THINGS I LEARNED FROM PLAYING CHAMPIONS

1: Strength is your friend. Get some.
2: The best defense is resistant.
3: Adjustment powers suck.
4: When all else fails... Haymaker.
5: Suppressive fire doesn't.
6: There is nothing worse than a properly GM'd Hunted.
7: Except for a properly GM'd DNPC.
8: Steve Long is American for John Woo.
9: The original Champions Universe was a thinly disguised adaptation of the Marvel Universe (Crusader = Capt. America, Grond = Abomination, Ogre = Hulk, Brick = The Thing, Dr. Destroyer = Dr. Doom, Mechanon = Ultron, etc.).
10: This is not necessarily a bad thing.
11: Explosions in the hand of a tactical idiot is your worst nightmare.
12: A PC's best friend is a '3'.
13: His worst enemy is an '18'.
14: Actually, his worst enemy is a 2nd lieutenant with a map and a compass, but lets not quibble.
15: Being rich is easy, just spend 5 points.
16: The same with being drop-dead handsome/beautiful.
17: If you're in a Heroic game and no one has any armor, grab a shotgun.
18: If you're in a Dark Champions game, grab a shotgun; just use solid slug rounds.
19: In fact, if you're in any game, grab a shotgun... shotguns rule. (unless it's Silent Möbius, then grab a Graviton).
20: They need rules for shotguns in Fantasy Hero.
21: People who use the word 'level' while playing Champions should be flogged.
22: ...unless they are saying which are going to OCV or DCV.
23: Area of Effect attacks: the great equalizer.
24: Mental powers: the even bigger equalizer.
25: You never can have too many skills.
26: You never can have too many points, either.
27: Your house rules are great, everyone else's suck.
28: GURPS Supers is a joke.
29: Fuzion is the work of the devil.
30: Never ask the GM "do I have to roll for this?", because then you'll have to.
31: And your dice will betray you.
32: Your character is the hero when your lucky shot saves the day.
33: And your dice are to blame when he blows that easy shot.
34: You might as well take a DNPC and get the points, because you'll end up with one anyway.
35: Ditto for Hunteds.
37: You really don't need a character sheet for every NPC.
38: Never play yourself as a character if you'd qualify as an incompetent DNPC
39: Hero Designer... a GM's best friend
40: They don't call it a Long manuscript for nothing.
41: Never argue politics, religion, pizza toppings, or the "Linked" Limitation.
42: Most of the best supplements have Seeker on the cover, unconscious.
43: The other best supplements have a wealth of factual information in them.
44: Some of the best published characters happened by accident (like Foxbat).
45: A cleverly-applied Mental Illusion can leave your teammates with nothing to do.
46: A Berserk can leave your teammates with too much to do.
47: Before you take a "Mystery Hunted," make sure you know what your GM is likely to do with it.
48: Attack Multipowers really rock. They are almost as good as shotguns.
49: Avoid surprises. Get Danger Sense and/or 360 Degree Vision.
50: Smart master villains don't tell their entire plans to henchmen who can be captured.
51: Really smart master villains give their henchmen false or misleading information, and let them get captured on purpose.
52: Time travel is a lot easier to handle in fiction than it is in a game.
53: So is precognition.
54: Sometimes it's easier to teach a lesson to a character than it is to a player.
55: If a player starts blurring the difference between game and reality, hit him with an 8d6 Ego Attack. He'll come around when he Recovers enough STUN.
56: Some of the best ideas for any genre come from fiction in other genres.
57: If at first you don't succeed, get better equipment, get someone else's help, and take five times as long on your next try.
58: Not everything is easily translatable to game terms (slick surfaces, gravity increase, overriding television transmissions, a pie in the face, and destroying a planet being a few cases in point).
59: Simpler is better. If you don't really need those three Advantages and seven Limitations on the Teleportation power that you'll be using in combat, then don't take them.
60: Losing a battle, or even letting your enemy escape, doesn't necessarily mean failure. It can mean a lesson learned, or even an opportunity for greater things in the future.
61: If your GM says "No" to a character or power construct, go along with it. He has a good reason. If you argue about it and get your way, you'll end up having little or no fun.
62: Most of the published rules are for all campaigns; some aren't, though. Use careful discretion to know which is which, and which of the latter are for you.
63: Often, the ideal course of action doesn't look like it.
64: The fiction you read and watch will affect the characters you play. The characters you play will affect the person you are. Thus, play characters with qualities you want to develop in yourself.
65: The welfare of a player is more important than the welfare of a character.
66: Superheroes aren't just for kids any more.
67: 30 DEX 4 SPD agents are wrong.
68: Never take a PC as a Rival, they become a 'Hunted' shortly there after.
69: Never give alien technology to the government.
70: Never refuse to give alien technology to the government.
71: Never trust a smiling GM
72: Don't trust happy players either.
73: Bring the food (it's worth 3d6 Luck)
74: Never underestimate the power of a high REC.
75: Never set a major fight in an empty field. Give the PC's something to work with.
76: Never roll your dice on a thick carpet.
77: I can kick my car apart with my feet.
78: When the party takes serious damage only from their own Side Effect, the opposition is too weak.
79: The party will still be just as irritated as if the opposition had done it.
80: AoE and/or random target Side Effects are funny enough to justify the reduced damage to the character.
81: If the character with the AoE Side Effect misses his roll enough, the other party member will make up for the reduced damage when they "correct" the character.
82: A large AoE with a poor targeting roll is as good as a Side Effect, maybe better.
83: Player will only agree with the above after 2:00 A.M. when everything is funny—"Here, let me cast my lightning bolt. Oops! Ha Ha hah, I just took a critical to my head"—(followed by gales of laughter all around).
84: Quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail is funny half way into the game—not so funny 5 minutes from the get go.
85: On a 14-, the first Grail quote will be, "Run Away, Run Away"
86: Followed quickly by: "And there was much rejoicing", "What is your favorite color?", or some riff on the Killer Rabbit scene.
87: On an 8-, a given HERO player will not have seen said movie—and will wear a tight smile while the above occurs.
88: It's easier to teach a pleasant, team oriented, HERO novice the rules than it is to deal with an irritating, grab all the attention, HERO expert.
82: More fun and rewarding, also.
83: Mixed gender, mixed age groups of players have more fun—when it works.
84: Young boys play better when there are two or more females in the group—especially if one of the females is their mom.
85: You cannot always add "just one more player".
86: Some HERO mechanics make no sense until you try them.
87: Some make perfect sense until you try them.
88: If a tree fell in a forest, and no one was there, someone could still model the effect using HERO
89. Always pull your punch against a normal, 6D6 normal attacks can kill...
90. I don't care WHAT system you have, 14 players is TOO MANY!
91. Don't split up the party if you're just going to share information when you get back together anyway...
92. Your not a super unless you can move significantly faster then agents
93. Unluck isn't worth it.
94. Luck is underpriced
95. Never go to Chinatown just after the GM's watched Big Trouble In Little China.
96. Munchies and Alcohol end more arguments then rule books.
97. The rules change after 2:00 AM
98. Significant Others rarely make for good GM/Player mixes
99. Never let the players see your dice rolls.
99. A GM rolling dice will players attention faster then yelling.
100.A good soliloquy is worth 3 dice luck
101. Never ask the GM why your Hunted hasn't shown up recently.
102. Don't split up the party unless you have enough GMs to allot one per group.
103. NEVER spend more than a few moments in the bathroom while the game is still running!
104. When it's getting late, and the other players are all arguing over tactics and plans, just AGREE with someone and DO IT!
105. ENJOY your disads and limitations; properly done they're as much (or more) fun as 'winning'.
106. Play up your own disads before the GM even has a chance to; since they're usually based on a frequency of occurrence, it limits his/her ability to get too nasty with them....
107. Never be susceptible/vulnerable to water.