Christopher R Taylor

I have some talents built that let players ignore common limitations on spells up to a certain power level (like incantations on up to 50 active points). Magic items that do that are pretty cool too: I don't have to concentrate to cast my spells any more!

In addition to a nice stock of 10-15 pre-made characters, we need a basic adventure. My preference is a single arc that tells a story, with these features: A way of making each character feel like they need the group, as if they won't be able to do it solo A way of emphasizing heroics, even overemphasizing it: save the kitten, rescue the hostages, stop the bad guy. The heroes save the day, triumph over bad guys and have a clear, bright line between good and bad Each adventure moves toward a solution of the reason the PCs come together, so its their story and their team's existence is very important. The resolution leaves them with all the essential tools of a superhero group (contacts, base, vehicles, etc). What I want to avoid is the way movie villains have been so often, where the PCs were the reason for all the bad stuff that took place. I also think that while more morally murky and conflicted stuff is fun and useful eventually that too many modern players need to be taught what a hero is and get really stark, clear good/evil choices and nudging so they understand the role of a superhero vs a fantasy character. What do other people think?

Here's what I figure it should look like, a sheet I built based on some ideas from other people: The filled out version would have really simple info like rolls for skills, all Combat Value slots filled in with the (OCV+11)-3d6 roll (so an OCV 8 has a 19- roll in the combat value slot) and no costs anywhere. Powers are listed in the simplest terms - damage, name. The idea is to give the players as minimal info as they can use to play with and no more. Plus, the color coding allows the GM to say "your stats are in the green section!"

Well I leave that up to the "publisher" and the person creating the characters. I was just thinking about the guidelines and principles we build them around: recognizable but not too close in name and image, with simple builds and backgrounds someone can plug just about any gender into (and, for most at least, any ethnicity. Why can't Iron Person be Brazilian?).

He's a good writer for a certain kind of film, not so much for others. Batman, fine. Superman? Not so much.

The Black Widow character doesn't need to be female any more than the Thor character male, if we're trying to make them non gender specific

Steve Long could answer this better, probably, but I think "Thunder" might be nudging up a bit too closer to copyright. Especially if you give them a hammer and divine origin.

I'm hoping Deadpool makes a kajillion dollars so they figure out you can make superhero movies fun. I about slit my wrists watching the latest trailer.

Yeah I think ideally what you want is a character name and background that can go either way, so people can have their rule 63 Captain Ironman or whatever. Rather than locking them in as female or male, wherever you can. Some might be tough (the Thor alternate, for example) but the rest, I mean Iron Man is just a suit so it doesn't matter.

Well we have to be careful nudging up too close to the rabidly defensive and litigious Disney properties. So something that people understand is the Avengers but without being so close its worth their time to drag Hero into court over. The first few sessions of the game, players don't even need to know about limitations or how things are built, just get used to the way combat works and get into the concept of a superhero game. Then you can start giving them more details and a more complex character sheet. The sequence and how to do that I think is worth discussing and working out.

I liked the concepts in Mystic Masters (and the campaign). Lots of interesting variants on magical types in a champions game leaning heavily toward Dr Strange.

IN terms of character design I'm thinking fairly cheap/low point to start with, but each adventure gives big chunks of powers. That way you can have really simple stripped down characters, and then build them up quickly. My and massey's idea of experience is to give the players blocs of powers to choose from, stuff that fits the character. Take the "Vulcan" idea with a strong tough guy that has a hammer, maybe flame blast, and combat with the hammer or his fists. Then with experience you can start to add more complex ideas, like "fix item" (cosmetic or minor transform: broke to fixed), create item (transform again) for simple concepts a blacksmith could make, flame blast from any fire source, etc. The idea is to start bone simple, then add complex bits of powers in more expensive blocks but adding each block the player interacts with the GM on how it works and what it means, rather than dumping it all on them at once with a character. By starting cheap you can give big important chunks of character abilities all at once instead of little pieces that build up. That way after a few adventures, the characters reach full Champions power level, but feels like a comic book/TV show/tutorial where powers are revealed until the PC is fully capable. Ideally, the power blocks could be from a picklist, so that the GM and player can sit down: which would you rather have, the flame blast, the fix-it power, or the make things power? Thus giving the player input over how the character develops but in a simple controlled way that won't intimidate new players.

Its probably easiest to use original guys, but Viper would definitely be preferable just because they're so classic Champions.

I posted some possible alternate Avengers in the other thread. The Thor alternate I came up with was Vulcan (the Roman god of blacksmithing etc, I see him with kind of a "Fix-It Felix" sort of power to repair things) with a hammer.

Well the concept is that he fought all the way back to the pre-revolutionary war era fights, but it could still be female, I suppose. Much less likely, but possible.

Vulcan and Patriot are the only ones that necessarily need to be male; you could go with a more generic name like "Fletcher" or something for the archer. But given the composition of 99.9% of gamer groups having a few less female characters isn't exactly a huge concern. The others can easily be any gender.

The thing is, Hero doesn't distinguish between settings and campaigns. In that super realistic cop game you can bat aside arrows just like the wild martial arts game, by default.

Yes I agree, if someone practices for hours, sets up a careful array, knows exactly where the arrow is coming from, stands in just the right place, and gets 15 takes, they can deflect an arrow. But in a fight? Nuh uh, not unless you get stupidly lucky. So yeah, roll a 3. But letting everyone do it, with just a block roll? Seriously?

The theory behind doing Avengers knockoffs is that it is an easy and recognizable, popular hook to get new players interested. You can make your own guy, but here's a starter you already know and understand to learn the rules with. I would want to use a simplified character sheet for the PCs like the one I built, and a full sheet for the GM so he knows all the ins and outs. That way the PCs get only what they absolutely need to start out with, and can learn more session by session.

OK over in the thread "Does Champions need an intro campaign book" everyone agreed that having a basic stripped down super simple campaign and starting characters to help new players and GMs get rolling would be a terrific idea. However, we also agreed that this would have to be super cheap or free to be useful to the game and the gaming community. The principle idea is to have a basic beginner adventure series with basic beginner characters and a campaign structure that GMs can use to introduce and teach Champions to players. This adventure would help start up a campaign, and act as a tutorial not only for the players, but the GM. Its main features would include: A set of basic characters with stripped down sheets (using faux Avengers would be a good start) An introductory adventure to pull the PCs together into a group and make them a team, with several sessions worth of play following a story arc Notes on how to spend xps for each character Tips on GMing, with each adventure highlighting a different aspect to learn and use A step by step gradual introduction of each aspect of Champions rules for the players to learn, adding complexity each adventure like a tutorial Maps, art, and the rest usually needed. So I'm issuing a challenge and a request here: who wants to help make this happen? Who is willing to work without pay and in a timely fashion to help generate this product so it can be made available for free as a pdf to GMs (and for a modest cost in print on demand -- or free if Hero is willing to eat the cost)? We'll need artists editors writers designers proofers and most of all: a main publisher who will coordinate and oversee all this with a single vision and whip cracking to get it all together I can offer character building design, some art, help with layouts and publishing and of course writing. What can you do? To help our favorite hobby and benefit the Champions/Hero Games name? Here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is.

I guess I should do this as a separate thread, so its a distinct topic. We could do faux Avengers like this: Vulcan (the Thor variant, but based on the Roman god of blacksmithing etc) Patriot (Captain America, my concept is a sort of eternal soldier from the founding of the USA who shows up at times of trouble, has artifacts and equipment from various time periods - Old Soldier in the Astro City comic is a template) Ironmonger - (Iron man variant, but less about the playboy and more hard labor welder type) William Tell - (Hawkeye with a crossbow, a big time street fights for the little guy against injustice etc type) Shinobi - (Black Widow variant ninja type) Specter (Vision basically a clone of the comic book version with phasing etc) Hexxer (Scarlet Witch variant) Slick (speedster with frictionless concept) Peregrine (man with flight suit) That keeps them close enough to type without being actually the same characters. Its useful to have a lot of options so maybe some that are in the comics that never made it to the film, like Wasp, Giant Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, even Beast could be made into variants close enough to the original that a comics fan would know them. I haven't read Avengers since like 1990 so I have no idea what the team is like now.

I have that Its kind of in rough shape. The "Microfilm Madness" adventure chain they came up with was a terrific upgrade.

this probably would have to be either an independent publisher or a group effort from people here and on the facebook page. So... how about it? People here willing to put their money where their mouth is? I can contribute some art and writing, even if I can't finish the whole thing. Anyone else want to do some writing, some art, some editing, layouts, etc? For free? I think its worth it to help out the hobby, don't you?

I think his Penance Stare is a pretty classic Mental Attack that does body, but a transform could work too: maybe they don't die right away, they're just a brainless vegetable

Giving new players "power blocs" that they can choose from for spending xps on is a big help, I've found. Suggest things along the lines of what they wanted and couldn't afford or make sense for the character when they get experience. You can get this, or this, or this... or just make up something of your own. Captain USA can learn to throw his shield, bouncing it off things and coming back to him, or he can learn to jump further using acrobatics, or he can get better body armor...