Hatchling Dragon
First Post
I think the first campaign I ever played (Champions) in was not only the shortest but possibly the most fun I can remember having in any RPG.
We were all newly minted Heroes in Flint, Michigan. We were all pretty new to RPG's too, as you may notice. The GM thought it was a good idea to run the adventure with the local Villian organisation's agents attacking a factory, for what reason we never did discover. The stated intent was to have us all show up, beat the bad guys say "Hey, you're a hero too? Let's form a group and save the world!". Note I said intent, but no GM plan ever survives contact with the players.
The Characters: I was "Steve", think Capt America and trade-out his Shield for a monsterous pistol. He was a cop (even had police powers!) meant to hunt super types. No, I wasn't feeling creative at all that day. Then we had "Basket Case", a mentalist that could teleport and had a few psychologial 'issues', most importantly paranoia. Lastly we hada Super-Ninja (can't recal name) who could dodge anything, shoot bolts of lightening, and fly via jet-pack/wings.
So, first session and everyone has managed to hear about what's going on at the Factory and set off to see if they could do something heroic about it. I arrived late due to transport issues (I had a rep, other cops were semi-fearful of me). By the time I'd arrived the others had already defeated all the Agents and were chatting amongst themselfs as the GM had intended. That is, until I appeared. My briefing had said nobody (official) had entered the building since the alarm was sounded, and that there were odd noises and flashes, with reports of high-tech weaponry in evidence. When I finaly entered the building there were unconsious Agents strewn about, and one dead security guard. Super-Ninja had goofed and nearly killed him with a Bolt, and the fall off the catwalk had finished him.
At this point I was going to role-play my character concept and go by what he 'knew' at the time, being the gung-ho newbie RP'er and all. Nobody knew what they looked like, there were some dangerous toys in use, and I see bodies laying about. I then hear voices up ahead and go to investigate. There are two unknowns, dressed oddly (masks, natch), right in the middle of a crime scene. I do the obvious, draw my gun (tank guns did less damage) and pop around the corner, loudly telling everyone to "FREEZE! Police! You're all under arrest!" The intent was to question them (very briefly) and quickly realise what had realy happened, thus finding crime-fighting compatriots. Things went down-hill from there.
Remember "Basket Case" being a tad paranoid? Well apparently he could project mental blasts, non-fatal, but also the only attack type I had zero defense against. He was also quicker than I was. I yell, he panics, next thing I know everyone's gone and I wake up with a pounding headache.
Let's review: Assaults galore, leaving the scene of a crime, resisting arrest (iffy), property damage, Assaulting a Police Officer, and other charges I no longer recall (but made sense at the time). I'm a 'super-cop', it's my job to deal with the weirdoes. And these two fled the scene, they obviously had something to hide, on top of generaly needing to question them regarding the various 'events' that kept happening around town.
From this point on the game followed a pretty set pattern, 'Stuff" would happen, the others would show up and thwart the bad guy's plans, and then I'd typicaly arrive and end up chasing the heroes around, trying to bring them in for an ever-growing list of charges and questions. While I could run fairly fast, Bastket Case could Teleport and Ninja-Boy could fly, while being impossible to hit. They always got away.
We never did figure out what the over-all plot was. The GM pulled the plug after the 4th session, stating that things weren't going in the direction he'd intended. This was despite our assurances that we were all having a great time. Oddly enough we weren't invited to any of his games again. Years later I heard a vague rumor that said DM had a 'Dread Steve' NPC type cop that dealt with PC's that ignored the law...
Something that makes me smile just thinking about.
It wasn't intentional, it was a lot of fun, and is the shortest campaign I recall playing in.
We were all newly minted Heroes in Flint, Michigan. We were all pretty new to RPG's too, as you may notice. The GM thought it was a good idea to run the adventure with the local Villian organisation's agents attacking a factory, for what reason we never did discover. The stated intent was to have us all show up, beat the bad guys say "Hey, you're a hero too? Let's form a group and save the world!". Note I said intent, but no GM plan ever survives contact with the players.
The Characters: I was "Steve", think Capt America and trade-out his Shield for a monsterous pistol. He was a cop (even had police powers!) meant to hunt super types. No, I wasn't feeling creative at all that day. Then we had "Basket Case", a mentalist that could teleport and had a few psychologial 'issues', most importantly paranoia. Lastly we hada Super-Ninja (can't recal name) who could dodge anything, shoot bolts of lightening, and fly via jet-pack/wings.
So, first session and everyone has managed to hear about what's going on at the Factory and set off to see if they could do something heroic about it. I arrived late due to transport issues (I had a rep, other cops were semi-fearful of me). By the time I'd arrived the others had already defeated all the Agents and were chatting amongst themselfs as the GM had intended. That is, until I appeared. My briefing had said nobody (official) had entered the building since the alarm was sounded, and that there were odd noises and flashes, with reports of high-tech weaponry in evidence. When I finaly entered the building there were unconsious Agents strewn about, and one dead security guard. Super-Ninja had goofed and nearly killed him with a Bolt, and the fall off the catwalk had finished him.
At this point I was going to role-play my character concept and go by what he 'knew' at the time, being the gung-ho newbie RP'er and all. Nobody knew what they looked like, there were some dangerous toys in use, and I see bodies laying about. I then hear voices up ahead and go to investigate. There are two unknowns, dressed oddly (masks, natch), right in the middle of a crime scene. I do the obvious, draw my gun (tank guns did less damage) and pop around the corner, loudly telling everyone to "FREEZE! Police! You're all under arrest!" The intent was to question them (very briefly) and quickly realise what had realy happened, thus finding crime-fighting compatriots. Things went down-hill from there.
Remember "Basket Case" being a tad paranoid? Well apparently he could project mental blasts, non-fatal, but also the only attack type I had zero defense against. He was also quicker than I was. I yell, he panics, next thing I know everyone's gone and I wake up with a pounding headache.
Let's review: Assaults galore, leaving the scene of a crime, resisting arrest (iffy), property damage, Assaulting a Police Officer, and other charges I no longer recall (but made sense at the time). I'm a 'super-cop', it's my job to deal with the weirdoes. And these two fled the scene, they obviously had something to hide, on top of generaly needing to question them regarding the various 'events' that kept happening around town.
From this point on the game followed a pretty set pattern, 'Stuff" would happen, the others would show up and thwart the bad guy's plans, and then I'd typicaly arrive and end up chasing the heroes around, trying to bring them in for an ever-growing list of charges and questions. While I could run fairly fast, Bastket Case could Teleport and Ninja-Boy could fly, while being impossible to hit. They always got away.
We never did figure out what the over-all plot was. The GM pulled the plug after the 4th session, stating that things weren't going in the direction he'd intended. This was despite our assurances that we were all having a great time. Oddly enough we weren't invited to any of his games again. Years later I heard a vague rumor that said DM had a 'Dread Steve' NPC type cop that dealt with PC's that ignored the law...
Something that makes me smile just thinking about.It wasn't intentional, it was a lot of fun, and is the shortest campaign I recall playing in.
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