Symbols, Team Name, and Calling Cards

[Hermit]

"CRIMINALS ARE A COWARDLY AND SUPERSTITIOUS LOT, SO MYDISGUISE MUST BE ABLE TO STRIKE TERROR INTO THEIR HEARTS. I MUST BE A CREATURE OF THE NIGHT, BLACK, TERRIBLE... A...A...BATMAN!

 

And who would know better than Bruce?

 

The Superman symbol is universal, the Batman one even became part of a 'batsignal' for a harried commisoner to call for his help. Spider-Man's became a spotlight on his belt to hone in on criminal scum.

 

Heck, even recently, GL John Stewart left a Ring imprint on someone on the Animated Justice League in a fashion that would make the original "Spider" proud.

 

Do any of you try to design symbols for your Champions' characters to go along with the names and costumes? Or for that matter, leave calling cards?

What was the in character reason for it?

 

Why did your team pick their name? Or did they even have a choice? Again, I'm speaking more of in character rationale than out of it.

[Eyendasky80]

I just finished a character recently who is a street-level vigilante/detective type. Or in two words: Batman Clone. Roy Paul chose a spider as his symbol and became The Brown Recluse, or Recluse. His backstory involves his Uncle having his parents murdered for the family fortune. The Uncle was jealous because he had squandered his inheritance while his brother built an industrial empire with his. The job was bungled and Roy was left alive. The Uncle, not wanting to raise suspicion, was forced to raise Roy and most of the fortune was placed in trust out of his reach. When Roy turned 18, his uncle made his play, and hired some thugs to stage a kidnapping and murder Roy. Roy sat in a basement for a couple of days awaiting his fate. He watched a spider building a web and imagined himself as an insect caught in a web, waiting to be drained. He overheard his kidnappers talking about killing him and he became even more despaired. Then he heard his Uncle's voice just before the door swung open. His Uncle shot him three times and then killed the kidnappers. Either by sheer force of will or some twist of fate, Roy regained consciousness. Climbing the stairs out of the basement was an epic struggle. He fell and climbed them several times before collapsing at the bottom of them. He sobbed and resigned himself to death. Then he saw the spider and started to imagine his Uncle as a big, fat spider draining first his parents and then him. He got angry and started up the stairs again. Repeating to himself, first in a whisper and finally in a defiant roar, "I am the spider." And just before he lost consciousness, he said, "and my Uncle is the bug." Ten years of intense training later, he returned.

[Nightfly]

My Heroes belong to the Majestic League.

The league is named after the Majestic 3 (a group of siblings) which were the first FREd heroes I made (who made it a mission to assemble an interstellar Hero league, to belong to).

 

UFO enthusiasts may know of Majestic 12, created (pre-Area 51) following the findings of Project Bluebook.

As a sidenote, the controversial exploits of MJ-12 were featured (fictionalized) in the epic short-lived (Bryce Zabel created) tv show Dark Skies.

 

I borrowed the Majestic name (both times) in honor of that tv show, as well as because my rpg-world includes extra-terrestrials!!

 

I also give my heroes callsigns (ala Mountaineer, Lone Wolf, etc) for use during radio coomunication

[Crimson Arrow]

This sometimes works, but is best used sparingly.

 

I think the most appropriate use I made was for The Keeper. He left behind cards showing a black tower (a keep), with a golden key superimposed on it. It symbolised that he was keeping people safe from criminals.

[Blue]

Sometimes. But off the top of my head I can't think of anyone using one, except for Audra Blue (who uses the very same Eye of Horus from my avatar).

 

I've created many symbols over the years but not many of them for recent characters. I'm not sure why; just seems I stopped doing it for some reason.

[Guest TheAuthority]

There is a PC in my group that plays theme music only when he arrives on scene. It's a Area Effect, all FM radios in 1 KM will play his theme music. Of course, he doesn't admit to it coming from him so the rest of the team members become suspicious when this music goes off.

[Tech]

Re: Symbols, Team Name, and Calling Cards

 

Originally posted by Hermit

Do any of you try to design symbols for your Champions' characters to go along with the names and costumes? Or for that matter, leave calling cards? What was the in character reason for it?

 

Why did your team pick their name? Or did they even have a choice? Again, I'm speaking more of in character rationale than out of it.

 

One of our groups hands out cards with their team name on it. It's a gold embossed card, which surprisingly, is taken by almost every villain simply because it's the only group the villain(s) have seen to do so. Of course, with such a weak rep, they need it. When I GM, I have the police roll a INT roll to see if they've even heard of them. It's hilarious. I don't recall why the team name was picked. Hmmm, I'll have to ask the other players.

[Fenixcrest]

Originally posted by TheAuthority

There is a PC in my group that plays theme music only when he arrives on scene. It's a Area Effect, all FM radios in 1 KM will play his theme music.

 

First off, that *points up to quote* is quite possibly the coolest thing evar.

 

And secondly- although none of my PC characters have had noticeable calling cards, I once ran a supers campaign with an NPC of Captain Mexico. Whenvever he appeared, I'd roll the d20 and assign a number to each character (NPC and PC) in the area, and the result of the roll would get knocked over by a flying iron sombrero.

"When Captain Mexico throws his mighty hat,

You had better duuuuuck!"

[Supreme Serpent]

We've had a few groups with symbols, but it usually doesn't come into play; it's normally for the "issue covers", meeting tables etc.

 

I put symbols on costumes alot. Lightning bolts, sun symbols, etc as appropriate to help get power idea across.

 

Omega has, well, an Omega symbol. Sometimes bends pipes/etc into that shape as calling cards. No deep reason.

 

Jack O'Lantern, with his big flaming pumpkin head, had all kinds of Halloween themed nuttiness. (1930's character) He would sometimes leave real Jack O'Lanterns around, things like that. More disturbingly, he stashed weaponry all over the city - under street sections, in warehouses, in mobster's houses...all over. Very disturbing when the vigillante pulls out a pumpkin bomb from behind your headboard. (Of course, sometimes it was a sleight of hand effect.) Reasons done: to scare the criminals, who normally DO the intimidating, and to keep the opposition off balance. He did a lot of acting nutso, but was actually very methodical in planning everything out and preparing for contingencies.

 

Oh, and the freaky laugh could count as a calling card too, I guess.

[lemming]

In zornwil's game, one of the team members hands out buisness cards with 1-900 numbers...

My character hands out the ones with the non-pay numbers.

[Chromatic]

900 numbers

 

(yeah I broke down and reactivated here.)

[lemming: In zornwil's game, one of the team members hands out buisness cards with 1-900 numbers...]

 

Hey only some of the business cards have 900 numbers, occaisionally he does hand out cards with a 877 single fee connection. Of course lately people just show up unannounced and uninvited in the conference room, no cards for them.....

 

Early in the campaign the characters made a point of extensive use of Duct tape to bind the baddies. To the point that the team was referred to as the Duct Tape Squad by smarmy journalists. In a recent session we used Duct tape again to hold someone for interrogation, first time in a long while.

 

Duct tape:

13 4d6 entangle; No def -1.5; backlash +.5; both take damage +.25; OAF -1; no range -.5; extra time: 1 turn -1; fragile focus -.25;

(backlash is the pain of removing the tape. This is actually quite effective out of combat. Just keep loading up on the wrapping, piling on the body of the entangle. Works great for unconscious foes)

[bcholmes]

Originally posted by Nightfly

As a sidenote, the controversial exploits of MJ-12 were featured (fictionalized) in the epic short-lived (Bryce Zabel created) tv show Dark Skies.

 

Fictionalized? What do you mean fictionalized?

 

Ahhhh! Everything I thought I knew about the universe is suddenly cast into doubt!

 

BC

[zornwil]

I wondered if the guys from my game would have posted yet.

 

I will add that the Duct Tape company is pressuring the Justice Squad for an endorsement - well, most of the time, at times their public image gets a little tarnished...

[Dr. Anomaly]

My group is called the Millennium Knights (guess where we're based?) and we have a publicly-known base occupying the top 4 floors of the Majestic, a turn-of-the-century hotel that survived "The Event", but in a somewhat...altered...state.

 

In any case, here's what our business cards look like.

 

I actually had them printed; including shipping, it cost me less than $6.00...yes, under six dollars! Check out VistaPrint from some great deals! Every so often they run a "250 business cards for free, just pay shipping!" introductory special. I highly reccomend them!

[Dr. Anomaly]

Oh, yeah, since my character (Dr. Anomaly, alias Dr. Solomon Kinkaid) is half-owner of the building, he has his offices in the hotel as well. His company, Diverse Applications, Ltd. occupies the 18th floor (right below the hero's base) and donates the floor space to the team as a tax write-off. Since I was ordering business cards on the cheap, I went ahead and got some for him, too:

 

[lemming]

Originally posted by zornwil

I wondered if the guys from my game would have posted yet.

 

I will add that the Duct Tape company is pressuring the Justice Squad for an endorsement - well, most of the time, at times their public image gets a little tarnished...

Suzanne probably has them tied up in some rather amazing legal contracts. Especially since Laughton wrote up the first drafts...

I'm sure their legal department is still looking up some of the terms.