A friend and I have been doing something vaguely similar to a campaign system for a while now. Except, we hate charts and numbers. So we don't do experience points of upgrading, we're more interested in good stories and entertaining battles.

Like the chapter system someone broke down earlier, we do a system of "issues". Such and such happens in Issue #1 and then we think of something to happen in Issue #2. We build on each issue, basically making up the story as we go along.

The main problem I have always had with the game is the lack of comic book realism (oxymoron?). The powers are vague and don't always represent specific characters well. What we do is tweak the powers, basically allowing the character to do anything he/she could in the comic.

For instance, we know that when incapacitate appears on Spidey's dial he is using his web shooters to tangle guys up. We have had him use incapacitate as a way to 'disarm' an enemy. Say Spidey is fighting Silver Samurai or a SHIELD sniper. He makes a disarm attack - attacks as normal - and if he succeeds, the target loses BCF or RCE, whatever power their weapon represents. Basically, if we can justify the effect based on the colors on the dial and the character in the comics, we do it.

Couple other things we've done, by way of example:

Red Skull's Dust of Death (poison): Red Skull makes a close combat attack. If successful, deal 1 damage and put a poison counter on the target. To remove the counter, your opponent must roll a 5 or a 6 during his turn (free action, but can't make other actions). Every turn the counter remains on, that character takes 1 more damage.

Magneto's Inspiration (leadership): On a roll of 4, 5, or 6 - Magneto can remove an action token from any friendly character.

Darkseid's Omega Blasts (psychic blast): When Darkseid misses a psychic blast attack, place a Omega Blast marker 2d6 away from the target. On your subsequent turns, move the marker 4 squares closer to the target. When it reaches them again, reroll the attack. Continue this process until Darkseid loses psychic blast or the target is destroyed. You can have as many Omega Blasts in play as you want. This one can be amazingly fun.

We've also used what we call an 'immortality rule' for characters like Thanos, Apocalypse, and Darkseid that should be able to take on numerous heroes at once. When that character is KOed, we roll 1d6. On 1-3, heal him half his dial. On 4-6 heal him a full dial. The next time he is KOed, on a 4-6 heal him half his dial and on a 1-3 KO him for good. And if he lasts through ANOTHER KO, KO him for sure. This made for a FANTASTIC Apocalypse vs. X-Men battle.

We also don't pay attention to point totals when we play this way.

Anyway, this is like the Calvin-Ball of Hero Clix and I could fill a thread with the crazy rules tweaks we've come up with, but we have some fun with it. Just thought I'd throw my experience out there.

Since the U Cap was before all those people's time, I'm gonna allow that (also for Cyclops). In fact, you can even use the U Cap whenver you want to (say you want to take six points off the team). That's also the case when you upgrade a figure--you can use earlier versions whenever you feel like it (*cough* Batman *cough*).

Oh, and by the way, if anyone has any ideas for scenarios/battles/match-ups for the other players, feel free to PM them to me, but players, don't give any for yourself.

Well, Spinebreaker, since you were so diligent in posting your team, I might just start you off before the others. There's nowhere in the rules that says all the campaigns have to be in sync. (And if there was I could change it. ) Of course, it may be that I get home tomorrow and I have too much to do to even start one campaign. I'll probably find the time; we'll see.

No special treatment for me RookieBats.

My team will be-
Nightwing
CHangeling
Dove
Hawk

Total is 164, I will just play a few points short, and use more strategy.

I don't know if this is really applicable to what you guys want to do, but my group plays Heroclix as a traditional RPG, with a GM running scenarios and storylines, players creating their own custom-made characters, GM created villains, etc. Check out this website:

http://hometown.aol.com/klaussca/Seraglio/Heroclix.htm

This site has our house rules for play, character creation, experience, etc. It also has a link to a site that shows all our custom characters and villains. You might find something useful there.

Dark Elf

Since Oogie says he doesn't mind, you want to go ahead and do the first sets, Spinebreaker, or would you still prefer not to. Captain America, Wasp, Black Panther, and Vision would make a good team for 204 points. Yes, no, maybe?
And I do still need to hear from Swaffo and Cam Roth.

Gee this is sounding SUPER complicated! Do you have to be in at the beginning or can I watch for awhile to see how stuff works? I still don't quite understand the pbp stuff either. Do you move by battleship mode? (like firelord to h5?) And who rolls the dice? If you can clear these up for me then i will let you know. Thanks, Cam

>>>Since Oogie says he doesn't mind, you want to go ahead and do the first sets, Spinebreaker, or would you still prefer not to.<<<

First set's cool... gives us something to work yowards and look forward to.

Hmmm...

R - Captain America - 41
R - Scarlet Witch - 29
R - Quicksilver - 18
R - Hulk - 103

191

How's that?

I'm thinking it just seems really complex. It basically comes down to getting points for hitting people. As long as RookieBats can keep track and update during the game, it should run pretty smooth. Maybe we should not do the in battle stat pumping? It would simplify things, and we can always add it later. This is a big venture RB, and you said yourself that you haven't done it. So lets make it easier on you as well. Just a thought.

You can watch for a while, but I agree with Oogie, it probably won't be as complicated as it sounds. In PBP games, you just post where the pieces are moved to (yes, a little like Battleship, I guess). You can roll the dice online at sites like this: http://www.pbegames.com/roller/ You just specify how many rolls and have 6 for the dice type, and then put in your e-mail address and another to confirm it, and it will send you an e-mail of the results of the roll.
Here's an idea. You could build a team of Justice Leaguers, and every once in a while I'll have your team be like guest stars in Oogie's Titans campaign; that way you could get a try at it (I think you'd catch on pretty quick), without being thrust in head-first.

You know, Oogie, I could really grow to like you. Yeah, I think I'll probably add all the stuff up after the game is over. When I GM myself at home, I have to keep track in-game, but here it will all be written down and saved for me. I bet it'll be a lot easier.
Seriously, I think as you start playing, you'll find it's neither as complicated or quite as intricate as it seems. The real difficulty is in me crafting exciting, creative fights and storylines (hopefully my long history of fanfiction will help me there). It's gonna be all about expectations; if you expect D&D (or City of Heroes), I can't give it, but if you expect a break from the HC norm of random characters fighting each other, then we can have some fun.

Wow, I wouldn't have gone for Hulk myself (probably Vision instead), but you seem to be adventurous, which I've gotta admire. Like I said before, I'm gonna try to just be challenging enough as the bad guys (to reiterate briefly, my goal is for you to win most of the time, although not without effort). So, you may get some good chances for Hulk to smash!

Hey, man, I've never done anything like this before either. The only real non vidoe game RPG I ever played was Mechwarrior/Battletech back in high school(sadly, almost ten years ago). I have wanted to do something like this, but never had the gumption to get it together myself. hail, I've never played a full online game. Played a couple with friends, but never did play by post. I have checked some out, and that's why I asked about the map-visual learner, helps me to see it. When do you plan on getting started, RB? Just let me know.

Hey, just an interesting tidbit for you guys. By my count, there are 19 different characters that have the Avengers team ability, 21 characters that are X-Men, 22 Justice Leaguers, and only 9 Titans. Hopefully this whole campaign thing will take long enough that by the time Oogie gets there, there will be another set out (actually, I think 9 is pretty sufficient for a fair-sized campaign).