nexus Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Not the book but the genre. "Cosmic" Superheroes is generally my least preferred subgenre both for reading and gaming. But, in the spirit of a new year and trying new things I'd like to ask for fans of the genre to tell me what they like about it. What are its positive points. I admit I've never played in a Galactic or "Cosmic" game because they've never interested me. Maybe I'm missing something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Certified Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Real easy one, because Quasar did a crossover with DP7 and Starbrand years after anyone had thought about those names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Real easy one' date=' because Quasar did a crossover with DP7 and Starbrand years after anyone had thought about those names.[/quote'] And for the large number of us who are not familiar with Quasar or DP7, this means? Just asking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Not the book but the genre. "Cosmic" Superheroes is generally my least preferred subgenre both for reading and gaming. But' date=' in the spirit of a new year and trying new things I'd like to ask for fans of the genre to tell me what they like about it. What are its positive points. I admit I've never played in a Galactic or "Cosmic" game because they've never interested me. Maybe I'm missing something.[/quote'] I think a lot depends on the ifs... ifs that may not apply to you. IF, like me, you love Space Opera type sci fi and Superheroes both IF, like me, you occasionally get the power hungry urge to roll more six siders than God ever intended to be rolled for an Energy Blast IF, like me, you find such a wide open setting almost begging for players and GM alike to flesh out and personalize IF, like me, you sometimes enjoy surreal moments where philosophical questions and concepts take on more concrete aspects that form either beings, adventures, or both... Well, you might like Cosmic superheroes/Galactic Champions. If not, well, that's cool too.... to each their own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? ...um. Sisco became a small deity. Only Star Trek Captain to ever manage it. Beyond that? Can't help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? O.K. To keep a long story short,Quasar (the official protector of The Marvel Universe before Quesada & Co. sent it into the toilet) was accidentally sent into the New Universe.As his quantum bands were limited to the energy they had stored (due to the new Universes different physical laws) he had to ask D.P.7 for help.He eventually got one of the wielders of the Starbrand to transfer it to him in order to return to the Marvel Universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Certified Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Hay, no adding logic and background to my fanboy response. It was doing good there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? O.K. To keep a long story short' date='Quasar (the official protector of The Marvel Universe before Quesada & Co. sent it into the toilet) was accidentally sent into the New Universe.As his quantum bands were limited to the energy they had stored (due to the new Universes different physical laws) he had to ask D.P.7 for help.He eventually got one of the wielders of the Starbrand to transfer it to him in order to return to the Marvel Universe.[/quote'] My guess is this happened after Marvel went out of business around 85ish and was replaced by the evil clone company.... what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Annihilation (Marvel Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilation_%28comics%29 Annihilation: Conquest (Marvel Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilation_Conquest Operation: Galactic Storm (Marvel Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation:_Galactic_Storm Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths Legion of Super-Heroes (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Super-Heroes Infinite Crisis (DC Comics) http://www.herogames.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1501530 Sinestro Corps War (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinestro_Corps_War Elseworlds (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elseworlds All the above are currently in Trade Paper Back As a Role-Playing Genre I think it is great, but the GM and the Players have to make it work together. Suspension of disbelief is even more important than in the Classic Superhero Genre. Key Genre Points are covered in the Text and Ghost-Angel's Review cover a lot. IMOHO, it covers the Genre well and leaves a lot of room to maneuver. The GM needs prepare a small Player's Guide, information commonly known by the PCs and then dive into Character Creation. More so than in Classic Champions the GM and Players need to work together to prevent Universe Breaking Characters, but that is some of the fun, at least for me. I look foreword to hearing what your going to do. QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? I think a lot depends on the ifs... ifs that may not apply to you. IF, like me, you love Space Opera type sci fi and Superheroes both IF, like me, you occasionally get the power hungry urge to roll more six siders than God ever intended to be rolled for an Energy Blast IF, like me, you find such a wide open setting almost begging for players and GM alike to flesh out and personalize IF, like me, you sometimes enjoy surreal moments where philosophical questions and concepts take on more concrete aspects that form either beings, adventures, or both... Well, you might like Cosmic superheroes/Galactic Champions. If not, well, that's cool too.... to each their own That's what I'm talking about. You have a real knack with words, Hermit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? 1. Scope. Outside of maybe a Mystic Masters type of game, you're not going to have adventures more epic or events more consequential than in a Cosmic Heroes kind of setting. Giant battles in space. Whole empires rising and falling. Villains to make Destroyer blanch. 2. Fun. As a departure from a gritty Dark Champs game, this can be a blast, particularly if players have become accustomed to diving out of the way of a 9mm round, and now are playing characters who can survive a photon torpedo hit while flying through a star cruiser. 3. Challenge. Expanding one's imagination and capabilities as a player or GM--how do you challenge a group of characters who can literally do almost anything? How do you keep things fresh and exciting? 4. Freshness. Dark Champions--done to death. Standard 4-color 250 and 350 point Champions--done to double death. Galactic Champions?--not so much. Plenty of opportunity to have a fresh and exciting new game, especially since you're free to depart more from "reality"(cities don't have to look like real cities, technology doesn't have to have a reasonable basis in physics, etc.) 5. No limits to the imagination. Your characters can be almost anything, do almost anything, and you can write them up as being a lot closer to "self-actualized" than they'd be in a regular game(where most likely the campaign will end a long time before the player's character will begin to fulfill their vision of what they wanted them to become). As a GM, if you want a silly villain who's a credible threat, that's pretty easy. If you want agents who are tough enough to smack around normals like tenpins, and yet are complete hero fodder, that's even easier. Plus, between the LOSH, Guardians of the Galaxy, LEGION, Omega Men, Starjammers, Exiles, Brood-era X-Men, and countless science fiction films and books, there's really a vast amount of inspirational source material available, to create stuff that most players haven't quite seen before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? I must admit, when I think 'Galactic Champions', I tend to think of the Legion of Superheroes more than the Silver Surfer, probably due to the team aspect. Sure, the Legion had some goofy characters, but they had to deal with things like, oh, sun-eaters. And, of course, Hermit rocks the catbox with his post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? A big part of why I don't get into the genre is the power level. It's just too high for my tastes. I like things closer to the low end. I'm able to buy into it more and I guess relate to the characters. In Champions, I prefer 250 and start feeling bored or like its time to wrap up a PC at about 450-500 so 1000+ point PCs go right over my head concept and focuswise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? A big part of why I don't get into the genre is the power level. It's just too high for my tastes. I like things closer to the low end. I'm able to buy into it more and I guess relate to the characters. In Champions' date=' I prefer 250 and start feeling bored or like its time to wrap up a PC at about 450-500 so 1000+ point PCs go right over my head concept and focuswise.[/quote'] Understandable. Perhaps that's another benefit of looking at it from the LSH viewpoint. Take out Mon-El and Andromeda and Ultra Boy, and well ... I don't think Matter-Eater Lad was built on 1000 points. Element Lad probably was ... but I digress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenn Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? That's one of the conceits of "Galactic Champions" that bothers me. Anyone familiar with the Legion of Super Heroes knows that while there are some Legionairres who are truly cosmic (Mon-El, Wildfire) there are many, many others who are just at the more "traditional" power levels. Not all Galactic Champions need to be massivly powered characters. Conversly, most "not-Galactic" Champions material assumes you won't have cosmic characters in a modern day supers game set on Earth.... unless its a bad guy from CKC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? That's one of the conceits of "Galactic Champions" that bothers me. Anyone familiar with the Legion of Super Heroes knows that while there are some Legionairres who are truly cosmic (Mon-El, Wildfire) there are many, many others who are just at the more "traditional" power levels. Not all Galactic Champions need to be massivly powered characters. Conversly, most "not-Galactic" Champions material assumes you won't have cosmic characters in a modern day supers game set on Earth.... unless its a bad guy from CKC. On the other paw, that's part of game balance. Typically, all PCs are going to built to similar specifications so you don't get one PC massively overpowering (and rendering obsolete) the rest of the team. I can't recall who said it, but someone remarked that 'when a player suggests variable point-totals for characters, he's the one who wants to play Thor, not Ant-Man'. Vastly disparate (did I spell that right?) power levels only work in fiction where a single author can exercise total control over the characters and their actions (thus resulting in Plot-Induced Stupidity wherein the powerhouse gets himself f'd up and the rest of the crowd must come to his rescue). In a gaming environment, where each player expects to be able to participate and contribute to the group cause, it's very problematic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Quasar did a piss poor job of protecting the Marvel Universe. He needed to go after Joe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Understandable. Perhaps that's another benefit of looking at it from the LSH viewpoint. Take out Mon-El and Andromeda and Ultra Boy' date=' and well ... I don't think Matter-Eater Lad was built on 1000 points. [/quote'] He was but he spent them all on a rather restricted power set. Bouncing Boy on the other hand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackCobra Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Galactic Champions doesn't HAVE to be Cosmic-scale. You could easily have a campaign where you played 350pt supers in a space-opera universe. It might even be more interesting that way, since compared to the Cosmic supers, you'd end up feeling more like a Super Agent. I can see a lot of interesting potential stories there; everyone loves the underdog. Now, that idea aside, the Cosmic level of Supers in a Galactic campaign can make for some really Epic Stories. How about that time the teleporter moved several million aliens to another planet in their home system right before their original home exploded? Or when the Mind Witch sent out a distress call heard by every sentient within a 1000 light-years? Or when my time-traveling super nearly unraveled time & space trying to break an entire solar system out of a time loop? [actually happened in game] I ran a fairly successful sci-fi hero campaign where the characters were all psionic. It amounted to a low-level Champions campaign; heck, several of the characters even had alternate code-named identities. I think the best way that Space Opera works is if there's a fairly comprehensive background and set of "special effects" -- like psionics being the source of "super powers", or only having 5 or 6 alien species with several defined cultures. Anyway, hope that helped! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? The basic answer is: the LSH rocks. The Green Lantern Corps and various other space travelling heroes are pretty neat too. Heck, even the Teen Titans have gone into space at various times. The question of high power versus low power is something of a side issue. I'd throw a few more points at the LSH compared to otherwise comparable characters, mainly to let them buy their flight rings/flight belts/jetpacks etc, but that's about it. They aren't significantly more powerful than the JLA or JSA, except through sheer weight of numbers. They are more powerful than the Teen Titans, but that's another issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Sometimes you want to punch out a Nazi. Sometimes you want to fry a Nazi with laser eye beams. And sometimes I really just want to drop a planet on one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenn Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? On the other paw, that's part of game balance. Typically, all PCs are going to built to similar specifications so you don't get one PC massively overpowering (and rendering obsolete) the rest of the team. I can't recall who said it, but someone remarked that 'when a player suggests variable point-totals for characters, he's the one who wants to play Thor, not Ant-Man'. Vastly disparate (did I spell that right?) power levels only work in fiction where a single author can exercise total control over the characters and their actions (thus resulting in Plot-Induced Stupidity wherein the powerhouse gets himself f'd up and the rest of the crowd must come to his rescue). In a gaming environment, where each player expects to be able to participate and contribute to the group cause, it's very problematic. Maybe for some GMs or gaming group. My mileage has varied. - Allow multiple PCs per player. In my experience, sometimes a player wants to play "Thor," and sometimes he'll want to play "Ant-Man." So they can switch off. - A lot of players, especally if they only want to deal with one character, tend to gravitate to the mid-range. - The player that ONLY wants to play "Thor" is generally able to reach the "powerhouse gets himself f'd up and the rest of the crowd must come to his rescue" without his character's stupidity being plot-induced. - Go back to the source material and have the players do the same. The human, well-trained martial artist may be a combat machine in his own book, but in the group setting with power houses around, he's the team tactician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? It's not my favorite genre. That said, some of my favorite comics growing up were Legion of Superheroes and Green Lantern. Sometimes I want to re-create those episodic, absurd adventures, and a one shot Cosmic game or mini campaign will do it. For that matter, my New Circle games owe a lot to Dr. Strange and the Defenders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScrewySquirrel Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Understandable. Perhaps that's another benefit of looking at it from the LSH viewpoint. Take out Mon-El and Andromeda and Ultra Boy' date=' and well ... I don't think Matter-Eater Lad was built on 1000 points. Element Lad probably was ... but I digress.[/quote'] Why has no one mentioned the definitive cosmic hero: SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE GHOST!!!! several powers based on his power bands, high blasts, perfect invisibility, a powerful forcefield (in the neighborhood of 100 DEF!). sidekicks who would be full fledged 4-color heroes on their own, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzMike Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"? Annihilation (Marvel Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilation_%28comics%29 Annihilation: Conquest (Marvel Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilation_Conquest Operation: Galactic Storm (Marvel Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation:_Galactic_Storm Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths Legion of Super-Heroes (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Super-Heroes Infinite Crisis (DC Comics) http://www.herogames.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1501530 Sinestro Corps War (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinestro_Corps_War Elseworlds (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elseworlds Let me add some others, if you please: L.E.G.I.O.N. (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.E.G.I.O.N. Omega Men (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Men Adam Strange (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Strange Captain Comet (DC Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Comet Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_Galaxy Starjammers (Marvel Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starjammers Dreadstar (Epic/First/Malibu/Bravura Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadstar Nexus (Capital/First/Dark Horse Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_%28comics%29 Grimjack (First/IDW/Comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrimJack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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