zornwil Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Just had an idea for our x-champions universe - the people who play the PCs instead playing the "bit characters," the various Followers and NPCs who are part of the extended Justice Squad (the main PC group) "family". Sort of like how you'd see back pages stories with Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane in Superman, or that sort of thing. Anyone else done this? Comments, suggestions? We'd probably have a cast something like: Gere-luce - the eccentric inventor (he puts a self-destruct button on EVERYTHING) who is a menor and old friend to one of the major PC supers Velma - the office assistant/busy-body, a sharp cookie and sort of a Lois Lane type (vaguely), who tries to out-think/out-sleuth her >100 INT boss (one of the major PCs)(for whom she shows only marginal respect, though she does like him) and had a major crush on one of the major PCs Jane - the Follower/girlfriend of one of the major PCs, herself one of the few in this bunch with real super-powers - oh and the "woman" (she's really a slime being who looks like a person) that Velma was first mad at for "taking away" Sammy! (but they're over it, so no serious player contention should be necessary) Neumann - possibly the only PC who might play in this group, as he hasn't had much time to play and he's the junior among the regular PCs, sort of the "senior among the juniors" - the one exception to the "supporting cast" idea Lefty (or could be someone else) - the sentient hand of one of the PCs, who can come off and gets around, very much a kid Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight We've had a half-serious idea for awhile, as we have lots of folks who can GM... 5 players who are also GMs. Each GM runs one game, with one of the other people as main character - Batman, Iron Man, etc. The other three players play supporting cast - Robin, Rhodey, that sort of thing. Rotate frequently, so everyone GM's one game, is main character in one game, and plays various supporting roles in three others. Try to make it so that no two GM's GM each other's main characters, ie "GM to the left". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Sounds like a fun idea for a one shot or mini-campaign. I've done something similar. For many years my wife played Earth's Most Powerful Telepath; in adventures where that character wouldn't work, she played the sidekick of another PC. We also did three or four adventures as Primus - Red Shirts. The players were 150 point Primus agents acting as back-up for a few different super teams. Placed a very different spin on SUper-Battles. My wife ran a Thugs Are Us team for a while, Henchmen for Hire to various mega-villains and evil organizations. The players commented that there was far less property damage when they were playing the bad guys. We've done a ton of low powered Supers campaigns over the years, but that's not quite the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phydaux Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight We also did three or four adventures as Primus - Red Shirts. The players were 150 point Primus agents acting as back-up for a few different super teams. Placed a very different spin on SUper-Battles. I think it would be a BLAST playing 150 point super agents in a world full of 350 point villains! "OK people, listen UP! On this mission we're going agienst Lazer again, and as you all know he's one tough cookie. We know what part of town he's in, but not exactly where. That means while we're in the field we have two choices - We use teamwork, stealth and tactics, or we die one by one..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapier Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight That is something I've never thought of. That would be SO much fun. I can't decide what would be more fun, COIL Agents or UNTIL Agents. COIL maybe...then you needn't worry about property damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted December 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Sounds like a fun idea for a one shot or mini-campaign. I've done something similar. For many years my wife played Earth's Most Powerful Telepath; in adventures where that character wouldn't work, she played the sidekick of another PC. We also did three or four adventures as Primus - Red Shirts. The players were 150 point Primus agents acting as back-up for a few different super teams. Placed a very different spin on SUper-Battles. My wife ran a Thugs Are Us team for a while, Henchmen for Hire to various mega-villains and evil organizations. The players commented that there was far less property damage when they were playing the bad guys. We've done a ton of low powered Supers campaigns over the years, but that's not quite the same thing. You know, good point about property damage, we've also run an occassional villain campaign (very occassional, I think just 2 issues so far!), and that's also true for us. But the body count... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted December 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight I think it would be a BLAST playing 150 point super agents in a world full of 350 point villains! "OK people, listen UP! On this mission we're going agienst Lazer again, and as you all know he's one tough cookie. We know what part of town he's in, but not exactly where. That means while we're in the field we have two choices - We use teamwork, stealth and tactics, or we die one by one..." Yeah, this is something else I've thought about doing, so the supporting cast idea kind of fused into it nicely, and gives the players an interesting hook into the characters and world from a different perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight I think it would be a great perspective break for everyone involved. Especially if done during an otherwise long multi-adventure plot. I've seen it done in TV with Babylon 5 and Stargate: SG1 where otherwise near invisible NPC's save the day for the otherwise Stars of the respective shows. HM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted December 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight I think it would be a great perspective break for everyone involved. Especially if done during an otherwise long multi-adventure plot. I've seen it done in TV with Babylon 5 and Stargate: SG1 where otherwise near invisible NPC's save the day for the otherwise Stars of the respective shows. HM Don't recall if you're a Buffy watcher, but (though not exactly the same thing) one of my favorite episodes is "The Zeppo" where Zander deals with a deadly threat, and only in the background do we see the major characters are fighting some great horrible end-of-the-world thing, oblivious that Zander is dealing with a serious, if not so serious, potentially deadly crisis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Don't recall if you're a Buffy watcher' date=' but (though not exactly the same thing) one of my favorite episodes is "The Zeppo" where Zander deals with a deadly threat, and only in the background do we see the major characters are fighting some great horrible end-of-the-world thing, oblivious that Zander is dealing with a serious, if not so serious, potentially deadly crisis.[/quote'] I have probably seen a total of a dozen episodes but I get the idea. Was Zander the green demon bartender? HM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight I think it would be a BLAST playing 150 point super agents in a world full of 350 point villains! "OK people, listen UP! On this mission we're going agienst Lazer again, and as you all know he's one tough cookie. We know what part of town he's in, but not exactly where. That means while we're in the field we have two choices - We use teamwork, stealth and tactics, or we die one by one..." Gah! Twitch twitch twitch. Sorry, had a friend who ran a similar game, but he was the type that always did the GM vs. Players. Villians always ambushed us (Ok, it's post 12, they get a surprise action...) Thankfully, Zornwil wouldn't be doing that to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted December 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight I have probably seen a total of a dozen episodes but I get the idea. Was Zander the green demon bartender? HM No, he was the guy who was part of Buffy's group, the teenager/young adult, dark-haired, close male friend to Willow and Buffy, briefly boyfriend (so depends when you saw it) to Cordelia. If this makes any sense... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted December 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Gah! Twitch twitch twitch. Sorry, had a friend who ran a similar game, but he was the type that always did the GM vs. Players. Villians always ambushed us (Ok, it's post 12, they get a surprise action...) Thankfully, Zornwil wouldn't be doing that to us. Why, I just never thought of that...yeah, we could do that EVERY game! (just kidding) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karma Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Don't recall if you're a Buffy watcher' date=' but (though not exactly the same thing) one of my favorite episodes is "The Zeppo" where Zander deals with a deadly threat, and only in the background do we see the major characters are fighting some great horrible end-of-the-world thing, oblivious that Zander is dealing with a serious, if not so serious, potentially deadly crisis.[/quote'] Just to be pedantic his name started with an X (Xander (short for Alexander). Also in that ep. he saved the rest of the cast (while they were busy saving the world), but, more to the point, he *never* mentions the fact, even to Cordelia who accused him of being useless. And this is what makes him cool, that he can save his 'powered' friends, and doesn't feel the need to tell everyone about it. A supporting cast adventure that ends like that would be even better. "Ultra-man will never know that we saved him from dying, but that's O.k., we know it." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted December 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Just to be pedantic his name started with an X (Xander (short for Alexander). Also in that ep. he saved the rest of the cast (while they were busy saving the world), but, more to the point, he *never* mentions the fact, even to Cordelia who accused him of being useless. And this is what makes him cool, that he can save his 'powered' friends, and doesn't feel the need to tell everyone about it. A supporting cast adventure that ends like that would be even better. "Ultra-man will never know that we saved him from dying, but that's O.k., we know it." Thanks for saying it was short for Alexander - I went back and forth and it doesn't help that others have misspelt it, so I'm perpetually confused. Now that I know it's actually for a longer name, I will remember properly! Yeah, didn't mean to leave that out so much as tried to be (too) brief. PS - it was also a big maturity episode for him, as he starts out wanting to be cool "car guy" with a vintage car image to uphold, before realizing how superficial and meaningless that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamrok Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Why, I just never thought of that...yeah, we could do that EVERY game! (just kidding) Hey! I bet that would speed up combat considerably! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoloOfEarth Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight I ran an adventure in the middle of my Champions game where a massively powerful alien telepath switched the player characters' minds with those of a bunch of PRIMUS agents going out on a run to stop a group of supervillains. They found they had to actually work at taking out a trio of "pushover" villains. That same week, I also ran a solo adventure where the team's electrical character (to whom water immersion was fatal) was switched with a Silver Avenger -- as he was jumping into a pool. The look on the player's face was priceless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted December 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight I ran an adventure in the middle of my Champions game where a massively powerful alien telepath switched the player characters' minds with those of a bunch of PRIMUS agents going out on a run to stop a group of supervillains. They found they had to actually work at taking out a trio of "pushover" villains. That same week, I also ran a solo adventure where the team's electrical character (to whom water immersion was fatal) was switched with a Silver Avenger -- as he was jumping into a pool. The look on the player's face was priceless. That first one is especially a great idea BoloOfEarth, I've seen that plot once in a while (and it's not overdone such as the "switch with villains" one) but rarely heard of it in gameplay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted December 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Hey! I bet that would speed up combat considerably! Maybe I'll just introduce a defensive cap half of attack levels. I hope you don't mind my heavier villains tend to go a little faster than you guys... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyendasky80 Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Re: The supporting cast - in the limelight Thanks for saying it was short for Alexander - I went back and forth and it doesn't help that others have misspelt it, so I'm perpetually confused. Now that I know it's actually for a longer name, I will remember properly! Yeah, didn't mean to leave that out so much as tried to be (too) brief. PS - it was also a big maturity episode for him, as he starts out wanting to be cool "car guy" with a vintage car image to uphold, before realizing how superficial and meaningless that is. The first half of that episode had me grinding my teeth as Xander got his ass handed to him by a scrawny little "tough guy" with a knife. I was literally screaming at the tv, "He fights vampires every single night! This is an outrage!" By the end of the episode, "Best Xander Ever." I was impressed that a writer/director/actor could put something together that could make me do such a huge 180. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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