Defenstrator Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 So, I am an experianced RPG player but completely new to the Hero system and looking for some help. I have read the 6th ed. PDF and that's it. I was wondering how I would go about constructing the "super" team the Boys, by Garth Ennis. Do I just up their strength to make them stronger? Should I stick with just giving them a high PD to soak damage or will they need some kind of Resistance as well? And what would be considered high? Alternatively if anyone has already built Hughie, Butcher and the gang and can just point me where to find them so I can have a look It would also be very much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Re: The Boys The Boys by Garth Ennis - Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_(comics) List of The Boys characters - Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_in_The_Boys Cheers QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Defenstrator Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: The Boys Thanks for your reply, but it wasn't the background I was looking for. I am already quite the fan boy of the Boys. My problem is that as a total newbie to the Hero system, I'm not quite sure what the numbers I'm looking at mean. So I'm not sure when constructing them if I am on target or not. The Boys are implied to be bullet resistant, so I buy the Resistence power, but I'm not sure what level I should be using it at. Is 20 PD alot or too little? Should I simply be buying them the STR stat or should this be a power? The Butcher is shot in the face with some lightening by Shout Out, but only gets superficial damage. What sort of ED Resistence would be needed to do that? These are the kind of questions I am wrestling with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatus Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: The Boys Difficult to answer, because I know nothing about the boys. Bullet-proof has many kind of levels. Do they withstand pistolshots or even machinegun-fire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Defenstrator Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: The Boys The Boys powers all result from a chemical called Compound V. Injected in its pure form it makes you about 20 to 30 times stronger, and just generally tougher as well. Light pistol fire from a 9mm would probably hurt but not penetrate their skin, while a heavy machine gun loaded with some sort of armour piercing round would probably be enough to badly mess them up. What sort of range of STR and of PD/ rPD should I be looking at for around this level? The help is greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatus Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: The Boys STR : somewhere between 30 and 40 rPD : around 10 should be sufficient (a typical 9mm does 1 1/2 d6 killing damage, so that's max. 9 points of BODY Damage) PD: I'd give 'em 20 or so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Defenstrator Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: The Boys Thanks, that's very helpful. One other question. Aside from being a bit cheaper, why buy PD instead of rPD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JmOz Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: The Boys Thanks' date=' that's very helpful. One other question. Aside from being a bit cheaper, why buy PD instead of rPD?[/quote'] PD does not protect you from the BODY of killing attacks is the biggest reason to buy rPD however most people would consider it an extrodinary (read non human) trait like a super power or magic so would not be available in a lot of heroic level games for most characters In my experience characters normaly will have a mixture of the two. Realise that your normal PD does add to your rPD so if you buy 10 points of rPD and 10 points of PD, you have a total of 20 PD and 10 rPD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Ops Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Re: The Boys In short with only a lot of PD you are not bullettproof. You need rPD for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Re: The Boys Thanks for your reply, but it wasn't the background I was looking for. I am already quite the fan boy of the Boys. My problem is that as a total newbie to the Hero system, I'm not quite sure what the numbers I'm looking at mean. So I'm not sure when constructing them if I am on target or not. The Boys are implied to be bullet resistant, so I buy the Resistence power, but I'm not sure what level I should be using it at. Is 20 PD alot or too little? Should I simply be buying them the STR stat or should this be a power? The Butcher is shot in the face with some lightening by Shout Out, but only gets superficial damage. What sort of ED Resistence would be needed to do that? These are the kind of questions I am wrestling with. Like others who have already posted, I am completely unfamiliar with the boys. The wiki link provided by TheQuestionMan indicates that the world they inhabit have versions of the Avengers (Payback) and JLA (The Seven). It might help you gage the power level of The Boys by seeing some versions of those more familiar characters already converted to HERO by other posters. See the link in by sig below for my beginning hero versions (5er) of the JLA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Ops Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Re: The Boys I am familiar with the Boys. But I do not like the book. It is too Iron Age IMO. Some body once said Garth Ennis hates Superheros and after reading the Boys I was able to believe that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Re: The Boys The Boys would be good candidates for Damage Negation. Attacks below a certain threshhold are virtually useless, but above that level, they take damage pretty consistently. Hotspur 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Defenstrator Posted October 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Re: The Boys I know that the Boys is not for everyone. Some people, like those in my group, like it alot. While others find it too harsh or over the top. Plus supers are generaly potrayed as being arrogant and powerful beings that have been corrupted by the lifestyle their abilities affords them. A point of view not all will agree with or even find interesting. However we are not setting our campaign in that world, it will be a homebrew one. But in it the Boys power level was exactly the sort we were looking for. Strong, but not silly, and able to run with both higher level supe types as well as more street level types. Again thanks for the help so far. Building characters (as long as they aren't too weird) seems pretty straight forward, butsince he haven't played yet none of us have a real idea how the various numbers are going to play out in game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Certified Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Re: The Boys For those who have any questions about Ennis's feelings towards mainstream comics. I would advise The Pro and the Spiderman "team-up" issue from the Welcome Back Frank Punisher storyline. Both are rather amusing and this helps to temper what reads like an unabashed loathing of mainstream comics. - - - As for the Boys issue it sounds like a moderately power level game. In 5th Ed Rev. I would recommend something along the lines of a 250 game maybe 100 + 150 in Disadvantages to represent the flawed nature of the characters. This may include a 10 - 12 DC cap and Defenses around 20 - 25 PD and 10 - 15 rPD. This should simulate the larger than life nature, being able to shrug off most small arms fire and super powered characters with attacks that are better but not vastly so. Additionally from what I understand of the Boys NPC supers would cover a much wider point range. - - - PS: Have I mentioned the ranking out and killing of a gay super hero for what appeared to be a cheap gerbil joke? At one point I was a fan of Garth Ennis having only read Preacher. Now that I've been going back and reading older Hell Blazer I realized that a lot of his plots including the central story and character origin had all been recycled. As a writer he seems to rely on the same couple of tricks to put together stories and as his writing progressed post Preacher it would seem this has only gotten worse leaning more towards just spoofing of mainstream comics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casualplayer Posted October 29, 2009 Report Share Posted October 29, 2009 Re: The Boys I read the comic and it seems like The Boys all have enhanced strength up to about Spider-Man level I'm guessing. They aren't bulletproof or at least not proof against the kinds of bullets that are being tossed around in the book. Bullets seemed to do a pretty good job on the G-Men and The Boys got their heads down out of the way of that hail of fire. While they are pretty tough or they would have been seriously harmed in some of the fights they've been in, I don't think it extends to armor plating levels. Each member seems to have a little flavor adding to their enhanced strength and resilience. Frenchie seems to have some enhanced senses, the Female some vicious speed, Mother's Milk is a people person and Butcher is lethal and ruthless about knowing where to place his blows. Little Hughie gets to be the sympathetic character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted November 2, 2009 Report Share Posted November 2, 2009 Re: The Boys A basic tip - If you want to make someone proof against a given weapon, and you have a write up of the weapon, look at how much damage it does and gauge your defense based on that.As I understand it, in the New Dispensation (6th ed) if a pistol does 1d6 then it can do up to 6 BOD and up to 18 STUN. If you have 6 Resistant PD and a total PD of 18, you are "bulletproof" as far as small handguns are concerned. You can also use Damage Negation, but that's a new power and I'm not as familiar with it. For STR, one way to figure it is to see how much they can lift, and give them enough STR to lift that. Things get tricky when it comes to SPD and movement. SPD is basically the number of actions you get in a turn, and you can take your full move with each one, so someone with a SPD of 6 is already Running at three times the speed of a normal person, even if they spent no points on Running at all. Any other specific questions, feel free to ask. You'll get lots of answers, and some will even be helpful. Lucius Alexander Spending 130 pts on SPD for the palindromedary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naanomi Posted November 2, 2009 Report Share Posted November 2, 2009 Re: The Boys Damage Negation just peels off a DC of the attack before it is rolled. If guns max out at 6 DC, 6 ranks of damage negation would mean it would never even be rolled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted November 2, 2009 Report Share Posted November 2, 2009 Re: The Boys From what little I have seen of The Boys, I would probably give most of them some Dirty Fighter martial arts moves. Also, they seem to be a faster than most of the other supes that share their universe. So, you might consider some extra DEX with the only to attack first limitation - you could title that power Likes to throw the first punch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Certified Posted November 2, 2009 Report Share Posted November 2, 2009 Re: The Boys From what little I have seen of The Boys' date=' I would probably give most of them some Dirty Fighter martial arts moves. Also, they seem to be a faster than most of the other supes that share their universe. So, you might consider some extra DEX with the only to attack first limitation - you could title that power [i']Likes to throw the first punch[/i]. Isn't that Lightning Reflexes? Edit: Based on what I know it may be worth giving them +1 Speed (Limited: Only for Attacks) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted November 2, 2009 Report Share Posted November 2, 2009 Re: The Boys Isn't that Lightning Reflexes? Edit: Based on what I know it may be worth giving them +1 Speed (Limited: Only for Attacks) I don't know. I don't have the 6 ed rulebook yet, so I wasn't sure if it included Lightning Reflexes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted November 2, 2009 Report Share Posted November 2, 2009 Re: The Boys Just read a large chunk of "The Boys" thanks to this thread. It seems likely that the supers don't have much in the way of Resistant Defenses. They may have a ton of Body and Stun, but not much resistant defenses. I believe that all of the Boy's have a decently sized Killing attack (esp The Female). That and the real lack of resistant defenses is what allows characters like Hughie to put their fist through an opponent. All heroes probably have a moderate amount of resistant defenses, but that is offset by really large KA's being thrown around. I also think that the Super-serum gives a moderate amount of regen. Add that to heightened strength, general toughness and you have a dangerous character. As a GM you really have to work the numbers and see what level is needed to simulate the PC's and their targets being able to take body, but still be able to weather a few hits in combat. I suspect that you will need to have resistant defenses no higher than 6-10 (depending on whether you see the PCs using Armor Piercing on their attacks.) enjoy. Tasha PS the book is strangly compelling. Without Hughie, the book would be unreadable. He is the "everyman" that you can follow into the world of "the Boys". The antics of the "Superheroes" are deplorable, but inevitable in a world of Supers that have no real Villains to fight and where all of the supers are created by a corporation that is more interested in turning them into media commodities and not real people. The childish "fart humor" and other stuff like that is a bit off putting to readers who aren't young males. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Thermadore Posted June 7, 2022 Report Share Posted June 7, 2022 Hello all - just posting to see if anyone is interested in creating The Boys core characters in Champions. I'll be running a short Champions campaign towards the end of the year (probably starting October 22) set firmly in the Vought universe, with the players taking on the roles of super heroes in a new team being assembled on the west coast, most likely in LA. This is another cash cow operation by Vought using The Seven model; the idea being that there is enough geographical separation to prevent this new team stealing any limelight from The Seven in New York. I've been playing Champions on and off (mostly off unfortunately) since the 80's and I'm loving the idea of getting back into it. As part of my prep for the campaign, and to help me get my geek (back) on, I'll be creating the cannon characters from the show in Champions. Would anyone like to collaborate, or even discuss that process, contribute ideas or get the calculator out and crunch some numbers with me? Just a word of caution for anyone interested, I'll be using the 1989, fourth edition rules (because I like them). I'll be creating the characters based (almost entirely) on what they do in the show, rather than working to a points value. We start by listing the key powers and moments in the show where those powers are used - and the effect of those powers - to give us a "power level yardstick". We then create that power at that level in game. The points are worked out last and they are what they are. I bet some will come out cheaper than we think, with some characters coming into the 250 point range. I have absolutely no idea how much Homelander will cost. But It'll be fun finding out! Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotspur Posted June 8, 2022 Report Share Posted June 8, 2022 I'd be happy to crunch some numbers when you do some thinking on yardsticks. If you post here, I will commit to commenting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted June 8, 2022 Report Share Posted June 8, 2022 Are we talking the TV show, or the Comic? They come across as very different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Thermadore Posted June 17, 2022 Report Share Posted June 17, 2022 (edited) Hello again. The characters I'll be creating are based on the show. So without further ado, here's my first draft the easiest of the core characters; Queen Maeve. She comes out at 350 points, but I haven't skimped. Really appreciate comments. Thanks! Credit to Steven S. Long for this character sheet (It's 6th Ed because I can't find a 4th Ed version - but rest assured I'm using 4th Ed rules). Queen Maeve.xls Edited June 17, 2022 by Mr Thermadore typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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