CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTH -- What Would You Like To See?

GestaltBennie · October 20, 2006

I'm going to jumpstart this book a little early, given that it seems to be taking me a little longer to write these days, and I want to build in a bit of a buffer in case some expected surgery yields unexpected complications.

Okay here are the basics of what's set in stone:

a) A historic and geographic overview of Canada.

Information on Canada in the pulp, Golden Age, Silver Age, and modern supers eras, as well as packages that'd be usable in a modern non-supers game..

C) Heroes and villains. The characters mentioned in Champions Universe are a given. The characters out of the original Champions of the North won't be updated, though you may see a nod here and there.

The outline's more detailed, but I'd like your thoughts.

teh bunneh · October 20, 2006

Much love to my neighbors to tha north!

I'd like to see a brief discussion on why Canadian heroes have to say "eh?" about every fifth word, and what happens to those heroes who don't go along with the program -- do they become vigilantes, or what?

I'd also like to see a chapter on the importance of hockey sticks and toques in the war on crime.

:snicker:

Bill.

(Also, what the hell is Canadian Bacon, and how is it different from regular bacon?) :confused:

Supreme Serpent · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

What's a "Norty"?

I think it would be good to talk about Canada's interaction with the US - cultural, economic, emigration, security/super security cooperation/points of contention. Also perhaps a section on "noticable differences" between the US and Canada - what a traveller or new transplant would pick up on, to help GMs establish a Canadian "feel" for what is likely a largely US group of players.

Bibliography mentioning Canadian supers in comics, from both Canadian and US companies.

Section on stereotypes, short "myths vs facts of Canada", things like that.

Perhaps a quick section on what changes might make other published materials work better in a Canadian setting? Like Champs Battlegrounds, various Villany Amok scenarios, etc...

GestaltBennie · October 20, 2006

Re: Much love to my neighbors to tha north!

I'd like to see a brief discussion on why Canadian heroes have to say "eh?" about every fifth word, and what happens to those heroes who don't go along with the program -- do they become vigilantes, or what?

I'd also like to see a chapter on the importance of hockey sticks and toques in the war on crime.

Bill.

(Also, what the hell is Canadian Bacon, and how is it different from regular bacon?)

No jokey posts, please. Thank you kindly. :-)

GestaltBennie · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

What's a "Norty"?
..

Please note that the surgery I'm probably going in for is eye surgery. :-)

Lord Liaden · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

Scott, I hope your surgical prospects turn out well. Quite apart from wanting good things for you, anything that impairs your ability to write game books deprives us all.

As for what I'd like to see in this book, besides what you've mentioned: I agree with Supreme Serpent that the book should be written with an eye toward the visiting foreigner, particularly Americans. Canadian politics and law enforcement should be covered in fair detail, since these are probably the areas that foreign superheroes are likely to run afoul of the most often. Add lots of little details of how the culture of Canada differs from that of the United States, to give visitors a sense of local color. Emphasize features of the major Canadian cities and other areas which have potential for interesting encounters for visitors; that was one of the elements of the previous CotN that I particularly appreciated. At the same time, remember that a lot of Canadians are also likely to buy this book, and many of us are not familiar with all the elements of this huge land, so please delineate the potential of particular areas as bases for a campaign. That might even tempt a few Yanks to base a campaign up here.

Please give some attention to Canadian folklore that provides adventure or character-origin possibilities, like aboriginal myths and regional "monsters." At the same time I'd also like to see some discussion of Canada around the world. This country has long been active internationally and is currently very hands-on in several regions, notably Afghanistan. It's quite possible to run into Canadian heroes or villains at work in other countries.

Speaking of international Canadian supers, IMO this book would be an excellent place in which to develop Teleios further. He was raised in Canada, and his major laboratory facility is supposedly located here. I'd really appreciate seeing maps and descriptions of that laboratory, as well as more of his servant creations.

I'll give this some more thought and get back to you. I just want to add that you are unquestionably the first person I would have tapped to write a new Champions Of The North, so I'm delighted you got the assignment and very much look forward to seeing it. You have at least one guaranteed sale here. :thumbup:

Lemurion · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

I am definitely interested, it would have been nice to see some of the characters updated, though I found the original one had better villains than heroes.

Otherwise I would go with settings and plot hooks that demonstrate the difference in culture between the two countries. Little things like the fact that if you see a Canadian with a gun you can almost guarantee they are intending to shoot it (most likely at a range or possibly hunting) as there isn't the casual carry culture of the US up here. Little things like a definition of back bacon might not hurt in a sidebar but that's as far as it should go.

Good luck with your eyes.

Hermit · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

I would like to see one city in Canada, be it real or a fictional one made just for the product, with an actual map and maybe a page or three devoted to it as an easy start up location to begin a CotN campaign in.

I'd like to see how the CU's Canada might have been shaped in part by superhumans one way or another. For example, Did Borealis create a fortress to operate from in the Yukon, only to be driven from it by a superhero team? If so, what did the Canadian government do with this state of the art fortress. Is it now an UNTIL base, a lab for superhuman research, or a northern equivilent to Stronghold or what? In World War II, did Canadian units (super or otherwise) capture some Atlanteans and hold them as Prisoners of War in a Hudson Bay prison camp till it was over? Maybe some Atlanteans were treated kindly and stuck around. Maybe some former superheroes are now involved in the national or at least regional level of politics. Weird stuff like that which might not make MAJOR changes, but still shows that the superhumans had an effect on the country.

While I don't encourage stereotypes, trying to capture the feel of each Province in part by having characters from specific regions reflect them might work wonders for some of us down below who just don't grok the difference between Albertans or Nova Scotians

name_tamer · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

Borealis 5e. Not just the writeup, but the history of some of his failed plots, as well as lots of plot seeds for the future. What is his organization like? Give us more about his philosophy. Just a super-patriot, or does he actually believe there's something inherently superior about Canada.

Why does the Northern Guard keep disbanding? Is it a curse, or something about the Canadian (super-)character?

CraterMaker · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

I'd like something on Alaska ... seriously.

Canada? Overview of polical tensions, urban myths, plot hooks..

-CraterMaker

Lord Liaden · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

Oh, BTW: according to p. 37 of Millennium City, one of the four major television networks in the United States is CBC (along with NBS, ABS and the Adair Network). You might want to keep that in mind when referring to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Redmenace · October 20, 2006

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTY -- What Would You Like To See?

Some idea as to how Canada sees the elements of the Champs Universe differently from the US. Are they more strongly tied to Until, do they have closer ties to the UK, How do they handle super criminals and how did they react to the destruction of Detroit?

Considering the vigilante nature of many superheroes, how often are cross border incidents occurring and how are they dealt with? Do supercriminals routinely use Canada as a good place to lay low?

For specific sub genre campaigns, what are the high tech, mystic and crime scenes like? What, if any, are the local analogs or answers to Vibora Bay and or Millenium city?