Champions PBeM game From: pearlman@conch.cis.ohio-state.edu (Andrew Pearlman) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 1990 17:57:18 +0000 This is to announce the restart of my old PBemail game. Due to lack of net access/time there are 3 openings in the game. They will be filled considering the following factors: 1) Is a character submitted? 2) Is the concept interesting/fit the game? 3) First come, first serve You can of course break one or more of these factors, but better make it worth the GM's while :-) The game is 100 point base with upto 150 points of disads, 50 per disad max. 60 active point limit unless good reason to exceed it. 12d6 max attack unless again, good reason to exceed it. Skills are *very* important. Combat isn't going to happen all that often. Also, the game isn't going to be controlled by skill rolls. What you say to someone may in the GM's mind make all the difference, no matter what you roll. Campaign Background(for player use, most characters don't know much of this) Approximately 3000 years, an alien race called the Warthra sent a science mission to Earth, to examine the native life. The Warthra had developed a parasite that they could implant in any living being and they could then ask questions of the being, and the parasite would translate the information into a usable form. They captured about 12 humans and implanted the parasite. Almost immediately, an unforeseen problem occured. Earth had some very strange magical fields(unknown to all involved), and all 12 humans suddenly gained enormous power, which they then used to escape their capturers by destroying their entire vehicle instantly. (No followup mission was sent, due to the Warthra empire going into a decline. Oh, Warthra sort of look like totally grey centaurs, with 30 tentacles with bone ridges for legs/hands and where the torso/head would be, is a long, thick grey stalk containing sensory organs) The humans rejoiced in their new found power and practiced genetic engineering on their children, meanwhile acting like gods amongst their fellow mortals. Another problem then occured. Their children were significantly more adept at controlling the power, especially in combination. After a while, the children tired of being treated like regular humans and rebelled. They won and imprisoned their parents in the Indian Snake Mounds of Ohio. (Note: The first group was the Titans who in combination had a 270pt Cosmic Power Pool. The kids were the Greek gods who in combination had a 480 pt Cosmic Power pool) An incidental side effect of the symbiote was found out about relatively quickly. It gave its owner eternal youth(the Warthra didn't find out about this feature because they always destroyed the subject after questioning...) This started to cause massive problems after a while, because the gods were always at odds with each other, especially Zeus and Hades. Finally, Hades left, taking Demeter's daughter with him as both wife/hostage. Demeter refused to link up and all the other gods became disillusioned by the whole affair. Finally, despite all of Zeus's urgings, all the gods went their individual ways... Also, any descendent of a god would inherit the power, but unless certain things were done, the symbiote would 'go out of focus'. This would cause cases, such as Hercules, who was stronger than any of the other gods, but not having the flexibility of the other gods. This got more extreme as time went on... About 2000 years, 800, and 500 years ago, there were rumored flareups of paranorms, all squashed rather viciously from all appearances. 66 years ago, Ghost Lady, a desolid martial arts master emerged on the scene, as the first 'Superhero'. Columbia University also had some paranormals, but again all involved either disappeared or died. 48 years ago, quite a few paranorms appeared during World War II, fighting for both sides. Hitler's fascination with the death camps appeared to be his undoing, as the incredible stress created by the camps seemed to activate numerous paranormals, to the point where he diverted large amounts of capital to dealing with this. Given Hitler's use of precognition, it is thought by most historians that he was a paranormal of some kind. 22 years ago, during the Vietnam war, the U.S. formed its first official super team, the Black Berets. It is estimated that they suffered 80% casualities in fighting both armies and Vietcong. 9 years ago, paranormals started appearing in a 'superhero' type fashion in large numbers. 2 years ago, the group known as the Protectors disappeared mysteriously from their Columbus home. Several supers converged on Columbus to help out. A mysterious commune formed, known as the True Belief. The Protectors were eventually rescued from a strange being known as Schism, who is a dimension of energy that considers itself a human being. The Protectors made it known that they had no wish for another superteam in the area. About 6 months after that, both the True Belief and the Protectors got into some sort of fight, with details still hopelesly unclear about what exactly happened. The True Belief has been missing since then and Guardian made a statement that the team would be disbanding. 2 months later, Schism, Captain Freedom/Wooly Mammoth/BEM, Sir Caradoc, Zephyr, and Raven formed the new Protectors. Apparently they dealt with a rather nasty individual named Omega for most of the time. Omega was eventually stopped, but again, the Protectors decided to disband and go their seperate ways. What kind of paranormals exist? People who tap large magical energy sources unconciously(the Greek gods as an example). These are curiously enough, where most 'gadgeteers' come from. People who tap the surrounding magical energy conciously. These are magicians. This is thought to be an explanation of why there are no magician paranormals wandering around being really powerful. Highly trained, almost Batman-types. Combination of the above. There are a few others, but these are exceedingly rare. So, send in characters! Andy Pearlman Up