In which I run a teen superhero soap opera
My daughter Macy agreed to help me playtest the new Champions Now rules. We decided to set the campaign in the fictional superhero universe of the graphic novel she's writing, an untitled work featuring the main character, Dark Matter (I may end up calling the setting "the Dark Matter Universe" or DMU).
The premise of Macy's graphic novel is that powerful and wealthy supervillains have arranged with universities and college across the country to educate their offspring in the ways of supervillainy secretly in concealed elective classes. Thus Dark Matter, in her secret identity of Jackie Lee, is a regular Asian-American college student with a dorm room, roommates, dating drama, etc. but on the side is trained to be a supervillain along with several other students including Bronze Behemoth, Plague, and several others.
So my campaign doesn't interfere with her graphic novel in terms of continuity, we decided to set the Champions Now game during a "semester abroad" where Jackie leaves Golden Bay University (a large West Coast state university) and attends Waterford College, a small New England liberal arts school. She will still be in the "Guided Studies" program, but now will have new teachers, new roommates, and new fellow supervillains-in-training.
I have to say, I don't know if it is because the material is so close to my heart, both in terms of being a superhero fan and gaming with my daughter, but the whole campaign has coalesced quickly and beautifully. I already have nine NPC's worked out, multiple sub-plots in the making, and am really jazzed about making this happen.
To help me out, I once again skimmed the great DeviantArt gallery of artist Phil Cho, whose clean and youth-centric superhero art was perfect for this campaign. He has a whole section called "Supporting characters" in his "Earth 27" art gallery that could easily populate Waterford College for years. That's not even including his original concept work.
Based on the original style of the Dark Matter graphic novel, this will be a pretty light-hearted affair with plenty of action, comedy, and teen drama (will Jackie's new roommate Indu discover her secret identity? Who is Professor Monique Richter actually working for?) The DMU is definitely a "CW" kind of place.
So the first session will introduce the main characters and give Jackie a "danger room" scenario where she can learn the rules. I'll post a after-action report to let you all know how it went.
The premise of Macy's graphic novel is that powerful and wealthy supervillains have arranged with universities and college across the country to educate their offspring in the ways of supervillainy secretly in concealed elective classes. Thus Dark Matter, in her secret identity of Jackie Lee, is a regular Asian-American college student with a dorm room, roommates, dating drama, etc. but on the side is trained to be a supervillain along with several other students including Bronze Behemoth, Plague, and several others.
So my campaign doesn't interfere with her graphic novel in terms of continuity, we decided to set the Champions Now game during a "semester abroad" where Jackie leaves Golden Bay University (a large West Coast state university) and attends Waterford College, a small New England liberal arts school. She will still be in the "Guided Studies" program, but now will have new teachers, new roommates, and new fellow supervillains-in-training.
I have to say, I don't know if it is because the material is so close to my heart, both in terms of being a superhero fan and gaming with my daughter, but the whole campaign has coalesced quickly and beautifully. I already have nine NPC's worked out, multiple sub-plots in the making, and am really jazzed about making this happen.
To help me out, I once again skimmed the great DeviantArt gallery of artist Phil Cho, whose clean and youth-centric superhero art was perfect for this campaign. He has a whole section called "Supporting characters" in his "Earth 27" art gallery that could easily populate Waterford College for years. That's not even including his original concept work.
Based on the original style of the Dark Matter graphic novel, this will be a pretty light-hearted affair with plenty of action, comedy, and teen drama (will Jackie's new roommate Indu discover her secret identity? Who is Professor Monique Richter actually working for?) The DMU is definitely a "CW" kind of place.
So the first session will introduce the main characters and give Jackie a "danger room" scenario where she can learn the rules. I'll post a after-action report to let you all know how it went.
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