Steve

From today’s Pirates of Drinax/Traveller Hero session.
 
”A man that can punch a gorilla in the nuts can do anything.”

The LA Times gathered up a ton of demographic and economic data, and broke it down all the way to neighborhoods or sometimes smaller cities, in the LA metro area.  It's a wonderful resource:
 
https://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/index.html
 
For example, for a character concept I'm fleshing out...I wanted a fairly high income, but also very diverse neighborhood.  Hmm...flip round...yeah...South Pasadena will work.  Good combination of very diverse (white, Asian, Latino anyway) and high income.  
 
It is only LA, but it's a wonderful resource if you're ok with that being where the character grew up.  Most neighborhood guides don't go into anything like this kind of detail;  it's more like visitors' points of interest, and not a lot more.  But if anyone happens to know of other major cities, where someone's done this kind of breakdown?  I'd love to hear about it.

Greetings fellow HERO System fans! I know these updates should happen more often; and I’ll try to improve upon that. But for now, here’s what’s going on with Hero Games and the HERO System at the end of 2022.
 
1) First of all, if you haven’t joined our Patreon account (https://www.patreon.com/hero_games), please consider doing so. By becoming patron you will not only help fund the creation of of new books, but also gain the ability to review and comment upon unreleased material before it becomes available to the public. Right now we have a little more than fifty patrons; but I envision Hero Games having more like one hundred in 2023. Then we would be really “cooking with gas,” in terms of getting manuscripts turned into books more expediently.
 
And I really prefer Patreon for Hero Games as a crowdfunding method over Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, or any of the other platforms. Though that is admittedly a personal preference.
 
2) Have you seen our Champions Complete bundle on Roll20 (https://roll20.net/)? It has everything you need to play Champions with your friends online, including all of the material from Champions Complete and Champions Begins usable in Roll20.
 
3) Carlos and I got in a proof for Thomas Stadley’s new champions universe organization book Institute For Human Advancement: Pride & Prejudice, and there were some issues. So we’ve made some changes, resubmitted it, and I have a new proof on the way to me right now. If everything checks out, we should have that book available in the Hero Games store, DriveThruRPG, Amazon, Indie Press Revolution, and at a game store near you.
 
4) With Christopher Hackler’s Gaslight: Horror & Heroism in the Victorian Era having been through the Patreon account, Carlos and I have begin editing and laying it out. We’ll be presenting finished chapters on Patreon before taking it to print early next year.
 
5) Steven Otte’s Heroes In A Hurry is currently being run through the account. It is in nearly final form, and will go straight to press afterward.
 
6) Michael Satran’s final work Imperial Throne has been reviewed by fans on the Patreon account, and the response has been quite positive. Carlos and I will begin work on that when we’re done with Gaslight.
 
7) We will continue to put out chapters from renowned game designer Scott Bennie’s final novel The Last Orc, at which point I’ll copy edit it in preparation for publication sometime in 2023.
 
8. We’re going to start putting up chapters of Phil Guinchard’s Gemini System soon. It’s a genre-agnostic game heavily influenced by the Hero System and OpenD6; and, like Champions Now, is the sort of experiment we’d like for you to see.
 
That’s all I can think of here at the end of 2022. As always, if you have a Hero Games manuscript, email me at jason@herogames.com and let me know.
 
- Jason Walters, Publisher
 

For a real challenge, the Spirits of Christmas could try to reform the likes of Dr. Destroyer, Black Paladin or another major supervillain. Even Foxbat might be fun too.

I would pay money to be able to watch them try. Can you imagine one of those major baddies going through a Scrooging?
 
And just imagine if the Spirits succeeded?
 
How about if one or more heroic, magic-based characters got roped into being among the Spirits? It would allow a rare insight into the haunted character’s past and could make for some great roleplaying in a session.

As I have a Large collection of old Modules from D&D and elsewhere, I plan to use some in my game as enticements for my players!
 
So some entries 
Ruins of the City of Tenryk, old capitol of the Tenryk Empire that was overrun by Goblyns and is now surrounded by a dark goblyn infested forest (This is one I don't have any material for, but I love the idea as it is a common trope)
 
Phantom Pirate Isle (inspired by a skeleton infested island from an Old Adventurers Club!)
 
Ghost Castle on the coast of Ruecha.  (I plan to use an Oriental Adventure module about a ghost castle)
 
Ruins of Dorethal (this one is in the module I am using, is a magical city on one of the southern islands.  The island partially sank and most of the city in now underwater)
 
Lost City in the northern jungle (Dwellers of the Forbidden City)
 
City of the Storm in the Bola Desert (inspired by an adventure from one of the Al Qadim modules)
 
Cavern of Wonders in the Wyrmian Mountains (Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth/ minus that Artifact)
 
Stairs of the Gods (Again hinted at in the module I am using.  Some out of the way islands with some strange ruins on them)
 
The Floating Island of the Black Ocean (Also from Al Qadim.  Is actually a GIANT sea turtle that was used as a base by some pirates.  Then it dove under water.  Now it has resurfaced!)
 
Any other Ideas!

I guess I’m an old school grognard, but I far prefer interacting with people face to face at a table rather than playing by text/email. I’ve tried it in the past, and it’s glacially slow in getting anything done that way.

Oh, and of course Thalassene has festivals timed with the solstices and quinoxes, because those are natural times to celebrate something-or-other. The Furanian immigrant community celebrates all four, since their religion is sun-centered. There are many Furanians in the neighborhood of Oddmonger, so the Furanian Sun Cake -- glazed golden with saffron and honey -- is a familiar treat for those four days, and popular with non-Furanians as well.
 
The Plenary Empire began among the Yidmiri people, so that pantheon of gods remains popular. The festival day of the Yidmiri war god Sar sees a variety of martial contests. One of the PCs won a local archery contest held as part of the festival.
 
The biggest religious festival of Thalassene's year, though, is the annual Marriage to the Sea in which gthe city renews its covenant with the sea-god Manakel and the local merfolk. Ten young men and ten young women dive into the sea from the Pera Sacra, or Sacred Pier, the holiest shrine to Manakel, and swims a seven-mile race to Treaty Reef. There, the male and female winners make love in the surf with merfolk who won their own contest. Mer and landwalker priests bless the unions; and offspring are born with the magical power to exchange feet and fins, becoming merfolk or landwalker humans as needed. The gift is sometimes inherited, but remains miraculous: "Children of Land and Sea" are unique to Thalassene and the local merfolk tribes.
 
Dean Shomshak

The city of Thalassene is in the Plenary Empire, so the chief secular/political holiday is the anniversary of the reigning Autocrat's ascension to the throne. The biggest to-do in the city is the parade and street fair in Mactown, the district settled by refugees from the Macrine region. So many Macriners arrived at once that Mactown seems more like a transplanted bit of "the old country" than like part of the Plenary Empire, and other Thalasseners sometimes grumble that the Mactowners should decide what country they're in. But the Mactown Ascension Day Parade is the biggest in the city. I'll decide what actually happens as part of the parade when I can arrange to make it part of an adventure.
 
Most of the festivals in Thalassene are religious -- and since the Plenary Empire absorbed many different cultures, each with their own gods, there's usually at least a minor festival going on somewhere. In Vicus Drohasus, another ethnic district. the largest public festival is dedicated to the Ennead, the nine chief gods of Drohashi religion. The idols of the gods are paraded through the streets while people sing the old hymns and play the old music of sistrum, flute and tabor, while waving banners of the Golden Lotus that was the symbol of Drohashi sacred kingship.
 
Every year, the Viltish ambassador Hegetsa -- representative of the theocratic empire that conquered Drohash -- secretly watches the parade and seethes with rage. The sun god Sorath is honored, but to no greater degree than the rest of the Ennead, and not by the rites ordained by the prophet Orvikka. The Drohashi of Thalassene are worse than infidel: They are heretics! Soon, Hegetsa promises herself, they, their city, and their false idols will burn.
 
Dean Shomshak

I'm curious to see how Blackfur develops. He has a new military commission to add to his list of accolades. He also knocked out another PC for being mouthy. President Meson certainly has quite the odd cabinet of cut throats around him.

We’re now six sessions into the campaign, and the PCs have been away from Drinax for a few months now, exploring the nearby systems for loot and adventure.
 
Not much pirating has been getting done, but they’ve successfully fomented two revolutions so far and profited handsomely from them. Captain Nemos and his crew are coming together nicely and picking up oddball NPCs along the way. Here is one of them.
 
Blackfur: An uplifted ape (25 STR and knows a few martial maneuvers) that one of the PCs first came face to face with by defeating him in an MMA match on the pirate world of Theev, then later encountered in another system after having developed a rivalry for that PC over that loss. Two more fistfights in different game sessions ended with the dice giving more defeats for Blackfur, one from an uppercutting punch to the jaw (hit location 5) and a second with a solid shot to the nads (hit location 13). Neither hit was aimed there on purpose, just the luck of the dice.
 
The player is thinking Blackfur wants to murder him, but he’s actually more of a grumpy, honorable rival that is secretly a bit embarrassed at being so soundly beaten three times in a row by a mere human who just so happens to be a trained boxer from his military days. Despite his grumpiness, Blackfur is a good mechanic, fights well on the PC’s side and is fitting in quite well on the crew.

I’m doing research for a Monster Hunter-type campaign set in Eastern Europe in 1922. For NPCs I usually prefer artwork or even period portraits, but there’s something about photographs from the very early 1900s. The Brownie camera had sold over 200,000 units by 1910. Millions of photographs had been taken. Most of what you find online are people posing with their best clothes and serious faces. But some times they are more relaxed. People at play, at work, or just going about their lives. The eyes of someone who is not accustomed to posing for pictures can be revealing. Even haunting.
l’ve started pairing NPC photographs with short descriptions. It has made a huge impact on the motivations and mannerisms I assign to NPCs. 
 

You could also flip the OP’s question around and ask “What if UNTIL was never formed?”
 
In such a world, I suppose VIPER and other transnational criminal groups would likely overwhelm the defenses of many smaller, weaker countries as time passed. EUROSTAR might become the dominant force in Europe. The US would likely still have PRIMUS, and they might have become the model setup for other countries. In the end, there might be a few large power blocs similar to the Cold War era eyeing each other, each with their own super-agents.

You could also flip the OP’s question around and ask “What if UNTIL was never formed?”
 
In such a world, I suppose VIPER and other transnational criminal groups would likely overwhelm the defenses of many smaller, weaker countries as time passed. EUROSTAR might become the dominant force in Europe. The US would likely still have PRIMUS, and they might have become the model setup for other countries. In the end, there might be a few large power blocs similar to the Cold War era eyeing each other, each with their own super-agents.

Outside of CU China and a few dictatorships, UNTIL is the global law enforcement authority, at least as far as "super" matters go. PRIMUS's authority is confined solely to the United States and its territories overseas, and since the US signed the Tribunal Treaty UNTIL also operates on American soil, with the permission and (usually) cooperation of the American government and agencies. As far as responding to super threats within America, if PRIMUS wasn't there UNTIL would probably have a significantly expanded role, but as far as game scenarios go I can't see there being much difference.
 
PRIMUS's other main role is registering the identities, powers etc of captured supervillains, and superheroes who agree to do so. If they weren't there another appropriate government agency would probably take over, such as the FBI. Again, practically speaking not much would change. The main "meta" for PRIMUS appears to be to satisfy "America First" sentiments both within the game world, and among American gamers.   It does do some things differently from UNTIL, notably in its creation of Silver Avengers.
 
There are a few other "super agencies" in the world even among countries who signed the Tribunal Treaty. Notably, Japan has three such agencies, each targeted to a specific type of threat (described in the Monster Island source book). In the 4E version of the CU, the United Kingdom maintained an agency designated STOP (written up in Kingdom of Champions). Note that SAT doesn't exist in the current official continuity.

This made me tear up a bit.  .  .

The stirge-infested darkness beyond the door reveals one main corridor, and a number of collapsed side corridors. Hopefully we won’t have to do any major excavations, because if the ceilings are that unstable it would probably be a very bad idea. Not that the floors are much more stable, since we nearly miss the first pit trap. It’s just as well that Skave has Disable Traps, because none of the rest of us do. 
 
Shev: See how useful you can be when you’re not trying to blow something up? (says the guy carrying blackpowder).
Gonno😘reluctant to point out that Skave just helped us by breaking something*
 
The corridor opens into a large natural chamber, with a somewhat noxious lake, a natural skylight, and a building built into the wall opposite. Skave checks the lake’s depth and acidity, and doesn’t get eaten by a crocodile. 
 
Miya: And there was me expecting a Dead Gazelle moment. 
 
Shev wants to ride across on his rat, but Vokk is reluctant to even enter the water - HIGHLY suspicious. The rapidly approaching ripple in the water even more so. It would appear that giant leeches as well as stirges breed down here. Maybe we're about to get a Dead Gazelle moment anyway.
 
Or possibly not - we dispatch the leech without difficulty. On the other hand, we do find a black-laquered grappling hook on the island from when the cave roof collapsed. If whoever fell off the presumably attached rope fell from a great height, there would surely be other remains, and if the grappling hook lost its grip when they’d just started climbing, why leave the hook?
 
The building built into the wall has an intact door, despite its apparent age and the humidity down here. The bronze is heavily verdigrised, however. It’s also locked. Happily, the key we were given back in Selversgard fits it, so we don’t break down the door to be immediately killed by all the traps. What they didn’t tell us is that there’d be TWO chests. The first that Arram opens contains numerous documents and letters that we politely don’t read, and the second chest impolitely tries to eat us. 
 
Arram: That does happen sometimes.
 
Unfortunately even small Mimics are a serious threat to amateur dungeon-crawlers like ourselves, even without Skave’s contributions to the fight.
 
Arram: If you hit me with one of your grenades again, rat, I’m going to set you on fire. 
Skave: I hit the Mimic too this time!
 
We’re not professionally-inclined to search the entire building, but Gonno does find a large pile of undigested gold coins under the mimic, and also spots furtive movement elsewhere in the cave that we studiously avoid. There’s no point actually looking for more trouble.

Shev: What do you think we are, adventurers?
 
At some point in the next 11 months, Arram finds a treasure map in one of his predecessor’s books.
 
Shev OoC: Save to give to an passing adventurer as a quest reward.
 
Gelvert, despite his melancholy, does survive the winter and in fact appears to be in better health than in recent days, though he continues to let his eldest son, Gelbert, proxy for him on the Council and run the mill. This is especially important as the mayorship passes to him this year.
 
The summer is a cool and wet one, resulting in a surfeit of root vegetables and fat pigs and cows, but a relatively low harvest of grain. There’s also a minor conflict between some of the woodcutters and a faction of the Druids. The Druids claim the cutters felled several trees that were marked for retention, but the cutters deny they were marked. Both sides agree to closer communication in future. This seems to be a perennial argument. Maybe the druids would be more congenial if the villagers pay them to magically enhance the farmers’ fields. 
Several Ysoki arrive to join the warren. One is a low-level witch. Hopefully that means there will be some adorable baby ratties along soon - the ratfok are too short-lived to put off starting a family, and more important Gonno has a shelf-full of alphabet blocks and wooden ducks to gift the children. 
 
Gonno OoC: Although I’ll probably hold off giving them a working trebuchet if they’re related to Skave.
 
Skave manages to blow up his lab.
 
Shev: Brother. Brother.
Miya: He can’t hear you, because of the explosion.
Skave: NOT MY FAULT THIS TIME.
Shev: SKAVE. THIS IS WHY I DO ALL MY EXPERIMENTS WITH BLACK POWDER OUT IN THE WOODS.
 
Skave is actually ecstatic about the explosion - he can now infuse a small amount of his own magical power into his creations.
 
Shev: An expensive discovery, Brother. I assume it gave you key insights into how *not* to create these infusions?
 
Gonno makes an enemy of a woodcarver that accuses the Oread of stealing his designs. Clearly the man is just looking for a fight, and Gonno has no intention of responding in kind, but it bodes ill for the future. 
 
Gonno OoC: I don't want him coming in when I'm out and throwing my tools in the river or my ham in the latrine. That would be irritating. And if he knows I've been squirreling a small fortune away under the floor... (it's not like there's room to hide it inside the anvil with metal-shaping anymore).
 
Miya, on the other hand, discovers that one of the other town founders also had a subterranean secret that bears investigation - an interest in the now flooded mine near Selversgard, and a still-standing offer of ownership of the mine to anyone that can recover the deeds to it. It probably bears more investigation as to why nobody has followed this up before now, but Miya is new in town, and like many small communities she’s going to be considered an outsider for a few more decades yet. 
 
 

Conroy was at Julliard the same time as Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams was his roommate.  Which means there was a time with Superman, Batman and Robin were altogether.

Jeffrey Combs as The Question.

This is making the rounds now. 
 

The tributes are starting to pour in from all over the internet.