FenrisUlf

Something I was thinking of recently -- as I recall, Joseph Otanga's powers make him a kind of 'Lord of the Animals', right? (He can shapeshift into any critter, or a combo, and has superhuman strength and physical characteristics as well as some knowledge of ritual magic). I also see him as a superhuman version of someone like Idi Amin or Emperor Bokassa, a sociopathic tyrant who cheated his way into far more power than he ever deserved. Now, as I have a tendency to have animal-based characters show up in my games (either as PCs or NPCs), would anyone here have any input on how to use them in connection with Otanga and his power/position, aside from the usual 'Hunted by the Evil Foreign Dictator'? I was thinking of something along the lines of him trying to either (a) use his mystic powers to summon the varied beast-folks to him as an army (sort of, 'my totem can smack around your totem'), or ( trying to consume their power into himself, gaining their varied abilities along with his own (Otanga's home of West Africa was the stomping grounds of the Leopard Men, after all). Really, any ideas would be vastly appreciated.

HI all, Hope this is the right place for this -- in a recent issue of the comic EXTINCTIONERS, we learn that one of the characters (a fire projector and controller) has got to keep a special restraining collar on, or else his powers go completely out of control, to the point where anyone near him stands a good chance of becoming crispy critters. And he's in so much pain it's like an epileptic fit; he can't control himself or do anything except convulse and scream in agony (unless someone damps the fire down with cold powers, lots of water, etc.). Out of curiosiy, how would any of you model this? I' d figured on something like a combination Physical Disad: Incapacitated if loses control collar and a Siusceptibility: 2d6 if loses control collar. But how would you model his powers going haywire and threatening everyone around him? A No Conscious Control, Area Effect Damage Shield or what?

Re: Is "evil race" an intrinsically rascist concept? Well, he did mention the big slave-farms to the south of Mordor proper at one point. And I rather imagine that Tolkien orcs can get along just fine by eating their own weak, wounded, whatever. They were more biological artifacts than an actual race, after all; at least, they were shown as such in the movies. Which does get around a problem with Tolkien, that 'nothing was evil in the beginning; not even Sauron.' Tolkien did state in his letters that Sauron was 'as /close/ to absolute evil as any being could ever get'. So it seems he felt there were some good traits in even the worst people.

Sorry if this thread belongs elsewhere, but TMW is a Champions book, as I recall. But does anyone know if 'The Mystic World' will cover the Well of Worlds in Oz, Sunday Pond in Maine (let me guess -- the Witness is Stephen King, right?), and the Valley of Night with its blood-sacrificing werejaguar priests? That one is a favorite of mine. Aztec mythology, yeah! (And it really did belong in Mexico, to my thinking; pardon me, Mister Watts, for moving it there and lousing up your geography.)

Re: Galactic Champions Great! One of my favorite 'bits' in the Hero Universe backstory is the endless war between the arrogant, militaristic Malvans and the Lovecraftian Elder Worm. And -- a meaner, nastier Mechanon? 250 point VPP? You can't accuse GC of taking it too easy on the poor heroes. (Then again, the caliber of a hero is told by the level of the opposition...)

More superhero or pulp than strictly CHAMPIONS, but I found this amusing. Just stumbled across this in _The New Enbcyclopedia of the Occult_ (pretty bizarre, but the historic references are priceless). They talk about the impact of something called 'physical culture' on 19th and early 20th century America, and its main advocate here stateside, Joseph L. Greenstein, the Mighty Atom. Greenstein started out as a somewhat puny Polish Jew, studying Cabala in yeshiva. He immigrated to America where he took an interest in wrestling and PC, and soon developed his body to an amazing extent. He worked on vaudeville as 'The Mighty Atom', doing a strongman routine. His signature feats included tying iron horseshoes into knots, biting through chains, pounding spikes through metal-covered boards, and towing trucks with his hair. (Cynic that I am, I can't help but to wonder just how much of it was due to stage magic and the like.) He claimed all his accomplishments were due to both exercise and a unique system of energy work based on Cabala. He also worked with natural medicine, hypnosis, and similar baroque subjects, and seems to have done well at them. After vaudeville, he turned to shilling his own medicines and soap with his old strongman act, which he performed up until the age of 82, two years before he died, the last time at Madison Square Garden. I do wonder what if any of Superman is owed to Greenstein's career. And wasn't there another DC WW2 era hero named the Atom, who was supposed to be Jewish?

Re: German Super Baby Proves Champions is Right Darn, and I was hoping to post this. Let's just hope for the family's sake that he doesn't grow up to be Der Westgote.

Re: The green alien's burden A little more on the idea. I was figuring that, for use in the CU, maybe these guys are either (a) flunkies or allies of the Hzeel, out to cause trouble, OR ( /enemies/ of the Hzeel, hoping to slow them down when they invade by forcing them to turn Earth into a Vietnam/Soviets in Afghanistan deal. As for the basic setup, maybe I shouldbe ashamed to admit I got it from an alternate earth version of the Roswell 'UFO crash' as set down by Ken Hite. What if it really happened, and some of the aliens survived, and they were able to prevent their being 'disappeared' and decided to farm out their skills as a way of making their lives better/more comfortable, if nothing else? (Sort-of like that old time travel story deal where the advanced 20th centurians 'uplift' their ignorant, pathetically grateful ancestors, regardless of how it might have worked in reality). And yes, Doctor D. would get involved eventually -- right about the time when his creations turn their new empire over to daddy...

Re: Pulp Sci-Fi

HI all, Okay, this could work as well as pure SF (and I originally conceived it that way), but with all the Authority-style discussions that have been going on, I decided to ask about a long-term plot idea here. In effect, a small group of aliens gets stranded on Earth in some third-world nation that they than change into a major league power with their technological help and advice (i.e., provide clean fusion power, antigravity, nanotech or whatever). Unfortunately, these aliens happen to come from a species that has a very fascistic/meritocratic mindset, and are big on 'the group above the individual'. (Think a whole race of Peter Singers.) The country they're in isn't much better -- but now they have an arsenal that puts every First World nation to shame, and both the human and the alien leadership would have no real problem with playing at empire-building. But at the same time, this new society is actually making life better for their own people. The citizens/subjects are living better than ever, and they make it clear that they aren't interested in tyranny for its own sake. But they are interested in expansion against other Third World nations, and will resist with some major ordnance if any of the big boys try to interfere. Would anyone out there have any ideas on just how the world community would probably respond to this, with a minor power no one cares about going to a major world-beater within about a year (and setting itself up as a new alternative to both the West/US & Europe and China)? Especially if the leadership seems ready to try making like Gengis Khan? This will be taking place in the modern-day Hero Universe. Any advice, words of wisdom, or criticism will be much appreciated. Flames you can keep.

Say, anyone here ever do a SF culture that was primarily based on somethingother than western civilization? I've often thought of doing something based on India/Hindu culture for a near-future setting as the dominant power (say, everyone is still mostly confined to earth, and an India lead by the Bharatiya Janata manages to put up a nuke and laser armed space station, 'the Fist of Shiva', before anyone else does). I also remember a Muslim-based SF setting in the second GURPS Alternate Earths that seemed pretty well done. Anyone got anything else?

Re: Pulp Hero?? If you want more inspiration for a pulp game, try looking for any of the reprints from Adventure House. Right now they're doing High Adventure, a generic pulp reprint, as well as G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES, one of the all time greats. They intend to reprint the entire series. There's also some outfit that's reprinting THE SPIDER, MASTER OF MEN, but they only seem to come out twice a year or so. Still, great stuff -- the Spider makes Dirty Harry and the Punisher look like wimps!

Re: Furry Champion's You and me both. Oh, and BTW, if we're talking 'Furry Champions' you might want to try Googling for either 'Shawntae Howard' or 'Extinctioners' -- it's a published comic with furry supers. Bit too much X-men for me, but the art is cool and the storyline is okay. I think it can be found here: http://www.extinctioners.com

Re: What cities could Batman call home?

Re: Genetic Tribalism?

Re: Genetic Tribalism?

Sorry if this has been covered, but it is permissible to set up a multiform so that the alternate forms are of higher point value than the base, right? I'm just thinking of the classic werewolf or the Hulk, here.

Re: Why must humans rule? Another couple of points about my idea that I maybe should have stated before: 1) First came up with it because, in furry fandom (yes, I'm one of *those* guys!) whenever you see the nohumans and humans together, either it's the egalitarian paradise or the evil-bad 'hyoomans' are ruling the roost in a racist dictatorship that makes Nazi Germany look like a hippie commune. I just wanted to do something different. 2) More game/setting oriented: while, in my setting, the wolf-folk are the open rulers, they did so by working with the previous human rulers of the area. It's basically like what I've read of pre-Islamic Central Asia: the Sugdian merchants dwell in the cities, but they would often elect or choose some nomad chief to be the military governor and king. That way, the nomads were often stopped from killing and robbing every caravan and merchant in the area, and they would defend their territory against other nomads. THis system seems to have worked pretty well for centuries, even against aggressive powers like China and Tibet (surprise! Tibet ruled southern China and parts of Central Asia for about 300 years. Of course, this was back when they were led by the Bon demon-priests rather than Buddhist monks). And thanks for all the input, it's been very helpful.

Re: Campaign Brainstorming: "The New Abbey" Good luck with the idea. BUT -- I will point out here that the Spanish Inquisition was more of a political secret police than actually interested in getting heretics. They served the Spanish crown, not the Pope. (Though it made a convenient cop-out for the Spaniards -- "You're in trouble with the Inquisition? Not our problem, go tell the Pope!")

Been kicking around an idea for some time, I'd like to trot it out here and get some feedback. As a way of sneaking nonhumans into a low-level Star Hero game (either cyberpunk or based in the solar system, but with advanced gengineering), what do you think of genetic tribalism? That's a term I use to cover an idea I read about years ago. How, in the future, genetics engineering might become a tool of fashion and social bonding; i.e., everyone in this one subculture has themselves modded to look like elves or wolf-people or Cthuloids or whatever, AND they have their kids genetically modded in the same fashion. Sort of like that line from Batman Beyond; "It lets me establish myself as an individual, so I look just like everyone else I know." I was thinking of maybe having a few cultures like this crop up in the further future (like Terran Empire or Alien Wars), with the oddball aliens ultimately turning out to be humanity's somewhat distant cousins. So, does this sound workable, or not?

Anyone here ever done a high (or other) fantasy setting in which humans are not at the top of the social heap? While not roleplay, I've done some stories in a world (sort-of like Central Asia and pre-Islamic Persia) where humanity is a 'subject species' under/allied to a race of wolf-folk who are the actual rulers. It's more heroic fantasy than high fantasy, but still, I think it could work as a RPG setting (though I'm decidedly biased...) But anyone else ever done any 'humans don't rule' settings?

Okay, any ideas on just how one could use Dark Champions in the Champions Universe 'present day' (i.e., when all the metahumans are running around), aside from the whole masked vigilante sub-genre? Myself, I'd like to do something like a 'parallel campaign' in which regular PCs at times play a group of MARS cops or PRIMUS/UNTIL agents who clean up the messes the heroes either don't know about or can't be bothered with. Think like Harry Turtledove's two viewpoint characters in 'Guns of the South' -- General Lee on the high end and a regular trooper at the bottom, both viewing the same event but from very different viewpoints.

Re: Villains, Vandals, and Vermin: Who should be in it? I thought some of the CKC crooks were supposed to unstoppable head-on, even the low-level ones, thereby forcing the PCs to get clever and use teamwork/the environment/clever power tricks/the villain's psychology to stop them.

Re: Alien Wars? I do intend to get it (I'm going for as many Hero books as I can get, esp. in the linked background/setting, to try and make up a 'family tree' like Farmer did for Tarzan and Doc Savage -- why should the Harmons be the only 'hero dynasty'?), but I would like to know in advance: does it say where the Xenovores came from? I have a bet running with a gamer/SF fan buddy that they were originally engineered as some sort of cheap explorer species before turning conquerer. After all -- they can live on virtually anything organic, their tech base is very simple and easy to maintain (they just grow everything, as I recall), they are very aggressive and curious, and they seem to spawn like rabbits and grow to adulthood quickly. That can all spell 'explorer' as much as 'warrior'.

Re: Ultimate Brick usefulness outside a supers game White Rhino? Are we talking the same White Rhino who's listed in CCC as a quick desc by the entry for Fenris ('were-rhino from Central Africa with immense superhuman strength')? I was thinking of doing up the animal characters listed by Fenris as a sort of 'Beasty Boys' group of villains. Darn it, everything I read about this book makes me want it more! It doesn't show up this week, I'm going to walk down to my game shop Monday with a fire ax in my hands and sit on the owner until he gets it in!