[RPG] The Intervention: Worldbuilding

When my Monday group discussed what sort of game to run, we landed on superheroes because of the flexibility. Everyone can, in theory, run any sort of character they want. Bethany, who plays the Time Lord known as The Bachelor in our faltering Primetime Adventures Doctor Who game, expressed that she’d like the opportunity to play that character more. Other players expressed characters, or revised versions of characters, from other games that they’d like to revisit. A superhero universe can pull in everything from street level vigilantes to cosmic heroes, fantasy to science fiction, sorcery to superscience. The possibilities are wide open.

There will have to be some ground rules, though. If there is a wide disparity in power levels it can be a problem. There has to be some consensus, even if it means some players need to beef up their powers and others need to tone it down. That’s going to be worldbuilding question number one.

A lot of questions will be answered by the characters they want to play. I’m going to build the world around the characters and their back stories and abilities. If someone wants to play a magical character, there’s obviously magic in the universe. If someone plays a cyborg, cybernetics exist but may or may not be available to the general public.

What I’m working on is a list of things I want to ask , to round out the world. Below is a list of those questions. If you, dear reader, have something to add, please chime in with your ideas. I’ll post the results after we meet next week to discuss it.

• Are supers common or unusual?
• How long have supers been around?
• What’s the relationship with supers and law enforcement?
• What’s the relationship with supers and government?
• Secret identities, public identities, or some combination?
• Are there other super teams, and what is this group’s relationship with them?*
• What comics, novels, movies, TV shows, etc. can we point to and say “this game is like THAT? Sources don’t have to be about supers.**
• Is there a common source of powers, or free-for-all?
• Is there a major problem in the world, a theme or metaplot?
• Where is this game set? A real place (like Albuquerque), or a made-up place (like Metropolis)?
• Does the team have a headquarters? What is it? Where is it? Secret or public?
• Tech level of the regular world? Tech level of law enforcement? Tech level of government?
• Magic level of the regular world? Magic level of law enforcement? Magic level of government?
• One major villain organization (like Cobra), villains mostly in teams, or mostly lone villains (like Jame Bond villains)?

*I’m thinking of the movie The Specials, where the group’s status as a C-list team was important to the plot. I’m also thinking of things like how the Teen Titans are connected to the Justice League, and how unrelated groups like The Avengers and the X-Men interact.

**In my head, the model for this team is going to be the TV series Arrested Development. Not necessarily a comedy, but the characters need each other even if they don’t always get along.

If you can think of other questions, please leave them in the comments. I’ll post what my group agrees on after we meet.