From: earl@cco.caltech.edu (Earl A. Hubbell)
Subject: Champs on the Run (campaign description)
Keywords: Champions
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 08:01:06 GMT



	And still more character sketches - these characters are for
a slightly silly Champions game which is best described as 'Late Night
TV Champions' - the primary theme of the campaign is best described
as 'Aliens are secretly infiltrating the Earth' - think of late night
B movies, and you've got the genre down.
	The unusual aspects to this campaign were that the players (and
characters) did >not< know what powers they had been given, nor, in
some cases, did they know about the aliens (>none< of the characters
started out knowing anything - they were all normal humans, of college
age - their origins wiped out about two weeks of their memories before
that - so they never knew precisely how they came to be in the situation
they were in after their awakening.)
	Overall, the paranormals have wound up working for the FBI (they
thought the CIA had been infiltrated like the military had been).  They've
been running around the country trying to find out more about the aliens,
looking for alien plots (and finding them), more paranormals, and the
mad scientists who created them (using technology they believe was stolen
from the aliens.)

>"Were you kidnapped by aliens, too?" -Diana
"Well - >you< were kidnapped by aliens???" - Lewis
"Weren't we all?" -Diana"<

Clarisse:  A UCLA medical student - her personality is best described by
the term 'manipulative.'  Very bright, a little cold.
	She awoke to discover that she no longer had functioning eyes,
but could function through an all-encompassing magnetic sense - further
experimentation allowed her to discover that she could create a strong
field around her body, and use that field for protection, flight (tiring),
and to enhance her strength.  Also to fling about all the metal in an
area.  (kind of a magnetic brick).  
	Favored weapon:  steel crowbar.
	She's discovered she can tell alien robot duplicates from real
people, appears immune to alien weapons (on stun, at any rate), can
pass through their forcefields (apparently also magnetic), and other
useful stunts.  She's been to the alien's base on the moon, and was
partially responsible for stealing a flying saucer and turning it over
to the government.
	Typical quotes: "Why couldn't I be overthrowing a small south
American country?"  "I've got a hundred, hundred fifty witnesses here -
take care of it."

>"What kind of aliens?" - Ace
"You mean there's more than one kind?!" - Lewis
"What aliens did you see?" - Ace<

Ace:  Another UCLA student - undecided major, martial arts training,
she has a generally confident attitude towards life.
	She awoke to discover telekinetic abilities - straightforward
moving of objects, flight, able to project a force-bubble that protects
her area from harm.  She's also discovered through time that she seems
to have 'panic' powers - she's inadvertently knocked everyone for a
quarter kilometer unconscious, and crushed alien robots like tinfoil.
But she doesn't panic easily.  She can also (semi-reliably) tell
'real people' from alien robots, but can't explain why.
	Favored weapon: Anything overkill.
	Typical quotes: "They shot me with an agonizer!"  

>"Oh, c'mon - how many people have been to the moon?" - Nate
"I didn't want to go!" -Diana<

Nate:  UCLA student, again undecided.  Quiet, but he has a certain
cunning, and tends to carry out plans in the background.
	He actually got access to a fairly complete analysis of
his powers at one point - he gates power in from the Sun - he's
a living focus of some sort - protected from most types of harm,
able to project intense heat/light, and can teleport, apparently
by gating himself through the heart of the Sun.  He can also sense
nearby energy sources.
	Favored weapon: He doesn't like fighting.  Whatever is handy.
	Typical quotes: <anything intelligent>, "The person with
wings is saying 'weird' to the person turning black and silver."

>"I don't want to go mucking around in a dark building with spiders." -Diana
"Giant spiders." - Nate
"Giand spiders!" -Diana<

Dave: UCLA student - madman driver, and generally a manic approach
towards life.  Tends to act first, and then regret it repeatedly.
	He awoke to discover (embarassingly) that he could project
his consciousness out of his body in a 'shade' form - apparently
immune to physical harm, his shade interfered powerfully with energy
of all types - harmed electronics, knocked people unconscious.  His
subjective time when projected was increased by a factor of two, but
he was limited in realtime to only about a minute of separation, growing
weaker all the time he was 'out'.  Damage to his shade form shows up
in a backlash to his body, but fades rapidly.  His body is always
vulnerable.  He can pick up objects while in shade-form, and has
carried his body around to safer locations.  He also exhibits an
energy-sense similar to Nate's.
	Favored weapon: None - he can't take them through walls.
	Typical quotes:  "AAAAGH!  NOOO!" (after having done
something stupid).

>"Okay, who's going to say it?" -Ace
"Say what?" - Diana
"Take us to your leader!" - Ace<

Diana:  San Jose university student, she's a fine acrobat, a good
Catholic Hispanic girl, and the closest to a normal personality.
	She awoke to discover (after a lot of alien mind games) that she had
what might best be described as 'angel wings'.  Semi-real wings that
shimmer in and out of existence as needed, they allow her to cloak
herself and others in illusions, and can be used as lethal weapons, or
as shields.  She can make them visible or invisible at will.  She can
induce sensory illusions directly into minds, and heals nearly instantly
from wounds.  She also has the pentecostal gift, and can speak and
understand nearly any language (not very well, but...).
	Favorite weapon: Wings.
	Typical quotes:  "So far it's God-2, Agnostic-0."

>"Saturday morning cartoons saved my life." - Lewis<

Lewis:  A USC student, he's an actor.  Easily given to a belief that
he knows what he's doing, he's slightly arrogant (he'd say self-confident).
	He awoke and discovered that he could flicker in and out of
alternating stasis and extended time - and could effectively teleport
for short ranges by extending his time to maximum.  His functionality
is as a speedster/brick - he's nearly immune to damage while in stasis,
and his overall time-sense is increased.  Through red/blue shifted
wavelengths, he can see in the dark while flickering, although his
normal view is an odd false-color overlay of several spectra.  He's
discovered that he can shred objects with his bare hands while flickering,
and can throw objects in extended time and they work like projectiles.
	Favorite weapon:  
	Typical quotes: "I speed up - and when I speed up - I'm fast."

>"Bureau of Mad Scientists?  Who >are< you people really?" - Lewis<

Villians:
Alien robot: They appear to be exact duplicates of normal humans - until
they're shot or otherwise injured.  Under the skin they're built like
Terminators, and can take about as much damage.  They self-destruct 
completely when damaged beyond repair, and are hideously strong and
fast compared to a human.  Generally found with other aliens.
	Favorite weapons: anything appropriate.
	Typical quotes: "Of course I'm <x>"  "I don't understand." "Die."

>"I may be mad, but I'm not stupid." - scientist<

Alien mentalist:  They've run into a couple of these - or maybe just one
several times - they appear to dominate minds with a hypnotic gaze, to which
Diana and Ace seem immune.  They seem to be exceptionally tough, and act
like well-trained humans otherwise (and possibly >are< well trained humans -
one was captured and resisted interrogation totally, but medical exams
of him were totally human).
	Favorite weapon: Hypnosis/alien robots.
	Typical quotes:  "Trust me." 

>"Power up and see if the spider does anything." - Diana<

Alien brick:  A couple of these - they're >extremely< strong (one
of them, apparently a small female, had no difficulty fighting Ace's TK),
>very< fast (react as fast as the PC speedsters), very tough (taken
several blows from Clarisse with a crowbar, and not been appreciably
damaged), recover nearly instantly (one appeared to be near death,
and in a matter of around a minute was healed and awake), and can fire
energy bolts from their eyes.  Very nasty, but they seem to have
a severe vulnerability to Dave's attack, and read as energy sources
to his and Nate's energy sense.
	Favorite weapon: Agonizer or bare hands.
	Typical quote:  <laughter> (after being attacked) 

The PC's have seen, but not encountered directly, (in gladiatorial contests
on the moon base - don't ask :-) aliens who have other paranormal abilities,
most concerning energy manipulation.

>"Well, the program they put you through had a bug..." - Nate<

Experimental subjects:
	Like the PC's but generally a failed experiment.  Catatonics
broadcasting nightmares, person growing superconductive webbing and
animating spiders to steal power from the surroundings, berserker
energy projectors...

Alien tech:

>"If we want to go to the moon, we need a flying saucer." - Dave<

'Agonizer':  This hand weapon resembles a 'dust-buster' phaser.  It has
3 apparent settings, and a user friendly control panel.  The three
settings appear to be :stun, disintigrate, and heat object.  Their 'beam' is
invisible to everyone but Clarisse.  

>"Russians, aliens, all the same thing." - Ace
"Remember, we haven't ruled out that this is all a commie plot." - Dave
">You< may not have..." - Nate."

'Mertilizer':  Appears to be a rifle sized version of an agonizer.  It
has some extra settings, apparently related to area of effect, and is
of higher power.  ("What's it set on?" 'Deep-fat fry' "That's a good one"
(points and shoots).

>"Aliens don't have to pay taxes - they control the IRS." - Ace<

Flying Saucer: Actually shaped more like a red-blood cell platelet, they
can turn invisible, maneuver like, well, a UFO, go FTL, and have some
serious offense and defense capabilities.  However, the controls are
extremely user-unfriendly (Diana could read alien ideograms, and still
crashed the saucer) with no obvious safety features.  Do not land
while meteor defense is turned on.  Do not attempt to use hyperdrive
to land on Earth.  Do not turn on the 'electromagnetic interference'
screen and zoom across five states (blowing power grids across all of
them...).  Do not turn on the self-destruct mechanism, or allow an
alien pilot to turn it on.  

>"If you're talking about the people outside - they're aliens." -Clarisse<

Force Fields:  Alien technology seems to rely heavily on magnetic
based force fields - door-fields in bases, etc. They're very strong,
transparent (except to Clarisse), and very irritating to run into blind.

The Adventures:

>"I've been kidnapped by aliens!" - Diana
"You get used to it." - Clarisse<

#1 - Awakening - Dave, Nate, Ace, and Clarisse awaken in a military base
in Arizona - discover powers, discover aliens commanding the military.
They escape, and get the FBI to agree to protect them from the military.

>"Is it just a coincidence that all the female members of the team
are getting disappeared?" - Dave
"Mars needs women?" - Nate<

#2 - Slugfest - Our heroes take down two experimental subjects running
loose in Chicago, who are engaging in terrorist attacks against gov't
installations (they think aliens run the gov't...)

>"The bit about the alien base is okay, but no exploring other star
systems." - Dave<

#3 - Experimental siege - The PC's attempt to solve disappearances in
a military lab complex - the paranormal experiments are found to be
responsible, and have to be stopped.

>"Do we count as walking >and< sane?" - Nate<

#4 - Town - Clarisse is kidnapped from a small town in Virginia - the
others find out the townspeople have been stolen and replaced with
exact duplicates - except for an alien mentalist.  They capture the
mentalist, but Clarisse is still missing.

>"There are three people with real lives here." - Nate
"And we dont???" [have real lives] - Dave
"Oh, come on, your girlfriend is stuck on an alien base on the moon." - Nate
"Good point." - Dave<

#5 - Pentagon - The characters decide to find out who at the top can
be trusted - they root out some alien spies in the Pentagon, steal
a flying saucer, and crash it on Easter Island, where it self-destructs.

>"The phrase 'a nest of alien zombies' describes this place" - Ace<

#6 - Mind Games - Diana awakens in a mental institution, after dreaming
of angels.  They're polite, charming, and lying to her, she's sure.  Her
parents aren't really her parents, everyone else in there is an actor,
and she thinks she has angel wings.  >And< they won't let her out.  
	And then she discovers that her captors are aliens, she's on
the moon, and Clarisse is in an alien boot camp... they cooperate and
steal a flying saucer, successfully return to Earth, and land in
a farmer's wheat field in Kansas.

>"We could tell them taht we saw a flying saucer in an Army base in
the middle of the desert - we fought aliens, and they shot me with an
agonizer." - Ace
"No, we better save the truth for a last resort." - Dave<

#7 - Agents - Clarisse and Nate get to play gov't agents as they
approach Lewis, who has been told only that aliens have secretly
infiltrated the gov't - and they resemble aliens to him.  Diplomacy
and some combat comes through, and they go off to investigate the
failed experiment haunting downtown L.A.

>"We have justification - we're from the government, and we're here
to help them." - Nate<
-- 
Earl Hubbell - earl@tybalt.caltech.edu - Opinions solely mine.
"Talet a:r ta:nkandets bo:rjan och slut.  Med tanken fo:ddes talet.
Uto:fver talet na:r tanken icke." - Go:sta Mittag-Leffler.
"Number is the beginning and the end of Thought.  Number was born with Thought.