Champions Now: Ep. 1 Welcome to Waterford

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Macy and I had our first Champions Now session, featuring her supervillain/heroine Dark Matter.

The story was that Jackie Lee, scion of an Asian supervillain crime cartel, has been forced by her parents to miss a summer vacation and instead spend the semester at Waterford College where she will take several classes including her "Guided Studies" program in villainy.  Waterford is a small, liberal arts college in New England, a long way from her home in California.

Jackie is introduced to many new people, including her dorm resident assistant Kirk and one of her roommates Indu.  Her villainy class is taught by the strict but helpful Professor Monique Richter.  Her fellow students are

  • Bedlam, a female telekinetic who appears unstable
  • Dark Elf, a feral supernatural creature and snobby girl who hates that she and Jackie have similar names
  • Bronze Behemoth, another student from her old university and obnoxious frat bro
  • Ronin, a handsome martial artist and gadgeteer, but also an unwelcome flirt
  • Face, a shy empath and frequent victim of bullying by Bronze Behemoth
The intro session had the students working their way through an obstacle course (to teach Macy how skills and attribute checks work), tearing through barriers (to teach the damage rules), and sparring against each other (to teach combat).

By the end of the first session, Dark Matter was feeling a long way from home.  It didn't help that she discovered that she'd be sharing a quad dorm room with Bedlam, as well as Indu.  Professor Richter had warned her that if Indu or any other student found out about the secret behind the "Guided Studies" program, they would be killed.  But Bedlam doesn't seem to share Jackie's concerns for her roommate's well being.  Add to that antagonistic rivals, irritating suitors, and mysterious acquaintances, and Dark Matter is in for a very long summer...


Jackie's roommate Indu, illustration by Phil Cho on Deviantart

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