Epiphanis

Re: Darren's Golden Age Champions Playtest: the United Sentinels of America From bottom front, going backwards left to right: "The Crimson Palm" (Male-Red domino, black hair w/soul patch-goatee): mystical powers from his invisible left arm, which he keeps in a long red glove; "Chance," aka "Agent Zero" (Male-Pale w/white hair, in gray three-piece suit): a "living ghost" who can astrally project and possess others' bodies; "The Streak" (Male-Blond hair & goggles, blue-green unitard): circus performer and super-speedster; "Ms. Strange" (Female-Blonde hair with purple chapeau and jacket, black cape): socialite and art patron infected by The Strangeness, an extra-dimensional parasite/symbiote that gives her dimension-warping powers; "Agent Liberty" (Female-Brunette w/ponytail, patriotic-themed red, white and blue costume): acrobat and reformed thief/martial artist; "Spring-Heeled Jack" (Male-Horned red devil mask, wearing tuxedo with spring-bracered boots): boots permit long-distance leaps and super-powerful kicks; "Synth" (Male-Gas mask and armored body under hooded brown overcoat): a research biologist with advanced weaponry; "The Raven" (Male-Dark grey unitard with cowl and black gloves, brandishing gun): political scientist and fanatical anti-fascist, defender of a South Sea paradise; "The Amber Wave" (Female-Wavy titian hair, yellow-and-orange sailor suit and campaign cap): flying energy projector with force-field controllign powers; "Justice" (Male-threadbare grey suit and stocking mask, with torn black cape and battered brown fedora): the vigilante vagabond, a hobo that mercilessly beats criminals (and later Nazis) to death; "Guardian Angel" (Male-massive man with white angel wings, blue bandana-mask, and blue-and white unitard): a brick with a variety of divine (mostly healing) powers, believes himself to be a real angel sent to Earth; "Toy Soldier" (Male, young child in WWI military helmet sitting on Guardian Angel's shoulder): controls an army of animated military toys that do his bidding; "Doc Rocket" (Male, brown-haired man in white lab coat and rocket pack, seen in the distance behind Guardian Angel --he is NOT miniaturized, only far away): super-scientist and gadgeteer.

Re: Darren's Golden Age Champions Playtest: the United Sentinels of America [ATTACH=CONFIG]42787[/ATTACH] Here it is in better resolution.

Darren Watts has been preparing material for a new edition of the Golden Age Champions supplement for... a goodly while. For the last year I've been fortunate enough to be in the playtest of said materials, and if you are eager to see that new material in print, well, I can attest that you really, really should be. There is a *ton* of great stuff that has never seen print before... what has been hinted at in previous books barely scratches the surface of the entirely fresh world of Champions during the World War II era. The first playtest group is playing out the endgame now, and should wrap up within a month. I wanted to memorialize the group the playtesters created before it went away forever. Here are the United Sentinels of America, greatest heroes of the first iteration of the Champions 6th Ed Golden Age: [ATTACH=CONFIG]42785[/ATTACH] If some of those faces seem familiar, its probably because Storn helped design the looks of most of them and posted them in his own art thread. One or two of the player characters may make their way into the finished product, but alas the full awesomeness that my fellow playtesters brought to the project will remain a private affair ... you'll have to motivate Darren to write the book and inject your own characters' awesomeness into the world he has created. But be warned, you will have some big shoes to fill!

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) [ATTACH=CONFIG]42664[/ATTACH] Megaera.

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) [ATTACH=CONFIG]42662[/ATTACH] Fourplay.

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) [ATTACH=CONFIG]42653[/ATTACH] Frizbe.

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) I'm going to guess that "Frisbee" is a character from an earlier edition of Champions that I don't have. (For the record, I have a smattering of 4th Ed. books and a fairly complete library of 5th & 6th Ed.).

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) I do it... for the children. Okay, maybe not. But thanks anyway!

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) [ATTACH=CONFIG]42606[/ATTACH] Monsoon.

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) [ATTACH=CONFIG]42605[/ATTACH] Anathema.

Re: Women of the Champions Universe (Fanpictorial) [ATTACH=CONFIG]42604[/ATTACH] Gloriana.

Re: Darren's Golden Age Sneak Preview #3: Ghost Cabbie! For a truly obscure reference, give GC the complication "Hunted: Captain Manzini". Although that would be more Silver Age era.

Re: A new Enemies book: What would you want to see? This might not be what you have in mind. I would like to see a book, or at least a section of a book, devoted to themed groupings of "agent" level adversaries that are designed mechanically to work together, including descriptions of their coordinated tactics and potential weaknesses. And have the groupings play differently from each other.

Re: 4th String Villians Yeah! Gerber was awesome in his in(s)anity. I have a soft spot for Doctor Bong, but he actually got enough play that I don't think he qualifies as a fourth stringer.

Re: 4th String Villians Yeah! [ATTACH=CONFIG]42356[/ATTACH]

Re: Famous Martial Artists in the Champions Universe?

Re: Famous Martial Artists in the Champions Universe? Spirit Fist from CV3 is a good martial arts idol. Most of the cast of the 4th Ed. "Watchers of the Dragon" remain in 6th Ed. Continuity; most of the villains were statted in the 6th Ed CV books. The Tiger Squad's Luan from Watchers makes a good role model; the Tiger Squad in 6th Ed retains an unstatted martial artist member called "Phoenix" who is almost certainly the same character (A Luan is a mythical Chinese bird similar to a western Phoenix). Although Seeker has never made an appearance in 6th Ed he could easily be explained in continuity as having won the Tournament and retiring from the public eye to join the Watchers.

Re: 2012, end of the line Which raises some interesting questions about what happens to DEMON after Black's fall. Personally, I like the idea of the Demonhames fragmenting under the Morbanes and fighting each other for the scraps, while the Circle of the Scarlet Moon cherry-picks their best and brightest for recruitment.

Re: The Crimson Aura With a similar character I put the Physical Manifestation limitation on Telekinesis. Also, in addition to Barrier, you can buy boosts to DCV, rPD and/or rED that have the "Usable as Attack" advantage (its not really an attack, but it gives someone else the benefit of the power while the originator pays the END costs for it).

Re: Kickstarter Politics It is possible you are correct, but If so I think it is only because of the possibility that the concerned parties are stuck thinking in a traditional publishing model that doesn't really apply. Yes, maybe the failure of any given project could lead to a conclusion that Kickstarter funding is a failed experiment, but that would be a poor conclusion to make.

Re: Argent This may or may not be the prevailing perception, but if so, I believe it to be faulty. That is traditional publishing thinking, which doesn't apply as much to crowd funding. See a separate argument here: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/88630-Kickstarter-Politics?p=2280837#post2280837

The shift to a crowd-funded publication model has some interesting implications I don't think have been fully grasped yet. It is a zero-sum game. Support given to any particular project is support taken away from another. This is true on both the consumer and production side. Obviously, consumers have finite cash to spend to support projects; I think everyone is aware of this. Less obvious is prioritizing the limited resources of the producers. As I've stated elsewhere, I would prefer to see Steve Long write and publish the long-discussed Profit and Purity supplement for Champions than the currently-floated Mythic Hero Kickstarter project. Its not that I hate the idea of Mythic Hero, in fact I'd almost certainly buy it if it were presented as a fait accompli. But I'd rather have a good, Steve Long-written Profit & Purity supplement. For what I am sure are valid reasons of his own, Steve has placed a higher priority on Mythic Hero. It is very likely that a majority of the Hero System fan base agrees with Steve on that prioritization. Under the traditional publishing model, my input into that decision was negligible. Long after the priorities were decided I either paid the flat-sum price for the finished product, or I didn't, which might contribute slightly to evaluating similar prioritization issues in the future but does bupkuss in deciding the issue I originally cared about. Crowdfunding throws a different spin into the process. I now not only have an interest in the project I most want to see succeeding, I have an interest in every other prior project failing! obviously, I can add the money I don't spend on MH to the support I could potentially throw to P&P, assuming the latter project returns to the table. And if the MH project succeeds, I am guaranteed that Steve WON'T work on P&P for about four months, where he otherwise might. In that time a great many things could happen that would make P&P even less likely to happen than it currently is. For instance, Steve, who has now returned to freelancer status, could be hired by another outfit to work on other properties full time--while it has always been a possibility, we must be aware that there is a heightened chance that any given Hero project may be his last. Consequently, even though I have nothing against the Mythic Hero project in the abstract, and even though I would probably buy a copy once it is successfully completed, I'm not inclined to support it in advance, and actually have cause to hope it flops. Sorry, but true. Don't interpret my lack of support for one specific project as a no-confidence vote for future ones! Although I illustrated this point with my personal preference for P&P over MH, there are plenty of other issues in which crowd funding politics enters the mix. I almost never buy hard copies of books, especially game books, where electonic versions are available. With crowd funding, this pits the interests of people like me, who get more out of cheaper, faster, and potentially smaller and more numerous, modular publications against those of hard copy collectors, who would dictate more expensive productions with higher page counts and longer production times. In other words, crowd funding is going to drastically change the publishing-editing process, and everybody should be aware of that.

Re: Argent This presents something of a dilemma for me. I would much prefer to see Profit and Purity come out than Mythic Hero. Supporting the latter book's Kickstarter project makes it that much longer until and less likely that the former will ever be produced. While I would certainly buy MH were it already a done deal the way Book of the Empress was, I am disinclined to support projects I care less about when I am aware that they drain impetus from projects I care more about.

Re: CotN Outtakes Just wanted to insert something ... Augury is one of the most GM-useful NPCs in the published materials. An opponent who can shock you with traumatic visions of horrible things to come? There are just so many ways to play with that plot device to foreshadow things you have planned and drop potentially misleading clues to point PCs in the direction you want them to go!

Re: Spreadsheet for balancing SPD, CV and AP strength of attacks I guess that depends on what you are using the spreadsheet for. I meant it largely as a generic tool to approximately judge relative damage output of different character builds, compared to an abstract median target. You could, however, use it to assay the average damage output of specific attacks against specific opponents. For the former, just use the highest possible modified OCV against a hypothetical average opponent. For the latter, you can calculate the specific CV being used with a particular attack, figuring in the exact skill levels and maneuver modifiers being used, as well as an equally specifivic defensive CV for a particular target.