Jhamin

I figure if you are going to play Champions half the fun is setting it in the Champions Universe!

This is a sort of "Sequel" game to an old Champions Campaign that ran for over 25 years.  All my current players played in that game and actually interacted with the "by the book" version of Ravenswood so in this game I advanced the Timeline for the new characters to keep it contemporary. 

Ms. Crone's 5E writeup mentioned that she knew she would be Headmistress and I knew there was going to be a lot of time shennanigans in my PC's future so why not stick to the Canon & reap the rewards?   (everyone keeps going on about to teenagers about how they are choosing their future, so I'm having several different futures show up with opinions.  I like that Headmistress Timmons has insight into what will be but comes by it differently than "conventional" time travelers.  It makes her a great Mentor figure in that she can help but can't solve the problems directly.)

As the old PCs had met the students statted out in Teen Champions and they have now graduated I also had to repopulate the school with "nontraditional" students of my own making.  But that is half the fun!

I'm pretty much running this exact thing in my game.  The PCs all got Secret ID for no points, it's a campaign limit and they are graded on how well they keep the secret.  (Headmistress Timmons has knowledge of the future and heads off serious infractions)

Their classmates are the children of the rich, famous, and powerful.. and the PCs have to keep their stuff on the DL.  It is a great source of adventures.  

I've been running a Ravenswood game for several years now.  
 
The way I've been dealing with it is by:
- Getting the kids off campus (Dates, Movies, visiting parks, Music Shows)
- Having adventures come to them (hunteds who know where they live, ex-students with an axe to grind, shennanigans in the science labs & library)
- School Events (Rival Schools, Secret ID drama at the Spring Formal, Field Trips)
- Family (One PC's father is hunted by Viper, another is the son of a Supervillain, several NPCs are the children of Heros)
 
I've found that you have to get out of the "Mayor calls the PCs on the Red Batphone" type of adventures with teenagers.  I lean into the drama of highschool.  Not only do you want to get the right date for Prom, but she is being wooed by a "nontraditional" student from Von Drotte Academy (aka a mutant from Viper's school for budding supervillains).
We have a whole ongoing plot about the future version of one PC's first girlfriend who keeps attacking the PCs to prevent them from doing all the evil she says they do in the future.
 
Also: One PC paid points for a fake ID that lets them use Rideshare services to get around town.  It won't help them get to a superfight, but it lets them get to interesting locations.

I'm pretty much running this exact thing in my game.  The PCs all got Secret ID for no points, it's a campaign limit and they are graded on how well they keep the secret.  (Headmistress Timmons has knowledge of the future and heads off serious infractions)

Their classmates are the children of the rich, famous, and powerful.. and the PCs have to keep their stuff on the DL.  It is a great source of adventures.  

I'm pretty much running this exact thing in my game.  The PCs all got Secret ID for no points, it's a campaign limit and they are graded on how well they keep the secret.  (Headmistress Timmons has knowledge of the future and heads off serious infractions)

Their classmates are the children of the rich, famous, and powerful.. and the PCs have to keep their stuff on the DL.  It is a great source of adventures.  

One of the better Ravenswood games I know about did the school within a school thing. 
 
Ravenswood is a elite Academy for Cities/Regions best, brightest and wealthiest students....... who know nothing about the supers among them.  
The super-powered also attend the academy and have "special" classes.
 
Yep teen aged heroes having to maintain secret identities while in training......
 
 

I dislike agents that make the PCs feel less super.

I dislike agents that require the PCs to be built on inflated points to be viable.
 
I accept that a few "agents" are actually low-powered superbeings, through equipment, training or both. Most shouldn't be.

I've been running a Ravenswood game for several years now.  
 
The way I've been dealing with it is by:
- Getting the kids off campus (Dates, Movies, visiting parks, Music Shows)
- Having adventures come to them (hunteds who know where they live, ex-students with an axe to grind, shennanigans in the science labs & library)
- School Events (Rival Schools, Secret ID drama at the Spring Formal, Field Trips)
- Family (One PC's father is hunted by Viper, another is the son of a Supervillain, several NPCs are the children of Heros)
 
I've found that you have to get out of the "Mayor calls the PCs on the Red Batphone" type of adventures with teenagers.  I lean into the drama of highschool.  Not only do you want to get the right date for Prom, but she is being wooed by a "nontraditional" student from Von Drotte Academy (aka a mutant from Viper's school for budding supervillains).
We have a whole ongoing plot about the future version of one PC's first girlfriend who keeps attacking the PCs to prevent them from doing all the evil she says they do in the future.
 
Also: One PC paid points for a fake ID that lets them use Rideshare services to get around town.  It won't help them get to a superfight, but it lets them get to interesting locations.

As I understand the effect, you don't roll dice.  The victim just dies.
 
I'd say it's a physical complication: Dies if control signal is sent. (Infrequently, Fully)

As has been said a lot of this is in user profiles, but it's fun so here we go:

 
Why your username?
-It was my attempt to be cool the first time I logged into a dial-up BBS & I've kept it ever since.
 
Why your avatar or if no avatar why not
- It's the Logo for UNTIL, the SHIELD of the Champions universe.  I like being hero themed on the Hero boards.  "Until peace prevails!"
 
What area do you live in?
-The northern Suburbs of Minneapolis
 
What's your profession?
-I'm in IT on the Server and Cloud side
 
Are you Windows, MAC or Linux?
-Windows mostly.  (Cue Roy from the IT Crowd exclaiming he is NOT a window washer)
 
Are there TV shows and/or movies you like to binge watch?
- I go through phases but have a soft spot for the classic Space Operas, Original & Next Gen Trek, Babylon 5, Blakes 7.
 
What drew you to the Hero System?
-I like superheroes and I like point building systems
 
Which edition did you start with?
- I came in with 4th edition.
 
What have you used the game for?
-I've played a *lot* of supers & had fairly successful Pulp and Luce Libre games.
 
What point system have you ran or played in?
-I played some GURPS back in the day but Hero is my bag.
 
Do you still play or GM the Hero System
-I GM weekly
 
Our there other games you play
-I actively GM Hero and Pathfinder 2e, although I never go more than a few years without running Changeling.
 
On an A to F scale how do you rate the system overall
- It is a B for me but mostly because I've been doing it for more than 25 years.  If I had to start now I'm afraid I'd bounce off of it.
 
Followup question: If you rate the system below B- why are are still playing or using it?
- As I was close to the line on this: I think the "universal" nature of the game works, but requires a good set of examples and we do NOT have enough.  I want to see 3-4 really solid genres that have actual Sample Characters, Settings, and Lists of Enemies.  Way too many of Hero's "Genre Books" are a mile wide and an inch deep, forcing you to do all the work.  I had a great time running Pulp because I had several books supporting it.  My Players loved Luce Libre but it ran out of gas too quickly and I didn't have time to become an expert in the genre myself.
 
What are some house-rules, if any, you use in the past?
-I have two carryovers from older editions.  1) I limit how much Str can add to killing damage.  Best you can do is double the dice you bought and 2) Damage Shield is a straight Advantage instead of requiring a bunch of other stuff first as is currently the rule.
 
If you could put together a 7th edition what are some things you add, omit and/or change?
-I wouldn't want a 7th edition unless there was likely to be a lot of support for it.  Given Hero's current output I'd prefer to get content for 6th.

In my game world the amusement park was shut down after all the murders Black Harlequin committed on opening day.  The show took a ratings hit when the guys who ran the biggest fan forum were killed by a detonating rollercoaster and thus the fan community was unable to unite in their time of grief.
 
My PCs saved lives, but were fairly traumatized by the whole thing.....
Foxbat swore vengeance on BH because some things just aren't cool.

In my game world the amusement park was shut down after all the murders Black Harlequin committed on opening day.  The show took a ratings hit when the guys who ran the biggest fan forum were killed by a detonating rollercoaster and thus the fan community was unable to unite in their time of grief.
 
My PCs saved lives, but were fairly traumatized by the whole thing.....
Foxbat swore vengeance on BH because some things just aren't cool.

Not if you want to have multiple swarms acting independently.  It all depends on the effect you're looking for.

Yeah the analogy isn't exact but I think its a good starting point for crunching numbers and working on builds.  Of course, as I noted a while back, Mind Control has its issues, primarily being the "its nearly impossible to get people to forget you did this" aspect, so much so that its pretty much only usable by villains who do't have to worry about point totals and active cost caps.
 
 
Sure, that's the kind of stuff you do when you build a character around one power concept.  LIke how a speedster buys teleport and flying (to run on walls) etc.  But they still buy running really fast and high Speed.  The fact that you can simulate aspects of buying duplicates doesn't negate the idea of using duplicates and trying to represent what you see in the source material.

As I understand the effect, you don't roll dice.  The victim just dies.
 
I'd say it's a physical complication: Dies if control signal is sent. (Infrequently, Fully)

As I understand the effect, you don't roll dice.  The victim just dies.
 
I'd say it's a physical complication: Dies if control signal is sent. (Infrequently, Fully)

The biggest problem I have with Duplication vs Summon is the way the two overlap, specifically "Disposable Duplicates" are crazy expensive and you have to do a lot of gyrations for them to work despite being relatively common in fiction.
 
By "Disposable Duplicates" I am referring to duplicates that in theory are just as powerful duplicates of the original but in practice are treated like mooks that the opponents plow through like they were nothing.  These are normally more or less identical to the original which makes them feel like duplicates but the original isn't actually harmed when they are killed and can just keep making more of them.  The fact that they are easily plowed through by the opposition and can die without anyone feeling bad about it makes it seem like a summon with lower def/stun/body than the original.  They sort of exist in this no man's land between Duplication and Summon.
 
Examples:
- Ultron's army in Avengers: Age of Ultron 
- the various Clone Jutsu from Naruto
- The Monkey King in some tellings of his story
 
So they sorta work like Summons rather than duplicates, but the fact they don't come from somewhere else, are totally loyal (they usually think of themselves as the same as the original), and are more or less identical to the original makes them feel like they should be duplicates.  The way to actually buy these characters "the hero way" is via Summon, usually with lots of loyalty advantages piled on.  Duplication just doesn't work the way these characters do in the fiction.
 
I'm a Hero gamer of many years and I am all about Special effect, but it bothers me that when someone makes a list of fictional characters that duplicate themselves Hero would tell you to buy about half of them with a summon & a ton of modifiers instead of using the Duplication power.  At minimum I feel like that is a failure in naming.
 

The biggest problem I have with Duplication vs Summon is the way the two overlap, specifically "Disposable Duplicates" are crazy expensive and you have to do a lot of gyrations for them to work despite being relatively common in fiction.
 
By "Disposable Duplicates" I am referring to duplicates that in theory are just as powerful duplicates of the original but in practice are treated like mooks that the opponents plow through like they were nothing.  These are normally more or less identical to the original which makes them feel like duplicates but the original isn't actually harmed when they are killed and can just keep making more of them.  The fact that they are easily plowed through by the opposition and can die without anyone feeling bad about it makes it seem like a summon with lower def/stun/body than the original.  They sort of exist in this no man's land between Duplication and Summon.
 
Examples:
- Ultron's army in Avengers: Age of Ultron 
- the various Clone Jutsu from Naruto
- The Monkey King in some tellings of his story
 
So they sorta work like Summons rather than duplicates, but the fact they don't come from somewhere else, are totally loyal (they usually think of themselves as the same as the original), and are more or less identical to the original makes them feel like they should be duplicates.  The way to actually buy these characters "the hero way" is via Summon, usually with lots of loyalty advantages piled on.  Duplication just doesn't work the way these characters do in the fiction.
 
I'm a Hero gamer of many years and I am all about Special effect, but it bothers me that when someone makes a list of fictional characters that duplicate themselves Hero would tell you to buy about half of them with a summon & a ton of modifiers instead of using the Duplication power.  At minimum I feel like that is a failure in naming.
 

As I understand the effect, you don't roll dice.  The victim just dies.
 
I'd say it's a physical complication: Dies if control signal is sent. (Infrequently, Fully)

I know that Transfer was removed, but I'm still playing mostly 5Er plus a few things stolen from 6E.  That right there basically proves my point: Instead of one clean and simple power, you have to go and link two powers.  And then I still have to Advantage around the forced self-only Aid for it to affect someone else.  If I want to lose the abilities I'm Aiding, then I have to apply Side Effects.  Altering the definition of Transfer to move points from A to B, and change who gains and who loses, covers all these cases in a much less complicated way.
 
Chris.

As I understand the effect, you don't roll dice.  The victim just dies.
 
I'd say it's a physical complication: Dies if control signal is sent. (Infrequently, Fully)

The biggest problem I have with Duplication vs Summon is the way the two overlap, specifically "Disposable Duplicates" are crazy expensive and you have to do a lot of gyrations for them to work despite being relatively common in fiction.
 
By "Disposable Duplicates" I am referring to duplicates that in theory are just as powerful duplicates of the original but in practice are treated like mooks that the opponents plow through like they were nothing.  These are normally more or less identical to the original which makes them feel like duplicates but the original isn't actually harmed when they are killed and can just keep making more of them.  The fact that they are easily plowed through by the opposition and can die without anyone feeling bad about it makes it seem like a summon with lower def/stun/body than the original.  They sort of exist in this no man's land between Duplication and Summon.
 
Examples:
- Ultron's army in Avengers: Age of Ultron 
- the various Clone Jutsu from Naruto
- The Monkey King in some tellings of his story
 
So they sorta work like Summons rather than duplicates, but the fact they don't come from somewhere else, are totally loyal (they usually think of themselves as the same as the original), and are more or less identical to the original makes them feel like they should be duplicates.  The way to actually buy these characters "the hero way" is via Summon, usually with lots of loyalty advantages piled on.  Duplication just doesn't work the way these characters do in the fiction.
 
I'm a Hero gamer of many years and I am all about Special effect, but it bothers me that when someone makes a list of fictional characters that duplicate themselves Hero would tell you to buy about half of them with a summon & a ton of modifiers instead of using the Duplication power.  At minimum I feel like that is a failure in naming.
 

As I understand the effect, you don't roll dice.  The victim just dies.
 
I'd say it's a physical complication: Dies if control signal is sent. (Infrequently, Fully)

I find the idea that there's something unrealistic or inappropriate about established characters being revealed to be gay or bi hilarious. I made it it to fifty years old without realizing that I'm trans. I was married with two kids. No one (including me) suspected that I was anything other than a straight, cisgender man. And I know a ton of people in the same (or a similar) boat.
 
As long as society keeps moving in the right direction, I think this will happen less and less, but it's not going  go away, at least not in my lifetime. People figure out they're different at their own pace. Or they just don't reveal certain aspects of themselves until they're ready. It's the world we live in. Even though comic book worlds aren't our world, there's no reason to expect them to be different in that particular regard.
 
Just because you don't want to see something doesn't make it unrealistic or inappropriate.

I played around with GURPS Supers for a little while. I quite liked the history and ground rules for the super-Earth they set up, and some of their characters were interesting concepts. GURPS system itself doesn't scale very well for more powerful supers, though, which is my personal preference. I also dabbled a bit with Palladium's Heroes Unlimited, mostly due to my brief infatuation with Rifts. Palladium RPGs often include cool ideas, but the execution of the system is just so clunky.