ on his increase/decrease roll, otherwise not.

Other concerns:

1) Ms. Fixit looks like she's the only one who can get beat up by a baseline thug (mitiod). No suite power, no movement power, no defenses. Her only ability is to briefly shut down other novas before she gets shot.

2) Gargoyle & Moleculo look to be similar characters (strength bricks), but Gargoyle has a good movement power (flight), & much higher defenses. Lots of Mega-Strength + Flight is a very powerful combo, be careful here.

3) Mr. Brightside could really use Transmit: Shadows

In general I don't worry much about theme, building a theme is easy after you know what powers you want to give them.