Christopher R Taylor

Its a lot easier to write soap opera side stories and subplots than actual gripping adventure.  Plus, its a lot cheaper to have the protagonist in regular clothes hanging out talking rather than in costume out doing deeds of heroism.  Nobody needs to train or practice fight choreography, nobody needs to be paid to come up with the fight choreography or do the stunts, etc.

I'm kind of thinking aloud here, the more I think about it the less it seems like Resource Pools (although that's where I started)  The, "loadout" rules would depend heavily on how magic works in your campaign.
 
The caster would start with a certain amount of "free" spells, roughly equal to the real cost of a fighter's equipment. These spells would all be GM-created (much like equipment would be). If the player wants custom spells, or more spells, then he has to pay for them normally.
 
The introductory spell list would cover the basics, but not be overly powerful. There should be enough to give the player a reasonable selection, but limited enough to give him incentive to spend more points on something special.
 

Elastigirl!
 

 
No telling if she has the gargantuan booty or not

The Vision (MCU version)
 

wak wak wak wak
 

MCU Loki with the cosmic er, tesseract

Classic Mystique

Aha!
 
Now I remember. 
 
In order to do a 30d6 Move Through using 0 strength the Earth must move 180m on its phase.
 
Since terminal falling velocity is 60m/s this means the phase of the Earth lasts 3 seconds.
 
Thus, the Earth is speed 4.
 
The glorious wasted mental energy of college. 
 
 

Always great advice on these boards.  And the best answers come with someone new to Hero asks a great question.
 
In my own case when I run Champions I treat it like episodic TV shows.  Think of it as bad-guy episode #52 "Mole men attack the university" and next week "Mind controlled senior citizens robbing grocery stores and banks."  The campaign always takes place in the city I live in and I insist that all the characters be themed around something connected with the current location. This gives the characters a nice common theme and background.  Usually they have a few adventures before the local or national authorities show up and let them know they need to either get registered or be prepared to pay for property damage.
 
I run my Champions games as something in between my Fantasy campaign sessions when we know someone isn't going to be available for a session or two.

To start out the campaign, I'd give the players a rough idea of power level and setting, and then build the rest of the world through the choices they make with their characters.  The Marvel movies did that.
 
For instance, in the first Iron Man movie, they introduce the "arc reactor" technology.  This is really what sets the Marvel world apart from our world.  Tony Stark invents some really awesome stuff, and the "super" tech that we see all comes from him.  Of course his dad was brilliant too, and so if we need to have some existing supertech that Tony didn't invent, it probably came from his dad.  Then we get the Incredible Hulk, and we know that there's this serum the government has been messing with for decades, and if you do it wrong it produces monsters.  Then we get Thor, and we learn there are aliens who have been messing around on Earth for eons, and a lot of our old myths probably come from their exploits.  They've got advanced technology that looks like magic to us, and they aren't big on explaining themselves to humans.  Finally we get Captain America, and we not only see what the super-soldier serum does when it works right, but we also see the glowing cube thingy that (among other things) gives Nazis supertech.  This all comes together with the Avengers movie, where we get glowing cube thingy, brainwashing staff, alien armies, super-agents, and a flying helicarrier.
 
Everything we see in the early Marvel movies has its origins in something tied in with the "PCs" of that world.  Look at the origins of the main characters, and that gives you your villains.
 
So say you've got 5 players.  Bob wants to be a ninja.  Dave insists on playing a chain-smoking Scottish wizard who wears a trench coat and fights demonic creatures.  Ricky has designed a power armor character who spent all his points on the cool armor, and doesn't have any skills or wealth.  When forced to come up with an explanation, he says he's a military pilot and was given the armor for this special assignment.  Frank plays an alien from another world who gets his powers from Earth's reflected moonlight or something.  And Sarah wants to play an anime character she really likes.  She's got a teenage girl who changes into a super teenage girl and shoots rainbow beams of power.  She does this to fight off the evil queen from Planet X.
 
What do you do?  Well, you've got two characters with asian themes, so that'll probably feature heavily.  We know that ninjas are real.  You've also got two different alien races (Planet X people and also Frank's character, though you might tie them together somehow).  The government has advanced enough tech to hand out a power suit to Corporal Moron.  And we've got shadowy demon creatures running around in the background thanks to our cynical mage, Harry Trainspotter.  That gives you a lot of possible enemies for these guys.  Then you can gradually build out the world based on what happens with these characters.  Just go with the logical conclusions of their actions and how they describe their backgrounds.  It sounds to me like evil cults should be a thing, maybe they hire ninja clans to guard their meeting places?  And if the governments of the world know that aliens are real, perhaps they are trying to use their super-suits to prevent possible invasion.  That sounds like a good reason for them to build a lot of different experimental units, many of which can get stolen.  And then sometimes Planet X could send some advanced scouts to Earth, and maybe they get captured or they drop an important alien tech thingy  (and somebody else finds it).
 
Anyway, when you introduce a new villain, it can help to tie it to one of the characters.  Sorry Bob, but the cyber-ninja that tried to kill the mayor seems very familiar to you -- he reminds you of a dead man, someone you once killed.  You're honor bound to investigate.  And Ricky, that laser sword he used looks like something you saw in the testing center when they gave you your armor.  You're almost afraid to ask your superiors where it came from.  Something is definitely up.  You don't have to resolve the problem immediately, in fact it may be better if you just let it linger for a while.  Bob can get revenge and knock the villain off a building into the river (where he disappears), but Ricky is still left wondering who he can trust within his own organization.  Each game session, you might have a villain that is related to a different hero, or maybe multiple heroes at once.  The players end up being tied together by circumstances, because all the villains link back to their own backgrounds.

Some film & TV writers don't seem to get it (my personal pet peeve is the need some superhero show writers seem to feel to do an episode arc or sequel based around preventing a hero from using the abilities that make them super--very aggravating!), but some writers do get it. I would argue that the Marvel movies by and large generally get this right, offering heroes that are relateable but also allowing them to cut loose with their powers and focusing on threats that remain challenging and require the heroes to be super to overcome. Some of the DCUA cartoons do this too. Most recently, Young Justice is to me a pretty good template for team based supers campaign.

Yeah go with a really straight forward, simple character: this guy is strong.  This guy is tough.  This guy can fly.  Then combine that with a pulp hero character (he's a photographer for a news organization, he's an archaeologist who gets into wild adventures, he's an airplane pilot that goes to crazy places or does stunts).

<Nod> Very true!
 
In prepping for "Keystone Konjurors," I *deliberately asked* for players to give their PCs "plot breaker" mystical powers such as Telepathy, Retrocognition, EDM and Astral Form. What you can look back in time to see how something was done? You can go anywhere in the world, at will, invisibly and intangibly? You can vanish to another dimension when things get hairy? How can a GM possibly run excition scenarios under such conditions?
 
Well, you do it by accepting that the PCs have these abilities -- and you build scenarios that not only *accept* these abilities, they *require* them. Like, yes, the PCs *will* look back in time and find the next plot coupon. Oh, and occasionally give them chances to be cool by using their powers to effortlessly solve problems that other people find impossible. (A good story technique to keep in mind for any Champions campaign. The PCs are super, so let them show it off!)
 
Dean Shomshak

Actually, the Queen in Snow White came first. 

It's been 30+ years since I did the math on this, but based on the HERO move through and max falling damage rules I had calculated that the universe is speed 4 in HERO.
 
It might make sense for non-damaging effects to be charged 4x END cost per turn rather than on SPD since there's no advantage to it.  For constant attack powers the cost would have to remain per phase as it is still doing damage per phase.

I am somewhat okay with the concept of these two powers, just not as officially written up talents.  When its a "pick from" list, it becomes a matter of people grabbing them just because "dude, this is powerful!" rather than "I have an idea for my character..."  When they have to come up with the build or work with the GM to make it, its going to usually be more character and concept- based rather than going down a list and getting the broken parts to make your l337 Goblin Pwner

I don't like deadly blow at all, its just arbitrary damage to simulate a D&D/Pathfinder feat and really ought not be in the game. Combat Luck is problematic in that every character now always takes it with some lame justification by the player "My crippled mentalist is just good at predicting attacks and moving their wheelchair at the last second!"

Sounds like Thor Meets Captain America by David Brin.

That depends a lot on the GM's world and gameplay.  This will vary from campaign to campaign.  The current Champions Universe is very heavy on rPD.  It didn't used to be, and if you look at most comic book settings, they aren't either.

Welcome Tryskhell.
 
Here is my penny’s worth.
 
About cities.
I will use real world cities and city maps, but my hands down go to city is Hudson City.  The book is a highly detailed modern city.  You can use as much or as little as you want of what is written.  The best thing is you can buy a separate high-resolution modern style map of the city which in itself is worth getting.  I have used HC in many games from Champs/Hero to modern horror with CoC or GUMSHOE. 
My secondary choice for a city is Vibora Bay.  VB would be perfect if it had a map like HC.
 
About Campaigns.
I haven’t run many sword swingers (D&D, etc) in the last 10 years or so barring a short run of the Modiphius 2D20 Conan RPG.  My games have mostly been investigation games using Call of Cthulhu, Nights Black Agents, Delta Green, Fall of Delta Green, Fear Itself and multiple thriller/spy games using the rules sets mentioned. 
 
My campaigns expect to be fairly open, but not quite a full sandbox like D&D.  Since there isn’t a “party” the players are usually all members of something.  A special Law Enforcement, private investigation company and so on.  In a non-super game, the players still maintain a “secret ID” to split the day job from the hero work.  In a super’s game I may layer on another Secret ID. 
 
For example:  The PC’s family have been part of the Order for centuries.  The Order exists to protect the world from extraordinary threats (1st secret ID).  The PC is a Hudson City Detective in the special crime’s unit (the PC’s public ID).   If it is a super’s game the PC’s in costume appearance is the 2nd secret ID. 
 
I structure my campaigns by building plot lines.  For me a plot line is a series of scenes/encounters arraigned in a timeline.  The scene can be investigative, flashback, action or combat, or a combination. 
I use two kinds of scenes, required scenes for things that have to happen or clues that have to be found and contingency scenes that are not required but all me to adjust for players.  If the players investigated the scene of the crime and managed to miss a major clue, I will use one of my contingencies to give them a second chance.  The timelines are not generally tied to an actual calendar, they are more about order of appearance.  Crime B needs to happen before Clue C can be found. 
 
I’ve found that a plot line of 5 scenes and 2 contingency scenes is sufficient for 6 or 7 sessions. 
 
For a campaign I like to build three plotlines, one major and to lesser ones plus 4 or 5 independent scenarios.   
 
I’ll usually lead with one of the independent scenarios and then one of the lesser plot lines.  I’ll then inject the next plot line.  I like to have a minimum of two plot lines active at a time, and sometime all three.  By mixing things up it means the players cannot just assume ever encounter is linked to the pursuit of Villain X. 
 
The key is to add just enough detail to be usable to a scene, but not to go overboard.  Generally, my scenes are mostly where, why, clues and who.  And a sketch/map of the location.  Players NEVER follow the script so changing on the fly is the norm.   I also like to plug PC disadvantages/complications whenever possible.   Running the players through a “normal criminal investigation” in parallel to a superhero “super crime investigation” can be a lot of fun as the players try to make progress while maintaining two lives. 
 
The biggest thing is to remember that no campaign survives contact with the players, so make sure every scene is very very flexible. 
 
For threats I prefer to start with mostly non-lethal villainy to give the players time to get into the swing of the game.  Then slowly build the threat as the players settle in and get XP.
 
I also have a couple “reset” points in my campaigns where the players are able to do character rebuilds if they discover that their PC’s are not want they intended. 
 
Anyway, good luck with your game. 

If you aren't that familiar with the superhero genre, I'd suggest reading some classic comic books to get a feel for what superheroes are all about.  My own tastes lean towards the late 70s through the 1980s, but it kinda depends on what you're going for.  There's a website called Read Comics Online that has a huge storehouse of comics.
 
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/The-New-Teen-Titans-1980
 
The early 1980s Teen Titans storyline is a great team adventure.  It's got a mix of "woe is me" teen angst, characters balancing their super lives with their secret identities, one-off fights with villains, and overarching plots that the characters will encounter again and again.

It fits a lot of genres, that idea came to me as well when I was re-writing the rules to fit into Western Hero.  I suggested it as an optional rule (since I can't just change the rules on a whim for this project), but it completely makes sense.  Its already in the rules that the GM can allow PCs to help a character move up into a quicker recovery area when they are unconscious (say, from recover once per minute to recover per turn) through paramedics or encouragement.
 
 
It fits almost every genre you can imagine to help someone rally when they are dazed.
 
The only real question is how you'd do it?  I think a similar system to the above for recovery would make sense, maybe a PRE roll to rally them, a Paramedic Roll to help them recover, or something logical like helping them to their feet and shaking them.  But the same structure of a full phase action should be followed.  Maybe even ½ DCV to help someone recover.

Bolo's given a good description of what a Champions campaign should look like: a blend of single character bits, short scenarios, and ongoing subplots that may blossom into main plots and climaxes of story arcs. I can still post a detailed example of how an adventure worked out in play, if you want. Would you prefer a thrilling, epic adventure in which the PCs had their final confrontation with a foe they'd clashed with a few times before? Or -- to show the sort of things that can happen at the gaming table -- a comedy of errors in which the PCs' bad judgment derailed the plot and left me, as GM, scrambling to catch up?
 
Dean Shomshak

I take the opposite approach, I think all the other products should be called x Champions.  Star Champions.  Western Champions.  Fantasy Champions.