Steve

I’ve occasionally wondered what an alternate version of the Champions Universe would be like if a Canadian city had been destroyed instead of Detroit and then rebuilt into a version of Millennium City. Windsor, Canada would be an interesting choice. Imagine if the region was carved out as its own city-state, a mix of Canada and the United States, and a haven for superhumans.

I’m wondering what a silly, chaotic and evil campaign would be like.

If you boost his brick qualities, you get more of a Solomon Grundy feel to him.

When discussing medieval settings, how much magic is preferable? A Swords & Sorcery level would seem to work easiest as far as impact on a historical setting, focused on humans as the only race. But once you start scaling up from there, history would start getting strange. Imagine the city-states of 10th century Italy ruled by ageless, Elven lords who have been in charge for centuries. The occasional half-elf comes into being due to their decadence and trysts with humans in attempts to stave off their ennui. Or if the Mongol Hordes had a wizard at the Khan’s side acting as mobile artillery when it came to dealing with walled cities. Or the inquisitors from the Catholic Church possessed actual clerical magic and were hunting down demon-possessed humans, witches and vampires.

I confess to now being curious about the Meta-Earth Campaign Guide.

Maybe due to the chocolates?

Bronsonite underwear?

I have long had a love of the Ars Magica version of Europe, but translating it into Hero System has always been too intimidating for me.

One of the things I remember from my early days in RPGs (D&D) was how cool the idea of an intelligent magic sword was. Please share your intelligent sword concepts.

A staple of the comic book genre and frequently romantically involved with one of the heroes (or would like to be). She can be competent and a go-getter who can get herself out of some troubles (Lois Lane or Vicky Vale) or a jaded, frequent kidnapping victim (Roxanne Richie from Megamind). Who is the plucky female reporter in your campaign?

Who would you consider a “villain in name only?” Someone who acts like a villain but doesn’t really do anything all that bad. Like Gru from Despicable Me, Megamind or Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferv. in the Champions Universe, I’m thinking that Foxbat would qualify. Any other ideas?

I read somewhere that the labor shortages caused by the Black Death contributed to the end of feudalism in Europe. If the Black Death had been smaller or never occurred at all, feudalism would have likely continued for far longer.

Is it still called One D&D? I haven’t really been following.

The 13th century had the Mongol invasions, so it would be an opportunity for lots of adventure and fighting. Almost like a medieval world war, I suppose. As I recall, they went on for a couple of generations before the Turks managed to repel them. I also find the politics of Italian city-states to have lots of potential. Plotting, scheming and knives in the dark. Like others have said, there’s always fun with Vikings. I would go for an older era for this. Perhaps 7th or 8th century.

Talking about modems, and I'm getting flashbacks to AOL and one of the earliest online RPGs called GEnie. Anyone remember Trade Wars?

When I was a kid, my very first computer was a TRS-80 that used a cassette tape recorder for saving files. I remember playing with crystal radio kits as a kid, also bought from Radio Shack. Anyone remember SCSI drives?

Weaponmaster seemed the most appropriate, as her most impressive damage is done with a bladed weapon, either a katana or naginata. In a battle on a cliffside against four pretty tough-seeming opponents, she bisected one of them (separating the top and bottom of an armored foe on screen with much blood shown). With a die or two in Weaponmaster and the right martial arts maneuvers, I’m thinking she gets up to 4d6 HKA or so. I’m also still inclined to go with 3d6 and an Armor Piercing naked advantage. The tree cutting was something she did as part of her practice and focus training during one downtime scene. She didn’t cut through a tree every time. Most of her cutting was through enemies.

I’m not sure if Aid would be needed, but I suppose it could be a possible way to write her abilities. Even injured, she kept pushing her way through many enemy soldiers. Limbs were being hacked off and armored men had significant amounts of body mass sliced through. Mizu is a character of extreme focus on seeking revenge, and I was reminded of John Wick or the Bride from Kill Bill in her extremely devoted pursuit of her revenge.

Well, in looking at the basic numbers, a medium tree has 5 DEF and 8 BOD, so an attack of 4d6 HKA (average of 14) should be able to slice through its trunk, or maybe a 3d6 HKA (average 10.5) with Armor Piercing. She didn't seem to be pushing STR and was instead showing extreme focus in her skill. Samurai armor is listed as topping out at 6 DEF in most locations (with sleeves and greaves only being 4), so mook samurai types in armor would be about as hard to cut through as a medium tree. I don't recall her cutting through a really huge tree trunk or metal armored men during the series, so a purchase of one die of the Weaponmaster Talent would seem to suffice. Then either buy a second die or add in a Naked Advantage of Armor Piercing with a sword for up to 45 Active Points of attack would seem to work. That would put Mizu in the Powerful Hero category at a bare minimum, but far more likely a Very Powerful Hero.

How would one build the ability to cut through a tree in a single blow? Is it just having enough damage dice, or would it involve an advantage like Armor Piercing? I was watching Blue Eye Samurai, and there are scenes where Mizu slices through a thick tree trunk (and others where bisecting armored humans happens). Is this just a matter of having a lot of damage dice, or is something else going on?

Bingeing Blue Eye Samurai on a weekend sick on the couch. Only two episodes left for me to watch.

How would you build a surface or an object that Clinging doesn’t work on? Some sort of drain on clinging built as a damage shield? Perhaps a Change Environment construct?

Bumping for another Christmas.

I’m finding it helpful in managing damage in my campaigns to use limited forms of Damage Negation. Just a few dice seems to give Rocky levels of toughness to Heroic characters. I’ve also toyed with giving sectional limitations, like how armor is built.

The party consists of three characters, each built as Powerful Heroes (225 points and 50 Complication points). 1) US Marshall Daniel Doyle (character image is Clint Eastwood from one of his early westerns): A revenant that keeps this a secret and is dedicated to hunting evil. Talented with a gun and durable. 2) Sergio Cortez: (character image is Antonio Banderas from the Mariachi movie): A bounty hunter of both men and monsters. A thrillseeking womanizer who is in this for the money. A prototype of Zorro without a secret ID who is very handy with a sword and very stealthy. 3) Samuel Smith (character image is Bruce Campbell from The Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr): A cowboy with immense gun skills who is a weirdness magnet rather than an actual hunter. Two of the characters are armed with cap and ball handguns except for Marshall Doyle, who is armed with one of the earliest brass cartridge weapons available as of 1855 (a French-made Lefaucheux M1854). In the first session, Doyle and Cortez are tracking something heading west, which they think is a werewolf. They discover that both a small nest of vampires and at least one werewolf are in Fort Yuma. During the session, Sam is bitten once by a vampire and later by a werewolf, injured but not badly so.