Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

[Susano]

I was flipping though NINJA HERO looking up something in the NPCs section, and a thought struck me... what did the readers think of them? Was there any you really liked? Any you decided had to be used in your game right now! Any make you laugh? Any make you say "what was he thinking?"

 

Just curious.

[yamamura]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Guess it is time to go back and reread the NPC in Ninja HERO. I suppose that the disgustingly powerful ninja doesn't count:)

[Susano]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Guess it is time to go back and reread the NPC in Ninja HERO. I suppose that the disgustingly powerful ninja doesn't count:)

 

Uhm... no... the generic ninja don't count.

[steriaca]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

From the first book, the entier group YooSho is my faverote. And "what were thay thinking", the guy who created the "superboxers".

 

From your book, my faverote has to be your homage to Raditz. My next faverote has to be your take on Son Goku. As for "lame", there are none I can think of.

[Susano]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Liked:

Most of the Ninja - Good builds for most, though the more powerful really became pretty superheroic/villainous in scale (Steel Ninja bugged me... "Robato" was just kind of doofy)

Alberto Montari - Nice to see a western fencer, and his plot seeds were fun

Ch'ing Shih - Was excellent. I actually have placed a few into my Fantasy hero campagin.

Chinese Ghost - Alse quite excellent, especially the "Hair Elemental Control".

 

Disliked:

Meow Yen - So silly. c'mon. Meow anything for a cat guy was just way too whimsical.

Steel Ninja - yeah, i know it's a Mortal Kombat homage. But "Robato"? C'mon.

 

Liked AND Disliked:

It was great to see Wong Fei Hung included, but I thought his Characteristics were somewhat over inflated for a historical character. This in itself was fine, as he is legendary in his scope, but what bugged me was the comment that I "shouldn't" alter his attributes.

Midnite Maid - I rather liked the character build, but I really disliked the name.

 

Funny, thumbing through everything, what seems to bug me most were some of the names. The Monsters section had my two favorite builds, and I'd love to see more like them. I've placed both monsters into my fantasy hero campaign, though the PCs have yet to face them. I'm still curious how they will react when they do.

 

 

Heh... now you get to peek inside the mind of the writer...

 

The Steel Ninja has a homage to endless ninja from the Mortak Kombat games and yes, "Robato" was chosen because it sounded like a goofy madeup video game martial art.

 

Meow Yen is not my fault. When I created the NPCs for NH, I knew I wanted one hero and one villain for each "power level" (Wuxia received one extra). I also decided to borrow a trick from WATCHERS OF THE DRAGON and create characters based on artwork and ideas seen in THE ULTIMATE MARTIAL ARTIST. So, Meow Yen and John Wa the Monkey King both come from the little capsule character descriptions seen early in UMA under character creation. Anyway, as Meow is a video game character, and I've seen names like "Geese Howard" and "Kushnood Butt" in real games, I figure I did okay.

 

The character sheet for Wong Fei Hong is not for the historical character, but for the modern cinematic take on him. He is also a character I poured a lot of heart into, hence the line about not altering his characteristics -- he's supposed to be that bad-assed!

 

As for Miidnite Maid, the name was suggested to me in bit of brainstorming (as was "Pretty Soldier Waitress X"). She is one of my favorites, and has been fairly popular with some readers.

[Lethosos]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

I've always thought that Midnite Maid was corny in name, but had a fairly solid build that you could yank wholesale and do a little modifications to make it different.

 

The Chinese Ghost and Hopping Vampire are excellent additions--I can use the info in those for Eight Sages (since I'm currently looking at the myth and legends of that place--so I needed a blend of Chinese/Japanese thoughts and make them unique enough. You should see the Kappa that I've been brewing up, mwahahahah. )

[Doug Limmer]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Meow Yen is not my fault. [...] Anyway' date=' as Meow is a video game character, and I've seen names like "Geese Howard" and "Kushnood Butt" in [u']real[/u] games, I figure I did okay.

Not to mention "Sol Badguy."

 

There is a character named "Lady Meow (or Myao) of the Iron Cat Fist" in the anime Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran, so the name didn't seem that strange to me.

[OddHat]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Well, the four that made the strongest impressions:

 

The Monkey King: I like this take on the character, and he's done on a very reasonable number of points. I could easilly drop him into a Supers campaign with minor tweaks. Having him be a reincarnation / avatar rather than the original was both a good move from a design and playability point of view (I doubt the original Monkey could be done for less than 1200 points); I've used that approach myself when designing versions of him for campaigns.

 

Wong Fei Hung: Again, I like this take on the character. It's not quite Jet Li's Fei Hung, and it's absolutely not Jackie Chan's Fei Hung, or Sammo Hung's mentor in the Magnificent Butcher, but it incorporates elements of all of them. If I needed a powerful Chinese Master NPC, I'd grab this sheet. Drunken boxing was a tough call for him; I don't think I ever saw a film where he used it except for the Jackie Chan movies, and yet it's definitely part of the story. I also liked your take on his history.

 

Alice Ono - I like and dislike this one. Part of it is because Hero System mechanics break down at lower levels; she seems too strong for a lightly built 15 year old girl who only does standard Judo training. Also, I don't know why a Japanese American is in a Salor Suit if she's not going to a Catholic school. On the other hand, the Japanese American Judoka is a type that fits into all sorts of campaigns, and you drew her personality and history well in a very short piece.

 

Tsukikage - Loved her. I want to see her star in her own series of movies, directed by Takeshi Miike or Takeshi Kitano. I'd use her in a campaign in a minute.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

I liked all the characters fine. The art was hit and miss, even when it was good quality. To me Midnight Maid will always look kind of like Chun Li wearing an apron, a domino mask, and Ryu's gloves. The boxing gloves were just wrong. but I could see how the artist might not know the difference...

[Susano]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

I liked all the characters fine. The art was hit and miss' date=' even when it was good quality. To me Midnight Maid will always look kind of like Chun Li wearing an apron, a domino mask, and Ryu's gloves.[/quote']

 

Uhm... yeah. that was the idea. Note her style -- Shotokan karate.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Uhm... yeah. that was the idea. Note her style -- Shotokan karate.

No crappy art can change that image for me. I know the truth.

I also love your art for her. If I were happier with my ability to draw women, she'd be on my fanart list.

[Chuckg]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

I liked Dr. Pain and Tsukikage enough that I stole them for my own use -- just the general idea (pro wrestler turned HERO protagonist) for Dr. Pain, along with stage name and stage persona. Revamped the rest of him completely. And a barely-customized-at-all Tsukikage become both a villain and part of a PC's Mystery Origin in my (on hiatus) "Aegis" campaign.

 

Midnite Maid was just freakin' *hilarious*. I still bust out every time I hit the "No, Stan Lee." part.

 

And I hear 'Karate Kid' theme music every time I think about Jack Murray, 'ninja master'.

[Ura-Maru]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Loved:

The crossdressing ninja. I’ve had a weak spot for crossdressing ninja girls ever since Yotenden. She’d have fit right into LWaC.

Jack Murry (I think I went to high school with him, actually)

Toji Shin

Jiu Zing

Tai-Sheng Zeng

Alberto Montari

Dr. Pain

 

Didn’t like:

Cat people. Don’t like cat people anyway. Even if they’re space pirates. Unless they’re the leopard twins from Escaflowne.

Robo-Ninja. Robotic ninja should have open-frame construction. I’m SURE that’s in the rules somewhere. But I hated Mortal Kombat, so I may be biased.

 

Everyone else was pretty good. Midnight Maid would probably have made the loved list, except for the already-mentioned art problems.

 

---

No making fun of Geese! Geese is cool!

[Black Rose]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Loved Tsukikage. This, to me, is what ninja should be. Then again, I like things at a somewhat higher power level than some.

 

Liked Alice Ono, primarily for the idea. I've always liked the "teenaged heroes" concept.

 

Any of the ones I disliked were more for "I don't like this person" as opposed to "this writeup suXXor", IYKWIM.

[Susano]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Loved Tsukikage. This, to me, is what ninja should be. Then again, I like things at a somewhat higher power level than some.

 

Liked Alice Ono, primarily for the idea. I've always liked the "teenaged heroes" concept.

 

Any of the ones I disliked were more for "I don't like this person" as opposed to "this writeup suXXor", IYKWIM.

 

IYKWIM -- What does this stand for?

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Heh heh...telling you would ruin the subtle irony...

[Susano]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Heh heh...telling you would ruin the subtle irony...

 

Odd... I stared at it last night and got nothing. I look at it this morning and "If you know what I mean" jumps right out at me.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Favortie NINJA HERO NPC?

 

Odd... I stared at it last night and got nothing. I look at it this morning and "If you know what I mean" jumps right out at me.

you have grasped the pebble from her hand...now what will you do?