UK using the champions system

[TheQuestionMan]

Champions DisUnited Kingdom

[Christopher R Taylor]

I thought about starting up a "current events" adventure thread so people could suggest scenarios and adventures for games based on events that take place.

 

But then I came to my senses and realized that the posts would be 90% "here's where I use snark to kick political opponents in the teeth" and maybe 2% actual scenario suggestions.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Um back to the info on the UK info for my superhero setting

 

  Most of the low level street crime is committed by Eastern Europeans (really, many of them are Gypsies, but the term is almost never used by officials or the press)....

 

 

 

It's traditional when making deliberately inflammatory comments to include a misleading link. (In the absence of a misleading link, an accurate one will do, as most people won't click through.) It's also very important, when making derogatory comments about identifiable groups, to use "dog whistles" instead of the traditional ethnic slurs used by our grandparents. In a spirit of helpfulness, I'll point out that "Romanian" seems to be preferred currently.

[Christopher R Taylor]

In a spirit of helpfulness, I'll point out that "Romanian" seems to be preferred currently.

 

 

Which really annoys Romanians, but back on topic, the crime documentaries and police reports, stories, and news out of England I've seen also note that the main tool for catching low end criminals is by the use of cameras: watching to get their faces then watching to see when they show up again.  So superheroes would be dealing with folks who can somehow avoid that or are able to escape usual methods of  law enforcement.

[Doc Democracy]

Yeah back on topic, England isn't as English as it was even 10 years ago, so that's the source of some campaign stuff.  Muslims are generally referred to as "Asians" in England (mostly because they bulk come from places like Pakistan), and they are a significant part of the population in some areas - the Mayor of London is a Muslim.  So characters can have more of that background than they once did.  And the favorite food of England is an Indian dish.  Most of the low level street crime is committed by Eastern Europeans (really, many of them are Gypsies, but the term is almost never used by officials or the press).  The various Eastern European mob types have a lot of activity, mostly pickpocketing, small level scams, putting scanners in ATM machines, etc -- at least that's what I understand from news and shows on British crime.

 

I'm not sure where to even start with this.  It seems almost completely informed by the right wing press and hits the stereotypes promoted therein.

 

We do not call Muslims Asians.  We call Asians Asians and a significant number of those are Muslim but there are also a significant number of Sikhs and Hindus and even Christians falling under that Asian heading.  There are quite a few other Muslims that we label Arabs (though there is a grab-bag of nationalities and ethnicities in there) and we kind of miss that a lot of ethnic Africans are also Muslim.

 

I think you may be correct that the favourite dish is of Indian cuisine but I think it was created in Birmingham, i.e., not ethnically Indian.  :-)  

 

You may be correct that most of the low level crime in the South East is currently committed by Eastern Europeans but I do not think that is true countrywide.  I do not accept that that is a politically correct term to refer to Gypsies.  Gypsy is an actual ethnicity and they are the most discriminated against group in the UK.  The uninformed may use Gypsy to refer generically to Eastern Europeans, tabloid rags may use Eastern European as a nod and a wink (and we all know what we mean here) to allow their readers to believe it means Gypsy.

[Lawnmower Boy]

"Gyspy" is "not politically correct" for all the usual reasons of negative connotations associated with an identifiable minority group (cf: "to gyp"), but also because it is inaccurate even in its own terms. Traditionally, migratory communities in the British Isles were referred to as "tinkers" or "Travellers," and "Travellers" (or "Irish Travellers") is still in use. The arrival of Romani people had something to do with the addition of "gypsy" to the linguistic mix, although not as much as is sometims suggested. The usual explanation of the name is from "Egyptian," and while I'm not up on the ethnohistory, this  seems to reflect the  minorities of immigrant former sailors from the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean in London and the southwestern English port cities which have grown with the steady expansion of ocean commerce over the centuries.

 

So by far most "gypsies" in England are not Romani, and not everyone we label as "Romani" is, in fact, Romani. There's at least one recognised cognate group, the Sinti; and who knows what was lost in the Holocaust, when Romani and Sinti were targetted along with European Jewry (and homosexuals, and Communists, and Jehovah's witnesses, and the disabled ... Wow. It's like bigotry and prejudice is an incoherent mishmash of prejudices, and not some rational response to the world.) 

[Lawnmower Boy]

And, as Chris would say, back on topic, the idea of Britain as a CCTV surveillance society is a bit overblown, as the technology has not worked out well in practice, and individual cameras and even networks are being shut down as practically useless.

[Christopher R Taylor]

We do not call Muslims Asians. 

 

 

I was basing that comment on the inevitable use of the word "Asian" to mean "Muslim" in the press.  I don't know what the public tends to do on its own.

 

I think you may be correct that the favourite dish is of Indian cuisine but I think it was created in Birmingham, i.e., not ethnically Indian.  :-)  

 

 

Yeah I hesitated on that, because I thought it probably was a Britishized version but I figured, close enough

 

You may be correct that most of the low level crime in the South East is currently committed by Eastern Europeans but I do not think that is true countrywide.

 

 

According to the BBC documentary I saw, it is in London at least, but I can't really comment on the whole country so you're right, its too broadly applied.  I suspect the bulk of English crime on the whole nation is by English

 

I was just trying to suggest some stuff based on what I've found in study from across the ocean.  Things that would help a GM run a game in the nation.

[Doc Democracy]

Wasn't looking to get at you Christopher and I can understand this view when viewed through the lens of our pretty rancid tabloid press.

 

I think the things you raise are worth pointing out but I have a reflex habit of correcting this kind of stuff when it comes out my father's mouth. It is worth knowing the prejudices of a country as well as its facts. The areas of the U.K. most concerned about immigration wrt Brexit are those with the lowest levels of immigration.

[TheQuestionMan]

Maintenance of the CCTV System is also a problem according a buddy of mine who works on them.

 

Hollywood has it all wrong.

 

QM

[Christopher R Taylor]

You mean you can't zoom in on a reflection in their eyeball, off a hubcap, and get a clear picture of the bad guy from a store window?  

 

Just hit enhance a few times!

 

[Lawnmower Boy]

You can't even use them to turn people into stone. It's just a sad disappointment all round.

[LWhitehead]

This what I know London has Two Police forces, The Met and the Yard. 

 

 

The CCTV is usual used by the Police get Time of Day for the Victims or were he was last seen, 

 

 

CID is ether in the Yard or the Met, that is handles Murder and Crime.

 

 

LW

[Christopher R Taylor]

As I understand it the financial district of London has its own police force as well.

[death tribble]

This what I know London has Two Police forces, The Met and the Yard. 

No. The police in London are the Metropolitan Police commonly called The Met.

They are headquartered at New Scotland Yard called the Yard for short.

The robbery squad who go after bank raiders, security van hijackers and lorry hijackers are called The Flying Squad or Sweeney for short. Cockney Rhyming slang Sweeney Todd = Flying Squad. Based at New Scotland Yard.

Our armed police are seperate as most of our police do not carry guns.

[freakboy6117]

I see lawnmower boy is a laundry-verse fan I really must get up to computational demonology in my history of british magic soon (gorgon stare and The H.O.G. being standard agent gear).

 

The MET is based at New Scotland Yard aka the Yard it is the largest of britain's regional police forces and has special duties because of this. the city of london also has its own territorial police force which is the smallest both by area and manpower there are over 45 others including scotland and northern ireland's national forces and those of various crown protectorates. then there are the specialist forces the British Transport police british nuclear constabulary and ministry of defense police plus the various non police bodies that have investigative or arrest powers in some circumstances. 

 

I didnt know this before I started researching it but the royal botanical Gardens at Kew have their own police force as do several other parks in London.

 

heres the wiki page if you want to see just how tangled it all is

[Christopher]

Wasn't looking to get at you Christopher and I can understand this view when viewed through the lens of our pretty rancid tabloid press.

Idea:

Rancid Tabloids - while most countries have them, are they perhaps a special UK/british problem superheroes might have to deal with?

 

Any country has those. But maybe those in Britain are a special breed?

 

As I understand it the financial district of London has its own police force as well.

This earlier post (and the video) explains the odditiy that the "City of London" is well:

 

One strange feature of British history is that the city of London(also called the square mile) is the financial center and is actually a separate part of the country with a special status and

actually has it's own police force (distinguishable by their red and white checked hats rather than the more common blue and white) . It is[ The smallest police force in the umboth geographical and personnel wise in the country

 

Here's a video expliaining the weirdness that is the City.

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Any country has those. But maybe those in Britain are a special breed?

 

 

I like that idea.  Page 3 fakes of superheroines outside their costumes, costume "malfunctions", stories about romances, etc.

[TheQuestionMan]

superhero wardrobe malfunction

[grandmastergm]

While Hero Games did publish a substantial source book dedicated to the United Kingdom, called Kingdom of Champions, that was over twenty years ago. It's long out of print, and obviously the background information in it is greatly out of date. The current owners of Hero Games, DOH Inc., always intended to publish an updated KoC, but never got to it. That's the reason there's a paucity of info about it in books for the current official setting.

 

Champions Earth generally follows the geopolitical and social precedents of real-world Earth, except to the extent that those have had to adapt to the presence of superhumans. You can rely on your personal knowledge or any other research you care to do for those. What's official for the UK in current Champions continuity is contained in the book, Champions Universe. I've transcribed that info below, along with the numbers of the pages on which it appears:

 

Great Britain’s history of superheroics, like that of the United States, dates back to World War II, when several British heroes made enormous contributions to the Allied war effort (the most notable of these being the Skymaster’s assistance with the D-Day invasion). In 1953, the government established a secret department known as Bureau S, whose job was to study Britain’s superhuman resources (and threats), and make use of them for government purposes when it was considered safe and appropriate to do so. By the Sixties, Britain had several “unofficially official” superhumans working for it, and in 1966 Bureau S became the Ministry of Superhuman Affairs, a publicly-acknowledged branch of government responsible for protecting British citizens from superhuman threats.

 

In 1971, the MSA sponsored the formation of the New Knights of the Round Table, an official superteam for Great Britain. The Knights, as the group’s widely known, has fluctuated wildly in membership in the past thirty years, sometimes having as few as three members, and twice having eight. A terrible scandal in 1982 involving three of the members cast a shadow over the entire group, but it redeemed itself in the public eye in 1988 by staving off an attack by the fear-spirit Samhain to terrorize the entire island. Since then the New Knights have remained popular, and often work with UNTIL or other superteams to save not only Her Majesty’s kingdom, but the world itself, from danger.

 

Great Britain has had a superhero registration law since 1978, but its terms differ significantly from those of the American law. Registration is strongly encouraged, but voluntary, and doesn’t involve the revelation of the super’s true identity if some other means of making positive identification is provided (such as a fingerprint or retina scan). However, a vocal minority of British citizens favor stricter registration laws more carefully enforced.(p. 49)

 

Most other nations have some form of superhuman registration, but follow the leads of Great Britain and Germany in using the carrot instead of the stick (see page 49). Registration isn’t mandatory in either nation, but without it a superhuman cannot receive any sort of government sanction for his activities and will be prosecuted for any laws he may break (as well as being fully financially responsible for any property damage or other liability he creates). In Great Britain, the Ministry of Superhuman Affairs oversees the registration and sanctioning of superhumans, controls the activities of the New Knights of the Round Table (the official government team), and coordinates with the efforts of private teams like the London Watch when appropriate. (pp. 77-78)

 

Besides the New Knights of the Round Table (page 49), the Scepter’d Isle is graced with numerous superheroes who defend it against threats from within and without. Most operate solo, occasionally teaming up, or temporarily allying themselves with the New Knights, when confronting an enemy too powerful to take on alone.

 

Albion, a mysterious humanoid being seemingly made out of some sort of solidified white energy, claims to be the living embodiment of the nobility and heroic nature of the British people. First appearing during the Battle of Britain in World War II, he’s shown up periodically since then whenever terrible danger confronts the British Isles. All efforts to contact him at other times, or to identify who he is, have failed.

 

Almost as powerful as Albion, but much less mysterious, is Hyperion, an immensely powerful hero with the ability to generate effects based on what he calls “the burning light of truth.” A 2002 conflict between Hyperion and the alien supergladiator Firewing destroyed a large swath of London, which Hyperion himself has since helped to repair. Extremely popular with his countrymen, and as wealthy as a lord, Hyperion frequently appears on television and at charity events.

 

London’s best-known and most beloved superteam is the London Watch, which is active not only throughout the islands but in mainland Europe as well. Its members include Blazon (who wears a suit of mystically-powered armor and rides a flying horse), Yeoman (a warrior with high-tech archery equipment and weapons), Repulse (a telekinetic), and Swift Swallow (a flying speedster). The group has clashed with Eurostar repeatedly, and hopes to bring those criminals to justice someday.

 

Several mystic superhumans — Shade, a kindhearted vampire; Drune, who claims to be an elven-prince from Faerie exiled to this world for the sin of falling in love with a mortal woman; Rhiannon, a sorceress who takes her name from a Welsh mythological character; and Taliesin, who can generate magical effects with his harp-music — periodically band together to fight mystic threats, such as a recent attempt by several Fomorians (mis-shapen, even demonic, evil giants from Faerie) to ravage Cornwall. They have no name for themselves, though overenthusiastic reporters have dubbed them “the Nightwatch.” They all guard their privacy and secretly identities carefully, though Rhiannon has responded to some inquiries from her Internet fan club.

 

Well-known British supervillains include: Crusher, who wears a powerful suit of powered armor; Thrash, a mutant energy projector of punk-anarchist bent; the Cat, a thief and martial artist; Samhain, a sort of fear-spirit; and Clockwork, an eccentric and malevolent gadgeteer.

 

Scotland has been the home of a number of supervillains, most of them, for some reason, women. Besides Cateran, who actually spends almost no time in Scotland, there’s Black Annis (a haglike witch), Lamprey (an aquatic supervillainess), and Stormcloud (a weather controller able to project powerful bolts of lightning from her hands), among others. Scotland’s best-known male villain is Claymore, a sword-wielding superstrong thug with a taste for violence and a love of bloodshed. Scotland has a few superheroes, too, like Evergreen (a plant controller) and Dreamscape (a psionic and dream-manipulator).

 

Ireland’s superhumans are almost all mystical in nature. Superheroes such as Cuchullain (supposedly a “reincarnation” of the legendary spear-wielding hero) and Dweomer (a powerful mystic) battle against supervillains like the Redcap (a clawed, extremely resilient magical mutate) and the aforementioned Fomorians, as well as foreign villains who show up to exploit Ireland’s mystic sites. (p. 78)

 

Albion is just what he claims to be — a manifestation of the heroic qualities of the British people. Possessing enormous strength and resilience, the ability to fly, and several other powers in addition to boundless courage and tenacity, he only appears when some danger threatens all of Britain. (p. 143)

 

It's a shame those folks have never been statted out- save for Samhain and Cateran in the Villains books, and the London Watch in Kingdom of Champions (although their designs are a wee bit dated).  Someone really should take the initiative and do so.

[Christopher]

I like that idea.  Page 3 fakes of superheroines outside their costumes, costume "malfunctions", stories about romances, etc.

Bolfman story:

http://superredundant.com/?comic=010-surveillance

http://superredundant.com/?comic=011-bolfman-origin

[Christopher R Taylor]

There was a She-Hulk story where a tabloid Journalist got pictures of her sunbathing topless.  She ended up having to let them run the pics, but they "corrected" the colors at the printer, so she wasn't green

 

[Christopher]

There was a She-Hulk story where a tabloid Journalist got pictures of her sunbathing topless.  She ended up having to let them run the pics, but they "corrected" the colors at the printer, so she wasn't green

 

Remindes me of another story I heard:

When shooting the original Orion Slave girls on Star Trek TOS, for some reasons the developed Film never showed the right color.

Finally they asked what was going wrong and learned that the guys developing the celuloid keept changing the green color asuming it was some wierd bug during taking the shoot. Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand does.

 

The She-hulk thing might have been inspired by it or vice versa.

[bubba smith]

Remindes me of another story I heard:

When shooting the original Orion Slave girls on Star Trek TOS, for some reasons the developed Film never showed the right color.

Finally they asked what was going wrong and learned that the guys developing the celuloid keept changing the green color asuming it was some wierd bug during taking the shoot. Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand does.

 

The She-hulk thing might have been inspired by it or vice versa.

it may have been as the ST episode came first

[LWhitehead]

Ok but the Ducal Family is based on the Cavendish family, it has bin suggested on this forum the Duke of Westminster but if that would make the family protectors of Parliment, one of those old English titles makes the current Duke dress up for the opening of Parilment wearing his Ducal outfit with wearing a sword.

 

 

 

LW