I typed up a category list for new players to choose a hero from. I imagine the list being displayed on the overhead screen of the Freedom Tower central computer. I thought I'd share it here as a pdf to print out and throw into the game box.
The categories are arbitrary. In the PDF, I used stylized catergory names, but actual categories are essentially: Damage Dealers, Tanks, Equipment Users, Utility and Support, and Versatile/Random.
Usually, I just tell new players to pick the hero that "looks the coolest!", but sometimes a new player stumbles into a play style they really don't like. I'm hoping the list will give players more information something to mull over as we start to shuffle the villain deck and set up the game. I do love explaining all the hero abilities, but I love it so much it can really delay us getting started for quite a while!
No Offence but i feel like this list would further confuse new players. The old standby I use is to have them pick a level 1 complexity hero, see what they did or didnt like about the hero, and then suggest to them who t otry next based on this. It also helps to have one person set up and another person help the new player.
I ask them about their favourite comic book hero, and their experience with other card games, then pick a hero of suitable complexity that is thematically similar.
Thanks for the thoughts! Yes, by Ranger I mean Chrono-Ranger.
Wraith seems to me something of a special case, as she can do so many things well. I think I could put Wraith in all the categories.
Absolute Zero can certainly be a damage dealer. The main feature as a new player, however, is to know he is completely dependant on his equipment. I could have called the category "Equipment Dependant", but that didn't sound very heroic :)
Establishing categories is just food for thought and conversation. I really don't know if my chart is very useful for new players, but it's been fun to think about the characters and their roles. I love how each hero is so unique and yet still gets their job done.
I think it would be cool to try playing a character in a functional role that they normally don't have.
For example, how could you use Ra as a support character? Maybe send some fire damage over to a well equipped Absolute Zero? How would you use Ra as a tank? Maybe summon his staff, destroy it, and repeat? Maybe search for immunity to fire and manipulate hit points to become the target that gets hit by fire damage?
Playing a character "against the grain" might miss out on the main advantages, but could be fun and interesting.