constant reader is likely aware of my distaste for maximalist #ttrpg prep. it's not so much the executive dysfunction, though that doesn't help, but my belief that #rpgs can be a uniquely collaborative medium if you let them be, if everyone at the table works together to make something unique. #ChampionsNow is meant to really shine with a group of fully present, collaborative players who are ready to engage with all of its systems

for me, the draw of #ChampionsNow is the feedback loop of character situations (fka "disadvantages") and consequential tactical combat -- "consequential" both as in "has consequences" and "is a consequence of". situations lead to fights which lead to situations.

you can probably use the #ChampionsNow worldbuilding process with other supers games, but they may be resistant, some harder than others. you can probably use the raw mechanics without the worldbuilding process, but at that point you may as well play one of the more fleshed-out editions of #Champions.

but i digress. does #ChampionsNow succeed at its lofty goal? yes, but you have to play it as it's given. even with three decades of aforementioned cruft largely removed, the core is still #Champions, with its point-twiddling and bookkeeping. and now there's a layer of collaborative worldbuilding process woven in.

remember reading the first issue of #Invincible, #TheBoys, #RadiantBlack, or the first pages of #StrongFemaleProtagonist? to see the familiar semiotics of superheroes remixed into a fresh new context, with just the barest hints of the story ahead? that's what #ChampionsNow is trying to give you, and i'm not sure that's what #Champions players - or gamers in general - want out of superhero gaming, leaning more towards a Official Handbook of the #Marvel Universe or #DC Who's Who take on the genre