constant reader is likely aware of my distaste for maximalist #ttrpg prep. it's not so much the executive dysfunction, though that doesn't help, but my belief that #rpgs can be a uniquely collaborative medium if you let them be, if everyone at the table works together to make something unique. #ChampionsNow is meant to really shine with a group of fully present, collaborative players who are ready to engage with all of its systems

for me, the draw of #ChampionsNow is the feedback loop of character situations (fka "disadvantages") and consequential tactical combat -- "consequential" both as in "has consequences" and "is a consequence of". situations lead to fights which lead to situations.

you can probably use the #ChampionsNow worldbuilding process with other supers games, but they may be resistant, some harder than others. you can probably use the raw mechanics without the worldbuilding process, but at that point you may as well play one of the more fleshed-out editions of #Champions.

but i digress. does #ChampionsNow succeed at its lofty goal? yes, but you have to play it as it's given. even with three decades of aforementioned cruft largely removed, the core is still #Champions, with its point-twiddling and bookkeeping. and now there's a layer of collaborative worldbuilding process woven in.

remember reading the first issue of #Invincible, #TheBoys, #RadiantBlack, or the first pages of #StrongFemaleProtagonist? to see the familiar semiotics of superheroes remixed into a fresh new context, with just the barest hints of the story ahead? that's what #ChampionsNow is trying to give you, and i'm not sure that's what #Champions players - or gamers in general - want out of superhero gaming, leaning more towards a Official Handbook of the #Marvel Universe or #DC Who's Who take on the genre

last week i fell asleep thinking about #ChampionsNow so i spent the evening rereading Champions Now while i waited for food to arrive. and the thing about Champions Now is that by paring away so much of the mechanical and cultural cruft of the #HeroSystem and its point-twiddling imitators, it made itself deeply unappealing to said point-twiddlers, but by calling itself #Champions, it made itself unappealing to nearly everyone else

5. this is where i confess i've been more of a fan than a player for the past twenty years or so. there are four campaigns i have vivid memories of. first was the "avatar" (played ourselves as characters) superhero game in jr high that spanned multiple systems (#GURPS, #DCHeroes, and #Champions 4e *at minimum*) when really we didn't need any system at all. if i did this today it would be either with #Icons or #ChampionsNow.

#ttrpg #rpg #gtkm