Getting Started
Took one look at the app form, and immediately looking for help? You’ve
come to the right place. It’s really not as confusing as it all looks,
once you take the time to read how all of this works out. Which I’m
going to attempt to impart the knowledge to navigate through the MSHAG
system that we use in the room here.
I’m going to run you through the creation of a character. In this case,
I’m going to use Luke Cage as an example.
Let us begin.
Origin
Focus on: Personality, History, When powers emerged and Why
Your hero has to come from somewhere. What forged them into the person
they are today? Every story has a beginning, and your character’s story
is no different. It has to start somewhere. From the bad New Orlean
streets like Gambit, to an 1800’s upper class household like Wolverine,
or to even the far reaches of the past if you’re one of the God-Like
Eternals.. Or maybe, counter to most, your hero grew up in a loving home
and decided to go out and do good.
That said, the path a hero has come to to the present doesn’t have to
have every detail of their life. Sometimes it’s actually best to have
some vague spots to fill in later on. The origin of your character is
the entire justification for everything that will follow. Here you can
build upon what forged their personality and beliefs, traumatic events
that may haunt them, and what made them develope their powers.
Example: Luke grew up in the mean streets of Harlem in the 70’s. Got
into the bad side of things, tried to clean his life up for the sake of
himself, his family, and those he loved. Then he got framed by an
ex-gang member friend, and sent to prison. In Prison, the firm
convictions he’d found to clean up his life were reinforced by the
hatred of the guards and other inmates. He got a chance for early parole
if he participated in an experiment - he did. It went wrong though, and
due to a guards tampering over loaded. Luke and the Dr hide the results,
and he gets out. He starts using his powers to clean up his
neighborhood, and becomes a Hero for Hire while doing good.
Now, that’s extremely condensed. Your average history should be at least
3-5 paragraphs long, and have more things expounded upon.
[[Origins: Origins, in terms of powers, can essentially come down to a
few basic ideas, through a large number of variations. Mutant powers.
Metahuman powers the result of an accident. Mystical powers. Powers
granted by Technology. Powers granted by hereditary birth, either
through another race or certain bloodlines. Maybe even the classic no
powers at all, beyond skill.Either way, your heroes origin will play a large part of their life.
Mutants are feared and persecuted. Metahumans always seem to stem from
tragic accidents. Life for a Mystic is always complicated. Those
augmented by technology had to get it somewhere, and if they invented,
had a reason for doing so. Being born into certain families or races can
also play a significant impact on your character, if you’re an Atlantean
for instance.Mix these things into a characters life - life is about far more then
powers - and you’ll be well on your way to having your character concept
fleshed out nicely. ]]
Hero or Villain?
Focus on: Your characters personality.
This is very straight forward for most, but the definitions are below.
Example:
Luke is a good hearted man, and he walks the very delicate line of a
Hero and an Anti-Hero. In this case, either one would be acceptable,
with role play really setting the tone for the character.
[[Character Status:
Hero: A hero does what’s right 99.9% of the time. They may not follow
all of man’s laws, but they see to it that the world is held to an even
keel. The sacrifice everything, including their lives at times, to make
things right, and safe for all of us.Anti-Hero: Truth is? 90% of the world fits into this category according
to Mike Bendis, the creator of the entire Ultimate World. This is your
average people. Sure an Anti-Hero would help an old woman if she was to
fall over, and about to be struck by a car. All the same, they’ll think
twice before diving infront of the bullet meant for Greydon Creed. Why?
Because… they have to pause to wonder if the world’s a better place
without her. More importantly… are they willing to die to save someone
who’s caused so much pain? They have a kid to feed.Anti-Villain: Now this is the guy who’s walking down the street during a
black out, looks at the lack of police, and electricity for alarms, and
sure… he throws a brick through the window of Radio Shack. Absolutely.
It’s a dog eats dog world people. This guy’s had it bad his whole life,
never gotten a break, and the world owes him something. Shooting old
ladies for their purse… not so cool. They blink twice before they go
helpin Hitler take over the world. All the same.. a guy’s got a right to
make a living… any way he can. Someone’s gotta get hurt, it’s best if
it isn’t him.Villains: A villain does what a villain needs to do to win. Lie, Cheat,
Steal, Kill, Maim. What’s the guy got to lose? He’s got everything to
win though. If he can just… JUST slap down Captain America the world
is his! Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, and gimme some more. He doesn’t help
the old lady in the street, he kicks her in the leg so she can’t get up.
Grandma shoulda been in a home already, right? Cat stuck in a tree?
Gimme my flame thrower.]]
Calling:
Focus on: What Drives your character.
Everyone has a driving motivation. Maybe it’s personal wealth. Maybe
it’s protecting your loved ones. Having fun. Revenge. Callings range the
whole spectrum.
Example:
Luke cage is a shameless self promoter. While he’s definitely out to
help everyone, he’s also about drawing attention and fame to himself. He
desires approval and love for his actions. Luke is a Gloryhound.
[[Callings and Hinderances:
Callings are fairly self explinatory. About all that needs to be noted
is that callings can change over time, and characters can earn dual
callings as well. Depending on your characters status, certain events
may force a change in calling, or a hinderance upon you.A hero who ends up causing terrible destruction may end up with a change
to Peace of Mind or Repentant callings, or gaining the Guilt Ridden
hinderance.As noted earlier, Physically Disabled doesn’t truly count as a
hinderance if your powers negate the disability.]]
Hindrance:
Focus on: Does your character have major flaws or weaknesses?
A hindrance represents a weakness above and beyond the normal ones we
all have. They can be physical, mental, or just about anything.
Crippling alcoholism, being handicapped (doesn’t count if your powers
negate it), being weak to a certain something (radiation, mind
control?), and so forth. Most people have weaknesses of some kind, and
it’s encouraged that most applied characters have a Hindrance of some
sort, to keep things even.
Which makes this example particularly bad. Luke has no hindrance.
Ability Scores:
Focus on: Physical and Mental capabilities.
Ability scores represent what your character can do in terms of speed,
strength, intelligence, and how strong willed they are.
The comparative list is found here. Link
Strength: Pretty straight forward, right? How strong is your character.
What can they lift, or bench press? Strength also determines their
defense, or how much damage they can ignore from attacks. Normal humans
are 3-4 range, that’s what most of us would be. The perfect normal human
pinacle of perfection is 10, and that’s extremely hard to achieve. 10
being ‘perfect non-powered human’ is the way all the stats work.
Agility: Hand eye coordination, speed, your ability to move around,
dodge, that kind of thing. Typical humans are again, 3-4. The higher you
go, the more flexible and quick you get.
Intellect: Is kind of unique of the 3 stats. It’s based on IQ. Each
point of intellect is somewhere around 25 IQ points. Normal human is
again 3-4 range. At 6, or 150ish IQ, you’re officially a genius.
Intellect is the hardest to raise, and it’s also the hardest to get a
high score in. If you want a character with 6 intellect or higher, be
prepared to give very good justification on why, and back it up in the
origin. Also keep in mind, some of the most intelligent people in Marvel
are Int 8 or 9.
Willpower: The fun one. Your ability to withstand pain, to stick to your
values, to resist manipulation, or other forms of control. This is the
strength of your mind, how ’strong’ you are as a person. 3-4 is
standard. 6 is equivalent to a CIA Agent who cannot be broken by
torture. Willpower ranges vary, but it is very rare to see someone over
an 7 or 8, even in the world of Mystics who’s Willpower directly
correlates to their power.
Example: Luke Cage
Strength 13 (Pretty darn strong. He can bench probably 5-15 tons)
Agility 4 (Completely normal on his speed, nothing special)
Intellect 4 (Average intellect. He can think, but he’s no inventor)
Willpower 6 (He follows his own path, and makes his own destiny)
[[Ability Scores: These are important. Put some thought into them. Like
all intensities in MSHAG, each # generally reflects an exponential
increase. Excluding intellect, that is. So, a 5 is generally twice as
strong as a 4, and so on. Due to the non-linear nature, 1 point can be a
big difference between people.Strength, as stated, is both your physical strength and your defense.
The higher you go, the harder it gets to hurt you. However, the higher
you go, the more mass your body is going to have too. Let’s look at
Luke. 6′6″, Strength 13, Luke weights in somewhere around 450lbs or so.
The higher up you go, the more you’re going to weight - and in all
likelyhood, it’s going to generally slow you down.In general, it’s a safe bet that strength 4 is somewhere around
150-200lb bench pressing. Strength 10 is about 1 ton. Strength 20 means
you probably have incalculable strength, exceeding 100 tons. (Keep in
mind, 1 ton = 2240 pounds)Agility. This is like strength, except for dodging. The higher this
goes, the easier it gets to dodge or perform amazing acrobatic feats.
Agility also controls your hand eye coordination, so it determines what
you can aim and hit with energy blasts and guns, how well you pilot, or
even drive a car. A high agility takes incredible amounts of work, so be
very prepared to give detailed reasoning if you have an agility over 6.Now, this is perhaps one of the hardest to quantify. A normal human is
3-4, not all that flexible. They can do some somersaults maybe, drive a
car, the usual stuff. Someone with Agility 7 is probably pretty fast and
bendy. Think Professional gymnast or ballet dancer bendy, or your
standard ninja. A 10, you have Captain America. Flinging his shield all
over the place, ricocheting it, all while jumping around smashing
faces for the U.S. of A.To give you an idea of speeds.. Lava is agility 1. It barely moves, it
just creeps along the ground. A dart in dartboards? Agility 10. It hums
and flicks right where you throw it, pretty darn quick too. Bullets from
a gun are agility 17 or so.Intellect. As stated, this is really simple. 1 point = 25 IQ. 4 =
100ish. Human average. 6 = 150, genius level. After 6, you’re looking at
people who will change the world. They’re people who are inventors, or
skilled technicians. At 8, your character WILL change the world, or
their doing something wrong. At 10 and above, these people are
astronomically rare. Tony Stark is a 10. Reed Richards and Doctor Doom,
the worlds two smartest men? 12’s.Intellect does have one other benefit besides just being able to be used
to create things, intuit weaknesses, and so on. It also determines your
characters order of action in SM’s. Those with the highest intellect’s
actions take place before other peoples, unless they wish a delay.Willpower: The stat that confuses people the most. How self possessed
you are, how centered, focused, able to resist influences and do your
own thing. A high Willpower is often found in one of two kinds of
people. Leaders, or Mystics. Leaders tend to have to know themselves
well to be able to lead others, to be confident and assure - emotionally
and mentally strong. Mystics on the other hand, manifest their powers
directly through exerting their will on the world. It’s what they train
to do. A magic user can never have a magic score higher then their will
power, unless augmented in some way.If you go for 6 or higher will power, be ready to give very good
explanations.]]
Skills
Focus on: What’s your character Really good at?
Skills work pretty simply. They convey your character is a true master
at something. In MWI, this means they can’t fail at this task unless
they try something far beyond their limitations (decided by the ability
intensity the skill goes with).
Skills work rather simple. X = 0 Skills in that Ability. D=1. C=2. B=3.
A=4.
Now, if you’re an expert, it means you’re an EXPERT. You could make a
good living off just that one skill. If it’s a physical one, you could
probably compete in the olympics for it. A skill is hard earned
knowledge that typically represents months or years of learning spent to
aquire it.
Sometimes, you’ll see people who have an Underlined skill. That means
it’s World Class, and their one of the top 2 or 3 people in the world at
it.
Every skill you use, needs to be justified back in your origin.
Example:
Luke’s Skill’s.
Strength 13C (Brawling, Wrestling) - Luke’s been a street fighter for years.
Agility 4X - No skills here, he hasn’t needed them, and speed isn’t his
thing.
Intellect 4X - No higher learning for this street wise hero.
Willpower 6D (Intimidation) - He knows how to give you a look to make
you pee your pants, learned the hard way in Prison, and on the rough
Harlem Streets of the 70’s to today.
[[Skills:
When starting a new character, if their fresh, it’s a good idea to limit
yourself to maybe only 1-2 skills for a younger character, or 2-3 for
someone older. Skills take a long time to learn. Skills aren’t only
learned in schools or class though. Some are just a fact of life that
you learn as you go. Intimidation for example.No matter what the skill is, it has to have a reason to be learned
though, but why your character harnessed such mastery of it, and how
they did it. After all, you’re not going to master the use of a Hunting
skill, if you detesting hunting, right? ]]
Edge:
Things to focus on: What’s your characters breaking point?
Edge confuses a lot of people. Think of Edge as your characters ability
to break the rules. To defy the laws of the universe, and do things
their way. Edge can be employed in play only once during SM’s (Action
oriented large RP’s), and it’s a direct bonus to all of your characters
abilities and powers for that one round. The higher the edge, the more
you can break the laws of nature, or exert all your effort. Turning that
intensity 10 energy blast into an intensity 11 one. (Doubling it’s power).
Now, normal humans are Edge 0. Even cops and military. Edge 1 is your
Veteran cops, Military officials, or an experienced vigilante. Edge 2 is
your enduring heroes, like the X-men and the Ultimates. Tried and true
heroes who’ve faught all the odds and won. Edge 3 are typically the
leaders, the best and brightest the world has to offer, such as Mr
Fantastic or Cyclops. Edge 4’s have no peer nor equals. Dr Doom, Captain
America, Magneto. Edge 5’s are not playable.
Example:
Luke Cage is an experienced vigilante. He’s faught most of the petty
criminals in New York, some of the super criminals, but he’s not
handling World Threats here. Luke’s an Edge 1. So we have.
Strength 13C (Brawling, Wrestling)
Agility 4X
Intellect 4X
Willpower 6D (Intimidation)
Edge 1
Powers:
Focus on: Unique capabilities and limitations of powers.
Powers represent what your character’s .. well, powers are. Do they
shoot energy blasts, or teleport, or fly? Powers are pretty easy, their
all laid out here on the site to look through and pick one and any
tricks (stunts) the character may be able to do with them.
A stunt is essentially a skill for powers. If your character has a
stunt, it means they’ve mastered it, not that their learning how it works.
Power intensity is set along the same guidelines as ability intensity. A
telekinetic with intensity 7, would be essentially the same as a person
with strength 7. Just you’d be able to do things from a distance - and
you might have some real nifty tricks to go with it.
Remember with powers, originals can’t go above a total of 13 point cap
on powers on application. So if you try and get multiple powers, it’s
going to dillute and weaken all of them. Also remember, in MWI we
require powers to have a ’stickt’ element. They have to go together in
some form, or have a theme.
Example: Luke’s powers are represented first in his strength score (13)
because he has super strength. He also has unbreakable skin (wait..
there’s no power for that, you say! We’ll get there.) and on top of
that, he heals in 1/3 the time of normal humans. So Luke’s stats look
like this.
Strength 13C (Brawling, Wrestling)
Agility 4X
Intellect 4X
Willpower 6D (Intimidation)
Edge 1
Regeneration 5.
Unique Power: Unbreakable Skin [Cannot be harmed by weapons of +4 or less]
[[Powers:
Powers are a tricky subject. There’s lots of ways to reach the same
powers, and you can always try to create new or unique stunts under
existing powers, or conglomerate things to a power.Let’s say your character has Emotion Control. They make others feel what
they want. But you still want the Empathy based power too. Rather then
losing the stats to doubling up powers, you just give your character the
Stunt of Empathy underneath Emotion control.Now, doing this for a leg imitate shtick is acceptable. Doing this to
cheat the 13 intensity rule is not. Also keep in mind, a starting
character probably won’t have that many stunts. They take time to
develop and master just like skills do!For those wanting a gauge on power intensity, I’m going to use Light
Control.
1= Ambient Lighting.
5= A spot light, like seen at clubs.
10= How about a laser?
15= Know those scenes in movies when those massive bright lights come
from space ships? Yeah, that’d be this. ]]
Equipment:
Focus on: Gadgets?
Some characters have equipment, others don’t. For some it’s just an
armored costume like the X-men wear, or the trademark weapon of a Staff
if you’re Mockingbird or Gambit, or hey, maybe it’s the FantastiCar or
Iron Man’s armor. Equipment can be anything. Guns, electronics, armor,
weapons, vehicles, even a base.
The beauty of equipment? Well. It’s pretty much like powers, just with
different limitations. The biggest being it costs your characters money,
or a long time to invent.
If you need a walk through of the tech-system, it’s probably best to
read over all the material on the site for Equipment, and if you don’t
understand it to then ask for a 1 on 1 explination from Myke, Ben, Jeff,
or Steve if any of them are available and have time to help you.
Plans:
Focus on: Longterm plans. Don’t Muchkin.
MWI is a campaign style room. Characters live, they grow, they die, they
love, they hate, they get better (sometimes worse). Your character will
have opportunities to learn skills from others ICly (thus generating
more RP!), to learn how to control powers (more RP!), learn how the
world works (More rp!), and everything else. While they do all of that?
Twice yearly Character Reviews are done, and bonuses to characters,
boosts in stats, are awarded to those who earned them. Sometimes a
advancement so profound will be made in an SM or Storyline that you
might even get an on the spot bonus (this is rare though, but if you
pull it off you’re doing something right).
Don’t limit your characters by having them know everything, done
everything, off the get go. Leave them room to expand, to learn, teach,
and build upon the world in which they are going to be entering.