Lord Liaden

Re: Phantom Stranger Yes, there is.

Re: Could Destroyer Win? That would be the Great New Mexico Crater.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See? A "Book of the Dead" would actually be pretty cool to see. There are certainly enough named deceased characters in the CU by now, especially due to Takofanes' debut rampage and the Battle of Detroit. They'd be good for adventures set in earlier eras, and as a source of legacy characters. Ravenswood Academy, as detailed in Teen Champions, is filling the "school for young supers" niche in the current CU.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See? The Protectors are kinda sidetracking Darren's thread - whether or not they ever eventually make it into the official Champions Universe, I think it's safe to assume they won't be in CU II. Fitting them into continuity would take some revisions of the characters, which Darren and Steve are extremely unlikely to undertake at this point. However, with this level of positive response I think we should start a separate thread to actually sound out support for bringing back the Protectors. That would probably be a better place than here to put the Protector-love. It might be helpful to make it a poll, not just for whether or not it should be done, but how people would like to see it done. Maybe you guys could give some input on how the various options should be phrased? These are my preliminary thoughts on the matter: As an official part of the Champions Universe, revised to fit as necessary; As an updating of the original adventure, To Serve And Protect; As a full campaign sourcebook (Champions By The Bay); Character updates and setting info released piecemeal, like the current Strike Force proposal; Not interested in the Protectors. A poll like that should probably be multiple choice, too. Do you agree with listing those options, and are there others that I forgot?

Re: When you think "Superhero".... David Blue, that was a very good post which made some really pertinent points; but I have to disagree strongly with you over this one: Superman generally does not insert himself into purely political or social disputes, true. But if he's aware of the situation, Superman will not stand by and let anyone die horribly, whether the perpetrator is the American government, the Christian right or God Himself. (And a few times in the past it's almost come to that.) He'll try not to take sides on the issues, or if he's forced to will usually choose the established democratic order, because he believes in it. But no-one is dying without at least due process on his watch, as long as he has breath.

Re: When you think "Superhero"....

Re: I can't help it, I'm obsessed, made my own STUNx d6 Nice! Since you're giving away the PDF for free, perhaps you should contact Hero Games's Webmaster, Ben Seeman, to offer it for the "Free Stuff" section of the website.

Re: When you think "Superhero".... As I once elaborated in this post, as an American phenomenon the comic-book superhero embodies the ideals of American culture: truth, justice and the rule of law; the responsibility of the strong to protect the weak; the few standing against all the forces of chaos and destruction; extraordinary beings who consider less gifted individuals to be fundamentally their equals, worthy of respect. I should point out that even Batman believes in the spirit of the law, if not always its letter. He doesn't choose the punishment for the criminals he fights; he turns them over to "the system" to deal with as they deem appropriate. Not assuming the role of judge, jury and executioner is a key element of what sets Batman apart from more ruthless vigilantes. And I expect that takes as much idealism and strength of will as Superman not turning Lex Luthor into a bloody smear.

Re: I can't help it, I'm obsessed, made my own STUNx d6 Very nice looking work, Flames! Let us know if they hold up under use. You know, if Hero Games ever produces more HERO dice, a Stun Multiplier die would make a great addition to the set.

Re: Desintegrator Weapons Illudium Q36. Accept no substitutes!

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See? Well, it does sound like Scott might possibly be receptive to a collaborative author...

Re: Desintegrator Weapons You are correct, Vanguard. From the FAQ: A character who has positive BODY, and is Suppressed into negative BODY, does not lose more BODY in Post-Segment 12. If reduced to negative his BODY solely due to Suppress, a character “dies” for all intents and purposes, but comes back to life when the Suppress ceases to apply.

Re: Else Earth Naming Game... Oh, well, that's different. That opens up a whole range of possibilities, which don't necessarily have to refer directly to the main group. If you would like to keep the business theme, though, how about calling the armed group "The Corporate Raiders," "Hostile Takeover" or "The Acquisition Division"?

Re: Snowblind? When Hero Games published the Champions genre book, they believed they had the rights to the character of Icicle. That turned out to not be the case, or at least to be in dispute. IIRC the other claimant is Dennis Malonee's comic company, Heroic Publishing, which also has rights to some of the other characters used in early Champions publications. FWIW I think that "Snowblind" is a (deliberate groan inducer) cooler name.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See? Scott, if I thought that my support would make a difference, I would be totally behind this suggestion. The Protectors remain my favorite published Champions teams, and I know that more of us veterans feel similarly. Over and above neat character designs, great team composition and tactics, one of the coolest bases around, and your snazzy illustrations, the Protectors have that indefinable magic you just can't produce on demand. Okay, here's a suggestion back at you: what's the chance of you getting a license from Hero Games to publish your Champions By The Bay manuscript? I've wanted to read that for years.

Re: Stargate Question Cool! More conversions to add to the STARGATE part of my list.

Re: Desintegrator Weapons

Re: Desintegrator Weapons All-or-nothing is a -1/2 Limitation on Transform. Since Transform is explicitly based on Killing Attacks, I'd consider it fair to apply that to a damaging Power with that Restriction. The SFX of the Disintegration failing, is that it in fact missed the target, no matter what the Attack Roll said.

Re: Desintegrator Weapons For effects like this, where you want immediate and total lethality, I've long used an "Instant Kill" House Rule, based on a target taking an amount of BODY damage after Defenses equal to their starting BODY from a single attack (including Coordinated attacks). If you want serious lethality, that circumstance leads to immediate death - or disintegration in this case. Weapons that are supposed to be "one-shot/one-kill" become feasible on lower Active Points. For more "cinematic" games where you want heroes to have a chance to escape this fate, I recommend a CON roll after taking that amount of BODY damage. If the roll is failed, the character dies due to shock. Mere normal bystanders with CON of 8-10 have an 11- chance of dying immediately, so if you prefer lots of NPC casualties you can just assume that they failed their rolls.

Re: Else Earth Naming Game... You know, a rather innocuous-sounding name that the group's founders view differently than most people might not be a bad way to go. Witness the CU's "Institute for Human Advancement," whose members have their own definitions of "human" and "advancement." To the general public, though, it would sound like a pretty positive-spirited group. Perhaps you could use something like "The Foundation for Economic Justice." It's just that the heads of the Foundation consider "economic justice" to be "all the wealth of the world in the hands of ruthless bastiches like us!"

Re: Unofficial Handbook to the Champions Universe By all means take your time, but don't hesitate to ask for something in particular. We're a generally friendly and helpful bunch, and the online community is big and very creative. Whatever you might be interested in HERO- or gaming-wise, there's a good chance we can hook you up.

Re: Unofficial Handbook to the Champions Universe BTW, lynnlefey, welcome to the boards! You certainly came up with an attention-catching introduction. I hope you'll take advantage of the many other resources and diversions that our community has to offer.

Re: Treating CV like levels BTW the "HEROglyphs" column on deconstructing DEX is in Digital Hero #15.

Re: Else Earth Naming Game... I've done the "alliance of evil corporations" tack myself, quite successfully. I agree with David and Matt that the names you're suggesting don't really fit the image of "evil businessmen." They're more along the lines of more overt, colorful villain orgs. IMHO business-based groups work better either as practical-sounding names with ominous undertones (like my personal favorite, The ReDirection Cartel from Kingdom of Champions), or as catchy, marketable acronyms, like ARGENT in the current CU (Advanced Research Group ENTerprises). In the former case, the name ought to include some "businesslike" words, such as "Corporation," "Cartel," or "Syndicate." Combine that with something grandiose and you get a rather unsettling mix of arrogance and banality. E.g. "The Olympus Cartel" or "Corporate Destiny."