Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

[Captain Liberty]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

I put together an entire super team called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Gang (which tells you when I was listening to rock...)

 

Sponsored by "The Fool On the Hill"

 

Headquartered in "Strawberry Fields"

 

Members included:

 

Maxwell, who was actually the silver hammer. It is a cursed object that attracts punks who pick it up and are very nasty killers until finally put away.

 

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds: Tripped out LSD-head with an extensive multipower that she accesses at random.

 

Blackbird: Sonics using flyer who only operates "At the Dead of Night"

 

Nowhere Man: Everyone's favorite invisible assassin

 

Eleanor Rigby: Often the most effective member of the team, because "no one knows she is there."

 

Rocky Racoon: used only for the name, your basic feral hand-to-hand type

 

Norweigian Woods: Golf-club using energy projector

 

I'm Getting Better: absorbing brick who gets better as he is pounded on

 

And so forth

[Lucius]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

I can only remember one song inspired character, and she was for Fantasy Hero:

 

I made Christina Aguilera a Fighter, and she can't stop thanking me!

So let's see the package deal mr. Palindromy.

I doubt he'll do it' date=' but he's goofy enough to do it anyways... and make it a viable build! [/quote']

 

They asked for it....

 

 

 

Presenting Kristina of Aquilonia.

 

 

After all you put me through

(Hunted <= 14 Former Patron)

You'd think I'd despise you

But in the end I want to thank you

Because you made me that much stronger

(STR 13 3 pts)

 

When I, thought I knew you

(KS: Former Patron 4 pts)

Thinking, that you were true

I guess I, I couldn't trust

(Psych Limit: Suspicious)

Called your bluff, time is up

(Gambling 3 pts)

'Cause I've had enough

You were, there by my side

(Teamwork 3 pts)

Always, down for the ride

(Riding 3 pts)

But your, joy ride just came down in flames

'Cause your greed sold me out of shame, mmhmm

(Hunted: Agents of the King of Aquilonia <= 8 )

 

After all of the stealing and cheating

You probably think that I hold resentment for you

But, uh uh, oh no, you're wrong

'Cause if it wasn't for all that you tried to do

I wouldn't know just how capable I am to pull through

(EGO 14 8 pts)

So I wanna say thank you

 

'Cause it makes me that much stronger

(BOD 11 2 pts)

Makes me work a little bit harder

(CON 13 6 pts)

It makes me that much wiser

(+1 perception 3 pts)

So thanks for making me a fighter

(Fam Common Melee Wpns 2 pts)

Made me learn a little bit faster

(Cramming 5 pts)

Made my skin a little bit thicker

(PD 6 3 pts)

Makes me that much smarter

(INT 13 3 pts)

So thanks for making me a fighter

(Fam Common Missile Wpns 2 pts)

Ohh, ohh, ohh, ohhhh, ohh-yeah ah uhhhuh

 

Never, saw it coming

All of, your backstabbing

(Combat Sense)

Just so, you could cash in

On a good thing before I realized your game

I heard, you're going around

(KS: Intrigue 2 pts)

Playing the victim now

(Reputation, <= 14 : Betrayed Mentor)

But don't, even begin

Feeling I'm the one to blame

'Cause you dug your own grave

(Background note: Make former Patron/Mentor undead?)

 

After all of the fights and the lies

Yes you wanted to harm me but that won't work anymore

(Danger Sense)

Uh, no more, oh no, over

'Cause if it wasn't for all of your torture

(Resistance)

I wouldn't know how to be this way now, and never back down

(Psych Limit: Stubborn)

So I wanna say thank you

 

'Cause it makes me that much stronger

(STUN 30 5 pts)

Makes me work a little bit harder

(REC 7 2 pts)

Makes me that much wiser

(Tactics 3 pts)

So thanks for making me a fighter

(PS: Warrior 3 pts)

Made me learn a little bit faster

(Linguist 3 pts)

Made my skin a little bit thicker

(ED 6 3 pts)

It makes me that much smarter

(Scholar 3 pts)

So thanks for making me a fighter

(+1 all combat 8 pts)

 

How could this man I thought I knew

Turn out to be unjust so cruel

Could only see the good in you

Pretended not to see the truth

(Vulnerable to Illusions: Twice effect from Mental Illusions, double perception penalty from Images.)

You tried to hide your lies, disguise yourself

Through living in denial

But in the end you'll see

YOU-WON'T-STOP-ME

(PRE 20 10 pts)

 

I am a fighter and I

I ain't goin' stop

(Maybe regeneration?)

There is no turning back

I've had enough

 

'Cause it makes me that much stronger

(+10 STR, No Figured Characteristics, only to meet STR minima or do added damage with weapons or hand to hand 5 pts)

Makes me work a little bit harder

(END 29 1 pt)

Makes me that much wiser

(Deduction 3 pts)

So thanks for making me a fighter

(+1 Melee Combat 5 pts)

 

Made me learn a little bit faster

(Jack of All Trades)

Made my skin a little bit thicker

(Damage Resistance 6 pts (does not stop 1st BOD of a killing attack -¼ ) Real pts 5 -- I like this kind of build more than Combat Luck)

It makes me that much smarter

(+1 all INT based skills 3 pts)

So thanks for making me a fighter

(+1 Swords 3 pts)

 

Thought I would forget

but I...

I remember, I remember, I remember

Thought I would forget

but I...

I remember. I remember, I remember

(Eidetic Memory, No Conscious Control)

 

'Cause it makes me that much stronger

(+5 STR .... )

Makes me work a little bit harder

(....X5 END cost on +5 STR)

Makes me that much wiser

(Analyze Motive - Analyze skill for deducing the true motivations behind words and deeds 3 pts)

So thanks for making me a fighter

(Martial Arts, 15 pts)

 

Made me learn a little bit faster

(Cramming 5 pts)

Made my skin a little bit thicker

(Power Defense 3 3 pts)

It makes me that much smarter

(Speed Reading)

So thanks for making me a fighter

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary keeps singing

Manuever just a little bit quicker,

Turn just a little bit tighter

Oh, such lethal weapons,

Thanks for making me a fighter jet!

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

They asked for it....

 

Nice.

 

Disturbing, but nice.

[caris]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

Agreed' date=' hardly... but Big Wheel's special effects would just about [b']have [/b]to be rolling-based (look up Marble, in Teen Heroes, for some possible build results....)

 

(Rolling-based speedster with density increase, mayhaps...?)

 

I was thinking more of a cyborg who has a steamroller instead of legs.

[Lucius]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

 

Nice.

 

Disturbing, but nice.

 

That's how I first wrote it up - transcribed the song and put the game elements between lines. Somewhere around here I have a real write-up with background and so forth.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says I filed it under a "song based hero" thread Susano started....

[Susano]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

I was thinking more of a cyborg who has a steamroller instead of legs.

 

Ahhh... allow me to offer this story as a word of warning:

 

I may as well share the Worst Character Concept Ever, submitted to me by a prospective player in a Champions game I was going to run (but never got off the ground):

 

The Superlative (Invincible, Indestructible, etc.) Hammer-Wheel.

 

The Invincible Hammer-Wheel's power is that he has hammers for hands and wheels for feet. Or it could have been wheels for hands and hammers for feet. The player himself wasn't sure, but my mental picture of the character is a man with monster-truck wheels plugged into where is arms should be, who drives up to villains and kicks them with his sledgehammer feet.

 

Here's basically how the conversation went:

 

Player: I hear you're running a superhero game. Can I play?

Me: Sure. Do you have a character concept in mind?

Player: The Invincible Hammer-Wheel!

Me: Uh... (keep in mind this was to be a "serious" supers game)

Player: He has hammers for hands and wheels for feet! Or, wheels for hands and hammers for feet. I haven't decided.

Me: And how did he come by these "powers?"

Player: He was born that way.

Me: Must have been rough on his folks...

Player: He was raised by farm implements.

Me: And his motivation for doing good?

Player: He lives in the woods.

 

So whenever people bring up their "worst concept" horror-stories, all I have to say is, totally deadpan and monotone, "The Invincible Hammer-Wheel. He has hammers for hands and wheels for feet. He was born that way. He was raised by farm implements. He lives in the woods."

[caris]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

Well, I was sort of thinking of them as villains, and they are already a tad hokey just from the name concepts.

[Radar]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

From the Heavy Metal Soundtrack:

 

Radar Rider - he even rigged up speakers in his costume to play the track when he flew into battle, riding a platform of green concentric rings

 

A buddy wrote up Psychic Warrior, after the BOC tune.

 

And a sonic villain named Battlecry, after a song by an obscure metal band. (Shok Paris, maybe?)

 

I'm sure there are more, as musically addicted as I am.

[Clonus]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

I was thinking more of a cyborg who has a steamroller instead of legs.

 

Marvel's Big Wheel was just a guy in a big wheel. Boy that Rocket Racer could sure pick his arch-enemies.

[Kenn]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

There's this song by Donovan called "Sunshine Superman" and Superman and Green Lantern are both mentioned.

 

So would anyone who's ever written either of these two up...

 

 

 

 

 

Never mind.

[Clonus]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

There's this song by Donovan called "Sunshine Superman" and Superman and Green Lantern are both mentioned.

 

So would anyone who's ever written either of these two up...

 

 

 

 

 

Never mind.

 

Sunshine Superman? He was one of the characters in the Love Syndicate.

 

http://blaklion.best.vwh.net/timeline17.html

[Doug Limmer]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

I have an idea for a super-thief inspired by "Razzle Dazzle" (from the musical Chicago). If I ever run a Champions campaign, I'll have to write her up.

[csyphrett]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

Before I even saw a game book I had an idea for a team based on eye of the tiger

CES

[Mike W]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

"Delta Dawn"(Tanya Tucker version all the way)

 

Originally, I made a Malkavian for use in a Vampire game. But I rewrote her as a Champs character. Haven't gotten around to using her though, but then I haven't played Champs in my original universe in a long time. Basically, she wanders around town looking for "a mysterious dark haired man" who is her lost love(as per the song). Of course, to help her look for that lost love she has scads of ESP and super senses and one heck of a Streetwise roll(also some LS). Equally of course, since she's known to be a bit crazy, not many people believe her when she tells them anything, so she has a little bit of the Cassandra effect going as well.

[jbx]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

No King Crimson fans here?

 

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/k/king+crimson/the+court+of+the+crimson+king_20078591.html

 

The King himself of course, I figured as a brick

The Firewitch, uh...a fire using witch type?

The Yellow Jester, a mind control type, and likely the secret leader of the group, with the King as figurehead.

Schizoid Man, a more feral Wolverine type.

Pretty solid villain crew, add in the Black Queen (death oriented drain\transform), the Pattern Juggler (martial artist), and the Purple Piper (sonic blaster type) if needed.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

I constantly have music playing, all kinds. My collection stuns some people really. In diversity if not quantity.

 

But I was thinking, I've never had a song actually inspire a character. Then I remembered, I had Motorhead on a constant loop one weekend (hey - it takes a good chunk of a day to get through all of it once). Out Of The Sun and I Don't Believe A Word are back to back on the Stone Deaf Forever box set - and they make quite a pair of songs. A character history came out of I Don't Believe A Word, and an feeling from Out Of The Sun.

 

Silence is a psychopomp, sent to the realm of the living for an unknown reason.

 

Out Of The Sun

The wind is cold where I live,

The blizzard is my home,

Snow and ice and loaded dice, the Wizard lives alone,

The wind is cold where I live, white and cold, and clean,

White and cold and bought and sold and heartbreak in between,

And so we shall see what is done and done and done.

 

Trees are stone where I live, leaves of razor steel,

High and low and ice and snow, broken on the wheel,

Trees are stone where I live, flowers made of glass,

Cold and white and wrong and right and voices from the past.

And all our yesterdays are now undone.

Out of the sun

 

Frozen and insane, I alone remain,

Held in the vice of my disdain,

There is now way that anyone will ever,

Make me warm again.

 

Life is death where I live, frozen grin my smile,

Sun is moon and out of tune, broken strings and bile,

Death is life where I live, hearts turned into stone,

Frozen breath, and froze death and prisons made of bone.

And so we shall see what becomes become,

Out of the sun.

 

I Don't Believe A Word

Don't talk to me, I don't believe a word

Don't try to make me feel alright

All the love in all the world

Is not enough to save my soul tonight

Don't be my friend I'm not a fool

Don't talk of things that we cannot see

When all the ones that sing the blues

Sometimes I think of how it used to be

 

I have seen the Devil laugh

I have seen God turn his face away

I have nothing left to lose

I have nothing left to say

I have seen the sky turn black

I have seen the seas run dry

I have nothing that is yours

I have nothing now that is not mine

 

Don't look at me your eyes are cold & hard

Don't wonder that I turn to you

All the grief in all the world

Is not enough to make me comfort you

Don't tell me lies, I'm not a dog,

Don't talk of love it seems to me

All the people that we rob

Sometimes I think of how they used me

 

I have seen the fires of Hell

I have seen Angels with flaming swords

I have nothing that is mine

I have much that could be yours

I have seen the eye of God

I have heard lies that are true

I have nothing for myself

I have nothing I would give to you

 

Don't say that word, I know it's only fools

Who do not know their fate is just

All the justice in the world

Is not enough to buy my faith & trust

Don't make that face I won't be pleased

Don't make a sideshow of yourself

All the people we released

Sometimes I think you're someone else

 

I have been where none have been

In the empty howling rooms

I have everything I need

I have everything you stand to lose

I have seen the diamond worlds

I have seen the shape of space

I have nothing but the world

I have nothing to take its place

I don't believe a word, I don't believe a word ...

[Lucius]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

No King Crimson fans here?

 

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/k/king+crimson/the+court+of+the+crimson+king_20078591.html

 

The King himself of course, I figured as a brick

The Firewitch, uh...a fire using witch type?

The Yellow Jester, a mind control type, and likely the secret leader of the group, with the King as figurehead.

Schizoid Man, a more feral Wolverine type.

Pretty solid villain crew, add in the Black Queen (death oriented drain\transform), the Pattern Juggler (martial artist), and the Purple Piper (sonic blaster type) if needed.

 

I figured the King for a Mage, personally.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks we need to go listen again

[Lucius]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

 

Nice.

 

Disturbing, but nice.

 

I'll take that as a compliment, but....I am not sure why it's disturbing.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary suspects that some people will find THAT disturbing.

[input.jack]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

I was oncein a Gamma World game where my character ran into several "Knights in White Satin".

 

Unfortunately, they were tremendous jerks (insisting that I, who had never heard of or met them before, get off the road into the mud and let them cross the bridge first, and avert my eyes).

 

More unfortunately for them, my character had the mutation of Death Field Generation.

 

The GM almost cried...

[Hermit]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

We once played a cyberpunk street gang that took the name boneheads and made 'Bad to the Bone' their theme song. Amusing in a macho meets Chrome kind of way

[MilkmanDan]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

Was listening to some Police today and am thinking I may need to do a series of themed characters. Invisible Sun, Spirits in the Material World, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Wrapped Around Your Finger . . .

[casualplayer]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

Was listening to some Police today and am thinking I may need to do a series of themed characters. Invisible Sun' date=' Spirits in the Material World, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Wrapped Around Your Finger . . .[/quote']

 

King of Pain!

[jbx]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

I figured the King for a Mage, personally.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks we need to go listen again

 

Yes, I've considered that as well. Obviously it would work many ways (the joy of HERO), but, you know, personally, I really liked the idea of The King as a figure head so that the Yellow Jester could work behind the scenes. I might even make King Crimson a "man" in "power armor" who turns out to be a robot.

 

Then you can do things like have the team capture the Jester and he says, "Don't hurt me....I'll tell you where the King's base is if you let me go...."

 

Plus the team needs a brick. ;-)

 

Additionally, and again, I'm just speaking personally, and it's not like I've over thought this or anything...but, if King Crimson has both a Black Queen and a Fire Witch (and a Yellow Jester)...that implies to me that he doesn't do the courts magics himself, and leaves him as a Mighty and Powerful dude on The Throne. A very impressive fellow, which leads right in to what I was talking about above re: The Yellow Jester.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

Well, Recently, "Locking Up The Sun" by Poets of the Fall inspired an Exalted game, but that's a side issue.

 

My brother tends to come up with character ideas from songs.

[mallet]

Re: Songs that inspire(d) you to make a Champions Character

 

Lot's of songs by "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds" make for great characters.

 

Like "The Red Right Hand" the lyrics basically tell the story of the character (obviously a bad guy)

 

Take a little walk to the edge of town

Go across the tracks

Where the viaduct looms,

like a bird of doom

As it shifts and cracks

Where secrets lie in the border fires,

in the humming wires

Hey man, you know

you're never coming back

Past the square, past the bridge,

past the mills, past the stacks

On a gathering storm comes

a tall handsome man

In a dusty black coat with

a red right hand

 

He'll wrap you in his arms,

tell you that you've been a good boy

He'll rekindle all the dreams

it took you a lifetime to destroy

He'll reach deep into the hole,

heal your shrinking soul

Hey buddy, you know you're

never ever coming back

He's a god, he's a man,

he's a ghost, he's a guru

They're whispering his name

through this disappearing land

But hidden in his coat

is a red right hand

 

You ain't got no money?

He'll get you some

You ain't got no car? He'll get you one

You ain't got no self-respect,

you feel like an insect

Well don't you worry buddy,

cause here he comes

Through the ghettos and the barrio

and the bowery and the slum

A shadow is cast wherever he stands

Stacks of green paper in his

red right hand

 

You'll see him in your nightmares,

you'll see him in your dreams

He'll appear out of nowhere but

he ain't what he seems

You'll see him in your head,

on the TV screen

And hey buddy, I'm warning

you to turn it off

He's a ghost, he's a god,

he's a man, he's a guru

You're one microscopic cog

in his catastrophic plan

Designed and directed by

his red right hand

 

He'll extend his hand, real slowly for a shake

You'll see it coming toward you, real slowly for a shake

(Grabbing at your peril buddy?) cause you know you ain't

getting near much as he will take.

 

He's a...

 

He's mumbling words you can't understand

He's mumbling word behind his red right hand.