Re: [HOE] Running the perfect HoE Campaign

["Nick Zachariasen" <zacharin@pluto.dsu.edu>]

> >    but the reason all three characters survived at least three
> movies/novels
> >each, is that the idea of a normal man facing incredible odds in
> >post-apocalyptic West (And all three draw inspiration from the American
> >Western) is more interesting than guys with powers fighting guys with
other
> >powers
>
> No, the reason they survived for so long is so their respective
> authors/producers could make more stories with them, and coincidentally,
> more money too.  They survived, basically, by author fiat.

Right.  Granted, I can only speak for Mad Max as I'm not familiar with the
other characters, but a lot of the reason Max survived was because he, as
the main character, was favored by a storyteller/GM's best friend Contrivo,
god of the plot.  Just a flesh wound?  It is the will of great Contrivo.
There just happens to conveniently be a ladder where you need one?  Contrivo
put it there.  If you need something to happen, Contrivo waves his mighty
hand and it is so.  However, in Max's case, part of the reason Contrivo
favored him is because the character was the best he was at what he did.
Max was definitely a reluctant hero, but he was a hero nonetheless.  He was
a normal guy with greater-than-normal talents, and he fought at first
because he had to and then because everything was taken from him, so he had
no reason not to.  He just did what he needed to do.  Max wouldn't have been
nearly the hero he was if he'd had some kind of kaboomey powers.

It's the same reason I don't really consider Superman that heroic compared
to Batman.  Superman has all sorts of powers- X-ray vision, heat vision, ice
breath, flight, super strength, near-indestructability, you name it.  What's
Batman got?  He has a lot of nifty gadgets.  Yeah, he's also a martial
artist of almost unequaled skill, but he got that by working at it.
Superman just gets some yellow sunlight on him and *POOF* he can fly.  The
only thing Batman got from his birth was his wealth, and even then he got it
only through a tragic circumstance, which caused him to take up the defense
of innocents.  Superman's planet just blew up, causing him to land in
Kansas.  Yes, Superman experienced a tragedy somewhat like what happened to
Batman, but the cause was much different, as was the direct effect of the
tragedy.  Superman protects Metropolis and the rest of the world from beings
that are very powerful, but few of them are a great deal more powerful than
he is.  He can defeat many of them through sheer brute force, much like a
Doomsayer or Syker, and doesn't often have to think.  He just gets smacked
by Darkseid's eye beams or something, groans a bit, then proceeds to rip
something heavy up and lay his Super-Smackdown on the offender.

Yeah, Supes has heart in spades- that you can't deny him- but Batman is more
of a hero.  He doesn't have the powers, but he still fights with the gadgets
at his disposal.  He could just sit on his rich bat-ass all day and supply
those gadgets to other people so they could fight, leaving him in the safety
of the cave, but instead he goes out and fights because he knoiws that, deep
down inside, it's part of who he is and what he must do.  His foes aren't as
strong as those faced by Superman, but there's no way Batman could stand
against someone like Darkseid.  Therefore, Contrivo gives Batman enemies who
are relatively just as dangerous, like the Joker.  Hell, has Superman ever
had his back broken?  Yeah, he's given his life for the Earth, but I really
don't think he was ever all dead, but rather only mostly dead.

Superman is actually a lot like Goku- a lot of the people he fights only
pose a danger to the public because they're coming for him.  The first time
Batman fights people, they're almost without exception NOT after him
specifically.  Therefore, Batman does what he does more out of a sense of
duty.  Superman seems more the type who, somewhat naively, thinks that his
fights can eventually end if he just keeps at it.  Batman is more of a
realist.  He knows that he'll keep on fighting until he can fight no more
(see the Batman Beyond pilot, which you can probably pick up at your local
video store).  He may wish it wasn't so, that he could someday just stop and
have a peaceful life, but he knows that's the way it will be because of
human nature.  Batman is definitely much more of a literary Christ figure
than Superman.  While Superman may have a tussle with Lobo or Darkseid every
once in a while, most of the time he isn't in any REAL danger from the
people he fights, and when he goes home, he can usually leave his
superheroing with him.  Batman sleeps a tortured sleep and dreams tortured
dreams, never knowing peace because of what he's gone through.  You can say
that Superman believes that what he does serves an eventual end, while
Batman doesn't worry about the ends- he just does what he needs to do, much
like Mad Max or a "norm" in Hell on Earth.  The norms wish they didn't have
to continually fight against forces consistantly greater than themselves,
but they know that they will, simply because of the fact that people aren't
strong enough (at least not yet) to do anything about it.  The odds are
rarely against Superman.  They're frequently against Batman.  Still, Batman
keeps going because if he doesn't, the alternative is something far worse,
and he knows it.

The norms of Hell on Earth share that with Batman.  The odds are against
them and will always be against them, yet they continue to fight for their
wives, husbands, children, and friends, even if those loved ones are gone.
Part of what batman fights for is his memory of his father and mother.  They
know that they very well could, and in the end most likely *WILL* lose.
Still, they fight/  They fight because they really can't do anything else.
If they don't fight, then the people they love will have dies and suffered
for nothing and the pain will continue forever.  The arcanes fight sometimes
for the same reason (pretty much always for the same reason with the
Templars), but the Doomies have something totally different in mind for
their travels.  They want to convert people.  Many Junkers simply want to
get parts and tinker with things.  A lot of sykers think somewhat like the
norms in that they just want a place where they can live in peace, though
what sets all of the arcanes apart in terms of heroism (not necessarily the
same thing as heroic action) is the fact that the norms don't have any
special powers to assist them.  They get by simply on their own merits, and
most of the time any advantages they possess were obtained through their own
efforts.  True, Sykers have to train extensively to get what they're got,
but learning how to kick ass with kung fu (like Batman) is never going to be
as effective as being able to rip someone's rib cage right out of their
chests or lob a massive explosion.  The arcanes may be able to put down the
big, nasty things much more easily, but it's the norms who are the real
heroes because all they have is themselves- no help from above, just what's
inside, and doing what you can with that is what makes a hero.

Nick "postey-mo-rant-o" Zachariasen
Editor Emeritus
Trojan Times