"V"

Re: The United States is a constitutional monarchy A fun alternate could be if Charles I and his brood fled the English Civil War to the Americas to set up shop there, leaving England in the hands of Cromwell and his parliamentarians. Have Britain evolve as a parliamentary democracy with no monarchy while the royalty continues their unbroken succession in North America. Incidentally - Cromwell was offered the crown following the civil war (there was something in the human psyche back then that seemed to demand kings) and to his eternal credit he stayed true to his ideals and rejected it utterly.

Re: Novice Supervillian disadvantage LOL, Bravo. You're not one of me are you?

Re: Creepiest/Sickest superhero concept ever? I loved that storyline! The Claremont-esque thought balloons that ran for ages were superb.

Re: Superhero Images She's a beaut (the vehicle too...) Which base figure did you use for Samantha?

Re: Creepiest/Sickest superhero concept ever? But I would be happy to consider them "villains" which is the question in the original post. Unless you consider someone who kidnaps, mutilates and kills young boys not to be villainous enough...?

Re: Creepiest/Sickest superhero concept ever? May not count, since it was from a deliberately horror-based comic, but how about the Corinthian from Sandman: A nightmare loose in the waking world, a handsome athletic young man with toothed mouths instead of eyes who used to abduct boys, eat their eyeballs and kill them. At the very least. Lovely creation of Mr Gaiman's, perfectly fitting the horror tone of his supernatural world.

Re: Novice Supervillian disadvantage But at least it is wit.

Re: Novice Supervillian disadvantage

Re: Novice Supervillian disadvantage Actually why not, a suppervaillian with Multiple Personality Disorder could be an interesting challenge. Firstly the powers may actually shift depending which Alternate is dominant at the time which may make for an interesting challenge. Secondly there is the now obligatory moral quandary - do we beat the crap out of Mr Multiple when "Arnold the Meek" is the dominant personality (and feel bad about ourselves) or risk letting him get away? Thirdly for those who prefer their stories with a bit more dark to them: How will the heroes feel knowing their beloved DNPC is in the hands of the playful Alternate who enjoys riddles, puns and good natured mischief... but it's only a matter of time before a shift occurs and Mr Eyeballs comes to town*? __ * "Actually I enjoy humor just as much as the next man. Vitreous humor by preference. Now then young lady, you choose. Left or right."

Re: Fashionwise, it's still the 1960s I loved Zenith. From a UK point of view, Sixties supers could fall into two distinct camps - the hip/trendy/counterculture types mentioned largely above with the sideburns, the mini skirts (hopefully not on the same characters that have sideburns) and so on. But there would also be the longer established supers, probably with a military background who would see the rise of the "yoof" fashions as disturbing and would probably come down hard on any young male super with long hair. The 60s weren't all young people having fun you know...

Re: Novice Supervillian disadvantage Look, not every supervillain needs a twisted psyche to be a supervillain. At the end of the day (or at any other time of day to be honest, especially about eleven, Oola) Champions is a comic book simulation and a lot of comic books happily and effectively get by without all this angsty hand-wringing. Some villains are just villains* because they're bad people. Personally I think overconfidence may be too mild a thing. Crank it up to megalomania. Sure the new villain will get trounced. Good, he can then blame the heroes and start targetting them with a real venomous hatred. Then he can get trounced again. And at some point the villain will learn his trade and do something really effective, and really nasty and the player characters' reaction will be intensified because they have seen how a second string villain, possibly regarded as a walkover or a joke, has become a real threat. And if the GM has done their job properly it will not seem rushed or done by fiat, but be a natural progression. Then let the heroes wring their hands for having underestimated the villain. They're supposed to be nasty for Grond's sake! __ * but they're never villians. Sheesh, what is the wolrd coming to?

Re: Novice Supervillian disadvantage I'm not a hunted, I'm a psychological limitation. Novice supervillains are an interesting concept however - and Maccabe is correct they must exist. I always assumed that the minor henchman villains employed by more serious threats were often the up and coming new supervillains, earning their wings (as it were). I imagine the shelf life of a solo supervillain newbie would be pretty short - if only because there is only so much profitable crime to go round in any urban jungle and the established predators will themselves keep the n00bs in check - viz the way the Ankh Morpork thieves guild handles unlicensed thieves in the Pratchett novels. In terms of character write ups I agree that Overconfidence is likely. Also, without sounding like a NABSy social worker type, something made them supervillains rather than superheroes (or just super powered people who don't particularly want to fight/commit crime - hmm, random thought - why the obsession with law enforcement/criminal activity on the part of supers?) and whatever that motivation was should be reflected. Greed, hatred, vengeance etc are all good contenders. Very few individuals are the villains in the stories they tell in their own heads - the exceptions are seriously disturbed - so some form of psych lim/delusion to justify their actions is pretty much needed. Just my 2 cents (which obviously landed unscarred side up)

Re: Superhero Images That's Atlanteans for you. Don't tell Paladin for goodness sake, the two barely speak anyway.

Re: Superhero Images Ouch. If I can share my own "ouch" I discovered the Member's Choice sale right at the end of Day 1. Logged on, found the bundle contained Mil Dragon 2 for $1.99 (normally about $70), V3 International Beauty pack for $1.99 (normally about $60) and so on. Practically all 10 items were ones that had been on my "Can't Justify" wishlist... so I added most of them to my basket. Went to find one more item (Mil Dogs, to complement the Mil Dogs Expansion pack)... and in the time it took to add to my basket the sale ended. Everything back to full price and there was no way I was going to spend that amount of cash. If I hadn't tried to add that one item I'd have got the lot for about $30.00 Damn. What was funny though was the way the forums were filled with outraged clients who objected to the way Daz ran the sale, as though the company were under an obligation to give their stuff away. Me, I bided my time & picked up some of the ones I wanted in the last-chance bundle sale. FWIW I find Daz Studio easier to handle than Poser, have you tried it?

Re: Superhero Images Good old Daz... I spent a smallish fortune during their recent Members Choice sale (must work the Millennium Dragon 2 into a supers pic...) and now they've started March Madness. >sigh<

Re: Superhero Images And now a scene from one of Liberty City's darker days:

Re: Superhero Images

Re: Superhero Images Things go from bad to worse as Chakra makes an appearance...

Re: Superhero Images Having eluded Thungar the Atlantean, the last thing our hapless hero (?) needs is an encounter with the Bastion's invulnerable holy crusader (and borderline nutcase):

Re: CHAR: Trebuchet Very nice. Maybe we can work up a whole Pantheon of supers...

Re: Superhero Images Thungar the Atlantean, resident barbarian brick of the Bastions of Liberty City meets one of the most dangerous foes his world ever has to face...

Re: Superhero Images Quoted mightily and quite merrily I feel. Your Query Merits an answer. I used Daz Studio, a free 3d art package available from http://www.daz3d.com - which I prefer to the more advanced (and expensive!) Poser software. There are people on these boards using Daz Studio far better than I however, I am just a hobbyist. The pic above took about twenty five minutes start to finish, including rendering time, and was created specifically for this thread when I found it today. Hope you like this follow up...

Re: Superhero Images This is Katar a Sikh martial artist/vigilante:

Re: Sun Koh versus the Nigerian Bankers! Good old Charles Soludo. Along with Usman Bello he's one of the superstars of the 419 world, the Keyser Soze of advance fee fraud.

Re: UnCaped: February Issue Excellent stuff - and I love your artwork. I have the greatest respect for anyone who can actually get the ideas on their head down on paper.