Brand Development Tenet #4

Special Powers Should Remain Special.

<<JAKE: Edited from about an hour ago to add my new evil picture and missing paragraph>>

For back-to-back days, we’re going to specifically talk game design. I’ll go out on a limb and say that the inclusion of special powers in HeroClix was the biggest step in its game design since the creation of combat dials.

Special Powers are, in fact, awesome.

Special powers break down the walls of HeroClix’s game design, and theoretically, allow game design to go infinite. The Brand Development team has the ability to flavor a character’s powers to capture the real essence of the comics. There remains a dilemma, however.  There is a flavor temptation to do special powers as well as a mechanical temptation to do them.

One execution of Special Powers serves the IP (again intellectual property for non-brand people) by giving characters more breadth and color; the other execution serves the game of HeroClix by creating nuance and variety of game experience.

To help make an analogy, let’s use a favorite subject o’ mine- ice cream. Imagine the PAC (powers and abilities card for new players) as the counter at Cold Stone Creamery (does my free plug get me free ice cream?). As game designers, we have 44 flavors (not counting team abilities) to dish out. We have chocolate (let’s say Stealth), vanilla (let’s say Charge), and bubblegum (let’s say Flurry) to name a few. Some of our customers love just vanilla; some of our customers love a dish that has 13 scoops on it.

My favorite part of Special Powers is that they primarily allow us to capture really specific flavors. They can introduce new flavors, and keep people interested in ice cream for quite some time. There are effectively four ways that we’ve executed on Special Powers to date.

1) Flordia Key Lime Pie Ice Cream (let’s just shorten it to Key Lime from here on out) - Key Lime allows us to create very specific flavorful twisty executions of powers already represented on the PAC card. Instead of standard lime sherbet, Florida Key Lime Pie tastes like…well, vacation..I guess.

A solid, simple execution of Key Lime is Justice League’s Batzarro. Batzarro can only use Perplex in a negative fashion. It’s a really narrow execution of the power than shows how the alternate Bizarro-verse Batman is in fact a bumbling boob. It’s fun, it’s in flavor, and it’s a little different than your standard scoop.

2) Wasabi Ice Cream- Wasabi special powers can’t be found anywhere near the PAC card. These powers stand out as completely unique, and like Wasabi, can polarize an audience. My favorite scoop of HeroClix Wasabi is the “Out of the Shadows” Batman. It’s a really neat, Batman-esque power that could only be accomplished via special abilities.

Wasabi, I believe, is the best possible execution of the special powers. It doesn’t detract from the PAC card, and it’s the only way fans can get weird, off-beat flavors.  While other special power flavors are good for the game, this one is great.

3) The Dipped Cone – Dipped cone specials give you a bite of one flavor, then finish with another. Like a vanilla cone dipped in butterscotch, these special powers let you use one element of the PAC card, then follow up with another PAC power.

I like the Rampaging Hulk as an example for this flavor of special power. His special power-

SQUASH: The Rampaging Hulk can use Leap/Climb. Immediately after the resolution of a move action in which the Rampaging Hulk uses Leap/Climb, he can use Quake as a free action.

is the perfect example of a good dipped cone. These powers link up neatly to show the Hulk bounding into battle, squashing the poor baddies in his path. It makes sense, and it uses the PAC card as a guidepost, which lowers the knowledge hurdle it takes to learn this special power.

My favorite dip cone that has yet to be dipped is Nightcrawler. I can’t wait to do Phasing/Teleport with Smoke Cloud. BAMF!

4) Neapolitan Ice Cream – If you don’t know what Neapolitan is, look in your grandma’s fridge. Neapolitan provides three different flavors in one carton. This is the mutual fund approach for ice cream. If you like strawberry and chocolate, but not vanilla, you’ll be happy 2/3 of the time.

From a game sense, Neapolitan special powers allow you to use a handful of powers in one slot on the dial. They allow for multiple abilities that could appear in that slot to appear at the same time. Using the standard PAC card and HeroClix dial, two speed powers couldn’t appear at the same time, regardless of the character’s ability to use (in comics) both powers. These combinations create game play scenarios that previously could not have happened. Neapolitan special powers scratch the itch of our most rabid, game-focused fans.

In general, I strongly dislike Neapolitan Ice Cream and the usage of Neapolitan special powers.

While they hypothetically create some interesting game interactions, they are daunting to new players and casual fans of the game. To further compound issues, the bulk of these special powers have no interaction. A sizable chunk of rules questions submitted to WizKids relate to the interaction or non-interaction of Special Powers.

Also, players typically have around a half-a-dozen different options of things to do on their turn; Neapolitan powers can multiply the player’s decision tree up extremely quickly. Thus, Neapolitan specials give way to significant rules encumbrance, and as many of the powers were never intended to be blended at their creation, timing issues.

Should we outright get rid of Neapolitan specials? No. For some flavor and comic accuracy reasons, they should still be a part of the game design arsenal.

Should we be extremely careful with the proliferation of and execution of Neapolitan specials? Absolutely.

Neapolitan specials ratchet up the learning curve of our game and may deter new players from entering, thus stifling the brand. They should be used with caution, and not intrinsically to promote sometimes clever game design interactions.

Worst of all, Neapolitan powers dilute the “specialness” of special powers.  The goal (or tenet, if you prefer) is to keep our special powers special.

Also, while it may be a seperate topic, I think the number of special powers being lowered may contribute to increased specialness.  More on this subject, later…

I’m curious to hear your opinions on the subject.

I feel like we’re starting to get meaty, now. I hope you’re having as much fun as I am discussing our game, our brand, and our future.

See you tomorrow for Brand Development Tenet #5, and a halfway point recap on the series.

-Jake