Sketchpad

I've been using Roll20.net for my remote gaming and have really enjoyed the experience. It does have a dice roller included, but you don't have to use it. The map functions tend to work well, and it has a handout feature, as well as character sheets.

While I run my own universe these days, if I were to reboot the Champions Universe, I would tackle some of the following: The Guardians: I would try and license them back into the CU as the predecessors of The Champions. Some of them may even still be active. The Champions: Sure, they're a sample group, but I'd give them history that takes the 4th ed group as the original members, through to the 6th ed group, who currently hold the title. In all honesty, I would also make a "Crisis at Homestead" style of module that could make the PCs the next heroes to take on the team name. Villains: I'd update some of the villains, and bring a few more back from obscurity with some changes. Deathstroke would be back as the "anti-Champions" team, Doc Destroyer might have his "Kristoff Moment" where someone's become his successor for a short time. I would retire the Tree Monster / Elder Thing for something else. Genocide would return and I'd ditch the IHA. Demon would change pretty significantly, as would Viper. Magic Root: Never like the whole Magic is the root of power shtick. I would drop it in favor of more variable explanations. Cities: I would keep the cities, but change some things up within them. Personally, I didn't find them as "living" as they should be.

The way I ran PSI and COIL were more like organizations, as they used agents and often had some pretty lofty schemes.

I've used Demon, Genocide, Viper, PSI, and COIL in past campaigns.

Well, the idea would be for someone to make DD's format as an export format. I'm sure there's someone on the boards who could create such a thing. Background and other non-stat info is a pretty easy add on wiki pages, right? Having the stats formatted would need a bit more finesse, right? Dread, no problem. I really like the format and think that Hero could use something like it. Heck, I made a variant of it in InDesign.

Have you considered an export template from Hero Designer that's specific for the wiki? It could put in the proper tags needed to export and paste in the wiki. Might I suggest @DreadDomain's excellent character format?

From my understanding, the comic license no longer exists. Heroic Publishing had to change the "Marksman" character to "Huntsman" due to this if I heard correctly.

Keep in mind, before developing any license, you should make sure that Hero is okay with this. Whether it's free or not, I would loop Jason Walters in and make sure that Hero doesn't have any issues with you using the system for said project. If you're planning on using the Community Content license, look very carefully at it. While I'm not a lawyer, I did find some things that made me hesitate. Which arrangements were those? I think some of any kind of arrangement has changed quite a bit over the years considering some changes that were made.

The problem with To Serve and Protect is if it were updated, I'd love to see Scott Heine do it and give more info on the Bay City setting he'd ran his games in.

I think they all could be reprinted in a compendium-like volume. Maybe a Champions Adventure Omnibus that updates these, and a few others like Escape from Stronghold, Viper's Nest, and others. The back end of the book could be dedicated to updating character sheets, and maybe give a few heroes that could be used.

I always had problems with Luck as written, but worked up some pretty lengthy house rules on it in my last campaign. I don't see why you couldn't have either (or both) as a defense against a NND.

You might run into some problems from the retail chain.

If folks work on this, I would recommend putting it all together under a Creative Commons licence (https://creativecommons.org/). Might help protect the work and the creators.

There are a bunch of powers that could represent Luck Powers beyond Luck. For example, an Indirect, Invisible, Variable FX Blast might be a convenient piano dropping from a roof, or an accidental car crashing into a hero. Alternatively, a Speed or Dex Drain with might represent a sudden slick area, or tripping into something. Lastly, a bonus to DCV or OCV with an Activation Roll might mean a lucky hit or lucky dodge. Hero X is blasting Hazard, but Hazard sees a $5 bill on the floor and reaches down to pick it up, and the attack misses. This is because Hazard made his activation roll on his Lucky Dodge power and gained +5 DCV.

I don't mind getting a bit skill heavy, as I like the skill system in Hero, and never found 4th ed skill lite.

If you didn't have them pay for the rings, have them make Heroic character builds. Even without the ring, most bearers are pretty resourceful.

If you wanted absolute control over the minions, Summon really is the way to go. But, without Summon, I would build it by using the Followers Perk along with some standardize statting of the minions. As they advanced, they would spend their points on improving or acquiring new minions. So that increase in number? Points spent to increase the number. The advanced versions of the minions? Points spent on making the minions more effective and giving them better gear. Mind you, I've also used Resource Points in many of my games and buy standard equipment that way. This makes equipping them a bit easier IMHO.

I haven't played Champions since 5th edition, and even then it didn't get as much attention as 4th edition did. As much as I like to play with the Hero System, my group would need something more genre-oriented to get them to play the game, I believe. I've considered writing a world/genre book for my setting, but I'd have to do more research into how many people still play Hero. The Toolkit functionality has some pros and cons, depending on time and group. This is just speculation, but I think one of the big selling points for D&D is how much material is available out of the box, and how current the game is. This echoes back to my design comment, but I also believe that Hero needs to undergo some streamlining that isn't Champions Now.

One of the major reasons why I'm running other games right now is partially due to the design of the books. While I love Hero, there are other books out there that grab my attention with a clean layout and well designed pages. On the rules side of things, I enjoyed 4th ed Champions the most, and it seemed to be a favorite of my group at the time. Champions Complete is okay, but it's very spartan in its look, and doesn't hold up well next to other books on the shelf IMHO.

How well does it hold up, Tech? Any mods that you've been applying to it?

See, this is why I miss the Mastermind Option (see below) from Champions II. When I was running Champions 4e, I allowed occasionally allowed skilled heroes to take it. Made it easier for some characters who were supposed to be the "Billionaire Playboy/girl" type of heroes.

It wouldn't have to be. One of my campaigns took some inspiration from Todd Nauck's Wildguard comic in that the team was formed as a reality show. The first season of the game led the group to discover that someone was behind all of the villainy they were facing, with season 2 revealing it was the show's producer behind it all. The group eventually stood on their own feet and became a hero team in their own right.

Most attack/defense powers are around level 10 for a starting character unless you do a trade off. There are a few instances, like making an android immune to Fortitude checks, that go beyond that rule. But for the most part, the PL is tied to the level of powers, skills, and attributes. Per pages 24-25 of the M&M Deluxe Hero Handbook: So at PL 10, if you took a Damage effect at level 20, you would have to have a modifier of +0. Mind you, you'd also have to get that past a GM. In the same respect, this would be like someone starting with a 20d6 Blast, which is a bit over the top IMHO.

That seems a bit high, Beast.