View From the Bushes

The pain continues today. The password cracker we ran overnight failed to come up with the password, so tonight after everyone has gone home at five we're going to wipe out everything on the server and rebuild it from scratch. Fortunately, we do have everything on a tape back-up, which is the only reason I didn't quit yesterday, but there are still a lot of things which could go wrong. We're taking a couple of steps which we hope will minimize the chance for further damage, but at this point I'm not holding my breath.

In other news, one of my friends wants to start running a Champions campaign. For those of you who've never played using the Hero System rules, allow me to try and give you a bit of a feel for the system (for those who have never role-played at all may the Lord have mercy on your souls). I'm going to compare building a character in a role-playing game to building a desk. One way to build a desk is to go down to your local Office Max, wander around until you find one that looks good, buy it, take it home, follow the instructions and assemble it. That's what D&D and the majority of RPG's are like. Building a character in Champions (or more specifically the hero system) is like designing your own desk, picking out the wood, buying individual screws and nails, sanding everything down and putting on the finish yourself. It takes a lot longer, but the final result is much closer (if you're a good craftsman) to your perfect desk; you're even able to put in special features like a bed underneath the desk or a secret drawer to hide money in.

To give you an idea of what a Champions character looks like, check out this thread. As you can probably see, everything is broken down into points and everything has been broken down into components. Overall, it's appealing for someone who really wants to dig in to the nuts and bolts. On the other hand, it can also be cumbersome, but isn't there always a trade-off?

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross