Vanguard00

Re: Publishing Fiction I'd be willing to take a shot at this. I'm not as good as some but I've had enough compliments on my writing that I'm considering giving the Big Leagues a try. I would, assuming they are of good quality. None in particular, or everyone. I prefer to think that just about any character can be of interest if their story is told correctly. What kind? The regular kind. A good story, good characterization, exciting action scenes, realistic dialogue... I'm not sure what you're looking for. Any of the hero genres would work (Dark, Pulp, Super, etc). Yeah--don't try and involve the Champions Universe so much. Publish an anthology series about super heroes, with independent authors writing about independent characters. If it flies, put it to DOJ to have an "authorized" series of novels featuring favorite characters and/or villains. I'm tempted to suggest leaving DOJ out of it entirely and pushing the independent thing. I think I'd like to see the Champions Universe handled by DOJ people. I'm just cynical enough to believe that someone else would screw it up despite their best intentions.

Re: Looking For Resources: Urban Caverns Here's a couple I had already: For some great photos of abandoned places: http://photos.dobi.nu/ For a list of links to abandoned places: http://www.deathrock.net/ariadne/ruins.html Google-fu time... Try the following searches: "Urban ruins" "Abandoned subway" (check out the cincinnatti one)

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Character Concept Question: Jack Hawksmore? Granted, I'm not an authority on The Authority (no pun intended...sort of), but I've seen a couple of reasons for Jack's powers. One is that he was operated on by the Kherubim (those kooky aliens once at war with the Daemonites, neither of whom are ever mentioned anymore). But it didn't say why. Another source, the "International Superhero Directory" (found here: http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/nonus.htm) had this to say: "From the age of five, Jack Hawksmoor was regularly pulled out of time to be operated on by future-terrestrials, and then returned the moment he left. He would undergo over a thousand operations, his internal organs being extracted and replaced with new ones, until there was almost nothing left inside him that could be considered human. All this was done to prepare him as Earth's defender from a threat that had wiped out all living beings in the 70th century, and was now travelling back in time to do the same at the dawn of time (stopping off in 1976 to catch it's breath). Jack, in spite of the trauma of what had been done to him, achieved this goal, taking on the threat (Kansas City as it turned out, now sentient and hostile) by using Tokyo as a gigantic living battlesuit. " Yeah. Okay. I have no idea where this was mentioned as the site doesn't reveal it's source. But, um, there ya have it. At least it makes sense. Sort of.

I played in a long-running campaign (7-8 years) wherein the original church (based on a triad of equal and related gods) split when one influential cardinal came up with "proof" that one of the triad was actually the "supreme being". For two years or so (real time) the story came to us in bits and pieces about this squabble at a conclave, or that disagreement between rulers adopting the faith of their patron churches...that sort of thing. Then it turned into a religious war, and things got ugly. Everyone basically chose sides. To top it all off, in the middle of this, a new sect began to push their pantheon, and as people were fed up with the ongoing war in the "established" church, they began seeking guidance from the new gods. This, of course, was the point. Turns out the original cardinal proposing the "supreme" being was an agent of the new pantheon, and it was his job to stir up trouble in order to give the new gods a foothold. It was our party's job to put an end to it. Oddly enough, we embraced the new gods and helped drive out the established religious order. The GM did such a good job of making them sound appealing we all bought into it. Quite the campaign. Just an example of what you were asking.

Like just about any other game supplement, I think with some modifications SA would work very well in the CU. I'm awaiting the newer version of SA to be released, but I'm using the old one to put a campaign together. I live in Sacramento, California, and San Angelo could drop down right on top and no one would know the difference (including a few people who live here now). I'm tweaking SA to take the place of Sacramento, and replacing certain elements of SA with CU counterparts. It should drop in as easily as MC did in place of Detroit. Of course, time will tell. But, to answer the original question, my vote is "Yeah, it works."

Q: Jury, you have heard the case presented against Enforcer on the charge of public masturbation. How do you find the defendent? A: Kinda makes me want to kick you in the head.

This doubtless has any REAL use in this particular case, but I've always based my kobolds on the old Germanic definition: 1. An often mischievous household elf in German folklore. 2. A gnome that haunts underground places in German folklore. I have them almost as mini-trolls rather than mini-lizardmen, and awfully cunning and devious without being seriously evil. They just don't like being messed with. Obviously it's not the D&D version. Still, based on "common" usage these days I think Hierax's most recent write-up is a good one.

You could do that. Background (sketchy) info, timeline entry, some rumors/tales/legends... Personally, I'd give some basics for the race & culture of the Nightlings, something for your PC to start with, then allow the player to flesh out the details (with your input and/or approval). That saves you some work and lets the player really get into his character. If s/he comes up with something cool, run with it. If not, fill in the blanks yourself. You should give the player the details of the misunderstanding and let him/her go from there. Are they bitter about it? Humble? Do they want to prove themselves or merely put it all behind them? As an aside, though, make sure your other PCs have reason to accept and/or trust this particular player or you're in for some rocky RPing.

Seriously, check it out. Just grab a Yahoo account and get the free Yahoo/Geocities webspace. Go for the "easy build" option and cut'n'paste all your Word info into the page. Even if no one else ever sees it you'll have it available whereever you go. It's fairly intuitive for beginners and you'll come to love it later.

Yeah, but she's still hot.

A guy comes into work last week. He's been gone for months, and I never found out why. So I ask. He's been diagnosed with diabetes at a particular high level. I make the appropriate empathetic noises, wanting to sound neither trite nor insincere but having nothing to contribute, and he procedes to elaborate on his mood, in great detail and in spite of my efforts to get out of the incredibly morbid and dramatic twist of the story. Seems he lost several toes, and might lose more, possibly even his whole foot. It also appears that at least one eye is now losing vision, and it's been theorized he might be legally blind before the end of the year. Other medical issues are lingering on the horizon. During this time he was laid off and had to get rehired as a contractor for less money. On top of that his fiance left him because she can't handle the stress. All of this was related to me in spite of the fact that I don't know him all that well. I was just curious as to why he'd been gone and would have been satisfied with a "medical reasons" answer. At the end of all this I was no longer sympathic. I was annoyed. I hate people who "dump". So, after a thoughtful pause, I said, "It could be worse." "How?" says he, thoroughly mired in his woe-is-me emotional blanket. "It could've been me." He laughed his arse off and for DAYS told everyone I did more to bring him out of his depression in that one moment than anyone had for months. And I was really trying to be a dick. I hate it when I accidentally do the right thing for all the wrong reasons. But it still felt good having done the right thing.

Q: Who's the master villain in that new 'Final Fantasy' Champions adventure? A: Three toothpicks and a coupon for Starbuck's.

I just finished reading "Storm Front" by Jim Butcher. It's the first in a series about a private investigator/warlock in a "modern" world that still doesn't believe in magic. Vampires, fairies, mystic cults...it's got all the stuff any good mystic Dark Champions adventure could want. It's quite entertaining and has given me a couple of ideas for magic-related stories/plot devices. Highly recommended.

Re: Cool ( what we've come to expect ) Look again, QM. He's holding a pair of stiletto-like knives, probably for throwing.

Heya, folks. How do you keep a duplicator from being too unbalancing in a team-oriented game? The duplicator in question has 5 250-pt duplicates, is a martial artist "normal" with SPD 4 and decent scope of martial arts. The team is mostly 350-point characters of the general four-color variety. Short of simply not allowing the character, and also assuming not every combat is going to have dozens of agents to keep him occupied, are there any thoughts on how to keep the duplicator from being the "men of the hour" every time? This is just one of those aspects of the game I've never truly explored and I'd appreciate some feedback. Thanks.

The Internet Is Your Friend First, what you have is about all I've ever used. Bear that in mind. Second, no, the "sawyer" does not generally go out and get his own wood. Lumberjacks cut the wood, haul it back to town (or get someone to haul it for them). Sawyers (your sawmill guys) square and smooth the wood for building purposes. Builders get the wood and build stuff. Yes, one guy could be responsible for all of this but he'd be a RICH man in a non-industrial setting. The miller/sawyer could live anywhere you wanted him to. Same with the apprentices. Perhaps the miller has a nice little cottage in town, but the apprentices have a small room in the back of the mill, or maybe a shed. A short encyclopedic entry for sawmill: Here's a pretty decent link I stumbled on. http://www.osv.org/education/WaterPower/Sawmill.html Also check out it's parent page: http://www.osv.org/education/WaterPower/index.html Here's one interesting site I found during a quick search. It's not so much about sawmills but it should answer some of your questions about the hows, wheres and so forth: http://www.allroutes.to/logging/history.htm Also, there's apparently a book by Edmund Gillon entitled "BUILD YOUR OWN SAWMILL (THE WAY THINGS WORK)." It seems to come up a lot in searches so maybe it's helpful. Check with your local library, maybe. Not bad for fifteen minutes' work, eh? Gotta luv the internet

I think Champions 5th edition raised the bar a bit on power levels. You can still make a really good character for 250 pts or less. Here's some advice that might help (or it might not, but hey, ya never know, right?). Brilar, make a villain or two for your game. Aim for 150, 175 or even 200 pts (I like 175pts if only because it's one half of the "standard" 350pts). If you can come up with a good villain for that amount of points, then that's what you should institute as the limits for your game. My recommendation would be to make the limit 150 or 175 pts, then only allow up to 50 (or 75) pts to be spent on "powers", and for our purposes higher-than-normal stats are considered powers. Magmarock's suggestion also is good--mandatory skills, say 10% of points, or a set 15pts, or whatever. If you make the game 150pts, give them up to 75pts in disads, only half which can be Psych Lims. If you make the game 175 pts, same thing--75 in disads but only half in psych lims. If you decide to go the 200 pt. route, give them 100 in disads but allow up to 60pts in Psych Lims.

Well, Conan, Fafhrd & Gray Mouser and Elric rank up there for me, but much of that is nostalgia, since this got me into the genre. Lord of the Rings HAS to be mentioned, in my opinion, because of it's impact. Specifically Aragorn and Boromir for me. David Gemmell simply rocks in my opinion. Many of his characters are simply larger-than-life, but Druss and Waylander rank high up there (with honorable mention to Jaim Grymauch of the Rigante books). "Morningstar" is one of my favorite anti-heroes, as well. I've thoroughly enjoyed Michael Stackpole's fantasy novels, as well, especially "Once A Hero". The character of Neal Roclawzi is a great anti-hero. Virtually any character from Guy Gavriel Kay. They're all so beautifully developed that they practically scream to be made into films. Other noteworthies include: Vlad Taltos (Steven Brust) Tempest & Lythander (Thieves' World books, not sure of individual creators--Lynn Abbey and Robert Lynn Asprin?) Speaking of Asprin, Skeeve of the "Myth" books. Comedy, yes, but still a good romp. Hawk & Fisher (Simon Greene, right?) Thomas Covenant (Stephen R. Donaldson - Thomas C. is such a bastard you gotta love him). The Beastmaster (a la Andre Norton, not necessarily Marc Singer...though I kinda liked that one, too). Paksennarion and Gord (Elizabeth Moon) - great characterizations. Roland, "Song of Roland", of the original French/Frank epic poem about one of Charlemagne's knights. Robin Hood (not really sword & sorcery but he fits in my list). There are so many that I've enjoyed over the years, but these are the ones that jump out at me right now. Most of them have been inspirations for characters.

Well, I don't know that I'd use established villains, but if I did I'd certainly let the players choose them (and modify their backgrounds slightly). That being said, I have run one and only one "villains turned heroes" campaign in my day, and it went well for the short time we did it. I might do it again... Anyway, some of the plot came from "Suicide Squad" with a bit of "Silver Sable"/"Power Man & Iron Fist" thrown in. The villains are already incarcerated for extreme sentences. Their particular skills/personalities led the authorities to believe they'd be good participants for an experiment: reduced sentences for hazardous duty. The villains are "broken out" of prison and given everything they need to track down and defeat the mastermind of choice. The government has plausible deniability for their involvement, and the villains are 'monitored' using implants...which will conveniently explode if they go outside mission parameters. Through the course of the adventure the villains defeated the target villain group, the 'government' agency was revealed to be a treasonous black ops division, the villains destroyed the implant-controlling devices and, thanks to some accidental good press, decided to go mercenary. They changed their names and hired out for a variety of jobs, but only those that didn't violate their "parole". The REAL government let the paroles stand since they didn't want the incident to get out, and the villains began the slow road to herodom. We didnt' get far, only a few adventures, before moving on to another campaign, but things were going well. Of the entire group (of six) only two were "established" villains: Howler and Utility.

Just some ideas: Situations: Post apocolyptic, eh? That means hoarding. Hoarding of food, medicine, weapons, power (batteries and/or electricity). * How about a disease running rampant through a known and friendly town? The supers are gonna have to quest for the medicine, and it just so happens that the only nearby hospital is held by a bunch of criminals and loons...and maybe one or two of them is a super, as well (which would be a great recurring villain once the villain escapes). * Those pesky militia groups were all over the place. Damned if one of 'em didn't survive, complete with batteries, generators, weapons and plenty of modern conveniences. Now they're lookin' to take over the region and they don't much care who gets in their way. * How 'bout nature running wild? All those previously-domesticated dogs are a problem now that their owners are gone. The really bad thing is that they're gettin' smarter, too. Seems when they go huntin' they don't always just kill their pray. Sometimes they drag it off. Ever heard of dogs doin' that before? Me neither. It's like someone trained 'em to do it... Tactics normals can use against supers: * Don't bunch up. That way you avoid sweeps, area effects, etc. * Coordinate attacks: two or three "normal" coordinating attacks, whether with guns, bows or fists, can do a lot of damage. * Alternate attacks: just because every normal has a SPD of two and goes on phases 6 and 12 doesn't mean they can't hold their actions and alternate their attacks. If you've got four guys, have them go on phases 6, 7, 8 and 9, then do it again on 12, 1, 2 and 3. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish if you can make a super abort an action or two. * Traps: never underestimate the power of a good trap. A simple deadfall, pit trap, swinging limb, whatever, can really mess with their heads, and once you start adding explosives of any kind they're in for a rough ride. Lastly, sounds like you should check out some Gamma World source books for some good ideas. Also, David Robbins had a decent series of Post Apocalypse type books (the "Endworld" series) many years ago. They're hard to find, but eBay or something might be able to help you some. Good luck to ya.

Sacramental, baby! Well, I should say it's tentative, depending on work and such, but I'd like to start it by February. I'll likely have something on Irony Games when it goes down. Born and bred in this town, actually, but currently living close to CSUS, working in Folsom, and the band plays in Elk Grove. So I'm pretty much all over it on any given week. I think I agonized over the "where to place it" decision for about fifteen to twenty minutes, as I idly flipped through the book to refamiliarize myself with it. I don't remember what it was that tipped me off (it might have been references to river front and the delta and so on) but something jumped out at me and said "This is ALL Sacramento, boy", and I started flipping around for specific reference points and everything just fell into place. The map is pretty close, too, if a bit canted from Sac. The docks were the only thing that threw me for a bit, but I can make them work. The rest lines up fairly well and allows me to keep "better known" areas like San Francisco and Los Angeles intact. I'm even considering an Ah-nold-esque governor Overall, it was a pretty easy decision to make. Sacramento is obviously familiar to me, San Angelo is a great superhero setting, and I get the home field advantage without having to sacrifice a single bit of "genre realism" for my players. It's a win-win situation.

Re: Fantasy books Someone on the boards once posted something about a library, but I can't find the reference (Killer Shrike, perhaps?). In any case, I use books all the time. Books are a mark of wealth and/or nobility in my game world. Historical tomes, military accounts, medicinal treatises...they all have a place. There is a Bible equivelant that many people try and get copies of, and they come in all shapes and sizes. The average cost of a book is approximately three times what it would cost in materials, and that's for something fairly basic. For example, if a piece of parchment cost 1sp in your world, and one particular libram on King Azaran's lineage (a whopping 52 pages!) used parchment pages, sharkskin-over-wood covers and silverwire binding, it would likely cost a minimum of 500 sp. Since I use the silver standard and 500 sp is more than most commoners will ever see in a lifetime. However, the same book using vellum pages, plain wood covers and catgut binding might only cost 100 sp. Books in my campaign provide status, clues, plot points, reference points, and plain ol' fashioned flavor for the characters. A man with a library of over 20 books is wealthy indeed, while the commoner family with a single copy of "The Light And The Way" might view that book as their single most prized possession, passed down from generation to generation until it falls apart. Thieves steal books and sell the pages to scribes and sages for hard currency. Well, you get the idea.

Just a suggestion Put some time into making your villains, and try and make them from the point of view that these are your characters. Make them personal to YOU and you'll likely make them personal to the players, as well. Don't forget to tie at least one hero and villain together. It doesn't matter if they were created in the same accident, know each other in secret ID, maybe one accidentally created the other...tie them together and use that tie to bring them together (not just physically, but in terms of characterisation and development). Remember that villains learn, too, so make them just a wee bit smarter/tougher as time goes by.

I tend to make my NPC villains almost exactly like I make my heroes. Granted, I worry less about the points, but that's relative. I still try and make them as efficiently as possible and still stay within the boundaries of common sense (in relation to my campaign). As an example, when I created a villain team for the heroes (six heroes on the team), I made the team as definitive as possible. There were five villains who were under the 350-pt mark, but they were still decent opponents. They were designed to lose one-on-one, but still have the potential to win in groups. Two of the villains were at 350-pts and were as tight as I could make them, and they were designed to be the "main" opponents to the villains. The last, the leader, was built on 500 pts and was the main bad guy, but one who hadn't been around all that long. A lot of his pts were spent on followers and bases. Still, it was nice that he could take any two of the heroes on with a good chance of winning, and actually held four off for a brief time. So, to answer the original question, my villains tend to be based on the heroes themselves with a strong guideline of what I want to accomplish. I don't have a "super-supervillain" of higher than 500 pts (yet), but that might change depending on my campaign needs.