Shadow Hawk

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Well, I'm putting together a new group, haven't had the first game session yet, but every week at the DnD game we talk about it. I've got 6 players, 5 have never played before... The Characters are Harry Dresden, mystic and based off the books. The only experienced player. Gentleman Ghost, based off the DC cartoon version. Trickshot, weaponmaster and Green Arrow knockoff. Dragon Slayer, martial arts mystic. War Dragon, brick. As yet unnamed telekinetic. Officially, the characters haven't met yet, but I've been giving them backround and telling them what they've heard about each other in the news. They've also been sharing (by email) costume designs (hooray for Heromachine!). So, unnamed telekinetic sent his picture (Royal Purple, Bannana Yellow, and Olive Drab trim)and generated the following responses... Trickshot: *This* is your costume? Unnamed: I'm making a statement. War Dragon: What statement? Harry Dresden: "I'm color blind, won't someone please help?"

Re: Inceptum Terminus: You Decide the Fate! No problem. Note that my plan doesn't kill NYC, just Manhattan. New York is a great city to be from, because if you're from there, you aren't there now. - My Father, born in Jackson Hieghts, Queens

Re: Inceptum Terminus: You Decide the Fate! San Fransisco is on the major earthquake fault (San Andreas). Set it off, and 'Frisco, Oakland, San Jose are toast. San Diego: Hey, I live here! Multiple military bases, Navy and Marines. In response to other disasters, the fleet will sortie (head for sea). Sink a big ship (carrier, large amphib, hospital ship) in the channel and neutralize half the Pacific Fleet.

Re: sometimes, ample warning just isn't...

Re: Surprisingly Effective Builds? I dominated a early (1st or 2nd edition) version of the game with a speed 12 dex 40 flight 30" (must touch a surface, 1/2 end). Campaign limits since then make such a build impossible...

Re: Power Level of a the Mafia The Mafia (in general) has been surplanted mostly by Viper in CU. Viper already does smuggling, drug running, gun running, protection, blackmail... add in loan sharking, prostitution and gambling and they've got a clean sweep. (In my version, a number of the "30 founders" of Viper were Mafia kingpins. At the street level, the Mafia still looks the same... but when the Capes start interfering, the boys in Green show up.) But in other people's campaigns, I'd say the Mob is as powerful as the GM wants it to be. Thier crimes are very profitable, and money buys hardware, training, and even mercenary supervillians (Lazer, MechAssassin, Blowtorch, Death Commando).

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Oh, yes. Powers were on a percentile roll, and all six of the characteristics could be "Lowered" as a power, using one of your d6 (minimum 2) power slots. It was possible to get two lowered powers as your only abilities... or the same one lowered twice. Or have it hightened and lowered. 2nd edition helped a lot. Too bad that 1st edition Champions came out at the same time. (Have you ever seen RuneQuest? The most important roll during start up was character backround. A wealthy character could spend money and raise his stats by "training", while a poor one was stuck with what he rolled until he earned some money.)

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... First edition Villians and Vigilantes. I rolled up two powers, and got Water Breathing and Lowered Intelligence. And Named him "Aquaputz". Intelligence 3. His highest stat was his Charisma, at 14. Everything else was dead average. And he's supposed to be a superhero?

Re: Superhero Legacy. Passing on a Name Oh, lord, when that plot twist was revealed I was so pissed... I knew that no matter how I protested that I first used it in 1984, it would be seen as copying Disney. Megasigh.

Re: Inceptum Terminus: You Decide the Fate! New York City: large target, lots of industry, lots of money movers, psych value. IF you have the resources, you 1. Gas the tunnels 2. Blow the bridges 3. Watch the panic kill more than anything else.

Re: What would your Character Be: Tiger Squad Shadow Hawk: The original was genetically engineered by a unknown group that did a bad job trying to indoctrinate him. The Chinese are good at indoctrination, and he'd probably work for thier spy agency as a assassin/spy rather than with the Tiger Squad. Stick: Already Oriental, he'd likely be too obnoxious to work with the Tiger Squad and end up with one of the Democracy movements... or dead. Or fled. Thunder Child is already in a school for superhumans. He'd be in the Chinese version.

Re: Superhero Legacy 2: He took my old ID! Stick: see which one of his students took up his name without his permission. Beats said student over head and shoulders with a bamboo rod. "I taught you everything you know. But I didn't teach you everything *I* know!" Make arrangement for student to get the advanced courses. And pick his own, original, name. "I am Stick. You can be Twig." Shadow Hawk: Use invisibility and stealth to stalk the new hero, and make sure he's on the up and up. If yes, leave him alone. If no, make contact with the old Organization to take the punk down. Thunder Child: I can't imagine TC living to retirement yet. Maybe after he develops some defensive powers.

Re: Superhero Legacy. Passing on a Name Remembering a NPC... or two, actually, and about to become three. Same story, multiple campaigns, multiple character types. The villian decides that he has enough money and wishes to retire. Using magic (techno device, something) to make him younger and then inheriting a fortune from his now deceased father (himself). He flips the switch (casts the spell, whichever) and makes himself younger... to much so. Instead of halving his age to 36, he's made his age 9... and the plan starts coming apart. He can't inherit, he's underage and obviously NOT the 30+ year old mentioned in the will. So, he quickly sets up to be his own grandson (he still has his gadgets/spellbook) so he could still inherit... eventually. (I used this as a NPC in a teen champitons campaign twice. He's likely to show up a third time.)

Re: Your PCs might be Underpowered if... You are vulnerable to spanking. And not in a fun way. You're hunted by a cub scout troop. They defeat and capture you a lot. Then tie you up until thier parents take them home. Then you spend hours trying to untie yourselves.

Re: The Death Of Vinnie The Viceroy This is very true. (California Law and Federal Law, your local laws may vary) If someone unloads a machine gun at you, drops it and flees, you are not allowed to shoot him (as a civilian) at all! He's "No longer a threat" to you. As a law enforcement official, you aren't allowed to shoot him unless you have probable cause to believe that even after dropping the gun and fleeing he is a "Future Threat to life and limb". Now, my heroes don't think that way much... those thugs deserved what they got. But what I think and what the law says are two different things. (And remember, your laws may vary. Never break a law out of ignorance. Do it on purpose!)

Re: The Death Of Vinnie The Viceroy Shadow Hawk would start a backround investigation (in secret) on him. People who transform like that are suspicious. Stick, after having the video described to him, would confront Mr. Fairweather with "So, turn into a demon often?" He wouldn't arrest him, but would try to find out more. Thunder Child would tell the grown up heroes. I mean, I'm under 18, YOU deal with it!

Re: Superhero Legacy. Passing on a Name

Re: Superhero Legacy. Passing on a Name Stick has it easy: he's already founded a school for martial artists. His top students will be his legacy, no doubt one will take up the bamboo staff... Shadow Hawk's not likely to have a legacy. Genetically engineered, he's not much for human contact. Thunder Child's just a kid. Needs more development time before he even thinks about it. And a grown up name.

Re: Character Background I work backwords: first a build the character, then I try to justify it. Often, I will have to alter things to match. Thought process kind of like... Mutant Telekinetic. Lots of connections with the rich and powerful. No, he's not rich himself... err... he works with rich people... but they don't treat him like a servant... no, not a doctor... oh, a CHEF! No one wants to offend a good chef. Oh, shoot, he'll need chef skills, and knowledges... what knowledges are appropriate? Hmmm, need points... if I drop the TK Multipower by 5 points, then I can drop the slot cost by a point each, that frees up 12 points...

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character) Shadow Hawk's defenses are invisibility and high dex. Area effects and explosions using non-sight based targeting would work best. Stick doesn't talk about it, but he's vulnerable to Sonic attacks (flashes and damage causeing both). Hitting him is hard, so area effects and explosions work best. Thunder Child is for a Teen Champions campaign. He's currently all offense. The problem isn't taking him down, it's not hurting him too badly.

Re: I for one Going from memory, and this was 25 odd years ago... It was set after Star Wars V. We were playing 3 astronauts (Pilots), two armsmen (Marines), one scientists (mentalist). He placed us on a small rebel base on a airless asteroid, manning a flight of Y-Wings (each astronaut as pilot, and the others as gunners). No movie characters in sight. A Star Destroyer came in system, and we were to hold off a horde of TIE fighters until the evacuation was complete. We had gotten lucky, managing to destroy about a half dozen without serious damage, when who should show up but Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles, with a single squadron of X-Wings who promptly blow up the Star Destroyer (impossible under Space Opera rules, given the armor on a Star Destroyer and the firepower of a X-Wing squadron). So, the leader of the players (one of the Armsmen) holds up the sideways peace sign, and we started... We let Luke and Wedge land first, since they needed to consult with our commander, then I (playing a Astronaut) flew my fighter into the hanger, targeted Luke with my blasters, and let him have it. My gunner sprayed wedge with the turret mount, while the other two fighters unloaded missiles from space. Then the fun began... "Luke uses his lightsaber to parry the blaster bolts!" No, sorry, ship mounted blasters will destroy his lightsaber if he tries, see page 57. "Luke has a improved lightsaber, and sends the bolts back at you" That's fine, he can't penetrate my shields. "Oh, but he can because..." How is he at breathing vacuum? Two missile hits on the hanger... "The Xenon damping field prevents them from detonating" Too bad the Star Destroyer didn't use thiers. That's ok, the damping field doesn't prevent detonation, it just reduces it. So instead of a 157 kiloton blast, it's a 15.7 kiloton blast. Twice. "But the shields block it" That's fine, I'm in the hanger, I'll put a missile into the shield generator and the Xenon damper. And I'm inside the shield. "But..." Once we see that the shields are down, we'll put two more missiles into the hanger. Each. "You'll kill Shadow and Hawk too!" Shadow: A far, far better thing... Hawk: Don't miss! And by the way, I rolled a 89, I hit Wedge with the turret mount. Now, two 15 kiloton blasts in the hanger, plus 4 more 150 kiloton blasts should destroy the base, kill everyone in it, and possibly split the asteroid in pieces. We then speculated on whether we should sell Liea into slavery, or drug her and use her as a sex slave, on whether we should hunt down Chewbacca and Lando to kill them before they can rescue Han Solo or after, and other speculations to obscene to repeat (teenage boys). The GM left in tears. It would be a month before he offered to run again, and three before we let him. GMs, remember! If you want to tell a story about your favorite characters, write a fan fic. If you want to run a RPG, let the players be the center of the campaign.

Re: Your PCs might be Underpowered if... You need the whole team, because Viper sent TWO agents!

Re: What's the point? They're gonna escape anyways Because if I didn't fight villians while dressing like this, they'd arrest me. And I like dressing like this. (Strikes pose in skintight yellow spandex) I look fabulous!

Re: The best questions you can ask! I quoted from memory. Your reality may be different. Now to google it, brb. "Where am I?" "In the Village." "What do you want?" "Information." "Whose side are you on?" "That would be telling…. We want information. Information! INFORMATION!" "You won't get it." "By hook or by crook, we will." "Who are you?" "The new Number Two." "Who is Number One?" "You are Number Six." "I am not a number — I am a free man!" (Laughter from Number Two.)

Re: superuseless superpowers "For the benefit of the court, Mister Smith, please indicate which picture shows your own arse, and which one is a hole in the ground." Long boring story follows. My Dad worked on his Master's degree in "Earth Sciences" (Geology plus). As a grad student, he was often assigned to grade papers in subjects that weren't sciences. A set of English papers on "What I did for my Summer Vacation" included a student who went to the Yucatan, where he travelled from village to village on a (mispelled in original) "burrow". Dad circled the word, and wrote in margin... "Student cannot tell Ass from hole in the ground."