Lord Liaden

Doug's right, KawangaKid has posted several descriptions of creatures from Phillipine folklore to these boards in the past. If he's not actually an authority, he might know of some good sources. I noticed when I searched his past posts that he has the Private Message function active - perhaps you could drop him a request.

Unfortunately, the core rulebooks have never been in electronic format, so you would have to pay to have the books shipped to you. As far as a choice of which book to get, the 5th Edition is clearer and has more options than 4th, and all future Hero Games books will follow its ruleset, so as a long-term investment it's better value for your money. As Super Squirrel and Celt have indicated, the changes from 4th to 5th are rarely major, and your FH rulebooks would be easy enough to adapt to it, especially with the always-ready help from these boards. If price is a concern, your best bet to find a copy of 5E relatively cheap is on the eBay electronic auction website (we can show you how to find it if it's unfamiliar), but the Hero Games online store also has slightly damaged copies at a reduced price - just follow the link at the top of this page. OTOH, the 4th Edition of the HERO System is perfectly usable, fully compatible with the Fantasy HERO books that you own, and should be available for far less than 5th. It came in various hard or soft-cover volumes packaged with the Champions sourcebook (Stock #'s 400, 450, and 451), as well as a softcover volume with just the system rules (Stock # 500). If you're not interested in super-hero gaming, the HERO System 4th Edition by itself would be the best buy. None of these are currently in print, so again, the best deals would likely be on eBay, although I could direct you to several reputable online used game dealers who often have copies and ship internationally.

During my group's last climactic confrontation with Dr. Destroyer, his agents, and two of his main 4th Edition minions Gigaton and Stormwatch, one of our players hit upon an inspired psychological strategem. You have to remember that the 4E Dr. D. had been hideously scarred by fire and had the Psychological Limitation, "Cannot stand the sight of his own face." That being the case, I never could understand why his helmet was open-faced... This player was running a mistress of illusion called Facade. With Destroyer surrounded by his followers and boasting of the magnificence of his latest scheme, Facade used her Images Power to apparently surround the Doctor with mirrors reflecting his face back at him! Everywhere he looked he saw his own hideous features. The GM had him roll against Ego which he obviously failed; Destroyer went ballistic and started blasting the "mirrors", most of which were in front of his own troops. Our team ducked for cover as Destroyer's attack scattered his followers' formation and took out several of the agents (Gigaton tried to calm him down but took a nasty EB to the face, after which he started firing back.) We let our opponents weaken and demoralize each other for a Turn or so before launching our own attack. Destroyer refocussed quickly then and Gigaton tried to rally the troops, but by then the tide of battle had turned in our favor. I noticed that the new Dr. Destroyer has gone for a full-coverage helmet - got a chuckle out of that.

Re: Not for Supers only Your recollection is accurate, Hermit , but that "school within a school" concept is something that concerns me. While there would be some possibilities for roleplaying inherent in mixing normal and super children together (keeping from killing the schoolyard bully with your powers, nosy classmate prying into your secrets, etc.), on a practical level I think that this would be too limiting for the purpose that Ravenswood Academy is supposed to fulfill. All the powers training would have to take place in the secret lower levels, which could be quite limiting for fliers and speedsters. The super children would always be hiding what they could do from the normal children - they would rarely be free to "be themselves", which is one of the aids to becoming well-adjusted that Xavier's school provides. Kids being kids, someone would inevitably show off or get into a fight which could hurt some of the normal children, open Ravenswood to a massive lawsuit, not to mention blow its cover. And if some supervillain or evil agency did discover the Academy's true nature, large numbers of highly vulnerable young people would be put at risk - good for a hostage or "save the bystanders" scenario, but highly restrictive to an interesting superfight. IMHO making the school "supers only" would be more practical from a game-world standpoint, and make it more useful and interesting from a long-term gaming standpoint. Feel free to make counter-arguments, though, if you think I've missed a point.

For simply making the projectiles miss their target, Missile Deflection at Range would make the most sense. For improving the accuracy of the projectiles fired by another person, I'd suggest Combat Skill Levels Usable on Others as an Attack, Ranged. Non-lethality could be handled by making a Called Shot to a less damaging Hit Location, assuming your game uses HL - in which case Penalty Skill Levels to offset the HL penalty would be useful, too.

Wouldn't the natural rivals to the young supers at Ravenswood Academy be PSI? I haven't picked up Millennium City yet, but I understand that PSI has a strong presence there, and in the past they've been into kidnapping and training young paranormals. That was the case for my own "Teen Champions" games. FWIW, I find Ravenswood Academy to be a little too blatantly X-Men for my taste. I based my young supers school out of Dr. McQuark's facilities from the old Blood and Dr. McQuark organization book. This kind of altruistic activity suits the Doctor's stated motivations, and I noticed that his facilities and staff were quite well-suited for dealing with young people with super powers (particularly Joann Jacobs and her stuffed animals). Plus they're a really fun bunch. I changed a few labs into dormitories, added a few specialists from Normals Unbound, and it was set to go. The core of the adventuring teens was drawn from the Forty Thieves from Aaron Allston's adventure for GURPS Supers, School of Hard Knocks; Aaron provides full 4E HERO System conversions for those characters on his website. I added a few younger paranormals from various Hero Games books to round out the school: "Four-Eyes" from Creatures of the Night, Howard Brody from The Mutant File, Lucy Pinchard from Mind Games, and Patsy Conrad and "Fluffy" from Normals Unbound.

"Sigh" I see your point. Ah, well... This does seem to suit your purposes well. And a fresh take on reorganizing organized crime, if it was something that could be extended to Mafia activities more generally, would probably broaden the appeal of Meriquai Falls to more and more diverse gamers.

I completely get where you're coming from, Mon, and in most cases I'd be inclined to agree with you. In the case of VOICE (out of respect to Crimson-Hawk I'm dropping the periods) , so much of the organization was left only vaguely alluded to that any update would be less of a redo than an expansion. It would almost be like comparing VIPER before and after the Bennie/Christiansen 4th Edition VIPER Sourcebook. IMHO VOICE has enough elements already that can be springboards to interesting new directions, but a lot of Dale's conceptual work would already be done. Still, your and death tribble's suggestions for a revised Mafia are sound and intriguing, and I could certainly see that working for purposes of this book. (Umph... trying to restrain personal bias, but can't - hold - on - any - I LOVE VOICE! WANT 5E VOICE!!) "Ahem" Sorry.

I'm a generous man; feel free to do both.

The 4E writeup would be in the villain compendium, Classic Enemies, often available on eBay and used game dealers who carry Hero stuff. Many of the villains in Conquerors, Killers and Crooks can be found there, but often with differences from the new versions. There are quite a few villains in CE that didn't make it into the new Champions Universe, as well as a detailed writeup of the Stronghold superprison. IMO it's well worth picking up used at a reduced price. Klytus, I certainly agree with you that the Dreadnought was nowhere near as powerful as Juggernaut, but stylistically it's very similar, and the description of the armor suggests using it for similar encounters. It could function as an "unstoppable" foe as-is depending on the power level of the PCs, of course, and the design is simple enough that Dreadnought would be very easy to beef up as tough as you would want it.

Dale, if you want to use a super agency that's not in the new CU, relatively obscure but fondly remembered (okay, I'm taking a deep breath here, because this has been a minor obsession of mine for years but I don't want to sound fan-frenzied): How about asking Steve if Hero Games still has the rights to V.O.I.C.E.? I know for a fact that many Hero gamers liked it, but the group hasn't been used officially beyond the classic V.O.I.C.E. of Doom adventure, and there's plenty of room for expansion. And Steve has stated categorically that this organization will not be part of the new universe. I've used V.O.I.C.E. quite a bit in old campaigns of mine, and would be happy to offer suggestions if you were interested.

Fight? You could fight!? Why, in MY day we never had a chance to fight! In my day there were twelve-foot giants runnin' around, and they stomped us into the ground with jack-boots with cleats in 'em, and all we could do was spray 'em with our own blood and hope that they picked up one of the diseases from the puss and gangrene that infested our open putrid sores! AND WE LIKED IT!

You know, rj has a point. VIPER does tend to get overused, and the high-tech approach seems a little off from the focus of Meriquai Falls. If you wanted to introduce an existing CU organization, maybe Steve Long would let you play with DEMON? I should think that they'd be interested in the goings-on in that city, and they could certainly be used as super-agents with a mystical rather than technological motif. Individual GMs could substitute the villainous agency of their choice if they prefer.

I have to agree with winterhawk and Hermit that the Dreadnought more or less filled the role of Juggernaut in the 4E Champions Universe. That's fairly clear from the description and illustration of the suit, the type of powers it grants (great strength and invulnerability, not to mention Tunnelling through DEF 36!), the identifying quote ("You can't stop a dreadnought!"), and the fact that when the armor first appeared in Champions III it was called - wait for it - "Juggernaut". Hermit, Shirak reminds me more of Marvel's Ultimo - you know, giant irresistable construct existing only to destroy. The characterization is quite different from that of Juggernaut, even if the results they leave behind are similar. I used the Dreadnought several times, mostly as out of Classic Enemies, although with some background changes. Biggest writeup change I made was to add the Armor Piercing Advantage to his 70 STR.

I would favor this as well. I've noticed that Clark in Smallville normally uses that "invisible speed" to get virtually instantly from one point to another - once he arrives where he's going, he's clearly visible again. FREd has a Limitation on Teleportation to reflect that effect: "Must Pass Through Intervening Space" (-1/4), representing the need to deal with walls and the like in the way.

Dale, what you describe sounds exciting! I'm definitely looking forward to this one. I once listed some of the things that have given Hero books long-term utility to me in response to Steve Long's request for input on Champions Battlegrounds. You already have two of the big ones, NPCs and plot seeds. For NPCs, I've always appreciated details about them beyond just the character sheet writeups: bases, minions, allies, and modus operandi. I agree with BoloOfEarth's map suggestion. Besides maps of Meriquai Falls itself, maps of some locations that could be re-used "generically" would be useful as well: buildings, caves, outdoor settings, laboratories, etc. Some other desirables include: McGuffins: a few unique items that can be used repeatedly as a source of origins, plot enabling devices, contests for possession of them, etc. From your articles in DH, there's at least one major mystic artifact in Meriquai Falls which could have many developments woven around it. Tactics: I and my gaming groups have learned a lot about effective combat tactics and other ways to maximize team efficiency from published Champions books. If you have any established hero or villain teams, some notes about their distinctive methods would be educational, not to mention helpful when running them. Concepts: I've always appreciated books that provide ideas that fill in distinctive mechanics of physics, magic, psionics, cosmology etc. which I could adapt to my own game settings. It sounds as though Meriquai Falls features a rather unusual concept of magic and mysticism, and I'd like to understand a bit of what sets it apart from other mystic conventions. Environments: It can be a real challenge and a lot of fun for the PCs to run through an unusual environment (alien planet, other dimension or the like) where the "ground rules" are different from what they're used to - different appearance, physical laws like gravity altered, resources the players count on unavailable, even characters' powers functioning differently. I don't know whether any of that would be accessible via Meriquai Falls, but I thought I'd put the suggestion out there. I hope some of that is of use to you. P.S. I'm sure your summary of the fine stable of Hero Plus authors did not intentionally leave out Scott "Gestalt" Bennie.

I'm not sure if all the mechanics would suit you, but I think you'll find a lot of useful ideas from the "Dragonball Z" section of "Surbrook's Stuff", the excellent website of HERO System conversions of manga, books, movies, comics and more, maintained by Michael Surbrook, author of Ninja HERO and "Susano" here on the boards. Here's the address of his website: http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/index/index.html This will take you directly to the DBZ section: http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/dbzhero/dbzhero.html

Actually, there is now a Stopsign Advantage to Summon (+1) allowing a particular individual to be Summoned, usually only after said being is deceased - which is essentially the case here. Your second point is valid, though, but I have a suggestion for that below. This is a pretty fine job of accounting for everything, innominatus. I can see the Limitations you've taken defining the Multiform for purposes of it being a last-ditch escape only, but the one complication with this is that according to the description of Multiform, the damage taken by one form is carried over to the next, so if Mechanon's body were actually destroyed in combat, the head would be too. The rules do allow for you to distribute the damage proportionately, but you'd best make sure Mechanon decides to detach his head before his body, well, loses all its Body. Since you've allowed for points for a Base, and since Mechanon's base systems would be building a new body for him, it would be a significant saving for the character to build the Summoning of the new body into the base itself, rather than as part of the character's Powers. If the base has a computer or AI which could evaluate the data regarding Mechanon's defeat, and construct the new body accordingly, that would deal with the Trigger concerns which Geoff Speare raised. Either way, you would need an Expanded Class Advantage on Summon to allow for the resulting Mechanon body to be tailored accordingly.

I knew there was something I forgot to add to the "Miracle Materials" thread!

Gary, have you considered what this increased granularity will do to tracking the effects of Adjustment Powers? BTW, I have played and GM'd players with characters who have "inefficient" numbers of Characteristics. Sometimes it's to get a small advantage, especially with DEX: 19, 25 and 28 have not been uncommon. Other times it's just been to have something different from the norm, because we liked the variety. We may be an atypical group.

Perhaps you might get some use out of the distinctions I've made for my own campaigns between my three main "sources of power": science, magic and psionics. Science is the "physical laws" that our universe operates on. Science functions according to the same principles at all times; while sentient beings may tap into and manipulate its forces in various ways, those forces exist in and of themselves and function in a consistent manner which may be understood by anyone with sufficient acumen. The principles of science are essentially external to the sentient minds observing them. Magic is the tapping of forces shaped by the will and imagination of a magician. Though these forces exist apart from the magician, he can alter the principles by which they function through the focussing discipline of ritual. The magician's trained mind is like a lense or prism for magic. Magic is thus both external and internal to a sentient mind. Psionics is the imposition of the will on the perceivable world. Its power is derived solely from the individual mind, and its manifestation is limited only by the imagination and innate talent of its wielder; the laws of psionics are those that a mind gives to it. Psionics is therefore wholly internal to a sentient mind.

I fear we may be approaching the interpretative impasse beyond which reasoned discourse may not tread. Nonetheless, I think I can add a bit more to the discussion: Here's the statement from the FAQ: Q. What happens if a character is Duplicated, and then original character is killed? A. That typically depends on the special effects of the Duplication, but as a default rule, this means the duplicates lose the ability to combine back together; they just become a group of characters whose "creator" no longer exists. The FAQ "clearly" places the emphasis on the special effects involved, which may trump the default rule. The entry in FREd regarding Duplication and character death does not specifically say that Duplicates are unable to recombine after the Base Form has been killed: "If a Duplicate or the base character is killed, the others cannot revive him by recombining - he stays dead; the character has lost a part of himself." So, it isn't really possible to refute writing up Mechanon's ability as Duplication by citing the letter of the rules - they don't support that position. As I indicated, I'm persuaded that the special effects in this case allow this mechanic. Mechanon's extra bodies have no impact on the game unless and until the head combines with them, which would only happen as a last-ditch survival tactic, so IMO they don't need to be payed for as Duplicates or anything else. (Ironically it was innominatus' point refuting buying extra bodies as Followers which convinced me of that.) All of them are the same, and they have all payed the points for the same Duplicate, but because only one Duplicate head exists only one such body can be active at a time. Effectively, there is only one Mechanon that the players have to face, having one body which is the Base Form and one Duplicate. The self-destruct device is more of an "eliminate the evidence" device, a way to charge Mechanon an appropriate amount for the useful ability to destroy discarded bodies that the heroes could examine to learn Mechanon's secrets. As for the benefits of doing it this way rather than one of the other possibilities: as I said before, I personally would favor Multiform with a "Leaves Body Behind" Limitation, but this is now more of an esthetic preference. Either that or Duplication allows for the detachable head and inert body, with the head's stats being different from the body's, without the complication of adding a "Not When Shapeshifted" Limitation to many Characteristics and Powers. It's more cost-effective for the more expensive body to be the Base Form for the Duplicate head rather than the other way around, and IMO the SFX are good enough that the head doesn't need to be the base form to allow it to combine with a new body. Of course YMMV, and I completely respect anyone's right to do so in a reasoned manner. Now, having presented my case as logically and eloquently as I can, I shall gracefully quite the field.

Finding a Resource Kit If you don't mind ordering online, here are three reputable retailers who currently have copies of the Resource Kit: http://www.cyberdungeon.com (easiest to do a word search); http://www.dragonstrove.com (in their "Super-Hero Related Games" catalogue under "Hero Games"); http://www.sentrybox.com (in "Roleplaying Games" under "H").

Do I have the Disadvantage, "Only Invisible to innominatus"? Once again, look above Vanguard's post. I defend Steve's position, I do say in so many words that it makes sense and is a legal and reasonable interpretation of the rules, and I explain why in that post and the one I made before it. I respect your right to disagree with me, but please stop categorizing Steve's position as completely undefended.

Kuei Susano, are you aware of the approach taken to the kuei by Dean Shomshak in The Super Mage Bestiary? If you're interested, these would seem to be the items from his bibliography most pertinent to his research on the subject: Cavendish, Richard (ed.) Man, Myth and Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural. Thompson, Stith. Motif-Index of Folk Literature.