Arsonist Arrested! Blood of Heroes Session Report

 This is the wrap-up from the previous post. 

The conclusion of our latest issue of Even Heroes Bleed had Mettle spinning about the city like a whirling dervish. 

She convinced the Nubians the principles behind the warring Civil Guard's actions is currently at Hannigan's Irish Bar & Grill. She also stresses the arsonist, this insano calling himself Jury, should be found there as well. Mettle lays out to Jimmy Mac the support of the biker gang by city police and now is the chance to cut off the head of the snake. Without a radical White Supremacist biker gang at their disposal it will be much harder for the police to get more minority neighborhoods burned down! Mettle even throws in the dead White Patriot's car, sans hood, a 1968 Ford Shelby Mustange. "You park that in front of Hannigan's and start playing Rap on the radio you are sure to flush them out."

The heroes get in touch with a different television news station and hand over their Go-Pro coverage of their fight with Jury and Wotan. Mettle also suggests, anonymously, the arsonist terrorizing the city is about to be arrested at Hannigan's Bar & Grill in the next hour. The last tip-off the dynamic duo makes is to the Federal Bureau of Enhanced Entities Capitol City HQ. They are actually trying to reach Superfrog. The power Wotan displayed has made Bug and Mettle desirious of a superhero with aproximately the same strength and damage capacity. Phillip Madhur, Special Agent in Charge (Garvick Nurse is missing) says the green superhero is not available but happy to take a message.

Madhur does his best to talk Mettle into coming into FBEE HQ's. He wants to see her get on the right side of the law. With the powers displayed downtown during the BLM attacks she is breaking the law by not getting registered. Mettle declines. Madhur does take her tip on the arsonist seriously and rolls three Chevy Suburbans stuffed with armed agents and heads for RedHill where the bar is located.

Bug is babysitting the bar, expecting to have to throw down if either of the dangerous supervillains is present. The Nubians park the mustang and start laying down some loud tracks. Not disappointing, angry bikers with pistols and AR's spill out of Hannigan's and start shooting at the Nubians, taking cover behind some parked pick up trucks. Nubians fire back with their pistols and shotguns. As soon as Jury leaps out into the street to wipe out the Nubians Bug drops down onto the street and confronts the Living Flame, that which Wotan transformed the arsonist into, a liuving embodiment of elemental fire.

The searing heat and flames streaming out of Jury's arms almost overwhelms Bug, but the insect-mimicking powers he possesses gives him the hardened protection he needs to stay alive. Bug's devistating punch sends Jury across the street and into a pick up truck. Jury hit so hard the pick up truck tips on its side before settling back down. The driver side of the vehicle punched in by the impact of Jury's body. The enhanced entity of Jury is knocked senseless at the hands of Bug again. 

At this point the Feds roll on the scene and gangsters on both sides flee. Some on foot, some in a nearby vehicle. The feds surround the still flame-flickering Jury and start blocking off the crime scene. With the arrival of the press it looks like the city will learn of the fire-bug who has burning down their homes. The FBEE will be able to put a feather in their cap with this high-profile arrest!

Mettle and Bug are disappointed Wotan (disguised as the Civil Guard leader Reico) was not there. This means the dangerous enhanced entity is still out there and capable of attacking the PCs with deadly force. Bug and Mettle settle in for the evening and begin planning their next step...

Leave Your Guns at Home, Even Heroes Bleed Issue #4 part 1.

 If you don’t hit the record button you will not record the game session. Passed all sound checks, but yeah, jumped into the game without hitting record. Here is your session report for the latest issue of Even Heroes Bleed.

Mettle sets up some more Go-Pros and Bug Sits down at the end of the street by the open commercial space he hopes will provide a safe enough place to throw around super hero stuff. The high tech flame thrower is in Bug’s lap. First a biker shows up on his ride and then right after a ’68 Ford Mustang rolls up. White with blue racing stripes, it was White Patriot’s car, but since Superfrog killed his ass “Fire Bug” has been driving it. 

 He has been referred to as Tank Boy, Fire Bug, Gun Bunny, names the superheroes of the city have been calling him for lack of anything else. And this is really “bugging” Bug. And this is the first thing Bug asks the pair as they walk up and demand the gun be turned over. The masked pyromaniac says he is the Jury and the Jury has reached a verdict. “The Jury finds you guilty and the judge has passed a sentence of death!” Acting nonplused, Bug sits there and takes Jury’s best punches. Bugs insect-mimicry powers allows him to take a tremendous beating so he only bruises his fists. He turns and gives the biker dude a “what-do-you-want-me-to-do-now” look. The grumbling, burly biker possibly has only one good eye. A black patch, cloth, covers his left eye. His bare arms are wreathed in Nordic and Celtic tattoos. Bug stands up and swats Jury fifteen feet and the pyro hits the gravel with a crunch and a yelp. Reico, who is believed to be the leader of the Civil Guard is angered his “disciple” has been pushed around, steps forward and with blue crackling energy emitting from his fist gives Bug a terrific blow. 

“How can you stand the power of my ensorcelled fist? Reico states surprised. If Bug had any witty banter he quipped back with, I missed it.

“Just smoke him, why don’t we just smoke ’em Reico? Jury pulls a gun from his jacket pocket.

“No, this man has some form of power. What I need is my avatar, my champion to deal with such insignificance as this, this… Hedge Wizard. He grabs both Jury’s arms. You will serve me as the true chaotic flame you are. I pass on to you the spirit of ever-living fire, I give you the essence of the great Fire Giant Surtr!” Reico’s hands and arms go a vivid grey blue. A blue fire rims his eyes and Jury is enveloped in a wreath of explosive fire. Jury screams in agony and collapses to the ground. Reico turns to Bug. Now he is growing larger, his muscles are rippling and his arms and face are grey-blue. Electrical energy crackles around him. “You will now feel the wrath of Wotan the purifier and now my avatar will unleash a cleansing fire!”

Jury is no longer screaming. He slowly rises to his feet, still wreathed in flame. The whipping red flames sing with the fearful souls of those he has burned to death in this city. He is laughing hysterically and blasts Bug with gouts of flame from his hands. Bug feels the sting of this unnatural gout of flame bathing him. In desperation he lashes out with the power of a Rhino Beetle and sends Jury flying 80'. The force of his blow renders the pyromaniac unconscious in a heap on the ground. 

Wotan roars in frustration and attempts to rend Bug with his bare, blue, and grey veined hands. The hero and villain dodge and weave. Wotan fighting as a highly skilled warrior would, Bug sort of letting his insect-mimicry powers make him float like a butterfly and sting like a bee! Bug lands some solid blows, but Wotan laughs them off. "You give me good sport little man." I have not had a good wrestling contest since I last visited Utgard!”

Bug manifests the stinging poison of the Murder Wasp and his chitin-tipped fingers sink into Wotan’s pulsing skin. The blue of his arm turns purple from the venom and Wotan flings Bug from himself. Witnessing the unfolding stalemate, Mettle uses her magnetic powers to rip the hood off the Mustang (dude!) and wraps it around Wotan in a vice-like grip. Arms pinned, Wotan roars with rage and insult. Unable to defend himself effectively Bug lands another solid, insect-enhanced punch. Spittle flies from Wotan’s mouth, he is inarticulate from his rage of being denied the punishment he wishes to inflict. Mettle wastes no time and hurls the metal-wrapped supervillain a ¼ mile in the air.

Bug follows with a giant leap of his own and tries to enhance Wotan’s journey into the pavement over a hundred and fifty feet below. A loud crunch follows Wotan’s plummet into the street. Asphalt is pulverized under him leaving a two-foot depression. But Wotan shakes it off! Now there is murder in his eyes! “I have no time for these foolish games. I have my champion again, so I now ride on Valkyrie wings to my destiny!” The giant blue man with one eye and bone beads in his hair scoops up his unconscious companion. With one gigantic leap he clears the nearby buildings. Bug and Mettle pass on chasing the transformed biker and collect their GoPros. Mettle is excited about the footage she believes was caught.

“I think we have our city arsonist on film flaming away. We are much closer to seeing some people in prison now.” Mettle says satisfied. “Some positive IDs and the Feds at least can come down on these two.

Even Heroes Bleed DC Heroes Issue #3.1

 I took much time to edit the audio recording of Issue 3 of the Tower's exciting DC Heroes game. This is the first part of the session. Part two is being tackled today, but I'm finding if I ignore everyone in the house it is still a three day on and off kind of project. 

Issue #2 got royally trashed. It happens. If you have a hard time accepting corrupted sound files after hours of recording, do not get into this habit. I have been doing sound recording for a long time so I'm used to the disappointment of complicated software shitting its pants and destroying a few hours of work. Also, if you are in a hurry to get your product up, don't get into editing your tracks.

Oh yes, my edited game recordings get posted on anchor.fm, so it is technically a podcast, but I like how this makes my past game episodes easily accessible on the road.

Blood of Heroes Second Session Report

The recording of my vocals failed to capture me (though it recorded the players just fine) today so I will do a written session report to keep up with the game.

I have some of the audio because the two players, who have never played together before, used today’s second session to expand on their roleplaying and crafting this new superhero relationship in our Neo-Gotham, Capitol City! I will latch it onto this blog post after I get NCH to recognized my fucking software licenses, again, and I can finish the edit. 

After a discussion with Bug on defining how his insect mimicry “displays” we continued the battle which we stopped last session in the middle of. Mettle has knocked Creepazoid unconscious, and Bug continues to tangle with Bak-Trak as this zebra-mutant comes to aid his fallen comrade as a third mutant monster makes its way out of the river-side sewer drain. Mettle grabs 2 tons of metal debris and drops it sight unseen where she thinks the outlet is. Shortly thereafter a heavy thunk is heard as the debris is promptly launched into the air followed by the splashdown in the river. The creature calling itself Leather-Neck shambled up the bank onto the street where Mettle stands over the fallen Creepazoid. Disturbingly, Mettle sees the unconscious Creepazoid start liquifying into a jelly-like substance and soak into the cracked pavement.

Leather-neck is a heavily modified ape, its muscular body grafted in the most make-shift way with electronic components, cybernetic attachments and bristling antennae.

“Leave Bak-Trak alone!” Leather-Neck bellows and discharges an electrified net from its wrist gauntlet, wrapping up Bug. The hero topples over spasming and foaming from the paralyzing jolt. Mettle is staring at two angry enhanced monsters and is reminded of the zoo-animal theft reported in the news last week. An ape and a zebra were reportedly stolen from the Capitol City Zoo. A very odd theft to say the least, but here in front of her are an intelligent ape and zebra with strange and elaborate firepower.

“I can’t take both of them on myself,” Mettle thinks to herself. She gathers up more metal debris from the run-down dockside factory buildings and smashes it all into the zebra wielding those disturbing plasma eye beams. The impact sends Bak-Trak and the debris sailing 150 feet, downriver this time. The hit does what Mettle had hoped and the cyborg ape jumps into the air and out into the river to rescue his friend from the fast-moving Stewert River.

With the object of the fight still in her possession, Mettle scoops up the unconscious Bug and leaves the scene, the mutant’s “turf”, with the GoPro in pocket and Little Billy told to run home. Mettle gently levitates through the evening sky setting down in front of the local Elmview Urgent Care and brings beaten but breathing Bug into the waiting room. After she gets admissions sorted she walks back out onto the sidewalk.

“Time to see what is on the GoPro.” She says and hits play. The scene is of a squad of officers, FBEE agents by the logo on their flak vests, moving down the night street, weapons drawn. They post up along a chain link fence looking over a section of harbor. SUVs, pick up trucks and a panel truck are parked together in an open lot overlooking the river. The lot has the usual shipping equipment, container cars, cranes, fork lifts. The pick up trucks and SUVs are providing the illumination on the scene. Looks like gangsters doing gangster shit.

Then the situation lights up. The doors are pulled back on the panel truck and a 50 caliber machine gun opens up on the SUVs and the gang-bangers around them. There are orders to move in and the video takes to the air as the view shifts to a swirling night sky coming to land on top of the panel truck, crushing the cargo bay and the heavy automatic weapon. A disorientating flip and then a view of the panel truck being kicked into the SUVs and fire and people go everywhere. The GoPro then moves aggressively on a costume tough guy and once a pair of strong green arms strikes out and attaches to the masked man the view is back up in the night sky. The masked man trades blows with his assailant on the way down and splash into the Stewert River. Before the GoPro is swept away into the black current it is plain the green-armed assailant is drowning the masked man. Disturbed by the murder just witnessed, Mettel pockets the GoPro and walks back into the clinic to find out if Bug is patched up and good to go. The PA recommends Bug takes the rest of the week off from any heavy lifting and it would take some time to fully recover from the concussion(?) he had received from electrical shock and trauma. And take some of the Tylenol 3 she sends him out with.

Outside Mettel replays the footage again for Bug’s benefit. Like Mettel, he is disturbed by what seems to be the FBEE super known as Superfrog drowning another EE.

“Its on the news,” says Bug. “Not this per se but just over from where we were the Feds got into a gunfight with a criminal gang west of Adams Street Sewage and the Adams Street Bridge. Right down on the riverside docks there.”

Mettel wants to go see the crime scene. He wants to see if the digital video matches up with where the gunfight was.

“I don’t care if that guy was a criminal, you just can’t go drowning folk cause they have superpowers.” Bug agrees it is worth checking out. The question of what to do with the video may be answered there. North of Stokes Ave. in what used to be called Old Capitol City, the police and emergency services are crawling all over the place. There are multiple vehicles burnt out and smoldering from recently being foamed by the fire department. There are shell casings all over the pavement and the awful smell of burnt meat. Two rows of body bags, maybe eight in number, can be seen being loaded into ambulance. Everyone and anyone who isn’t cop is kept back by the yards of yellow tape.

Unable to get too close, Mettel gets into a conversation with Shamrock Bane, late night reporter for Channel 7 after overhearing an FBI and FBEE officer have an intense argument over lack of intel and the inability to plan an operation in Capitol City without the wrong people finding out about it the same day! Miss Bane gives the low down to the attractive party girl. A white-nationalist militia calling themselves the Civil Guard looked to try and deal dirty with the local Nubians. Drug deal, gun deal, not sure which, but either way the Civil Guard came to kill, not do deals. Looks like the FBEE got wind of this meeting and swooped into the middle of the gun fight. No one is talking, but she believes the numerous blazes were set by someone with a flamethrower on site. Maybe the arsonist which has been terrorizing the city? The FBEE is saying they made some significant arrests as well as some top gang leaders being killed in the exchange. Scene is just too damn chaotic. Hard telling who is working for the city’s good and who is working for their one self-interest.

Mettel knows the Nubians. She does work for them, moving drugs she imagines. She never looks at what she is transporting, currier code and all. This has all the potential of spirling out of control and the city’s underground business trade grinding to a halt due to an all out criminal race war. She asks Bug to come back to her place and think about what they want to do about the gang violence and the video they still have a hold of.

 

MEGS in the Morning

 Session 0.5 was accomplished this Sunday morning which inaugurates my use of Mayfair's MEGS rules as written in Pulsar Game's Blood of Heroes, Special Edition rule book.

Of four interested players, one couldn't make it, another has not commented since showing interest and the other two players showed up and we had a great morning game.

Not only is the original DC Heroes MEGS rules new to me, so are the two new players. The third player who couldn't make it is a friend of mine and he just makes my life more difficult. I will be seeing him again at the table with his fucked-up character.

We traded pleasantries, did what we could to get to know each other relevant to gaming and our interest in supers roleplaying. Next was going over their original characters and doing some full-on session zero work. 

Both were street-level, 450 point built characters. One player was all set with background and origins for Mettle, an enhanced entity born with augmented powers do to her mother being exposed to mutagenetic poisons. Not so easy life has brought her to a career as a drug courier in the crime infested south side of Capitol City. She keeps a low profile and makes her life as invisible as possible. Her powers are of magnetic control. Picking up, manipulating and throwing heavy metal objects around and all the neat shit Magneto would do. 

Bug, the other PC hero, was not completely formed, Bug's player was still struggling with their character concept. Great, this gave us all at the table to bang his character into shape for the upcoming campaign. Insect control, gives anyone an anxious, unnerving feeling when they are near Bug. Adults at least. Kids don't seem to mind him. Bugs literally are attracted to this hero, crawling out of his hair or out of his clothes. He mimics characteristics of an insect to increase his strength and make himself more resistant to physical damage. 

The player who wasn't there will be playing Mr. White, an exiled alien rabbit from the Dimension of Mirrors, the land of Alice and the Looking Glass. Mr. White searches for a way back home and wields magical guns and can turn two-dimensional. That is right, two-dimensional! How the fuck do you play that? Like I said, he is a friend of mine.

How the rules went with the session play coming up in next post. 

My Verdict on running/playing Champions

Don't do it. [One final comment on Champions. If someone set up a city set piece and I get to bring my superhero, join some friends, and throw down against the GMs super villain team for a four hour mega-battle on a Saturday afternoon? I'm all in! As a tactical supers "boardgame" for this kind of cinematic fun, I think it would be a blast.]

I found the biggest liability for running this game is something called Fred. My definition for the anagram is full rules equal disaster. It is too stupidly big (over 500 pages) with no option to "use what you want and leave the rest." Because someone at the table is going to get butthurt that rule a,b and c (found on page 5, page 36 and somewhere past page 200) isn't being used.

The next liability arises because players think/want/insist? all the rules of the game are in force all the time. You will never get a chance to make a quick adjudication at the table because someone will say "Wait, I think it explains it on page black hole suck of time. In essence people play Champions because they want to play Champions and this is not the same as playing a supers role playing game. You play Champions you just do that. Combat is a slog. The Speed Chart is a cluster fuck of "wait no its my turn." or "Is it my turn yet."

You will never be able to get on with the action of adventuring and campaigning because you will be looking up rules every time someone wants to do something. Or watch someone else at the table do it. Really impractical when your game should be faster than light supers action.

As a game master I believe making rulings on the fly just to keep the action moving along is an important skill. What I mean is, once I understand the internal logic of the game I can make snap decisions which will never be far off the mark from a "by the book" figure. In a game of Champions this becomes a discussion with people flipping through the book to make sure the situation is totaled up "by the book". It doesn't make sense. And none of the subsystems mesh. Damage has no relation to how you calculate attacks. Speed doesn't track with distance, you can't figure out say if a bomb is going to go off in 4 seconds can you get out of blast radius. Or you can figure out yes you could do it if we are not in combat time, but not if in combat time. Very opaque. There is no base mechanic. You just can't say you need an 8 or less to hit, or a 15 or less to hit on 3d6 (i do like a 3d6 bell curve) because someone at the table will dive into the book to make sure everything is figured correctly. 

New players are generally lost and experienced players generally play a rulebook instead of interesting supers with fucked up situations forcing drastic action from a list of nothing but bad choices. And all these details seem to drive players to expect specific details when in combat. How far away is something, how much can I carry, does it weigh as much as, how long will this power last... Things which in real comic action would have to be guessed at in split second action times. I stand by my earlier statement anything past 3rd edition (2nd edition repackaged) is awful. 

But now I know. I got a good run at the system with my original setting and some decent PC concepts the players came with and I threw my shoulder into it because I wanted to know can a good supers campaign be had with this system. As far as I can tell the answer is no. I have run and played now the classic Marvel supers from TSR, The Hero Instant, Prowlers and Paragons, and Icons. I have read and built characters with Mutants and Masterminds, Supergame, Superworld, Blood of Heroes (MEGS) and Villains and Vigilantes. When you include Champions (which I have the most familiarity with) that is 10 different systems (that I can recall there are probably a couple more) exhaustibly examined and understood and don't care for any of them except DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes, Mayfair Game's MEG system and the Marvel supers game released by TSR. I will most likely  do a blog post for both these systems and why I find them attractive for running supers games, but for now I have to give Champions a big thumbs down. 

Parting shot, Champions has always claimed you can make any superhero you want with their game, and this is true. But it is also true you can do the same with all the other games I listed above! I have translated the same few superheroes of my own in each one of the above listed systems and low and behold I would come up with the same character. Yes, I can build anything I find in Champions with any of these other games - and quicker! Most people who play Champions seem to be married to a piece of character creation software. If you need a computerized spread sheet and custom programmed software to build a character, I don't know. A superhero is an intimate creation and pencil to paper is a strong way to come out with a strong character concept.

Pace. Pace, pace, pace! Like real estate is location a supers game is all about pace. And it should be brisk. And that is why I will not use or play Champions and prefer the old Marvel system and the old DC Heroes MEGs.

Blood of Heroes Form-Fillable Character Sheet

 The character sheet found at the back of the Special Edition rulebook has nice fat form fields, so Acrobat converted without a fuss. I may spend some time tinkering with fonts and font sizes as I have yet to learn this function on the software.

BOH Character Sheet PDF

Blood of Heroes Special Edition was Published in 2000. Many consider it to be the 4th edition of the original DC Heroes systems from Mayfair Games. It has added content and many tweaks and improvements but does not stray far from the third edition rules.

Pulsar Games, the publisher of Blood of Heroes, offered to sell the intellectual property pertaining to the game system. It was bought in 2004 by a fan community. The current head moderator of the DCH mailing list and administrator of the writeups.org site is easily reached if you have any further interest in the system.

The project of publishing a new, improved edition of the game system was stalled by unexpected legal difficulties that arose after the sale. 

The current edition of the rules thus remains Blood of Heroes Special Edition. It can still be bought in mint state from mainstream resellers, for instance at Amazon.com , so it is not entirely out of print.

The original owners of Pulsar sold the company to its current owners in late 2003. The new owners stated their intention to continue the Blood of Heroes line back in 2007 but DC Comics say they own the rules Mayfair Games came up with as well as the IP.

From Write Ups; "Ray Winninger, author of the DC Heroes RPG Second Edition and editorial director for Mayfair‘s DC Heroes line, summarized his understanding of the ownership question as follows:

“Our contract with DC specified that DC Comics holds the copyright on every product we released. If you check the indices, you‘ll note they all say ‘Copyright © DC Comics Inc.’
The contracts didn‘t specify anything like ‘Mayfair owns the copyright to the actual game rules, while DC retains the rights to its IP’ or anything similar, just ‘all DCH products are copyright DC Comics-period.’ This would suggest that DC actually owns DC HEROES. I know for certain that DC *believes* they own all rights to the game and everything produced for it and I suspect they‘re probably right.

“Greg Gorden believes that his contract specified that he retained ownership of the DCH game system once DCH was out of print. When I was at Mayfair I looked for this agreement and couldn’t find it – but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.  One potential problem is that it’s unclear that Mayfair could have made such an arrangement with Greg in the first place. Remember, the DC licensing agreement specified that DC would retain full and perpetual copyright over everything we released.

“Pulsar licensed DCH from Mayfair but it’s not 100% clear that Mayfair ever had the necessary rights to grant such a license in the first place. I believe that Pulsar later made a separate arrangement with Greg.”

John Colagioia, one of the new owners of Pulsar Games, commented on their current status in March 2007:

“We‘ve been dealing frequently with the owner‘s legal team to try to get a handle on who owns what, who licenses/can license what, and how much room there is to change things. When I have an update of use, I‘ll relate it here, because it‘ll mean big things are coming on Pulsar‘s side, too.”

Colagioia also stated that “While I‘d like it to be otherwise, this is about all I can say on any of these (and related) topics, and would very much appreciate keeping any further questions/speculation off-list, since such has the potential to damage our position at a sensitive time. I can‘t stop you, of course (and wouldn‘t if I could), but it‘d be appreciated.”

And that was back in 2007! So this game, this system actually, will never see a reprint. Copies can be still had cheap and I recommend a copy of the rules for gamers who are fascinated with superhero roleplaying games. Two caveats; the art in BoH's is terrible and tone deaf in its portrayals of female characters (can you find the worst of the bunch). The second, and more relevant is a complaint MEGS does not handle low-powered supers well and that is absolute rubbish. The system is solid from one end of the power scale to the other. I think some people feel small numbers mean less granularity, but the scale goes up to 100 and most powerful heroes have top attributes in the 23-28 point range. Lot of top end for sure, but the lower end is plenty rich with clean-playing crunch.

 

SUPERGAME Character Sheet 3rd Edition

 "To this end, there there are no special sheets on which characters must be written and described. All that is needed is a simple index card." claims the designer Brett Bernstein. And his claim is demonstrated with the individual character examples found on the pages of this little, old, reborn? supers rpg. 

But I like character sheets and truth be told a decent character for Supergame is necessary to hold all the info you want for regular play. So I made one. If you are a Supergame fan this is your luck-e day! Here is the link to the PDF version of the sheet. I have it hosted on google drive. If you get a chance to use it let me know how it worked for you in play!

What makes Champions 3rd edition (cont.)

 By far the first reason I say this great book is the best version of the game is size. It is slim. Total content clocks in at 135 pages in a reliable perfect bound softcover. It deserves a hardcover treatment. In the forward the writers come out swinging with the games strongest pitch, create any power, any ability to build your unique superhero. And this is true. The point-buy system of Champions coupled with the “Special Effects” rule wrapping the whole powers concept championed by the authors has not been superseded by any other supers game I’ve tried. And this is no different through any of the editions of the game, from first to fifth. But I think Hero Games kind of missed the boat here. The Crystal Ship, the flashing gem which really shines through the third edition lens. Through those few pages. And treating the game like it should be: Old-School! What I am talking about and will eventually get to is the utility of the system's damage mechanic. 

Now I can swallow fourth edition, it is the last iteration of the Hero System as Supers-centric game system, and fifth is a travesty. Most of the additional pages in the fourth are sourcebook stuff which gives the Game Master some useful features to use again and again, like stats for regular folk. But the lower page count in the third does not water down the game system at all and is the perfect set of rules for the GM who needs no assistance in how to play superhero rpg’s.

Fifth edition is an endless swirling mess around all the basic mechanical features which make Champions a genius of a supers game. Here is my case: The game has for a basic resolution mechanic of 11 or less on 3d6 for success. It is like Classic Traveller in this regard. It uses 2d6 with an 8+ needed for success at anything you are trying. The 3d6 bell curve is sweet though. You get a little more granularity with a bigger spread and I have come to appreciate the difference between a 9 or less chance and a 7 or less chance with three die. But what I find intriguing most is the damage system. There isn’t anyone reading this who doesn’t know how damage is calculated in a Champions game, total on the die is total stun damage while the number on a dice determines whether it should be counted as 2 Body, 1 Body or Zero Body. I think this mechanic is sold short if only used to adjudicate damage. I try to sell it at the table as a means to resolve contested actions. Take the arm-wrestling example. Hero A has a Strength or 20, Villain B has a Strength of 20, who wins? I have the contestants roll their Strength “damage” and count the Body damage. Highest total wins. With both participants at a Strength of 20

There is a universality across the game system which needs to be taken advantage of for optimum play. And this is in how, no matter the power, effect, or type of attack the values and scale never change. This means a GM can make a “ruling not rules” decision on the fly and if using a “damage” result from the rolled ability a GM knows it is always to scale. Not only is it to scale (in other words, fair) it has built in variability. Using our arm-wrestling example above, either one of the contestants can roll a value from 0-8. Variability creates tension. This is good. It begs for a player to figure out how to stack the deck in a fair fight, how to get their roll to be less swingy. I’m the GM so I don’t have to worry about how that would be possible, only to rule on it😊

Works for characters of wildly different power scales in any particular contest. Sure the 60 STR brick should win against the 18 STR martial artists in an arm-wrestling contest, but it isn’t guaranteed. And the correct and fair chances of a surprise upset is built into the system. The uncertain future of any supers action is baked into the damage calc pie. If you want to add an additional variable you can count the Stun damage as well. No matter how you interpret the results you can’t come up with a bad interpretation, but you can have surprising results! This look reveals the transparency inherent in the system as well. I can match Ego vs. Dex, Energy Blast versus Presence, any crazy-ass thing. And it will still be at a correct scale that results will always be an exciting roll while at the same time no one participant getting nerfed.

Let me take this to my logical extreme, where regular Champions players cringe in horror. Initiative! The rules for initiative for action tracked on the Speed Chart are fairly standard. You will find this set up in many a ttrpg. That is, when opponents square off and they both get to take action the character with the higher DEX goes first. All-the-time. Chaosium’s BRP rules have a similar approach to initiative and is even less dynamic. At least in Champions you have the 12 segment Speed Chart which makes for unpredictable, yet trackable results and situations. My distaste here is the predictability of such an accounting in what should be the most unpredictable moment in an action-adventure game. Here is the set up to illustrate my point; Hero A and Villain B are going for the doomsday switch in the same segment. They both are equidistant and have the same SPD but the Hero has a DEX of 30 and the Villain has a 20 DEX. Per the rules as written the Hero is going to win that contest every time. Every-single-time. Yawn. A smart, clever and good-looking GM will call for a damage roll based on DEX. Most BODY damage gets to the doomsday switch first! Hero has a better chance of winning out then the Villain, but it isn’t 100%. Yes, exciting! I don’t consider this an approach to be used all the time. Only for really cinematic, pulse-pounding moments in the story. This makes for the elasticity of the system to really shine. Unfortunately, you will never get players to accept it. They will run to FRED faster than my Derby pick for the back of the pack. And that book is proof-positive you can take a great supers game and fuck it up three ways to Sunday. 

What makes Champions 3rd edition the best edition of Champions?

Brevity.

No, seriously, hear me out...

Champions United 3 Clouds over Capitol City

The home-brewed supers action crackled across the internet the other night and I finally managed to get captured. Like a clear shot of Spidey over Manhattan, it has been hard to come by actual footage of this new Champions campaign. Pilot error was kept to a minimum and the two hour session has been edited down to 52 minutes. If you enjoy listening to game sessions this edited audio (a format I try to get all my sessions into) shortens listening time and weeds out all the ramblings of middle-aged men and keeps the recording focused on the actual game action. If you do not enjoy listening to recorded game sessions then please, do not click on the following video.

If you are a fan of OSR supers game (Villains & Vigilantes, Superworld, Champions, etc.) then this campaign may be up your alley.

Modern NPC Personality Generator

The online Champions Campaign which has steamed through two sessions now has me thinking I would benefit from a personality generator. One for the on-the-fly NPC, your newspaper person, your real estate agent, appliance salesperson, etc. The characters which are incredibly disposable, and will have no further interaction with the PCs moving forward in a consequential manner. This bunch surely could benefit from one quick handle for the GM to hang their hat on and pin this character in everyone's mind for their short-lived appearance. The theory here is; just because the encounter is singular and not a big deal in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean it shouldn't be played out with some depth like every other damn scene in the game. 

More to the point, grab for descriptors and conditions to make the encounter stickier in your player's brains.

The text to generate these lists for the NPC Personality Generator has all come from the 1e DMG. So these are Gary's building blocks. I've just punched them into these HTML buttons so you only have to make two rolls instead of twenty. 

 

Here is the way I've been using these two buttons. Any facts and/or traits which, in my opinion, conflict with each other, pairings which cause me to much dissonance, I cancel out. Cross out both of them. Because I'm not intent on utilizing the entire generated description. I'm interested in coming up with a rather complete personality profile for the new NPC which somehow has become required to the scene. 

Sometimes when I hit these generators I'm only looking for, or needing, one description to use. NPCs fleeting in nature seldom require much more.  The other way I will use these buttons is to try and use as many of the descriptors as I can. This exercise I employ when the NPC needed deserves more nuanced, complex character profiles.  

Issue #2 INFERNO

Second session of the new Champions campaign has completed and as appropriate there are more questions than answers. The fight with Icicle was cut short by Moscow West going up in a fireball. Seeing this neighborhood go up in flames stopped Icicle short. She had a horrified look on her face calling out “No, no, no” and jetted out on her ice wave through the second-floor lobby window and raced into the night.

Wolf and Knockout catch their breadth and give each other the “WTF” look and agree to go to the fire. It looks real bad. People are going to need help. People are going to need some heroes! They stash the serum sample in Knockouts Honda Accord and double up on Wolf’s Harley.

Three blocks away from the blaze Capitol City Police have begun blocking off streets. The two are told to turn it around and clear the area. Wolf goes west some blocks and pulls over in an empty side street.

“We got to get in there an help save people.” Says Knockout. “We are both paramedics, they need us.” What wolf says is overcome by the peeling horns of first-responders parading past on a nearby cross street. Their conversation is cut short when someone comes out of the man-hole cover in the middle of the street. He is wearing tough looking work wear, a onesie with reinforced elbows and knees. All red. He tosses a tank out in front of him. A large “wand” is attached to the tank by a length of hose. It isn’t till the guy throws his “tank” gear over his shoulder does he notice the two heroes standing nearby on the sidewalk.

“Hey, Patsy, there is a couple of people up here.” From down below someone shouts back up,

“Just get to the car!” the unseen person is heard to say. The guy in the red onesie ignores being addressed by the heroes, pops the trunk on a nearby Ford Mustang and throws his gear in. The smell of smoke and gasoline emanates from him. The black streaks of soot clinch it for the heroes, this guy probably has something to do with this catastrophic fire! Before they can interfere with the suspected arsonist his partner halls himself up onto the street. He is a big guy. Urban fatigues, thick boots. His trench coat covers up his red shirt with some unidentifiable logo. He is wearing a mask, a red and black mask. Just like his partner at the car, his identity is obscured by the mask he wears.

“You got any problems bub?” He asks.

“Yeah we can’t help notice you guys are packing a flame-thrower and there happens to be a raging block fire happening just behind you. Just have to ask you if you know anything about the fire, sure looks like you two started it.”

“Ah, a couple of smart guys. Just get back on your bike there kids and get out of here before you end up in the hospital, kapeesh?”

“Not until you explain yourself.” Answers Knockout.

“I gave you a chance bub, now the White Patriot is going to send you away – in pieces!” and the battle was joined. Knockout and the heavy traded superhuman blows with Knockout getting the worst of it. Wolf foiled Mr. Red Onesie getting away in the car with a blast of his physical, alien attack powers. This blew all 4 wheels of the Mustang into rubber shreds.

“Fuck!” he yelled and got out of the car to confirm the damage.

Knockout took another punch from White Patriot which launched her and left her stunned on the pavement. Wolf gunned his motorcycle and sped towards the fallen Knockout.

“I have to get us out of here before we get killed.” Wolf thought. Knockout got to her feet, but before Wolf could reach his friend White Patriot leaped down the street, blocking Wolf.

“I need that bike bub. You blew the wheels of my ride so I’m taking yours!”

Wolf attempted a controlled skid into White Patriot. White Patriot grabbed the Harley and flung Wolf off of it and into the wall. Wolf felt that one.

Knockout, recovered from her is pummeling, launches herself at White Patriot and sends him off the bike. The guy in the red onesie, now strapped with his blowtorch, gives Knockout a fearsome blast which roasts her clothes and is almost overcome by the explosive1 heat.

“I said get out of here!” White Patriot yells. The guy holding the blowtorch looks disappointed, but nevertheless throws his gear back in the open trunk and pops a flare. He gets ten yards down a side street when the Mustang blows.

This is when Icicle reappears. She is surprised to run into Wolf and Knockout, but she pounces on the opportunity and starts going through Wolf’s pockets.

“Where is it you shit?” she addresses the incoherent Wolf. “Where did you put it?” She looks over towards White Patriot, “Don’t break this guy, he’s carrying something fragile I want.”

White Patriot gives a snort, “See you round sweetie!” and races on Wolf’s Harley after his fire-storm buddy.

Knockout gives up his fight to aid Wolf against Icicle. Not finding the serum sample on him she gives up in frustration and skates away before she must tangle with Knockout. “This isn’t over, I need that sample, and I’m going to get it.” She says to Knockout as she disappears. All that can be heard is the pealing on sirens and horns as more first-responders close in on the burning neighborhood.

Our heroes resign themselves to aiding the injured for the rest of the night. With their paramedic skills they easily mix in with the other medical workers on site. Volunteers in these situations are always welcome. Come dawn Wolf and Knockout grab an ambulance ride back up to Capitol City University Medical Center. They are exhausted and nodding off. Wolf’s cell breaks him out of his dozing, it’s his mother, Dr. Nancy McKeever.

“Jim your father left with two men last night from the reception. He said it was nothing and he would be back soon. He said they were federal agents and they just had some questions on what happened last night. Especially with the break into the lab. But he hasn’t returned. Its morning and I still haven’t seen or heard from him.”

“I’m sure he’s alright Mom. He’ll call you when he can. I’ll be home soon. If you don’t hear from him by the time I get home we’ll call the police. Okay? Bye.” Wolf looks over to Knockout, “My dad’s missing.”

“What are you going to do? What happened to him?”

Wolf relays what his mom told him. “So I’ve managed to lose my bike and my foster dad in the same night.”

“If we are going to find him we are going to have to put some pieces together. You think this has anything to do with the serum sample we have?”

“Gotta be. But where do we start?”

“We need some sleep before we sort this out.” Knockout concludes.

“Call me in a couple of hours, we should probably start by searching the lab for any clues to who or what is going on.”

“Shit.” Breaths Knockout.

“Who is it?” Wolf can see Knockout looking at his ringing phone. “Ahh, it’s a federal agent. FBEE. Tell you about it later, but I am not talking to him right now. See you in a couple of hours”

Blood of Heroes Referee Charts

This is a PDF put together from making snapshot grabs from the DC Hero rulebook. It is rough. It is intended as my table side reference chart for live play of the MEGS heartbreaker Blood of Heroes from Pulsar Games. 

With my laminator I get a kick out of making durable reference sheets for the various games I play. Feel free to download a copy here if you plan on running any game with the MEGS system. The Action and Results Tables are used for everything in the game. You will want these two charts handy at the table so everyone is not flipping through the rulebook everytime someone needs to resolve an action.

The Blood of Heroes Rules for Character Interaction

My close read and implementation of The Blood of Heroes: Second Edition continues on its first early steps and I'm jumping to Chapter 6: Character Interaction.

Interrogation, Intimidation and Persuasion are character interactions you can resolve with a “Dice Action”. The AV/EV* and OV/RV* for a PC are already known. The Infl/Aura and Infl/Spirit of the NPC is determined by the Gamemaster. When the GM does this, either on the fly or prepped ahead of time, they are essentially setting a difficulty target number which needs to be hit. When the Players and the GM wish to roll for results to decide the outcome of these three types of character interactions they are resolved the same way everything else is in the game; with the Action Table and the Results Table. 

What about the other way around? What happens if a villain or any other NPC tries to use Character Interaction against one of the Players? Myself I try not to force the PC to do anything. Other gamers are more comfortable making the PC briefly restricted by puppet strings, and do it well. I philosophically try and tie my hands so it is the PC's themselves deciding whether the villain is bluffing or should they cut and run from a dangerous and uncertain situation. These rules for BoH kinda go half way. The PC can be bound to failed opposed and resistance rolls, but they can also spend Hero Points to ignore the effects.

Otherwise character interaction should be handled like any well done rpg does, with the Players doing stuff and the GM adjudicating results until the need for dice feels warranted.

This is a short chapter. Quick to digest. There are suitable descriptions of the three character interactions including additional chrome; Interaction Maneuvers. These can be taken or left as the GM sees fit without breaking the mechanic. Next I'll take a read through Chapter 7 Gadgets and after I will tell you my thoughts.

*AV=Acting Value, OV=Opposed Value, EV=Effect Value and RV=Resistance Value from the BoH rulebook.