NEWS Background

This is a rewrite of the background material from the NEWS files. The old writeup, from before the change to 5th edition sheets, was totally obsolete.

& bg & background ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] A good background is more than just a hurdle to overcome on the way to getting your character through approval. Your background will add depth to your character creation. It provides numerous hooks for all the plot and scene runners wanting to get your character involved in defeating their villainous schemes. Perhaps most importantly it defines who the character is, rather than leaving him or her as merely a collection of characteristics, powers, and skills listed on a character sheet.

A character's background story is visible to all players. To look at a character's background type +bg1 and +bg2. You can omit the for your own character.

The background for a character is split into several sections:

Powers               Skills            Disadvantages Origin               Personality       History

To see a specific section's page type: NEWS BG 

continued in NEWS BG 2 --

& bg 2 ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] Some of the aspects of your character that should be mentioned in his or her background are:

Attitude (Personality, Psychological quirks, etc.) Ambitions and Goals Financial Status Education, Knowledge, and Skills Family and Friends (Including DNPCs, Contacts, etc.) Enemies and why they are foes (Especially Hunteds and Watcheds) Physical Problems (Physical Limitations, Distinctive Features) Psychological Quirks (Psychological Limitations, Berserks) Character Origin (Where the Powers, Skills, etc. come from)

Knowing where to put what in your background (does XX go in History or would it fit better in Origin?) is sometimes not straightforward. Each section in backgrounds has a NEWS page of its own which should help you answer this question. If there's no clear answer even after looking at these guidelines it's probably going to be acceptable to place the background text in any of the potentially suitable sections.

continued in NEWS BG 3 --

& bg 3 & bg attitude ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] The attitude of a character comes from his personality. It affects how he or she acts towards others. For instance, is the character a braggart, or a mousey individual? Is he studious? Is she brave? Does he or she go into combats fearful but determined not to let teammates down. Or is he or she as fearless as they appear to be?

When you have finished describing what kind of a person your character is you'll know how to play him or her in character. You should think about how (s)he will react on encountering other people in social or in private circumstances. Is (s)he the kind of person who will stick with a task to the very end of the road? Or an easy quitter? Every question that you ask yourself at this time gives an answer you'll have available when you need it roleplaying in character.

The answers to the above questions will usually be put in the Personality section of your character's background.

continued in NEWS BG 4 --

& bg 4 & bg ambitions & bg goals & bg financial status ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] What are the character's ambitions and goals? Why is he a superhero? It is a risky business after all and the financial rewards aren't great. What does she intend to do with her life, both short term and long term? For instance, maybe your character is a super-teen who is in high school at the moment but intends to go to college and major in criminal law, so he can 'help put criminals behind bars'. This will help to define how your character will act.

This usually relates to the Personality section of your background.

What is your character's financial status? Unless you have something specifically listed in Perks you are considered to be 'middle income'. Please describe your source of income (job, annuities, stock market, what have you). If you take the Wealth Perk for your character this has to be justified in your background.

This is usually part of the History section of your background.

continued in NEWS BG 5 --

& bg 5 & bg education & bg knowledge ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] Your character can be anything from a world famous scientist to a high school drop out: a brilliant musician, artist, engineer, or chef. Maybe she learned electronics by hot-wiring cars for a gang when she was just a kid. Did your character attend failing rowdy old Puldunk High School, or Lord Markham's School for Talented Children?

Studying to be a doctor or lawyer, or pilot? So where did your character learn his martial arts skills? Been in the armed forces and acquired all those specialized military skills? When these questions have been asked and answered you'll have enriched the environment of your character and provided many more roleplaying hooks for GMs to involve you in scenes.

The answers to the above questions will usually be placed in the Skills section of your character's background.

continued in NEWS BG 6 --

& bg 6 & bg family & bg friends ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] You should mention those who are most important to your character, both family and friends. If you have an DNPC then he or she *must* appear in your character's background. Likewise for contacts bought in Perks: they should be explained.

In the case of a DNPC you should specify why this person is "dependent" on you - why does the DNPC get your character into trouble (a good example of this is Lois Lane and Superman). In the case of Contacts you should explain how and why they became a contact. Maybe your character saved the life of a undercover detective, and now the detective can get access to police records for you?

Most of the above will appear in the History section of your background, except for DNPCs who will make their way to the Disadvantages section.

continued in NEWS BG 7 --

& bg 7 & bg enemies & bg hunteds & bg watched ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] Most superheroes, and even many normal people, have enemies - those who dislike them and work to their disadvantage whenever possible. Perhaps you stymied one of DEMON's operations in the past and now they're now out for revenge. Or possibly you were a good-looking hunk of a guy in high school and the little nerd in the corner hates you because you got all the girls and he didn't - and of course, with the luck of a superhero, the little guy in the corner turns out to be Super Nerd Man, and uses his criminal mastermind powers to undermine you and all the other guys out there with 15+ Comeliness.

Then there are those who are keeping a watchful eye on your character's activities. They might not be enemies but that doesn't mean they aren't a pain in the -whatever- on occasions. Nor should we forget the jealous girl from college who is out to steal every boyfriend you make.

Whatever the reasons, every single Hunted, Watched, and Rivalry *must* be explained in your background. This information usually goes in the Disadvantages section of your background.

continued in NEWS BG 8 --

& bg 8 & bg physical problems & bg psychological quirks ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] Many characters have some sort of a physical problem, or something that is physically unique about them. For example, Captain Brick, with the Titanium Steel Skin, probably has a poor sense of touch (this would be a Physical Limitation), and, since he's all shiny and metallic, he looks pretty odd too (a Distinctive Feature). Every Physical Limitation and Distinctive Feature *must* be explained in your background.

You should list also all of the psychological quirks and odd habits of your character, including those which extend beyond "odd habit" into the realm of neurosis or psychosis, codes of conduct, and so on. Every Psychological Limitation, Enraged, and Berserk *must* be explained in your background.

This information usually goes in the Disadvantages section.

continued in NEWS BG 9 --

& bg 9 & bg powers ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] The Powers section of your character's background is where you have the opportunity to explain how the character's powers work. The powers on a sheet give the game mechanics of the power: how many dice of damage for an attack, how far you can teleport, etc. In your background you should explain how they work.

Writing down an explanation requires you to think more deeply about your character's powers than just game mechanics, which helps to bring the character 'to life' in your mind. Also, your definition of how the powers work becomes a guide to adjudicating situations when external factors have beneficial or detrimental influence on a power. For example, if your force field is a result of a magical spell and your character is engaged in combat in an area where there is exceptionally strong magic energy, a GM may give you a bonus to the strength of your force field.

You shouldn't just list the powers. 'Joe can fire energy blasts' doesn't add anything to the sheet. 'Joe can manipulate local gravity to create intense gravitation effects that cause micro black holes to appear inside an opponent's body' is far better.

continued in NEWS BG 10 --

& bg 10 & bg skills ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] The Skills section of your background is where you can explain how your character acquired the skills listed on the sheet. Everyman skills at the default level do not need any explanation: it's assumed every character has those. Not every additional skill purchased requires an explanation. Skills that have been acquired in a mundane manner at an average level of ability (base characteristic level) need no explanation. So being in the school football team with a football skill of 13- doesn't need a mention. In such a case you'll probably want to mention being in your highschool football team in the History section of your background though.

Being the star quarterback with a 17- skill ought to be explained. In a like fashion your Mechanics skill might be learned at the local community college, or maybe you helped out the local mad gadgeteer inventor during your high school years. The latter case ought to be mentioned. That's a circumstance that can generate good roleplaying for your character.

The more unusual the skill or means of acquiring it, and the higher the level of the skill, the more important it will be to explain how your character acquired it.

continued in NEWS BG 11 --

& bg 11 & bg disadvantages ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] The Disadvantages section of your character's background is, probably, singularly the most influential as far as roleplaying is concerned. In explaining why your character has the Disadvantages that he or she has you set the stage for these to be used in the game.

The why of a disadvantage is almost as important as its existence in the first place. The raw mechanic shown on your character's sheet is not sufficient to customize and personalize the way the Disadvantage is used during in character play.

To give an example, let's assume your character has taken 'Hunted by Next Generation' as a disadvantage. This organization is interested in genetics. So maybe they want an opportunity to obtain a genetic sample and put you in situations where you have to use your powers while they make measurements. On the other hand perhaps your character captured a Next Generation meta-villain and the organization is simply looking to get revenge. Or your character is a geneticist and Next Generation wants to enslave her to work in their secret laboratory. Same Disadvantage... but what Next Generation wants from you differs in each case.

continued in NEWS BG 12 --

&bg 12 &bg origin ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] The Origin section is where you describe the circumstances in which your character gained his or her abilities. "I was born with them," even if true, is *not* sufficient. You must explain how your character discovered he or she possessed those powers. This differs from History in that this section is focused on the way your character gained or came to realize they possessed meta powers.

Ideally this section should be written in a easily readable short story format although, given the constraint in the total number of words allowed, it also needs conciseness. Deciding what goes in here and what goes in History can be hard. We suggest you write both these sections offline before setting up your background. Each can then refer to details in the other and duplication of content can easily be avoided.

Remember this section is for how your character gained their powers. Something that doesn't explain that may be important to your character's History and worthy of a mention there, but it doesn't belong in Origin.

continued in NEWS BG 13 --

&bg 13 &bg personality ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ] This section is where you can describe your character's personality. You may have already read the background page relating to attitude (NEWS BG ATTITUDE). If you haven't we would suggest you do so now, and likewise the page relating to ambitions (NEWS BG AMBITIONS).

Psychological quirks serious enough to be Disadvantages should be briefly mentioned in this section, although details are best left to be recorded in the Disadvantages section.

Whereas other background sections will have an influence on what happens to your character during roleplaying, the Personality section will have influence on how you *roleplay* your character. More accurately, it will detail and record the decisions which you have made regarding exactly how your character is going to react to the events and situations encountered in the game world.

This section doesn't *lock* your character's personality into stone. It's where they are at the start of your in-game roleplaying. Characters can, and should, develop and change in response to their experience within the campaign's game world.

continued in NEWS BG 14 --

&bg 14 &bg history ---[ Champions MUSH 2.0 News ]--- The History section describes your character's life to date: where they were born, who their parents are, where they went to school and college if they did, who their friends are, that first painful falling in love. Are they working and if so where? What is their financial situation? Are they members of a church, club or organization? What about their social life? Favourite restaurants, night clubs? Do they always buy a season ticket to the Colonial Bay Patriots football team games? Never miss a jazz night at the Matrix or maybe spend hours every night with fellow nerds at the Hacker's Rage?

This section of your character's background, more than any other, is your chance to put roots down into the game world and immerse your character into the game environment. It's also the most important section for GMs who are thinking about basing a plot or scene around your character. This section is your chance to encourage GMs to put the spotlight straight on your character with a plot or scene centered around him or her.

--