Multiple Characters per Player

[Kirby]

anyone ever try it the other way? Multiple players per character?

Yes. I happen to love it (both as a player and even as a GM at times when called for), but it's not for everyone.

In an old 4E Champions campaign, I had the players run the NPCs of a different team for a short scenario (naturally ending up in the fight I didn't want to hand-waive or run on my own) as well as run their PCs and an NPC or two in a major "cross-over" battle.

I've done the same as a player running two of my characters and two NPCs during a "cross-over cumulation" event that another GM ran. While some of the players were having a hard time getting "into character" with multiples, I had loads of fun, especially as one of the NPCs I used was Seeker.

Our band of 20-30 PCs & NPCs (not all of whom had even been introduced to each other) were on our way to fighting "the big evil" but were blocked by a larger number of opponents. While the "leaders" of the group were debating tactics, I had Seeker impulsively make his own decision.

Using his 4E quote of "G'day Miss. Watch this!" as he's the first -and for that phase the only one- to jump into the horde of 100 waiting assassins blocking our path was priceless.

[Kevin Schultz]

Sounds like McCoy is suggesting a variation of troupe-style play, which is the standard way myself and many of my friends play. I first encountered it in Ars Magica, and it consistst of the following:

1. Each player has a "main" PC - in AM, it was a mage.
2. Each PC player as an "Ally" PC, which is a competent (but not as powerful as the mage character) character that is somehow linked to another Mage character. These were the close friends, apprentices, or bodyguards of the magi.
3. There are a pool of "dependent" PCs, which are the chief cooks and bottle-washers, spear-carriers, red-shirts, mechanics, chauferrs, and so one. These characters are more-or-less disposable, and can be played by anyone at any time.

In any given play session, only one or two "hero" players are actually involved; the rest of the players play their allies or else the grunts and minions that accompany said heroes. Occasionally all the hero/magi get together, but that's really only for big story arcs.

We also had the rule that the low-level characters can be created at a whim, and that they could be improv'ed into a scene if a player not doing anything wanted to. The only real ristriction was that they had to be supporting roles in any given scene - they couldn't take the limelight away from the main PC's.

As applied to Champions? This would probably end up being like the early Justice League, when a story would follow 1 character, but in the end they'd all get together for a massive team-up. Also, when you're tracking down those Soc Lims for characters, it allows some of the other players stuff do to.

However, it does require that your players be comfortable picking up random characters on the fly, and playing them to the hilt.