Ghost who Walks

I would think that the secret network that the casinos mantain, would prevent that sort of thing. If for no other reason, it would attract guys in costumes to beat up the VIPER thugs. Bad for business. One imagines the casinos getting together, and hiring a bunch of superpowered people to 'protect' their casinos. Imagine what just a low level telekinetic could do, to cheat the casino? A Vegas superhero team would be interesting. They would probably have ex-villains and newbie heroes on it. They would be funded with casino money...and have a reputation for making people 'vanish' into the desert. They would probably be poorly thought of in the "hero" community. Now if VIPER really wanted to launder money, riverboat gambling is the way to go. Nobody pays any attention to it. Indian Casino's might also be fun, some of the tribes involved are very small...all you need is one with the snake totem. Like your new pics, Blue-Lemming. Just noticed them.

This situation has cropped up before on these boards. I have developed a fictional backstory, in the history of my campaign. Mostly it takes RL events, and twists them for my own purposes. All the players know this history, and it helps them in getting a "feel" for the world. This is the one I use for excessive force. In 1992, a speedster was spotted running down a Los Angeles Freeway at excessive speed. Identified as the mercenary supervillain, the Dash (old timers will recognize this character), PRIMUS was immediately notified and dispatched to apprehend the wanted criminal. PRIMUS caught up to him on a freeway overpass, where he appeared to be catching his breath. When ordered to surrender, he said nothing, only held up his hands in what could have been interpretted as an attempt to use 'some kind of power'. The four assault agents closed in on the quivering supervillain, and forced him to the ground. He attempted to get up severl times, and the agents responded by using 'non-lethal' force to keep him down. After several minutes of kicking and striking the villain, he lapsed into unconciousness and was taken away. A hovering news helicoptor recorded the event. As he was a supervillain, the Agents supervisor insisted that he be taken to the PRIMUS facility for questioning. (Note: supervisor was not on the scene, was giving instructions over the radio) Several hours later, at the PRIMUS facility, is was determined that the Dash was in serious need of medical attention, and taken to the hospital. Attending physician believing he had a case of police brutality, notified the appropriate authorities. No charges were filed against the four agents by their supervisors. When the dash regained conciousness next week, he got a lawyer and sued the Justice Department, Federal Government, and the Hospital. Partially paralyzed, unable to speak clearly, and the victim of chiled abuse, he recieved a lot of sympathy from the media...who tend to dislike paramilitary organizations, like PRIMUS. He won, recieving such a large sum that all future law enforcement personel dealing with superpowered situations were required to take 'special certification classes.' Known to PRIMUS, but not known to the apprehending officers was that the Dash recieved his powers by injesting a pill, which gave him powers for an hour. He was addicted to the pills, and while his metabolism was supercharged some of the time, when off of the pills he was weak as a normal. When apprehended by the police, he had just come down from a bad reaction to his pill, which had boosted his powers even higher, to the detriment of his self control. The four agents were all fired, eventually. Today, they work independently as private investigators...traveling the country helping people in need. The Dash is formally retired from supervillainy, living in a mansion in Los Angeles. Persistant rumors however link him to the local VIPER nest...whose leader is supposed to be in a wheelchair. Other tactics that work are showing the players comics that indicate the 'type of world' you want to play in. There is a big difference between a Wolverine comic and on with Captain America.

You can never go wrong by using Karl Kolchak! Greatest...Occult...Investigator...of all time! For some reason, I keep seeing Elvis as a member of the cast of Rengade...

Looks pretty good to me. As an idea, for the "Spirit of Africa" origin you could him access the spirits of his "ancestors". His high skill could be him accessing their knowledge...it would also allow him to pull weird skills out of his ass. Since you are going for a mystical origin, you may want to link him to an ancient civilization. http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Kids/quest/pre_lc.htm Here's one, located close enough to South Africa to be plausible.

An I thought what I had done to the King was bad. I just had him get kidnapped by a time-travelling sorceress (who also took Marilyn and both Kennedys) who was kidnapping them for reason of her own. Unfortunately for her, Genghis Khan wandered into the same Room as Emporer Caligula, and their ensuing battle destroyed her time machine, scattereing her abductees across the time stream. Elvis ended up 50,000 years in the past, on Mars. He opened up a bar and did a brisk business selling 'firewater' to the Martians. He later was abducted again by the men in Black, hours before the PC's could rescue him. The only PC's have about his current whereabout is the remains of a rhinestone-studded jumpsuit found in an otherwise empty egyptian sarcophagous.

Rather than a City, I wouldn't mind seeing some towns. Small towns in the Midwest, where strange things occur...rather like Smallville for Superman. I remember one being mentioned in Champions Universe (name escaped me...Haynesville???) Besides serving as bases for Heroes, they would be useful for where the player comes from. It would be interesting to have some of the most powerful heroes on Earth secretly spending the weekends in North Dakota, where their folks live.

Things my NPC's have done, that players find annoying: 1) Slip from a male voice to a female voice, with me taking a drink inbetween. 2) Staring blankly at a hero, while I try and think of a response to a players statement. 3) An emergency occuring, and having 5 times as many NPC's show up as players. Each with their own dialog, personalities, and character sheets, of course. 4) Basing NPC's on Real Life people, and then having them do exactly what I think they would do if superhero plots occured. Bill Clinton: I'm sorry Colonel X, but we have no choice but to surrender to these aliens. They have the biggest spaceship I have ever seen, and they have threatened to 'beam me aboard' if I try anything!"

I created my own time Travel Characters, you are welcome to use them: Omegans: A race of ancient aliens who learned to travel in time about a million years ago. Reduced to the status of myth, they 'patrol the time stream', searching for threats. The reason they do this is because their own time line is so convoluted...they have to make sure no one else discovers time travel (and screws them up even worse.) We are talking about people who are pretty mcuh their own ancestors here. Rogue/junior members of their race sometimes help other time travellers out of pity. They also rescue time travellers who get "lost", returning them to their own time stream. Melinda (Parakeet) DeBovay: The inventor of the DeBovay Chronal Conveyor, a time travelling vehicle. A semi-retired superheroine, she discovered temporal technology when she was wounded by another time traveller, forcing her future self to come back in time to save her. As the injury was to her brain, her future self 'copied' over information from her own mind to save her. A mutant who doesn't age, other versions look identical to her...except they wear different clothes, as fashions change. IMC, her future self creates the equivalent of the 'Time Cops'. Its uncertain if that future will change now that her past self has created the chronal conveyor 20 years early. Keeps her invention a secret for now, using it for research and vacations. Kronos: A former superhero who went back in time, and founded the Greek Pantheon. Firend;y with a rogue Omegan who helps him travel to other timelines cannot on his own). Obsessed with preventing a future alien invasion, his most common tactic is to recruit people from the past, to help him in the present. The number of changes these time-displaced people due is mindboggling. Powers are electrical in nature, can call upon his Greek Pantheon descendents occasionally. Future Time Cops often come back to stop him, sent by (future) Melinda DeBovay. Choppers: An organization created by Kronos in the 1920s, in a project to destroy DEMON, with the assistantance of the Chicago Mob. Today, they are an all black gang operating out of Chicago, with an impressive array of firepower. Show up whenever Kronos sends them a message to intervene in some place/point. Carry automatic weapons, swords, wear duster coats, and talk like actors in the Matrix. Their leadership believes they are working for a prophet of Allah. Choppers from the future occasionally come back in their time travelling submarines, Cesnas, and sports cars. The Alien Invaders: At some point in the future, an alien ship that regards Earth as an enemy gets into orbit. They release several dozen timeships into Earth's Past, on one-way missions to alter the future of humanity. Useful to use as opponents should a player be in the past, for whatever reason. The Infant Regan: Daugter of a PC, IMC. Timemaster regards her as his greatest enemy, and has come back several times to try and kill her as a child. This of course, causes her future self to come back and rescue herself. The adult Regan is a brick genius with around 80 str. She is constantly watched by Melinda DeBovay, who is a friend of her mothers and thinks the teenager may have "gone bad". There is also Patsi, from normals unbound.

Is this a joke? Everyone knows that you doors are only entagles if they have locks! We need to stay in focus here...doors don't stop people...locks do. unless you are an alien ina Mel Gibson movie) :)On the actual topic: My view of art is simple. realisticly, you are going to looks at this thing a couple of times, and then move on. It may inspire you, it may not. Having said that, each presented character needs a picture. I wasn't able to use that "Watchers of the Dragon" module for years because of a lack of artwork. Art is the first thing I look at. But, after the third time through, I am looking at content. Thats when I am looking at how and if I can use the stuff. Maps are always good, but HERO has never really had much success with them. Few game companies do, now that I think about it. In any case, floorplans and stuff are readily available on the net, or can be made easily with simple programs like paintbrush. What we really want are floorplans of superhero bases...There was a thread on here a while ago looking for plans of the Avengers mansion, surely better work can be done than that?

I have a russian werebear IMC, that my players rather like. Code named "Mama Bear", she is the former nanny for the Romanov princesses (executed during the revolution). ~Power wise, she can turn into a...bear! ~Personality wise, she combines the classic canny russian peasant with a strong belief in traditionalism ~Has all the skills of a character from the 'Sound of Music', and can drivea tank! Origin: (name left out deliberately) After escaping into the forest with the Princess Annastasia, the Last Servant of the Romanov house hid in a burned out church. When she slept that night, 'God' came to her and spoke of her destiny: "You will live long woman, and see the fall and rise of the empire. People from the west shall invaded, and the cold shall defeat them. A nation on distant shores will bankrupt the new government...the name of their leader shall be Regun. The Princess you shall protect here, until such time as the people need her again." Shaken by the powerful visions, she awoke in the form of a giant bear, experience showed her how to become a woman again. The Princess Annastasia had fallen into a dreamless sleep...and sleeps still, never far from her divinely-appointed protector. While anti-communist, she did join in the war against Nazi Germany. Everyone else was doing it. After the war, she worked on various farming collectives, usually taking care of children in some way. Prominent Russians may have known her when they were children... (her contacts) She has widowed several times, but has no children of her own. When "The Reagan" came to power, she sensed that the time of the Princess's awakening may be coming. Changing her name yet again, she joined a group of newly formed Russian heroes. The Soviet Union collapsed soon after, and she is now gathering influence and favors for when her princess awakens. Notes: Mama Bear is a mass of contradictions. Devoutly religious, caring for children, and devoted to her husbands when married. She can also be shockingly cruel, especially when defending children. Equipped with the education of a 19th century minor nobleman, she has spent decades living the life of a peasant, and is over a century old. She has all the skills other heorines: cooking, sewing, quilting, farming, tractor repair, etc. Extra special note: Mama Bear is known to have a small army of Babushkas (old russian women) that she uses as contacts, and has known for decades. It is up to whoever plays this plot as to what really happened in that burned out church. Obviously, this character's background is more important than the powers she wields. Other ideas Motherland is usually translated as Rodina, good name there. I have an older brother of Ivan running around. Code named "Hammer", he is a balding hard-line communist who was secretly captured by the USA during the Cuban missile crisis. (Sickle was unfortunately shot) Released 30 years later, he went into politics. Good character if you want to show a "heroic commie". I still have several of the Red Doom characters running around, with 15+ years added to their ages. If you want really powerful heroes, you can always look into their pre-christian gods.

Hmm... He challenges her to a race around the world? More seriously. I have house rules where the "magic level" is enhanced at certain places on the earth. Stonehenge, Cahokia, the Pyramids, etc. While there you get certain bonuses to your magical powers, depending on what they are. Since a bunch of wizards in my campaign are low powered, they often go to these places to fight their magical duels. Of course, since many of these areas are packed full of tourists...it can get interesting.

Interesting Idea, the reformed Demon... Couple of ideas, off the top of my head: 1) Back when the Demon was evil, he helped a mortal sell his soul for eternal life. Now the mortal regrets the deal, and seeks revenge. 2) IMC, I do a lot with the Catholic Church. Giving them their own secret order of secret commandoes armed with saint's relics is a lot of fun. It also can help explain why magic/demons are low profile/secret in most comics. Start it off gradually, with the Demon confronting the local priest, who calls in help...the situation escelates from there. 3) The government agent. Might be more of a rival (or watched?), he is convinced the Demon is no good. A Mulder clone, he wants to get the Demon's tax-exempt status revoked. Useful if the player sometimes "relapses" and does bad things, the agent will have the photos.

For some reason I am stuck on the shadow bit... Spooky: Makes lights appear in the night sky, terrifying normals. Claims to be an alien, and has his "spaceshiip" fly overhead if outnumbered (well...the glowing light part anyway) Mysterious: Teleportation, only between shadows? Able to see in total darkness...is always turning off the lights before he beats up villains. Terrifying: Taking away an opponents shadow might be fun (transform attack, perhaps). He could then recreate his victim's shadow using images, and have it do annoying things. Transform atack, being able to blind opponents for a few days might also be terrifying. Defenses: You could be justified buying missile defelection, due to his ability to "Alter light wavelengths, causing people to miss." Extra DCV could also work for this. Invisibility is also good. A Flash attack, explosion, if he takes BODY... Oh, I think you are opening yourself up to trouble if you go beyond the light band in the EM spectrum. You start getting into "Dr Destroyer" territory then.

Gold is actually pretty easy to sell outside of the US/Western Europe. Just get someone to turn it into bracelets, rings, and bangels. As for thwarting the heroes, I would attempt misdirection,. Get some Bums (er...deprived Homeless people) and some statues painted with gold paint. Tell them if they stay and pray/dance over the statues until Cast a minor spell, perhaps with a time delay, in the area to draw the heros in. After about the third golden statue, the heroes will divide themselves to cover the remaining sites. This is when you start the ritual, leaving yourself with only one hero to deal with. When he shows up, caper about like a drunk...he'lll probably run off without even hitting you. As for the nuclear lady who needs to be paid, tell her you are planning to incorporate your little operation once the heroes are dealt with. Offer her the meaningless title of "Company President" and stock options. You will be the CEO. You of course will still control everything through the Board of Directors, which is filled with attentive golden statues, that agree to your every desire.

When doing powerful hereoes, especially NPC ones, the key is to making them something the players can relate to. Theis means they need to have some grounding in a normal life, even if they don't have a secret ID. Superman has a job, Spidey has his army of DNPCs, and even Batman has to eat, drink coffee, and buy batarangs. (Anyone know where he gets those, anyway?) I said the above for a reason. Ripping off comics is fine...the point is to do it so know on knows you did it! Take Superman for example. Alien who looks human, very moral, can fly, superstong, secret identity, and shoot lasers from his eyes. Other powers dependent upon interpretation. Those are his "character elements", that which defines him. Take him apart piece by piece. Alien who looks human: What race of humanity does he look like? For fun, lets make him Mediterranean, and give him a voice similar to Sylvester Stallone. Very Moral: Supes has a midwestern morality. But what if we have him raised by say...Mormons? Suddenly he gets a different outlook on life. Can Fly: Yes he needs to do this. but there are different ways to do it. The technological angle is open (Wonderman, at one point, wore a jetpack), and we can always say that he is a traffic reporter for a major metropolitan radio station, flying in his own helicoptor. Superstrong: We'll keep this, we don't want to make him too wierd. However, instead of making his strength dependent upon a yellow sun, we'll say its because Earth's gravity is 1/4 of his home planets. Secret Identity: As noted above, he is now a traffic reporter for a major metropolitan radio station, flying in his own helicoptor. Lets give him a wife (married right after high school, before he became fully aware of his powers), and a couple of kids. He also has parents, who are doing occasionally dangerous missionary work in other countries. no longer an only child, he has a brother and sister, who help him in his battles against evil. Shoot Lasers from eyes: Always fun. The telescopic and x-ray vision are part of this. A difficult power to change, we are still goin g to do so. He know has a pair of bracelets he wears, that can project energy and have motion detectors in them (sonar). They were found in his spacecraft, and represent a link to his world. Unknown to him, they also are constantly sending out a distress signal (his spacecraft was an escape capsule from a ship). Various aliens show up and try and capture him...he has no idea how they keep finding him. They want to use him as a hostage against his birth parents, who are somewhat important. They are also usable by others, so he can loan them to his DNPC's. We now have a character who is technically a Superman clone. You know he is, but do your players?

What! The California Hihway PAtrol is denied the right to send a liason to your team? For Shame! Seriously, I've played around with government liasons before. (Although not as many as you have) The best way I found to do them was as contacts, bought through the base. (They are actually located in an office somewhere offbase, with a direct line to the team HQ). That allows them to contact the group (And be contacted), but limits them interfering in the middle of a scenario. But your way of doing it sounds good. I'm picturing the governemtn supplying all these people, then the players do something the government doesn't like. Sudden;y they are gtting medical care without anestetic, their phone messages get lost, and the chauffers forgot to fill the cars with gas. Oh, and the butler changes all the locks...

Some new stuff is available. Thonahexus #4 is in the downloads area. The issue has some town plans, good artwork, plans for a school and a keep, and a couple of adventures. I especially like the keep plans. Edit: 500th post. Huh.

If its not too late... Have a couple of mutant activists show up, and make speeches. Due the classic arguments, for the different speeches: 1) We are better than normal humans, and should be in charge. 2) We should coexist with humanity 3) The government should give us support to deal with our mutie teenagers. And of course, you need to have the mutant conspiracy nut who claims the government made him a mutant.

For what it is worth, I have always wanted to try a twin concept with psionics. Have their powers complement each other when together, but be weaker when apart. Never gotten around to it though.

I assumed this was part of his acting, actually. Notice how no one regarded him asa threat? Also, in the final scene, he starts shouting out orders, dropping the drunken bit completely. Possible notes: ~A higher Acting, see notes abovew (assumes he was acting the entire time, a performance within a performance) ~Hunted: British Navy (He is a a pirate!)

Spiral Zone was a geat show, and a very plausible campaign setting. I've been planning to do it as an alternate-earth type world for some time. Never saw Galaxy Rangers. I like your concept. It provides villains, allows the players to make a difference, and shows they can have an effect ofn the world. All important. Only potential problem you may have is the stakes involved...it will make for a very dark campaign world. I dislike the nanobot option, as I feel their capabilities are overstated. They are the "cosmic rays" of the 21st century. An alternative might be to have some people be naturally immune, due to a genetic factor (or a serum of some kind). This would allow rescue of those who are immune from contaminated areas. Also, you could have non-heroic types who are immune, increasing the RP options. The problem with heroes being created, is only the best will be given the option to become heroes. This destroys the whole concept of what "heroism" is, IMHO. ~Please forgive the lateness of my reply.

I guess I have a pretty balenced group of players. Generally, I treat them as just another organization. Thye do good, they do bad, just like any other group. My organizations tend to be very grey. Having said that, I do tend to use them quite a bit in the background. For example, I had aliens visit the Earth and ask to visit the Pope. Seems one of his predecesors had helped them, centuries ago. When the US governemnt demanded to talk to them, they were addressed in a native Americna dialect, whose tribe had been wiped out a century ago. As a side note, I've also stayed away from the Demons/Angels business. Not sure why, other that I never felt it appropriate for a game.

A lot of historical vigilante groups were fairly...nasty. 1890's NYC...lets see. The subways were getting put in, trains brouught in livestock to huge underground slaughter houses, and newspapers were talking about abandoning the city. Sees all the horse-carriages left the city streets knee deep in..."concentrated evil." From1895-97, Theodore Roosevelt was head of the NYC police board...has to be a way you can use that. Add in a couple of the corporate baron types as villains/supporters, and you could have an interesting campaign.

I assume the villains are still all around? Be prepared for your players feeling very outnumbered. They may try and recruit villains to be heroes, or they may kill off villains they capture. If they are the only heroes, unless they are extremely powerful, they are likely to be under UNTIL's control.

Doktor Grondicus (normally a Villain): The good version of Doktor Grondicus would probably have not had his origin caused by Mister Fabulous. He would probably have completed his Xenological studies on the human species, and returned to his homeworld. Once home, he wold go to university parties where he would regale his listeners with his tales of the planet Earth. Few of the stories would be believed, and eventually his academic credentials would be revoked. Broke, he would turn to drink in his grief. Mister Fabulous (Normally a Hero): Well, besides the obvious things like using his N-Ray vision to check out girls, and his telekinesis to commit unsavory acts, the Evil Mister Fab would turn his inventive genius to evil. He would go into his lab and upgrade the Gravitational Inversion Unit to affect the entire planet. Relocating to his private moon base, he would activate the device, causing the Earth to go flying off into the depths of space. Satisfied that he would no longer have to pay taxes again, he would attach engines to the Moon and go look for a planet to ram it into.