Steve

Since this would be mostly a swords and sorcery setting, non-humanoids would be a non-starter. Humans or very near human races are what would be expected.

I was thinking to use either Powerful Heroes or Very Powerful Heroes points-wise, but there would be an expectation to use some of those points for things like Positive Reputation, Perks and Contacts, as well as skills from their original world that might still have some usage in a new world. Since languages would not be the same in this world, it would require spending points on any from our world they would like to keep, albeit with some caveats. Being able to speak in English to each other when no one around them could understand would be a benefit worth points. But I would not charge a character to know how to speak French or Japanese if they were the only one that did. It’s just flavor then. For really good concepts, I would allow what I call Hero Debt, extra points that they can use at character creation for things that fit the character that would be paid back by half or more of their experience points before they can spend them on new things. The character is older or more experienced, but they grow more slowly. Each player would have to mentally construct two characters and then merge them, so they can keep whatever skills they want from their old world. Maybe one player wants to be a shy engineering student from Australia now in the body of a skilled thief with a reputation as a womanizer and the charm to match, but who never learned to read. Or a retired housewife from New Jersey finds herself in the body of this world’s version of Red Sonja in her physical prime.

Unfortunately, I never got a chance to run it. It remains as ideas on paper and in the back of my mind.

Eurostar in the modern era seems like it could work better as a more outward-looking villain group. Rather than attacking places in Europe, they go after those Fiacho perceives as harming Europe's united interests (Brexit supporters, China, the USA). This has the advantage of putting them at odds with foreign superteams. I've run several Champions campaigns over the years, and Eurostar was not really a big part of any of them because they were far away in Europe and didn't come to bother America.

Another option would be to set the campaign in the 1980s. They really seem to work best in the late Cold War era.

May the Fourth is here again. Do you celebrate it?

I don’t see a reason why not. It means they could show up anywhere.

I think I like options 1 and 2 the best. Option 1 gives her a feel a bit like the Black Widow in the comics, who has some kind of super-soldier serum in her veins. Option 2 also has appeal, and it gives her a more flexible timeframe for her origins. Marvel does something like this with their floating ten years of history (like it’s only been 10 or so years since Captain America was defrosted, the Avengers and Fantastic Four were founded, Spider-Man got his powers, etc). Options 3 and 4 could be combined. It could be part of her insanity, an existential crisis that she knows she’s not the original and gets replaced as needed. This would also give her a scarier kind of longevity. Perhaps Fiacho has some kind of financial arrangement with Teleios? That actually opens up an interesting possibility. Perhaps Eurostar in the modern day is composed of clones of the originals, an experiment of some kind by Teleios.

How many pages is it?

I bought a bundle of them when it was on sale a while back. The art is good stuff.

I sense some bitterness in these comments. Are they from personal experience?

That would actually give them a worldwide scope and bring them into more opportunities for conflict with PRIMUS and American superteams. Not just America, since they could also strike out against Chinese and Russian efforts to expand their control in the world.

I'm wondering if I'm just becoming a cheapskate in my old age, but the pricing of the latest Champions International supplements seems a bit high to me. Champions International: Costa Azul is 45 pages for $15 or about $0.33/page. Champions International: Taqiristan is 16 pages for $7.50 or about $0.47/page. Champions International: Lugendu is 16 pages for $7.50 or about $0.47/page. Champions International: Transnistria is 23 pages for $7.50 or about $0.33/page. Compared to that, the new Western Hero adventure (The Taming of Tascora) is $4.99 for 49 pages or about $0.10/page and Western Hero goes for $15 for 276 pages or about $0.05/page. Champions Complete is $20 for 240 pages or about $0.08/page. I'd be okay with paying up to $7 or $8 for Costa Azul and maybe as much as $4 for each of the other three, but not more than that. Am I all alone in thinking this?

I like the designs of 1st and 3rd because they give a good comic book look for a Silver or Bronze Age campaign, just lose the shoulder points. The 4th A design would be good for special agents/leader types, or if running a more cinematic-looking game (the Champions Cinema Universe).

If they want to strike terror across Europe, one place they could lay waste to (or just rob in a showy fashion) is Vatican City. There is a treasure trove of gold, jewels and historical artifacts that could be looted from there, and Fiacho murdering a Pope on worldwide television would be quite a spectacle for the press. Millions of Catholics would be affected across Europe and this might inspire the different countries to unite against a common threat (Eurostar). Maybe this would be (quietly?) cheered by anti-Catholic groups in Europe. Of course, I am not certain what kind of superhuman defenses the Vatican has in the CU, but they might have enough resources in place to delay Eurostar until reinforcements arrive.

I think Zarconium sounds better than Zarconite. Perhaps different beams can be color-coded. Agonizer Beam-an AVLD that is resisted by Power Defense. He definitely needs a “soliloquy bubble” of some kind (Barrier or Force Wall). You might review Professor Muerte’s powers for ideas. Perhaps he has a DNPC love interest who finds his new identity exciting and will actively find ways to transform him to have adventures together. I’m thinking of a Harley Quinn sort of assistant, crazy but cute. Another approach would be some sort of human-like apparition that only appears when he is transformed, a Summon of some kind. It’s a manifestation of his madness but solid and independent-minded. If you don’t think a sexy femme works, how about an Igor? It would be like Flash Gordon crossed with Young Frankenstein. You might want to check out a fan-made World of Darkness work called Genius: The Transgression. It’s full of this sort of stuff.

I get a very strong Image Comics vibe from a number of these character concepts rather than something from DC or Marvel. Was that intentional?

The Shadow Queen was one of the major villains in my last Champions campaign. It worked quite well to have Black Paladin as her lieutenant. Because of the faerie tale nature of her realm, I used Disney-esque elements in the encounters with the villains and describing her kingdom. Because it amused the Shadow Queen, one of the heroes became involved in a singing contest with Black Paladin, which the fallen knight wasn’t going to do until she spelled him into it. It later became known in that campaign that Black Paladin has “a marvelous singing voice.”

Automat food Circuit City Crown Books Floppy disks Green stamps (S&H) H.R. Pufnstuf KB Toys Pet rocks Roller skate keys Rope climb in gym class Sam Goody Sea monkeys Sears catalogs Slide Rules Tab soda Tom McAn shoes Tower Records TV stations signing off for the night Video Game Systems: Atari, Intellivision Video Games: Asteroids, Computer Space, Defender, Double Dragon, Dragon's Lair, Frogger, Galaxian, Gauntlet, Joust, Out Run, Pong, Space Invaders. Woolworth's

We have an 8-track in the car.

I like the Monster Hunter RPG that Hero publishes, and I've played in KillerShrike's Here There Be Monsters game, which shares some of the same aspects as Monster Hunter. I also really liked Grimm and its masquerade concept. My setting preference is something more along the lines of Feng Shui, especially if I've rewatched Big Trouble In Little China again. I like guns, martial arts, monsters and mysticism in the right mix.

It’s finally, officially announced!

Weird. Still no mention of this book on the main page, but the Celtic Hero Bestiary is now announced. It makes me wonder what other new things might be getting added to the store but not announced.

Was there a section that showed how the costs of the new talents were calculated? I didn’t see anything on my read through.

I did think it was a little strange that it's been out since the 18th but not mentioned, so I thought I'd better announce it. I've finished skimming through the book, and it's pretty good. The added Talents and modified combat rules are interesting. It's a genre book with a modified form of the core rules included, a bit like how Lucha Libre Hero was done. At 276 pages for the PDF, it's a good deal at $15.