Champions of the North

assault · October 17, 2017

Tasmanian Tiger; super stealth powers (okay, I'll admit to actually making this for City of Heroes. But I'm not proud)

I came up with Tasmanian Tigress a few years ago.

A standard romantic thief type.

mrinku · October 17, 2017

I came up with Tasmanian Tigress a few years ago.

A standard romantic thief type.

Nice. As long as no one who's looking for her can find her, it's all good

grandmastergm · October 17, 2017

On an earlier incarnation of the Hero Games website, Scott Bennie put up a free PDF of outtakes from his Champions Of The North manuscript which were cut due to space considerations. A lot of it deals with people and things mentioned but not statted in the published COTN. There may be something there you can use for your game.

Thank you Lord Liaden. This is quite useful!

grandmastergm · October 17, 2017

i always loved to imagine picture in Canada. But I was never able to get the book...

so, how can we help ?

The key would just be with helping with things for story, non-villain npcs, and making combat interesting.

I'll post the revised characters in 6e, but I will be using the villains from the Champions Villains books.

Lord Liaden · October 17, 2017

Re Australian supers, I don't think anyone wanting to create some should feel pressured to make them identifiably, unmistakably Aussie. Most American supers don't have names or backgrounds that scream, "AMERICA!" Just coming from that background, and being written by people from that background, tends to infuse them with its distinctive subtle flavor. That was also true of Scott Bennie's COTN characters; and I would expect it to be true for Australian writers.

assault · October 17, 2017

I've been thinking about the "hometown hero" effect, and ways to base a game somewhere that isn't a big (usually US) city.

I've got a few ideas. I'll write them down and post them in another thread.

Incidentally, this isn't the first COTN related thread to be hijacked into a discussion about non-US based campaigns in general.

assault · October 18, 2017

Nice. As long as no one who's looking for her can find her, it's all good

Hmm. Maybe she can turn invisible. That would make her a natural fit for the Kangaroo Gang.

No wonder nobody can find her in Tasmania. She's left town!

Lord Liaden · October 18, 2017

Oooh... at least one of them has to have a "pouch" that's a door to an extra-dimensional hideout! :bounce:

assault · October 18, 2017

Oooh... at least one of them has to have a "pouch" that's a door to an extra-dimensional hideout!

Probably not, no.

steriaca · October 18, 2017

I myself would love to see a Champions of the Rising Sun book. But since none of us are Japanese...

(As far as I know, only The Ark has one of the qualifications to write the book in an anti-silly way, and that is only because he lived there. Does he still live there?)

(I could try to write this book myself, but...)

Ninja-Bear · October 18, 2017

I myself would love to see a Champions of the Rising Sun book. But since none of us are Japanese...

(As far as I know, only The Ark has one of the qualifications to write the book in an anti-silly way, and that is only because he lived there. Does he still live there?)

(I could try to write this book myself, but...)

Being Japanese isn’t a requirement, doing the research is. The author of Outlander is noted for nailing Scotland and its people and she’s American.

assault · October 18, 2017

I've been thinking about "Small Town Champions". I think it's feasible.

The main thing you need is some kind of weirdness magnet to bring trouble to the area. After a while, things become self-perpetuating, as Doctor Weirdo starts seeking revenge...

The mobility of superheroes covers most other things. Our heroes can operate anywhere in space and time. They aren't just confined to their home town.

grandmastergm · October 19, 2017

Actually, you could write Champions of France. That would rule.

Or, at least, provide us with some characters that would impress all us idiotic Anglophones.

Personally, I would love to write Champions Down Under (the Champions sourcebook for Australia, but I can't do it). My attention span doesn't last that long.

Funny that you mention this Assault, Champions Worldwide features the following:

Heroes (93-99)

-Brigade: Martial Brick

-Harrier: Weaponmaster with a wingpack and blaster

-Walkabout: Aborigine Mystic

Villains (203-209)

-Anathema: Mentalist with Emotion Control

-Lightning Man: Mystic Weaponmaster with an axe

-Taipan: Speedster with Lethal Poison

-Marmoo: Aborigine Evil Spirit (Hidden Lands 94-96)

assault · October 20, 2017

Funny that you mention this Assault, Champions Worldwide features the following:

Heroes (93-99)

-Brigade: Martial Brick

-Harrier: Weaponmaster with a wingpack and blaster

-Walkabout: Aborigine Mystic

Villains (203-209)

-Anathema: Mentalist with Emotion Control

-Lightning Man: Mystic Weaponmaster with an axe

-Taipan: Speedster with Lethal Poison

-Marmoo: Aborigine Evil Spirit (Hidden Lands 94-96)

Written by an American, and it shows.

Brigade is a good example.

From Champions Worldwide, p94:

"Sensing an opportunity, the mayor of Sydney deputized him to become a special assistant to the city’s police force"

Sydney doesn't have a police force. Police forces in Australia operate at the State/Territory level.

The "Mayor of Sydney" is only the mayor of a few suburbs in inner-city Sydney, and has no power to deputize anyone to the New South Wales Police.

Under Perks (p93): 5 Contact: Sydney’s Police Chief 11-

Sydney not only doesn't have a Police Force, it doesn't have a Police Chief. This position doesn't exist in Australian police forces.

Back to page 94:

""Given his druthers, he’d relax with a beer and watch his beloved national rugby union"

While Rugby Union is played in Australia, it is more likely that he would follow Rugby League, a different game.

Taipan is usable.

Lawnmower Boy · October 20, 2017

I've been thinking about "Small Town Champions". I think it's feasible.

The main thing you need is some kind of weirdness magnet to bring trouble to the area. After a while, things become self-perpetuating, as Doctor Weirdo starts seeking revenge...

The mobility of superheroes covers most other things. Our heroes can operate anywhere in space and time. They aren't just confined to their home town.

The way Bertram Chandler would do it, a town like Alice Springs exists at the "rim," where the borders between the dimensions is thin . . . And all possible Australias impinge on each other. With, of course, all of their problems impinging as well. (Occupation forces of the Imperial Japanese Empire; Post-atomic zombie horrors from the cobalt-poisoned Rest of the World; Sky Pirates of the Great Australian Inland Sea; that Mad Max guy; British imperialists hunting for Undead Ned Kelly in atomic-powered steam flying boats. . .

megaplayboy · October 20, 2017

I once ran a champions campaign set in Ithaca, NY, because I was attending Cornell at the time. It was interesting. Cornell plus Ithaca combined have maybe 50,000 people.

I'd note that "Smallville" is essentially "Small Town Champions".

mrinku · October 20, 2017

The thing is I guess, is that a regional sourcebook just full of generic characters becomes a bit "why bother?". You do need a fair degree of local colour and some Captain Ethnics. But even with the latter, you can play around with it. And patriotic flag suits get a bit of free pass... no country is going to throw up anything to top the Seppos in that regard.

And the Golden Age is a special case.

I liked what DC did with Captain Boomerang from roughly when he was drafted into Suicide Squad (c.1987), changing his character from token Australian rogue who throws boomerangs into a guy you first and foremost thought of as "that selfish, smart arse bastard"... who happens to also be Australian and throws boomerangs.

grandmastergm · November 6, 2017

On 10/12/2017 at 8:11 PM, grandmastergm said:

Hello everyone,

I plan on running a 6e Champions game over at U-Con this year. I'm presently working on it- as it adapts characters from the 5e book Champions of the North. The PCs will be playing official Canadian superheroes who are tasked with saving their country from the combined forces of Baron Nihil and Tilingkoot, who have joined forces to dimensionally merge the Great White North with Nihil's dimension.

Player Characters (Star-Force)

Argosy- a mentalist from the Maritime Provinces

The Constable- a martial brick from British Columbia

Justiciar- a cyborg from Northern Canada

Prism Girl- a duplicating energy projector from Ontario

Dust Devil- a speedster-brick from the Prairies

Chateleine- a mage from Quebec (actually a member of another super-team, but her teammates have vanished)

Villains

Tilingkoot

Tilingkoot's minions (Loupe Garou/Adlet, Wendigo, other "lost" or evil spirits)

Baron Nihil

Baron Nihil's minions (the Knights of Saguenay)

Encounter Locations

Downtown Toronto

Ungava Peninsula

Parliament Hill, Ottawa

All right folks, I finally came up with the adventure. I play-tested it with a group of friends a few weeks back and they really enjoyed it, so without further adieu; here is: Baron Nihil's revenge!

Let me know what you think,

Baron Nihils Revenge.docx

Lawnmower Boy · November 7, 2017

On 11/5/2017 at 4:15 PM, grandmastergm said:

All right folks, I finally came up with the adventure. I play-tested it with a group of friends a few weeks back and they really enjoyed it, so without further adieu; here is: Baron Nihil's revenge!

Let me know what you think,

Baron Nihils Revenge.docx

Thanks for that! Always good to see Champions of the North in use. I do wonder about using StarForce as a source of pregen characters, though. Some of the writeups, particularly Argosy, seem awfully underwhelming. It's almost as though Scott skilfully designed them to not overshadow the PC party!

grandmastergm · November 14, 2017

On 11/7/2017 at 12:16 PM, Lawnmower Boy said:

Thanks for that! Always good to see Champions of the North in use. I do wonder about using StarForce as a source of pregen characters, though. Some of the writeups, particularly Argosy, seem awfully underwhelming. It's almost as though Scott skilfully designed them to not overshadow the PC party!

I upgraded them to 6e, and I buffed up Argosy so that he was on part with the other PCs, but he was built on 25 less points (475)than most of them (500) with the exception of Prism girl who was built on 525.