Talk about all things super here!

I run a champions game here on rpol.    I'm hoping that this will be a resource for me and my players.

I am running a Champions game here too.

I would like to play in a champions game.  Spent the past year playiung FREd, over 4 different genres.

I think you've app'd to my SWORD campaign, didn't you?

I'm running a somewhat no frills Champions game.  It's slow going due to some players who are still learning the game, and some with some real life issues.   I might be able to find room for a player or two.

In reply to Kevlyn,

Yes I did, tried to think what was missing from your group and the answer of a wheelsperson jumped out at me.

As I said, I know the basics from playing FREd, but just need to come up to speed with the cost changes.

In the interim, supers games are less demanding, so I'm going to give it a whirl.  Slow to moderate posting should be expected from me.

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Aces is a game about the lives and stories of would-be heroes.  Not flashy comic book stars, but heroes who don't seek the limelight.  These are people that save lives and, at times, even the world.  But for them, publicity is unwanted.

The heroes of the world work against a group known as the Unified National Interest Tribunal for Economic Development.  UNITED, originally founded to help stabilize the minor economies of the world quickly developed an ulterior motive.  Their agendas, while benign from the outside, are intended to subvert and control the world.

link to another game

I could always do with some more Champions. Though I tend to play... unusual heroes.

Well, I've not had any interest shown.  So, I will do this instead.  Those who want to play a 6e Champions game sound off. But express the type of super game you'd most enjoy as well as your idea of a hero you'd like to portray.

Sorry but has been a busy three or four days or I would have responded. I had a character created for your last game I think but she never made it past 3rd post before game folded.

I love blasters with brains, scouts and healers.

I think I'd like a game where there aren't any heroes.  Where the PCs are the first heroes in the world.  Thoughts?

I've done that and it went over well. Means lots of your powers need to be a lot weaker and controlled to avoid killing the mundanes you are fighting.

My favorite hero of all time actually was a teleporter/healer: Her powers were aid to speed, drain speed, healing, and movement abilities (teleport). She had a nnd attack but not a lot of damage.

Could be a fun game. Do you imagine all the players would have similar origins?

I'm down for a 6E game.

If you're looking for a setup for a superhero game where the PCs are some of the first superheroes, I'd suggest taking a page out of the Shadowrun universe.

In Shadowrun, the Mayan and Aztec calendars' worlds mark the ebb and flow of magic. The Fifth World (the one set to end in 2012) is one of the 'ebb' worlds. In the Sixth World, magic was released into the world again.

Granted, I am MASSIVELY simplifying things, but you get the idea. So perhaps with the start of the Sixth World powers (whether magic, gods, mutation, or super-science) have begun to emerge that were missing in the Fifth World. The benefit to this approach is that it allows you a simple way to explain the myths and legends from earlier times: they were the supers of ages past, and have descended into myth and legend with the passing millennia.

Anyone have an RPOL ready blank character sheet for Champions?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:49, Sat 28 May 2011.

What I did for the last game I ran was created a website elsewhere.  Then I posted the sheets from HeroDesigner to the site (in HTML format) and accessed them there.  Worked better for me, at least, than trying to do a complicated sheet here.

I agree with Kevlyn. Just have everyone post their sheets on a site like Angelfire, and put the link in the charsheet section. That way, they can also update them as they gain XP.

Okay, here is what I just heard ...

"technical stuff, technical stuff, yadda yadda, babble babble, character sheet, yadda yadda technical stuff"

I'm an old guy who uses paper and pen to do stuff still.

Is there a freeware version of HeroDesigner for 4e? All I saw was the 6e version that they want me to buy to use.

Kevlyn, if you are starting another hero game, I will bring out my street heroine and let her see the light of day (she was created for a game where she didn't last long because I found I couldn't stand the GM ethics and blatant favoritism of some players over others).

Actually, I'm sorta putting one together on Hero Central.  I've kinda made myself sit down today and start hammering out the details for a fantasy setting.   If anyone wants to collaborate on a Fantasy Hero setting, just PM me.  Although I'd probably do better with it here, so I might try posting it over here.   Although, there is a 5e game that looks like it may launch too.

Anyone running a champions game still here on RPOL or elsewhere? If so and you want another player let me know, please!!!

Anyone interested?  If so, PM me.

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The world needed heroes.  At least until yesterday, that is.  Now, they don't want us any more.  One of us messed up pretty bad, now the heat is on us all.  The Norms want to take care of themselves.  Doctor Jihd built the Nullbots.  These things are immune to all powers, and they pack a punch too.

So, now we are either on the run or turning ourselves in.  Things are not looking good for Metas right now.

One comment about this idea, Kevlyn... the Nullbots sound just TOO powerful. Either 6e has some severe changes from the earlier editions, or these things have huge point values, in order to be "immune to all powers."

The plot seed sounds like it was taken straight from Marvel's Civil War as well, which could attract younger players and repulse older ones.

Indeed. Moreover, having anything 'immune to all powers' is just insanely broken, period.

I agree that it reeks of Civil War, which made me swear off Marvel for a time (I still refuse to pay for any of their products, but I've loosened up to watching the movies when they come on basic cable).

If you want to do a 'hunted heroes' thing, then there are HELLUVALOT better ways to go about it. To pull two other examples from Marvel, there's Days of Future Past and Age of Apocalypse. MUCH better done, IMHO.

PErsonally, I would say they are immune to most powers acting on them directly. You can still affect them indirectly. An entangle of webs (like spidy's) should still affect them since it doesn't affect their function directly but puts something physical around them.

Superman's heat vision might not work. Him punching or dropping a mountain on one would.

THey are just slightly more powerful sentinels.

That sounds sensible, LadyPhoenix. Like the cave griffins in "Year of the Griffin" who were virtually immune to magic, but one wizard got around that by enchanting the ground under their feet with fiery explosions.

However, I will say that I don't care for the sentinels, either... massive institutionalized racism ("mutant hate") being one of the things that started to push me away from Marvel decades ago. The endless chain of over-hyped, end of the universe crossover events were another (things like that lose their impact when overused and ought to be rare, not yearly).

Yeah, bots taht go after any super powered being or hero (including power armored) might make more sense than anti-mutant bots.

Sentinels didn't make much sense to me either. They have a visual DNA device that they can tell a mutant from say sorcerer/eternal/power armored/asgardian/accident altered sort?

It would have made more sense if they attacked based on visual traits (lift a ton or more, fires lasers, made of something unusual, flying, etc...).

I believe at one point they were loaded with a visual database of mutants. Later, I think they were given scanners that detected the X-gene. How? Don't ask me, but they weren't the only ones that had that capability. Probably something Forge cooked up in his spare time.

More likely something that Professor X invented that got leaked... remember that his super-computer could detect and identify mutants worldwide.

Technology, to those that have never encountered it can appear to be magic.  Nullbots, to those that have never encountered it can appear to be immune.  I don't read Marvel, so I know nothing of Civil War.  What I know of Sentinels is they exist, I'm one of the rare souls that cringes at the mention of anything with X- in the title.

The premise is that this is sudden, there is limited information, and the blurb is what the players would start the game knowing.  I don't think of setting material in hero terms, I think of it in what might make a good game.  I'll let the HERO rules sort themselves out when I get there.

The input, however, is greatly appreciated.  The comics I have read were primarily Superman, with some Justice League thrown in.  I did give the Ultimates and Ultimate Fantastic Four a brief chance, though, but overall most of my superhero experience has been creating my own things.   I had a couple of people respond, so I may get a little use from this idea.  My primary inspiration for this was Falling Skies.

My friend was telling me of Falling skies after and before our D&D game yesterday. Sounds interesting, I hear the aliens have mech suits? I need to watch it I think.

I am still interested. Esp since I have a street level type heroine in mine. One that shows up, does what she can and leaves. No super strength, only a 2d6 NND (which might not affect bots), her main powers are teleportation, healing and Aid/drain speed.

Eh, I'm not really interested in street level heroes. If it was standard supers or higher, I'd be more interested.

I would love to make a character, but I need to know point limits and such before I made one. I think because it's Hero and Champions it would be easy to alter a characters point totals to fit whatever the Gm sets as the maximum points and limits for points on powers and other stuff.

The character you described is interesting to me Lady Phoenix. It sounds like the character would do great in a group with those powers. Sounds like that character would be ideal for rescuing civilians and injured heroes as well.

Even if I had the full points for standard cahracter, I would still keep to that kind of power level. Teleport might be increased and a little more skills, maybe a few talents, maybe some martial arts.

It is the concept that I like. The heroine "WHEN" as 'when will people stand up for each other? When will someone put helping others as more important than themselves? When will civic duty as a citizen come before personal safety? When will we demand that justice be done? I am WHEN and WHEN is here and now." (all those powers mentioned were time adjustment powers)

well if I can get motivated to make a Champions Hero game on RPOL, I would welcome a character concept like yours. Most certainly.

One of my favorite characters that I never get to play is a necromancer named Acheron. Yes, he raises the undead, and uses them to do his bidding. But he is really a nice guy.

Sounds like a fun character.

Yes, but people tend to get caught up in the fact that he was born twenty years ago, but has been around since the dawn of human civilization, and may be the basis for the cultural heritage of several 'death gods' or personifications of death, such as the Grim Reaper, Shinigami, and the like.

Oh, and the fact that he exists outside of linear time.

Like the time the team he was on sent a giant shipful of aliens to a universe experiencing a zombie rebellion?

In reply to Manticore (msg #41):

Yes! Who were you there?

Nice. How did that turn out? Zombies ate the aliens and got a stomach ache? ?Or the aliens wiped out the zombies?

The GM aborted the game along with the rest of his supers storylines, I think.

If I remember right, the zombies were rebelling against the normal folks who'd made them. Something about a cure for mutation? I forget. I also forget why the aliens were coming to Earth in the first place. But Acheron was definitely in that game.

Was that a game here on RPOL?

Yes, it was. Still going, just sans the supers. More of straight horror I think.

Interesting. Thanks.

The aliens were coming to finish a fight with another group of aliens who were living underground and had come here after getting their butts kicked by the first group, and were now getting a bit more militant, and threatening to sink Las Vegas or something.

The dimension we sent them to was full of zombies revolting against their creators, where another group from our dimension had gone over tracking a criminal who was originally from that dimension, and had gone back, after being disenchanted with the gang she was part of in our dimension, and they were in the process of making a deal with her to help her 'friends' in return for all the dirt she could give them on the supercriminal in charge of her old gang, who had sent a Hulk-esque creature after her to keep her from talking.

It was an interesting setup, and I was sad to see the game go. In my group, at least, the characters were all very powerful, but they weren't your Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman types, which meant that it was a little zany. Afterall, my character was a necromancer who literally existed outside of linear time. Picture Doctor Who mixed with Doctor Strange, and you get an idea of what Acheron's about.

I have had an idea for a Champions campaign. I have used this concept before and it lends itself to a superhero setting well. I will ask first if anyone has heard of or read the DC Comics series "Suicide Squad". My campaign idea is ripped off from that comic books ideas.

[What the is suicide squad you ask ? It is a group of metahuman operatives that are all imprisoned in a top secret government run prison. These operatives are sent to do missions by their handler. If they succeed in their missions their prison sentences are reduced. If they fail they can be hurt, captured or even killed, and they are not connected to the government. to insure that the suicide squad members do not escape while on a mission, they all have nanotech explosives implanted in their brains. These explosives are triggered remotely by the Squad's commander if needed.]

Seeing as this is a government run secret prison, it would house all kinds of metahuman prisoners. Dangerous mutants, aliens with strange powers,super villains,
vigilantes, disgraced and/or framed superheroes, metahuman agents of foreign governments,androids, extra dimensional entities, etc.

Meh. I've never been a fan of that setup, to be honest. And the whole 'bomb in your brain' thing just never did it for me. I'd much prefer a regular supers game, with the possibility for heroes that aren't in the usual mode. Like the immortal necromancer who lives outside of time, or the thief/assassin who bought himself immunity and turned over a new leaf after his parents were killed by terrorists, or the dragongirl who has been helped to understand that people aren't food by the supers who found her lurking in New York's sewers, or...

Especially since many supers can defeat such a trick. Especially if the people planting the bomb don't know nature of their super powers.

Considering that one of my favorite powers in a superhero game is the man with the power to die, die again, and then die some more, Suicide Squad would probably not work for me, either.

That kind of setup makes for a mediocre comic, at best, and as the setup for a game, it is just horrible. The whole constant threat of death thing just reeks of railroading, and I'm not masochistic enough to find the setting enjoyable.

Sounds a bit like DC's Resurrection Man series from the 1990s, which they are reviving, I hope it does well, I loved that series. Well I hope to at least play a game of 6e Champions either here on RPOL or irl... in my friend's basement.

Resurrection Man was a bit different (as was his predecessor, Multiple Man) than what I'm thinking of.

This message was deleted by the player at 00:27, Sun 18 Sept 2011.

Ok so I had new idea for a Champions game/campaign if any one is interested. How about a standard champions game using 6th Ed rules. The players are part of a team of heroes sponsored by the UN that have an orbital base. They are global guardians of a sort, each team menber represents a different nation of earth. The players would have some powerful perks like international police powers, etc. The game universe would be a variation/alternate earth much like the standard Champions earth setting. All types of characters including aliens, time travelers and extra dimensional beings would be welcome.

Now the real question, before I get to into working on this, is there enough interest in a game of this type to do it? Anyone have ideas for a Champions type setting they would like to play? I'm open to suggestions. This would be my first attempt at running a game on RPOL, as well as my first time GMing any Hero system game in a very long time.

Now THAT is very workable. Obviously, if they are global level heroes, they'd have more points than the standard superhero level. Maybe 500 or 550?

As for ideas, I've got four right now that I could make easily at that level:
Iceblade - Cold controller mutant, with a costume and sword that give him additional abilities. Former thief/assassin, he turned over a new leaf after a terrorist attack killed his parents, and bought himself amnesty for his past crimes. He is on the team because sometimes even the best teams need someone willing to get their hands dirty.

The Reptillian - Feral mutant, with dragon characteristics. She is big, strong, and breathes fire. A recent development has allowed her limited shapeshifting abilities into two other forms, one humanoid, and one a smaller form. At twenty-two, she only recently learned to read, and is still learning about things like television, computers, and why people aren't food, even if they're mean people.

Acheron - An immortal necromancer, who exists outside of time. He was once human, but when the cult he was born into tried to use him to find an ancient evil artifact, an older version of himself showed him how to go outside of time. He has reappeared throughout time, in one form or another, working to preserve the balance, and prevent people from meddling with time. He has witnessed firsthand many of the great events in history, and has a souvenir collection in his otherdimensional home that would make the curator of any museum on Earth wet himself at the sight. Some of these 'souvenirs' are artifacts that are either too powerful or too dangerous (those aren't the same thing, as he could tell you) to be left in mortal hands, which he has taken out of time, where they'll be safe. Despite the fact that his appearances in time have made him the basis for many reports of 'death gods' and 'grim reapers' throughout the ages, he's really a nice guy. Picture a combination of Doctor Who, Dresden Files, and Warehouse 13, and you get Acheron. As for why he's heroing, all he'll say is cryptic words about an upcoming future where he will be needed.

Vampyra - Real name Isoke Dracula. Yes, that Dracula. Freed from her late husband, she is the Countess of Transylvania, and despite the changes that have happened over the last few centuries, still claims that title. She has healing magic, as well as her own vampiric abilities, and can provide a decent mix of both support and offense. Her weakness to sunlight, however, makes going out in day in anything less than a full bodysuit problematic, however.

All those sound great, yeah probably 500 to 550 points. ( not positive though) I still have to finish reading up on the 6E rules a bit to figure out point totals and limits. But if I get a bit more interest I'll do some work and post a thread for a game here on RPOL. I have to find/figure out a good tool for doing maps I think as well.

I would be, assuming you can help a noob out with the rules. Will come up with a character idea or three today.

Noobs welcome.

I am interested but I don't have 6th edition, only 5th so that would handicap my ability to make any sort of character.

Not as much of a handicap as you would think, it's not that tough to convert a 5th edition hero charqacter to 6th edition rules.

So thinking of a Midnighter-type character, a military hero, or a brains-over-brawn type - what would work best for you, Dieter?

I'm thinking a secret agent type... poses publicly as a supervillain and gets thrashed by the good guys, but behind the scenes he's working for and with the heroes. Like a human danger room - instead of a place to go for practice thwarting evil-doers and trying out new strategies, you go to him and his henchmen.


O.o? Why are you looking at me like that? Should I have gone with the teleporting, transvestite factory building instead?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:38, Fri 23 Sept 2011.

I think I'll go with Acheron. Nothing quite like having the Grim Reaper on your side to deter criminals. ;)

Both those ideas sound good guys. I will be doing some reading up on 6th edition rules at work tonight. (Lucky for me when work is slow I can actually bring stuff to work and read.)

Any feel for which of the three I should go with, Dieter?

All sound good, but I confess I don't know that much about Midnighter or what his abilities are.

If you can convert a 5th edition character into 6th, I can make one. I am still going with stress origin, street type character but she will be tough enough to operate on global scale though offense won't be her strong point, boosting allies will be (Time manipulator).

That's more than acceptable Lady Phoenix.

Midnighter is a version of Batman for the Wildstorm universe (well, it is now part of mainstream but... whatever). He is able to consider millions of moves in combat, and predict outcomes of fights before even throwing a punch. He is stronger than normal, high endurance and healing, slightly enhanced senses. He is also a cranky as heck SOB... lots of fun, actually.

(As an aside, you might look at the group he was part of - the Authority - for some ideas for the game, as it dealt with very high powered characters defending the world... and at times spanking the various national leaders of countries for acting up when the world needed to focus on something - some excellent stories there!)

The military hero I am thinking of could easily be similar, just more of the gung-ho command structure type, so better attitude, but also divided loyalties, potentially (which makes for good story-telling potential). Sort of a Superman-lite version of Captain America, though only sort of - getting a decent mental image of them. Considering doing a female character, a la GI JANE.

The brains over brawn guy is still vague in my head - but thinking he has some sort of luck or telekinesis that makes sure when he gets in trouble, and people try to attack him, things just... work out so he is fine - tables are in the way, or he moves behind a mirror just as you fire a laser, etc. Trying to get a grip on what I see the ability being, but not sure yet, so will probably shelve him.

In reply to PhantomStranger (msg #72):

All those ideas sound neat to me Phantom Stranger.

Should I look into finding a copy of 6th to be able to play in this game you're proposing if it were to get off the ground?

That's up to you. I'm not going to tell you how to spend your money. Me as a long time player and GM of hero system, I keep buying thir products lol.

Spend... Money?

I rarely buy any books any more. Ever since I played in a long running homebrew game which didn't necessitate the purchase of anything beyond a d10 and a d20, (or d10+d6 if you prefer) I only purchase books to support companies. I bought the SoIaFRP book just to help keep them making supplements. HERO is fine without my pennies though.

Long overdue, but there ya go!

link to another game

How are the submissions coming along for your Champions game?

Hasn't logged in in a week... no idea what's up with that...

Are the old supplemental books available anywhere in pubic domain?

I'm thinking of things like Stronghold and the Primus/Demon book and the like.

Or is ebay the only option?

Amazon sometimes has good deals on used stuff.   Also, used bookstores sometimes have old games.   I've had good luck with both

http://www.amazon.com/Primus-D...tion-Book-Champions/

About $4 + shipping