Matt Frisbee

Re: Champions Jargon Here's another couple from the table top: Drama Queen -- a player who always creates highly unorthodox characters with no real combat capability, which means his or her character has to grab the spotlight off of the battlefield. Normally, I have no problem with this sort of thing, but in the Champions games I run, it becomes a problem because said characters rarely have more than a minute amount of 1) DCV, 2) PD, 3) ED, and 4) Resistant Defenses. Occasionally, it makes for wonderful gaming moments when the non-combatant goes off doing heroic things, like rescuing innocents and the like, but more of the time, such a character is really nothing more than a wandering target, and virtually no help to the group. Flyswatter -- a character optimized for, or having a power with the singular purpose of, taking out multiple agent-level characters with a single attack. The most extreme example of this was a character who had projecting teleportation powers who would simply do an AOE teleport his opponents 15 game inches above the battlefield, which usually would do enough damage to take out the agents -- messily. Matt "Still-lovin'-this-thread" Frisbee

Re: WWYCD: Grandfather paradox Interesting scenario, by the way. I played out a version of this with the old Timemaster character from Classic Enemies -- he had just arrived from the future and was trying to kill an NPC whom he blamed for the extermination of superheroes and the general oppression of society in his time. My players genuinely hated this guy since he had that wonderful Ranged AOE DEX Drain attack that really messed up their best laid plans to defend the NPC. It all worked out in the end, though the NPC wound up spending time in the hospital for a metabolism thrown out of whack because of the time alterations to which she was exposed. Ultimately, she developed super-powers as a result, so everyone was happy again...until the next time the Timemaster drops into the present... Matt "Star-Trek-had-too-many-time-travel-episodes" Frisbee

Re: Superhero technology Whoa, easy there! I didn't say it wasn't a good idea -- in fact, I like the website! I think my point here is that my players just didn't get into it for whatever reason, and that I was sort of wasting time and effort with writing it down for them. Or, I could have just been babbling, which is something I tend to do from time to time. Again, great work on the website -- it was an enjoyable read. And yeah, I got the part about it being for normal people. The players in my games just tend to overlook that sort of stuff -- maybe I need to be a better GM... Matt "What?-You're-taking-me-seriously?" Frisbee

Re: Favorite Supplement For Champions To be perfectly blunt -- ALL OF THEM! Especially since I beg, borrow and steal a lot of material to keep my campaigns from getting too predictable. I still love reading Hudson City: The Urban Abyss -- as long as I can keep my envy level down as to how detailed it is... Matt "Turnin'-green-around-the-gills" Frisbee

Re: Superhero technology Technology boundaries? Is there such a thing in Champions? The Lakeport campaign I ran a couple of years back had an alternate timeline where, due to supervillain intervention since the 1930's and the fact that our sun generated seriously mutating cosmic rays, some technology never developed while other technology was significantly advanced beyond current limits. One example of this was, yes, astronauts walked on the moon, but were so genetically damaged from their exposure to cosmic rays that all three were dead within a year of the feat. Results: 1) manned space flight and space stations simply do not exist beyond that one great and tragic achievement, 2) NASA has launched a lot of space probes and has taken great strides in computer programming, even to the point of creating very primitive A.I. systems, 3) Aircraft don't fly at high altitudes (above 30,000 feet) unless they are part of the new generation of planes with improved shielding from the cosmic rays, 4) Because of NASA's continued work on improving computer technology, computers are actually more advanced and even easier to use, and 5) Genetics research is about 15 years further along due to all of the "acquired" knowledge from supervillains and superheroic research. It all really depends on how much cause-and-effect your particular group can tolerate. The vast majority of my players didn't read that information, so I wound up not incorporating it into the campaign. This particular go around, supers have only been around for about 15 years, so their impact on society has been noticeable, but not yet significant enough to cause a shift of paradigms. I'm sure I have a list of "acceptable" technology stashed somewhere in the gray matter, but until I get a group of players that really get into the universe, there's really no point. Matt "Still-gets-way-into-the-worlds-of-my-creation" Frisbee

Re: But I want to play Champions Would I like to play Champions instead of GM-ing it? In a word, yes. But I also really enjoy running the game. I have great players (even if I have to make their characters), we have a great place to play (even if it is only once a week) and we always have a great time (even if we get on the segue tour bus a little too often). The point is I'm more comfortable these days being the GM, because it gives me something to do during the week, and something to plan for on the weekend. If I were gaming more than once a week, yes, I would like to play. But under the circumstances, I get to play the roles of all of the interesting people in the campaign -- the always worried but still supportive significant others, the wide-eyed fanboys and girls, the helpless victims whose very lives hang in the balance, the vile and cunning villains whose plans shake the foundations of society -- so don't let those players know that a lot of the fun in on my side of the screen, okay? Matt "Still-loves-to-roll-dice-and-chortle-malevolently-behind-the-cardboard-screen" Frisbee

Re: The Bureau of Special Investigations - long This is truly fantastic work, Dominique! I'm stealing it! I'd rep it too, but I have to rep others before I can rep you again...wish I'd waited a bit so it would be worth (a little) more.

Re: Overall Levels are they too good or not good enough? I'm a big fan of using overall levels to shorthand the Ubervillains in my campaign. For example, the big baddie in my current campaign has twenty different skills and it gets fairly nightmarish from a points perspective to get all of them to a truly dangerous level. I like the overall level to more accurately reflect what he can do -- focus his efforts to a specific nefarious task instead of being the world's expert in many different subjects. So far as characters are concerned, I only allow skill, combat skill, ranged skill and overall skill levels to be purchased with experience points, since I feel that every character is a beginner when they enter play. (I haven't yet started a campaign with an experienced group.)

Re: Take your time It's posts like this that always do one of three things to me: 1) Make me wonder what I've been doing wrong as a GM since I've never had to deal with the specific situation, 2) Make me start in horror at how little I really know about Champions, or 3) Give me a headache from trying to deal with the math. In this case, it winds up being all three, even though you've got a valid point, Sean. My solution to this little problem, especially if it is occuring outside of a combat situation, is to simply have the player roll, and then bump the amount of time it takes up until said roll is a successful one. For example, in One Track's case, with the given circumstances (see first post in the thread) with a 7- for success, let's say he rolls a 10. In the Frisbee-verse, I'd just bump it up three steps on the time chart making the time spent 5 minutes (I think, since I don't have the chart in front of me). It's over simplistic and guarantees success, but it also works from a cinematic standpoint. Anyway, that's my two cents' worth for the subject.

Re: Space Opera redux: one year later Hiya Tung! I am a long-suffering Space Opera geek who would truly appreciate anything you wished to present on the subject here. In fact, I still have the rules (though a distinct lack of record sheet masters) sitting on my game shelf, waiting patiently for the right group of players to come along.

Re: Sharing the Campaign ideas you can't use... yet Thanks for the rep! Still working the idea over in my head, here's an alternate idea if your players are lukewarm to being prisoners: In the corporation's desperation to get a decent sample of humanity, certain members of the population were offered a monetary payment for their participation -- either in advance to take care of immediate financial problems or to assist family members through the character's absence; or promised in the future (substancially more) to either the character or the character's heirs depending on if the character survived. If you do run this one, keep me updated on how it goes!

Re: What are your average Skill Rolls and what modifiers do you use? In the Frisbee-verse: The Bay City Rollers Campaign has an average unmodified skill roll of 12- to 14-, with those supervillains and superheroes who are "pros" ranging around 15- to 17-. I am a big believer in the "supporting skill" modifiers, though I use a slightly modified "quick resolution" gimmick so characters don't have to roll three or four times to resolve a skill task. Quick Resolution of Supporting Skills in a Skill Task: (All of these are cumulative) +1 to the roll for every supporting skill allowed. +1 for every every two levels of a supporting skill that is greater than the skill being rolled in the task. +1 for each supporting skill from another PC who didn't have to be prompted to offer support. (That way the characters tend to stick together and play cooperatively, especially if it is a lower-powered campaign.) That's my two cents' worth, and now I'm out of pennies.

Re: Avain Flu and other diseases in game terms? You might want to check Dark Champions for some of the effects of various biological and chemical agents, Nightmask. Most illnesses are Drain attacks of various types (and pretty nasty in game terms if they're anything worse than the common cold). Most of the time, this whole disease thing is plot device, right? I remember running a Cyberpunk campaign where the characters were members of a Nomad pack who accidentally stumbled across an illegal dump site where biowarfare nanites infested most of the members of the pack (except the characters, of course). The characters had to venture to Night City and adapt and adjust to life in the city while desperately hunting down leads for a way to cure their pack. That was a really fun story arc to run. Matt "Living-in-the-past-as-usual" Frisbee

Re: Working Stiffs -- Champions Style! Okay, okay...UNCLE ALREADY! I am now officially sorry I ever tried to nitpick the whole thing about HRRH and being able to make cellular phone calls with it, okay? Can we please get back on subject now? Thanks, and I'll post some more secret identity jobs in the near future. Matt "Think-I'd-learn-when-to-bite-my-tongue-after-40-years" Frisbee

Re: WWYCD: The Guliver Syndrome Always one to pull down the shade, here... Do you have any idea how many Giantess fetish websites there are out there? I have the feeling that there would be at least one segment of the population who would be very happy with this turn of events...(Ewww!) The Gray Ghost would be hooking up with his contacts in the body building circles and the film industry to see if anyone knows exactly where this stuff is coming from. Then he might make some overtures to some of the other supers he's met to see if anyone else is smelling a rat...

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman Gray Ghost -- was strictly a "Girlfriend Of The Week" sort of guy, so he never had a solid relationship to worry about. If the girl loved him, he figured, she'd wait and understand. Surprisingly (to him) none did... Fisteel -- took an oath of celibacy because he weighed nearly a ton and didn't want to accidentally injure someone. Eventually he did meet the right woman, though their relationship was purely platonic. Impact -- was a former felon who was trying to tread the straight and narrow path. He had an on-and-off relationship with one of the group's female members, but both of them had issues which prevented their relationship from really taking off.

Re: Sharing the Campaign ideas you can't use... yet A sudden inspiration has struck me -- a variation on one of the campaigns I've mentioned before. Sleepers GT -- The characters are prisoners who have volunteered to take part in a corporate experiment in long-duration cryosuspension, where a number of different techniques are being tried. The downside is that these life-without-parole characters could die from the experience. The good news is that if they survive the experience, they'll be pardoned and free to resume their lives somewhere in the near future. Fast forward to the future when, for reasons unknown, the characters awaken to a devastated world full of unknown dangers. Eventually, they will discover that nearly three hundred years have passed since they lay down to sleep. Then they discover that their bodies have been changed by the experimental proceedures -- they have super powers! Before they venture out in the world, they discover that there were other such bunkers all over the world. In a world without rules and characters who aren't sterling pillars of morality, what course will the future of humanity take? And just how many others have survived and will they be allies, enemies or something else entirely? Champions meets Gamma World....oh, the possibilities!

Re: Original Supervillain Groups -- Get Creative! This group could just be into it for the thrills, too. No real danger to them since mummy and daddy could always hire the best lawyers to get them out of sticky situations. This bunch would be a very annoying, but (if played correctly and not too often) a fun recurring group of villains. Thanks for sharing it!

Re: This week on "Champions"... Sunday 7:00 pm Bay City Rollers -- "Hometown Politics" Our heroes, still reeling from their battle with the soldiers of Rogue Legion, have to collar the Southside Vigilante before she claims another victim. However, this may prove more difficult than they first thought as a protection gang rallies to her defense! Can our heroes defeat the Vigilante without costing them all of the respect they've earned from Bay City's citizens?

Re: Shared DNPCs & DNPCs with superpowers My two cents' worth: The final yardstick by which this sort of thing is measured is the first rule of disadvantages (and I'm paraphrasing here): A disadvantage which doesn't limit or affect the character is some way isn't worth any points! If a DNPC still needs saving, still gets into situations which complicate the character's life and still is someone the character cares about, then that person is worth points. That being said, while I like the suggestion of reduced price for DNPC's with groups of heroes to protect them, consider the disadvantage as applied to say a base or vehicle. Does the DNPC disadvantage cost get reduced because it is a superhero group's vehicle or base? And the answer is no. So, it's really not a matter of how many heroes there are to save a DNPC, it's a matter of each hero seeing to the safety of that DNPC, worrying about him or her when their minds should be focused on current crisis, etc.

Re: Working Stiffs -- Champions Style! If a person has a celphone I could see this. If we're talking about the 1980's and early 1990's I could even see this being an intrinsic power. However, all the celphone networks I know about these days are not analog (as they were back when) but digital which requires access codes (transmitted in digital binary). Now if the character has Language: Digital binary transmission and KS: Local cellular access codes and KS: Hacking cellular phone systems, then I could live with this. Otherwise, I'd say not. Also, I've rechecked my copy of 4th Ed. Dark Champions and saw no mention of this. Perhaps I missed the reference? Matt "Nitpickers-don't-make-Santa's-Naughty-List-do-they?" Frisbee

Re: Working Stiffs -- Champions Style! Okay, two things -- 1) Since when did High Range Radio Hearing give a character access to the cellular phone network? I can understand listening and transmitting on those frequencies -- unless she had a phone with her? 2) I presume that this wasn't a four-color campaign with this sort of thing going on, right? Still, it was worth a laugh. So have a great day. Matt Frisbee

Re: "the Governmput put a Chip in my Head!" The whole thing sounds very Johnny Mnemonic to me is all. I suppose someone could hook up a rider on one of those three tiny bones in the ear and run a voice recognition program to record everthing a certain someone says and then download the audio back into an iPod or something... Matt Frisbee

Re: Low Level Power Ideas Needed for Superhero team Liaison/Career Bureaucrat

Re: Working Stiffs -- Champions Style! Well, obviously this was a good idea, but hardly anyone's running with it, so I'll kick start it again: Novelist/Free-Lance Writer A fabulous way to be poor and never have to leave the house, unless you're wildly successful! Write stories (either real or fiction) and fire them off to the editor when they're done! [File the rejection slip and repeat ad infinitum until they get sick of looking at it and finally publish the damn thing just to get you out of their mailbox...] 3 PS: Writer (INT-Based) 3 KS: Fiction genre or Subject (INT-Based) 1 PERK: Home Computer with Internet Connection -5 Disadvantage: Poor (If your character is still trying to break into the business, or) 5 PERK: Well-Off (If your character is having some success in the business.) 3 Contact 11- Your Agent (Helpful) Voice Actor With the rise Anime and computer-animated video, the demand for quality voice talent is higher than ever. The good news is that you don't work a lot (though when you are, you have no free time), but the bad news is that it is a feast or famine kind of lifestyle. 3 Acting xx- 3 Oratory xx- 3 Mimicry xx- 3 KS: Accents in chosen language (INT-based) Architect Like Charles Bronson in the Death Wish series -- this is where you earn good money, but only when you have a project to work on. Successful architects are usually very busy, but very rich, too. Great choice for those campaigns when some time can roll between adventures. 3 PS: Architect 3 KS: Drafting (or CAD-CAM Operator) 3 KS: Architecture (sp?) 3 SCI: Structural Engineering 3 PERK: Lightning Calculator 5 PERK: Well-Off Of course, the more points a player puts into their character's alter-ego, the easier the GM should make holding down that job, right? Not necessarily -- some players like adversity! Case in point: Corporate Drone This is one of those dedicate your life to the company for a few years and you'll make some money, even though you'll never have time to spend it kind of jobs! You know, middle management jobs with corporate idiocy, dimwitted bosses, boardroom politics and smiling backstabbers looking to get ahead of you! 3 PS: Corporate Management (PRE-Based because it's not how well you do it, but how well you sell it.) 3 KS: Company Policies & Proceedures 3 KS: Company Gossip 3 KS: Company Personnel & Organization Chart 5 PERK: Well-Off 5+ Contacts within the company (because it isn't what you know but who you know, you know...) 5- Rival Disadvantage: Professional, superior position, possibly your equal (may be taken multiple times if your character is really working a shark tank) Okay, hopefully we'll get this thread off the ground now! Matt Frisbee