Logan D

Well, the company I'm doing the art for is Guardians of Order. The people who do SAS and BESM.

Uhm... How can D20 Mecha be out yet alreay? I'm one of the artists on that book and the deadline isn't even until next week on that...

If that's the case, I am very saddened. I always liked that game system. Thought it was truly cool. Quite possibly the best dedicated anime mecha game ever made. I've been wanting to get a copy of the Mekton Zeta and Mekton Zeta Plus books for some time now. A friend of mine ran a variant of the Mospeada universe with that system and the story and action just rocked. Granted, Hero does a fine job with mecha. But it's a general toolkit where you have to do more work to come up with an interpretation on effects. My friend Corey once took me step by step through the design process he went through in coming up with his version of the Armo Fighter/Diver/Soldier from Mospeada and it was like watching the factory make the damn thing almost. Sometimes I _like_ fiddly detail like that. But thankfully it never got in the way of actual gameplay. The design process was complex, but the gameplay was lightning fast by comparison. Rather like Hero, come to think of it. Any idea as to what's going on with the Mekton fan community, if any?

Ohmigod!! I just got pointed to this webcomic by a friend of mine the other day, and it is HILARIOUS!!! And that's a great write-up, BTW. Consider it stolen. Here's an image of her. http://thejar.keenspace.com/kittyhawk/illus/jump_sgvy.jpg

I'm with the majority opinion here concerning Stalwart. It would be far more interesting if he _was_ a good guy and the power of the suit went to his head over time. Or how about this - he honestly has good intentions, but he's got a serious weakness. He's an addictive personality and develops a drug or alcohol problem. We've seen in the comics what happened to Iron Man in that situation. Or twist that further and have him preyed upon by a villain or villain group. They develop a designer drug that he gets addicted to and that will kill him or send him into terrible pain and convulsions if he stops taking it. Then they blackmail him... You can se where this is going, of course. Like others have said, just having him be bad from the start is a little too pat. I actually like Nightwing a lot. (I prefer to spell it Knightwing, BTW) As a dark iconic figure who takes up a sort of Batman/Moon Knight role, he's pretty darn cool. I'm also a fan of Gatchaman, and his costume just speaks to me. Gravitar, I both like and dislike. For many of the reasons posted already. I really didn't like her drawing in CKC, but Storn's version of her in an earlier book (where it looks like she's crushing Nightwing) was wonderful. And another picture of her lifting and turning over a BATTLESHIP really gave a great sense of her true power. But yes - she definitely feels like a spoiled teenager who needs a good kick to her reality gland. With that kind of growth she could be a really cool character. Cateran was one of the really good things from CNM, and I was happy to see her included in Champs 5th. But I didn't like her picture in CKC. No offense to Greg, because I normally like his stuff. But that was most definitely NOT his best work. I loved her look in Bay City (hubba hubba!) and if I ever use her in a campaign, that's the picture I'll use for her. Zorran - I pretty much agree. As it stands, he's pretty much "enh" to me. You've seen one villain sorcerer, you've seen them all. Particularly if you're looking at Zorran. Several Members of the War Machine rub me the wrong way for various reasons. Not so much that I couldn't make use of them or some of the ideas. But I wouldn't use them "as is" out of the box. A lot of it is visual. I like Bryce's stuff most of the time. But I felt like he was just "phoning it in" with the pictures he did for Warlord and the War Machine. I've seen those suit designs of his way too many times before. And the first thing that needs to be changed is Warbird's armor suit. Wings are fine. Wings are cool. Birdlike wings attached to the arms, Icarus style, are, IMNSHO, _stupid_, from both a mechanical and tactical sense. How would he ever use his arm mounted weapons without changing direction or falling out of the sky? (Bluejay has much the same problem in my mind. Although I do like her a lot as a character.) Yes, yes, I know, I'm trying to rationalise stuff in a _superhero_ universe. But it just _bugs_ me, okay? Oh, and BTW, I like Devastator's image from Champions a LOT more than the suit that actually got used for Warlord in CKC. I'd switch them, myself. I like the Ultimates a lot. But I don't like Cyclone. He steps on Binder's schtick too much. I don't want another power armor guy in the Ultimates, even if his powers are different. And while Thunderbolt serves the same "ecological niche" as Charger did, I don't understand the necessity of making the switch if you're going to wind up with the same basic types of powers. (Now if Charger got _killed_ in game, I could see Binder seeking out Thunderbolt to replace him.) I see where Radium also "fills in" for Plasmoid. But again - why? Plasmoid was _such_ a cool and strange concept. (with the possibility of turning him into the Emisssary if he gets "repaired") And Radium is just... well, he's just kinda blah. (But if you use Plasmoid, turn him into Emissary, kill him off and _then_ bring in Radium, it makes a certain kind of sense.) All in all, I prefer the version of the Ultimates that appeared in Enemies Assemble and I consider that version to be the definitive one. This version of the Ultimates however does give me the possibility of starting out with one version, and then, through attrition and replacement, utilise characters from either version to fill the holes. That, to my mind, has a _lot_ of potential for the Ultimates as an ongoing nemesis that evolves over time. You can start with the 4th edition version and evolve it to the 5th, or vice versa. Or have a mix of characters. Or heck, use them ALL if you've got a big team and REALLY make your PCs tremble! Even if your players have read both books, they may not know preciesly which line-up of villains they are going to be up against. So this has the potential to be a very useful tool, if rather inadvertantly. Thunderbird - Too much of a Punisher ripoff with a pretty thin motivation. I agree with the assessment of Stingray versus Red Tide. I prefer Red Tide's back story a lot more. In fact, it's so good, I replaced much of Pisces backstory with Red Tide's in my version of the Zodiac. It made a lot more sense and was more consistent. I actually like Sapphire more than the 4th Ed Quantum. She's just a nicer character, and I feel I'd like her more. (On the other hand, the version of Quantum from C:TNM, was actually pretty cool.) There's nothing particularly _wrong_ with Witchcraft (aside from the dorky name - ugh) but I think she is too close to Solitare in terms of power and design. If you're going to change characters, then _really_ change them. I think I'd either wind up just using Solitare instead. I liked her costume, name and backstory better anyway. I like Defender, but in 4th and 5th editions, he's pretty boring. That's not necessarily _bad_. Because he's supposed to be an NPC and he shouldn't show up your PC team leader. But I loved the "Team Defender" concept from C:TNM, and would love to work that in somehow. Maybe just give the character(s) a different name (Team Crusader, perhaps?) and make them based out of MIT or WPI in Boston. That would work really well. Can you imagine a bunch of college guys like the ones from "Real Genius" inventing and taking turns in the power suit? That has _SO_ much potential! (Carl: "So, let me get this straight, you think some mentalist is sending you bad dreams?" Chris: "Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of Sun God robes, on a pyramid, with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?" Mitch: 'No." Chris: "Why am I the only person that has that dream?")

Oooh!!! I like that Istvatha V'Han angle! Have her recruit all the villains that have been sentenced to that "duress" dimension as a strike force (or more than one!) for deploying in Earth's dimension. Have them imprison Nebula in "duress" and then have them start sending other heroes there as well. Present the heroes with a moral quandery of whether to rescue Nebula or not. If they really are heroes, then they should. "She's a stuck up little witch, but does she really deserve to suffer like that? Does anyone?" Ultimately, maybe this can serve to turn her around and make her into a real hero and someone likable by the player characters. The major thought I had when viewing this character was that with a serious attitude adjustment, she could make a great heroine and ally. Maybe this is the sort of campaign where this could happen. Of course, you'd better make it worth the players while in ways that don't appeal to pure altruism, just to make sure they'll go this direction. Because when PCs get grudges, they tend to hold onto them. Several players I've played with in the past would merely take the opportunity to kill her or leave her in duress. Make it so that she has some vital piece of information that only she has or could know about Istvatha V'Han's conquest of the "Duress" dimension and how she's using it to attack Earth. Then they are forced to rescue someone they hate in order to beat back the invasion. And in the process of the rescue (and perhaps fighting alongside her) they find out that she's actually not all that hateful after all. If I were doing it, I'd leave her with some of her snootiness intact though, no matter how much she reforms, just for the fun of tweaking the PCs from time to time. -Logan -------------------- Men were real men, women were real women, and small, furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were REAL small, furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. Spirits were brave, men boldly split infinitives that no man had split before. Thus was the Empire forged. --------------------

Well, how about that? I'm glad to have introduced you to Gold Digger! Remember, though, only the first hit's free, heh, heh, heh... The write-ups for Gina, Brittany and Brianna archived on Susano's site are now hopelessly out of date in terms of character backstory and disads. Most of the stats and powers still hold up, I think. Brianna is probably the one that sticks out the most as having changed in terms of abilities. The write-up was done at a time during the black and white series when it seemed she was sticking to a single power-suit design as her main specialty. I should have known that Fred Perry wouldn't leave it there. She now has gone through so many battlesuit designs it's impossible to keep up. I think Fred just likes designing new stuff for Brianna to use. She goes through battelsuits like most people go through clothes! There's also the continuing hints that he's giving out that she has magical capabilities. Latest issue has her firing her guns after she forgot to charge them up. It's a case of "she expected them to work, so they did". I am not sure how you'd write all that up. I'd love to see some of the other regular characters written up. Ryan Tabbot comes ot mind as a problematical one. How do you gamestat his "photographic reflexes"? Other's like Seance and the sister's Father Theodore Diggers, are easier. Almost standard superhero mage types there. We've gotten a lot of hints as to the extent of S'trype's powers, due to the artifacts within his body, but not enough that I'd feel confident writing him up. Fred's saving him up for a rainy day, I think. In terms of letting us know what exactly he can do. And yes, it definitely feels like a "campaign universe" at times. One of the reasons I love it so. The writing also is sharp as a tack and he keeps scrupulous continuity. He'll lay down hints of stuff to come as much as 12 issues in advance. Maybe even more. And it all hangs together. Anyway. I encourage you to do your write-ups! It'll be fun to comment on them!

ROTFLMAO!!!! That is _soo_ wrong!!

Re: Re: Elvis is Everywhere! Elvis is Everything!! Alright, point taken. But if you could set off the Elvis bomb in Paris, maybe they'd actually become cool and ditch the Jerry Lewis appreciation?

Ummm... I was kidding you know. Is there actually a Church of Elvis out there for real? I've seen the concept come up in various Sci-Fi satires and comedies before. (American Flagg, Undocumented Features, etc...) But I suppose it wouldn't shock me too much to find out one existed for real already. Truth is always stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense after all.

Elvis is in everybody out there. Everybody's got Elvis in them. Everybody except one person that is, Yeah, one person! The evil opposite of Elvis, The Anti-Elvis! Anti-Elvis got no Elvis in him, lemme tell ya. Michael J. Fox has no Elvis in him. And Elvis is in Joan Rivers but he's trying to get out, man! He's trying to get out! Listen up Joanie Baby! From "Elvis is Everywhere!" By Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper

Argh... For that I have to return with - If there was a church dedicated to Elvis Presley, would the people who go to that church be called "Presleyterians"?

Extremely silly power idea, based on seeing the words "Shapeshift" "Usable against others" and "Megascale" in too quick a succession while flipping back and forth through the book helping someone else build a character. "Elvis is everywhere! Elvis is Everything!" Shapeshift - (One Form - Elvis, Sight, Hearing, Touch groups), 0 End, Persistant, Usable Against Others, Megascale. Mind Control - Act like Elvis The ENTIRE population of the city of Las Vegas turns into Elvis impersonators!! (Or Manhattan, or Chicago, or... god help us, London or Paris! Ack!) God, does this sound like a Foxbat plan or WHAT??? Dedicated to Mojo Nixon (of course!)

This is a write-up I was working on for a hypothetical 4th Ed Champions game. Never did get to use it. Heuristic Artificial Neural Networking Analog (H.A.N.N.A.) Val CHA Cost Roll Notes 20 INT 10 13- PER Roll 13- 20 DEX 30 13- OCV: 7 15 EGO 10 12- ECV: 5 5 SPD 27 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 Powers & Skills Security Monitoring Sensors: Clairsentience for Normal Sight, Hearing, and High Range Radio Hearing, 600" Range, 0 END, IAF (Security Cameras) (-1/2), Can only see through Security Cameras (-1/2), Immobile, (-1) (20) Holographic Projectors: Images -5 PER Rolls to Normal Sight And Sound, 0 END, IAF (-1/2), Immobile (-1) (12) Computer Abilities: Absolute Time Sense (3) Eidetic Memory (10) Lightning Calculator (3) Speed Reading (3) Computer Skills: Computer Programming 13- (3) Criminology 13- (3) Cryptography 14- (5) Sensors Operation 14- (5) Knowledge Skills: Supervillians 14- (5) Normal Criminals 14- (5) Police Records 14- (5) FBI Files 14- (5) World Geography 14- (5) North American Geography 14- (5) General Law 14- (5) Tax Laws 14- (5) Language Skills: (All Fluent Conversation) Arabic, Italian, Greek, Latin, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish (24) Sciences: Mathematics 13- (4) Physics 13- (4) Biology 13- (4) Chemistry 13- (4) Robotics 13- (4) Cybernetics 13- (4) Programs: Surveillance (1) Search Reference Material (1) Break Code (1) Scan Police Bands/TV/Radio for Crimes and News (1) Play Games (1) Create Image (1) Disadvantages: Physical Limitation: Needs Electricity to function (25) Psychological Limitations: Sarcastic Sense of Humor (Common, Moderate) (10) Loyal to team (Common, Moderate) (10) Would desperately love to have a human body (10)

I'm curious, Mike - What was it about IST that's wrong? I have a copy of that supplement myself. And I like it a lot, although I have my own issues with logic within it as well. I wonder if we're looking at the same things.

I rather liked Enemies Assemble, myself. Not everything in there was good, true. I'd say about half hte book was so-so, but the other half was GREAT! I especially liked the Foxbat and crew writeup, Factor 7, and the Ultimates. I thought the update on the Ultimates was particularly well done and added a lot of depth to a group I had thought was a bunch of losers. There were many memorable and fun characters in the Foxbat section. Few gaming supplements make me laugh out loud, but I got more than a few chuckles out of that section. I consider the Enemies Assemble version of Foxbat and the Ultimates to be the definitive version of the characters. Factor 7 was an interesting spin on a villain group and a wonderful example of a villain group that doesn't think they are the villains. Pyramid in the Sky was intriguing. I couldn't use it as written, but there were some very good ideas in there. I could have filed the numbers off and changed a few things around and made that adventure work really well. Enemies for Hire was another one where there were a lot of good ideas floating around. I thought it was interesting to see all of the supervillains who could be considered the "second string" of the Hero Universe. They weren't mooks by any stretch, but two or three of them would make good "Lieutenant" Villains for the party to get past. High tech Enemies and The Mutant File are almost what I'd call "Guilty Pleasures". I liked reading some of the interesting backgrounds, but the power levels were just ridiculous. Even so, it was another case of interesting ideas that I could work with if altered. And for me personally, it's easier to bring down the power level on a published character then the other way around. But I have to agree, back in the days of 250 pt starting heroes, seeing agents... I say again... AGENTS at 250 points!!! That's just not right... European Enemies - Blech... I have that one. I've never used it. I mean, when I'm asked to actually take seriously a character like Mastodon... or the Thespian? Good grief!! The only character in European Enemies I thought was even the least bit salvageable was the Bastion of Budapest. He was actually interesting. He was a one trick pony, but he was interesting.

What stupid parts? I really liked Traveller's setting and history, at least up through the Rebellion period. I prefer the reboot that GURPS Traveller does on the universe from that point, but the setting in general has always been a favorite of mine.

Not entirely true. There was ONE instance where a human was... er... Macronized? I guess you'd call it that. But it's not _strictly_ canon. In the Macross Do you Remember Love movie from 1984, Maximilian Genius battled Milia, in a battle royale similar to that of the series. And in the end, they got themselves locked inside one of the Zentraedi-sized AIR-LOCKS on board the Cruiser that Milia operated from. They finished their fight, in the dark, after shooting out all the lights, in what was, for the mecha involved, the equivelant of a knife fight inside of a phone booth!!! The upshot of all this, was that in _this_ version of events, both mecha got totally trashed. Milia was wounded, and Max was left onboard the Meltraedi (Female Zentraedi) Cruiser when it folded out ahead of the advancing Zentraedi main battlefleet. Unfortunately, due to this being a movie and there being time constraints and all (Max and Milia both get what amount to only cameo roles in the movie) we don't get to see what happened next. But obviously Max made real nice to both Milia and the Meltraedi, because the next time we see him, he's been MACRONISED to giant size, is wearing a modified Meltraedi combat outfit and is fighting in a Quedluun Rau powered armor on the side of the Meltraedi during the final battle of the movie!! And he and Milia are obviously about as friendly as they were in the series. Imagine Max and Milia fighting in two Quedluun Rau powered armor, and both unleashing a "death blossom" of missiles back to back of each other at one point in the fight! It happened!! It was COOL!!! Unfortunately, the movie is now considered non-canon by the Macross creators. So make of that what you will. Just being a pedantic completist.

This works. Another option I've seen done is that if one section of the group is encountering action, and the other isn't, then sometimes you can just let the non-combat group do their own thing in the form of in-character roleplaying with each other. Maybe they are talking shop at the base. Or advancing that love story between two members. Or going out on the town, unknowing that the other group is in trouble until the GM thinks it's dramatically important for their wrist communicators to start beeping the alert. Obviously, this depends on the maturity level of your group. But if your group is mature and likes the role-playing as much as the combat, then this is certainly an option. My very first Champions group in California in '92-'93 did things similar to that. Two or more PCs would sometimes go off and do some role-playing on their own. As long as the GM was kept abreast of major developments, this was fine.

This is my version of Tsai Min, the Dragon Queen, from the VIPER sourcebook.

-- This is a picture that I did of a character from Shelley Chrystal Mactyre's PRIMUS Sourcebook. She appeared in the Golden Gate Guardians Play By EMail (PBEM) game.

Richochet - A character I created and drew for a friend. One of the most unique character designs I've come up with. I forget the original origin. This is from an ancient (circa 1982!) Villains & Vigilantes game. The basics are that his powers come from an alien battlesuit. His defensive powers consist of a directional forcefield shield, and his offensive powers are in the form of a set of semi-independent levitating spheres about the size of golfballs that he controlls mentally. They are capable of instantly accelerating to several miles per second speeds and can cause a lot of damage, but they can also rebound from surfaces in order to change direction instantly without doing damage to those surfaces if Richochet so chooses. Indoors or in tight spaces, this can create an extreme autofire effect as the spheres bounce off walls to hit the target over and over. Trickshots are also a specialty of his. He can also "see" through the spheres, and can send them out as scouts, giving him a form of clairvoyance. From these powers and the vaguely "R" like symbols on the battlesuit, he got his name.

Trust me, you don't want to be on the receiving end of that!

A bit of an anime touch Here's my character Lora Doubet, a cyborg brick/martial artist. I first created her in 1992 for my first ever Champions game. She's actually gone through a couple of revisions since then and been played in a couple of different campaings with slightly altered backgrounds. Currently, she's been adapted to a more cyberpunk theme than superhero and is being played in Michael Surbrook's Kazei 5 PBEM. These pictures are of her as an UNTIL special agent. Her uniform is a variation on the UNTIL dress blues as imagined in the campaign world. With some input from Rob Hudson on design, I came up with a uniform inspired in part by the AMP Uniforms from Silent Mobius and something I had seen from Masamune Shirow. Even a little bit of the Rocketeer found it's way into the design.

WOW!!! I haven't seen that character in over 15 years! Where did you get that? Okay. Maybe it isn't unbearably cheesy. But the nacho quotient is way up there.