Now that I've seen Reality Storm

[Michael Hopcroft]

Now that I have a copy of Reality Storm, i was intrigued by the idea of a medled Millanium City/Empire City Universe.

 

One villain that comes to mind as someone who would be very interesting to pit agianst some Champions characters is Janus. janus is just plain creepy -- a sadistic serial killer who "hunts masks" -- seeks out supers or other crimefighters and tries to destroy them in mind and body. Without any superpowers at all, he almost brought down the Sentinel, has evaded capture for twenty years with innumerable murders of his head, and is in general the sort of villain who worms his way into your brain and stays there. The sort of villain that even heroes with a CAK might want to see dead, dead, dead.

 

Mister Matthews is another villain who might fit well opposing Champions characters, with his obsessive hatred of all things superhuman and his incredible skills with genetic engineering.

 

Then there's Bloody Mary. Not only could she give the Champions a run for their money, but she can creep out just about any group of PCs she encounters no matter what their power level, and her unholy interest in children makes her the sort of villain players would take pleasure in thwarting. What could be more rewarding than rescusing a hundred children?

 

On the CU side, there are a ton of villains who might pose problems for the Guard. Menton, who is so devastatingly powerful I'm surprised he isn't controlling every mind on Earth already, would be a potent adversary for the Guard, whose lack of a mentalist could prove lethal. I don;t know if the SAS Mid Control attribute GOES that high. Masquerade may be one of the deadliest villains in any superhero RPG, simply because it can appear to be ANYBODY. And how horrifying would it be for Mother Raven to have to face the Crowns of Krim.

[death tribble]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Any idea when it is supposed to hit the shops ?

 

I have seen nothing about release in Britain yet.

[JJR]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Any idea when it is supposed to hit the shops ?

 

I have seen nothing about release in Britain yet.

I cannot speak for Britain but I have had a copy since last Friday, so it is out there.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Any idea when it is supposed to hit the shops ?

 

I have seen nothing about release in Britain yet.

 

Since Michael claims to have a copy, it would seem that it's already in Oregon. (*%#! US west coast always gets the cool stuff first. ) So, spill the beans, Mr. H... what's your impression of the adventure? How does the translation matrix work?

 

As for the impact of the book, I'm frankly hoping that it'll be a shot in the arm for SAS, which has been kind of languishing in terms of new product and fan interest. If the trans matrix is top-notch, this could open up our copious Champions support products to SAS players; good for HERO sales, obviously, but SAS is a fine game with a lot of potential use for Champs players, and more interest could stimulate more product from GOO.

 

Personally I have several characters from the world of Empire City that I look forward to plundering. In particular, my campaign world could use a good Superman riff like Sentinel.

[death tribble]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I like Alice, Bloody Mary and Phoenix

[JJR]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

SAS does not have many villains for its game yet. There are only about 40 villains published in 3 roll calls and 1 criminal intent book. There are not a great deal of choices for a champions game. The villains from the SAS book are the most interesting characters in the SAS world. Kreuzritter, Janus, Iron Duke, Bloody Mary, and Jade Naga are the characters I would uses from SAS.

[Hermit]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Oooo... the waiting is torture, but it will be over soon, yes... soon. Mwhahahaha!

[Agent X]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Since Michael claims to have a copy, it would seem that it's already in Oregon. (*%#! US west coast always gets the cool stuff first. ) So, spill the beans, Mr. H... what's your impression of the adventure? How does the translation matrix work?

 

As for the impact of the book, I'm frankly hoping that it'll be a shot in the arm for SAS, which has been kind of languishing in terms of new product and fan interest. If the trans matrix is top-notch, this could open up our copious Champions support products to SAS players; good for HERO sales, obviously, but SAS is a fine game with a lot of potential use for Champs players, and more interest could stimulate more product from GOO.

 

Personally I have several characters from the world of Empire City that I look forward to plundering. In particular, my campaign world could use a good Superman riff like Sentinel.

I think they need to "clean up" their format. I don't like it. The only thing I've bought is the Cheapskate Edition but, looking through their other stuff, it's not a format that works for me. Some of their stuff looks good but they need to be more selective or throw more content down in their books.

[Just A Guy Name]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

SAS does not have many villains for its game yet. There are only about 40 villains published in 3 roll calls and 1 criminal intent book. There are not a great deal of choices for a champions game. The villains from the SAS book are the most interesting characters in the SAS world. Kreuzritter' date=' Janus, Iron Duke, Bloody Mary, and Jade Naga are the characters I would uses from SAS.[/quote']Don't forget the roughly two dozen write-ups from Emergency Response and Matthews GenTech. Many of the critters from that latter are just monsters, and most of the rest are Sidekicks (more or less), though some are quite powerful. The enhanced version of Monty is a good surprise villain to spring on players. And if the generally poorer artwork (and lack of tie-ins and throwaways present in the SAS corebook and, to a lesser extent, CI and SoJ) diminishes the appeal of the characters from the Roll Calls somewhat; still, a lot of them have good potential as NPCs, with just a bit of polish;) Scream Queen (from RC1) and Bullet Time (RC2) are just two of my favourites.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Will they be selling Reality Storm at the Hero Store?

[Steve Long]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Will they be selling Reality Storm at the Hero Store?

 

We will be after the usual one-month delay.

[Metaphysician]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I used to be big on SAS, but frankly, the Champions Universe setting is far better. The only thing SAS has going for it is better iconic heroes, and thats only applicable because Champions doesn't yet really *have* any iconic heroes statted and bioed.

[Blue]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I can only give the typical preliminary thumbs up (as I'm entrenched in the Ultimate Brick right now), but I like what I've seen in Reality Storm. Darren seems to have done a great job. I was worried because following the initial hype it got so quiet.

 

All plot and background aside, it's worth it just to have the SAS villains statted out in the back for Hero.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I used to be big on SAS' date=' but frankly, the Champions Universe setting is far better. The only thing SAS has going for it is better iconic heroes, and thats only applicable because Champions doesn't yet really *have* any iconic heroes statted and bioed.[/quote']

 

Agreed. Except now, thanks to Reality Storm... we have theirs.

 

Although, in the pages of Digital Hero, we have been getting more "iconic" heroes, such as the rosters of the Sentinels and the Fabulous Five. I suspect we'll see most of those characters collected in Champions sourcebooks one day.

[Hermit]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I'm sure I've asked this before, but assuming plot and rationalization permit, is anyone else considering making crossover between "alternate game worlds" more common in their campaigns? Not casual like a commute to work, but still...

[Sketchpad]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I have had a few for years Back in the mid 80s, a friend and I would have a yearly crossover event. We were running 5 superhero games at the time: Champions, V&V, DC Heroes, MSH & Heroes Unlimited. Within each campaign, the players formed a group that had the same name in each dimension. So, we would have the characters meet the alternate universe teams to battle a threat to all of their universe.

To do this, we would pick a system and convert the characters over, usually it was a fast system because we were dealing with over 20 characters. Each player controlled one of their own characters when they split into smaller, mixed teams and battled elements of the big bad guy. It kind of worked out like "JSA/JLA team-up meets the Crisis meets Cosmic Odessey meets Secret Wars". At the end of one, two PCs died and a few members from another dimension's team replaced them ... it was always quite fun

[Just A Guy Name]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I used to be big on SAS' date=' but frankly, the Champions Universe setting is far better. The only thing SAS has going for it is better iconic heroes, and thats only applicable because Champions doesn't yet really *have* any iconic heroes statted and bioed.[/quote']DGNED I disagree wholeheartedly with the sentiment in your first sentence. Though I like both systems, the Empire City setting is more approachable (from a player standpoint) and relevant (from a character standpoint) (partly due to it's similarity to RW Earth), than the Champions Universe. The CU, esp. in the current edition, suffers in comparison due to the "crowded" feeling it imparts: Kinda like the Pre-Crisis DCU, where the setting is top-heavy with big playas. JMHO

OTOH, you're right about the iconic heroes. To me, this comes back to the setting: Because extra care was devoted to integrating the characters from the SAS corebook into the EC background, they just have more of a "3-D" feel to them.

Heh, I'll probably return to this later..but my mailman just dropped off a VERY important package {Woo-Hoo! Reality Storm at last! )

[Metaphysician]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Agreed. Except now' date=' thanks to [b']Reality Storm[/b]... we have theirs.

 

Although, in the pages of Digital Hero, we have been getting more "iconic" heroes, such as the rosters of the Sentinels and the Fabulous Five. I suspect we'll see most of those characters collected in Champions sourcebooks one day.

 

With decent point totals this time, I hope. *grumble*grumble*

 

Actually, if I were to import heroes, I'd rather import the Freedom League from Freedom City. While the Guard are good iconic heroes, several of them have ties to either historical events or other characters that would be difficult to either sever or transfer ( and I don't *want* to bring over any of the corebook villains, or at least any of the White Rooks ).

[Metaphysician]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

DGNED I disagree wholeheartedly with the sentiment in your first sentence. Though I like both systems, the Empire City setting is more approachable (from a player standpoint) and relevant (from a character standpoint) (partly due to it's similarity to RW Earth), than the Champions Universe. The CU, esp. in the current edition, suffers in comparison due to the "crowded" feeling it imparts: Kinda like the Pre-Crisis DCU, where the setting is top-heavy with big playas. JMHO

OTOH, you're right about the iconic heroes. To me, this comes back to the setting: Because extra care was devoted to integrating the characters from the SAS corebook into the EC background, they just have more of a "3-D" feel to them.

Heh, I'll probably return to this later..but my mailman just dropped off a VERY important package {Woo-Hoo! Reality Storm at last! )

 

Crowded?? How??

 

They've barely statted out any heroes at all, at not a one of the iconic ones ( unless Quasar counts ).

[Metaphysician]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

OTOH, I *do* very much like the idea of having, say, SAS, Freedom City, and Champions as "parallel earths" with the possibility of crossover.

[death tribble]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Metaphysician,

 

You don't want any of the White Rooks ?

I do particularly Alice who you can drop in almost anywhere.

[JJR]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Crowded?? How??

 

They've barely statted out any heroes at all, at not a one of the iconic ones ( unless Quasar counts ).

I believe he means crowded in the sense that there are so many listed heroes in the champions universe. It seems like there are over 150 listed in the pdf. Millenium city alone has 22 listed heroes in it, not including the ravenswood cadets.

 

It does seem like hero games goes out of its way to not give us hero write ups. Even the mystic world has no mystic superhero write ups in it. You would think they would have included one or two. IMO, we really need more concrete information on the universe and its heroes.

[Just A Guy Name]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

Crowded?? How??

 

They've barely statted out any heroes at all, at not a one of the iconic ones ( unless Quasar counts ).

I was referring to the large number of high point value villains in the Champions Universe. I feel their presence tends to overshadow the efforts of standard level heroes. But your comment brings another comparison to mind that favours the Empire City setting, in my view: There is a greater balance between published heroes and villains for the ECU. This helps alleviate the dissimilitude (if that's the right word) created by having the PCs being the only heroes opposing all those villains. Just having stats for them (the NPC heroes) gives credence to the promise of backup or support, and creates an air of authenticity ("Hey! Why is every other super in the world besides us, a villain?!") that I approve of. JMHO

[JJR]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I was referring to the large number of high point value villains in the Champions Universe. I feel their presence tends to overshadow the efforts of standard level heroes.

There really are not that many high point villains in champions. I believe there are only 7 published villains over 1,000 points. The other 120+ are all in the 350-800 point range. With heroes starting at 350 points a 500 point villain is really not much of a challenge for 2-3 heroes in combat. I don't really see the overshadowing you speak of.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Now that I've seen Reality Storm

 

I'm sure I've asked this before' date=' but assuming plot and rationalization permit, is anyone else considering making crossover between "alternate game worlds" more common in their campaigns? Not casual like a commute to work, but still... [/quote']

 

My group has been discussing it. With readily-available HERO System stats for characters from Marvel, DC, M&M's Freedom City and now SAS, there are lots of possibilities to choose from.

 

The concensus seems to be to keep such events rare, though; overdoing them kind of waters down the impact of what should be an extraordinary event. Maybe something roughly annual, like the old JLA/JSA cross-world teamups, but unpredictable as to whose universe's characters will show up. In any case, my players want to take the time to become more established in our world before mucking about in anyone else's.