The Golden Age of Champions

[GhostDancer]

Because Tiger.

 

[GhostDancer]

 

OK...why is it when I "quote" something...I...Don't.???  This was in reponse to the possible Kickstarter for GAC...-pinecone

 

I have the same trouble.

[bubba smith]

I think I know it has something I've had the same problem but I think it was simon [my apologies if i'm wrong] who said it had to do with the use of internet explorer on a laptop

[Christopher R Taylor]

Astro City had a cartoon tiger in it too, the issue where he was the focus was pretty touching and interesting.

[phydaux]

A lot of these ideas are ones that don't translate well into modern gaming for a couple of reasons.  First, they detract from the strong hero image that players like to play - its an escape from being Joe blow normal guy or even feeling sub-normal in life.  Second, these concepts were aimed at kids, trying to pull them more into the story by giving them someone their age to identify with and imagine being, but few gamers are in that age group.  And third, they were from a more innocent time.  Now, Batman hanging out with Robin makes people giggle and poke each other like 7th graders in the sex ed class.

 

Not to mention all the fan fiction where Wonder Woman IS a bondage dominatrix, usually with Batgirl & Catwoman as her bottoms.

 

I mean, if you know where to look you can download entire graphic novels....

[assault]

All I need is another player or two and I could start a Golden Age campaign.

 

I've found the perfect player for Wonder Woman.

[GhostDancer]

Re: Mr. Tawny- would you let him sell you a used car?

[drunkonduty]

No but I'd but some cereal from him.

[Cassandra]

Recently I was going research on Air Wave for another thread when something came to mind.

 

Golden Age Superheroes often had powers that are now available to everyone.

 

Case in point, Air Wave.  DA Larry Jordan.  His helmet allowed him to listen into phone conversation.  Today we would a cell phone.

 

In fact in a Justice Society Story Hawkman mentions that the team got it's radios from Wonder Woman to explain why they could fit on a belt.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Back then the cops had to use police phones set up around the city to contact each other.  Listening to old crime shows helps a lot with getting a feel for the legal culture.

[GhostDancer]

You thought it was a police box, but it may have been a TARDIS.

[Cassandra]

Back then the cops had to use police phones set up around the city to contact each other.  Listening to old crime shows helps a lot with getting a feel for the legal culture.

Back in the 40s police cars could you receive messages on their radios.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Radio cars were very rare until the 50's and 60's in most departments.  Even in NYC they relied on phones mostly; particularly since few car patrols were used in the city (it was mostly an LA thing for a long time).

[SKJAM!]

Similarly, radio taxicabs were a fancy innovation in the Thirties and Forties; generally a taxi would be stationed near a specific pay phone in case dispatch had a fare for them.

[fbdaury]

Quick Question- as a thought exercise and possibly as a future game world (if I ever get around to running one), I've been stating out elements of my own supers genre world. As part of the world's backstory I've been making pulp and GA heroes as well as modern ones.

 

Now to the question- how would you model an "Atomic Punch" for a character- not so concerned about DC capping it as it would be a one-charge attack with delayed Recovery of charge and a massive Stun side effect on user if he/she fires it off- I just want something that would feel apropos and able to stun (maybe not KO) a Superman-Type character. So, what should I be looking at for damage levels?

[Christopher R Taylor]

I have a pretty low damage cap on my campaign so 10 or 12 d6 would be a major hit.  One useful Golden Age style device is the limitation from Fantasy Hero so that a power can only be used every x time period so like once an hour or once a day for the super punch would be fine.

[fbdaury]

Well it would be 1 charge, with delayed recovery so it might take a week to build up enough juice for another shot, plus every time its used he gets hit with a massive stun attack likely to KO him right then and there- this would be a "Last-Ditch, Save-The-Day" power.  So 1 charge/1 Week to recover is -2 1/2 limitation right there plus the side effect.

[Ninja-Bear]

I played around building characters based from the public domain of super heroes and I feel that you can build 90% of supers and normals off of heroic rules and 150 pt. (100/50).

 

I played not plated.

[fbdaury]

I've gone that route with some of the characters I have built for my setting WWII-era, especially my Devil Dog Brigade (although I believe they might have been 250 points), I just don't think that every character needs to be shoe-horned into a set point range or damage cap- I want my world to feel more like the comic world and less like a generic game world where all the background NPCs must be balanced against one another.  A good example is my ground zero superhuman, Blue Streak.  In WWII Blue Streak became the first known superhuman and started the new age of heroes- by WWII he is a 600-700 point character, but he's also had 20+ years of real-time combat and hero-ing experience and his slow power increase is also a function of the way superhumans (of all types) are empowered in the setting.

[Christopher R Taylor]

We went with 250 points for my GAC in 6th edition, and a few pretty low caps.  The characters ended up not vastly powerful but with some flexibility in design.  They have around 30 points in xps so far and going strong, with room for growth but without feeling too weak.

 

Since super powered beings only VERY recently began appearing in the world (1937), the entire concept is new.  In fact, all the super powered guys until the PCs got their powers in April of 1939 were bad guys.  Super villain-based mobsters controlled and were destroying NYC.  The PCs started as pulp characters and ran a couple adventures without powers before they got theirs.

[Cassandra]

Quick Question- as a thought exercise and possibly as a future game world (if I ever get around to running one), I've been stating out elements of my own supers genre world. As part of the world's backstory I've been making pulp and GA heroes as well as modern ones.

 

Now to the question- how would you model an "Atomic Punch" for a character- not so concerned about DC capping it as it would be a one-charge attack with delayed Recovery of charge and a massive Stun side effect on user if he/she fires it off- I just want something that would feel apropos and able to stun (maybe not KO) a Superman-Type character. So, what should I be looking at for damage levels?

 

Drain [REC] linked to HA

[GhostDancer]

Back in the 40s police cars could you receive messages on their radios.

 

In 1921, the Detroit Police Department became the first police department in the country to utilize radio dispatch in their cars. A historical marker at Belle Isle Park describes the new advancement in technology.

 

[Ninja-Bear]

Fbdaury I agree with you about points and caps when it comes to NPCs. I originally did the 150 pt supers as more of an exercise than anything else. Btw most it seems that are listed on pdsh if you go by what is decribed you can fit in even less points!

[fbdaury]

Well Ninja Bear- I took your comment as a challenge, to see if I could actually make a WWII-era 'Mystery Man' on 150 points - one that I would be happy with.  The Dart was the result- scientist and Doctor who makes use of an experimental knock out dart gun and a decent right hooks to fight crime.  There are certainly some holes in the skills I might normally give him but he's not bad for a 1941-era champion of NYC- he hates, and therefore mostly fights against, Organized crime and Bundists.

[Ninja-Bear]

Fbdaury one thing about skills (and maybe I'm wrong) but you can have a smaller set of skills bexause you can use thise skills more broadly. I think science is the classic example of this.