Does your Team have a Charter?

[Hermit]

Doing a standard Internet search, I found the Avengers' Charter and it got me to thinking, does your PC group use or have a charter for their team? Ever write one up? Or is it just assumed that it's 'there'?

[TheImperialKhan]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

In the group that I played for about seven years we did indeed have a charter. I wrote it and drew very heavily on the Avengers Charter although there were some changes made of course. This was the Strike Force - Boston campaign which included the characters of Centurion and Patriot both of which can be seen at my old website.

 

Frankly I think that the Avengers Charter is the model to go by. It's really well done.

[SleepyDrug]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

We barely have teamwork....the charter will wait

[Rapier]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Doing a standard Internet search' date=' I found the Avengers' Charter and it got me to thinking, does your PC group use or have a charter for their team? Ever write one up? Or is it just assumed that it's 'there'?

They don't have an actual charter per se. We have two main campaigns running (there is an occasional trip into a side FH campaign but that is infrequent). In the champions campaign the Heroes are part of the New Texas Rangers. They are an arm of law enforcement and thus share the charter of the organisation, in short, To Protect the Peace and Foster Justice.

 

The second campaign is a Hero level (similar to a Chill setting). The heroes were recruited by the Circle of 12 (a group of magical powerhouses that needed some lower power muscle) to help protect the realms from marauding magic and those that woud upset the natural balance. Actually thats pretty close to their charter.

 

Having spent more years than I care to remember as a part of Corporate America , I have come to the realisation that Charters are overrated. The only reason a charter is necessary is to concretely define a set of principles that are otherwise unclear. If your UN Rep tells you to go beat up the Evil Echelon, you might check their charter if you had never heard of them before...just as on opening bit to figure out their greater goals. Charters really have no effect or impact on day-to-day activity.

[CBikle]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Don't think any group I've been in has had a charter. There have always been the implied rules (enforced in game and out-of-game) of "don't kill" and "protect innocents" in most teams.

 

On a side note, I know the Legion Of Super Heroes has bylaws, but I coudn't find 'em all on the net.

 

3 that I remember:

 

1: If you kill, you're immediately expelled from the LSH in addition to any prosecution that might follow.

 

2: Once you reach 20 years of age, you're out !

 

3: No new members are allowed in if their super-power duplicates that of an already existing member. Superboy, Mon El and Ultra Boy got past this rule by getting in through one of their more obscure powers (super-ventriloquism, penetra-vision, etc) which to me, always seemed like a cheesy way for the LSH to bypass their own bureaucracy in order to let the big guns in. It's really not in the spirit of their rules, but then again, they were a bunch of young teenagers in a book then written by a young teenager(13 year old Jim Shooter). Not entirely sure how Karate Kid got past this rule.

[JohnOSpencer]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

We barely have teamwork....the charter will wait

 

Damn, beat me to it.

 

He's right, the PCs can barely agree out of combat. It would take forever to get them agree on a charter.

 

John

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Some of our teams do, many don't. Those that do we generally pull pretty heavily from the Avengers' charter.

[SleepyDrug]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Damn, beat me to it.

 

He's right, the PCs can barely agree out of combat. It would take forever to get them agree on a charter.

 

John

 

Agreeing would be easier if the character's interacted out of combat more. i'd suggest a charter, but no one would let me pass a by-law permitting sanctioning of high power threats or Patriot's brother

[Blue]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Crush the Enemy, see them driven-- aw nevermind, that's our D&D group.

 

The Sentinels were put together by the city. They are to uphold the law as it pertains to superpowered crime. Any crimefighting duties relating to normals is acceptable though they have a greater repsonsibility to stop crime that is not stoppable by normal law enforcement.

 

Their Jurisdiction is the city of Lazarus. For said duties they have a decent (though not outrageous) stipend from the local government, use of the House of Rain superhero base, and deputization.

 

That's really about it. I've written nothing out in technical laguage.

[Agent X]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

We've used charters.

 

One time the design of the charter came up in an unexpected way. This one group of ours had a strange knack for kicking out members. Anyway, one member was assumed to have quit when he didn't, got hold of a formerly kicked out member, and they did a diplomatic end-run around the kicker-outers. They went to the mayor of the city and contacted Primus, made some deals, bought some property, landed a spaceship on the property for their base, and had a charter recognized by the city and the nation. The team had never bothered doing this before. Then the ad campaign started. The other guys didn't know what to do. They would have looked silly claiming that the other guys weren't on the team as they weren't in official leadership positions and didn't have a base or government recognition.

 

As the guy who had his character forced out for not cow-towing to a really bad plan that would have got someone in a world of hurt, I really enjoyed pulling the rug out from under the kicker-outers. I always wondered why the GM hadn't handled that situation better.

 

Of course the game blew up. The kicker-outers had a real problem with that. Strange, I had built a whole new character and played for a year without making a fuss and I strongly disagreed with my first character being ousted. Go figure...

[Metaphysician]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

The New Sentinels have a charter, carried over from before Detroit. Its basically identical to the JLA charter thats floating out there somewhere online, with a couple appropriate modifications ( the most relevant one being that new members need simply a majority among the active members; the roster is too small to involve ideas of "founding member status" and such ).

 

Aegis probably has a charter already, but its likely a pure PR getup whipped up by the Chicago mayors office that declares are official sanction and looks good on walls, but is otherwise not very meaningful.

[Smoot]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Hi,

 

My last FfF Champions game had a team charter. I found the file- it's cribbed a little from:

 

- the JLA charter (from their sourcebook),

-the Avengers Charter (found online, at one of the old TSR/MSH sites)

-Half-remembered stuff from Strike Force (which I gave to someone, to my later chagrin)

 

...plus, some stuff I came up with myself. (The division of Team Chairman and Combat Leader into two roles, for example. I wanted to take the Superman/Batman; Cyclops/Wolverine type dynamic into a different direction. The 'stone badass' can work on combat maneuvers, etc, while the 'sterling hero' directs the general direction of the team outside of fights.)

 

Here goes. Hope it's useful. A lot of it is campaign-specific. The bracketed stuff is OOC, and the stuff in red is IC "footnotes"...

[Rapier]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Doing a standard Internet search' date=' I found the Avengers' Charter and it got me to thinking, does your PC group use or have a charter for their team? Ever write one up? Or is it just assumed that it's 'there'?

LOL! We were sitting around chatting IM tonight after ER. I asked them if they wanted a charter.

 

Chad's response: Do we REALLY need something on paper that says we shouldn't kill old ladies and kick puppies?

Brian's response (the smartass): As long as its still ok to kick old ladies I'm good.

 

The general feeling was that a charter is unnecessary. Hey, if they wanted to write one...I was all for it. They felt (and I can agree) that a charter would make things too much like work and we are here to play. They also don't think they need some bylaws and papertrail to kick someone off the team. They aren't going to kick someone off the team for not participating in the Pancake Breakfast, and if someone has just skinned alive a member of the clergy there is not going to be much debate about keeping that character around.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

I've had games that do and don't. It's fun when done right (by the players for the players)

[Blue Jogger]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

I'm sure if our team had a charter that we have violated two or three of the bylaws...

 

Protect innocent lives - Of course, it is hard to judge who is innocent and who is guilty in a combat situation. Usually, it boils down to those attacking us are not innocent, but then we got into an arguement on the use of pre-emptive force.

 

Use of minimum and absolutely neccessary force - As my character said once, "This ain't no Star Trek. There ain't no STUN settings."

 

Requires a 2/3 vote - "While they're busy arguing, I'm going to go and do this."

[st barbara]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

O Gawwd ! Don't mention the C word ! I actually "wrote"part of the charter for "Team Zenith 3", mostly by taking bits from the U N "Declaration of Human Rights" but I suspect that it got a bit mutated by the time we were finished so that I doubt that the U N would recognise it ! Because we are using a "cross dimensional"type of campaign the original concept had to be broadened , with much argument among the players. But we seem to have a charter now, not that i have read it for a while !

[Metaphysician]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Use of minimum and absolutely neccessary force - As my character said once, "This ain't no Star Trek. There ain't no STUN settings."

 

That depends, did anyone purchase a Stun Only or NND EB??

[Sketchpad]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

I've used them in the past .. in fact, a DC Heroes game that I ran about 17 years ago had a charter that was based on the LSH's charter (which came with the LSH Book iirc).

[lemming]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

See if we wrote down a charter, we'd have less plausible deniability...

[JohnOSpencer]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Agreeing would be easier if the character's interacted out of combat more. i'd suggest a charter' date=' but no one would let me pass a by-law permitting sanctioning of high power threats or Patriot's brother[/quote']

Of course they wouldn't, who wants a bylaw that basically says: "If they're too powerful, kill 'em!". It adds a lot of subjectiveness, who's to say Foxbat isn't a high power threat? Of course a charter would require you to be more of a team, rather than a collection of superheroes who don't wanna have to face Mechanon alone.

 

John

[Rapier]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Of course a charter would require you to be more of a team' date=' rather than a collection of superheroes who don't wanna have to face Mechanon alone.[/quote']

Hmm. Our take is that we would rather have a loose group of heroes who are together because they want to be and have similar goals. If the character finds that their personal goals and the goals of the team are no longer along the same path, they can leave.

 

I think charter's drive characters down a specific path, and mandate certain responses to situations. I'm more of a free-wheelin kind of guy. Of course, it also depends a lot on the campaign. In a campaign where super teams are a dime a dozen, a charter might be all but required by circumstance.

[Dischord]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

Yes, it took forever to put it all together. I think this is the final version, but there might be a few items missing.

 

TEAM MEMBERSHIP

1. All members must be willing to serve for the benefeit of humanity.

2. All members must have paranormal power(s).

3. All members must be between the ages of 15-21 years old.

4. All applicants must be willing to audition with abilities in time and place of UN Gaurds choice.

5. All new applicants will go thru a six (6) month probationary period wherein the new member can be asked to leave by team leader for any transgressions against the UN Gaurd.

a)At end of probationary period, new member will also be eligable for leader postion.

6. All new applicants must recieve 2/3 vote of Guard members to join.

a) Team leader has final say as to which applicants are allowed to join the UN Gaurd

7. All new applicants will be required to have a standered UN Background, Physical, and Psychological check.

8. If new member of the UN Gaurd would like to be a reserve member, they must act as an active member for a minimum of 90 days.

9. All new applicants and members must be willing to accept any order or command given to the by the team leader.

a) Any greivances and/or arguments with an order or command from the current team leader will be discussed during the weekly team meetings.

 

MEMBER CHARTER

The following words are the rules and regulation that all UN Gaurd members and applicants will follow. Breaking of any of these rules and/or regulations results in an investigation and possibly a court marshal.

1. No member will kill

2. Team members will wear a team uniform during any and all missions and/or public appearances.

3. Team members will follow orders from leader, waiting to debate said orders until a more appropriate time.

4. Team will hold a weekly meeting with all members attending if able. With exception of members on leave or missions.

5. Unless contrary to mission all members must follow the laws of current country or countries that the members are in.

6. No member may accept an assignment in a country not a member of the United Nations.

 

TEAM MEETINGS

Team meetings are required to cover all weekly issues: leadership decisions, any grievances or arguments, pass out paychecks and cover all UN requests.

Team meetings are covered as follows:

1. Team will meet in an appropriate room every Sunday at 12:00 PM.

2. Team leader will read the minutes of the last meeting.

3. Team leader will then cover any problems and/or issues that occured during the last meeting.

4. Team leader will then ask if there are any problems and/or issues to cover that occured during that week.

5. All appropriate issues will be voted on using the 2/3 majority rule.

6. Team leader will make his final decision on all appropriate issues.

7. Co-leader will inform team of the next weeks outline of projects.

8. Any request made by or to the UN will be covered in order to work around them to include team projects.

9. Digital recording and hard copy of each meeting is required for UN and UN Gaurd records.

10. Should a mission and/or emergency interfere with the weekly meeting the team must have a meeting at the first available moment.

 

VOTING

All voting desicions will be made during weekly team meetings.

Voting procedure is as follows:

1. Current issue to be voted on will be introduced by the team leader.

2. Each active member will make their individual vote.

a)Should active membership be less than 2 members any and all probationary members are allowed to vote.

3. 2/3 majority rule is used for deciding outcome of voting.

4. Should 2/3 majority rule prove to be unsuccessful (i.e. the decision is continuing to be argued) team leader reserves the right to accept or deny any and/or all decisions.

a)Any greivences with Team leaders decision should be taken up with the Co-team leader.

5. Once a decision has been voted on and either accepted or denied that current issue is closed until the next team meeting.

6. All votes are final.

 

TEAM LEADER

UN Guard leader will be chosen by the UN Guard itself from one of it's members.

The requirements for the election of team leader are as follows:

1. Team member must declare intent for leadership during weekly team meetings

2. Team member must have passed 6 month probationary period wherein he cannot commit any transgressions against the UN Gaurd or its official charter

3. Current leader's term need be no more than one month away, or current leader has been inpeached.

4. New leader must be voted in 2/3 majority by current team.

5. Team leader's tenure is 6 months.

6. Gaurd member may only hold two consecutive terms, then is ineligable for leader until a full 6 month period has elapsed.

7. During times of crises (i.e. world domination, global destruction, team destruction, ect...) should the current team leader and/or Co-team leader be incapable of making command decisions the next senior UN Gaurd member takes leadership position.

a) Any greivences or arguments against the decision will be discussed at the first available moment.

8. Each new leader must be put through another physical and psychological exam.

9. Each new leader must be put through a field exam in order to demonstrate their leadership abilities

a) The field exam will be judged by the previous team leader.

Should the previous Team leader be unavailable a UN liason or other appropriate council needs to be present at the exam.

10. Team leader must have six (6) months of field experience and/or team experience.

 

LEADER PRIVILEDGES

Team leader will have the followeing priviledges during his tenure:

1. Suspension- The leader may suspend any member for infraction of charter, disobeying a direct order, and for the saftey of the team.

a) Suspension is removal of all rights and priviledges under the UN Gaurd.

2. Team leader withholds the right to end all arguments concerning a leadership decision during a time of extreme danger to the lives of innocents and/or the team.

a)Any team member may challenge the decision of the current leader during the weekly meetings

3. Team leader withholds the right of final say in any decision or vote.

a)The final say in a voting situation occurs only if 2/3 majority procedure proves unsuccessful.

4. Team leader reserves the right to chose any and all missions that are presented to the UN Gaurd.

5. Team leader reserves the right to chose UN Gaurd mission members.

6. Team leader reserves the right to chose punishments for minor infractions.

7. Team leader has complete access to all files (i.e. hardcopy, digital, video, audio, ect...) within the UN Gaurd base.

8. Team leader must be given any and all updates and/or changes to any UN Gaurd member both active and reservist.

9. Team leader has complete access to UN Gaurd Base computer system.

 

LEADER IMPEACHMENT

The team leader can be inpeached in the following manner:

1. 2 active members must vote for impeachment during weekly meeting.

a) Should active membership consist of 2 members or less all probationary members may make a vote.

2. 2/3 majority of current membership must then vote (leader is exempt).

3. The impeached leader must now go through a 12 month probationary period wherein he is treated as a new member and falls under those rules and regulations.

Some viable reasons for impeachment:

1. Recklous endangerment of team and innocents.

2. Betrayal of team.

3. Breaking of team charter.

 

CO-TEAM LEADER

Co-Team leader will be chosen by team leader during his election or during his term.

Requirements for Co-team leader are as follows:

1. Must pass six (6) month probationary period with no infractions or other problems or grievences with UN Gaurd.

2. Co-team leader must have 3 month field and/or team experience.

3. Co-team leader must take another physical and psychological exam.

4. Co-team leader must take a field exam to demonstrate his leadership abilities.

 

CO-LEADER PRIVILEDGES

Co-team leader will handle day-to-day work.

This includes:

1. The Co-leader will handle any and all grievences and or arguments any UN Gaurd member has with the Team leader.

2. The Co-leader will have access to all the UN Gaurds membership files and will be kept up-to-date on all members active or reservist.

3. The Co-leader has the ability to overrule the Team leader at any time should he/she believe the Team leader is incapable of making command decisions.

a) Should it be found that the Co-leader has used this priviledge for his/her own purposes they will be charged with treason.

Should it be found that the Co-leader has used this priviledge against his own accord (i.e. Any Mind affecting powers used on him) he/she will be put on probation for a pre-determined amount of time and will lose all rights and priviledges as Co-leader and will not be able to acheive Co-leader for three (3) months after the probationary period is complete.

4. Should for any reason the Team leader be incapable of giving command decisions (i.e. Field injury, psychological trauma, or personal reasons) the Co-leader takes Team leaders position until original Team leader is prepared to take his/her position.

 

MEMBER COURT MARSHAL

The Court Marshal is the highest disaplenary action that can be taken against a(n) UN Gaurd member.

Steps are as follows:

1. Team member can only be brought to court marshal by team leader or deputy leader.

2. Team members can overrule leader with unanimous vote (excluding the accused).

3. List of charges will be read to team by the leader at the next team meeting.

4. 2/3 majority of current membership required for court marshal.

5. The accused person can be re-accepted for membership no sooner than 6 months later by 2/3 majority vote of current team.

6. The accused pleads there case in front of current UN Gaurd members.

a)Should UN Gaurd active membership be 2 or less any or all probabtionary members may be included in court marshal preocedings

7. Team leader decidedes of punishement if accused is found guity.

 

Punishments

1. Accsed member is removed from the UN Gaurd active roster and loses UN Gaurd priviledges for a pre-determined amount of time.

2. Suspension of UN Gaurd membership for pre-determined amount of time.

3. Expulsion.

 

PROTOCOLS

The following are the official protocols and procedures for any possible situations that may occur on a UN Gaurd base or during a UN Gaurd mission. These procedures must be followed to the best of UN Gaurds ability. Any situation not noted in the charter must be made note of as to amend the charter at the earliest possible date.

Procedures are as follows:

UN Gaurd Base Intrusion

1. Should a UN Gaurd base be over taken it is up to the UN Gaurd members both active and reservist to reclaim the base.

2. Any requests made by UN Gaurd to the UN or any other government affiliated with the UN will be ignored as to protect the UN from possilbe intrusion from stolen base.

3. The UN Gaurd has at most one (1) week to reclaim stolen base or base will be self destructed by a remote detonation.

4. Should detonation fail UN Gaurd is required to personally request any assistance from UN or any of its governmental affiliates.

5. The UN is to be immediatly informed of intrusion as to protect any files (hardcopy or digital) that the UN Gaurd base has access to.

6. Team leader and Co-Team leader will have personal access codes as to lock down the UN Gaurd base computer system.

a) Every new Team leader and Co-Team leader is to have a personal code by the first day of their term.

If a UN Gaurd member should reach these postions twice during their active membership they are required to aquire a new access code.

c) All access codes are to be deleted at the end of a Team leaders and/or Co-Team leaders term.

d) The UN Gaurd Base computer system is to log all usage of an access code deleted or otherwise.

e) Any usage of deleted access codes are to be traced to origin and the entire UN Gaurd team is to be informed of intrusion.

Alien and Extra-Dimensional Encounters

This area covers the possiblity of the UN Gaurd encountering a being of unknown origin.

1. If encounter occurs in a populated area, attempt to quickly, but calmly clear out a one (1) block area around the being.

2. If encounter occurs inside UN Gaurd HQ the Team leader and Co-Team leader are to immediatly lock-down the entire base.

3. Should the being come into physical contact with any UN Gaurd member, that member is to be immediatly quarantined.

4. Above all else attempt to communicate with the being. If possible establish some basis for peaceful cooexistance.

5. All UN Gaurd are to wear a specialized protective suit in order to successfully communicate.

6. Should the being be hostile the UN Gaurd is not to kill or harm the being, but merely neutralize it.

7. If the being is hostile and cannot be neutralized the UN Gaurd are to attempt to destroy said being.

8. If the being is hostile and cannot be killed or neutralized the UN Gaurd is ordered to destroy the entire UN Gaurd HQ.

[st barbara]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

To "Dischord" Your charter, while comprehensive, looks like the sort of thing our referee would just love to get his hands on so he could beat us over the head with it !

[Blue Jogger]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

3. All members must be between the ages of 15-21 years old.

 

Did anyone else think of Blade Runner spoof?

 

The twenty-second year old, Night Sparrow looks down at the blinking red light in her wrist. "No. No! NO! I'm still young, there's still a lot I can do, I'm a HERO, damnit!" Two guards carry her off into another room. The group leader turns to face the nubile fifteen-year old, "Congratulations, you're our newest member, what's your name?"

 

She smiles in mock innocence, "Jailbait."

[RobCRogers]

Re: Does your Team have a Charter?

 

There are some neat scenes dealing with the Avengers' charter in the first issue of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, at your friendly neighborhood comic shop now. It's a great read.