Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

[Kirby]

Okay, initial questions:

 

Who else has this?

What do you think about it overall?

What about the art?

Do you think Ravenswood should still have its Secret ID?

Will you use this?

What would you rate it?

 

[Ratings, either 1-10, similar to school grades (1-5.9 being failing, 6-6.9 D; 7-7.9 C; 8-8.9 B; 9-10 A) or the Netflix 1-5 star rating (1: Hated it; 2: Didn't like it; 3: Liked it; 4; Really liked it; 5: Loved it!)]

 

I have to say I was a bit frustrated with this. For clarification though, I purchased this and Champions Worldwide at the same time. While I was going to read CW first, I kept falling asleep (about four times before I finished character 2) and went with TC because I didn't fall asleep on it unless up past 1 am while reading it for hours).

 

To begin with, I glanced through the book to look at the art. Several pictures I had seen before and didn't appreciate them being recycled. Others which were new were used more than once in this book, while still others just look like sketch trash. Toward the end were the Playpals that I just rolled my eyes at seeing eggs. For a lot of the non-sketch trash art, it seemed like half the characters in the book were Ravenswood students/NPCs because they all had the same style outfits (black with white highlights, and logos).

 

Reading became a test in patience. Nearly every single character write-up had some (to me) glaring proofreading error; usually an extra word that didn't belong, though a few were subject-verb disagreements or an incorrect contraction, such as "they's". The next part that got me was for the NPCs not in Ravenswood, when their "Appearance" would not match their picture. Three of the members of Nova are wearing Ravenswood Academy uniforms though they've never gone, as well as some from Generation VIPER, such as Mrs. Garter who is described as wearing a standard VIPER uniform with a garter around her thigh, but her picture has her in a Ravenswood-themed S&M outfit. Dogfight has what looks like a Raven emblem (but can probably be described as his own image flying) on his Ravenswood-themed outfit. Other problems that showed up were inconsistencies, such as with Dogfight. This character is not known to the public and has a non-concealable Distinctive Feature: 8' Tall Reptilian w/16' wingspan. On the flip side, he has a Secret ID: Larry Lizard and Social Limitation: Minor! It can't be discerned that he's a minor and the only people who even know of Larry Lizard already know he's Dogfight. Then, his Personality/Motivation section talks about a plot/plan having his "image inducer" malfunction exposing his true appearance (that one that can't be concealed). Of course, he doesn't have an image inducer - not one he's paid points for (and with the 200 pt Ravenswood students having to pay 36 points for their Ravenswood Costume, Image Inducer, and School Pin, the 200 pt villain should have to pay for an Image Inducer).

 

Next comes Ravenswood Academy. How it still has a "secret ID" aside from metagaming is hard to understand. It has a couple of teachers who have Public IDs that were once supers (even a former villain, IIRC). There are former students who are now villains; why they wouldn't expose this "secret" is intriguing. The RA land has a 1,000 year+ somewhat secret history with Atlantis, which just seems "hey, let's tie it with another product" cheesy. While some "traditional," or normal, students have discovered a teacher's super background, none of them seem capable of discovering the students that are supers (all apparently hush-hush, even those that misbehave). Why doesn't anyone question how come certain students (all those that share a homeroom, in fact) stay in dorms at the high school while other students have to go home each night. And by golly, not one of the students who stays in the dorms participates in sports either. And yet, nobody asks "What's up with that?".

 

Within RA, there are Homerooms, but the supers are segregated off in their own, for plausible, explained reasons. However, each homeroom is apparently assigned a letter of the Greek alphabet. They are, in order, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma. This doesn't make sense since Gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet and Delta is the fourth. There is no explanation of why the Greek letters are out of place with the current classes (Alpha is the class of '06; Beta, '07; Delta, '08; Gamma, '09). Nor is there an explanation saying when these came into place and if it started with the first graduating class (1991) or not. If the first Alpha class did begin (one would think the first super class was considered Alpha) with 91, then they have their lettering off:

91 A

92 B

93 G

94 D

95 A

96 B

97 G

98 D

99 A

00 B

01 G

02 D

03 A

04 B

05 G

06 D

07 A

08 B

09 G

10 D

 

While the 'chart' flows with one set, Teen Champions shows that Beta is the class of '07, Delta, the class of '08 and Gamma the class of '09 (well, at least that one would be correct, but then the rest are wrong, of course).

 

This history of Ravenswood Academy just makes me go "ugh". The basis is of a character named Rowan who founded the academy when a teenager died in a fight. Except, in true Marvel Comics fashion, the kid didn't die. He's still alive, though being tossed from one cosmic event to another. For the foundation, several heroes were contacted and there was this big get-together where it was discussed that a place for super-powered teens was needed to help these kids adjust. Rowan didn't ask for donations, but the subtle (?) hint was there. Of course, no hero donated; just a bunch of rich people spontaneusly donated. While this is at least genre-ish, it is a bit cheesy. (And there is no mention of any student trying to figure out just who really donated what.) There is an unspoken-to-the-public-yet-known-by-all-heroes-secret amongst superheroes that while Ravenswood fronts as a special private school, it has its duality of training super kids. Somehow, no superhero-turned-villain has ever revealed this information.

 

The character Rowan, or at least her motivation, annoys me. While she wants the kids to adjust to living with powers, her driving force is to make them all superheroes, which she tells them. Even if someone doesn't want to be a super, she pushes them down that path. Reading bits about her on other characters write-ups, she seems damned annoying and almost holier-than-thou in her attitude of knowing what's "best" for the kids and what they "should" be able to do.

 

As for the Playpals, the less said about them, the better.

 

Having vented all that junk, I will say that I did like this book. I liked the "packages" it offered and suggestions on teen roleplaying as well as perks and disadvantages designed for teens. Oh, and there are also characters that can create plots for the Champions (and your PCs if in Millennium City), particularly Cantrip (for Witchcraft) and Teen Dream (for Sapphire).

 

Even though overall I give this book a 6.5 (passing, but barely), I'm glad I have it and am inspired to run a Teen Champions game over on HeroCentral. (Currently debating running it or another type of campaign). For me, of course, that "Secret ID" of Ravenswood would be blown by the second or third plot.

[Kirby]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Now that I've posted all that: one thing I wish the book mentioned was a way to figure out grades. Maybe a formula that involves intelligence, ego, and popularity or something. It's easy to say "you all passed" but do you just force Johnny to get a C? Does Jenny automatically get an A because she's a band geek who loves academics?

[i3ullseye]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Grades shoudl be based on a test most likely. and the test shoudl be Skill/Int based. But as a character progresses, if they spend their points on their super powers, and never take the skill needed for the class, it shoduln't be too easy.

 

I might actually look into this one. One of the only DC books I coudl ever stomach was Impulse. The way they portrayed his school age antics was actually one of the best comic series I have read in the first year or so. Great stuff.

 

Plus, we have all read the X-Books. That is more what this is going for if I understand it correctly, a school for supers and filled with supers. But I am sure some of the material could be great for a game where you are in school and trying to hide it since almost no one else has powers.

[Agent X]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Hey, I'd love to get in a PBEM game of Teen Champions that you ran based on your opinion of the book alone.

[Kirby]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Plus' date=' we have all read the X-Books. That is more what this is going for if I understand it correctly, a school for supers and filled with supers. But I am sure some of the material could be great for a game where you are in school and trying to hide it since almost no one else has powers.[/quote']

Well, I haven't read all the X-Books. (I was more of a DC than Marvel reader and I stopped reading Marvel after the Fall of the Mutants storyline.) But that probably is what they were trying to go for. If the school were just supers alone, it might seem more feasible, however, having "normals" as students and even "normals" as teachers (who don't even know about the flip side - ugh!) just seems stretching it. (Yes, weird considering it's a game, but still.)

Hey' date=' I'd love to get in a PBEM game of Teen Champions that you ran based on your opinion of the book alone. [/quote']

You just might have the chance. I'm actually waiting for someone to respond to a PM I sent regarding their opinion of two choices I gave.

 

I'm surprised no one else has posted a review/opinion of the book. I'd like to know others' opinions of the book as well.

[Twilight]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

I don't think the book was nearly as bad as you seem to Kirby. While it's clearly not as good as Viper: Coils of the Serpent, Villainy Amok or Pulp Hero it certainly doesn't sink to the depths of European Enemies as you seem to think it does. My apologies if I've misread your statements.

 

Granted the Playpals are horrid and the origin for that one villainess is dopey even by comicbook standards [a teenaged star? WTF?], I for one had no trouble with the Ravenwood Academy or it's students. For starters there is no thousand year plus relationship with Atlantis because the school is at most 20 to 30 years old and the 'relationship' seems to consist of the Ravenswood kids losing at the Atlantean national sport. As for the school staying secret well technically it's not as everybody knows it's a school for wealthy children and the superpowered kids are a very small portion of the school body.

 

As for the teachers who used to be superheroes, I never got the impression that they were 'big time' heroes. Well respected by thier peers perhaps but it's not like Superman or Green Lantern retiring to teach at a school it's more like El Aguila or B'wana Beast becoming school teachers. Sure people could find out about thier superhero past if they wanted too but they were never important enough to the general public for it to be a big deal. Remember Public ID means a character's name and location can be found easily, it does NOT mean that the character's life and history and everything else are public knowledge. None of the teachers have the Social Limitation: Famous after all. Also, I don't find it curious at all that no villainous alumnis of the school have ratted it out, after all what would they gain? Nothing except more heroes pissed off at them.

 

I liked the Motor City Defenders for the most part, though Cantrip seemed to annoy me for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. I do like her look though.

 

Nova was ok but way to heavy on the teen angsty for my liking Generation VIPER and Sai appealed to me as villains the other villains in the book mostly did not. The optional subplot involving the fireweilding kid that died was ignored. Remember it's only 'canon' if YOU want it to be.

[Kirby]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

I don't think the book was nearly as bad as you seem to Kirby. While it's clearly not as good as Viper: Coils of the Serpent' date=' Villainy Amok or Pulp Hero it certainly doesn't sink to the depths of European Enemies as you seem to think it does. My apologies if I've misread your statements.[/quote']

Uh, yeah. I don't know why you think I compared Teen Champions to European Enemies, but I didn't. If you'll notice, over half of my review covered proofreading errors and inconsistencies.

 

For starters there is no thousand year plus relationship with Atlantis because the school is at most 20 to 30 years old and the 'relationship' seems to consist of the Ravenswood kids losing at the Atlantean national sport.

Actually, I stated the land, not the school, and for clarification page 84 states "The history of the Ravenswood and its association with children goes back farther than a century.... Over 300 years, Muulyr instructed more than fifty sorcerers...." So while it may not be a full millennium, it is at least 300 years worth, if not more.

 

As for the school staying secret well technically it's not as everybody knows it's a school for wealthy children and the superpowered kids are a very small portion of the school body.

But the "secret" is that it teaches superpowered kids; this is not publicly known. Saying that everybody knows the school exists is like saying everbody knows Bruce Wayne exists, thus Batman isn't a secret ID.

 

As for the teachers who used to be superheroes' date=' I never got the impression that they were 'big time' heroes.[/quote']

The text mentions some kids each year discover one teacher's past, and Harry Biggs was formerly Heavyweight and the text states "He had a long, colorful career as a West Coast superhero during the late Seventies and early Eighties." He also is "good with students - even if he does tend to make too many digressions and tell too many stories." With supers having celebrity status like that of actors or rock stars, it's not unreasonable to think word would (should) have spread around.

 

Remember Public ID means a character's name and location can be found easily' date=' it does NOT mean that the character's life and history and everything else are public knowledge.[/quote']

I disagree. From FREd, pg. 221 "Public Identity: The character is well-known to the public for some reason, and information about him can easily bo located; his enemies can attack him whenever tehy want, fans and admirers may mob him at awkward times, and so forth." In 4E, Seeker had neither a Public nor Secret ID and the book specifically mentioned that people didn't know the name "Don Morgan" or pretty much who he was.

 

None of the teachers have the Social Limitation: Famous after all.

We don't know that, since they don't have write-ups. But "Famous" may also be a Reputation perk as well.

 

Also' date=' I don't find it curious at all that no villainous alumnis of the school have ratted it out, after all what would they gain? Nothing except more heroes pissed off at them.[/quote']

Perhaps, but they're also teenagers and teenagers don't exactly rationalize things all the way through. Doing something out of spite, regardless of repercussions to one's self, is done by them. And for some villains, what would they care if another hero is mad at them? Double so for an organization such as VIPER, who would expose it.

 

Like I stated before, I liked the book and am inspired to run a Ravenswood-themed game.

[Chimpira]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Well' date=' I haven't read all the X-Books. (I was more of a DC than Marvel reader and I stopped reading Marvel after the [i']Fall of the Mutants[/i] storyline.) But that probably is what they were trying to go for. If the school were just supers alone, it might seem more feasible, however, having "normals" as students and even "normals" as teachers (who don't even know about the flip side - ugh!) just seems stretching it. (Yes, weird considering it's a game, but still.)

 

 

Overall I did not care that much for Teen Champions. I think the art distracted me too much. I need to give it another read. I agree about the Playpals. However, I do not like the idea of an exclusive school for Supers. I find it interesting that people will want to help them learn to use their powers and grow up to be responsible adults but only want to provide an atmosphere where the only people they know and are comfortable around are other supers. Training them on how to use their powers is not all the school represents, the students need to know how to function in regular society as well. A non-powered teacher might be able to handle certain situations better than a powered teacher. The teachers that I learned the most from had absolutely nothing to do with my specialty.

 

The fact that no one has blabbed the secret or that all the regular student body has no idea what is going on is a reach, though. Secrets shared with more than one person do not last long in High Schools.

[Kirby]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

*bump to get information*

[Karmakaze]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

...However, I do not like the idea of an exclusive school for Supers. I find it interesting that people will want to help them learn to use their powers and grow up to be responsible adults but only want to provide an atmosphere where the only people they know and are comfortable around are other supers. Training them on how to use their powers is not all the school represents, the students need to know how to function in regular society as well. A non-powered teacher might be able to handle certain situations better than a powered teacher. The teachers that I learned the most from had absolutely nothing to do with my specialty.

 

The fact that no one has blabbed the secret or that all the regular student body has no idea what is going on is a reach, though. Secrets shared with more than one person do not last long in High Schools.

 

That was some of my thinking as I started to develop Fox River as a Teen Champions setting. I wanted something that wasn't the old X-Men Academy or Hellions private school setting.

 

I must get back to that project soon. Maybe after I finish upgrading those old convention pre-gens I found, and get the Hellenback website redesigned and...

[gojira]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Regarding grades, the first thing I did with my character was add a lot of science and knowledge skills so she wouldn't flunk. I guess my own rather nerdy high school experience is showing here. She is supposed to be a genius, but I still found myself looking for skills to represent school courses.

 

I think the first thing to do is to define what skills represent school work and school learning. I noticed one other character took PS: Student. Since I don't have Teen Champs this might be the preferred way to deal with school type skills. And if a teen does take separate skills instead of PS: Student, what happens? I guess it's possible for someone to be a genius at science but still flunking, so that might have to be considered.

 

The other thing to consider I think is how much is "school" going to be a part of the campaign, versus saving the neighborhood from teen villains (can't save the world yet, too young). My personal preference would be to make it like Buffy. School is sort of there and part of the milieu, but no one seems to be doing any actual schoolwork. Its rare that an episode featured studying more than kicking monster butt. Most episodes didn't seem to make even more than passing mention of school. Also my impression of high school was that it was darn hard to flunk, period.

 

Final observation: don't ever take the decision to get bad grades away from the player. Maybe make a roll half way through the semester. Inform the player what their grade is so far, and give them a chance to correct it. If the player wants better grades, have them take an additional Psych Lim "Must Study" at the 15 point level, and insist that they roll play it.

 

Gently remind them over the next few sessions whether they are roll playing it or not. If they roll play it well, their grades come up. If they blow it off, then they get a C or a D or whatever it was. Note that they can fight evil still, they just have to do a good job of being in the library or insisting to players that their grades are bad and they have to study. Patrols should be limited or delegated to other characters, social activities should be cut, etc.

 

After all that, here's my simple (minded) system for grades: half way through the semester, roll vs. PS: Student. Apply -2 if the character has missed a lot of class time (maybe more than 15 days), -1 if the character has missed a little class time (more than 5 days?). Results: beat roll by 3 or more: A. Beat roll by 1 or 2: B. Made roll exactly or missed by 1 or 2: C. Missed roll by 3 to 4: D. Missed by 5 or more: F.

 

I'd apply these results to the whole semester, rather than per class, unless you really want a lot of academic detail.

[Chuckg]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

My own opinion of Ravenswood is that the whole 'it's a super school buried inside a normal school!' concept simply doesn't work.

 

I mean, I believed that gimmick when it was the Hellions at the Massachuestts Academy simply because I consoled myself with the thought that Emma Frost could easily "neuralyze" any student who noticed something. Vast telepathic powers combined with complete amorality can keep a lot of secrets.

 

Rowan, OTOH, has neither. And an entire campus full of kids... all of whom have to be completely unable to notice that there's a certain small clique of 'special' students who all have special classes, a special gym teacher, special facilities, and don't socialize much outside their circle? But who are visibly *not* "special needs" cases? But neither are they all supergeniuses who could plausibly be isolated in some type of AP learning track? They're just, to all appearances, normal teenagers... but a bit weird?

 

In the closed social environment of a top-end boarding school?

 

Complete with the propensity of teens to gossip, and the near-obsessive way that bored teens stuck in a dorm keep track of everybody else's social status, quirks, and gossip?

 

And this has been going for almost 20 years without *one* 'normal' student rubbing some brain cells together and gettng the right answer?

 

Especially with all that superteen activity around?

 

(add) Especially given that there is at least one incident on record of 'superpowered student goes nuts, blows up campus'?

 

Don't think so.

 

IMO, the 'super-school' only works if all the students and faculty are in on the gag -- i.e., isolated campus, like Xavier's.

 

Or if the headmistress has both the power and the lack of scruple to mindwipe anybody who suspects, natch.

 

(edit) notice Kirby raised some of the same points already. *nod*

[gojira]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Just to add another couple of nickles while I'm online: the whole "no one notices" issue doesn't bug me. Its rather in genre actually. Lois Lane never noticed that Clark Kent was really Superman for a long, long time. Asking for realism from a genre that features a guy who flies around with his underwear on the outside is a bit ... unrealistic?

 

Sure, I can appreciate that it really does bother you, but its in genre for things to be this way. And a lot simpler for the writers and the GM too.

[Hermit]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

IMO? Ravenswood is oriented towards a Marvel Silver Age (with a few bronze touches), youthful angst, secrets presumed kept even if it doesn't seem likely, and so on. In a more bronze or iron age setting, more 'ruthless' methods might have to be used to hold onto those secrets, but in this case, I think a handwave isn't too much to ask IF it suits the GM's purpose, natch.

 

Perhaps some normal students DO know, but are friends to these kids, or, enjoying being 'in the know' smugly keep it to themselves. Again, not totally realistic, but the rule for secret identies in the Silver Age seems to be "Secret Identities only really get endangered when it makes a good story for the heroes" and then, suddenly, it is all covered up again.

 

Heck, in Iron Age the whole place would probably be some sort of testing lab where the government had paid a corporation big bucks to develop the next generation in super soldiers and living weapons covertly, bypassing those little problems like informed parental consent.

[Chuckg]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Just to add another couple of nickles while I'm online: the whole "no one notices" issue doesn't bug me. Its rather in genre actually. Lois Lane never noticed that Clark Kent was really Superman for a long' date=' long time. Asking for realism from a genre that features a guy who flies around with his underwear on the outside is a bit ... unrealistic?[/quote']

 

We could argue the glasses thing all day, but we'd be sidetracked.

 

So I'll simply mention that "Just because something works in a story, that doesn't mean it works in a game."

 

In a *game*, Secret IDs have to mean something, and they have to be kept. They shouldn't keep themselves for free, with all the NPCs being magically oblivious to what's right under their noses. If you're going to go that route, you might as well hand every PC 15 free character points and save yourself the ink.

 

Can't have Secret ID as a disad unless you have Secret ID subplots, after all. But how can you have the subplots believably if you've already established that the surrounding NPCs are blind?

[Hermit]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Can't have Secret ID as a disad unless you have Secret ID subplots, after all. But how can you have the subplots believably if you've already established that the surrounding NPCs are blind?

 

Pretty easily actually, because that blindness is something you can't be too cocky about; it's usually selective. For example, the meta clues all around them are unseen, but the NPCs are still going to notice the screw ups of the individual PC. If Bubba the Boy Brick, tired of red neck jokes, punches a wall in a fit of anger when he thinks he's alone, he has risked his secret identity because there is now a fist shaped hole in the wall and , in true comic book silver age fashion, that one mistake could lead to ramifications as curious and brainy girl Becky Marlowe notices the damage. Suddenly, Bubba is forced to find or invent excuses to throw her off the trail. It's classic silver age stuff, and works fine in the game, as long as the GM sets the boundries of the campaign before hand and lets the players know where it lays. It is similar to the idea that in a silver age campaign, no one ever sets a bomb right up against the base and just blows it up with old style conventional weapons... yet a full attack by super villains is quite possible and has to be prepared for.

 

Again, ymmv.

 

As for Ravenswood itself, if someone really wants a meta reason its secrets have been kept, I'd say you could invent some... again, depending on the 'age' you want your games at.

[gojira]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

So I'll simply mention that "Just because something works in a story' date=' that doesn't mean it works in a game."[/quote']

 

I disagree here. It does work in game -- for me. What you really mean is "Just because something works for you, that doesn't mean it works for me." Which is as it should be. Some of us do want to play the genre, including all the silly conventions. I'd be interested in hearing your opinions on what premise a teen high school game should be based, but I think that's a different thread.

[Chuckg]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Either it should be based around a 'supers academy' type school, where the secret is kept for lo these many years because the students and faculty are all in on it and they simply have to keep things obscure from the townies, or else it should be based on the adventures of kids in a normal high school, where the secret is kept because the only supers in that high school *are* the PCs, and their rival superteens are over from Generation VIPER or somewhere.

 

IMO.

 

And don't tell me what I mean or don't mean when I say something.

[Kirby]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

And don't tell me what I mean or don't mean when I say something.

That should read: "And don't tell me what I mean or don't mean when I state/type something." Considering we can't hear what you say.

[Agent X]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Just to add another couple of nickles while I'm online: the whole "no one notices" issue doesn't bug me. Its rather in genre actually. Lois Lane never noticed that Clark Kent was really Superman for a long, long time. Asking for realism from a genre that features a guy who flies around with his underwear on the outside is a bit ... unrealistic?

 

Sure, I can appreciate that it really does bother you, but its in genre for things to be this way. And a lot simpler for the writers and the GM too.

The old schtick with Lois Lane was that she was trying to prove to everyone else that Clark Kent was Superman.

[Agent X]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Pretty easily actually, because that blindness is something you can't be too cocky about; it's usually selective. For example, the meta clues all around them are unseen, but the NPCs are still going to notice the screw ups of the individual PC. If Bubba the Boy Brick, tired of red neck jokes, punches a wall in a fit of anger when he thinks he's alone, he has risked his secret identity because there is now a fist shaped hole in the wall and , in true comic book silver age fashion, that one mistake could lead to ramifications as curious and brainy girl Becky Marlowe notices the damage. Suddenly, Bubba is forced to find or invent excuses to throw her off the trail. It's classic silver age stuff, and works fine in the game, as long as the GM sets the boundries of the campaign before hand and lets the players know where it lays. It is similar to the idea that in a silver age campaign, no one ever sets a bomb right up against the base and just blows it up with old style conventional weapons... yet a full attack by super villains is quite possible and has to be prepared for.

 

Again, ymmv.

 

As for Ravenswood itself, if someone really wants a meta reason its secrets have been kept, I'd say you could invent some... again, depending on the 'age' you want your games at.

The writing hints at some sort of guiding intelligence around the site of Ravenswood. It wouldn't be too hard to build something out of that. Perhaps Rowan is aware of it. Perhaps not. (Probably would have to be or else she's pretty optimistic about keeping secrets. )

[Agent X]

Re: Reviewing Teen Champions (& Ravenswood Academy)

 

Either it should be based around a 'supers academy' type school, where the secret is kept for lo these many years because the students and faculty are all in on it and they simply have to keep things obscure from the townies, or else it should be based on the adventures of kids in a normal high school, where the secret is kept because the only supers in that high school *are* the PCs, and their rival superteens are over from Generation VIPER or somewhere.

 

IMO.

 

And don't tell me what I mean or don't mean when I say something.

Plot Holes can be fun. Fall into one some day. You might like it.

[McCoy]

Ravenswood Uniforms

 

"While attending classes all students must wear khaki slacks, a white dress shirt, and the Academy blazer, which is midnight blue with the Ravenswood creast on the breast pocket. Girls may wear a knee-length skirt instead of slacks."

 

Obviously this was written by a heterosexual male!

[assault]

Re: Ravenswood Uniforms

 

Obviously this was written by a heterosexual male!

 

Why? Do you think it needs the Queer Eye treatment?

[McCoy]

Re: Ravenswood Uniforms

 

Why? Do you think it needs the Queer Eye treatment?

Definitely. What shoes do you wear with that? Brown shoes that clash with the blue blazier, or black shoes that clash with the pants?