Advice/Help Randomly-generated superpowers

[baggysack]

I had an idea for a group free-form RP where each character got a highly-specific "Magic," or superpower, the catch being they were chosen by the GM through the aid of a randomly-generated list. Magics would be sorted into categories. For each character, they'd choose a category, and then I'd randomly generate the Magic accordingly, later tweaking it based on the character.

Sometime back I had a lot of time on my hands apparently so I have the list of powers, loosely. I wanted to ask if this idea has any appeal on its own. Would the random powers be fun to play around, or would they impede creativity or whatever? If I implement this, are there opportunities either I as the GM or players might be missing out on?

 

[Idea]

I had an idea for a group free-form RP where each character got a highly-specific "Magic," or superpower, the catch being they were chosen by the GM through the aid of a randomly-generated list. Magics would be sorted into categories. For each character, they'd choose a category, and then I'd randomly generate the Magic accordingly, later tweaking it based on the character.

Sometime back I had a lot of time on my hands apparently so I have the list of powers, loosely. I wanted to ask if this idea has any appeal on its own. Would the random powers be fun to play around, or would they impede creativity or whatever? If I implement this, are there opportunities either I as the GM or players might be missing out on?

There are definitely opportunities, and having seen this kind of idea before I do know there is some- even if I wouldn't say a very large- audience for this.

Myself though, it's not something I would want to partake in. A character's abilities are a very personal, fun aspect of the design, sometimes even the whole central appeal for me. In many cases, take away the ability for me to choose my own powers, or heck, even force me to pick from a list, and you might as well be telling me to puppet someone else's character, and that's something I absolutely hate. There is also, as you mentioned, an impediment to creativity, but I wouldn't say it's the usual kind. See it doesn't actually stop you from exercising your creativity, it's simply transferred from creating the power to its utility and use. However, it does force me to use someone else's ideas. It's not so much that it is unoriginal, so much as it feels unoriginal.

Beyond that, which is mostly just my personal stance on it, there's a few other issues but they can be boons as much as they can be issues, depending on the execution. For instance, fixing what powers people can get could generate a great sense of balance by allowing you to balance the powers ahead of time and thus not allow unbalanced or plot-breaking powers in. On the other hand, this also means that if you screw up that balance this will be an even harder blow for a player. A player who gets a weak power of their own accord can at least comfort themselves in that they chose that, and possibly even chose to be weak- but a player that just gets dealt a bad hand will be a lot less inclined to put up with that situation, and is far more likely to decry it as rather unfair.

Another example is that because the powers are all coming from the same source, they would all follow the same pattern of thought, but could conversely be a lot more widespread due to your attempts to consciously diversify them. They could also have some pretty interesting synergies much more easily. On the other hand though, this does mean you could wrongly assume certain powers would end up together, your attempts at diversifying may go too far or not far enough. Just like before, if a person makes things in a way that doesn't totally work, it's still their thing at least, they can still enjoy getting to play it anyway, but take that away and they'll expect a much higher standard.

Not to mention the simple fact that human beings simply tend to have a much clearer judgment on the work of others than our own. It only compounds what I've been saying, attributing powers independently will mean your work will be looked at a lot more critically.

Last issue that I can think of in short notice would be if anyone came in expecting to play a given kind of character and now they can't because the random power they got doesn't fit that. Now arguably in that situation the player is just as at fault if not more considering they should've known better than to formulate the type of character before rolling for the random thing, but it can be upsetting.

I sort of like this. I'm in the same boat I've been poking around a dark fantasy idea with magic, but I couldn't decide if I should use a system or free for all. Like you I don't know if people particularly paragraph only roleplays (who don't use any table top tools) are receptive of it? Because I wanna run a mostly story game with a lightly structured magic system that doesn't overshadow or pull focus from the story, it's just there to organize the magic and avoid power playing when and if someone uses a spell.

A system isn't an issue, it's the kind of thing people buy into from the premise- however, any kind of rule one imposes will turn some people away, and limiting what people can actually do is a big one. It's not to say letting people do literally anything with magic is necessarily always the best idea, but anyone who wants to play a character or a story in a mold you're not allowing is going to get turned away.

That said, I would recommend setting goals such as "magic system that doesn't overshadow or pull focus from the story", because you really don't have control over this unless you railroad your players. If you do want a focus on the story over the magic you can of course, but set course to create a story players are encouraged to follow. You can make the magic system limited, very limited even if you want, but you should do it because you want the system to be limited for it's own sake, and not because it might overshadow the story. After all, if your story is failing to excite the players and you take away what does excite them, then that just means you're left with two boring things.

 

[baggysack]

Last issue that I can think of in short notice would be if anyone came in expecting to play a given kind of character and now they can't because the random power they got doesn't fit that. Now arguably in that situation the player is just as at fault if not more considering they should've known better than to formulate the type of character before rolling for the random thing, but it can be upsetting.

This could mostly be avoided through the category system, communication, and just awareness on my part. Whether someone wants to play a scrappy character or a meathead who powers through situations, they should get a Magic that suits them. Essentially, they choose the function, not the form. And as an additional note, if a player really hated their power to the point it killed their will to write, I'd happily work with them to get something they actually like.

Overall, completely fair.

 

[Idea]

This could mostly be avoided through the category system, communication, and just awareness on my part. Whether someone wants to play a scrappy character or a meathead who powers through situations, they should get a Magic that suits them. Essentially, they choose the function, not the form. And as an additional note, if a player really hated their power to the point it killed their will to write, I'd happily work with them to get something they actually like.

Overall, completely fair.

Of course, but at that point you do start to straddle the line where the point of a random power or power chosen by the GM becomes questionable. Of the few people that idea would appeal to I can guarantee you most would be specifically looking for a loss in control- even if this would otherwise contradict their other goals.

That said, a tight rope isn't impossible to walk through, just harder.

 

[Laix_Lake]

Like what Idea said, it sort of borders on the idea of playing something not of your design. This would probably work out if people had their focus on the character in question rather than the draw of the powers themselves. No one is going to willingly know how to use their powers or given skills imeteaitly, and it might even be a decent thing to act out. Characters trying to make use of something that may run contradictory to who they are or what they see themselves as. But what I prefer is not what other people go for, nor would I people have the means to deal with the premise when they are just starting out.

And I know that I already mentioned roll 2 doge on here...two or three times, but some kind of basic dice system like that would fit as well.

 

[Crayons]

I"m not going to join a superpower RP any time soon (maybe in a few reincarnations time) but I love randomly generated powers. It's a really fun way of getting you out of your comfort zone, or allowing you to play something you wouldn't normally think of. Like most people, I tend to make certain "types" of characters and once you've done the same "types" for long enough you get bored of your own conscious thought processes so why not add an element of randomness to it?

I once participated in an RP where the RP creator had a list of powers that you could choose two from OR you could roll a dice and get two random powers, one at a slightly higher power level (iirc), and I was right up there in rolling the dice, not for the power but for the shits and giggles and I ended up making a character that I still love to this day even though he hasn't had enough roleplay (sads).

But yeah I love it. I'd suggest that you let the players roll for powers first, so that they can make their character fit with the power they get. Or not, if they don't want to.

 

[Kaihaku]

I ran a roleplay like this once. It was an original setting but modeled after X-Men. The characters played through a bit of normal life then, after a certain event, started developing powers. There were no supernatural powers in the world prior to this so they were generation 1.

I think random powers worked well in that scenario because the focus was on the character journey of unexpectedly gaining supernatural abilities. It wasn't suppose to feel like the powers were under their control or part of their nature but rather that the powers were hijacking the characters' lives.

It wouldn't work as well in a My Hero Academia style set-up where powers are common and widely accepted.

 

[Delinquent]

I'm not a huge fan of randomized powers. Partly because it makes it too easy to wind up with a power you don't like, and partly because it means that characters can end up at wildly different power levels.

As for the category system, I don't think it'd be the cure-all you think it'd be.

I mean, categories tend to be rather vauge so even if any potential players specifi what category they want their power to be they could still wind up with a power they aren't happy with.

 

[Crow]

What Idea said, but that being said, if you really want to try the idea out and are aware that there is some sort of audience for it, you should go for it, even if just once or twice. You won't really know if it works until you roll it out.

 

[Jannah]

This sort of thing is definitely fun. I actually have a character I've been dying to play whose powers were randomly generated.