Comic elemnts in your game

[Nothere]

Comic readers are a special breed. They take flying battle swastikas, Taking gorillas, and Toad men from Titan without a what the? Though in the movies and some comics people try to make comics more realistic. So what about your games? Do you worry about making sure their is a sense of realism with heroes faceing gangsters with guns. Or do they think nothing of facing a man in green tights with a yellow spike on his helmet and his man eating goldfish?

[Christopher R Taylor]

I think you you have to know your group.  The movies take it too far in my opinion, rejecting too many core elements of comic books.  But the comics got a bit too daffy at times as well.

[Hermit]

I often embrace the absurd, and most of my players know my style well enough to endure it with understanding.

[BoloOfEarth]

The level of comics absurdity in any given Champions adventure I run depends upon the primary foe for that adventure.

 

If someone like Foxbat Force is putting in an appearance, then it's perfectly acceptable to have a device which teleports the Batman and Robin costumes (with working bat-gadgets) onto Adam West and Burt Ward in the middle of a shopping mall, or provides visual sound effects (POW!  BAM! appearing in midair when a hero or villain punches someone), or for the villains to turn a huge chunk of Boston into a giant snow globe. 

 

A Nazi robot which has been lying on the ocean floor for over 60 years will still be (relatively fully) operational when brought to the surface, rather than the solid block of rust that it would really be.

 

I've gleefully stolen the Professor Steriaca character originally described in the Theme Team thread, complete with Seeker Missiles (which release a gas that transforms people into clones of Seeker from 4th Edition Champions).  The PCs found his character sheet (in-game; the guy carried around a "Heroic Games" writeup of himself).  If they had filled in his "TBD" vulnerability and shown it to him, he would have become instantly vulnerable to what they wrote, even though that makes no apparent logical sense.

 

I recently introduced a man-chicken NPC hero, and my players took it totally in stride.

 

If it's a murder mystery or some similar dark plot, however, I try and keep it as semi-realistic as possible.

 

In general, there's going to be some comics absurdity, just based on the presence of superpowers, aliens, etc.  As one player said in a past game when another player was arguing for stricter in-game realism:  "Ted, your character creates wind blasts from a wooden staff.  Exactly how realistic is that?"

[SteelCold]

There's sort of a balance. You as a GM, have to accept that superhero adventures sometimes can be a little absurd but at the same time you don't really want to create a adventure that is so weird that it becomes unworkable.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I was in a game where the GM ended the first session with a villain entering the room with gadgets and toy-based weapons, and his last words of the session were "I'm Toy Boy!"

 

Which was supposed to be kind of light hearted and fun and give a sort of silver age feel to the campaign.  But a couple of players openly snickered and the GM got mad, and never ran another session.  It was too bad, because the game seemed like a fun concept (kind of a cross between legion of superheroes and Sliders).  But it shows you have to work with your group, even if you particularly love an idea.

[Cassandra]

I had an island guarded by a T-Rex.  One of my heroines knocked it's head off.  She has x-ray vision and saw that it was just a set of powered armor in disguise.

[SteelCold]

I had an island guarded by a T-Rex.  One of my heroines knocked it's head off.  She has x-ray vision and saw that it was just a set of powered armor in disguise.

Ah, Mechagodzilla.

 

[phydaux]

I think you you have to know your group.  The movies take it too far in my opinion, rejecting too many core elements of comic books.  But the comics got a bit too daffy at times as well.

 

Depends on the Age.  A man in green tights with a yellow spike on his helmet and his man eating goldfish doesn't work in the Iron Age, but it perfectly fine in the Silver Age.  

 

I don't really like the Silver Age, but God how I hate the Iron Age.

[phydaux]

I often embrace the absurd, and most of my players know my style well enough to endure it with understanding.

 

My PCs never know when this man will show up, and I LOVE it.

 

[SteelCold]

My PCs never know when this man will show up, and I LOVE it.

 

"But Dad, you said I was the true Fox of Crime..."

 

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Foxbat I've used as comic relief and The Paradigm Pirates have lent themselves to a humorous side as well....though more on the side of the underlings than professor Paradigm himself.

[winterhawk]

I often embrace the absurd, and most of my players know my style well enough to endure it with understanding.

 

Don't remind me...I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat after nightmares about Foxbat.

 

I try to pattern my games after DC:TAS and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which I feel were really good modern interpretations of classic comics stories.  For example, one of my crime bosses is the classic Silver Age 'human brain swapped into a monkey's body' characters.  The thing is he's been boss since the 60s because he's absolutely ruthless and cunning, like a gangster from the Godfather or Goodfellas.

[GCMorris]

I have a pretty serious and sometimes dark game setting but I have a bungling crime organization and a criminal clown to sometimes make for a refreshing change of pace.

[Matt the Bruins]

I recently introduced a man-chicken NPC hero, and my players took it totally in stride.

Were-chickens are serious business. Just ask Blade.

[steriaca]

Were-chickens are serious business. Just ask Blade.

Of course were-chickens are serious. You forget, chicken are carnivorous, and are extremely territorial. And, in spite of there name, don't frighten off easily.

[Nothere]

But the fiercest fowl you'll ever find, was created by a fiendish mastermind. His name is....Chickenstein.

[SteelCold]

But the fiercest fowl you'll ever find, was created by a fiendish mastermind. His name is....Chickenstein.

I always thought it was Colonel Sanders.

[steriaca]

Well, at least your not dealing with Doctor Turduckenstine and his monster, except at Thanksgiving.

[Fry Daddy]

The silliest episode of my game was "How Foxbat Stole Christmas". Foxbat captured Santa Claus (the real one) and replaced him with an impostor until Santa made have his elves build Foxbat a magic Foxcentipedebatmobile. The players took it in stride and really enjoyed it.

 

I love running holiday specials.

[Cassandra]

Every campaign needs a Joxer the Mighty.

[wcw43921]

Even a Star Wars campaign?  Because as I remember, their version of Joxer was not that well received.  (I didn't have that big of a problem with him, myself--and I found he made a lot more sense after seeing Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress.)

[steriaca]

Even a Star Wars campaign? Because as I remember, their version of Joxer was not that well received. (I didn't have that big of a problem with him, myself--and I found he made a lot more sense after seeing Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress.)

Yousa say JarJar waz en The Hidden Fortress?

[bubba smith]

Every campaign needs a Joxer the Mighty.

point taken every campaign needs a comic relief character

[Cassandra]

And all teams have a comedian.

 

The Justice League Animated Series Team has The Flash.

 

Teen Titans have Beast Boy.

 

Even the Watchmen have The Comedian.