Crimson-Hawk

Re: your campaigns "Superman". In Meriquai Falls, the closest thing to a "Superman" character was (egocentrically enough) Crimson-Hawk. But that's a bit unfair of a tag, since Crimmy is a 350-point Mystic character with power levels appropriate to that point total. He is fairly strong (stronger than the rest of the members of the Omega Legion, save for Reverb), has decent defenses, can fly decently fast (he has mega-flight in addition to standard flight), and has a couple of "energy projection" attacks. He was also a Patriot (of the Meriquai people) and had a strong sense of right/wrong and equality (due to his mixed heritage). After Crimmy's "fall from grace," there really isn't a "Superman" type in the campaign anymore. Vixen and Backdraft are the only two truly active iconic heroes. Vixen is an Acrobat/Speedster built at the "Champions" power level and Backdraft is a pure Energy Projector built at the "Teen Champions" power level. Vixen does fulfill the "moral compass" role, as most new heroes will likely look up to her as the most experienced active hero in the city and she does have an strong sense of right and wrong. But she cannot fly, she is not superstrong, she does not have strong defenses, nor does she have an energy projection attack. Edit: After reading Assault's excellent commentary, I've broken my answer into the three "sub-roles" that Assault discussed: World's Most Powerful Superhero: This is a toss-up between Crimson-Hawk and the vigilante antihero Vengeance. Crimson-Hawk has all of the powers, but Vengeance can out-fight Crimmy any day of the week and has the "Weeble" syndrome in his favor. This says alot about the power levels of the iconic heroes of the city, since both Crimmy and Vengeance are 350-point characters. World's Most Respected Superhero: This is entirely dependent on era. During the 70s and early 80s, it was Lady Freedom (a "Captain America" type with incredible physical and mental fitness and two stun pistols). During the 80s up until the mid-90s, it was Shotgun Rider (a trucker and part-time vigilante in the flavor of "Dukes of Hazzard," "B.J. and the Bear," and "Smokey and the Bandit"). Between 1994 and 2000, it was the enigmatic Bloodshadow (a Powered Armor hero who was something of a cross between Iron Man and Daredevil). Between 2000 and 2005, it was Crimson-Hawk. Post-2005, it's Vixen. Out of all of them, Crimmy enjoyed the greatest amount of respect until his fall from grace. World's First Superhero: This goes to Lady Freedom, who came into her powers during the "Flower Power" era of the 60s and adventured as "Freedom Girl" until the mid-80s, when she retired to live a normal life. In 2000, when her husband died in the Great Meriquai Falls Massacre, Freedom Girl came out of retirement, changed her name to Lady Freedom, and rehashed her costume to be more stylish for the new millenium. Even today, though, Lady Freedom rarely adventures unless a truly epic crisis befalls Meriquai Falls.

Re: Vixen I like this one. It does a nice job of taking the "hyper-dexterity" motif that seems to be inherent in any Champions character named "Vixen" and adapting it to the flavor and guidelines of a powered Dark Champions game. Her dexterity and gear is more realistic and utilitarian than my Vixen (who simply has an insane amount of DEX/SPD and a fighting style that takes advantage of it). I see her shining in a hero group as being the "dark detective" of the game. 384 points doesn't seem that bad, either. I mean, she probably garnered quite a bit of experience during your DC:HCP campaign. So it probably won't be that much of a stretch to "upgrade" her to a Champions campaign once the DC:HCP campaign is closed. And 384 isn't that much over the standard 350 build template. All in all, I like it.

Re: The Mystic World Zornwil is right. This was primarily between Agent X and myself. Agent X made a point, I chose present an argument qualifying my disagreement, and Agent X has chosen to stand firm on his position despite my and others' arguments. That is his right. Nuff said. Let's move on. What are people's opinions of the selection of Thaumaturgy spells presented in TMW?

Re: The Mystic World

Re: The Mystic World I just got both TMW and FHG2 today and I'm a happy camper. I found the Kabbalistic inspiration for the structure of the Multiverse both unique and flexible, as far as gaming multiverses go. I can see Meriquai Falls fitting into the same Multiverse, but being a different Malkuth plane and having access to different Yetziratic planes. As far as the artwork is concerned... I think I'll reserve judgement for when my artwork is better and thus I have a position from which to judge. While there were a couple of pieces I did a double-take on (page 22 has a picture of Nighthawk in full costume but without his facemask on? ), overall the artwork is much better than I can personally produce. Of course, the offering of magical "crunchy bits" was nice, but it does leave me looking forward to TUM. And the master villains offered were very nice. I do admit, after reading GC and seeing ol' Mechanon weighing on at over 4k, I was expecting Tyrannon to weigh in at least as much if not more. But then, I've learned since that advent of 5E that character points are really a good measure of a villain's threat margin. Istvatha V'han weighs in at a mere 716 CPs, but is one of the baddest villains in the Multiverse. While Tyrannon does clock in at slightly less than ol' Doc D character point-wise, Tyrannon could eat Doc D for lunch just on the way the points are spent... (Doc D would give the Conqueror indigestion on the way down, but Tyrannon would eat him for lunch anyway.) And that doesn't take into account the vast resources Tyrannon has... which is the same strength Istvatha V'han has. I do find myself looking forward to both AA and TUM. Dean deserves a huge pat on the back on this piece!

Re: New Writeup Game! Fix the "Weaklings" I really like Proditor's take on the original subject of this thread. It feels like a very natural extension of his "cypher" mutant ability... and one that makes him an extreme bad ass without fusing him with Warlock or investing cybernetics into him. One of the classic concepts behind X-Men has been that most of the characters have only one "power." Shadowcat turns intangible. Cyclops shoots energy beams. Colossus turns himself into metal. Gambit kinetically charges objects. Iceman creates ice. Wolverine regenerates. Cypher understands any language. It's what a member of the X-Men learns to do with his or her "one power" that makes him or her such a bad ass. Shadowcat uses her intangiblity tactically in combat and has even learned to "walk on air." Cyclops can do trick shots with his eye beams that could possibly give Captain America's shield tricks a run for their money. Colossus, Gambit, and Iceman have all learned interesting "power tricks" of their own. Wolverine's regeneration allowed him to not only survive the "Weapon X" procedures, but to thrive with them. Why can't Ramsey learn to use his ability to comprehend any language in new and interesting ways? I mean, it's part and parcel with being an X-Man. In light of that, I give Proditor's take on the matter five stars!

Re: Galactic Champions I've ordered Galactic Champions from FRP Games as well. Hero Games support here in Kansas City is abysmal... The Battlezone barely keeps any Hero stuff on stock (though I need to buy Reality Storm from them, since they do have that in stock). And Monty's Books & Comics had The Turakian Age (yay! FH goodness!) but little of anything else I didn't already own. And Monty's is usually very Hero friendly. So, now I sit, waiting for FRP to get my money order so they can send me Sidekick and GC. It's funny. I and my roommate were speculating yesterday which characters would survive to 3K. I posited that Mechanon and Istvatha V'han would be part of the setting, since they can "survive" till then and they fit the GC genre. I also posited that Captain Chronos, the Cateran, and Takofanes were all capable of making it to 3K, but their concepts didn't fit the GC genre too well. I was thrilled when reading this thread and the RPGNet review that I was absolutely correct on Mechanon and Istvatha V'han! (Long live Istvatha V'han!) I was only mildly surprised to find out that the Cateran at least gets a nod in the book. But I was caught completely by surprise that the Slug returns as a major player; I so wasn't thinking of that. I'm tickled that there are "new" versions of Defender and Firewing. I was half expecting a "new" Destroyer, too. But that's neither here nor there. I'm glad there isn't. I hope Takofanes was at least given a nod... it would tickle me to no end to know that there was a master villain who has existed from the "beginning" of the Hero Universe to the "end" of it and that master villain was not Dr. Destroyer. I am so looking forward to this book it's not even funny. But I need to wait at least another week and a half for the money order to get to FRP and for FRP to UPS the order out to me.

Ooooh, yeah! It never ceases to amaze me the talent that DOJ is capable of pulling in. Chris Stevens, Storn Cook, Greg Smith, and Andrew Cremens are just my favorites amongst a large and fantastic talent pool Andy is capable of pulling on for their print books. I'm waiting for Hero Games' art budget to run dry, if these artists are being paid commensurate to their talent!

How Do the Threats Come Back, Anyhow? Considering that the whole premise of the Xenophore Wars, Terran Empire, and Terran Federation (and possibly a Cyber Hero style setting just before the Xenophore Wars?) is that magic almost literally drops off the face of the galactic map leads me with two questions. 1) What even occurs in 2020 to close the floodgates of magic opened by the Nazi sorcerers during WW2? This would have to be a pretty mind-blowing event that doesn't really cause that much destruction at all.... 2) What opens the floodgates again in the Year 3000 era? Considering that both the heroes and the threats in Galactic Champions universe are comparatively stronger than in the Champions Universe (at least, I'm getting the impression of such), this was probably a huge, HUGE event in the history of the Terran Federation. Things that make you go hmmmmm......

WOOT! Yeah, I just saw it last night! Whoever's doing the coloring is doing a right bang-up job! Just like a real cat. Calm, cool, and collected, unless he wants to be rowdy and rambunctious! You just gotta love cats!

Actually, SCUBA Hero, that's a pretty good rule to live by. I think I'll start living by it as well. The USPDB should be in my hands around May 31st, then.

Um.... *looks at his own avatar a moment, then winces*

Me, personally? It's a toss-up between the Fex and the Kalishari. Yeah, the Malvans are kewl, and Andrew Cremens did a wonderful job illustrating their beauty, but they're mechanically and socially cheese-monkeys... they have the best technology of anyone in the game (as is their right, being the oldest race in the campaign). The only thing stopping them from going across the galaxy and stomping the stuffing out of every little thing in their path is their own sense of apathy. They really don't make good PCs. The Fex are cat-people... and I have a soft spot for such characters. Dexterous, graceful, and perceptive, they're a perfect rogue or Han Solo-esque character. And they're part of the Terran Empire itself. Two pluses in their favor. The Kalishari are just kewl in concept. It would be a roleplaying challenge to play a character who couldn't lie... because someone can just look at his skin and tell if he's lying or not! Plus, Andrew Cremens' iconic Kalishari just rocks!

It all depends on the race, to be sure, Hermit. Most of the 27+ species get excellent (at least 750+ word) treatises. And this doesn't include some of the less-detailed races presented in the sidebars. And, yes, if the race was mentioned in CU or CKC and the race is from the Milky Way galaxy (i.e. Perseids, Malvans, Hzeel, etc), they are detailed pretty well in TE. Earth isn't aware of most of these races in the official timeline as of the CU era (and TE is quite clear as to which ones had a hand in Terran history). But that shouldn't stop an adventurous GM in a private game. Heck, I think I would love to see a Fex speedster, or a Varanyi villain come down and kick Menton in the cerebral junk before trying to conquer Earth, or a Kalashari empath named Poker Face (those who've read TE will get that joke).

Heh. I'm beginning to realize why Geoff Speare's signature is so profound and appropriate.

Then it sounds like you're doing the right thing, Ndreare. Especially with the ungodly Mind Scan, to be able to VPP any skill at any time simply by making a successful Mind Scan does seem unbalanced. I'd probably build it as follows: Cosmic Skill Pool: Variable Power Pool, 12-point Reserve, Cosmic (+2) (30 Active Points); Base Skills Only (-1/4), Must find a target with appropriate skill with Mind Scan and succeed in a Telepathy roll at +20 on the target (-1/4). Total Cost: 24 points. By "Base Skills," I mean skills bought at 3 Active Points. Thus, your villain would only be able to "borrow" the Disguise skill at a standard PRE roll, no higher. Or borrow a Knowledge skill at a standard INT roll, no higher. I chose to make it Cosmic because the villain isn't really limited on what skill he can have. Considering his Mind Scan, he can have pretty much any skill he wants just by making a decent Mind Scan roll. In the same light, I reduced the values of the Limitations Monolith originally assigned to the VPP; with the Mind Scan, they just aren't as limiting as they would otherwise be. 24 points may still be too cheap in your mind, and I wouldn't blame you. As you pointed out, Skills are Special Powers when referenced by Frameworks, so they're considered STOP Powers. This is indeed important to remember. However, since this is an NPC villain, this shouldn't be an issue. You shouldn't concentrate so much on the point-value of the villain as you should the subjective ability of the villain to kick the stuffing out of the PCs. Menton, Istvatha V'han, Takofanes, and even Doc Dee are all far more powerful than their point values would indicate because they have access to either resources not bought with character points or they have powers that, when combined together, are far more deadly than their point costs would have you believe. That said, that VPP (either mine or even Monolith's) would never, ever fall into the hands of one of my players. It's far too unbalancing. But I would gleefully add it to one of my villains. Does that make me two-faced? Perhaps, yes. But, as long as I advertise the villain for what he is (one capable of easily outthinking the PCs), then it simply contributes to the challenge of the villain and thus the enjoyment of the encounter as a whole.

I'm inclinded to agree with Monolith's build of the power. Much simpler and more cost efficient. However, it all depends on the tastes of the GM and the style of the campaign. Maybe being able to steal other's skills like that will break the whole campaign open like a Russian egg... if so, Ndreare's method may be better just to reflect the cost of such usefulness. But in most superheroic campaigns I'd run, Monolith's build would suit my taste better.

Again, I repeat, you know what say about the word "assume," right? Hehehehe! Thanks for the quick response, Steve!

First off, I just got Terran Empire in the mail today. (I finally broke down and ordered it and TUV from FRP Games despite my distaste for mail ordering, since I was having trouble making it to my FLGS to ask them to order them for me.) I must say, it's a GRAND piece of work and extremely crunchy and tasty. I love Andrew Cremens' artwork on the iconic members of the various races. I was pleasantly surprised to see Albert Deschesne's work in there. The plethora of packages are very, very useful. And now I understand many of the alien species alluded to in CU and CKC. Which leads nicely into the actual question: What is the presumed date of the racial discussions in Chapter Two of TE? For instance, the discussion of the H'zeel indicates that an aborted attempt to conquer first Earth then the Perseid Empire failed miserably "600 years ago"... though it's not made clear when "600 years ago" actually occurred. I'm assuming that the discussions presume a date towards the beginning of the Rebellion Wars era (circa 2669 A.D.). Then again, you know what they say about the word "assume," right? Thanks, guys!

Agreed, Tiger; And that's exactly where the Mafia would find themselves in MF... caught between the Imperions, Night Sparrow's gangs, the Night Shadow ninja clan, and the thirty-some superpowered villains running around. And no way to compete in their arena. So the Mafia will be creating an arena of their own! Since the new Mafia Don would be the only super in the Family (since he's got a McGuffin to make him so in the first place plus it ensures his place in power), the Mafia is being ran by Competent Normals on average, Heroic level characters at best, with no Super-Agent style minions, this new Don would have to be cunning, covert, and sly. Which still fits neatly into the plotline I originally planned for the sample adventure in the book anyway!

Actually, I had not thought of that. I think that's a good idea, one worth looking into. Thanks, Hermit! This is applied to at least one "location" in Meriquai Falls, as Lord Liaden was alluding to above in his "McGuffin" suggestion. This "McGuffin," in fact, is the whole reason for the existance of the Imperions. Mind you, I don't want to get carried away with mystical sites, though I doubt that's what you were implying. I want Meriquai Falls to be a comfortable mix of the high technology of Millennium City and the mystic allure of Vibora Bay. With the Imperions' goal, Count Dredmaus, the Scions of the Myste, and the Equalizers, there plenty of mysticism already. There will be technological "McGuffins" and locations, as well, between the Sullivan Research Foundation (or the SRF for short, one of the most advanced bio-medical research facilities on the face of the planet), Impulses Unlimited (one of the best producers of super-agent quality weapons and armor), Tech World (fun and learning all in one visit!) and a time traveling mad scientist, amongst other things. In fact, many of these locations lend easily to the "common origin" discussion you are asking for, Hermit. At least one super villainess has risen from the ranks of the faculty of the SRF, so why not a group of test subjects suddenly becoming heroes? And that's just one example. Anyhue, anyone who has opinion about anything please keep the comments coming in! Did something you wanted to see in MC not show up there? Let me know!

Sorry, Lord Liaden... I know your heart is set on a 5E VOICE... and I will still ask Steve about it. But, if I did include it in MF, they would need a good 18-24 pages at the least to fully flesh out to the level you're asking. And chances are rather good that Steve will simply tell me "no," so.... That's a good observation to make. It drew my attention to something I need to do some research into. What all the Mafia is into and why. Thankfully, Steve wrote a neat little book a long time ago which touches quite nicely on that subject; I can reference it....

This is something I wanted to touch on, too, if for nothing else than to keep the thread alive (all opinions on all subject for the book are accepted and welcomed). The MF timeline, as it exists, doesn't follow the typical superhero timeline, per se. For instance, there really isn't any Golden Age Champions era in MF (even though suggestions for such will be briefly discussed). True superhumans do not appear until the late 60's. The first true superhuman, Lady Freedom (the character I turned in for the Name The Hero contest), rose out of the hippy culture of the late 60's. The closest thing to a Golden Age Champions character in MF is Franklin "Striker" Kellerman (Amethyst's grandfather)... and he's more like Indiana Jones than like Mister X. (I have stats for Striker Kellerman, btw... he's a nice, solid 200 point character; I need to sit down and finish that Relics & Spirits article....) The eras of superheroism in MF will be covered, though. Striker Kellerman (and his nemesis, Doctor Blackheart) will be featured in a DH article. But in the e-book itself, there'll be Lady Freedom for the 70s, Shotgun Rider for the 80s, Bloodshadow for the 90s, and Backdraft (who was alluded to in the Against the Iconics article) for the current decade. Each decade's iconic hero has had a profound effect on the Superhuman history of MF; each is well-rounded and will make interesting allies, mentors, or even enemies. [edit: It's Lady Freedom, not Lady Liberty. That's what I get for typing under pressure at work. ]

Well, come to think of it, an update of VOICE, one that would be worthy of them, would take up more pages from Meriquai Falls than I think is available. Though this is an e-book and I'm not truly constrained by page count, I'm going to try to avoid making the book ungodly big. Thus, if I used VOICE, I'd probably wind up only detailing a couple of the orginal characters (maybe six), a generic agent, and some discussion about the organization's history and structure. And besides, Crimson-Hawk driving Lung Hung from a city with nothing more than himself and a 12-year-old girl? Two 350-point characters versus a character when translated will probably weigh in at over 1,000 points. Let's think about this one.... The whole organized crime becomes organized schtick is rather appealing, now that Death Tribble and Monolith have meated it out. "Freezing Snake" could be renamed Johnny "The Cold Snake" Scionnelli or something to the effect thereof. Scionnelli's failed attempt to become the power behind the throne in MF, which leads to the Massacre, would have been a last ditch effort to get back in good with the Mafia before they "punished" him for his constant failures. Of course, Crimmy's appearance ensures that Scionnelli's efforts are in vain. But... what if the Mafia wanted Crimmy to find Scionnelli and defeat him! The defeat did indeed go far more smoothly and easily than it really should have. Now that the slate is wiped clean of Scionnelli and eveyone who supported him, the Mafia can come in with a fresh new Don... taking advantage of a neat new "McGuffin" they recently acquired.... This would add a great new superheroic adversary at the Superhuman level. Add to the tension already existing between the Night Shadow ninja clan and Night Sparrow's street gangs. And provide some more "rogue's gallery" for street-level campaigns as well. Some thoughts to chew on.

Your opinion is duly noted, Monolith. I'm just scared that if I create a new criminal organization, it will only be a VIPER-clone. Might as well call it VIPER, if that turns out to be the case. There are some new organizations that are slated to be introduced in MF, but none are a "pure" criminal organization like VIPER is. The Imperions: The most well-known villain team in MF really shouldn't have agents any more than the Ultimates should have agents in CU. The Scions of the Myste: This is your DEMON-esque mystic organization with a twist. I would say more, but it would ruin the "suprise twist" in the events between the magazine timeline (late 2002) and the e-book timeline (mid- to late 2004). The Equalizers: This is a supernatural terrorist cell and really shouldn't sport agents in its roster. The Night Shadow Ninja Clan: This archnemesis organization to both Moon Shadow/Silver Phoenix and the vigilante Vengeance is steeped in Oriental culture and mysticism and really shouldn't be a criminal organization in the traditional sense. To stick with the timeline originally introduced in Digital Hero, the organization that replaces VIPER would have to be laughable enough during the 90s that Crimson-Hawk would have easily routed them from the city after the Great Meriquai Falls Massacre and yet powerful and serious enough to make a comeback in 2004 and truly scare the PCs. I'll put some thoughts on the matter myself, to be certain, but any thoughts on this from you guys are most certainly welcome! Thanks!