Steve

Here's a funny experiment I just tried:
 
Kind of reminds me of Data trying to learn about human emotions.

How to play the guitar.
Midjourney Al

I'm futzing around with ChatGPT this morning and it is solving basic physics word problems.  And showing its work.  Its only problem appears to be a lack of control over significant digits.
 
Now would be a great time to retire from an academic career in the hard sciences.

I tend to enjoy the humorous angle they've been played with in the past now and then, the 'these guys are not as bad ass as they think they are and they're going to end up on their faces again' bits, but I think I maybe in the minority. The important thing to me is you keep the brothers relationship tight.  Be they world shakers or just wanna bes, Requiem and Frost should always have each others' backs

I would also add to this that subtracting a point of SPD from all characters could also help stretch points. So 3 SPD Bricks and 4 SPD Energy Projectors. Agents could be built cheaper too.

An alternative to the nation-conquering version of Deathstroke might be to have them be the “secret masters” of a large town or small city they took over in the intervening years since their last appearance. It would give them a base of operations and set them apart a bit from other villain teams with more grandiose plans.
 
They could have secret IDs as upstanding citizens and maybe even be raising their kids with powers as the future of their operation.

I would also add to this that subtracting a point of SPD from all characters could also help stretch points. So 3 SPD Bricks and 4 SPD Energy Projectors. Agents could be built cheaper too.

An alternative to the nation-conquering version of Deathstroke might be to have them be the “secret masters” of a large town or small city they took over in the intervening years since their last appearance. It would give them a base of operations and set them apart a bit from other villain teams with more grandiose plans.
 
They could have secret IDs as upstanding citizens and maybe even be raising their kids with powers as the future of their operation.

I like Deathstroke, its one of the best Champions modules they ever put out.  Its the first one that really was built as a superhero adventure proper

https://www.patreon.com/posts/article-is-ogl-77927662

The Meatgrinder was rechristened with a new name to honor the Princess of Drinax during the voyage to Hilfer, and the travel time allowed repairs and healing to occur.
 
The Imperium Treasure Ship had made a poor landing in the wastelands of Hilfer, and the remaining crew readied what defense they could while awaiting rescue, knowing it might take months to arrive, if ever.
 
@Durzan Malakim summarized the challenges facing the PCs pretty well. Here is some additional commentary.
 
The captain of the treasure ship is a martinet a bit reminiscent of the one from the movie Mr. Roberts, mixed with the British officer from Bridge on the River Kwai. He’s currently unconscious courtesy of his First Officer, Commander Mari Jagat, after I did my best to portray him as the insufferable prig he was.
 
She’s described in the module as the slightly Mary Sue-ish protagonist of a series of science fiction military action-adventure novels occurring parallel to the PCs activities, apparently an Honor Harrington homage. Further complicating things, she hero worships Brigadier Meson thanks to his “war hero” Positive Reputation but didn’t at first believe the “pirate captain” she was talking to was him even after he revealed his true identity, throwing quotes from his own biography in his face as to why her crew was not going to meekly surrender and letting the PCs know about the armed nuclear device.
 
Further complicating matters is the surviving Marine Commander Harc, who is paranoid that the ship was infiltrated by one or more Zhodani spies (apparently true from what the PCs later discovered) and refuses to accept the commands of any Navy officers, thinking they are all compromised puppets, and he’s not too sure about his fellow marines either. He and an unknown number of surviving marines are in full battledress and ready to fight pirates to the bitter end.
 
There is also a spy from the megacorp General Development Company (GeDeCo), running a scheme as well, but the PCs don’t know who it is. As one of the PCs also works for GeDeCo, he received some text messages from the spy on his personal comm device as a professional courtesy (and perhaps worried they would be killed if the PCs weren’t aware of their presence).

https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/news/pathfinder-call-of-cthulhu-rpgs-sell-out-dnd-ogl-backlash

This was from yesterday:
 
 

And WotC blinks: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1439-ogl-1-0a-creative-commons
 
 

It's a trap, get an axe...

Hasbro does Stranger Things merchandise, but they could also charge the show for using their trademarked stuff like Vecna. There is some sort of contractual arrangement going on between them, so it seems much more complicated than just product placement.

And yet I suspect the vast majority of them will continue using D&D rather than try another system (or maybe shift over to Pathfinder). Who knows? Maybe GURPS will experience a Renaissance or some new players will come here.
 
I'm now torn on whether I want to see the upcoming movie or wait for it to hit streaming. While I’d like to see more D&D movies, I don’t want to reward Hasbro and WOTC for their bad behavior.

Been spending some time in D&D forums due to the OGL scandal, and that scandal has inspired a number of discussions about what people don't like about D&D.  The most (un)popular aspects seem to be:
 
- The power disparity between martials and casters
- The power disparity between subclasses--e.g. sorcerers and most rangers are underpowered while paladins and hexblade warlocks are OP, and so on
- Saving throws.  (Why this mechanic has persisted for almost fifty years is beyond me.)
- A very poorly defined skill system.
- Mundane combat is boring.
- "Vancian" magic.  It turns out almost no one likes the magic system(s) in D&D.  It's confusing for new players (spell level vs. character level), the memorization mechanic is likewise hard to understand, and it forces players to ignore 3/4 of the available spells which are too specialized or too underpowered.  Also, there is a large subset of players who want to play themed spellcasters, like ice mages, and of course this is impossible in D&D unless the DM lets them change the special effects on spells.

Unfortunately, Hero seems to be the game system that the RPG community has mostly forgotten about. Like “Hero’s still around? They did Champions, right?” While its peers like Chaosium and Steve Jackson Games will probably enjoy a surge as a result of Hasbro’s epic display of stupidity, I don’t think Hero Games will get to see much of that, sadly.
 
Joining the ORC community that is forming might help, as Hero is one of the elder statesmen of gaming. More people just need to be made aware it still exists.

I've seen a bit of Sailor Moon.

The most important power Queen Nocturna would have is the ability to empower flunkies. (Or boost the power of lieutenants that already have powers.)
 
This means that there is no shortage of monster of the week plots you can run. Eventually, though, a "real" plot should kick in, with the secrets of the Magical Moon Kingdom being revealed, and Nocturna's attempt to take it over, initially through her lieutenants, only getting involved directly once that fails.