Professor Muerte, I presume?

[Rechan]

Okay, who is Professor Muerte? I've seen two references thus far. So um... who is he? Where can I find info on him? I'm new to Champs, so... help? :)

[Hermit]

Well, officially, in the 5th Edition Champions Universe... he's dead. ;) He was the leader of a now disbanded group known as Terror Inc. Feurmacher and Scorpia betrayed him and slew him, before going to join Eurostar (a very nasty group in Conquerers, Killers, and Crooks).

Now, in 4th Edition, he was very much alive. He was often considered (For good or ill) the "poor man's Dr. Destroyer". His powers were chiefly forcefield related, and their source was his high tech armor . A write up was in the 4th Edition Classic Enemies book.

Hope that helps.

[Rechan]

Oh, I have Champs CKC all right. :) Just wondering... who he was. Mm. Professor Muerte. I like the name. :)

Now, finding the old books would likely be a challange. c.c

[death tribble]

Muerte first appeared in the second Enemy's book (I believe) as the head of Terror Inc. He worshipped Dr Destroyer.

His associates were Feur, Scorpia and Giganto. Giganto was a brick. They were based in South America.

[Crimson Arrow]

The group had lots of terrorist agents; it wasn't just a superhuman group. They seemed a little like SPECTRE from the James Bond films in terms of motivation, but maybe that was just me. Mind you they also struck me as having certain similarities with the Fantastic Four.

Giganto was (is) a hulking, monstrous Brick, who bore a passing resemblance to a certain blue-eyed hero. Feuermacher is rather like the Human Torch (he used to be simply "Feuer"). The analogy falls down with the other two, although Professor Muerte was a scientist and Scorpia is a woman. :D

death tribble is right; they first appeared in "Enemies 2".

[Uncle Shecky]

Originally posted by Crimson Arrow
... Mind you they also struck me as having certain similarities with the Fantastic Four.

Giganto was (is) a hulking, monstrous Brick, who bore a passing resemblance to a certain blue-eyed hero. Feuermacher is rather like the Human Torch (he used to be simply "Feuer"). The analogy falls down with the other two, although Professor Muerte was a scientist and Scorpia is a woman. :D
...

Yeah, I always thought they were sort of a "What if Dr. Doom had created the Fantastic Four?" team.

In 1st/2nd edition, this was my favorite Champions villain team. I never saw Muerte as "Dr. Destroyer-lite" because there was no Dr. D in our games. In 1st/2nd edition, Dr. D only appeared in a couple of modules, not the Enemies books. We didn't have those modules, so our armored, uber-villain was Muerte.

Once I finally saw Dr. D (in the more powerful BBB version) it was clear why Muerte wasn't that impressive to most people. But the Prof still had lots of potential if used properly.

And while it's been annouced that Muerte won't be officially returning in any HERO products, Steve Long left enough room in the story of his death to allow for Muerte's return. There are a few threads around here devoted to that subject.

[Lord Liaden]

Hernan Cortez grew up believing he was destined to rule the world. This interest drew him to the colony of expatriat Nazis in Buenos Aires, where he met Dr. Albert Zerstoiten who was just becoming known as "Dr. Destroyer." Hernan came to idolize Zerstoiten, to the point where he set his face on fire to match the injuries the Doctor had received at the end of WW II.

Destroyer made Hernan his protege and instructed him in the sciences, but Hernan's own ambitions clashed with his mentor's and he eventually struck out on his own. Creating a suit of powered armor like Destroyer's, Hernan styled himself "Professor Muerte." Deciding that the most effective way to rule was through fear, he created a group of mercenary agents and villains which he called Terror Incorporated, with the intention of causing enough random destruction and slaughter of innocents that the world would have to surrender to him. Terror Inc. would also sometimes hire themselves out to other criminal or terrorist groups as enforcers or assassins. Professor Muerte had an on/off partnership with Dr. Destroyer: they might join forces for some scheme, but eventually clash and part company again.

Terror Inc. maintained a secret island base off the coast of Brazil. Scorpia was the trainer and commander of Muerte's agents, and his sometime-lover. She had joined with the intention of taking control of Terror Inc. from the Professor, but apparently grew tired of waiting and persuaded Feurmacher to help her murder him and join her in Eurostar.

[rjcurrie]

If I remember things correctly, the bad Professor and his friends were originally created back in one of the original Enemies books for 2nd edition Champions by Steve Perrin. Steve based them on a set of miniatures created by a company of Heritage which were based on Doom and the Fantastic Four. I believe the original description of them made reference to their long "heritage" of crime.

Rod

[Lord Liaden]

I always got a kick out of Pat Zircher's illustration of Prof. Muerte in Classic Enemies, because Muerte's armor had very thick-soled boots that made him look like he was wearing platforms.

It would figure that Hernan Cortez was overcompensating for something. ;)

[Tech]

In my campaign, Terror, Inc is very much still alive and kicking. A few minor alterations on the Professor's armor and viola. I stayed with the Enemies II picture, superior to later renditions of the Prof. Heh, it always amazed the players that Giganto could be DCV 3 and still smack high DCV heroes around.

[levi]

I asked Steve Long at the DunDraCon in San Ramon last February about the removal of Professor Muerta and he pointed out to me that the character had not been killed and that some aspiring author could revive him if there was want.

In Fuermacher's History it says that he dropped Muerte into the ocean after fusing him into his armor. In the grand tradition of comics, Muerte could rise from the "dead" perhaps more powerful than ever and exact his revenge on Scorpia and Fuermacher. In fact, if those of you who play in my local campaigns are reading this...you can count on it.

[Lord Liaden]

Interesting point, Tom. Although Giganto's 10 DEX was a little too low for my tastes, his massive defenses certainly made him a true damage sponge. For his points (293, which as far as I can tell would be the same in 5E) Giganto is a combat monster. His max OCV of 8 would be all but useless against martial artists and similar speedy types without throwing something large, but most of those could scarcely hurt him anyway. With 35 DEF and 80 STR he's devastating against other bricks, though.

OTOH, he's not really a good example of a well-rounded character. To use him as a template he really should have a much broader range of Skills.

[tiger]

When I get my campaign on ther way, just have to find players in hero h*ll, I plan on not only having him come back but having the heroes end up in the middle of his revenge.

When he decides the time is right to get his revenge on those who thought they killed him the heroes will have the "great luck" to be fighting them at the time. :D

[levi]

If I were going to re-vamp Muerte, I would definitely include a re-vamp of Giganto, perhaps making him spikey like a certain nephew of Petunia's was at one point. Or possibly having Muerte attempt to amp up the formula and make Giganto larger (to uh...live up to his name).

[tiger]

Originally posted by levi
If I were going to re-vamp Muerte, I would definitely include a re-vamp of Giganto, perhaps making him spikey like a certain nephew of Petunia's was at one point. Or possibly having Muerte attempt to amp up the formula and make Giganto larger (to uh...live up to his name).


ssshhhssshshhh...can't give it all away. I plan on adding some other characters that were killed by Hero.

Their deaths were inaccurately reported :D

[Tech]

Originally posted by levi
If I were going to re-vamp Muerte, I would definitely include a re-vamp of Giganto, perhaps making him spikey like a certain nephew of Petunia's was at one point. Or possibly having Muerte attempt to amp up the formula and make Giganto larger (to uh...live up to his name).

Giganto with growth would overdo it, IMHO. Ya gotta admit, the picture of Giganto does make him huge in size, compared to a normal human or superhuman. I'd put him in the size group of the Hulk. Fleshing out some skills, adding various new powers, perhaps Power Defense, Flash Defense and/or Lack of Weakness, maybe Superleap and so on can easily make him tougher.

Back in Enemies II, I figured out a way to give Giganto 1 more CV level, without increasing the cost. He had:
15 pts - 5 Levels with Punch
9 pts - 3 Levels with Grab

I changed them to this:
15 pts - 3 HTH Levels
9 pts - 3 Levels with Punch
:D

[Enforcer84]

I always thought that Prof. Muerte fit the Invisivble woman role. He had the forcefield based technology.

btw Giganto has always been one of my favorites. I brought him back as a henchmen for the as yet unnammed Spanish Monarch for my Divine Right organization.

Fore the record, Terror Incorporated's name has been appropriated by the German Monarch, Baron Terror.

[Rechan]

Man, Muerte and Giganto sound great. :) I feel sort've left out, coming in as late as I did. c.c

[Armitage]

Originally posted by Tech
Giganto with growth would overdo it, IMHO. Ya gotta admit, the picture of Giganto does make him huge in size, compared to a normal human or superhuman. I'd put him in the size group of the Hulk.

The following cartoon was in "Murphy's Rules".

[Lord Liaden]

Yeah, Classic Enemies lists Giganto's height at 5' 8", but his weight is over 300 lbs.! Guess it depends on your definition of "giganto".

[Starcorp Man]

Yeah I was/am a big fan of the professor myself. I expanded his write up from 4E, since a lot of the Classic Enemies conversions were pretty much skill lighter then I liked.

[Lord Liaden]

You know, for someone who wants a revived Prof. Muerte to renew Terror Inc. without violating current continuity, I believe Pantera and White Flame are currently unemployed...

[Magnetron]

I just thinking that in the CKC Destroyer never scared his face with fire ... if so the Doctor Muerte will lack this feature right now ... or maybe He will lack it before Feurmacheur treatment ...

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by Rechan
Man, Muerte and Giganto sound great. :) I feel sort've left out, coming in as late as I did. c.c

If you'd ever like to see what villains from 4th Edition didn't make it into the new Champions Universe, a copy of the Classic Enemies villain compendium isn't that hard to find. It often turns up used on eBay, the online auction site, usually for less than its cover price. And used game retailers may have copies too - if you'd like I can recommend several good online ones who carry quite a bit of Hero stuff.

IMO it's a fine collection of villains, many of whom were never revamped for 5E . Even those who were often have significant differences from their earlier incarnations, which might interest you. And 4E writeups are very easy to convert from.

[Rechan]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
If you'd ever like to see what villains from 4th Edition didn't make it into the new Champions Universe, a copy of the Classic Enemies villain compendium isn't that hard to find. It often turns up used on eBay, the online auction site, usually for less than its cover price. And used game retailers may have copies too - if you'd like I can recommend several good online ones who carry quite a bit of Hero stuff.

IMO it's a fine collection of villains, many of whom were never revamped for 5E . Even those who were often have significant differences from their earlier incarnations, which might interest you. And 4E writeups are very easy to convert from.

I'd love that. Sure, suggest away! And a collection of villains is good, even if I have a nice amount for my campaign. There's always new campaigns and such.

[Crimson Arrow]

Originally posted by rjcurrie

If I remember things correctly, the bad Professor and his friends were originally created back in one of the original Enemies books for 2nd edition Champions by Steve Perrin. Steve based them on a set of miniatures created by a company of Heritage which were based on Doom and the Fantastic Four. I believe the original description of them made reference to their long "heritage" of crime.

That's really interesting, if your recollection is correct (and I've no reason to doubt it). If the miniatures were Dr. Doom AND the FF, was one of them left out when Terror Incorporated were written up? If so, presumably it was a stretchy guy, as Muerte must have been the Doom figure. However, Scorpia is not much like the Invisible Girl (as she was then). Does anyone know any more about these figures?

As to Giganto, he should probably be written on about 400 points under 5th Ed rules. I'd consider giving him a "Brick Tricks" multipower, the Strength Power skill and possibly some of the Brick Martial Arts moves from The Ultimate Martial Artist.

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by Rechan
I'd love that. Sure, suggest away! And a collection of villains is good, even if I have a nice amount for my campaign. There's always new campaigns and such.

By your command:

www.nobleknight.com

www.titangames.com

www.dragonstrove.com (look in the Games Catalogue under both "Mayfair Games and Iron Crown Enterprises", and "Super-Hero Related Games"

www.sentrybox.com (check the Games - Roleplaying catalogue under "I" for "Iron Crown")

www.cyberdungeon.com (This and the Sentry Box above are both Canadian, so don't worry if the prices seem inflated - you should reduce them by about one-third for American equivalents.)

Between them, you should be able to find almost any rare and/or OOP game item you want. :)

[Rechan]

Now here's a new, worryful question:

What products should I get, if I were in the market to get?

Memesis GO away!

My group is... rather unique. They're very Dark Champion in the Batman feel. Not a whole lot of 'People threatening to blow up the city! Stop them!' Prime example: The next plot is going to involve the victim of a corporate 'snuffing' of a whistleblower, said whistleblower developing the ability to 'astrally project' a Brick type persona that he'll use to kill the people involved (Ala Mask of the Phantasm). The PCs have to pull a 'who dun it' and try to prevent the murders.

So, definetly certain modules, villains, etc, just Don't Work with them. :)

[Siberian Tiger]

Originally posted by Enforcer84
I always thought that Prof. Muerte fit the Invisivble woman role. He had the forcefield based technology.

btw Giganto has always been one of my favorites. I brought him back as a henchmen for the as yet unnammed Spanish Monarch for my Divine Right organization.

Fore the record, Terror Incorporated's name has been appropriated by the German Monarch, Baron Terror.

Hey Enforcer84 - your Divine Right organization sound sinteresting. Care to share any further information about it with the board ?

[Rechan]

Originally posted by Siberian Tiger
Hey Enforcer84 - your Divine Right organization sound sinteresting. Care to share any further information about it with the board ?

Sinteresting? Fruedian slip, or just a delicious typo? ;)

[Siberian Tiger]

To paraphrase Hong Kong Phooey:

Freudian Slip - could be
Delicious typo - maybe
Candidate for the super names post - definately !

[Crimson Arrow]

Siberian Tiger - while Enforcer84 will no doubt give you some more details, see this link.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3259

Rechan - Derek Hiemforth has a list of all Hero Books ever done at

http://rhinobunny.com/derek/champions/herogameslist.html

What you need to look for is stuff for Dark Champions. There were some mystery-based adventures in those products, but I can't recall where you will find what. One of the other posters will doubtless be able to assist you in greater detail.

[Rechan]

Well, I don't need to do All mystery stuff. But one of the PCs *is* a private eye (Yes, your average Noirish, witty private eye... with teleportation, bullet-time, and the ability to slow people down).

But yes, I'm dealing a lot with crime and so on. The New Purple Gang, a hidden crime boss, etc etc.

It's a shame I can't get my hands on some reviews of these products, to see what's in 'em before purchase.

[levi]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
You know, for someone who wants a revived Prof. Muerte to renew Terror Inc. without violating current continuity, I believe Pantera and White Flame are currently unemployed...

Don't forget The Whip and Shamrock...nothing better than a guy with 75 STR AND Boxing Martial Arts AND 3d6 Luck!

"I hope your insurance is paid up, boyo!" - Love that quote!

[steriaca]

Profesor Murute (leader): If I remember corectly, his powers were based on magitisem generated by his power armor (mostly force fields). The new version would be stuck in his armor (since Fuirmancer wielded most of it), and because of the wields, he can't 'move right' without using magitisem on himself. But he has modified his armor to comensate. He acualy staged his 'death' as an atempt at pasive suicide when he thought Doctor Destroyer was dead. Now that the bad doctor is back, he has mix emotions about that.

Oh, and being locked up in his own power armor has made him more that a littel bit crazy. His empathy twords others is now at the all time low.

Giganto: "The Fist Of Murute" has, indeed, become larger. And can absorb physical attacks into more size (growth). He is, basicly, Murute's "W.M.D", as he sets him loose in a city, and watch superheros punch him into a larger size.

Pantera: A woman who's body was expermented on. She now has a personality of a wild cat, and likes to hunt and kill others. Only Murute can control her, and only bairly.

My guess is, we are going to need a few original supers to fill in the holes of the team. Thay should all be of South American orgin, just to fit in with the bad profesor.

[Enforcer84]

Originally posted by Siberian Tiger
Hey Enforcer84 - your Divine Right organization sound sinteresting. Care to share any further information about it with the board ?

Well, they sprang from the fact that when I got Creation Workshop and hero creator, the Champions New Millenium Eurostar was there. They were different enough from the originals that I thought of forming a rival villain team.

It grew from there. Basically Divine Right is a combination of not-quite-mastervillain level villains and RAVEN. They are made up of about (at the moment) half a dozen (mostly European) supervillains who want to rule the world. Their main strenth is that they have banded together and pooled their resources and have a relatively simple plan for divying up the world once its theirs. Their main weakness is they form cliques and plot eachothers demise once the world is theirs. Aside from the newly joined Barron Terror and his "Terror Incorporated". The Council of Monarchs act as far behind the scenes as possible. They each have agents with similar technology but differing uniforms to further hide the fact that they are one powerful organization rather than several smaller ones. Its this ability to seem like the "lesser evil" when compared to VIPER, or even ARGENT, that keeps the world spanning UNTIL mostly off their backs. According to some, the organization was started in 1945, but this isn't true, it was started thousands of years BC. The three oldest and most powerful members represent civilizations that died befre Rome was an empire.

[Starcorp Man]

Originally posted by levi
Don't forget The Whip and Shamrock...nothing better than a guy with 75 STR AND Boxing Martial Arts AND 3d6 Luck!


Whip and Bora were both killed "sigh," to make room for the two Terror Inc. Members.

Shamrock, always a cool character, great for a merc.