pbemguy

We've been talking about what we can do to propagate Champions. Could we, together as a group, build a wiki that fleshes out an entire campaign world? We could have a blurb at the top that says, "Your contributions may be compiled into a campaign book and printed out. These profits will go to Hero Games." Like, if we made a huge campaign wiki, then we could then take excerpts of it and print it out. (The campaign world would have to be completely fresh. We couldn't borrow anything from existing intellectual properties.) The key to it is that we stat all of the characters in Champions. Probably 6E should be the standard, but I would also want to see 5E conversions. So, we start a wiki, and anyone can edit it. Has anything like this been attempted? (I would recommend, don't contribute idea that you are attached to or plan to publish yourself later. Only contribute stuff that you're comfortable becoming part of this bigger thing.) I just thought of it over coffee a few minutes ago and I perhaps haven't considered the ramifications, but I wanted to key it in here while I was still excited about it. To me, what Champions has that other games doesn't have is a skilled, imaginative fan base. (I'm not dissing other games. I just mean I see Champions enthusiasts as having a certain something special.)

Yeah, I kept thinking that Car Wars was also the answer. When I saw the first Fast and Furious movies I considered using Car Wars to build a campaign. Like, use the Car Wars rules, the Fast and Furious storylines, move the game world about 20 years into the future, throw in a dash of Death Race and some James Bond vehicle mods...

I've run a few recently. Definitely don't give one to a newbie. What happens is the GM ends up figuring everything, at least in my most recent experience. I really like the idea of a time limit at the table: set a stopwatch for one minute, and if nothing is said in that minute then nothing comes out of the VPP! I think it's best for experienced players, and with a tight SFX restriction, as has already been mentioned. (e.g. "fire powers")

This has kind of already been said, but yeah, go through every skill and every power and think of it from a Driving angle. Lonewolf mentioned Shadowing. Exactly. I'd recommend that the players buy skills "on foot" and skills "in car" separately. Shadowing on foot is very different than by vehicle. Imagine a guy who is good at Shadowing on foot having to do it in a car instead, or vice versa. Like, I can see Vin Diesel ninja-ing his car under a tractor trailer to avoid being spotted in a rear view, but I can also see him tripping over a hot dog stand when trying to do this on foot. In this campaign, they could be two different skills. I see Acrobatics working the same way: character can flip a car, do a full rotation to jump from the bridge to the underpass, but as a person can't do a somersault. "Acting" : can duplicate another driver's style, make it look like she did the heist when the video footage is reviewed. Or she can make it look like there's something wrong with the car. "The way she's driving, I'd say she blew her engine..." Surprise! Breakfall: Can slow down by hitting things without taking too much Body off the car. Contortionist: "No way you can fit between those two cars...wait! Don't!!" Demolitions: Know where to hit another car to do extra damage....maybe Find Weakness fits this better.... Tactics/Teamwork

Sorry, Duke. I missed this question! We didn't do a daily digest but I occasionally did recap threads (saying this for posterity--in case anyone is perusing this thread for how we did it). You're absolutely right about Gmail. We had a lot of problems with the players using Gmail. Strangely enough, Yahoo is perfect for PBEM. You have to make sure to set it up so that your messages are NOT kept in "conversation" groups. I'm not sure if that's an option in Gmail. Anyway, to sum up, the Gmail users had trouble: threads were hard to follow after multiple replies. But as I said, Yahoo seems to maneuver well. I would recommend using Yahoo for a PBEM, even if it's the only time you ever use Yahoo mail.

Polar on Netflix. I didn't read any of the reviews; I just watched it cold. Many of the reviews I read after watching said it was really horrible. I disagree. Mads Mikkelsen was great. The villain was over-the-top, but in a good way. I think a lot of people were turned off by the opening, which features a crew of really unlikeable young assassins. As I was watching the opening I was considering shutting off the film...but then it occurred to me that we (the audience) were supposed to find them repellent. Once I considered that, the whole movie was very enjoyable.

Thanks for this. This is the kind of thing I look for and watch. Probably you've already seen it, but I recommend Ice Station Zebra (1968).

Jack Stauber, Buttercup

GM update: The game finished! We completed the module by PBEM! This was an amazing group. The experiment was: Take a Top Secret module and play it with Champions rules, set in the era (in this case 1981). Success! Thank you to everyone who participated! Highly recommended concept!

Oops, yeah, I think I meant D6 Powers. I mostly used D6 Adventure because I was building a Punisher clone, but the rest of the group used this:

This is what I was trying to put my finger on, and you nailed it. The textbook vibe. Could it be that players who like textbooks are drawn to Hero, but that it repels most people? Because I like textbooks. But I couldn't see that Hero was mostly textbooks. I'm too "in" it to see that. This was a huge revelation to me. Over on another thread I was discussing the outdated design of the Hero books, and that any new things published by Hero should, IMO, get rid of that. Now I have a better understanding of what makes Hero seem outdated and unlovable to some people (not me!).

I just remembered: I played a supers game using the d6 system--the same one used for the Star Wars rpg, what's it called? D6 Adventure. It was actually really fun, we played about ten sessions, and the system worked well for superheroing. I can't vouch for how it built superpowers--I had a Punisher-type guy so it was an easy build, but the other players had quite a range of powers. Anyone else play a supers game in this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D6_Adventure EDIT: I just remembered why we stopped after 10 sessions. The GM wanted to play, and I wanted to GM, and so we switched, but I converted everyone to Champions 5e. LOL. We went another 10 sessions and it was also good.

Speaking of 60's bombshells, I also watch Gilligan's Island over and over. I used to be a Maryann fan but now I watch it for Ginger. The Eva Grubb episode...ah, don't get me started!

One of my favorites. I'm currently running a Top Secret module with Hero rules--I'll have to throw in some Maxwell Smart-isms! Barbara Feldon...amazing. She's half the reason I re-watch these.

I played the original Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP) very briefly. I started Champions and this game at the same time, GMing both. I ended up using the ranking system (and the Handbook to the Marvel Universe) to improve my Champions game, and I used some of the Marvel modules to spice up my Champions campaign. (The Marvel RPG and the Official Handbooks made me a much better character designer, period.) Marvel Superheroes wasn't as good as Champions, but it really boosted my Champions game, and I only have fond memories of Marvel Superheroes.

This is how I would do it.

No, I'm not trolling. What I'm saying is, I looked at the diagram and the first thing I said when I saw it was, "Why does that have to be a 1? Isn't the 1 arbitrary?" Like, it would be more profound if that had to be a 1, but it could literally be any number, so for me the diagram is less "wow" and more "ah."

That's why I'm saying the "1" could be any number. Like, if the 1 was a 5, then the "i" would be an imaginary number that, when squared, makes -5. Amirightoramiright?

Isn't the "i" just an imaginary number, and then couldn't the "1" leg be any number then? 'Splain it to me.

You mean the cartoon characters with giant eyes?

They're revamping the zodiac?

Mostly in the game we use OOC when we are making a comment out of character, like: OOC: This plotline reminds me of that episode of Moonlighting where they have a leprechaun as a client. In the PBEM I also sometimes use AFK: "I'm going to be AFK (Away From Keyboard) for the next 24 hours" I scrolled through a bunch of my game threads and those were the only two that jumped out at me. Of course we say things like NPC and GM--there are some Hero abbreviations to watch for (SPD, Rec, Disads, etc.) Wait, I just spotted an IIRC (If I Remember Correctly) and IG (In Game, which means we're back to talking in game)

Smashing! We have five players and the game is underway.

What system are we talking about?