It's an interesting work, in which you construct certain issues in a 32 issue miniseries about a trans teen superhero. However, the miniseries structure somewhat works against the conceit - you roll a d8 after each issue and skip that many issues. While this means that the average length of play is 8 issues long, there's going to be many playthroughs that are much shorter and longer. With only d8 tables to add thematic complications to the issues, you're going to get a lot of repeats if you roll low, and might not have a great picture of why the final issue is the way it is if you roll high. The complication for the last issue is "you come out", though you do come out in one of the individual issue complications to a friend (and potentially more than once, accidentally or as a result of enemy action). I get what the game is getting at - here you come out to a more public degree, and of your own volition (though not necessarily in circumstances of your own making.)
I would suggest that the advantage of the miniseries format is not just in the finale (although this finale is definitely well chosen) but in the ability to aim for that finale over a set course of issues. Not knowing exactly when you'll get there impedes the sense of pacing you can develop as a creator, or, if you prefer, the sense of continuous growth you would experience as the player of a character in a RPG.
I think the best ways to alter this are:
* Make the miniseries a set length. Give some ideas for different sorts of pressures that might make for a good finale. (Though maybe this part doesn't need to be mechanized. I like the idea that on different playthroughs we can have finales that are more or less under the control of the main character.)
* Incorporate more tables into the development of each issue. That way if you get the same thing twice but don't have a second idea you have some variation in the prompt. Tables could also be a fun way to create villains, fellow students or supporting cast when you're not sure how to proceed.
* It's all very well and good to say "oh this can be any kind of setting you want" but actually that's not true, the teen super genre is very different in different contexts. I would instead pay some attention to fleshing out the setting in terms of its themes. What is special about 1) the school environment, 2) the superhero environment, 3) the rest of the world as it relates to trans characters? In shifting between these environments what does the main character gain and lose? How are the pressures different? These are all questions that can help a writer guide the character through the issues.
Hero Too is a 5 page superhero rpg that uses a fairly impressive list of touchstones (including Mob Psycho, Lumberjanes, plot ARMOR) as well as journaling mechanics to tell a story about the interconnection between superhero identities and trans identities.
Because its subject matter gets heavy, and because it's a journaling game, Hero Too includes a really neat mechanic where you can green/yellow/red content as it comes up, thereby ensuring that if you inadvertently write in an element you don't like, it isn't automatically caught up in the narrative momentum, and you can absolutely just throw it out.
Hero Too also has mechanics for debriefing after writing, and comprehensive content warnings on its recommended media.
Gameplay-wise, Hero Too steers away from a more simple "roll a die, write a prompt" approach and encourages basically a sequence of short stories. It gives you the framework to do this, too---and although it encourages you to roll a die and skip whole swaths of "issues" in your comic book, you could easily ignore this and write a full mosaic novel.
In fact, I think Hero Too has a really strong niche as a game for people who want to get more comfortable writing short fiction. Its framework encourages writing full, self-contained stories, and it reliably hands you prompts to help you do so. Hero Too also gets a lot of its mileage out of its quiet moments, and this gives it the potential to hit really hard---it also makes me glad for all the safety framework it has.
Overall, I would recommend this to folks who like writing, and who feel okay with facing some discomfort while exploring an identity. I would also enthusiastically recommend this to anyone who is interested in game mechanics, because it does a ton of things all at the same time, and it does them all really well (including and especially connecting color to game mechanics, using mechanics to frame storytelling, and setting up guardrails that allow plays to tackle difficult topics while staying safe.)
on page 2 it mentions rolling a d8 and adding it to the current issue number to determine the next location. But the only tables I see are the two complications tables on page 3. I don't know if I'm missing something or am just reading something wrong.
Heroes Too is a solo journaling game about being in a superhero academy while struggling with your trans identity. The author did a great job presenting superhero school life, and portraying the struggle of a trans person coming out. The game takes place over 32 issues, and in which your character learns how to become a superhero, and coming to terms with their identity and coming out by the end of the series. I love how this game includes safety tools for solo play, which is something I don't see very often for solo games.
This is a very neat little game that you should check out. Leans nicely into superhero tropes and, of course, trans narratives. As a solo game it provides the right level of prompt and constraint - nice.
Kudos to the writer for adding it to the megabundle!
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
It's an interesting work, in which you construct certain issues in a 32 issue miniseries about a trans teen superhero. However, the miniseries structure somewhat works against the conceit - you roll a d8 after each issue and skip that many issues. While this means that the average length of play is 8 issues long, there's going to be many playthroughs that are much shorter and longer. With only d8 tables to add thematic complications to the issues, you're going to get a lot of repeats if you roll low, and might not have a great picture of why the final issue is the way it is if you roll high. The complication for the last issue is "you come out", though you do come out in one of the individual issue complications to a friend (and potentially more than once, accidentally or as a result of enemy action). I get what the game is getting at - here you come out to a more public degree, and of your own volition (though not necessarily in circumstances of your own making.)
I would suggest that the advantage of the miniseries format is not just in the finale (although this finale is definitely well chosen) but in the ability to aim for that finale over a set course of issues. Not knowing exactly when you'll get there impedes the sense of pacing you can develop as a creator, or, if you prefer, the sense of continuous growth you would experience as the player of a character in a RPG.
I think the best ways to alter this are:
* Make the miniseries a set length. Give some ideas for different sorts of pressures that might make for a good finale. (Though maybe this part doesn't need to be mechanized. I like the idea that on different playthroughs we can have finales that are more or less under the control of the main character.)
* Incorporate more tables into the development of each issue. That way if you get the same thing twice but don't have a second idea you have some variation in the prompt. Tables could also be a fun way to create villains, fellow students or supporting cast when you're not sure how to proceed.
* It's all very well and good to say "oh this can be any kind of setting you want" but actually that's not true, the teen super genre is very different in different contexts. I would instead pay some attention to fleshing out the setting in terms of its themes. What is special about 1) the school environment, 2) the superhero environment, 3) the rest of the world as it relates to trans characters? In shifting between these environments what does the main character gain and lose? How are the pressures different? These are all questions that can help a writer guide the character through the issues.
A solid first attempt, very enjoyable to play.
Hero Too is a 5 page superhero rpg that uses a fairly impressive list of touchstones (including Mob Psycho, Lumberjanes, plot ARMOR) as well as journaling mechanics to tell a story about the interconnection between superhero identities and trans identities.
Because its subject matter gets heavy, and because it's a journaling game, Hero Too includes a really neat mechanic where you can green/yellow/red content as it comes up, thereby ensuring that if you inadvertently write in an element you don't like, it isn't automatically caught up in the narrative momentum, and you can absolutely just throw it out.
Hero Too also has mechanics for debriefing after writing, and comprehensive content warnings on its recommended media.
Gameplay-wise, Hero Too steers away from a more simple "roll a die, write a prompt" approach and encourages basically a sequence of short stories. It gives you the framework to do this, too---and although it encourages you to roll a die and skip whole swaths of "issues" in your comic book, you could easily ignore this and write a full mosaic novel.
In fact, I think Hero Too has a really strong niche as a game for people who want to get more comfortable writing short fiction. Its framework encourages writing full, self-contained stories, and it reliably hands you prompts to help you do so. Hero Too also gets a lot of its mileage out of its quiet moments, and this gives it the potential to hit really hard---it also makes me glad for all the safety framework it has.
Overall, I would recommend this to folks who like writing, and who feel okay with facing some discomfort while exploring an identity. I would also enthusiastically recommend this to anyone who is interested in game mechanics, because it does a ton of things all at the same time, and it does them all really well (including and especially connecting color to game mechanics, using mechanics to frame storytelling, and setting up guardrails that allow plays to tackle difficult topics while staying safe.)
on page 2 it mentions rolling a d8 and adding it to the current issue number to determine the next location. But the only tables I see are the two complications tables on page 3. I don't know if I'm missing something or am just reading something wrong.
Apologies for the late reply.
The number determined decides that issue number, as the series comes to an end when it reaches Issue 32.
Heroes Too is a solo journaling game about being in a superhero academy while struggling with your trans identity. The author did a great job presenting superhero school life, and portraying the struggle of a trans person coming out. The game takes place over 32 issues, and in which your character learns how to become a superhero, and coming to terms with their identity and coming out by the end of the series. I love how this game includes safety tools for solo play, which is something I don't see very often for solo games.
If you haven't read Dreadnought by April Daniels, then this is a fantastic piece of parallel evolution and you’re in for a treat.
is it ok to post some of what i write for this online? i'll explain what it is and include a link to the game
Of course!
awesome, thanks!
This is a very neat little game that you should check out. Leans nicely into superhero tropes and, of course, trans narratives. As a solo game it provides the right level of prompt and constraint - nice.
Kudos to the writer for adding it to the megabundle!
You want to write trans puns? You want your totally awesome teenage hero to have a formative experience? You want more trans narrative in your life?
Look no further, this is the perfect game for that!