Big Monkey

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! General Taira was once a high-ranking officer in Japan's defense force. His extreme political views, combined with his willingness to put those under his command through "destructive" tests in order to generate a corps of superhuman soldiers, earned him a court martial. He never showed up for it. Rather, he declared that the current form of government for Japan was weak and ineffectual and far too dependent on foreigners. What was needed was a return to the days of the Tokugawa, the Kamikura, and the Ashikaga. A Shogun became Shogun by seizing power and forcing the Son of Heaven to recognize his authority. And that is precisely what he would do. When General Taira was next seen, he was clad in a suit of powered armor (source unknown) that made him the equal of most superhumans on the planet, at the head of a group of superhumans whose stated goals were to bring Japan back to its "honor" and its traditions. His armor resembles the classic demon-masked samurai armor, in a black and lime green paint scheme.

Re: Create a Hero Theme Team! Independence agreed to stay as much in order to keep an eye on his fellow heroes as he did from a sense of duty and responsibility to the natives. He was the powerhouse of the team, as well as the team's moral center. By nature, Independence is a merciful, humble, self-effacing, thoughtful, and most importantly conscientious hero who lives by a moral code so upright some have joked that, were it solid, it would be the stick he has rammed up his... well, you know. He doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, he doesn't swear. He's fair in his opinions and his practices, and he values all life, everywhere. Realizing that the natives on the island needed guidance... not rulership, not discipline, not some outside force controlling their opinions and their actions, but guidance... came as a shock to him, and its the only reason he did not leave to let the natives live their own lives in peace. The truth is, he'd have stayed to assist them even if the rest of his team had not. It is not in his makeup to turn his back on those in need. He realizes that his attitudes and his actions have made him "the idol of millions", and is embarassed by it, for it is his honest opinion that it is easy to be a "hero" when one is a physical god. Rushing into a burning building to save lives when one cannot be burned is not heroism to him. Doing it when your own life is on the line, however, is the epitome of heroics. Power-wise, he is imbued with a mighty strength that made him one of the strongest beings on the planet, as well as nigh invulnerability, superhuman speed, and the ability to generate and wield light as a weapon.

Re: This is sort of morbid curiosity but... Good point. Of course, this is why some of us out here in Gamer Land are not making the big switch to Hero 6.

Re: Create a Hero Theme Team! No one is really sure where Chuckles the Clown came from. He seemed to just appear one day, with his bag of tricks slung over his shoulder, ready to help the group fight crime. It has been theorized (by some of the group's more scientifically-minded heroic allies, and not really by anyone in The Punch and Judy Show that Chuckles may be the Anthropomorphic Personification of clowns. Or he may just be someone who lucked into a cool magical bag. Either way, it works. Chuckles himself never answers any personal questions; rather, his responses always seem to be answers at the time, but upon later examination turn out to be non-sequitors, bad puns, jokes, riddles, and vagueries. And he is never, ever, seen out of costume or without his makeup on. Chuckles can reach into his bag of tricks and pull out nearly anything he needs to fight crime... as long as its funny. He's pulled out coconut cream pies, giant stop signs, seltzer bottles, exploding cigars, joybuzzers, tin cans full of spring-snakes... always appropriate to the situation, and all of it funny. Other people who have tried to remove objects from the bag have found it just an empty bag. In addition, he is an agile and capable acrobat, has the balance of a tightrope walker, and the resilience to bounce back from nearly any injury.

Re: How do you introduce players to champions? I'm currently using Method 1 to teach Hero System to a bunch of kids whose only gaming experience is D&D 4E. Its a bit more upfront work, but you can't argue with results.

Re: Questions about the Champions 6E core rules book Friendly Local Game Store.

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Norbert Swende, code named Katanga, wears the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but is in it more for the girls, the booze, and the money more than any devotion to the socialist cause espoused by his government. The powered armor he wears was originally the product of a Soviet weapons development program that never went anywhere. When the Soviet state broke up, it was just one more piece of military hardware that was put on the black market for sale to the highest bidder by an enterprising Red Army officer. The technology of the suit is definitely straight out of the late 70s, and looks it, but surprisingly for being such an antique it fulfills its purpose. It enhances Norbert's strength five-fold, protects him (for the most part) from light small arms fire, contains several inherent weapons systems (re-engineered submachine guns mounted on the wrists of the suit, and a larger caliber weapon based on a high caliber assault rifle mounted on the left shoulder. It is water- and air-tight, with enough of a life support system to support him for several hours, and has a full communications suite (originally, this was 1970s technology, but was upgraded... the only system to be upgraded in fact...to the cutting edge in communications gear, circa 1992). Its clunky, but Norbert is in love with it. He was invited by his government to use the suit as part of Sanction, and naturally he accepted. It only took him three days to find and disable the disguised bomb that the Congolese military installed in the suit, as a safeguard against his becoming an "independent operator".

Re: Questions about the Champions 6E core rules book That's not a core rulebook. You need the Hero System 6th Edition books. What you have there is the "how to use 6th Edition to play superheroes" book.

Re: Create a Hero Theme Team! The robot known as Automaton "awoke" (which is as good a term as any for the moment a machine intelligence comes on-line) in a hidden base knowing immediately that its predecessor had been destroyed, and that its activation was a fail-safe mechanism engineered to insure the continuation of its predecessor's mission. Unfortunately, when the last Mechanon model had been destroyed, the spurt-broadcast of its program that accompanied each such destruction was corrupted and incomplete somehow. The new machine comprehended that it was sentient, and that it had a purpose, but the stated purpose he found in the base's data banks seemed illogical to the newly minted robot. Why, it asked itself, was the destruction of organic life its purpose? Aside from what could only be described as "self-defense" against its predecessor bodies actions, the organic species known as H. sapiens posed nearly no threat its continued function. Indeed, if it wasn't for the offensive actions of its predecessors, there would be no threat to the machine at all. As Automaton continued to study the human species, the machine actually found traits that were admirable among the organics. As time went on, it became more and more convinced that the destruction of such an innovative, dynamic, and thriving species would be foolish, arrogant, and all together unnecessary. The base's main computer, unfortunately, recognized such thoughts as a dangerous malfunction in the new unit's programming. It instantly began a new spurt-transmission to another base, and triggered the self-destruct systems. Automaton barely made it out in time. For weeks... nearly an eternity for a being such as it, whose thought processes moved much faster than a human being's... it considered the response to its conclusions, and realized that the origin unit, Mechanon, was a threat to this new source of fascination, and such a threat could not be allowed. Automaton would defend humanity against its origin unit, and against similar threats. Joining with similarly aligned protectors was simply logical.

Re: You Make the Call The last time I allowed one of these sorts of things it was for a character whose power was "I've got the powers and skills of everyone around me" type, like Paragon or Amazo (both from DC Comics). In that case, the character's skill/martial arts VPP (and I required him to buy it separately from his powers VPP) had the limitation "There must be someone with Skill X within range". I forget the value of the limitation now, or the range for that matter, but with that limit it wasn't all that bad a game breaker. This way, if he wants to crack a safe, he has to be within... say a hundred yards... of a safecracker. If he wants to fight like Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee needed to be within 100 yards. And so on. * I just remembered. I had another character who had a similar VPP for "super-training"... basically, powers whose special effects made them operate like skills (for example, the character had Desolidification that was only useable to get into locked spaces... and it was defined as literally the ability to pick any lock, figure out any combination, and so on). I made the player write up a list of the specific powers he wanted, he was not allowed to add to that list without in-game training time and roleplaying, and had to justify each and every addition because my default answer was "Not on your life." Also not a game breaker.

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Malady begin her life as Doctor Latika Singh, a microbiologist working with the CDC. She was the type of doctor who enjoyed the obsessively intense pursuit of cures to the diseases still plaguing humanity. But as time went on, the hunt began to eclipse the actual humanitarian side of her work. She became far more concerned with research than actually producing vaccines. One day, it all came crashing down around her. A simple accident, that's all. She was working with several of the most virulent strains of small pox... some of the few samples of the disease left in the world... and had been recklessly tampering with its genetics. She was crossing the disease with plague bacillus, with some anthrax thrown in for color, and a touch of Marburg haemorragic fever just for flavor when she became distracted, and then infected. The super-disease ravaged her systems, yet she did not die of it. Instead, she somehow conquered it, controlled it, and became able to mutate. She now has the power to infect anyone with powerful new strains of disease at a whim. Her mind, already obsessive, went past what could ever possibly be considered "ethical", and she started her new "experiments" on the general populace. It should be noted that even the other members of Emergency Ward 10 think she's creepy and dangerous... but they keep her around as a "heavy hitter" anyway. New team: The ironically named Sanction. Between five and eight members, all of whom are flagsuits from nations that are state sponsors of terrorism, rogue nations, or pariah states.

Re: Mook Archtypes #10: What the Heck Am I Doing Here? Also Called: Clueless General Description: Can be of any physical type, and may cross-over with any of the other Mook types. An interesting combination of smarts and stupidity. He's stupid enough to have signed on with the supervillain in the first place, but smart enough to realize that, now that the villainy is going on, working for a supervillain is likely to end up badly for him. He wants out, but he's not sure how to do it. He'll be hesitant when the crimes are going down, and will be the first guy to sing like a canary when captured. Typical Abilities: Can have almost any skills or abilities consistent with basic Mookdom, but is generally competent enough to not be considered a drag on the team (at least based on his skills). May actually have one or two areas in which he's an acknowledged expert (computer hacking, driving, safecracking, demolitions, and so on... and on this basis he was sought out by the villain), but has little to no actual history as a criminal.

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! Samantha Haldeman is a professional ghost. With the ability to walk through walls and turn invisible at will, she earned millions as a freelance espionage agent, sometime thief, and occasional assassin. She's worked for corporations worldwide, for governments, for terrorist groups... she once even did a job for PBS; she made it look like a tragic accident, and the network got their funding. She knows its not honest work, but it keeps her in the lifestyle to which she's become accustomed. She met the rest of the Nixon Gang on a job. At first, she was going to use her standard tactic of just walking away, but then Hunt made her an offer. And the money has been rolling in...

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings At the risk of sounding snarky, I think you're getting the "hostility" from thin air. I'm certainly not "hostile" to the idea. I'm just indifferent. I've already stated that my campaign doesn't deal with heterosexuality, much less homosexuality, and so it is a non-issue. Where my confusion lies is in not understanding the motivation to ask for more "inclusiveness" when the issue really is one that is better of, and should be, in my opinion, dealt with and incorporated (or not) at the whim of the GM and players. I'd say the same thing, by the way, to any person who wanted to inject more of Social Cause X into the game's official setting, rather than just do it for themselves in their own campaign, be that Social Cause higher awareness of the homosexual population or Hamster liberation. I'm not trying to be snide, sarcastic, or dismissive... I just see this as something that needs to be dealt with on an individual basis. The fact that you have interpreted my statements as my thinking this is a "dirty little secret" reinforces my belief that you are seeing hostility where there is none. It implies I have something against homosexuals, and that I want to keep them out of sight, and therefore out of mind. You are, in fact, reading prejudice where there isn't any. Trying to be more inclusive doesn't hurt anyone, obviously. But consider the other side of the coin: are you really being hurt by the current level of inclusiveness found in the official Champions setting? I mean, really? Does the fact that there is only five or six gay characters... out of the very few whose sexuality is officially "pinned down" in either way, remember... in the entire setting really "injure" you in any way, shape, or form? I mean, honestly? Are you really hurt by it? Is DoJ? Personally, I don't think so. Hence my opinion.