So, your two statements... What are they/would they be?

[unclevlad]

A common motif in urban fantasy is, knowledge of the extra-normal is restricted and actively suppressed, due to concerns over the reactions of the normals who greatly outnumber the supers.  The simplest and oldest reflection is the Masquerade from Vampire, which simply institutionalizes the core fear that goes back even to Dracula.

 

Conversely, a fundamental premise of supers writing is, powers exist, and they're publicly known.  

 

Drew Hayes' Super Powereds books focuses on a class of Heroes in training...college age.  Like the Champions Universe, powers were only acknowledged relatively recently...in this universe, it's 1960 IIRC.  To be a Hero, you need to be licensed, and the only way that happens is through a 4 year, formal, SERIOUS training program with a VERY high attrition rate.  In both freshman and senior years, there's a required class called Ethics of Heroism.  Freshman year talks about the basics;  senior year, they're rather more advanced.  One of the questions is...why are there heroes?  Because the public *does* have a legit concern...supers cause a LOT more damage, and the devastation from a supers vs. supers fight can be massive and extensive.   So, one very strong reason for a rigidly controlled system for entitling only particular supers?  Because they are the front line in the battle for the hearts and minds of the people, so they *don't* try to do, for example, Marvel's mutant registration and neutralization stuff.  Heroes are the containment against serious social pressures.

 

Marion Harmon's Wearing the Cape used a different motif...a massive EVENT affected the entire modern world...IIRC, early 2000s.  With *seriously* powerful characters.  The WtC first novel goes into it a great deal, and the RPG devotes 4 pages to describing the early days to set the tone.  Here's the conclusion:

 

Quote

[...] but it was the breakthroughs who dressed up, gave themselves superhero codenames, placed themselves at the service of local law enforcement, and later formed the first Crisis Aid and Intervention Teams (the CAIs) that really helped to calm us down. Sure the world was a lot stranger than it had been just weeks ago, but we had superheroes now. Heroes who would watch over us.

 

All of this is to point out how that "with great power comes great responsibility" can be brought into a very much broader context.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Another idea to throw out is:

 

1. Powers are flashy and exciting

2. Super-fights in controlled conditions are a popular spectator sport that sometimes spills out into the main world

 

Any major problems with these?

 

I have about a week to settle on statements for my Roll20 game that my players are likely to agree to. I don't know if they would go for something like "60s Batman with real superpowers", but I know I would enjoy it. I have to find a statement set that I'm reasonable sure my players would want to play.

[nitrosyncretic]

On 5/23/2020 at 11:28 AM, Michael Hopcroft said:

Another idea to throw out is:

 

1. Powers are flashy and exciting

2. Super-fights in controlled conditions are a popular spectator sport that sometimes spills out into the main world

 

Any major problems with these?

 

I have about a week to settle on statements for my Roll20 game that my players are likely to agree to. I don't know if they would go for something like "60s Batman with real superpowers", but I know I would enjoy it. I have to find a statement set that I'm reasonable sure my players would want to play.

 

Review page 32 for an answer to your question.

[Pariah]

On 5/23/2020 at 12:28 PM, Michael Hopcroft said:

Another idea to throw out is:

 

1. Powers are flashy and exciting

2. Super-fights in controlled conditions are a popular spectator sport that sometimes spills out into the main world

 

Any major problems with these?

 

I have about a week to settle on statements for my Roll20 game that my players are likely to agree to. I don't know if they would go for something like "60s Batman with real superpowers", but I know I would enjoy it. I have to find a statement set that I'm reasonable sure my players would want to play.

 

I'd enjoy playing in a campaign like that.

[Pariah]

On 5/23/2020 at 12:28 PM, Michael Hopcroft said:

Another idea to throw out is:

 

1. Powers are flashy and exciting

2. Super-fights in controlled conditions are a popular spectator sport that sometimes spills out into the main world

 

Any major problems with these?

 

I think what nitro might be trying to say without being bothered to actually say it is that the second statement violates Ron's admonition not to include anything about "powers or superhero/villain material".

 

I know, I've run afoul of that same issue myself. Personally, I think these two statements give players a solid look into what your campaign is going to be like. And that's the whole purpose of the statements, is it not?

[nitrosyncretic]

Yup. Statement two should make no mention of superpowers or related things. Without the nonsupers statement, a whole aspect of what a game can be about is missing. It's like defining starting Spider-man without high school.

 

I know that gamer culture generally says "well just use the rules you like and ignore anything you don't." This doesn't work for CN. I know Ron's work and philosophy and have also closely read the rules -- the game text is carefully designed to produce a particular experience. The more rules you ignore, the less you'll get to see what the game is aiming at. That's fine, but as you do that, you lose any right to make any judgments about the play experience. At some point, you won't be playing Champions Now. 

[Michael Hopcroft]

Setting doctrine aside, is there a better, proper way to address this statement? The existence of supers does change a setting. Or is Nitro dismissing the whole idea of superfight promotions as a campaign device out of hand?

 

Because that is something my new-formed party would probably enjoy playing.

[steriaca]

Let me think:

1) Everything is a martial art.

2) Body changing magic changes bodies.

 

Trying to explain Ranma 1/2 in the two statements style.

[steriaca]

1) Teen ninjas with hi-tech face an alien invasion. 

2) We must take care of the Earth, or else!

 

I hope that describes Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. 

[nitrosyncretic]

4 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

Setting doctrine aside, is there a better, proper way to address this statement? The existence of supers does change a setting. Or is Nitro dismissing the whole idea of superfight promotions as a campaign device out of hand?

 

Because that is something my new-formed party would probably enjoy playing.

 

1. Flashy Super-fights in controlled conditions are a popular spectator sport.

2. Family conflict in Baltimore.

[nitrosyncretic]

1 hour ago, steriaca said:

1) Teen ninjas with hi-tech face an alien invasion. 

2) We must take care of the Earth, or else!

 

1. Hi-tech ninjas defend the Earth.

2. Teen angst and drama.

 

[nitrosyncretic]

1. Everything is martial arts.

2. Struggling executives in high finance in Chicago.

 

1. Powers change bodies irrevocably.

2. Modelling career burnout.

 

[nitrosyncretic]

I'd highly recommend avoiding trying to translate existing comics into the two statements -- particularly modern comics and most emphatically NOT anime. Champions Now is not intended to be universal, it's intended to reflect the comics of the 60s and 70s. Read some to get the idea.

 

[Pariah]

Feedback wanted:

 

1) Heroes and villains are painted with broad strokes and bold colors.

 

2) Classic tales of good and evil in a modern American metropolis.

 

[assault]

23 minutes ago, Pariah said:

Feedback wanted:

 

1) Heroes and villains are painted with broad strokes and bold colors.

 

2) Classic tales of good and evil an a modern American metropolis.

 

 

Sounds good.

[assault]

There's been a couple of cases in other threads where there has been dispute over the intention of the rules. It might be useful to restate here what the rules say about the Two Statements, especially the second.

"Okay! When you get people together, have the following two statements at the
ready, no more and no less.
▶ One solid bit of content about superpowers, heroes, or villains
▶ This part might be back-story, or purely visual, or just atmospheric.
▶ One solid bit of fictional style and specific types of problems
▶ Include the location of play (ideally, somewhere that someone in the group
knows really well)
▶ This part says nothing about powers or superhero/villain material. It’s really
tempting, but resist.

 

This isn’t a pitch. It’s not negotiated, discussed, debated, or explained. If you
chose phrases that are fun – that you like to see or want to see in comics – that’s
enough."

 

The bolded words are emphasized in the text. Each marks one of the statements.

 

The only case where I have had problems with this is the "location of play" part, where a game isn't oriented towards a particular city. It's a funny one, because books like the FF and the Avengers are definitely "located" in New York City in some ways, but wander about all over the place all the time. (And often through time!)

 

You could treat this as a "we should be playing the equivalent of First Level characters and restrict ourselves to a particular location" mandate, but obviously there is no such thing a "First Level character" in CNow, characters can routinely have powers that allow them to move outside such a location, and they can be egregiously powerful. Such geographical restrictions are therefore entirely dependent on a particular game.

 

When they aren't in effect, such a location is merely a starting point or home base. It might be worth mentioning that in a Statement 2, especially since DNPCs don't necessarily get around nearly as much as PCs.

[nitrosyncretic]

Yeah, the FF were kind of global from beginning, and later cosmic.

 

Our "location" in the Legacy playtest was "the left coast" -- basically a regional location unified by general cultural tendencies. 

 

One can't go wrong with choosing a single city or county one of the players knows. In the game I'm currently running, it's been a great help to have a player who can answer questions about setting and places where secret bases might be etc.

[Jon Hastings]

Here are the two statements for one game I’m running now:
 

1. The world is just coming to terms with the existence of super powers.
2. Paranoid political thriller: history is made by bad men (or is it?) in New York City.

Here’s another set for a game on the launchpad:

 

1. Heroes are monstrous, but villains almost never seem to be.

2. For better or worse, you’re stuck with your family.

 

And one more:

 

1. Powers are wacky or sinister, or, often, both.
2. Workplace drama and corporate espionage.

 

 

[Ultron]

I am thinking about a game that pays homage to the comics that I loved as a kid. While I loved the DC comics, it was the Marvel universe that really drew me in. With that being said, I propose for my campaign:

 

"With great power comes great responsibility."

"Mayhem in the Mighty Marvel Manner!"

 

The first statement should make the players realize that there are always consequences to their actions, while the second lets them know that they will be dealing with threats in locations that are well established in the Marvel Comics universe of the 1970s and 1980s. Threats can come from beneath the Earth (Mole Man in Fantastic Four #1), from space (the Kree, Skrulls, Shi'ar, Celestials, etc), or from humanity itself (Eternals, Deviants, Mutants, Atlanteans, Maggia, Roxxon, etc.). 

 

The statements don't definitively say that those things will happen, but they let the players know that they COULD. I think this will also help to guide their thinking in how they would choose to interact with the Marvel Universe if they were given the opportunity. This is just my thinking aloud about it, but it has really helped me to get my own creativity moving to create threats and adventure opportunities that the players will enjoy. 

 

Any thoughts on this?

[assault]

Not bad. Set in Marvel New York, presumably. (When the heroes aren't going to Weird Places.)

[Ultron]

 

15 hours ago, assault said:

Not bad. Set in Marvel New York, presumably. (When the heroes aren't going to Weird Places.)

You bring up an interesting point; the Marvel Universe has a vast setting including other dimensions, even the Negative Zone. Potentially all of them could be in play, but they don’t have to be. The players may want to play in a different location, say Jacksonville, Florida. This allows more freedom and creativity within our campaign, while occasional “bread crumbs” from happenings in the comics can make the setting seem to come alive. In fact, those two statements could actually serve as the groundwork for several campaigns set within the same universe, allowing for crossover events and galactic threats that ripple throughout multiple campaigns. So perhaps there will need to be 2 statements for each group of players under the umbrella of the statements listed above? 
hmmmm…..

[assault]

There is also scope for geek pedantry about "which Marvel?", pointing out the difference between various titles, creative teams, editors and so on.

 

It's fine to ignore that IMHO.

[Ultron]

2 hours ago, assault said:

There is also scope for geek pedantry about "which Marvel?", pointing out the difference between various titles, creative teams, editors and so on.

 

It's fine to ignore that IMHO.

One of the things that I have discovered over the years is that while people enjoy the thought of playing characters from the comics, they actually seem to enjoy creating their own characters to interact with those universes even more. There seems to be more of a desire to put their own character ideas against the occasional “established” villains and organizations. As I have considered these ideas today, I’m more inclined to put those two statements as more of a “house rules” idea, and then come up with two statements for the actual game that is being played. 
This touches on the reason that I became curious about Champions Now; can our group create a game that allows for those elements that we individually enjoy without limiting ourselves to preconceived ideas about  role playing superheroes.

[assault]

On an unrelated note, Evil Clowns and Flying Monkeys seem less silly and more a possible feature of political satire these days.

[Stirling.N]

1. With great power comes great responsibility and other screws.

2. Many people both play and GM.