Vanguard00

Re: Resistance is futile Come on, man. Just do it. It'll be cool. You know you want to. Everyone's doin' it, man. Just buy it...

Re: Marvel Second Stringers. Help me out. They kinda left that storyline hangin', didn't they? Daredevil offered to teach her how to use her powers but I don't recall anything after that before the new storyline. Did I miss something?

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations It's the only one slated thus far. They're probably going to wait and see how it does. I was quite pleased when I heard about this film, mainly because Robert Rodriguez was signed on for it. After he resigned from the Director's Guild of America (who didn't want Frank Miller listed as a co-director of Sin City), he lost the deal and they gave it to Conran. I'm sure he'll do a good job, but Rodriguez likely would've done better.

Re: Retcon Waves Destroy Continuity: Film At 11! Dude, yer bummin' me out. Not that it's not all true (to at least some degree), but still...just cut it out and let me have my escapist fantasies.

Re: The New Champions (Marvel)

Re: Dr. House He's not a hero; he's a character on a TV show. It's a great medical drama, and while Dr. House might make a good NPC (y'all forgot the obscene Deduction skills, too--and maybe Luck), I don't think he'd be a good PC for most campaigns.

Re: The New Champions (Marvel)

Re: Welcome to my nightmare Shades of "Nightmare On Elm Street" here, but some ideas I had: You mentioned Chthyra runs rampant through people's dreams, and that the nightmares sorta spread by contact, like a disease. Well, there's your link. With the help of an NPC mentalist, they are all put under and access their collective REM states. They essentially join up in the 'nightmare' world and have to backtrack through the nightmares of 'x' number of people until they get to the first. Now, they all have their powers and abilities while in the nightmare realm, but play up their disads to the max while they're in the world. Each encounter should be a serious trial for at least one PC. Hopefully the PCs will cover each other and work it out, but still, it's a great time to really work those psych lims and whatnot. The idea of defining Chthyra is good, too. What if Chthyra is really the product of an incredibly powerful being? What if that being is an autistic little boy--who just happens to be a mutant with mental powers greater than Menton or anyone else. Chthyra is merely a representation of all the fear and dread the boy lives with.The PCs have the option of killing Chthyra and essentially rendering the boy brain-dead, or perhaps they can find another solution. His defenses are off the charts so no normal mentalist--even very powerful ones--are gonna get into his mind. It's up to the PCs to make that decision...and live with the consequences.

Re: O.m.a.c. Well, there's only one "Countdown" book that you should read, and then the actual "Crisis" series will be out soon. "OMAC" is a miniseries, as well, but if you really want to avoid all that crap just peruse this thread (or others that will likely spawn) and go have a smoke.

Re: Don't be a hater!

Re: Don't be a hater!

Re: Don't be a hater!

Re: Have cool idea, need powers to match it... Aah. Well, in that case... Check out this site for a good reference to the meanings of colors and their possible effects. It deals with chakras and the like and gets a little pseudo-mystical, but it should be good for some ideas.

Re: Don't be a hater! That's fair. I understand that point of view completely, and while you've made certain preferences in regards to system and/or versions clear, you've pretty much maintained a civil manner about it. You say why you don't like a particular rule/mechanic, offer an alternative, and go from there. There are those, however--at least two, though one stands out--who genuinely seem to hate the system and the company, and I think it's fair to ask why. I'm a fanboy of Hero Games and the system in general, but I'm not as rules-intensive as some so those areas that some folks have problems with are usually okay with me. I'm a fanboy because I thoroughly enjoy the system as compared with other systems I've tried. It's a fair question, I think, and I second the hope that this doesn't turn into a flame fest.

Re: Too much tweaking? Too powerful?

Re: Deathstroke No levels? A couple of Overalls--and maybe a couple of general combat levels-- wouldn't be amiss, I'm thinkin'.

Re: grrrr Heh. Thanks.

Re: Have cool idea, need powers to match it... Just riffing here... Invisibility in a variety of forms is an option. Flash is good. Transform is a must, if only to change color to black&white. Change Environment might work for that under some circumstances. INT or EGO Drains to simulate confusion. Maybe even Illusions, Images or the like. I'll think on it more next break.

Re: grrrr Share? Vanguard "I may be slow, but...um...crap" 00

Re: Looking for an example of a Dragon Lady character from TV/Movies for a Pulp campaign. Lady de Winter in "The Three Musketeers". Amoral, beautiful, seductive, subtle, manipulative...she's got it all, baby.

Re: Help with a Name Citadel? Ward? A teammate in a PBEM I'm in is named "Earthward". Elemental was the first thing I thought of, as well.

Re: New Champs Campaign. Advise/Suggestions appreciated First, use phrases like "neural downloads" to explain knowledge and such. Subliminal input in the form of pictures and "home movies" could give them all the usual childhood memories, maybe with a low-level mentalist tweaking things now and again. Thus, they believe they grew up normally (well, as normally as you desire, anyway). I recommend not going into detail in this area in order to prevent backing yourself into a corner. Have scientists explain it like "well, in layman's terms, they turned a TV on in your head and programmed your channels for you". Thus you avoid pseudo-science that might come back to bite you in the arse. "Homeland security" is always good. Or maybe the government simply wants its own loyal team of heroes in case other heroes go rogue. Maybe the faction of the government that 'grew' the heroes has its own agenda, some sort of coup, perhaps, or simply running "black ops" that the Prez and the cabinet don't know about (plausible deniability and all that). Depends on what you're asking. If you're asking how the public would react to a government super-team, I'm guessing they would react according to whatever the overall public opinion was at the moment. Good or bad, I doubt a team of superheroes in and of itself would sway the public's opinion too far one way or the other unless the government or the team itself did something particularly noteworthy. If, however, you're asking what the public opinion would be if they found out the heroes were test-tube babies and "created" to be superheroes, I'm guessing the public outcry would be huge. It's likely heads would roll, from military heads to cabinet chairs, maybe the president himself if it was shown he knew. A lot of scapegoats would be crucified in the court of public opinion. Religious groups would be up in arms over the assumption of God's duties in the creation of life. Human rights groups would be up in arms over the so-called 'brainwashing' of these relatively new people. Some people would manufacture reasons to jump on the bandwagon just to try and get a piece of the publicity. The media would have a field day and it's doubtful the testtube PCs would have a moment's peace for months to come (if ever again). That sort of thing. As I mentioned before, plausible deniability. Only a select few would even know this happened, and upon completion of the experiment many might become the victims of "accidents". Most government officials probably wouldn't know of their true origins. To answer the "how long" question, think about how the PCs would in fact discover the truth. Was it leaked by a guilty party (a scientist who feels guilty for his part in the duplicity)? Or maybe a sharp reporter stumbled onto something (too many inconsistancies in their backgrounds). Perhaps the PCs overheard just the wrong thing at just the wrong time--or have noted inconsistancies of their own--and now they have their own suspicions. Figure out how the PCs could find out, then figure out how that would come about in realistic fashion, then figure out to what lengths your primary antagonist would go to protect that secret (i.e., do they simply try to manipulate the media, or are they willing to kill to protect it). If you're planning this type of campaign I recommend reading the "Next Men" trade paperbacks, at least the first one. Also, the relatively new comic "Supreme Power"--the first few issues especially--deals with similar themes. Bombs in the brain is always a good one--teeny tiny little bombs that can mirror the effects of a stroke or a heart attack and are tracked everywhere on earth via satellite. Built-in weaknesses that their creators know how to exploit. They each have an Achilles heel, their own version of kryptonite, or whatever, and there's a trained team of highly-skilled operatives who have the weapons to take 'em down if necessary. One idea that'd be not-so-popular is to have them create a killing machine in addition to the heroes, relatively mindless but knowing all the strengths and weaknesses of the characters and knowing how to exploit them. He should be able to whoop the PCs' collective arses. This man/being/creature has a bomb in it's head, too, or some sort of nano-programming so that if the PCs are killed, he dies too. Think of Doomsday's origins (scientists genetically recreating him over and over again until he can overcome just about any attack). G'luck!

Re: Team of second rate Villains Zaran was good as part of Batroc's Brigade, featuring Batroc, Machete and Zaran. Potentially a good team of B-Listers for the more 'street' level heroes (or the GLA).

Re: Team of second rate Villains Some free-thought-association-type stuff here: Is Killer Shrike still active? He'd be cool. How 'bout Tiger Shark? Eel? Will o' Wisp? Crossfire? Brothers Grimm? Constrictor? Grey Gargoyle? Dragon Man? Jack O'Lantern? Klaw? Hyde? Jester? Mauler? Unicorn? Torpedo? Okay, some might be dead or inactive, but they were the 'B-List'ers I came up (besides Wrecking Crew...you gotta have them).

Re: Looking for an example of a Dragon Lady character from TV/Movies for a Pulp campaign. Maybe Bai Ling's character in "Sky Captain"? 'Mysterious Lady', I think she was. Might be a reach. "Terry and the Pirates" (both a comic strip and a serial in the 30s/40s) had a character named "The Dragon Lady". The serial sucked, but the comic was way cool. Lastly, I'd go with Lucy Liu's character in "Kill Bill Vol. 1". Not fully developed as a traditional plot device, and maybe a bit of a reach genre-wise, but she certainly fits the (potential) character type.