Ghost who Walks

I wouldn't have bought the eb at 0 End (especially the autofire one). But thats me. I would have made a couple of sciences at <11 (again, thats me) He may get a few foreign languages (depends on the campaign if they get used) Buy him a contact, someone who hasa lab/workshop, where he built the suit. He may need to get it fixed. Perhaps a shop teacher who used to be a supervillain, got jailed, and has since reformed. Dependin on the size of the suit, he may need help putting it on. (I always hated that Iron Man's fit in a briefcase) Rest looks fine for a semi-beginning player. Not much math to keep track of, and he can add stuff later with his inventor skill as he figures out the rules. Oh, wouldn't the weapon system MP be "only in hero ID?"

Method 3 (I had to come up with another) Depending on what power they are going to get, you can always create a power that creates as many new limitations as it does new powers. Combine it with method 1 or 2, and it shouldn't be too hard. A classic example is the Fantastic Four. They are characters that you could all do as pre-flight normals, who get powers with a ton of limitations and new disadvantages. (At least at first) Spiderman is a bad example, most of the disadvantages (his horde of DNPC's) he already had before he got powers. If a lot of extra stats are needed for the powerup (like a higher con/end/rec), consider going with an Endurance battery. Its cheaper, and may reflect a new hero easier (depending on what their power is). You can also give new powers activation rolls, and increased time/endurance cost.

Don't know aboaut a learned power, but I'm here. For the PRE aid, it sounds like it can effect PCs as well as NPC's. Boosting their PRE will make them less vulnerable to PRE attacks, as their morale is higher - I assume this is the intention. I generally dislike giving fulling disadvantage values to powers that can be used by other PC's. (Examples: teleport, usable on others. Force Field, usable on others. Flight Usable on others.) This is because powers that can be used on PC's have a tendency to be more abused (by who, I have no idea ) I would make it a 1/4, since it is primarily a homefront campaign. You may also consider doing it as a Change Environment, with the efect "Raises peoples spirits" For the Siren Sound, I would just buy reduced by range. Not sure if visible would apply, I imagine it will be noisy. I don't think you want her using her sonic mind control in sniper mode. As an idea, how about a RKA, based around the "Liberty Bell"? Only versus inanimate objects (could break guns, windows, and fedoras)

What else does this thread need? Political Posters! http://www.i-mockery.com/GeneralZod/media/zod4prez.jpg Help bring him back to the White House...you know you want to who. He is the man with the plan!

I would think speedsters might have a tendency to...run away from their problems? Depending on the campaign, many with powers may wonder if they are even human. After all, few of them even have powers in common. I do a lot with the mentalist/psionic crowd, as they have a lot of powers in common (mental), they are an easy target for discrimination. I can envision a device which detects mental activity a lot easier than one which detects "Muties". In any case this is a good thread to work on...I am already picturing the villain who became a villain because he struck that senior citizen in the supermarket checkout line! Future villain: "Must...Escape...Supermarket..." Senior citizen: "Just let me find my coupons..." Future villain: "ARGH!!" (Picks up can of soup hits elderly citiizen on the head) Clerk: (Speaking into microphone) "Methauman incident at register #4, will the manager please alert PRIMUS" Future Villain: "Must...Flee...Justice!" (Pushes aside guy putting his food in plastic bags, picks up groceries, runs from store) Clerk: (Speaking into microphone) "Cleanup at register #4..."

My humble apologies. See, did everyone see? This thread did something! It needs to be kept... ...and used... ...and filled with posts!

Did I mention that the player who dated Fiacho was Mentalla's half sister? I run Eurostar as the most experienced villain team on the planet, that has been around for about 20 years. They are into their second generation of villainy. Mind Controling girlfriends are fun for the GM. Mental Illusion is even better.

Mythologically, Hermes was also a trickster god (also god of speed, you missed). So there could be some side effects from him granting anyone powers. A nice one might be granting the power, but not the knowledge of how to use it. He could beat people up with his martial arts, but would know nothing of martial arts himself. See Jackie Chan in that Tuxcedo movie) Once of my favorite ways to do an amateur magician is buy using what I call "Conjuring". Just buy the images power, with a few limitations in it. Great for diversions/tricks, pretty useless in a fight. I tend to dislike invisible characters, unless that is their only power. It depends on how common enhanced sense are. A fun one is to buy invisibility to Mindscan and Clairsentiencs, this makes it virtually impossible for psionics/wizards to find him. Shepherds: Animal handler, or mindcontrol vs. animals. Both useful, actually, depending on the campaign. Clairsentience, specific animal only (a familiar) Music: I thought that was Apollo's gig? Businessman: Well, in my campaign, Hermes is an actual person. He used to be a railroad tycoon, before railroads went bust (in the US anyway). He now schemes for a way to regain his fortune. He also has a severe gambling problem. Greek gods were a very self destructive lot. So far as the campaign, something related to modern-day thievery would be good. Muggers and burgalars aren't really thieves from a professional thief point of view. Something more upscale, like banker (ever hear of compound interest), or Insurance executive (Obvious thievery here). Real Estate Speculator springs to mind. He was the god of business as I believe he was the god of currency/coinage. Something involving that (credit card company?) perhaps.

I use a modified excel sheet I downloaded from the net years ago. It looks just like the Hero sheet, but its in excel. I t allows me to tweak characters anytime I want, and put as many pictures on the sheet as I like, then print it out. Some of my sheets have several dozen pics on them.

I'm going to give Nighthawk a second try. I'll have to change his name, as I am already using it. I like the Seattle Sahawk bit, mostly cause my campaign used to be based there. I need a new martial artist type hero in the campaign, my main PC one just got elevated to become Ming the Merciless (His Kung Fu was very strong) Seeker I played as a joke, actually. Ddin't he ever get cold in winter in that outfit? Some stuff I did with him: He secretly played himself in the Champions Soap Opera, he was a secret agent for the Supreme Sorceror of Evil, had never been to Australia, and learned all his martial arts by watching Kung Fu movies. His weapons were bought out of cheap magazines. Basicly, I made his entire origin a story a lie, and him a confidence man. He became very wealthy, and the players loved exposing him. He is still out there of course, plotting his revenge.

It could be your players weren't familiar with the genre? One thing I like to do with new players is to play out their "backstory". It usually only takes a couple hours to do. Its set a few months or years prior to the start of the campaign, and plays out why they became a hero. Since both of you already know generally where you are going, this just helps flush out the details. Most characters usually have a pivotal point in their lives that details why they became what they are. Now, as for the trashing... You could always have him contacted by the secretive "Select sub Committee on Paranormal Activities". Meeting in the basement of the US Senate, they investigate, control, and eliminate Paranormal threats to America. Their chairman is Senator Strom Thurmond. Think of them as like the guys who cover up UFOs, only for mystical stuff. Remember the Indiana Jones movie, where at the end they file the "Arc of the Covenant" in the huge warehouse? Those are the guys. I use them as a contact for many of my paranormal types, that I want to give a little direction to. Also, it means when the demons invade from Unholy Dimension #37D, someone actually shows up to either shoot at them, or search their luggage.

Glad I'm not the only GM "wasting" time on the "Mushy Stuff" (Comment from a player, long ago) I'm not sure if its a male player vs. female player thing, I've had both types of players get pretty involved in them. You have to run them a bit different. I tend to view romances in one of two ways, either they develop an expand, growing more complicated, or they wither and die. Much Like real life. I tend to view it as a pretty important disadvantage, I've had Romances call in the middle of team meetings, show up at emergency meetings because they were on a date, and have them canish in a poof of smoke. Getting back to the original comment, it does seem that most Champions romances are "super vs. super". I have them to, but they tend to be very chaotic, with twice as many hunteds showing up every week. "Super vs. Normal" romances are usually a bit more normal, and calmer. They also tend to last longer. There are only three real variations here: Public ID hero, romance is attacted to fame. Secret ID hero, romance is attracted to knowing the secret. Secret ID hero, romance does not know the secret, may honestly care about the hero. Some variations on a theme include having the public ID superhero married to the secret ID superheroine. Another is the touch range mind controller married to the Most Beautiful Woman on Earth , and wondering if his powers might be the cause. (she says she loves him for his mind). Kids make great DNPC's. You can put them into all sorts of trouble, and the players rarely complain. I've had natural born kids, adopted kids, kids fathered by the supervillain who abducted the missus, kids concieved in one night stands, kids who are actually clones of the hero, kids who are actually clones of the heroine's mother, and my favorite...kids that another hero fathered, who then dumped on another PC. I'm thinking of sticking them all in the same school. Am I the only GM that had a player date Fiacho?

That could work out well. I seem to remember a Dr. Doom plot like that (was in a graphic Novel). Doom took over the world with the aid of the "Purple Man", only Wonder Man was immune. This will work well, psionics are fairly big in my campaign. I have Menton as "Democratically elected leader of Lithuania". It will just be a teamup. In my campaign, he is trying to create a perfect psionic society, with himslef as absolute leader. That will allow me to have a falling out between Menton and the VIPER guys later, as they both doublecross each other. Thanks for the idea.

I don't use deathtraps often, but here is my favorite. Was sprung on the winged, 4-armed, martial artist (who carried a sawed off shotgun, steel talons, and a bullwhip) by another GM. "As she entered the room, the giant fan mounted vertically in the middle of them room began to spin. On the far side of the room, being pulled onto the fan was a struggling form trapped inside a wet sleeping bag, suspended from the ceiling by a rope. The room is divided into two, by the spinning fan of death. There is no way to reach the trapped figure fro mher position. you only have seconds to respond! (to do deathtraps right...buy a minute egg timer) So I did the only thing I could think of, I tried an attack roll against the center of the giant fan, with my stell talons. I rolled a 3, on 3d6. The GM ruled that the fan stopped instantly, but the talons were imbedded into the fan. The fan now resisides in the team trophy room, the talons still in it. To this day, that character (now an NPC), travels the world, trying to get giant fans banned everywhere. For your character...I like KA.'s idea, so I'll expand on it. I would suggest tying him up with plastic wire, that emmits a toxic chemical when burned. Then put him in a rubber room, lined with the stuff. Place the rubber room, inside a bathosphere, and place it at the bottom of a lake/ocean. Put small plexiglass window in bathosphere so that the player can watch the fish swim by. Have a cable provide electricity and oxygen to the bathospere. Place inside several boxes of MREs for food. Include intercom, so the villain can gloat. If you are playing in non 4-color, include a pistol with one bullet. If you are playing in 4-color, add a television set that only displays 1950-60's sitcoms. I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, or any western with Roy Rogers in it. That should have him have to think to get out of the deathtrap, before he goes insane. Have him make hourly ego rolls, say he is "saving veresus insanity" Or, you could just lure him into any public building, and drown him with the sprinkler system.

Yeah, the time constraint is set with the admin options in vbulletin. I have no idea what its set for in this forum. *Initiates a countdown clock, to see if Pteryx can delete his thread in time!*

Deliver long, agonizing speech about the agony of the universe, life, and existance (suing a zero phase action). Proclaim that I know where the villain is coming from...I too hate cats! (Make coughing and hacking noise when approporiate) While the villain is distracted with my oratory, I propose an alliance with him, to destroy the true enemy...the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals! In painstaking detail, I explain how the SPCA has sytematically made it so that we are unable to exterminate the vermin underfoot. I then conclude telling him how I myself, have developed a mutated virus which will destroy all felines worldwide! All I require is a young cat to test my virus on! So convinced is the villain to my commitment of the cause, that he gladly hands the kitten over to me, for my unholy experiment. As soon as the kitten is in my possession, I pet it nicely, wrap it up in my cape to keep it warm, and tell my teamates to obliterate this sick fool. I then try and sneak the kitten out of the mall, hoping the mall moles haven't put one of those sensor-thingees on it. The kitten becomes the team mascot for several months, until it is slain during our assault upon Dr. Grondicus base, when it sets off the land mine. Am I the only one who buys acting, oratory, persuasion, and Sleight of Hand for every heroic character?

1) The satellite had a little rocket on it, to change its orbit and trajectory. 2) The Supreme serpent changed the access password from "Password" to "Kingoftheworld" 3) Destroyer launched the satellite around 25 years ago, in my campaign. Quite simply, he's forgotten how he built the dang thing (but won't admit it, of course). He also subcontracted out some fo the components to private contractors (which is why he never got it to work) Artificial psionics could work. It would need some kind of monitoring computer/system to control a planet though. I need it to be a way that the heroes can figure out, and stop. (eventually)

Starting my first thread, so be kind. OK, over the course of several weeks of playing I finally got the players where I want. Namely, the mini-plot I have been building up to for the past 5+ years. One of their team members had her spaceship stolen by a VIPER villain, who attempted to use it to steal some medical equipment from some aliens. The heroes of course, boarded a secondary spaceship, and chased after them. While they were on the other world, they prevented an alien fleet from invading the Earth. (dang aliens) Now using various methods, the heroes are going home. They will each have at least one short scenario on the way back, and it will take them a couple of months to return. Several VIPER villains are also being brought back by them. Once they return to Earth, they are going to find everything is just as they left it. Except for a couple of minor things. 1) Minor conflicts around the world seem to be getting resolved, through diplomacy. 2) Eurostar has received a pardon, and has become the official team of Europe. 3) The President has ordered the reinstatement of the draft, to combat “Alien Aggression for beyond the Moonâ€. Villains are getting pardons if they enlist, many heroes are enlisting. 4) Various heroes and villains seem to have vanished (secretly arrested by a controlled PRIMUS, they have been transported to their secret prisons) 5) Extraterrestrials have been detained in a government military base, government claims they are in quarantine against an Earth virus. They were actually resistant to the mind control, being an “alien†class of mind. Yep, that’s right, VIPER has finally succeeded in accessing Dr. Destroyers’ old Hypno satellite. Equipped with “stealthy†technology, the satellite has remained undetected for years. (I have mentioned it being up there frequently in the campaign, left over from Dr. Destroyer’s last scheme. Now, while I have been thinking about running this plot for years, one question remains in my mind. Doing the satellite for champions is very easy, just mind control and some megascale. The thing I want to know, what is the most plausible way for the satellite to work? 1) Satellite is actually a psionic amplifier and transmitter. A Psionic is hooked up on the planet, and the satellite amplifies the signal. Mental Defense resists against it. 2) Satellite sends out a signal that appears subliminally on all radio and television broadcasts. Flash Defense resists against it. 3) The Satellite sends a signal that renders the human mind extremely suggestible, to anyone. Aluminum foil hats, and being Iron Man protect you against it. 4) Any other idea? Any ideas of what VIPER may do with their control over the world are welcome. Bank robberies are possible, but why bother when you control the mint? The Supreme Serpent himself is the one controlling the Hypno satellite, who is a character of my own creation. (He’s a member of the same race as the ones who were planning to invade earlier…he was preparing the groundwork, and is waiting for the invasion fleet to show up. The heroes of course, already stopped that) None of the people on Earth would know they are being controlled, they just find their opinions on issues changing. I was thinking that VIPER could send a signal to a small area (a couple of dozen miles), so that they could directly control the citizenry. (That way I can have a mob of mind-controlled zombies) The resistance to the Satellite (and VIPER) is going to be a collection of both heroes and villains. Dr Destroyer will be a part of it, who wants his satellite back (he abandoned this scheme long ago, and is annoyed someone else got it to work).

They did a story about his in the Fantastic Four, an age ago. Reed Richards and Co got called to testify before Congress about "Mutant Registration". The title was "Dark Congress", if I recall. One of the few times where they have supes vs. the government, the NRA even shows up. In my campaign, the issue has been debated back and forth. It is unlikely to pass in the current administration, as the sitting President is secretly a former superhero. (who use to be a rather notorious vigilante). I do have a form of it, that is rather amusing (mostly to show how silly it is). Any superhero can register voluntarily, and recieve a passport! This allows him to travel to other countries, and pass through customs. The Passport gives some very basic info on the hero, and has a nice photo of him, in costume. Under occupation it lists "American Superhero." The Hero can even have a secfret identity and get one, without reigistering his name. They are fingerprinted. Only Heroes that are part of official-looking teams are considered. It's worth all the trouble for when one of the heroes with one travels. Upon entering a foreign country, the border guard states something like "American Superhero, eh? And what exactly is your reason for visiting France?" The Hero then gives some dumbass response, like "Tourist." (Remember, he is in a funky costume) The Hero then goes about whatever reason he visited the country, followed by intelligence agents wherever he goes. All police know he is about to arrive before he shows up. While this is how I do the Ol' USA, several countries do have registration laws. Its usually given as a reason for the huge number of superpowered people in the USA. That's right, a bunch of them are really Canadians.

*Looks at unconcious villain, severed hand* *pulls out cellphone, dials number* (one handed!) "Um...Mom? Uh can I come over? I need to ask you something. Yeah. Its about my mysterious father that I inherited all my powers from that you never want to talk about. Well..yes it is kind of important. I'm sure you can host your meeting of the amateur robotics club later.* *Picks up severed hand, sticks it under jacket so no one will notice* *Walks away, whistling* OOC: Must remember to buy full ambidexterity, for all characters, in the event this situation arises.

In the USA, depends on the state you are in. I assume it would fall under abortion laws. I have numeroud clones around my campaign, but no Malachite. All the clones were made by a woman believed to be working for the People's Republic of China, which has a shortage of super-powered people. Most of the clones are copies of one of the players, her sisters, or mother (all have powers). Some are children, others are adult. They have a special school they all go to...

Darn! Pesky robot duplicates! Assuming that there is notenough processor power insied them to have kept the entire team fooled for weeks, I deduce (very handy skill ,and very cheap) that they must be connected to a larger mainframe, most likely by a wireless modem. Utilizing my secret ID as a manager at the power company, I pull out my cell phone, call the shift manager, and tell him to block out the city. This shoulds stun the two robots, as the mainframe will loose power. While they are stunned, I use my N-ray vision to locate their fuze box, and use my telekinesis to flip them. (every electronic device needs fuzes). Reaching into my pocket, I will pull out a handful of jellybeans, tell the villains that they are microexplosives I invented last weekend, and hurl them at my opponents feet... ...and run like hell. My only question to the gamemaster...using my cellphone counts as speaking right? So its a zero phase action?

*sniffle* Oh, the memories... The only thing I changed when I ran them, was Taurus's cyborg attachments were detatchable. After foiling his plot (he used his ship to travel to another planet, said he was the leader of Earth, and sold North America...cheap) the heroes confronted him... Knowing he was about to get the crap beaten out of him, Taurus quickly detached all his cybernetic parts, and got into a wheelchair. Quote: "You would't hit a poor, handicapped mutant would you?"

This thread just keeps getting more interesting. assaults post got me thinking again, about why their was such a huge difference of opinion here. Its obvious that players ang GM's are running a huge range of characters, across a wide spectrum. As I recall, Champions was originally intended as a 4-color game system. (although interestingly enough, their comic book was a bit more mature...) What should players and GM's realize from this? Players: Make sure you understand what kind of campaign the GM is running, and what kind of play is acceptible.. He will get rather angry with you if you whip out your (Offensive teleport, only vs. heads attack), just as the 4 color villain is making his speech explaing his evil plan. The 4 color hero is also going to be dissapointed, when he gets shot by the random thug with a gun...and bleeds to death. GMs: Make sure your characters know what kind of campaign you are running. Pass out reading material if necessary. The players will always get off track, and do some strange actions you didn't expect. Deal with it, and try not to allow yourself to get caught next time. There is a reason you are allowed to create as many characters as you like, with as high a "villain bonus" as necessary. It is fortunate that the HERO system allows us to run from one extreme to the other. Most systems don't, which is probably why this one is still around.

Ah, the Nighthawk bashing thread. My campaign PC team, for about the lax 10 years has called themselves the "Knight Hawks". It was either that, or the Falcons. Nighthawk existed in my campaign, asa vigilante. The PC's (most of whom are public or no ID types, sorta like the Avengers) are current;y searching for him so they can arrest him for copyright violations. Merchandizing makes most of their revenue, and Mr. Nighthawk has been giving them a bad name. Running around at night in a black outfit, peeking in peoples windows, assaulting juveniles...his madness must be stopped!