AdamLeisemann Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 This thread is for discussion of a number of campaign ideas that might seem intriguing but might not work for some reason, or might need a very specific kind of player. Basically, variations on Champions that most folks might not normally consider. Here's an example: Samurai Champions A mixture of Champions-style superpowers and Feudal Japanese Chanbara Action a-la Ninja Hero/Fantasy Hero, set in Feudal Japan, examining how superpowers would work in 16th Century, during the Sengoku Era. You could play a mythological creature (based off of the Asian Bestiary) or a human endowed with superhuman powers, facing threats to the people of Nihon/Nippon/Japan/whatever you want to call it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeropoint Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) How many different anime does this describe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakboy6117 Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) and sevral elsewhere books i do recall one with superman as a ninja Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Supers, be they heroes or villains are always asking for funding or gear to build their bases and purchase their vehicles. Sometimes they forget to pay their sponsors back. That's where you come in, you are a Repo - Champion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) How about a campaign where the PCs are comic-book characters, and know they are comic-book characters? They could live in mortal terror of their title being cancelled, or of being drawn by Rob Leifeld or Steve Ditko. An overused hero with claws and a bad attitude could always be exhausted because of all the crossovers and guest appearances he has to make. A character in a gritty Iron Age comic could lament about the end of his childhood dream to be a Golden Age character. A popular web-slinger might be upset because being in three separate titles means he never has time for sex with his supermodel wife. A B&W graphic-novel character yearns for the day she'll finally be rendered in four-color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Single Body Part Hero Ultiman was the Earth's Greatest Hero, until a terrorist attempted to set off an Atomic bomb in downtown Newark. Ultiman carried the bomb into space, but its detonation blew him to pieces. Not that this was enough to stop Ultiman! Each player controls one of Ultiman's severed body parts, each with a faint shadow of Ultiman's powers. A flying nose with "Freeze Blow", a flying hand with Ulti-Strength, the World's Fastest Left Foot, etc. Players may not speak; they must communicate their intentions by gesturing with the body part they're role playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) How many different anime does this describe? All of them? Seriously, you've just described Ninja Scroll perfectly. Not to mention a few whacked live-action films. Ninja Scroll: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsanime/animechar.html#NS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Caveman Champions Superhumans in the Ice Age. No costumes, but you do get nice suits of fur and skins. No superweapons, but your team gadgeteer may be able to build you a better bow, spear, or axe. Your base is either a cave or a hut made from mammoth bones. Be the first tribe to discover fire! Form the basis for may religions and mythologies! Become kings of nomadic neo-lithic peoples! Fight a saber-toothed lion armed with only your bare hands! Lift a mammoth over your head! Leap the antlers of an Irish Elk in a single bound! Look! Up in the sky! It's a bat, a bird, no it's SUPER CAVE-MAN!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Heh, I actually worked up a time travel scenario where the PCs meet neolithic supers. Never got a chance to run it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Yeah... about half-way though typing that I started to think... "this isn't half-bad...." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamLeisemann Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) All of them? Seriously, you've just described Ninja Scroll perfectly. Not to mention a few whacked live-action films. Ninja Scroll: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsanime/animechar.html#NS Well, I never did see Ninja Scroll (judging from the content descriptors, it kinda came off as at least partially hentai) but it is a game idea I've had for a long time, something different from your usual Champions clone and your usual Bushido/Sengoku clone. I will admit that it is a very anime idea. Though I wanted to see about a more realistic slant to it. How would the Japanese really see metahumans? Though I suspect there is a reason that it's the basis for so many anime. It works. Even if it lacks originality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Secret of Champions You are super-mice. You must defend your fellow mice against Cats, Dogs, traps, poison, and, of course, Humans. Alternative: Pinky and the Brain Champions. Prove your mousy worth as a Superhero! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Well' date=' I never did see Ninja Scroll (judging from the content descriptors, it kinda came off as at least partially hentai)....[/quote'] Ninja Scroll isn't hentai... while there is nudity and an attempted rape, it's more like what you'd expect from an ultra-violent R-rated American action film. It's not what I think of as "henati," in which the sex is the plot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) This is one I actually ran, until the players moved away. The PCs were a rock band that travelled from town to town playing. They also were mecha drivers. The setting was a frontier world where the normal law didn't really reach, so it had a western/frontier feel to it. The reason the PC used mecha, is that on this world (a mining/farm world) dinosaurs existed, and they went after any other kind of transport. The anthropomorphic look of the mecha made dino's think they were living, and they would, mostly, keep their distance. So I ran a SF/Western/Mecha/Dinosaur game. And this well over a decade ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamLeisemann Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) This is one I actually ran, until the players moved away. The PCs were a rock band that travelled from town to town playing. They also were mecha drivers. The setting was a frontier world where the normal law didn't really reach, so it had a western/frontier feel to it. The reason the PC used mecha, is that on this world (a mining/farm world) dinosaurs existed, and they went after any other kind of transport. The anthropomorphic look of the mecha made dino's think they were living, and they would, mostly, keep their distance. So I ran a SF/Western/Mecha/Dinosaur game. And this well over a decade ago. I showed this series idea to my brother and here's his respinse (with one word censored) jkwleisemann: *giggles* Y'know the first thing I thought when I saw that? "Y'know, that would've been a b****in' cartoon back in the day...." AdamLeisemann: LOL jkwleisemann: I mean... what's better than BraveStarr meets Dinosaucers meets Jodie and the Pussycats? :-P AdamLeisemann: Josie. jkwleisemann: Typo. Meant that. And once again we show our age... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Lord Mhoram's campaign ideas are always worth reading. Saturday Night Champions: Your characters are the cast of an ensemble TV show, broadcasting live when a strange white light shines from the sky down onto the studio. The entire cast gains powers and abilities and exagerated personalities based on their roles when the light hit. Which of you are the heroes? Superbeings created: The Bluesmen The Bee Girls Ninja, CPA Madam Church Sven and Ollie, the Pump Masters The Pyramid Family Shark Walker, Male Prostitute The Playah Verklempta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Lord Mhoram's campaign ideas are always worth reading. Thanks. As much as anything that was a campaign to try and push the cross genre limits of HERO. Then I found that it didn't have any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeropoint Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) I would dearly love to play in a SF/western/mecha/dinosaur/band game. That sounds unbelieveably awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) I would dearly love to play in a SF/western/mecha/dinosaur/band game. That sounds unbelieveably awesome. Yeah. It was going great then all the players moved away. *sigh* The same thing killed my Star Trek: A Galaxy Far Far Away crossover game.* Although the band game led to one of the better quotes from a game. A henchmen of the the goups hunted came over to try an intimidate them. They all ignored him, and he blustered some more, then one of the players shot off with "We talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey" Became one of the immortal lines in the group. * A fed ship ended up in the SW universe. It was going well, until everyone moved. It worked so well - all of the players were huge ST fans, and causual SW fans, whereas I was as much as Trek fan as they, but the only really hardcore SW fan (I was the only one into the EU and such)... so I could have them play in the universe they were familiar with, but still hit them with surprises, and have it feel right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) How about a campaign where the PCs are comic-book characters' date=' and [i']know[/i] they are comic-book characters? They could live in mortal terror of their title being cancelled, or of being drawn by Rob Leifeld or Steve Ditko. An overused hero with claws and a bad attitude could always be exhausted because of all the crossovers and guest appearances he has to make. A character in a gritty Iron Age comic could lament about the end of his childhood dream to be a Golden Age character. A popular web-slinger might be upset because being in three separate titles means he never has time for sex with his supermodel wife. A B&W graphic-novel character yearns for the day she'll finally be rendered in four-color. This sounds like the world's greatest reality show. I'd watch it, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egyptoid Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) All the characters are children of 2 other supers. Linkage If the mother was a villainess, the father was a hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) There goes the planet: Our own mundane Terra... until the heroes and villains of DC Earth, Marvel Earth, Champions Earth, and various other sundry Comic Book Earth's start inexplicably appearing (with streamlined power levels, of course) as a result of merging continuities... and the uncomfortable reality that the comic book geeks know absolutely everything about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) There goes the planet: Our own mundane Terra... until the heroes and villains of DC Earth, Marvel Earth, Champions Earth, and various other sundry Comic Book Earth's start inexplicably appearing (with streamlined power levels, of course) as a result of merging continuities... and the uncomfortable reality that the comic book geeks know absolutely everything about them. I had an idea something like this once - postulating one of those huge crossover events, and they iminged on an unformed dimensional space - that then took it's form from pieces of those other universes. Instant history, instant characters with powers from any source the character desired... and unknown to any of the characters, it was only formed about a day ago when the campaign started. But I like the twist on yours with the geeks knowing everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZootSoot Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Tired of all the teen-supers campaigns my groups favor I once proposed the following: All the players are between the ages of 88 and 102 years old, with all the attendant problems, particularly dementias related to aging. They are all selected (probably illegally) to be the first human subjects of a drug meant to halt and reverse this particular problem. It works to an extent (the idea was to write up characters with huge numbers of skills, appropriate to their ages, then apply a progressive system of stat reductions then give the players the points to make the characters superheroes), but has the side effect of granting these geezers powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. The first superpowered individuals the world has ever seen, and they are all octogenarians or older . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Re: Crazy campaign ideas (Silly or serious) Tired of all the teen-supers campaigns my groups favor I once proposed the following: All the players are between the ages of 88 and 102 years old, with all the attendant problems, particularly dementias related to aging. They are all selected (probably illegally) to be the first human subjects of a drug meant to halt and reverse this particular problem. It works to an extent (the idea was to write up characters with huge numbers of skills, appropriate to their ages, then apply a progressive system of stat reductions then give the players the points to make the characters superheroes), but has the side effect of granting these geezers powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. The first superpowered individuals the world has ever seen, and they are all octogenarians or older . . . Archetypes: the duffer, the codger, the coot, the geezer, the biddy, the sour faced old spinster... Disadvantages: set in his ways, knee-jerk reactionary, stubborn as a mule, whistful memories of a time that never was, impatient as hell, doesn't care what people think, inclined to discuss his latest bowel movment, doesn't trust anyone under 30... Martial Arts: Cane Fighting... Perks: Reputation: Shady Greens Shuffelboard Champion +1/+1d6... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.