RPM in a 1,000 point Supers Game?

[Minuteman37]

The word around these forums is that RPM breaks at higher point levels. Some prior personal experience leads me to agree, but there is something inherently appealing about the system and it's Doctor Strangey style of magic. So I'm willing to give it another chance if you guys think RPM can play nice with more powers based abilities.

[McAllister]

Is there any cap on skill level, or can I buy Path of Body at 100?

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

The word around these forums is that RPM breaks at higher point levels. Some prior personal experience leads me to agree, but there is something inherently appealing about the system and it's Doctor Strangey style of magic. So I'm willing to give it another chance if you guys think RPM can play nice with more powers based abilities.

Before I go into this, consider if RPM is really the right system for what you want. RPM is great for slow games, it's possible to prep stuff with RPM to make it faster, but it's always going to be a slow system compared to something like Sorcery. Supers games tend to be fast, which means Sorcery or a similar system will usually be a better fit. Just something to think about.

As for whether RPM breaks at higher point totals? I wouldn't say so, you just have to be sensible. If you put a reasonable cap on the amount of Magery that can be bought, then provide other things to spend points on, it shouldn't be any worse than say a 400 point Monster Hunters game.

As for things to spend points on?

There's Energy Reserve (Mana Pool), allowing levels up to 3xMagery should be pretty reasonable, though you could allow more.

For a high-point game I might be tempted to replace Thaumatology as the core skill with a wildcard. It would cover every skill required to use or answer questions about things relating to magic, except the Path skills, which must be bought separately.

Consider letting them buy incantations, specific spells that don't require time or energy to invoke, in other words magic as powers, to supplement their RPM rather than replace it. Pyramid #3/61: The Laws of Magic discusses incantations a little on page 12, but you don't necessarily have to follow the advice written there.

You might allow casters to buy Control Magic (see Pyramid #3/66: The Laws of Magic) whether or not they can buy Affects Self is up to you, but it's something to be very wary of. A similar note applies to Mana Enhancer (Place of Power), which can be found on the same page.

Some of the perks listed under Magical Styles on p. 9 of The Laws of Magic that must be specialized by ritual or Path could potentially be expanded to cover all possible rituals by making them an enhancement on Magery and Ritual Adept. Something like +40% for perks that are specialized by Path, or +80% for those specialized by individual ritual should work (extrapolating from Stabilizing Skill and Discreet Ritual).

Deviating slightly from things that make you better at magic, what about things that make you better because of magic? A powerful mage may have enchanted their own body, for permanent magical enhancements. Essentially this would just be purchasing the desired abilities with the Magical, -10% limitation. The same idea applies to actual magical items, since these cost points in the RPM system. Alternatively, a mage may not be entirely human, but be part dragon, god, demon, etc. and gain unusual abilities from that.

Honestly, if I was playing a 1,000 points RPMist, I'd probably spend about 300-400 points on being able to use magic, and the rest on actually being magic, having abilities that I can just use without thought or energy.

[McAllister]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

You might allow casters to buy Control Magic (see Pyramid #3/61: The Laws of Magic) whether or not they can buy Affects Self is up to you, but it's something to be very wary of. A similar note applies to Mana Enhancer (Place of Power), which can be found on the same page.

Still digesting the rest of the comments, but I believe this is #3/66

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by McAllister

Still digesting the rest of the comments, but I believe this is #3/66

You're quite right.

[Kalzazz]

I've played a nearly 1000pt RPMist without breaking things, worked well actually

[McAllister]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

I've played a nearly 1000pt RPMist without breaking things, worked well actually

Mind posting the RPM-relevant bits of your build, with a bit of description of how the other PCs worked for comparison's sake?

[starslayer]

Due to the normal rpm having issues of 'it's always a crit fail if you are rolling often enough' I would highly recommend effect shaping rpm for high point games.

Further expect a lot of trick builds to make use of high amounts of available energy (one that we have taken to is to use a combination of unlikable, regeneration, and extra HP to let a caster 'safely' spend 11*hp-1 hit points on casting).

Absorption dr builds become more interesting if you have rpm can't (doubly so if you use rpks alternate absorption dr costs)

[Celti]

A kilopoint RPM character really needs some stuff that's not in the basic RPM book to soak some of those points up. Grab Pyramid #3/66: The Laws of Magic and read through all of Alternative Ritual Path Magic (by our very dear Ghostdancer, who I'm surprised hasn't pounced on this thread yet — I thought he had some sort of alarm spell watching the forums for anything like this).

If your GM will swing it, you definitely want to play with Path Realms at this point level. It's basically required for super-powered RPM at any reasonable and repeatable speeds.

Spellslinger is another good use of a couple dozen points.

I Am A Place of Power can break things without careful adjudication, but is another good point-sink.

Finally, you'll want to spend a goodly number of points on Ritual Powers for the spells you have down to mystical muscle memory — this is what lets you hang with the blasters and shapers of a typical supers team on a fight-to-fight basis, until you need to improvise the big guns.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

The word around these forums is that RPM breaks at higher point levels. Some prior personal experience leads me to agree, but there is something inherently appealing about the system and it's Doctor Strangey style of magic. So I'm willing to give it another chance if you guys think RPM can play nice with more powers based abilities.

Originally Posted by Celti

...(by our very dear Ghostdancer, who I'm surprised hasn't pounced on this thread yet — I thought he had some sort of alarm spell watching the forums for anything like this).

Honestly, I got so many things on my plate right now I'm starting to look like Greta. That said, my blog is chuck full of advice for high-point total games and games with RPM.

When it comes to RPM it will slow down a game if you have to make a ton of gathering rolls - that's just fact. This is one of the reasons that I choose Sorcery for my supers game (Aeon) instead of RPM. I even managed to keep a lot of the RPM flavor just by tweaking a few things here and there. I did this for many reasons, but mostly I wanted all super powers to have one way they were constructed. After almost 30 game sessions I think it worked. Still needs some tweaking though.

So I'll say this: if you are running a super-style game I don't recommend RPM, I recommend Sorcery. If you still want to use RPM you need to stritctly limit the amount of points dumped in skills, magery, etc. Moreover, you need to set firm guidelines from the beginning on what magic can and cannot do and ruthlessly enforce it. A 400 point spell can level a city. But if you say "massive loss of life results in a mystical backlash where you take X damage per Y points of energy" players will suddenly decide being city-killers is bad. In general, just use your common sense.