Step 4a for Writing Super Hero Adventures: Combat Encounters!
Hello heroes! Welcome back to the series I’ve been working on with general advice for Gamemasters looking to design their own super hero adventures. So far we’ve discussed brainstorming, research, villains, and outlines, what I consider the pre-adventure building blocks. These are the things you have to have in place to write a solid story. A story which consists of what I’m going to be talking about today: encounters!
As you may recall in the outline section, I tend to break my games down into a few types of encounters: Combat/Conflict, Challenge/Hazard, Roleplaying, and Investigation. Over the next few posts, I will be going in-depth into these types of encounters and offering you tips and tricks for writing your own. I feel each warrants its own post to make sure we can cover everything I want to for each type.
Today we’re jumping straight into the deep end with combat encounters. Conflict is often the meat and potatoes of not only super hero stories, but tabletop RPGs in general. Players design their characters around the neat ways in which they can stop evildoers. People love punching villains in the face and driving forth their minions with awesome abilities. That being said, every scene in your game should drive the story forward in some way. Combat is more exciting when it has some bearing on the plot and I’ve got more than a few ideas for how to write amazing fight scenes.
Goals
This might be tired advice at this point, but every participant in a battle is there for some reason and they want to win. Something has brought them to this specific fight and they are looking to accomplish their goal. As Gamemaster, it’s up to you to figure out what that driving force is for each participant in the battle and tailor their tactics around that goal. It isn’t exciting for heroes to get into a fight just because. Sure, defeating all of the heroes is a way for the villain to get what they want, but it is rarely the most efficient. I find it helpful for each combat to write down the main villain’s objective and what they’re willing to sacrifice to obtain it. I also write down what the minions are willing to sacrifice for their boss. Mercenaries are generally less likely to fight to the last man than an army of cultists. These goals don’t have to be complicated, but even a simple one will elevate the drama.
I particularly like setting goals that the players can catch on to, because it modifies their tactics and encourages them not to root in place and punch bad guys until everyone is unconscious. If a villain wants to grab a thing and escape, show the players that thing so they can start to play keep away. That is unless your villain is sly and their goal is to distract the heroes while my invisible minion grabs the thing and escapes. Imagine three rounds of combat passing before the villain inexplicably leaves. The heroes will immediately begin investigating the area to see what they missed.
I tend to think of goals as item-based, time-based, location-based, or distraction-based. That is the villain wants to take something, they need to be in a certain place at or for a certain time, they need to occupy a location, or they need to keep the players’ attention off of something else. Each of these goals can apply to any level of villain from lowly henchman up to mastermind, and can be mixed and matched within the same combat for different groups of characters. Tie that goal to the villain’s motivation and you’ll create fights that matter in the grand scheme of the story.
Location, Location, Location
More than most types of encounters, location is vital to combat. Every scene benefits from an interesting setting, but in combat the location should almost be a character in its own right. This is especially true for super hero games where PCs can traverse miles of terrain in a single move action. No one remembers a combat encounter that occurs in a 60×60 square box, but your players will always remember the fight they had in the erupting caldera of an active volcano.
Be on the lookout for opportunities to add a twist to your environments. These can be natural hazards or traps laid by the villain in advance. If the heroes are facing an ice villain, there’s a good chance that character has created slippery floors, walled off areas with glaciers, and generally made the terrain inhospitable to others. The heroes suddenly find themselves in need of cold weather gear, snow shoes, and they might have to resort to alternate routes to get where they want. Routes that no doubt lead to chokepoints the villain has layered extra defenses over.
Not everything has to be a benefit to the villains however. Clever heroes should be able to make use of terrain benefits just as much as their cunning adversaries. These location-specific features can be great moments to highlight and reward characters with unique skill sets. The inventor just so happens to bring the assembly line back online and now robot arms grab villains each round or the magic character can translate and modify the ancient runes on the ruin wall to create a circle of protection for their allies.
I have found it helpful in some of my more iconic locations to actually give the area a pseudo-character sheet and a turn in initiative to make sure the environment is given its due in combat.
Variety
One of the best ways to keep players on their toes is to add a wide variety of combatants with different capabilities. Support your big evil bad guy with all kinds of minions, not just mooks with guns. Minions with strange movement powers like flight or teleportation. Henchmen with effects that disorient or poison the heroes. If the main villain is a big bruiser type, give them a lieutenant that focuses on mind control or illusions. It will go a long way to making the heroes consider their tactics if their opponents occupy different zones of the battlefield and have different strengths to bring to bear. The heroes will have to divide their attention and resources, giving you the chance to design moments for specific characters to shine in each combat. This should be the case in every level of hero game, even street level heroes can face opponents with melee weapons, automatics, shotguns, and rocket launchers.
Variety also gives you the chance to show that the villain or group in question is dynamic. If they have a wide selection of responses to given threats they seem competent and more threatening than just a horde of faceless goons all with the same attack powers. A lot of GMs bring this attention to groups of equal villains, but it should apply to villains with lesser minions as well.
Fail Forward
One final piece of advice that bears mentioning for super hero combat is to remember that heroes are rarely killed by supervillains, even when they lose. In fact, most super hero stories start with the villain beating the hero quite handedly and leaving their body and ego bruised. If a situation arises where the bad guys start winning, don’t initiate a TPK. Have the villains capture the heroes so they can put them in an elaborate death trap and walk away. Make the villain stop for a moment to gloat and monologue about how awesome their evil plan is as the heroes catch their breath. Even in cases where the whole party is knocked unconscious, have them wake up as prisoners and give them the chance to escape. The villains want to win but they understand the value of keeping the heroes alive, and most of them like to get their brag on.
I never let the dice decide when a character dies. Death in super hero stories is supposed to be dramatic and world-shaking. They should not be caused by poor poor die rolls on the part of the players. If a character does fall because of a tough combat scenario, make sure that death is suitably epic. I like to give a player character that is about to die one action before they shuffle off. They can’t use this action to prevent their death, but they can use it to do just about anything else. It lets the player go out in a way that is satisfactory to them. They can get one final attack on the villain, send their allies to safety, and give a badass inspirational line. Anything to give that death more weight.
That’s just a few ideas to get you started building more exciting combat encounters. If you pair this with the article I did about How I Balance My M&M Encounters you’ll have everything you need to begin experimenting in Mutants & Masterminds. The easiest way to get better at designing combat encounters is practice. So I encourage you to take these tips and start playing with your players.
Thank you again for reading and as always, may your hits be crits!