Champions Campaign Book

[Christopher R Taylor]

What would an official Champions Universe campaign book look like?  Not the big history book, but "here's how to run games in the Champions Universe" book as if it were a comic book universe or movie universe.  You'd need a section with at least some of the main bad guys in it, a sample city, some basic themes, campaign rules or at least typical patterns, a few adventures at least, maybe a map or two.

 

Seems like this could be a handy product.

[steriaca]

What would an official Champions Universe campaign book look like? Not the big history book, but "here's how to run games in the Champions Universe" book as if it were a comic book universe or movie universe. You'd need a section with at least some of the main bad guys in it, a sample city, some basic themes, campaign rules or at least typical patterns, a few adventures at least, maybe a map or two.

 

Seems like this could be a handy product.

It already exists. It is called Champions, and it is for the 6th edition. Champions Complete also has some advice, but not much.

[Tjack]

They do, it's called Strike Force.

[assault]

What would an official Champions Universe campaign book look like?  Not the big history book, but "here's how to run games in the Champions Universe" book as if it were a comic book universe or movie universe.  You'd need a section with at least some of the main bad guys in it, a sample city, some basic themes, campaign rules or at least typical patterns, a few adventures at least, maybe a map or two.

 

Seems like this could be a handy product.

 

I agree. I see it as being a book that would give you what you need to run a campaign, except for the PCs and the rules themselves. (And you could have sample characters that you could use as PCs!)

 

Except for not containing the rules, it would vaguely resemble the PS238 game, or other "Powered by Hero" games, in that it would be a particular implementation of the Hero System and Champions Universe rather than a toolkit.

 

Inevitably, the choices it would make wouldn't be those I would, so I wouldn't be entirely happy with it, but I think it would be a good idea.

 

Heck, I wouldn't object to a version that included the Basic rules, so you had a "buy one relatively brief product and start playing" game.

[assault]

It already exists. It is called Champions, and it is for the 6th edition. Champions Complete also has some advice, but not much.

 

Champions isn't plug and play. It isn't oriented towards "here you go, now start playing".

 

Neither is Strike Force.

 

That's not to take anything away from those two awesome books - it's just that neither of them do what they weren't designed to do.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Right, they are great books, but not a campaign setting.  They contain parts a campaign setting could use, though.

[Lord Liaden]

Well, to my mind, that kind of campaign-setting-book approach isn't really necessary for Champions. The game is very much inspired by the worlds of the mainstream comics publishers (DC and Marvel), meaning the setting is almost exactly the same as the world we're living in, except for the presence of superhumans. It's the same socially, geopolitically (with a few fictional additions), and although supers have existed for decades, the real major historical events happened there too. While a completely fictional city with maps might be nice, anyone can (and many campaigns do) use any desired real-world city.

 

Now, NPCs for the players to fight (or occasionally ally with), and some adventures to run, is something all games could use. But those are separate issues which IMO should be treated separately.

[Christopher R Taylor]

The way I'm thinking is that the generic is out there for people to make whatever they want already.  What is missing is an easy drop in campaign setting for GMs to just pick up and use.  It fills a hole in the product line that could be very attractive to potential GMs.

[steriaca]

The way I'm thinking is that the generic is out there for people to make whatever they want already. What is missing is an easy drop in campaign setting for GMs to just pick up and use. It fills a hole in the product line that could be very attractive to potential GMs.

True. But GMs should be reading comic books, manga, and graphic novels first, before running anything Champions related. They should be more than a little bit familiar with the source material before trying to run/play. Playing a comic book roleplaying game without opening up a comic book is silly. And while 'how to create the feal' books are helpful, they are useless without some knowledge of the source material.

[Alverant]

The problem is, what kind of campaign do you want to run. The campaign has to be tailored to the players desires and the characters. For example if none of the characters uses magic then you don't really need magical enemies. If all the heroes are mutants you need to develop the human/mutant relationship a bit more. This isn't fantasy. It's hard to say there's such a thing as a "standard superhero campaign" past "you're heroes, they're villains, heroes beat up villains". Perhaps there can be a small book giving "generic" comic book tropes like street gangs, evil organizations, shadowy government cabals, etc but I can't see that for being really useful. What I think you're looking for is a book giving plot ideas which I think is in the 5th edition book Villainy Unbound.

[massey]

If I was to write a campaign book, I'd have a little primer on comic books, the different comic ages, things like that.  A lot of people are passingly familiar with comic books, and they think they understand superheroes, but they really just flipped through a couple of X-Men comics when they were 13 and then 20 years later saw The Watchmen and Batman v Superman.  So, you know, bringing people up to speed on what comics are actually like would not be a bad thing.

 

So you'd get a more expanded version of something like this:

 

How do you run a game based on comic books?  How is such a game supposed to feel?  Well that depends on what era of comic books you're reading.  Generally, comics are divided into 4 different ages.  This is based on when they were published, although there is a bit of overlap.

 

The Golden Age -- late 1930s through early 1950s.  This is the first era of comics where the superhero appears.  These comics were influenced heavily by pulp novels and men's magazines.  Every hero was a two-fisted man of action.  Even the scientists were square-jawed and could knock a man out with a punch.  Women were buxom beauties who were either always in distress, or were dangerous femme fatales.  Because the "rules" of comics were still being worked out, writers often through whatever was currently popular into the mix to see what would take.  Mix together jungle adventure stories, Universal monster movies, black and white private investigator films, Al Capone and the mob, the occult, archaeology and ancient Egyptian tombs, and set it all against the backdrop of WWII.  The Indiana Jones movies were inspired by many of the same sources as the Golden Age comics.  One surprise for modern readers is the lack of many real supervillains during this time period.  Apart from a few mad scientists, and maybe an escaped giant ape or an evil vampire, villains tended to be of the mundane variety in most Golden Age stories.  With organized crime and the Axis Powers, there were enough real world evils for the heroes to fight.  Another surprise for modern audiences is the amount of sex and violence that took place in some of these stories.  While not pornographic, there were clear sexual references in many comics, and women wore very revealing clothing (to better display their long legs and heaving bosoms).  The violence was not cartoony or safe.  Gunshot wounds were commonplace and many characters often died (though not the heroes).  Towards the end of the 1940s, superheroes declined in popularity.  Most characters got their books cancelled.  They were replaced by romance comics, western comics, and horror comics.  The overt sexuality of many Golden Age books, coupled with the blood and violence of the later horror comics (nearly as gory as anything you'd see in a Friday the 13th film, and this was in the '50s!), led to Congress stepping in and demanding changes.

 

The Silver Age --   Late 1950s through early 1970s.  The Silver Age comics were governed by the Comics Code, a set of guidelines the publishers agreed to follow.  Women would wear more conservative clothing, sex was basically treated as if it didn't exist, violence was significantly reduced, and monsters and gore were gone.  The United States was presented like the land of Leave it to Beaver, and the comics themselves played more like a Saturday morning cartoon.  To keep interest in this heavily-sanitized vision of the world, the first real waves of costumed supervillains appeared.  While their plans usually involved robbing banks or "taking over the world", Silver Age villains (to comply with restrictions against violence) generally had to use ray guns, or giant machines that projected mind control rays, rather than just using machine guns or bombs like their Golden Age counterparts did.  Occult references in the Silver Age were heavily downplayed, and instead science fiction became the go-to source for encounters.  The Silver Age created the mythologies for the most well known superheroes today, as the content restrictions pushed writers to become as creative as possible to make interesting stories.  Combine the early days of television (the Andy Griffith Show through Gilligan's Island) with The Jetsons style sci-fi, and put it against the backdrop of the Cold War.  Some publishers (such as DC comics) tended to go for safer stories less rooted in reality but well within the boundaries of the Comics Code.  Other publishers (such as Marvel comics) pushed the boundaries of the Comics Code and would occasionally show the consequences of superpowered violence.  Even in the Silver Age, people would occasionally get hurt or killed.

 

The Bronze Age -- early 1970s through about 1990.  The Bronze Age began introducing real social issues to comic books.  Racism, sexism, drug use, Vietnam, all the problems of a tumultuous time in American history could only stay out of comic books for so long.  Eventually, these themes found their way into comic books.  This marked the beginnings of the end of the Comics Code, as all these topics were basically prohibited from being included in what were considered "books for children".  Anti-heroes like Wolverine and the Punisher began appearing, characters who would intentionally kill their enemies, yet were still written as protagonists.  More modern television programs like All in the Family, M*A*S*H, and Welcome Back, Kotter became the baseline for how the United States was portrayed.  Mix in newer sci-fi franchises like the original Star Trek and Star Wars, against the political backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War.  The books were still generally targeted towards early teenagers, and still maintained a soft "PG" rating, with very little profanity or sex.  Supervillain plans became more dangerous, more likely to kill people, and heroes had to be careful to protect bystanders from the effects of a superbattle.  The Bronze Age is the default assumed setting for Champions games.  It offers the most flexibility while still maintaining a classic comic book "feel".

 

The Iron Age -- 1990ish to present.  The first stirrings of the Iron Age began in the very early 1980s, but it was limited to relatively obscure publishers and a handful of short miniseries or one-off books.  The 1990s marked the real birth of the age.  Comics became much more violent, with heroes casually killing villains for even the smallest transgression.  Perhaps triggered by the real-world crime wave of the 1980s, many comic book heroes took a "tough on crime" approach, evidenced by one character throwing a pen through the throat of a purse snatcher and then throwing him off a balcony.  This wasn't an anti-hero, he was the leader of a government-sponsored team.  Characters became much more militaristic, using guns and wearing uniforms with military patches and ammo clips attached.  Evil government conspiracies became the norm, and the writers pushed their political opinions much more forcefully.  The Comics Code finally died during this time, with sex and violence and every political issue conceivable proudly displayed on the cover.  The harshest profanity and even nudity became could be found in mainstream Iron Age books.  The common tropes of earlier ages were deconstructed and often mocked during this period.  Combine an X-Files government with the political insight of an aggressive internet meme, the violence and language of a hard-R action movie, and sometimes heavy influences from Japanese manga and anime.

[Christopher R Taylor]

The problem is, what kind of campaign do you want to run. The campaign has to be tailored to the players desires and the characters.

 

Yet that is true of every campaign ever played in every game system ever printed.  Somehow, they manage to print campaign settings anyway.  For example: this AD&D group has no cleric or healer class.  That Star Wars campaign has no jedi.  This Wild West game has no gunslinger.  

 

But the settings work anyway, because they aren't the campaign, they are the container people put the campaign within.  The setting is the background, the other groups out there, the bad guys which are around, the history, and the basic rules of the world.  What you do within that is up to the GM but it gives them a starter world to drop into without needing to create their own.

[Lord Liaden]

Yet that is true of every campaign ever played in every game system ever printed.  Somehow, they manage to print campaign settings anyway.  For example: this AD&D group has no cleric or healer class.  That Star Wars campaign has no jedi.  This Wild West game has no gunslinger. 

 

But those are examples of, "everything but." Taking out one element from the package provided. It isn't hard to go the other way in many cases, such as adding jedi to a fantasy setting. In the case of mainstream-style supers games, it's mostly a matter of, "take the Real World outside your window, and add supers." If you want a more elaborate set-up for a Champions campaign than that, it's in Champions Universe.

 

That said, I agree with massey regarding genre and campaigning advice, for people not really familiar with supers conventions. (Which BTW seems to be a big part of the player base for Champions Online, and perhaps some of its developers.) But then, that's what the Champions genre book was intended for.

[steriaca]

If I was to write a campaign book, I'd have a little primer on comic books, the different comic ages, things like that. A lot of people are passingly familiar with comic books, and they think they understand superheroes, but they really just flipped through a couple of X-Men comics when they were 13 and then 20 years later saw The Watchmen and Batman v Superman. So, you know, bringing people up to speed on what comics are actually like would not be a bad thing.

 

So you'd get a more expanded version of something like this:

 

How do you run a game based on comic books? How is such a game supposed to feel? Well that depends on what era of comic books you're reading. Generally, comics are divided into 4 different ages. This is based on when they were published, although there is a bit of overlap.

 

The Golden Age -- late 1930s through early 1950s. This is the first era of comics where the superhero appears. These comics were influenced heavily by pulp novels and men's magazines. Every hero was a two-fisted man of action. Even the scientists were square-jawed and could knock a man out with a punch. Women were buxom beauties who were either always in distress, or were dangerous femme fatales. Because the "rules" of comics were still being worked out, writers often through whatever was currently popular into the mix to see what would take. Mix together jungle adventure stories, Universal monster movies, black and white private investigator films, Al Capone and the mob, the occult, archaeology and ancient Egyptian tombs, and set it all against the backdrop of WWII. The Indiana Jones movies were inspired by many of the same sources as the Golden Age comics. One surprise for modern readers is the lack of many real supervillains during this time period. Apart from a few mad scientists, and maybe an escaped giant ape or an evil vampire, villains tended to be of the mundane variety in most Golden Age stories. With organized crime and the Axis Powers, there were enough real world evils for the heroes to fight. Another surprise for modern audiences is the amount of sex and violence that took place in some of these stories. While not pornographic, there were clear sexual references in many comics, and women wore very revealing clothing (to better display their long legs and heaving bosoms). The violence was not cartoony or safe. Gunshot wounds were commonplace and many characters often died (though not the heroes). Towards the end of the 1940s, superheroes declined in popularity. Most characters got their books cancelled. They were replaced by romance comics, western comics, and horror comics. The overt sexuality of many Golden Age books, coupled with the blood and violence of the later horror comics (nearly as gory as anything you'd see in a Friday the 13th film, and this was in the '50s!), led to Congress stepping in and demanding changes.

 

The Silver Age -- Late 1950s through early 1970s. The Silver Age comics were governed by the Comics Code, a set of guidelines the publishers agreed to follow. Women would wear more conservative clothing, sex was basically treated as if it didn't exist, violence was significantly reduced, and monsters and gore were gone. The United States was presented like the land of Leave it to Beaver, and the comics themselves played more like a Saturday morning cartoon. To keep interest in this heavily-sanitized vision of the world, the first real waves of costumed supervillains appeared. While their plans usually involved robbing banks or "taking over the world", Silver Age villains (to comply with restrictions against violence) generally had to use ray guns, or giant machines that projected mind control rays, rather than just using machine guns or bombs like their Golden Age counterparts did. Occult references in the Silver Age were heavily downplayed, and instead science fiction became the go-to source for encounters. The Silver Age created the mythologies for the most well known superheroes today, as the content restrictions pushed writers to become as creative as possible to make interesting stories. Combine the early days of television (the Andy Griffith Show through Gilligan's Island) with The Jetsons style sci-fi, and put it against the backdrop of the Cold War. Some publishers (such as DC comics) tended to go for safer stories less rooted in reality but well within the boundaries of the Comics Code. Other publishers (such as Marvel comics) pushed the boundaries of the Comics Code and would occasionally show the consequences of superpowered violence. Even in the Silver Age, people would occasionally get hurt or killed.

 

The Bronze Age -- early 1970s through about 1990. The Bronze Age began introducing real social issues to comic books. Racism, sexism, drug use, Vietnam, all the problems of a tumultuous time in American history could only stay out of comic books for so long. Eventually, these themes found their way into comic books. This marked the beginnings of the end of the Comics Code, as all these topics were basically prohibited from being included in what were considered "books for children". Anti-heroes like Wolverine and the Punisher began appearing, characters who would intentionally kill their enemies, yet were still written as protagonists. More modern television programs like All in the Family, M*A*S*H, and Welcome Back, Kotter became the baseline for how the United States was portrayed. Mix in newer sci-fi franchises like the original Star Trek and Star Wars, against the political backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War. The books were still generally targeted towards early teenagers, and still maintained a soft "PG" rating, with very little profanity or sex. Supervillain plans became more dangerous, more likely to kill people, and heroes had to be careful to protect bystanders from the effects of a superbattle. The Bronze Age is the default assumed setting for Champions games. It offers the most flexibility while still maintaining a classic comic book "feel".

 

The Iron Age -- 1990ish to present. The first stirrings of the Iron Age began in the very early 1980s, but it was limited to relatively obscure publishers and a handful of short miniseries or one-off books. The 1990s marked the real birth of the age. Comics became much more violent, with heroes casually killing villains for even the smallest transgression. Perhaps triggered by the real-world crime wave of the 1980s, many comic book heroes took a "tough on crime" approach, evidenced by one character throwing a pen through the throat of a purse snatcher and then throwing him off a balcony. This wasn't an anti-hero, he was the leader of a government-sponsored team. Characters became much more militaristic, using guns and wearing uniforms with military patches and ammo clips attached. Evil government conspiracies became the norm, and the writers pushed their political opinions much more forcefully. The Comics Code finally died during this time, with sex and violence and every political issue conceivable proudly displayed on the cover. The harshest profanity and even nudity became could be found in mainstream Iron Age books. The common tropes of earlier ages were deconstructed and often mocked during this period. Combine an X-Files government with the political insight of an aggressive internet meme, the violence and language of a hard-R action movie, and sometimes heavy influences from Japanese manga and anime.

This is the start of things. This is the bair bones of the ages of comics. There is also the Atomic Age, which is between the Golden and Silver Age, but most superheroes are gone durring this time. And there is whatever age we are living in now, where more young people know of superheroes not by comic books, but by movies, video games, ect...

[Christopher R Taylor]

Not sure what we call it now.  We left the Iron Age back when Image stopped being so popular, probably "Cinematic" is the best name for it now.

[Lord Liaden]

I've heard contemporary comics called, "Steel Age," which I rather like. An alloy of what's gone before.

[TheQuestionMan]

The Titanium Age 

 

The Platinum Age 

 

The Techno Age 

 

The Deconstruction/Reconstruction Age

 

 

 

QM

[Burrito Boy]

The Titanium Age

 

The Platinum Age

 

The Techno Age

 

The Deconstruction/Reconstruction Age

 

 

 

QM

Reconstruction Age sounds good since Reconstruction came after the Civil War.

[Spence]

The way I'm thinking is that the generic is out there for people to make whatever they want already.  What is missing is an easy drop in campaign setting for GMs to just pick up and use.  It fills a hole in the product line that could be very attractive to potential GMs.

 

You are correct, but you won't gain any traction here.   I argued this for years and have given up.  Hero is pretty much set in stone for two options.  Extremely broad textbook style references or ultra high detailed settings that need all players to dedicate 5 years real time to study.  Nothing in between.   

 

If you want drop in supers M&M has the Emerald City campaign which works well as an intro game and introduces EC bit by bit. 

[starblaze]

Explain how superhero games are different than other rpgs

[bubba smith]

Not sure what we call it now.  We left the Iron Age back when Image stopped being so popular, probably "Cinematic" is the best name for it now.

the cinematic age of comics ?

[massey]

I think including a list like "10 Simple Rules for Superheroic Adventures in the (whatever) Age" would be good too.

 

For instance, for the Golden Age, you'd have something like this: (not that these are the rules I'd use necessarily, they're just an example):

 

1.  Heroes are physically more powerful than villains.  Villains are a threat because they have evil plans and minions.

2.  Morality is black and white.  Heroes are good, villains are bad.  While morality is black and white, villains can sometimes disguise their intent.  You may not know they're really a villain at first.  The femme fatale who pretends to be an innocent dame is a staple of this era.

3.  Even heroes who are reluctant to kill may do so in wartime.  This should take the form of smashing bombers or sinking ships, not ripping soldiers into pieces with your super-strong hands.

4.  Like Disney villains, evil masterminds are often destroyed by their own evil plan.  Machines explode, fire rampages through the castle, and steep cliffs allow villains to fall to their doom.  A hero is not required to save such a villain.

5.  The Nazi war machine is as powerful as it needs to be to let the hero smash things and make progress, yet for the war to continue until 1945.

6.  The Nazi obsession with the occult transforms into full-blown sorcery in comics.  They will often have actual magic that they can use.

7.  Foreign cultures are often exaggerated into cartoonish versions of themselves, particularly African or South American tribes or other "lost civilizations".  Be careful not to stray into racism, but an inaccurate portrayal of people in distant lands is actually more authentic to the Golden Age than careful research will provide you.

8.  The fossil record is malleable.  It's okay to have a 100 foot tall T-Rex.  An island in the South Pacific can have a 50 foot tall gorilla without the need for a pseudo-science explanation.  They just grow that big there.

9.  While the culture of the 1930s and 1940s was filled with racism and sexism, Golden Age comics rarely dealt with such issues.  The Civil Rights Movement will appear in Bronze Age comics.  Social justice of the Golden Age is more related to fighting political corruption and supporting the New Deal.  Comics in this era generally avoided dealing with racial issues, apart from a vague "racism is bad unless it's against the Japanese or the Germans".

10.  Complex plots are fine.  Many of the comics of this day were written for GIs to read, not just kids.  While patriotism is expected, it isn't blind.  Politicians can be portrayed as corrupt and violent men.  Heroes may be distrusted by those in authority, particularly by the police.  The Golden Age is in many ways a more complex period than those that followed.

 

 

Have something like that to help shape the expectations of both players and GMs.  

[Christopher R Taylor]

I think Cinematic is best as a descriptive term; movies and the attempt to make movie-like comics that drive the industry now.  Steel age presumes an extension from the metal ages and its all different now.  Almost all the basic themes and tropes of comic books have been abandoned for a different set of ideas.  Often Superheroes barely wear costumes any more.

 

I would, if I was in charge of this project, set up a basic, modern comic book universe campaign book, then release supplements of "Champions Universe" in different ages: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum (pre-golden age, steampunkish stuff and pulp) rather than try to have it all in one book.

[Spence]

Explain how superhero games are different than other rpgs

In the big picture they are not different. That is what is sad about it. Hero and Herodom is standing firm while the rest of RPGdom marches forward.

 

They did the same thing with maps. Champions Battlegrounds has awesome maps that are basically useless. The book has lowres versions too tiny to see. But there was never a hires map pack sold. The one map pack they ever did was high fantasy into the already saturated high fantasy market. Large detailed modern maps are still hard to get. But now the rule is maps don't sell. I have the Hudson City map, which is the primary reason I use HC in most of my games 1900 to present. I edited the map for a version without interstates but adding rail. But the regional map is too low res. Vibora suffers the same issue.

 

As to adventures. Most of M&M's adventures as well as ones for ICONS and V&V are easily decoupled from the setting and can be used in custom worlds with little effort.

 

Hero adventures tend to be both very long and very world'centric.

 

My favorite on is Shades of Black. But I have never run it. Anything less than long term developed player characters would be a waste.

 

Early Hero had a lot of good material to aid the GM. Current Hero has a massive reference library but nothing a brand new player can buy on Monday and actually run on Tuesday.

 

The tool kit aspect is wonderful, but useless if no one is introduced to a reason to have the toolkit.

 

I didn't buy any tools until I actually had a car. Hero is the guy in 1700 telling a wagon based freight company to buy a set of 2015 tools so he can work on the 18 wheeler and being puzzled at the lack of sales.

 

Teach how to PLAY the game first.

Then worry about in depth design.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Spence

[assault]

We already have the Champions genre book. There is no point in rehashing it.

 

Likewise, we already have Champions Universe, so there is no point in rehashing that either. Or, say, Millennium City for that matter. (MC is 5e, too, but that's beside the point.)

 

A campaign book, as I see it, would take elements of these, and put them together into a coherent campaign. It wouldn't be a toolkit, except within narrow bounds, and would focus on being immediately playable.

 

It would contain scenarios, useful maps, required NPCs, and a framework to hook the scenarios together.

 

If I were writing it, and assuming it was set the Champions Universe, the situation would be that the Champions (and the MC8, and any other heroes the GM feels the need to eliminate) have gone missing, presumed dead. The GM's section would emphasise that they aren't actually dead unless the GM wants them to be, and can be brought back whenever it is convenient. The point is that they are missing.

 

The PCs would be the heroes (and, optionally, reformed villains) pressganged into being their replacements.

 

Then there would be a loose story line - a plot point campaign style thing, if I understand the concept correctly - where the PCs get to grow into the shoes of their predecessors, find out what happened to them, defeat the Big Bad that was capable of defeating the Champions, the MC8 and other heroes combined, and probably have a showdown with "their predecessors returned from the dead".

 

And do lots of other stuff in the meantime, including their own specific subplots and whatever.

 

All a GM has to do is buy it, read it, babysit the players through character generation, and start playing the first scenario.

 

And they can modify it all they want. The point is that they have something to modify. As much as possible of the front-loaded work will have been done for them.