Nightman and Nightgirl

[Mark Rand]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

It'll be four color, not Dark Champions: TAS. I'll post it to the Champions board once we get the ball rolling.

 

Mr. Carter, chairman and CEO of a multinational corporation purchased a mansion that has a reputation for being haunted and decided to use it as a base for a superhero team he plans to finance.

 

The staff includes Donna Clark, the housekeeper, Keiko Nishagawa, the engineer, Jean Michaels, the secretary/receptionist, and Susan Gray, R.N., the team's nurse.

 

Doctor Arcane is a figure of mystery who some have heard of. Solara hasn't been heard of in 10 years. Some say she retired, others say she died.

 

The federal government is going to send one or more liaisons.

 

The PCs are the team.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Killer Shrike rep for the points, they always should apply to NPC's in any game.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

It'll be four color, not Dark Champions: TAS. I'll post it to the Champions board once we get the ball rolling.

 

Mr. Carter, chairman and CEO of a multinational corporation purchased a mansion that has a reputation for being haunted and decided to use it as a base for a superhero team he plans to finance.

 

The staff includes Donna Clark, the housekeeper, Keiko Nishagawa, the engineer, Jean Michaels, the secretary/receptionist, and Susan Gray, R.N., the team's nurse.

 

Doctor Arcane is a figure of mystery who some have heard of. Solara hasn't been heard of in 10 years. Some say she retired, others say she died.

 

The federal government is going to send one or more liaisons.

 

The PCs are the team.

 

This is a vast improvement. Had you gone DC, I would have still wondered what you were thinking, but if you're doing full on four color, where the focus is more on the powers & talents of the PCs rather than having them do the 'grunt work,' this is a great set up for some basic adventure hooks. You have the patron who can give orders, the staff who assists and who gets into trouble and needs bailed out, all sorts of good stuff.

 

Much better.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

I think you could continue to do this as a Dark Champions campaign but you need to overcome the penchant for cluttering up the storyscape with GM Pets.

 

Four color supers is not about overcoming challenges, its about over the top effects in a fairly consequence free environment. The focus of Dark Champions on the other hand is on action and grit; even a DC TaS campaign.

 

Part of establishing this is injecting obstacles to overcome, and providing opportunities for dynamic tension. Conflict. Being underdogs. Adapting and overcoming. Succeeding against the odds.

 

A cast of supporting NPC's directly erodes the foundation of such a campaign. While its ok to have the occassional ally, they should be few and far between, themselves struggling against the weight of the world, or else cause some form of tension or conflict themselves.

 

If thats not the sort of story you are looking to play out; if you want to give the PC's every advantage, a mentor, a base, a support staff, a troupe of powered NPC allies then it wont be successful as a Dark Champions campaign unless the foes they all collectively face are so powerful that all the advantages you've given them don't amount to much in the face of it.

 

Its really a very basic task of genre scoping, setting the intended mood, and defining the overall theme(s) you want. You should sit down and write out what you want the campaign to be about, how you want it to "feel", and what direction you want to take. Then use that document as a blueprint / spec as you flesh out the campaign. Evaluate every thing you put in against your intent.

 

If something is not part of the solution for acheiving your intent, then its part of the problem and should be gotten rid of.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

You know that part above where I said "If you were going DC I would wonder what you were thinking?" Note above post.

[CBikle]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

My style of fleshing out my Champions campaign world is pretty much the exact opposite of Mark's, with the initial background being somewhat generic, but incorporating and intertwining elements of the PC's backgrounds to enrich the campaign's foundation.

 

The initial background was usually not much more than:

 

"Super-heroes and villains have been around since the late 30's. Viper is a vast high-tech criminal/terrorist organization and PRIMUS is a patriotic, high-tech government paramilitary agency that battles Viper and other paranormal threats."

 

It's been my experience that, at first, PCs really don't care about the background intricacies of the GM's campaign world; they want to interact with the other PCs and NPCs and then hit them.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

My style of fleshing out my Champions campaign world is pretty much the exact opposite of Mark's, with the initial background being somewhat generic, but incorporating and intertwining elements of the PC's backgrounds to enrich the campaign's foundation.

 

The initial background was usually not much more than:

 

"Super-heroes and villains have been around since the late 30's. Viper is a vast high-tech criminal/terrorist organization and PRIMUS is a patriotic, high-tech government paramilitary agency that battles Viper and other paranormal threats."

 

It's been my experience that, at first, PCs really don't care about the background intricacies of the GM's campaign world; they want to interact with the other PCs and NPCs and then hit them.

 

I'm taking your advice for the "IST San Angelo, version 4.0" thread on the Champions board.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Eh. Yes and no.

 

For my epic fantasy campaign (yeah, it's a DC thread, remember: everything is really window dressing) I set up a ton of material in advance. The academy where the PCs trained - not unlike a mansion. Their Patron, the Lord Captain Thia Halmades. His staff & advisors. Not so I could overwhelm the players and say "LOOK WHAT I WROTE" but so when the time came, they could walk up to their Unit Commander and I'd know who he is, what his history is, who HIS rival is (who later became the PCs rival) and so on.

 

There's nothing wrong with doing your dev this way, but it's best reserved for intentionally building people up and integrating them into the story, letting them "see" and experience the world a bit before applying boot to caboose with significant force and saying "There! Now go catch some plot!"

[Mark Rand]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Something occurred to me when I was eating supper. I'd forgotten to mention that a lot of what I'm posting here is worldbuilding, and not what is on the handouts the players get.

[CBikle]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Eh. Yes and no.

 

For my epic fantasy campaign (yeah, it's a DC thread, remember: everything is really window dressing) I set up a ton of material in advance. The academy where the PCs trained - not unlike a mansion. Their Patron, the Lord Captain Thia Halmades. His staff & advisors. Not so I could overwhelm the players and say "LOOK WHAT I WROTE" but so when the time came, they could walk up to their Unit Commander and I'd know who he is, what his history is, who HIS rival is (who later became the PCs rival) and so on.

 

There's nothing wrong with doing your dev this way, but it's best reserved for intentionally building people up and integrating them into the story, letting them "see" and experience the world a bit before applying boot to caboose with significant force and saying "There! Now go catch some plot!"

 

Right. Fictitious settings require a little more prep, but often the PC's background (which the player would write) would flesh a lot in.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Er... aren't they all fictitious settings? Sorry, I don't mean to be argumentative, but I totally have no idea what you mean.

[CBikle]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Er... aren't they all fictitious settings? Sorry' date=' I don't mean to be argumentative, but I totally have no idea what you mean.[/quote']

 

Most games like Champions, Dark Champions, Pulp Hero, et al use the real world or a time period of it, as a base and a frame of reference for the PCs.

 

If the game is set in modern-day NYC or 1920's Chicago, there's not as much to make up (and explain to the PCs) as opposed to running a Fantasy Hero game in the mysterious free city of Kanzibar-Zix, which I completely made up to illustrate my point.

[Shaft]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

I have a quick observation for you, Mark:

 

I've read a few of your posts, and it's clear that you have a lot of passion for your backgrounds and NPCs. In the forums, you list the sources of your ideas in a clear and concise manner, which makes it easy for everyone reading the threads to understand your ideas, but when you elaborate on your work, it can sound like "fanfic" as opposed to borrowed inspiration to some people.

 

To sum up, in these posts, it seems that your sources are presented too blatantly (I hope that my suggestion does not offend- it is meant as an earnest criticsim, and if I offend, please accept my apology and a rep boost in advance).

 

Every GM borrows inspiration, and I enjoy reading your ideas because it sounds like you have a good head for mixing your sources. However, I think your style might benefit from adding a bit more original material into the mix (or mixing enough sources that your source is not easy to deduce. For all I know, you might already do this, and are keeping the references to simplify your descriptions on the Forums. If this is the case, then feel free to ignore this post) or else, mix the sources enough that it's not just one "ripoff". Renaming BatMan into NightMan is great, but adding a twist to the character to differentiate him from Batman and make him yours is also the way to go- for example, what if he was a low level telepath and he subtly used his psionics to do his detective work? Or perhaps, instead of having Dr Arcane be your obvious mage, make NightMan a mage who uses subtle magic and mystic martial arts to act as a protector of the night?

 

I know you have Vampire Slayers in one of your campaigns- as do I. What if NightGirl was a Slayer? (There's a twist the players won't be expecting- "BatGirl" with Buffy strength...)

 

I only have two Slayers in my game- both NPCs. One is clearly based on Buffy, and hasn't appeared enough for me to develop (she is called "Misty the Vampire Slayer", but the players get the reference). The other's personality is clearly based on Faith, though that personality has become more disciplined after she was recruited by an organization that I modeled off of a combo of the Initiative and SG Command (The StarGate is a gateway to demon realms, and the SG teams like having a Slayer attached on some missions). She was also given retractable Wolverine style claws made out of orichalchum (a magical metal that appears in several works of fiction, but which I used Shadowrun as a source. orichalchum affects vampires and most mystical creatures including desolid- I treat it as a 1d6 (2d6 w/STR) Armor Piercing, Penetrating, Affects Desolid attack, to ensure that she always has the equivalent of a stake on her). Personality-wise, she has the army training, but is still a bit of a maverick, which kind of makes her a bit like Logan...

 

Feel free to give Nightgirl something like that if you make her a Slayer, though claws might be a little too intense for a TAS campaign. On the other hand, NightMan might be able to afford the treatment, so why not?

 

A mystic NightMan would make a cool Watcher for Slayer NightGirl too, and it would be an interesting twist when the players found out the mystic twist on their origin. Imagine finding out that instead of Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon clones being underneath the cowls, Rupert Giles and Buffy Summers are in the mix...

[Mark Rand]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Consider yourself repped for thewonderful ideas.

 

I'm considering giving the PC team Nightman's auxillary Nightcave, which is located away from where the original Nightcave is.

 

As for Solara, she was meant as a Sailor Moon homage, but I also considered having her with a different look, as if she'd been a geisha before getting her powers.

[Shaft]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Thanks for the boost.

 

I'm wondering what having a character like Solara on NightMan's team might do to the image it presents. Cosmic characters tend to make the game feel more like a full blown Champions game as opposed to Dark Champs: TAS. On the other hand, solar powers might be particularly effective against vampires. Another inspiration for a character might be Halo, from the Outsiders (which always did a good job of straddling 4 colour with Dark Champions. They leaned more towards four colour, IMHO, though they had some pretty dark plots and subplots).

 

Black Scorpion might be redundant if you already have NightMan and NightGirl being stealthy martial art experts. What value does she bring to the team?

 

Raideen's concept is pretty cool, though I would emphasize the anime attributes of her armor lest she come across looking like a female Iron Man whose suit can do anything. Limit the STR to about 30. You might want to make her more of a leaper rather than flyer, or set limits on her flight like a fuel supply that only has a few bursts in it for a short duration (Boba Fett's jetpack is a good model for this). Modeling her suit off of the KnightSabre hardsuits might be a good idea too (as I recall, Priss used a motorcycle for long distance, high speed movement, which she discarded once she got in close). Making Raideen the team mechanic who maintains the Night vehicles makes her unique.

 

Another twist for Raideen would be what if he/she was the 14 year old instead- perhaps he/she's a savant or child genius? Perhaps the armor is relatively small because the wearer is relatively small, and scaled to a full sized, 6ft human, the armor would be 8 ft tall, and bulkier.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Nightman and Nightgirl

 

Thanks for the boost.

 

I'm wondering what having a character like Solara on NightMan's team might do to the image it presents. Cosmic characters tend to make the game feel more like a full blown Champions game as opposed to Dark Champs: TAS. On the other hand, solar powers might be particularly effective against vampires. Another inspiration for a character might be Halo, from the Outsiders (which always did a good job of straddling 4 colour with Dark Champions. They leaned more towards four colour, IMHO, though they had some pretty dark plots and subplots).

 

Black Scorpion might be redundant if you already have NightMan and NightGirl being stealthy martial art experts. What value does she bring to the team?

 

Raideen's concept is pretty cool, though I would emphasize the anime attributes of her armor lest she come across looking like a female Iron Man whose suit can do anything. Limit the STR to about 30. You might want to make her more of a leaper rather than flyer, or set limits on her flight like a fuel supply that only has a few bursts in it for a short duration (Boba Fett's jetpack is a good model for this). Modeling her suit off of the KnightSabre hardsuits might be a good idea too (as I recall, Priss used a motorcycle for long distance, high speed movement, which she discarded once she got in close). Making Raideen the team mechanic who maintains the Night vehicles makes her unique.

 

Another twist for Raideen would be what if he/she was the 14 year old instead- perhaps he/she's a savant or child genius? Perhaps the armor is relatively small because the wearer is relatively small, and scaled to a full sized, 6ft human, the armor would be 8 ft tall, and bulkier.

 

Raideen and, possibly, Black Scorpion, are for a four-color campaign I may run instead of Nightman and Nightgirl.

 

Solara isn't on Nightman's team. Instead, she's someone the heroes occasionally run into.