KawangaKid

Re: Buckaroo Banzai Lives! Agh! I hate you... it's outta my price range and even harder to get here in the Philippines. Anyway - I'm bout to run a search - are there any versions of Buckaroo or the Blue Blazer regulars? The only one I know is this one

Re: Angel, the worst original character concept ever? I dunno, Hawkman & Hawkgirl had very sharp vision, could talk to birds, were tougher than normal humans (this is the Silver Age duo), and were police officers from another planet... they CHOSE to use archaic weapons despite their knowledge and use of advanced science.. and Hawkman and Hawkgirl being more martial than Angel (and Hawkgirl having my fave avian helmet/mask) save them from lameness, IMHO.

I dunno if it belongs in Dark Champions... yeah I do! Calling all Blue Blazer Irregulars! Here is a link to a news article on the new comics line of Buckaroo and the Hong Kong Cavaliers!

Re: Hooray for Newbies! why are you suddenly here? I'm 33 too! Oh, you meant other Italians. Er... there was a local film made here recently titled "Milan"! It was a romantic drama set in... uh... well, guess.

Re: The New Circle I like all these heroes... and the villains especially. My players all seem to favor mystically powered heroes and now I have something to throw at them...

Re: Babylon 5 Hero There's been news of a B5 Movie in development... that was delayed a bit due to the death of Richard Biggs. Any news on what it might be about? Also - I really like all the write ups!

Re: TRU Challenge I think that there are some pretty neat WelchAllyn AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) Here's a link to one: http://www.aedsuperstore.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=292 Plus there's a device called a CPREzy kit that's used to improve the perfomance of CPR with protection from exchange of liquids between the victim and the person performing CPR, a device that helps keep the rhythm of compression and monitors the pressure of each compression. Here's a link too: http://www.cpr-ezy.com/index.html Some Local Government Units here in the Philippines are trying to get these kits together for an Emergency Team separate from the reg'lar Ambulances and emergency teams... just coz traffic's a bear, and a lot of the providers 'HQs' are centrally located, not spread out across the Metro Manila area. At least that's how I understand it.

Re: Telekinetic Martial Arts. I believe that there are guidelines in the Hero System rulebook (covering the TK power) that mention that any manuevers beyond the default 1 or 2 that you can use with TK should be purchased separately. Gah - I sold my original 5th Edition Rulebook and without it (or the new 5th Edition book that I'm waiting for) I'm helpless. Helpless! *whimper*

Re: The KAZEI 5 Committee Would this be a part of the Hero Universe timeline/setting? Or is this in its own universe? I really like the Kazei 5 stuff and will have to return to it now for some actual constructive comments...

Re: Asterix the Gaul Ah, but it WAS due to Getafix's potion. It's just that he fell into the cauldron when he was a baby...

Re: Doctor J.A. Quest I think there was a generational adventuring family that seemed to be a combined "Doc Savage+Jonny Quest" line in Champions: The New Millenium. The family name was Wildman or Wilder, I believe (possibly an allusion to the Wold Newton theories of P.J. Farmer on the "real" last name of Doc Savage).

Re: The Authority RPG ???? Saw it in the Local Store. Can't get it. Too much Hero Games Supplement backlog. Thick sucker tho.

Raised by Farmers Oddly enough, I'm surprised that they don't discuss Supes current politics that much. I kinda assumed that he'd be kinda partial to both the leanings of the "farmers of america" political blocs as well as the metropolitan city folks....

I like reading interviews of comic book writers... they give me lots of plot ideas. In a way, they are closely akin to GMs seeking to entertain their players by giving their PCs something fresh and new, and yet true to the campaign and characters. In a way, they are also like Players trying to get inside the minds of their PCs and having them react true to their nature. In a Newsarama article found here, Greg Rucka, the writer behind the current run of "The Adventures of Superman" explored some things about Superman. Two things stuck out: 1) how do you handle the difficulties of creating challenges for a "boy scout" iconic character without turning him into a caricature or constantly tempting him to "the dark side"? 2) what are the political implications of the actions of such a powerful, iconic character? Issue 1: The Boy Scout... Issue 2: The Superpower GMs and Players may have already covered some of this ground in their own games. Those who haven't may wish to play around with these ideas... they intrigued and surprised me and I've only gotten the issue where Lois got shot... the future storyline shocked me!

Re: AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED opinions Haven't picked up the book. Been told by friends that the New Invaders is interesting to read. I've picked up the current Thor run and have concluded that it's possibly one of the better things to come out of this. The writing is excellent and I'm glad the current writer will continue to the relaunch of the Thor title.

Well, Tara Chace is now Minder One and she's gunning for the Director of Ops post. If you don't know what I'm talking about well.. ... it's one of my favorite comic books out now and it details a group of Minders that server British Intelligence. More real world stuff being done here - interagency deals, politics and personal agendas mucking up the works, and Minders being sent out to do intelligence work. And they only get to draw weapons on site when told to. More Sandbaggers and The Professionals and Dangerman / Secret Agent man than Bond... where the agents try to hold on to some shred of integrity in a murky world of lies and subterfuge. While rules for guns and martial arts figure into this, clearly there is a greater need for intelligence skills and interpersonal skills. Cool tech equipment is used, but tends to favor the reliable and mostly invisible tech than the fancy doo-dads of Q. Heck, there's even some corporate intrigue when the daughter of a major British media conglomerate is used to blackmail her father into making concessions to certain French interests... Has ANYONE set up a Dark Champions game along these lines yet? What resources do you pore through for plots and plausible spy-speak?

We all know Peter Parker's Spider-Man... But in Japan, he gets to drive some neat vehicles including a giant robot called Leopardon! And now... Spider-man: India! It's a modern take on an Indian Spider-Man's origin (a young kid named Pavitr Prabhakar). It's an interesting take in the light of J.M.S.' spider avatar bit in the comics. Would you allow spider avatars elsewhere in your universe?

I've already built a character like this for a player in my campaign. But I'm not happy with it. I've had to plunk points into the Desolid and Invisible (0 END, Persistent, Always On)... and I had to stick some points into a Mental Illusions bit for him to "appear" to people and talk to them (otherwise it's a very lonely character). The Mental Powers for possession are tricky. In theory he should be able to mind control the person he possesses... but how does he "ride" the person's body? Does he have to buy his own movement? What if the target person has extradimensional movement or teleport or flight faster than the character's own? Found this link http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19400&highlight=deadman that deals with it. Why does clinging work even if you're desolid? Do you have to buy it affects desolid?

Re: ... until it becomes... a Thing of Iron! Yes, that's in the compilation as well. You also get to see Iron Fist vs. the X-men with the funky costume of Wolvie that is NOT the Paul Smith era brown outfit and is NOT the Old / New Yellow & Blue outfit. It's the funky "africa" looking one.

Re: Weird RL Phenomena I dunno man. I'd argue that there was some intelligence to it. Unless you argue that it was attracted to the bio-electrical fields of living creatures. But then, I've been in a room where my (now-ex) girlfriend claimed she could sense spirits and that a belligerent one was in the room. Then a cabinet door that's wedged shut (I've tried opening it and closing myself on prior occasions) smoothly pop open as though it were oiled, WD-40'd and not badly wedged between the disproportionate edges of the cabinet itself. When I shut it, it was as tough as ever to shut it... and when I tried to open it again, it was just as tough as ever. Freaky stuff.

I am, of course... talking about the Marvel character Iron Fist! I borrowed my friend's copy of Marvel's "Essential Iron Fist". Really cool idea, that essential collection... it's all black and white (probably from the films), and collects the key storylines of the character. Iron Fist in particular is a great book to leaf through for several reasons: 1) it starts with his core origin, but relates it in flashbacks, and goes through adventures and further fleshes out his background in more flashbacks (similar to the original Kung Fu series) introducing characters from K'un L'un such as the Thunderer and Yu-Ti, the August Personage in Jade. So you have a great example on how to do "new characters" in a campaign. 2) all the caption narrations are in the 2nd person POV! In other words, they go something like: "Your name is Daniel Rand. You have toiled long and hard at perfecting your technique... only to see it challenged by this strange villain in clothes similar to yours. Your hammerfist and your bearpaw strikes are easily countered by this stranger in scarlet..." It's mostly like that in the earlier issues of the series... Very instructive for newbie GMs at a loss to describe the events in the game to players. 3) it actually has a long story arc tied to the origin and the decisions of the character that justify all the obstacles, rivals and villains that he encounters (some are kinda forced, though... oh well, we all have our off days). 4) interesting character designs to rip off!

Re: Forgotten Golden Age Villains I ran a WWII Champions campaign once. They were up against the Dragon King, who had a penchant (I think) for mind-controlling characters. Since it was a combo DC/Marvel Universe, they had to fight against minions, a mind-controlled Patriot (from the Liberty Legion?) a reprogrammed G.I. Robot, and some of the other DC and Marvel Axis villains... Master man and Warrior Woman, I didn't have at the time though.

Re: Captain America's Shield

Re: Iconic Characters: the Justice Squadron

I like messing around with timelines, and the Champions Universe timeline is one of my favorites among the various "Superheroic Gaming Universe" timelines that I've seen, given its attention to the eras before the "Ages of Superheroism" and the recurring names and characters. I've begun researching various characters from the DC & Marvel Universes and seeing how they might be shoehorned into it. Understandably, some of the current characters may be "popped out" of their places, but that's the GM's optons. Decided to base it on the first appearances, with some allowances for tweaking. Here's my first stab at the Superman aspect of that timeline: 1938 - Superman's first appearance. It might be assumed that he's in his early 20's, perhaps right out of college? 1945 - Superboy's first appearance. Granted, this early appearance is supposed to be the "Adventures of Superman when he was a boy!", but we could assume that this is the son of old Kal-L... Kal-El! But wait... Assuming Kal-L met Lois and, in a whirlwind romance and marriage, sired a child in 1938 then Superboy would be born in 1939 and would be 6 years old at the time of his first appearance. A little fudging and we make 1945 the birth year of young Kal-El. This kinda contradicts the story of Earth-2 Clark and Lois getting married in 1953, but I like this version because... 1967 - Superboy turns 21 and can take over the mantle from his father! Incidentally, this is the year that the Golden Age Superman rejoined the reformed JSA. Perhaps the reformed JSA could be all the next generation... the soon-to-be-renamed Justice League? 1976 - Kara Zor-L appears on earth and becomes Power Girl. I don't know how to reconcile this with the Kara Zor-El who becomes Supergirl yet. More to come..