Quote from: TristramEvans;928001In the context of Smallville, yes it does. Smallville is pretty far on the spectrum on the storygame end, to the point the underlying game really has nothing to do with roleplaying, its an incredibly abstracted jointly-created relationship graph that determines resolution based largely on the important a player places on their connections between others. Its a bizarre and interesting system that seems like someone took one of those elaborate corporate team-building exercises and made a game of it. It seems like it would play very well in a boardroom using one of those big dry erase boards.

Sounds like a system of mechanics to literally duplicate the organic process of story arc and beat creation in the bullpen the Smallville TV writers did themselves.

Sometimes I think if these games marketed themselves as roleplaying Marvel or DC instead of Spiderman, they'd get a much larger appeal, especially since most of them aren't really meant for long-term campaigning anyway, but small arcs and one shots.

Quote from: CRKrueger;928051Sometimes I think if these games marketed themselves as roleplaying Marvel or DC instead of Spiderman, they'd get a much larger appeal, especially since most of them aren't really meant for long-term campaigning anyway, but small arcs and one shots.

You may be on to something with the bullpen idea, but I'm doubtful that more people want to play this guy:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]502[/ATTACH]
than want to play this guy:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]503[/ATTACH]

Quote from: Bren;928069You may be on to something with the bullpen idea, but I'm doubtful that more people want to play this guy:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]502[/ATTACH]
than want to play this guy:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]503[/ATTACH]

That's exactly the issue I have with the Cortex based Marvel Heroic Roleplaying system.  It was designed to emulate a comic book, when I want to play a superhero.  Yes, I get it, RPGs sometimes have things that happen that would be less interesting that it would be in a comic, but that's the point FOR ME.

And the 2d20 Mophidius system also has that same issue for me.

Quote from: TristramEvans;928001In the context of Smallville, yes it does. Smallville is pretty far on the spectrum on the storygame end, to the point the underlying game really has nothing to do with roleplaying, its an incredibly abstracted jointly-created relationship graph that determines resolution based largely on the important a player places on their connections between others. Its a bizarre and interesting system that seems like someone took one of those elaborate corporate team-building exercises and made a game of it. It seems like it would play very well in a boardroom using one of those big dry erase boards.

This is completely utterly wrong bullshit, but then, you know.  Water wet, sky blue.

Quote from: daniel_ream;928111This is completely utterly wrong bullshit, but then, you know.  Water wet, sky blue.

Smallville example of play:
.

Quote from: TristramEvans;928001In the context of Smallville, yes it does. Smallville is pretty far on the spectrum on the storygame end, to the point the underlying game really has nothing to do with roleplaying, its an incredibly abstracted jointly-created relationship graph that determines resolution based largely on the important a player places on their connections between others. Its a bizarre and interesting system that seems like someone took one of those elaborate corporate team-building exercises and made a game of it. It seems like it would play very well in a boardroom using one of those big dry erase boards.

Quote from: TristramEvans;928112Smallville example of play:...

I don't own it, but I've played a few one-shot games using the system, and I didn't see anything like that graphic in actual play.

As I played it, the relationships are all listed on the character sheet. So, for example, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Pyro would each have a line on their character sheet "Hangs out at : School Grounds". Yes, that *can* be diagrammed as a chart with lines between the four boxes, and someone might do so for reporting purposes. However, there's no need for it in play. One can make an equally complicated diagram of nearly any system's character sheets by taking all the stats and expressing them as arrows between boxes. So I don't think there's any association of the system with using a big whiteboard, for example.

That said, I would agree that it is a relatively abstract system with a bunch of stats based on relationships. If that's not your cup of tea, play something else.

Quote from: jhkim;928122I don't own it, but I've played a few one-shot games using the system, and I didn't see anything like that graphic in actual play.

As I played it, the relationships are all listed on the character sheet. So, for example, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Pyro would each have a line on their character sheet "Hangs out at : School Grounds". Yes, that *can* be diagrammed as a chart with lines between the four boxes, and someone might do so for reporting purposes. However, there's no need for it in play. One can make an equally complicated diagram of nearly any system's character sheets by taking all the stats and expressing them as arrows between boxes. So I don't think there's any association of the system with using a big whiteboard, for example.

That said, I would agree that it is a relatively abstract system with a bunch of stats based on relationships. If that's not your cup of tea, play something else.

So if Dick Grayson and Kal-El start beefin' 'bout bitches, does Kal-El win when they're fighting over Lana Lang and Dick Grayson win when they're fighting over Barbara Gordon?

Quote from: jhkim;928122I don't own it, but I've played a few one-shot games using the system, and I didn't see anything like that graphic in actual play.

As I played it, the relationships are all listed on the character sheet. So, for example, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Pyro would each have a line on their character sheet "Hangs out at : School Grounds". Yes, that *can* be diagrammed as a chart with lines between the four boxes, and someone might do so for reporting purposes. However, there's no need for it in play. One can make an equally complicated diagram of nearly any system's character sheets by taking all the stats and expressing them as arrows between boxes. So I don't think there's any association of the system with using a big whiteboard, for example.

The book itself lays them out as a branching diagram like the one pictured, I could see someone simply listing the connections on their character sheet as a much simpler expression of the idea.

QuoteThat said, I would agree that it is a relatively abstract system with a bunch of stats based on relationships. If that's not your cup of tea, play something else.

Indeed. I'm simply calling a spade a spade. there's no judgement on my part.

I was going to cite Smallville, but Daniel ninja´d me.

Quote from: TristramEvansThe book itself lays them out as a branching diagram like the one pictured, I could see someone simply listing the connections on their character sheet as a much simpler expression of the idea.

Tristram, a relationship map helps out identifying intersections between relationships in a way simple listings couldn't. It's useful for the master know where to poke to generate attriction between characters, for example.