Balok

For an acrobatic character: he's on a small "island" in a sea of something unpleasant, like acid. There are other islands. When the trap starts, the island begins to sink, forcing him to leap to another island. As soon as he leaves an island, it rises again, as soon as he lands on an island, it begins to sink. He must remain in motion or die. The out is this: one of the islands is different in that it sinks inside a sleeve (the outer shell stops at the level of the liquid, but the center keeps going); forming a sort of elevator shaft that will protect him from the hazard. At the bottom is a door. How he figures out which island is the right one is left as an exercise for the interested student. Check out any newstand for books of puzzles. Give smart characters logic puzzles to solve; in order to open the door, they must solve the puzzle. Photocopy the puzzle and use the answer key to give them a headstart to whatever degree you wish. Something nasty happens if a timer runs out. For speedsters: a springloaded seesaw with two hostages. Remove one, and the other falls into the fire (or other hazard). The planned out is that the speedster must race back and forth (making approrpriate rolls) untying the hostages, *and* persuading them to stay put. Then race back and force inching them closer to the middle until he can grab them both and escape.

Four more from my collection: Brother Eye: Can make you relive all your worst deeds in a matter of seconds; like the original Ghost Rider's penance start. Can also make you remember the worst injury you ever suffered, as if it was happening again. Has a mental defense based on damage shield because his mind is a sewer of malevolence. [1] Silversmith: Has developed a strange form of silver (hey, this is the comics!) that he can control with a mechanism in his hat. His cane can transform what it touches to silver for a limited time. Cold Drake: Reptile powers combined with the ability to breath a cone of numbing cold, superior resistance to cold and vulnerability to heat. Magical origin. Garble: Fairly useless as a solo player, but works with the right team: he can utter a garbled stream of gibberish that captures the will and thoughts of any who can hear him; they are unable to act while so engaged, but the effect wears off within seconds after he stops. [1] I have since learned that "Brother Eye" is also the name for at least one of the satellites from which OMAC, a DC character, drew his power. This may disqualify the name.

I recommend you add a mentalist: Brother Eye: An unassuming man, Thaddeus Reynolds has the ability to cause those near him to re-experience all the worst things they've ever done in life, in a quick few seconds. This is almost always emotionally traumatic. He can also make you re-experience the most painful thing that ever happened -- you aren't physically injured again, but you remember how it felt. This is a mental attack. Reynolds has a EGO based damage shield; telepaths don't like to look into his mind; it's a cesspool. He's a sociopath who actually experiences pleasure from using his power on other people.

Click on "Champions" on the "Genre Pages" sidebar (right side of the main page). Then click on the "Online USPD" balloon. Just in case you lose your bookmark. (Many sites put plain text links near the bottom of each page, because sometimes picture links aren't obvious.)

If you want to take an approach that's closer to what will probably happen, consider the use of genetically engineered creatures. Starting with bacteria (some of which can survive astonishingly low termperatures) and moving up to larger forms. Such creatures could take these organic compounds and produce food from them. They would use part of the material to energize their own metabolism. For example, a form of bacteria could turn hydrocarbons (including methane) and water into simple and complex carbohydrates. Proteins would be harder, requiring more specialized forms. Such food is likely to be an unappetizing but nutritious paste when first introduced, making spices a trade commodity. As the tech gets more advanced, flavors and texture could be added by new organisms. Heavier atoms (like calcium and metals) would also be trade goods; these could be added as supplements or mixed into the food vats to be incorporated by the specialized organisms. Many of them are necessary for good health. For an idea of which, check out a site like http://www.webmd.com, or consult the side of a bottle of multi-vitamins (like Centrum).

Okay, it sounds like Hermit's original take, Distinctive Features, is the right way to go. There are people interested in learning who the character is, and there is a mechanism that threatens his secret. The drawbacks to the vampires, I'd think, are offset by their usefulness as "immortal detectors" by other interested parties.

I just wonder how much of a disadvantage it is for the character. It's a construct that causes *other* characters to function at a disadvantage, and one they may not possess. So how, exactly, does having vampires go berserk around you count as a disadvantage *for you*? How often does it occur? (Hence the question about how common vampires actually are.) Would others (besides vampires and the character) understand the significance of the attacks? (In order for this to pose a threat of outing a secret identity, there would need to be a few folks around capable of understanding what they see.) I'm very carefull what disadvantages I allow, because all too often they amount to free points. The GM has a tendency to forget about them (or, at least, I do), especially if they are low point value (perhaps because they come into play infrequently). I apply two tests: if I can't envision how the disadvantage is going to cause problems (the standard test) and if I think I'm liable to let it drop through the cracks (an extra test of my own), it gets disallowed.

The value of the disadvantage would depend on how much it actually impairs the character. Are there a lot of vampires? How much of a threat are they? How much worse of a threat are they when they are berserk? That's a disadvantage for them, so I wouldn't expect you to get points for it. Whether it costs you points depends on some of the factors I mentioned above.

I'd vote *against* reprints; especially at 1/5 to 1/4 the book's contents. Since TUV isn't out of print, this material is available. If you get "specific", including a car such as the Stutz Bearcat, you might consider a section on how this car was different from similar cars -- this would be of benefit to those who wished to make something more generic. I also wonder about this: how many of the "little touches" that differentiate one vehicle from another in the same general class actually have (game) mechanical impact? If you wrote up a specific car, would you spend a lot of effort attempting to find mechanical reasons why that car wasn't like other similar cars?

Was that where they beamed Nomad so it could explode?

It's true that sometimes people don't try simple plans, and sometimes those simple plans would work. But most of the time, simple plans don't work because they're easily anticipated. Suppose YOU had multiple bodies, and it was your habit to destroy one rather than have it fall into the hands of your enemies? Now consider what precautions YOU might take that would prevent your enemies from exploiting that weakness? Usually, plans that exploit weaknesses work because they exploit weaknesses the opponent either doesn't know about, or doesn't consider significant. A way of destroying my body would be damn significant to me, and I would take a variety of precautions to make sure that the mechanism served me and only me. That doesn't mean that a clever player couldn't still exploit it. It does mean that anything the GM considers obvious is likely to be obvious to a smart character -- especially one who is, technically, smarter than the GM! One of the things that really irks me is bad writing, and one of the worst kinds of bad writing is the kind where characters have to behave stupidly because otherwise the story would end in ten minutes. Characters I run behave stupidly only if that's their nature. Mechanon is no one's dummy, and it wouldn't be right, in my view, to run him as though he was.

I'm toying with a campaign in which magic comes from the gods -- but not in the "D&D" way. What happens is, you must satisfy some requirement of a god, and if you do, he teaches you a spell. It might be one you ask for, or it might be one he thinks you should learn. However, once you learn the spell, it's yours. You don't have to pray to recover it; you cast it normally as your END permits. To further complicate things, the gods have an agreement: no god will grant a magician more than a single spell until *all* the gods have granted him one. I'm thinking seven gods, and I have some ideas for what spheres of influence each should have. But as you might guess, some are opposed by others. (Why seven? In the immortal words of J. Belushi ... "why not?") What I'm asking for with this thread are some ideas about what spheres of influence the gods should have.

His network of subprocessors (that run his body) probably exchange data with his brain using an encrypted protocol. That means that only his head can reliably communicate with his body. Worse, if someone attempts to communicate incorrectly, it might activate the self destruct device. Given skill, time, and luck, you might crack it. Now, eventually that gets back to Mechanon. He already hates all organic life. And you've gone and humiliated him. Where do you think you'll go on his list? Since he's capable of hatred, we can assume he's capable of rage, anger, a desire for revenge... Of course, you *could* reprogram his head, then reconnect it to make your maid bot. I'm sure that would be perfectly safe.

Even though intelligence doesn't scale in quite the same geometric way strength does, 25 is still considerably more intelligent than average human. The coded signal is probably complex. Even if you can "hear" it, it is likely to be perceived as gibberish. Unless you also have eidetic memory, you probably won't get it right the next time. And computers are relentlessly precise: if you don't get it *exactly right*, it will be ignored. Mechanically, this would involve significant minuses. And that assumes that he's not smart enough to change it each time, as someone said. That's a basic precaution *I* would take, and I haven't got his brains! It also assumes he's unaware of the character's ability to sense radio transmissions. Whether this is true or not depends on how much is known about his powers, and who knows it. The idea gets points for originality, but if I didn't want a scenario to end that way, these are just a few of the completely plausible ways I could prevent it. I might very well give the player of such a character an extra experience point for innovation, though. Sometimes good ideas don't work because the other guy had a better one, but that doesn't mean good ideas shouldn't be rewarded.

Ways to deal with such a character: First, if he's really got the power *all the time*, he has to be it Inherent, I believe. Otherwise it can be Dispelled. That costs. Second, make sure that if he selects a "Hunted", you evaluate the value properly. For example, PRIMUS would be less powerful, because it can't do much to him (unless you say they've got agents who can affect supernatural characters). In other words, the relative strength of opponents should be evaluated within the context of the character's natural state. Third, misdirection works well. The genius supervillain could hire an actor who looks like his killer to lure him away from the scene of the real crime. This is an alternative to preparing some means of dealing with him. The degree to which it will be effective depends on whether his backstory includes psych lims that compel him to seek out his killer. Unless he destroys his killer the first time he encounters him, that killer will be able to prepare for him. A staple of comics is that the opponent comes back over and over again, better prepared each time. So the first time, the ghost puts a hurting on him and he does a nickle upstate (after all, it's hard to charge him with murder when his victim is demonstrably alive -- a good defense attorney will be able to plead him down). When he comes back, he'll have contacted an evil wizard or something, and he'll be ready...

It seems likely that the "big magic draining event" of 2020 has something to do with stopping either Takofanes, or the Elder Worm (the Slug). It's possible that this was determined to be the only way to put the threat down, or maybe the people who did it didn't realize the long term consequences. This, of course, raises the question of what might make someone want to re-enable magic in 3000 or so...

I was very impressed with the quality and scope of this book. I sure hope enough other people were to make the line flourish. I've played an enjoyable GURPS Traveller campaign (currently on hiatus); when the GM comes back to it, I'm going to try to convince him to go Star Hero instead. Must ... resist ... urge ... to ... look in ... GM's ... vault. (Actually, in his case it wouldn't matter, since he and I are from the same school: we assume the players have read the *entire* book and change things "just in case").

We were chasing an enemy who was escaping on a motorcycle. We managed to stake his spokes, bring the bike to a quick stop. Apparently, the poor man's luck ran out; the GM ruled that he'd sailed over the handlebars, landed face down, and skidded to a stop. Another player commented "He must be unhappy, now!" Knowing this guy, I knew I didn't want the rest of it, but morbid curiosity won out, and I asked why. "Just look at that long face."

Years ago, I created "The Missile Commander", a gadgeteer obsessed with video games. He had remarkable skills at building devices -- but was literally unable to conceive of anything he hadn't seen in a video game. In his early career, his compulsion required him to build the same weaknesses into his devices as were possessed by their video game inspirations. Later, he overcame this part of his obsession. I also created "The Director", a character based on the goofy character from EPIC, an episode of "The Avengers", a British TV series. The Director was obsessed with creating a movie about the characters. The Sportsmen, a villain group, consisted of members like Fastball, Slapshot, Gridiron, Lucky Strike (bowling, not cigarettes) -- all former sports stars whose careers were cut short, requiring them to seek other means to keep their extravagant lifestyles going. Their leader, a shadowy figure they knew only as "Front Office", supplied them with their equipment.

Some did, some didn't. It's unclear from the stories whether Berserkers were constructed as classes (in the manner a stellar navy might construct ships) or if they were one offs. However, one thing that is clear is that there are a large variety of Berserkers of differing sizes, capabilities, and purposes. To answer your question, I recall stories featuring both kinds of robots (although the Berserkers did not refer to them as such). Some had no self-direction at all, and required a constant stream of telemetry from the mothership to operate. Analogous to the droids used by the Trade Federation in "Phantom Menace". These tended to look more like Mechanon. Others, such as those featured in "Brother Assassin", were self-directed and could pass as human (usually); these were "infiltration" units. However, Berserkers aren't long on subtlety, because they've never needed to be. Orbital bombardment is more their speed. That's not to say they're not smart, only that their tactics are more like a sledgehammer, and haven't been refined much. Compare that to the Bolos, whose artificial minds contain the distilled warfighting skills of centuries of human experience. Often, the Bolos challenged opponents as capable or more capable than they were (some races even built analogous machines). This made tactics at least as important to Bolos as actual fighting strength; they get the edge there. Later Bolos could strike at orbital targets, such as ships, from the ground. It's unclear at what range, or how effective those attacks were, but there were used on more than one occasion to harass and destroy enemy troop drops. Bolos communicate with each other, and cooperate. Berserkers may, as well, but the typical story only had one machine (usually more than enough), so I don't recall seeing much of this. HTH

The berserkers are basically self-aware spaceships with no life support and extra weapons and armor. Yes, I know a few of them did have the means to keep "goodlife" alive (defined as life that helps the berserkers acheive their goals), and to study "badlife" (all other life). However, they were a relative minority. The bolos are at a significant disadvantage unless they are also made spaceworthy. Yes, some of the later bolos did have orbital range on their hellebores, but compared to the weapons a berserker could bring to bear, they're outclassed. All the berserker has to do is move out of range and use missiles. If the bolos are made spaceworthy, then their small size might be an advantage over the more massive berserkers. Also, berserkers use something called a "probability core" to ensure they're not predictable. I'm left with the impression that this is a less sophisticated brain that possessed by the later bolos.

Actually, Berserkers were not *originally* created to destroy all life. In later books, we learn that they were created by the Red Race, or to destroy the Red Race. I can't remember which. In any event, the other side had similar machines. The berserkers were *better*, and destroyed the enemies and all their machines -- and then turned on the few of their creators who had survived the war. At some point, the notion that life was evil and must be destroyed was incorporated into the programming.

If you can find a copy, watch the DS9 episode "Our Man Bashir"...

Oh, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of the Elder Worm. And considering what they did to the Malvans, it's fair to say that their return will not be good news for anyone...

Hero Teams: Challengers Liberty One (New York based) Mystic Hand, The (New Orleans based magicians) Villain Teams: Avatars From Beyond (powerful elemental beings) Death Dealers, The Intercrime (I might have swiped this one, I no longer remember -- they've been around for years). League of Blackhearted Men (evil and proud of it) Legion of Brass (led by a Djinn -- a real one) Manhunters, The Quadrature Secret Society Of Supermen, The (all the result of eugenics) Sportsmen, The (ex-sports stars turned criminals) Threat, The (a four man team that was actually ... but that would be telling) Trigon (I used this name for a group, then abandoned it when DC created the demon) Xodiac World Terror Alliance (terror and villainy for sale)