Tjack

Somebody, somewhere had the idea that Jim West & Artemus Gordon were code names and that there were multiple teams in identical RR cars working through out the west. Kind of like the idea that James Bond is the code name for whoever has the number 007. A Steampunk game set in the American West would be cool. You could have West, Gordon, Brisco, Kwai Chang Caine...who else?

Since we’ve gone through the discussions of the stats and possible write-ups for The Beverly Hillbillies and Hogan’s Heroes, I thought it might be fun to see what other shows we could dissect. Even though there’s a write up for a Slayer in Surbrook’s Stuff and it has its own game, I always thought Buffy the Vampire Slayer would work well as a Champions campaign. The characters start small and grow in power over time, with Psych & other Disads coming and going in character. Are there any other shows that you always wanted to either play or run?

Things should get better soon. I sacrificed a chicken to that Voodoo God you ticked off, so he’d let up on you......Or should that have been a goat? Oh, well either way we’ll know soon enough. Let the folks know if they hear thunder and all they can find of you is a scorch mark and some smoldering sneakers where you used to be that I’ll get right on that goat thing. Hang tough, try to remember the words of the great Zen philosopher Bo-Zo.....”Just keep laughing!”

So is a diet of wet cardboard.

So, what did you do, how did it go etc.? In the words of the late Ted Knight....”Well....we’re waiting!”

I think that’s what’s called a snow job.😇

Polished

That implies that their already a team or at least know each other. If the game is a team like X-Men then that’s perfect. But if the game is a group of heroes coming together for the first time it doesn’t exactly work. I’ll say yet again that the best sourcebook for new GM’s of any kind is Strike Force by Aaron Allston. It’s the chronicle of his first Champions game that ran for around a decade. It goes into how to spot the different types of players and how to make them all happy. How to deal its players who have to drop out due to the real world and when and how to change a game at its roots when the players start to outgrow it. A small investment, a great read, and you’ll go to it over and over for its good advice.

I think the cliche is “Take this Lens, Kimball Kinnison.” Or the comic book version “Take this Ring, Hal Jordan of Earth.” See also “Take this Star Brand, Ken Connell.” *It’s been around for a long time.* The Gem (a.k.a. McGuffin) could have shown up by itself either sensing this was the right person to wield it (that’s a problem all its own depending on if it was looking for a hero or some schmuck it could manipulate) It could have been sent by someone else. Lensmen/Guardians/Evil League of Evil, whoever. Maybe it was sent back in time to/by the guy who just got it in some freaky time loop paradox thing. How about the guy doesn’t know where it came from (see DC’s current Blue Beetle) that can be a plot hook to last for a while and provide a lot of good episodes after the player and GM think of something neat to do. The power level question is a different horse of a different color. VPP’s are notoriously difficult for new players to run. Hell even experienced players sometimes get bogged down in the fast “at the table” math required. You’re a new poster so I’m not sure if I’m trying to “teach Grandma how to suck eggs” or not. Maybe a new player might have more fun with an easier to run multi-power? At least at first and then convert it into a VPP when the character has the points to really make it sing. This can also be a playable moment when the “True Power” of the Gem reveals itself. EDIT; I misremembered the name of Star Brand. Ken Connell is the superhero....Ken Jennings is the new host on Jeopardy. D’oh!!!

This is an intelligence test. If you fail, you die and the world gets just a little bit better.

I’ve got an old episode idea I pull out for conventions and such, it’s yours to use if you want it. It’s two combats sandwiching a detective part. It’s called Smugglers Blues. The heroes come up on a daylight bank robbery being done by what look like street people/junkie types they have powers but not good ones. The strong guy smashing the door of the vault doesn’t see the flesh coming off of his hands, the flame tosser is getting burned by his own creations and so on make them out of control and mean. If the PC’s can’t handle them have the bad guys burn out and go into cardiac arrest. When the cops come to clean up have DEA/SHIELD/UNTIL or whoever tell the players that a new cheap drug is hitting the street called “Spike” it gives not only a high but temporary powers. Viper/HYDRA/whoever is dumping their failed attempts at Super Soldier Serum on the street for quick cash and maybe taking out a hero as a bonus. Being heroes the PC’s should volunteer to help trace the supply back to the labs that are believed to be in or near the city. I generally used a small group of tent labs and barracks out side the city, (think M.A.S.H.) but an abandoned warehouse works just as well. Give the heroes the benefit of the doubt on tracing this stuff back since the villains can’t be too bright for running such a sloppy operation. And finish up with either a straight forward attack or a stealthy “let’s blow up the lab” scenario. There should be some thug/soldier types and maybe a supervillain or two for muscle. Give your players their EP’s and maybe even a contact with the local law enforcement types if they played nice with them. There’s a lot of loose threads if anyone wants to follow up on things and the bad guys all make a satisfying thump when they hit the ground. If you use it just let me know how people liked it. Just remember, “If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.”

A great mix of Faerie mixed with the pulps and history of the ‘30’s are the two Doc Sidhe novels by Champions own Aaron Allston.

Cloud

This isn’t just a problem for you, all gaming is faced with the question “Do I want to do everything kind of well, or one thing very well?” The way I try to deal with it is to follow the special effect of the character and powers to give me as many limitations as reasonable. Batman’s belt is OIF, Hawkeye’s quiver only has so many charges, Green Lantern’s ring didn’t work against yellow until he bought off the limitation. Now it does. Batman is an example of doing a lot of things at once, none of them perfect until he had the points. The Thing however was a top round Brick from the start and only got better with age. Look carefully into your character and the questions will answer themselves. Good luck & Have fun!

I always say it depends on the special effect. What is it you’re trying to do? Just build characters for you to run as a GM or is this a PC who has the power to turn someone into a superhero?

...to be.

Holy crap! What dark-minded vindictive bad-ass Vooddo god did you piss off last week? Best of hopes and wishes to you and yours both two legged and four.

On the bright side, now Hitler has a roommate. On the other hand, now Satan has to get in a new supply of pineapples.

I thought this thread was about “Board Diversity” and that mistake was reinforced by seeing the icon with a what appeared to be a woman’s picture. So now I’m curious. After at least eighteen years of existence, how many members here are something other than White/Anglo/Pasty Faced males? I am a white guy and most of the real world players I used to know were, with a smattering of white women and black and Asian men. I’m just wondering if that’s changed over the last couple of decades. P.S. Happy Anniversary Dr. Device.

Take care and best of luck.

Bones

I’d say passive strength is half of a subjects regular strength. Think of a kid walking down a school hallway and a passing bully slaps down on the books full strength, knocking them out of the kids hands. This way you only have to worry about two normal Str. parties instead of three Supers plus velocities.

Germans of that time being Anti-Nazi I find easy to believe. Wolfgang Strucker and the Red Skull being Anti-Nazi....not so much. There must be some heavy mojo coming down.

I’ve occasionally run into people who told me they’ve seen an episode that ended the series and showed that Klink was really working for the Allies and knew about what was going on the whole time. This is stupid on several levels. Shows back then didn’t have final episodes, they just got cancelled. 9 out of ten episodes wouldn’t make sense if Klink WASN’T trying to catch Hogan. And if that show is out there, how come no body else has seen it? The strange thing to me is that no matter how I or other people would try to explain all this to them, they never believed it. People are nuts.

See Kingdom Come for details.