Champions

The Move to PC's

GameSpot: Champions is a very open-ended RPG, which allows players to create heroes to their liking, not just cookie-cutter versions of existing heroes. Was this the basic premise of the PC version? Can you describe the basic mechanics of the PC version?

Peterson: Champions allows you to create any character you can imagine (assuming the GM allows you enough points to spend, that is). The PC version was intended to be very similar indeed to the paper version. You'd create a character (though of course you could use a prebuilt one) according to preset campaign guidelines. (In other words, a certain number of starting points and restrictions on what powers were available.)

Then you'd begin playing in stories; the game was story driven, in that you'd move from plot point to plot point. Along the way you'd interact with people through a unique interaction system (which allowed you to control what your character said in the conversation without having to type in words or select sentences, or use any sort of parser). Results of these interactions would affect future interactions and the outcome of the plot. Some story points would change in their outcome depending on your skills, or powers, or the options available to you would change. When a combat situation occurred, you'd go into a three-quarters perspective combat scene where you'd battle in real time. You could move from a turn-based combat mode to a fast real-time combat mode; the choice was up to the player. The outcomes of combat, would, of course, affect the course of the story.

Stories would last for an hour or two, and some would be "one issue" stories, where others would connect to further stories. We had about two dozen stories ("issues") plotted and written.

When you had no further idea of how to proceed in a story, or you needed to report to your Secret Identity, there were also personal subplots involving your daily job. You could return to your apartment at any time and conduct an investigation from there, spend time, go out on patrol looking for random encounters, or head to the danger room to work out.

In designing your character, you'd not only design their powers and skills, but also their costume, their appearance, and the special effects of their powers (visuals and sound effects).

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