Third Edition Renaissance

[Chris Goodwin]

I posted this to some thread, but I can't remember, and it's probably locked.  This thread is active, and it's on topic, so I'm posting it here.  

 

Some time back, I created a third edition Champions Google Spreadsheet.  A couple of people besides myself have contributed (sadly, I'm not sure who).  The two things it most reliably does are generate a Characteristics block (including doing the math), and creating a Power writeup.  And, I've made some improvements.  You can provide alternate text for custom Advantages and Limitations.  

 

And it does in fact create a Power writeup!  Through the magic of a lot of nested parentheses.  You can have it generate something like this: 

 

Quote

Basic Apportation. Teleport: 5" (10 Base Points). Advantages: Indirect (source point; +1/2); Normally Invisible Power Effects (visible to Mental Awareness and similar; +1/2); Based on ECV (see text; +1); Usable On Others (+1/2); Ranged (+1/2) (40 Active Points). Modifiers: None. (40 Modified Points). Limitations: Concentration (0 DCV, instant; -1/2); Tells (chosen by player; -1/4); Resisted (by Mental Defense, Paraphysics Skill Roll, or Apportation/Teleportation, see text; -1/2); Usable Only On Others (-1/2); Only Teleports To Or From user (-1/4) Real Cost: 13 Points. END Cost: 8

 

Some of those Modifiers are not stock 3rd edition.  To create a custom, or rename an existing one, choose the appropriate Advantage or Limitation (e.g. "Limited Power 1/2").  In the Advantage Alt Text or Limitation Alt Text, type the name you want to give it, such as "Not Vs. Cabbage".  In the Advantage Parenthetical Text or Limitation Parenthetical Text, type something in here, like "cole slaw only".  

 

It will then insert into the Power writeup:  Not Vs. Cabbage (cole slaw only; -1/2)

 

Warning:  It's not bulletproof.  It has no modifier intelligence.  It expects you to know the amount and base cost; you have to select, for instance, Teleport from the list, and for Amount enter 5", and for Base Cost enter 10.  It will take it from there, though.  There are also occasional minor bugs in it; I'm chasing those down off and on.  And it doesn't generate a character sheet; you'll want to copy and paste whatever the finished text is that you want to pull out.  

 

If you use it, I recommend saving a copy to your own Google Drive, then saving a new copy every so often.  

 

Edit to add:  You can create a custom Power by selecting Custom, then overwriting the name with whatever you choose, and ignoring the warning that comes up.  

[Chris Goodwin]

On 4/11/2019 at 2:17 PM, Chris Goodwin said:

Some time back, I created a third edition Champions Google Spreadsheet.  A couple of people besides myself have contributed (sadly, I'm not sure who).  The two things it most reliably does are generate a Characteristics block (including doing the math), and creating a Power writeup.  And, I've made some improvements.  You can provide alternate text for custom Advantages and Limitations. 

 

And I've been busy.  I've added a number of power builders (Armor, Energy Blast, Invisibility, Killing Attack) and a generic power builder that I'm particularly proud of! 

[Scott Ruggels]

Ooh thank you!

[Chris Goodwin]

Mostly it's for building powers, and involves switching to the right sheet, entering some data, making some choices, then copy-pasting to another sheet, repeat until done.  It has no saving functionality, except for saving a copy of the whole spreadsheet.  To make multiple powers you need to repeat the above process multiple times.  

 

But it does the math for you, which is not nothing!

[Pariah]

( . . . thinking of uses for Powers with the 'Not vs. Cabbage {Cole slaw only}' Limitation . . . )

[Pariah]

This next character is someone I originally built under 5th edition rules, and recently decided to rebuild under 3rd Edition. It was interesting to see the differences after the fact.

 

I give you the sentinel of the Stones: Onyx!

 

 

[Pariah]

Man, it's hard to build a FISS* on 250 points. But here's my attempt.  I give you . . . Thunderbird!

 

 

*FISS = Flight, Invulnerability, Strength, and Speed. A flying brick, like Superman, Wonder Woman, or Captain Marvel Shazam.

[assault]

I really need to do some character images and disadvantage sets. Then I can start churning out characters.

 

FISS characters are actually very easy. Ones with blasts as well are trickier.

 

In general:

100 points divided between DEX, CON, ED and SPD

100 points of powers, eg:

40 +40 Str (Total 50)

40 +12/+12 Armour (or Damage Resistance, PD and ED)

20 10" Flight

 

There's 200 points.

 

In addition the character needs Int, Pre, Com and Skills. Say 25 points, but you can shave a little if you must.

 

That gives 25 points left over. Not quite enough for a decent blast, but there are ways around it. On the other hand, the character is paying full End for his or her Strength, so that should probably be fixed.

 

It's just this little bit which is tricky with these characters.

 

As you can see, I tend to leave their defenses on the low side. That's because I tend to buy their Dex and Spd up. This makes End costs particularly important.

 

EDIT: To add an EB, you could use an Elemental Control, replacing the Armour and Flight, plus 20 of the 25 left over points.

 

You can still reduce the End cost on their Strength with the remaining points, plus what you can shave from the Int/Pre/etc allocation.

[Pariah]

My version of the Big Blue Boy Scout: Yankee!

 

[Chris Goodwin]

15 points on Damage Resistance is half the character's nPD and nED values... buy it twice to get the full value.  As is it makes 13 and 10 resistant on 25 and 20 total, respectively.  

[Pariah]

As I recall, that's 13 rPD and 10 rED vs. BODY. He still gets the full 25/20 vs stun, correct?

[Chris Goodwin]

Yep! Correct.

[assault]

13 and 10 is functionally bulletproof. Good enough for a starting character.

[Pariah]

Yeah, this is clearly not the big blue Boy Scout later in his career.

[Pariah]

I have a couple more characters that are almost finished. I hope to post them in the next day or two.

[Toxxus]

On 4/5/2019 at 7:56 PM, Pariah said:

Okay, time for a new hero(ine)!

 

She's the green-haired beauty with the electric touch. She's young, she's powerful, she's confident...or is she? Well, whatever else she might be, she is...Striker!

 

 

 

What program (if any) are you using to generate the pictures?

[Pariah]

22 minutes ago, Toxxus said:

What program (if any) are you using to generate the pictures?

 

Most of these images were generated on a website called Fábrica de Heróis, which is now, sadly, defunct. I've been using Hero Machine 3 for the more recent ones (like Black Nova).

[Pariah]

Here's a character I originally built for my youngest brother, but always kind of wanted to play myself. (This version is better than the one I built for him.  ) 

 

He helped build an armored suit that his superior stole and used to become a supervillain. So now he's built one of his own to bring the guy to justice. He is:

 

Bronze Guardian

 

[Pariah]

We've all heard stories of people who are spirited away to different worlds: John Carter, Thomas Covenant, the Pevinsie children, and the like. They have fantastic adventures. But what happens to them when they have to come back and live in the 'real' world again? That's the problem for the next heroine.

 

Stinger

 

[Pariah]

What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force? That's a question that's been asked for decades, or longer. Here's a more interesting question: What happens when someone is both an immovable object and an irresistible force? I give you...Momenta!

 

 

(I had to pull up some stuff from the Champions III supplement for this one.)

[fdw3773]

On 1/3/2019 at 6:43 PM, Pariah said:

For the first time in literally decades, I've been looking back at the Third Edition of Champions. It's the version I learned to play on, and there are times when i miss the simplicity--especially as I contemplate teaching new people to play. So I've begun building characters again. And I've got to tell you, here's something really cool about building a character with pencil and paper. I've had to relearn how a few things work, like END (Holy cow! How did my heroes ever stay awake for more than a Turn?!) and proper Elemental Controls, but I'm now able to create a new character in ~30 minutes, start to finish. It's been a lot of fun.

 

I first started playing Champions with Third Edition in the late 1980s. I received it as a gift and can relate to the nostalgia, happy memories, and simplicity associated with the system, especially when the game rules and mechanics associated with Fifth and Sixth Edition can reach the point of being a major turnoff. Like you, I've been looking back at it and was happy when the pdf version became available since the original book I had has since been retired.

 

I have also reversed engineered some of my Fifth and Sixth Edition characters to Third or Fourth Edition, which has made it easier to introduce to brand new players who have never played this genre or type of game before at conventions.

[Pariah]

15 minutes ago, fdw3773 said:

I have also reversed engineered some of my Fifth and Sixth Edition characters to Third or Fourth Edition, which has made it easier to introduce to brand new players who have never played this genre or type of game before at conventions.

 

I'm hoping to use this strategy to introduce some high school students to the game next school year.

[fdw3773]

7 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

I'm hoping to use this strategy to introduce some high school students to the game next school year.

I wish you the best of luck. As a comparison about simplifying and reverse engineering, attached are the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Edition versions of Superman that I wrote up for some recent game events. Some observations and lessons learned from the past several conventions I've participated in are the following areas that influenced how I designed the character sheet:

 

1) Players were disinterested with seeing every single point and related rules-listing on the character sheet. They like seeing the overall point total to get an idea of how powerful the character they're using is, but that's about it. The players understood that while Batman's utility belt can get stolen but Iron Man's suit can't if they're being worn, so listing things like OAF Arrangement, OIF, etc. was not necessary.

 

2) I had to create a character sheet of pre-generated characters that displayed the important information and easy to read. The four to five page character sheet or small font PDF produced by Hero Designer with the minutia details was a major turnoff for visiting players.

 

3) New players were unconcerned about things like height/weight and related data featured in the Fifth Edition character sheet since they were familiar with the pre-generated character they used from cartoons, comics, and/or movies about the character (e.g. Iron Man, Wolverine, etc.). They just wanted to know what the statistics meant, what powers they had and at what level they were.

Superman3E.pdf Superman4E.pdf Superman5E.pdf

[Spence]

1 hour ago, fdw3773 said:

1) Players were disinterested with seeing every single point and related rules-listing on the character sheet. They like seeing the overall point total to get an idea of how powerful the character they're using is, but that's about it. The players understood that while Batman's utility belt can get stolen but Iron Man's suit can't if they're being worn, so listing things like OAF Arrangement, OIF, etc. was not necessary.

 

2) I had to create a character sheet of pre-generated characters that displayed the important information and easy to read. The four to five page character sheet or small font PDF produced by Hero Designer with the minutia details was a major turnoff for visiting players.

 

3) New players were unconcerned about things like height/weight and related data featured in the Fifth Edition character sheet since they were familiar with the pre-generated character they used from cartoons, comics, and/or movies about the character (e.g. Iron Man, Wolverine, etc.). They just wanted to know what the statistics meant, what powers they had and at what level they were.

 

This, this and this. 

[Pariah]

12 hours ago, fdw3773 said:

I wish you the best of luck. As a comparison about simplifying and reverse engineering, attached are the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Edition versions of Superman that I wrote up for some recent game events. Some observations and lessons learned from the past several conventions I've participated in are the following areas that influenced how I designed the character sheet:

 

1) Players were disinterested with seeing every single point and related rules-listing on the character sheet. They like seeing the overall point total to get an idea of how powerful the character they're using is, but that's about it. The players understood that while Batman's utility belt can get stolen but Iron Man's suit can't if they're being worn, so listing things like OAF Arrangement, OIF, etc. was not necessary.

 

2) I had to create a character sheet of pre-generated characters that displayed the important information and easy to read. The four to five page character sheet or small font PDF produced by Hero Designer with the minutia details was a major turnoff for visiting players.

 

3) New players were unconcerned about things like height/weight and related data featured in the Fifth Edition character sheet since they were familiar with the pre-generated character they used from cartoons, comics, and/or movies about the character (e.g. Iron Man, Wolverine, etc.). They just wanted to know what the statistics meant, what powers they had and at what level they were.

Superman3E.pdf 313.82 kB · 4 downloads Superman4E.pdf 88.82 kB · 4 downloads Superman5E.pdf 5.46 MB · 4 downloads

 

I'm curious to see what you've done. I need to wait until I'm at an actual computer to look at the PDFs.

 

I think you've made some great suggestions. I've translated several of the characters from BBB to 3rd edition. My plan (or at least 12% of a plan) is to use the 3rd Ed character sheet--with the character picture--and print the origin, personality, quote, etc. on the back. One page, front and back, that's it.