How Many U S Heros ?

[st barbara]

In the "Champions" universe how many heros would there be in the United States ? How many teams would exist and where would they be ? Given the sheer size of the country and the way the major cities are distributed I could easily imagine half a dozen major teams existing scattered around in say New York, Chicago (or Detroit), San Francisco (or Los Angeles),somewhere in the south of the country (New Orleans or perhaps Texas or Florida), Washinton D C (perhaps a government sponsored team ?) and maybe somewhere in the middle of the country (Denver perhaps ?). That is 30- 40 heros probably; and then you have the "solo" characters who might be almost anywhere. Is this too many ? Should places like Alaska and Hawaii have super heros based there ? I will be very interested to hear people's ideas on "U S Super Demographics" as I am just about to start writing up the U S A in my "All The World's Heros" project !

[Patriot]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

IMO,

 

Alaska and Hawaii not full team , but a State sponsored hero

Alaska: Anchorage (a density manip hero)

Nome ( well ...A Gnome maybe with a back story of Leaving The house of Claus, and setting out on his own)

I cant think of a good Idea for Juneau

And Hawaii has a good deal of Ideas too, lava volcanoes, tiki dolls, etc.

 

I would also say that one major SG per region is reasonable with a small teams scattered throughout

 

If your stuck for good names look to the newspapers( not for ideas, the names of the papers themselves)

Indianapolis Star

Chicago Defender

etc.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

Well, some kind soul collected the references to CU heroes in various published Champions books (up to about 2003 IIRC) along with their locations and team affiliations, and put them as a PDF on the "Free Stuff" part of the website. That would be a good place to start: http://www.herogames.com/FreeStuff/freedocs/CU%20Supers-Full.pdf

 

There's another free PDF for the supervillains, in the same style and the same vintage: http://www.herogames.com/FreeStuff/freedocs/CU%20Villains-Full.pdf

[st barbara]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

IMO,

 

Alaska and Hawaii not full team , but a State sponsored hero

Alaska: Anchorage (a density manip hero)

Nome ( well ...A Gnome maybe with a back story of Leaving The house of Claus, and setting out on his own)

I cant think of a good Idea for Juneau

And Hawaii has a good deal of Ideas too, lava volcanoes, tiki dolls, etc.

 

I would also say that one major SG per region is reasonable with a small teams scattered throughout

 

If your stuck for good names look to the newspapers( not for ideas, the names of the papers themselves)

Indianapolis Star

Chicago Defender

etc.

I'm not having trouble coming up with ideas or names it is likely numbers that i'm unsure with. I was thinking of only one hero in each of Hawaii and Alaska but is it too much to have teams in both San Francisco and Los Angeles or both New York and Washington DC or both Chicago and Detroit ? Remembering that I need at least as many villains as heros just how many supers would the U S A be likely to have ?

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

I think I read this in the Champions book, but I'm rather fond of the literal use of the phrase 'one in a million' ... which puts about 300 supers as American citizens, though a higher concentration of them are in large cities like New York, Los Angeles and the like compared to Normal population distribution.

 

Of course, this means that China has a metric ****load of capes.

[st barbara]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

I have to admit I "handwaved" China a bit and gave it 14 heros . Two in Hong Kong, a family of two bothers and a sister in Chunking and nine others scattered around the country and then implied that , while these were the superheroes that the rest of the world knew about, there may well be others. I have come up with 10 Chinese supervillains to oppose them, but I will probably go back and create some more at a later date. I can't easily do this with the USA however as any supers found there would be far more "visible".

[clsage]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

I'm not having trouble coming up with ideas or names it is likely numbers that i'm unsure with. I was thinking of only one hero in each of Hawaii and Alaska but is it too much to have teams in both San Francisco and Los Angeles or both New York and Washington DC or both Chicago and Detroit ? Remembering that I need at least as many villains as heros just how many supers would the U S A be likely to have ?

 

From a totally personal point of view, I'd potentially give Alaska and Hawaii

a few more supers, at least on an ocassional basis. In part due to the long

cultural histories of both places and the potential for "Mysto-Cultural Lab

Accidents" (eg: surfer is exposed to artifact and becomes Kamehameha,

defender of Kauai; Energy flux during auroral activity envelopes someone

out panning for gold and they become Northlight, protector of Fairbanks;

etc).

 

That said, I don't see an issue with teams in the cities you mention,

depending on the team size. Again, going by my personal "world backstory"

(for an as of yet unplayed in game universe (sigh)). In it, there are "groups"

that have formed in NYC, Boston, Washington DC, LA, SF, Chicago, St Louis,

the Orlando-Tampa-Cocoa/KSC metroplex, etc. As well as the beginings of

the re-birth of a "National Team", The Guardians Of Liberty, which in the

Golden Age was based out of Boston and will probably end up being based in

NYC for its modern incarnation.

 

Of course, things also depend on your definition of how large a hero group

needs to be before it becomes a "team". The cities/metro areas I mentioned

above have various sized groups, from three members (the obvious minimum)

on up....And, I suppose, my groups are a bit less formal than (as an

example) the classic JLA, etc. They might be seen by some as more of a

"network" where various heros have methods for easily contacting each

other, share databases, etc. The major exception would be the G.O.L.

who are, after all, my JLA/Avenger analogs.....

 

Just my slightly greater than $.02US. YMMV.

 

-Carl-

[Vondy]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

I'm not having trouble coming up with ideas or names it is likely numbers that i'm unsure with. I was thinking of only one hero in each of Hawaii and Alaska but is it too much to have teams in both San Francisco and Los Angeles or both New York and Washington DC or both Chicago and Detroit ? Remembering that I need at least as many villains as heros just how many supers would the U S A be likely to have ?

 

All of the cities you mentioned are major cities with populations at, or exceeding, a million souls. Heck, the Greater Seattle Area has 3 million (just under a million for Seattle proper). If you adhere to the notion that supers tend to flock towards urban environments then all of those cities could support a super-hero team of some size. Indeed, in the Marvel Universe, New York (8 million residents; 20 million people there during the day) is home to more than one team, not to mention the solo-heroes operating in the city. The one exception might be Washington DC. I could see the Federal Government - and PRIMUS - making it difficult for a super-hero team to operate there unless they were officially sanctioned.

[st barbara]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

Thank you for the suggestions. I was thinking of having the team in Washington being the U S government/official team. Chicago or Detroit will probably have a team with the other city having a hero (or maybe two) (NB. Just by way of definition; "team" in this context is anywhere between four and seven supers) I wasn't certain about the West Coast and was wondering whether teams of 5 or 6 heros in both San Francisco and Los Angeles would be too many heros for the area. Denver is another place that I might locate a team (because of its location, sort of central) and a team in the South looks feasible. The only question is would it be better in Texas, or New Orleans, or Miami or someplace else ? Otherwise I can scatter heros across the country in ones or twos. (" Hi I'm "Hero Girl" the local hero of Mud Lick Kentucky " ! er well, maybe not).

[assault]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

The only question is would it be better in Texas' date=' or New Orleans, or Miami or someplace else ?[/quote']

 

I would very seriously consider Texas.

 

I did a comparison of Texas with Australia a few years ago. Basically, both have similar size populations, and have most of their populations concentrated into a handful of similar sized cities.

 

The main difference was that Texas was small - bigger than Tasmania and Victoria, but smaller than New South Wales.

 

So basically, Texas could/should have as many heroes as Australia, and they would/could be concentrated into a smaller area.

 

Of course, the same would probably be true for a bunch of other areas in the US...

 

(Besides, Texas stereotypes are funny.)

[Vondy]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

I would very seriously consider Texas.

 

Of course, the same would probably be true for a bunch of other areas in the US...

 

(Besides, Texas stereotypes are funny.)

 

Houston is one of America's bigger cities - it could definately have a team. Dallas/For Worth could merit 1 or 2 supers. On the other hand, if the Texas Rangers have a super in their ranks (they did in my game), maybe even Austin, despite its smaller size.

[Vondy]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

Thank you for the suggestions. I was thinking of having the team in Washington being the U S government/official team. Chicago or Detroit will probably have a team with the other city having a hero (or maybe two) (NB. Just by way of definition; "team" in this context is anywhere between four and seven supers) I wasn't certain about the West Coast and was wondering whether teams of 5 or 6 heros in both San Francisco and Los Angeles would be too many heros for the area. Denver is another place that I might locate a team (because of its location' date=' sort of central) and a team in the South looks feasible. The only question is would it be better in Texas, or New Orleans, or Miami or someplace else ? Otherwise I can scatter heros across the country in ones or twos. (" Hi I'm "Hero Girl" the local hero of Mud Lick Kentucky " ! er well, maybe not).[/quote']

 

California is the worlds 7th largest economy and is one of the US's biggest electoral states (meaning: numbers of voters). I could easily see LA and San Francisco both supporting teams, and maybe even a smallish team (3-4) in San Diego, or at least a few solo heroes. I always used San Francisco for my Dark Champions venue, but the Bay Area has a significant population and could support a team. Also, I would definately put some supers in Portland and Seattle, both of which are major cities (and ports). And, though its not the US, don't forget Vancouver BC, which also falls into the Seattle-Portland range and could support a team of some size.

[name_tamer]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

I think I read this in the Champions book, but I'm rather fond of the literal use of the phrase 'one in a million' ... which puts about 300 supers as American citizens, though a higher concentration of them are in large cities like New York, Los Angeles and the like compared to Normal population distribution.

 

Of course, this means that China has a metric ****load of capes.

 

According to Champions Universe, the 1:1,000,000 ratio is pretty accurate on a worldwide basis, but varies significantly by region. The U.S. has a superhuman to normal ratio of about 1:100,000 to 1:1,000,000, and China has a ratio equal to about 1:5,000,000.

 

So given a U.S. population of about 300 million, and a China population of about 1.3 billion, that means between 300 and 3,000 U.S. supers, and about 260 Chinese supers, out of a worldwide total of about 6,000.

 

CU also cites to estimates that only 40% of superhumans actually become costumed heroes/villains. Applying this multiplier, the U.S. gets about 120 to 1,200, and China gets about 104, out of the worldwide total of 2,400. (The 40% ratio, of course, could also vary by factors such as a more extroverted society in the west -- or superhuman recruitment programs in China).

[st barbara]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

Good points (as usual) "Von-D Man". I placed my Canadian team of "Pacific Sentinels" in Vancouver and was going to put one team of six heros ("The Protectors") in San Francisco and a second team of five (Tentatively called "The Guardian Angels") in L A with maybe one or two heros in the rest of Caifornia and at least one (the aquatic heroine "Sea Hawk") in Seattle. Some of the names (and even the power sets) are taken from old "Champions" writeups but others will be my own creations. For example instead of using "Jaguar" for "The Champions" I have stolen the idea of "Changeling" from D C and created a character called "The Pooka", a teenager who can shapechange to any animal that he can think of (including growth and shrinking) and copy their powers.

[The Weapon]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

According to Champions Universe, the 1:1,000,000 ratio is pretty accurate on a worldwide basis, but varies significantly by region. The U.S. has a superhuman to normal ratio of about 1:100,000 to 1:1,000,000, and China has a ratio equal to about 1:5,000,000.

 

So given a U.S. population of about 300 million, and a China population of about 1.3 billion, that means between 300 and 3,000 U.S. supers, and about 260 Chinese supers, out of a worldwide total of about 6,000.

 

 

So I guess it varies by how many nuclear power reactors, advanced weapons labs, nuclear accelerators, biotech research facilities and chemical factories a nation has?

[Diamond Spear]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

Don’t forget Baltimore. It’s one of the largest ports on the East Coast and if the team in D.C. is “federalized” than it makes sense to have a “local” team as well. Also Baltimore is very close to Annapolis which a) is a state capital and is home to the Naval Academy.

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

So I guess it varies by how many nuclear power reactors' date=' advanced weapons labs, nuclear accelerators, biotech research facilities and chemical factories a nation has?[/quote']

 

One common reason I've seen for keeping China's metahuman population down is that, in the past, superheroes are often seen as forces of conservatism/status quo, even if they don't actively support the government. In addition, they tend to be highly individualistic - thus, they could reasonably be seen as enemies of the Revoultion. In conjunction with real-world Chinese modern history, it would be entirely reasonable for Mao to have killed off a vast majority of the native Chinese metahumans in the Great Leap Forward.

[mojo_bones]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

I would think Hawaii and Alaska would have 1 or 2 supers at most. I tend to agree with others that Supers would tend to gravitate towards major metro areas, so there may not be any in certain areas, or at least not any that are "known" (have let others know about their powers).

For the East coast, any of the major cities from Boston down through DC would have a sufficient population to have at least some heroes if not a team or two. California again would have several teams or enough supers to make up several teams. As far as the south, I would agree Texas would be the best place population wise, but it also depends on where you want adventures to take place. New Orleans seems too laid back to have a real super team, but a few odd supers could add to the flavor of the area. If you federalize the DC team, you may want to base a team out of Philly rather than Baltimore, unless friction between the 2 teams is something you want to explore. The distance between DC and Baltimore would have the 2 teams responding to the same events quite often.

I always liked Chicago as more of a Dark Champions feel. Some low super villains running organized crime there, that sort of thing.

[st barbara]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

It was suggested to me only a few minutes ago (by the person who referees the "Champions" game in which I play "St Barbara") that an alternative to a team in New Orleans might be a team with a mobile base that cruises along the Mississippi. A nice modern reproduction of a civil war gunboat or an armoured riverboat perhaps ?

[David Johnston]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

and maybe somewhere in the middle of the country (Denver perhaps ?). That is 30- 40 heros probably; and then you have the "solo" characters who might be almost anywhere. Is this too many!

 

Oh heck no. If you include the light-weights I think it would be safe to have several hundred costumed crime-fighters.

[Badger]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

A few years ago, I did do a project of my own, for the fun of it. Collected up the population of every country. There was a website that I got that info from but my mind is blank now. I've got my info somewhere though. I rounded the pop. of every one to the nearest 1000.

 

 

Another thing to consider is. That one in a million is barely superheroic point wise. Or cosmic level. I assume barely superheroic on up.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

What, no hero teams in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh? Pennsylvania is still a large state with a population to match. Not Texas or California size, but we're no lightweight. Or would PA have a few 'local heroes' who might team up with supers from, say, Jersey, Delaware, and West Virginia when they need to?

[mojo_bones]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

What' date=' no hero teams in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh? Pennsylvania is still a large state with a population to match. Not Texas or California size, but we're no lightweight. Or would PA have a few 'local heroes' who might team up with supers from, say, Jersey, Delaware, and West Virginia when they need to?[/quote']

Hey, I said Philly! But I do agree that Pennsylvania tends to get overlooked for the east coast. I can't think of any campaign I have been in that had any big heroes in Philly or Pittsburgh

[st barbara]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

Oh heck no. If you include the light-weights I think it would be safe to have several hundred costumed crime-fighters.

Oh crikey ! I think that I will go insane (or perhaps that should be MORE insane !) if I had to do THAT many characters. As it is I worry about the fact that the U SA looks as if it will have twice as many (or more) super heros (and we haven't considered the villains yet !) than any other nation. What if they are all used agressively by a national government ? I can see supers as the new instrument of foreign aggression and the U SA being "top dog" through sheer weight of numbers; a situation that I don't actually want. Sure, not EVERY U S super would stand for being used by the government, but enough might, or could be coerced to make the U S A TOO powerful for my liking.

[David Johnston]

Re: How Many U S Heros ?

 

Just because the characters exist doesn't mean you have to design them. The only characters you need to design are the ones the PCs will be fighting, and the only characters you even need to name are the ones the PCs meet or who become particularly famous. As for the U.S. becoming more powerful, their military is already so dominant, it hardly matters.