David Blue Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Re: Why that costume Hermit: "From a GM perspective, the putting on the costume is one of my favorite parts of running an origin story. It is great fun to have players' characters "slapping on a costume from various outfits in a warehouse" in a hurry to "protect their secret identity" as they save the day." Great post. I've never gotten into that aspect of hero-ing. I should have, and when the chance comes, I will. As I said before, in every case the costumes of my characters are as functional as possible from their point of view. I never thought before about why all my characters make that decision. It's because I think that strong motivation makes the hero (assuming you have enough power to act effectively). A character who shows in every way down to the shape of their belt buckle that they are focused on their purpose and striving to achieve it is more heroic, from my point of view. So, for example. I have a lot of respect for characters in flag suits. If your aim is to show the flag in a favorable light - do it! And not by halves. I like minimal costumes. If torn purple pants are all you need (to comply with the Comics Code Authority), so be it. Don't wear more. Crusher Creel has a perfect costume. Professor X has usually had a perfect costume, given that he's a teacher first, and he has no powers that require him to wear anything fancy. Many heroes need people to react to them in a certain way. Superman has a perfect costume for how he wants people to react. He's more like a circus performer than a threat. Batman wanted a costume that would contribute to his being a scary guy. Obviously, it worked. But if someone has a simple purpose (or worse, no clearly discernible individual purpose), and powers and methods that don't call for them to wear anything in particular, and they haven't got an item (like Magneto's anti-mentalist helmet) that does anything for them, yet they're tricked out with every sort of elaborate visual device and a gaudy color scheme, to me that raises a question mark next to their focus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Solo Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume In the begining, when Champions and I were young, the characters mostly got colorful costumes because the character sheet had that spiffy Mark Williams outline and we had a box of markers. Ocassionally, I colored in the outline to make a costume, THEN made a character fit. As I continued to add to my characters story, many of them lost the costume all together. They were not trying to draw attention to themselves. Others have costume because it is appropiate still. Either the costume is a Foci, or it conveys a message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hex Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Aw come on, post a pic... I bet you have one I do, I do... sorry it took so long. These are drawings of my characters that I scanned and colored on the computer. Apologies for the size on some of these, I'm new at posting pics. This is my current Champs character Nephilim (I did use a Wonder Woman pose as reference): http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/vulpesferox/Nephilim_2.jpg This is a close up: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/vulpesferox/Nephilim_3.jpg This is Modem, a previous character: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/vulpesferox/Modem_3.jpg And a close up: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectrum Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume For any of the characters I've come up with, the costume design is almost random in some ways. I just come up with a look I feel suits the character, sometimes the color scheme has some relation to thier powers. Spectrum for example has a yellow and black costume, the yellow due to his light powers and the black....well I just thought it looked cool. They have no in game reason for thier costumes (mainly due to the fact that I haven't been in a game for quite some time), except for Shadowfist. He was a ninja, that pretty much dictated what he would wear from the instant I came up with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume We carefully preserved, hoarded, traced copied and repro'ed our precious set of body blanks from the very 1st edition of champions. I think I first started learning my basic muscle anatomy from them. I still have NPC's floating around drawn on them. Good times! Most of my main characters have had fairly practical costumes. Vengance barely counts, being a battlesuit character similar to a human sized Gundam. So his "Hero ID" was just a red and white powered armor suit. Outside of the armor, he looks a lot like a sterotypical Miami vice era DEA agent. Rebel was my take on a flagsuit, another of the supersolider program types, who was stuck in a coma from the late 60's till his body finally finished metabolizing the various serums. I wanted to do a rich southern boy super that we could confront some interesting issues with. Confederate flag base to the suit, with frontier scout accessories (fringed boots & gloves, .454 casull in a classic gunbelt). Revenant had a costume for "formal" occasions when the Fountation made him wear it for PR reasons that was purple and black with iron age spikey bits... which was his main compromise. Most of the time he dressed punk. Especially as one of his favorite presence attacks was letting bad guys blow holes in him without much effect. Having a 12 gauge emptied in your chest is hard on a costume. generally it ran to the leather jacket with spikes, chains, patches and painting, torn fatigues, jump boots and a wife beater. Blackjack was my pride and joy... my ATF Champions character. Played him up from a solo street vigalante to the leader of a PRIMUS sanctioned Superteam. the costumes didn't really change, nor was it all that distinctive. Basic black bodystocking, spidey style, with all his various bits of gadgets and gear, weapons and tools, instruments and hardware strapped on all over the place. As time went on, the gear changed, but the basic character always dressed the same. Tho after he was hit with an inquest and investigation into his vigalante activities, his gear became a lot more four color.... Tho strangely enough, 4 other vigalantes started showing up over the next couple of years. Funny how those super-genuis gadgetter types can mimic other charater types with enough brains and labwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Omega Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Hmm... Pristine had a light blue costume because she was from another dimension and was told super heros wore custumes. The Jackel because he was all about style. Now that I think about it, the style element is true for many of my characters. Kei-ULTRA is a second generation superhero, so accepts it's traditional. My group often goes away from costumes completely or makes them black for practicality. And for a while some players were oin a kick trying to disguise what their character could do. Leading to exchanges like: "Night Owl! I can't see a thing in this darkness, where did he go?" "Er..I can't see in the dark. I can't fly either, so don't ask me to fly and look for him, I'd just run into something anyway." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume For Bucky, well, the long black coat looks cool, there is that. But also its practical. It serves as armor and can be used almost like a cape to protect others in. And unlike a cape, less likely to get him sucked into a jet engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume When "St Barbara" was a "model" the concept of a costume didn't come up. Now she has a choice of three. A "summer outfit' (two piece aerobics work out suit in blue with multi-coloured rocket bursts and work out boots) which is cool and looks good (and she can wear it on the beach !) A "spring/autumn" outfit (one piece gymnastic leotard without sleeves coloured as above plus work out boots )striking and reminds her that she used to be a gymnast "Winter" (a "sloppy joe" top and "tracky dacks") patterned as above because a girl needs to keep warm and loose in between super battles ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Either the costume is a Foci' date=' or it conveys a message.[/quote'] Hey I like this. And in Bucky's case it is true. His coat is his focus for some of his powers. Not sure what his message is, except, here I am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Zl'f's costume is a white off-the-shoulder leotard cut high on the hips (one piece bathing suit) with a coarse weave white cotton shirt belted over it. She's experimented with different colored costumes but always comes back to white. She needs maximum freedom of movement, so her costume cannot interfere with her acrobatics. Since she travels a lot as both Zl'f and in her Secret ID, it's also something that if seen in a suitcase or drawer doesn't scream "Superhero!" to any casual observer: It's just a bathing suit and a shirt. Since ponchos are coming back into style, she's considering switching to a belted poncho instead of a shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxiekins Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume In the campaign I ran, for the longest time, Supers didn't have costumes because their existence was being kept secret from the public by the government... This was back in the 80s, by the way... Eventually, the secret was out, and Congress passed legislation to *regulate* it all, to try and prevent public panic... One of the provisions was that if a Super wanted to protect his Identity, that meant he had to have an additional Identity to do so... To be considered to be in his other Identity, or just to be considered "On Duty", he (or she) had to readily indentifiable in some way... So... Supers were legally required to register some aspect that would serve to identify them... It could be as simple as a symbol they would display on their person, up to a full-blown costume, but it had to be distinctive, and it had to be SOMETHING... Charge had electrical powers that would fry anyone that touched her bare skin, so she wore a skintight suit that nullified this with a field effect... Her costume was basically a bodysuit with an oversized turtleneck collar, and long gloves and boots... Dark blue, with electric blue for the bodysuit by her choice... Elemental had multiform with 4 extra forms, each built around one of the 4 elements... His costume was a basic bodysuit in four colors: Red, Green, White, and Black to represent the elements, using the traditional colors for each from magical tradition... Several male Supers didn't want to bother with costumes, and let other people design them for them... Later, they really wished they hadn't... You see, the way Congress worded the legislation, Supers had flexibility in what they tried to register, but if they wanted to *revise* their choice, it had to be reviewed by a Congressional subcommittee... They wound up wearing those hoaky costumes for months or years before they could legally change them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxiekins Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Heh... Behemoth's "costume" was a pair of metallic speedos... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume I like costumes because costumes look cool and are a significant part of the genre to me. It's something that states you're a super. I think anyone trying to be a super without a costume should be in for significant PRE and rep penalties. As a hero, it lets folks know you're there to help, and have a chance of handling whatever's going on. As a villain, it tells the normals not to mess with you, that you could squash them like a bug, without having to waste time and energy demonstrating it all the time. As for why I pick the costumes I do: 1) something fitting with the name/powers if possible. 2) often full body suits and full face masks. Three reasons - bad at drawing faces, feel it helps w/Secret ID's, and inspired by Spider-Man, who has one of the coolest costumes/masks ever. 3) frequent capes. Capes are cool. Not so much for acrobatic types. 4) if someone changes completely when they go super (Hulk, Colossus, etc.) then I don't worry about costumes, especially masks, as much. "I'm a nine foot tall blue gorilla" is as much of a costume as you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Great pics, Hex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxiekins Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Heh... Behemoth's "costume" was a pair of metallic speedos... I should perhaps clarify that the metallic speedos were designed by SOMEONE ELSE for him, and he was stuck wearing them until something different was approved by that Congressional Subcommittee... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume I should perhaps clarify that the metallic speedos were designed by SOMEONE ELSE for him' date=' and he was stuck wearing them until something different was approved by that Congressional Subcommittee...[/quote'] And I'm guessing they named him AFTER seeing him in a pair of speedos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxiekins Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume And I'm guessing they named him AFTER seeing him in a pair of speedos? No, he was just a burly wrestler sort that had his body reconstructed by weird biometallic aliens after a radiation accident in their engine room... He still looked normal, but his body consisted of 20 DEF material at 16 x normal density... So the codename came first... The costume was just designed for him by Charge, who was trying to get into his pants... Gawd did he hate those stupid speedos... But if he went into action without them, the police would arrest him for being "out of uniform"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jhamin Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Great pics' date=' Hex.[/quote'] Let me tell you, it's pretty cool having two illustrators in your gaming group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hex Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Great pics' date=' Hex.[/quote'] Thaaaaaaaank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tengu King Posted March 18, 2005 Report Share Posted March 18, 2005 Re: Why that costume Well, my current character, Shogun, is a time-travelled warrior of ancient Japnese descent. As such he wears a pseudo-heroic outfit based on several Chinese fighting costumes. My villain character, Goshawk, is a "totem" character. Skin tight bird-like bodysuit...got the blue and white coloration from a gorgeous photo of the actual bird in National Geographic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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