Zane_Marlowe Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? There's a lot of good stuff already covered, but one thing I'd like to see is more diversity in the kinds of minions she has. Someone who's conquered as many dimensions as she has should have an incredible diversity of troops and equipment. The experience should be like the 300 facing the Persian army at Thermopylae, where the enemy appears to be innumerable and of an uncounted variety. In the latest Champions Villains writeup for V'han, there is a relatively short writeup for how to vary her D-Soldiers, and there's a writeup for a tank and a starship. What I'd like to see is a more detailed writeup for how to generate subject races and technologies. Something closer to the Champions Superhero Gallery, but instead of selecting for multipower slots, defensive powers, you might select for lifeform type (includes characteristics and maybe low-level powers for limbs, culture types (e.g., warrior culture, ancient culture, urban culture, etc.), technical level (space-faring, savage, etc.) and so on. Furthermore, unless there's some reason why the technology needs to be standardized across all her subject races, it could be really interesting to see a similarly diverse kind of gallery for different kinds of vehicles and weapons that vary by technology level. Sometimes V'han will send soldiers with firearms, bombs, and tanks. Sometimes other soldiers whose native weapons are plasma grenades, lasers, and hover vehicles. She cares less for the capacities of her conquered peoples than for their effectiveness in serving her ends. (I imagine there's a lot of this information nearby in the Star Hero book, so perhaps a reference or two to the relevant parts of that book.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Actually, one thing that might help in understanding V'han and the Champions multiverse is how new dimensions come into being. Was there always a multitude of timelines? Do new timelines come into being at "decision points" of some kind? Since V'han is unique, does her personal attention to a conquest and the nature of her powers prevent a timesplit? So she either wins or she doesn't, instead of splitting off one timeline where she won and one where she lost. V'han being unique reminds me a bit of an Amberite walking through Shadow. Is she somehow more "real" than other beings? That would give her personality a different twist, a sort of arrogance but with a reason behind it. It could also explain why she can't have children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dan2448 Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? But by the time I've started a WDYWTS thread and gotten to work on a book' date=' "I don't want this book" is [i']an utterly useless and inappropriate comment.[/i] A thread asking about suggestions for the contents of a book is in no way a proper place to say "I don't want this book." Thanks very much for that clarification, Steve. And my apologies again for inadvertently posting my comment in a section of this Discussion Board that you've found upsetting. So when you initially characterized my feedback as "meaningless nonsense," what you apparently meant by that was, "Thank you for your considered views. Unfortunately, they have been posted in the incorrect place on this Discussion Board. And rather than give your views two months (or so) before publication, we'd prefer them six months to two years in advance."Fair enough. I infer from the tone of your responses to me that you think I knew (or should have known) to post my comment under the generically titled "Company Questions" section of this Discussion Board, and to have done so further in advance of publication. I'm afraid that I find that expectation unreasonable, and your tone off-putting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? I've given thought to Istvatha's time-travel abilities, and while I understand her not wanting to try to change her own past, I believe with limited use they would be an enormous asset to her administration of a hundred million dimensions. For example, when she receives a report about one of her domains, she could accelerate time for herself so that she finishes reading and responding to it in what seems like an instant to everyone else around her. More ambitiously, this ability could allow her to personally tour her many domains. Let's say there's a period of several days when nothing significant has happened throughout her realm, and V'han decides this would be a good period to check out a million or so of her dimensions. She travels to several days previously in another dimension than the one she started from, so there's no paradox of two of her in the same place at the same time. When she's finished with her tour of that world, she travels to another one at the same point in the past, and so on. Since she's immortal she can take as much time doing this as she needs to. Of course she'll probably need a vacation at some point; perhaps retreating a year into the past to some luxurious resort dimension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? I'm not the target audience for this product, so some of what I'd require to get interested may already have been covered in previous releases. Here's a shot list of the top of my head. First off, I'd need a detailed and logical explanation of how someone can rule multiple dimensions and have even a semblance of knowing anything about any of them. I have great difficulty with the idea of someone personally ruling 10,000 worlds in a scifi genre, and that's potentially just a small part of our galaxy. How does she rule multiple galaxies in multiple dimensions? I have to assume that she is just a titular figurehead, and actually has many underlings that each rule in her name. In fact, I'd say many of these dimensional rulers have never met her and have little clue what her goals are. Some probably rule in her name and yet have no connection to her. I cannot see the Empress as being anything more than a vague NPC construct, and see giving her stats/points as a waste of paper. If she has time to actually battle PCs, then she does not have the capability of personally ruling dimensions. If she does not battle PCs, then a general description is all that is needed. What is supposed to be her purpose in a campaign? This is far from clear to me. Define/describe what you mean by dimension. If every dimension contains many, many galaxies, and there are many, many sentient races of various power and technology levels in each, I am incapable of suspending belief enough to be interested in the empress of a billion dimensions. If, however, each dimension she rules really means she controls some area near the wormhole/gate/portal, and there are 5,000 of these gates in our Milky Way Galaxy alone, it gets better. If Empress of a Billion Dimensions is just a title she (or some underling) came up with, and it's really only 73 limited dimensions, then I can work with and use her. A couple paragraphs on how to downsize her to Empress of that Single Other Dimension would be very helpful for those planning to use her in a Pulp or Dark Champions setting. So she (or one of her minor underlings) wants Earth, and is thinking of invading. How does the rest of the CU response? All those alien races with their space cruisers, and the various dimensions already in contact with us - do they even get word in time to matter, and which side would they be on? Do she only attack at Earth, and leave the rest of the CU dimension alone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? I've given thought to Istvatha's time-travel abilities, and while I understand her not wanting to try to change her own past, I believe with limited use they would be an enormous asset to her administration of a hundred million dimensions. For example, when she receives a report about one of her domains, she could accelerate time for herself so that she finishes reading and responding to it in what seems like an instant to everyone else around her. More ambitiously, this ability could allow her to personally tour her many domains. Let's say there's a period of several days when nothing significant has happened throughout her realm, and V'han decides this would be a good period to check out a million or so of her dimensions. She travels to several days previously in another dimension than the one she started from, so there's no paradox of two of her in the same place at the same time. When she's finished with her tour of that world, she travels to another one at the same point in the past, and so on. Since she's immortal she can take as much time doing this as she needs to. Of course she'll probably need a vacation at some point; perhaps retreating a year into the past to some luxurious resort dimension. I could see this being possible, but she would also need some method of remembering where she's already visited to avoid crossing her own path. It's likely that the dimensions of her empire are not all neatly lined up. How does she navigate actually? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? It's possible that what is referred to as ruling a dimension is simply ruling alternate versions of the Milky Way galaxy. Even that is an incredibly vast notion. If rulership of a dimension means she conquered all worlds of all galaxies in that single dimension, how does one conquer infinity? If it's more than just the Milky Way, then she conquered alternate versions of the Andromeda galaxy. How is this for a scary thought? A legion of beings like the policewoman from Andromeda, and their version of Duress could be a single prison dimension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Well, if you want a truly scary thought, pantheons of deities tend to reside in their own dimensions. What if Vhan has conquered some such dimensions, and commands the allegiance of "the very gods themselves"? There's not much she couldn't accomplish in her own empire with access to such powerful assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Damn I love this thread. The ideas are mind-boggling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane_Marlowe Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? I'm sensing a kind of "blank check" question. What doesn't V'han have access to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodstone Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? I'm sensing a kind of "blank check" question. What doesn't V'han have access to? Holocaust cloak. Wheelbarrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Are there beings that are her equal, or perhaps even ones she has to fear? Beign like gods, who could just delete her out of the timestream when she ever annoys them enough? Perhaps "carefree" powerfull characters, like Mister Mxyzptlk or Q from Star Trek who just do what they want? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Another question would be if there are others who are unique across timelines like she is. Simply being unique like that in a multiverse of infinite possibilities is noteworthy in itself. Perhaps V'han is an example of some kind of dimensional Galaxar, one of a class of singular beings existing in the multiverse. Wouldn't the Kings of Edom also qualify as singular beings when compared to the multiverse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverway Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Well, I'm not interested in the CU, so a majority of the book is of little use to me. However, if I remember correctly this is as close to Hero System Dimensions as we're likely to get so I'm really interested in a “how to build your own dimensions” section. I'd like to see advice on building dimensions, building multiverses, and gaming both. How and why to put specific dimensions in place and different ways to connect them up and the consequences of each. If nothing else, advice on how to divorce the dimensions in the book from the CU without messing them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix240 Posted July 8, 2011 Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Clips from the softcore "art film" V'han had to do when she was young struggling Master Villainess that had bills to cover. Those interdimensional battle platform don't just magically pay for themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? On the subject of V'han's administration of her vast dominion, I suggest she should have a very powerful Artificial Intelligence that sifts through the reports filed by the governors of all her dimensions, searching for frequent occurrences of such concepts as "unrest," "poverty" or "corruption" from specific dimensions -- or conversely, reports that are too rosey, too uniformly perfect to be credible -- and flag these dimensions for the Empress's personal attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? She may be unique - not created in other alternative realities But I dson't think it stops her from having a power of Duplication - linked to Extradimensional Movement, so she can visit other dimensions without leaving her own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? I wonder if an "alien generator" would be possible to cover random subject species. OTOH, that sounds more like something for Star HERO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? I wonder if an "alien generator" would be possible to cover random subject species. OTOH' date=' that sounds more like something for Star HERO.[/quote'] The Alien generator will stop at the "all areas have a common set of physics" border, a interdimensional Generator would not (have to). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? V'han being unique reminds me a bit of an Amberite walking through Shadow. Is she somehow more "real" than other beings? That would give her personality a different twist' date=' a sort of arrogance but with a reason behind it. It could also explain why she can't have children.[/quote']Or, at least, she views herself as being more "real" than other beings. That could also explain her drive to conquer all of reality; it's all imaginary anyway. I could see this being possible' date=' but she would also need some method of remembering where she's already visited to avoid crossing her own path. It's likely that the dimensions of her empire are not all neatly lined up. How does she navigate actually?[/quote']Maybe she has some sort of personal diary? No, seriously -- a quest could be developed to steal a volume (or other part) of her personal diary, with an assortment of potential benefits: learning more about her thought processes, gaining information on her operations, denying her that bit of data so she has to obtain it all over again, etc. The diary might or might not be a written book; it could be an electronic journal on an iPad-like device, a voice recording, a magically-maintained journal, or whatever seems most fitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Or' date=' at least, she views herself as being more "real" than other beings. That could also explain her drive to conquer all of reality; it's all imaginary anyway.[/quote'] They're all just NPC's anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted July 10, 2011 Report Share Posted July 10, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? The diary might or might not be a written book; it could be an electronic journal on an iPad-like device' date=' a voice recording, a magically-maintained journal, or whatever seems most fitting.[/quote'] I think "memory in a bottle" would be easiest to use and it could be of technological, magical or techno-magical origin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pizza Man Posted July 10, 2011 Report Share Posted July 10, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Steve, I would specifically like to see a 5th Column organization supporting the Empress and spying for her here on the Earth. A possessed assassin droid from a dimension heavy in both science and magic that the empress can send after pesky heroes. Maybe some details of an Empire Spy Agency assigned to infiltrate enemy dimensions, coordinate with 5th columns, and deal with pesky earth heroes. Every invasion needs a little advance intelligence. More details on how the Champions fomented unrest and diverted an invasion. Fomenting unrest might make for a great player adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted July 10, 2011 Report Share Posted July 10, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? the Imperial Legions' date=' including (a) the Imperial Battalion (her several thousand superhuman soldiers, bodyguards, etc., with character sheets for half a dozen or so and notes on dozens more);[/quote'] I suggest that the example characters from Istvatha's Imperial Battalion include more specialized types than just soldiers and bodyguards, e.g. psionic interrogators, assassins with stealth/infiltration powers, spies with Mental Powers or Enhanced Senses, priority couriers with travel powers, riot-controllers with non-lethal attacks, and the like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted July 10, 2011 Report Share Posted July 10, 2011 Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Pro V'han Support Groups "World Peace, Prosperity, and Unity through V'han" Power Grabs are Us QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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