Scott Ruggels

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. 

Well, I haven't done anything here for some time- mostly because; well, dying computer, posting by phone sucks, etc.....
 
 
Last year at Halloween we started a "background arc" built around a Mcguffin called the Morgan Stone.  Short version is where the stone appears, weirdness happens.  At Halloween, the city was overrun by angels, spirits, asylum escapees, and zombies.
 
At the end of the day, blame,Foxbat, who needed the stone to serve as the jewel for his walking stick while he qas John the Good Reverend Smith, because the perfect costume requires the perfect accessoriea, and you cant sell The Church of Everybody Else is Going to Die without the perfect costume, right?
 
Geez, Leroy; sometjimes I dont think you are paying attention at all...
 
 
 
That side quest ran two six-hour sessions and a third four-hour session, so you can see why I don't want to discuss it with two thumbs, bad eyes, and a brain-damaged autocorrect.     
 
So just before Christmas, the Morgan Stone reappeared.
 
See, even though our heroes figured out that the stone was the cause of their troubles (much earlier than I had meant for them to, but hey- I can roll with it), they still failed to recover it after Wight Night: Foxbat had taken crafty (for various values of 'crafty') precautions to keep it out of their hands, and- to my incredulous disbelief- _they worked_!  (Seriously: these kids jad seen through most of his plans right up until now, then they all had some kind if brain cramp or something....)
 
Well, _that_ waan't going to cut it, as the Morgan Stone has to be in play to cause more holiday-themed mischief for at least two (and possibly three) random holidays.
 
So skip to Friday's adventure (which we played in under three hours, for a number of reasons, the first one being that I had seen this one as being little more than mindless combat: they had done a considerable job chasing leads, connecting the dots, putting everything together, and figuring out that zombies ciuld be cure through forced ingestion of Bison-brand microwave chicken nuggets and that much-maligned artificial orange juice: Delish-S.  (Let's remember that I lightened it up considerably in the planning stage upon discovering that one of the younger girls playing had a serious squeamishness about zombies).
 
So what does a campaign look like?
 
Sometimes, you have to fill in the blanks for the players.  You have to handle this,,,, well, with new players, you have to just make it a matter of fact kind of thing; always, you should have a firm grip of the players and how they operate, and use your best judgment.
 
Some newer players might find it a bit railroad-y (it isn't), and some older playrrs might object because 'why cant we play that out?'  At the end of the _experienced_ players realize it is just "so you are all sitting in a tavern" with extra filler.  It won't take long before your new players get there; you just have to handle it accordingly.
 
You are all standing in the street in feont of city hall, waiting for the sun to finish setting.  Magnus (Magnificent has been accidentally called Magnus so many times,since I last posted here that he has retconned his name), you and Firefly are posing with a bunch of the school kids from yesterday.  The Chamber of Commerce put out an add for superheroes to help young children decorate the big tree, with an emphasis on those who could fly.
 
The massive pine tree  in front of the City Hall has been the town's official tree since the cornerstone for City Hall was first laid behind it.  Today this venerable pine tree is just over 90 feet high, and so thick with foliage as to be even more perfect than the most meticulously-designed artificial tree.  For decades now, the bottom fifteen feet have been decorated by kidergarten and elementary school students, and a tradition started by Rook over 20 years ago has a few superheroes come to help, lifting or sometimes carefully flying children up to reach the highest branches of these lower limbs- with parental permission, of course.  
Of course, you, Firefly, and Magnus were big hits, as you can actually fly and carry the children; Red Cloak would cast levitation spells, giving children the illusion that they were flying all by themselves.  Feral was delighting the kindergarten children by turing into a gigantic squirrel and carrying ornament-laden children scamering up the trunk and out onto the limbs, bursting through the needles, pausing long enough hang an ornament, and scampering back into the tree, over and over again.
 
I did a quick run through of how each od the PCs participated, inclyding Mycroft lifting a few children as high as he could reach, but mostly pushing and collecting various release forms from parents and constantly yelling at different heroes to "be careful!  Those aren't sacks of sand you're  carrying!"
 
 
See?  We could have played that through, but instead it took three minutes to simply summarize a non-plot-critical scene that set the tone for the moment and explained why we were so here together now in our costumes.  Had we played it, we could have easily burned half or more of the session just gooding around.  Yes; it would have been fun, but with any luck, the planned adventure would be even more fun.
 
In front of City Hall are the sixteen steps to the ground, each the full forty-foot width of the stone courtyard in front of the main entrance.  Today, the steps and the courtyard serve as an impromptu grandstand for the mayor and various other local officials who will be making short statements and well-wishes as soon as the parade finishes.  A small handful of the helpful heroes from yesterday are gathered behind the officials- that includes you guys, of course, and most of you have tuned out the panderinf of the politicians, waiting for the big even itself.  You pass the time amusing youselves with the antics of the people enjoying the Winter Carnival set up in the park across the street, and generally scanning the huge crowd that has gathered for the tree lighting.  
 
The parade has almost concluded; it has gone through the financial district and is currently windinf its way through the government distric, known locally as  Red Tape Row (even though it consists of a series of buildings built around eight small squares such in turn are built around the much larger Founders Park, where the Carnival is set up.  
 
As the parade winds through the street in front of City Hall, it continues on around to the opposite side of the Carnival and breaks down the floats and disperses.
 
Finally, the last of the parade- Campaign High # 213's award-winning marching band has one the draw this year, and has won the right to lead Santa's Sleigh in the parade.  They march just beyond the courthouse and pause, marching in place, and a small golf-cart festooned with decorations and lights tows a comical-looking machine that is spraying dlurriws of artificiaI on an assortment of people dressed variously as elves, nutcrackers, and polar bears.  As they march forward, the jinflinf of bells heralds Santa's sleigh, drawn (on hidden rubber wheels) by a team of real reindeer (raised and trained by a local man living on a small farm outside of town).
 
The sleigh stops briefly, Santa leaps out, and runs up the steps with his gift sack on his back.  He continues to the podium, steps up to the microphone, and gives a hearty "Ho! Ho! Ho!" to the crowd.  "Santa has so many gifts for Campaign City this year!"
 
As if on cue, the first of the politicians step forth and Santa hads him a gift.  The politician opens it, and removws an oversized check.  He shows it to the audience, and then announces "the charities board is pkeased to announce that they have raised thirteen thousand dollars for Campaign County Animal Shelters this year!"  There is cheering  and applause and rhe politician launches into a bried speech, wishes everyone happy holidays, and steps down.  Santa produces another present, another politician  steps forward, and rhe cycle repeats itself.  Mercifully, rhis only lasts thirty minutes or so, rhen then Mayor Cauldwell takes rhe podium.  After a brief speech and well-wishes for rhe citizens, he is interruptwd by Santa.  "Mr. Mayor, I think it's time-"
 
"It was time thirty minutes ago!" Yells a voice from the crowd.
 
Rhe mayor turns to Santa, gestures grandly, and the tunrs back to the crowd "we are fortunate to live so far north that Santa himself can attend our tree lighting!" as Santa makes his way toward a comically-oversized and festivley-decorated switch.  Reaching the switch, Santa turns to the crowd and announces "Here we go-ho-ho-ho!" and thros the switch, setting off a few pyrotechnic sparks as hidden technicians throw the real switch, and the tree blazes to life.
 
The crowd oohs and aaahs for a few minutes, then begins to  break into smaller groups, each doing whatever it is it wants to do- take pictures, move closer to the tree, go to the carnival, or whatever.
 
 
 
Again: we could play this, but ultimately, there is nothing for the PCs to _do_ at this point, and it is four more minutes of narraration.  
 
At this point, the players are a bit antsy for something to do.
 
Mycroft, you notice the float that had the two gigantic Timmy Tiger balloons seems to be having trouble wrestling with them.
 
"Hey- one of you flying guys want to go help out with those balloons before someone gets hurt?  Doesn't hurt to peove you're worth keeping around."
 
We have a few similar situations- let the players run around, do some,helpful things, let rhem interact with the townfolk- Feral got to flex a skill solving an electrical problem,that had stymied the Ferris wheel- things like that.
 
As soon as evertone had settled into rhe "okay; we are having a character development type session....
 
Mycroft; give me a Perception check
 
Why me?
 
For one, you're closest.,,for another, more than any other character here, you are the most likely to be habitually looking for trouble, what with your police training and general untrusting nature.
 
Makes sense.  Eight.
 
The light seems to have shifted.
 
What do you mean?
 
There is something different,about the pool of light in which you stand.
 
I look around.
 
Make a Perception check at plus 2.
 
Eleven.
 
It's the tree.  It's leaning.
 
Leaning?  Like falling?!
 
It Doesn't seem,to be fa)ing, but it is _definitely_ leaning way forward for some reason...
 
Crap!
 
You can hear the creaking of the trunk, and the tree seems to be.. Wobbling?...
 
Crap!  Rook!
 
Took is tied up: her social group runs a small roller coaster at the carnival to raise money for the homelss shelter.
 
So she's here?
 
Yes, but she isn't here in costume-
 
She's like seven and a half feet tall!  What else does she wear?!
 
Right now, she's wearing a very xute Santa's elf costume with a name,tag that says "Hi! My name is Tiny Elf."
 
(Much laughter from the players)
 
The roller coaster is muscle-powered; she's the muscle.
 
Is she strong enough to catch a tree? 
 
Probably, but she doesn't have her radio.  She is here to have fun with her friends from one of her social clubs and raise money for charity.
 
Magnus!  Can you hear me?
 
Can I hear get?
 
Him.
 
Him.  Can I hear him?
 
Have you got your com link on?
 
Yeah...
 
Then you can hear him.
 
What's up, Mycroft?
 
Are you strong enough to catch a tree?
 
Maybe......?
 
Maybe?!
 
Nobody has ever thrown a tree a me!  What kind of a question is that?
 
Well the Christmas tee is falling over...
 
Feral, Kinetica, and Red Cloak:  What?!
 
Firefly: I am on the way, Detective!"
 
Kinetica: I will beat her there.
 
Thanks, Firefly, but I think thia will take more muscle than you have.
 
Feral: I hummingbird over to the tree-
 
Mycroft, you turn back to the tree and notice that it isn't leaning.  It is as straight as it has always been.
 
What?  How?  Guys, be on the lookout for any supervillains with illusion powers!
 
Red Cloak; I have illusion powers!
 
Me: and you're not under suspicion; you are one of the good guys.
 
Can I help?
 
Feral: I think I have gor muscle covered!  I turn into an elephant the second I land!
 
Mycroft: unless you can turn into a team of rhose things, I dont think it is goinf to be enough,  Cloak has that giant hand he can do; I dont know what we are going to need... 
 
Okay, Magnus has arrived, as has everyone else.  Magnus, the tree looks fine to you.
 
What's the matter, Detective?
 
What is going on here-?
 
There is a tremendous craking and groaning and the tree leans again, the other way this time.  Some of the citizens have noticed and are looking panicked....
 
The team leaps into crowd control and helps everyone move into Founders Park.  Red Cloak sets up q mystic wall as a barrier to keep people at least one hundred feet from the tree in case it falls.
 
 It rights itself, then leans the other way, then leans,backwards, flopping around faster and faster, the truck craking and groaning-  suddenly. One massive root erupts from the ground and,befins to push against the soil.  Another root rips free, then another, then two more-!  The tree befins to rise up-  up, up, up, towering into the sky...
 
It stands, fully erect, the gaudy LED star atop it almost invisible nearly two hundred feet above you....
 
And thus began the Terri of the Christmas Treant....
 
 
More later; I can't stare at this tiny keyboard anymore....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What I am about to say my tick some off, but say it I will. The present world spends all too much time judging persons of the past by the mores of the present, and usually getting it wrong. If you try to judge our ancestors by the lights of today one will always be disappointed. If what they did then was right then by our mores it may be wrong today, if it was wrong then it is always wrong. If you judge those of the past by the present, you give permit to those of the future to do thus to us. All we can do is to try to correct the failures of the past and hope we commit no new ones of  our own. We play what we play because of the stories told to us by our modern bards and some are good and some are bad. Conan was created of and for the era in which it was written, Howard did not stoop to pander to the lowest denominator his Conan was if not noble at least not ignoble.

I know this is stupid and pedantic and probably annoying but... ELEVATORS HAVE NO MORAL CHARACTER OR HONOR AND CANNOT BE WORTHY OR UNWORTHY THIS IS A STUPID QUESTION DISGUISED AS BEING CLEVER AND WITTY
 
*tooth gnashing sounds*

One of the Champions Online player community, who goes by "jaazaniah1," posited a most intriguing character concept, "Synthoid Sorcerer." I'll let him explain it:
 
First, the SG I belong to (Project Attalus) is basically just all my heroes and the concept I have for the robot magic user is that two of its members, Dr. Harlem (think African-American Tony Stark) and Sultanus the Crimson Sorcerer (think a stage magician who is really Dr. Strange) had a debate about whether magical abilities (not someone wielding an object imbued with magical properties) were a result of nature or nurture (i.e. inherent to organic life, or something that could be learned, whether the practitioner was organic or not) and set out to test this (if an elevator lifts Thor's hammer is it worthy of his power?).
 
So, Dr. Harlem created a robot with real sentience and Sultanus set out to teach it magic. Synthoid Sorcerer thus studied magic (i.e. he posses no magical talismans or the like) and has mastered all the technical aspects of spell casting (and more quickly than any human could, since he has a computer mind). I.e. he adopts the right postures, makes the right hand movements, says the right words and has the correct mental state that any human mage would adopt. One might say that the only difference is that he has no soul (or does he ?), and so can not be tempted by the dark side. Technically he knows the difference, and since he was built and taught by heroes his natural leanings are toward the light, though he is guided also by a sort of cold, calculating machine logic.
 
So, he is a science/magic experiment by two human authorities in their respective fields. Some wonder, given the greater than human speed at which he can learn and act, if he might someday supersede all human magicians.
 
The question that Dr. H and Sultanus wrestle with is, indeed, whether magic is like Chess or Go, something that a machine can learn and master by being able to calculate quickly vast numbers of possible outcomes, or is there something more intuitive, even spiritual to magic? Can an object with no soul be a sorcerer? Or, is it a mix of both, can a machine learn the basics of magic (e.g. its grammar) and eventually come to be able to grasp its deepest intricacies (e.g. can it write great literature), or will an AI always be no more than some "hedge wizard"? Even if the latter, since Synthoid Sorcerer is self aware, does it have the capacity to evolve itself and develop those higher capacities? Only time, and level 40, can say for sure!
 

Purina?

DentArthueDent -- With apologies for the late reply. I joined the SCA in 1980,  and have for various reasons worn the following, soft leather, (remarkably effective against bird blunt style arrows from a 30# bow) wax boiled Vegetable tanned leather 8 to 12 ounce leather, (absorbs impact blows extremely well, against missiles with just field points 20/30 meter penetration occurred every time at 30# draw with a 60# draw at 50 meter penetration was to the fletching) chain mail - Hauberk and leggings and camail, ( head to ankles, no feet I have small feet, unless the links are very small welded or riveted, and barred, missile strikes from bows 40# draw or heavier at 40 meter punch thru as though it was paper, against thrusts and stabs at best partial defence, reasonable defence against chops and slashes) chain and plate, (this is a chain base to which plates are attached, I have only worn one piece a hauberk, split down the back from neck to about 4" from the bottom. There were shoulder pauldrons, elbows and vambraces linked together with leather straps that were attached to the arms, at the wrists and just below the elbow. The back seam is cased with chap weight leather about three inch's in from the seam, six rings are sewn near the inner edge of the leather this is so that the back can be laced tight. It weighs probably 4 times what my chain hauberk does. Stands well vs, missiles on the plates unless the bows are heavy war bows, 90# and heavier, although crossbows with all steel quarrels will punch through. Takes an assist to put it on, and at least five minutes, my hauberk takes less than a minute ). There are three types of plate if stretched four, basic or simple plate, Gothic, Maximillian tourney/joust. 
     I have worn basic/simple plate, twice, it's hell to put on although to be honest it was to big for me and was for a woman. A two person three if you count me job to put on over chain. It took twenty minutes to put on. The front part of the clam shell is slightly dished the back curved only at the sides straps and buckles connect the sides, and hinged plates lighter than the chest plate connect the front to the back. There are gaps in a lot of places, at the neck a scoop down to below the clavicle, albeit covered by a gorget, a gap just before the arms, under the arms and a gap 2 to 3 inch's  wide down the center of the underarm, at the waist there is a gap about 2 inch's wide protected by chain. The legs are connected to leather waist harness, and are the easiest to put on, the front of the leg is well protected, but the back is wide open. the sabots were the hardest to put on. (sabot is a boot cover) Finally the helmet is almost always open faced.  Gothic and Maximillian plate are way more refined, and I have never been able to wear either. They both have a lamellar skirt that covers the waist and hips, the arm gaps are gone and the gorget is more comfortable. The final type of plate, is tourney/joust armor. The helmet is a closed faced or visored the eye slits are extremely small. In the last versions of this armor they were either Gothic - Maximillian the primary differences were the lamellar skirt and helmet. The joust form has a lamellar fall down the upper legs, the G-M's helmet is usually visored with breathing holes and hearing holes punched thru the steel. Basic plate weighs about 35 to 42 lbs. while G-M can weigh as much as 29 lbs. more. 
     Today my combat is behind me, I will not see the shy side of 70 ever again. 
     

The only thing that has changed over time is the nature of who is doing the moving.  In the past it was wagon trains that would transport those supplies around,  now it's professional moving companies.  Those trains followed the military as they traveled and took their pay in the form of housing,  food,  protection,  straight pay,  and other forms.  Moving companies today are strictly paid a flat rate for their efforts.  When they get the person (or what they are paid for) they will leave until they obtain a new contract.  In more remote locations,  the personnel might actually be required to move themselves. 

In Iron Man 2 I saw Tony Stark spending experience points in his home boxing ring.
 
Iron Man is a good advertisement for being generous enough with experience points that player characters can do reasonable things to improve themselves and have those things work like they should.

How Tony Stark Spends his experience points seems to mirror how veteran Champions characters spend theirs. 
 
 

He didn’t spend point on the house as a base. Base point we’re from that funky sky scraper in Manhattan. His house in Malibu ( Point Dume), was just a special effect and , well,?the GM decided to take it away.  

How Tony Stark Spends his experience points seems to mirror how veteran Champions characters spend theirs. 
 
 

The crew of the PC’s ship is remarkably diverse. At a rough count…
 
Seven male humans (two are PCs)
Three female humans (NPCs)
One male human with cybernetics (PC)
One male flesh-covered android (NPC)
One female flesh-covered android (NPC)
One uplifted gorilla (NPC)
One male Vargr (NPC)
One female Aslan (NPC)
Five robots of varying levels of sentience
 
They’ve now managed to conquer an all Aslan-crewed pirate ship with around ten female Aslan techs and a few surviving males.
 
Forging this motley band of pirates into a unified fighting force will take every ounce of Captain Nemos’ leadership ability and a considerable amount of luck.

Purina?

Classic Traveller, allowed a character to die in this phase, so you would have to roll up a new one. Mongoose rules did away with the death, but added more injuries and bad things to the character. In recent play, what the character wanted as a career in The Imperial Navy didn’t quite work out, but it still produced an interesting life from before the game.  

I’m done with Star Wars. 

I’m done with Star Wars. 

That’s why you hire retainers. 😁Lest that’s what the OSR blogs suggest they always did.

My preferred is 3-4th edition.  The most fun I had as a player was the Fantasy Hero playtest.  Followed closely to a couple of Aaron Allston con games.  As a GM, it was running Fantasy Hero 1st edition and second, but back then the settings were deeply home brewed, relying on history, cheap and cheesy fantasy novels I bought from the College book store for the bus ride home, and long conversations with othe local GMs.  
 
those editions encouraged discounts on package deals to give players a deal, and to give set lists of spells and characteristics and powers to produce a member of some fantasy race, or job, or magic style. You would have points left over to individualize your character, and package disads didn’t count for halving.  If I were to run Fantasy Hero for new players, I would go with the early editions and inform them that D&D emulation I would consider in very bad taste.  there are far fewer pages in the early b editions of FH, and Danger International is a fun read. This is a lot more surmountable than 6th Edition. 
 
Those that say the play is the same are wrong.  Movement is halved, and divorced from beloved 25mm hexes representing 6 feet or 2m on tan Chessex battle maps. Turn mode has been added for characters. Endurance costs are different, and while most powers have been made more granular, and proscribed, barrier has uselessly combined effects. It used to be Forcefield would transmit stun from an attack to a character, similar to armor or rPD, whereas nothing was transmitted through a force wall, unless it was blown through, like a brick wall or tank armor. It was very easy to conceptualize the differences mechanically and build to spec.

Then Com was removed, and replaced with striking appearance for bad reasons.  COM was the stat that generated so much roleplay. Comeliness was taken as positive attractiveness. You paid points the higher you went. Was Sue Storm more attractive than Mary Jane Watson? If you had two very attractive team members, that often generated a lot of non combat interactions. Negative attractiveness paid you using distinctive looks. Large humanoid made of orange rocks, gotta be The Thing.  Then there was how growth and shrinking is handled now.  It used to be you would buy X levels of growth, to get the size you wanted, then you would buy off the END with appropriate Disads like can’t go through single doors, and others. You then had a character, other people around the table understood as “large”, without the 6th edition hand waving, reducing a power to a mere special effect. When l first started playing Champions with the first edition, it was 200 points plus Disads. I would take fewer disads than the other characters, and while I didn’t hit as hard as the others, but I was often the last one standing. Now the point totals are astronomical, and Dis-er- “complications”, if I understand correctly, are a fixed amount for the campaign(?), so everyone is the same number of points(?). As such the current edition’s strict enforcement of balance and getting what one pays for has removed the previous editions’ mercantile transaction between players andnGM and have replaced it with a Tax audit interaction. As such the 6th edition reference rules read like a tax accountancy text book.  Gone is the breezy information and sly humor of Bruce Harlick, or the cautioning notes l, the depth, and occasional dark humor of L. Douglas Garrett, or the confidence building good cheer of Aaron Allston.
 
Champions Complete does not have the tax problem but it lost the organization of 4th edition and it could use a revised layout with no change to the text.  Still, it has the aforementioned flaws of being a 6th edition rule set. D&D 5e acknowledged that there were imbalancing things in the game but those things could be compensated for  (Fireball as a 3rd level spell). But 6th edition has little wiggle room and tends to over complicate builds. The skills are a prime example of that.
 
I think I have already talked about the skill specialization where a 2-3rd edition character would have Doctor. A 6th edition character would have to take biology, anatomy, thoracic medicine, cardiology and would be a dandy heart surgeon, but not as useful setting bones or plugging bullet holes. The specificity also effects the cost of skill levels, and once again making the point costs astronomical, and character generation immensely slow, unless
one buys Hero Designer which is like having to buy TurboTax to file your taxes.
 
I expect some of you to come to the defense of 6th edition, and that’s fine, but it is to me, not fun. I may have to learn it, but it puts me to sleep. 
 
Champions Now, while inspired by 3rd Edition Champions, is a bit too modern , a bit too idiosyncratic, and too narrative focused, to feel like Champions of old. The wargame roots of the old game are gone. To me, it’s not Champions without a 12 segment speed clock. I see narrative is what you tell after the game, but what is most important is putting together a solid character personality because it should be characters that drive the plot, not the other way around. 
 
So if I wanted to teach new folks Hero, Duke may be the most correct, starting with second edition Champions. 
 
Scott - proud Grognard. 

Yeah the esteemed Mr Goodwin has listed pretty much the limited bit the rules deal with this.  Why so little, you ask?  Because its not fun, entertaining, escapist gaming to have your character you know, die of Dysentery.  I mean having a super gritty survival game can be fun but generally speaking, few games are going to really want to have this kind of thing as a feature of the game.
 
That said, if you are going to, I'd treat it as an impairing wound, where the damage was done, with a CON Roll to resist it taking place.