UK using the champions system

[LWhitehead]

Hi I need help with the UK, as states in the Champions source books that UK can be a setting, I need to know current timeframe for the London and the UK.

 

 

 

 

The various levels of Police, Armed Forces, and Spy groups.

 

 

Firearms Laws, Criminal types and groups.

 

 

 

LW

[Lord Liaden]

While Hero Games did publish a substantial source book dedicated to the United Kingdom, called Kingdom of Champions, that was over twenty years ago. It's long out of print, and obviously the background information in it is greatly out of date. The current owners of Hero Games, DOH Inc., always intended to publish an updated KoC, but never got to it. That's the reason there's a paucity of info about it in books for the current official setting.

 

Champions Earth generally follows the geopolitical and social precedents of real-world Earth, except to the extent that those have had to adapt to the presence of superhumans. You can rely on your personal knowledge or any other research you care to do for those. What's official for the UK in current Champions continuity is contained in the book, Champions Universe. I've transcribed that info below, along with the numbers of the pages on which it appears:

 

Great Britain’s history of superheroics, like that of the United States, dates back to World War II, when several British heroes made enormous contributions to the Allied war effort (the most notable of these being the Skymaster’s assistance with the D-Day invasion). In 1953, the government established a secret department known as Bureau S, whose job was to study Britain’s superhuman resources (and threats), and make use of them for government purposes when it was considered safe and appropriate to do so. By the Sixties, Britain had several “unofficially official” superhumans working for it, and in 1966 Bureau S became the Ministry of Superhuman Affairs, a publicly-acknowledged branch of government responsible for protecting British citizens from superhuman threats.

 

In 1971, the MSA sponsored the formation of the New Knights of the Round Table, an official superteam for Great Britain. The Knights, as the group’s widely known, has fluctuated wildly in membership in the past thirty years, sometimes having as few as three members, and twice having eight. A terrible scandal in 1982 involving three of the members cast a shadow over the entire group, but it redeemed itself in the public eye in 1988 by staving off an attack by the fear-spirit Samhain to terrorize the entire island. Since then the New Knights have remained popular, and often work with UNTIL or other superteams to save not only Her Majesty’s kingdom, but the world itself, from danger.

 

Great Britain has had a superhero registration law since 1978, but its terms differ significantly from those of the American law. Registration is strongly encouraged, but voluntary, and doesn’t involve the revelation of the super’s true identity if some other means of making positive identification is provided (such as a fingerprint or retina scan). However, a vocal minority of British citizens favor stricter registration laws more carefully enforced.(p. 49)

 

Most other nations have some form of superhuman registration, but follow the leads of Great Britain and Germany in using the carrot instead of the stick (see page 49). Registration isn’t mandatory in either nation, but without it a superhuman cannot receive any sort of government sanction for his activities and will be prosecuted for any laws he may break (as well as being fully financially responsible for any property damage or other liability he creates). In Great Britain, the Ministry of Superhuman Affairs oversees the registration and sanctioning of superhumans, controls the activities of the New Knights of the Round Table (the official government team), and coordinates with the efforts of private teams like the London Watch when appropriate. (pp. 77-78)

 

Besides the New Knights of the Round Table (page 49), the Scepter’d Isle is graced with numerous superheroes who defend it against threats from within and without. Most operate solo, occasionally teaming up, or temporarily allying themselves with the New Knights, when confronting an enemy too powerful to take on alone.

 

Albion, a mysterious humanoid being seemingly made out of some sort of solidified white energy, claims to be the living embodiment of the nobility and heroic nature of the British people. First appearing during the Battle of Britain in World War II, he’s shown up periodically since then whenever terrible danger confronts the British Isles. All efforts to contact him at other times, or to identify who he is, have failed.

 

Almost as powerful as Albion, but much less mysterious, is Hyperion, an immensely powerful hero with the ability to generate effects based on what he calls “the burning light of truth.” A 2002 conflict between Hyperion and the alien supergladiator Firewing destroyed a large swath of London, which Hyperion himself has since helped to repair. Extremely popular with his countrymen, and as wealthy as a lord, Hyperion frequently appears on television and at charity events.

 

London’s best-known and most beloved superteam is the London Watch, which is active not only throughout the islands but in mainland Europe as well. Its members include Blazon (who wears a suit of mystically-powered armor and rides a flying horse), Yeoman (a warrior with high-tech archery equipment and weapons), Repulse (a telekinetic), and Swift Swallow (a flying speedster). The group has clashed with Eurostar repeatedly, and hopes to bring those criminals to justice someday.

 

Several mystic superhumans — Shade, a kindhearted vampire; Drune, who claims to be an elven-prince from Faerie exiled to this world for the sin of falling in love with a mortal woman; Rhiannon, a sorceress who takes her name from a Welsh mythological character; and Taliesin, who can generate magical effects with his harp-music — periodically band together to fight mystic threats, such as a recent attempt by several Fomorians (mis-shapen, even demonic, evil giants from Faerie) to ravage Cornwall. They have no name for themselves, though overenthusiastic reporters have dubbed them “the Nightwatch.” They all guard their privacy and secretly identities carefully, though Rhiannon has responded to some inquiries from her Internet fan club.

 

Well-known British supervillains include: Crusher, who wears a powerful suit of powered armor; Thrash, a mutant energy projector of punk-anarchist bent; the Cat, a thief and martial artist; Samhain, a sort of fear-spirit; and Clockwork, an eccentric and malevolent gadgeteer.

 

Scotland has been the home of a number of supervillains, most of them, for some reason, women. Besides Cateran, who actually spends almost no time in Scotland, there’s Black Annis (a haglike witch), Lamprey (an aquatic supervillainess), and Stormcloud (a weather controller able to project powerful bolts of lightning from her hands), among others. Scotland’s best-known male villain is Claymore, a sword-wielding superstrong thug with a taste for violence and a love of bloodshed. Scotland has a few superheroes, too, like Evergreen (a plant controller) and Dreamscape (a psionic and dream-manipulator).

 

Ireland’s superhumans are almost all mystical in nature. Superheroes such as Cuchullain (supposedly a “reincarnation” of the legendary spear-wielding hero) and Dweomer (a powerful mystic) battle against supervillains like the Redcap (a clawed, extremely resilient magical mutate) and the aforementioned Fomorians, as well as foreign villains who show up to exploit Ireland’s mystic sites. (p. 78)

 

Albion is just what he claims to be — a manifestation of the heroic qualities of the British people. Possessing enormous strength and resilience, the ability to fly, and several other powers in addition to boundless courage and tenacity, he only appears when some danger threatens all of Britain. (p. 143)

[rnadams2]

If you're not familiar with the UK personally, this little primer on London might be useful.

[Doc Democracy]

You need to consider why you  rather use the UK to the US.  With superheroes I much prefer to play where I understand the rules as superheroes change those rules in unexpected ways.

 

There are some pretty fundamental differences to the ways the UK works to the US.  It is therefore a useful way to highlight stuff.  It is also an easy way to get caught out in game.

 

If you want to use the UK, and I am presuming you are not British, bounce stuff off the UK members here.  We can explain how things work.

 

 

Doc

[Christopher R Taylor]

Kingdom of Champions is still a pretty solid sourcebook for England in a lot of ways, just keep in mind its about 20 years in the past.

[LWhitehead]

Well I'm creating a no Champions superhero setting, more like a British Batman like character called Lord Protector, based in London.

 

 

Hence why I need to find out about Criminal groups, crime in general in London, the British type of police like the Yard and the Met. 

 

 

This I do know since I'm fan of British Mystery Fiction, I do know that they put more people on a Murder then they do in the States.  Second they have a Murder Room if possible if not then a board back at the station or the Yard. 

 

Third is the Firearms Law there not easy to come by in the UK, Fourth is the Video Cameras that are everywhere in London.

 

LW

[Doc Democracy]

You going to play on the Cromwellian nature of that name?

[TheQuestionMan]

Champions Universe vs DC/Marvel Comics treatment seems best.

 

For goodness sake publish with full character sheets for supers and agent (the MET/STOP/etc).

 

In my Champions Universe the Ley Lines create doorways between dimensions and the UK is closest to Faerie.

 

 

QM

[Doc Democracy]

Well I'm creating a no Champions superhero setting, more like a British Batman like character called Lord Protector, based in London.

 

 

Hence why I need to find out about Criminal groups, crime in general in London, the British type of police like the Yard and the Met. 

 

 

This I do know since I'm fan of British Mystery Fiction, I do know that they put more people on a Murder then they do in the States.  Second they have a Murder Room if possible if not then a board back at the station or the Yard. 

 

Third is the Firearms Law there not easy to come by in the UK, Fourth is the Video Cameras that are everywhere in London.

 

LW

London is very cosmopolitan. We accommodate criminals of all varieties. I would say that the most prevalent right now are the Eastern Europeans who have come in with the most recent waves of immigration and trying to establish themselves within the ecosystem.

 

Crime in London is quite personal, mugging so and burglaries. The high value stuff is all stock market trading based. :-)

 

As far as police is concerned we have regional forces the biggest of which is the Met (London's police force) which is headquartered at New Scotland Yard. There are more police than ever trained to utilise firearms but you almost never see them unless you are ganging round Parliament etc. Policing by consent is the big watchword in the UK. We may treat murder as a big deal because it is far less prevalent than it is in the US. Not sure I would believe most of the fiction procedural a though... :-)

 

There is a lot of cctv but most of it is not high quality and we don't really feel heavily surveilled.

[Christopher R Taylor]

There is a lot of cctv but most of it is not high quality and we don't really feel heavily surveilled. 

 

 

I think people get used to the idea after a while.

[assault]

We may treat murder as a big deal because it is far less prevalent than it is in the US. Not sure I would believe most of the fiction procedural a though... :-)

 

 

Don't English country towns have the world's highest murder rates?

 

Midsomer Murders Plot Generator.

 

Examples:

"A local archaeologist is found electrocuted by a sabotaged Theremin. Suspicion falls on the village madrigal enthusiasts, angry that a big movie shoot taking place in the town might threaten to dredge up events from twenty-five years ago."

 

"A local antiquarian book dealer is found garroted with a very distinctive set of lute strings. Suspicion falls on the village cult leader, angry that modernity itself might threaten to ruin the pub."

 

For some reason this reminds me of DC's greatest British supervillain.

[TheQuestionMan]

Kingdom of Champions Expanded Character Sheets 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/75711-kingdom-of-champions-expanded-character-sheets/page-2 

[TheQuestionMan]

Kingdom of Champions Errata

Credits: The title page is OK, but some credits got edited out of the text. To preserve fairness: 

Alison Brooks and Dave Flin were responsible for much of the factual text; they also provided many game ideas, especially on the New Knights. Albion is Alison's creation; Dave also came up with The Sacrifice (Pete Marsh).

John Mersh created Blazon, Mole, and Partisan.

Oliver Macdonald created Swift Swallow.

Richard Howe provided ideas used in Yeoman and WeatheRing.

Jon Marshall-Potter designed much of STOP's structure.

(And all the players mentioned on the title page influenced the game material to greater or lesser extents.) 

p.10: There some text missing from the Example in column 2. It should read: 

The Bayou prowler is the terror of the New Orleans underworld; he has a Reputation for this. In Louisiana, NPCs know him on 14-, but the GM has said that the characters will be recruited to a UN global team, and in Europe or Asia, the 'Prowler is just someone who gets rare mentions in the foreign news sections... (and so on) 

p.21: On this map, "3" is some way off to the right. 

p.22: On this map, "3A" is located in the park at bottom left. 

p.25: Place additional numbers on this map: 7 immediately right of 13; 8 two rooms up from 9; 10 in the middle of the gallery on the right upstairs. 

p.29: The pound sterling and dollar prices for petrol are the wrong way round (and are rather inaccurate by now, anyway). 

p.35: The map heading should be "Sites in England, Wales, and the Scottish Lowlands". 

p.35: The Humber Bridge is labelled as "Number". 

p.41: No, I don't know what the fellow on the right of the illustration is supposed to be, either. Scots? Italian? Space alien? 

p.67: Column one: a zero drifted in. The INLA had an estimated 100 members at that time. 

p.71 (on): The scenario has overflowed its box. It continues from the top of column 2, and on to subsequent pages. 

p.91: The data on the women's services - especially the references to "WAACS" and "WAAFS" - are seriously out of date. 

p.92: Assault ships are capable of landing 650 marines into battle, and are armed with missiles for defence. 

p.101: Illustration: Please note that a cricket wicket has three stumps. 

p.124: Dr GoldWing has INT 28, and does 3.5D6 with his Jab, 7.5D6 with his Hook. 

p.135: Change mentions of "Wood-Brother" to "Earth-Brother". 

p.158: Note that each of the Four Winds has a Multipower when not linked to a suitable power source via a circlet, and an Elemental Controlwhen so linked. The powers and modifiers in brackets depend on the power source; for each, the Multipower is as large as the largest slot, and all the slots are variable. 

p.160: Breaking Glass's Rival is a senior VIPER Covert Agent, and she has a Secret ID and a 22pt. Villain Bonus. 

p.168: DarkWing: Replace the first line in the character box with: 

Use Dr GoldWing's character sheet for DarkWing, but DarkWing's... 

p.175: The character box heading should be "STOP Agent". The powers list makes perfect sense if you guess right what the line spacing/structure should be. 

p.179: Strictly speaking, the first visitors to the islands must have been pre-Celtic. 

p.191-193: Throughout this scenario (The Coast is Clear), replace any references to "Sussex" with "Suffolk". 

p.206: One book title under "History and Archaeology" was incomplete. It should have been "Scotland, Bloody Scotland". 

p.207: The second line of the first para should read: 

"...might be places to start; note that the emphasis here is on detection...

[NEW PARAGRAPH] 

Most British spy stories and thrillers..." 

 

p.207: Sorry about the cross-reference to another appendix (on other Hero System material and the UK) which got squeezed out.

[TheQuestionMan]

Black Air 

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/black-air/4060-14851/

 

Extraordinary League of Gentlemen 

 

MI:5 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MI5

 

MI:6 

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/mi6/4060-53504/

 

MI:13 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MI-13_(comics)

 

Resources Control Executive 

 

FI:6 

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/fi6/4060-59550/

 

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen/4060-40396/

 

Scotland Yard

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/scotland-yard/4060-56630/

 

S.T.R.I.K.E.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.R.I.K.E.

 

S.A.S. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Air_Service

 

UNIT 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIT

 

W.H.O. 

 

 

Otherworld (Avalon) 

 

Lyonesse 

 

List of government agencies in comics 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_agencies_in_comics

[TheQuestionMan]

Aleister Crowley 

 

Captain Britain 

 

Captain Midlands 

 

Dark Angel 

 

Digitek 

 

Gentleman Ghost 

 

Jack the Ripper 

 

Moriarty 

 

John Constantine 

 

Johnny Red Redburn 

 

King Aruthur

 

King Richard 

 

Knight (Shldrake/Hutchinson) 

 

Lionheart 

 

Merlin 

 

Mordred 

 

Morgan Le Fay 

 

Night Raven 

 

Oberon 

 

Pendragon (Knights of)

 

Penny Black 

 

Sir Justin (Percy Sheldrake) 

 

Peter Wisdom  

 

Psylocke 

 

Shelock Holmes 

 

Shining Knight 

 

Spitfire 

 

Tink 

 

Union Jack 

 

V (Citizen V)

[freakboy6117]

The Roundhead style would make for an interesting super hero costume for lord protector a high tech version of the curaise and lobster tail helmet with a ballistic  shield face plate  this excellent piece by forum favorite Storn shows some of the potential 

[TheQuestionMan]

Authority Vol. 1 "Shiftships" - Sliding Albion 

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/sliding-albion/4020-43849/

[LWhitehead]

No Lord Protector Viglante costume is across between 18th Century Highyway Man and Napolonic officer costume in the 21th Century, 

 

So Scotland Yard handles all of the Police for London,

 

 

LW

[steriaca]

Hear is a brainstorm for a villain for a UK based Champions game.

 

The Mod-stir: A gainster with a 70's flare for fashion. Also known for some strange fashion based weapons and deathtraps (giant sewing machine anyone?).

[Christopher]

One current political theme of note:

Greece is considering to leave the EU for some time now. But frankly they would go bankrupt if they actually did that.

 

The UK however is also considering leaving the EU. And they might actually be able to pull that off without going bankrupt immediately:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_withdrawal_from_the_European_Union

It won't be a easy political and economic change. A large part of hte GDP of UK is comming from London. Wich in part get's it through european financial institutes having thier headquarters there. They will propably jump ship if UK does.

 

Should this motion pass there is a decent chance Scotish independance will gain a boost again - they may want to leave the UK to then join the EU directly (rather then indirectly).

 

The puplic referendum is planned for 23. June 2016.

So right now it is quite uncertain how the future for the country will be.

[Doc Democracy]

No Lord Protector Viglante costume is across between 18th Century Highyway Man and Napolonic officer costume in the 21th Century, 

 

So Scotland Yard handles all of the Police for London,

 

 

LW

 

If Lord Protector does not refer in some way to Cromwell there may be confusion as he is the one and only Lord Protector in UK history.  Cromwell is a fascinating bloke and well worth looking at - there would be a lot of people that would support him right now if he rose to power today...a vigilante being successful in fighting crime and combating declining moral standards would definitely fit into a Cromwellian model.

 

The Met does provide a lot of useful and interesting information that could be used as colour.

http://content.met.police.uk/Article/Scotland-Yard/1400015476700/1400015476700 

[Wardsman]

One current political theme of note:

Greece is considering to leave the EU for some time now. But frankly they would go bankrupt if they actually did that.

 

The UK however is also considering leaving the EU. And they might actually be able to pull that off without going bankrupt immediately:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_withdrawal_from_the_European_Union

It won't be a easy political and economic change. A large part of hte GDP of UK is comming from London. Wich in part get's it through european financial institutes having thier headquarters there. They will propably jump ship if UK does.

 

Should this motion pass there is a decent chance Scotish independance will gain a boost again - they may want to leave the UK to then join the EU directly (rather then indirectly).

 

The puplic referendum is planned for 23. June 2016.

So right now it is quite uncertain how the future for the country will be.

Some of us are just becoming aware how this may affect American interests. The geopolitical fallout could be bad as a brexit is expected to weaken Europe in dealing with Russia and other problems. This not getting enough news play over here.

[TheQuestionMan]

English Mythology/folk lore - wikipedia

[freakboy6117]

I'm still working on my UK hero project here's a bit on policing

 

Policing in the age of super humans.

 

Most significant extranormal incidents(like alien invasions rampaging dinosaurs or VIPER doomsday weapons) in the UK are under the auspices of UNIT or the The Department's intelligence agencies (usually investigating things that might not be crimes but dangerous) . With assistance from the shining Aegis tower ravens and other Licensed Extra Normal Talents (super heroes)

 

Smaller scale criminal acts that feature exotic features on the other handare handled by a specialist department of the metropolitan police service. Since the days of John peel the founder of modern British policing the police service have always had a small contingent of specialist who enforce not just the lawsof the land and the treaties pacts and compacts with the more the various kingdoms, powers and dominions.

 

Currently the Met has a special operations group that deals with crimes of a super human occult or extranormal nature is SCO23 the group is divided into three sections

 

1.

 

Extranormal investigations a small team of detectives who have jurisdiction over all crimes of a non mundane nature. DCI Gorgon is the head of investigations with seven other officers usually working in two person groups they are called in whenever crimes get weird.

 

2.

 

Advanced Tactical Support Team . the ATST Drawing from the very best of the officers in SCO19 the Mets Firearm specialists they are further trained in the use of advanced technology developed by UNIT. They are called in for raids on suspected extranormal criminals response to active supercriminals, security and transportation of prisoners with superhuman abilities or confederates.

 

3.

 

The Fugitive Retrieval Section lead by Kat Masterson Formerly of the RCMP leads the FRS a small team of specialists who hunt down escaped super criminals and bring them back to justice.

[Christopher R Taylor]

The UK however is also considering leaving the EU. And they might actually be able to pull that off without going bankrupt immediately

 

 

Right now it looks like the UK will pull out of the EU, and they can do it without ever being forced into bankruptcy by the move.  they never went to the Euro, so its just a matter of detaching themselves from the bureaucracy and rules.

 

The only reason I bring this up is that you could build adventures around that conflict, as peaceful and bureaucratic as it is: radical groups trying to prevent/make it happen, thieves trying to take advantage of the momentary chaos of changing over, etc