30 Years is a long time for a campaign

[Tech]

Hello all! It's been 30 years since me and my brother sat down to create characters after buying this full-color rpg book for superheroes called Champions. It was the very first edition, 56 pages long and cost $9.95. It was the art that commanded my attention but it truly was the character creation that captured our imagination enough to buy it. I remember buying it within 3-5 days of it being released; if memory is correct, 3 days. It also helped that the guy in charge at Gamer's Paradise highly recommended it and mentioned the praise it had gotten with it's release. There was no Herogames system at that time, merely the Champions system.

 

I'll be sharing some details on the campaign, including some hilarious misunderstood rules, insights and disasters, characters, things I've learned as a GM over decades and more. I will share the stats of some of my favorite villains who have actually survived all these years and gotten stronger. I will share some villains I'm glad I stopped using and others that I remember fondly - some of those supervillains whom are still active to this day.

 

To say that the campaign has survived all these years by luck simply is not accurate. What play would ever survive the theater unless the actors were exceptional. I am honored to have players that are lifetime friends and brothers who enjoy the game.

 

I wish I had a website to put this all on. However, getting a job right now is prime importance right now, and friends/family who used to create websites don't anymore. A website would be precious but this will do for now unless someone has a better idea... and if you do, please PM me. Without further ado:

 

First impression...

Me, my brother and my friend were bored and traveled to Gamer's Paradise to see if there was anything interesting to buy. I recall looking at a rack of games and saw a book with colored superheroes. Being interested, I picked it up and started to look through it. The guy at the counter said it was a good pick and mentioned the praise with it's release. I can't say I remember what he said but it did influence me slightly. The art on the outside was colored and great looking. Flipping it open, the art on the inside ranged from medium to wonderful. It was a full rpg book that would allow a player to create and play superheroes in superhero world. That was good enough for me! About this time, my brother and friend came over and seeing the color superhero art asked what it was. I explained what it was and let them look it over...

45 minutes later, we bought it.

 

The guy at the counter would be my contact for getting Champions modules, books, etc., for many years and could count on me buying it. So much so that when Champions III had come out and I, unaware of it's existence, was calling to inquire if any new Champions material was out, he'd already reserved a copy for me.

[Tech]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

A brief look back at a Champions review

Back in January 1982, the Dragon had a 1/2 page review on Champions, of which I still have a copy of said review. It was reviewed by someone named... Scott Bennie. I don't think I can restate the entire review (can I?) but the overall review was very positive. Scott did point out some 'flaws' in the game system, such as:

- nothing was provided for crushing damage or invisibility in combat

- gun-wielding superbeings being too powerful

- novice GM's may go overboard on awarding power points

- lack of a section for financial matters such as where does the hero get the money to buy the super-gadgets?

 

However, the end paragraph states his enjoyment of it nicely:

"Despite these flaws, I heartily recommend Champions. The more serious gamer will undoubtedly be put off by the silliness, and not everyone has a comic book mind. But if you like this sort of thing, Champions is for you! Now excuse me, the Y-men are about to have their final confrontation with Damnation's Allies in the Fortress of Doom!"

 

Well, Scott, I'm glad to say serious gamers weren't put off by it. If anything, it had some serious fans stick with it through some hard times to see it breathe anew, complete with six editions now and a mmorpg.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

Nice Post...

 

My Introduction was in 1989

 

QM

[Greywind]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

"Full color"? Mine was all black and white.

[GestaltBennie]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

If I were to write that review today, it'd be substantially different.

 

Glad to see it didn't scare you away from an incredible game system.

[megaplayboy]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

1982 was when I first saw the game, but I didn't actually play it until 1984. Played pretty steadily in the 90s, plus a nice stretch in the mid-80s and early-mid 2000s.

 

Did you guys actually play the same campaign for 30 years? That is awesome. I think I'd almost regard the PCs and NPCs in such a long-running game as akin to actual people I knew.

[Tech]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

1982 was when I first saw the game, but I didn't actually play it until 1984. Played pretty steadily in the 90s, plus a nice stretch in the mid-80s and early-mid 2000s.

 

Did you guys actually play the same campaign for 30 years? That is awesome. I think I'd almost regard the PCs and NPCs in such a long-running game as akin to actual people I knew.

 

Yes, the same campaign still exists but much richer, more mature as in growing up from a little kid to an adult. My original first character, Neutron, is still in play as the leader of our most prestigious supergroup. I had decided on the name long before Neutron of the Enemies book showed up. Since then, they've had a couple fights over the name. I had stopped using him for a couple years but pulled him back out. Many of the original characters are still used. We are so acquainted with how they think, what they'd do, what they'd eat and so on... well, there's a story that illustrates what I'm trying to say:

 

A friend in college of a friend was doing a paper on oral traditions handed down and how roleplaying games mimic that wanted to sit in on an episode to get firsthand knowledge of a Champions game. She even recorded it. It took a few minutes for the players to warm up since we were being recorded but on it went. After our heroes were discussing how to handle some supervillain situation, the heroes were about to eat something when one player said:

Player 1 - I avoid all processed foods

Player 2 - Oh yeah, he's susceptible to processed foods

Player 1 - That includes cheese

Player 3 - That depends on the kind of cheese

 

At this point, the college student stands up in amazement and comments on how this doesn't sound like a game but like real people.

 

The point? We know our own characters and to a slightly lesser extent, the other player's characters very well.

[Tech]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

Misunderstandings of rules can be a source of great fun years later...

 

The two big mistunderstandings were in 1) building a character and 2) statistics and taking damage.

 

1) Building a character: my brother and I sat down and decided to build characters. After a good 10 minutes, we were dismayed to see our statistics costing way, way more than Crusader's or Sunburst's - and much weaker. I was in utter confusion but my brother hit upon a genius of an idea: reverse-build the statistics. To our amazement, there was a 125 pt difference between the 2 book heroes and ours. What could be the problem? Um... well.... we didn't know that you start with a starting value of 10 in Str, Dex, Con, Body, Int, Ego, Pre and Com. Ah, sweet relief!

 

2) Statistics and taking Damage: Okay, I don't really know how my brother and I came up with the understanding of PD, ED and taking Stun & Body damage but it certainly was interesting. We read the book once through and decided to create characters. We didn't want characters as 'powerful' as Sunburst or Crusader, so we ended up with a character having a 7 PD, 9 ED, 7d6 EB with 23 Dex and 6 Speed. The second character had a 7 PD, 7 ED, 30 Dex and 7 Speed with a 25 Str for damage (5d6). Later, our friend made up a hero with *gasp* a 10 PD and 10 ED, with a 25 Str and 6d6 EB with 6 Speed.

 

Our misunderstanding came in as: when you take damage (assume 20 Stun, 5 Body vs your 7 PD), you subtract your defense and take what's left as Stun and Body. Okay, good!.... however, we thought you also subtracted the Body from the defense - an early version of Ablative Defense. Your 7 PD - 5 Body now meant you had a 2 PD. However, your PD or ED could be restored by taking a recovery. Howler was a tough cookie with her forcefield in this way of handling damage - wow! After a few games - and rereading the battle examples - we realized our PD/ED did not go down with every attack of Body damage. Yea! No more heroes being bludgeoned and taking Body damage every battle!

[Orion]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

A friend got Champions in 1983, but I was strictly an AD&D and Traveller guy then and ignored it. Besides, I didn't read comic books and couldn't even begin to figure out how to play the genre. In 1985 I was back visiting that part of the world and spent a week with the friend. We did a couple simple adventures, and I was forced to "role" play for the first time in my life. "What do you mean who am I - I'm the new guy in the group. Can't you see my PC halo?" "What's my name - it's Jon character!" Within a year I had the v3 boxed set, as well as the Champions II and III booklets, and started playing Fantasy Hero semi-regularly. Luckily, having more experienced players around helped me from making any bad mistakes on the rules. But even as a larval Champions player I thought the forced balancing of points was silly, and to be ignored whenever necessary.

[Enforcer84]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

Tried to roll attributes the first afternoon.

[Greywind]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

How did that work out for ya?

[Tech]

GM Disaster time

 

GM Disasters:

 

Crash and burn plots

 

Anyone who's GM'd a game knows what I'm talking about. Those moments when you wish the game was over already, when you wish everyone would just go home because the evening got so sour. I will share some things I've learned that I can't recall being covered before and if so - whoever you are - I feel your pain.

 

Howabout someone has a character who's history has holes in it, purposely put there by the player. Now, that player tells you (the GM) that they'd like to see something happen about those plot potentials such as: I'd like to have an adventure where my character finds out something about his past.

 

Never, ever assume that the idea you've come up with, regardless of how crafty, brilliant, incredibly detailed and/or intricate the plot, will be something the player actually wants to happen. People are people, and chances are that your plot idea might be going a 180' direction the player wants it to go. I'm glad there are stories where the GM was successfully able to do this and I say 'bravo!' However, there are many more stories, myself included, where it didn't work out. To have an episode blow up on you when you tried so hard isn't just plain not-fun, but the game can come to a screeching halt faster than someone skateboarding downhill into a wall. Find out what the player is thinking of for the character, even if it's a little vague. A vague idea can give you the groundwork for an adventure and gives you leeway to put your own imagination to work. The player's provided some guidelines to guide you, you've supplied the details and the adventure is way more likely to work. However, if your idea doesn't work out and the adventure blows up bad enough, some hurt feelings may occur. I know from experience.

 

Crash and burn deathtraps

 

You say your characters haven't run into a deathtrap recently and time to reintroduce them? Be careful. A simple deathtrap can be fun and spice up the episode but the more complicated the deathtrap, the less likely the players are to figure a way out. It's unfortunate but true. Movies and books are exciting to watch/read when this happens because the writer is in control. Even if the observers don't know what's going to happen, the writer can make sure the character survives. Players are not writers, they are the actors and if they can't guess what the writer has in mind, things can get tense: frustration is bound to happen. That hidden handle to turn off the water trap so the hero doesn't drown was not found and now what? Either a quite rewrite or you the GM have to help out. Either situation is not satisfying to either the GM or the player(s).

 

I've found it's okay to give a connect-the-plot scenario to players: slowly introduce obvious elements to find but they don't know what it's for. Introduce things a little at a time and they should be able to follow the trail.

 

Example: Private American found a key but it's out of place in the desert. It looks new and is made out of a blue metal but no one's around. Private will undoubtedly keep it. Later, when he's dangling upside-down over an acid pit, he sees the lock on the chain which can free him and it's... made out of a blue metal. (Insert key and freedom awaits, deathtrap avoided).

 

Although simple in the plot, the example makes it's point. Again, never assume the player knows what you're thinking and this especially includes deathtraps.

[Fryguy]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

It was 1982 when I saw 3 guys making characters for Champions and I still have the original black and white book from the early 80's along with GM screen. From that meeting the group has changed but there are still 2 original players and the we have spanned multiple campaigns over the years as players became GMs. It has been a great experience and kept us in contact over the years.

[Greybook PLayer]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

I too began many years ago with a GM who had the grey book! I remember my first hero and still have the sheet - 30d6 + 2d6 RKA 2/per day 11-

 

I bought a 2nd hand copy of 4th edition just to get to grips with hero gen.

 

I've logged on to look for M*rv*l and DC conversions!! After a few sessions of Pathfinder my sons both said 'Can we have a go at a superhero rpg?'

 

Champions is IMO the best supers system - Marvel rpg came and went several times and personally, for me, some things about the DC Universe suck!! Now I'm not starting a 'Which comic universe is better thread?'!!!! I love Green Lantern

 

So....can anyone point me in the right direction for conversions? Only because having 2 sons leaves me little time to produce a 5 week summer break campaign, let alone make my own conversions!!!

 

To paraphrase: Champions, ChamPions, CHAMPIONS HOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Lucius]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

I too began many years ago with a GM who had the grey book! I remember my first hero and still have the sheet - 30d6 + 2d6 RKA 2/per day 11-

 

I bought a 2nd hand copy of 4th edition just to get to grips with hero gen.

 

I've logged on to look for M*rv*l and DC conversions!! After a few sessions of Pathfinder my sons both said 'Can we have a go at a superhero rpg?'

 

Champions is IMO the best supers system - Marvel rpg came and went several times and personally, for me, some things about the DC Universe suck!! Now I'm not starting a 'Which comic universe is better thread?'!!!! I love Green Lantern

 

So....can anyone point me in the right direction for conversions? Only because having 2 sons leaves me little time to produce a 5 week summer break campaign, let alone make my own conversions!!!

 

To paraphrase: Champions, ChamPions, CHAMPIONS HOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

 

Check out Surbrook's Stuff

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationscomic/comicchar.html

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Palindromedary Enterprises

[Greybook PLayer]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

Lucius, thnx for the link - you are a LEGEND!! My eldest son thinks you are one too!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Susano]

Re: 30 Years is a long time for a campaign

 

Lucius' date=' thnx for the link - you are a LEGEND!! My eldest son thinks you are one too!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote']

 

And I'm always updating the site with new material -- either made by me, or sent in by others.