nitrosyncretic

Gray Wraith DEX 13-, INT 11-, EGO 11-, SPD 4 [50] STR 4d6, PRE 3d6, Def 17/2r [30] BODY 11 [10] REC 11 STUN 11 KO 22 END 33 Cost Power End 10 10 10 5 5 5 5 12 7 13 * * 13 15 Martial Arts I: Punch, Kick Martial Arts II: Block, Dodge, Throw, And Out Acrobatics (DEX) Stealth (DEX) Security Systems (INT) Detective Work (INT) 1d6 Luck Parkour, 9” Flight [18], Must end movement on surface or handhold -1/2 Swingline, 5” Flight, Swinging -1/2 Goggles, Awareness: Night Vision [20], Inobvious Focus -1/2 Stealth Suit - Padding, Normal Defense +5 - Kevlar, Resistant Defense +2 - Active Camo, Invisibility [20], Low Light only -1/2 HandShocker: +2d6 Blast, Strike: Adds to Martial Punch +3/4, High Impact +1/2, [22], Inobvious Focus -1/2. 2 1 +3 110 Total Powers Total = 90 + 110 = 200 Total AC = 284 Ratio = 1.19 100 Disadvantages 15 Secret ID: Isaac Wiles, age 28, Electrical Engineer at a startup. 30 DNPC: Gregory Wiles, father, formerly "Doctor Samson." Phys: Wheelchair bound (All the time, limiting, 15pts). Psych: Old school enforcer, striving is good for you (Frequent, Functional, 15pts). 15 Psych: Convinced he is better prepared than other neophyte heroes. (Frequent, Functional) 20 Hunted: Amazon's supervillain enforcers (Small group, supers, manipulative) 20 Hunted: Mind Master, Doc Sampson’s old foe who’s recognized GW’s tech. (Individual supervillain, manipulative.) Background The player provided this background: Wraith is Isaac Wiles, an lonely engineer who has a job and spends a lot of time tinkering in his father's super-hero workshop. Isaac is son of Gregory, who was Doctor Sampson, a two-fisted, old school superhero. Dad retired in the 90s after being paralyzed from the waist down and went on to make a fortune in the dot com boom. Gregory is a DNPC with psychological limitations that make him critical of Isaac's “softer” approach to heroing and also a desire to mold his son into a business success. Gregory and Isaac know each other's secret Ids. While Doctor Samson was a two-fisted old-school hero who enforced rules and cooperated with police, Gray Wraith is a martial artist who has doubts about simply enforcing law. He's also a Parkour pracitioner, His technological powers are a stealth suit that makes him invisible in low light and an electroshock palm taser that adds to his martial punch.

Radioshack (Leif Solheim) DEX 12-, INT 11-, EGO 11-, SPD 3 [30] STR 3d6, PRE 3d6, Def 14 [14] BODY 12 [20] REC 12 STUN 12 KO 24 END 36 Cost Power End 35 13 13 5 5 5 20 40 Technosense: Awareness, Outside ordinary senses, Analyze (Computer or Security skill as appropriate) Technotelepathy: 4d6 Telepathy [20], Only vs electronic machinery -1/2 Technokinesis: 2d6 Telekinesis with fine work (Computer or Security skill as appropriate) [20], Only vs electronic machinery -1/2 Computer Programming (INT) Security Systems (INT) Techno-Manipulation 11- Variable Power Pool: Techno-Manipulation Influence or create things out of electronic parts. Control Cost Pool (See list of configuration ideas below) 4 2 136 Total Powers Total = 64 + 136 = 200 Total AC = 214 Ratio = 1.07 100 Disadvantages 15 Secret ID. Lief tries to keep his technopath powers a secret to avoid being hunted/"recruited" by Amazon. 25 Hunted: Amazon is hunting Lief, and all other technopaths, to add to their army of developers. Large organization (10), superpowers (other technopaths) (10), manipulative intent (5). 10 DNPC: Hazel, Sister. Age 22. Youtube fashion channel diva. Knows secret ID but wants to get Lief dating. Public ID (10) 40 DNPC: Byte. Artificial Intelligence in an old PDA. Out of touch with current trends. Used to have important job but can't remember. Psych: Amnesia (15), Phys: No limbs (20), Unluck 1d6 (5) 10 Hunted: Anti Amazon group. Small group, ordinary, manipulative (recruit) Distributed, unorganized, opposed to surveillance and Amazon. Background The player provided this background information: Leif is a 28 year old technopath. Leif works in a computer recycling shop and lives with his sister, who makes a living posting cosmetic reviews to youtube. She knows about his secret ID and his need to avoid internet contact, but she also want so fix him up with dates. His power is the innate ability to communicate with and command technological machinery, including animating it and shaping it into things useful for himself. Things created with technopathy tend to look like jumbles of electronic junk, hence the name, Radioshack. Technosense allows him to “see” all the wires, servos, microprocessors, nanites, etc. within normal perception range, even inside walls. This allows him to target electronic nexuses with technotelepathy and technokinesis, using those to send/receive data and manipulate switches and programs remotely. If an item was paid for with points by a character in the game, he will have to make Ego attacks against the owner to have effect. Otherwise, inanimate objects are considered to have an Ego defense of 6 and no special defense. Technosense also allows him to orient himself in the dark, based on the shape of wiring in walls or under roads, and to target technologically armed opponents. Flash and Concealment, however, do obscure this sense. The techno-manipulation variable power pool uses technology as it's special effect. All applications must be either made of technological parts or affect such parts. He needs to always have access to a pile of parts in order to configure or reconfigure his power pool. He routinely carries around a backpack of parts for this purpose. If he somehow loses access to parts, he can use the technophage configuration of his power pool to destroy nearby devices, freeing up parts for use. I [the GM] ruled that these features were too flexible to qualify for a limitation. Variable Power Pool Configuration Ideas Cost Modular Options (Mix and Match) End 10 10 10 10 20 30 10 10 10 10 20 20 Mechanical Enhancements Armor +2 Resistant Defense (AC 10) Armor +10 Defense (AC 10) Extra Limb [AC 10] Exoskeleton: +4d6 Strength, [AC 20], OF -1 Electrocannon: 8d6 Blast [AC 40], OAF -1 Taser: 6d6 Blast, Severe +1/2 [45], No Range -1/2. Movement Clinging. Surfaces +2d6 Strength [10] Wings. 8” Flight, Regional Scope +1/4 [20], OF -1 Technophagy, 3d6 Blast, only vs technology not part of a character -1/2 [AC 15] Animate. 3D6 Telekinesis [AC 15] Only acts through technology in the environment -1/2 Anti-Battlesuit Powers Frozen Servos: 3D6 Entangle (AC 30), Only against targets that rely on technology for movement -1/2 Scrambled Sensors: 3d6 Flash (AC 30), Only against targets with technological sight enhancement -1/2 0 0 Str Str 8 6 2 2 3 3 6 6

Breakthrough II (A.J. Bassil) DEX 12-, INT 11-, EGO 11-, SPD 3 [30] STR 8d6, PRE 3d6, BODY 14, Def 20/3r [97] REC 14 STUN 14 KO 28 END 42 Cost Power End 5 30 10 10 7 10 Stealth (DEX) Life Support: total 1 Body Regeneration Elemental Control: Nanite repurposing of body Slot: 10” Flight [20], Constrained to superleap -1/2 Slot: Surfaces: Clinging +4d6 Strength [20] 2 5 72 Total Powers Total = 127 + 72 = 199 Total AC = 202 Ratio = 1.02 Disadvantages: 100 pts 10 DNPC: Ava (Psych: career mother, sometimes, irrational) 15 DNPC: Ellie (Physical: middle school child, all the time, limiting) 15 Hunted: Dept of Defense secret super-soldier program (small group, extensive, manipulative) 20 Dependence: must return to family home daily to recharge. End reduced 3D6 until charged. 10 PsyLim: post-combat stress symtoms (sometimes, irrational) 10 PsyLim: soldier's duty, protect the innocent (sometimes, limiting) 15 Secret ID: Breakthrough II 5 Unusual Looks: alien prosthetic arm and leg, 8- Background [lightly edited from the player's original] Amos Jacob Bassil is a 30-something Iraq war vet with missing leg and PTSD. His ancestors are originally from Armenia [editor note: I may have this wrong], but he grew up in Seattle and his parents are solid middle class. His mother was Breakthrough I a couple of decades ago. He lives with his parents in their house in Ravenna district even though his wife, pursuing her high-powered executive career has moved her and their 13 year old daughter, Ellie, to Capitol Hill. He has to stay near his childhood home because he is dependent on daily exposure to an alien artifact under the house. His excuse is that his parents need him. So far he and his wife are staying together despite this strain. He works as a mobile mechanic, driving his workshop truck from job to job. Breaththrough got his powers after returning home for Iraq missing a leg. The alien artifact under his house colonized him with nanites and gave him a cybernetic leg. They also provide superstrength, superleap, and super healing. When a bullet or flying blade hits him, the nanites eat the incoming projectile and heal any wound. Aside from punching or tearing things apart, his primary attack is a superleap move-through. A US Government agency is hunting for the alien technology that powers him. The visual for all powers is the same as his regeneration: a brief glimpse of an artificial "dark matter" as the alien nanomachines enhance or repair his body.

(Please post any questions or discussion about content of this thread to ) In this thread I'll lay out an example of developing a Champions Now game. This comes from a game I GMed early in 2019 using the Beta rules. As time allows, I will post each player character in a separate post. Then I'll write about developing NPCs and villains based on their Situations. Then, I plan to post a number of important villain character sheets. I'll be copying some of the material I wrote on the Adept Play forum last year, but leaving out the actual play summaries and a discussion on emergent plot. You can find those at Champions Now Beta playtest--Seattle and Champions Now Beta playtest--Emergent plot? Making Characters We had an initial character development by email, a face to face session of finalizing development. I followed the game setup in the Beta document closely. To start, I emailed my players the portion of the Beta rules that explains the Person, Problems, and Powers approach. I said we're creating our own superhero book, right here, right now, with no reference to any other cannon. I asked them to create humans who have relationships in Seattle – no aliens or amnesiacs. For powers, I encouraged them not to think in terms of mechanics, but rather how they would appear in a comic. I also kept initial development separate, so they didn't get into extensive world building in advance. Here are the Two Statements I sent: Techno-wondrous discovery. Fraught personal lives and the political history of Seattle. I designed the powers to conform with the players' visions for the characters. I did most of the mechanical character and power creation in the interests of time, with the exception of Breakthrough, whose player has some Champions experience. I've updated all of the character builds to conform to the final rules released in 2020. [Edit: I just noticed that the final rules recommend 200 point starting player characters, so I just replaced Breakthrough, Radioshack, and Gray Wraith is 200 point versions. The hardest part of dropping the cost was cutting back on situations!] NEXT: Breakthrough II, Radioshack, and Gray Wraith, Rebels of the Emerald City.

One of the things I liked about presenting the two statements to my players was that it was a rorschack test. Following the text, I had players create characters separately in response to the statements without reference to each other's choices and they each came up with different details. Our two statements were: 1. Techno-wondrous discovery 2. Fraught personal drama, in Seattle, Washington I intentionally left out any details about when powers first appeared, how people got powers, what forces powers drew on. Those questions all got answered from what the player's designed. It resulted in a bunch of good background that informed how the world worked as we played.

Champions Now is not intended to support direct conversion from other manifestations of Champions. Intentional decisions were made to encourage certain flavors of play. I helped Ron with the numeric analysis of the cost and effect of "killing" attacks and resistant defense. I recall two considerations that influenced design: 1. he wanted to avoid the arms race between killing attacks and resistant defense that was a major point of controversy and discussion through many years among players of Champions. 2. he wanted to reflect how such attacks showed up in the comics of the 60s and 70s. Keep in mind that the first edition of Champions was 1980 or so. It was inspired by the comics of the 60s and 70s and Ron uses that era as a touchstone. I highly recommend anyone playing Champions Now get an online subscription to DC and/or Marvel and check out the comics of that time period. Here's one way to build Wolverine's claws in CN: 10d6 Blast. Piercing +1/2. AC: 75, No Range -1/2. Cost 50, End:10 This is a serious commitment to a nasty attack. It could well cut down any character without resistant defense in one hit and do significant hurt even to those with rDef. The significant knockout will probably also stun even a well defended hero.

1. Masters of the Occult 2. Facing death and taxes in New Orleans

You're right, I don't think my reference above really uses the term accurately. What was thinking of is the idea that one sets one's game in the present world with whatever current events happening same as they are around the players -- just as most Marvel supers comics have -- just look at Spider-Man etc. -- real world New York with ongoing world and cultural events contemporaneous with the publication date of the book. But the proper meaning of the "Now," in Ron's game, as I understand it, is letting the current state of events at any given second inform what happens next. To allow dice rolls and play to shape whatever outcomes they produce, then stop and say, "based on that, how do the villains and NPCs respond? What plans do they change or set in motion? How do DNPCs react? I see it as a cycle of nows, each an iteration that inspires the action. I think the concept is also an attempt to head off the long tradition in RPGs of the GM, consciously or unconsciously, using their significant powers to shape events so they produce what the GM sees as "a good story."

1. Touched by alien energies. 2. Homicide detectives in the high rent districts of Seattle 1. Phantasmagorical forces that drag you into trouble. 2. Small town families squabbling over the scraps of their economy. 1. Testing scientifically created supers. 2. The tension between work and time with loved ones on a University campus. 1. Living in a Flash Gordon world. [in retrospect this has nothing to do with the "now" encouraged by the text so it doesn't really fit.] 2. Bringing together factions in the face of distrust and hate. For statement 2. it helps to think about what kind of drama would be interesting on the flip side of the powers. It's like welding a TV show to superheros. Early Spider-man might be expressed as 1. Amplified creature and elemental powers and 2. Teenage lives, lessons, and relationships in Manhattan.

Ha! I've read a lot of Ron's games (and played a few) and "that which is not explicitly permitted, is denied" is definitely his writing style. But that's a bit harsh. Perhaps a better way to say it is that it's best to read his work with no assumptions and try to follow the letter of the text -- For example, I assumed that advantages still cost endurance (because they did in Beta) but the final rules only say that endurance is based on effect and says nothing about advantages increasing the cost. In discussion on the kickstarter site, he has confirmed that this is a change. I've started to notice too that power descriptions specifically state when endurance is required every phase of use -- if not then you only spend it to start a power, even if the effects might persist.

RE: multiform. The only downside is that changing the configuration is a half phase action now.

That's how I interpret the rule. I don't think there's any further discussion of it outside of what it says in the Elemental Control rules, which is simply "Powers in the Slots must require Endurance."

Well, cool! I see that now. Wow. Hey did Ron ever clarify the end cost of pushing to add an advantage? I think the text says one pays a 1d6 end for each 5 points in the power to add an advantage for one shot. This is different from pushing to add effect, which is only 1d6 end for every 1d6 effect added. Is that your understanding?

Hm. I've skimmed the pdf for rules on end cost and don't find anything that says Advantages don't cost endurance. This would be a change from the Beta edition. Can you give a page number?

We didn't have many focii in the playtests I experienced, so I can't say. However, my understanding is that taking away a focus would be based on the special effects involved. A grab and strength contest makes sense for something like the mace. And yes, the cost of an EC slot is calculated by reducing what we used to call the active cost by the pool value, then applying limitations to what's left.

Here's an alternate build for Morningstar's Elemental Control. First, I'll just mention that powers in an EC in Champions Now must cost endurance (p. 93). 10 Biokinetic Energy: Elemental Control, all Slots 20+ points 10 Biokinetic Shield: Force Field, +8 Resistant Defense [4] 10 Biokinetic Propulsion: Flight, 10 hexes [2] 7 Biokinetic Redirection: Missile Deflection, 13-, Costs Endurance (-½) [4] 12 Biokinetic Strike: +3d6 Blast, High Impact (+½), Strike (adds to martial punch) +3/4, OF -1 [7] (6d6 martial punch with +3d6 high impact for a total of 9d6. And the drop the +3d6 strength and invest the remaining points in body to up your End.)

It will eventually be available from the hero games store online. Not sure when though.

I can confirm from playtest with Ron that The Champions Now Focus limitation is intended only for items that will often be taken away in play. Many powers, like PowerStar's resistant defense and his Distortion Generator are gadgets that are separate, but I did not want them taken away, so no focus limitation. His Tesla Tap does have an inobvious focus, because I imagine the connection between the generators in the PowerCave and his receiver are subject to interference. The Focus limitation is primarily intended as an exploit heros can use against villains. Another bit of advice: make characters that are fun to play, not combat optimized. Half the fun is coming up with creative ways to bring down a villain when your best attack can't on its own. The other half is getting knocked down and coming back. Heros aren't about winning, they are about persisting.

My character from the Legacy playtest. Adapted from beta rules to final. One of the artist contributed a picture of him on page 41. Power*Star v3.0 (Mike Mandella) 100 Situations 15 Secret ID, Mike Mandella. 10 Public ID, PowerStar, legendary protector of former era. 20 DNPC: Dr. DarkStar. 10 Public ID: imprisoned reformed(?) supervillain; 10 Psych (Rare, Irrational): black list, a list of people who “deserve consequences.” 5 DNPC: Aaron Mandella, Younger Brother. 10 Psych (Occasional, Functional): Wants Mike to use money for nonprofit. 5 DNPC: Michelle Mandella. Aaron's wife and Mike's former girlfriend. Psych (Occasional, Functional): Doubting her marriage, might still love Mike. 20 Hunted: The Dark Cohort (formerly led by DarkStar). Small Group (5) Superpowers (10), manipulative (5). 10 Hunted: Monica Stewart, journalist, ordinary (0), manipulative (5). 20 PsychLim (Frequent, Irrational): Everyone deserves a second chance. Characteristics and Powers Str 3d6, Pre 3d6, Dex 13, Int 12, Ego 11, Speed 4 [1,3,5,6] (70 pts) Def 12/2r* (* See Teslasuit below) Body 13**, Rec 13, Stun 13, KO 26, End 39 (** See Tesla Tap below) End 10 Shotokan Karate: Punch +0/+1 +3d6; Kick -2/+1 +6d6 3 10 3 known Transceiver Pads, Memorized locations, Immobile -1/2 Teslasuit 20 Tesla Tap. +3 Body (BC30). Inobvious Focus -1/2. Taps power from generator in Power*Cave. 0 10 Resistant Fabric. 2 resistant defense 10 Higgsfield Planing. Surfaces: Airwalk By move Tesla-Darkstar Field Mediator 50 50 pt Multiform 4 (20) Tesla Transition. 10” Teleport 2 4 (31) Enhanced Transition. Teleport, 2xMass, Regional scope +1/4, Only between established transceivers -1/2. 2 6 (28) Distortion Pulse. (17) +1d6 Flash, Adds to Martial Punch +3/4 (11) +1d6 Blast, High Impact +1/2, Adds to Martial Punch +3/4 3 6 (30) Higgsfield Vortex. 2 def, 2d6 Entangle. Area: 1 hex +1/2 4 130 Total Grand Total: 130 + 70 = 200 (+ 14XP unspent). Total AC = 215: Ratio 1.07

Regarding handguns and normals using weapons, check out the gun discussion on page 208 of CN and the Hazards You Can Fight section on page 188.

Having participated in the playtesting, I can tell you that the combats have been very satisfying. In comparison with 4th edition, which is the last version I played, they have fewer of the drawn out grind-downs that I found usually showed up in other versions. Combats are shorter in comparison to 4th ed., but not "super short" and events and actions feel more consequential.