Champions Worldwide?

[MikeW]

I don't see much feedback on this particular title. For those who have it-- thoughts? Opinions?

[Lord Liaden]

Lots of good info, opinions and discussion of CWW here: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38281

[Publius]

I for one thought it was great, covers a lot of material, but it does so in a way that is not just a good supplement but a good read.

[Lord Liaden]

Since I like to get away from Americentric supers to some extent (nothing against America, but there is a wider world out there and I happen to live in one northern part of it) ;) , I appreciate the book's global coverage. It has a solid sampling of heroes and villains from most regions, enough for interesting adventures and "guest-starring" if not whole campaigns, augmented by plot seeds for every character. Many of the character concepts are fresh and interesting, with significant local color to make them stand out from America-based heroes and villains. The wide range of power levels can provide challenging encounters for almost any level of PC.

CWW is a little thin on distinctive cultural elements for each region for my taste, although I suspect that wasn't a priority for this book anyway. We do get updates of supers activity in each region since Champions Universe was published, which is helpful. Some of the art is quite good, most is average IMHO and there were a couple of pieces that made me groan.

Overall I was quite pleased with CWW.

[MikeW]

Thanks for the feedback (and the link to the thread). I'm in the mood for some new supervillainy and have been debating between picking up either CW or "Evil Unleashed".

[Lord Liaden]

Perhaps I should mention that Evil Unleashed is almost all reprints of characters who have appeared in other books, which you may or may not already own; whereas Champions Worldwide's characters are unique to that book.

[FenrisUlf]

CWW is one of the best current Champions supplements available, in my opinion. Great selection of characters balanced between heroes and villains, some location info, just lotsa good stuff for any CHAMPIONS campaign.

[Kirby]

For those who have it-- thoughts? Opinions?While I think it's a great accessory book (and I've already used at least two characters from it in my current campaign), most of the artwork is just poor quality. That's a big disappointment for a game based off an image-driven industry. There are some good drawings in there, though; it's not totally wasted. Another downside is that there are some characters in the book that *should* have pictures that don't!

Other than this, the book has been a great asset for me. My new favorite villain is Taipan (12 Speed!). He's written very efficient (649 points), especially compared to the 1,000+ point characters who often just seem to have stuff thrown on to them. If you can afford it, I'd say buy it.

[Lord Liaden]

Other than this, the book has been a great asset for me. My new favorite villain is Taipan (12 Speed!). He's written very efficient (649 points), especially compared to the 1,000+ point characters who often just seem to have stuff thrown on to them. If you can afford it, I'd say buy it.

I'm quite fond of Molnya, perhaps the most stable and rational mastermind villain in the whole Champions Universe.

My last campaign ended in a grand confrontation between my PCs and six of the most powerful, destructive demonic entities abiding on Champions Earth, including The Living Sphinx, Survalesh, Li Chun the Destroyer and Eclipsar from Champions Worldwide, plus Samhain from Champions Universe and Evil Unleashed, and The Murk from Hidden Lands.

[Narratio]

The Living Sphinx was good, but the CWW still covers only the 'Best known bits' of the world. The thinking behind them was culturally speaking, rather basic; Himalyan yeti types, Egyptian Sphinx, Aussie kangaroomen etc. As Lord Liaden said, the cultural information is a little thin, yet it's this which makes would make "foriegn" NPC's so interesting to US players.

As an exercise, you could go and dig through the various fantasy arcanums. Those tomes which list all the nations of the worlds wierd mythological creatures for use in AD&D etc. Then consider them as being Champions NPC's, just rub out the word magic (or not) and insert mutant/powered armour type. you can build some quite odd NPC's or PC's that way,

[Lord Liaden]

The Living Sphinx was good, but the CWW still covers only the 'Best known bits' of the world. The thinking behind them was culturally speaking, rather basic; Himalyan yeti types, Egyptian Sphinx, Aussie kangaroomen etc. As Lord Liaden said, the cultural information is a little thin, yet it's this which makes would make "foriegn" NPC's so interesting to US players.

No disrespect intended, Narratio, but your remarks may be a bit misleading. The cultural influences behind each character concept are not as obvious as you seem to imply. For example there are no "Himalyan yeti" or "Aussie kangaroomen" in the book. CWW is a long way from European Enemies. :rolleyes:

[Njiall]

Since I like to get away from Americentric supers to some extent (nothing against America, but there is a wider world out there and I happen to live in one northern part of it) ;)

This it is a problem that I have with “the official” characters at Champions Universe. I believe that too much it is centered in North America and it leaves the rest of the world uninhabited by superhumans. He is peculiar that in Europe as less as two or three personages by country be described (many nor that) whereas 90% of the supermen live in North America.

I am going to begin a campaign shortly and it will be located in Madrid, I will remarkably extend the European characters/organizations of the game. I will be publishing some of then when I finishing it.

[Enforcer84]

I for one think it's a great book.
Particularly Brigade.

[ghost-angel]

I've got a full review I'll be posting tomorrow on it.

[Enforcer84]

Brigade is neat.

[assault]

Brigade is neat.

Are you trying to tell us something here? ;)



---

Actually, I feel a vague affinity with him too. His power set and attitude reminds me of Assault!

On the nitpicking side, Darren and Steve got the "Rugby Union versus Rugby League" thing wrong, although not catastrophically. Both games are played in Australia, although League is by far the most popular. An "iconic Australian" character would presumably prefer League - or Australian Rules, if they came from one of the Southern Barbarian states.

Also, Australian police forces are organised at the state, not city level. The Mayor of Sydney has no authority over the New South Wales police. In fact, the Mayor of Sydney only has authority over a small part of Sydney, since the city is divided into a whole bunch of little local governments.

But these are inconsequential.

---

I still want Seeker back. In fact, I want a whole school of Australian Swashbuckling Ninjas. :D

[Kirby]

Actually, I feel a vague affinity with [Brigade] too. His power set and attitude reminds me of Assault!

I still want Seeker back. In fact, I want a whole school of Australian Swashbuckling Ninjas. :DHeh, I wouldn't mind seeing a "team" of swashbuckling ninjas being led by Brigade into battle! Though, a military name for the team might be difficult. For a few, it'd be "Brigade's Squad" which just wouldn't make sense, but having enough for "Brigade's Brigade" could be downright scary.

On the flipside, a school for swashbuckling ninjas could be what's needed to unite these two historically opposing factions. "Seeker's Swashbuckling Ninja School" could just be the Oreo that makes them go great together. ;)

[Enforcer84]

Are you trying to tell us something here? ;)



He is me.
Best 20$ I spent that year.

[tribe]

Are you trying to tell us something here? ;)

An "iconic Australian" character would presumably prefer League - or Australian Rules, if they came from one of the Southern Barbarian states.


Hey I resemble that insult!

Carn the Crows!

Seriously, rugby rates below soccer down here in Victoria. In fact, I'd say rugby rates even lower than lawn bowls.

[Iron Wallaby]

League is popular in New South Wales and Queensland, and is the strongest domestic competition of its type in the world.

Until this year, there was no regular Australia wide domestic rugby union competition. There is the southern hemisphere provincial rugby union competition known as the Super 14, including 5 teams from New Zealand (Crusaders, Highlanders, Blues, Hurricanes and Chiefs), 4 from Australia (Force, Waratahs, Reds and Brumbies) and 5 from South Africa (Bulls, Cheetahs, Sharks, Stormers and Lions). The Super 14 is widely renowned as the toughest rugby competition of its type in the world.

AFL however is far and away the largest of the 4 football codes (AFL, League, Union and Soccer). 16 teams compete over 22 rounds in a game that might as well not make sense. Stupid aerial ping pong played by softies who can't make it in rugby... :P

I have always been irritated by the US focus in superhero literature, which is why GURPS IST was one of my favourite supplements. I have run and written many campaigns set in Australia, Asia and Africa. The potential for adventures is ever broader in scope than in the US.

Even a domestic Australian game has great scope. Though my longest running game ever was a UN based one.

[st barbara]

My first problem with "Champions Worldwide" comes with the cover ! It is to o dominated by grey ! Surely the artist could have depicted a character with say a light coloured costume ? Otherwise it is okay, although I notice that the strength level of just about all of the "Bricks" is pretty high (lots of 60 and 70 strength types),few lower level (35-50) super strong types. Only three african heros mentioned ? I would have thought that there might be a few more than that, considering that the continent contains some 40 nations. Perhaps a series of supplemental books dealing with different continents and expanding upon the metahuman populations of each one would be possible. The book is a fair start ; but it needs to be expanded. By way of comparison, how many supers does the "Champions" world place in North America ? If the old "Champions Of The North" is still canon there are 15 in Canada alone and, from reading various older supplements ,I gather that there are a lot more in the U S A ! Western Europe is only touched on lightly , and the U K not at all; we need some Scandinavian and Balkan heros for example (I assume that the U K will be covered in a new version of "Kingdom of Champions" or similar ?) Lets see "Champions Worldwide II" soon to fill in a few of the gaps !

[Metaphysician]

Well, pretty much all the 'source literature' has superhuman activity focused in the US, with a few hotspots elsewhere. If anything, CW does a good job spreading the joy around. After all, how many, say, Indian superheroes can you think of in the Marvel Universe?

[st barbara]

True "Mitchell S" but "Champions Worldwide" provides an opportunity that isn't being taken advantage of by the comic book companies; to "internationalize" the superhero world and even to do some thinking about how supers effect the world they live in. How would a superhero in an impoverished nation constantly afflicted with hunger and/or natural disasters act ? Could he or she change the situation for the better and if so what effect would that have on the population (or the government) ? What about a super in a dictatorship such as Cuba or Zimbabwe ? Would such a character be brainwashed into being an agent of the ruling powers or would they become an "outlaw" ? How would they be percieved by the populace and/or outside observers ? What is the position of the U N on supers ? Do they have a force of their own or are the supers held by their home nations and "loaned" to the U N in certain circumstances ? There are many questions that aren't being looked at by the comics that could be explored in "Champions" , and i'd like to see some of it attempted in future supplements.

[tribe]

Maybe more detailed descriptions of the non-US Champions Universe could be written up as articles for Digital Hero. If so, would they become 'canon'? I'd say not but even unofficial takes on CU countries might be good to read.

Has this been done before?

[assault]

Maybe more detailed descriptions of the non-US Champions Universe could be written up as articles for Digital Hero. If so, would they become 'canon'?

I think the best way of doing that would be to write adventures, and hang the setting stuff onto them.

[Kirby]

Assault, I think that's a brilliant idea. That would give a much better feel than "fight at the Sydney Opera House." Make the adventure/scenario take place in a foreign city with the city drawn out and certain areas highlighted. I think that would work best in future products.

[assault]

Assault, I think that's a brilliant idea. That would give a much better feel than "fight at the Sydney Opera House." Make the adventure/scenario take place in a foreign city with the city drawn out and certain areas highlighted. I think that would work best in future products.

The thing is that any such scenario probably should end in a "fight at the Sydney Opera House." After all, without the use of iconic locations like that, the scenario might as well be set in Kansas. (But I've never been to Kansas, so it's actually an exotic location to me!)

Obviously, a bit more plot would be a good idea though.

Let's see, what would be needed:
1. A McGuffin, to get the PCs involved and drive the plot.
2. Some locations, where the plot happens, plus an overall map.
3. The Bad Guys, who are really the reason for the whole thing.
4. An approximate sequence of events, linking the set pieces in the various locations.
5. Sundry other NPCs.
6. A few bits of fluff text on the setting.

It probably wouldn't be possible to do much more than this in a DH article. Still, it's better than nothing.

It would have to be fairly free standing, and not assume that the GM has Champions Worldwide or any other books. On the other hand it should be open enough for characters from Champions Worldwide (Taipan! :eek:) to turn up if the GM wants them too...

Ideally it should also have something that sets it aside from all the other scenarios that have ever been published for Champions. That's the hard part.

[Kirby]

The thing is that any such scenario probably should end in a "fight at the Sydney Opera House." After all, without the use of iconic locations like that, the scenario might as well be set in Kansas. (But I've never been to Kansas, so it's actually an exotic location to me!)Yes, I agree. A better phrasing for me would have been "having a map of Sydney is better than stating 'Sydney Opera House is one of the top five fight scenes for Australia and Oceania.' "


Obviously, a bit more plot would be a good idea though.

Let's see, what would be needed:
1. A McGuffin, to get the PCs involved and drive the plot.
2. Some locations, where the plot happens, plus an overall map.
3. The Bad Guys, who are really the reason for the whole thing.
4. An approximate sequence of events, linking the set pieces in the various locations.
5. Sundry other NPCs.
6. A few bits of fluff text on the setting.Couple this with a map of Sydney and presto! Maybe if they do a Champions Worldwide II they can do it this way.

[ghost-angel]

While what you guys are talking about would be awesome to have... that's the realm of Adventure Book, which CWW is not. It's a Setting & NPC Book. Which means "Top Five Places To Have a Fight" is about as in depth as it needs to go.

Though I will note the GMs Section has "Top Five Targets For Supervillains"

[Kirby]

While what you guys are talking about would be awesome to have... that's the realm of Adventure Book, which CWW is not. It's a Setting & NPC Book. Which means "Top Five Places To Have a Fight" is about as in depth as it needs to go.True, however, Millennium City has a map and key on one page. With two blank pages in the back of Champions Worldwide they could have done one map of one city for four of the seven chapters. Just as long as they don't err by labeling up to 46 points on the map and then only explain 39 on the Key. :nonp:

As for depth, yes, they don't need to do an in-depth adventure (at 160 pages, Champions Universe dedicated seven to a Dr. D. adventure, which I wouldn't expect a CWW sequal to do), but they could use the empty space in the sidebars to use the outline Assault gave, but filling it in with something a bit more concrete (such as the names of the bad guys, and the reason) or a "multiple choice" option.

[assault]

For the record, Australia is actually fairly well catered for now, in my opinion, so it isn't the main place that should be addressed in this way. Complaining works!

I would actually rather see some stuff set in New Zealand. Anyone up for writing it?

But I have spent a few minutes thinking about how I would approach writing an adventure set in Australia, and I ended up falling back on the old cliche: "If all else fails, rip off Shakespeare." Since we are dealing with the superheroic genre, of course, it would be appropriate to add "and/or Jack Kirby."

So... ripping off Shakespeare... How about Romeo and Juliet?

We need two hostile families. The Sylvestris and Vandaleurs would do nicely. (Imagine the results of a crossbreeding!) Fortunately I have a suitable Sylvestri tucked away at the back of my mental refrigerator... An appropriate Vandaleur shouldn't be difficult. Obviously various folks are opposed to this... We still need an appropriate entry point for the PCs. Hmm.

[st barbara]

While I agree with a lot of your sentiments I think many of them are outside of the purview of what the Champions Universe is [and what CWW is all about]. The CU is an established 4-color bronze age setting. Many of the questions you're asking would be better answered by a generic "Ultimate Superhero World Builder" or in a more generic Iron Age sourcebook [based on the idea that Iron Age tries to be more realistic]. In the CU, for example, we already know what the UN's position is on supers and how UNTIL fits into it. We know who the dictators are and how the CU society reacts to them. The CU is established and most of the questions have been answered.

I can understand where you are coming from though. In my own campaign Cuba was taken from Castro 6 months after he took it by a Latin American villain known as El Lobo Negro:

For nearly fifty years the threat imposed by the dictator of Cuba has hung over the head of the United States like the proverbial sword of Damocles. While El Lobo Negro's power is impressive it was his genius and foresight in turning Cuba into a Meta-villain sanctuary that has allowed him to be one of the most feared Metas on the planet. El Lobo Negro's wealth and Meta-villain connections give him access to a Meta army which has aided him in repelling invaders of Cuba several times over the years. I don't see that my ideas need to be in an "Iron Age" setting. "Silver" could work just fine. Interesting comments about Cuba in your campaign. When I was doing "All The World's Heroes" I had Haiti & The Dominican Republic taken over by "Doctor Destroyer" and formed into the new nation of "Hispaniola". The population has been halved and the standard of living has been improved dramatically by the good doctor and, in addition, it acts as a "holiday island" for the world's super criminals (as long as they don't commit crimes in Hispaniola they can stay there and the government will ignore any criminal activity committed outside the country).

[Lawnmower Boy]

New Zealand hero? I'm a newbie on the board so I'm supposed to talk out my rear, anyway.
Uhm, Kiwi Man: an ancient Maori hero who reincarnates the spirit of the kiwi bird.
He's like, in touch with the land and stuff. And he throws magical kiwi fruit grenades. And he flies.
No... he rides a kiwi-bird shaped glider. With razor blades.
But (here's the catch) it's technological! And it's shaped like New Zealand.
That was easy.
Erik Lund
(Hi, Scott!)

[st barbara]

In my experience iron age settings tend to be more about using the realism of the world in them. Silver age settings tend to avoid real issues. It's not like the Avengers or JLA couldn't have taken Cuba from Castro back in the 60s but the genre limits of that time period would never allow it. It was much easier to give Dr. Doom his own kingdom then deal with any real political issues of the period, IMO. An iron age series like the Authority or Stormwatch wouldn't have any problems dealing with real political issues. Okay I can see that that is a definition of "Iron Age". However I also think of "Iron Age" as being one in which the heroes and villains are equally ruthless in the way they go about their "business", something that wasn't true of the "Silver Age" (because of the Comics Code) but WAS true of the "Golden Age" to some extent ( a legacy of the "bloody pulp" element of the origin of superheros). While a character like say "The Punisher" wouldn't fit well in a "Silver Age" setting because of the violence which he uses against criminals he would fit fine into a "Golden Age" setting (maybe team him up with "Madam Fatal" !)