Everyman - What Do *You* Want To See?

[fredrik_nilsson]

According to the product list, this is what we can expect:


Everyman: Not everyone can have superpowers and fight crime. But the guy selling newspapers down on the corner, the woman working as a receptionist for a superhero team, a lawyer specializing in defending supervillains, and a superhero's kid brother - all these are important characters, too, with stories of their own to tell and lots of flavor and adventure they can add to your Champions games. Everyman takes a look at these unsung, ordinary, but all too important people in ways that can add depth and excitement to any Champions character or campaign.

Author: Allen Thomas, et al.
Tentative Release Date: Late 2005

[fredrik_nilsson]

Too begin with, I really hope that Allen take a good look at Marvels (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0785100490/ref=pd_sxp_f/102-1670441-5578526?v=glance&s=books) by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross. The Watchmen might provide some inspiration too, but nothing compares too Marvels.

I expect a few notes on how fear among normals create groups like IHA.

Fanboys are staple of the genre, and should therefore be given a few pages. Fanboys range from sidekicks in the making (DC:s Cassie and Robin) to the geekish "know-it-all":s (Fanboy in Freakazoid), an everything in between. Incrediboy serves as a good reminder of the story potential in fanboys.

Naturally should the hang-arounds, like Snapper Carr, also be mentioned.

[transmetahuman]

I generally don't believe npcs like this need stats. I'd be just has happy to just see a picture [hopefully decent quality], a small origin, and a personality breakdown and leave it at that. Just use text boxes or the margin to let us know if something is exceptional about someone [Dr. Kelly Goodwyne has a 28 INT or Billy Blake has a 5 SPD].I pretty much agree. Exceptional attributes & talents in an abbreviated "only-if-exceptional" format; skills; more emphasis on personality, background ("origin"?? heh), and a variety of ways to use them (omitting the obvious DNPC/contact unless there are interesting twists). I'd really rather not see the word count taken up with pretty much boilerplate combat stats for mostly non-combat characters.

[Sketchpad]

I actually hope for a slew of "ordinary" packages ... that way it'd be a great resource for any modern day game ;)

[Hawksmoor]

Personally I wouldn't like to see it. IMO it is a waste of precious capital that should by rights be used to develop a real product like The Ultimate Base or The Ultimate Energy Projector.

Hawksmoor

[FenrisUlf]

Heck, just reprint _Normals Unbound_ and I'll be thrilled.

Showing in-story connections between various characters would be nice; that was one of my favorite bits from NU. Getting some coverage of villainous DNPCs would also be welcome.

[BobGreenwade]

To my mind:

1) Character Briefs (seen very rarely since 5th Edition) should be fine for most of the characters. That should give plenty of stats as they might be needed, without taking up too much room.

2) There should be a good selection of DNPCs, helpful people, non-powered "plot complication" types, criminal masterminds, and nusiances.

3) It might even be good to have some people who never show up in person, but who influence the world in such a way that their presence is felt even if the PCs never even know they exist. A newspaper copy editor with a subtle political agenda, a bank loan manager with underworld connections, a building inspector who takes bribes, or even a faceless vandal can impact the world in subtle yet profound ways.

4) In light of the preceding paragraph, separating a person's description between "Known Background" and "Behind The Scenes" information might be helpful. It's not that players might read the information, but the first would be the paragraph that the PCs might already know or find out about by just asking around, while the second would be stuff that they'd know only if it was revealed to them.

Those are my initial, off-the-cuff thoughts, anyway.

[Twilight]

Heck, just reprint _Normals Unbound_ and I'll be thrilled.

Showing in-story connections between various characters would be nice; that was one of my favorite bits from NU. Getting some coverage of villainous DNPCs would also be welcome.

Agreed totally Fenris and rep to you. Just give us every character in Normals Unbound, plus a few extra if you like and we'll be deleriously happy.

[RDU Neil]

I generally don't believe npcs like this need stats. I'd be just has happy to just see a picture [hopefully decent quality], a small origin, and a personality breakdown and leave it at that. Just use text boxes or the margin to let us know if something is exceptional about someone [Dr. Kelly Goodwyne has a 28 INT or Billy Blake has a 5 SPD].

REPPED! This is exactly what we need. Good image, interesting personality, maybe a couple plot point ideas. You could do two per page and really end up with a lot of interesting people to insert as needed.

I would love a supplement like this.

Oh... and maybe the "normal" people from other cultures/planets/species, etc. What is the atlantean shell craftswoman like? What is the 'Gfi-&rst vendor from Proxima 4 like? (Not that this is necessary, but you set a stage and a setting and depth by having the regulars of a society fleshed out... not just the special named characters.)

[Jhamin]

-I heartily agree that character briefs or even an absence of stats would be good.

-I also agree that a slew of "normal" packages and writeups of a few "archtypal normals" would be good. Like a character sheet for the average patrol cop (the bike cop from Champs: Battlegrounds was really useful to me), fireman, soldier, martial arts instructor, etc

-I'd love to see this heavily rooted in the Champions universe. Much like normals unbound a bunch of info on hero & villian DNPCs, the staff at the crystal gallery mall, the cast of To Save the World, and so on would be great.

-I'd love to see info on the Millenium city equivalents to a lot of Comic Staples. The police commish, The editor of a major paper, the sleezy journalist (and can we move past Jimmy Dougan already? Reporters don't all wear trench coats anymore. Or at least give him a rival?), A private eye, the halfway house coordinator, etc.

[Beetle]

I think Normals Unbound pretty much covered everything about normals. I'm very curious to see if this supplement brings anything to the table that we haven't already seen before. If it doesn't then it's a waste of HERO's resources and our time (as MitchellS and Hawksmoor already pointed out)

[fredrik_nilsson]

I think Normals Unbound pretty much covered everything about normals.
For a person that missed the original book. What did I miss?

[Enforcer84]

some "normal" pacakges would be nice too;
Teachers, Accountants, Bankers, especially bankers :), EMT's, Firefighters...though some of those showed up in Villainy Amok didnt' they?

[Beetle]

For a person that missed the original book. What did I miss?
An excellent introduction on the creation and use of NPCs (including good advice on how to individualize them and make them a presence in the campaign). This was followed by scads of fully written up NPCs from all walks of life with detailed information on their backgrounds, how they might relate to each other and how they might relate to the heroes. It sounds really simple when it's written down, but it was executed very well. It ranks up their with the original Dark Champions as best 4th edition supplement

[Hugh Neilson]

See "Tacky tacky tacky". How about a fashion critic focusing on Supers? Actually, what about covering the "papparazzi" of the Supers set?

[allen]

Each character will have a character brief -- three lines for stats, a section for important abilities, and a section for pertinent Disadvantages -- a portrait, and a write up. Each will be a page long, with a handful taking two pages if necessary.

[RDU Neil]

Each character will have a character brief -- three lines for stats, a section for important abilities, and a section for pertinent Disadvantages -- a portrait, and a write up. Each will be a page long, with a handful taking two pages if necessary.

Seconding MitchelS... this sounds great. Minimal stats... call outs on what makes them interesting/different... picture. How will the write up be different than the brief? I like that there is both, as I assume the write up will be CU specific, the brief more generic and insertable into an campaign.

Cool.

[Hugh Neilson]

Seconding MitchelS... this sounds great. Minimal stats... call outs on what makes them interesting/different... picture. How will the write up be different than the brief? I like that there is both, as I assume the write up will be CU specific, the brief more generic and insertable into an campaign.

I expect the brief is game stats, while the writeup is the character's background, personality, campaign use, etc. A focus on the characters, not the stats, will be great for two reasons. First, "normals in combat" isn't the real purpose of normals. Second, this will make the book a useful sourcebook for gamers who don't pay Hero but want some interesting NPC's to drop into a non-hero game, possibly broadening sales appeal..

[allen]

How will the write up be different than the brief?

Hugh's got it -- what I mean by write-up is Background/History; Personality/Motivation; Quote; Campaign Use; Appearance; and a Sidebar for plot seeds.

As for the Package Deals, I'll definitely keep it in mind. Usually there's blank pages at the end of a book to make it enough pages to complete a signature, so I'm thinking Package Deals or something similar would go well there.

[RDU Neil]

Sweet. I loved Normals Unbound, and this sounds like it could be just as good. Looking forward to it.

[greypaladin_01]

Personally I wouldn't like to see it. IMO it is a waste of precious capital that should by rights be used to develop a real product like The Ultimate Base or The Ultimate Energy Projector.

Hawksmoor


In many ways, I would have to agree with Hawksmoor. As much as I enjoyed Normals Unbound when it came out I feel that those types of characters can just as easily be handled in Digital Hero or as an extra few characters in each suppliment. (i.e. Mystic World - have one or two mystic themed NPC characters for use by characters.) The early books like Champions Universe and Millinium City handled this very well. Doing a normals book seems more of an excuse almost to just not have to develop anymore of the locations with characters in future books.

[TheQuestionMan]

Package Deals for everybody!!!

[TheEmerged]

Give me "Normals Unbound" with a more consistent attribute scale and I'll be happy :D

Oh, and a soapbox -- as much as possible, keep the writeups to where I don't have to turn a page to read anything. If they're more than one page, put them on the left and right of the spine...