6Greetings, all.
The following story is based on the Champions campaign that I ran from 1982 to 1998. It is in many ways the companion piece to Campaign of the Three Worlds, the story of my D&D campaign which can be found elsewhere. Both campaigns started at roughly the same time, and shared many of the same players, as well as the same general gaming style.
This will not be an easy read, for reasons enumerated below, but I hope you, the gentle reader, will stick with it. Like 3W, Champions had a very rocky start. I was new as a GM, and certainly wasn't thinking ahead as to how this might make a good story thirty years in the future. Both of my campaigns at the end were very different creatures than they started out as. I hope you indulge me- I think the result was worth it.
If you'll forgive a little hubris on my part, I'll post a few Q&A on what I suspect might be people's most common questions, especially if they're already familiar with 3W.
Champions. Is this the Hero System?
Yes. An eternal superhero fan, I picked up the first edition when it appeared. Superman II had come out not long before, and its incredible battle sequences had inspired me and my players to commit our own deeds of wholesale destruction (with maybe a dollop of role-playing on the side). As the Hero System progressed through its 2nd, 3rd and finally 4th editions, we stayed current. 5th edition came out after the campaign had ended, which is just as well because in my view it was useless crap.
I read 3W. You're not starting this story in the friggin' middle again, are you?
Weeeeelllll… yes and no.
Like my D&D notes, my Champions notes of the earliest days are long gone. I will be starting fairly near the beginning, and you're not going to miss anything, because the first actual chapter of this story is going to be a series of "newspaper articles" which set the scene for the story.
I thought 3W was, at times, something of a talky angst-fest. Is this going to be the same?
Like my players have always said, "Work with what you've got!" It's my general style for these types of stories, so I'll neither apologize nor change it. I love characters, both in RPGs and as a writer, and all my stories center more on the who than on the what. That being said, a given session of Champions tends to be more combat-heavy than an equivalent amount of time playing D&D, so the combat sequences are spread more evenly throughout this story than they are in 3W, which tends to go in "arcs" of combat, non-combat, combat and so on.
I will say this, though. A lot of the human (or demi-human) drama in 3W was created by me for the story, based on snippets my players had given me and their general overall excellence as role-players. I didn't need to do that for this tale. All the angst and character development this time around was handed to me on a silver platter. I took that dish and ran away with it (I categorically deny ever being in the company of any spoon, however.)
In the intro to 3W, you said you had divided the story into three separate segments, each featuring a different cast of PCs. Is that the same here?
No. Champions is divided into different "Books," which each contain a series of "Issues" that center around several common themes and plotlines that are in the foreground for that time, but the campaign, even when it shifts locals, remains one continuous story.
It's very Babylon 5-ish.
So it's the same PCs all the way through?
Hell, no. Despite the Hero System being a much, much, much less lethal set of rules than those of AD&D, Champions was FAR more deadly to my poor players than D&D ever was! Why, I'm still not sure. No resurrection option, perhaps?
You also have to keep in mind that one player often wound up with several PCs (not together, though). Sometimes, a player would simply retire a PC they felt wasn't working out and create a new one. I don't blame them. 4th edition Hero was great fun for creating characters; much more so than 1st edition AD&D, in my opinion.
Wait a minute. I thought 3W had too many characters to keep track of. How many PCs are we talking about this time around?
At a rough guess, a little over 130.
Can I get some smelling salts over here?
Relax. They aren't all "onscreen" at once. Remember, you're talking 16 years of role-playing here, plus a cast of over 30 people who brought all these PCs to life. I'd say 4-7 PCs are the average for a session, although the actual number has ranged from one to- on one occasion- a dozen. Look at any soap opera that's been running for twenty or thirty years. Same idea.
What style was your campaign? Four-color, dark and gritty, anime or what?
It was everything. Absolutely everything. It started out reasonably four-color, although I always strove for a somewhat more "realistic" tone. As the years progressed, that grimmer tone became more and more predominant. Soon, vigilante heroes appeared and finally even a villain group (albeit that was unintentional). There was blood, there was death, and there were serious issues abound. Comedy never left- some issues and characters had us rolling around on the floor and you'll see that for sure- but there was never any subject that was out of bounds if I felt I could make it an integral part of a storyline, as opposed just being there for shock value. From drug abuse, political assassinations to the Holocaust, the darkness that sometimes appeared in this campaign was frankly astounding, now that I come to think about it.
Is there sex?
Yes. It's only in a few places, and it's not gratuitous, but reader discretion is most definitely advised.
You mentioned your two campaigns shared the same players?
For the most part, although around 1987 a new crew joined the old one, and then more jumped on board as Champions: Rochester began.
Dave, who played the ranger Elrohir, in many ways the central character of 3W, appears here primarily as Enigmus, one of the few PCs that made it through the entire gauntlet. I've known Dave since 5th grade, and he is a joy to have around the gaming table. He's always there for you.
Eric, whom I've known for about as long, makes the transition from the immortal Argo Bigfellow Junior to such characters as the New Centurion, Tempest (The "Warrior-Born"), Phoenix and Rayden, but we'll always know him best in Champions as William Archer, aka Bowmaster. Eric is not only a GM's best friend, if you can call him a friend in real life, you are absolutely blessed. Take it from me.
Campaign's one-of-a-kind paladin Aslan was actually played by two people. The first, a gentleman named Sol, makes truly memorable PCs. Here he is the legendary Mightor, along with Manrik-Gusari and others. It was Sol who first clued me in (and worried me) that certain heroes might be a bit more bloodthirsty than others. Or at least a lot more careless in where they threw around mega-blasts.
I've lost touch with Bryan, who played Aslan for most of his existence (including all of his appearances to date in 3W). He was on board for the very beginning of Champions, but both he and his character Pyro were gone by the time our story begins here. It's too bad. Read 3W and you'll see what a great role-player he is.
If you like the character of Yanigasawa Tojo in 3W, you'll be glad to know that my long-time friend Glenn plays many PCs in Champions, but none so beloved as The Mystic Savant (who is neither mystic nor a savant). And for those of you who can't stand Tojo's accent in 3W, that was my creation, not Glenn's, although Savant's atrocious French accent is all his. Glenn always brings his all to the table, and I'm glad for it.
Arlene is a total gem. Ask anyone who's ever played with her. She was great as Nesco Cynewine in 3W, but Arlene really came into her own in Champions (IMHO) with characters such as Polaris, Medusa, Marionette and Palette. I know she'll kill for me for saying this, but Arlene is so enthusiastic and "into the moment" that her characters sometimes make these tactical missteps that turn a close battle into the biggest debacle you've ever seen in your friggin' life. And yet none of us would have it any other way. We all love and cherish her presence among us. You're the best, kiddo.
Not all of the original gang show up here. Lewis (Dave's brother) was the consummate mage Cygnus, but here he has only a cameo as Guitarman about half-way through. He always preferred D&D. His loss here is our loss everywhere, and for those in the know, I mean that with all my heart.
Likewise, Arlene's husband Lou M (Zantac) opted out of Champions completely. He'd have been one of the greats, I know it. He always is.
There's not room enough here for me to expound on all the new players who join the old guard here, but they are every bit as good, both as role-players and as friends, as the originals. Rich, Vince, Jim, Lou R, Drew, Tom, Fred and Scott from Scotland really launched this campaign into overdrive with their incredible characters. In fact, in the latter half of the campaign their characters became the preeminent ones as I saw less of the original gang. I am honored and frankly awed to have been their GM.
And let's not forget my Rochester crew at SUNY Brockport. Matt, Joe, Cary, Howie, Phil, Craig, Trish, Tammy and many others. A great group of guys and gals who made being four years of being 300 miles from home a lot more fun. Sadly, I've lost touch with them all. If any of you are reading this, shoot me an email.
How much original material is in this campaign?
Original? Original?
*sound of hysterical laughter*
I used every friggin' Champion sourcebook that ever came out, from 1st to 4th edition. I also cribbed ideas furiously from every source I could steal- I mean, get inspiration- from. Yes, the PCs are original (or as original as any superhero can be nowadays), and many of my NPCs are (Even, anyone?), but if you're at all familiar with the world of Champions, you'll be in very familiar territory.
Sharp-eyed readers may see the bare bones of material such as the Gene Hackman movie The Package or Tony Hillerman's novel The Dark Wind, to name just two sources that I turned into superhero scenarios. My point here is that inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere. Even in a certain "Stupendous" NPC or the Funtastic World of Hannah-Barbera.
Trust me. It will all make sense eventually.
And now, let the heroics begin…