The original Guardians from Champions I-III

[Christopher R Taylor]

The original topic about rebuilding the Guardians is now archived and cannot be commented on, but you can find it here.  We went through and tried to rebuild a few of the characters from what we knew, and managed to get a few done.  Because some of the original Champions players who created the Guardians are now playtesting a new Superhero game called Prowlers and Paragons, and they have printed versions of their first characters in that game set, I've gotten an insight into some of the missing ones.  So far, only Dove, Marksman, and Goliath have been posted, but they were missing from our data to recreate them in the other thread.

 

Here's what I came up with for Dove based on that info:

 

I don't have a nifty colored image for this one, but you can see the original Mark Williams art for the character at least.

 

Some of the abilties and builds in P&P aren't exactly clear or certain, so I had to guess but this should be reasonably close.

[wcw43921]

Was there ever an origin for him?  I like knowing these things.

[Mr. R]

OK a few things:

1)  His OCV is low and no skill levels or modifiers.  I hope none of his gadgets are ranged as he will have trouble hitting.

 

2)  Am I ready the modifiers for Move-by/Move-through right?

[Christopher R Taylor]

Its possible that template is using 5th edition data for the maneuvers, its just a printout from Hero Designer.

 

The background on these guys I really do not know.  Its interesting how he has a gadget pool, I think its basically "I take the Viper Agent's force field belt and gun" stuff.

[steriaca]

Dove was a defensive character. His goal, if I remember correctly, was to promote world piece, not fight crime.

 

That is why my idea of the backworld counterpart is Warhawk, who profits from counties going to war against each other.

[Cassandra]

I have the Miniature from the Champions set.  Included were Titan (Powered Armor), Flare, Starlet, Icestar, Marksman, and Gargoyle.

[archer]

If I recall correctly, Gargoyle was dropped from HERO material only because the creator wanted to use him in his own projects. Not sure if those projects were ever published or not.

 

From the original series of comics, Flare had a sister called Sparkplug who was also an energy projector but using electricity rather than light. Sparkplug is in the yellow costume, Flare is in orange on the cover of Champions #10.

[archer]

Each of these characters has a background description at the website and a list of their powers (and most of their major skills mentioned in their description). If anyone still has access to the original comics, there were write-ups for each in the Champions edition which was being published at the time.

 

Marksman (aka Huntsman later in his published comics career)

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/marksman/4005-47766/

Agility, Longevity (definitely at least slow aging but possibly immortal)

Escape Artist, Leadership, Fast Draw, Marksmanship, Stealth, Swordsmanship, Tracking, Martial Arts (he's a former soldier so at least those taught in the military), Gunsmith, Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Inventor, access to a gadget pool through his electronics company.

 

Icestar

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/icestar/4005-27237/

Agility, Stamina, Ice Control (blast, barrier, enhanced running/flight along surfaces, Change Environment (create cold), probably others that I don't remember offhand.

Comic book Martial Arts, Electronics, Communications Systems (operations and repair), SS: Cryogenics.

Icestar is very popular with the public and police.

His younger sister was a costumed adventurer known as Icicle who had most of the same powers plus a heat blast which she could fire after absorbing enough heat from the surrounding environment. She has a recurring problem (complication) with petty theft.

 

Flare

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/flare/4005-4574/

Blast Power (light), Flash, Energy Absorption, Energy Manipulation, Flight (visible after-effect), Intellect, Light Projection, Super Speed, Super Strength, resistant to damage

Linguist with a large list of languages, Martial Arts, Acrobatics, Survival, Tactics.

Rapid aging due to the experiments which gave her powers. Somewhat naive because she's much younger and less experienced with life than she appears.

Sister of Sparkplug, though they were raised separately.

 

Giant (aka Goliath)

Growth, Super Strength, Invulnerability, Super-hearing, Regeneration, Stamina

All powers are bought through a magical harness created by the gods of Olympus, (either OIF or only in hero ID). He could be considered a legacy hero by some but he's not necessarily aware of even a small number of the heroes who have worn the harness down through the ages.

====

 

I'm not sure which were considered Guardians in published HERO products and which were characters from the original Champions campaign but weren't official long-term members of the team. Here are the maybes.

 

Sparkplug

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/sparkplug/4005-29640/

Agility, Blast Power, Electricity Control, Flight, Self-Healing, Super Strength, Change Environment to create light (no range), resistant to damage

Martial Arts, Survival, Tactics, Acrobatics, a broad background in sciences and languages (German, English, and Spanish for sure but I don't remember beyond that. German is her native language), grew up in a South American jungle environment and was raised by escaped Nazi scientists. Rapid aging.

 

Rose (aka Psyche later in her published career)

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/psyche/4005-30496/

Astral Projection, Dimensional Manipulation, Empathy, Force Field, Illusion Casting, Intellect, Psionic, Telepathy.

Detective. Extensive knowledge of subjects involving magic and the occult.

 

====

Ally but never a team member.

 

Lady Arcane - novice sorceress, legacy hero

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/lady-arcane/4005-26815/

Astral Projection, Intellect, Levitation, Magic VPP, Mind Control, Teleport

 

Her backstory says she never joined the team because they had expelled, on a charge of willful manslaughter, a costumed heroine known as Transpower. Lady Arcane was portrayed as being sexually interested in women, including Flare at one point, so it is possible that Transpower is a former love interest.

 

Her grandfather is Doctor Arcane who, if he is still active, is comparable in knowledge, skills, and powers to Doctor Strange from Marvel Comics.
 

 

Galloping Galooper

Athletic Gadgeteer, Blast, and I think I remember leaping boots as being his main form of transportation.

Martial Arts with sword as weapons component, Inventor, some sciences, is a reporter in his civilian ID.

He is mostly used as comic relief even though he is perfectly serious and doesn't seem to realize that he comes across as vaguely ridiculous by being so weighted down by his sword and gadgets in his bandolier, belt, boot cuffs, gloves, etc. and acting very over-the-top toward villains, civilians, and women. Especially the women.

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

As stated in the original thread, the comic book version of the Guardians was NOT the original real Guardians; it was the comic book author's version of them, "inspired by" the real team, as the movies say.  So, while they might have some ideas, they aren't really much use in determining the real team.

[steriaca]

It should be noted that Sparkplug was published, as Poinsettia in one of the Enimies books.

[Duke Bushido]

A bit OT, but if I may:

 

Is that comic still going?  I really thought it had gone full-on cheesecake and then died or something.

 

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

I think he's still putting out Flare cheesecake but not Champions.

[archer]

On 9/24/2018 at 10:28 PM, Christopher R Taylor said:

I think he's still putting out Flare cheesecake but not Champions.

 

Yeah, they sporadically come out with two or three Flare comic books then publish nothing for several years.

[archer]

On 9/24/2018 at 5:36 PM, steriaca said:

It should be noted that Sparkplug was published, as Poinsettia in one of the Enimies books.

 

I really hated the Poinsettia name but it isn't like Sparkplug was any better.

[archer]

On 9/24/2018 at 5:06 PM, Christopher R Taylor said:

As stated in the original thread, the comic book version of the Guardians was NOT the original real Guardians; it was the comic book author's version of them, "inspired by" the real team, as the movies say.  So, while they might have some ideas, they aren't really much use in determining the real team.

 

I'm aware that those are comic book adaptations of campaign characters. I didn't try to pass them off as anything else.

 

I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is other than to let us look at your write-up of Dove.

 

If you're wanting us to discuss potential write-ups of Guardians who haven't been written up yet, give us a list of the characters you'd like to see discussed. I'd be more than happy to discuss any or all of them. Or if you have some other point, let us know what it is rather than having us flounder around and try to come up with some content to discuss then having to listen to you complain about someone making an effort to provide some content for discussion.

[steriaca]

Titan, for one.

 

My in my mind backworld version of Titan is The Machine. He is a scientist who got disgusted with mankind, so he locks himself off in a unremovable suit of power armor and actively plots the slow destruction of mankind. After some major setbacks, he is forced to work with the Eliminators (backworld Guardians).

[bubba smith]

On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 1:59 PM, steriaca said:

Dove was a defensive character. His goal, if I remember correctly, was to promote world piece, not fight crime.

 

That is why my idea of the backworld counterpart is Warhawk, who profits from counties going to war against each other.

sort of a HAWK AND DOVE type of hero right ?

[steriaca]

3 minutes ago, bubba smith said:

sort of a HAWK AND DOVE type of hero right ?

Depends upon how he was ran. I believe he was more "get the normals out of the way" than "hit the baddies till they give up" type of character.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is other than to let us look at your write-up of Dove.

 

Its an attempt to resurrect the old thread which is now archived so you cannot post on it.  There's more than enough interest in these old characters to justify bringing them to the fore again.

 

Quote

 Or if you have some other point, let us know what it is rather than having us flounder around and try to come up with some content to discuss then having to listen to you complain about someone making an effort to provide some content for discussion.

 

Stop being so defensive, I just wanted to note that those weren't the original real team so people unfamiliar with the comic or the background understood this.  It had to be said like 4 times in the previous thread, too.

[archer]

6 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

 

 

Stop being so defensive

 

Stop being so offensive.

[Scott Ruggels2]

I sat in on a game of Prowlers and Paragons early in the year, and Ray played Dove. I played a Powered Armor suit. Watching Ray play was rather awe inspiring, in how he played the system and outwitted the bad guys (and the GM) using basically defensive skills. You could see how he was often a "Back up leader" in the old Guardians campaigns. He was a very "reluctant" Hero, as in reluctant to get closely involved, but he has  a DNPC to rescue, so he wasn't the happiest of creatures on the battle mat.  Prowlers & Paragons, has a similar flavor to Champions, but it is a simpler, and much l3ess crunchy system than Hero, and for me it was too much, "Theater of the mind", and not enough maps and miniatures for me, personally. However, with the calibers of players we had at the time, I would play Candyland with those folks.