aylwin13

Re: Alternate speed method I think there have been a few around here over the years, but here is the one that our group is using. Not sure if this is what you're looking for.

Re: (best ever...) reasons for becoming a superhero To use your powers or abilities to avenge loved ones killed by criminals.

Re: Wildfire, a.k.a. My First/Favorite Champions Character I posted this in another thread, quite a while back. It is the only character origin that I've expanded into any kind of short story. It's the intro story for my 'Porting MA, Silhouette. Shadows Of Things Past Out of the range of the warehouse's lights, in the shadows gathered between the shipping containers on the docks, a young girl took a moment to catch her breath and looked again at the building. It had been a long and unproductive night, and just to put a topper on things it was now raining. The girl looked very much like any other teenager in any high school. She was maybe 5'2" tall, and might have weighed 100 lbs. She looked to be in very good athletic shape, and was built like a gymnast. The only things that might have caused her to stand out were her clothing and her eyes. She was wearing a black and charcoal gray, long-sleeved leotard with black leggings; accented by a gold and silver colored belt. She had on light gray gloves and boots. She also wore a charcoal gray, waist-length cloak that was attached at her wrists. Completing her costume was a black, half-mask. It was cut to show the lower half of her face, and to allow her long, dark brown tresses to flow free down her back. There were reddish highlights in her hair when it caught the lights. It was her eyes, however, that one could not help but notice. They were large, almond-shaped, and extremely exotic looking. They were colored a milky gray and had no pupils. They looked as if they were filled with fog. They were eyes that, once you had seen them, were never forgotten. Her name was Dominique Tatiana Dubois, and she had been slinking around the Millennium City docks for almost an hour and a half. She had finally arrived at the location that she believed was her destination. The warehouse was a two-story, brick building with blackened windows where the second story would be. The entire building appeared to be completely dark inside. She did a quick search around the perimeter of the building, but everything was still quiet. As she reached her starting point, she glimpsed something out of the corner of her eye. She glanced up to the roof of the building, where she thought she'd seen the glint. It might have been a light reflection from a gun barrel. I'd better take a closer look at that, she thought. With that Dominique stepped forward, into the shadow of the warehouse, and disappeared. A second later she stepped out of a shadow directly behind a man on the warehouse roof. The man was obviously a guard of some sort. He was wearing a reinforced uniform and helmet, all colored green and yellow. He was armed with a high-tech blaster rifle, and was carrying an electronic device of some sort. The device was a black box, about 8-inches on a side. It had a half-dozen LED lights, three or four dials and knobs, and a small screen similar to a GPS device. His attention alternated between the device's screen and the area below him, around the building. They were right; it is VIPER, thought Dominique. Let's take care of this guy first. She reached out to the shadows with her mind. The shadows reached out; first surrounding, and then grabbing the agent. While the agent was incapacitated Dominique stepped forward, clasped her hands together in a double fist, and struck him sharply across the back of the neck knocking him unconscious. She commanded the shadows to release him and he slumped senselessly to the gravel strewn rooftop. That was easy enough, thought Dominique. It still amazed her that she was able to do that. The instructors at Ravenswood said that she would learn to do many other things with her ability, as long as she continued her training. The Academy had helped her in so many ways, since all of this had started some five years ago. As she stood staring at the building fog from off of the river swept around her, adding to the shadows already there. --------------------- "Oui, oui Kitten we saw you, we saw you. Settle down, little one." Dominique's father gathered her up in his arms and placed her on his shoulders. The little twelve-year old had been waiting in the adjoining room a moment ago, and had come to them when they had called her. She hadn't, however, opened the connecting door to come into the room. She had suddenly appeared in the shadows under the dining table, and crawled out. Her mother Aleksandra looked on from the huge overstuffed armchair that she sat in with her legs curled up beneath her. "May I do it again Father, may I? Please, please?" she cried, waving her arms and almost hitting the crystal chandelier above her head. "If you feel that you must," her father said in feigned irritation. He lowered her back down to the floor. "Go up to your room and see if you are able to return here." Dominique squealed in delight and fairly flew from the room. As the door closed Henri sat down next to his wife and took her hand. "Aleks, we must consult with someone about this. We have to make sure that there is nothing wrong with her." Henri's voice quavered as he spoke. "Darling, she is fine," replied Aleksandra. "She is just different, that is all. She is a happy, healthy young girl with an unusual gift. I have made some calls and I think I've found the answer. There is an academy in Michigan, the Ravenswood Academy that specializes in teaching "gifted" students. They can also test and analyze her abilities." Henri looked into his wife's eyes and knew she was right. "I'll start making the arrangements tomorrow." --------------------- It was a Wednesday afternoon, and Dominique had just arrived home from the Academy. The limo pulled to a stop in front of the mansion that the Dubois' had called home for the last seven months. Dominique flung open the car door, jumped from the limo and rushed into the house. "Father, I'm home," she called out. "Where are you Father?" She ran down the hall toward her father's office, still calling to him. The door to the office was closed, but as she drew closer she could hear him inside talking to someone. I wonder whom he's talking to, she thought as she opened the door to the hall closet. She stepped into the closet, and reappeared in her father's office, in the shadows under the massive mahogany desk. Her father appeared to be concluding a meeting with two men. They were dressed in low-end business suits, and were wearing dark sunglasses. Truly unsavory types, thought Dominique. "I'm certain that this will prove to be a very profitable relationship for all concerned," said the taller of the two men. "With our support, your career will only move forward," added the other man. Her father opened the door and let the men exit the office. After seeing the men, Dominique knew she didn't trust them. Not one little bit. I'm going to have to keep an eye on things around here, she thought as she passed back into the shadows, and out of the office. --------------------- "I'm telling you, I will not do these things for you and your organization. This was not part of our agreement." Dominique could just imagine the look on her father's face, as she hid in the shadow beneath his desk. These meetings had been taking place for almost three years now, and she had been "sitting in" on them as often as she could. "The things I have done before were questionable, but this is completely illegal." Henri rose from his chair and moved toward the office door. The other two men in the room had other ideas. "You really have no choice, do you?" This from the shorter of the men. "You know what will happen to your family if these things do not occur." "Yes, Henri is quite aware of the consequences if he fails to perform." This came from the taller of the two. "He will take care of things. He just needs a little time to think on things. Perhaps we should leave and let Mssr. Dubois contemplate his choices. We'll show ourselves out. Good day, Ambassador." With that, the two men stepped into the hallway. Dominique's father closed the door behind them. He leaned back against the door and rubbed his forehead with his hand. Dominique imagined that he must look like a prisoner who had just been locked in his cell. Good thing that I decided to start collecting evidence on these goons, she thought. Father is going to need all the help I can give him to get out of this. --------------------- "No more, I'm through with this. Have someone come and collect the files. I just want our lives back." Henri was pleading with the two men to just go away and to leave his family alone. "If this is what you truly wish, we will communicate your request to our superiors. If they will allow it, we will come to collect everything and leave you to your future." With that they left the office and the house. Maybe this truly is the end of all this, Dominique thought. That would be great, since I really am too big to be sitting under this desk anymore. She smiled at the thought and passed back into the shadow, and out of the office. --------------------- "I do believe that that was the most wonderful dinner ever," proclaimed Dominique's father, as they came through the front door. "The prime rib was especially excellent. Wouldn't you agree Kitten?" he asked as he grabbed Dominique's hands and twirled her around the room. "I still haven't figured out why you are in such a good mood this evening, my dear Henri," stated Aleksandra as she watched her husband and daughter spin around the room, finally coming to a stop in front of her. "You have been almost giddy since this afternoon." She put her arms around Henri, and laid her head on his chest. Henri took her face in his hands. "Sweetheart, I'm just happy because everything is going to be fine, from now on. I feel as if this is a new beginning for all of us." He leaned his head down and kissed his wife's forehead, and then her lips. "Ladies, I think it's time for bed." With that he put his arms around each of them, and led them upstairs to prepare for bed. --------------------- Dominique awoke, from a deep sleep, to an urgent call of nature. She put on her slippers, and opened her door. As she started to cross the dark hallway to her bathroom, she caught the smell of natural gas in the air. For her to smell the fumes this far from the kitchen, the entire downstairs must be filled with gas. The tiniest of sparks would be enough to set off an explosion. She couldn't risk walking down the carpeted hall to her parents' bedroom. She stepped into the shadows in the corner of the hallway. Just as she crossed into the shadow realm an enormous explosion ripped through the mansion. A blood-red fireball some three hundred feet high reached, like a demon's fist, into the night sky. Dominique was knocked unconscious; but by being in the shadow realm was spared from most of the effects of the explosion. A few minutes later she awoke in the shadows of one of the Academy's classrooms. She was bruised from crashing headlong into a few of the desks, but was otherwise unhurt. She looked back into the shadows, looking back at the bonfire that had been her home these last four years. There was no chance that her parents could have survived the explosion and resulting fire. She closed the shadows on the vision of destruction. She felt no grief or sadness yet. Those would come later. Right now she felt only two things: minor comfort, knowing that she had another home and family, here at Ravenswood; and anger, at the men, and their evil organization, who had robbed her of everyone and everything she had ever loved. She made a vow that they would pay for what they had done. She would see to it personally. She looked through the classroom window into the night. Outside it had begun to rain, like teardrops falling from the sky. As she sat there with her back against the classroom wall, alone in the shadows, tears fell there as well. --------------------- As the breeze blew the river fog away again, and cleared the images of the past from her mind's eye, Dominique refocused on the warehouse. Looking up for a moment, she realized that the rain had lessened noticeably. At least something is going my way, she thought. Well, let's see what VIPER is up to in there. Wiping away the tears from her eyes and shaking the water from her hair, she stepped forward - into the shadows and into her future.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Stranglehold - Ted Nugent

Re: What's the best hero suppliment! Robots are good.

Re: What's the best hero suppliment! STRIKEFORCE ... or UMA if we're talking about HERO 5th.

Re: Best and Worst Costume/Appearance Changes That is what the style of char pics on the page you linked to is called. As opposed to DCU Animated, Evolution (evo as in X-Men Evolution), or many other styles.

Re: Best and Worst Costume/Appearance Changes If only I didn't detest "micros".

Re: Linky? Try here.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton John (online radio station: Super70s.us)

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Very nice sketches Storn. They look like my finished drawings (maybe), if I took 4 or 5 days to do them. I was reading the original San Angelo book recently with your drawings of Corona, Savante, and the rest. It's neat to be able to do a then and now of your work. You've just gotten better and better over the years. Keep up the great work, and thanks again for sharing it with us.

Re: The cranky thread They're still letting Liefeld work. Just look at this garbage.

Re: PBEM - RDU: The Mavericks - Example & Discussion Dude, The Mavericks are back! Excellent! I was doing a search the other day for something, when I saw the title for this thread. I thought to myself, "man, I wish Neil was still posting his Mavericks installments." Lo, and behold, what do I find when I sign on to the forums tonight? More posts. WOOT! I just wanted to thank you, Neil, for taking the time to share this with us. I can't speak for anyone else, but I will continue to read this thread as long as you want to post to it.

Re: Hooligan_X and Proditor Present: "The Third Semi-Annual Great HERO Figure Contest You forgot about the spatula.

Re: Your favorite team flavor... I'd have to say "the best of the best, the elite guardians of the Earth". I've always been drawn towards the Avengers / JLA teams.

Re: Your favorite team flavor... What about pie?

Re: Best superhero game thread poll: Go Vote M&M is up by 6 votes. Get over there and vote Champions.

Re: A Thread for Random Mooings Mooooo...

Re: From the mouths of babes Hey Capt. it sounds like you have an up-and-coming GM there. His ideas sound better than some of the ones I've had.

Re: Champions III Danger Room Simulator That is so cool, in an old-school sort of way. Thanks for sharing, and have some old-school Rep.

Re: Question for Killer Shrike

Re: Calling All Heroes! Good question OzMike. I didn't even think about that.

Re: Calling All Heroes! Hey there, lynnlefey. I have a 350 pt character that I'd love to see "published". I've been editing her background from about 1300 words (that doesn't even include the intro short story that I wrote ) to something close to 500. It might be a tad more. I'll try to get the files tweaked and e-mailed this evening.

Re: Champions/V&V Conversions Yup, here it is. I had to zip it, as I can't attach an Excel file.

Re: Expressing English Language in Hero Terms