What Era Should I Choose?

[The Overseer]

Hi all,

Fist time here so please excuse any noobish questions I may ask or responses I may give.


Over the coming weeks I intend to write my first Champions campaign (huzzah!!) and before I have even started I have hit a barrier!

I don't know when to set my campaign! :nonp: In essence I am spoilt for choice, I can find positives and negatives for all of my potential scenarios.. I am however dabbling with the following ideas:

A 30's campaign leading into WWII - A rich period of history to delve into but I feel it would have to be more of a pulp/spy campaign and I feel my players would prefer to be full superheroes, though who could pass up beating up Nazi's!

A 50's campaign - Again, a rich period of history, the age of the ATOM, with the added advantage of all the B-movies produced in that time to 'borrow' ideas from, however my personal knowledge of the period is a little weak.

A modern-day campaign - The main positive for this would be that I can use the Champions Sourcebook for world information and this would be the easiest to write as my players would be contemporaries of Defender and crew. On the down-side I feel that modern-day life has far too many labour saving electronic devices making actual 'skills' redundant. (Who needs a team telepath when everyone has a mobile phone)

I must confess I am currently leaning towards the 50's setting (though this changes minute to minute), however, I would really value your input.

(I have seen so many great stories of campaigns and role-play that I am starting to suffer performance anxiety, lol)

[bigbywolfe]

What about doing something in, say, the 80's (or even early 90's)? Less technology (not every character will have a blue tooth phone with internet, et cetera) yet close enough to "modern" to easily keep most players at least somewhat in their element of familiarity.

[teh bunneh]

A 30's campaign leading into WWII - A rich period of history to delve into but I feel it would have to be more of a pulp/spy campaign and I feel my players would prefer to be full superheroes, though who could pass up beating up Nazi's!

Welcome! All of these games could be fun to play in, but let me address this question. I played in a wonderful 1930s Golden Age campaign that was primarily superheros bashing Nazis and Fifth Columnists. So if you don't want to turn your game into more of a spy game, take a look at the Agents of the Agency (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/64601-Chronicles-of-the-Agency-(Golden-Age)) campaign notes that I posted a while ago for some ideas. :)

[Lord Liaden]

Welcome to our community, Overseer! (Or do you prefer to be called just "The.") ;) I hope you find your visits here helpful and enjoyable.


A modern-day campaign - The main positive for this would be that I can use the Champions Sourcebook for world information and this would be the easiest to write as my players would be contemporaries of Defender and crew. On the down-side I feel that modern-day life has far too many labour saving electronic devices making actual 'skills' redundant. (Who needs a team telepath when everyone has a mobile phone)

With respect, I find that many gamers tend to overrate modern technological gimmicks within a game context. Just to take your example, a team telepath vs. a mobile phone can give the PCs a method of communication that can't be detected, traced, or suppressed by most commonly-available methods, doesn't require speech (very helpful in stealth situations, or in combat so your opponent can't guess your tactics), will give you a "signal" anywhere e.g. underground, and can't be broken or confiscated if you're captured. Not to mention that whole "reading someone's mind" thing. :D

I'll bet I could find similar benefits to having any other Skills you might name. For example, it might be helpful to download schematics of a lock onto your Iphone, but that won't teach you how to pick it. ;) OTOH you could also create a character with Skills for using common technology in superheroically creative ways, like cannibalizing everybody's mobile phone to create an EM Pulse weapon to take down Mechanon.

[Cygnia]

Do your players have a preference for any era or are they open-minded/don't care?

[Haerandir]

A 30's campaign leading into WWII - A rich period of history to delve into but I feel it would have to be more of a pulp/spy campaign and I feel my players would prefer to be full superheroes, though who could pass up beating up Nazi's!


Well, it's a good era, but if you or your players would prefer a different time period/power level/overall feel, don't let the lack of Nazis deter you! After all, there's time travel, alternate dimensions and themed supervillain lackeys to provide you with an unlimited supply of Nazis to punch in any superheroic era!

[Black Ops]

Lets answer this with another Question: Which one would you feel most comfortable with ?

[pinecone]

Hi all,

Fist time here so please excuse any noobish questions I may ask or responses I may give.


Over the coming weeks I intend to write my first Champions campaign (huzzah!!) and before I have even started I have hit a barrier!

I don't know when to set my campaign! :nonp: In essence I am spoilt for choice, I can find positives and negatives for all of my potential scenarios.. I am however dabbling with the following ideas:

A 30's campaign leading into WWII - A rich period of history to delve into but I feel it would have to be more of a pulp/spy campaign and I feel my players would prefer to be full superheroes, though who could pass up beating up Nazi's!

A 50's campaign - Again, a rich period of history, the age of the ATOM, with the added advantage of all the B-movies produced in that time to 'borrow' ideas from, however my personal knowledge of the period is a little weak.

A modern-day campaign - The main positive for this would be that I can use the Champions Sourcebook for world information and this would be the easiest to write as my players would be contemporaries of Defender and crew. On the down-side I feel that modern-day life has far too many labour saving electronic devices making actual 'skills' redundant. (Who needs a team telepath when everyone has a mobile phone)

I must confess I am currently leaning towards the 50's setting (though this changes minute to minute), however, I would really value your input.

(I have seen so many great stories of campaigns and role-play that I am starting to suffer performance anxiety, lol)

My first vote is for the 30's leading up to the big WW2, second choice Modern. Why? I really like the 30's era, the modern has the advantage of being "premade" as it were. I've run "Golden Age" games with no problems...I just toned down the power levels so gangsters are a credible threat. Try running at a lower power level. In 5Th I'd recommend 250 points, I don't know about 6Th enough to suggest a level for it....

And take notes! If you later run a modern game a lot of "prehistory" is done for you!

[Lucius]

You can have Nazis any time. In the postwar period you can face a secret network set up by far-thinking operatives of the Third Reich who are still pursuing assorted "super soldier" and "secret weapon" type experiments. In a contemporary game you can have Hitler-inspired hate groups posing a range of threats from nasty little street gang to secret army of cyborg stormtroopers to mad scientist unleashing a deadly plague, perhaps all still connected to the formerly mentioned secret network, still in business generations later.

Lucius Alexander

The palindromedary observes that any time is a good time to fight National Socialist racist scum

[Badger]

What about doing something in, say, the 80's (or even early 90's)? Less technology (not every character will have a blue tooth phone with internet, et cetera) yet close enough to "modern" to easily keep most players at least somewhat in their element of familiarity.

But you'd lose big hair as a possible Distinguishing Feature.:rolleyes:

[Badger]

Well, it's a good era, but if you or your players would prefer a different time period/power level/overall feel, don't let the lack of Nazis deter you! After all, there's time travel, alternate dimensions and themed supervillain lackeys to provide you with an unlimited supply of Nazis to punch in any superheroic era!

Well Soviet commies are fun to beat up too! Not quite as fun, but pretty damn close.

[Nuclear Fridge]

"But... But... I wiki'ed Dr. Demonic and everything! The Net didn't say anything about his being able to call up firestorms!"
*BOOM*

[bigbywolfe]

"But... But... I wiki'ed Dr. Demonic and everything! The Net didn't say anything about his being able to call up firestorms!"
*BOOM*
What?

[The Overseer]

Thanks everyone for all the great input..

It's fantastic to see such a welcoming community.

I will take your suggestions on board and let you know how we get on.