Things I Learned From Champions: Maximum Movement Determines The Limits of Your Sandbox

In my early days of RPG play, the limits of where you could go were defined by the walls of the corridors and rooms of the dungeon map. You often had a handful of choices at most in any given room, when you wanted to decide where to go next.

Eventually, after leveling up in power and stature, the edges of the adventuring world were pushed back -- flight and dimension doors allowed you to break out of dungeon edges. Wilderness adventures allowed you to choose any direction in which to travel -- though you were limited by how far you could travel in a turn, or an hour, or a day. But eventually, with the right equipment, the right spells, the right artifacts, you could break through these limits too.

But in Champions, you can pour a lot of your points into movement as a beginning character and already push back the edges of the gaming sandbox to a degree that might stun some beginning GMs.

A Staggering Selection of Movement

Even if you forego pumping points into a single movement power, the type of movement power can already chip away at those sandbox borders:

• Jump can allow you to hurdle impassable crevasses or leap out of a deep gladiator arena (much to the surprise of whichever would-be emperor is maligning your heroes);
• Tunneling will allow you to make your own corridors (and even close them up after you, if you pay the points);
• Flight allows you to not only overcome nasty traps like pitfalls or slides, it also allows you overcome barriers like mountains and impassable rivers;
• Teleport obviously allows you to bypass innumerable types of barriers without traveling through the intervening space (which could be filled with gas, invisible traps, monsters, etc.)

In fact, if you think about iconic heroes, a great part of their character is associated with a given movement power: Superman has flight, the Flash has running, Aquaman has swimming, Spider-man has swinging from a web, and so on. This freedom of movement is one of the defining aspects of super-heroism.

Faster than a Speeding Bullet

But overloading points into a single movement power also grants freedom of movement. Putting enough points into running will allow you to go anywhere on the hexgrid map in a single phase. Adding MegaScale to your flight or your teleport will allow you to go anywhere in the world (at the cost of a little / a lot of accuracy.

In other words, enough points in the right movement power will shatter the walls of your sandbox:

• "The only other person who knows the secret is halfway around the world."
• "We'll never get this kidney to the East Coast on time -- we have to find another way!"
• "How will we check the entire northern border of the state for the lost child?"

Control for Control's Sake?

Of course, we're all familiar with the frustrations of a DM who didn't allow you to go beyond the edges of the sandbox because of a weak reason. We all know the human limits on all GMs that prevent them from creating an infinitely detailed, fractal world -- but we don't like it when the borders of reality are so obviously arbitrary. We want some kind of consistent level of verisimilitude before we'll agree to the edges of a super-hero sandbox.

So we learned to talk to our GMs about the types of games they wanted to us to be able to play. We'd accept in-game, temporary reasons to nerf our powers for a single session (happens in comics anyway). We'd not play certain characters for certain adventure types -- all for the fun of the game.

But we'd never permanently allow that movement power to be taken away, as it was central to the character's concept.

Things I Learned from Champions: Keep Some Surprises Under the Hood

Much of the superhero genre is steeped in secrets and misdirection. The heroes themselves were referred to mystery men and women, so a surprise or two from them was to be expected.

I'd argue therefore, that the 'classification' of superheroes into narrow categories (in other words, representing them as rigid classes) in an RPG runs counter to the spirit of the source material. Fortunately, many of the early superhero RPGs avoided this, despite the influence of D&D.

TSR's Marvel Super-Heroes may have had types of origins in the random generation of characters, but they didn't shackle you into 'mage' or 'fighter' or 'speedster'; that tended to be a function of the powers you rolled up. Mayfair Games' DC Heroes RPG and Hero Games' Champions, as point-buy systems, sidestepped this entirely -- your combination of purchased stats, skills, and powers crystallized the type of character you were playing.

And while the was a shorthand on the types of builds you had (Brick, Martial Artist, Energy Projector, etc.), there were always different kinds of each, and certainly mixes of several builds, as was often seen in the source material.

So, we used this to our advantage, in-game.

What you see isn't necessarily what you'll get

One of my characters was a martial artist had a grappling hook that he used to attack the enemy, ie up the enemy, and so on. The obvious build was to use Energy Blast (for the ranged attack) and Entangle (for tangling up the enemy) -- but I didn't go that route. It was built as stretching, bought on a focus, and I used my Martial Arts for Strikes, Throws, and Grabs at range. And while I could therefore take damage from damage shields, it also allowed me to type at long distance, feel the texture or warmth of things far away, etc... chalking it up to mastery of my weapon. It helped with that element of surprise when playing under good GMs (or perhaps more adversarial GMs who forget the builds that they approved, and just go by your character art).

But building in surprises -- like a woman whose costume shouts martial artist, but is really built as a brick ("My kung-fu makes my body impervious to bullets!"); or an item that seems to be a focus (like a power ring) but is bought straight ("I summon it back onto my finger via sheer willpower!"); or building a martial art that allows you to Full Move with every manuever; or combat skill levels that only work when you're fighting by yourself ("I just didn't want my friends to think badly of me, when they see what I can really do.") -- but using them sparingly, does add to the mystique of your character.

And helps when your opponents stereotype you and your capabilities.

The joy of Champions is that it allows you to do all this -- after all, points pay for the effect; the special effect is up to you.

Things I Learned From Champions: There Are Always Possibilities

In retrospect, one of the things that made Champions (and the Hero System) stand out for me, compared to most of the other RPGs that I'd been playing at the time, was a sense of almost limitless possibilities.

Of course, that was more of a dawning realization rather than a sudden flash of life-changing insight. It arose after getting over the hurdle of reading the rulebook, building a character or two, and talking to the Champions group that seemed to be a very regular pillar of the Beresford Rec Center initiative in the late 80s.

Let me explain.

Exactly the character you want -- revisited

As I mentioned in my now-ancient post "Exactly The Character You Want", I felt a sense of freedom when released from the level-progression approach of D&D when exposed to a point-based system. Furthermore, the "effects cost point, special effects are free" really opened up what was possible in terms of building a character; no longer consciously or subconsciously shackled to the 'character class' concept, there was a tendency to go wild with character concepts.

When I began introducing this to others, many began often started by building a character that was either a clever implementation of a set of rules, or building a character that would be impossible in another system -- rather than building a character that you wanted to play for a sustained period of time.

But I suppose that's part of the charm. The 'old school' mentality sort of bled into Champions campaigns -- the GM was responsible for a sort of living continuity of the Superheroic campaign, and was expected to allow players to switch between different characters. As a result:

• all players had at least one favored character that they would often play, and would be requested by the GM when pursuing particular storylines;
• some players actively built new characters on a regular basis (with one friend holding the record for most PCs with game experience);
• some players had a stable of characters that they kept re-tooling as they gained experience (in-game, and meta-gaming wise);
• most players would attempt building experimental characters and try them out to gain better familiarity with some rules, some tactics, and character builds -- no shortage of one-trick ponies or novelty characters;
• all players would occasionally do a 'stump the builders' sort of question, citing a character concept from comics, movies, books, TV or their own imagination that would require a tricky build -- and the gaming group always threw out several ways to do it;
• at least one person would always be negotiating to go beyond a certain point limit or cap on a characteristic value or combat value or damage class, in exchange for some crippling deficiency in some other part of the character (Captain Glass Cannon, at your service).

This culture of experimentation -- and occasional lack of mercy for players when the dice rolls definitively indicate maiming or death -- really drove home the point that you really could build the character you wanted, and have him/her as powerful and competent as you imagined, so long as the GM (and to some extent, other players) agree to play along with you.

Surviving Contact With The Enemy

Another thing that I enjoyed was the variety of combat options available. It wasn't necessarily simply building a character and pounding away at an opponent until one of you dropped. There were combat maneuvers available for a tough brick to take out one of those pesky, hard-to-hit martial artists (area effect attacks by picking up vehicles and attacking the hexes they're in); or for martial artists to do enough damage to stun those tough bricks (like targeting vital hit locations).

Depending on the flexibility of your character build, you could shift around skill levels (if you bought enough of the right ones) to improve your accuracy, your damage, your ability to avoid attacks. You could sacrifice the damage of an energy blast to affect a larger area. You could risk your endurance and even STUN by pushing your abilities beyond their normal limits for extra dice of damage or effect.

And there was always the opportunity for teamwork -- the right set of skills, abilities, and tactics could often allow a lower-powered team to take out more powerful opponents.

Beyond the Borders of the Map

In most games, you were sort of limited to a map. Whether the campaign map made of hexes, beyond the borders of which -- here be dragons. On a smaller scale, you were often limited by the areas defined by a dungeon map -- going through walls that were often solid rock, tended to severely limit your encounters into specific approaches. Which, to be fair, is kind of the point of the dungeon -- city adventures are very different.

But access to the various powers led to regular map border breaking. Speedsters could race across the country in a matter of minutes. Teleporters could bypass sealed off areas. Desolid characters could walk through walls. Flying characters could visit the tops of unscalable peaks. And the damage from super-strong tanks to metal-melting energy projectors could power through otherwise impregnable barriers.

In summary, the genre -- and the ruleset of Hero -- encouraged out-of-the-box thinking for the players, and therefore by necessity, the GM.

Game Mechanics Monday: HERO System and the Indirect Advantage

This seemingly innocuous pistol may not be familiar to some of you. But those out there familiar with the Akira manga and anime might be able to identify it as a recreation of one of The Colonel's most powerful weapons.

What is it? Well, it emits a laser beam -- that does no direct damage. Instead, it lases the target, estimates distance and direction, calculates coordinates, and transmits these coordinates to an orbiting SOL satellite.

SOL stands for Satellite Orbital Laser. That's right, it's a targeting system for a geosynchronous laser satellite.

The beauty on the left comes from (Kevin Harris), and would be a lovely prop at appropriate RPG games.

My old gaming group encountered this piece of SF weaponry in manga/anime and immediately set around building it (along with many other cool weapons in the media -- being a HERO-head does that to you). So how'd we do it?

1. Estimating Damage

Well, the real questions are: what will the GM let you get away with? and how much damage can you afford?

I think that someone tried to build it as a Killing Attack, but then got pushed down to a regular Energy Blast in the range of 20 to 24d6 (holy crap!).

2. Advantages!

But the Armor Piercing advantage was argued, because it got through Tetsuo's defenses. And they slapped a 1-Hex Area Effect advantage, because -- based on special effect -- it wasn't one of those dinky hand-held laser beams, and seemed to take out things in a nice big hex-sized area.

And last but not least, they built it with the Indirect advantage.

In Champions / HERO, attacks are generally assumed to originate from the hero, travel the space between the hero and the target, and hit the target. This allows for things to get in the way, provides a rationale for the difficulty of aiming, and allows heroic (and not so heroic) attempts to interpose living beings between the origin of the attack and the target.

The Indirect advantage allows an attack to originate at a different point. This has led to some abuse (despite paying for the advantage), like energy projectors blasting an opponent from behind (surprise!) into a teammate's readied, pushed sucker punch (teamwork, baby!), but it's always been curtailed by a good GM.

In this case, the Indirect point of origin is high up above the battle in orbit. Any knockback would, of course, knock the target into the ground. Really nice given (a) knockback damage, and (b) forcing the opponent to waste an action getting back up, or incurring penalties for being prone.


But all this, of course, is secondary to having a character with mostly above average characteristics and highly-trained human skills, and pointing this dinky little weapon that opponents would underestimate or waste an action dodging (you can't dodge an attack to your hex, which is what a smart player would target), and unleashing the fire of heaven onto the poor victim.

"Eat high-energy particles, buddy!"

Kickstarter: Narosia -- Sea of Tears

Well, it looks like there's a new fantasy setting on Kickstarter. Powered by the Hero System. Check out the pitch on Kickstarter; and then the page with some preview material on the Legendsmiths site.

I am curious about it, since I am a Hero System fan. Especially since, in contrast to the traditional approach with the Hero System rules, all the rules will be included the RPG -- while allowing customization with the larger family of Hero System rules.

In the design philosophy, they even say:

The key design goal of Narosia is to provide a fantasy setting that is both familiar and new. The familiarity is found in the common fantasy elements that have been a part of classic fantasy roleplaying for many years. This means many things to many people, but the goal is to take many of the tropes of fantasy gaming and put them into a context that is coherent and supports the existence of those tropes as part of the backstory and metaplot.

Adventurers are a lauded professionals, dungeon crawling (including traps, greater challenges based on depth, etc.) is common source of adventure, magic has influence on the economy, and the gods walk the land. This is not the extent of Narosian gameplay, but illustrates the extent of the familiar.

  The involvement of Darren Watts and Kenneth Hite certainly caught my attention.

Earth-641: Superman Timelines

I've found two alternate timelines online that combine the DC & Marvel universe, and I'm reading through both of them to get a feel for what is involved in this effort, and how I can get away with the least amount of work.

Here's an edited version that I've found on the HERO message boards (by Shaft) with the elements covering Superman's part in the universe:

• 1912 - Brainiac realises that Galactus will destroy Krypton- he begins collecting the planet's accumulated knowledge to ensure its (his) survival.
• 1914 - Galactus destroys Krypton. Kal-El is sent to Earth in a rocket ship. Brainiac escapes the exploding planet with the collected data.
• 1920 - Kal-El found by Martha and Johnathan Kent
• 1929 - Every once in a while, Superboy is spotted in Smallville, KS.
• 1938 - Superman makes his first appearance in Metropolis.
• 1942 The Invaders and the All-Star Squadron are formed by the numerous superheroes that join the war effort.
• 1946 - Superman reveals his identity to Lois Lane. They marry, but are unable to have children.
• 1953 - The JSA's actions in the Korean War help bring about an armistice.
• 1960 - The Silver Age heroes shy away from joining the JSA, which is perceived as an war veterans superclub. As the JSA members start retiring, Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl II and Aquaman team up to fend off an alien invasion and decide to stick together as the Justice League. Aquaman declines the invitation, and Batman opts to only work part time (though he provdies funding) but the rest of the team stick together. Some of the JSAers who are still fit for battle come aboard too.
• 1963 - An assassination on President Kennedy by Doomsday is foiled by Superman, but the world is shocked as Doomsday beats the Man of Steel to death on live television after a battle that rages halfway across the US. Despite Superman's return a few months later, decades later people still remember where they were when they heard that Superman was dead.
• 1972 - Lois Lane dies. With his parents dead many years earlier, Superman retires his Clark Kent identity and works as Superman full time - beginning the disconnect he will start to feel with mere mortals.
• 1996 - Magog kills the Joker after he wipes out the staff of the Daily Planet. Superman brings in Magog for murder, but Magog is acquitted. Superman goes into seclusion.
• 2001 - Magog leads a team of super powered vigilantes to bring in the Absorbing Man, who uses Parasite's powers to augment his own and mimic the traits of a nuclear reactor before setting his sights on Captain Atom. He loses control of his power and explodes in a nuclear blaze, destroying a large part of Kansas. Outrage results in the passing of a superhuman registration act. Steve Rogers is arrested when he refuses to bring in heroes that choose not to register. His imprisonment is viewed as unlawful and inspires a large number of heroes to stay underground. These underground heroes, the "Outsiders", are led by the Batman (who immerses himself into the role full time after his identity becomes exposed) & Luke Cage. The Justice League struggles as many of their members side with Batman. The Avengers are less torn since they've always been government agents since day one. Wonder Woman pulls Superman out of retirement to rally the pro-registration side, which Superman leads, with a heavy heart.
• 2001 - A Superhuman prison is built in Kansas to contain the villains and unregistered vigilantes. Batman gets a team into the facility where Steve Rogers is being held to rescue him, but Rogers chooses to stay in prison and fight the system from within.
• 2001 - As the nation is distracted by the Superhuman Civil War, 15 jets are hijacked for use as weapons by suicide bombers working with supervillains, including three military planes carrying nuclear weapons. 12 of them are stopped (the nukes are stopped by Superman who ends up comatose after the ordeal).
• 2001 - In the aftermath, the heroes realize that they still have to band together. Officially, registration remains, but failure to register is a misdemeanor until compounded with a violent crime, so the pursuit of unregistered heroes is low on the priority scale. Steve Rogers is released from prison, but quickly realizes that he can be more effective on the political stage than as a costumed crimefighter.
• 2002 - Wonder Woman gives birth to Superman's child.
• 2004 - Red Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Changeling and Nightwing II are the mentors to the third generation of Titans: Superboy II, Wondergirl II, Impulse, and Nightstar (Dick Grayson & Starfire's daughter).

Initial reactions to this are:

• the strong influence of the now-classic Elseworlds-or-is-it storyline Kingdom Come. It was much like the Civil War storyline that later came out in Marvel, except for the fact that humans became another side in the war between two sides of the superhuman world;
• the questions raised about Krypton and the many other alien races out there in the DC and Marvel Universes -- the Kree inclusion is an interesting one;
• the impact that having Superman (and the other heroes) would have on historical events is significant, and successes or failures in stopping things like assassinations and wars and terrorist attacks would likewise impact the character itself.
• interactions between Superman and Captain America, as the classic flag-waving characters of either universe, would be particularly fiery during the Superhuman Civil War.

The next timeline comes from www.writeups.org, with a slightly different take on things:

1918

    The planet Krypton explodes, killing most of the inhabitants. Scientist Jor-El manages to save his infant son Kal-El by sending him in a rocket to Earth. Two cities, protected by atmospheric domes, survive: Argo City, a peaceful scientific colony; and Kree-Lar, a military outpost. The two clash over the division of resources, and a long civil war begins.

1938

    Kal-El, a.k.a. Superman I, makes his public debut.

1940

    The Kree discover Kal-El's presence on Earth, and send a scout ship to capture him. But a malfunction in the ship causes it to explode in Earth's upper atmosphere. Two escape pods survive the destruction and land at different locations. A mortally wounded Mar-Vell lands near Fawcett City and staggers into an abandoned subway tunnel. There he meets the ancient Egyptian wizard, Shazam, who saves Mar-Vell's life by placing him in stasis in the other-dimensional Negative Zone. Shazam then gives a pair of mystical bracelets to a young orphan named Billy Batson. The bracelets allow Billy to trade places with Mar-Vell for a few hours at a time. Americanizing his name to Captain Marvel I, the Kree warrior becomes a powerful force for good on his adopted planet. Yon-Rogg, meanwhile, lands in Germany, where he forges an alliance with Adolph Hitler and takes on the new name of Captain Nazi.

1941

    In the wake of Pearl Harbor, the Justice Society attempts to invade Japan. Unfortunately, a young prodigy named Victor Von Doom uses a mind-control device to prevent the most powerful members from entering the Axis territories.

1942

    With the JSA unable to enter the war effort, British Prime Minister Winston Chruchill suggests forming a second team to fight in Europe. Captain America I, Bucky I, Human Torch I, Toro, and Sub-Mariner answer the call as The Invaders. Later in the war they are joined by such stalwarts as Black Condor, Doll Man, the Human Bomb, the Ray, and Phantom Lady.

1945

    Superman I and Lois Lane are wed, and their son Superboy is born nine months later.

1951

    In response to accusations from Senator Joseph McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee, the Justice Society disbands. The chief witness against them is Captain America III, a man recruited by the government to assume the role.

1958

    Superboy travels to the 30th century to join the Legion of Super-Heroes. Though he spends several years there, he returns only a few moments after he left. Now an adult, he adopts the name Superman II.

1959

    The Kree attack and destroy Argo City. The only survivor is Kara Zor-El, who escapes to Earth and meets her cousins, Superman I and Superman II. Inspired by them, she takes on the identity of Supergirl. Superman I arranges for Kara to be adopted by his friends Fred and Mary Danvers, and she becomes "big sister" to their young daughter Carol.

1960
    Superman II, Batman II, Flash II, Wonder Woman I, Green Lantern II, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter gather together to form The Justice League of America.

1963

    While suffering from amnesia, Superman II meets and falls in love with Sally Selwyn. When his memory returns, he reveals his true identity to her, and the two are wed. Before long, they have a son, Clark Kent III.

1966

    Galactus makes his first attempt to consume the Earth. He is thwarted by the Fantastic Four and his own rebellious herald, the Silver Surfer, who is exiled to Earth as a result.

1971

    Darkseid, evil lord of Apokalips, takes an active interest in Earth. His schemes are opposed by the heroes of New Genesis: Mr. Miracle, the New Gods, and the Forever People, as well as Jimmy Olsen Jr. and his allies The Teen Brigade.

1973

    Against their fathers' wishes, grade-schoolers Clark Kent III and Bruce Grayson take on the identities of Superman Jr. and Batman Jr., respectively.

1976

    Superman II's daughter Kara, a.k.a. Power Girl, makes her superhero debut.

1985

    A mysterious being called The Monitor from Beyond gathers the villains of Earth into a massive army to conquer the universe. In return, he grantsthem increased power and renewed youth. Earth's heroes attack and eventually defeat this army, and many of the older heroes sacrifice their lives in order to destroy The Monitor.

Initial reactions to this are the much more generational approach to the Super-Family. There is a stronger presence of the tension between the Kree & Kryptonians; there's also a mention of Galactus, who is never identified as a possible cause for the destruction of Krypton either (an idea I've heard before, and I think actually saw in a comic book once).

After reviewing this, my approach would consist of the following guidelines:

1. review the published cross-overs to see what they have to say about things;
2. review the alternate timelines and Earths to see what they have to say about things;
3. follow the generational approach as a primary philosophy -- to give the Supermen and Superwomen of the different eras a chance to shine and to retire (or go out in a blaze of glory);
4. establish their role in key comics events like the Kingdom Come / Civil War saga, the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the coming of Galactus, the Kree-Skrull War, and so on.
5. establish the ongoing role in the current gaming universe: perhaps one where the Super-Family isn't quite so dominant that they can swoop in to save the day when the PCs are in a jam.
6. Figure out what effect natural friends and rivals might have on the history. Case in point: Kingdom Come / Civil War -- what would Batman or Captain America or Shazam or Captain Mar-vell or Wonder Woman do?

Armchair Reviews: The Book of the Empress

You may have guessed, based on my posting history, that I'm a Champions gamer and have a fascination for the super-hero genre apart from that. That's why there's a bit of a bias when I look at supers material (positive and negative), because it really is a matter of what type of supers campaign you want when judging source material.

Here's my review of the latest entrant into the Hero sourcebook arena: The Book of the Empress.

The Book of the Empress is a sourcebook that tackles a cosmic level antagonist in the Champions Universe: Istvatha V'han.

What's intriguing about it is how the book not only adds layers to the character of Istvatha V'han, but also how she relates to two other well-known cosmic level antagonists in the Champions Universe, and just how complicated invading dimensions and conquering them can be.

The history of her rise to power is not entirely one-note, but the complexities really arise when she begins to encounter other expansionist players in the multiverse with designs on what she claims as her territory (Champions Earth). There are enough interesting wrinkles to that history and the workings of the multiverse to overcome one of the problems of many super-heroic settings not based on ongoing comics series: insufficient twists and turns and a stunningly small amount of major players. In the Book of the Empress, the field that she plays on is complex, peopled with many varied types of opposition, and the history has the feel of a rich comic book universe.

The Empress of a Billion Dimensions is statted out, but has variant versions for other genres, should you choose to limit her magnificence.

Her minions are statted out as well, and a rich mix they are: general forces, several select races, an elite force, and the equivalent of an Imperial Battalion populated with heroes and villains from alternate universes that will be familiar to the heroes of your campaign.

There's also a good explanation of the Champions Multiverse (which is based on the Sephirothic Tree of Life), notes on Imperial Technology, Vehicles,  and a guided tour of the Empress's Empire -- government, domains, and how all them are gearing up for the invasion of Earth.

Most useful: the in-depth look into the personality and plans of Istvatha V'han. A must for GMs trying portray a fiercely competent, accomplished, and powerful individual who may, at some point, interact with the PCs.

For someone looking to do an ultra-mega-crossover in a super-heroic campaign, this is the book for you.

The book really left me with a hankering to run a wide screen type of campaign, but -- like most comics crossovers -- this would probably take at least a year to run!

Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part IV -- Cowboys and Victorians

So, here we are just about to hit the modern era of the Hero Universe. The past three installments can be found here...

Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part I -- Pre-Cataclysm
Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part II -- Post-Cataclysm to the Medieval Era
Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part III -- Musketeers, Pirates, and Revolutions

... and we still have quite a ways to go. No time to dawdle then! On to Leagues of Extraordinary Gentlepersons and Blazing Saddles!

Victorian Hero (1837 to 1910)

A page from Bernie Wrightson's awe-inspiring masterwork: Frankenstein.
His linework and visual interpretation of the novel goes a long way to
evoking the feel of the era and the story. The resoluteness of Frankenstein
and the power and savage strength of his monster are so vivid here.

A fine time for adventures, beginning with Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne and the invention of the cartridge. Encompasses great explorations, gold rushes, frontiers, the American Civil War, lost lands, darkest Africa, strange forbidden magics, Frankenstein, the Mummy, Dracula, Fu Manchu, Sherlock Holmes, Captain Nemo, and more. Hudson City is a hustling, bustling center of commerce and culture, second only to New York City in the Americas.

As yet, no “superheroes” exist, but there are “masked adventurers” from time to time, and many more who are not masked. Toward the end of this period some people begin to verge, albeit slightly, toward true “superpowers”; this is best seen in Hawley Griffith, the so-called “Invisible Man,” and Dr. Jekyll. The presence of “steampunk” weird science is also possible.

For influence and ideas, see the works of Haggard, Doyle, Verne, Stoker, and Wells.


Note: This era has blossomed into many different types of genre variants and pastiches for gaming. In addition to Steampunk and Faeriepunk (Castle Falkenstein, I'm looking at you), Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels really opened the eyes of many people to the wonders of adventuring in a world where elements of fiction set in the era are/were true. Of course, fans of the work of Jules Verne were sold on the idea long before.

Western Hero (1866 to 1890)

The Wild West, an era of gunfighters, Indians, lawmen, outlaws, gamblers, saloon gals, and trains. Some magical or strange elements — shamanic magic, steampunk science, vampires — could also exist.

I was never able to collect all the graphic novels of Lucky Luke, unlike my Tintin and Asterix collections.
But the man who shoots faster than his own shadow has a certain charm that I wish I'd been able to complete.

Note: well, heck. This is a genre that also has tons of source material for it in various media. My fascination for it on this blog has tackled Western RPGs, an ongoing weird west comic known as The Sixth Gun, and my strangely popular post on a seminal Filipino Western movie. Like many of the eras in the timeline, this era deserves a sourcebook on its own -- and this is the strength of the Hero Universe: the ability to provide a broad canvas for nearly of all the heroic eras in a single timeline.

Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part III -- Musketeers, Pirates, and Revolutions

Carrying on my journey through the mega-setting of the Hero Universe, here's the next segment!

Termed the Early Modern Period, this era ranges from 1500 to 1800, an age familiar to heroic literature fans -- a time of swordplay, gunpowder, and dazzling heroics to gritty life-and-death showdowns.

Swashbuckling Hero (1500 to 1650)

Also known as “Age of Reason Hero” this is the era of the Three Musketeers, and of exploration of the rest of the world by Europeans. By this time magic has largely faded away, especially in “civilized” areas, and is rarely encountered by anyone.

Try the Captain Alatriste novels for a gritty and textured world
of Spanish swashbuckling adventure!

Note: One of the axioms mentioned early on in the document, which I've skipped over, is the rationalization of the ebb and rise of magic and superheroics as a sort of rise and fall of 'the background magic level in the universe'. As word choice and objective correlatives go, it is not my own preference, but I understood the rationale's essence. I myself would posit a different approach, will retaining the core premise.

Pirate Hero (1650 to 1750)

Not DC's Captain Blood, nor the movie,
nor the novel. A newer comic series.

The era of Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Treasure Island, and maritime deviltry on the Spanish Main. Pirates and privateers aplenty can be set in this era, and -- despite the loss of magic in 'civilized eras' much of that magic can be place in the mysterious seas of the world and certainly in mystical and mythical places in pirate lore -- ala Pirates of the Carribean.


Note: There's a lot of pirate source material to draw on for adventures here, particularly given the popularity of recent film franchises mentioned above.

In addition, DC Comics itself had a fair amount of pirate action in its older incarnations (like Captain Blood and Jon Valor, the Black Pirate), and recently had a pirate Batman when he was a timelost mythic figure in one of Grant Morrison's storytelling escapades.

Revolutionary Hero (1770 to 1799)

The time of America in the era of the Revolutionary War. Unlike a lot of other settings and comic book universes, the Hero Universe establishes this as the era of the very earliest “masked adventurers” ever seen in America. It is also the era of the Exploration of the Americas, the French Revolution and, later, Napoleon.

Black Mask, the Hero Universe's first
masked adventurer in the Americas, and
founder of a long heroic dynasty.

Note: this is also an era that is rich with mysticism, natural philosophy, secret societies, and encounters with the various Native American tribes and their own myths and views of the world. Again, DC Comics had a number of comics characters set in this era, and regularly have modern heroes thrown back in time to encounter them.

Setting Expeditions: The Hero Universe, Part II -- Post-Cataclysm to the Medieval Era

As I mentioned in Part I, the Hero Universe meta-setting is one of the most kitchen sinky of kitchen sink settings, spanning pre-historic past to the far future, and all the spaces in between. Again, most of this text comes from the PDF found in the link above, and is available for free from their site. Just a bit of editing and rewriting was done on my part.

Part I tackled all the Pre-Cataclysm eras and ages. Part II tackles the setting from the Cataclysm through the Medieval Era.

The Cataclysm (~30,000 B.C.)

In this extinction-level event, the lands of the Atlantean Age are shattered, or sink beneath the waves, destroying virtually all traces of the pre-Cataclysm civilization. Due to one last heroic act by Emperor Vondarian, the few survivors of the Cataclysm gain the ability to breathe underwater and found the underwater realm of Atlantis.

Several other hidden kingdoms manage to survive somehow up until the modern era.

Note: In addition to ending the existence of most of the fantasy races and creatures that existed in the prior era, this even also manages to re-arrange the world into a more recognizable map. However, I do find the extinction of races interesting -- this is where ridiculously powerful and advanced races that could have given humanity a run for dominance of the planet get caught off-guard and are weakened or wiped out. It also helps establish the scope of humanity's capacity for destruction.

The World of Tuala Morn (28,000 BC TO 20,000 BC)

When the waves recede, new landmasses and new civilizations -- mostly predecessors of those to come -- arise, such as the quasi-Irish Celtic land of Tuala Morn, the quasi-Arthurian land of Logres, the quasi-Meosamerican Taloctec lands, and so forth. But the lands are unstable, and after eight thousand years collapse back beneath the waves.

The Age of Legends (20,000 BC TO 11,000 BC)

Once again, new continents arise in the forms known to us in the modern age (although most of North Africa is forest and savannah rather than desert). After a few thousand years of Stone Age level technology, some civilizations -- whose influence is later seen during historic times -- arise in this period.

Note: Great cities are built in South America, Africa, and Asia, as well as in Europe and Australia, with each culture or civilization a sort of “fantasized” version of what appears later. Toward the end of this period these civilizations all collapse, leaving the stage empty for later ones. See Philip Jose Farmer’s “Hadon of Ancient Opar” for a good example of what this could be like, or Wilbur Smith’s “The Sunbird,” or Charles Saunders’s “Imaro” series.

The Classical Age (10,000 BC TO 400 AD)

This age is broken up into two major segments.

The Age of Heroes spans from 10,000 BC to 200 BC. In this era of civilization, Ancient Egypt arises along with Mycenae, Crete, and Sumeria -- but Greece is the dominant culture near the end of the
era. Many believe in magic, but it is rarely seen in action (at least, not by everyday folk!). The era of Greek, Norse, etc. mythology, when gods, demigods, and mortals mingle on Earth. The decline of Greece and the rise of the Roman empire marks the end of this age.

The Roman Empire ranges from 200 BC to 400 AD. In this era,  the Roman Empire conquers much of the known world during this period; great civilizations also flourish in China and the Americas. For the most part, the pragmatic Romans disbelieve in magic, as the gradual decline of mystical forces makes true spellcasters increasingly uncommon (though magic remains stronger in some corners of the world far from Rome).

Note: A lot of the classical elements that have found their way into the modern fantasy genres (and in fact the foundations of western theater and storytelling) come from this age. Sword and sandal adventures abound here, and the full flowering of some of the most well-known mythologies are ready for use in this age.

The Medieval Age (400 AD TO 1500)

This is also broken up into two major sub-ages -- Arthurian Hero and Fantasy Europe.

Arthurian Hero takes place from 400 AD to 900 AD, and is a time of Merlin-esque magics,
the faerie folk, and adventure around the world. It focuses on a Fantasy Europe, a dark/low sort of fantasy set in the Celtic/Arthurian Age (with, of course, anachronisms like plate armor as necessary for fl avor). Europe is a wilderness with pockets of civilization here and there. The wilds are dangerous, home to dragons, trolls, and fierce beasts.

Notes: The “Bard” series by Keith Taylor, Celtic myths, Arthurian legends, and Norse sagas are excellent resources for this sub-age.

Fantasy Europe takes place from 900 to 1500 AD, and is the classic period of medieval adventure when magic briefly surges upward in power again before continuing its swift decline during the
Renaissance. Knights in shining armor, powerful yet fairly rare sorcery. High adventure in a “fantasy medieval Europe” where magic exists, knights in shining armor slay dragons, and only the power of
the Church keeps demonic minions at bay.

Notes: Adventures in fantastic realms (such as Lyonesse, Hybrasil, and Antillia) are possible during this time, but they eventually sink or pass into the Land of Legends as magic diminishes or magical disasters occur. This is also the time that many mystical creatures and races like the Fair Folk begin their transitions into other realms, whose doors become increasingly more difficult to open. Furthermore, there is a spate of monster slaying in this era, which eradicates many creatures of magic.


Next Up: The Modern Eras of the Hero Universe

Mythic Hero: A New Kickstarter by Steven S. Long

One of the minds behind the 5th and 6th Edition of the Hero System has a new kickstarter project. It's called Mythic Hero.

Mythic Hero is your guide to the mythologies of the world for gaming. It describes dozens of mythoi, with character sheets for gods, heroes, monsters, and other mythological beings, as well as information on their cosmologies, magical practices, and more. Right now the list of mythologies I plan to cover includes:

American Indian (split into six sub-chapters covering major cultural groups)
Armenian
Assyro-Babylonian
Aztec and Mayan
Canaanite*
Celtic
Chinese
Demonology (medieval Christian demons like Belial, Moloch, and so on; may also include some angels)
Egyptian
Etruscan*
Filipino*
Finnish
Greek and Roman
Hawaiian and Polynesian/Oceanic (possibly split into two chapters)
Hindu
Hittite*
Hungarian*
Inca
Japanese
Maori*
Masai*
Mongolian/Turkic*
Norse
Slavic/Russian
South American* (possibly combined with Inca)
Sumerian
Voodoo
Yoruban
Miscellaneous

(Entries with a * after them are subject to being demoted into the “Miscellaneous” chapter based on how my research goes.)

Additionally, Mythic Hero covers common divine abilities, how to incorporate gods into your campaign (including how characters interact with and even fight them), how to create your own pantheons for your games, and how to run Mythic Hero campaigns.

Other books have covered mythology for gaming to varying degrees, but many of them are out of print and I don’t believe any of them are nearly as comprehensive and thorough as Mythic Hero will be. Currently I estimate the book will be 300-400 pages long (it could easily exceed that), with a color soft cover and black-and-white interior art, and retail for approximately $59.99 (if I can produce enough to sell beyond the Kickstarter). All that’s subject to change as the project progresses and I get a better idea of what it will look like in the end, of course.

Seems like an interesting endeavor. What say you, blogoverse? I love mythology reference material.

RPG News: Pelgrane-Hero-Redbrick

What happened in the past year for some Game Publishers of note? And what lies in store in the future? Here's an initial roundup of several publishers I keep track of:

Pelgrane Press

According to their December post, Pelgrane enjoyed a good year in 2011 - more sales, more review, more rewards, and more people playing their games (which, as an armchair gamer, I understand as not necessarily being the same as sales).

Apparently, the Trail of Cthulhu campaign frame Bookhounds of London had a limited edition run which included "The Book of the Smoke", which was a sleeper hit. A sleeper hit? Fine, am gonna hunt that down then -- it's only visible on their site though, and doesn't appear to be in DriveThruRPG/RPGNow or in the PDF copy of Bookhounds. Grrrr.

Ashen Stars, their science fiction offering for Gumshoe broke even, which is good because I rather liked the setting and have decided that combat-light, exploration & investigation-heavy games might be good for short-run play-by-post online games this year. Next year, we can expect a larger campaign book for Ashen Stars called Terra Nova in January.

Other things we can look forward to:

• a collection of four adventures for the Night's Black Agents RPG - a cool little RPG by Ken Hite that calls to my fascination with espionage adventures and a shadow war against supernatural forces;
• more stuff for Trail of Cthulhu
• more stuff for Esoterrorists

Hero Games

In the wake of the reduction of Hero Games's regular workforce by two-thirds, there's apparently a kickstarter out for an RPG supplement called Book of the Empress. The empress in question would be a multiverse-conquering villainess (well known to longtime Hero 5th Edition followers) who has set her sights on Earth: Istvatha V'han.



Also, we can expect the revised 3rd party license for new Hero products out soon - after current licensees review it and give feedback.

Redbrick

A forum post on the new site last year reveals that we can expect four Fading Suns releases from Redbrick every year onwards, starting this year. In Q1, the Fading Suns Player's Guide, and in Q2, the Fading Suns Zoomba Guide -- just kidding -- the Fading Suns Game Master's Guide. Quite a gap between the two, but we're assured that much of the second book is source material and therefore not necessarily a hinderance to longtime fans of the setting.

Some longtime fans wonder: "when in Q1?" Well, according to a translated French site -- January 2012! Then again, it refers back to the forum pages of Redbrick and I can't seem to find that particular date.

As for Q3 and Q4, we can expect two of the following books to come out: House of the Lion [to be written by Angus McNicholl], House of the Mantis [to be written by Gabriel Zarate], Universal Church [to be written by Vidar Edland], Forbidden Lore: Heresies [to be written by Vidar Edland],
Pirates of the Jumpweb [to be written by Todd Bogenrief].

Based on the chosen nomenclature of the books of the Houses of Nobility, one wonders what they'll be calling the books for the Li Halan, The Hazat, and the Al-Malik.

But it won't be all big books; apparently we can expect 3rd Edition shards to come out which should not only give some new gamers sample scenarios, but also let the rest of us know what the Known Worlds is like in the updated milieu.