Dark Champions Campaigns

arcady · August 27, 2004

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

I've thought of running a campaign where the PCs are inner city youths trying to stay alive in a world where 1/3 of the men are in prison, a growing number of the women are going that way, and most of it is on trivial trumped up drug war charges...

where mandatory sentencing laws and the police have become so over effective that the counter reaction has escalated beyond all reason, catching our kids in the crossfire.

They're walking targets for both sides, and they have to find a way to protect their ghetto from the police and the gangs, with the full understanding that the gangs originally formed in their parent's generation to do the exact same thing they wish to do now - that there is thus an easy temptation to fall from grace when you're fighting the authority.

In other words, a real-world scenerio, somewhat based on my roots and my study of criminal justice.

Maybe throw in a costumed vigilante from uptown who preys on the people he assumes are the criminal element - the innocent PCs and their friends and family.

If I can get a good plot line going for it, I might set that idea up as a campaign or mini campaign.

********************

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Tamashii2000 · September 11, 2004

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

I am running a DC game based loosely off of the game Metal Gear Solid. The PC (its a solo game) is a NSA agent investigating a series of covert actions aimed at crippling the United states military complex (Destroying Goverment weapons labs, tainting the food supplies of oversea's bases, when possible actualy destroying said bases)

The 'villians' in the piece is actualy the left overs/side effects of an old 1980's soviet military program to create 'super soldiers' basicly a sentient bio-nanotechnology that has been quietly infecting parts of the russian military, KGB, plus various citizen and contacts those 2 groups have acrost the entire world. The result is a 'terrorist' organization that seems to be made up of almost a miss-mash of differnt people from all class/levels/countries.

So far the PC's have yet to uncover that the badguy's are being controled by an outside force.

Wombat · September 11, 2004

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

I'm looking at restarting the Millenniums End campaign that we ran for about 5 years.

The players work as investigators for a company called Blackeagle Investigations. The company has a worldwide reputation for taking on the jobs no one else will touch and getting them done. The range of jobs is everything from basic P.I. work right up to full blown Black Op's stuff.

Only this time there will be a bit of supernatural and other wierd stuff thrown in occassionally to keep it interesting.

Korvar · September 11, 2004

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Oh, dear. Reminds me of a campaign that I played in. "It's Millenium's End", he said. "But I've decided to use the Unknown Armies Insanity system. For, you know, becoming hardened to violence. And stuff. Just, uh, ignore the "Unnatural" section there..."

We were doing so well, up until we met Mr. Hitler's Ghost...

Chiba Bob · September 12, 2004

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

I just got my copy of Dark Campions and have started a players writeup for an Iron Age campaign. It is inspired by a couple of news paper articles and the VIPER source book. This is what I have so far:

THE SERPENT'S GATE AFFAIR

Abbotsford, a sleepy Canadian rural community located on the west coast of British Colombia and is rocked by drugs, murder and violence. Known as the bible-belt, this small city holds the title as the Murder Capital of Canada. Asian, East Indian, European, and Motorcycle gangs mostly coexist with each other peacefully. Most of the violence seems to be aimed at those independents who inevitability involve themselves in gang affairs, fail to pay their bills or just fail to show the proper respect for their power. This orderly coexistence of the various criminal organizations has lead some to believe that some other unknown organization controls and mediates all underworld operations throughout the Fraser Valley. If this Shadow Syndicate exists, they rule by proxy, using gangs and independents to do their dirty work.

There are no other superheros or other vigilante groups (as of yet) in the campaign world, there are many others who have exceptional skills, training or maybe weird powers but these people operated in the shadows for their respective organizations and governments. The player have the distinction of being the first at whatever they decide to do. The flavor of the campaign is Iron Age with the players being extraordinary people in a more "realistic" world. A vigilant's costume is based around more practical concerns (body armor) with a touch of flair for individually (the cool factor). Characters dress in red and blue spandex with a cape would be considered very strange ... if not comical. Otherwise, the campaign world is mostly identical to our own world except for the events that involve the players.

While Gun-toting vigilante groups and street justice is abhorrent to society in general. Just flashing a realistic toy gun (guns are taken very serious) is enough to have ERT (SWAT) team to come and bash in your door. Many feel that the justice system is too soft on criminals ... that the rights of the law abiding public should outweigh individual rights. It would require a series of extreme circumstances to create a costume vigilante type hero (let alone a vigilante group) and would have to keep secret identity. The local police are competent and efficient, they have no trouble in catching criminals, it is the court system that keeps them from spending time in jail (the chain of evidence is very tight). A costume vigilante in here would be viewed as a threat to the justice system (jobs could be lost), so the police would do everything in their power to catch such a vigilante. A player will have to be very careful to protect their secret identity and not leave any evidence linking them to a crime.

The method the player/players use as vigilante to fight crime is left up to them. The criminals/villains will mostly use lethal force to stop the characters. The killing or torture of characters or NPCs to achieve their goals is done when needed. They are ruthless and are motivated by money and power. Those who get in their way are not human beings but trash and are discarded freely. The misunderstood criminal ("I was abused as a child") is a rare plot in this campaign world. The real difference between a vigilante and a criminal is that the vigilante cares about their friends, family and community while the criminals only care about themselves. The tone of the campaign is that the dirt sticks to costumes, blood is bloody and revenge is sweet. It is up to the players on how each of them will act in the campaign world. Welcome to the Iron Age.

:cheers:

Cpt.Storm · September 14, 2004

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Just started playing in a 'Wierd Conspiracy' type campaign where we all have some sort of either criminal, police, or military background but have been hand picked by the U.S. Marshall service to head up a group called S.O.G. 13 (Special Operations Group). Our mission is to investigate and eventually (or is it hopefully?) debunk cases that look supernatural or alien in origin.

For instance, our first mission was to investigate a motorcycle gang that had a leader that 'appeared' to be able to start hellacious fires with his mind. This adventure, unfortunately, got my character horribly killed but the rest of the group managed to find out that this mastermind actually had a sharp-shooter with incendiary bullets and a silencer. He was shooting the targets causing them to explode and this was coordinated with the leader raising his arms as if summoning fire. This was discovered after one of those cartridges separated my skull in half and made it appear as if the back of my head was lit on fire. Most disgusting...

I can't wait to find out what's next for us.

Crimson King · March 22, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Sorry to resurrect this old thread - but everything here is mighty interesting (especially because I'm about to kick off my own weird conspiracy/Delta Green/Psi Powers type campaign).

Anyone else care to share what they're doing with DC now?

Savinien · March 22, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Love to. I'm trying (emphasis on the trying, my players aren't very active ATM), to run a Dark Champions: The Animated Series with fairly powerful Batman and Robin clones. I have a few good stories, but since I'm running it via email/post, I'm having problems telling the story.

You can read more here:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24102

zornwil · March 22, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

We have a DC "campaign" that hasn't gotten past the first episode. Unfortunately I screwed it up a bit; my idea was to make it entirely episodic so it wouldn't matter if people all showed up each time, but the first episode ran over a sitting and we haven't been able to get everyone back together at one time, except for one time but then we all wanted to do Justice Squad (supers) because there was a major world-event going on in that. Anyway, info on that campaign is at http://www.realschluss.org/disavowed/

Rover · March 22, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

hI aLL,

nEWBIE HERE

I've run and played tabletop RPG for years now and have allways been a fan of games that had a noir feel.

So I'm hoping that I chill with some like-minded spirits here.

In discussing the running of 'dark' games like Dark Champions does anyone here feel that the villians used in a tabltop game sets the tone for the campaign and even genre?

I don't know if this subject is quite on the nail for this thread. I'll be happy to open a new thread on the subject if anyone objects to this post on this thread.

Regards,

Rover.

RDU Neil · March 22, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

hI aLL,

nEWBIE HERE

I've run and played tabletop RPG for years now and have allways been a fan of games that had a noir feel.

So I'm hoping that I chill with some like-minded spirits here.

In discussing the running of 'dark' games like Dark Champions does anyone here feel that the villians used in a tabltop game sets the tone for the campaign and even genre?

I don't know if this subject is quite on the nail for this thread. I'll be happy to open a new thread on the subject if anyone objects to this post on this thread.

Regards,

Rover.

Welcome to the boards. While this might be grist for new thread, I'll just post my basic answer.

The villain is EVERYTHING... in a book, movie, RPG... whatever... the antagonist defines the tone and feel and theme of the story as much or even more than the protagonist.

In supers... if Joker is a madcap who ties Gordon to a big penny, that is vastly different than if Joker is firebombing a busload of cubscouts. You have two wholly different stories based on the villain interpretation.

In movies... take Die Hard as an example. Hanz Gruber is an all time great movie villain, because while murderous and despicable, his ruthless, brilliant scheming personality sets the tone and makes him so much more than just "some guy who kills people." Compare him to the villain from Die Hard 2. Who you might ask? EXACTLY. The lame "killer commando" bastard from that movie was no Hans Gruber, and eminently forgettable.

Holmes is nothing without his Moriarty.

Superman is nothing without his Lex Luthor.

In Dark Champions... tone is everything. A muderous psychopath that must be stopped is a very different adventure than stopping the gang of professional jewel theives.

Good point.

zornwil · March 22, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Welcome Rover!

Probably a good subject for a brand new thread, but I don't have much to add beyond what RDU Neil said on the subject. I guess I would add that villains are a great way to reshape a campaign that needs fixing - changing the villain mix as discussed above changes the tone, so it can be a relatively easy way to remodel, though you do need to do something about any villains that are current and not in the vein you want.

I have found that I vary tones pretty dramatically in my game and the villains are there to prove it. There was Kingpin, modelled of course after the Marvel version, but a somewhat more bloodthirsty killer, more of a psychopath mixed with control freak. He had one of the PC's mothers killed (the PC wanted drama...) brutally. More recently the PCs have had to deal with the Martians...and although I didn't consciously build them this way, one way to think about them is they are like that race in ST:TNG that was incredibly imitative, brilliantly so, but almost retarded in terms of anything beyond pure imitation. These Martians are almost blithering idiots with some high degree of power but mostly they're just laughable. Currently they've been used in a sort of proxy war between the PCs and the mastermind evil mage Herr Kietersling, said to be Odin of mythology but if not at least certainly a powerful man of mystery.

Rover · March 23, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback

Since there's interest in the subject I will open this subject in a new thread.

Regards,

Rover.

Rover · March 23, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Hi All,

Off the subject of Villains for a minute...

Some years back I was playing in a few contemporary distopian SF/Horror games amd was so impressed with them that I tried to write some of my own.

During playtesting I found that simplicity in design suited the players best.

Insomuch as I limited the number of witnesses,the complexity of politics wihtin the plot and depth of the character of the NPCs.

I can't say it was easy. After one has put some energy into creating what one thinks is a brilliant piece of entertainment, it's a little galling to realise that it is far too complex and that one was being a bit of prima-donna.

So I ended up severly pruning my game and of the players that stayed(Brits tend not to complain but drop the product ) declared they enjoyed the new version.

The 'pruned bits' went into a notebook to used at a later date and I have held true to the primary rule of gaming since: make it fun.

Regards,

Rover.

AmadanNaBriona · March 23, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

I'd love to run or be in a campaign based on Steakly's novel Vampire$.

For those not in the know, Vampire$ is about a secret organization of normals with cool gear that hunt supernatural threats. They are in part directed and financed by the Catholic Church and at one point find out there is a werewolf devision... Life span is rather short for these guys.

The vampires are smart, fast, strong and viscious so the characters have to come up with equipment ideas on dealing with them. Also, town folk tend to turn against them since no one wants knowlege of these things getting out. Picture the mayor in Jaws with a really bad mean streak and you get the picture somewhat.

A really awful movie by John Carpenter was made sort of based on the book. Ignore it. James Woods was OK as Crow but overall the story got hollywoodified. The book is suspensful, funny and well thought out.

I have to second this post.... This is one of my all time favorite, reccomend to all my friends books. The movie really didn't do the book justice, at all.

I also like the idea of a DC X-Com game. Neat thread,all around.

CBikle · March 26, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Never done a straight DC campaign; I've always pulled elements fromn it into my regular Champs game.

Details are vague, but I remember running a scenario with the Card Sharks working with Green Dragon and Shamrock (I think the gist of the scenario was that, to pay off a gambling debt, an R&D scientist was going to sell off top secret high-tech plans to Card Shark)- Don't remember much except a running fight in Harpscor Tower that led to a rooftop battle( I think I had Triggerhappy and his copter waiting up there to act as a getaway driver).

Another scenario involved the PCs assisting a police-orchestrated gang summit (using gangs from DC and that Champs adventure "Demons Rule")to end a bloody gang war. The Harbinger of Justice shows up with smoke/tear-gas grenades and starts picking off the gang-leaders. This starts a confused battle with some PCs knocking out gang-members while others try to grab the Harbinger.

RDU Neil · March 27, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

SNIP!

The Harbinger of Justice shows up with smoke/tear-gas grenades and starts picking off the gang-leaders. This starts a confused battle with some PCs knocking out gang-members while others try to grab the Harbinger.

And I'm assuming that all those players who sent their characters after Harbinger had to write up new characters for the next session, right?

CBikle · March 27, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

And I'm assuming that all those players who sent their characters after Harbinger had to write up new characters for the next session' date=' right? [/quote']

Nah. I ran Harbinger somewhat defensively, basically avoiding PCs when he could and just firing at gang-members whenever the opportunity arose. He knew that the PCs would be present and was relying on the smoke/tear gas, rubber bullets and tasers he had brought with him to deal with heroes and saving his lethal stuff for gang-members (or for supers he knew for sure were super-tough).

Generally, I ran HoJ as being careful not to kill innocents and that extended to cops and super-heroes as well.

In hindsight, HoJ's assault on the gang-summit did put Sgt. Addie Parsons (from Normals Unbound ) at risk. I don't remember if I took that in account or just dismissed it because I wanted a big confused firefight in a smoke-gas obscured warehouse.

Trebuchet · March 28, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

We started our first DC campaign yesterday, with two of our heroes (Artemis, a Wonder Woman knockoff with a sword, bow, and shield; and Raptor, a flying martial artist with claws) taking out 24 gang members armed with knives, guns, and clubs. I wanted to start simple because this is my first experience with a DC campaign and I wanted to see how 20 DEX/SPD 4 heroes dealt with 11 DEX/SPD 3 hoodlums (Answer: Quite well). Later on we'll move into organized crime, supernatural opponents, and low powered supervillains.

I'm running the game in Hudson City but not in the Champions Universe, so I've retconned the background so these character (plus my new Roman Catholic priest superhero, Justicar) are HC's first powered supers. There have been unpowered costumed crimefighters such as HoJ (last seen 20 years ago) in the past, but none recently until the near simultaneous appearance of our new PCs in 2006. In our campaign world superpowers first became public in 2000.

TheQuestionMan · December 4, 2005

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

Espionage

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage

Spy Fiction

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_fiction

Thriller Fiction

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_fiction

Sub Genre

Action-adventure thriller

http://

Conspiracy thriller

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_thriller

Medical thriller

http://

Serial killer thriller

http://

Political thriller

http://

Military thriller

http://

Romantic thriller

http://

Legal thriller

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_thriller

Forensic thriller

http://

Techno-thriller

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno-thriller

Detective Fiction

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_story

Dark Champions Campaigns

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