Crimson-Hawk

Dude! I have that supplement, too! I don't know whether to thank you for the suggestion or kick myself for not thinking of it first. Of course, that also depends on the words of Steve. If indeed the reason VOICE (I'd probably do away with the periods in the acronym in MF) does not appear in the new CU is because of ownership rights, then VOICE appearing in MF is straight out. I'll contact Steve privately on the matter. It may also rest simply on the fact that Steve has a precedent of preferring new, fresh material over rehashed material. Though I would personally love to reinvigorate something like VOICE, Steve may suggest that he'd rather I create a whole new villainous agency out of whole cloth. At which point.... um, I'd definately be coming to you guys for suggestions!

Thanks for the suggestions so far, guys! Keep them coming! While I'm still awake and slightly coherent, I did want to address the VIPER issue. Everyone who has touched that subject have a point and I have indeed considered alternatives. Ultimately, I'd like to use an organization from Champions' past supplements which will not be revised in any new Hero Games product. What I'd like and what I'll be allowed to do is two entirely different things, but the worst Steve can do is tell me "no." My original thought for a "replacement" for VIPER was COIL, but everyone can rest assured that Steve and gang have definate plans for the might King Cobra in the new Champions Universe. So that is straight out. For same reasons I shouldn't use VIPER, I won't use DEMON, ARGENT, and PSI. I imagine RAVEN will be utilized in the Dark Champions universe, so I want to steer clear of that one. You would think that with so many organizations devised in the past, I'd be able to find an one fondly remembered yet obscure enough to warrant exclusion from the new Champions Universe. I'll do some research in all my books this weekend. As for Scott "Gestalt" Bennie... Yes, he was very unintentionally left off of my list. Everyone has been so quiet about the Gestalt project that I'd completely forgot about it! My apologies, Scott!

It's time for me to once again prove my presumptiousness and egotism. Seriously, I need to know what you, the paying customer of Hero Games, want out of a non-Champions Universe supplement to the Champions roleplaying game. What you need out of the book. Work on Meriquai Falls goes according to my Master Plan. I am rewriting the material originally given in the Digital Hero articles with an eye on detail and accessibility... Now that Millennium City is out, I have a perfect model on how to arrange the information. Once I get my hands on character creation software (which will be either the end of this week or early next week), I'll begin finalizing character sheets. Currently slated for the e-book, whose page count is still undetermined but will probably be close to twice the size of Millennium City: Notes on how to use the City of Meriquai Falls in the Champions Universe, your personal setting, or even as a setting in and of itself. Suggestions on how to use the Meriquai Falls setting in various genres outside of the Champions genre, including Fantasy Hero, Star Hero, Ninja Hero, Pulp Hero, Golden Age Champions, and Dark Champions. A discussion and timeline of the history of Meriquai Falls, with brief discussions on the pre-historic history of the Kingdom of Meriquai. The Kingdom of Meriquai, a Fantasy Hero setting, may get it's own book later on, if I can pitch it past Steve. A treatise on the Meriquai people and their mythology, discussing the totem spirits that govern their beliefs and provide the superhuman abilities possessed by many of the characters of the setting. Details of the City of Meriquai Falls, presented in the same accessible format that Darren used in Millennium City (including the now trusted "GM Section" concept to make the book accessible to both players and GMs). This will be a huge chunk of the book. Close to two hundred plot seeds to use with the Meriquai Falls setting or characters! (three plot seeds per character and three plot seeds per "interesting location" detailed) A fully-detailed adventure reintroducing VIPER into the City of Meriquai Falls and presenting a new, cunning Nest Leader to test the heroes wits! Fifty new characters of various power levels [10 NPC heroes and 40 villains] to use either with the Meriquai Falls setting or to port over to your personal Champions game. The NPC heroes even come with "villain options" if you truly want to open the game up for the PC heroes! (In fact, a couple of the NPC heroes come with their "villain option" already implemented in the official timeline!) Although I have all of this planned, it is not yet set in stone. What I would like to know is what you would want to see in a new setting book before you spent hard-earned money on it. I want the fledgeling Hero Plus line to be a success for the company. And I believe it will be, with the installments coming from Allen "Shades of Black" Thomas, Derek "The HERO System Guide to Everything" Heimforth, and Michael "Asian Bestiary" Surbrook. With your help and suggestions, Meriquai Falls will enter their ranks in quality! Don't be shy... and don't pull any punches!

Yes, Champions is definately the winner here, IMHO, though I will concede that the competition isn't as weak as some would like to flaunt. I also thoroughly enjoyed the SAGA version of Marvel Superheroes, felt Mayfair DC Heroes' heart was in the right place in game mechanics terms, absolutely love the d20 version of Silver Age Sentinels, fondly remember Jeff Dee's works in Villains & Vigilantes, and have heard quite a few good words about Mutants & Masterminds. What scares me is that there's been enough superhero RPGs on the market to warrant a Top 10 list!

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF FOXBAT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Fox-Fans have cried out for an unstoppable foe, one whose very protective nature makes him incapable of being harmed by virtually any form of attack mustered by mortal hands! Well, Foxbat has listened! And the Great and Mighty Foxbat, Purveyor of Protection as well as Destruction (and Cherry-Flavored Whipped Cream Pies) has in his Master Plan just the answer to this driving dillemna! Heroes, beware! The Illustrious, Nefarious Foxbat shall be striking all chain grocery stores, Toys 'R' Us outlets, and Crispy Creme Donuts stores. Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil will make an excellent shield against energy attacks. Play-Doh will make an excellent armor for deflecting physical attacks. And Crispy Creme Donuts are so distractingly delicious that I will become immune to all mental attacks as well. So fear me, heroes of Millenium City and beyond! The Mighty and Malevolent Foxbat will become invincible, unstoppable, and totally enamored with the Cateran! For Foxbat is truly the Cateran's paramour and sidekick! Now I must remember to raid the floral department of said grocery stores.... (THE PRESS AGENTS FOR FOXBAT WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE SLIGHT DIVERSION. BE WARNED, HEROES, FOR FOXBAT STRIKES AGAIN!)

**chuckle** That would be so ****ing cool I can't put words to it!!! Of course, I can't hold my breath on the matter. Strike Force does belong to Aaron Allston, after all and prospects of it being rewritten and republished are unknowable at the moment. But I think that a MF/SF crossover (like the CU/SAS crossover coming this summer) would absolutely rock! Professor Epoch, on one of her transdimensional "hunts," meets The Overlord. The two bump heads and realize the with her technical genius and his criminal genius, they could both take over both timelines' Earths. Can the Omega Legion and Strike Force join forces and defeat this nefarious plot before it's too late? Or will the PC's have to intervene?

Wow! Thanks, guys! ShinDangaioh, thank you so much for the assistance. Though it was my hope to keep my heroine's Korean heritage obvious in her name, those are definately food for thought! Lord Liadon, you have surprised me with your thought provoking posts time and again and this one proves no less so. In fact, many of your suggestions hits the nail on the head immediately. "Jade Dove," "Golden Phoenix," and "Moon Shadow" are all very cool names indeed. "Moon Shadow" would be dismissed, however, due to her antipathy towards the Night Shadow ninja clan. Actually... One staple in comic books that occasionally explored is the changing of nom de guerre. For instance, Kitty Pryde of X-Men fame has gone by Sprite, Ariel, and Shadowcat, amongst other monikers. Another Marvel hero, Thunderhammer, was previously a stand-in Thor. And then how can one forget when Dick Greyson went from being Robin to being Nightwing? One thing I could do is have Ok-hwa start out her crimefighting career as "Moon Shadow" until she does find out the connection between her family and the Night Shadow ninja clan. Since this would occur during the events from the "magazine" timeline (early 2003) into the "e-book" timeline (late 2004), this would make a perfect opportunity for her to recreate her identity... drawing off of the moon's inspiration but honoring the life-giving Phoenix instead of the life-stealing Shadow... hence, Silver Phoenix! (The fact that the android villainess Moonshooter would appear shortly thereafter nonwithstanding....) With all the possibilities your thoughts inspired... Silver Dove, Phoenix Moon, Moon Dove, Moon Phoenix, Silver Shadow, Shadow Dove, Moon Shadow.... I hope that a number of people read this thread and gain inspiration for their own games! Thanks a bunch, guys!

Just to let you guys know how STRANGE this world is at times... I decided to do some research on a possible new name for Vixen. I had originally named her that due to her red and platinum hair coupled with her mischievous personality (vixen being a female fox and all). So the first thing I did was go to http://www.webster.com to find what words were synonyms of "vixen." Imagine my pain and shock when the thesaurus points out words with negative connotations, such as "amazon," "harpy," "ogress," and "shrew"!!! Apparently vixens aren't the type of creatures I thought they were! So I follow the link to the first word on the list, "virago." Ick, and double ick!!! Um, definately not Vixen... But then I noticed the "related" words: cat, dragon, fury. Things just kinda fell into place at that point. Vixen's SID is Trina Sullivan. Trina could easily be a shortening of the name "Catrina." Given that, the name "Cat" can easily be extrapolated from it. And the word "dragon" just sounds plain cool. So, hence a possible new name for Vixen... Dragoncat. Now, mind you, I'm still thinking on that one, since I'm having trouble rationalizing the word "dragon" with Trina's superpowers (speed, reflexes, scent, and regeneration). But it does sound way cool. Now, if I can just pull the same stunt with Jade Phoenix. Hmmm... I wonder what synonyms there are for "phoenix"?

Thanks, guys! There's strong arguments on both sides, as I expected, but I think Rod Currie makes an important one. The "avoid confusion" thing is very important. Especially since the name "Jade Phoenix" is attached to one of the most powerful and notorious martial arts villains in the CU. Although I'm sorely tempted to keep with the name "Vixen," I'll describe them both briefly and beg assistance in renaming them. Mind you, these are how the characters stand in 2003 with the MF timeline. Things will be radically different in the e-book; the e-book's timeline goes into mid-2004 and events within the Omega Legion hero team changes things radically. But both characters still exist. Vixen: Trina Sullivan, the future daughter of millionaire Jackson Sullivan and his wife Lyssa Kellerman-Sullivan (Amethyst), is 15 years old in 2003 and is very much a teenager of the "bubblegum pop" variety, extremely friendly and a veritable heartbreaker despite her tender age. She was actually born in 2008, but in 2020 was shunted back to the year 2000 by a freak accident. Her powers stem from her mutant nature: she is easily on par with Spider-Man/Nightcrawler in the DEX department (30 DEX), highly developed reflexes (8 SPD), heightened olfactory senses, and minor regenerative capability. She is nominally the Omega Legion's "speedster," even though her Movement powers limited (her combat running and leaping are each only 12", though she can really book it in non-combat situations). Jade Phoenix: Moon Ok-hwa, along with her sister Sun-hi, are the last surviving members of the Moon sulsa (Korean ninja) family. The rest of the family was wiped out by the Night Shadow ninja clan over some unknown slight. Ok-hwa and Sun-hi escaped the slaughter thanks to their great-aunt, who smuggled them to the United States. Ok-hwa later learned of her heritage and took up the Hwarang-do martial arts that had been her family's tool. In the short years she's studied, she's become a master of not only the fighting style, but the Shin Gong and Nae Gong mystical abilities associated with the style. In practice, she is much more of a healer than a fighter; she is a defensive pacifist and will use her Shin Gong Healing ability far more often than any of her other abilities. One idea I've entertained for Jade Phoenix's name is the Korean translation for "Divine Wind." I'll have to research that. In the meantime, suggestions are most definately welcome!

I wanted to get people's opinion on something. I've noticed that at least two characters in Meriquai Falls (the heroines Vixen and Jade Phoenix) have names exactly like characters in two other campaign settings. There is (an admittedly more adult) heroine named Vixen in the Strike Force universe while Millennium City is the proud host of a martial arts villain (male, no less) named Jade Phoenix. To add insult to injury, both Jade Phoenix characters are Korean martial artists! (At least the two Vixen characters have different modis operandi.) (As a side note, the heroine Jade Phoenix has been a staple of the Meriquai Falls setting since 1993... she was originally named Jade Falcon until a Battletech fanatic saw her name. I changed it to Jade Phoenix shortly thereafter, congratulating myself on my prowess in imaginative naming. Then Watchers of the Dragon came out....) My question to you is: What is your opinion on characters whose names are the same as or similar to previously published characters? Now, obviously there are limits. To create a brand new villain and name him Doctor Destroyer is obviously straight out. And having a brand new patriotic character named Captain America is absolutely begging a trademark lawsuit from Marvel Entertainment Group. But what of more obscure names. Now, obviously, any name I could possibly come up with will never be as original as I'd like it to be. Galvakar, for example, is named after the classic Transformers Decepticon leader, Galvatron. Professor Epoch (my resident time-travelling villainess and the cause for most of the issues going on in the Meriquai Falls universe) gets her name from the time-traveling vehicle Crono and friends used in the classic SNES video game, Chrono Trigger. Cougar and Nexus are rather generic names. And I seriously wouldn't doubt that someone, somewhere, has used the name Incandentus for something.... But should names even be reused in the superhero genre? Is it Kosher for there to be two different Vixens and two different Jade Phoenixes? Or should they be renamed?

I've given my opinion of the marketability of color RPGs (and my desire to see less of it so I can afford more RPG supplements) before. I've also been smacked down from on high because I didn't have my facts straight about how printing costs and product pricing actually worked. So, I'll shut up now.

Um... yeah... uh.... Run that one by me again?

My personal favorites? Megatokyo (http://www.megatokyo.com) Mac Hall (http://www.machall.com) Under Power (http://underpower.non-essential.com) Amuse Me! (discontinued, http://amuseme.microorganism.org/) Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com/) Bob & George (http://www.bobandgeorge.com/) 8-bit Theater (http://www.nuklearpower.com/) Okashina Okashi - Strange Candy (http://strangecandy.keenspace.com/) Lovarian Adventures (http://www.lovaria.com/) Sinfest (http://www.sinfest.net/) Literally Speaking (http://literallyspeaking.keenspace.com/) Little Mistakes (http://littlemistakes.keenspace.com/) And, if I can ever get off of my arse, I have my own "webcomic" (Project 51) I'm trying to motivate myself to continue. Once I finish updating my website to accomodate all of my projects, it will be at http://www.angelfire.com/comics/project51.

Perhaps the most ridiculous rules interpretation issue I had the pleasure of sitting in on had to be when one of my fellow players, playing a cosmic-style teleporter, tried to teleport a huge nuclear missile to the far side of the moon. When the GM considered the teleporter's teleport power level and the mass of the missile, he ruled that the character couldn't do it. The player railed against this, wondering what the GM meant by "mass." When the GM tried to explain what "mass" was, the player went ballistic. I'm no longer certain how the discussion got into "mass" and "density," but it did. The GM tried to explain that mass and density were different, that density was the amount of mass within a certain volume. But the player insisted that mass and density were the same thing and that volume was a term used only in terms of liquids. When a third party observer brought down his high school science text book that explained exactly was "mass" and "density" were, the player called the science book "stupid." To this day, my friends and I crack jokes about "mass" and "density" at the expense of this player. A close second to this had to be another player who was a wargamer more than a roleplayer. Every time he built his character (a sorceress with a hyper-efficient EC for her spells), the GM would somehow be able to damage that character with an attack. Every time the GM scored a hit during an adventure, the player would go back to HeroMaker to completely rebuild his character to make her completely immune to the attack that harmed her that session. When the GM confronted the player on this, the player's response was that the program allowed him to do it so it must be legal. Needless to say, I don't play with either of these players any longer.

I would personally buy Duplication with 6 copies, then apply No Conscious Control (-2) to it... defining the No Conscious Control as having to roll a d6 each Phase to determine the number of Dupes in existance. Any other takers?

I'm scared, Dave.... really, really scared! I figured I was the only one who could remember that movie even existed. But not only did Darren make a character based on the concept of Thor in that movie, you can quote lines from the movie. As for my entry, I'll point out the the supervillainess Arachne from Meriquai Falls is indeed the Arachne that is spoken of in Greek mythology... She was a weaver whose patterns were so beautiful that she even dared to claim they were more beautiful than the works of the goddess Athena herself. Athena, being a petty and jealous goddess at times, decided to punish Athena by making her the very first spider so that she would weave beautiful patterns for all eternity but have a horrid appearnce physically. The immortal Arachne later learned arcane skills that allowed her to take human form (and even a half-spider form) again if for short periods of time. And technically, Crimson-Hawk himself fits here, since his powers derive from having the totem spirit of the Red-Tailed Hawk within him. But that's neither here nor there.

Keith, that scares me. It scares me that they could have made oblique references like that fully knowing that only a true scholar like yourself would catch it.

Bwahaha! Thanks for the inspiration, Storn! I'm adding another category... Sadism: A hero/villain (most likely villain) who is motivated by sadism to use their powers simply like to see others squirm. It may not necessarily by a Lust For Power, although the thrill of control over another often does motivate a Sadist. However, the character is not so much interested in controlling others for controlling's sake as they are morbidly interested in the effects that pain (be it physical or psychological) has on others. Example: Storn Cook, as a GM.

I've been constructing an Excel spreadsheet to help me format characters according to the HGWG. As I've been setting up the auto-calc features, I've noticed something. The Max Lift values in the Strength Chart for the most part (but not exactly) follow the 25 kg x 2^(STR/5) formula. Especially when you get up into the god-like levels of Strength, liberties have been taken in the rounding of figures. When constructing a character, Steve, how have you been handling the Max Lift of characters with, say, a STR of 48, or 63, or whatever?