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If there was a Dear Abby for supers would your character write to it? What would you ask?

There already is a ranged disarm maneuver, which I have. I want something that will have more lasting effects (i.e. can't use arm for rest of this battle) instead of disarm (they pick up the weapon again) or trip (they stand up). The ability to target and render a joint unusable would be really great... but doing it with range is my problem. Adding a bunch of levels to hit wont work as it would make the maneuver too expensive... (hitting a joint would be at least as hard as hitting the head, if not worse at least to my GM).

I don't mind if it doesn't automatically disable the limb, I just want the chance to try. The Ultimate Martial Artist says on page 92, qoute " like other maneuvers, which target specific parts of the body, maneuvers with the disable element do not suffer hit location attack roll or damage penalties or bonuses". So in effect Ninja boy might actually hit Superman (if he rolled well enough to hit Superman normally) and then the full damage of the attack (minus Superman's defenses) would be applied to just that joint. Ninja boy would have to either do equal to Superman's body in body damage or double his body in stun to disable (he would also have a chance to roll a CON roll to see if the joint is just impaired) So it's not a really over powered maneuver, but would be very effective against normals or some supervillians without killing them.

But they already have that maneuver for HTH.. so it is already legal. So if Ninja boy did that to Superman using the HTH maneuver, it would totally be by the book. (maybe not fair, but by the book). When making up new maneuvers you can take a restrictive element...

Joint Break=Grab One Limb; HKA1/2d6 (2DC), Disable Joint Lock/Throw= Grab One Limb; 1d6 NN(7); Target Falls My stumbling block is that there is no grab maneuver for ranged martial arts. But if you can trip, can't you maybe either pin someone to a surface (like a wall) or shoot a arrow into a joint, thereby incapitating it without doing a lot of damage to the victim (besides rendering the joint usless)? I know you can't use anything other than normal damage, all I want is the special effect of rendering the joint useless (the grab effect would just be a bonus if it's possible).

I would like to make some more ranged martial arts attacks, but making custom maneuvers has me stumped. for example there is a hth attack called Joint Break that I would like to try to do ranged. Any ideas?

Has anyone read the comic called Powers? It really kind of looks at the life of a super.. rabid fans, cosplay, groupies, etc.

Hehe these are funny... you could even give extra exp if your players wrote up an article for it... You could also do something serious too, like a Help Wanted section (lackey needed, loyalty a plus), a Job section (heroine needed for Government sponsered group), Real estate section (used super base, a great fixer-upper priced to move), etc. Think Soldier of Fortune Magazine. Of course if your going silly you have to do a section called "Costume Don'ts" with pictures of tacky costumes. Also the ads would be a hoot too (a woman holds up an antiperspirant and says "Super Secret, tough enough for Superman, but made for Wonder Woman")

Re: Female Super Groups I have quite a few close female friends does that make me a female freak? In fact if more women gamed, I would have more friends (nothing bonds you like role-playing and gaming on-line if your a female). I do have a lot of male friends, mostly due to the lack of women in gaming (gaming keeps me close to my friends). I think it's a male myth that women can't have female friends (please, this isn't high school anymore). As for "Our Monthly Friend" please leave it alone... if you ain't female, don't touch the subject. As for the club idea, it might be interesting, but I would think more social club than male strip bar. For example, offering services by trusted people like haircuts, costume design, child care, a showroom for the latest superhero gadgets, ways to buy stuff without ID, combat training, weight rooms, etc.; all the little things in life you would want, but with the safety factor superheroes need. Of course a bar would be nice, a place to come and bitch about the latest boneheaded thing some villain did, and exchange advice on how to handle the police, villains, Foxbat, paparazzi, etc. Think full service spa with a shooting gallery. A magazine geared to superheroines would be cool too, it wouldn't have to be something local but could be a national- or international-type publication, with articles on handling your love life when you have a secret ID, etc.

Now that's evil

Elfshot would totally freak. She's the product of rape, and has always tried to make sure that she would be safe (watched her drinks, never left with strange men, avoided "unsafe" areas etc.). As she currently is seeing someone she would never cheat on him (one of her iron-clad rules) so it would have had to have been some sort of rape. After she beat the shit out of the guy she would go to the hospital and make sure that he hadn't given her any disease and/or gotten her pregnant. After that it would probably be off to therapy for her. Of course one of her team-mates (the cat) would probably find out about it, so there would be some sort of investigation, and seeing as how her team-mates yack too much, her boyfriend would most likely find out and kill the villain.

Anybody mention cable TV? And maybe Tivo so you can catch all the shows you missed saving the world? Also Dexter's Lab would be a great place to get ideas...

Invent a new highly addictive new drug and rake in the money. You can always use your newly addicted victims to sell and distribute it for you. To make the drug even more desirable to people, make it seem to restore youth. Even if the drug ends up killing people in 5 years, some people will take the risk to look better. If someone is a shapeshifter the can get paid to impersonate people ... i.e. If you always wanted to date Superman... Heck you could even start doing Superhero porn. I'm sure there are lots of lonely people out there who would rent/buy stuff like that. Man colds make me evil. Must be the Dayquil.

One of the PC's in our game is making a mint repairing satellites for companies that are quite willing to pay him to do it (he can travel into space and has lifesupport) as he is much cheaper and faster then waiting for NASA. He does have the problem of paying taxes and such (he has a secret ID) but if your a villain.... Also there is arson (no traces of accelerant if you have a flame/fire attack). If one of the villains has magic, you could get paided to curse rivals, foresee the future (great for stock tips), cause rich men/women to fall in love with you and will you their fortunes, etc. Speedsters could deliver money, drugs etc faster and safer then Fedex.

Elfshot would do a ranged disarm on the gun, then disable the hand holding the kitten so he'd drop it. Of course by the time she takes his gun away, her team-mates would have reduced him to blubber anyway.

Here's a really funny comic book about super kids ... you have to check it out : ) http://www.ps238.com/ make sure you read the public service announcements, they're on-line now and will give you a taste of the comic book. In our current Champions game, we were thrust into a dimension where comic books and movies about supers are real (which means we know Batman's secret ID etc). We all ended up with super powers ourselves (of course). One PC has found out that his wife in this dimension is still alive, and being harassed by her ex-husband (his evil twin in this dimension!) So now he's trying to have a romance with his not-dead-in-this-dimension-wife and has ended up fighting with himself... It's been a hoot watching him trying to figure out how to tell her....

My question is who is going to bring him in for Justice? His team-mates? If the police try to catch him, there might be more violence. Or they could hire a "bounty hunter" hero to capture him... which would be interesting to see how his team-mates react to that. Also is there some sort of super "prison" in your game?

I have a character who has a minor transform... As my character is Welsh fey, I want to do minor curses... but since it's a Champions game she's in, can anyone give me some hints as to some good curses and what game effects they would have in a Champions (not fantasy hero) game?

I like romance in the games I play in, though I have found it's better to have your character fall in love with an NPC. Sometimes PC to PC romances can get messy. When in a game I tend to lean more towards romances with either highly skilled or powered people, as they have their own stuff to deal with so aren't hanging around all the time (thus making the GM's life easier and keeping the romance fresh). If you know your players are interested in romance, you might want to ask them what "type" their characters might be interested in, though just running across someone by chance is fun too. Just never force a romance on someone, as that could lead to some uncomfortable moments (I'm speaking from experience here, as a female who played in a game run by a male GM).

So you all don't think I would have to buy anything special for the photo part? I'm wondering because that would have really come in handy in our last game. We were trying to copy onto paper the tattoos we found on a goon (major clue for plot) but it was raining etc. Our GM is evil and none of us had umbrellas in our super suits, so we ended up hunched over the paper looking reallllly non-heroic. Our GM has ruled we have to use character points to buy things that could be useful (like a cell phone with all the bells and whistles). What about connecting to the internet, shouldn't that cost something too?

If someone wanted to buy one of those nifty photo text messaging phones, how many points would it cost and what powers would you buy for it?

How bout Grainne Mhaol or as the English called her Grace O'Malley the famous Irish Pirate/Freedom fighter? She fought the British during the 16th century.

Just be careful when making up cities, I had a former GM who thought the name Massengill sounded nice for an Amber game (not realizing where he had heard it before). He never lived that one down...

Anyone read "The Mouse That Roared"?

My worst gaming was when we were doing a Gurps game... We were on a new planet (stranded) and had to reach a certain area before our supplies ran out. The GM had us doing driving rolls and keeping track of our gas for two four hour game sessions (and that's all we did, driving rolls and record keeping). The funniest one was when I was in college. We had a GM who was very attached to his NPC's and Villains (i.e. the NPC's always came and saved us). We had found out the secret base of the villain and had tried to defeat him. The GM had the villain escape and since he was the Governor of the state, make a mutant registration law the next day. I protested, saying Governors just can't pass laws like that, you have to have the state government pass it. After everyone else agreed with me he said "how would I know, I'm an Engineering major" I replied that I was a high school graduate and I knew it.