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I am looking to start a new campaign with a group of friends using Heroes Unlimited. I have built many characters using the Palladium system, but I am unsure of how to build a campaign such as the villains, minions, and levels. I have run D&D 4ed campaigns, but those were built by wizards of the coast. I would greatly appreciate anyone's suggestions on how to build the campaign, as well as any advice on how to run it and how long to make it. On a side note there will be 4 PC's.

Heroes Unlimited is, IMHO, the easiest of all the PB games to get this kind of help with but I am sorry to say it means buying a few books. I would recomend the HU GM's Guide and you can get it on Drivethru . This book has tons of helpful insights on how to plan and run a campaign as well as several adventure ideas to get you started.

If you want a fully formed place to have your adventures then Century Station and Gramercy Island you have a police department, politicians, corporations, and lots of villains for your players to fight. Villains Unlimited is great for more villains as well. You have to remember that every villain in these books isn't just powers and stats they have back stories with other characters and organizations that you can milk for adventures for years.

Hope this helps.

As far as building a campaign, Heroes Unlimited can be a little more challenging than D&D.

First - world building:
- Assume an alternate version of Earth
- what is the mood of the game? Gritty/realistic or campy/goofball?
- What time period? Modern day? 1940s? 1980s? Futuristic (2080s?)
- History of world events? Supers have been known for decades or just recently?
- Who are key players? Organizations/Influential Individuals?
- What is known to the public, what are secret? Example: superpowered characters may be well-known but magic wielders may keep knowledge out of the public and Aliens might not exist. Psychics?

Second - the Player Characters
- Each player needs a concept. As GM how does the character origins fit into your world?
- Balance. If all the players playing super-powered flying bricks this is still not easy. There is less balance between characters in HU than D&D due varying powers and stats that do not balance. One character can shrug hits that outright kil another. If your PCs are use to D&D the tough guys know to protect the squishy (wizard). Healing is rarer in HU uness you write easily available healing into the campaign world. The guy with Alter Structure Metal isn't sneaking into office buildings and the stealthy spy-guy won't shrug off a bus thrown at him.
- Goals both for individual characters as well as a goup are important. Did them just meet, have known each other for years, or are strangers?

Third- campaign/missions
- now you know your player characters and the world around them. Hope this helps you brainstorm a campaign!

ozunasawai4 wrote:I am looking to start a new campaign with a group of friends using Heroes Unlimited. I have built many characters using the Palladium system, but I am unsure of how to build a campaign such as the villains, minions, and levels. I have run D&D 4ed campaigns, but those were built by wizards of the coast. I would greatly appreciate anyone's suggestions on how to build the campaign, as well as any advice on how to run it and how long to make it. On a side note there will be 4 PC's.

For all Palladium games its helpful not to make full characters when making NPCs. I use a quick format for most NPCs, only expanding it when/if they become important.

For named/unique NPCs I use the below, and for generic NPCs I eliminate name/category/experience/description.

<NAME>
Category:
Experience Level:
Alignment:
Notable Attributes: Anything below or above 10-12.
Notable Abilities/Powers:
Notable Skills:
Combat: H-to-H - XXXX; bonuses.
Notable Equipment:
Description/Background:

JTwig wrote:

ozunasawai4 wrote:I am looking to start a new campaign with a group of friends using Heroes Unlimited. I have built many characters using the Palladium system, but I am unsure of how to build a campaign such as the villains, minions, and levels. I have run D&D 4ed campaigns, but those were built by wizards of the coast. I would greatly appreciate anyone's suggestions on how to build the campaign, as well as any advice on how to run it and how long to make it. On a side note there will be 4 PC's.

For all Palladium games its helpful not to make full characters when making NPCs. I use a quick format for most NPCs, only expanding it when/if they become important.

For named/unique NPCs I use the below, and for generic NPCs I eliminate name/category/experience/description.

<NAME>
Category:
Experience Level:
Alignment:
Notable Attributes: Anything below or above 10-12.
Notable Abilities/Powers:
Notable Skills:
Combat: H-to-H - XXXX; bonuses.
Notable Equipment:
Description/Background:

I created a small collection of NPC's years ago that had all of these except name and then I would reskin them with a new name whenever I needed a super soldier or a cop or a generic thug.

A few years ago I started adding character traits to them. I forget who it was here on the forums that suggested it but s/he had a 1-3-5 rule for character traits

1 trait for a minor character
3 traits for a recurring
5 traits for a major

Now I've had a hard time coming up with good and memorable traits so I usually max out at 3 or 4 but it is a great way to make a fairly simple NPC into something unique.

here is youtube Chanel, that I like and it helped me a lot- Artichoke Dip,
What is the Artichoke Dip? Well it is this channel name that the owner has devoted to his gaming hobbies which include his addiction to wargaming and fantasy gaming hobbies. his youtube video "Let's play Palladium fantasy video 2", maybe be will be useful for you as well.