Supreme Serpent

Re: Order of the Stick

Now, why would Tarquin deliberately mitigate his own advantage by letting Nale know he has it?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

No one knows how many palindromedaries I have

You say that like Tarquin really considers Nale a threat.

Re: overmentalizing

"Congratulations. Due to his highly effective interrogation techniques, Mindworm has been drafted to special service. He's going to be busy for the next few years going through Gitmo, federal prisons, everyone potentially connected to any missing persons cases, and everyone involved in the last few rounds of financial meltdown. While he's busy, what would you like your next character to be like?"

If you want to keep him in the game, let him do the stuff, but don't have the rest of the campaign sit around while he does it. "OK, you're partway through the scanning of thug #2, and there's another emergency. Do you want to sit in a corner writing up questions, or would you like to come along with the rest of the team?" "After finishing with thug #4, you notice that you have new messages on your phone. Apparently you forgot your date and forgot to go to work, and missed the team calling you for a bank robbery. You're also very tired and hungry, and notice that it's now Thursday. Looking in the back room, you notice that your teammates have deposited another half-dozen thugs for your queue. Maybe you should feed them too. Or at least put up some air freshener."

Re: Idea to art by Storn. Year 8

PUNCH - Small (18"?) puppet brought to life and imbued with massive power and an equally massive attitude. Pinocchio meets Howard the Duck meets the Thing (Ben Grimm).

Re: Getting to know the game

Hi, welcome!

One possibility would be to poke around in some of the games on HeroCentral . Character sheets, discussion of actions, rolls, etc. A number of them may be running 5E instead of 6E, but most of the basics are the same or pretty close.

Re: Looking for Hero book reviews in magazines for Wikipedia.

http://wiki.acaeum.com/wiki/Index:The_Space_Gamer

Re: Looking for Hero book reviews in magazines for Wikipedia.

I have a couple of the Space Gamer issues in question:

Revised Champions in issue 65 (Sept/Oct 1983) by Russell Grant Collins. Also a note that the original Champions was reviewed in issue #43.

Short Champions III review in issue 70 by Allen Varney.

I remember some Champions reviews in Dragon too, but don't have them close at hand.

Re: Coming up with terminology for humans who turn into superhumans using "-thrope"

I like Metathrope.

Kratos is Greek for power, so something like Kratothrope could work, but not be as easily "cool".

Re: A Marvel-ous Suicide Squad?

Tumbler

Amphibius

Boomerang

Brothers Grimm

Grey Gargoyle

Black Mamba

Re: Powerball

My first instinct is to have it be similar to football, where you try to get the ball to a specified end zone. Of course this part would be very easy for speedsters/teleporters, so to score you have to also KEEP the ball there for a certain period (for Champions, perhaps 6 or 10 or 12 seconds).

Could do it team vs. team, or two teams individually against the same danger room setup and compare how well they do.

Re: Tropes Revisited: Beautiful Female Martial Artist. Ideas sought

Female Luchadore?

Re: Tropes Revisited: Beautiful Female Martial Artist. Ideas sought

How about military dress uniform (braid, medals, etc), a palette and brush? With a beret, works for both aspects.

Re: How to understand the SuperHero Genre

Is there a way to really appreciate this genre? I read comic books and I'm thinking' date=' "Man, just give the dude a sword or an AK 47 and shred this cape wearing fool." It seems like a lot of problems could be solved in these worlds if people just used lethal force. (I do understand that that is not an option for many heroic minded super heroes.)[/quote']

 

Part of it is the fantasy lethal mentality, part of it is the setting/world as noted previously.

 

A number of superheroes do/have killed. A number of Golden Age guys killed, then there's those that came up through the bronze/iron age. In some cases the killers are heroes put in bad situations, other times they're just not as bad as the villains they kill.

 

But I assume you're talking more about the ones like Daredevil, Spider-Man, Superman, etc. that tend to avoid killing. Part of it is the mindset and who they are at a basic level, raised with "thou shall not kill" as pretty basic to human interaction.

 

Another part is the society they're in, where in super fiction it's generally assumed that society functions well enough to handle criminals once they're brought in. If the government can hold Dr. Icky, let the courts and prisons handle him, up to and including the death penalty if appropriate. In most cases in fantasy worlds, you're out in the wilds beyond normal jurisdictions, dealing with threats few can actually hold, and with justice systems that tend to be quicker and more final in any case.

 

Where super worlds and stories start breaking the believability wall in respect to lethality is when the heroes play by those rules but the world doesn't. When the authorities have proven time and again that they're unable to hold the Joker or Doc Ock or whoever and they're out killing every other week then it does look foolish for the villain to just get repeatedly fed into the same failing system. That's a danger of recurring popular characters, exacerbated by how icky you make them. If Catburglerwoman keeps escaping and robs jewelry stores, well gosh darn it catch her and lock her up again and this time check the cake for files. When Psychomassmurderman keeps escaping, it's another ballgame.

 

I find that the only real fun is creating a character and then pitting them against other characters, but duking it out is only fun for so long. If there is a deeper layer to this genre, than I am missing it.

 

Does anyone else feel like this? Maybe you were of the same mind and now have come to appreciate the genre. Please tell me what changed your mind set. I really want to like this genre but it just seems to one dimensional in that characters fight and that is all there is to the genre.

 

 

For "this is a superhero, and there's more going on than just punching villains" the best thing I can think of off the top of my head is to read early Amazing Spider-Man. A lot will look pretty cheesy perhaps, but you'll have villains, family concerns, financial/school/job issues and conflicts, PR problems, problems with friends and love life, etc.

Re: Where are the great shooters with lower dex?

First off Enforcer84, is that how you get to 10000 posts?

Inane replies and in complete sentences? What a waste of my thread. Go post else were with that drivel.

Add to it so people can take something away from it other then back handed comments.

I was just using that as an thought sparker.

If that is all you got then See ya.

[Mod]Calm down.[/Mod]

Besides, he's right. Dex, with no limits like NCM placed on it, was generally a cheaper way to make accurate characters, but it was never the only way. Dex for general ability, levels for skill.

Beast

So, a trained soldier of what ever arm of what ever group. You really think 15 is what they should have?

I know point scale and flavour is a HUGE factor.

I am talking DARK gritty Under the Red Hood sort of story.

I know it all comes down to personal choice for gaming. But isn't 15 a real athlete high level dex for a normal trained soldier?

One of the great things about HERO, but understandably frustrating at times is that everything is easily changed to however you/GM/group sees fit. I've been in games with 30dex/6spd agents, and others where olympic gymnasts would be dex 10-13, just with some extra points spent on acrobatics. It's all very relative. I imagine that the standard superhero game type Viper agent would have a 15 dex/str, as in the source material secret agency agents are often shown to be pretty tough and capable folks (with exceptions) compared to normals, yet still easily outclassed by the 20+ stat supers. If you want your game to be more gritty and with stats that hover closer to 10, you can certainly do so. All the different playstyles are valid, just different.

Re: Guess the inspiration behind this superteam!

Hah, I don't think I ever saw those ads. I guess PM's existence can be forgiven a little if it led to those.

3 different aspects of Superman?

Indeed. Actioneers for Action Comics, faster than a speeding bullet, man of steel, big blue boy scout, and three of his most iconic power sets.

edit - Great Caesar's Ghost! I must spread it around!

Re: Guess the inspiration behind this superteam!

The inspiration can come from anywhere.

 

This is a team that I've had for some time but never had a chance to use. Some may be somewhat obscure, but have a common root.

 

The Man in White: Pale, but not albino, somewhat portly older man. Has white hair and a neatly trimmed white goatee. Wears a white three piece linen suit, carries a white cane. Speaks with a southern accent. Amazingly agile for his weight and apparent age, martial artist with some TK, enough bojitsu to use the cane offensively and defensively.

 

The Man in Black: Wears black gaucho boots, tight tailored pants and shirt (black), and a black sombrero. Bandoleers of bullets criss-cross his chest, and there are two pistols worn on his belt. Crack shot. Speaks English and Spanish with a Mexican accent. Looks younger and more athletic than the Man in White, comments imply that he is actually older. Seems to have a rivalry with the Man in White for leadership of the group, both claim to be the leader, team will follow orders from either, but somehow their orders never contradict each other.

 

The Girls. Appear to be in their late teens / early twenties. Both high DEX martial artist/minor speedsters. Both wear vaguely para-military outfits, but very different from each other. The burnette wears black slacks and shirt, with a red cap, jacket and a blaster pistol on a silver belt. The blonde's uniform is cerulean piped with white, with white belt and roller skates, topped with a folding cloth flight cap. Brunette speaks with a Midwestern accent, the blonde a southern one.

 

The Slacker. Strawberry blond in his mid 20's. Speedster, faster than the two girls put together. Wears very large (size 16?) cross trainers, baggy pants, baggy sweat shirt, and shades. Shades 24/7, indoors and out. Has freckles, disdainful of anyone who mentions them. Accent is a strange combination of East and West coast, like a Jersey Boy who was moved to the OC when he was 13. Wile E Coyote-like ability to absorb damage.

 

And finally Gidget. Six pound mentalist, often carried by one or the other of The Girls in a purse-like conveyance. Same accent as The Man in Black.

Several of them have already been guessed, but:

New team:

The Actioneers

Bullet: Flying speedster.

Steel: Brick; strong and tough.

Scout: Enhanced senses, can also fire energy blasts from his eyes.

Re: GMing style, what else apart from 'Round the Table'?

Another vote for keeping them together where possible. Form a team as early as possible, and toss in freebies like radios and a basic HQ if necessary to keep them in contact. Player A may be the focus for the intro to the scenario, but should quickly realize they need help and call in the rest of the team. Captain America may bust up the initial robbery, but then he calls in Black Panther to help understand why they wanted the McGuffinite in the first place and to help track down the Hydra base, then they call in Thor, Vision and Scarlet Witch to help bust the place. Rotate whose thread leads to the big plot in different sessions.

Re: Tales of the Gold Monkey finally coming to official DVD release

Awesome! Now they need to get around to releasing Wizards and Warriors.

Re: Beating Dr. Destroyer...how do (or did) you do it?

Beat him with a club.

This is actually the exact way the "heroes" beat him in the very first game of Champions I ran, running the original Island of Dr. Destroyer for my brother and his friend. "Beast" hit him with his club, which was something like 6d6 or 8d6K with his STR thrown in, and in my newness to the game ignored the good Dr's 35 fully resistant PD and just rolled it straight into BODY...

Re: CHAMPIONS VILLAINS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

4. OTOH, the "Plot Seeds" sidebars are going away. They suffer from a number of problems, including (a) they tend to become repetitive, since there are relatively few ways to make a single villain the focus of a plot involving an entire superhero team, and ( they're a royal pain in the ass to write. If I add a "what people know" sidebar, that would take up the requisite sidebar space anyway... and to some extent that and an "Associates and Antagonists" section might cover much the same ground as "Plot Seeds."

Maybe this covers some of the ground of "things you're not going to do", but maybe a section for "Clues villain might be in area" - not a plot, but some bits that could help indicate an MO and establish a feel for the character. Things like "Loud roars and cars flying through the air" for Grond, or more subtle ones like "Local fishermen report odd movements in the water" for Leech, to things like "Local manufacturer reports theft of 17 taffy-pull machines" for Foxbat.

Re: Help name that superhero group

The Van Guard (no, not The Vanguard...those guys are tough. We just actually guard the van.)

Re: The best Superpet?

Cat or dog would be simplest. Monkey or something that could be a useful lab assistant would be good for girl genius.

For a more off-the wall suggestion, how about an ant farm? She has an ant colony she has and studies (she IS a budding girl genius after all), after the accident they get some form of collective intelligence, etc.

Re: Storn Idea to full picture Year 7

Well here is another idea

 

A Samurai in full armour including the face mask.

A Clown Samurai. Clown face mask complete with big red nose, garish armor, rubber katana, maybe a banner with a clown face or a soap pie design.

Re: A Storeowner's First Impression

I wasn't talking about the OP - I was responding to a Post Mayapuppies made. Read the conversation in order. It was specific comments about a specific statement that wasn't the OP.

From the actual posts, it's easy to see how the confusion came about. The OP self-identified as a store owner. mayapuppies only identified his conversation partner as:

The guy behind the counter

Not as a store owner. You responded later with:

The store owner is either complaining to complain or really is an illiterate moron. Flat out.

without quoting the bit from mayapuppies, so it would seem to be referring to the OP.

I'll accept that you misread mayapuppies' post and weren't referring to another poster with your "illiterate moron" comments.

Regardless I'd appreciate if everyone would remember to read the Rules of Conduct, especially this part:

Rule One: Respect Others.

Re: Lame or awesome?

One I've always thought was lame was Angel of the early X-Men. He's got wings. Yippety-skippity. "I got this cool idea for a character. He's got wings, so he can fly." "And?" "... and he can glide." "And?" "... okay, I got nothin'."

 

Granted a little creative use of powers and environment, and you've got a limited range Wing-Flap attack, Change Environment (kicking up dust), maybe even... okay, I still got nothin'.

He's also got good eyesight, makes a good scout, good fighter, agile, is rich and gets babes.

It makes a big difference when he's the only one on the team that can fly. Angel on a team with Cyclops, Iceman, Beast and Marvel Girl? Very handy. On a team with Storm and Rogue? Not as much.

Re: On the Willful Killing and Maiming of NPCs

*raises hand*

Why take out the team's buddy who "is on the relatively short list of space-capable supers, and with his VPP he could assist a team of space-capable but non-orbital supers in getting to orbit and duking it out with the aliens"? Do you just not want them to be able to do so?

If it's emotional impact you want, surely there are some non-super NPCs that could serve as well? Innocent bystanders that the other super team couldn't save?