Short hero descriptions

So I'm trying to make my copy of SotM more "noob-friendly", since I tend to play a lot with people who are relatively new to the game.

I'm finding that they respond to my asking, "Who would you like to play?" with blank stares and shrugs because they either can't remember which hero is which from the names, or they don't know anything about them.

I've started to throw all the character cards on the table one at a time with a brief description of each one and a flavour of how they play, but I still end up fielding a million questions like, "Is he the musician guy?" and "What does Bunker do again?"

So I grabbed a set of radar diagrams from BGG that show vaguely how good each hero is at offence, defence, support, buff/debuff, healing, and deck manipulation, and I'm producing a card for each character which has their radar plus a very short "how they play" description, which I've copied from various sources.

 

Problem is, I don't have descriptions for The Scholar, Omnitron-X, or Chrono-Ranger. I don't feel that I'd be any good at doing my own since I'm actually a relatively new player myself who has never played Scholar and only played Omni-X I think once or twice, plus I suck at writing.

Now I know many of you guys are awesome at Sentinels and strategy and writing, so does anyone feel like helping me out? The descriptions need to be short, like a couple of sentences, and just give an overview of how you can expect the hero to play.

(I'd give examples of the kind of thing I mean, but since I only edited the descriptions for brevity and didn't actually write them, I don't want to post someone else's work in a public forum. Note that I only intend to print these cards for my own personal use, so I'm not going to upload the file or share it without the permission of everyone involved.)

I have been tryomg to get Ronway to do something similar:

https://greaterthangames.com/comment/26973#comment-26973

Let's try again. Hey Ronway.....

 

Hey Ronway, Jerk Legacy says be a teamplayer!

Interesting that you posted this since I ran into this exact problem last night.  A bunch of friends had gathered and I thought we might finally be able to get a full game of 5 heroes going.  It never materialized, but I also found myself trying to determine which hero would probably fit the playstyle of the other players best.  I knew that if I didn't pick them for at least the first game it would take far too long to get set up.  Some sort of a brief breakdown would have been priceless.  Probably still would be since the guys that I do manage to play with have only ever used one hero each (Legacy and Tempest).

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I actually started doing it, but I didn't like how it was turning out and stopped. I'm my own worst critic, if I don't like the way I was writing something I will scrap it and never look back it. It's one of the reasons why you'll never see a book with my name on it!

Edit: Removed the link.

Well, while I will not pretend to be an expert in this matter, nor do I have any form of graphical help, here are some short descriptions of these three heroes. Hope it helps!

 

The Scholar is a cool dude who would rather take a nap then fight crime, but when push comes to shove, he'll help you out in a pinch. He likes start out by holding back to draw cards and occasionally give sage advice to help his teammates out. When the time is right, however, he can change into a myriad of forms and deal massive damage, heal himself, or become nigh indestructiable! Pick the Scholar if you like helping out your teammates, but also like dealing some damage yourself.

 

Omnitron X, as bifitting from a robot person from the future, is the master of time, able to make turns seem like seconds. Allow out of turn plays! Help an unseen manevolent force reveal herself! Or be selfish and help yourself to the extra plays. For like a robot, Omnitron X has a plethora of gadgets that can allow extra plays, deal damage, or even heal! But be careful: If Omni takes too much damage, his devices break! Luckily our robot friend comes prepaired with a variety of defences to suit any sort of needs. Pick Omnitron X if you like forming a complex engine that does a lot, or if you like helping out your teammates!

 

Chrono-Ranger is a time traveling cowboy/ bouty hunter with a robot arm  . Need I say more? I guess I have to! The Ranger of Time has a future robot house that helps him track these ne'er do wells in the form of bounties, which when set on a villian target, can do anything from amplify damage, provide card draws when trashed, or even allow the takedown of entire gangs. He's also pretty well equiped, fielding all manner of grenades, lazer guns, and even a bow! Keep in mind, though, that until he gets those future guns, all he has is a six shooter, which can deal some damage, but can't pierce heavy armor without help. Pick Chrono Ranger if you like to deal damage, or if you like Clint Eastwood. Bang!

Edit: Evidently I got ninja'd. Well, this one is if you want more of a sales pitch or something...

 

 

I'm working up a set as a spreadsheet right now...give me half an hour, and I'll upload it.

Edit:  Ha!  Finished early!  Let me know what you guys think:  SotM Character Descriptions

Nice job Warlock! The ONLY thing that was a head scratcher for me was equating Fanatic to a mix of Ghost Rider and Spectre. But I am totally printing this

 

My thought process there was "spiritual, divine retribution".  Obviously, her personality is pretty different from either of those two, but when she's flinging around holy radiance and fire, I figured those were the closest analogues.

I would accept Archangel/Spectre/Big Sword  :sunglasses:

great job Platinum! I really like the comic parables as well. I think that can also be imoportant to getting new players into the game if they are already comic fans.

I do have some suggestions for some of the parables, though. I think Chrono-Ranger is also a Jonah Hex sort of person, and The Scholar has some FMA bent as well. Other than that, short and to the point, but enriching nonethesess!

 

Oh, I also think you should mention that Haka's powers get better the more cards he has in his hand. That might be important...

 

The wonderful thing about GoogleDocs?  They're live-editable.  Changes are already built in.  :D

Ah, that's good. I didn't want to presume to edit another person's work without permission…

Thank you so much guys, that's exactly what I needed. See, I knew you'd do a massively better job than I could!

Being able to compare them to existing comic book characters is also genius - I'm not a superhero fan and so I'm not terribly familiar with anything other than the obvious ones (Superman, Batman, etc.), but my game-playing friends are pretty comic-geeky so that helps a lot.

 

Now to see if I can get all this grat info on a standard-sized card... ;)

Ideally, you should be able to copy the cells of a given row and paste that into your favorite layout-type program, then adjust the cell shape and size such that it'd fit on a card.  

Let me know if there are any other changes that people might like to see!

I like the list, and I'm surprized how well they match up with what I think of them.  One quick suggestion off of the top of my head: Visonary = Rachel Summers.  I've also heard the Argent Adept = Green Lantern before, but I don't get it.  He seems to me to be much more of a Dr. Strange (i.e. Sorcerer Supreme) to me.

 

As to the OP, I usually solve your problem by asking noobs who their favorite comic character is, and then working from there.  Usually I will get at least one Superman or Batman, which I think is great as Legacy and Wraith are such good team players.

Shooting green beems does not a Lantern make

Yeah I don't get it either

I suspect the Green Lantern comparison is because they are both swiss-army knives.  They can do some of everything.

So that's why the movie stunk.