Framed! was the first ever KORG Champions team tournament. It was written by Kurt and Bryan, and drew heavily on Bryan's Champions experience and Kurt's team tournament experience. It was run in limited action at the 1998 Gen Con Game Fair, due to Kurt's involvement with the KORG AD&D team tourneys. Four teams of six heroes started the first round, with two teams advancing to the finals. It was generally well-received by all who participated.
NOTE: It is our intention to make the entire event available through e-mail, should anyone want it. All you have to do is send an e-mail to the link below and ask for it. If you are a player, you may want to stop reading now and give this URL to your GM. If you plan to GM Framed!, KORG has only two conditions: First, that you share you and your player's thoughts and opinions with us on how it went, and second, if you (somehow) make any money off it, SHARE THE WEALTH!
The hero team involved here is the Danger Squad. They are based out of Los Angeles, and are the second- level heroes of the city (behind LA Justice). The team was created solely for this adventure (many players have commented on the team balance, believing the heroes were personal characters from our gaming group). The point totals were deliberately left off the character sheets because the heroes were not created using the same number of points and also to avoid questioning from "Champions accountants" (you know who you are). We felt it was more important that the power levels be equal (no one character able to dominate every scene, no character left feeling useless) than the point totals to be equal. We also felt that the Squad should have the feel of a comic book super team. That meant coming up with origins, psychological limitations (role-play hooks), and physical/costume descriptions for all the Squad members and villains. If there are any freelance (emphasis on "free") artists who want to contribute drawings of the Squad or villains in Framed!, we'd love to see them - as mentioned elsewhere KORG has very little artistic talent. We also wrote a team origin, both for added color and to provide some subtle clues for the adventure. For those of you who haven't read the Bryan Sewell bio (skipped right to the important stuff, did you?), Framed! is written to be deliberately humorous.
Super bad guys start getting bumped off, and all the circumstantial evidence leads to the Danger Squad. It takes a turn for the worse when the greatest American hero, Captain Patriot, joins the ranks of the dead. Then the personal enemies of the Danger Squad also are killed. It's up to the Squad to prove that they've been framed. That means finding the actual killer. The Squad has to survive questioning from reporters, a set-up at the LA jail, a night in the local super prison, a fight with a vigilante group, another fight with a villain group when their leader turns up murdered, and finally a confrontation with the big nasty behind it all.
We started off Framed! with a fight. While the California Separatist Army may not seem like a dangerous foe (and they weren't), they performed their designed function admirably: to get the players into action and used to the offensive capabilities of their characters. It also forced the players to act like heroes and use their powers in non-violent ways as they attempt to save a vague number of innocents.
Next, we had an interview session with some local reporters. This gave the players a chance to do some role-playing of their psychological limitations (the questions were deliberately designed to push their buttons).
Now we have a choice to make. Both choices lead to the same place: jail for the heroes. The players can choose to stake out the jail, or not. It gives them the illusion of being in control of their own actions, but allows the GM to be prepared.
Then we have the heroes break out of jail (not of their own free will, however). It should be noted that, at this point, one of the teams believed that they maybe did kill all those villains. Now the Squad should be on the run. Should they be reluctant, LA Justice is on the way to provide added incentive. That same team was more than prepared to return to jail with LA Justice, but were convinced otherwise. No one tried to stay and fight, thankfully. LA Justice would have destroyed them.
The fight with the vigilante team Street Legal can take place in either of two places: the streets (if the Squad can't figure out what to do) or the Squad's old HQ (if they read their team origin). This is more of the illusion of choice. It should be noted that no maps of anything are provided, and were never made. We winged it. Several of the teams believed Street Legal was responsible for the framing, which was odd since this was near the end of the first round of a two round event.
A phone call from the evil Dr. Vishnu sends the Squad to a meeting at an abandoned amusement park where Dr. V plans to reveal everything. Of course, he's dead when they get there. About that time, his minions show up and - on to round two! This was an obvious railroad (to the writers), that seemed to take everyone by surprise.
The second round starts with the fight between the Squad and EVIL, Inc. The most amusing part of this fight was when one of the teams attempted to interrogate the mute Wormhole, who then used his teleportation powers to escape with all the villains. It wouldn't matter, though. Nothing can be gained from these guys.
At this point, the Squad should be lost. All the bad guys are either dead or cleared. So what should they do? They can either return to their HQ and come up with a plan, or they can wander the streets aimlessly and confused, begging for answers. Some reasonable plans are given in the adventure (although we couldn't come up with much, either, to be honest). The easiest solution is to get bailed out by the Candy Gang. They're supposed to be dead, but got bored and robbed a jewelry store. They can give the whole plan to the Squad, except who's behind it all (although players who read their team origin should be able to figure it out).
We end with a fight against the Alliance (the team member's personal enemies, who aren't really dead). Ragnarok was a beast, Halfjack and Mean Streak held their own, and the Candy Man was surprisingly tough (that hard candy shell was a real life saver, bah-dum-bum). The giant gummi bear also went over well. Fallout and Ronin were punks, but they were designed to be. It's important not to overmatch the heroes, so we always try to include at least one tomato can.
Who's behind it all? Why, that would be telling. Let's just say that she (yes, she) was created to be powerful enough to go one on six with the Squad. And she did. Nobody accused the big nasty of being a pushover, and she wasn't too far away from ruining our happy ending ("the birds are singing, the sun is shining, and all is right with the world"). If you absolutely can't sleep without knowing, here's the answer.