Dead Reign with NB OCC's

[Marcethus]

Has anyone allowed some of the OCC's from Nightbane into a Dead Reign Campaign? I have only played in one DR campaign and the GM there combined NB and DR in an interesting way. I played an Astral Mage, another player played a Soldier type and I can't recall what the third player played. But it was an interesting and fun game while it lasted.
What OCC's would work well? I think some of the more mundane ones such as the Ex-Government Agent, or the Team Epsilon OCC would fit well. Some the Psychic OCC's could be interesting if you wanted to add psionics to Dead Reign. Magic as I found in the game I played works but can be overpowering.

[Grazzik]

I've use DR OCCs in other games no problem.

In DR's setting, I've played a number of non-magic OCCs and psychics. It's a great place for an Astral Lord to pop into and do some target practice to amp up on the experience points. If things get hairy, they can bug out to their astral domain.

Magic is fine to use, but when using magic in DR, the PPE of a mage is often dropped to 10% of their normal. Makes even the most menial of spells a challenge.

If you really need a reason why... let's say whatever made all the zombies also uses up 90% of the PPE in that dimension. Mmm handwavium! This also mean that mages native to the DR dimension would be exceptionally rare, with the most likely being the accidental mystic or warlock. Blood priests are probably popular with the death cults too.

Anyway, any mage or astral lord or other being with a relatively massive store of PPE is like a giant dinner bell calling all zombies to the feast. Depending on the game, house rules may dictate ISP may also work the same only at half strength since ISP is fundamentally a modified form of PPE.

With NB, just thinking that a zombie or corpse morphus (even a victim morphus with stigmata) would play well... could be mistaken for a mock zombie to humans.

Heck, the Ba'al minions could be an unintended force for good as they clear zombie hordes for their own nefarious purposes. Doppelgangers may replace the now zombified originals, creating viable communities and countering death cults in order to have survivors serve the Ba'al. Yet another foe for the Reapers to contend with.

A number of campaigns I've played in DR using OCCs from other dimensions have been either dimensional salvage freebooters, CS exploratory teams looking for resources to support Minion War response efforts, or in one case a demigod that survived through to several decades after the last of the zombies in the wild starved, leaving only farmed zombies sustained by cults or folks with their own reasons. At that point became a very Chaos Earth type game of reclaiming civilization without the magic and dimensional wackiness.

Hope this helps.

[Marcethus]

It helps, I was looking for general information how others have handled using other OCC's in DR.

[Warshield73]

Any time you combine Palladium titles it all depends on how you want to do it. Is this the world of NB with DR zombies in it? Or, is it the world of DR with a few characters from NB in it. If it is the former then I would think any OCCs would be OK but, if it is the latter, then you would want to avoid the more powerful OCCs like Guardians and the NB themselves. IMO.

[Marcethus]

Any time you combine Palladium titles it all depends on how you want to do it. Is this the world of NB with DR zombies in it? Or, is it the world of DR with a few characters from NB in it. If it is the former then I would think any OCCs would be OK but, if it is the latter, then you would want to avoid the more powerful OCCs like Guardians and the NB themselves. IMO.

The game I was in was a DR campaign with a few NB OCC's used. We modded the background info to fit DR. I used an Astral Mage.

[Warshield73]

Any time you combine Palladium titles it all depends on how you want to do it. Is this the world of NB with DR zombies in it? Or, is it the world of DR with a few characters from NB in it. If it is the former then I would think any OCCs would be OK but, if it is the latter, then you would want to avoid the more powerful OCCs like Guardians and the NB themselves. IMO.

The game I was in was a DR campaign with a few NB OCC's used. We modded the background info to fit DR. I used an Astral Mage.

Where there people playing DR OCCs because in my experience that is where things can get a little broken. Characters in NB tend to be more powerful than in DR and that is kind of a low power environment.

[Grazzik]

Where there people playing DR OCCs because in my experience that is where things can get a little broken. Characters in NB tend to be more powerful than in DR and that is kind of a low power environment.

This is where the great roleplaying conundrum arises... power levels.

When fighting zombies, death cults, or Reapers in a low power setting, does it make a difference to the player? Yes, that's obvious.

But a good GM would design a campaign where fighting is only part of an adventure. All other problems that come up may negate the power advantage or make those powers a burden.

Example:
Meeting a new enclave or survivor group. The high power PC can murder hobo and take their stuff. Or face the same problem as any DR char in talking and getting info/gaining allies. This is only made harder if the enclave thinks there's something "off" about the PC. So the GM must make part of the campaign hinge on something magic / psionics / superpowers can't inherently achieve (within the ethical and moral confines of the PC's alignment) like building trust, preventing escalation of violence between others, or simply sharing a common experience.

The other mitigating factor for high power in a low power setting is the need to hide your powers. If everyone knows you wiped out the Las Vegas horde, you'd find yourself inundated with pleas for help to the point of distraction. You'd become a target for every death cult. People would look to either prevent you from destroying their source of influence (I.e. control of others through fear) or perhaps manipulate you for their own gain (I.e. "turn your powers on that farming enclave or you'll never see little Tessa again...").

So, in a fight, is there balance? No. In the game overall, high power can be moderated by a smart GM or a player who understands the true price of using that power.

[Warshield73]

Where there people playing DR OCCs because in my experience that is where things can get a little broken. Characters in NB tend to be more powerful than in DR and that is kind of a low power environment.

This is where the great roleplaying conundrum arises... power levels.

When fighting zombies, death cults, or Reapers in a low power setting, does it make a difference to the player? Yes, that's obvious.

But a good GM would design a campaign where fighting is only part of an adventure. All other problems that come up may negate the power advantage or make those powers a burden.

Example:
Meeting a new enclave or survivor group. The high power PC can murder hobo and take their stuff. Or face the same problem as any DR char in talking and getting info/gaining allies. This is only made harder if the enclave thinks there's something "off" about the PC. So the GM must make part of the campaign hinge on something magic / psionics / superpowers can't inherently achieve (within the ethical and moral confines of the PC's alignment) like building trust, preventing escalation of violence between others, or simply sharing a common experience.

The other mitigating factor for high power in a low power setting is the need to hide your powers. If everyone knows you wiped out the Las Vegas horde, you'd find yourself inundated with pleas for help to the point of distraction. You'd become a target for every death cult. People would look to either prevent you from destroying their source of influence (I.e. control of others through fear) or perhaps manipulate you for their own gain (I.e. "turn your powers on that farming enclave or you'll never see little Tessa again...").

So, in a fight, is there balance? No. In the game overall, high power can be moderated by a smart GM or a player who understands the true price of using that power.

I absolutely agree that a good GM can find balance here my point is more along the lines of:

1) It might be a lot of work for the GM and roleplaying, at its best, is supposed to be a collaborative endeavor and DR is low power setting even more so than BTS. I mean as far as I know there aren't even psionics or magic in the core game so adding any of these elements would be a massive power spike.

2) What kind of campaign was everyone wanting to play? If 4 people want a standard DR campaign and 1 person wants to run an ancient ngihtbane mage then it that no matter what the GM does it will not be the game the others were hoping for.

[Grazzik]

2) What kind of campaign was everyone wanting to play? If 4 people want a standard DR campaign and 1 person wants to run an ancient ngihtbane mage then it that no matter what the GM does it will not be the game the others were hoping for.

This is where the GM steps in. The OP asked if it had been done and, yeah, it has but as you rightly point out, it required everyone to be cool with the type of game to be played. If anyone objects or isn't having fun, then the GM has to rule on what's allowed or not and set the guardrails for how the game will be played.

Since a lot of games I'm involved with are megaversal, the heavy lifting of porting magic and psionics into DR or other settings has been sorted a long time ago and there is general agreement on how it is played. If this is new at any given table, then yeah the GM has homework to do.

I pity the table with a weak GM.

[Warshield73]

2) What kind of campaign was everyone wanting to play? If 4 people want a standard DR campaign and 1 person wants to run an ancient ngihtbane mage then it that no matter what the GM does it will not be the game the others were hoping for.

This is where the GM steps in. The OP asked if it had been done and, yeah, it has but as you rightly point out, it required everyone to be cool with the type of game to be played. If anyone objects or isn't having fun, then the GM has to rule on what's allowed or not and set the guardrails for how the game will be played.

Since a lot of games I'm involved with are megaversal, the heavy lifting of porting magic and psionics into DR or other settings has been sorted a long time ago and there is general agreement on how it is played. If this is new at any given table, then yeah the GM has homework to do.

I pity the table with a weak GM.

Again, I try to avoid being this kind of GM. I had to a lot when I was younger, and it just doesn't last as long or produce the kind of fun that a more collaborative set up. Ultimately the set-up of the campaign should be determined by the characters the players create and the goals they have for them. After that, that is when the GM can start providing new opportunities and shaping the story with NPCs. If a player is constantly trying to overpower the GM where is the fun in that. I have been a player in a lot of these, especially in HS and college, and when I look back at the problem it was never a weak GM, it was always an overbearing player who just wanted to be...well usually they wanted to be the best at everything.

I'm not saying your wrong, I jut approach it differently.

As for porting, that is usually easy. PF, DR, and BTS however are kind of the exceptions as they are lower power, or in the case of BTS have power scale based on encounters. Combing NB & HU is actually easy but a super hero in BTS or a mage in DR fundamentally changes those games and if you were hoping to play DR and there is now a mage or a NB, well your not really playing DR anymore.

Now I don't run DR but I have started running BTS at conventions a lot recently and I never port things over at all, to me you add NB or HU to that and it's not that game anymore. On the hand when I run HU or NB I never, not even at conventions, run a straight game. It is always a combination of the two with aspects of BTS and even DR thrown in. The characters in those games are all powerful enough to handle it.

On the other side, I also tend to run 2e Robtotech at conventions and I think most players would feel ripped off if they signed up for a giant mecha game and ended up on foot fighting vampires. When players choose a particular setting they are choosing the basic framework that world provides.

Again, just my preference.

[Grazzik]

...
I'm not saying your wrong, I jut approach it differently.
...

No worries. I totally see where you're coming from and agree with you. As you say, it comes down to preferences. The bottom line is that everyone is having fun and decisions are fair to the players, no matter what style of gameplay or setting.

[Warshield73]

...
I'm not saying your wrong, I jut approach it differently.
...

No worries. I totally see where you're coming from and agree with you. As you say, it comes down to preferences. The bottom line is that everyone is having fun and decisions are fair to the players, no matter what style of gameplay or setting.

[Marcethus]

Where there people playing DR OCCs because in my experience that is where things can get a little broken. Characters in NB tend to be more powerful than in DR and that is kind of a low power environment.

This is where the great roleplaying conundrum arises... power levels.

When fighting zombies, death cults, or Reapers in a low power setting, does it make a difference to the player? Yes, that's obvious.

But a good GM would design a campaign where fighting is only part of an adventure. All other problems that come up may negate the power advantage or make those powers a burden.

Example:
Meeting a new enclave or survivor group. The high power PC can murder hobo and take their stuff. Or face the same problem as any DR char in talking and getting info/gaining allies. This is only made harder if the enclave thinks there's something "off" about the PC. So the GM must make part of the campaign hinge on something magic / psionics / superpowers can't inherently achieve (within the ethical and moral confines of the PC's alignment) like building trust, preventing escalation of violence between others, or simply sharing a common experience.

The other mitigating factor for high power in a low power setting is the need to hide your powers. If everyone knows you wiped out the Las Vegas horde, you'd find yourself inundated with pleas for help to the point of distraction. You'd become a target for every death cult. People would look to either prevent you from destroying their source of influence (I.e. control of others through fear) or perhaps manipulate you for their own gain (I.e. "turn your powers on that farming enclave or you'll never see little Tessa again...").

So, in a fight, is there balance? No. In the game overall, high power can be moderated by a smart GM or a player who understands the true price of using that power.

Exactly, I was looking for the information of how and if other GM's had done this in the DR setting. And this is a really good example of how to balance out the mixed power levels involved. Which the GM I played this game under did a really good job at doing.