phydaux

Just want to throw this out there for people looking for a monster hunting fix. John Hartness has a series called Bubba the Monster Hunter. It's about what you'd expect, given the title - A guy who, when he's not drinking beer by the pitcher in a nudie bar and watching college football on TV, drives around the south in a pick-up truck and hunts monsters with his Desert Eagle .50 named Bertha. Several books available for cheap on Kindle. Also available as audiobooks.

It was decent. K. M. Johnson-Weider has two books, West Pasific Supers and Victory At Any Cost, that are very good. Well worth your time. Jim Bernheimer has four books in the Confessions of a D-List Supervillan series. They are very good Marion Harmon has six or so books in the Wearing The Cape series that are good. A tad juvenile & teen romance, but what are you gonna do?

Quasar - He would call PRIMUS on his helmet radio and inform them of the situation. Then he would keep an eye on Negator until PRIMUS picked him up. Shadowhunter - He would hit the unconscious Magic Word with an Entangle to make sure he didn't get away, then do the same to Negator. Then he's blend into the shawods. The bank manager can be counted on to call the police, and the police will call PRIMUS. Mystica - "Magic Word? I have heard of this person. Stay away. I must check his body for artifacts. No, I said Stay Away! Sleep spell will make sure he does not wake up too soon. I must... What? No, I said stay away. Yes, I know who PRIMUS is, and you know who I AM, too! I am Mystica, and PRIMUS will stay away until I say is safe. Feh! This is no good. We are leaving!" She would then teleport herself to her study, along with Magic Word and anything he might have carried or touched. She would then contact the Trimagus Council and Le Institute Thoth to inform them that she had him in custody, and was cataloging any magic artifacts in his possession. Both groups would receive a detailed report regarding any mystic artifacts with photographs, and Mystica would then keep the atrifacts in her private vault. Depending on Magic Word's reputation regarding summoning demons he would then either be turned over to PRIMUS unharmed for incarceration, or his corpse would be megascale teleported into deep space.

"Nobody seems to have picked up on the anagram. And I thought it was too obvious." Totally didn't see it until you mentioned it, and now I feel like a DOPE.

Quasar - He would work with PRIMUS, the local super team, and other properly deputized authorities to provide security to the launch site. Shadowhunter - He would prowl the streets and shadows, searching the criminal world for any word on those out to sabotage Mach's operations. He'll also investigate any possible links between Mach and any super-villain organisations. Mystica - "If he open portal on tiny moon and let eldritch horrors escape, Mars will not be far enough away to protect Mach from the wrath of MYSTICA!"

And in the Bubba the Monster Hunter series, Bubba's employer is the Roman Catholic Church. Their contact with the church, a priest, is also the uncle of Bubba's best friend, so Bubba calls him "Uncle Father." Which, when you hear it in a in a thick hill billy accent, is just weird.

Yeah, but this is the RPG. If the player's team is 100% supported by MHI and all the weapons & equipment come out of a big barn in Cazador then OP is right - The players have no use for PUFF money. And there will always be one player whose weapon of choice is a belt-fed machnegun firing silver ammo, and another whose go to move is "I ram it with the company van!" And if the characters don't have to buy the machinegun, pay for the silver ammo, or pay for the repairs to the van, then now you're role playing a world where actions have no consequences. Everyone is just a murder hobo. I much prefer running a game where the players are the upstart independents and MHI is the competition.

I'm not the first to say this - The Ringo books were better.

Also, HERO assumes that, for zero points, a PC in a modern setting has a place to live, a car, a job that pays $75k/yr, and $5000 in cash to buy starting items. For points you can buy a higher lifestyle. I "allow" (that's a nice way to say "force") starting MHI PCs to pay one character point for one year's income. That represents their "stake," savings or initial PUFF bounty, to start their monster hunting career. Looking back at cannon, both Owen and Chad used their initial PUFF bounty to buy weapons before showing up to Cazador for newbie training. $75k will get the PCs several weapons including (probably only ONE) full auto weapon, lots of accessories, several thousand rounds of regular ammo, and a decent stock of silver ammo. Each PC can kick in $5000 each for the team van. So that kits out the MHI franchise of Dog Patch, Iowa. The team is decently armed & equipped for moderate threats. They can attempt tougher hunts, but if the team gets beat up too bad then they won't even have the equipment for even easy jobs like shamblers. They'll have to pick and choose. But there's a problem... Briarwood Eradication Services also operates in Dog Patch. If the PCs turn down a job then Briarwood will take it. And they'll get the PUFF. And the rep. And the next time there's a problem then they will get the phone call, not MHI. So the team starts off trained but not experienced, equipped but not extravagantly so. There's plenty of opportunity (turns out Dog Patch is a hot bed of necromantic activity, who knew?), and there's some competition. Now all they need is an MCB Special Agent In Charge and a local Sheriff to make their life hell, and a hot young medical examiner to woo, and you've got yourself a campaign.

The game is all about a war. And it ISN'T about the heroes vs the monsters. It's about the heroes vs poverty. First off, the local team gets NOTHING from Cazador. Nada, zip, zero. "No problem, we've got a vendor. Just give them a call. You've got a credit card, right?" Second, if the team is a franchise then Cazador takes 20% of all PUFF off the top. If the local team is a "company owned" team then Cazador takes 30% off the top. Next, Uncle Sam sticks in his beak. That's ANOTHER 30% off the top. Oh, and the PCs never even see that money. It comes right off the top, like FICA. So say the PCs bag 20 shamblers at $5000 each, that's $100k PUFF bounty. Not bad for a night's work. The PCs get a check for $40k. Silver ammo? That's $10 a shot. Dump a full magazine of silver ammo into a lycan from an H&K .45 UMP? That's $300. I hope you didn't miss. A team can EASILY burn through $5000 worth of silver ammo on one full moon. Oh, and that full auto H&K .45 UMP? That will be $35,000 please. Oh, the gargoyle grabbed it and now the receiver is bent out of shape? I hope you bought more than one. Team tooling around in a jacked up Escalade? Sweet ride. Too bad the flesh golem stepped on it. It will take $15,000 to get it back on the road. But that will take weeks. You can pick up a used Explorer for just under $20k to use in the mean time.

I also think that Cannon has a Vatican monster hit team, so priests, monks & nuns aren't out of the question. And Milo is a devout Mormon who has turned undead.

I was thinking more along the lines of that Mexican soap opera Peggy Hill used to watch.

"Yep. I couldn't think of anyone else at the time. So I went with the talk show host." Sigh... he was a legit Saturday morning cartonn super hero WAY before the talk show. But you probably don't even remember Saturday morning cartoons.

Did he just punch Space Ghost?

I've never had an in-game fight go two full turns.

I'd allow him. CV is a little high, IMO, but that's dependent on the other PCs & NPCs as to what the campaign norm is.

On a metagame level nearly ALL my PCs have a decent Ego, ECV, and at least some Mental & Power Defense. Flash Defense too. I've had my PCs bounced across the tabletop too many times not to.

Quasar - Quasar would use his helmet radio to alert his city's hero team (he has them as contacts), the local & state police Metahuman Responce Teams (he has them as contacts), and the regional PRIMUS office (he has them as contacts). Then, trusting to his battlesuit's Personal Psyonic Suppressors, he would enter the bank and peacefully apprehend the villain. Shadowhunter - Having undergone years of mental training & conditioning, Shadowhunter is sure he can withstand this villain's attacks. He would confidently enter the bank by a rear entrance, sneak his way into the lobby, and then spring from the shadows, attacking from surprise with an uppercut to the jaw. Once Negator was unconscious Shadowhunter would instruct the bank manager to phone the police, and then with a hiss of black smoke he would melt back into the shadows and disappear. Mystica - "No, you have this wrong. I am Mystica. Mystic. Is in name, see? This is psyonic. Similar, but different. Is simple, common, and highly ANOYING mistake. See you no make AGAIN! You want Mind Maiden, not Mystica. You call her now. What? No, I DON'T have phone number. I look like Yellow Pages to you? What? Yellow Pages. YELLOW PAGES! There used to be these books... KRULKA! GO!! Leave Mystica alone. You leave now while you still have SOUL!!!"

"not sure my character would take well to be pairing off with a perennial damsel in distress" Just think of the DNPC points.

Paradox Timely is female by birth, shapeshifter by nanomachines, and omisexual by choice. Shadowhunter just enjoys the perks of the job. And if that includes occasional nookie with a female vigilante, villain, or groupie, well, that's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

Quasar - Track the villain back to his lair, alert the rest of the Local Hero Team, crash the hideout, and rescue Holly. Again. Give her a STERN lecture about not getting kidnapped so much. Shadowhunter - Track the villain back to his lair, sneak into the hideout all alone, ambush the bad buy, and rescue Holly. Again. "Escort" Holly back to her place to make sure she gets home safe and sound, then swoop in for a little "My hero" nookie action. AGAIN. 'Cause let's face it, she isn't getting kidnapped over and over by accident. Holly is a FREAK for superheroes. Mystica - "So this is outer space alien, no extra dimensional alien? No eldritch horror? Go bother punch-punch, boom-boom heroes. Mystica has universe to save from eldritch horrors. Better you not know. Here, take cookie. Is good. Now go."

You could also go with Persephone.

If she's like Oracle, and particularly if the character is female, then the obvious name is Delphi.

Some of the picks are quite interesting. Some team owners tried to synergize, picking some powerful heroes and others known for neutralizing other hero's powers (Murder Central). Others just wanted to stick with a theme (The Defenders) while others went for the heaviest hitters they could pick (Smackdown). Other team captains made picks that only they can understand (Maple Syrup Defenders). I'd love to hear you guys' take on the teams.

Here are the picks and the teams. Teams are posted in the order they were in the draft. Their first pick is their team captain, and the rest listed in the order they were picked.