What follows is an article about the Young Champions that was to start spoilers about future issues of that series. I never actually got far enough along to reveal any spoilers about that series. Instead, what the article covers is the history of the three YC series. It's what the series are about and the common ties that they share. Again, no significant spoilers are here so I'm posting this publically.
Enjoy!
Young Champions
Young Champions
Have light, will illuminate!
Re: Young Champions
To understand where the Young Champions are going, let's take a look back and see where they have been.
Young Champions has an unusual place among all our titles. It's not part of the 'old stuff' like Avengers, X-Factor, Muskateer, Spectrum, Huntress, and Troubleshooters were. Nor is it 'brand new' like Lost Heroes and Scarlet Sabre. It falls in between those two extremes.
Young Champions has its roots in the Q-Link days. It started out as a live Champions game that I hosted on Sunday evenings. Live in the sense that all the players were online in the same chat room playing their characters while I ran things. Live gaming is very different from MB game. The pace is faster for one thing and there is more talking between the characters. Fortunately for me I am pretty fast at typing. I could hold 2-3 different conversations all that the same time!
The second incarnation was an E-mail game between some familiar faces and some folks you've never met. This took place after Q was over with, but before work on the story site began.
There are some similarities between all three versions of the Young Champions. The root of it is young heroes gaining powers and growing in experience and use of those powers.
The first Young Champions started with a group of teenagers who woke up after being experimented on. During what followed they discovered they had superpowers. (This was a Mystery Powers game initially.) The teens were two girls and four boys. The game was live at first, then messaged base, back to live for a short time before ending as an MB.
One of the girls, Kristen (Catseye), gained cat-like powers. The other girl, Terry, began to glow and had light based powers. Of the boys, Tony (Badger) became a Wolverine knock-off. Kevin had all his general abilities enhanced, while Wes (Rocksolid) became super strong and Mike super fast.
The group had many adventures and members left and were replaced by others as time passed. Eventually they discovered that they were the 2nd test group of subjects that this had been done to a scientific group called Cell 13. Other test groups were discovered and later on they meet Nemesis, the original incarnation of the current YC member.
Some day their adventures will be recapped in the Q-Link area online.
Young Champions has an unusual place among all our titles. It's not part of the 'old stuff' like Avengers, X-Factor, Muskateer, Spectrum, Huntress, and Troubleshooters were. Nor is it 'brand new' like Lost Heroes and Scarlet Sabre. It falls in between those two extremes.
Young Champions has its roots in the Q-Link days. It started out as a live Champions game that I hosted on Sunday evenings. Live in the sense that all the players were online in the same chat room playing their characters while I ran things. Live gaming is very different from MB game. The pace is faster for one thing and there is more talking between the characters. Fortunately for me I am pretty fast at typing. I could hold 2-3 different conversations all that the same time!
The second incarnation was an E-mail game between some familiar faces and some folks you've never met. This took place after Q was over with, but before work on the story site began.
There are some similarities between all three versions of the Young Champions. The root of it is young heroes gaining powers and growing in experience and use of those powers.
The first Young Champions started with a group of teenagers who woke up after being experimented on. During what followed they discovered they had superpowers. (This was a Mystery Powers game initially.) The teens were two girls and four boys. The game was live at first, then messaged base, back to live for a short time before ending as an MB.
One of the girls, Kristen (Catseye), gained cat-like powers. The other girl, Terry, began to glow and had light based powers. Of the boys, Tony (Badger) became a Wolverine knock-off. Kevin had all his general abilities enhanced, while Wes (Rocksolid) became super strong and Mike super fast.
The group had many adventures and members left and were replaced by others as time passed. Eventually they discovered that they were the 2nd test group of subjects that this had been done to a scientific group called Cell 13. Other test groups were discovered and later on they meet Nemesis, the original incarnation of the current YC member.
Some day their adventures will be recapped in the Q-Link area online.
Have light, will illuminate!
Re: Young Champions
The second incarnation of Young Champions was not very memorable. The problem was that some of the players were your standard Champions players, while the others had their own unique view of things. Thus they didn't mesh well and ended up going their own ways and the game quickly died. It lasted 12 Email posts in all.
But there are important similarities between YC2 and YC3. The story told in YC2 was essentially repeated in Young Champions #1-3. Only some of the characters are different. The teens woke up in the VIPER base, encountered the brain eater, but were only assisted by the Superior Seven. There was no Young Champions team in that world as of yet.
YC2 also started out with seven teens. This time they were Jennifer (Nemesis), Jason (Terrafire), Tamara (Shadow Assassin), Mai (Blockbuster), Jessica (Aerowave), Renee (Tempest), and Suni (Temptress).
The third version started out by reusing the second version starting point and then pulling out everything that didn't work. Jennifer was continued on and became the only character to appear in all 3 versions of YC. Jason and Jessica are essentially the same characters, but were now brother and sister. Muskateer played Jessica in the YC2 game. He preferred the name Tempest, so that's that came about. A friend of Muskateer who would later portray Blackout and Tesla in Crucible/Eternal Vigilance played the original Tempest.
All the other characters were dropped and an existing YC team was added to the story. Since there was no YC team in the Old Stuff, we went about adding some of our favorite characters created since that time to fill out the group. Tigress was originally created during the Q days and Muskateer player her a little bit in Crusaders. Likewise, Sapphire was from the Q days and was a longtime member of the LA Knights. Archangel was a background character in the stuff Muskateer ran in the old stuff and was brought to the forefront in YC. Gladiator and Turbo were new.
But there are important similarities between YC2 and YC3. The story told in YC2 was essentially repeated in Young Champions #1-3. Only some of the characters are different. The teens woke up in the VIPER base, encountered the brain eater, but were only assisted by the Superior Seven. There was no Young Champions team in that world as of yet.
YC2 also started out with seven teens. This time they were Jennifer (Nemesis), Jason (Terrafire), Tamara (Shadow Assassin), Mai (Blockbuster), Jessica (Aerowave), Renee (Tempest), and Suni (Temptress).
The third version started out by reusing the second version starting point and then pulling out everything that didn't work. Jennifer was continued on and became the only character to appear in all 3 versions of YC. Jason and Jessica are essentially the same characters, but were now brother and sister. Muskateer played Jessica in the YC2 game. He preferred the name Tempest, so that's that came about. A friend of Muskateer who would later portray Blackout and Tesla in Crucible/Eternal Vigilance played the original Tempest.
All the other characters were dropped and an existing YC team was added to the story. Since there was no YC team in the Old Stuff, we went about adding some of our favorite characters created since that time to fill out the group. Tigress was originally created during the Q days and Muskateer player her a little bit in Crusaders. Likewise, Sapphire was from the Q days and was a longtime member of the LA Knights. Archangel was a background character in the stuff Muskateer ran in the old stuff and was brought to the forefront in YC. Gladiator and Turbo were new.
Have light, will illuminate!
Re: Young Champions
Before going too much further, I should mention the two published modules that heavily shaped the Young Champions. The first is Atlas Unleashed, a Champions module from '84. This module introduces several concepts that are among the foundations for everything that I run.
First and foremost, it's where the Q'rrm Effect originated. Peacemonger discovered this radiation by accident and began using it to create his own supers. Without getting too much into particulars, the Q'rrm Effect is a whitish radiation that exists in a dimension close to ours. At certain points where the dimensional boundaries are weak, it can sometimes 'leak' into our reality. Or a hole can be punched between the two dimensions causing a leak.
But what Peacemonger failed to understand is that there is a wish fulfillment aspect to the Q'rrm Effect. It responds to mental desires and its energies can be directed in a desired way. Those exposed to it are transformed into whatever they are thinking of at the time, if they are positive thoughts, then the result is pleasant. If they are not, then they can be horrific. It was this energy that first created Dreadnought over in the Avengers and as revealed in those spoilers, it was a second exposure that changed him again. But, following Nightingale's advice, he thought happy thoughts and had a pleasant outcome.
Another occurrence of the Q'rrm Effect was when the Zodiac attempted to access its energies on the top of the Empire State Building, where Morningstar took her death-defying plunge. Other instances were when Lord Evil was working on his portal device and a flaw in the reflecting element caused the white energy to manifest. And of course, the Q'rrm Effect played a big role with the start of the Crucible game.
But what wasn't generally known is that Peacemonger used the Q'rrm Effect to create the rest of Atlas. Some gained very useful superpowers, such as Dominance and Virtuoso who both appeared in earlier YC issues. Some were horribly twisted, such as the brain eater that has appeared in all three games. That's Genetic Deviant X, yet another creature associated with Atlas.
Other members of Atlas that have yet to appear in the newer stuff includes Uberman, a super strong surfer dude, Polarity, an energy projector that can duplicate, Unicorn, a naïve energy projector who has a horn growing out of his head, and lastly Recoil, a plastic man clone with a gangster motif.
So in all three incarnations of YC, the pc's were the second test group experiments done by Peacemonger. In the original YC he was working with Cell 13, a black op's division of a chemical company. In the later games he's moved up to working with VIPER as an alliance of convenience. The first YC game lasted long enough for a third group to appear.
It is ironic that while all this stuff comes from this module, I have yet to actually run the scenarios IN the module! I've come close in the Old Stuff, and actually did run the first scenario while on Q-Link and some of that will be repeated in the issue spoilers to come.
First and foremost, it's where the Q'rrm Effect originated. Peacemonger discovered this radiation by accident and began using it to create his own supers. Without getting too much into particulars, the Q'rrm Effect is a whitish radiation that exists in a dimension close to ours. At certain points where the dimensional boundaries are weak, it can sometimes 'leak' into our reality. Or a hole can be punched between the two dimensions causing a leak.
But what Peacemonger failed to understand is that there is a wish fulfillment aspect to the Q'rrm Effect. It responds to mental desires and its energies can be directed in a desired way. Those exposed to it are transformed into whatever they are thinking of at the time, if they are positive thoughts, then the result is pleasant. If they are not, then they can be horrific. It was this energy that first created Dreadnought over in the Avengers and as revealed in those spoilers, it was a second exposure that changed him again. But, following Nightingale's advice, he thought happy thoughts and had a pleasant outcome.
Another occurrence of the Q'rrm Effect was when the Zodiac attempted to access its energies on the top of the Empire State Building, where Morningstar took her death-defying plunge. Other instances were when Lord Evil was working on his portal device and a flaw in the reflecting element caused the white energy to manifest. And of course, the Q'rrm Effect played a big role with the start of the Crucible game.
But what wasn't generally known is that Peacemonger used the Q'rrm Effect to create the rest of Atlas. Some gained very useful superpowers, such as Dominance and Virtuoso who both appeared in earlier YC issues. Some were horribly twisted, such as the brain eater that has appeared in all three games. That's Genetic Deviant X, yet another creature associated with Atlas.
Other members of Atlas that have yet to appear in the newer stuff includes Uberman, a super strong surfer dude, Polarity, an energy projector that can duplicate, Unicorn, a naïve energy projector who has a horn growing out of his head, and lastly Recoil, a plastic man clone with a gangster motif.
So in all three incarnations of YC, the pc's were the second test group experiments done by Peacemonger. In the original YC he was working with Cell 13, a black op's division of a chemical company. In the later games he's moved up to working with VIPER as an alliance of convenience. The first YC game lasted long enough for a third group to appear.
It is ironic that while all this stuff comes from this module, I have yet to actually run the scenarios IN the module! I've come close in the Old Stuff, and actually did run the first scenario while on Q-Link and some of that will be repeated in the issue spoilers to come.
Have light, will illuminate!
Re: Young Champions
The second module is one for GURPS Supers called the School of Hard Knocks. This one introduces Cell 13 and some other familiar characters. The gist of this one is that new teenage supers are suddenly emerging in the campaign city. Cell 13 has dumped untested chemicals into the water supply many years ago. The kids' moms drank the water while they were in the womb and then were transformed as part of puberty.
In the original YC I modified that a bit to a group of teens experimented on, so other than the actual origin it played out similar to the module. As the story progressed, the new heroes become involved in a battle between two other groups of supers. The first is the Forty Thieves, a band of young supers lead by Flare. The other Forty Thieves include Psi-Blast, Titan, Metal, Coldsnap, and Dreamer. They are not out and out villains, but do some shady things. So if the Young Champions are heroes, and the Thugmaster's Elite a criminal version, the Rat Pack was somewhere in between.
The second group is the Hell Raisers, led by the Denier. Other members included Sizzler, Scanner, Briareus, Drill-Bit, Tia and Mind Master. They are out and out villains. As the module progress, each fraction tries to recruit members to it. So those who would be villains join the Hell Raisers, for instance. There is also the danger of a new super whose power appears to be he explodes and each time with more devastating effect.
The Hell Raisers have since appeared in Crucible, but with a different roster. The Denier remained the same, however. The Forty Thieves were renamed the Rat Pack and were now led by Phoenix, a name that actually fits her better than Flare. Psi-Lad was Psi-Blast renamed and he later turned up as a member of the Young Champions in Crucible. Other new members included Flex, Wild Wind, and the Atomic Kid who were taken from a variety of other sources.
In the original YC I modified that a bit to a group of teens experimented on, so other than the actual origin it played out similar to the module. As the story progressed, the new heroes become involved in a battle between two other groups of supers. The first is the Forty Thieves, a band of young supers lead by Flare. The other Forty Thieves include Psi-Blast, Titan, Metal, Coldsnap, and Dreamer. They are not out and out villains, but do some shady things. So if the Young Champions are heroes, and the Thugmaster's Elite a criminal version, the Rat Pack was somewhere in between.
The second group is the Hell Raisers, led by the Denier. Other members included Sizzler, Scanner, Briareus, Drill-Bit, Tia and Mind Master. They are out and out villains. As the module progress, each fraction tries to recruit members to it. So those who would be villains join the Hell Raisers, for instance. There is also the danger of a new super whose power appears to be he explodes and each time with more devastating effect.
The Hell Raisers have since appeared in Crucible, but with a different roster. The Denier remained the same, however. The Forty Thieves were renamed the Rat Pack and were now led by Phoenix, a name that actually fits her better than Flare. Psi-Lad was Psi-Blast renamed and he later turned up as a member of the Young Champions in Crucible. Other new members included Flex, Wild Wind, and the Atomic Kid who were taken from a variety of other sources.
Have light, will illuminate!
Re: Young Champions
And there you have it. Some insight into all three versions of Young Champions. Spoilers for future issues would have come next, but I never got to them.
Have light, will illuminate!
Re: Young Champions
Spectrum,
Thanks for the background. It made for interesting reading.
It also gave me an idea (words that should frighten pretty much everyone): It would be fun to advance 10 or 15 years into the future of the current games and play a new Young Champions group. Some of the characters could even be the kids of current members of The Vigilant; for example, I could play Rose or Lance.
Well, that's my $0.02,
Gordon
Thanks for the background. It made for interesting reading.
It also gave me an idea (words that should frighten pretty much everyone): It would be fun to advance 10 or 15 years into the future of the current games and play a new Young Champions group. Some of the characters could even be the kids of current members of The Vigilant; for example, I could play Rose or Lance.
Well, that's my $0.02,
Gordon
"Tilt....with explosives.....running.....mmmm don't like it." - Flux (Bruce)
Re: Young Champions
Oh, at least one more thing I forgot to mention. The Badger from the first generation of YC games, the Wolverine Knock off, was played by our very own Gargoyle!
Kristen/Catseye also appeared as one of those heroes from another dimension in the recently double trouble stories in Crucible. The others with her were also YC members from that era.
Strangely enough, what the game world would like some 10-15 years in the future is not something we ever really thought about or made plans for. I guess what I mean is that other than a year or so into the future we really didn't go any further than that. Things like who married who we sort of know, but who lives or dies or who has kids and what can they do was never discussed.
Alternatively, there's been another game idea I've had on the back burner for a year now that could potentially work for a character like Rose or Lance.
It would be called Star Guardians. The gist of it is that the PC's are nearing graduation from the Star Guard Academy. But before they are assigned areas of patrol, they are go out in groups to patrol the spaceways under the tuteledge of a mentor type character. This would be a space based game, but the gist is similar. Young, raw heroes being trained for greater things. It would just be set in space and would include aliens.
Adimitted, the Knights of the Old Republic games gave me the idea. It's strange that I've been big in Sci-Fi stuff for many, many years but never actually ran a game in space!
Unfortuatnely, I'm probably at my limit of what I can do right now. That's why the idea was never really mentioned before.
Kristen/Catseye also appeared as one of those heroes from another dimension in the recently double trouble stories in Crucible. The others with her were also YC members from that era.
Strangely enough, what the game world would like some 10-15 years in the future is not something we ever really thought about or made plans for. I guess what I mean is that other than a year or so into the future we really didn't go any further than that. Things like who married who we sort of know, but who lives or dies or who has kids and what can they do was never discussed.
Alternatively, there's been another game idea I've had on the back burner for a year now that could potentially work for a character like Rose or Lance.
It would be called Star Guardians. The gist of it is that the PC's are nearing graduation from the Star Guard Academy. But before they are assigned areas of patrol, they are go out in groups to patrol the spaceways under the tuteledge of a mentor type character. This would be a space based game, but the gist is similar. Young, raw heroes being trained for greater things. It would just be set in space and would include aliens.
Adimitted, the Knights of the Old Republic games gave me the idea. It's strange that I've been big in Sci-Fi stuff for many, many years but never actually ran a game in space!
Unfortuatnely, I'm probably at my limit of what I can do right now. That's why the idea was never really mentioned before.
Have light, will illuminate!
Re: Young Champions
Hey, no problem, Ken. I know you're plenty busy. I was just thinking along the lines of "someday, maybe". And the Star Guard Academy idea would be a cool variation, too.Unfortuatnely, I'm probably at my limit of what I can do right now. That's why the idea was never really mentioned before.
Gordon
"Tilt....with explosives.....running.....mmmm don't like it." - Flux (Bruce)
Re: Young Champions
fanchergw wrote:Hey, no problem, Ken. I know you're plenty busy. I was just thinking along the lines of "someday, maybe". And the Star Guard Academy idea would be a cool variation, too.Unfortuatnely, I'm probably at my limit of what I can do right now. That's why the idea was never really mentioned before.
Gordon
Yeah, I know what you mean. It was one of those things that just fell in place and a whole slew of adventure possibilities almost immediately came to mind. Sometimes there's just not enough hours in the day.
Try it and find out!