Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

Hmmm' date=' I think this thread has officially jumped the shark a few posts back...[/quote']

Hm...

 

So there's this guy, with shark-like powers though he's terrestrial, along the east coast of Australia (maybe Brisbane). He prefers to be left alone so he can live his life in peace as a freelance writer for television, but for some reason criminals see him as a target, only to think better of it after they've attacked him.

[tomblake2000]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

I agree with the posts asking that this new product NOT to repeat the mistakes of 4th Edition "European Enemies". Please make interesting new characters, NOT characters based on tired national stereotypes.

 

 

And please, do full write-ups of the characters, not abbreviated listings like they did in the unreadable 4th Edition "Kingdom of Champions".

 

Thanks. I enjoy the game immensely!

 

T.

[Crimson Arrow]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

I've just finished reading this thread and boy are my arms tired.

 

First, I'd suggest that there must be some kind of regional flavour to the characters, or else one could just use villains from CKC and change the backgrounds. However, they don't all need to have powers or origins stemming from their country of origin.

 

To be of value, I think all of them should touch on their homeland in some way. For example, there could be a standard brick type character who, as someone suggested earlier, used to be a hero in communist times. Nowadays, his ideology makes him a villain. The relevance comes from the background. His name needn't refer to Russia, or East Germany or whatever. Apart from his background, he could come from anywhere. If he doesn't even have that going for him, he might as well be Ogre, or Ripper, or whatever.

 

Similarly, (and again as mentioned above) a Muslim character could be a hero to his own country and a good man, but absolutely hate American foreign policy. He could have any powers whatsoever. The significance comes from his views.

 

There's a fine line between regional flavour and stereotyping and I'd hate to see the rude French person, cowardly Italian, snooty/Cockney Brit (well, that's in another supplement, I know), boring Belgian, or anything like that.

 

I'd also like to avoid 'The Mighty Kangaroo', the leaping Australian totem character with a wicked kick, or 'Salsa', the fiery Mexican/South American temptress, who can entrance you with her sensual dances.

 

However, something like luchadores could work (I know we aren't getting any, sadly), because they have been portrayed as superheroes in films, they wear masks and know how to fight (well, you know what I mean). It's regional, but still makes sense.

 

I suppose I'd look at it as being, "If a person from that country created a superhero or villain, what might they do?" I'm British and creating a character who'd been given Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake would be fine. A villain who was a soccer hooligan who got superpowers might not be (although now that I think about it, I did that once). A superpowered Beefeater would be absurd, for example.

 

Second, I think information about CU fictional countries must go in. Where else can we find out about them?

 

Third, I'd like some pointers on different attitudes to supers in different parts of the world and some bullet points about population sizes, industries, languages, that sort of thing. This should be enough to enable people to make characters from those countries either from scratch, or convert characters from other products and change the names to protect the guilty. If there's room, a little information on local legends and cryptozoology would be great.

 

Fourth, I'd like some powerful heroes. As people have said, at the moment, it's largely the villains who seem to have the points. However, in my view it's often easier to add stuff to characters than to trim them down. I'd favour the bulk of them pitched around the 350 point mark (perhaps slightly higher, like 400), but maybe with slightly more detail than usual on increasing the power level.

 

I personally don't think there's a need for too many more megavillains, as there are quite a few in the CU already.

 

I'm undecided about whether I'd like fewer write-ups, but all full, or if I'd prefer more characters, but some in abbreviated form.

[MitchellS]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

Second' date=' I think information about CU fictional countries must go in. Where else can we find out about them?[/quote']

Agreed. What's the point of having a "worldwide" book if it really only covers heroes and villains and barely touches on places? The book needs to cover all the important countries of the CU, real and fictional, in a way that expands our understanding of them and makes us want to send our players to those areas. The book needs to be more than just one paragraph about France and then a French superhero and supervillain. The ambiance of the world away from America is what non-traveler gamers need to feel from the book, IMO.

[Guest Admiral C]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

Hey all! I'm about to start working on Champions Worldwide' date=' the next supers sourcebook, so it's time to chime in with your thoughts. Here's the basic specs: between 75-100 characters total, from around the world but not including the UK and Canada (since both will eventually get their own sourcebooks.) It'll lean somewhat more heavily on the bad guys, but there will be a solid mix of heroes in there too. Organizations, government teams, and other "Superhuman World" stuff will also be covered, though we're not going to go into numbing detail or try to define the entire Tiger Squad roster. Good guys get full write-ups in the front, but the bad guys only get publically-known info there; full sheets and nasty secrets go in the GM's Vault. So let's hear it! dw[/quote']

 

Hey, First time poster on the HERO web boards but now is as good a time as any to speak. First of all I think the idea of fleshing out already mentioned characters should be a given. As well as more information on actual places and the people who inhabit them, their opinions, their governments and how they relate to supers.

 

But what I would also like to see is a selection of low powered supers written in the concise block format. Since in CU North America is where supers predominatly are I combined with less military might of third world nations I would imagine many countries draft anyone with even remotely useful powers. I can see writeups of low powered supers for many African nations some of whom may only have one or two powers and the rest training as soldiers or even special forces for the country. They might not even have balanced power sets (mid to high attack but no defense or a powerful immunity but nothing else). Basically low powered super soliders.

 

Something else I'd like to see is some foreign power orgin events. Like an exploding research facility or aircraft, bomb or chemical pipeline leak, that could create the origin of dozens of supers accorss mny countries. Another angle to this is what foreign powers have been doing to make their own supers both failure and success.

 

Beyond that more African characters who didn't have an African mythology motif. Some immortal nazis and finally I'd like it if you tackle the muslim or Iraqi/Iranian/Pakistsanian super. I know it would just be easier to avoid it outright but I think you guys could do it.

 

Admiral

 

BTW if and when you do make a new Champions of the North to put Canadian caharcters in I remember a moose at the front of the old book. And by the way he was looking at those campers with his pupiless eyes he was obviously a powerful mentalist. Stat him.

[zornwil]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

Welcome Admiral C! And a little welcome rep as well.

[steriaca]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

In Japan...we have to have a supervillian team which hates all forieners, and wants to return to the 'simpler age' of before the Meji Restroation (where Japan was an isolated series of islands, and all foreners except the Dutch were killed on sight). Borrow the name and idal Yooshu ("the elements") and that would make me happy.

 

And, if your not going to do it...I might use it in "Champions Of The Rising Sun".

[Southern Cross]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

Oh dear - I'm having 4th Edition Ninja Hero flashbacks!

[altamaros]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

this should rather be in the picture thread but since i've read CU 5th; i've wanted to make a character sheet for Bastille, the french powered-armored hero(ine) :

 

i already found the picture (just sharing) :"li'l Mecano" by Bruno Bellamy

[st barbara]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

To "Mightybec" Them's fightin' words boy ! (re your comments about the Australian character) Also where did you get that candid shot of "St Barbara's" last party ? I always knew that alcohol and bisexuality would get her into trouble !

[steriaca]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

Oh dear - I'm having 4th Edition Ninja Hero flashbacks!

 

You should. Yoosho was one of my favret 4th edition supervillian teams. If thay are redoing The Asanieos (did I spell the name corectly?), and thay are going to give a writeup for Giganto in the Sam Murertie section of the book, why not?

 

Besides, I would love to see this guys take on them and Zen Scorpion.

[Kirby]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

(did I spell the name corectly?)

Do you ever?

[steriaca]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

Do you ever?

 

Not realy, I guess. That's proably what keeps me from gaining much Rep.

[Southern Cross]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

That's "really" and "probably".These boards really need a spell-check function....

[steriaca]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

That's "really" and "probably".These boards really need a spell-check function....

 

I second that (Heck, I know I'll use it...a lot).

[Susano]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

I second that (Heck' date=' I know I'll use it...a lot).[/quote']

 

With Macintosh OS X and Safari, the spellcheck is part of the OS/browser, you just need to turn it on.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

With Macintosh OS X and Safari' date=' the spellcheck is part of the OS/browser, you just need to turn it on.[/quote']

You'd think that'd be standard with any browser ...

[Susano]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

You'd think that'd be standard with any browser ...

 

I've not seen it in IE or Netscape. Actually, in OS X, the spellcheck (spellcheck as you type, in fact), is part of the OS, and this can be turned on in a number of OS-native programs (Mail, Safari, Textedit, and so on). Dunno about other browsers and programs.

[Basil]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

This is true, Basil. The only reason the US has so many superbeings is, basicly, the US is the birthplace of comic books about people with amazing powers and who wear there underwhere on the outside of there pants.

 

Acualy...the "known" superbeings from the Earth and are still living here (or, at least, still call this planet home) should be about 10% of the population (give or take a precentage point), with the total population of beings with some superpower being about 25% total. Basicly, the 15% should be the guy who has a small power and/or no desier to dress up in fancy spandex and fight crime.

 

Ten Percent?!?? 635,000,000 superpowered people?? Twice the total population of the USA?

 

No way! I'm sorry, but that's ludicrous. 1 per million world-wide average is much better.

[KawangaKid]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

This probably would belong in a "Battlegrounds" version of the book, but all the neat places around the world it would be cool to have fight scenes/chases!

 

Eiffel Tower, Waterways of Venice, the Vatican... hm... Petronas Towers, various Disneylands...

[Basil]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

IMO, the new one should reduce the US's share of supers to no more than 40% (and that's being generous). Superheroes & supervillains work best as a world-wide phenomenon; anything else is the "ugly American"/"geographically-illiterate American" syndrome at work.

40% would be a bare minimum I would accept as a proportion of american supers for a number of reasons.

1> Genre emulation: In the comics Supers almost exclusively reside in mid-sized and larger American cities.

Is everything in the comix worthy of emulation?

2>Versimilitude: Supers represent geopolitical power' date=' and redistibuting geopolitical power proportionate to population would result in a world unrecognisable as a variation of our own, which the champions world explicitly is suppoesed to be.[/quote']

I never said that supers should be distributed in a strict, exact 1-per-million manner. Just that the USA, with <5% of the world's population, is unlikely to have >40% of its superpowered people. It completely kills suspension of disbelief. It also likely looks smug and self-centered to folks from other countries.

3>playability: The vast majority of Champions games are going to be set in america both for genre emulation reasons and reasons of familiarity more local supers makes those games work better.

I've covered "genre emulation". Are we to limit Herogames Inc to mostly USA sales forever? Are we to limit USA players & GMs to such US-centrism?

 

I used to live in a fairly small town adjacent to a fairly large University in the US. There were a good many foreign-exchange students. I got to know some, and hung around one of the favorite "watering holes" of the exchange students. From time to time, I asked many of them, "When you go home, what will you tell them is the most noticable feature of people in the US?" The answers I got most often were "They take their fun much to seriously, and they know NOTHING about other countries."

 

These, mind you, were students exposed in the main to other college student.

 

I think it is a shame --- no, a horror --- how little most USAians know about other countries. Now, yes, this is a book for gaming and gamers, not a textbook. I don't expect a long, dry lecture on other countries and cultures. However, in a book that's supposed to be about the WORLD-WIDE "superbeing world" I would hope some attention is paid to how little the USA's population is, and how many supers ought, reasonably, to be found elsewhere.

 

Or, as they say on Usenet: TWIAVBP --- The World Is A Very Big Place.

[Southern Cross]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

How true.

[Scott Destroyer]

Hello,

 

Hmm, lots of wonderful ideas posted already. Some of my own thoughts include:

 

• strong hope for the inclusion of Dr. Yin Wu. Of all the villains deemed worthy of description in the "Significant Superhuman Threats" section of Champions Universe, he's the only one still without an official 5e write-up.
  
• strong agreement with the general concept of developing and presenting characters for whom we already have names before moving on in a large-scale way to completely new characters. Zeitgeist, Pharos, Ogun, Dagger, Ifrit, Lam Kuei, Li Chun the Destroyer, Tetsuronin, Akumashibaru, Kagamishoki, and Teikei would be my first picks from Champions Universe after the good Doctor. And when we do move on to as-yet-unnamed characters, I'll note that some of the ones in the USPDB illustrations seem waaaaaay cool...
  
• support in theory for the idea of taking the opportunity to bring back a few more cool characters from previous editions. Not sure just who I'd pick, though. All the true "classics" and most of the other cool pre-5th characters already seem to be present. Of the names mentioned in this thread, Professor Muerte and the Asesinos always seemed a bit hapless to me, Shamrock was a straightforward brick who would be child's play to write up myself, and most of the others I don't recognize (the bulk of my older stuff is 3rd Edition or earlier). I suppose a decent story could be made of someone trying to set himself up as a successor to Professor Muerte, though.
  
• this book would seem a nice place for a nod to classic Japanese hero TV like Himitsu Sentai Goranger and some of its better sentai follow-ons (NOT Power Rangers), Kikaida, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman and his family. An Ultraman-homage in particular could answer the call made in this thread for powerful aliens to have landed somewhere other than in the USA, and his "Science Patrol" team might have come right out of a Silver Age comic book.
  

 

Hope that helps...

 

Originally Posted by Susano:

And for the Phantom Stranger's character sheet all you need is a blank piece of paper and the comment "The Phantom Stranger doesn't go in for this sort of thing."

 

I remember this write-up; it was in the Ambush Bug module for Mayfair's DC Heroes, wasn't it?

[Susano]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

I remember this write-up; it was in the Ambush Bug module for Mayfair's DC Heroes, wasn't it?

 

A winner is you!

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Champs Worldwide: Whaddya want?

 

I think it is a shame --- no' date=' a [b']horror[/b] --- how little most USAians know about other countries. Now, yes, this is a book for gaming and gamers, not a textbook. I don't expect a long, dry lecture on other countries and cultures. However, in a book that's supposed to be about the WORLD-WIDE "superbeing world" I would hope some attention is paid to how little the USA's population is, and how many supers ought, reasonably, to be found elsewhere.

 

For illustrative purposes, I was aksed a couple of years ago, in speaking with a USAmerican (in discussing timing of some work getting done) "Do y'all celebrate Christmas up there?"

 

[For the geographically impaired, like myself, Edmonton, where I live is in Canada.]

 

I considered "No, but May Day's very big", but decided against it.