[31-Mar-21 07:36 PM] The Warden#3115
First off, thank you for having me here tonight. I’m Todd Crapper (aka the Warden), the lead designer/writer/publisher for Pandora: Total Destruction, a tabletop RPG currently on Kickstarter about overpowered supers learning to control their powers to confront a great evil.
[31-Mar-21 07:38 PM] The Warden#3115
The premise of the game is to portray empowered (super-powered) characters with abilities that are incredibly destructive and difficult to control. Ten years before the start of your story, an incident known as the Void killed hundreds of thousands of people when someone accidentally created a black hole in the middle of Pittsburgh. Started by a super with this bizarre ability and no way to learn how to control it before it was too late, many nations around the world agreed to create special institutions known as Pandora Academies to teach them.
[31-Mar-21 07:38 PM] The Warden#3115
Some of them are school. Some are prisons.
[31-Mar-21 07:39 PM] The Warden#3115
In these Academies, the players will work with the GM to create a three Act story of their supers fitting in to their new environment, training hard to learn how to control their powers, and discovering clues of a foul plot they will have to stop.
[31-Mar-21 07:41 PM] The Warden#3115
Pandora: Total Destruction (or PTD) features a system of my own creation where using your power creates a risk of causing havoc, which are points you must spend when using your power. The higher you roll above the target number, the more havoc you get. Too much havoc and your action misses its mark and instead causes extensive collateral damage, harm, threatens innocent bystanders, and more.
[31-Mar-21 07:42 PM] The Warden#3115
During the course of the story, you’ll participate in training scenes with a goal of reducing your super’s dice to a more acceptable level before a secretive villain rises up and launches their plan to take over the world. It’s not about becoming the best hero you can be; it’s about controlling your power enough to stop this threat without doing more damage than the enemy.
[31-Mar-21 07:42 PM] The Warden#3115
(done)
[31-Mar-21 07:43 PM] saintnexan#6715
Thanks, @The Warden! The floor is open to questions!
[31-Mar-21 07:43 PM] saintnexan#6715
What were supers like prior to the Void?
[31-Mar-21 07:46 PM] The Warden#3115
They’ve only been around for around 80-90 years and it wasn’t until supers helped repel an alien invasion that society accepted and embraced them. Combined with conquered alien tech and super-soldiers, police, construction workers, etc. there was a boom in civilization in many ways because of supers.
[31-Mar-21 07:46 PM] The Warden#3115
But before that…
[31-Mar-21 07:46 PM] The Warden#3115
It was hard on supers. They were persecuted, discriminated against, hunted… every horrible thing humanity is capable of doing to themselves.
[31-Mar-21 07:47 PM] The Warden#3115
The concern with things post-Void is that it will return to the early days where supers were outright hunted.
[31-Mar-21 07:47 PM] saintnexan#6715
In what year does the game take place?
[31-Mar-21 07:48 PM] The Warden#3115
Our year (which we shall not mention here because I’d rather say a ghost’s name three times into the mirror). More specifically, 10 years after the Void.
[31-Mar-21 07:49 PM] saintnexan#6715
And society is more high-tech due to the invasion?
[31-Mar-21 07:50 PM] The Warden#3115
Portions of it. Governments, corporations… those in power. The tech levels of this world are an option for groups that want to mimic some of the zany tech from their favourite comics.
[31-Mar-21 07:51 PM] The Warden#3115
For example, the game I’m running right now involves a hybrid of 1980s-with-alien tech that doesn’t always function when needed. That allows us to use force fields, holograms, giant robots, and more to run the training scenes.
[31-Mar-21 07:52 PM] The Warden#3115
If anything, I think the alien tech incorporated into human civilization is that it provides military options for the world to use against supers. Particularly the dangerous ones.
[31-Mar-21 07:52 PM] The Warden#3115
I haven’t mentioned this to my players (sooooo… SPOILER ALERT!!) but their Academy is located on an island so the whole thing can be nuked from orbit if they try to escape.
[31-Mar-21 07:53 PM] saintnexan#6715
It’s the only way to be sure.
[31-Mar-21 07:53 PM] The Warden#3115
Precisely. It provides options to help sell the vision of the world you want to create, but I think it’s important to note this tech is hostile in nature.
[31-Mar-21 07:53 PM] The Warden#3115
And that is the only response when someone says “nuke it from orbit.” That’s just the law.
[31-Mar-21 07:54 PM] saintnexan#6715
nods sagely
[31-Mar-21 07:54 PM] saintnexan#6715
What is the source of superpowers in this setting?
[31-Mar-21 07:56 PM] The Warden#3115
We never bothered with that part. The door is left wide open to whatever source players want to come up with and even mention different ways supers gain their power. As a default, for me, I really prefer the mutant phenomenon from the X-Men comics. People suddenly just started displaying them when they became teenagers because they were born with them. But we leave the door open for everyone to do what they will.
[31-Mar-21 07:57 PM] The Warden#3115
The focus of the story is what the supers will do with those powers and how the world will treat them.
[31-Mar-21 07:57 PM] saintnexan#6715
Fair enough.
[31-Mar-21 07:58 PM] saintnexan#6715
Does the premise hold that powers come from a single source, whatever that source may be? (As opposed to an “anything goes” four-color comics universe.)
[31-Mar-21 07:59 PM] The Warden#3115
No, it’s wide open for multiple routes.
[31-Mar-21 07:59 PM] The Warden#3115
I think having people suddenly start to appear with powers for no logical reason or even one reason can definitely build up to the hysteria and fear supers went through in the early days.
[31-Mar-21 08:00 PM] saintnexan#6715
But all powers hard to control, whatever the source?
[31-Mar-21 08:01 PM] The Warden#3115
It’s not all powers. Many supers go into Pandora Academies to simply make sure they know how to use their powers properly and responsibly (as well as register them). This game focuses on those with very destructive powers in society.
[31-Mar-21 08:02 PM] The Warden#3115
Think of most supers going to public and private schools. The supers in these stories are the ones in schools for kids with anger issues, criminal records, that kind of thing. The ones people are afraid of.
[31-Mar-21 08:02 PM] saintnexan#6715
Ah, interesting. So there are “normal” superheroes in this setting?
[31-Mar-21 08:02 PM] The Warden#3115
Oh, yes. Before the Void, people would have superpower reveal parties to mark the discovery of their child being empowered.
[31-Mar-21 08:02 PM] The Warden#3115
But the stigma of what they can do and how many they can hurt has toned that down… a lot.
[31-Mar-21 08:03 PM] saintnexan#6715
So was the Void the first expression of an out-of-control power?
[31-Mar-21 08:05 PM] The Warden#3115
It was the catalyst. There would be incidents here and there, a wedding party obliterated, an office Christmas party tragedy, a young lover setting their partner on fire because they couldn’t control their power in the heat of the moment… but the Void was the one that made everyone afraid of what could be worse and when it will happen.
[31-Mar-21 08:05 PM] saintnexan#6715
Ah. So sort of like a series of industrial accidents, then a nuclear meltdown.
[31-Mar-21 08:05 PM] The Warden#3115
Hence the paranoia and fear dictating the need to, basically, lock supers away until they can graduate from a government sanctioned training facility.
[31-Mar-21 08:05 PM] The Warden#3115
Exactly.
[31-Mar-21 08:05 PM] The Warden#3115
Except the meltdown has a name and went to school with your kids.
[31-Mar-21 08:06 PM] saintnexan#6715
“The meltdown has a name.” That should be a T-shirt.
[31-Mar-21 08:07 PM] The Warden#3115
Hmm, I can actually picture empowered right activists wearing a shirt that says, “The Void had a name” or something to that effect.
[31-Mar-21 08:07 PM] saintnexan#6715
nods
[31-Mar-21 08:07 PM] The Warden#3115
Thinking about it…
[31-Mar-21 08:08 PM] The Warden#3115
Something about the use of birth names and super names for these characters could be something for me to look at.
[31-Mar-21 08:08 PM] The Warden#3115
For those who want to get gritty and deep with the setting and its impact on the characters.
[31-Mar-21 08:08 PM] saintnexan#6715
I was just about to ask if supers in this setting use superhero names.
[31-Mar-21 08:09 PM] The Warden#3115
They can. And I can see that some would to protect themselves from their real identity back home instead of the other way around. Like someone who moves to another city after a tragedy and goes so far to change their name to something completely different, leave it all far in the past.
[31-Mar-21 08:09 PM] The Warden#3115
But there is a heroic aspect to this game too…
[31-Mar-21 08:10 PM] The Warden#3115
In that this is a game about these unfortunate supers actually rising to become heroes. In that way, it’s very plausible for some of them to have super names because they aspire to be the heroes they knew as kids. The ones people liked and thanked for having powers.
[31-Mar-21 08:11 PM] The Warden#3115
And in some cases, I can also see their super name being more like a serial killer’s media name – it’s what they were known by when the incident occurred.
[31-Mar-21 08:11 PM] The Warden#3115
In a way, super names are another avenue you can explore with supers in this grittier timeline.
[31-Mar-21 08:12 PM] saintnexan#6715
So you have aliens (and associated supertech) and supers… Are there any other “weird” aspects to the setting? (Feel free to wave me off if that would involve spoilers.)
[31-Mar-21 08:14 PM] The Warden#3115
Well, I decided to keep it focused on those for this version of Pandora. However, I do have at least one other offshoot that would involve supers with psychic powers. So that’s not to say having a magic version isn’t possible to bring in Dr. Fate or other mystical superheroes to the Pandora universe.
[31-Mar-21 08:15 PM] The Warden#3115
Each one would require its own use of havoc (or an alternative to best suit the power type). The idea that going too far with an untrained power can have consequences. Psychic powers wouldn’t necessary always work well using havoc, especially if that power is mind reading. However, accidentally removing a person’s memories would be a terrible thing to be responsible for.
[31-Mar-21 08:15 PM] The Warden#3115
But for now… we’re just focusing on the idea of aliens, supertech, and powers that blow up buildings.
[31-Mar-21 08:16 PM] saintnexan#6715
I could see mind reading going berserk.
[31-Mar-21 08:16 PM] The Warden#3115
Exactly!
[31-Mar-21 08:17 PM] saintnexan#6715
Reading everyone’s minds withing a mile radius, and having that overload wash back out from the super…
[31-Mar-21 08:17 PM] saintnexan#6715
In a kind of ever-growing feedback loop.
[31-Mar-21 08:18 PM] saintnexan#6715
That actually touches on another question I had regarding the scope of powers in the setting. So by default, no mental stuff?
[31-Mar-21 08:20 PM] The Warden#3115
Actually, it’s more by design requirement. To get the full experience, it’s about creating havoc. If you can think of ways your psychic power would cause collateral damage, smash windows, and put innocent bystanders in danger, then this game works for you. If I get the opportunity to work on more Pandora stuff, then I want to make a psychic version of the game.
[31-Mar-21 08:21 PM] saintnexan#6715
nods
[31-Mar-21 08:21 PM] saintnexan#6715
Are supers in the setting limited to a single power?
[31-Mar-21 08:23 PM] The Warden#3115
In the beginning, yes. When creating your character, you need to have one core power. You do one thing, just as cause things you touch to explode or have super strength. During the course of the story, it’s possible to gain additional powers, effects, and immunities through manifestations, which is basically when your power goes so out of control that it causes you to unlock an extension of that power. So you can extend your power to something you can see and touch or have super strength AND fly.
[31-Mar-21 08:24 PM] The Warden#3115
It’s one of the options to try and provide player agency to everyone so they don’t always have to do terrible things in the game. Manifestations prevent a super from going nuclear, but they can also lose their powers for a period of time, or even take harm rather than let others get hurt.
[31-Mar-21 08:24 PM] The Warden#3115
But in the beginning, a single core power.
[31-Mar-21 08:25 PM] saintnexan#6715
So you could be super-strong but not super-tough? (And how would the latter go crazy, anyway… Hmm…)
[31-Mar-21 08:27 PM] The Warden#3115
It’s the struggle. I remember a show (can never remember the name of it) where someone had incredible strength… and a heart condition. Using their strength didn’t mean their body could handle it and they’d have a heart attack if they went too far.
[31-Mar-21 08:29 PM] saintnexan#6715
That sounds familiar…
[31-Mar-21 08:29 PM] saintnexan#6715
Speaking of super-strength, to give us an idea of scale, how much can the strongest super lift in this setting?
[31-Mar-21 08:29 PM] The Warden#3115
Damn this trouble remembering nouns! That’s my curse.
[31-Mar-21 08:32 PM] The Warden#3115
There’s no metrics to gauge how much stronger, faster, or durable characters are in this game. Supers are defined by more narrative attributes that define who they are as a person. All supers have 3 actions they can roll and each one starts with either a d12, d10, or d8. Their power is defined by either the Overpower die (which is what you have when you’re not properly trained yet) and the Power die (which is what you get when you are fully trained).
[31-Mar-21 08:33 PM] The Warden#3115
The Overpower die always starts at a d12 in the beginning of the story. So whenever you use your power, you add that to the roll. Once you’ve been able to lower your Overpower die below a d6, then it turns into the Power die and you can substitute your action die for it instead.
[31-Mar-21 08:34 PM] The Warden#3115
As a general guideline, I’d say whoever is the strong character in your story one of the strongest ones in the world. Go big or go home. (Which your super can’t go home because they’re forced to be at this Academy, so you might as go big.)
[31-Mar-21 08:35 PM] saintnexan#6715
Do you have a character sheet that we can see?
[31-Mar-21 08:35 PM] The Warden#3115
I do. Let me get the link.
[31-Mar-21 08:36 PM] The Warden#3115
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1twVKBecbi1BnFxFHwyP-vcxDagcywhaW/view?usp=sharing
{Embed}
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1twVKBecbi1BnFxFHwyP-vcxDagcywhaW/view?usp=sharing
Pandora_PlaytestCS_Feb2021_v7_formfillable.pdf
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/vUxHR1q3uvau55IJ-truODbe1rmpfR1bVPwg4uPYiafsXuxobDWsT9Bh0_Fqlgb611Y=w1200-h630-p
[31-Mar-21 08:37 PM] The Warden#3115
While we’re at it, there’s also a free 50-page preview version. I’ll get that link too.
[31-Mar-21 08:37 PM] The Warden#3115
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZBr1qS0i_MMMwKmkmCTugFl-AOn70MLc/view?usp=sharing
{Embed}
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZBr1qS0i_MMMwKmkmCTugFl-AOn70MLc/view?usp=sharing
PandoraTotalDestruction_PreviewEdition_v1p07.pdf
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/q-eZU_wZajNeSSMY7xv0MoOSJ8GSiInzh4qylkyyht3x4HbGselGsJEQFo7nTAK0GWU=w1200-h630-p
[31-Mar-21 08:37 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
It seems like a pretty structured, focused kind of game experience. Why go that more structured route, rather than something messier? I mean when compared to games like M&M, which let the GM create their own plot and backstory?
[31-Mar-21 08:37 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
Also looking over the sheet now, wow it looks great
[31-Mar-21 08:38 PM] The Warden#3115
Thanks.
[31-Mar-21 08:40 PM] The Warden#3115
It’s what I like to do. Open sandbox games require defining spaces for all manner of powers to suit all types of stories and I feel there’s a lot of great ones out there. For me, my style of game design, and the kinds of stories I like to create within a budget I felt I could afford to raise via Kickstarter, this was a far more interesting direction than trying to make “the next great supers RPG.”
[31-Mar-21 08:41 PM] The Warden#3115
In doing so, I think it helps create a better story about heroes. I mean, imagine Superman’s harrowing days hiding his powers and the risk of doing something terrible with them by accident. Yet somehow he rose to become one of Earth’s legendary heroes. So let’s get a bunch of supers together and see how they rise up to become heroes in a world that fears them.
[31-Mar-21 08:42 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
It kinda reminds me of a game like Fiasco!, which benefits from that more concentrated focus
[31-Mar-21 08:42 PM] saintnexan#6715
So on the character sheet, I don’t see anything about attributes or skills… How do you adjudicate actions that don’t involve power usage?
[31-Mar-21 08:44 PM] The Warden#3115
It all comes down to the three action types in PTD – Conflict (going toe-to-toe against another character), Interaction (with your environment or socially), and Protection (keeping yourself and others safe). The only time it matters when you roll is because you’re trying to accomplish the scene’s goal and there’s a risk of things not going according to plan for the sake of the story. If you want to use your power to see in the dark, you just do it. But if you need to find a cloaked robot that’s trying to kill you, roll them dice!
[31-Mar-21 08:45 PM] The Warden#3115
That’s what I hope others experience too. That tighter focus can force you to take that darker side road through the back country and a tale you never thought you’d live to tell.
[31-Mar-21 08:47 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
Games that limit your access to “meaningful” powers by forcing you to take risks are a pretty solid design space imho. Are there any systems you’d like to give a shoutout to that really inspired you in your design?
[31-Mar-21 08:49 PM] The Warden#3115
Marvel Heroic in that it completely changed how I look at using the existing moving pieces I knew about at that time. The idea of using dice as their dice type to represent complications/damage rather than just rolling numbers was one of those moments that I kicked myself for not considering sooner. But I’d also have to say the story game genre in general and the concept of failing forward or success with complications.
[31-Mar-21 08:49 PM] The Warden#3115
Which includes games like Fate and so many others inspired afterwards.
[31-Mar-21 08:50 PM] saintnexan#6715
Do NPCs have stats in this game?
[31-Mar-21 08:50 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
(I like MHRP too, what a fantastically fun game)
{Reactions}
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[31-Mar-21 08:53 PM] The Warden#3115
Yes, but only those who are the main villains/supervillains and any supporting heroes/superheroes who may be on staff at an Academy. Heroic characters have the same actions as the supers; villains/supervillains replace Protection with Thwart and can use it to interfere with the supers and their efforts to help others, etc. Superheroes have a way of absorbing the havoc they might create. Supervillains are all about causing havoc (but they have a few extra options).
[31-Mar-21 08:55 PM] The Warden#3115
The rest of the time, extras and goons actually create the complexity of a scene. The majority of dice rolls for PTD involve the supers trying to do things. At the start of a scene (and once the scene type is determined), the GM will roll to determine how many successful action rolls are needed to end the scene. Then it’s really about the supers trying to overcome their own problems they create via their untrained powers, allowing the GM to creep in and take a swipe at the supers with a villain or two as needed to keep them on their toes.
[31-Mar-21 08:58 PM] The Warden#3115
So let’s say your supers are having a training scene in which they have to foil a (fake) bank robbery involving a dozen cyborg bandits. They’re goons, no one special other than they can smash through brick walls to get away and have blueprints of the whole city in their brains. The supers have to get X number of successful dice rolls in an effort to capture or defeat all of them before they can get away with the money they’re trying to steal. So the players have to meet that goal by rolling X number of successes before I can describe my cyborg bandits making their escape.
[31-Mar-21 08:59 PM] The Warden#3115
This is because the supers will cause their own issues at first. Too much havoc and the roll fails (with some collateral damage to deal with). Roll too low and now you take on a complication. So it’s about the GM using these NPCs to react to the everchanging events put forth by the players and their supers.
[31-Mar-21 09:01 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
So it really leans on the descriptions from the GM, and the proactive element is primarily provided by players (including all the dangers using their powers introduces)?
[31-Mar-21 09:03 PM] The Warden#3115
Yes. This is very much a writer’s table game where dependence on moving the action forward is not in the hands of one person. It even goes further in that all players have a random number of scene points to spend in each Act of the story. Those scene points can be used to create training scenes to help your supers control their powers, spotlight scenes to advance the story along as the supers try to find out what their villain is up to and how to stop them, battle scenes to place the supers in actual harm’s way, and vital scenes to showcase important elements in the story… with greater risks too.
[31-Mar-21 09:03 PM] The Warden#3115
PTD is a game that includes a GM role but for those GMs who like to be as surprised by the story created at the table as everyone else.
[31-Mar-21 09:04 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
Ooo, I like that. Training scenes as a limited resource is a clever way to drive home the intensity of their situation
[31-Mar-21 09:04 PM] The Warden#3115
Exactly.
[31-Mar-21 09:06 PM] The Warden#3115
Plus different scene types provide something extra to help improve your super’s power control. Training scenes can help reduce your action dice and Overpower die over time; spotlight scenes can be divided into numerous options that can help create bonds between characters or lessons gained from your experience in the scene (both will help adjust the target number) or establish interesting facts/skills/backstory elements that will allow you to +/- 1 to your roll for each that applies.
[31-Mar-21 09:07 PM] The Warden#3115
It’s set up so that you have a shot at completely mastering your power… but then you’ll never figure out how to stop the villain and save the world in time.
[31-Mar-21 09:08 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
Narrative style games have a grand tradition of putting players in the hot seat, making them choose between painful tradeoffs. I’m glad to see that august legacy in such capable (and sadistic!) hands 😉
[31-Mar-21 09:08 PM] The Warden#3115
That is the coolest compliment I’ve ever received. Thank you!
[31-Mar-21 09:09 PM] The Warden#3115
Painful trade-offs is one of the key features I wanted built into this game.
[31-Mar-21 09:09 PM] The Warden#3115
Being the hero… but at what cost?
[31-Mar-21 09:10 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
Well it shows. And I’m impressed by how carefully you chose where they’re focused. One of my issues with a game like Burning Wheel (which attempts something similar) is how random the situations are which escalate. I once had a player trying to get a shoe (the game provided him with one, he wanted a match) and it took most of the session and nearly got him killed
[31-Mar-21 09:11 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
THIS game seems to benefit from having a clear vision of what situations are interesting. I feel like that makes it easier to sell too, since the premise is so capably reinforced by the rules
[31-Mar-21 09:12 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
Like, “suffer time: the game” can be awesome if you pitch it appropriately. I’ll go back to Fiasco! as an example; when players know what they’re in for, they can more fully commit to the activity. That game and this one have such a clean “sell” at their core, I love that
[31-Mar-21 09:13 PM] The Warden#3115
Thanks!
[31-Mar-21 09:13 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
Here’s a question my table is certain to ask: what’s on the table for supers tonally? Is it important that they game have a certain emotional tone, or can they be, say, comedically incompetent, if they want to? (Edit: man did I say “tonally” twice in the same sentence? Ha I’m tired)
[31-Mar-21 09:16 PM] The Warden#3115
It can be too much to stay grim 100% of the time. I think being able to mix it up is key. While it can lead to some harsh lessons for the supers, causing havoc is still meant to be fun. Blow shit up, try to keep a skyscraper from playing dominoes with every building in the downtown core, get suspended for a week and lose your wifi privileges, sure. Even playing a bunch of Deadpools who can’t control destructive powers would be fun in PTD.
[31-Mar-21 09:17 PM] The Warden#3115
By that same token, this game could also lead to the supers becoming supervillains instead and try to embrace their role in life as those feared by humanity. So I think there’s lot of room for everyone to put their own spin on things.
[31-Mar-21 09:19 PM] The Warden#3115
Right now, we have a training scene in my game where the players each have to protect a football from three illusory cyclops giants… and one of the supers is a 76-year old man who uses a cane. We let it get a little goofy because the story needed to let off a little steam and take the pressure off them a little. (They just got caught breaking a bunch of military drones used to monitor their Academy and are not happy about getting in trouble for defending themselves.)
[31-Mar-21 09:21 PM] Joel Upon the Fist Throne#1343
I’m interested in that struggle against a clearly corrupt authority. What are some ways that manifests in the game?
[31-Mar-21 09:24 PM] The Warden#3115
It’s purely narrative. While we’re definitely planting the seed that some Academies are corrupt and treat their supers poorly, it’s not a requirement. It can be something each group explores or avoids as much as they need to. It can be limited to inserting into the supers’ backstories, build into the Academy from the ground up with corrupt faculty clearly trying to get something from the supers (even making them the villains, if you like). But it’s all how the players (and when I say that, I include the GM) want to approach their story.
[31-Mar-21 09:25 PM] saintnexan#6715
You mentioned that there are three stages to the game?
[31-Mar-21 09:25 PM] The Warden#3115
Three Acts, yes. To help keep the story focused and let players know when it’s time to wrap things up.
[31-Mar-21 09:26 PM] saintnexan#6715
So it’s essentially used for a single adventure? Or am I misunderstanding?
[31-Mar-21 09:26 PM] The Warden#3115
At the end of each Act, there will be a battle scene where the supers have to directly engage the villain’s plot and put themselves in danger outside of training.
[31-Mar-21 09:27 PM] curiosikey#4786
Is an act a single session? Months of play?
[31-Mar-21 09:28 PM] The Warden#3115
It’s intended for a single adventure, but there’s nothing mechanically stopping the supers from continuing their exploits. Not all supers will ever remove their Overpower die completely in a single story, so they’ll have room to continue learning and developing their power. Then maybe they can go back out into the world and try to fight crime with it. It’s very possible, which is why the core rules will include how to use the Power die when it’s time.
[31-Mar-21 09:28 PM] saintnexan#6715
Cool.
[31-Mar-21 09:28 PM] The Warden#3115
The idea is that each Act will take days, possibly weeks, to complete.
[31-Mar-21 09:29 PM] saintnexan#6715
Now it’s time for what we like to call @danhunsaker’s Favorite Question, although I haven’t seen them in a while.
[31-Mar-21 09:30 PM] saintnexan#6715
Specifically: What is your least favorite aspect of Pandora: Total Destruction?
[31-Mar-21 09:30 PM] The Warden#3115
Oooh, that’s a good one… he says, stalling for time.
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[31-Mar-21 09:31 PM] The Warden#3115
Right now, I am finding that calculating havoc requires doing math. In your head or with a calculator, whatever a person needs. Which is why I’m thinking of keeping it mechanically the same and providing a table that would help convert your result into havoc points without doing the math.
[31-Mar-21 09:32 PM] The Warden#3115
But otherwise… nah, this one hits a lot of buttons for me personally.
[31-Mar-21 09:32 PM] saintnexan#6715
Fair enough!
[31-Mar-21 09:32 PM] saintnexan#6715
Is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to bring up?
[31-Mar-21 09:32 PM] The Warden#3115
I really only like to publish games I want to play. It’s my preference.
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[31-Mar-21 09:33 PM] The Warden#3115
I think we covered a LOT of good stuff here, but I’m open to any other questions out there.
[31-Mar-21 09:33 PM] curiosikey#4786
What would you include in a single session to make sure you could showcase the full breadth of the system?
[31-Mar-21 09:35 PM] The Warden#3115
I have thought about this for a one-shot quickstart version of the game. At least one training scene, a couple of spotlight scenes, and then a battle scene. To help show the possibilities of the game. But really, if I had to run one scene… 50′ tall alien robot with tentacles attacking the city. Aaaaand… GO! That’s what I’d want players to experience if they only had time for one scene.
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[31-Mar-21 09:35 PM] saintnexan#6715
Nice!
[31-Mar-21 09:36 PM] saintnexan#6715
(That’s what’s on the promo art, isn’t it?)
[31-Mar-21 09:36 PM] The Warden#3115
Like the one in this nifty graphic.
[31-Mar-21 09:36 PM] The Warden#3115
It is.
[31-Mar-21 09:36 PM] saintnexan#6715
nods sagely
[31-Mar-21 09:36 PM] The Warden#3115
Although maybe 500′ tall is more appropriate.
[31-Mar-21 09:37 PM] saintnexan#6715
Oh, usual reminder: If you’ve enjoyed this Q&A and would like to treat me to a coffee or two, you can do so at https://www.ko-fi.com/gmshoe. Anything’s appreciated! 🙂
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[31-Mar-21 09:38 PM] saintnexan#6715
Thanks very much for joining us, @The Warden!
[31-Mar-21 09:38 PM] The Warden#3115
Thanks for having me. This is my 2nd one, I believe.
[31-Mar-21 09:38 PM] saintnexan#6715
Hmm… You may be right!
[31-Mar-21 09:39 PM] The Warden#3115
Yeah, High Plains Samurai was my first one about 2-3 years ago.
[31-Mar-21 09:39 PM] saintnexan#6715
In any case, please know that you’re always welcome to hang out with us here. 🙂
[31-Mar-21 09:39 PM] saintnexan#6715
Oh, cool!
[31-Mar-21 09:39 PM] saintnexan#6715
If you’ll give me just a minute here, I’ll get the log posted and link you!
[31-Mar-21 09:39 PM] The Warden#3115
Sure.
