Ghost who Walks

Re: unexpected depth to the story - er, suggestions welcome Supervillain Foxbat is being used by an experienced team of villains (like eurostar) to create a diversion. A major event that was going to happen in the city is changed to another city, because of security concerns. The second city has no superheroes, and will make the villains job easier. Political Foxbat is being used by the Vice PResident of the United States, who is trying to divert the media's attention away from his own scandal. Alien The little voice inside Fovbat's head that tells him what to do isn't actually Thomas Magnum, but an alien transmitter. The aliens are conducting tests to see who is the most powerful...that person will be abducted, cloned multiple times, and used to fight the evil clone armies of the evil alien empire. (Foxbat's aliens are the "good guys" Criminal The local mafia Don wants all these nosisy supervillains out of the way, they are bad for business. He is having them commit crimes so they will get beaten up and hauled off to jail, so he can go back to corrupting local law enforcement in peace. Dimensional Foxbat is being upstaged by...Foxbat. Yes, Foxbat from an alternate version of Earth, who has stolden a dimensional people mover. this is an excellent oppertunity to introduce alternate versions of the players, who come searching for Foxbat #2. (and haul back Foxbat #1, of course) Mystical Foxbat is being taught a lesson in humility by Loki.

Re: UNITY 2010: A New Champions Campaign I'm working on restarting my own campaign by moving it forward 10 years in the future (2015), so lots of luck! If you are breaking up China, you may want to look at India-Pakistan, good place for a major war if you need one. Or if you kept them together, time for a Civil war. China fragmented, with metahuman warlords sounds fun. PRIMUS South...

Re: Escape From Stronghold scenario I once had the superpatriotic all-American type get arrested. He got sent to a minimal security, white-colalr prison where all the inmated complained about the lack of enough tennis courts. Afterwards, he testified before congress demanding harsher prisons. Another time, I had the super-psionic girl get imprisoned, after revealing she was psionic. (psionics were persecuted). Prison in theis case was a secret sanitarium in Maryland, where all the inmates were kept drugged and sedated. After she led the revolt, PRIMUS showed up with the artillery to besiege the place. Other players and a horde of heroes eventually had to show up, leding to a classic good guy vs. good guy battle. The scenario worked out pretty well, especially because none of the other PC's were supposed to know that she was a psionic...she claimed to be a wizard, which marked her as a loon, not a criminal.

Re: Politics in Champions.... I would do a few moralistic scenarios myself, dealing with the consequences of the IST being gone. 1) The IST could have been spending a lot of resources developing the "third world". Those resources are now gone. Having the supers deliver food to starving people can be fun. 2) Nationalistic rivalries and tribal wars would break out again, once stopped by the IST. 3) The IST may have had control through supers, but they could have used other methods. Blackmail of politicians is the easiest. Some of this evidence could still be around, causing problems. This gets around the problem of controlling the Security Council. 4) If you have any aliens, that the IST made contact with, they could invade to reestablish the "legitimate government". The friendly one they had contact with, of course. 5) You need to have a couple of teams that were the darling heroes of the IST, and now are underground and hunted. Eurostar works good for this. As a side note, I run a similar campaign where I got rid of the UN so I could introduce the beginnings of a world government. Its a fun topic. I had Clinton be a demonic shapeshifter from another dimension who replaced the real Clinton back when he was governor. The players never suspected, until the moment after a NPC hero assassinated him. After that, they helped the Secrecy Service cover up the evidence...

Re: Hârn Resources (free) Noticed another thread talking about Harn, so I decided to bump this one. I'll try and keep this thread updated with Harn-style maps, that I find around the net. No matter your game system, GMs need maps. Couple more downloads available at http://www.lythia.com/ They have plans for an isolated abbey (Vil Abbey), that anyone should be able to use. This site can be a little difficult to navigate http://www.medievalnerd.se/ Near the bottom of his stuff on the left, he has a link to the maps/floorplans he has done, zipped into 5 bundles. All of them are very good. More maps can be found here. http://www.snellings.org/perils/ Scroll down to the bottom of his lists, and you can find some historical info on crafts: weaving, poisons, milling, etc. Useful as quick summaries, for when your player decides to quit the thief racket and become a locksmith. http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/toc.htm

Re: Christpher Reeves Has not been a good year. People in the spotlight die, and those that follow them don't seem to shine the same way. As for stem cells, its the issue that finally convinced me which way to vote. It was the only thing that might actually change with an election.

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID? I once had a virus get released at the Superbowl, that either gave people superpowers, turned them into non-Marvel mutants, or killed them. A 60 year old Senator was there, and exposed. The controversial politician from Georgia recieved superhuman strength, a bitter rage, and Narcolepsy. I'm thinking of having him reappear in higher government office, now that I've thinned the political herd with my last alien invasion.

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID? Considering the amount of secrets and skeletons most RL politicians have, I don't see it as a problem. The key is to make it fit the heroic idea. For example, a superhero who is also a Senator, is going to have some patterns that crop up. He might have a reputation for saving lives with first aid, or of being absent during votes (off webslinging). Financial independence would be a must, otherwise they would waste to much time with fundraisers. I've had a superheroic VP, who became President after the assassination of the sitting President. He was injured fighting the focres of villainy, and entered politics. Later, he appointed the Supreme Serpent as his Vice President, with predictible results. Myself, I find it a good way to keep older heroes in the campaign, without having them be available to fight Galactus. Picture Tony Stark running for office.

Re: When I Am the Benevolent Ruler.... I will not draft so many men for my armies, that my fields can't be harvested. I will not make enemies of any wizard who can cause earthquakes, melt stone, or shape rock. If I do, I will move out of my castle immediately. I will not force anyone under four feet tall to fight in my army.

Re: X-Men Continuity Question (shudder) concering Emma Frost. Haven't read the X-Men since they went to Australia, for some reason or other. Because of thatplot thread, my campaign has Ayers Rock generating an enormous field that takes away everyone's metahuman powers, that get anywhere near Australia. Of course no one knows Ayer's Rock is doing it... This site appears to have a lot of info on it, if anyone is still interested in the thread's original topic http://www.emmagracefrost.com

Re: Which organization will directly oppose Demon? Mystery Inc.

Re: Nation Building-Do You Use Fictitious Nations? I don't use ficticious nations, I just screw around with existing ones. If I create a phony nation, I usually put it on another planet. The lost colony of Roanoke was found that way.

Re: The Greatest American Hero (book). I too was lured here by the promise of Mister Hinkley. http://www.greatestamericanhero.com As for that other collections of Hero's, I'd have to say Voice of Doom. It was short, oh so short, had a large collection of caharcters, Hero and Villain. A good plot, and a wide variety of powers and types. While not really suitible for the starting GM (it came out in an earlier Age)m it did inspire me to switch over from the system I was using at the time (Superworld, a superpowered version of Runequest/Cthulthu), to the Hero system. Never needed another system again. I still have characters from it running around, even though the original VOICE group is gone...they set the tone, and were the first really non 4-color Hero book.

Re: H.P. Lovecraft, Otto Skorzeny, and the CU I use historical characters a lot...Nazis (named ones), Zionists, and dead Roman emporers. Elvis is travelling through time, after getting abducted by aliens. Nothing can stop the King. When taking a historical character, and making him playable, the best way is to think the following. 1) Unless you got your masters degree writing this persons biography, you don't know everything about him. Watching the History channel does not make you an expert . 2) Having accepted that, you are basicly creating a fictionalized depiction. Especially if he gets super/occult powers, and is still alive today. I see it more as a homage than anything else. 3) Will some people be offended? Probably. But think of the "Pirates of the Carribean Movies"...a Movie designed for kids, depicting dead pirates running around killing people, and made by Disney. However, the way it ws handled made the pirates simply misunderstood...and got away with it. 4) Never allow history to get in the way of a good story. Hitler shooting himslef in a bunker is Berlin is actually pretty boring. Hitler secretly murdered by Captain Flagman who then sinks into an alcoholic depression over what he did for the next 60 years...thats more interesting. 5) The advantage of using historical characters is the players knowing who they are. Having the players not know, ruins the whole poiint. I had this happen to me when I had an immortal Peter Minuit try and conquer New York, and rename in New Amsterdam. Problem was...I overestimated my players knowledge of American history.

Re: Superman for President? Easy fix, if that is only real platform. They put him, or some other high powered guy, on the secret service. Or the other candidates may agree to address his issue, if he supports them. As nobody has touched on it, there are other problems besides just declaring you can do a better job than the other guys running (anyone could) ~you need a lot of money, and it usually comes with strings attached. If you finance yourself, that makes you a vulnerable to attacks, of "buying" the office ~You need to get on the Ballot in the majority of the states, you need to win. Thats how 3rd party candidates are usually stopped...no national structure. ~Once in, you need to appoint several thousand people to the top jobs, hopefully they are people you can trust. Anyway, if you want tohe guy to have th job, let him. Just rember, it might get boring him sitting in cabinet meetings every day.

Re: Superman for President? Firstly, by you admission, Paragon is ethical. That automatically disqualifies him. Hunt up the old movie "Mister Smith goes to Washington". Of course, just because he runs, doesn't mean he wins. You could use this as an oppertunity for him to uncover all kinds of conspiracies.

Re: Iconic Champions ( 4e ) I like MitchellS ideas, but in keeping with the idea that high powered heroes should be controversial... Defender: Somewhat disillusioned with the constant failures to campture his enemies, and their neverending escapes from prison, Defender becomes a much darker character. Some say he became deranged after the Battle of Detroit, where so many died. He starts using his money to finance other heroes, wearing copies of his original armor, while constructing a tank sized armored suit for himself. He is preparing for a final, apocalyptic battle against his enemies, Dark Knight style... Quantum: As her powers continue to increase, Quantum becomes less able to control them. After she badly injures a corrupt hospital administrator, she is placed on the wanted list by Primus, under the label "Dangerous Freak #372". Utilizing her powers in ways never used before, Quantum blasts off into space, where she resumes her quest for justice by attacking any aliens she encounters, making them learn English, and adopting American-style Democracy. She hopes to one day return to Earth, after she has found the aliens who keep attacking it. Solitaire: Disturbed by her other teammates, Solitaire decides to form the Champions II team. Made up entirely of low powered mystical characters, several of them get killed in every scenario as they confront much more powerful enemies. Solitaire is unconcerned however, as her "psychic hotline" allows her to quicklylocate potential new recruits. Obsidian: After getting pummeled by Ogre and Bulldozer, Obsidian decides that he has had enough of the peasants on this planet. He builds a radio, phones home, and within a few months the alien battlefleet arrives. Under Obsidian's direction, they conduct a deal with several governments to act as planetary peacekeepers agaisnt metahumans, much to the anger of UNTIL. Metahuman criminals captured by them are taken away to secret labs offplanet, where they are dissected in bizarre experiments. Periodically, hires some anonymous aliens to threaten the Earth, after which he demands an increased budget and powers. His greatest fear is that Quantum may somehow find out what he is doing. Seeker: Upon learning from his doctor that he has a form of brain damage, from getting beat up so much, Seeker retires from superheroics...and enters politics. Some were surprised at the amount of financing he was able to raise from his horde of contacts, everyone was surprised when he became the PRime Minister of Australia. He quickly declared Australia a republic, broke remaining connections with the United Kingdom, and started a nuclear program to keep Australia safe from something called "the Dragon". Occasionally the Green Dragon, now the Ambassador to Australia from the People's Republic of China, attempts to goad him into a fight. While the Champions have now split into two teams, and some members are inactive, they still recieve quarterly statements from their accountants. Comics, action figures, and the cartoon show continue to do well, much to their disgust.

Re: Reccomended Champions Library More old stuff Gems Champions of the North contains a lot oif info on Canada...but also has the largest Hero team to date, divided between different cities. Interesting concept. the Edition Champions Universe does contain a bunch of stuff that isn't in 5th (and vice versa). Combining the two, when searching for ideas to play can't hurt. Zodiac Conspiracy had the best villan team for 4th edition, IMHO To Serve and Protect had another Hero team. It all depends on what you are looking for. I like having a bunch of character writeups, old and new, because they help inspire me when making characters.

Re: need help with a character concept Mordred is vaguely heroic IMC. Any look at the legends will show that Arthur fought a lot of wars...those knights were paid by plunder and pillaging. Also, Mordred as never acknowledged as an heir, in any legend I have seen. Perhaps Arthur and Merlin had some scheme to make him an immortal ruler/God, like some kind of divine Roman emporer? Anyway, IMC, I have all the entire Arthurian stuff set on another planet. That way I can indulge in it when the mood take me.

Re: Need clues and style of lackeys for a kidnap plot Lets see...Nergal is also the name of a Babylonian god, identified with the desert, if I remember. The cultists could easily be some of his worshippers. If they are really Canadian, then that must be where Nergal went. Now, to expand upon the ritual a bit, lets say Nergal needs some stuff to do it. He needs "sand" from his homeland, as well as a certain mystical artifact. The artifact was taken from him decades ago by the Nazi's in North Africa, when he fought them. "Liberated" by the Canadian military during the war, it disappeared into one of their many warehouses (think Indiana Jones). Recently, it has been placed upon on a roving tour of all the Canadian major museums, as the artifact is due to return to its identified native country, Iraq. (if under a new government IYC, if not, its just on a random tour). The PCs travel to Canada to investigate, after they learn the same cultists who kidnapped their friend, just stole the artifact. While investigating, they learn from a useful NPC archaeologist/historian type that the artifact was associated with the occult, and said to grant immortality. It was said to need a large a mount of sand for the ritual. Investigating locally, the characters learn that in celebration of their victory, a nearby military base is constructing a children's playground...using sand from Iraq. Naturally, Nergal will show up at some point, and attempt to conduct his ritual. Duing the grand opening of the new playground would probably create the most targets (also a good way to handle your PCS, who seem to have a lot of powers that can ruin a good mystery) Once in his new body, btw, Nergal is all ready to return to Iraq as the long lost daughter of some former politician, enter politics, and take over the country. It seems he is one of those "Iraqi exiles", kept out of power by a brutal dictator. As for the zombie horde, not sure how to do them. If it was me, devious soul that I am, I would make them the reanimated bodies of the Nazi's who took Nergals artifact all those years ago. Or, they could be the undead workers in one of Nergal's sweatshop factories, managed by his cultists to bankroll his political ambitions.

Re: Where does this lim/disad go? I think I see what you are talking about. You could obviously do it as an aid, with the Aid bought OIHID. but that generates a lot of math. Another way is to buy his MP/EC twice...one of them listed as OIHID. Same with any boosted characteristics. That gets kind of messy though, character sheet wise. Thats why I recommended a disadvanage for this sort of thing, much easier to keep track of.

Re: Where does this lim/disad go? Off the top of my head: Physical limitation: *2 END cost on all powers, when does not transform with magic thingee. Still has all his powers, just uses them faster. or Accidental Change: Turns back into normal, if takes body (or anything else), when does not transform with magic thingee. Still has powers, will just now be cautious. or Dependence: Powers/END drain, while he is in poweed mode, and does not have magic thingee. or Psych Limitation: Believes magic Thingee is the source of all powers. or *2 STUN/BODY from all attacks, when transformed without magic thingee.

Re: Next Week: VIPER Ay hostages at the bank, or is deserted? If you want to expand the session, one way is just with weaponry. IMC, VIPER sometimes carries laser rifles. Whenever they see the police, they shoot the gas tanks of the police cars (and any other civilian cars.. This provides the reason I use, for the cops calling the heroes when they see VIPER. VIPER also has the bad habit of jamming police radios, which gets rid of modern police forces best advantage - communications. Justificiation is that VIPER armor is primarily designed to protect against explosive damage...my VIPER is explosion happy. Disguises area good idea. If the heroes are the first to arrive, a VIPER guy in a police uniform can provide misdirections. Overall the escape strategy looks good. If they expect the heroes to show up, a diversion may also be planned. Leaving a ticking bomb, setting off smoke grenades, or dressing up one of themselves as "Captain Flagwaver" all can work. If the VIPER guys are lightly loaded, they may just escape on some VIPER motorscooters, scattering in seperate directions. The heroes might be able to catch one or two, depending on their powers.

Re: What would Dr. Destroyer *really* do? The key question, is what you use him to "destroy". Disrupt the worlds supply of oil and natural gas, then sell his high-tech power generators cheaply to all those who buy them. After a couple of years, the economy (which is energy based), will be in the toilet due to his low, low, prices! Then all he has to do is have some people run for public office, offering "radical" fixes the economy. Fixes he will benefit from, of course. Alternatively, he may attempt to start some kind of "Ethnic War" against an ethnic group to gather support. Of course, the simplist change to Destroyer and still being able to use him is to just change his race. He becomes a completely different character then.

Re: A cure for Drogen Lar. Deironing Ironclad, your opinions welcome A lot depends upon the player proposing the cure. As to Ironclad's "honor", remember, in this guys own background he ran away from his problems twice...rather than deal with them. Just becasue a character (or person) is honorable, doesn't mean they always are that way... I like the direction Hermit is going, but since some people may want to try it a different way... I also like Metaphysician's idea, so will propose an alternate to it: The cure is a series of 3 treatments, administered a few days apart. First Treatment When Ironclad is immersed in the chemical solution and bombarded with the "DeIronic Rays", he reverts back to his normal Persiad form. Overjoyed at being able to touch and feel again, Ironclad embarks upon a whirlwind tour of the Earth, determined to experience everything. He goes to the beach, looses a bunch of money in Vegas, and goes skydiving. In short, acts like he has no responsibilities at all... Second Treatment A slightly intoxicated Ironclad (in normal Persiad form) shows up, for the treatment. Having learned of his normality, one of his enemies shows up (Firewing, VIPER). During the fight, Ironclad hides...and discovers to his shame, that he has become a coward without his invulnerability. The players have to beat up the villain for him. (Note: If going with Hermit's idea of a villain stealing the process, this is a good place to have them show up) He considers not going through the second stage, but decides to. A slightly more somber Ironclad leaves, and isn't seen for several days. During this time, the Champions attempt to locate him, for some strange reason. Third Treatment Ironclad shows up again, eating a bunch of junk food. He seems slightly depressed, and seems anxious to get the whole thing over with. Just as he is about to go into the Chemical bath again, and get bombarded by all those groovy rays, the Champions contact him again. In classic FF fashion, alien invaders are threatening the Earth again, and the Champions need Ironclad to fly their V-Jet. Knowing that stopping the treatment at this stage would cause him to return to being metallic, Ironclad uses this excuse to escape from the treatment and join his friends. Aftermath Ironclad returns to his metallic state, slightly more knowledgable about humanity and himself.