BigJackBrass Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 One of the best things I ever saw on the "City of Heroes" game was when a player created Barry White as a superhero, complete with white suit. I'm proud to say that he was in my superteam for a time, until I moved house and lost access to the game, and the sight of The Walrus of Love standing in Atlas with numerous groupies bowing down before him is one that has stuck with me. Do any of you use real world celebrities (alive or, alas, dead) as characters in your games? Failing that, would anyone care to write up Barry White in Champions terms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... I haven't used him in a game yet, but my character Dr. Pain has two celebrities in his backstory -- his paid-up Contact, David Falk, was Michael Jordan's agent IRL. And one of his best friends from his pro wrestling days is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who in this timeline left the WWF a lot earlier to go on to a very successful career as a Hollywood action star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... I don't think I have. I'm thinking back and in all the years I've played and run, I've always used fictional celebrities when I needed one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJackBrass Posted November 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... I always used to base my superhero games (Champions and Golden Heroes) in the nearest town to where I lived, which back then was undergoing a bit of a building boom and provided fertile ground for combat and adventuring. The familiar location helped to make things a little more realistic to my players, several of whom had expressed reservations about superhero gaming as being too divorced from the real world. Considering that they loved playing Space Opera and Chivalry & Sorcery I never quite got the argument, but still... Using real celebrities seems to be a similar mechanism to me, particularly useful now that I've moved to a town where the players know the layout of the place far better than do I. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... Off hand, I don't think I have ever used a real-world celebrity as a character in a game, though I might be missing one somewhere. I did play in a Champions game at GenCon years ago, though, where all the important city officials were named with the real names of various sitcom actors -- like René Auberjonois. We were all playing villains who'd taken over City Hall, so there were a lot of these officials for us to interact with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... For awhile, both Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis were part of the pre-Crisis DCU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... Our group runs an event every year at a local convention. I think 3-4 years back Britney Spears was one of the (supplied) characters. The scenario was the opening of a mega-amusement park in/outside Hong Kong, I think, which involved the collision of several malign groups. The woman playing Britney (who is a long-time gamer) got into her character and won the roleplaying prize. Among the lines she came up with was, "The ice cream carts are making zombies and it's just bad." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentor Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... We use lots of celebrities. Midguard's very first adventure was rescuing Prince Philip from terrorists in London. They later rescued (then)Crown Prince Akahito from an assasination attempt in Japan. Oh, and my PC Cyberknight is married to supermodel Kathy Ireland. Life is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... I always used to base my superhero games (Champions and Golden Heroes) in the nearest town to where I lived' date=' which back then was undergoing a bit of a building boom and provided fertile ground for combat and adventuring. The familiar location helped to make things a little more realistic to my players, several of whom had expressed reservations about superhero gaming as being too divorced from the real world. Considering that they loved playing [i']Space Opera[/i] and Chivalry & Sorcery I never quite got the argument, but still... Ah yes, that reminds me. When I set my 'Aegis' campaign in Chicago, I used the real-life Mayor Daley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpira Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... Back around the first year of my GMing I thought it would be funny if the characters would keep bumping into Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. You see the character did a lot of Dimensional Traveling and I was a big fan of Hope and Crosbys Road movies. It was a little weird for a teenage GM to throw into a gamebut there you go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil102 Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... Do any of you use real world celebrities (alive or' date=' alas, dead) as characters in your games? Failing that, would anyone care to write up Barry White in [i']Champions[/i] terms? Not on a regular basis, but the team did have an adventure where they visited Hollywood and got caught up in the movie that was being made about them. Much strangeness ensued... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkham Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... Only peripherally. Arnold Schwarzenegger took over CA governorship after then governor Dr. Martini was apprehended trying to destroy San Francisco in a suit of LexCorp[tm] style power armor. Dr. Martini was cleared of all charges, of course, since he was later 'found' to have been kidnapped and replaced by a clone which self-destructed while in Folsom prison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... In the Lakeport campaign I ran a couple of years ago, Rob Zombie and a professional golfer (John Daly, I think) were part of one scenario involving a celebrity golf tournament. (It was happening around the Greater Lakeport Open.) I don't know if Rob plays golf, but the character involved made a side bet on one hole and won front row seats for an upcoming concert at the LECCA center. However, in general, famous characters don't make many appearances in my campaigns. I use fictional analogues of famous people for the most part, much the same way I use analogue names for the major cities. (Lakeport = Milwaukee, for example) Matt "Staying-out-of-the-Hollywood-spotlight-for-now" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted November 15, 2005 Report Share Posted November 15, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... Around 7-8 years ago I ran a post apoc campaign that had the occasional celebrity appearance in it. Things like finding out that there was an attempt to reestablish a government occuring in Southern California under President Schwarzenegger and that they were attempting to reestablish a currency system. kinda prophetic in retrospect. I've always loved throwaway appearances of former celebs in such circumstances... one of the bits I actually liked from the Movie version of The Postman. "Wait, I know you....." "Yeah, but you're the Postman... you're famous, man" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooligan x Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... Back in my 1990's BBB campaign, I had John Tesh play the opening of the BivTech Orbital Habitat and Commercial Center in 2112. I eerily ancicipated his rise to mediocre new age key tinkler but was off by a decade. My current campaign is set in 2056, so the Celebs are either homegrown or winking variations. Mad Angus McCrae is a bodyguard for heiress London Sheraton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpira Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... I did play in a game where the GM had made MC Hammer a sonic using villian in the future. (The GM loved his music) We beat the snot out of him. As my charcter was laying the beat down to him I said, "This is for every song after 'Turn this Mother out'!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... I did play in a game where the GM had made MC Hammer a sonic using villian in the future. (The GM loved his music) We beat the snot out of him. As my charcter was laying the beat down to him I said' date=' "This is for every song after 'Turn this Mother out'!"[/quote'] OMG -- That's just too funny! Okay, now I've gotta rip this one off with a Vanilla Ice clone... "Pop goes the weasel 'cause the weasel goes pop!" Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... Back around the first year of my GMing I thought it would be funny if the characters would keep bumping into Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. You see the character did a lot of Dimensional Traveling and I was a big fan of Hope and Crosbys Road movies. It was a little weird for a teenage GM to throw into a gamebut there you go. I love this idea. If I were GMing right now, I would definitely find a way to work it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karma Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Re: Featuring Special Guest Star... I've never had a guest celebrity enter my game as themselves, as 'guest stars' playing NPCs, all the time. I like to run my game as if it's a T.V. show and if I think of a celebrity who reminds me of a NPC I'm creating I'll 'offer them the role'. I've got to say it really helps in the description of the characters when I can say, for example, Snow Leopard looks like Cameron Diaz. The PCs have also chosen celebrities (usually actors) as the people playing their roles. Oh and George Burns lives on in my game as the party's mysterious mentor. Thank God for CGI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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