So today a character sheet in my collection from one of my players, Art Lyon. We played a lot of superhero games in the late 80's and early 90's and I went through a spate of short-run Champions campaigns- some of them interesting and some of them pretty trashy. But my favorite of these was the brief Wild Cards campaign we ran, based on the novels and the GURPS Sourcebook. We had a pretty good and overly large crew, many of them well-acquainted with the setting. I had everybody come up with a general idea of what they wanted and then I made their characters up based on those suggestions. I still have the sheets for most of the group- but striking not for two of my favorites.
Most of the group ended up with Ace or Ace-light powers. A couple ended up as Jokers with some significant powers as well (Charles' draining midnight-skinned version of the Michelin Man; Kenny's rat-man gangster). Jim McClain made up a full Joker character- someone without powers. Those points instead went to stats and skills, where he seriously outclassed the rest of the group. IIRC he was a former FBI Agent who had been mutated so that he essentially looked like he was wearing clown make-up. He had a bad temper and took everything seriously. I think Jim only sat and played with us a couple of times, but he was memorable. The other character sheet I can't find is Barry's. He ran a arrogant and wealthy upper class twit from New England. He'd gotten mixed up with the group somehow. His power essentially allowed him to catch himself on fire, like the Human Torch. Unlike the Human Torch, however he could feel the burning and screaming agony of the flames, so he hated doing it.
Then there was Elvis.
Elvis had been an Elvis Impersonator when he got hit by the Wild-Card Virus. And he became Elvis, as he imagined him. Elvis was super-tough and knew karate. Elvis had many immortal lines, but one lives with the group. I won't even try to give context.
"I always wanted to go kayakin'..."
I'd like to try Wild Cards again, especially now that the really excellent Mutants & Masterminds sourcebook's out there. I'd have to reread the series again from the beginning, though.
For a larger and more legible version of the character sheet, see here.
I still have my character sheet and a great pencil sketch that Barry did for me.
ReplyDeleteThat was an awesome sketch he did.
ReplyDeleteHoly poop that character sheet brings back memories. Nothing like parsing out PD or ED to figure out what points to spend on for DEF. Champions was so much fun.
ReplyDeleteActually, this is the character sheet for E.L.V.I.S., The Indestructible Tibetan Kung-Fu Robot, for...some other game you ran. I can't remember what the acronym stood for.
ReplyDeleteI might have that other Elvis character sheet around somewhere. I loved that character. I would play him again in a heartbeat. He had Cosmic Awareness. When he showed up at the "team" planning meeting that no one had told him about (intentionally?), a PC asked him how he found out about it.
"I just knowed."
Really...OK, now that I look at it, you're right. For some reason he was in with the Wild Cards character sheets. I think I ran those two games pretty close together.
ReplyDelete