How I’d run and X-Men Game (#FKR inside)
I’ve been watching a lot of the X-Men stuff Disney+ have added to their catalogue and, as you’d expect, my brain has been wondering about Marvel mutants RPGs. I would enjoy running a short campaign centred around the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Somewhere between teen drama and superheroic misson of the week.
I know there are a ton of Marvel games and I’m sure Masks would work with little adaptation but, if my brain can go berserk when it comes to making games, it often gets lazy when I want it to read rules. I know, my brain’s an unmanageable arsehole. I had to write this so I could go back to watching TV?
New X-Men cover by Frank Quitely
FKR, bien sûr !
When going for a game set in an existing, well-documented world, Free Kriegspiel Revolution is an obvious way to go — well at least for me. We can dive as deep as we like into Marvel comics minutiae, we can kitbash an MCU-style mashup of old and new to suit our needs. In any case, all the information we need is a click away and none of it has to be mapped to a rigid set of rules. I’d also be more free to give the game a cinematic feel if I don’t have to worry about numbers and dice pools and colour coded resolution tables.
Character Creation: a Q&A
Characters and their arcs are important in superhero stories. To keep things simple, I would just ask the players some questions; their answers would make up the character sheets. I like to keep my FKR numberless.
For legibility, I’d require that answers have a bold title or heading (and call this a trait). Traits are a comfortable way to build a character for me. Here’s an example using a well-known X-Man (or what I remember about him anyway):
What is your mutant gift?
Colossus of Steel. I can turn my body into organic metal.
Describe up to three consequences or applications of your gift.
Super Strength. My already considerable physical abilities are decupled when in steel form. Hard as Steel. Steel me can withstand a lot of physical damage.
Describe one or more weaknesses.
Heavyweight. My steel body weighs about two tons. Organic Organs. Everything that isn’t skin, muscles, or bones remains vulnerable. I need to breathe, my eyes are unprotected if open, etc.
This sums up the superpowers part of the character. Other questions would include:
- What are your powers’ limitations?
- Name three things you’re very good at.
- Name something you’re embarrassingly bad at.
- Do you have a codename, and who came up with it?
- Describe your appearance
- Where do you come from?
- What is your relationship to your family?
- How well do you accept your nature as a mutant?
- How do others describe your personality?
- How long have you been a student/teacher here?
- Who are you closest to at the school?
- Who do you dislike at the school?
- How do you see yourself after you graduate?
The frame of the campaign would of course define the list of questions. Some would be answered collectively during the first session. Some could be optional. Also I figure additional questions would arise as we play. ‘Character Q&As’ would grow as the campaign progresses, reflecting the character’s evolution in personality and ability.
I don’t think this is a real cover but it shows a possible cast of characters
The Rules
This being FKR, I would keep these as simple as possible. We’ll roll one or more four-sided dice and we’ll amend the results with a finite superhero currency.
X-Men, Assemble your Dicepool
(Yes, I can make two weak Marvel references in one header. Call me Maria Hill-arious.) Roll when the outcome of a situation or action is unclear.
- Start with one d4, and add one for each trait that would help your character.
- External circumstances can also add dice as indicated by the referee.
- You can use your mutant potential to improve your odds: spend one X per additional die. (See below about Xs).
Look for the best result to determine the outcome:
- Catastrophe. A negative possible outcome, possibly with an extra consequence.
- Bad. Things aren’t going your way, or they do but with a cost or consequence.
- Good. You’re getting exactly what you want and nothing more.
- Overkill. The outcome is positive, but something gets out of hand.
If the highest number shows up on more than one die, the outcome, good or bad, is amplified exponentially (as a rule of thumb, double the expect effect for each additional die).
Manage your Xs
You have points called Xs to spend over the course of the session. Their number depends on both your character’s mutant potential and their current mastery of their gifts. As a teenager just discovering their power, they had one or two Xs. Magneto or Professor Xavier at the height of their power have maybe 12 or 15 points. The Dark Phoenix has… let’s not go there. I’m not writing a catalogue of NPCs.
You spend your Xs to affect the fiction when the dice or the referee aren’t being cooperative. Spend one X to:
- Roll an extra die
- Add 1 to a single die
- Avoid harm (see below)
- Sense danger just in time to react to it
- Otherwise rewrite the script: add in an item or person, describe a flashback to gain an edge, use your powers in a new way, etc.
X Cost. At the referee’s discretion, more than one point may be needed to obtain an effect.
Teamwork. If they’re helping you, your friends can spend Xs for you as long as you’re spending at least one X as well.
Regaining Xs. Your Xs refresh at the beginning of the session. You can also regain some at crucial points in the game, .as decided by the referee . They can represent preparation, morale, rest, hope, or the middle point between rage and serenity, etc. Xs are the game’s spice. And the spice must flow.
X-Men Evolution. Yes, you can permanently increase your maximum X total by training, overcoming your hindrances, and generally becoming better. I would probably sit down and think about how I want characters to increase in power in a way that is linked to their Q&A.
Harm and Death
Wounds and injuries, powers affecting you, mental stress, etc. are considered harm. Harm does not affect your dice rolls; it changes the scope of what you can do with a good roll and the consequences of a bad one. Depending on the circumstances, and as stated by the referee, permanent injuries, mental breakdown, and death can follow a bad roll.
As described above, you can spend one or more Xs to avoid harm. Until you’re out of Xs. That is when your character is risking to meet a bad ending to their story.
Game Tone. You should decide in advance of the levels of grittiness and injury detail of your game. Use media properties to establish clear guidelines, from 1970s Spider-Man cartoon’s banter-filled fights to the torture interrogations of Netflix’s Daredevil.
Some Notes
Why d4s? Well, there is a kind of symmetry between the four sides of the die and the four branches of the letter X. Also, d4s are unwieldy, unloved, yet useful in many games. They’re the mutants of our dice bags. Finally, and I haven’t ran the stats for this, but it looks like from three dice on, the numbers of overkill results becomes significant. This would push players to risk going into superhero teenager “oops!”” territory if they want to get results.
Why the overkill result? I’m diverging from the classic ‘the higher the better’ results table because powers going too far is a fun thing to have when following the exploits of young and rebellious mutants who have very good reasons to stay under the radar. If someone were to play a teacher, or even a senior student, I would let them spend their Xs to subtract from dice results. Maybe a limited number of times per session, unless they are a full-blown X-Man.
Is this hypothetic game still an FKR game? Yes. But maybe no? The point where a game has too many player-facing rules to be called Free Kriegspiel is a moving target.
Edit 27/5
Just thought about this. Will have to run some tests but I think it could be fun:
Push Your Luck rule
Don’t like the results of your roll? Reroll for your action using a single die.
- If the result is the same as your previous highest result, it compounds with it, pushing further in the direction you wanted to avoid.
- Otherwise, this as a normal 1d4 roll with its high chance of failure and overkill.