Mutant High

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

Websites like TV tropes (and to a lesser extent Wikipedia) detail the concept of "" In short, it deals with how hopeful, post-modern, or gritty the setting is. (ie are you boyscout 1930s superman, bloodthirsty wolverine, or self-aware Deadpool)

Which era do you want to set the game in? How dark or serious do you want to make this game?

On the dark side, the game could incur serious injury with out the death-spiral taking immediate effect. Think for a moment - a teenager fails at what they're doing, has their ego bruised at school, and are already an outcast due to mutant abilities... Death by teen suicide seems more likely than by super-villain. Major consequences could be less about penalties taking place in that action scene, and more about degrading the character's will and psyche over time. Non-combat scenes become all the more important in keeping spirits up or otherwise helping students. High-school Call of Cthlulu or World of Darkness for a quick analogy.

The exact opposite effect is possible as well. You wouldn't be sending students against real A-list villains - would you? It could be far more, the opponent got away, so you need to do the dishes for a month. A high school where everyone has weird abilities could be mined for a lot of comedy. (Exemplified by the old RPG "Teenagers from Outer Space") By existing in a comic book universe where no one stays dead at the whims of the great artist in the sky and real guns don't exist because they're "imitate-able acts" so characters don't stay hurt.

A middle road might be allowing the spiral as a way to emphasize that the players need to be a team (or earn social points in the other half of the game) to offset the great danger of combat. Additional mechanics like spendable hero-points or luck rolls might be an option as well.

[Evil Scientist]

[Onix]

If the death spiral is inevitable then find a way (other than death, unless you really wanted to) to end the spiral. Once a PC got to a certain amount of consequences they hit a low point, but then outline how they can build from that low point. If it really is inevitable, (sounds about right for moody teens) maybe going through the spiral is a way to shed the bad trait that brought them down. When they hit rock bottom they get to reduce or drop a bad habit.

As for bad habits the ones I imagine are things like
Bully
Fearful
Glory hog
Not a team player
No self confidence
Doesn't trust others

As to CA's point about what comic book age the School is in, maybe the players could choose which one they want to emulate?

[junejazz]

[Evil Scientist]

[junejazz]

[junejazz]

Back to the subject of hero points. I've just written up on my blog. Something similar could work in Mutant high. Some of a character's Tropes are marked as Good or Bad Habits. The main difference between this and the Virtues & Vices mechanic is that the players share their pool of Good Karma and the GM keeps all the Bad Karma. A Karma point can be used to say either "No, this consequence does not get put on me," or "This Minor Consequence is actually a Major Consequence,"

When a character loses a fight they can trade one of their Major Positive Consequences in order to absolve their self of one of their bad habits.

Absolving a character of their negative consequences happens through in game actions and grants the players extra good karma points. If they've gotten a job at the Daily Bugle, then their Can't Afford the Rent consequence would be absolved. The player should make their goal, in this case Getting a Job at the Daily Bugle, known as well as what consequence they wish to absolve. Once the goal is reached then the consequence is erased from their sheet, they gain a point of Good Karma, and they might get a new Trope, Photographer for the Daily Bugle, or add 1 to an existing trope if it changes their status quo in a way which warrants it.

To define tropes better, they are basically a character's narrative weight. They describe what the character can do reliably and also what sets them back. Regardless, both cases cost points. They're like broad, story based skills and the amount of points put into them determines their bonus or deficit in a roll where they apply.

[Onix]

It sounds like it could work. I think it will need playtesting with someone there that has the vested interest of breaking the system. Maybe award your players extra points for finding flaws in the math or limits in the logic.

I'm not so hot on the names of the points, I'd get the wrong idea as to their purpose.

[junejazz]

[Drakeknight]

I'd just like to say this looks really freaking cool. I especially like the Trope system and how it's weighted.
To say that I ran a forum RPG with pretty much this exact concept a few years ago, I don't have much to contribute. Tonally, my instinct would be to swing wildly and at will from light-hearted to dark, for a couple of reasons.

First, it reflects the nature of modern comic books; they're no longer exclusively tales about square-jawed heroes written for little boys or exclusively tales about gun-toting anti-heroes written for teenagers. They instead can vary from light and triumphant in tone to dark and pessimistic, and that's one of the cool things about superheroes. Inherently, you have the fantastic elements that naturally incite wonder and levity (e.g. WOO YEAH I'M SPIDERMAN I CAN SWING AROUND), but on the other hand superheroing is an inherently dangerous business and tragedy can strike at any time (e.g. OH NO I'M SPIDERMAN EVERYONE I LOVE DIES).

Second, probably more obviously, it reflects the nature of teenage life. On the one hand, you've got your youth, you've got your friends, everything's pretty awesome, on the other hand, you've got tests, you've got bullies, and your parents just don't understand.

Third, it's just more fun. All light-hearted "hell-yeah superpowers are awesome lets go save a kitty from a tree" all the time is boring (And also, very obviously not what this game was designed for), but on the flipside, nothing but tragedy and death is just a slog with no reward. The dark is defined by the life, and the moments of happiness all the sweeter for having suffered to earn them.

It occurs to me that the main point of my spiel is already sort of what you're going for, but I already typed it up, I may as well show you it.So, yeah, once you're done sifting through Things You Already Know and Meaningless Crap, I hope underneath it you find Anything Remotely Useful.