New GM needing help

[clownprince23]

Hey everyone, I'm new to GM'ing and have recently started up a game with some friends. I need some help coming up with story lines and trying to keep the players interested.

The world we're playing in is our current world. Everything is pretty much the same as ours but with a few small differences. Some of the differences would be business men and company names I've used from comics and a rebel army lead by Victor Von Doom takes control of Latveria. The main difference is about 8 months ago, a super hero appeared named Apollo. He has flight, strength, speed, and invulnerability. So the current media is caught up in Apollo hype, loving everything this seemingly perfect does, when our band of heroes shows up as well and forms a team.

So far, the games have included stopping some terrorists steal a powered armor suit from Kord Industries, stopping a mob leader from distributing a new drug called mental meth. and stopping a mafia son from becoming SABBAC.

The current adventure is planning on leading them to South America where they're investigating animals that have been stealing high tech stuff. Animals that have been severely tested on and cybernetically advanced. The villian for this campaign is a super intelligent Gorrilla that wants to send a satelite into space to change the course of an asteroid so that it hits Earth, and he can rule the world with a new Animal Kingdom.

The overall adventure I'm wanting to plan is revealing that Apollo is from another dimension, and that he has plans on taking over this world, and he's gaining the people's trust while putting people into power that he can command.

The main problem I seem to be having is that the games seem to be nothing more then, find the bad guy and fight, when I'm wanting more then that. There's potential for some good character twists, as one player is an enforcer for the mob who is playing hero to see if there's any profit in it, while another player is a journalist.

I guess I need advice in how to pace each game and maybe some storylines to introduce some actual villians.

[sgingell]

First of all, welcome to the boards.
If the problem you’re having is too much combat, the basic solution is to give the heroes problems where their combat skills aren’t much help. There are going to be people who are threats who it doesn’t help to kill. If a Senator proposes very restrictive mutant registration legislation that’s a problem, but beating him up isn’t really a solution. There are going to be people who are threats who you don’t want to hurt. Say, a journalist is getting closer and closer to unmasking their secret identities (assuming they are keeping their ID secret) that’s a problem you can’t solve by just killing something. On the other side there might be an opponent you just aren’t powerful enough to fight straight up. A powerful super who could take out the whole party in combat forces the PC’s to find subtle and sneaky ways to counter him.

Another thing to keep in mind for even violent encounters is that a villain isn’t going to fight to the death in most circumstances. If a fight is going against a villain, he should try to get out of there to come back and fight another day. Recurring villains are good, especially if you can get the party to really genuinely hate them, but you can’t get those if every adventure ends with a corpse.

-Stephen

[OurLadyWar]

I've found working with your players'/characters' past is very helpful in providing twists and turns along the way.

[mako]

Don't mind the comment from the peanut gallery (I.E. - the noob), but you could also play up to a detective scenario, having the heroes sneak around and find clues or evidence to help later in the game. Just be careful about this, some people prefer action over strategy or thinking. You could try to balance the two aspects, which is usually better than going purely for one or the other. At least, in my experience.

[The Punisher]

I agree with Mako, a little intrigue and alot of plot twists and turns really keeps them coming back for more.

[OurLadyWar]

mako said:

Don't mind the comment from the peanut gallery (I.E. - the noob), but you could also play up to a detective scenario, having the heroes sneak around and find clues or evidence to help later in the game. Just be careful about this, some people prefer action over strategy or thinking. You could try to balance the two aspects, which is usually better than going purely for one or the other. At least, in my experience.

Hey, it worked in the Maltese Falcon, didn't it? It's a good point, man.

[The Punisher]

Why thank you, babe.

[vicsage]

Sounds like the first problem is that your heroes aren't heroes. Why would a mob enforcer and a mercenary care about any of this? If you can come up with a good reason for that, that's a plot in itself.