Supreme Serpent

LOST: Explosive Space Modulator. Looks like ordinary stick of red dynamite, but tests will prove otherwise. Need returned in order to have unobstructed view of Venus. Reply to Marvin M. at box 57148.

For the siren song, I'd say a -1/4 "Does not work on the deaf/those that cannot hear" would be fine. As far as being sound-based, the "liberal-GM-who-lets-character-concepts-he-likes-get-away-with-more" side of me would probably handle the range issue. Normal mental powers are normally LOS. I'd give the siren song a max range (like 5xpts in inches) but allow some targeting leeway for someone she can't see but KNOWS is there - thug runs into room and slams door, she beckons them out with her mind control. Hardly solidly rules-based, but I try to balance mechanics and special effects at times.

I believe that it's different kinds of railguns. German WW "railguns" were large conventional artillery pieces that were moved around on railroads. The "modern"/Viper version of "railguns" are electromagnetic slugthrowers that accelerate projectile to ridiculous velocities along a straight line.

Having high defenses could very easily make you Overconfident and/or Reckless. When the Thing runs out into traffic he's more concerned with damage to the cars than to himself...

Champs trivia from old adventure: What is the most robbed bank?

My games aren't set in the official CU, so won't really apply directly. However, I love time travel stuff for comics - good fodder for stories. In my most recent campaign, the first adventure was the big time-travel villain (Moebius, local Kang knock-off) coming to town and attacking the heroes in a "final encounter" - trying to destroy them before they formed their team and caused him headaches in the future. Of course, his attack is what caused them to band together as a team. Silly supervillain! I had lots of fun with odd combinations of tenses in his soliloquies - he knew all about them, referring to future events like they were in the past, while they had no idea who this guy was. Inspired by recent JSA issues, sent heroes back to a neverwhen ancient Egypt, just so they could go into stasis in sarcophogai and awaken in modern times, and have neat souveneirs. Of course, being players, they didn't want to do it. Ah well, best laid plans and all that. I've had previous group travel back to stop Nuclear War from the Cuban Missile Crisis, and have lots of potential scenarios in mind also. Take any potential break point in history, and have great scenario.

I am planning on someday modifying and running Island of Dr. Destroyer, Deathstroke, Stronghold, and GSVC. Nothing yet, so sorry can't present you with a rough draft or anything.

Champions does not have the basic mechanics. It is a good book though (hey, Aarron Allston did it), and would be especially useful for the group to have one if there are players unfamiliar with the genre. CKC has Ogre and Foxbat, but no Fox. If you make up your own guys mostly, you can pretty safely put it off, I would imagine. Can be handy as templates for quick conversion - "Ok, I need another hero team - right, take the Ultimates, change some disads, bingo!"

There's always being stuck in a fire-resistant room filling with water. Alternatively, heat attacks cause the walls to swell, cutting down the available space, so the water fills it faster. One way out is for character to heat it up really quick once its about halfway full, and the sudden water pressure will burst the walls.

You will need some kind of explanation as to why Dr. D can't just get through his own stealth tech, find the satellite, and blast it to bits. Of course, the most reasonable explanation is that he CAN, but instead wants to use the heroes to help him defeat the Supreme Serpent, so that he can then betray the heroes and just override the controls and run things himself. My idea for how it works is: artificial psionics. Modified version of Dr. D's own cybernetic control mechanisms and mind-control implants. Transmits on common human brainwave patterns to implant ideas/thoughts deep into their subconscious. Resisted by mental defense, and most mentalists, AIs, and aliens immune as their brainwaves are too different.

I've run a short-lived one, and played in a couple of them. Make up the characters with everybody together. Not the stats necessarily, but the background, personality, etc. so you can work everyone in and they will function as a team, at least most of the time. (example: "Dr. Destructor" is the master villain powerarmored mad scientist. "Block" is the mutated minion who is fanatically loyal and his enforcer. "Black Adder" is the superninja that Dr. Destructor saved from certain death at the hands of VIPER, so feels honor-bound to serve him. "Firestrike" is a mutant who feels hounded by society, so enjoys working with the Doc to strike back, and get rich at the same time. Etc) Having a Master Villain that they work with is good to give them direction, alternatively they could work for an NPC group like VIPER that would give them assignments. May want to consider giving the MV more points, and maybe give the group some free safehouses/bases etc. Watch over character construction closely, esp. disads/personalities. If you don't want a group of DESPICABLY evil kill crazy maniacs, make sure you watch out for that and make that clear to the players. One way to influence this is to announce at the start that you plan on using these guys as NPC villains down the road in the next HERO game you run, after they've had a good bit of play time/experience. Encourage villain-like behavior - give rewards for playing in genre, putting heroes in death traps, engineering things to make it more likely for heroes to get involved, etc. Talk with the players ahead of time about what you expect, and what they want out of it (good for any campaign). If you want them to have some limited successes but they fail in the big schemes, make sure they know that going in. They can have fun "inadvertantly" sabotaging their own schemes. Encourage disads like "Overconfidence", "Gloats of plans to defeated heroes", "Unluck" and such.

Re: odd CAK question Central point - even if you consider creating a clone to be a crime against humanity, surely BEING a clone is not. Raises some Secret ID issues too.

Let's see...first characters I'm currently playing... RED STAR: would freak out, take villain in to authorities, get back with rest of group and try to get Allied scientists to repair him & check out rest of group. Then go out and track down the Nazi and/or mad scientist that's behind this fiendish plot. LEI KUNG: would not believe it, would look around for anybody who looks like an egoist and let them FEEL THE THUNDER OF LEI KUNG, MINISTER OF STORMS!!!! Depending on the team makeup at that time, could be interesting. some other characters... ROBOTMAN: pick up hand to have it reattached later. Think about getting some kind of coating to stop X type of attack. Take villain in. OMEGA: would have stray Star Wars thought that maybe the villain is really his father , then would drag hand and villain over to PRIMUS for investigation of self and incarceration of villain. Start investigating to find biological self, while beginning going over the ethical and spiritual implications. What if he frees the "real" Omega, but is still sentient in this form as well? Will he have a soul? Will he have rights in society as an AI? Will they be able to co-exist? Can he just walk away from the life that he feels is "his" and make way for the "real" Omega? What will he do when this "adventure" is over?

One of our campaigns had him turning into a superpowered snake-monster. Curt Connors meets Steve Irwin.

Reminds me of a running joke my group has about disads on various characters in HERO products over the years that everyone should have - "Dies when staked throught heart", "Afraid of Dr. Destroyer", "Cautious around explosives" and the like.

Makes for a good reason why agents run around with 6d6 Blasters vs 2d6 RKAs.

Something to keep in mind as you are working this up. As you have it now, the player will have access to the full MP on the even phases, EVEN IF he goes ahead and uses his full 12 speed. The player could then organize his turn like this: 1: Recover 2: use MP at full power. 3: Dodge 4: use MP at full power. 5: Dodge 6: use MP at full power. 7: move 8: use MP at full power. 9: Recover 10: use MP at full power. 11: dodge 12: use MP at full power. ...or something similar. Not saying you shouldn't allow it in your game, but something to keep in mind when you're thinking about restrictions for this rationale.

Also, consider scenario from another defense lawyer standpoint: Fact: Demon possession going on, demon had possessed kid. Fact: Hero acted in unusual way, killing demon/kid. Possibility: Was Hero being somehow unknowingly influenced by demonic entity at the time? Even if Hero himself doesn't think so, might be enough for "reasonable doubt" in the mind of a jury given the very unusual circumstances.

Howabout represent it by a limitation on the multipower?

Also, if the gang member invited the possession (made some kind of pact with the demon, etc) then the courts might rule the gang member /the gang at least partially liable for what happened. In a super world, the courts might even view mind control/possession to be akin to kidnapping.

As far as HD issues, I have no idea. As far as the basic design, I've done an "Hourman" clone similarly. Extra stats w/continuing charges lasting 1 hour, IIF Miraclo Pills (went w/IIF since could not "take it away" from him once power started, even though could interfere with pill taking), gestures (can't get to pill/put it in mouth if hands restrained). Worked out pretty well.

I don't have a big problem with FW in general, but I do look at it closely in a "whole character" context. However, if you do have a problem with it, but don't want to ban it altogether, here's another limiting suggestion. Allow the reduced defenses to apply for only one hit. Once you have taken advantage of the weak spot, you must find another one (ie more phases & rolls) to take advantage of it again. Example: Sureshot has FW 13- with his pistol. He is fighting CinderBlock, a big tough brick. Sureshot spends several actions using FW on CinderBlock, making two rolls (13- and 11-), bringing him down to 1/4 defenses. Now he fires at the cracked area he noticed, taking advantage of the 1/4 defenses. Next phase, he starts over again with CinderBlock at full defenses, and can start trying to FW again starting at 13-.

The net effect of him using the attack is a 90pt active power, everytime he uses it, so it's out of campaign guidelines. Depending on how reasonable the player is, you have several options to reduce it. a ) talk to him, ask him to reduce it to a 2d6 base HKA, explaining the effect it is having on the game and how out of line the attack is with campaign guidelines. Hopefully this will resolve it. b ) have him start killing villains, with the associated consequences. If that doesn't work, have him start killing normals villains have dressed up in their costumes - start with random people, then the police chief's wife, then his DNPC's, then other player's DNPC's. Sooner or later, Mr. HackyHacky is going to get reined in. c ) Have him roll in the open, where you can see it. Calculate the damage yourself, ignoring the two high dice. (ie he rolls 6d6 KA, gets 6,5,4,4,3,3=25 body. Drop the two high #s and instead it only does 14 body. Apply the stun mod to the modified total.) d ) have villains hit him with the same thing, or worse. 60 Str villain hits him w/ 4d6 HKA up to 8d6 HKA with linked 6d6NND, a 60 active point all senses flash, etc, etc all rolled into one attack, though each part is within guidelines on its own.

Now accepting Nest Leader applications.

Both sound like fun. I'm planning on bringing in an evil, alternate-verse version of my team. Emphasize the negative aspects of the characters' personalities, see how they react, maybe encourage some "character" growth in the characters.