Scott Ruggels

I miss being single and living a xouple hundred miles from my nearest relative.  Back win I could just stay home and bake me a spam.
 
 

Free Cygnia!
 
Now that the pandemic is “over”, certain family members have chosen to visit over Thanksgiving. Members that don’t get along with the other members. It’s going to be awkward. 

Oops, wrong thread.

Campaign City was named after the Marquis de Campaign. He was French of course. Isn't it obvious?
 
As far as mapping the supers in the rest of the world goes: I'm Australian. Don't.
 
If you need a local contact, that's fine. If you want to fight a local team, that's fine. Otherwise, stay away from local heroes. 

I like that you posted this, and I appreciate the probable truth of what it had to say, but it was unbelievably annoying on multiple levels.
 
Suits get control of something they don't understand and ruin it through greed and incompetence, episode MLMCCXIV.

I just tried ChatGPT, the new AI chat bot, and for fun I gave it the following command for its first task.
 
Write a rules compliant encounter for 5th edition dungeons and dragons.
 
Here's what it came back with, very quickly.
 
Sure! Here is a sample encounter for a group of five 3rd-level characters:
Encounter Name: "Goblin Ambush"
Location: A narrow mountain pass
Encounter Level: 3 (840 XP)
Description: As the party makes their way through a narrow mountain pass, they hear the sound of movement up ahead. Suddenly, a group of goblins emerge from hiding and attack the party, trying to steal their supplies and valuables.
Enemies:
5 Goblins (use the stat block for goblins in the Monster Manual) Tactics: The goblins try to surround the party and attack from all sides. They use their stealthy movement to try and get flanking positions and use their short swords to try and strike from behind. If any of the goblins are bloodied, they try to retreat and regroup.
Features of the Area:
The mountain pass is narrow, with cliffs on either side. The party has limited room to maneuver. There are several boulders and outcroppings of rock that the goblins can use for cover. The goblins have set up a makeshift campsite in a nearby cave, with a small fire and some supplies. Rewards:
If the party defeats the goblins, they can search the goblin campsite and find 20 gold pieces and a small, valuable trinket worth 50 gold pieces. Each goblin defeated is worth 100 XP.  
I then followed it up with this one.
 
Write a review of The Return of The King.
 
The Return of the King is the third and final installment of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. It is a sweeping and epic tale of adventure, danger, and the struggle for power.
The story follows the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he continues his quest to destroy the One Ring, a powerful and dangerous artifact that holds the fate of Middle-earth in its grasp. Alongside his loyal companions, including the wise wizard Gandalf and the brave warrior Aragorn, Frodo faces a host of dangers as he journeys toward the dark land of Mordor, where the Ring must be destroyed.
The Return of the King is a beautifully written and masterfully crafted novel that brings the trilogy to a satisfying and epic conclusion. Tolkien's world-building is on full display in this final book, as the various threads of the story come together in a thrilling and satisfying way. The characters are richly developed and the plot is full of twists and turns that keep the reader engaged until the very end.
Overall, The Return of the King is an absolute must-read for fans of epic fantasy, and a fitting conclusion to one of the greatest fantasy trilogies of all time. If you haven't already, I highly recommend picking up The Lord of the Rings trilogy and experiencing the adventure for yourself.

Found it.  Look up:
 
Deepnight Revelation. 
 

Oh it is almost Star Trek in more ways than one.  One of the GMs on the private RPG discord bought it, and is running it.  I am not in the game, but talk to the GM a fair amount. The adventure was the product of a recent successful crowd fund. It’s out for sale but the name escapes me.  

As far as stagnation of tech, a lot of settings are rise and fall epochs. The tech is developed (including magic as a tech) and then there's a fall with a dark age and the tech is lost. Usually it is because of something (someone) stupid with magic. In that type of setting it's not an issue of technological stagnation, but of academic loss. The presence of magic isn't even necessary for this cycle, as witnessed by our own world and civilizations.

Some long term GM advice. 
 
Sit down with each player, one on one, and discuss the character, and what they want. Brainstorm the character, with notes, getting attributes and flaws ranked by importance at the end. This will allow you to cull edgy loner types, and disruptive chaotics from the team. At this point take the notes and build their character for them.  Once they have a few months of play, and know how everything works and have some EXP to spend, allow them to open up the hood and tinker.  Or build new heroes.  It’s the play that ropes them in.  
 
GM concerns 
 
Fictitious versus real city. My preference is for real cities to start with, as it is a common referential base line between the GM and players, plus the maps can be so much better.  Less time can be spent with clarifications and overcoming assumption clash, and more for roleplay.  If you do use a fictional city, pick one with good maps. Times and scale are important, and figuring out how long or short a Superhero response time can be is important to villain’s plans. Hudson City has the Best maps.  San Angelo has decent ones. But in kk cases your city will have its demographics, it’s good preferences, and it’s slang. Borrow from reality when you can but try and make the blend seamless.  

Start local before going global in detail s.  Sure, there are events of global importance, and villains whose movements and achievements are notable, but the player to NPC relationships that happen locally will set the tone of the campaign going forth. How the team deals with local law enforcement, and how the city’s District Attorney feels about superpowered citizens will color interactions up the food chain. Do citizens cheer or flee when a figure drops from the sky into a superhero landing?  First impressions are important. Think about those NPCs and how they would react, before worrying about how Dr. Destroyer might invade Washington DC with automatons. Thst comes later.  
 
Its too late for some tropes
 
I am not going to touch on any social issues, other than acknowledge they are present, but stuff we loved in 80s X-Men or Teen Titans may not work in current year. ( This is why I am comfortable in Fantasy and Traveller these days). But it also works for technology. Most people, other than the very old or very destitute, carry a fairly capable computer in their pocket, that they are capable of using for communication, research, and photography (in 4K).  Even tropes from the last decade, in the coming year will be obsolete when Phones can access Starlink anywhere. No more dropped service.  This also means anything the Heroes do in public will become part of the public record instantly, spread by social media( in 4 k). Look at the coverage f the Dallas Air Show accident as an example. If your campaign has the Champions Universe, 10 years plus in technology advancement, things are going to be cheaper, safer, and more reliable to a point, but the cutting edge will breed new tropes. Think those out.  How much industry is in orbit? Has Elon got a colony on Mars already? Is someone going to hijack a power broadcasting satellite and retune it into an orbital death ray ( with invisible power effects because you can’t see microwaves). Also keep in mind your player’s tastes. Romance? Yes or no? How hard are you going to enforce or insist on The Hero Code? How many alien invasions have there been, if any?  Marvel had few, DC had a lot. But remember to mind the tropes to keep things enticing, rather than hokey or campy, as that breaks immersion. Tone is going to be very important.  

I've noticed in Champions Online that many of the players are following those D&D-esque conventions. Of course fantasy video games are heavily influenced by D&D, and many CO players come from that background, and aren't really familiar with comic books, or even the movie version of the superhero genre. I've lost count of all the wizards, elves, demons and vampires running around video Millennium City.

This is 3 years old but it does bring up an interesting point: people's concept and expectations of gaming are pretty fixed along certain kinds of lines, and Hero blows those lines to bits.  Its just tough to get them to understand the way some genres can actually be RPGs.  Most of the tropes of D&D-style games don't fit Superheroes, for example:
 
Party Roles (healer, tank, support, dps etc)
Treasures and loot
Dungeons
Leveling and steady advancement of power
Questionable ethics (thieves, assassins, burning down a village that was rude, etc)
 
Champions is more about the story and the use of powers than the setting.  The setting is super familiar in most cases: today.  Its a different approach to gaming.  Its not hard to help change minds, its just a barrier.

Dude, I am stumped.
My initial thoughts, like some of the folks above, is "only in hero ID."  That is only,a -1/4 limitation on abilities bought that way, though, so after building the "normal guy," you have burned a hundred points on him, you are going to have to pick and choose the abilities of your super version carefully.
 
There are additional limitations that work with the theme- possibly the spear is a focus for these powers (remember: if you don't buy it as a focus, then it is just a special effect of being in your super form), but then you have to decide the details of the focus (and there are several, getting more complex as the editions get newer; the value of the modifier varies greatly depending on the final build of the focus and how easy it is to be deprived of it and what other effects being deprived of has, and even if someone else can use it. 
 
Charges and time limits fit the concept: how many times a day or week can you become Super Warrior?  How long can you remain in that form?  Are there external things that can force you out of that form?  (Some of these are just as likely to be Disadvantages / Complications, if they deprive you of your super form and not just certain powers.  It depends on how you apply them.)
 
A favorite of mine for the "super form" type build, especially with Only in HERO ID concepts, is that all "super form" abilities cost END (even those that ordinarily would not) and pull from a large END Reserve that can only be recharged by changing _out_ of super form.  This is a nice limitation on the Recovery for the Reserve, and, depending on the size of the Reserve and the Recovery (for example, if they are both very small), can potentially boost the value of the Only in Hero ID, as your ability to remain in that ID becomes very dicey, and even the ability to assume that ID at any moment is questionable, as you are at the mercy of a slow recharge rate.   Similarly, the value of OHID may be increases if you are only allowed to assume that form twice a day for one hour each time.
 
As far as I remember, there is no exact discussion of either of these situations in _any_ of the rules, so before assuming that such builds automatically make OHID worth -1/2 or any value that isn't -1/4, you should first present your ideas and your thoughts on why these builds should affect the value of certain Limitations to your GM and get her  thoughts as well, then work on the builds together.
 
Remember that she has goals and guidelines for her campaign in mind, and ultimately, she may  not allow any additional value for these builds, etc.
 
Now remember _always_ when working with the GM that she may shoot down some of your builds, or individual pieces of them.  Always ask for a reason (I love it when my players do this to me, because it makes me re-think my reasoning, and _sometimes_ it makes me realize I have made my decision bases on a personal conciet that has no real bearing on the game at hand-- it makes me a better GM, in a way).
 
Don't let asking why lead to an argument!  The goal her is to have the GM give her decision one last think-through, and for the player to learn a little bit about the GM's play style and thinking.
 
Also remember that things like "I want to keep things a bit more simplified for the time being" or "for the game at hand" _are_ valid reasons: complex builds add additional bookkeeping, time-tracking, and other factors to the game that the GM may not want slowing things down (especially if she or some of the players are fairly new).  You might hear something like "I can't tell you" or even just "I would rather not elaborate on that."
 
I can't speak for every GM, but I can speak for me:
 
If I can tell you why I shot it down, I very happily will tell you: it is best for us to be on the same page all the time, right?
 
When I shoot down an idea and I won't tell you why, it is usually for one of three reasons:
 
There is a better-than-good chance this build will step on the toes of another player or that player's concept for his character (though I can usually tell you this.  Sometimes, though, a player requests a secret reveal in-game for some particular ability).
 
There is a major part of the story or an important challenge that your proposal will turn into crepe paper.  While it makes an amusing moment, few people are satisfied when an entire campaign- or even just a couple of adventures in the campaign- turn out to be complete cake walks.
 
Expanding on this  is the "critical scene."  There is a scene already built into the adventure that must go a certain way-- I don't mean railroading, such as one character _must_ lose or _must_ win or that sort of thing-- more along the lines of "this battle must be difficult enough."  Maybe there is something time-sensitive going on in the background that the characters are very much aware of, and a fifteen-minute fight builds tension over the time being lost to a slugfest.  Perhaps it is vital to the roleplaying side that two particular characters pair up to face each other for some big reveal- I mean a _good_ reveal; none of that "Luke, I _am_ your father" crap. Perhaps a villain is actually a double-agent, or needs to beseech a particular hero for help without his allies being aware of it- who knows?  It is quite possible you have suggested a build that makes it tactically ridiculous for that particular character to be squaring off with you.  Sure; he can get in touch some other way; gamism, clues want to be found, and all that-  but for role play, what may have been a pivotal dramatic moment cannot happen now.
 
 
It is a short list, and there are a couple of other entries (such as "I have seen this get horribly out of hand before"), but all of my "no" and "I can't elaborate" replies all boil down to "I have a legitimate reason to believe that this build will deny you or another player from having fun."
 
Remember that your GM is not your adversary.  If she says no, even if she can't give you a reason, I promise she has one.
 
 
Now, I started all of this because I said "I'm stumped."
 
That is because she gave you two sheets.  This implies that she wants you to make two separate characters.  This may be a "simplicity's sake" kind of thing-  she just wants to have clear definitions of what is in play at a given moment for your character, etc.  In fact, multiple sheets is the standard for using the Power "Multiform."  But then you leave us with no idea as to whether or not she said " use Multiform."
 
That implies that she wants two characters in play.  That is the standard for  Summon.  But you don't say that she said "use Summon," either.  
 
That means that you will have two characters, with two character's worth of skills and abilities (and actions) available all the time- one character can't just conveniently keep disappearing the moment the other conveniently appears (can they, Clark?!), so the only thing left is that some sort of GM fiat is at play so that one character vanishes and the other appears without any sort of game mechanic involved.
 
I have _zero_ problems with this, personally, but it _does_ leave me stumped, because once we enter GM fiat country, there really isn't any way for us to know her line of thought, or make suggestions that are likely to gel with it.
 
I am afraid that on this one, she is really _the_ person to whom you should be adressing your questions.
 
 
 
 
 

The campaign sounds a lot like the Traveller crowd funded campaign that came out recently.  

Some long term GM advice. 
 
Sit down with each player, one on one, and discuss the character, and what they want. Brainstorm the character, with notes, getting attributes and flaws ranked by importance at the end. This will allow you to cull edgy loner types, and disruptive chaotics from the team. At this point take the notes and build their character for them.  Once they have a few months of play, and know how everything works and have some EXP to spend, allow them to open up the hood and tinker.  Or build new heroes.  It’s the play that ropes them in.  
 
GM concerns 
 
Fictitious versus real city. My preference is for real cities to start with, as it is a common referential base line between the GM and players, plus the maps can be so much better.  Less time can be spent with clarifications and overcoming assumption clash, and more for roleplay.  If you do use a fictional city, pick one with good maps. Times and scale are important, and figuring out how long or short a Superhero response time can be is important to villain’s plans. Hudson City has the Best maps.  San Angelo has decent ones. But in kk cases your city will have its demographics, it’s good preferences, and it’s slang. Borrow from reality when you can but try and make the blend seamless.  

Start local before going global in detail s.  Sure, there are events of global importance, and villains whose movements and achievements are notable, but the player to NPC relationships that happen locally will set the tone of the campaign going forth. How the team deals with local law enforcement, and how the city’s District Attorney feels about superpowered citizens will color interactions up the food chain. Do citizens cheer or flee when a figure drops from the sky into a superhero landing?  First impressions are important. Think about those NPCs and how they would react, before worrying about how Dr. Destroyer might invade Washington DC with automatons. Thst comes later.  
 
Its too late for some tropes
 
I am not going to touch on any social issues, other than acknowledge they are present, but stuff we loved in 80s X-Men or Teen Titans may not work in current year. ( This is why I am comfortable in Fantasy and Traveller these days). But it also works for technology. Most people, other than the very old or very destitute, carry a fairly capable computer in their pocket, that they are capable of using for communication, research, and photography (in 4K).  Even tropes from the last decade, in the coming year will be obsolete when Phones can access Starlink anywhere. No more dropped service.  This also means anything the Heroes do in public will become part of the public record instantly, spread by social media( in 4 k). Look at the coverage f the Dallas Air Show accident as an example. If your campaign has the Champions Universe, 10 years plus in technology advancement, things are going to be cheaper, safer, and more reliable to a point, but the cutting edge will breed new tropes. Think those out.  How much industry is in orbit? Has Elon got a colony on Mars already? Is someone going to hijack a power broadcasting satellite and retune it into an orbital death ray ( with invisible power effects because you can’t see microwaves). Also keep in mind your player’s tastes. Romance? Yes or no? How hard are you going to enforce or insist on The Hero Code? How many alien invasions have there been, if any?  Marvel had few, DC had a lot. But remember to mind the tropes to keep things enticing, rather than hokey or campy, as that breaks immersion. Tone is going to be very important.  

Look at how Aaron Allston Strike Force campaign started. The heroes got involved when one of the big bads was trading with a criminal organisation. They disrupted this earning the attention of the villains and gave them their first mystery to solve. 

I have a sealed boxed version of Justice Incorporated. It and Espionage were the ones I remember being boxed, along with Champions back in the day. 
 
What I remember vaguely was a story as told by Bruce Harlick, was they were planning on boxing Fantasy Hero, and Danger International for the then upcoming GenCon. Going over the numbers, they didn’t have the money to get the boxes made, and if they missed GenCon, it would have doomed Hero Games. So Bruce made the decision to put out the product as “Perfect Bound” (Square bound) books, without maps and dice, and hope they didn’t get bad reviews. But the opposite happened, and the reviews were quite positive and the public  all loved the form factor. 
 
As for Danger International itself, it was my second favorite thing to run, after Fantasy Hero. Danger International run right wasn’t James Bond, but an 80s action movie.  The rules came out smack in the middle of that genre. From buddy cops, to muscle men in jungles, to Cold War escapades, all were a good basis for a D. I. Campaign. But better than running it, was playing it with the author L. Douglas Garrett. He would run a recurring session at conventions, with other industries pros as players every nation wide convention. From the jungles of the fictitious Costa Diego, where Communist Rebels opposed the Junta, to the streets of Los Angeles fighting drug cartels. The games came across as a much smarter, and more chaotic 80s action movie.  Doug could really spin a tale. These games continued until Doug moved to Japan, where he still is to this day. 
 
Being as Doug was also one of my Traveller GMs, one could use the bones of D. I. For hero based Traveller in the days before Star Hero, but then someone published rules for running a Miami Vice campaign using classic Traveller rules. No space craft and everything was tech levels 5-7. But it was D. I.’s versatility that really made it the best modern day rules. 

No, it was straight Traveller. His campaign predated me meeting him, and he ran it while we both attended SAN Jose State University. 
 
If you want a bit of flavor of those D. I. campaigns he ran, Doug wrote a book. 
 
https://www.amazon.com/Remember-Them-Trade-Book-ebook/dp/B07ZPXZH6S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2SMTSGQQPOYUK&keywords=Remember+Them+book&qid=1672287934&sprefix=remember+the+book%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-1
 
It takes place in the 80s, and is decidedly not James Bond. It has very much the flavor of his D. I. games. 

No, it was straight Traveller. His campaign predated me meeting him, and he ran it while we both attended SAN Jose State University. 
 
If you want a bit of flavor of those D. I. campaigns he ran, Doug wrote a book. 
 
https://www.amazon.com/Remember-Them-Trade-Book-ebook/dp/B07ZPXZH6S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2SMTSGQQPOYUK&keywords=Remember+Them+book&qid=1672287934&sprefix=remember+the+book%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-1
 
It takes place in the 80s, and is decidedly not James Bond. It has very much the flavor of his D. I. games. 

No argument there; that is why I would like to see it updated.  The heartbreaker is "Dark Champions replaced it," and Dark Champions isn't the ideal for 'normal guy with a normal gun doing normal guy things.' 
 

 
 
 
 
As a guy who has been doing Traveller on HERO for a long time:
 
It works great.  
 
Some caveats:
 
If you are really into building ships, build them in Travelller and convert the finished product.  Or scramble the base and the vehicle rules together.  Or devise your own rules.  The HERO vehicle rules are extremely vague when it comes to volume and how it is divided.  That is one of the reasons we never switched from our house rules after Champions II came out.
 
Of you are really in to robots, byuld them as characters with programming limitations as Physical Limi-plications.
 
If you are into the randomness and the life/career path, roll the character up in Traveller and convert.
 
Reputation isnt a good replacement for Social Standing.  It is worth creating a Social Standing characteristic.  I tend to run it from 0 to 4, and use it as a modifier ( if I positive and negative, as appropriate) for Social interaction skills between people of different SS.  Won't go into much detail, as I have to get back on the road in a minute- riding to Crawfordville to see some friends.
 
Hero as-is cannot be as lethal as is Traveller.  You can flip on all the "bad time" switches such as hit locations, etc, but Traveller's applying damage directly to Characteristics creates a brutality that HERO just isnt equipped for out of the box.  Before anyone complains that I like killing Pcs:
I have ten times the firefights in Champions Traveller than I do in regular Traveller.  This is because the players know they are likely going to live.
 
I get a lot more social interaction, cunning, cons, dealing, and straight-up sneakery in Traveller as Traveller: the threat of the one-hit kill tends to make then more civilized in  general.
 
 
 

Chris Goodwin was not in the ill-fated Hughes Academy campaign I wiped out.  He was in the Chicago Watch, though, and I might end up publishing that campaign some day because I really liked how that turned out.
 
I never stopped learning as a GM, each game I think was a little better by reading, playing other peoples' games, thinking back on mistakes I made, etc.  Angrily murdering all the PCs in a snit was not a high point as a GM. 😕

I have a sealed boxed version of Justice Incorporated. It and Espionage were the ones I remember being boxed, along with Champions back in the day. 
 
What I remember vaguely was a story as told by Bruce Harlick, was they were planning on boxing Fantasy Hero, and Danger International for the then upcoming GenCon. Going over the numbers, they didn’t have the money to get the boxes made, and if they missed GenCon, it would have doomed Hero Games. So Bruce made the decision to put out the product as “Perfect Bound” (Square bound) books, without maps and dice, and hope they didn’t get bad reviews. But the opposite happened, and the reviews were quite positive and the public  all loved the form factor. 
 
As for Danger International itself, it was my second favorite thing to run, after Fantasy Hero. Danger International run right wasn’t James Bond, but an 80s action movie.  The rules came out smack in the middle of that genre. From buddy cops, to muscle men in jungles, to Cold War escapades, all were a good basis for a D. I. Campaign. But better than running it, was playing it with the author L. Douglas Garrett. He would run a recurring session at conventions, with other industries pros as players every nation wide convention. From the jungles of the fictitious Costa Diego, where Communist Rebels opposed the Junta, to the streets of Los Angeles fighting drug cartels. The games came across as a much smarter, and more chaotic 80s action movie.  Doug could really spin a tale. These games continued until Doug moved to Japan, where he still is to this day. 
 
Being as Doug was also one of my Traveller GMs, one could use the bones of D. I. For hero based Traveller in the days before Star Hero, but then someone published rules for running a Miami Vice campaign using classic Traveller rules. No space craft and everything was tech levels 5-7. But it was D. I.’s versatility that really made it the best modern day rules. 

Yes. Thought it was a Fantasy Hero Campaign, and I detailed how all the players objected when I killed a favorite NPC to demonstrate a villain’s trap in another thread. The players walked, and that was how a 20 year FH campaign ended. 

Yes. Thought it was a Fantasy Hero Campaign, and I detailed how all the players objected when I killed a favorite NPC to demonstrate a villain’s trap in another thread. The players walked, and that was how a 20 year FH campaign ended.