Forum Workshop: The Starter Kit Intro Summary [Spoilers?]

Games Sentinel Comics RPG
#1

Hi all, I'm making this topic so that we can pool our collective experience and knowledge, with an end goal of creating "The Lore Summary", aka "What information do we need to tell our players to set them up for success in the Starter Kit?"

A lot of players (and some GMs) will be coming into this with little to no knowledge of Sentinels Lore, so I'd like to create something we can all use to help explain the weird stuff. The Gates, the Tree, the aftermath, heroes and villains who died during the Oblivæon Event, and why that all matters for the story they are about to play. Does this sound like something we want to try and do?

#2

Yeah, that does actually sound like a good idea. I don't think I've looked at the starter kit myself, but even fans of the card game are going to be surprised by some of the changes at the start of the RPG.

Of course, what I really want to know is how much the rules differ from the sourcebook. I know there've been some changes.

#3

The Super villain Baron Blade was the leader of an independent European city-state who had many failed doomsday plots but died a hero sacrificing his life to help his hated enemies save all reality.

Basic rundown on the teams Freedom Five, Prime Wardens, and Dark Watch to understand the types of team stories told in the old comics. The Dark Watch lore is not important for this adventure but the realization that they are reforming the Prime Wardens could be a fun story point that prepared players might see before the end of issue 6. Also Dark Watch shows up in another adventure so it could be a good foundation for latter

Depending on if they go to Russia or “the tomb of Anubis” first introducing Martin Adams or Fanatic’s grief would be a set up for the other bit of lore

Big rules changes i know
the last stand rule for minions was added
the option to Overcome to stop the scene tracker from advancing was removed

#4

This is a most welcome project indeed!

I have started to catch up on the letters page podcast only recently; and whenever C+A start talking about the 'RPG timeline', I am sitting there, RPG Core Rulebook in hand, and wonder where that timeline might be found. Because, certainly not within the pages of said rulebook! There is little to no narrative context, aside from a few spotlighted bits and pieces on the archive section.

So, while the rules are nice and smooth, and I adore the building blocks for heroes, villains and envitonments, I couldn't run a campaign in that Sentinels world even if I tried. Because I am sorely lacking any background info on said world, and I have no idea where even to start. And listening to 100+ hours of podcast in the mere hope to finally piece it all together is just not going to be overly time-efficient. 

Which in turn means, without a proper introduction into the SCRPG multiverse, I cannot really use the official issues for lack of context. 

And I am beginning to get frustrated by the situation, especially through the podcast: If there is a coherent history to the setting, spill it already! Or if there isn't, fine, I can build my own - but then stop pretending there was one which I am too stupid to find.

#5

Hmm, I think it would be best to point the new GMs/players to the transcript pages of the relevent episodes of The Letters Page.

I know this is a lot of information, but if they want to be informed, this will be (in my opinion) the best way to do that. On the other extreme, the Starter Set itself does provide some background info, which is probably enough for some groups.

#6

In the main rulebook, there is no introduction to the setting or timeline?

#7

Correct. All of the setting information for the RPG and the card game has been from the Letters Page Podcast.

Edit: While I know the background, I've kinda thrown it out the window in the game that I run. Nothing in the mechanics depends on the original setting, and if I want something from the original setting, I just reimagine in my own setting.

#8

To add a little more detail to my initial rant, or basically because I want to pinpoint my issues a little better: What I find frustrating is that there is a severe discrepancy between what characters are supposed to understand as their regular day-to-day routine, and what players and GM know. In short, players/gm fall way too far behind there.

Like, for example, everybody in-play naturally knows about some mysterious giant tree event that is referenced every now and then like a constant elephant in the room. Well, I as a player/gm don't even know if that thing is relevant at all! Next issue they are going to tell me, everybody has green hair and six legs in this world, and how didn't you know your character has that too? (Please don't feel pressed to tell me the story of that tree... it's only an example)

I'd say it would be less of an issue if these things weren't treated so much as a basic common ground for everything, while leaving players out of the loop - too far out to properly immerse. Because, convincingly steering characters through their bread-and-butter everyday in a world that is their home, but which I myself have little grasp of, is just not working.

And playing the 'Haha, he doesn't know about the three seashells' joke gets old pretty fast...

 

As a closing remark, I still love the scrpg ruleset, and I'm a huge fan of the IP as far as I can get through the card game.

I just can't see myself playing the RPG in that narrative world, and I feel bad for the riches I probably forego by switching to a less-fleshed out, but more comprehendable background.

#9

First, I want to say I think this is a great idea!!! :smiley: I’m a story-focused player, so for me this kind of thing would be very useful and interesting to have available. 

But I want to make sure we distinguish between what’s needed and what’s available. :- If someone sent a letter to the podcast asking how much information is needed to play the Starter Set (and I’d highly recommend someone do that, as the RPG episode is coming up soon :smiley: ), the GTG folks would probably say “Not much.” Because, truly, not much really is. :-) 

But the key word is “needed”. ;-) (And note I’m talking about the Starter Set, not a home campaign; I’ll hit that further down.)

For example, there’s no need to know about the Prime Wardens to play the Starter Set. Yes, there is a group of heroes you meet, one at a time, and eventually they (might) join up at the end to help out with things. They don’t have a group name in the adventure or anything. Folks who know the lore will recognize what just happened, but it’s not necessary to enjoy the adventure. 

When the big-bad shows, the GM should know the basics about when they were last seen and that the heroes have a history with them, but that and hamming up the villain are enough to create the atmosphere needed. But I believe that section actually has that level of background already included?  

Yes, there’s a giant tree in the middle of the city that was created recently during a great battle with a universe-threatening entity, and it contains massive cosmic power. That’s probably enough to allow new folks to understand the situation, and I believe that’s included in the starter set info, also. 

I think each of the other areas have all the info that’s truly needed. For example, I believe there’s info explaining what’s up with each NPC hero as they appear in the adventures.

The idea of the starter set was to introduce people to the game and not require that they know anything to get started. We can know a lot more, but none of that is needed to thoroughly enjoy the game. I’ve been able to run the Starter Set with folks who had never heard of the Sentinels IP before, and they immediately got it and had a great time. (Even had the Legacy player immediately start using the cheesy Legacy voice without me mentioning that it was a thing – it’s like the basics of this are in all our geeky blood! X-D )  

So if someone is feeling overwhelmed with all the available lore, please don’t worry about it unless you absolutely want to. :slight_smile: It really isn’t necessary for the Starter Set. 

 

Now, for a campaign (not just the Starter Set) as der andere Jan brought up, that’s a bigger deal. :-/ But if the PCs are at the Freedom Academy, there’s info on that in the core book. I feel like there’s enough background on the characters presented in the Archive to use them without too much trouble. We should also feel free to come up with our own details as we see fit. For example, one of the PCs in a game we’re currently playing thought The Wraith (their character) had a medical background. :-o None of us contradicted them, as that’s their character and it’s how they envisioned The Wraith interacting with the world. It doesn’t fit the lore of the canon world, but this is our world and we’re playing in our own version of it. (Christopher and Adam have explicitly told folks via the podcast and in person to take that approach and not worry about getting all the details exactly right. What’s important is having fun, not being right!)    

Feel free to disagree – this is definitely just my thoughts on this – but they’ve said several times that the point of OblivAeon in the Metaverse was to reset and simplify things, giving folks a new jumping-on point. The RPG is that jumping-on point in our universe, so we shouldn’t need too much to make this fun. 

 

Please continue with the list!!! :smiley: It’ll be great for folks who are like me and want all that detail, but don’t have the background from the years of podcast and other content.

Yeah, these are the only rules changes I can think of off the top of my head. I felt like there might be something with Reaction/Defend, but I don’t remember what it was and don’t have the materials available right now. :-( 

#10

I had thought there was something related to how a particular ability is worded. Maybe Pushing the Limits? It’s been a while since this was brought up, and my memory is very poor. c.c

#11

Overcome to stall the scene tracker...  why was that removed?

 

#12

"I have started to catch up on the letters page podcast only recently; and whenever C+A start talking about the 'RPG timeline', I am sitting there, RPG Core Rulebook in hand, and wonder where that timeline might be found. Because, certainly not within the pages of said rulebook! There is little to no narrative context, aside from a few spotlighted bits and pieces on the archive section.

So, while the rules are nice and smooth, and I adore the building blocks for heroes, villains and envitonments, I couldn't run a campaign in that Sentinels world even if I tried. Because I am sorely lacking any background info on said world, and I have no idea where even to start. And listening to 100+ hours of podcast in the mere hope to finally piece it all together is just not going to be overly time-efficient. "

You're not alone. 

At some point this game is going to need a consolidated SETTING book to detail the world and its history.

I did spend some time going through the characters on the Wiki, and you can piece together more of what came before, but it's still a slog. 

 

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