wremus

It's funny. I have 6th but I didn't know about Heroic Action Points. I use the 6th books in a 5th-edition way, I guess. I build the characters and check the combat rules, but I guess I've missed out on some of the optional rules.

I think I'm not a fan of meta-gaming in Champions, but it felt right in the Buffy game.

But maybe. This must be what I was getting at. I guess as long as I made restrictions on how the Heroic Action Points were to be used. I like how it was put in the 6th rulebook:

 

Heroic Action Points are optional. The GM
must decide whether he wants to use Heroic
Action Points in his campaign, and if so, how they
work. The guidelines below offer some information
and advice to help him make this decision.

So....yeah! This works. Thanks, Steve!

Would you just build the White Hats on fewer points, or just restrict their points to certain kinds of things?

(Mostly posting this so I don't have to see the "Sharp Stake" post in the preview anymore. LOL)

In the Buffy game, they use this great mechanic. You can play as a "White Hat" or  "Hero." I will quote Wikipedia:

 

The most inherently low-powered Type is the White Hat, a supportive figure similar to Xander Harris or Willow Rosenberg at the beginning of the series. These characters must frequently focus on specific talents and skills, such as Willow's intelligence and interest in computers, in order to truly excel in any one area. They must also often exercise great care in combat. To make up for their relative weakness, White Hats receive additional Drama Points at the outset, and can use experience points to buy Drama Points at a 1:1 ratio, while Heroes and Experienced Heroes must spend two experience points for each Drama Point. Thus, a White Hat can afford to spend her Drama Points more freely, increasing her chances of survival. According to the rules, however, White Hats lose their 'discount' on Drama Points once they've gained a certain amount of power and expertise.

 

The Hero Character Type represents such figures as Buffy herself, Spike, or Riley Finn. These are characters with more existing talent (whether this came naturally or through years of training), more experience, and stronger supernatural abilities, if any. As such, they receive a larger number of points to spend on their Attributes, Skills and Qualities. However, their maximum number of Drama Points is only half the store available to a White Hat, and they must replenish Drama Points at a higher cost.

I've played this and it's quite fun. Would you, as GM and game organizer, try to incorporate this mechanic? If so, how?

 

 

I'm going to be borrowing/swiping a lot of these ideas and thoughts if I ever get my Champions 101 project going.  Great way of helping GMs relate to character designs and player types.

 

Double ditto. I was going to come on here and say that the Fantastic Four would be a better campaign, but now that I see what's actually happening here, I love it. This is my favorite thread.

Hunting someone is simply a Psych Lim.

I know you can take it that way now, and you can make most things work one way or another, which I admire about the system.

But I liked it when it was a kind of separate thing, when it was separate from a psychological quirk. Like, "I'm claustrophobic, and that's from my childhood. But I have to find this guy and bring him to justice because I said I would."

I know "because I said I would" is a Psych thing. But I liked the heroic feeling that Duty was somehow quite separate from being a little loopy.

It's semantics in a sense, but I'm waxing nostalgiac here, not quibbling. Or maybe I'm doing both.

PS: You could argue that a Hunted is in some way a Psych Complication, because you obviously rubbed the guy (or gal) the wrong way with your personality. Psych Limit: Rubs people the wrong way to the point they want to kill him.

I guess I'd like to see "Duty/Honor/Tradition" as a separate category. Code vs. Killing etc.

Okay, I'd add "Watched" by Bat-Mite. Depending on what kind of Batman we're talking about.

You'd think they would be more enemies, but Batman is the one doing the hunting.

Remember when you could take "Hunting" as a disadvantage?

Doesn't that assume that Bat-Mite is going to be helpful?  Because every time I've seen him, whether it's the comics or the cartoons--he has been anything but helpful.

 

Bat-Mite is about as welcome to Batman as Q is to Jean-Luc Picard.

True.

Bat-Mite as a contact. A low chance of contacting him, but he could do so just by saying his name.

1 Basic 8- Contact
+3 Contact Has Extremely Useful Skills or resources
+3 Contact is slavishly loyal to character

(8- because Bat-Mite isn't always watching, might miss hearing his name being called)

LOL. "15 Points Life Support." I totally remember that from the old editions. I remember 20 pts being the standard for power armor. I remember one of my players getting 25 pts in his armor and then explaining how the armor recycled the waste into food (with the addition of nutrients assumedly). Good times, good times...

Did the search. Perfect. Yes, I think Sandbaggers has a bit of the feel I would wish for in my campaign. But I would add a long action scene / set piece like from James Bond to break up the chatter now and then. (The Sandbaggers characters would talk about how real spying is nothing like James Bond, but I want to have my cake and, yes, eat it too.)

Wikipedia's Sandbaggers entry mentions Greg Rucka's Queen & Country, which I read when it came out. It strikes me as a balance between The Sandbaggers and James Bond. So your post (tkdguy) has helped me a lot! I realized that Queen & Country is the kind of game I'm aiming for.

Strike Force is worth that. I have a copy from when it first came out...looking at it right now! It is great and worth every penny.

I didn't know who Aaron Allston was, really, when I bought it. It was Strike Force that made me a huge fan of his.

Holy crap, the "Super Agents" supplement was written by Aaron Allston? How did I not buy that?

I bet this book would still be an excellent source for a campaign involving a SHIELD or SHIELD-like scenario (UNTIL etc.).

Or.... joint US/British operation. Then the players could decide which they wanted to be. Very cool, bubba.

I've read one of the author's books (The Emperor's Soul). He's pretty good. He's won a Hugo. It's nice to see a good writer take a shot at the genre.

I haven't read Steelheart, but I may try it.

Hi guys.

I'm trying to set up a spy game in Dark Champions. For anyone who has tried this, what was the premise of your game? I was thinking of using MI6 and just using the James Bond model: agents are brought in and briefed and then are sent out. But the problem is that I might want an American angle.

Anyone have thoughts on this?