Friday, October 14, 2016

Luke Cage is the Perfect Set Up For A Street Level Game

I've been watching Luke Cage, and I'm only about 6 episodes in but so far it's got my attention. I could care less about the political and social correct crap people are screaming out about it - frankly, if you didn't think Luke Cage was going to feature black issues in it to some degree I'm not sure what you thought it was about - but I do LOVE the setup for the show.

See, six episodes in and we have Luke Cage vs. a powerful criminal overlord. Why are they fighting? Honestly, because of a misunderstanding. See, Luke was doing work for a friendly neighborhood father figure. Said father figure had a connection to Criminal Overlord. Only, when father figure ends up as a third party in a dispute with Criminal Overlord, one of Overlord's henchmen intervenes and ends up killing people he ought not to.

Now with the middle ground gone, both Luke and said Criminal Overlord are too proud to actually talk about what happened and how it was for the good of neither, and they both want to restore father figure's legacy. But they can't. And so now they're on a collision course for destruction.

Only, it gets better. Unknown to Luke there is another, bigger, criminal overlord also involved.

So you see, it's a great setup for a game.

You introduce the players doing some small jobs - neighborly heroics and what not - for the old retired adventurer/hero. Then he dies. Heroes go to war with villain A, but as they take him down Villain B is ready to take over the turf too. You end up with progression, cause and effect, and consequence for actions.

It's a simple setup, but that's partially why it works. Straight forward, but room to grow. Might be worth trying out.

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