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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mallus" data-source="post: 5998893" data-attributes="member: 3887">A great game, though I --don't hate me-- kinda prefer it's d20 cousin, Mutants and Masterminds, especially 2e. Champions/HERO is the system that first taught me the benefits of disconnecting the mechanics from the the in-game fiction, or at least of the advantages of 'loosening' the connection. My favorite example came from a friend of mine's PC, Kid Bazooka. His main attack was a 10d6, Sticky, Persistent Energy Blast -- defined as a magical bazooka which shot tiny pterodactyls that not only damaged on impact, but continued to fly around the target's head pecking them to death. Champions provides a descriptive language for powers. But it doesn't really tell you how they function. It doesn't try to. Nor does it require any particular kind of logic to be applied to a power, ie they can be just as hard to explain from an in-game perspective as CaGI. For example, in Champions you can create...... a PC with a gun that has 6 rounds: "Mr. Six-Shooter". ... a PC with a gun that has an infinite number of rounds: "Bullet Hell".... a PC whose gun cannot be taken away from then (ie, not a Focus): "Hand Off My Piece, Yo".... a PC who shoots gamma radiation out of their eyes (defined as an Energy Blast): "Three Mile Eileen".... a PC who shoots more realistic gamma radiation (defined as RKA with additional unpleasant riders/powers): "Captain Cancer".... a PC with normal strength who can nonetheless throw a boomerang at supersonic speeds: "Kid Koala". And so on. Anyway... Champions allows for richly described powers, but it doesn't really model anything, since the player determines the extent/limits of the modeling, and what can be extrapolated from it, at design time. Even a simple question like, "Can my gun be taken away?" can only be answered by asking, "How did you build the power?". If the gun wasn't designated an OAF/OIF (it's the world's tiniest gun), then it can't be. Case closed. Explain it any way you like.How is this different from my example of a radiation-shooting Champions PC? That fluff suggests several things, too. Some, all, or none of which may be borne out by the actual implantation. The radiation might kill you, poison you, transform you, knock you on your butt, or blind you. It might be stopped by lead/force fields. It's all up to  you. Likewise it would make (a kind of) sense for someone who can throw a boomerang that packs the wallop of an anti-tank missile to very strong. But they don't need to be. They can just have a knack. Or perhaps they were bit by a radioactive Aboriginal.Nothing entails from the fluff "gamma radiation", or "real good with a boomerang". Nothing is required. Nothing is explained. Nothing can be extrapolated. There are no mechanisms at work -- it's all arbitrary. Descriptors and effects without process. ie not so different from D&D 4e's powers. It doesn't strike me as fair to ask how 4e powers work, if you don't do the same Champions. To be fair, the two systems use very different methodologies/representational strategies. I mean, Champions doesn't model purchasing/finding items of worth very well -- because it's currency is Power Points.</blockquote>

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