Of Teams, Splash Pages and Other Such Things

[AslanC]

So I am taking a break from reading ICONS and I got to thinking about how to add more player control/interaction in BASH but keeping it very comic book.

This lead me to wanting to look at a couple of ideas to add to BASH as house rules;

1] Team Points - The idea is that there is a pool of Hero Points that each member contributes to, but that any member of the team can use to help them. Sort of like the old Karma Pool from Marvel. Not sure exactly how to do it, but something along these lines would be interesting.

2] Splash Page - One of the ideas I really like about BASH is Panels and Pages. What if there was some sort of way for a player or a team to get a "Splash Page"? Maybe it would cost a Hero Die or something, and provide a bonus to that player/team for that moment.

3] Catch Phrases - I like the idea of heroes and villains having catch phrases that they could use to get a Hero Point or such once per issue.

These are just a couple of ideas I have off the top of my head, and as you can see they are half-baked.

Anyone want to discuss them?

[Lindharin]

I'm up for it.

The Leadership advantage has an element of Team Points, although not quite. Other than that, I see two basic ideas for Team Points:

You could just allow people to spend hero points for their allies, either on-the-fly or by "donating" some of their own points to a shared pool of points that anyone can draw from. This would work fine in a good group, where no one takes advantage of it, etc.

Alternatively, you could define some sub-set of the actions that gain hero points/dice and have those actions build the team pool. The first thing that comes to mind is the Teamwork mechanic, which is awesome in its own right, but also generates a hero die under some conditions. The players involved could opt to have the hero die generated from Teamwork maneuvers be converted into 5 points for the Team Pool, rather than be spent during the action. Maybe define some other sources of hero points that instead give Team points, like if you save a teammate you get a point for the Team Pool (like how saving a bystander gives you a personal hero point). As a sub-set of the normal hero point generation rules, it will grow more slowly, so you could allow the Team Pool to accumulate across issues.

What do you mean by a Splash Page? Can you give an example of a Splash Page from a well-known comic? Would it be kind of like a Teamwork action that involves the whole team and generates an even bigger bonus?

I'm not sure about Catch Phrases. I like them in concept, and they are genre-appropriate. I'm just uncertain whether a mechanical benefit is appropriate for them. I want to let that one percolate.

[TommyBrownell]

A Splash Page is the big, full page, one panel shot. Usually early on in the comic, and dripping with drama or action.

Ironically, arguably the most well known "splash page" was Superman #75, which was entirely splash pages, as his fight with Doomsday ended in both men's "deaths".