Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

[OddHat]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

While I like the "three leg" idea, I think the "Normal leg" part might be a bit difficult to sustain as a regular part of the game. It could be done occasionally, of course.

 

As a supplementary technique, it might be worthwhile adding extra "plainclothes" time to what the Heroes are doing. That way they get to interact with normal NPCs a lot more, and can be exposed to their view of things.

 

To each his own.

 

Having the Players play the normals once in a while gives a better view of what a Supers heavy world is like from a normal's POV than just NPC interaction, at least from my experience with Agent level games. I do agree that it would be hard to sustain for the length of a campaign. Like the villains leg of the arc my players are going through now, it's more suited to an occasional bit than a weekly event, unless the whole campaign is done agent style.

 

Bluebooking is a fun technique, but I've rarely gotten much buy in for it. Depends on the players.

[Savinien]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

I don't have any bluebook buy-in either, Oddhat. So, I'm considering story legs with different characters like you have mentioned. I'm not sure about playing Agents, or if they should simply be regular people. A see the argument for agents. Who wants to play a bartender?

[OddHat]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

I don't have any bluebook buy-in either' date=' Oddhat. So, I'm considering story legs with different characters like you have mentioned. I'm not sure about playing Agents, or if they should simply be regular people. A see the argument for agents. Who wants to play a bartender?[/quote']

 

Well, regular people can be fun. Remember the Astro City story about the hotel door-man? However, I'd see that more as a one shot to flesh out background NPCs. For regular "normals" games, I'd go for agents, reporters, emergency personel, or police officers. Easier to explain why they're always involved in Supers related situations.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Well' date=' regular people can be fun. Remember the Astro City story about the hotel door-man? However, I'd see that more as a one shot to flesh out background NPCs. For regular "normals" games, I'd go for agents, reporters, emergency personel, or police officers. Easier to explain why they're always involved in Supers related situations.[/quote']

Yeah, the trick is keeping the normals involved on a recurring basis without it becoming contrived. Even for police/agents/etc. Also, how many game sessions do your players want to spend saving bystanders from falling debris? Seems like it would get old fairly quickly. Any thoughts how we could mix up the normals end?

[OddHat]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Yeah' date=' the trick is keeping the normals involved on a recurring basis without it becoming contrived. Even for police/agents/etc. Also, how many game sessions do your players want to spend saving bystanders from falling debris? Seems like it would get old fairly quickly. Any thoughts how we could mix up the normals end?[/quote']

 

Well, the police angle could be used for a good range of adventures, or UNIT / UNTIL / OSI / Primus agents working mainly on investigations. A news team in a Supers world also allows for a fair range of adventures, and a mix of characters. Investigating the death of Flag Girl or criminal secrets of Captain Action doesn't require powers until you actually reach the confrontation with the Villains stage, at which point the session can switch back to the Super PCs.

 

One risk with the above approach is that the Super PCs may get their time out-of-the-mask cut. I'd try to make sure that the PCs got some quality Secret ID time, even if investigations are largely being done by Normal PCs. Also, if you have a Super Detective, it may be best to have Normal investigators hit a wall before passing the case on.

[Zeropoint]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

If you keep your supers relatively low-powered, then a skilled normal with a little time to prepare and access to some good gear might be able to hold his own against a super, especially if he brought friends.

 

A group that investigates super-crimes, but doesn't normally fight supers might work.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Well, the police angle could be used for a good range of adventures, or UNIT / UNTIL / OSI / Primus agents working mainly on investigations. A news team in a Supers world also allows for a fair range of adventures, and a mix of characters. Investigating the death of Flag Girl or criminal secrets of Captain Action doesn't require powers until you actually reach the confrontation with the Villains stage, at which point the session can switch back to the Super PCs.

 

One risk with the above approach is that the Super PCs may get their time out-of-the-mask cut. I'd try to make sure that the PCs got some quality Secret ID time, even if investigations are largely being done by Normal PCs. Also, if you have a Super Detective, it may be best to have Normal investigators hit a wall before passing the case on.

It almost seems like a spin on the old trope where the hero investigates the crime in his "civilian" ID, but then switches to Hero ID for the final confrontation. (I'm thinking George Reeves' Superman, among others.) Except in this case the Hero ID and the civilian ID are two completely seperate characters.

 

Yeah, you could maybe make that work with the right players & GM. My concern is that playing the normals might start to feel a little... unfulfilling if you have to pull a plottus interruptus and switch characters every time the story is approaching climax.

 

If you keep your supers relatively low-powered' date=' then a skilled normal with a little time to prepare and access to some good gear might be able to hold his own against a super, especially if he brought friends.[/quote']

In another campaign, yes. But most Astro City supers aren't exactly low-powered, and normals don't generally go up against supers. (With the exception of the E.A.G.L.E. agents during the Confessions storyline, but that was portrayed as being the exception rather than the rule.)

[KA.]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

In reading this thread, and based upon my own take on this topic, I think the key to an Astro City campaign might be having the whole thing be about the "Normals"

 

Since Astro City is more about people than superheroics, I think it would be hard to get players into the proper mindset if they were playing Superpowered beings, especially at the start of the campaign.

 

You could have a campaign where all of the players took the part of "NPC's" or "DNPC's" for some of the major players in the city.

 

They would be around to see the superfights, but rarely participate in them, except in some very minor role.

 

But, they would be spending a lot of time exploring the ways that superbeings changed the world they lived in.

 

After enough game sessions to get the players in the proper mindset, you could have them become more directly involved in the super side of things.

 

Perhaps the Cub Reporter's Editor notices that he seems to be friends with The Revenant, so he starts sending him to cover stories that The Revenant seems to be involved in, hoping for an exclusive.

 

Or, a young ER doctor gets tired of seeing so many patients that have been hurt by Acro-Batter's "fastballs", so he tries to find out exactly how they work, hoping to find a better way to treat the injury. While doing his "field work" he runs afoul of the villanous Acro-Batter himself.

 

After a certain amount of time, the players may find themselves moving into more of a "sidekick" role. They aren't superheroes themselves, but painful experience has taught them that they need to learn to take care of themselves, and that they can occasionally provide a crucial distraction.

 

As time (and training, and a few possible radiation accidents ) go by, the Players can work their way up into being a part of the "super" community, but by now they should have so many strongly developed NPC contacts and personal relationships that they will be able to play a supers campaign that is about more than just punching villains.

 

Another way to do it, would be to emulate the recent Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance".

The Players could build "normal" Superheroes, and then receive an education in how things are done in Astro City.

 

KA.

[OddHat]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

If you keep your supers relatively low-powered, then a skilled normal with a little time to prepare and access to some good gear might be able to hold his own against a super, especially if he brought friends.

 

A group that investigates super-crimes, but doesn't normally fight supers might work.

 

I'd go the other direction. Keep the Supers high powered and the Normals using only real world equipment, so that the difference between the Supers leg and the Normals leg remains as clear as possible.

[OddHat]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

It almost seems like a spin on the old trope where the hero investigates the crime in his "civilian" ID, but then switches to Hero ID for the final confrontation. (I'm thinking George Reeves' Superman, among others.) Except in this case the Hero ID and the civilian ID are two completely seperate characters.

 

Yeah, you could maybe make that work with the right players & GM. My concern is that playing the normals might start to feel a little... unfulfilling if you have to pull a plottus interruptus and switch characters every time the story is approaching climax.

 

 

That's a potential problem as well. I think the key is tone; the Normals are not action heroes. They're living in a noirish world where the forces they struggle against are too big for them to take head on. Their adventure climaxes with discovery and escape, their dénouement is quiet time with fellow survivors. The Supers are the ones who enjoy massive fire fights and receive the keys to the city. The players get to see things from both angles.

[David Johnston]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

For a somewhat less complex and ambitious approach you could just simply be careful to remind the players at all times that there are other things happening in the city than the stuff they are involved with. The pace of superhuman activity in Astro City is positively frantic. On any given day an omnisicient observer there would see several superheros fighting street crime, several supervillains being foiled by other heroes, a hero or two intervening in house fires or suicide attempts, a pointless brawl between heros, a supernatural monster stalking prey, and heros like Samaritan or the First Family whipping in and out of town to deal with international or interplanetary issues.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

In another campaign' date=' yes. But most Astro City supers aren't exactly low-powered, and normals don't generally go up against supers. (With the exception of the E.A.G.L.E. agents during the Confessions storyline, but that was portrayed as being the exception rather than the rule.)[/quote']

 

Didn't those E.A.G.L.E. troopers turn out to be alien invaders?

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

For a somewhat less complex and ambitious approach you could just simply be careful to remind the players at all times that there are other things happening in the city than the stuff they are involved with.

 

That idea would also work well with Millenium City, or many other Silver/Bronze Age settings.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Didn't those E.A.G.L.E. troopers turn out to be alien invaders?

SPOILER ALERT!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[just looked at Confessions to be sure.] The ones that showed up at the end were, but it was established that E.A.G.L.E. had been around for some time before the real invasion started. My interpretation was that up until the finale, most if not all of them were humans following the orders of what they thought was their mayor.

[BlackSword]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

For a somewhat less complex and ambitious approach you could just simply be careful to remind the players at all times that there are other things happening in the city than the stuff they are involved with. The pace of superhuman activity in Astro City is positively frantic. On any given day an omnisicient observer there would see several superheros fighting street crime' date=' several supervillains being foiled by other heroes, a hero or two intervening in house fires or suicide attempts, a pointless brawl between heros, a supernatural monster stalking prey, and heros like Samaritan or the First Family whipping in and out of town to deal with international or interplanetary issues.[/quote']

Or throw in stories for color. The GM can send out occasional 'news clippings' from the city, this serves as both plot hooks as well as stories to flavor the world. Typically my group rewards players for providing stories about their characters in the down-time between adventures. Add that in as an option. Have the players write news stories about other superheroes or supervillain crime. This could also serve as plot hooks as a crime may not always be solved.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

My campaign EPIC CITY is a direct rip-off of Astro City.

 

To keep it simple I just tell my players that, though they are able to achieve great things and even affect the entire United Societies of America, Epic City is the true main character.

 

I keep the feel with heavy descriptions and in-depth (and reoccurring) NPC's and locations. It takes a while to establish everything (I'm talking years), but eventually the players feel a close kinship with the city and know just where to go when needed.

 

A few pics and a story:

[GoldenAge]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Or throw in stories for color. The GM can send out occasional 'news clippings' from the city' date=' this serves as both plot hooks as well as stories to flavor the world. Typically my group rewards players for providing stories about their characters in the down-time between adventures. Add that in as an option. Have the players write news stories about other superheroes or supervillain crime. This could also serve as plot hooks as a crime may not always be solved.[/quote']

 

Is this what you're talking about? (see below)

[GoldenAge]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Here's another fun story from one of my players and a pic to go with it

 

(the pic is a modified Alex Ross piece)

 

Oops look below....

[GoldenAge]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Here they are:

[OddHat]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Is this what you're talking about? (see below)

 

Your campaign materials rock. Repped.

 

Do you use a word template for the newspapers, or...?

[GoldenAge]

Re: Astro City: How to get the feel of the series in Champions?

 

Your campaign materials rock. Repped.

 

Do you use a word template for the newspapers, or...?

 

I use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for just about everything I do. It's habbit after 15+ years as a Graphic Designer and Creative Director.

 

If I have multi-page documents to do I work in Adobe InDesign (Baby Quark got thrown out with the bathwater)