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It took many years of nagging and a few threats of legal action to get paid for the "Mystic" trilogy. (And since I wrote far more than contracted, DOJ effectively got a free book.) To be fair, it took DOJ so long because they weren't being paid by distributors.
 
At one point they offered me partial  payment in product or office furniture. My father, who ran several small businesses in his lifetime, was not impressed.
 
The bulk of payment came only when Cryptic bought out DOJ.
 
For my Digital Hero articles presenting the Dark Champions hero Repairman and villain Bloodmoney, I gave up and said I'd accept payment in kind -- a CD-ROM of the complete run of Digital Hero, to that point.
 
Dean Shomshak

Some long term GM advice. 
 
Sit down with each player, one on one, and discuss the character, and what they want. Brainstorm the character, with notes, getting attributes and flaws ranked by importance at the end. This will allow you to cull edgy loner types, and disruptive chaotics from the team. At this point take the notes and build their character for them.  Once they have a few months of play, and know how everything works and have some EXP to spend, allow them to open up the hood and tinker.  Or build new heroes.  It’s the play that ropes them in.  
 
GM concerns 
 
Fictitious versus real city. My preference is for real cities to start with, as it is a common referential base line between the GM and players, plus the maps can be so much better.  Less time can be spent with clarifications and overcoming assumption clash, and more for roleplay.  If you do use a fictional city, pick one with good maps. Times and scale are important, and figuring out how long or short a Superhero response time can be is important to villain’s plans. Hudson City has the Best maps.  San Angelo has decent ones. But in kk cases your city will have its demographics, it’s good preferences, and it’s slang. Borrow from reality when you can but try and make the blend seamless.  

Start local before going global in detail s.  Sure, there are events of global importance, and villains whose movements and achievements are notable, but the player to NPC relationships that happen locally will set the tone of the campaign going forth. How the team deals with local law enforcement, and how the city’s District Attorney feels about superpowered citizens will color interactions up the food chain. Do citizens cheer or flee when a figure drops from the sky into a superhero landing?  First impressions are important. Think about those NPCs and how they would react, before worrying about how Dr. Destroyer might invade Washington DC with automatons. Thst comes later.  
 
Its too late for some tropes
 
I am not going to touch on any social issues, other than acknowledge they are present, but stuff we loved in 80s X-Men or Teen Titans may not work in current year. ( This is why I am comfortable in Fantasy and Traveller these days). But it also works for technology. Most people, other than the very old or very destitute, carry a fairly capable computer in their pocket, that they are capable of using for communication, research, and photography (in 4K).  Even tropes from the last decade, in the coming year will be obsolete when Phones can access Starlink anywhere. No more dropped service.  This also means anything the Heroes do in public will become part of the public record instantly, spread by social media( in 4 k). Look at the coverage f the Dallas Air Show accident as an example. If your campaign has the Champions Universe, 10 years plus in technology advancement, things are going to be cheaper, safer, and more reliable to a point, but the cutting edge will breed new tropes. Think those out.  How much industry is in orbit? Has Elon got a colony on Mars already? Is someone going to hijack a power broadcasting satellite and retune it into an orbital death ray ( with invisible power effects because you can’t see microwaves). Also keep in mind your player’s tastes. Romance? Yes or no? How hard are you going to enforce or insist on The Hero Code? How many alien invasions have there been, if any?  Marvel had few, DC had a lot. But remember to mind the tropes to keep things enticing, rather than hokey or campy, as that breaks immersion. Tone is going to be very important.  

Fictional cities and non-fictional cities have their own merits. You know, or can easily find out, things about a real city and if it is your home town you don't have to explain much things (like for example if you and your players are from Milwaukee Wisconsin you don't have to explain Summerfest). Using fictional cities allows you to change things which are much harder to do with a real city.
 
Champions have Millennium City (Detroit, but changed enough to actually be a whole new city) and Vibora Bay, while Dark Champions has Hudson Bay (which also exists in the Champions Universe).
 
There are also various third party fictional cities (San Angelo comes to mind easily, we a long time ago did a whole city based on rock and roll music with the doomed superhero Radiostar [who of course was killed by the Video Villain]).
 
The ultimate choice is up to you. We can't make the choice for you.

I'm kinda proud of my work here, othoe they are merely ideas and not solid. 
It doesn't actually matter what city they replace. Your overthinking it. The new city doesn't actually have to replace an already existing city. For example, Gotham City exists alongside New York City. Metropolis exists alongside Chicago. And nobody cares where Coast City or Star City is located (except that Coast City needs to in fact be near a coast).

I noticed that we don't have a guy with an ice gun. I thought we should have some guy with an ice weapon.  I mean, DC has The Icicle (one and two), Captain Cold, Mister Freeze, and at least one cold ajantant villain in the Golden Glider
 
My own answer to this is a yet written up villain named Winterblade. Basically he is the "ice gun" guy, except his "gun" is the shape of a sword hilt. Not only can he shoot cold/ice beams from it, but he can also cause ice to form as a sword. Hench the name.

I noticed that we don't have a guy with an ice gun. I thought we should have some guy with an ice weapon.  I mean, DC has The Icicle (one and two), Captain Cold, Mister Freeze, and at least one cold ajantant villain in the Golden Glider
 
My own answer to this is a yet written up villain named Winterblade. Basically he is the "ice gun" guy, except his "gun" is the shape of a sword hilt. Not only can he shoot cold/ice beams from it, but he can also cause ice to form as a sword. Hench the name.

I noticed that we don't have a guy with an ice gun. I thought we should have some guy with an ice weapon.  I mean, DC has The Icicle (one and two), Captain Cold, Mister Freeze, and at least one cold ajantant villain in the Golden Glider
 
My own answer to this is a yet written up villain named Winterblade. Basically he is the "ice gun" guy, except his "gun" is the shape of a sword hilt. Not only can he shoot cold/ice beams from it, but he can also cause ice to form as a sword. Hench the name.

Humm...
 
Been thinking about Gaslight (bka Victorian Hero), and been watching Moriarty the Patriot. So, are we going to get writeups of...
 
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson?
 
Professor James Moriarty and Cornel Sebastian Moeran?
 
Jack the Ripper?
 
Arsen Lupin?
 
Springheal Jack?
 
Or should we expect a separate book for Victorian Dramatic Personal?

Yes...I agree with Hugh Neilson. For the newbie (no ofence), all you need on day one is Champions Complete, a fist full of six sided dice, plenty of paper, at least one other friend, and the imagianation of you and the friend/s playing.
 
On day one your not ready for Doctor Destroyer anyways. Heck, I'm not ready for the bad doctor, and I have been playing since the "Big Blue Book". (Champions 4th edition/Hero System Rulebook 1st Edition, when the universal game system was finaly recognised over at Hero Games).

One of the Champions Online player community, who goes by "jaazaniah1," posited a most intriguing character concept, "Synthoid Sorcerer." I'll let him explain it:
 
First, the SG I belong to (Project Attalus) is basically just all my heroes and the concept I have for the robot magic user is that two of its members, Dr. Harlem (think African-American Tony Stark) and Sultanus the Crimson Sorcerer (think a stage magician who is really Dr. Strange) had a debate about whether magical abilities (not someone wielding an object imbued with magical properties) were a result of nature or nurture (i.e. inherent to organic life, or something that could be learned, whether the practitioner was organic or not) and set out to test this (if an elevator lifts Thor's hammer is it worthy of his power?).
 
So, Dr. Harlem created a robot with real sentience and Sultanus set out to teach it magic. Synthoid Sorcerer thus studied magic (i.e. he posses no magical talismans or the like) and has mastered all the technical aspects of spell casting (and more quickly than any human could, since he has a computer mind). I.e. he adopts the right postures, makes the right hand movements, says the right words and has the correct mental state that any human mage would adopt. One might say that the only difference is that he has no soul (or does he ?), and so can not be tempted by the dark side. Technically he knows the difference, and since he was built and taught by heroes his natural leanings are toward the light, though he is guided also by a sort of cold, calculating machine logic.
 
So, he is a science/magic experiment by two human authorities in their respective fields. Some wonder, given the greater than human speed at which he can learn and act, if he might someday supersede all human magicians.
 
The question that Dr. H and Sultanus wrestle with is, indeed, whether magic is like Chess or Go, something that a machine can learn and master by being able to calculate quickly vast numbers of possible outcomes, or is there something more intuitive, even spiritual to magic? Can an object with no soul be a sorcerer? Or, is it a mix of both, can a machine learn the basics of magic (e.g. its grammar) and eventually come to be able to grasp its deepest intricacies (e.g. can it write great literature), or will an AI always be no more than some "hedge wizard"? Even if the latter, since Synthoid Sorcerer is self aware, does it have the capacity to evolve itself and develop those higher capacities? Only time, and level 40, can say for sure!
 

Grace Gallowglass, aka The Engineer, strikes me as another who might create martial-arts robots. Robots are her primary servants and physical combatants, and she's already more than a bit wackadoodle. 😋
 
EDIT: Not precisely robots as we usually conceive of them, but the Phazor (ruler) of Malva is protected by a corps of bodyguards known as the Shadow Guard. They're synthetic humanoids programmed for absolute loyalty to the Phazor, and great skill in the Malvan martial art of Haruji, as well as stealth, deception, and observation skills -- essentially alien ninjas. They can also turn invisible. And they have four arms. And are nearly as strong as Grond, but faster and more agile, maybe even tougher, and much smarter. (See Champions Beyond.)
 
I could see the Phazor dispatching a Shadow Guard on a covert mission to Earth. It would be a nightmare for most PCs to face.

As many as the GM wants, of course!
 
But I would prefer just one, to keep a distinctive style.
 
Example: Fencing. If you've seen The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, remember the scene where Tom Baker brings the statue of Kali to life as a six-armed golem armed with swords, fighting Sinbad's whole crew at once? Or if a big stone statue seems like it ought to have 40+ STR, how about a cockpunk robot fencer with a rapier, or Darth Maul's two-bladed lightsaber?
 
But this classification does not require actual Martial Arts as a game mechanic. It just means the character principally fights HTH but doesn't depend on raw STR for damage. Like, say, an ungodly fast robot -- hey, let's add the Kali golem's six arms, just for fun -- but each hand delivers a powerful electrical shock when it hits.
 
Dunno if the CU has any technologists who would build anything so fanciful, but I could see Zorran the /Artificer building magitech constructs like this.
 
ADDENDUM: Ah! Now I know. Doctor Crandall Herzog, later to become the Overbrain. He used to supply technical services to various criminal and terrorist groups and secret government programs. If somebody paid him to build robot martial artists, he'd shrug, take their money, and do it. I dare say he was a bit wackadoodle even before becoming a disembodied brain.
 
Dean Shomshak

As always, subject to GM discretion, but from 6E1 page 326:
 
 

I believe Zigzag is NOT a silly speedster, but instead a silly stretching guy.
 
(But of course I could be wrong...)

A skills table would be cool, but optional. The GM has the OPTION to use it if available, not have to use it.

Prehaps the simplistic dimension to create is the Alternative Earth. Simply pick an event and change it. What if the United States lost the Revolutionary War? What if the world never experienced COVID-19? What if the United States never had a President, but an Empirer? And that Lord Trump is fighting against Empirer Biden and trying to force him to accept the Constitution?
 
Well, enough of that.

The 4ed book Champions In 3-D is a good and still usable book about alternative dimensions. I definitely recommend it.

The 4ed book Champions In 3-D is a good and still usable book about alternative dimensions. I definitely recommend it.

Talking about weird west, somehow I'm now craving a Western Champions supplement. A low level "masked cowboys" super campaign.
 
School teacher Lynda Lee fights crime disguised in buckskin and a domino mask as the wild and woolly Lady Buckskin, relying on the injun wrestling techniques taught to her by a handsome half bread after being accosted by some bandits while riding into Indian territory with needed medical supplies.
 
Well, Lady Buckskin is just one example of a Western Champions character idea. 

Darkness works.
Change Environment works.
Invisibility to Clairvoyance works for an individual only. It doesn't exactly pose a penalty except to "see" through a fringe.
Illusions might work to create false scrying.

Fashionista is the TikTok member of the group. He is a bisexual man who uses weaponized outfits for combat and protection, and doesn't care about the perceived gender of what he wears (making him a crossdresser at times). He is also an expert of the quick change, which is exactly what his TikTok is about...three second shows of him changing clothing rapidly without being indecent. 

Sir Magnus would be a wreck, especially if they toured his past. and might jump into the grave at the end and save everyone the trouble. Upon waking in the morning, he would be even more surly and bitter.
 
THunderbird (THe last Active Champions character I played), He would be puzzled at the visits, as he keeps Christmas Merry, especially for his wife, but he would go along with it, suspiciously.
 
Captain Leonidas "Leo" VanDyne (recent Traveller Character).  He would vaguely remember the story, but the visitations to him would seem like a psychic test, and he would not resist, but try to see who Really is behind this Psychic "show".
 

But what's a super-team without a brick? Several superheroes have fought super-strong, nigh-invulnerable women of diverse appearance, costumes, and pseudonyms. These battles have caused lots, I mean lots of property damage. Factories and businesses have had to shut down because they didn't have insurance against super-battles. Sometimes the female villain got away, though ususally without whatever she came to steal; sometimes she was captured, but another villain teleported her out of jail. (Thank you Bail, here's your tip.)
 
Heroes have not yet realized that all these super-strong female villains are the same woman, variously disguised; nor that the crimes she committed, or tried to commit, were blinds and often the real goal was the property damage. One way Force Majeure can destroy a client's rival is to stage a super-battle. Even sneakier, the group can benefit  a client by staging a super-battle on property that is insured -- whether to destroy evidence of other misdeeds, or just to collect the insurance money.
 
The woman's real code name within Force Majeure? Indemnity.
 
(PS: Another way to profit from super-battles? Short-selling. The process is a little too involved to go into here, but suffice to say there's a way to turn a profit on a stock whose value drops. Unexpected and massive property damage can send the value of a company's stock tumbling. Somebody who knows it was going to happen can make a killing. Force Majeure uses shell companies to profit in this way from companies it attacks, whether from Indemnity's battles, scandals rigged by Corpus Delicti, thefts by De Minimis, other damage by Burakku Kigyo, or just rumors spread by the Litigant. They make at least as much money this way as they get from their clients, and it may indeed be their true "business model.")
 
Dean Shomshak
Oh, is that six? I don't have another team theme at the moment but I know Bolo does, so I pass in favor of him. Take it away, Bolo!
 
Dean Shomshak

Burakku Kigyō is a mysterious man of Japanese nationality who always wears a black business suit. He also is able to generate and manipulate "elemental black light" (a thing which behaves much like Marvel's Darkforce). He can create objects out of the substance and fly.
 
His name translates roughly to "Black Company". He shouldn't be mistaken for the Japanese supervillain team by the same name. Nor the real black companies, which are just as evil for their workers.
 
 

Corpus Delicti, or "C. D." for short, is an actual ghost. The team's support staff tell a story that in life he was the crookedest of crooked Mob lawyers. Heaven wouldn't take him, for obvious reasons, and the Devil was scared to let him into Hell. While C. D.'s's ability to go anywhere invisibly and intangibly has great use, his particular specialty is possessing and animating corpses -- the only way he can affect anything solid. One of his favorite ways of tying up an enemy of a client is to animate someone recently dead (if necessary, other members of Force Majeure kill someone), walk the dead person into the target's home or business, then vacate the body to leave an inconvenient corpse for the target to explain. For extra artistry he might shoot his host body with the target's gun, or leave the nude corpse of a strangled person in the target's bed. Then let police and prosecutors do their work. Even if a murder case won't stick, the target will be kept too busy to oppose Force Majeure's client.
 
If Corpus Delicti needs to pose as a living person (and the team can obtain a fresh enough cadaver for this), he sometimes uses the pseudonymous surname of "Mortmain."
 
Dean Shomshak