To Cheese or Not to Cheese...

[Supreme]

How much cheese do you guys like to have in your PCs or campaigns? Do you have motif-based gadgets ("Quick! Deploy the Wombat-grenades!")? How about nicknames ("Excellent idea, Maid of Mystery.")? What about sidekicks with bizarre expressions ("Suffering Schroedenger!")?

[aylwin13]

Personally, I'm on a non-cheese diet, so most of my main PCs are the Superman/boy scout types (at least in attitude and personality, not powers). The other players in my group tend toward the semi-cheesy side of things. They'll come up with off-the-wall charcters/names/gadgets/etc. Just to try to get the serious guy's goat. It's all good though.

[Supreme]

The Wife Supreme and I were playing in a Golden Age game recently. We actually sat down for a couple of hours and thought up silly "nicknames" for our characters. These were modeled on things like Batman also being called "the Dark Knight Detective," "the Caped Crusader," etc. We made a list and filled it in with these nicknames, about a half-dozen for every character in the game, and few generics ("Cowled Comrade," "Fellow Crime-Fighter," etc.). We even rehearsed saying it so we wouldn't crack up when we did it (NOT easy). We told no one about this. Then one game we just whipped them out.

"I think we should search the sea-caves!" Scarab Sorceress said.
"Excellent idea, Maid of Mystery!" Champion replied.
"Thank you, Blue Wonder."

I was also in a silver age game wherein my character (the silver age "Champion") was a nerdy scientist type turned super-human powerhouse by "cosmic" radiation. I decided to work out a series of science-related ridiculous expletives which I would randomly recite during the adventure. I worked it out to where I'd have three expletives per session.
"Perilous Protons!"
A few people noticed and looked at me sideways. Later...
"Suffering Schroedenger!"
Everyone stops and looks at me like I've grown another head. "What?" is my only reply.
"Raging Roentgen!"
"What the HELL is this?!?"
"These are my character's expletives. What? We're playing a silver age game. This is the same era that spawned Mr. Myxyzptlk and Ace the Bat-Hound."

I've never had so much fun...

[Agent X]

A cheese by any other name would still smell. ;)

[BNakagawa]

Odd topic title.

Mostly, I associate cheese with system abuse.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by BNakagawa
Odd topic title.

Mostly, I associate cheese with system abuse.
I guess there are regional differences with this particular bit of slang. I suppose I could have also said, "To Corn or Not to Corn," but then people would have thought it was about the band...

[Agent X]

I have a shapeshiftin superhero who likes to go out at night and pose as a vampiric crimefighter on a motorcycle. He calls himself many things: Punisher of Poor Citizenship, Ghost Biker, Count of Crimefighting, etc.

[Ghost Archer]

Cheese seems to be at a minimum, unless Tail Gunner comes in trying to recruit for the "Bombers" again and asking my team who wants to be "Ball Turret", "Nose Gunner" and "Waist Gunner" but we accept him. Poor thing fell out of his bomber from 27000 feet and landed on his head. Luckily no permanent damage...

[Superskrull]

Originally posted by Agent X
I have a shapeshiftin superhero who likes to go out at night and pose as a vampiric crimefighter on a motorcycle. He calls himself many things: Punisher of Poor Citizenship, Ghost Biker, Count of Crimefighting, etc.

You forgot my contribution: Exsanguinator of Evil.
Oh, and have another apellation on me: Fearsome Fanged Foeman of Felons.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Superskrull
You forgot my contribution: Exsanguinator of Evil.
Oh, and have another apellation on me: Fearsome Fanged Foeman of Felons.

It was late when I posted. I really tried to remember.

[Syberdwarf2]

"Holy $#!%, Batman!"
"Yes, Boy Wonder, we're in the Gotham City Sewers........":D :D :D

[Superskrull]

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2
"Holy $#!%, Batman!"
"Yes, Boy Wonder, we're in the Gotham City Sewers........":D :D :D

The Boy Hostage just ain't right in the head, is he?

[Rage]

heee hee the episode of Batman
'HOLY FLIRKING SHNIT BAT MAN!"

[Law Dog]

Thanks for bringing this topic up, Supreme. I am polishing up a Golden Age game for one of the local cons this summer and I forgot to put down some interesting nicknames for the characters.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Law Dog
Thanks for bringing this topic up, Supreme. I am polishing up a Golden Age game for one of the local cons this summer and I forgot to put down some interesting nicknames for the characters.
You're always welcome, fellow caped comrade!

[Law Dog]

In fact, maybe you folks could help me out with some super-appellations.

The six somewhat tongue-in-cheek heroes I've come up with are as follows.

The Anvil - He's a little stronger and tougher that a normal man most of the time, but his power is he can become like an iron statue at the sacrifice of his mobility. Has a unique method of climbing up above the battle and then letting go and densing up. I was thinking maybe The Iron Icon for a good nickname.

Candyman - He fights crime with candy, including his Laughy Taffy (entangle) shot from his rifle sized weapon "The Taffy Puller", Zippy Dust (Dex drain while you're sneezing), and Thunderballs (Jawbreakers - EB's when launched by his gun or tk throw when used on the ground). Always eatting lots of candy, so it's like he snorting lines of Crank. I was thinking maybe The Crimefighting Confectionairre.

Sumotori - Before the war, this army private was constantly in danger of being discharged for being underweight, but he stayed in Japan after the war and bulked up and learned the art of the Sumo. So, now he's a five hundred pound white guy in 1950's America who fights crime and talks like Steven Seagal in one of his ecohugger movies.

Red Sling - A hommage to the "Color"/"Noun" heroes of the Golden Age. Basically, he's a master slinger.

Liberty Lass - During the war, she was the teen sidekick of Lady Liberty. Now, she's in her 20's, Lady Liberty has married and retired, but no matter how hard she tries, she can't get anybody to stop calling her Liberty Lass. She wants to be called Lady Liberty. Can shoot a fairly impressive sparks display from her hands.

All-American - An all around athlete who possesses an alien suit which allows him to created sports equipment and alter his uniform. He was picked by curious aliens to represent Earth in a galactic sporting event. As first place finisher, he got to keep the uniform.

So, how about it, any ideas for nifty nicknames?

[Agent X]

Handlebar the Moustached Man (long prehensile moustache)

Some players I once played with:
Hydrochlora (Acid powers with a OIHID - the instant change required gestures as she spun her purse around her)

Minute Man (pronounced MyNoot Man) - little guy who would go berserk if anybody mispronounced his name as Minnit Man.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Law Dog
So, how about it, any ideas for nifty nicknames?

Anvil: the Dense Defender, the Forge of Freedom

Candyman: the Sugary Avenger, the Jujubee of Justice (sorry, couldn't resist)

Sumotori: the Rotund Defender

Red Sling: the Scarlet Sentinel

Liberty Lass: the Girl of Glory, the Little Lady of Liberty (I'm lending you these from Pennant, Champion's sidekick)

All-American: the Sporting Sentry

[lemming]

Originally posted by Supreme
Candyman: the Sugary Avenger, the Jujubee of Justice (sorry, couldn't resist)


Thank god for danger sense. I almost took a sip of coffee before reading that.:p

Just wanted to say, some of these names are not in the big list of names.

Though, Candyman is also slang for a drug dealer.

[Law Dog]

Originally posted by Supreme
Anvil: the Dense Defender, the Forge of Freedom

Candyman: the Sugary Avenger, the Jujubee of Justice (sorry, couldn't resist)

Sumotori: the Rotund Defender

Red Sling: the Scarlet Sentinel

Liberty Lass: the Girl of Glory, the Little Lady of Liberty (I'm lending you these from Pennant, Champion's sidekick)

All-American: the Sporting Sentry

Thanks, Supreme, I knew I could count on you. I especially liked the Forge of Freedom. Cheesy Goodness.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Law Dog
Thanks, Supreme, I knew I could count on you. I especially liked the Forge of Freedom. Cheesy Goodness.
I dare the French to do better!

[Vondy]

Well...

While I may appear lactose intolerant at times I have a soft-gooey cheddar center.

I have a retired PC turned GM NPC who totaled out at 880 points (yeowch!). He's the head of America's super-soldier section called the Freedom Patrol (two teams).

Unbeknownst to the heroes (until recently) he was the pulp era hero "Chip Freedom: Master Pilot, Master Spy" who fought for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. His superhero name is ANTHEM.

They found out when his arch-nemesis, long thought dead, returned. That's right: Count Wolfgang Von Eroberung, whose last name translates as Conquest.

It would have been a cheese factory, but the Count is actually really SCARY.

There's also the count's bullet-shaped helmed henchman: herr stahlmask.

The only real cheese, though, is the mimmic PC decided to duplicate Anthem's powers and everyone started calling him SONGBOY.

[Law Dog]

Originally posted by Supreme
I dare the French to do better!

The only thing the French do better is Surrender and perhaps Smell like Feet.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Law Dog
The only thing the French do better is Surrender and perhaps Smell like Feet.
You forget "looking down their pointed noses at Americans."

[CourtFool]

Holy hairy llamas!

[zornwil]

Hmmm, probably not much cheese overall, but surely bits here and there. I'm coming up blank on examples - oh there's the goofy Martians I just mentioned in another thread, resembling the Warner Brothers one.

I have a Native American super in a game who is pretty cheesy because he's a sort of goofy stereotype, except the caveat is that it's because of his misunderstanding of his people's past. He's essentially a phony, but the weird thing is that half of it he gets right because he doesn't realize he's a phony, he thinks he's somehow really got it. So he's kind of cheesy but kind of weird.

[Blue]

I have injected litle cheese. My players however...

One guy is from the far future. For reference all he has are comic books, which he refers to as "training manuals". You can imagine what his dialogue and behavior are like :D

[Magmarock]

When I was running my battlesuit/martial artist, Lady Liberty (a federal liaison PC based off of a female Judge Dread miniature), she was a bit agressive. Just a tad. So the other Players were constantly referring to her as "The Thug of Justice". Looking back, I can see it's pretty funny, but really it wasn't at the time. ;)

Then there is my 60s style hero, Bulletproof. He's a light-brick speedster with a hokey catch-phrase:

'Cause I'm a SUPERHERO!
It got to the point where the other Players woud "cue" me to say it. By the way, at gaming conventions, catch-phrases tend to draw undue attention...

Mags

[Graviton]

Well this one probably qualifies not matter what the definition of 'cheese'...

My son had a PC called Thermo, who had a backpack with which he could shoot fire from one hand and ice from the other. So of course his nickname became Thermos! His arch-nemesis started out by suing him for patent infringement, and then revealed his own invention at the hearing and became...Captain Coffee!

This one is more of a goofy character concept than anything else, but one of my PCs, Atlas, is a latent mutant whose Growth powers are only activated when he eats his Momma's blueberry muffins. Momma is also a latent mutant whose power is making the tastiest, healthiest food in the world. I'm currently reworking him into a Multiform so I can make him a speedster when he eats Momma's sugar cookies. :D

[austenandrews]

Are you kidding? I adore cheese! I'm currently running a 50's space opera short-run titled Atomic Space Adventures. The PC's, Lt. Ace Vector and Ensign Archimedes Campbell, serve on the S.S. Lightning under Commander Vic Valiant. So far the United Solar Systems have been pretty safe, what with the Communists having fled to the Adromeda galaxy after the Great Space War, but lately there's a dark nebula on the horizon ...

-AA

[altamaros]

Originally posted by Law Dog
The only thing the French do better is Surrender and perhaps Smell like Feet.
Originally posted by Supreme
You forget "looking down their pointed noses at Americans."
only if some deserve it and only to those who deserve it

... and you just show me that some deserve it.
:(

[Vondy]

I run a gritty modern game (iron age) where the characters are meta-human covert operations and intelligence agents in the employ of the government. They do have code names and something akin to subdued costumes (leather combat gear really), but the game, and the characters tends towards the serious.

The only cheese we have is when two characters in particular are in "beauracrats in suits mode" or conducting investigations that require them to deal with the public. These two agents introduce themselves as agents smith and smith of the FBI (the FBI's CI division plays along with this fiction), wear MIB suits and sunglasses, and act like Joe Friday.

I also have a mild cheese factor with the tabloids. One of the characters reads them religiously, and often finds references to their weirder exploits therein. He looks in them for clues (I actually do plant them there on rare occasion).

Our cheese is very low key.

[Mentor]

Originally posted by Supreme
How much cheese do you guys like to have in your PCs or campaigns? Do you have motif-based gadgets ("Quick! Deploy the Wombat-grenades!")? How about nicknames ("Excellent idea, Maid of Mystery.")? What about sidekicks with bizarre expressions ("Suffering Schroedenger!")? I like it, I just forget to use it. Until I started reading your "Wife Supreme" posts and the like, I had forgotten how in genre cheese is. Our group hasn't gotten into nicknames yet. We probably nedd an outside newspaper editor or someone to come up with the new monicker.:D

[Barton]

In the Champions game that I play in the hold music or elevetor music is always the "girl from ipanema". I hum it as the characters are on "hold" or waiting in an elevetor. I know it has high cheese content (got the idea from the great scene near the end of "Blues Brothers"). It is now a group "cheese" thing; because we all hum it now. :p