Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

[megaplayboy]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

Exactly. I'm just thinking of ways to push the envelope' date=' because while I watched and enjoyed (fling poo later) the second [i']Fantastic Four [/i]film, I would never run "that game." Not in a gabillion years. But a game like the one we're describing, which despite it's insane power levels keeps a dark, gritty edge? I think Galactic Champions could pull that off beautifully. So that would certainly be something I could get behind.

 

On the other end of things is Dragon Ball Z, where the villains are as evil as they come, but the heroes (with one notable exception) never really stop being basically good at heart.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

A concept that doesn't get a lot of respect in game play is time and distance. Most often Sci-Fi epics wave the problem of traveling light years to go from one inhabitable world to another. There has been a lot of fiction written where this takes a significant role. What I wonder is could this be used as a controlling element in a Galactic Champions game?

 

This could be as simple as globe trotting in a modern game but if we scale back the speed or travel it has a lot of interesting possibilities. For instance, say there is an uprising in a colony twenty light years away the players can go there in what seems to be a matter of weeks to them but is in fact years since they left. What has come of the uprising? Is it still relevant even though it was a crisis at the time? If it is what is the state of their homeland since they left much less by the time they return? Lots of very strange concepts to play with.

 

The reason that it's handwaved is because 99% of the time absolutely nothing happens in hyperspace. I've said on numerous occasions (and my sci-fi game is built on the premise) that if something happens while you're in hyperspace, then absolutely. But generally it's used for down time/RP time; no one wants to roleplay 3 weeks traveling at FTL speeds to get to the plot, unless you have plot on board your ship. Then, by all means, use it.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

On the other end of things is Dragon Ball Z' date=' where the villains are as evil as they come, but the heroes (with one notable exception) never really stop being basically good at heart.[/quote']

 

Freiza, Vegetable, yep, plenty of iconic characters in that setting some of who are just plain old evil; it's a very black & white setting. Not really what I do or enjoy, but again, something that the power levels in GC are built to reflect, I think.

 

You could also (and I'm not reaching as far as you may think) do "wandering warriors" in this setting, ala DS9, Bab5, and so on. Ryu, from Street Fighter, now a star hopping, battle hardened wandered with incredible Chi powers, with equally terrible rivals, his estranged love for Chun-Li, and so on. But that's part of what I was saying before; scale has as much to do with it as points.

[Certified]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

The focus is not on what the PC's are doing but what is happening around them as they travel. Even if it takes them two months to travel twenty light years so much can change in that amount of time the PCs may find themselves going from a simple police action to in the middle of a full scale rebellion.

 

Think of sailing from Europe to the Colonies just before the revolution began.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

The focus is not on what the PC's are doing but what is happening around them as they travel. Even if it takes them two months to travel twenty light years so much can change in that amount of time the PCs may find themselves going from a simple police action to in the middle of a full scale rebellion.

 

Think of sailing from Europe to the Colonies just before the revolution began.

 

Which goes back to what I was saying before; so long as something is happening, you're fine. But most people go through the mental math, where they have shielding, high levels of automation, etc. & so forth, and just say "Oh, eff this, it's not worth it" and handwave jump distances.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

With great power comes the ability to summon ice cream.

With Greater Power comes the ability to summon hawt candy/nurse themed wimmens who will feed you ice cream.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

With Greater Power comes the ability to summon hawt candy/nurse themed wimmens who will feed you ice cream.

 

Can has grater powwerz?

[Enforcer84]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

Well, as soon as I figger them out, yeah, I'll share.

[nexus]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

It didn't.

 

I'm saying that in all things, there's room for interpretation.

 

Wait a second. I think there's been some confusion?

 

megaplayboy asks how are the PC relevant if Green Berets exist that can kick their asses.

 

In response I say that Green Berets can't do A,B.C

 

to which you respond "Yeah but they have X,Y, Z."

 

Correct?

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

Wait a second. I think I missed something.

 

megaplayboy asks how are the PC relevant if Green Berets exist that can kick their asses.

 

In response I say that Green Berets can't do A,B.C

 

to which you respond "Yeah but they have X,Y, Z."

 

Correct?

 

On the literal level, yes. On the interpretive level, "Look, my Green Beret can kick your can!" no, that isn't what I was actually talking about. My POV went like this:

 

We're arguing about points and how points and things like that operate.

Heroes spend points, they do X, Y, Z that's "impossible" for other people.

Not impossible, says I, just different, depending on the game you want.

 

You're not wrong, but taking it as an attack or some semblance of an attack, would be.

[nexus]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

On the literal level, yes. On the interpretive level, "Look, my Green Beret can kick your can!" no, that isn't what I was actually talking about. My POV went like this:

 

We're arguing about points and how points and things like that operate.

Heroes spend points, they do X, Y, Z that's "impossible" for other people.

Not impossible, says I, just different, depending on the game you want.

 

You're not wrong, but taking it as an attack or some semblance of an attack, would be.

 

Ah, Okay, there was a miscommunication.

 

I wasn't talking about points specifically but the nature of powers and the game world. My point was that superpowers aren't rendered useless but the presence of technology, at least modern technology Polygraphs are useful, Telepathy is more so, they aren't "flight suits" in the setting we were talking and planes and helicopters have their own limitations as do fire arms. There are no teleportation machines or weightless invisible body armor the equivalent of the bricks bullet proof skin. Technology can make so called "normals" dangers to an extent but it has physical and social limitations to be taken into account that innate powers don't.

 

For me that's another drawback of Galactic Champions games, there are futuristic technologies that act as "Off the Shelf" super powers, so to speak it takes some of the appeal away. As do entire races of massively powered beings (Daxamites, for instance).

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

Ah, Okay, there was a miscommunication.

 

I wasn't talking about points specifically but the nature of powers and the game world. My point was that superpowers aren't rendered useless but the presence of technology, at least modern technology Polygraphs are useful, Telepathy is more so, they aren't "flight suits" in the setting we were talking and planes and helicopters have their own limitations as do fire arms. There are no teleportation machines or weightless invisible body armor the equivalent of the bricks bullet proof skin. Technology can make so called "normals" dangers to an extent but it has physical and social limitations to be taken into account that innate powers don't.

 

For me that's another drawback of Galactic Champions games, there are futuristic technologies that act as "Off the Shelf" super powers, so to speak it takes some of the appeal away. As do entire races of massively powered beings (Daxamites, for instance).

 

I couldn't tell you what a Daxamite is if you paid me, unless I was given sufficient time to research. However, I think (generally) I'm picking up what you're laying down, which is why I posted upthread ways in which I could envision making something on the 'galactic scale' operate. Basically, a very high-powered, but still "normals can present a tangible threat" Iron Age sort of material. Besides, as my players will tell you, if you give me a pretty shiny setting, I'll just start pouring on black paint until I'm happy.

[nexus]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

I couldn't tell you what a Daxamite is if you paid me' date=' unless I was given sufficient time to research. However, I think (generally) I'm picking up what you're laying down, which is why I posted upthread ways in which I could envision making something on the 'galactic scale' operate. Basically, a very high-powered, but still "normals can present a tangible threat" Iron Age sort of material. Besides, as my players will tell you, if you give me a pretty shiny setting, I'll just start pouring on black paint until I'm happy. [/quote']

 

I apologize for getting snippy back there. I think we went by each other point wise.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

Fair enough' date=' I apologize for getting snippy back there. I think we went by each other point wise.[/quote']

 

You felt that your question wasn't being answered and you were forced to defend your position instead of getting assistance. I understand that. Apology accepted.

[megaplayboy]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

Ah, Okay, there was a miscommunication.

 

I wasn't talking about points specifically but the nature of powers and the game world. My point was that superpowers aren't rendered useless but the presence of technology, at least modern technology Polygraphs are useful, Telepathy is more so, they aren't "flight suits" in the setting we were talking and planes and helicopters have their own limitations as do fire arms. There are no teleportation machines or weightless invisible body armor the equivalent of the bricks bullet proof skin. Technology can make so called "normals" dangers to an extent but it has physical and social limitations to be taken into account that innate powers don't.

 

For me that's another drawback of Galactic Champions games, there are futuristic technologies that act as "Off the Shelf" super powers, so to speak it takes some of the appeal away. As do entire races of massively powered beings (Daxamites, for instance).

 

 

Well, you don't have to have Daxamites in your campaign, necessarily, or they could be substantially less powerful than the heroes while at the same time being substantially "more than human". (in a 700 point game, 350 point NPCs fit this category). A 10d6 blaster gun fired by someone with a CV of 5 is still substantially inferior to a 15d6 eyebeam fired with a CV of 10. There will still be whole categories of things that supers are dramatically better at--besides, isn't there likely to be at least one guy wearing powered armor on your average superteam, regardless of point level?

[nexus]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

Well' date=' you don't have to have Daxamites. [/quote']

 

Super powered race(s) are a fairly common convention of the "Galactic Superheroes" subgenre. To be fair they show up in other subgenres too but it's not as in your face generally speaking. Of course you can edit out anything you want but that is a trope of the genre that doesn't appeal.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

CAPTAIN COMET!!!

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Comet

[OddHat]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

Super powered race(s) are a fairly common convention of the "Galactic Superheroes" subgenre. To be fair they show up in other subgenres too but it's not as in your face generally speaking. Of course you can edit out anything you want but that is a trope of the genre that doesn't appeal.

 

Agreed on that, especially with Daxamites / Kryptonians. I tend to use Flash Gordon as the primary model for Humanoid races in my (rare) Supers in Space scenarios, with other aliens being both non-humanoid and not racially "super".

[assault]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

A game genre I will never run:

 

Galactic Pulp Champions.

 

Ah yes: early LSH, early Green Lantern, Silver Age Hawkman, Adam Strange.

 

All inspired by Golden Age science fiction, which is essentially a Pulp genre. All totally awesome.

 

Technically, of course, the early LSH was Galactic Pulp Teen Champions!

 

It became Galactic Dark Champions for a while during the "5 Years Later" period. Brilliant stuff in its own right. Some of it was very dark, but it also contained some brilliant comedy with Matter-Eater Lad and Polar Boy.

[Guest steamteck]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

A game genre I will never run:

 

Galactic Pulp Champions.

 

But it would be absolutely awesome to play in.

 

 

My (cough cough) Traveler game is basically a relatively low powered version of that. No costumes or code names but lots of powers and pulp bits and weird science.

[OddHat]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

My (cough cough) Traveler game is basically a relatively low powered version of that. No costumes or code names but lots of powers and pulp bits and weird science.

 

I've been thinking of running a game inspired by Sten, Stainless Steel Rat, Matador, and Warlock In Spite of Himself. No costumes, but both biotech and cybertech, borderline-super martial arts, and some psi (including one world with really remarkable psionics). I'd probably throw in some Four Lords of the Diamond and Well World as well. And Tuff Voyaging, and A Planet for Texans.

 

The challenge is setting a story in a setting like that without going unbearably grim.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

My (cough cough) Traveler game is basically a relatively low powered version of that. No costumes or code names but lots of powers and pulp bits and weird science.

 

But do you get to punch Nazis?

[Spence]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

That's what I get for posted at 3:45AM EST.

 

My apologies.

 

As one forum challenged to another.....

 

 

You Rock !

 

[Nagisawa Takumi]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

You know, sometimes one world just isn't enough to explore, sometimes seeing 'new' things and 'new' civilizations are just what some games need.

 

Galactic Superheroes, to me, is when I want to play 'Star Wars' but not have it BE Star Wars with all the baggage that would come with it.

 

It doesn't have to be of a grand scale, it can be just a bunch of do-gooders wandering around in a spaceship instead of having a snazzy X-mansion.

 

YMMV.

[Guest steamteck]

Re: Sell me on "Galactic Champions"?

 

But do you get to punch Nazis?

 

Does Sun Koh count. They're after him in the current adventure. ( thanks Oddhat) Lots of punching going on.