Desert Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Alright. So it seems to me that most of the champions games played that are talked about seemed to be based on the Marvel Univers, DC Universe, or the Champions Universe. Some to a lot has been changed to fit the players and be more original, but these are the main sources Does anyone run or has considered running a campaign based on an alternate source? Image or Mirage comic universes for example. "Soon I Will Be Invincible" is a book based of comics, but has a strong comic style to it. Wanted (the graphic novel, not the movie) and Watchmen could be material, though more for Dark Champions then regular. You get the point though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Patriot Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. I run my campaign using a world of my own creation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoreBrute Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. I made a game based off of some mixture of Wanted and Watchmen with a touch of Champions Characters so I wouldn't have to make new ones. It was very Iron Age. In this, the world had gone from loving super heroes, thinking everything is as it should be and nothing could go wrong, (villains always foiled, no killing super heroes like Punisher or Wolverine) to the year 1987 where the world's greatest super hero, Mega, became controlled by an alien parasite. He went mad, and destroyed large monuments (including the twin towers) around the world and millions of people. These deaths introduced a new aspect to the public. No one had ever died in a super fight on this level, and only now did they realise how dangerous these people really were. And they reacted with fear. The public outcry for the supers to be registered, soon turned to cries of them to be contained so they could do no more harm. People wanted them gone. America made heroes outlawed, put them in special camps "To protect them from themselves" and forced all heroes whose powers come from technology or items to hand over their objects (or work for them in the case of inventors and mad scientists) or they would be hunted down. America has an army of technology advanced soldiers, and doomsday devices. Using them, they destroyed the USSR ("freeing the world from Communism") and then took all of Russia's oil. All supers who wanted to avoid being forced in these camps had to escape to other countries who would protect them. Many chose Zero Port, a man made island recognised by the UN, once built as part of a plan to destroy the world by Doctor Destroyer, it is a superhuman home. If you want to read more, here's the link. But the game's closing soon, so if people are interested, I will copy it here once the link dies. http://rpol.net/display.cgi?gi=34222&ti=1&date=1229405900 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. Alright. So it seems to me that most of the champions games played that are talked about seemed to be based on the Marvel Universe, DC Universe, or the Champions Universe. Some to a lot has been changed to fit the players and be more original, but these are the main sources Does anyone run or has considered running a campaign based on an alternate source? Image or Mirage comic universes for example. "Soon I Will Be Invincible" is a book based of comics, but has a strong comic style to it. Wanted (the graphic novel, not the movie) and Watchmen could be material, though more for Dark Champions then regular. You get the point though. Most of mine are based on CU with heavy to light alterations as mood strikes. I've borrowed from other game settings as well. It has been many years, but i once ran something in the Wildcards vein. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimble Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. I usually set my games in a HIGHLY modified Champions Universe. Most of the supers are of my own creation, but I do use some canon Champs villains that I have a fondness for. Some examples are Grond, Foxbat and Captain Chronos. Of course I leave out the Champions themselves, and leave the PC group the fill in that nitch. I like to set a sort of tarnished Silver-Age feel to my games. Gritty but full of old-fashioned comics tropes. So, mostly I set my games in an original Multiverse, but I do take certain things from the Champs Universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawksmoorSD Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. My long running supers game was heavily influenced by the Storm Watch series from when it was written by Warren Ellis. The team was U.N. sponsored so I had characters from all over the world with different view points and agendas. It worked out really well and we all had a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. Most of the games I have ran have been based off original premises where one event started the campaign and back story filled in the rest. Of the few games I am running now: the NSU was originally monsters as heroes which has branched into a more four color superhero place with the monsters taking more of a back seat, Megaverse Explorers is based in the Palladium settings with original dimensions added on, Xiaolin Busters is a solo game which combines Xiaolin Showdown and Ghostbusters with some Luigi's Mansion, Dragonia, a fantasy flat world, and Beyond the Walls of Sleep where the original idea was Simon and Kirby's Sandman but it might become more than that depending on the player. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Posted March 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. My long running supers game was heavily influenced by the Storm Watch series from when it was written by Warren Ellis. The team was U.N. sponsored so I had characters from all over the world with different view points and agendas. It worked out really well and we all had a lot of fun. That sounds interesting. I didn't include StormWatch, because from what I read, it went on to become the Authority, which has it's own RPG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karma Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. I've played in a game based on Wildstorm with some characters from the Wild Cards books. Actually the GM was so into Wildstorm that he had the characters turning up in games where they were totally out of genre (Vampire: The Masquarade for example), but that's a personal gripe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. I've done such things in the past, as well as completely home-brewed worlds. At this point in my life, I don't have the time or energy to devote to that level of effort. Also, I found that I tended to spend too much inspiration on world-building and not have enough left to sustain a campaign. So, I'm back to running a highly modified CU (with lots of elements from CNM, and whatever else I feel like throwing in). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawksmoorSD Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. Desert I have the Authority RPG and the comics it was based off of. Trust me when I say there's a huge difference in tone between the two series. Ellis decided that he wanted to really push the characters in a different direction and while the set up was great he killed off most of the Storm Watch team to do it. The SW books really came through as everyone having their own personalities and it made it really worth while. Most of my players read them and loved them so it was an easy fit for all of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Posted March 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Stormwatch and the Authority I haven't read either of the comic story lines. The only thing I remember are fragments from what I read when I accidentally came across it. There's a lot of interesting comic story lines I haven't read come to think of it. Need to work on that. Glad to know you can run a campaign you feel follows the pulse of the comics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split Decision Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. You know, the last time I had a chance to play an extended supers campaign, the tone was silver age Avengers, but we didn't really live in a world based on any particular pre-established mythos. And I never really thought abuot it, either. If we were influenced, as a table, by anything, it was Madman and The Flaming Carrot... but adventures could range from silly to dead serious, as could the characters. And it just kind of worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. I once ran a fairly long-running game set in the early Image universe (Spawn, WildCATS, Youngblood, etc.). It was pretty Iron Age in tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egyptoid Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. Neptune City Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Hawk Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. I've done Champions games based off Red Dawn, V (The Vistors are our Friends!), and a couple of homebrewed. One of the GM's I played with based one off Marvel, DC, CU all combined... a universe where Superman, the X-Men, Gotham, NYC, and Metropolis all existed. I didn't play in it long, who wants to be a 250 point character in a world where Cyclops is worth more than 500 points? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwpacker Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. Great topic. I'm generating a world whole cloth from the origin stories myself. Putting it all together from scratch. Going to take some time, I think, before it feel fully fleshed out, but I've got three or four different directions my players could take things in without totally throwing me for a loop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pól Ruadh Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. One of the nice things about the superhero genre is that you can pull influences from all over. For instance, in the campaign I'm in at the moment, my character, a superstrong Mexican Wrestler (inspired by El Santo and the Blue Demon, chiefly), is in a team alongside a teleporting jerk (inspired by Deadpool), a Norse catgirl, a flame controller (inspired by Ben 10), a cybernetic Naval officer (inspired by a Warhammer 40K Commissar), a psychic alien supersoldier (inspired by the JLU version of Hawkgirl and Judge Dredd) and his sidekick (inspired by Marvel's Black Widow). Events so far in the game have been inspired by HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, 1960's James Bond films, Mexican Luchador/Monster movies, Silver Age DC Comics, the film 'Groundhog Day', Gerry Anderson Puppet Series, 'Independence Day', Godzilla movies, 'Moby Dick', 'The Hunt for Red October', and that's just off the top of my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. If I wanted to do this, I would base it on the Cyclone Comics universe, supplemented with characters from various other Australian and non-US comics. Actually, this is pretty close to the setting I am working on at the moment, except my conceit is to include homages to DC and Marvel's Australian characters, cheesy though they are. (In fact, because of their cheesiness.) Anyway, the Cyclone universe would work quite well, although it could use a few more villains. These could be found, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pól Ruadh Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. If you're looking for more characters, may I suggest here: http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/o/ozzie.htm It's mostly heroes, but there's more than a few 'darker' characters who you could easily turn into baddies with very little effort. Indeed, the Cyclone comics folks sorta did with Molo the Mighty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. If you're looking for more characters, may I suggest here: http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/o/ozzie.htm It's mostly heroes, but there's more than a few 'darker' characters who you could easily turn into baddies with very little effort. Indeed, the Cyclone comics folks sorta did with Molo the Mighty. Yes. That's why I used a page from the same site as my reference. A whole bunch of this stuff is on line. Dark Nebula is actually the lamest. I recommend the Southern Squadron. Unfortunately, The Jackaroo isn't on line. Bits of it used to be. After I finished all my important business today I started sketching out the outlines of a campaign in this setting. I'm thinking: 250 points. The PCs replace the Southern Squadron as Australia's official superteam. 350 points if you insist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pól Ruadh Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. Yes. That's why I used a page from the same site as my reference. A whole bunch of this stuff is on line. Dark Nebula is actually the lamest. I recommend the Southern Squadron. Unfortunately, The Jackaroo isn't on line. Bits of it used to be. After I finished all my important business today I started sketching out the outlines of a campaign in this setting. I'm thinking: 250 points. The PCs replace the Southern Squadron as Australia's official superteam. 350 points if you insist. Thanks for that link. I've got most of the original comics, but definitely a good source to have. It's also well worth checking out http://www.webcomicsnation.com/garychaloner/ which is a bunch of Gary Chaloner's stuff. Unfortunately, no Jackeroo, but Red Kelso is pretty awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. After I finished all my important business today I started sketching out the outlines of a campaign in this setting. I'm thinking: 250 points. The PCs replace the Southern Squadron as Australia's official superteam. 350 points if you insist. I've done a little more on this over the last few days. 350 is looking better and better. The Southern Squadron themselves can be shoehorned into 250 points, but 350 is nicer. They would still end up relatively weak by 350 point standards. I haven't quite nailed down their disadvantage sets. I suspect, though, that they would lean more to 100 points of disads, rather than 150. (The Dingo is the main exception, of course.) So I'd probably go with 250+100 points, or maybe 200+100, rather than 200+150 or 150+100. Otherwise characters would be built more like Low-Powered Superheroes, rather than Standard Superheroes. I'd have to do a bit more maths, though, to get the damage/defence ratios right. Part of my brain wants to use relatively low defences backed by Damage Reduction, alongside relatively small attacks. I'd have to check out the amount of punishment the resulting characters would end up being able to take. In other words, the "fluff" part of the setting works, but the "crunch" involves a bit of back of the envelope maths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Posted March 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Interesting idea for a villain Alright. So I was speaking with a coworker the other day, and he told me about a super villain game. The players were villains and the GM created the heroes they were to face and defeat or be defeated by. When he brought it up, he went on to tell me how there were numerous super heroines. My coworker defeated them, mind controlled them, and basically made them into a harem. He also made their capture profitable, by opening a website called "Supers Gone Wild." I think this could be a fun villain to have. May have to start working on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawksmoorSD Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Re: Campaigns bases off alternate sources. Pól Ruadh I've got to ask... a norse catgirl? All I can picture in my head is Felicia from Dark Stalkers wearing a spare Thor costume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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