Michael Hopcroft

Has anyone formed enough of an opinion of Gundam SEED yet that it's possible to do any of the characters or mecha justice? I've only seen one episode and don't even know who most of the characters are (it's on at a spectacularly bad time for me to catch on TV, and it's edited anyway -- I much prefer my anime uncut). But it looked really interesting, with its combination of mecha action with speculation on the social consequences of genetic engineering -- and with the apparent hero being conflicted between hating the people responsible for his creation and loyalty to a culture that would be very happy to see him killed.... Then there's that masked enemy. it seems like evry Gundam series has one, and he's usually ultra-cool, ultra-intelligent and with a near=psychic ability to grasp what his opponent's next move is going to be. I don't even know this guy's name, but he seems to have the added trait of being able to find exactly the right buttons to press to turn friends against each other if it suits his purposes. Anyone have any ideas?

I wonder if it is possible to create a HERO campaign in which all combat was social and interpersonal rather than physical. In other words, you're in a society where you're not likely to use physical violence against your enemies, but the warfare of society can be just as dangerous -- destroying a person's reputation or professional standing will ruin their lives in much the same way a bullet will. Although I haven't seen it, the recent theatreical film Mean Girls describes exactly such a setting. Nobody is going to carry a sword or a blaster into a high school, but the social warfare among the various cliques can be just as burtal as any superbrawl -- you might even drive an opponent to suicide if you push them hard enough.

Re: CLOWN for 5th Champions I don't know about the execution, but I miss the idea of CLOWN -- super-powered pranksters who mean no harm but are terribly, terribly inconvenient and have a habit of making their opponents look even sillier than they are. Especially since if a real threat emerges to the world while they are in the midst of one of their pranks, they will drop the prank and help the heroes in surprisingly effective ways -- then turn around and complete the joke once the threat has passed. The thing that makes a group like CLOWn difficult to run is that the jokes have to be funny -- which is a lot harder than it looks. It has to be the sort of thing that the players, even as they wipe the bana cream off their faces, have to admit is funny. it has to be so funny that even the vicitm of the prank must gudglingly admit that a.) it was actually funny and b.) he may have deserved to be taken down a notch after all. the sort of prank that makes the superheor who has gotten too full of his own angst or publicity realize it's time for him to lighten up. These plots are difficult to come up with. On the other hand, I think a good superhero campaign needs that kind of levity once in a while, especially when things have been getting grim and ultra-serious for a while.

I just got the strangest idea while browsing another board and thought I'd see what it brought up here. Basically I had the idea for a campaign setting that was basically a high school in which 2-3% of the student population (which is 1,500 strong) were supers. Some are heroic, some are villainous, and some just want to get through adolescence without blowing up the world. The questions: 1. What is an approproate power level for teenage superheroes/heroines, and should there be exceptions to that rule? 2. If there are 45 people with superpowers all going to the same high school, is the school going to be a target for big badass supervillains? 3. Will the local superteam go recruiting students for new blood? 4. what if there was a special cirrclum specifically for the super-students? 5. Maybe there are school rules against super activity on campus, requiring many of the super-teens to adopt secret identities wherever possible? 6. Can you save the world after 11:00pm on a school night?

Just saw two episodes of Cartoon Networlk's new mecha comedy Megas XLR, and while I admit I laughed my silly head off, after picking it up and screwing it back on I was wondering how I would handle this sort of thing in an RPG campaign. The story is about a fgat, lazy car nut finding a mecha from the future in a new jersey junkyard anf, not knowing how it's supposed to work, mading several heavy modififications to it (including using a '69 Mustang as the robot's head). Oddly enough, the mods all work, her turns out to have a natural talenbt for drviving the thing, and when the mech's creators show up to claim it he proves capable of fighting them off 9and leveling much of the city in the process), not to mention royally ticking off the resistant fighter from the future who has also come to claim the mech (which she originally stole herself from its alien creators and had planned to send back into the past -- just not quite that far....) I don't know whwther I'd want to make Coop (the "hero" of the series) pay character points for MEGAS. But he does have a natural affinity for machines from spending hios whole life around super-modified cars and video games. He's alsoa fat, lazy slob with no social skills and a constant trial for the reisstance fighter from the future. Since this is a show clearly aimed at American teenage boys, the only romantic sparks we are lilely to see will come from fanfiction.net. The Megas itself should also be fun to write up, although not only have we not seen everything it can do but Coop is constantly adjusting, improving and adding new capabilities to it.

Re: just a note for the arduin fans How much does it cost, can it be ordered from major distributors, and will copies be available on the web? I'm kind of afraid of an 800+ page book, but if I can read FH I can read this. And it sounds like if nothing else it will be a wonderful piece of hisotry, not to mention a great tribute to one of this business's pioneering figures.

Re: Suddenly Alone on the Stations

Picture this: a near future setting, 2075 or so. Humanity's only presence in space is a series of orbital stations which oinclude industrial colonies (for technology that can only be manufactured in space), tourist hotels, and military observation posts/weapon platforms (which can od things like kill a single person on Earth by firing a laser sattelite from orbit). Space is thriving as a commerical and residential area, and children are beinbg born on the stations who might spend their entire lives there. In fact, they're going to have to. Because something is about to happen on Earth. Something bad. Something so bad that the surface of the Earth will be unsuitable for human habitation for at least thirty thousand years, if then. The space stations depended on Earth for support, indeed for their reason for being. Now the Earth is, to all intents and purposes, gone forever. It happened to fast that only a pitiful few refugees were able to escape into space. The big question: what happens to humanity next? Will there be enough food to feed everyone in space? Will it run out, and where will they replace it? If there are no supplies or reinforcements coming from Earth, what will the people in the military installations do? What about the tourists in the hotels who have suddenly become colonists?

With the d20 and Tri-Stat versions of the Slayers rpgs, based on the anime fantasy series, coming out in short order, it occured to me that as much as I enjoy working with this world and universe in any system that it may work best of all in HERO. Slayers, for thsoe unfamilair with it, is the story of an obscenely powerful sorceress adn her friends who travel the world in search of fame, fortune and truly excessive amounts of food. Along the way they are placed in svereal situations ion which the entire world is in such danger that even the heroine's considerable magic powers might not be enough to prevent the obliteration of creation. in fact, her powers may well turn out to be the cause of the world's obliteration if she makes a misstep. She's that powerful. yet in spite of that, she is an extremely human character with heart, soul and numerous personal weaknesses and faults, not the least of which is her delusional belief that she's unattractive to men because her breatss are small and she;s short. (In reality, she's one of the cutest things on two legs, but try telling her that and you;re likely to get a Flare Arrpow you-know-where). It's an adventure. it;s a comedy, And it's utterly brilliant. Now that I have my new computer in hand, HD 2.29 at the ready, and a whole bunch of time on mt hands, I'm trying to firue out the best way to translate this world to HERO. Unless something is done to make magic really cheasp, the heroine of the series is going to be a phenomenally expensive character. Some of the other characters will be a bit cheaper -- but then they can't destroy creation by blowing a skill roll....

Re: Char: Khurragh the Clever. I love this guy! And chance he can be either posted or sent as a .hdcf\ fuile so I can adapt him to my needs? He sounds like he;d make a great ;'traveling hunter" on behalf of the major villain of the campaign; harassing the heroes and always slipping their grasp just when it seems they are ready to chop him into liverwurst.

I was lucky enough to pick up a DVD copy of the complete series of Martian Successor Nadesico, one of my favorite mecha naimes ever, at a bargain price. And it was a 100% legitimate North American boxed set! Combine that with my recent purchase of the feature film Martian Sucessor Nadesico the Movie: the Prince of Darkness (which has nothing to do with either Satan or Dracula, although there are some people in that movie who have done some pretty evil things) I am now hoping to cocoon myself for a few days with Aktio, Yurika, Ruri-Ruri and company. This seems to me like it would make a great RPG setting, especially since the anime series does not take itself at all seriously -- all the well telling a dynamite story of love and war. I'm sure someone wriote up the mecha from the series somewhere -- I'm just trying to remember where.

I'm hoping to get a little back into HERO -- two of my other favorite systems just announced new editions this week and I fear I may not be able to get them. At least i can, in theory, get new HERO books without going bankrupt. I don't know when Turakian Age is coming out but I would like to run a FH campaign. what i';d like to knwo is if anyone has any idea what point level I should use if I want my characters to start at the equivalent power of 10th-levle D&D 3,5 characters. I don't plan to use D&D classes, of course -- each player should be free within reasonable boundaries to create the characters they want. basically I want characters who are powerful enough to be famous or infamous and have some spectacular abilities, but not so powerful that there aren;t other badasses out there who could bring them down if they don't play smart. I also need to model a few of the important characters in the setting that the PCs will encounter -- like the major villains whose plans they might upset, some of whom will be lower-point characters with extensive NCI and others who will be capable of kicking serious tail with weapons, magic or both. Anyone have ideas? P.S. Can;t wait for the HD templates to come out for fantasy Hero, although I am afraid they will be so expensive that my eyes will roll all the way out of their sockets....

What's the status of the studio's dispute with White Woilf, who evidently felt the film;s concept was too close to the WoD and, according to what i heard, even tired to file suit to prevent the film's release? Then again, when movie stuidos have disputes with RPG publishers, the RPG publisher rarely wins. I seem to remmeber a simialr dispute arising over Stargate and its reputed similarities to Fringeworthy -- I don;t know how that was resolved, but the Stargate property is still going strong in Hollywood.

I'd think about including them, and if you can find some information on some of the monsters from Australian Aboriginal legend those would be very interesting things to include in the book. What would the Dreamtime be without the potneital for beings of nightmare?

To celebrate the impending ship-out-to-the-pritners of the HeartQuest Revised Edition, I was wondering if there was anyone here who had both HQ and the HERO System wo\ho would be interested in converting some of the sample charactres to HERO, mainly so I can see how you interpret their rather loosely-defined abilities.

I guess the optimum questuion to ask then 9although we are subjecting ourselves to severe topic drift) is whether wizards and other magic-using charactera re viable without the cost break. In other words, if wizards had to "play fair" and pay the full cost for their spells, would that be so restrictive that nobody would play a wizard?

As I wait with bated breath for HQR to get back from layout (and for my convention to be finished this weekend), I found myself coming up with some strange character ideas. I was wondering if people would be interested in helping me write them up. 1. A teenage girl who was raised by a single mother, whcih is tough enough. On her 16th birthday, though, she discovers that she has this incredible thirst that no normal drink can quench. Turns out that her missing father was, in fact, a vampire! (In this world, vampires can breed with humans and reproduce in this way rather than by "converting" humans -- in effect, "homo sapiens draculis" is a subrace of humanity that heen scorned and misunderstood throguhout history). Now that she's old enough to be considered a woman, this poor girl has discoeverd that eevry so often she needs to drink blood to survive. But she doesn't want to harm anybody! how can she possibly lead a normal life? And what is she going to do about this handsome boy in her class who, while simply adroable, is the son of the vampire-hunter that killed her father and is taking up the family "trade"? 2. In 1692, the witch trials are in full swing in Salem, Massachusetts. Only innocent people are being accused, but the real witches (whose practices and powers really have nothing to do with Satan and are, in fact, noble and protective in nature) know it's only a matter of time before they're found out. So the leader of the coven prepares a desperation spell that scatters the entire coven through time and space to various points in the future that they believe will be safer. Charity, a teenage witch who is one of the most promising in the coven, ends up in 2004 Japan. Although she's a quick enough study to build a cover identity for herself, is woefully out of place both as a gaijin and as obviously out of place in our time. Unfortunately, for the last three hundred years the persecutors have sworn a pact that their descendents would continue the quest to wipe the "plague" of witchcraft off the face of the Earth, and it is only a matter ofd time before those descendants catch up to Charity..... 3. The Forgotten Realms. Everybody thought it was just a D&D setting -- until three teenage friends pick up the wrong copy of the book and are transported to Faerun! Separated by the magic and by many miles and kigndoms, the three girls find themselves in all sorts of perils but each disocvvers they have special abilities. one is an intuitive healer more powerful than any cleric, one is capable of tapping into the primal forces of magic, and one finds that she has become the ultimate msitress of all forms of phsyical combat. The question of the day -- when these three meet again, will they resume their friendship -- or will circumstances have made them deadly enemies?

Two different universes. Shadowcat is an X-man, but of course you knew that. I'm not as familair with X-Men: Evoution, the most recent animated series. Not a writeup per se, but I know enouygh about their powers to give you a headstart. Cyborg basically has cyberetic parts fused into his body. In Champions terms, he would have a high STR, a sonic EB, Amor and Superleap. Shadowcat's power is to "phase" through solid objcets and phase others through those objects. She can also turn objects insubstantial (in the comics, she "phased" a moving car so that it threw its occupants out into the street). In champions terms, she would have Desolidifcation, UOO and UAO 9as she can phase both willing and unwilling targets), with the side effect that when she phases through electronic equipment she disrupts its operations. (I"m not sure how I'd write that up).

I got to see a few episodes of this anime at DunDraCon and I'm very curious about the way people would handle gun-toting nuns who shoot demons (that is, the ones who aren;t so horrieid by the predations of their bnretheren that they join forces with them). I'm going to see if I can find a few episodes for myself to get a better idea of what's going on. At least Roestte dresses modestly, which is more than can be said for a lot of anime nuns. Then again, many people find cute, young nuns incredibly sexy. It's as if you keep hoping they'll say "I did take a voiw of chastity -- but in your case I'll make an exception....":cool:

This could get interesting. I was wondering if anyone had made templates or prefabs for: Cat-people Dog-people Rabbits Foxes wolves Bears Weasels and Otters Kangaroos Koalas Would The HERO System Bestairy be any help in assigning characteritics that are represnative of certain animal species for their humanoid versions?

I want to build, as a 350-point superhero, Cogito -- the World;'s Smartest Man. His abilties would all be built around having a truly forimidable intellect. In raw thinking power, he would be slightly better than the greatest geniuses of the age -- say about 5 higher INT than Reed Richards. The thing is, though, that he wouldn;t have powers. he'd fight crime with his knowledge, his skills and his intuition. he wouldn;t have to worry about money because those of his inventions he feels the world is ready for provides enoughroyalties from the patents to support him very comfortably, supplemented by royalties from the books he writes. As for skills, the question would be "what DOESN'T he know how to do?" If it's physically possible for a human to do something unaided, he can do it. In combat, he porbably uses a smattering of martial arts manuvers (aikido would be good for him) and a small gadget pool to reflect the occasional non-lethal weapon. One thing he wouldn;t have is mental powers, except possibly a Mind Shield 9to reflect the fact that he thinks so fast and energetically that psis just can't grasp the processes).

how do those of you who have purchased Sidekick plan to use it in your games? For gamemasters whoi already have Fred, how does "FREED Lite" fit into your schemes?

You said it. the new Doctor recently launched the second adventure in his first season, "Contestant #7". Also, I've begun to syndicate the series across the pond to fanfiction.net. You can fidn it on my author page posted in "movie edit" format. So far only "The Infernal Machines" is up there, although "Contestant #7" will be posted as soon as it's finished its BBC run.

And the first adventure of the Michael Hopcroft Doctor and Ryoko Kyudai, "The Infernal Machines" is being published on, of all places, The BBC website! Seems they have a section for fanction, and "The Infernal Machines" is being serialized there and what reviews there are have been good. I'm hoping to keep this up with other stories, incluidng pmy planned "Alternity" story which will have severe consequences for the Doctor and for THIS universe. before I'm done I also plan to do a Dalek story (other than "Alternity") and "The Shopping Mall at the South Pole", about dangerous doings at a resort/shopping complex in 2094 Antarctica. And to think all the Doctor had wnated to do was buy Ryoko some shoes at the one place in the universe where he knew he had a lot of spending cash. Trouble just keeps on finding the Doctor....

Here is my take on how I would play the Doctor as a player-character, assuming I could base his appearance on my own. Phsyical: bright red hair, with a full but trimmed bears and mosutache. A bit stocky but not obese; say 5'11", about 205 lbs. I'm close to legally blind without my glasses, and i see no reason the most recent regeneration couldn;t have had a minor flaw that impacted his vision -- luckily the auto-optics system in the TARDIS was able to craft a nice-looking pair of wire-rimmed bifocals for him. Costume: the Doctor's sual dress would be the coat from a green Zoot Suit, but with black denim pants, black sneakers (more practical for running around on difficult terrain), and either a green shirt and white tie or a brown sweated worn over a white shirt 9with the collar sticking out and no tie). the most unqie featre of the coat is the ornate red question mark embroidered into the right lapel. As the Doctor himself would say, "This is a perfect Who-suit -- guarunteed to blend into the background absolutely noplace!" Persoanlity: My Doctor would have some of the mystery of sylvester McCoy in that you'll never know exaclty what he's thinking. There are also elements of Jack Benny-style exasperation in his personality, as if everyone less intelligent them himself is getting in the way most of the time. He's not one for physical confrontation, so a companion who is good at that sort of thing would compliment him nicely. he can unleash devastating witticisms and put-downs when he is in the mood -- he is lielkly to push his way through a crowd on Earth crying "Out of my way, you homo sapiens!" or to respond to pedantic villains or aliens with withering contempt. "Dihydrogen oxide? There's a whopping great source of it not a mile from here. it;s called the Rhine River. And why do you have do be such a pedant -- why can't you call it water like everyone else does?" If there is one person my Doctor would model himself after, though, it's bugs Bunny and his ability to fast-talk his way out of just about any situation. Although his motives are with the angels, there's a hint of the con-artist and jester about the Doctor. Goals: Enigmatic. The Doctor knows there are a lot of people in the Universe who want to see him dead, dead, dead. Not becoming dead, dead, dead is very important to him. But he's hardly a coward -- facing down a megalomaniac armed only with his knowledge and his wits has a thrill to him that would rival any drug. At the same time, there are many threats to the cosmos that the Doctor would like to put out of the way once and for all. He will not always wait for trouble to come to him, sometimes going off on mysterious missions that he sets for himself and doesn;t tell anyone 9even his companions) about until they are right in the thick of them. of course, since the TARDIS is just as persnickety as ever trouble tends to find him with astonishing regularity as well, in which case he will face every situation with cunning and resolve (although he will play the coward when it suits his purposes -- "Put that thing away! You could hurt someone -- probably me!") Foes: One of the story hooks I had in mind for my Doctor was a visit to an alternative universe in which he meets and defeats an evil version of himself who had made himself the Dalek Emperor. In the process, he discovers a new Master (the Matser has died in our universe) -- a stunningly beautiful woman who is exactly how kipling described the female of the species -- more deadly than the male. When the Doctor escapes back to his own universe, this master follows and a long-running duel ensues, resulting in several encounters in all sorts of places. The new Master (who refers to herslef as The Master, not The Mistress -- she introduces her self to the Doctor with Roger Delgado's classic line "I am known as the Master -- universally!") uses forms of power the original master would never have dreamed of using, building fantastic wealth and buying congo\lomerates not only to increase her own power but to set elaborate traps for her enemies, of whom the Doctor is paramount. Willing to use her incredibly long lifespan to set traps that take years just to bait, she tests the Doctor to the utmost at every opportunity, and to take him out she is willing to sacrifice millions of innocent lives 9while being very cautious with her own). Meanwhile, such regular foes of the Doctor as the Daleks and the Cybermen are still causing trouble in various points in time and space. And another old foe of the Doctor, the Monk (a Hartnell-era villain who liked to interefer in Earth history for his own beenfit and what he believed to be the humans' own good) would appear in a regenerated form, still determined to "reform" the past of his favorite planet. Then there are the usual war-crazed generals, megalomanic conquerors, and other mances that the Doctor has the uncanny ability to stumble across at exactly the wrong time. Colin Baker once quipped that "the Doctor goes to the shopping mall for four episodes would be a pretty boring story", but put that shopping mall on the South Pole and have it recently purchased by a congolomerate led by a certain "Gillian Masters" and you have the Doctor battling for his life against an especially cunning trap with hundreds of thousands of innocent shoppers in the way.....