Supreme Serpent

Re: What if: Japan won World War 2? Hey, it's the Champions forum. And the idea is to have JAPAN win, but Germany and Italy still go down the tubes? Have history run its course up into summer 1945. Italy and Germany crushed. US drops A-bombs, but has unintended consequence, as many of the survivors develop superpowers, the first to do so. Drafted and thirsting for revenge for the destruction of their homes and families, the thousands of Japanese supers quickly reverse allied gains in the Pacific. Whether the Allies make peace with them or are overrun altogether likely depends on the power level of the supers involved. (As I'm typing this, see that MMD writing similar thing...)

Re: Been there done that? Could also perhaps do AK: World with enough penalty skill levels to cover the penalties for drilling down to localities.

Re: Order of the Stick Belkar Bitterleaf is like Galactus - a force of destruction beyond mortals' ability to comprehend, with a larger role to play in the order of the universe. Attempting to impose a set of morals on him is pointless. Besides, he'll stab you if you try.

Re: My First Game of Champions! First one I remember was me running for my brother and a friend of his. Island of Dr. Destroyer. Don't remember my brother's character, but his friend's was called "Beast". Had a big club that could do something insane like 8d6K. They made their way onto the island, got past the defenses, got past the flunkies, made their way to the climactic showdown with Dr. Destroyer, terror of nations, himself to try to keep him from launching the dread Hypnoray satellite. Beast gets up to him, whomps him with the club. Check the damage against Dr. D's BODY score. "Well, he's dead." Forgot about little things like his defenses...

Re: Support Villain Concept I would think you'd need to include something significant in his background to explain why he isn't just sitting in Beverly Hills raking in the money legitimately charging $$$$ for a safe plastic surgery/weight reduction etc. alternative.

Re: Find Weakness/Phase 12? What we did. Sounds like a GM call. If the events were all tightly compacted like that, I'd call it one essentially continuous encounter, and keep the FW. If you KO'd him, ran around the base for five minutes, hacked their computers, and ran into him again on the way out, would probably have to start over.

Re: Opinions On Being An "Ex-Viper Member" Hey Max! Depends on circumstances of leaving. If he just disappears during an Op gone bad, they'll probably just assume he's dead and not worry about it. If he sneaks away in the middle of the night and the next day the Nest just HAPPENS to get raided, and someone who knows he bailed escapes to tell the tale...he may have a Hunted. For entry-level agent, I'd probably just say make it a 'Secret' that could foul his relations with other heroes/authorities instead of a Hunted. If something big that VIPER has reason to trace back to him, go with a Hunted. Of course, if he's since made a habit of messing with VIPER, he could pick up a Hunted for reasons unrelated to having been an agent.

Re: Old Enemies Vengorthrax the Accursed Mage who dared too much in his search for immortality. He was successful...after a fashion. When he dies, he is instantly reincarnated in a new form elsewhere. These forms tend to be unusual and repulsive, though sometimes bring with them secondary useful abilities like wings, poison mandibles, suction-tipped tentacles, etc. Some make spellcasting difficult - he usually takes a quick trip off a cliff when that happens hoping for a more suitable form.

Re: Wonder Woman: the best stories My favorite WW story was the four-part "Challenge of the Gods" Perez arc.

Re: Looking for help with some Monkey Business. Kooky Chinese martial arts master who gets critically injured. His students take him to a nearby 'doctor' (you know, the kind of guy that 'fixed' Oculon, etc) The only way to save him is to transplant his brain into the convenient body of an ape. Once he recovers and adjusts he finds his Kung Fu works just fine in his new body, and he can still make use of all his monk-chi powers as well.

Re: Who Is... Your Favorite Villain? Solos: Foxbat Anklyosaur Armadillo Grond Teams: 'Deathstroke' module era Deathstroke original Ultimates Master Villains: original blue-armored Dr. Destroyer. Somewhat kooky schemes, major threat but not a god in armor.

Re: Would Marvel/DC Sue? For someone just using the name to go out and do heroing stuff, probably not a big deal. I've known guys called 'Moose' before, and Archie Comics never came after them. If said hero decided to start publishing comics, making movies and such using that name, there might be issues. But for most ignore-the-laws-except-those-that-suit-you superhero types, I doubt it would be a big concern. "Sure, sue me. Have fun trying to serve the papers."

Re: Need Perjoratives! I'd feel great. I mean, hot damn I've got superpowers! :celebrate

Re: Need Perjoratives! Tights Capes Masks Bouncers (bouncing bullets) Freaks (good ol' standby) Darwins Halos (for 'good guys') Horns (for 'bad guys') Horn Section (supervillain support for an operation/organization) F/X (doing stuff normally only seen in Hollywood special effects) Chromos Sparklers/Glowies

Re: Thoughts on some superhero origins Yep. What % of big Hollywood stars are native Los Angelenos? Add in some historical examples like Lawrence of Arabia, that Georgian fellow who took over Russia, that Corsican fellow who took over France, that Austrian guy who's running California...I don't think it's too strange. Plus, from a storytelling standpoint it gives the reader someone more familiar to identify with, who discovers the other world/culture at the same time the reader does. Convenient that.

Re: Villain's Super Weapons - To Build or Not To Build? I don't build such things. It is a good idea to have an idea of the effect if a PC does wind up caught in it - what sort of lightning damage might the storms kicked up by the weather dominator do, how much of an entangle if zapped by the freeze ray, etc. but overall it's literally a plot device.

Re: Monk Easier to swim. Easier to go incognito/undercover. Walk into bad guy fortress, guards search you for weapons, find none, etc. I think both the limitations and the 'treat as spells' idea of tancred's are good. Mostly though it's campaign/scenario dependent on if there are advantages or not. If the party is never caught without their gear on, fighting on nice level firm ground in standard tactical situations, there's not much point. If instead they get ambushed in the middle of the night on board a rickety boat in storm-tossed seas...being the monk-guy has its upside.

Re: New Advangtage: Always Hits Years ago I was asked by a player about this. "How much would it cost to always hit?" I replied, "Twenty bucks a week."

Re: The Mind Controlling Hero For a while I've wanted to do a group of heroes who have more typically 'villainous' powers but strong heroic mentalities. Mind Control, Disintegration beams, claws, 'Fear powers', etc. It's easy for Spider-Man to be all high-falutin' about lethality when his powers include massive danger sense, ability to dodge most attacks, and non-lethal webbing to safely restrain enemies. But what if Peter Parker instead got adamantium claws and regeneration? Might find it harder to restrain himself if he keeps getting shot ten times a day.

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth? Earth is just a wargame zone. After hearing reports on it beating off other alien invasions and doing some initial recon, V'han decided to use it as a testing and training ground. The resources spent on limited attacks on Earth are paid back many times in the lessons learned and copying the often inqenious defensive ploys of the Earthlings for their own uses. Since the Earth program started, V'hannian defensive efficiency vs. Tyrranon, etc. has imroved 11.6%.

Re: WWYCD? Women City Savers Only Inside the city isn't the only crisis. I think the vast majority of my male heroes would let the heroines take the fight inside (hopefully with help from other heroines from elsewhere) while they try to help cope with the issues outside. Suddenly there are millions of males outside the city. Young boys -some of them infants- who are children of single mothers, separated by the barrier from their caregivers. Men popped out from their hospital care, their daily medicines, their dialysis, shelter from the elements, etc. An instant massive refugee crisis of near-Katrina proportions. And don't forget all the male supervillains and male VIPER agents etc. are out in the mix too. Those that get to just go in and fight the sorceress have the easy job. Hope they win quick!

Re: How many plots do you have going? I usually have one plotline prominently up front any given time (the 'adventure'). Several percolating that players may see glimpses of or be involved in peripherally, and various minor incidents and subplots.

Re: Best Avengers Group My dream lineup would be (ignoring Civil War etc. of course): Captain America Iron Man (Stark) Thor Wasp Pym (whatever version) Hawkeye Vision Scarlet Witch Wonder Man Beast Big group already, and can have others drop by from time to time, but this is the batch of folks that really screams AVENGERS to me.

Re: Magicians without magic You could also take the approach that all the stage magician stuff IS real magic, of a sort many can learn. Many mystical apprentices are begun on that sort of thing, and gradually move up to more arcane stuff.

Re: Ideas for a Pulp character? Right Cross: +Xd6 HA Hit 'em where it hurts: xd6 NND, no range, defense having non-standard biology, force field Thanks Mrs. Tiwilliger! : TK, invisible, indirect. Local ghosts play poltergeist and help her out tossing foes around, breaking vases over their heads, etc.