Anywhere but your own country

[Hermit]

I've asked about the best place in this or that contienent to run a champions game in before, but this is a bit more encompassing, and general at the same time, so no fancy polls or whatever.

Exempting your own country, if you could have a Champions game set anywhere in the world, where would you play? And why? What sort of archetype/niche would your character for this setting fit, if that would shape that at all.

[Rapier]

I've asked about the best place in this or that contienent to run a champions game in before, but this is a bit more encompassing, and general at the same time, so no fancy polls or whatever.

Exempting your own country, if you could have a Champions game set anywhere in the world, where would you play? And why? What sort of archetype/niche would your character for this setting fit, if that would shape that at all.

For quite a long time, I ran a campaign that was based in the UK.

For ever, I have had one of those fascinations with the UK. So I used it. All of our Champs campaigns were based in Europe. It took a LOT more effort for me, but I much more enjoyed the creations.

After having to travel for work, I realised (many years later) how poorly I had actually portrayed things. But in the end, everyone was happy and it was a good game...and that is what counts.

These days, I realise that we have a lot more fun when gaming in a setting as close to what we know and are comfortable with as possible. Since all my players live and work in the US, I try to stick to that.

HOWEVER, I would LOVE to run a campaign based in the middle/far east. It's another of my fascinations. The only problem is that it would take just as much, if not more research for me to be comfortable enough to run it. The problem is not just what I create, but my ability to explain the premise to my players...which is always where you fall short.

[assault]

I'd have to go for the USA, just for the chuckle value.

[Rapier]

You know, its funny.

I guess in the back of my mind, I just always assumed that everyone had their setting in the US.

Those in other places, do you normally have a setting based locally?

[Korvar]

Same here. Set in the weird, weird world of the USA.

I've played Superhero games set in the UK, but the last one I was in (Aberrant) is set in the US.

[assault]

Those in other places, do you normally have a setting based locally?

Yep. It works like this:
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
"I wouldn't know. I've never been to Kansas before. And don't call me Toto."

Familiarity is useful.

[Trebuchet]

When I first set our MidGuard campaign up in 1992 I deliberately wanted to get us out of the US, so I based the team in Oslo, Norway. We're a globe-trotting team with an international membership (Currently 3 Americans, a Russian, a Canadian, a Frenchman, an Italian, and an immortal born in Outremier in 1000 AD whose current nationality is somewhat vague.) and travel internationally far more than any team I've seen in the comics. We've been to every continent except Antarctica. While we've had several adventures in the US, we end up in Europe most often. We've enjoyed coming up with exotic foreign locations; it often adds tremendous spice to the adventures.

[Murrkon5]

I guess in the back of my mind, I just always assumed that everyone had their setting in the US.


I always base the game in Canada, usually in the city I'm currently living. The only time I've GM'ed a game set in New York was because I "inherited" the Big Chair from another GM's longtime campaign.

I've run into this USA-centric attitude in one particular player. An emigrant from down south, he made two faux pas in a WW II super campaign. The first was pretty mild, as he mused once that it was odd "Nobody had picked a patriotic character." Why he thought a bunch of Canadians in a game set in Canada would might choose a "Captain America" clone was a greater puzzlement.

His second faux pas was a deeper cut. We started the campaign in 1939. He grunted and asked "Why don't we begin when the war started?". That derailed the game for a length of time while we berated him for America's 1941 tardiness.

But that's all beside the topic.

I had a yearning to run a second WW II campaign set closer to the front lines, in England. Have a government formed team called "The Empire Brigade". Players would be "restricted" to a character from any country in the British Commonwealth.

However, the previous Golden Age campaign was still pretty fresh, so nobody (including me) had any great push to see it happen.

[Hugh Neilson]

For those of us not living in the US, it's the obvious target as it's the setting of most of the source material, both the comics and the sourcebooks. I think many of us set our games there for that reason alone.

[Well, that and we can blow up YOUR living space instead of our own, I suppose...]

[alexraccoon]

Hong Kong Prior to and after the handover. East meets west,Modern and ancient street gangs martial arts Both British and American bases (prior) just over the border from communist China. A large number of local islands with several different nationalities a whole host of ideas for champions and dark champions as well as heroic modern adventures.

[Bloodstone]

I've spent almost my entire life in Chicago and that's where I run a fair number of games. Oddly, it seems an almost equal number have been in London and NYC.

[TheTemplar]

I think Canada would be a great setting for a game. I'd probably start there if starting up a non-US campaign.

[Weldun]

I would prefer Japan. Traditionalism vs. Modernism, where bigotry and small mindedness can be found in the most unexpected places, but acceptance can also be found amongst some of the most traditional people. And, it would have to be one of the next largest sources of core source materials.

To answer Rapier's question, I would have to agree that it is simply because of the U.S.A. centered nature of the majority of sourcebooks, but I would have to agree with the owner of a rival game company that the U.S.A. is pretty much the center of the modern superhero. And, it is the largest market, so there's good business sense there. Hell, at least HERO bothers to put out at least one book to give an idea of what is happening around the globe. Said rival never printed one since the first "unlimited" (hint, hint) came out. It's nice to have a game company realize that there IS a world outside the continental U.S.

[Blue]

Probably Lucha Hero, Mexico. My players don't seem like they're up for the idea, unfortunately.

[Kevin Schultz]

Japan, mainly 'cuz I lived there for a couple of years and I've watched a lot of anime. I don't know nearly enough to get a 'real' feel for the place, of course, but I do know enough to BS my way through the genre conventions. :)

[Lord Liaden]

Hell, at least HERO bothers to put out at least one book to give an idea of what is happening around the globe. Said rival never printed one since the first "unlimited" (hint, hint) came out. It's nice to have a game company realize that there IS a world outside the continental U.S.

One of the things I've long appreciated about Hero Games is that it's made far more of an effort to embrace the potential for supers gaming outside the US than, not only other game companies, but the mainstream comics companies as well. Champions Worldwide is only the latest book in that trend, starting with Enemies: The International File for 3E Champs, and including Red Doom, Kingdom of Champions, Champions of the North and European Enemies. (Yes, I know that last one was dreck, but at least it was a nod to the concept.) International characters and settings have been scattered through a number of other books as well. I'd also say that the current Hidden Lands sourcebook fits in that tradition.

Back on topic: If I had the time to do the proper research, I'd love to run a campaign based in India. IMO the potential is enormous. It's a huge, remarkably diverse country that's a study in contrasts: modern Western culture alongside ancient Eastern traditions; great wealth within sight of grinding poverty; advanced technology and antique mysticism. The diverse religious, ethnic, social and linguistic fault lines in India are rife with story possibilities. There's even an ongoing cold war with rival nuclear power Pakistan, which sometimes turns hot.

I would probably base the campaign in Bombay, a big cosmopolitan city and major port, and an economic and cultural nexus.

[Weldun]

One of the things I've long appreciated about Hero Games is that it's made far more of an effort to embrace the potential for supers gaming outside the US than, not only other game companies, but the mainstream comics companies as well. Champions Worldwide is only the latest book in that trend, starting with Enemies: The International File for 3E Champs, and including Red Doom, Kingdom of Champions, Champions of the North and European Enemies. (Yes, I know that last one was dreck, but at least it was a nod to the concept.) International characters and settings have been scattered through a number of other books as well. I'd also say that the current Hidden Lands sourcebook fits in that tradition.Exactly!
Back on topic: If I had the time to do the proper research, I'd love to run a campaign based in India. IMO the potential is enormous. It's a huge, remarkably diverse country that's a study in contrasts: modern Western culture alongside ancient Eastern traditions; great wealth within sight of grinding poverty; advanced technology and antique mysticism. The diverse religious, ethnic, social and linguistic fault lines in India are rife with story possibilities.

I would probably base the campaign in Bombay, a big cosmopolitan city and major port, and an economic and cultural nexus.Oooh!:cool:
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Lord Liaden again.Dammit! I owe you for this one!:mad:

[Lord Liaden]

This Wikipedia article on the city highlights the vast campaign potential of Bombay, or as it's now officially called, Mumbai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai).

[Rapier]

This Wikipedia article on the city highlights the vast campaign potential of Bombay, or as it's now officially called, Mumbai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai).

We spent some time world travelling in my UK campaign. We spent about a game month in India.

That is another place that I would have loved to have more research time to do a good job on. We had so much fun, but I still didn't really do the setting justice.

[dbsousa]

Nueva Madrid. After the alien invasion destroys Madrid, a super city is built on the crater. An increasingly isolationist US withdraws from the UN, prompting them to relocate to the city with the worlds only functioning spaceport.

[Werehawk]

My campaign (which is stuck on hiatis mode do to work) is international in scope, but it is centered for the most part in Russia. The majority of the player characters are Russian and their earthbound HQ is in St Petersburg. The city of Novosibiersk is the team's home away from home.

I have entered two events at Origins this year that take place in Russia using mostly Russian characters.

Russia provides a treasure trove of plot seeds due to the secretive nature of the old Soviet Union. Anything you might come up with has a good chance of being revieled later to be even more bizarre than you thought. I found out that UFO stories ( which is the main focus of the campaign ) is as much a part of Russian mythology as the Olympian gods were to ancient Greece.


If you have The History Channel or a similar network in your home countries, I would look out for these presentations. 1) "Siberia: How the East Was Won", 2) "Soviet Space Disasters" (History Undercover). and 3) the series "UFO Files" - "Russia's Roswell". There is also a series about international organized crime syndicates that had an episode about the "Red Fellas" that is a must because that is an enemy that shows up often (and a significant Hunted).

[Roter Baron]

Actually all of my campiagns (suprhero or not - except Fantasy of course) where set in the USA. I guess because the superhero and pulp genre are basically ver yAmerican genres and becuase I can more easily suspend my and my gamers disbelieve in a country different and familiar.

In Germany a superhero feels silly in my point of view. And the Pulp Hero does not work if you do not want to play Aryan Schmidt and his Bunch of Blue-Eyed Blonds.
.

[Cancer]

This depends on genre and era. I firmly believe in going with what you know; that isn't so much a restriction for fantasy and science fiction campaigns. For that reason, for something set in the middle half of the Twentieth Century that had to be outside the US, I'd probably go with West Berlin.

Otherwise, I don't really know. It's been too long since I spent any time outside of anglophone North America.

[TheQuestionMan]

For Superhero Settings I primarily use Seattle, New Orleans, and Bosnia.

Cheers

QM

[Weldun]

My campaign (which is stuck on hiatis mode do to work) is international in scope, but it is centered for the most part in Russia. The majority of the player characters are Russian and their earthbound HQ is in St Petersburg. The city of Novosibiersk is the team's home away from home.

I have entered two events at Origins this year that take place in Russia using mostly Russian characters.

Russia provides a treasure trove of plot seeds due to the secretive nature of the old Soviet Union. Anything you might come up with has a good chance of being revieled later to be even more bizarre than you thought. I found out that UFO stories ( which is the main focus of the campaign ) is as much a part of Russian mythology as the Olympian gods were to ancient Greece.


If you have The History Channel or a similar network in your home countries, I would look out for these presentations. 1) "Siberia: How the East Was Won", 2) "Soviet Space Disasters" (History Undercover). and 3) the series "UFO Files" - "Russia's Roswell". There is also a series about international organized crime syndicates that had an episode about the "Red Fellas" that is a must because that is an enemy that shows up often (and a significant Hunted).If you can fnd them, try to get a series of documantaries called "The Secret KGB (insert subject) Files", hosted by Roger Moore. Such subjects range form (these I have in my collection) UFO, Paranormal, UFO abduction, and (not in my collection, but have watched) sex and JFK assassination. They're all actually quite interesting.

[casualplayer]

I've ran games set in England, Japan, Brazil and the US. I've used Devonshire, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Amsterdam (slight history tweak) and Washington DC as base cities. Research is time consuming but fun.

[Rapier]

Actually, for a related semi-tangent...what time do you use?

I've been playing in near future for years...we are running in 2072. Far enough in the future than I can feel free to play with "history" and can have lots of fun with Vice President MCcauly Caulkin (sp?). That's always good for a real groan.

I've found that throwing things in the near future allows me to tinker with reality without too much of a disconnect and suspension of disbelief issues. Sure we are currently based in Texas, but its Texas in 2072 so even though I have two players in Texas there doesn't have to be a direct match to reality for them to buy in. I've found its really made things a lot easier on me, and the ability to project events into the future is kind of fun for the players.

[Werehawk]

If you can fnd them, try to get a series of documantaries called "The Secret KGB (insert subject) Files", hosted by Roger Moore. Such subjects range form (these I have in my collection) UFO, Paranormal, UFO abduction, and (not in my collection, but have watched) sex and JFK assassination. They're all actually quite interesting.


I do remember seeing a Russia-related show in which he was the narrator, it may have been under a different title here and I don't recall seeing other shows since I caught it channel surfing.

[assault]

Actually, for a related semi-tangent...what time do you use?


Well, you did ask...

This is a setting I'm working on, not one I have run yet.

Wonder Boy was active in the 1930s. The Super Hero Club were active in The Future.

The Future is, of course, when we have flying cars, colonies on Mars, robots, rayguns, jetpacks and all the other cool stuff we were promised we would have by now. Yes, it's the early 21st Century.

In a parallel universe, of course.




In more boring campaigns, it's always the present day.

[moquif]

This probably won't count but I'm in a Fantasy setting in its own world. The problem I have is the lack of connections it has with our own world. If you don't feel a connection to the campaign setting, it is sometimes hard to get involved. So many American players may not be keen on having a campaign set outside the US. To be done well the GM and players will have to remember the cultural differences and if one of the group knows more about it then the rest, he (or she) will either be correcting the group or be frustrated at the mistakes or have a really thick skin.