I finally get to play a new Champions character!
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Showing posts with label superheroes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label superheroes. Show all posts
Thursday, September 16, 2021
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Atlantaverse: Full of Dread
We sat down for some old-school superhero action and ran the new Discord server for it.
The Heroes:
Jack- Sirius the Winderdog. Exposed to a meteorite the faithful hound was imbued with incredible powers, keen intelligence, and a thirst for justice.
Sam- Emerald Guardian. Billionaire. Aristocrat. Inventor. Man of Action. Leader of the Emerald Guardsmen he uses his base on Emerald Island as a crime-fighting headquarters as he fights evil across the globe.
Nick- Phoenix. A powerful magician that can assume the fiery form of the phoenix he opposes all dastardly deeds.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Atlantaverse: Psychotronic World Building
When I am doing worldbuilding for fantasy games I may spend too much time on verisimilitude - making the world at least internally consistent. Seaward, Blackstone, the Patchwork Lands - I work to make them sensible, consistent and familiar without being boring. But there are always little things, like the steam-powered war moose construct.
Now that I am making a Champions setting I am in full-on Psychotronics mode!
Psychotronic is a slang term used in parts of the movie buff community to describe a certain sort of movie. I've never found a good universal definition of what 'Psychotronic' means that covers all the bases, but here I go with my own idiosyncratic one;
Psychotronic: 1) the blending of genres, typically with low budgets
2) Low-budget exploitation films
3) Films with very non-traditional manner of storytelling
Monday, June 3, 2019
Champions: The Atlantaverse
I have been running a Champions campaign for about 4-5 years, now, and am making it 'more official'.
Since the campaign grew from 'dead average points heroes in Atlanta' to add 'street level in Hudson City (i.e., Jersey), 'high points in Vibora Bay' and now my 4th son is running 'mid level in San Mateo' we're calling it the Atlantaverse.
Here's some background!
Since the campaign grew from 'dead average points heroes in Atlanta' to add 'street level in Hudson City (i.e., Jersey), 'high points in Vibora Bay' and now my 4th son is running 'mid level in San Mateo' we're calling it the Atlantaverse.
Here's some background!
Monday, March 6, 2017
Play Report: First Game in the Dosmend Campaign for HERO System
I love Champions and the HERO system. I've been playing Champions since it came out and it is my default superhero system. HERO is my default system for damn near everything that isn't fantasy or horror.
Recently Son #4 told us that phrase that all people who play superhero games both love and dread.
"Play anything you want".
Recently Son #4 told us that phrase that all people who play superhero games both love and dread.
"Play anything you want".
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Champions: Flashback to William, the Strongest Man in the World
Earlier I wrote about the very creative character from the first Champions campaign I played in. Another very creative member of the party was my buddy Gregg. Gregg liked what I called 'simple, yet extreme, characters'. He had a tendency to make characters so over-the-top they were terrifying and yet so simple, direct, and interestingly flawed you wanted him to play them and play alongside them.
The character of his I remember best was William. I have recreated him here in 6th edition HERO as I remember him as a beginning character.
William
Background/History: William's parents were simple, rural Kentuckians. They didn't have a great deal of money, but they were devoted to their children. When their son, William, was born he was a typical, healthy boy. He grew abnormally quickly and was freakishly strong. Concerned at how others treated him his parents moved to as remote an area as possible and raised him in near seclusion.
Eventually a rabidly anti-mutant terrorist group attacked his family. Despite his great strength William was unable to save his family and fled before the terrorists and their anti-mutant robots. He chanced across the Victory Squad who helped him defeat the robots and sheltered him. He soon joined their team. In his 'secret identity' is is, effectively, a ward of the hero Crimson. While most of the world believes the huge superhero to be a grown man he is, in fact, barely 15 years old.
Personality/Motivation: William is a typical 15 year old boy; he is rambunctious, emotional, easily distracted, and sometimes forgetful. But he was raised to be honest, just, courteous, and respectful and he honors his slain parents by doing his best to be a good person. He is essentially illiterate and knows little of television, the internet, etc. but he is a good judge of character and is no fool, no matter how many think him to be one.
His parents were very careful to teach him to control his strength so he is usually very careful not to break things (he has no limitations based on his incredible strength).
Because of his youth and the loss of his parents seeing innocent people, animals, etc. harmed can cause him to lose his temper and attack someone with all him might.
Quote: "You shouldn't ought'er have done that." clobber!
Powers/Tactics: William is strong and tough. Very strong. He is very resistant to physical damage. And he is very, very strong. He can also leap fair distances. But mainly he is very, very, very strong. On the other hand he his defenses against energy attacks are fairly low and he has no unusual defenses (like flash defense, etc.) or life support. But man is he strong!
He is an unsophisticated fighter; left to his own devices he will simply close with the foe that looks toughest and swing until they go down. Of course, this is typically very effective. He does take instructions well and the Victory Squad is very good at setting up foes for William to take down quickly while also protecting him from energy projectors and mentalists.
Appearance: William stands 7' 2" tall and is massively built with broad shoulders, a deep chest, and huge muscles everywhere. He has brown eyes, sandy brown hair, and weighs about 500 lbs. He typically dresses in bib overalls and heavy work boots.
The character of his I remember best was William. I have recreated him here in 6th edition HERO as I remember him as a beginning character.
William
Background/History: William's parents were simple, rural Kentuckians. They didn't have a great deal of money, but they were devoted to their children. When their son, William, was born he was a typical, healthy boy. He grew abnormally quickly and was freakishly strong. Concerned at how others treated him his parents moved to as remote an area as possible and raised him in near seclusion.
Eventually a rabidly anti-mutant terrorist group attacked his family. Despite his great strength William was unable to save his family and fled before the terrorists and their anti-mutant robots. He chanced across the Victory Squad who helped him defeat the robots and sheltered him. He soon joined their team. In his 'secret identity' is is, effectively, a ward of the hero Crimson. While most of the world believes the huge superhero to be a grown man he is, in fact, barely 15 years old.
Personality/Motivation: William is a typical 15 year old boy; he is rambunctious, emotional, easily distracted, and sometimes forgetful. But he was raised to be honest, just, courteous, and respectful and he honors his slain parents by doing his best to be a good person. He is essentially illiterate and knows little of television, the internet, etc. but he is a good judge of character and is no fool, no matter how many think him to be one.
His parents were very careful to teach him to control his strength so he is usually very careful not to break things (he has no limitations based on his incredible strength).
Because of his youth and the loss of his parents seeing innocent people, animals, etc. harmed can cause him to lose his temper and attack someone with all him might.
Quote: "You shouldn't ought'er have done that." clobber!
Powers/Tactics: William is strong and tough. Very strong. He is very resistant to physical damage. And he is very, very strong. He can also leap fair distances. But mainly he is very, very, very strong. On the other hand he his defenses against energy attacks are fairly low and he has no unusual defenses (like flash defense, etc.) or life support. But man is he strong!
He is an unsophisticated fighter; left to his own devices he will simply close with the foe that looks toughest and swing until they go down. Of course, this is typically very effective. He does take instructions well and the Victory Squad is very good at setting up foes for William to take down quickly while also protecting him from energy projectors and mentalists.
Appearance: William stands 7' 2" tall and is massively built with broad shoulders, a deep chest, and huge muscles everywhere. He has brown eyes, sandy brown hair, and weighs about 500 lbs. He typically dresses in bib overalls and heavy work boots.
William has a very respectable PD 35/30 and, of course, a 20d6 punch!! During play villains would far rather engage anyone to avoid getting hit by him. On the other hand anyone with a taser could, in time, bring him down.
Next time: the energy projector.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Champions: Flashback to Granite
I got a copy of the Champions RPG for my birthday in 1983 and I am forced to admit I read it once and put it down.
The shame I feel about this is tempered by the fact that at the time I was still in high school as well as working a job 20-40 hours a week, running two different AD&D 1e campaigns, playing in a Traveller campaign, and trying to make my girlfriends happy. Regardless of how much the single read-through impressed me, though, I didn't do anything with Champions for years.
Flash forward to the Autumn of 1985: I have finished Army Basic and have reported to the Defense Language Institute. I have struck up great friendships with my classmates already. And a guy in a different class invites some of us to a game of Champions he had started.
Williams' game was a ton of fun. He had us start on a 200 base/100 disads point build and if we could explain why the active point caps could be flexible. he also let us all make characters, play them for 3 sessions, and then re-write or replace them. Before long Chuck, Brian, Gregg, and I had a team we called the Victory Squad or the Victorians, we never really agreed.
Those first groups we are in are very influential. I remember the first session of D&D I played and the first party I DM'ed for still influences how I GM everything to this day. The amazingly creative, fun, and nuanced characters from that first, year-long campaign meant a lot to how I see and approach the superhero genre, and I would like to share some of that.
This flashback is to Chuck's character, Granite. I am recreating him in the newest version of Champions (HERO system, 6th edition) as I remember him when he was a new character and using the point allocation from my own campaign. I am beginning with Granite because he was my favorite character concept from the campaign - I was a bit annoyed with myself for not being as creative as Chuck!
Granite
Background/History: In his civilian identity Granite is a prominent geologist with a number of well regarded papers on his CV. He makes his living with a mixture of teaching positions and consulting jobs.
While it is known he did not always have super powers the time and manner in which he gained them is a bit mysterious; he asked he gives vague, sometimes contradictory, responses and ignores any further discussions. Mutant scanners do no register him and there are hints his powers may be mystical.
Personality/Motivation: Granite is the personification of 'cool in a crisis'. A good friend with a dry sense of humor in battle he is invariably cool, calculating, and focused.
He is a staunch foe of crime and injustice and will sometimes focus his attention on those whom he thinks takes advantage of children or the poor.
Quote: "Perhaps you should cool down."
Powers/Tactics: Granite can transform himself into living stone, greatly enhancing his toughness and strength. While in his stone form he can also increase his size, further enhancing his strength and toughness. He can also travel through rock, stone, and earth at high speed.
Granite is a brick, but a smart one. He will take advantage of his growth powers to attack foes that felt they were out of combat due to distance or to 'crowd' enemies, reducing their room to maneuver. His ability to see through dirt and rock and his tunneling ability give him a great deal of mobility on the battlefield and few things are as surprising as a fist striking from a wall of solid granite.
Appearance: Granite looks like a living statue of black granite ranging from 6'6" to 13' tall and weighing between 1,750 lbs and 7 tons. In his normal form he is a well-dressed Black man of 6' 2".
The shame I feel about this is tempered by the fact that at the time I was still in high school as well as working a job 20-40 hours a week, running two different AD&D 1e campaigns, playing in a Traveller campaign, and trying to make my girlfriends happy. Regardless of how much the single read-through impressed me, though, I didn't do anything with Champions for years.
Flash forward to the Autumn of 1985: I have finished Army Basic and have reported to the Defense Language Institute. I have struck up great friendships with my classmates already. And a guy in a different class invites some of us to a game of Champions he had started.
Williams' game was a ton of fun. He had us start on a 200 base/100 disads point build and if we could explain why the active point caps could be flexible. he also let us all make characters, play them for 3 sessions, and then re-write or replace them. Before long Chuck, Brian, Gregg, and I had a team we called the Victory Squad or the Victorians, we never really agreed.
Those first groups we are in are very influential. I remember the first session of D&D I played and the first party I DM'ed for still influences how I GM everything to this day. The amazingly creative, fun, and nuanced characters from that first, year-long campaign meant a lot to how I see and approach the superhero genre, and I would like to share some of that.
This flashback is to Chuck's character, Granite. I am recreating him in the newest version of Champions (HERO system, 6th edition) as I remember him when he was a new character and using the point allocation from my own campaign. I am beginning with Granite because he was my favorite character concept from the campaign - I was a bit annoyed with myself for not being as creative as Chuck!
Granite
Background/History: In his civilian identity Granite is a prominent geologist with a number of well regarded papers on his CV. He makes his living with a mixture of teaching positions and consulting jobs.
While it is known he did not always have super powers the time and manner in which he gained them is a bit mysterious; he asked he gives vague, sometimes contradictory, responses and ignores any further discussions. Mutant scanners do no register him and there are hints his powers may be mystical.
Personality/Motivation: Granite is the personification of 'cool in a crisis'. A good friend with a dry sense of humor in battle he is invariably cool, calculating, and focused.
He is a staunch foe of crime and injustice and will sometimes focus his attention on those whom he thinks takes advantage of children or the poor.
Quote: "Perhaps you should cool down."
Powers/Tactics: Granite can transform himself into living stone, greatly enhancing his toughness and strength. While in his stone form he can also increase his size, further enhancing his strength and toughness. He can also travel through rock, stone, and earth at high speed.
Granite is a brick, but a smart one. He will take advantage of his growth powers to attack foes that felt they were out of combat due to distance or to 'crowd' enemies, reducing their room to maneuver. His ability to see through dirt and rock and his tunneling ability give him a great deal of mobility on the battlefield and few things are as surprising as a fist striking from a wall of solid granite.
Appearance: Granite looks like a living statue of black granite ranging from 6'6" to 13' tall and weighing between 1,750 lbs and 7 tons. In his normal form he is a well-dressed Black man of 6' 2".
As you can see, at full size Granite will have a 12d6 punch and a very impressive PD34/ED34.
Granite was a tremendous resource for the team and a really good scout. But, oddly enough, he wasn't the top brick!
Next time the Strongest Man in the World.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
The Age We Live In
WARNING: Spoilers for the Flash
1978 was a great year. I turned 11 in the Summer. I started playing Dungeons and Dragons the year before and had finally started my own group. A friend of mine was running a great Traveller campaign. Wonder Woman was on TV and Channel Four had Science Fiction Theater and Sammy Terry. I was mowing lawns and earning enough money with that and my allowance to have 12 comic book subscriptions and enough left over to buy more on my own. The older brother of a friend had given me a reprint of Batman #232 (if you don't know why that is a big deal, shame on you). Black Lightning and Green Lantern were my favorites. And in the Spring I added Firestorm to that list.
Firestorm caught my eye the day it hit the stands. I read the first issue and immediately wrote to get a subscription. I made sure Tom at the comics shop knew I wanted them and he would stash a copy behind the counter for me. I liked the character a great deal and was disappointed by the DC Implosion taking it out not too much alter.
Last night I was watching Flash with the wife and kids. My kids love watching superhero related stuff with me because my heavy reading of comics in youth means I usually spot most, if not all, the details. But in the most recent episode they covered the origin of Firestorm and were fairly close to the comics. At the end of the episode, then Firestorm flies away on a jet of flame, I was the most excited in the room.
Today I was talking with my wife and we were talking about our plans to watch certain movies this year. I pointed out to her:
-We watch the Flash on TV and it has Weather Wizard, Firestorm, Multiplex, etc.
-We watch Arrow on TV with Captain Boomerang, Deathstroke, Professor Ivo, etc.
-We watch Agents of SHIELD on TV with Hydra, the Inhumans, etc.
-We are eagerly awaiting seeing the Avengers fight Ultron in cinemas this year.
-The soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy, one of my favorite obscure comics, is a hit because the movie was popular (what's next, the Starjammers?)
-There are new Godzilla movies!
That's when I realized: the modern world's entertainment is starting to look like what 12 year old me wished for!
1978 was a great year. I turned 11 in the Summer. I started playing Dungeons and Dragons the year before and had finally started my own group. A friend of mine was running a great Traveller campaign. Wonder Woman was on TV and Channel Four had Science Fiction Theater and Sammy Terry. I was mowing lawns and earning enough money with that and my allowance to have 12 comic book subscriptions and enough left over to buy more on my own. The older brother of a friend had given me a reprint of Batman #232 (if you don't know why that is a big deal, shame on you). Black Lightning and Green Lantern were my favorites. And in the Spring I added Firestorm to that list.
Firestorm caught my eye the day it hit the stands. I read the first issue and immediately wrote to get a subscription. I made sure Tom at the comics shop knew I wanted them and he would stash a copy behind the counter for me. I liked the character a great deal and was disappointed by the DC Implosion taking it out not too much alter.
Last night I was watching Flash with the wife and kids. My kids love watching superhero related stuff with me because my heavy reading of comics in youth means I usually spot most, if not all, the details. But in the most recent episode they covered the origin of Firestorm and were fairly close to the comics. At the end of the episode, then Firestorm flies away on a jet of flame, I was the most excited in the room.
Today I was talking with my wife and we were talking about our plans to watch certain movies this year. I pointed out to her:
-We watch the Flash on TV and it has Weather Wizard, Firestorm, Multiplex, etc.
-We watch Arrow on TV with Captain Boomerang, Deathstroke, Professor Ivo, etc.
-We watch Agents of SHIELD on TV with Hydra, the Inhumans, etc.
-We are eagerly awaiting seeing the Avengers fight Ultron in cinemas this year.
-The soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy, one of my favorite obscure comics, is a hit because the movie was popular (what's next, the Starjammers?)
-There are new Godzilla movies!
That's when I realized: the modern world's entertainment is starting to look like what 12 year old me wished for!
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