Eyrie

Or "Hold my beer and watch THIS~!"

Your call, of course, but no too long ago, I did am informal pill in the subject, and the comments were quite enlightening.  It may help you decide what is right for you.  I had intended to link it, but using the search function on this phone is beyond infuriating.  If I remember correctly, it was titled "it's all about location."  (Weirdly, it popped right up a week or so ago while I was searching for something completely unrelated.)  
 
 
 
 
That is my preference as well, but we explained our personal thoughts in the above-mentioned thread.
 
 
 
 
Gonna level with you: even though (and I really can't say that there is no chance that it might be because of) the Silver Age Sentinels setting / universe is far less developed than the Champions universe, there is no part of it that  I don't like far more  than any of the published Champions settings from any edition.  I tend to fell the same,way about the "title characters" of SAS and Champions as well.  Now that is not to say that I _dislike_ the published Champions stuff (except the 4e "title character" Champions roster).
 
That is what had me a little stoked about your "use everyrhing from everywhere" setting idea:  sweet!  Dump Destroyer; replace with Kruzriter (yeah; I know that is spelled wrong.  After a full minute, it is what autocorrect and I came to agree on), and other such swaps.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
That's really up to you, but ultimately: why?  Why does a city have to be replaced?  You can have New York and Hudson City.
 
I wont get too deep into all that, because there is no right or wrong there; you are building a world, and the only way it will be right is if it is built the way you want it.  Let Vibora Bay replace New Dehli if you want.
 
Just as an example:
 
My supers setting is Campaign City.  We have been gaming in Campaign City since the first edition.  It is located on the shores of Lake Campaign (you have to understand it was named after a long-running joke), one of the Great Lakes.
 
So let's do some simple math:  2022 minus 1980 is forty-two years of never once having been asked by any player which Great Lake was replaced, or if this is a new one, of it CC was replacing Chicago-  I havent ever even,been asked if we were Americans or Canadians.
 
Not one time.
 
I know a lot of people just arent happy withiut a fully-mapped city.  I have never been asked to map out more rhan a small neighborhood, ever.  With the advent of getting online in the 90s, I have image grabbed sections of more cities than I have ever been asked to use.  No one has ever cared that most of the larger maps (that is, the higher ariel views that were packed with roads) couldnt possibly fit together into a cohesive city.
 
Why?  I have never had a group care to know more than what was around them at the moment, and where they were in relation to regular landmarks (you are about a dozen blocks from the college, and four miles South of the museum.  A couple of blocks the financial district over here (makes vague circle,on battle map) and you'll be in the high-rent part of the waterfront).
 
All they ever really want to know is how much are to canvass, how fast they can fly, how much running room they have, and how far can they spread a battle.  So long as I can provide them these details on command, they have never once wanted or even shown interest in a road map of Campaign County or even just the city or even a single district within it.)
 
The only recurring "road map" anyone has ever insisted on was Daedelus Park, to include _some,of the roads around it and that part of the financial district into which Tree grows.
 
 
Now, all that being said, let me also say this:
 
You are getring some solid world building advice above.  Everyone is making great points, especially if you are putting together something for publication.  It is rock solid advice.
 
I have never, in any game or genre, done any of it.  Sure, early on, I though I _had- to so all this work: vreating Gods and religions and economies and the patterns of global trade and multi-layered political maneuvering-
 
And it disnt take very long to figure out that the players  straight up _do not care_.  They want to know about the look and feel of the world, the tone of the campaign, there particular power level, and hoe it compares to Joe Onthestreet and how it compares to the most powerful person in your campaign world.  Seriously: they dont care how many NPC supers arw out there beyond "they are pretty rare" or "it's not uncommon: it seems,every big city has four or five heroes and a couple dozen villains", and a way to subjectively determine their current power level.
 
Campaign City grew initially from "you guys are in a big city- like a major metropolis, giant buildings New York style.  There are dive costumed,figures flying at you."
 
Seriously.  That is how it started.  We read the rules, we wanted to play _right now_ and the GM had _nothing_.  We had all,just met over the previous two or three weeks  as he was trying to recruit a group.
 
"Okay; do we know them?"
 
Yes; they are famous supervillains.
 
What do they want?
 
From the eye lasers and fire blasts, I think they want to attack you!
 
Okay.  We need to get a plan!  Find cover!  Where are we?  In a building?
 
You're in a graveyard.
 
 
It, uh, got a lot worse from there.  But even after that, when the GM showed up with his notes...
 
We wanyed to pick up from where we left off.
 
That is also why Daedalus Park has a graveyard in it to this day.  Our hunteds and huntings and rivalries and origin stories provided the earliest population.  Businesses and organizations and foundations appeared as we needed them-  well, as we needed something _like_ them:
 
Okay, the crimemobile is orerrt busted up.  Is there like some place we can ger ir fixed up quick and quiet?
 
Well, there's Bender's Fender.  Quickest turn around anywhere in town, accorsinf to the radio.
 
Great!  Can he fix an experimental alcohol jet propulsion engine?
 
Well, mostly he does body work, but he might know a guy....
 
That kind of thing.  If you let them, your players will build a wonderful playground for you: one that focuses on the needs, interests, and desires of the setting in which they want to play.
 
Look at the source material:  every single super hero has fifty or more supervillains.  If there are forty superheroes all acting out of New York, an9 each of them has fifty or sixty unique supervillains, and then there are world-class or galaxy class superheroes _from_ New York, but nit necesarily operating there, and each of them has fifty unique villains.....
 
That is a buttload of super people floating around New York City.  I dint mean in terms of population perxentage (which I have also never been asked about with any more interest than "are powers common or not?"-- which was answered with "powers arent common, but they arent particulalry unusual, either.  _useful_ powers are quite in common, and really powerful levels are very unusual.  Finsinf a combination of strong, useful powers and courage to use them in bokd and public ways makes super heroes and costumed villains rather rare, though."
 
I was never asked for more specifics that that, and every so often, players encounter a background NPC with some minor ability: a bartender that can grab your mug and re-chill your drink;  an ironworker who welds using his own natural ability to create a reliable electric arc; a waitress whose clairsentience lets her check on her customers while seating a new table,  a cleaning service stagged entirely by low-level speedsters, and everyone's favorite: a stuntman whose only power is the ability to survive a fall from any height.  (He has gone over Niagara falls nine times so far-- without a barrel).
 
It isnt something I ever thiught about when our first GM left and I took over- the minor powers- and I never would have no matter how long a document I might have prepared, but once I was asked about  powers, it seemd so obvious...
 
Honestly, I dont think the density or xommonality of xostumed adventurers ever really mattered: Marvel's New York City should house a few thousand super-powered individuals, but somehow, it never seems to matter.  Iron Man never swings through and repulsive blasts the guy Daredevil is trying to beat with a stick and offers a quick "yeah, you're welcome, DD!" and then flies off on his way to an alien invasion threat.  Doctor Strange never squares up with the Kingpin.  The only time all these thiusands of supers matter _at all_ to each other when it is scripted that they shoukd work together, then never see each other ever again, unless Marvel revives Two-in-One, in which case the Thing is going to have his danve card filled.  Why?  Bevause the while point of Two-in-One was teaming up other supers with the Thing, period.
 
By the source material, there are always more heroes or villains than will ever make sense, and they will never show up unless they are absolutely supposed to.
 
So what difference is their density in ther world, the vast majority of which your players and their characters will never trod? 
 
Now I make no secret of the fact that I dont sweat nearly the detaila that most people do when "world building."  Mostly because not only do I remember the experience of Lars, but the one winter I forgot it and in my hubris crafted a fantasy campaign that my players demanded, begged for- something new and different and unkike anything that we have aeen before--!
 
And I soent a winter crafting such a world, and such a campaign, and a number of smaller enctiunters to impress the flavilor of rhis world-
 
And they _hated_ it.  What they claimed to want and what they actually wanted were two different things.  They claimed they wanted something new and truly exotic  when all they really wanted was YATRO except all weapons were akin to the Stands from JoJo' Bizarre Adventure (an arcade fighter that was pretty hot at that moment).
 
So there you have it: the two sides od the coin: absolute excellent World-building advice that I will,never tell you is anything but good advice, and how it blew completely,up,in thw GM' face on both of the only two occasions I have ever seen it fully implemented.
 
For my money, I rhink Chris Goodwin hits an absolute sweet spot that any GM shoukd strive for:
 
I have never read any of his campaign idea documents that went more,than ten pages, and several that dont go to ten.  He sketches vaguely the feel of the world, polotivs and religion as,any character in the world would be passignly familiar, bouse rules as appropriate, character guidelines, and a few,things that make,rhis world unique.
 
All of it is done with broad strokes, making tweaking on the fly and adjusting for slowly-realized player desires almost effortless, and certainly inobvious to the players even as it happens.  As a campaign platform document, I think it is absolutely brilliant,  and I live reading them!
 
Now I quoted Scott specificaly because, other than the need dor a well-mapped city, our ideas on Campaign building overlap more than they don't.  Notice rhwt the bulk of his advice can be boiled down to "don't pin down every detail right away; your focus shohld be finding out what the players are interested in, and making sure you are amenable.
 
 
Notice That even before you have built a world, he stresses making sure that you have players who are like-minded in working together to share a good time.  Scott recommends literally interviewing potential players not just to see what they want, but with an eye toward what they offer the game, and the likelihood of trouble they may cause the game.
 
More than what percentage of the Estonian people have super powers, this has importance.  It dowsnt matyer what the average Damage Class of a main is if you have one player who must be begged to use it and another who wont stop using,it on his teammates.
 
 
 
 
I also agree with this.  If you have new-to-the-system players, I stress it.  It is what I had to docdoecmy current youth group.  Obviously, this allows the players to experience the game immediately and not have to stumble through character creation until  they actually understand what these terms and ideas mean in game terms, but there is another benefit:  you can build characters that compliment each others and that work well together.  Ultimately, their first experiences with the games focus in teamwork and getting along.  It ingrains the idea that this is a natural and essential part of the experience, and going forward, will likely continue to build future characters with an eye toward complementing the rest of the party.
 
 
 
Agreed.  I go a bit further and rwxommend that they have fifteen or even twenry points to spend.  Why?  Because by that time, they are really getting in the groove of the mechanics and their various interactions, and will likely know exactly what changes they want to make to the character, or what sort of a character they would prefer to have.
 
At That time, work with them one-on-one, and answer every singke quesrion they have, no matter hiw tedious, and dont let them think that this is just as exciting for you as It is for them- any less may discourage questions go which they _need_ answers to ensure that they are getting the best gaming experience that they can.
 
 
 
I could go on and,on, but I am pretty sure I have.
 
 

 
 
 
 

1d6 Blast, Expendable Focus (very difficult to recover; 1 Galactus)  😜

there's a decent chance that the next person in line hired the assassin

I got a smile from this one actually.

reminds me of the Villain from Wallace and Gromit

I was NOT the GM for the misadventure I am about to relate, but it's the worst example I know of.
 
D&D.  The DM's wife was a writer and wanted to see what this D&D thing was all about, so we set up a little party for a campaign.
 
* Elven Rogue (me), sailor by trade, good with knots.
 
* Dwarf fighter, strong and tough.
 
* Halfling of some flavor.
 
* Halfling bard of some sort (DM's wife).
 
So the absolute opening scene of the campaign:  we open a door and are confronted by a chasm with a river of lava in the bottom.  We must cross to continue.
 
My sailor Elf with rope and high agility manages to get a grapnel across and shimmies over.  We have to make dex rolls, which frankly not many first-level characters are good at. The generic halfling goes over next.  
 
Then the DM's wife.  She rolls a 1.
 
Down she plunges toward searing molten lava! 
 
Signaling to our doughty Dwarf, still on the starting side,  to anchor the rope around his waist and brace himself, my Elf leaps into the abyss, swinging down to save his companion, the DM's wife, and the entire campaign.
 
A perfect roll!  The elf snatches her from certain death.  Both their falls are checked momentarily by the Dwarf's brawn as he performs a belay.
 
He rolls a 1, and is yanked off the ledge. You knew this was coming, didn't you?
 
All 3 of us plunge into fiery death.
 
The halfling is the sole survivor, left alone in the hostile side of the chasm with no rope and no way home.
 
The DM's wife, who, as a published author, is used to having *total control* of plot and characters all to herself, storms out of the room without a word.
 
Campaign *finis*.  She never wanted to try again.

Any science which is distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.

I kinda like "Inhuman Resources" myself. 

New idea:  The scenario and campaign hook should have to do with either why the previous super-team is no longer around (fallout from whatever incident caused that), or a new threat (or possibly a threat that's been around for a while, but is only now being discovered).  Gets the players into the setting and campaign, hopefully keeps them interested.
 
"Old Hero Team met their untimely demise at the hands of ###insert threat###.  It's up to us to pick up their mantle."
 
"The ###insert threat### is a menace to Campaign City.  It's up to us to stop it."

Two things:
 
1) I am not against bases.  I am against charging for them, seeing as how they offer little that isn't available to a superhero via some other method (Spideman using the lab at college or at some internship; superheores using Star Labs or working with local agencies, etc).  The value added versus the points spent just isn't there.  If you want a base, fine; have a base.
 
2) the last several examples from the source material seem to support the idea that a base is both set dressing for where the story takes place _and_ attacked with some regularity.
 
Also, I dont think it's odd that a defense contractor have no 'air defense" at his headquarters / lab / base.  I am pretty sure some meals villain could drop a bomb on Lockheed Martin and then head to Northrup Grumman and attack there as well before got something in thw air to take them down.  They build the weapons /planes /whatever, but don't necessarily have a stockpile of then laying around, primed and ready to go.
 
Theur biggest defense agaisnt that is "who is going to dly ovwr American soil and attack a military defense contractor?"  Similarly, I expect Stark's defense was identical, with the addition of "who is also Iron Man?"
 
Turns out that some whacko with lots of resources and a personal grudge will do that very thing.
 

I started down that road: a one-book-complete-to-play idea, but now I'm thinking Champions Complete plus a new campaign book would draw more new people.

I remember in "Queen of the Black Coast," Conan telling Belit that he stayed out of the gods' way, and expected them to stay out of his. He accepted the existence of many gods and "wouldn't tread on their shadow," but rarely prayed to any of them over his life, even his people's god, Crom. He put more trust in his sword than any god.

I can't recall a story in which Conan ever raped a woman. I do recall a few in which he had the opportunity, but didn't; and more in which he went out of his way to protect a woman.
 
Conan is a classic anti-hero. He's definitely out for himself. He'll steal from those with wealth, betray those who are treacherous, and kill in a fight without hesitation or remorse. But he always kept his word, and any agreement he made. He never hurt weak or helpless people. The king he took his throne from was a generally-hated fool who grew jealous of Conan's popularity with his troops, and tried to have him imprisoned. As a king Conan was a fair and even-handed ruler who took his responsibility to his subjects seriously.
 
As robber-barons go, Conan was better than most.

I understand this approach but I have a few thoughts on that.  First off, Marvel Comics is putting out a role playing game. I don't know if it will be any good or not but the fact is, they'll dominate the "play the movies" market completely.  In fact, its likely that every superhero game is leaning in that direction, which means Champions would just be marching in the same rut without star power or movie tie-ins to back it up.  Further I suspect that people still have some affection for and appreciation for a more bronze age/4 color approach than barely-costumed adventurers blowing up cities.  But perhaps that's just my bias.
 
 
By every possible standard, D&D is the most popular, most well-known, and most influential game on the market.  They have never, in nearly 50 years, published a game that had a scenario built into the rules.  In fact, if you look at nearly every RPG that's put out, they have the rules in books that are conspicuously lacking a setting and adventures in it.
 
What they do have is a bundle of rules + adventure, in box sets or similar presentations.  And I do think that's a good approach, which is a winner.  A new book purporting to be Champions in a shelf already crammed with Champions?  Not so much.  Champions Complete plus Champions Begins for free, plus a ready made campaign including an adventure or two and a buncha summaries in a box with a subscription to Hero Designer?  Yeah.  That should work.
 
We have what we need in place: Champions Complete gives you the game, Champions Universe gives you the setting.
 
As for a specific city?  I think perhaps the best approach for that is not to put out a setting of a city, but to put out adventures that build this setting.  In other words, your adventures build the setting by the PCs interacting with it. This adventure is set in the docks.  This one is downtown.  This one is the cemetery and some parks.  That way as noted above, GMs have a choice to use the specific setting given, or just use a generic version or one of their own.  By thinly disguising locations you can mimic interesting sorts of settings which GMs can then use as Champions Universe if they want, or real world.  OK this isn't the Statue of Liberty, its the Triumph Monument, but you can tell what it is, either way.

Pretty much that.
 
 
 
 
 
I am delighted that Champions II has been referenced!  It includes a paragraph that sums up so much of why I don't charge for bases:
 
 
 
 
 
Going line-by-line:
 
The purpose of a base is, apparently, to be attacked in the base.
 
I am not charging someone for the location in which they are attacked.
 
The more intricate your base, the less secure it is-- at least, that seems to be the ideal.  Never mind the points you spent for the Concealment Roll!  If your base is anything cooler than hiding under a manhole cover, villains are just going to get in and attack you.
 
The security measures for which you paid points are meaningless, and will only serve to prevent your reinforcements from arriving.
 
The best and most effective part of the base is the character team itself.
 
 
Sure: I'm sure the rules are changed and better expressed, but at the very heart of the matter is this:
 
The base is an enabler.  "using your lab in your base can give you a plus 1 to plus three bonus!"
 
When you read your skill usage rules, using _any_ skill-appropriate lab will give you that same bonus.  Heck, you can use the points you'd spend on a lab in your base to buy up Skill a point or two!  Or just use anyone's lab.  That seems to be a common theme in comics anyway, right?   Ooh-- even better!  Your badguys aren't constantly breaking into the borrowed lab!  
 
I can go on, but like four people have replied while I write this, so I'm just going to state my absolute agreement that bases are nothing but point sucks for PCs.  If you want a base-- fine.  You can have it.
 
 
 

The funny thing, it reminds me of a time I played a martial artist and an explosion targeting a nearby hex was happening.  So I aborted my phase to be 4" farther away figuring losing the top 6 dice would let it bounce off me.  The GM rolls to hit and bungles it badly.  He randomly rolls direction and guess what, it lands on top of me.  Top 4 dice were all 6s, though damage was average.  If I had just stayed still I would have been unharmed.

Got word: Champions Begins is greenlit for a 1st quarter 2022 release!  I'll get more info to you as I learn more.

Back when I was playing RoleMaster, we noticed that High-Elves had a natural +20 DB and RR to cold. So, they were hunted, killed and skinned to make soft leather clothing by nearby marauding barbarian tribes. It was awesome! 

Excellent suggestions.  I'm trying to make each of the books look distinct so they all have a different color and layout strip but how's this look?  
 

 
I am not too worried about a back cover for the moment, as it will be strictly PDF, and there's no need for a back unless it gets printed at some point

A friend recounted what happened to his character when he came out of the Houses of Healing.  They asked for a donation and he basically refused saying that the gods probably don't exist and he wasn't going to pay for them.  Well at the top of the stairs he trips over a silk scarf, rolls down the stairs, hitting every single carving and statue on the way, dislocating his shoulder, breaking a couple of ribs and the fingers of one hand.  Now he gives generously.  Still thinks gods don't exist, but goddesses:  Yeah they are totally real!

Not what I said... 
To repeat
"This allows me to slip in some 21st century values believably into a medieval ISH setting."  so no, it's not 'just like they are in the time I live' Any game master picks and chooses what is and isn't in their game world. Saying the sexes will be treated more equally is no more "forced" than deciding it will have only four races to pick from as playable characters, or that magic in the setting will work from the same source.  Each pick of what is or isn't in a gameworld; it's peoples, it's cultures, is a good prompt to 'How did it get there?' I've found it allows a rather natural means to speculate upon and fill out backstory and history for each culture.  I don't sit down with the players and go "This is what I wanted and that's why", they're bright folks, and they know everyone has their style and preferences and that I try to take theirs into account.  
 
If they show an interest in a part of the setting, and their characters are either locals or have the right knowledge skills, What I do is say "One hundred years ago today, the Patriarchs of the  city of Vircombe declared the already beleaguered women of their city to be property of their husbands, and those unwed to be auctioned off as brides to the highest local bidder to fill the treasury. The women prayed to the goddess Tymyrsa for rescue, and the Patriarchs were blinded by her holy power. Their rule was cut short, and the women, knowing their prayers were heard, rose up and demanded to be full citizens. Your party has arrived on the anniversary of that event, and that explains why so many are wearing red blindfolds (of course, of such thin material they can still see through it) to honor that day."
 
If that feels forced to you, well, so be it, but the players liked it and it was a fun world crafting moment for me.

That, Sir, is the whole reason I do it: I can have as many magic relics as I want (or don't), and dont have to have the entire world at some,magic level that it almost makes sense that people lose these sorts of things without spending their lives looking for them again.  While in some precious age, it might have been easier to just replace them, in this one, not so much.
 
It also goes a long way toward justifying the inability to just buy or create another one od that cool magic thing the bad guy has.
 
It helps explain isolated pockets of civilization without having to go into evolution and the migratory habits of African Swallows, and it allows unexplanable wonders to exist without explanation.
 
And, in reference to another thread, it helps explain "mideval stagnation:"  we aren't still here; we are here again.
 
Yes: it does rule out some,interesting ideas, but the value it brings to our games far outstrips the potential missed opportunities, at least for us.
 
 

I prefer smaller populations.  In part because a large portion of the games I have enjoyed in the past (as player and as GM) have all been "age of exploration" type games-- the dawning of the particular Age in which we are playing.  Frankly, the typical "city" is about the size of a Renaissance  Festival (with way, way fewer costume sellers   ).  Really 'big" cities are very few and far between, and _might_ hit five thousand people for a true metropolis.
 
 

Apropos of this, my experience writing and developing for Exalted suggests to me that some game writers -- though quite bright in other ways -- have a dubious grasp of geography and scale. Like, one writer who was creating a new country described it both as "small" and "a thousand miles wide." I reminded him that 1,000 miles is the distance between Chicago and New Orleans. This may be "small" compared to some countries in the setting, but it's a bit large and spread-out for some of the institutions he wanted the country to have.
 
Part of the problem, I think, is that Exalted started with a world map and design went down from there -- and when you start sketching borders on a mpa whose scale is 1 inch = 800 miles, you tend to get pretty big countries.
 
Discussing this on White Wolf's forum, I came up with this comparison for people who think you need big places for big stories. On the Exalted map, Ireland would fit within a quarter-inch square. Ireland, with all its weight of history, from the Tuatha de Danaan to the Troubles. Is Ireland too small for a Fantasy epic?
 
Okay, you say it is. Half an inch on the map can include most of the Ancient Greek world. Most of the Greek myths and epics happen within a half inch square, with a few excursions B eyond the Fields We Know such as the Argonautica or Odysseus sailing to the Underworld.
 
The Biblical Middle East fits within a one inch square. And all of China fits within a two inch square.
 
Now, Exalted campaigns are supposed to operate on a hyperbolic scale. Threats to the entire world are a thing. But that doesn't mean that everything needs to be gigantic. (And indeed, every place that isn't sprawling is a city-state, because then you just put a dot on the map.)
 
I also suspect that some cases where settings have huge spans of time but not much seems to be happening within them derive from a similar top-down approach, and would benefit from more bottom-up design. Like, don't start with 6,000 years or whatever and try to fill it. Start with now, decide what incidents are absolutely needed to explain current conditions (or to plant as story seeds, ore just as bits of atmosphere to help show what kind of setting this is), and figure out how much time you actually need to fit it in. Like, if the kingdom's leaders seethe in anger for a past military defeat and want to start a new war to avenge it, does the defeat need to be from a thousand years ago? When 10 or 20 would work as well? Or if the defeats did happen centuries ago, is it a point of the adventure that someone is deliberately dragging up and inflaming old grievances because they really really want a war?
 
Dean Shomshak