Hermit Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Bored. What can I do with myself? Not that, that's illegal in my state, this is the bible belt after all.... Ah, I Know, I'll pester fellow forum posters for ideas again. They LOVE that. Okay, tolerate, anywho, close enough to count. I was thinking of theme super villain teams, and then sort of lamented how there weren't many theme super hero teams. Then I thought, well, what themes would work well for a super hero team? Pretty much the same, but still... so far I've got: The Elements (either classic western 4, or Oriental take) Animal group (All Birds, Spiders, Snakes, etc.) The Zodiac (Since the bad guys version of 4th appears to be out) The Tarot (Though I actually have an organization like that already) Regular playing cards (Joker as a hero? Gasp!) Chess (or some other game) Colors (Rainbows are fun) Music or Art (Though the bad guys the Choir have the former wrapped up in my campaigns) Anyone wanna add to the list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams As I previously mentioned in the NGD...the food groups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Sports theme (could conceivably all do one sport, but probably better with each hero doing a different sport) Patriots (Captain America, Lady Liberty, Stars&Stripes, etc.) Same/similar powers (all speedster team, all brick team, all gadgeteers, all weapon masters, all robots) All based on one particular mythos, or all based on gods from different pantheons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams I was thinking of theme super villain teams, and then sort of lamented how there weren't many theme super hero teams. Anyone wanna add to the list? How about if I modify a bit? Regular playing cards (Joker as a hero? Gasp!) - Something like The Royal Flush Gang from DC? (Where 10 is the babe?) Chess (or some other game) - Checkmate Maybe "Pawn" has duplication - 8 forms. In Dark Champions we were Counterforce, but that really isn't a theme. In Champions we had 4 out of 6 members as bricks (40 STR or more) and one time, one of the players (and a GM also) joked that we should call ourselves The Wrecking Crew because pound for pound, we did more damge to the city than anyone else. It was really the four bricks who ended up doing things like jumping off a flying sled and grabbing onto a building wall with all of one's density increase on (don't ask me why), or throwing cars into walls (because they missed the villain) or shrinking and jumping from one buiding top to the next and when you're about to attack the villain, you turn on your full density increase & growth... and miss, plummetting through floor after floor after floor. (The player did this so often she knew not to hope to stop until after three floors.) At least this worked in our favor once. We were on Dr. Destroyer's island and said density/growth PC decided to use one of Dr. D's agent's weapon, failed her roll and shot every round off, actually destroying a power grid on accident. That was the only time the wanton chaos destruction worked in our favor. Luckily, we never had to pay for our damages, since the villains were captured and blamed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Patriots (Captain America' date=' Lady Liberty, Stars&Stripes, etc.)[/quote'] We had a Golden Age team like this, but for the life of me I can't remember the team name. The themed members were Patriot, Crimebuster, Sgt. Justice and Liberty Belle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted June 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Oh, silly me, one could go with the Periodic Table Elements or some smaller division...aka like the Metal Men. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Animals are good, especially for lower-powered teams: cats, birds, fish or other aquatics, snakes or other reptiles, animals known for exceptional strength, speed, stealthiness etc. How about abstract qualities or virtues, such as Strength, Courage, Leadership, Compassion or Cunning? You could get a lot of mileage out of heroes based on mythic figures, either from a single tradition or similar heroes from different ones (like a team of bricks embodying the spirits of Gilgamesh, Heracles, Siegfried and Beowulf). I once read an old Teen Titans comic which had them fighting creatures patterned after various avatars of Vishnu... always wanted to do something with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted June 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Animals are good, especially for lower-powered teams: cats, birds, fish or other aquatics, snakes or other reptiles, animals known for exceptional strength, speed, stealthiness etc. Best one I ever did was based on birds They almost all flew, and had a heck of a sky base. How about abstract qualities or virtues, such as Strength, Courage, Leadership, Compassion or Cunning? Doh.After the Vatican super team, you'd think I'd remember that one and put it on the list. You could get a lot of mileage out of heroes based on mythic figures, either from a single tradition or similar heroes from different ones (like a team of bricks embodying the spirits of Gilgamesh, Heracles, Siegfried and Beowulf). I once read an old Teen Titans comic which had them fighting creatures patterned after various avatars of Vishnu... always wanted to do something with that. Good suggestions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams I should add that Hero Games did publish a couple of themed hero teams, both in the 4E sourcebook Allies: the Cyberknights, all of whom carried, wore and/or were made of advanced technology; and the Zen Team, patterned after anime-style teams like G-Force/Gatchaman or the Power Rangers - cybernetic enhancements and transforming costumes, with names and powers based on various animals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enamel Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Weather themed Disaster themed (volcanoes, tsunamies, etc) Job themed (AKA the village people) Geologicaly themed (Tectoglyph the earth mage, Molten man the lava brick, Hydrothermal the desolid puff of steam, Geotime the immortal drain/transform artist, Tectonic the concussive MA, etc.) I rather like this one, obviously Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams mythological pantheons - greek/norse gods, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams One of the ideas that's bounced around in the back of my head unused so far is sort of a theme team. All the heroes in the group have part of the powers of the iconic, Superman-style hero in the game-verse. All are kind of tough and strong, but one gets lots of strength and invulnerability, another gets all the vision-based powers (heat vision, x-ray, telescopic, etc), another gets flight and speed, one gets super-breath, etc. In the original idea, they were all going to be knock-off clones of him, activated after he's been long-gone, but it could also work with the powers granted to various individuals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted June 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams I should add that Hero Games did publish a couple of themed hero teams' date=' both in the 4E sourcebook [i']Allies[/i]: the Cyberknights, all of whom carried, wore and/or were made of advanced technology; and the Zen Team, patterned after anime-style teams like G-Force/Gatchaman or the Power Rangers - cybernetic enhancements and transforming costumes, with names and powers based on various animals. Good source, and on a side anti-rant, I adored the Cyberknights. A high tech theme team, in Atlanta no less! I know it is silly of me, but some days I get so tired of the misconception that "South Equals Backwards", and voila, here's a team busting the stereotype wide open. Besides, they would be a cool team anywhere. The Zen Team also rocked;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted June 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams One of the ideas that's bounced around in the back of my head unused so far is sort of a theme team. All the heroes in the group have part of the powers of the iconic, Superman-style hero in the game-verse. All are kind of tough and strong, but one gets lots of strength and invulnerability, another gets all the vision-based powers (heat vision, x-ray, telescopic, etc), another gets flight and speed, one gets super-breath, etc. In the original idea, they were all going to be knock-off clones of him, activated after he's been long-gone, but it could also work with the powers granted to various individuals. Darn it, this is a good concept, but it also reminds me of some old comic book I saw where Superman's powers got spread out over several individuals and he had to coach them in their use to save the day until they could reverse it... At the time, it struck me as cool to see Supes depowered, but still a fairly good leader. Wish I could remember where I saw that exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterhawk Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Hmmm, heroic theme teams... Algernon Files has The Aerie, an all bird motif team. I have Team SPIRIT, the DOSPA sponsored team of all the Champions Archetypes with the Patriot add-on (Patriot Brick, Patriot MA, Patriot EB, etc.) The Argonauts all took names from Greek Mythos. Osirus 7: A team with a common background: all were normals present at the explosive death of the hero Osirus. All of them received a fraction of his power. Inspired by an old Silver Age Superman comic. The above was posted without reading the whole thread first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawksmoor Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams I am not fighting the Village People. Hawksmoor -You can get diseases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfjack Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams A theme is one way of ensuring that everyone on the team realtes well to one another... so it could be being part of the same family becomes the overriding theme. Now, if they were a particularly dysfunctional family, that could be great, particularly if any of those traits were played up. Another idea would be The Nuclear Family, name taken from the common cultural way to describe a "typical" family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams The Legion of Steel - A team of Power Armoured Superheroes. Lead by a Gadgeteer/Inventor. PSIber Force - A team of Cybernetically Activated Psionics created by the Canadian Department of Defense. They were Recruited from the Armed Forces, Intelligence, and Law Enforcement Organizations. All were tested for latent psionic potential and their powers were activated and magnified to superhuman levels using experimental cybernetic implants. Gestalt - A team of Superhumans who's powers increaded by close proximity to each other. (Didn't fly) Cheers QM P.S.: Hmmm... What if we hit you below the Bible Belt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
concord Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams The paranormal agents for the Federal Security Service (campaign version of PRIMUS) were themed... Response Force 1 - Dark Ages Team - Viking, Saxon, Celt, Norman - Viking and Saxon "retired" replaced by Centurion and Gladiator. Response Force 2 - The Knights Team - Knight, Squire, Samurai, Ronin Response Force 3 - Gem Team - Amethyst, Amber, Garnet, Ruby Response Force 4 - Eclectic Team - Rayo (Spanish for Lightning), Dragon, Huntress, Estrella (Spanish for Star) Response Force 5 - Western Team - Maverick, Ranger, Six Gun, Wrangler Response Force 6 - "The Birds" - Osprey, Falcon, Goshawk, Falcon A few Villain teams... Assault - Military themed - AirCav, Armor, Artillery, Commander, Infantry, Sniper Charade - Buffoon, Masquerade, Pantaloon, Phantasm Bomb Squad - Cordite, Dynamite, Nitro, Plastique Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Band theme (KISS, Iron Maiden, Thunder, etc.) some bands have names that suggest cool heroes or villians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTesla Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams I’ve started doing some preliminary work on making a villain team themed around the seven deadly sins. There would be Lust, as a mind controlling seductress (maybe go male just to break the stereotype), Gluttony a Blob like character, Wrath a martial arts specialist, Envy uses illusions etc. And, since I have a short attention span, I’ve also been going for an aquatic themed super team. So much water, so few heroes, fish talkers need not apply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J.Gibson Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams My old group did the seven deadly sins in a Shadowrun campaign, but we didn't really reflect the names with our characters. How about a group based on virtues? Wisdom, Perception, Honourability, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoresLost Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams One of the ideas that's bounced around in the back of my head unused so far is sort of a theme team. All the heroes in the group have part of the powers of the iconic, Superman-style hero in the game-verse. All are kind of tough and strong, but one gets lots of strength and invulnerability, another gets all the vision-based powers (heat vision, x-ray, telescopic, etc), another gets flight and speed, one gets super-breath, etc. In the original idea, they were all going to be knock-off clones of him, activated after he's been long-gone, but it could also work with the powers granted to various individuals. Darn it, this is a good concept, but it also reminds me of some old comic book I saw where Superman's powers got spread out over several individuals and he had to coach them in their use to save the day until they could reverse it... At the time, it struck me as cool to see Supes depowered, but still a fairly good leader. Wish I could remember where I saw that exactly. I think it was a Superman Annual from the late 90's and If I remember correctly Superman was appearently dead, It was an AI that had his memories coaching a hero group. The invunrable man had to be carefully lead around or he would carelessly destroy things (he could not feel a thing) simular situation with the others. Their powers were their strength and their weakness. Or so goes the memory of some one who calls himself LoresLost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted June 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams I think it was a Superman Annual from the late 90's and If I remember correctly Superman was appearently dead, It was an AI that had his memories coaching a hero group. The invunrable man had to be carefully lead around or he would carelessly destroy things (he could not feel a thing) simular situation with the others. Their powers were their strength and their weakness. Or so goes the memory of some one who calls himself LoresLost. Could very well have been. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clsage Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 Re: Theme Super Hero Teams Less a team but a "duet", based on terminology used to describe things perceived by the senses (from the pre-game history of my not yet run game universe ): Shimmer - light based powers Echo - sound based powers And yeah, I did steal a bit from "Cloak And Dagger"...... -Carl- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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