Help with a Russian team

[JmOz]

I am working on the russian team of HEROES. These guys are part of my Centurians...

 

Okay the members of the team are as followed:

 

Red Knight, a super soldier, Team Leader

Spector, a Mentalist

I am also seeing a mystic of some kind

The team needs a brick, I am thinking a Wear Bear, but I am not all that set on it (Actualy thinking of making the Mystic a Wear Bear)

Also thinking about a Blaster or two

I also want to include a duplicator

 

I'm working on names for them, also I don't want them to be to stereotypical...

[Supreme Serpent]

Are these modern-day Russians, or Soviets?

 

Cheyrnobl - Radiation blaster - one of firefighters who went into the reactor to try to control it - now only his special containment suit keeps him from being a threat to his fellows.

 

Volga - Hydro-man type, turns to water, etc

[JmOz]

Modern Day, but the team would recruit from the local area (In otherwords they don't all need to be Russian, but as the next team over is in Paris or Tokyo the area it covers is mostly the old USSR

[Trebuchet]

For an NPC Russian government team in my campaign I had a character named Crazy Ivan, who was a Duplicating/Teleporting/Images (Self-Only) martial artist who randomly created 2-12 Duplicates and/or Images each Phase. Since his TP and Duplicates all had IE, it was virtually impossible to tell which version was real and which was a mere image. (The concept was that he pulled nearly identical copies of himself from nearby parallel universes.

 

Teamwork and Mind Link Only with Duplicates (To reflect the identical thought processes) thrown in made him pretty interesting, although he was fairly low powered. I never completed the design, although the rough draft alone was interesting.

[Monolith]

Here are a few I use in my game:

 

Komar (Mosquito) shrinker with Drain attack.

Krasny Kralik (Red Rabbit) speedster with great leaping ability too.

Vodopad (Waterfall) water control.

Koroleva (the Queen) mentalist.

Goriy (Mountain) Growth brick.

Kot (the Cat) male marial artist.

Beliy Svet (White Lightning) electricty control.

[Doug McCrae]

How about:

 

An ex-hitman for the Russian Mafia

A couple of showbiz faux lesbians. Sorta like Sapphire from the Champions.

[Lord Liaden]

I'd be a little wary of characters identifying themselves as "Red-whatever" for contemporary Russian heroes. That's strongly associated with the Communists and the Soviet Union. I know that there are still Communists and many other folks in Russia nostalgic for the Soviet era, but it would be a politically charged name to take. If this team were sponsored by the current government it would probably not be acceptable - they're very image conscious, especially with such high profile symbols as superheroes.

[freakboy6117]

I'm stealing this one from 2000ad but Citizen X

 

Yuri Gagarin didn’t return to earth quite how he left. He encountered strange cosmic radiation whilst orbitting the earth. When he returned he had become an extremely potent psychic.

 

After the discovery of his gifts was made he worked for years with the KGB using his international goodwill visits to influence world events but eventually grew tired of the corruption and idiocy endemic in the soviet system. The final straw was when his KGB handlers tried to use him to destroy the Apollo missions. Faking his own death with mental illusions he vanished and started to work against the communist system eventually helping trigger the collapse.

 

After trying to help steer the newly free nation form the shadows he relapsed the country truly needed heroes so came out of the shadows masquerading as a clone of Gagarin

He acts as a figure had a representation of what a free Russia can be.

he tends to use his more showy talents telekinesis and pyro-kinesis most but subtle use of his mind control and illusion powers are always in evidence.

 

deep down he still dreams about a glorious expansion of the human race into the solar system within his life time(of course with the extended lifespan that the strange radiation gifted him he may just see it)

[freakboy6117]

Couple of more concepts

 

One obvious one would be a repentant vampire from Transylvania

 

A Mongolian horse archer/martial artist with magic weapons and Armour (possibly belonging to Genghis Khan or some such) and a flying spectral horse

 

Buran = snowstorm (also the name for the soviet space shuttle) Siberian mutant with cold powers must wear thermal regulator suit at all times. (Ice powers /power Armour/onboard super computer due to perfect superconductor temps)

 

The TUNGUSKIAN for the best part of a century people have wondered about the mysterious Tunguska event well threes no reason to wonder the Tunguskian is the being that fell to earth that day leveling trees for miles around the Tunguskian is a form of crystallized energy on impact many parts where scattered around the world scattering the beings full consciousness and memories the part that was recovered by Russian scientist was barely intelligent but as more fragments where recovered the being regained some of its memories and power eventually it gained enough strength to escape and seek outré its missing parts

 

The Tunguskian seeks out this fragments to help it rest as the fragments grant super powers or can be used as a power source for super technology being a superhero is an excellent way for it to track them down and finally restore its self completely.

 

How about for your duplicator

Soyuz, which means union in Russian

A swarm of semi intelligent anti gravity blobs that can split apart and become individual low powered blasters or combine into a much more intelligent and powerful form.

Picked up on some rock capture mission some where in the solar system.

[Zoroaster]

I've got a name and a costume concept:

 

Berkut (Russian for "Golden Eagle")

 

The right arm, a third of the chest, and half of the right leg is white. The center of the suit is blue. And the left arm, a third of the chest, and half of the left leg is red. On the chest is a golden double eagle, hence the name.

 

The costume and name would work well with a number of concepts: brick, martial artist, blaster, what have you.

[Supreme Serpent]

Originally posted by Zoroaster

Berkut (Russian for "Golden Eagle")

 

That's the word I was looking for! Berkuts are nasty - used to be used to hunt wolves...

[Doug McCrae]

Originally posted by Zoroaster

The right arm, a third of the chest, and half of the right leg is white. The center of the suit is blue. And the left arm, a third of the chest, and half of the left leg is red. On the chest is a golden double eagle, hence the name.

How about a trio called White, Blue and Red?

[Kzinbane]

How about something from the Great Patriotic War (known to the rest of us as WW2). Instead of the bear motif for the brick go for T-34 (the tank that saved Russia). Another one would be go a step further into the mystic realm and make Motherland (whatever that would be in Russian) as the mystic brick woman empowered with the strength of the people.

[Killer Shrike]

Just remember that a lot of the countries that were 'in' the USSR did not like their Russian oppressors and dont like them any better now that they are free of their rule. So supers from former tributaries might not all be real eager to rub elbows with Russians.

 

All that aside:

 

Rus: Super Athelete/Warrior type who uses a Viking Sword and wears hi-tech Lamellar Armor. His only actual super power is nigh-invulnerability (P&E Dmg Reduc 75% Resistant, Regen 1 BODY per Turn). Everything else is training.

 

Troika: "Speedster Martial Artist" without movment powers -- Hyper Reflexes, high speed, high DCV, and knows three different Martial Arts styles.

 

Glastnost: A reciprocating damage absorber.

[Doug McCrae]

Originally posted by Kzinbane

Instead of the bear motif for the brick go for T-34 (the tank that saved Russia).

That's a good one.

[Scatterbrain]

You could also have a Brick/Sidekick team called URSA MAJOR and URSA MINOR (or maybe HAMMER and SICKLE, but I think that one's been done).

 

A good energy-projector character could be STAR TSAR. Or maybe a ice-based one named SIBERIAN SNOWSTORM.

 

A good mentallist: PRINCESS ANASTASIA.

 

A good martial artist type: THE COSSACK. (He could do that butt-to-the-ground kicking dance we see in stereotyped Russians in the movies.)

 

Of course, their headquarters would be in THE GULAG.

 

Gee...maybe I should keep these for myself!

[DreadDomain]

I'd be a little wary of characters identifying themselves as "Red-whatever" for contemporary Russian heroes. That's strongly associated with the Communists and the Soviet Union

 

Not a problem. Westerners associate red with communism not Russians. Red was already the national color of Russia before the rise of communism and still is. For example, their army is still called the Red Army.

[Scatterbrain]

For example, their army is still called the Red Army.

 

Which would be a great name for a duplicator, eh?

[Guest Major Tom]

My $.02 (or however much it turns out to be):

 

For starters, if you happen to have GURPS:International Super Teams

(or know someone who does), there's a Russian battlesuit super in

there called Bogatyr. I don't have my copy in front of me right now,

but IIRC, the guy needs the armor not only for combat but for

mobility as well, since he doesn't have the use of his legs. I also seem

to remember that the guy uses an axe in combat (yeowtch!).

 

As far as having a character named Star-Tsar goes, I think that the name

has already been used in the comics (DC, to be exact. It was one of

two aliases used by Mark Shaw, a.k.a. Manhunter; the Privateer

was the other one).

 

Now, as far as the Tunguskian goes, I like the idea of a character

whose primary motivation is to, literally, find himself. However, I

can just see a particularly evil GM using this not only against him, but his friends/teammates as well (especially when you consider that the Tunguska Explosion of 1908 was 1500

times more powerful than the A-bombs that were dropped on

Japan 37 years later -- and those early nukes had explosive yields

somewhere in the 10- to 20-kiloton range).

 

One of the characters that I'm currently working on is a size-

changer called Antares. As the character concept stands right

now, Antares has the power to grow from his normal height of

6'0" to a maximum of 30'0". He's also something of a "flag-suit", as

his costume mirrors the color scheme of the current Russian

flag (white over blue over red), with an eight-pointed red star

on the white part of the uniform. I named the character after

the star Antares, a red supergiant approximately 300 times the

size of our Sun.

 

Major Tom

[freakboy6117]

Oh yeah that what I intended I thought jmoz was describing an NPC team so having a slowly increasing in power alien life form that could suddenly realize that it was a weapon sent to earth to destroy all life or a repository of alien knowledge sent to catalogue earth or to help elevate us to a higher level of being or for that matter just got lost on the way to the galactic sic fi con and crashed and its partner is going to kill him when it gets home a century late.

 

 

Always good for a side plot or when the players need a new villain. Especially with that slow realization on the part of The Tunguskian trying to fill in the blanks of that fragmented memory its motivations and even personality changing as it discovers more fragments etc. imagine finding the chunk that contains most of its negative emotions and suddenly going on a rampage when all its rage and a life time of suffering is returned. Or the fragment that contains its fear turning it into a craven coward.

Only to return to a more normal state when it finds another fragment.

 

[Rechan]

Here's some concepts I've used for Russians in the past:

 

Zero: Statistics master. His brain is able to process physics formuli so quickly and accurately that he can pinpoint weak spots in structures, decide the exact distance required to move from an attack, etc.

 

On a similar vein:

 

Checkmate. An Ex-KGB intelligence officer who had the unique mutant ability for analysis and tactics. Looking over battlefields, observing opponents fighting styles, and using technology to the fullest to gain all the information about a target, Checkmate was one of the first put in line for Russia's cybernetics program. He was outfitted with a few things to better enhance his own capabilities; a smal vision multipower (N-Ray vision, night vision, telescopics, enhanced Per rolls), and enhanced dex for his other talent: sharpshooter. But the Find Weakness power is all his.

 

For your Russian Team, I could suggest something really... gimmicky. Don't hurt me. Chess. A duplicating Brick (Rook), a teleporter (Knight), your Mystic (Bishop), a mentalist (Queen: use of Mind control to create Pawns out of bystanders) and the team Leader, the King.

 

Another gimmicky idea: For the duplicator, how about one of those dolls that have smaller replica inside of them? So he's got a Growth power, and then duplicates someone regular sized, then smaller, and smaller...

[ThothAmon]

Nobody heard of Red Doom? The Supreme Soviet? Comintern?

 

These are two Soviet Bloc teams for the Champions Universe as detailed in 3rd edition Red Doom, and they are updated in the 4th edition Classic Organisations.

 

Peoples Commando III - cyborg killing machine GI Joe style

Cosmo - energy projector power pool type

General Mayhem - WWII giant brick with cold powers

Ivan The Great - General Mayhem's son

Peristroika - mentallist

Marathon - steroid enhanced Olympic competitor (with death dealing sporting goods)

Red Shield - nephew of the original Golden Avenger!!

Polish Powerhouse - electric energy projector

Scarlet Sentinel - giant mechabot (c.f. Big O)

Soyuz - mega duplicator

Sputnik - telekinetic flyer

Bolshevik Barracuda - water projector

Disinformer - Soviet James Bond

Tokamak - power suit energy projector (AKA Plasma Ranger)

 

There are others but my memory is failing...

[Monolith]

Originally posted by ThothAmon

Nobody heard of Red Doom? The Supreme Soviet? Comintern?

We all remember them, just after 15+ years I think we're all looking for something new. There are only so many old, reused concepts we can tolerate. Sometimes you need new and fresh ideas and perspectives.

[JmOz]

Also I am reluctant to use characters from Hero Games, while some I will borrow Ideas from, this team should be unique.

 

I like the idea of Chernoble

I think the mystic might specialise in Ice powers

On the duplicator I am thinking a UT Belt, and Agent level stats but he can dup into about 32 others (all with Mind Link). The one catch is going to be the equipment, still trying to figure out how I want it to work...

Another idea I got on him is that he will be the brick:

1: Str 60 35/35

2: Str 55 33/33

3: Str 53 30/30

5: Str 50 28/28

9: Str 45 25/25

 

I will probably combine these two ideas into one idea

 

A Duplicator with higher than normal stats, and 5 forms, who caries around a UT Belt and a blaster pistol...

[freakboy6117]

rechan the charecter you decribes as duplicator was in an episode of the tick cartoon he was called THE LIVING DOLL and his catchphrase/battlecry was "I'm filled with tinier men!"