Steve

Have you ever considered what a supervillain is like in their secret ID, and how they interact with the world in their civilian identity?

Imagine Mantara (pgs 192-193 of CV3) taking a day off to just visit the aquarium. Not plotting anything. Maybe she just likes looking at the clownfish.

How about Black Paladin (pgs 35-38 of CV3) teaching a medieval history class, grading exams or writing a paper on something he finds intellectually interesting for publication? Publish or perish, after all.

Maybe Foxbat (pgs 117-119 of CV3) goes to a comic book convention as plain old Freddy Foswell and attends the panels of his favorite comic artists?

Even if they never get shown much at the table, thinking about little things like this bring a supervillain even more to life for me. They aren't plotting bank heists or world domination all the time. With a secret ID, they have to deal with the DMV, the IRS and scheduling visits to the dentist.

Unfortunately, Hasbro is pretty desperate for cash right now after several quarters of losses, so I think a sale is very likely. Getting a billion or so dollars would prop them up for a good while and paper over their failings.

I've seen discussions that titanium or titanium steel would be a good armor type and lighter than regular steel.

A medieval setting without steel would certainly be different from the norm.

On the other hand, imagine a setting where cheap aluminum was available. It was once so rare that it was more valuable than gold or silver.

That would be a significant tech advantage.

7 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

Paranoia?

I was thinking Warhammer might qualify.

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.

2 minutes ago, Rich McGee said:

That certainly hasn't been helped any by Napoleon and Hitler, either.  How many times do you need to be invaded before paranoia starts being a rational response?

 

Of course, that doesn't explain why Belgium is so relatively well-adjusted.

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?

4 hours ago, Rich McGee said:

I don't recall that particular one, but I've read at least a half-dozen similar stories over the years.  The Plague makes a good change point for alt-histories, as does fiddling around with when Europe and the Western hemisphere make contact (and who initiates it).  Authors seem to love putting Europe under the thumb of colonizing outside powers, which does make good irony if nothing else.

 

   

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.