Lord Liaden

"Turnabout" is fair play.

I'm considering reviving my 4E version of Raven working in some of the new villains from CKC. I had taken the aristocratic notion of Raven putting power in the hands of those "born to rule", and making that birthright be the inherent superiority of the superpowered. In other words, the leadership of Raven are all supervillains who intend to lord it over normal humans. For example, all the mutants of IMAGE from The Mutant File were subsumed into Raven. It seems to me that Holocaust has exactly the right background and attitude to be a prominent member of that organization - perhaps the leader of their elite combat force. However, as ultimate leader of the organization, IMO only one villain has the power, genius, mindset and proper aristocratic lineage: Menton. I must say, though, that I was disappointed by the changes to Firewing's origin. Being hopped up on power-enhancing drugs seems petty compared to a warrior trying to expunge his guilt by "walking through the fire", and instead being transformed into something far greater. That added a depth of sympathy and twisted nobility to Firewing that I find lacking in the current version.

No threat - just a piece of friendly advice. I had the reprogrammed "goodguy" Mechanon model from Sanctuary, Peacekeeper, as an NPC hero in a previous campaign. He's helped UNTIL with international threats on several occasions, partly to garner government and public support for Sanctuary. One of my game colleagues also ran Peacekeeper as a PC in a mini-campaign as part of an ad-hoc group of the world's greatest heroes, brought together to combat an epic threat. With the revisions to the new Mechanon, I'm planning on introducing Peacekeeper into my new campaign as a sometime ally to the PCs. I want the players to care when Mechanon shows up to exterminate his "embarrassing" doppleganger once and for all. And with Peacekeeper being an antiquated relic compared to Mechanon's latest upgrades, he's really going to need the help.

Blue and Hermit: I really don't think you should be casting aspersions on my heredity. Dad might not like it.

That looks like a pretty solid beginning to Goku, bushido11. I agree that using Succor for the powerup makes a lot of sense. If you'd like to compare your ideas with others, and maybe explore some more DBZ resources, one of your fellow posters, Michael Surbrook (author of the recent Ninja HERO sourcebook) has posted extensive HERO System stats for many elements of the Dragonball Z Universe on his excellent website, "Surbrook's Stuff": characters, races, powers, gadgets and vehicles. Relating this stuff to your own experience with DBZ might help clarify the system for you. Plus it's really fun! "Surbrook's Stuff" also has writeups for characters from books, movies, comics, manga and anime, and other games, as well as conversions from other rpg systems, optional HERO System material, and more neatness than I can readily list. The homepage of the site is here: http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/index/index.html To get directly to the DBZ section, click here: http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/dbzhero/dbzhero.html

One more ghastly addition to this scenario: the animated dead which Takofanes has recruited to his service could include supervillains and NPC (or even former PC) superheroes known to the player characters when they were alive. In fact, since the date of the apocalypse would have been after the heroes travelled into the future, they could conceivably be faced with undead versions of themselves.

With all the options in the HERO System it's easy to get lost in the details, and lose sight of the "fun" part. Glad you found that again, Yamo. What you've got looks pretty reasonable; limited enough to not exceed the bounds of the genre, but with plenty of room for variety. I've always liked Variable Lim myself; gives mages flexibility in how they can trade off their Limitations, so that they don't necessarily have to be powerless if you gag them or bind their hands. Hope this works for you.

Interestingly enough, the original Island of Dr. Destroyer adventure included Zerstoiten's mistress, the Countess Natasha Alexandrovna, who was described as being open to being persuaded to aid the heroes. Scott Bennie assumed that she had done so when he put her in his sequel adventure, Day of the Destroyer. Actually, it wasn't exactly the Countess, but her corpse preserved and mounted like a mannequin by Destroyer as the price of her treachery. Anyway, that adventure first came out IIRC in 1983 or '84; any "love child" between those two would be in his or her late teens by now.

Nato, me still no see not'ing. Could be my new glasses acting up though.

I could see these two united for a short time to accomplish a single goal: the eradication of life on Earth. After all, their greatest rivals and opponents would be killed as well. With their combined resources drawing upon both technology and sorcery, the world would be in serious trouble. Once the world was dead, though, they would be at each other's throats. This would actually make an interesting post-apocalyptic time travel scenario: the world stripped of all life has become divided between a barren desert populated by animated corpses, and a gleaming steel wasteland filled with sterile machines. The border between them would probably seethe with ceaseless warfare of robots against supernatural horrors. Without green plants to process carbon dioxide the air would lbe unbreathable, and the greenhouse effect would make the temperature inimical to life - not that that would bother any of the current inhabitants. OTOH, industrial pollutants from Mechanon's construction might have swathed the atmosphere in toxic clouds, cutting off the sun and plunging the land into permanent winter. Either way, a sojourn like that would provide plenty of motivation for the heroes to try to stop that alliance.

Sorry I can't accomodate you right away, K.S. Not only have I not yet updated my old Grond to 5E, I don't own Hero Designer. Actually, I'm one of those pencil-and-paper dinosaurs. I'll see if I can put together something postable, though.

I'm glad that my suggestions worked for you, Crimson-Hawk. Really, they were just permutations of what you had already created. I must say that the rationale you posit for the name "Silver Phoenix" is logical and very interesting from a character development perspective. One word about using "Moon Shadow" as your heroine's earlier pseudonym: if you have any older players, they might associate the name with the classic Cat Stevens folksong. That came out many years ago though, and in any event the lyrics are not inappropriate given your character's background and might even have inspired her; just be prepared if someone mentions it.

I've modified Grond myself to make him more Hulk-level, since that seems to be the role he fulfills in the Champions Universe. I do notice, though, that your "strongest one there is" Strength addition is an on-off arrangement; it kicks in at full force as soon as Grond goes Enraged. That isn't really the Hulk model, as his strength grows over time the madder he gets. It also wouldn't be as interesting a challenge for the PCs - if they're not able to take Grond down almost immediately before he blows his top, he'll probably feed them their shoes. So encounters with Grond are likely to be either very short or very messy, not much fun for the players either way. The course that I chose was to use a Continuous Uncontrolled Aid, Triggered when Grond goes Enraged, with increased fade rate and the maximum bought up to the level I wanted his peak Characteristics to be. I bought it to apply simultaneously to Strength, Constitution (to make Grond harder to stun), Recovery and Stun (to bring him back quickly from expending Endurance and taking damage). This gave the PCs more time to beat Grond before he reached peak levels, all the time realizing that the clock was ticking. You can adjust the size of the Aid to reflect how long you want it to take for Grond to hit his max - that will affect the magnitude of the challenge that Grond will present.

Already? I expected it to take until the end of the month. Nice going, gang! Granted, the pre-Denial of Service boards had nearly 2500 registered members, but those were accumulated over almost two years, and included quite a few folks who posted for a while early on, then disappeared. It's not even two months since the new boards came on line, so I guess we can consider the majority of these users as "current". Yes indeed, the ol' HERO System has some life in her yet.

Thanks in advance for answering, Steve. Say that a character has had his END and/or STUN Aided to a higher than normal amount, with the fade rate bought considerably longer than the base. When the character loses END or STUN, will his natural REC eventually restore that Characteristic to the amount that Aid raised it to, or only the normal amount it was at before being Aided?

Hmm... this is an odd kind of character, one of those "neither fish nor fowl" deals. His Characteristics seem reasonable, although his PD and ED seem kind of high for someone who's essentially a trained normal; but the spells in his VPP look like they could be trouble. They are heavily Limited, which is common for a fantasy mage, but super-level mages are rarely so vulnerable. Since most of those spells are attacks, it really isn't so essential to reduce the cost of individual spells in the VPP that low. More to the point, while the Active Points in those spells are very high, the comparatively small number of Charges for each one means that Lord Arcane could "shoot his wad" fairly early in a battle, especially if all his offensive spells have a similar Limitation. That becomes more of a concern if he normally works alone. Also along those lines, "Arbelon's Lesser Aegis" doesn't have Persistent or Uncontrolled on it; I may be wrong, but IIRC that would mean that it would shut down if Arcane is Stunned or Knocked Out, wasting whatever is left of that Charge. The rest of his skill set looks appropriate for a master sorceror.

You are forgiven for wandering into the lair of the White Wolf. Hate sounding like a broken record, but your needs and interests would govern what choice would help you best. You're obviously a veteran Champions gamer, and presumably own the BBB ("Big Blue Book", or 4E Champions), so the new Champions genre book probably isn't a high priority now. I'm sure you would find useful things in it, but you should do fine until you can afford it. Of the multi-genre supplements, the Bestiary is IMHO the most useful overall. Animals and monsters of all stripes, for any type of game, from domestic pets up to things than can make a snack of most supers. Plus guidelines and templates to help you build your own. If martial arts make up a significant portion of your game style, the new Ultimate Martial Artist greatly expands upon the basis developed in Aaron Allston's Ninja Hero, giving you many more options. If you anticipate dealing much with vehicles (including mecha and starships), Ultimate Vehicle gives you a lot to work with. As Thirdbase said, Conquerors, Killers and Crooks for premade villains (scads of them, at all power levels), and the upcoming UNTIL Superpowers Database which should really help any new players build their characters, giving them literally thousands of powers to choose from.

"SuperPreIslamicEgyptoNinjoids"? Rev, you should be writing for Rifts. And I mean that in a good way. So, you want a name for a mystically powered group of agent/ assassin/ warriors working to restore their Big Nasty Boss. Presumably something historical and indigenous, with connotations of tough, stealthy and lethal? My first thought would be, "the Scorpion Guard". I'll give it some more thought though, and see what I can come up with.

I was wondering what all the action was on the "Catsuit" thread, but was a little afraid to find out. Mutant for Hire, for what it's worth, the way that you describe using COM in game is almost exactly the way I've been doing it for some time. The main exception is that I've handled bonuses to Interaction Skills with a COM Characteristic Roll as Complementary to those Skills, but your proposal for set bonuses is more in line with how FREd deals with negative Comeliness. I understand people preferring to deal with attractiveness as a Perk and the lack of it as a Disadvantage, or just eliminating it altogether; but whenever possible, I prefer to work with the precedents established in the system. I'm going to try set bonuses next time the situation arises in my game - Thanks!

I don't have the book yet, so I guess I'm not ANY body. However, from the hints and clues that I've picked up about it, I have made some tentative plans to use it as a site to visit in my campaign, with one significant change - the city's location. I would like to move the supers action away from the urban centers of the East and West Coast and the Great Lakes. I also may be in the minority in liking to keep Detroit the way it is. So, I'm considering moving Millennium city to the site of another Champions Universe settlement: Haynesville, Kansas. Wait, here me out. I prefer that fictional cities be in places where no major urban center already exists, like San Angelo and Vibora Bay, and the idea of a hotbed of super activity in America's heartland appeals to me. (Okay, maybe there's a little inspiration from Smallville at work, too. ). So I decided on a couple of relatively minor "what ifs" to the history of Haynesville. I changed the Cottonwood Stream to the Cottonwood River, a tributary of the Arkansas; and I allowed the railway that bypassed the "official" Haynesville to be built in "my" Haynesville after all, prompting more rapid growth. The tourism benefits of Captain Patriot's origin, and the presence of McLaughlin Air Force Base spurred more development. On top of that, scientists involved in the Haynesville Project and its successors often settled in Haynesville and started their own companies, putting the town at the forefront of the burgeoning high-tech industry. By 1992, Haynesville was a modern city with a diversified economy and a population of nearly a quarter-million. When Dr. Destroyer decided to cripple the United States, he chose Haynesville as the base for his scheme because of its proximity to the center of the contiguous U.S., and because the facilities of the air base suited his plans. The remaining events played out as in the official CU. The devastation was just as widespread, the loss of life just as great, and the rebuilding followed a similar plan. One notable exception would be that the Detroit River which is a boundary between Millennium City and Windsor, Ontario would be the Cottonwood River here. On the other side of the river were the parts of old Haynesville which escaped the destruction. That area became the residence for many of the laborers who flocked to build the new city, and stayed to work in Millennium City. This area is now almost as populous as the original Haynesville, and has been incorporated as the city of "New Haynesville". Unfortunately, New Haynesville did not grow according to a plan like its larger neighbor, and is far, far less "utopian". I'm hoping that nothing in the Millenium City book will invalidate this scenario, but we'll see. (Well, you did ask.)

Well, Mr. Hawk, as long as you're asking for opinions : IMHO you shouldn't be overly concerned about using the name "Vixen" for your character, unless Hero Games already has plans for it. Strike Force, excellent book though it is, has been out of print for many years, and few new gamers have even seen it. Even if Hero Games eventually makes an arrangement with Aaron Allston to publish his updated edition of the Strike Force world, Steve Long has made it pretty clear that that book will not be part of the official CU continuity any more than yours will. Even those of us who remember Allston's Vixen have to admit that she was a fairly minor character. Long story short: if Hero has no trouble with it, I'd say go ahead and retain Vixen. Maybe the two Vixens could meet in an Earth "MF"/ Earth "SF" crossover. If that still doesn't appeal to you, I'd be inclined to suggest "Mongoose" as an alternative animal, except that I'm not sure whether Steve has done or intends to do anything with that old Classic Enemies character. It would be a good match for her power set, though. Regarding the Jade Phoenix duplication, that is a more pressing concern, since the CU version is current and quite prominent. I've a few thoughts on this subject. One would be to change the gemstone/color component of her name: is there anything about her that would suggest "Red Phoenix", "Golden Phoenix", or the like? Another possibility would be to change the animal association, as you did before. I was thinking "Jade Crane" - the crane has popular associations with martial arts due to the crane substyle of kung fu, which does tend to be a more defensive style. OTOH, you could play up her pacifist tendencies and borrow a more Western symbol, "Jade Dove". Finally, the character's family name, Moon, is a perfectly appropriate moniker for a martial artist with any kind of stealth abilities: "Jade Moon", "Moon Shadow", "Crescent Moon" (which lends itself to trademark weaponry), etc. I hope some of that is of use to you.

I greatly enjoyed both stories, but haven't really made up my mind about a winner yet. But I do want to offer particular kudos to Darren Watts for his writing in this match. His depiction of Mechanon displayed that monster's capabilities and attitudes in marvelous detail, but as a natural outgrowth of story-based events rather than forced exposition. As SuperPheemy mentioned, Jesse Scoble's tale was also consistent with Mechanon's characterization, but Darren's was more textured. Nice work, Mr. Watts.

Re: Reality break: Liquidmetal LOL! Ironic indeed, but in a luxury-based consumer economy, not terribly surprising. As I mentioned earlier, science is closing fast on science fiction. On a slightly different note: since Prometheus brought up supernaturally derived substances, I thought I might mention this one which I came up with for a fantasy campaign. Any universe which includes magic or really advanced tech could probably justify something like this. Adamant. This material was mentioned in classical mythology and later works which drew from it, such as those of Milton. It was supposed to be virtually unbreakable; the sickle used as a weapon by the Titan Cronus was made from it, for example. Modern scholars often hold that what the Greeks called adamant was really diamond, but I decided to take that idea one step further. Certain supernatural entities, such as the god Hephaestus and the svartalfar or dwarves of Norse legend, know how to create magical forges which can melt diamonds to the consistency of molten glass. In this state it can be molded and shaped into various useful forms, far larger than naturally occuring diamonds, which regain diamond's wonted hardness after it cools. Weapons and tools fashioned of adamant are usually folded many times like fine steel, to eliminate the cleavage patterns which can make natural diamonds brittle.

Very good, Supreme. Dean Shomshak used the Tree of Life and the Four Worlds as one of the bases for his detailed cosmology in The Ultimate Supermage. (An excellent read if you have any interest in super-magic games.) Judging by several references in the Hero Universe meta-setting and in Champions Universe, Steve Long has adopted this cosmology almost wholly. In this form, "the Qliphothic World" embraces ancient dimensions that have decayed to a form inimical to normal life, inhabited by horrific and malevolent entities in the "Lovecraftian" vein.

To quote from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: "Pragmatism? Is that the best you can do?" (You're right, of course, but how else can we show off our erudition?)