Steve

Deadly Blow works pretty well for backstabbing maneuvers. Since it is already limited by circumstances in its construction, you could just say that the circumstances to use the most limited one is that it requires surprise.

In thinking about this concept further, something like Zen Team from 4th Edition might be an interesting way to pull this off. A Malvan patron provides five random youths/college students with Zen Team armor and powers, then televises their adventures across Malva as a type of reality TV show. Monsters could be provided as well for the team to fight. It would be like a superhuman form of pro wrestling, I guess.

The setting of my current campaign (Agents of PRIMUS) is mostly based upon the Champions Universe as presented using the 5th and 6th Editions of the Hero System rules with several caveats:
Every superhuman that existed in the world from 1938 up through the present has utilized some form of magic as their power source, either by gaining inherent abilities or through using a magical artifact or relic of some sort. While some individuals such as Doctor Destroyer and Mechanon appear to be utilizing advanced technology in their activities, their technology cannot be replicated or even explained by modern science. An example of this is where several components recovered from a very early version of Mechanon were later dismantled and analyzed, and microscopic runes were found etched throughout their interiors, runes originating from no known language, leading experts to speculate that Mechanon is some sort of mechanized golem rather than a product of advanced technology. Superhumans have emerged in cycles that last roughly twelve years each with only a few continuing in their activities past the time their original cycle ended (1938-1949, 1950-1961, 1962-1973, 1974-1985, 1986-1997, 1998-2009 and the current one that began in 2010). In the past, “waves” of heightened activity were followed by “troughs” that produced notably less superhuman goings-on, so the time periods of 1938-1949 and 1962-1973 were wave cycles and the years 1950-1961 and 1974-1985 were trough cycles. Although there are a few noteworthy exceptions such as the lengthy career of Doctor Destroyer, most Champions Universe heroes and villains should be considered as having appeared during the current cycle mixed with a few legacies remaining from the previous one, despite their published histories going back much further. Due to the PCs traveling back in time to 1908 after their visit to 1938, they warned the Archmage of that time, Bohdan Stanislavski, about the circumstances of his upcoming death and thus prevented it from ever happening. His ongoing presence in the world somehow altered the mystical energies which Erich Hessler and his Nazi cohorts tapped into with their working on May 1st, 1938, ushering in the Superhuman Age. The Archmage’s presence changed that event, altering future destinies by eliminating from existence those superhumans without a magical/mystical origin, and revising others into more magical origins. As a direct result of the PCs time traveling to 1938 and destroying Luther Black at that time, DEMON dwindled and effectively vanished. While a few scattered remnants of it still cling to existence, it is not a significant threat to the world today. At the beginning of the 1962-1973 cycle, a rare planetary conjunction occurred from February 4th-6th 1962, and the so-called Aquarian Age began on Earth. Denizens of Faerie began arriving by the thousands as part of an Earth-conquering scheme by the Shadow Queen, Brangomar. After the conjunction was over and the Shadow Queen defeated and driven back to her dark kingdom in Faerie, a horde of Fae beings were left behind, unable to return home. The members of this vast melange composed of pawns of the Shadow Queen’s machinations were eventually settled into various enclaves on Earth, one of the largest of them located in North Las Vegas, now known as Neverland. The Shadow Queen remains an ever-present threat and has returned numerous times since then. UNTIL never came into being in the 1960s to provide a worldwide answer to the many facets of superhuman crime. In its place, PRIMUS and other elite national police forces were formed, maintaining treaties with each other outside the purview of the UN, and these agreements eventually coalesced into an arm of INTERPOL specializing in the Superhuman World. The VIPER organization announced its existence in late 1962 with a series of attacks and assassinations, then went quiet for several years. It emerged again in 1968 and has been fairly active ever since, eventually becoming the primary enemy of PRIMUS and its peers in other nations. Pulson Crystals, which makes up the cores of modern-day blasters, were first utilized in the 1960s by the forces of VIPER. Thanks to the efforts of Cortez Heavy Industries (a business belonging to one PCs family), the blasters now being wielded by elite law enforcement agencies such as PRIMUS were reverse-engineered from captured VIPER weaponry, making C.H.I. the pre-eminent high-tech weapons manufacturer of the 20th Century. During the aftermath of the worldwide war against Istvatha V’han, Empress of a Billion Dimensions, Doctor Destroyer emerged from obscurity and, with his chief henchman Menton’s aid, took over the island nation of Cuba following the leveling of Havana when one of the Empress’s warships exploded in a nuclear fireball right overhead (due to PC actions). Thanks to Menton’s psychic abilities, Doctor Destroyer has since purged Cuba’s remaining leadership of anyone who would dare oppose him. He then put the mentalist to work ruthlessly rooting out corruption from all levels of government. Since their takeover, a truly astonishing transformation of Cuba (now renamed to Destruga) has taken place; its standard of living rising with amazing rapidity to rival some of the most advanced nations. Part of this is due to Destruga welcoming any superhumans willing to accept Doctor Destroyer's leadership, which has other nations and groups like Eurostar concerned. Stories have also begun leaking out that Menton is utilizing the former membership of PSI as the core of his secret police as he continues his pogrom versus the rapidly dwindling number of dissidents against Doctor Destroyer’s rule. The U.S. Presidential election in 2016 elevated David Sutherland (once known as Invictus in the Superhuman World) to that office, causing a major upset to the political order. He later added Mason Cortez (Valiant, the former leader of the PCs team) to his cabinet as his Secretary of Superhuman Affairs, Mason's nomination sailing through the Senate due to his popularity as a hero of V'han War among other things. The two maintain a cordial working relationship, although it seems that life as a bureaucrat is stifling Mason’s spirit due to his love of action. There are persistent rumors that he is satisfying such needs as best he can by living vicariously through his mind link with a duplicate of his, a vigilante battling against the forces of Hudson City’s underworld.  After the events of the last campaign, the galaxy at large is now aware of Earth, which had previously been kept hidden from them by Tateklys, the Malvan entrepreneur who still runs his superhuman gladiatorial arena on the Moon. It is unknown at this time how he accomplished this feat or what deals he has made in order to remain unmolested. At the conclusion of the last campaign, the PC team (now effectively disbanded as the team’s members each went their separate ways) won possession of a Malvan Worldship that is currently in orbit roughly 32 AUs from the Sun within the outer Solar System, leaving Valiant and his permanently separated duplicate Dread as the only ones to speak for the team. The Worldship’s tactical systems remain intact but are under the sole dominion of its AI, who remains ever-vigilant against any efforts to suborn it. While the UN is currently engaged in a quite spirited, ongoing debate concerning how best to administer such a treasure trove, the AI has been allowing a few individuals and some small groups from Earth as well as various alien civilizations to take up residence there for its own, enigmatic reasons, forming the core of a new society within the bowels of the Worldship and its plentiful wonders.

The setting of my current campaign (Agents of PRIMUS) is mostly based upon the Champions Universe as presented using the 5th and 6th Editions of the Hero System rules with several caveats:
Every superhuman that existed in the world from 1938 up through the present has utilized some form of magic as their power source, either by gaining inherent abilities or through using a magical artifact or relic of some sort. While some individuals such as Doctor Destroyer and Mechanon appear to be utilizing advanced technology in their activities, their technology cannot be replicated or even explained by modern science. An example of this is where several components recovered from a very early version of Mechanon were later dismantled and analyzed, and microscopic runes were found etched throughout their interiors, runes originating from no known language, leading experts to speculate that Mechanon is some sort of mechanized golem rather than a product of advanced technology. Superhumans have emerged in cycles that last roughly twelve years each with only a few continuing in their activities past the time their original cycle ended (1938-1949, 1950-1961, 1962-1973, 1974-1985, 1986-1997, 1998-2009 and the current one that began in 2010). In the past, “waves” of heightened activity were followed by “troughs” that produced notably less superhuman goings-on, so the time periods of 1938-1949 and 1962-1973 were wave cycles and the years 1950-1961 and 1974-1985 were trough cycles. Although there are a few noteworthy exceptions such as the lengthy career of Doctor Destroyer, most Champions Universe heroes and villains should be considered as having appeared during the current cycle mixed with a few legacies remaining from the previous one, despite their published histories going back much further. Due to the PCs traveling back in time to 1908 after their visit to 1938, they warned the Archmage of that time, Bohdan Stanislavski, about the circumstances of his upcoming death and thus prevented it from ever happening. His ongoing presence in the world somehow altered the mystical energies which Erich Hessler and his Nazi cohorts tapped into with their working on May 1st, 1938, ushering in the Superhuman Age. The Archmage’s presence changed that event, altering future destinies by eliminating from existence those superhumans without a magical/mystical origin, and revising others into more magical origins. As a direct result of the PCs time traveling to 1938 and destroying Luther Black at that time, DEMON dwindled and effectively vanished. While a few scattered remnants of it still cling to existence, it is not a significant threat to the world today. At the beginning of the 1962-1973 cycle, a rare planetary conjunction occurred from February 4th-6th 1962, and the so-called Aquarian Age began on Earth. Denizens of Faerie began arriving by the thousands as part of an Earth-conquering scheme by the Shadow Queen, Brangomar. After the conjunction was over and the Shadow Queen defeated and driven back to her dark kingdom in Faerie, a horde of Fae beings were left behind, unable to return home. The members of this vast melange composed of pawns of the Shadow Queen’s machinations were eventually settled into various enclaves on Earth, one of the largest of them located in North Las Vegas, now known as Neverland. The Shadow Queen remains an ever-present threat and has returned numerous times since then. UNTIL never came into being in the 1960s to provide a worldwide answer to the many facets of superhuman crime. In its place, PRIMUS and other elite national police forces were formed, maintaining treaties with each other outside the purview of the UN, and these agreements eventually coalesced into an arm of INTERPOL specializing in the Superhuman World. The VIPER organization announced its existence in late 1962 with a series of attacks and assassinations, then went quiet for several years. It emerged again in 1968 and has been fairly active ever since, eventually becoming the primary enemy of PRIMUS and its peers in other nations. Pulson Crystals, which makes up the cores of modern-day blasters, were first utilized in the 1960s by the forces of VIPER. Thanks to the efforts of Cortez Heavy Industries (a business belonging to one PCs family), the blasters now being wielded by elite law enforcement agencies such as PRIMUS were reverse-engineered from captured VIPER weaponry, making C.H.I. the pre-eminent high-tech weapons manufacturer of the 20th Century. During the aftermath of the worldwide war against Istvatha V’han, Empress of a Billion Dimensions, Doctor Destroyer emerged from obscurity and, with his chief henchman Menton’s aid, took over the island nation of Cuba following the leveling of Havana when one of the Empress’s warships exploded in a nuclear fireball right overhead (due to PC actions). Thanks to Menton’s psychic abilities, Doctor Destroyer has since purged Cuba’s remaining leadership of anyone who would dare oppose him. He then put the mentalist to work ruthlessly rooting out corruption from all levels of government. Since their takeover, a truly astonishing transformation of Cuba (now renamed to Destruga) has taken place; its standard of living rising with amazing rapidity to rival some of the most advanced nations. Part of this is due to Destruga welcoming any superhumans willing to accept Doctor Destroyer's leadership, which has other nations and groups like Eurostar concerned. Stories have also begun leaking out that Menton is utilizing the former membership of PSI as the core of his secret police as he continues his pogrom versus the rapidly dwindling number of dissidents against Doctor Destroyer’s rule. The U.S. Presidential election in 2016 elevated David Sutherland (once known as Invictus in the Superhuman World) to that office, causing a major upset to the political order. He later added Mason Cortez (Valiant, the former leader of the PCs team) to his cabinet as his Secretary of Superhuman Affairs, Mason's nomination sailing through the Senate due to his popularity as a hero of V'han War among other things. The two maintain a cordial working relationship, although it seems that life as a bureaucrat is stifling Mason’s spirit due to his love of action. There are persistent rumors that he is satisfying such needs as best he can by living vicariously through his mind link with a duplicate of his, a vigilante battling against the forces of Hudson City’s underworld.  After the events of the last campaign, the galaxy at large is now aware of Earth, which had previously been kept hidden from them by Tateklys, the Malvan entrepreneur who still runs his superhuman gladiatorial arena on the Moon. It is unknown at this time how he accomplished this feat or what deals he has made in order to remain unmolested. At the conclusion of the last campaign, the PC team (now effectively disbanded as the team’s members each went their separate ways) won possession of a Malvan Worldship that is currently in orbit roughly 32 AUs from the Sun within the outer Solar System, leaving Valiant and his permanently separated duplicate Dread as the only ones to speak for the team. The Worldship’s tactical systems remain intact but are under the sole dominion of its AI, who remains ever-vigilant against any efforts to suborn it. While the UN is currently engaged in a quite spirited, ongoing debate concerning how best to administer such a treasure trove, the AI has been allowing a few individuals and some small groups from Earth as well as various alien civilizations to take up residence there for its own, enigmatic reasons, forming the core of a new society within the bowels of the Worldship and its plentiful wonders.

My Champions Universe is based primarily on the 4th Edition version of the official universe with a few elements of the 5th Edition added in. My campaign started back in 1993, and has continued on to present day, so when 5th Edition came out I updated all the PCs to 5th Edition rules. I very much liked a lot of the 'new' 5th Edition official universe, so have tried to slowly bring in those elements that I felt were a must, such as the updated versions of Dr. Destroyer, Mechanon, and Firewing. Still, there is a lot of the 5th Edition universe I have not yet brought into the campaign, as it would/will take some work on my end, such as the new version of the Champions, and the existence of teams like the Justice Squadron and Sentinels. For example, I am still currently using the 4th Edition version of the Sentinels, which is the large team of heroes from Canada, and don't want  confusion with the 5th Editions version of the Sentinels, a U.S. (New York?) based hero team. A few years back I began taking steps to introduce the 5th Edition version of Stronghold into the campaign by having the old 4th Edition version destroyed in a mass jailbreak.
 
My campaign is now entering it's 26th year (in fact, my first session of this year is this coming Saturday).  

In thinking about this concept further, something like Zen Team from 4th Edition might be an interesting way to pull this off. A Malvan patron provides five random youths/college students with Zen Team armor and powers, then televises their adventures across Malva as a type of reality TV show. Monsters could be provided as well for the team to fight. It would be like a superhuman form of pro wrestling, I guess.

In case folks hadn't heard, here's the recent posting on our Facebook page:

We’re working on an update to our original San Angelo: City of Heroes product line, bringing the Origins Award-nominated sourcebook and setting into the 21st century! No definitive release date yet but we are shooting for Summer 2020. We’ll post updates here so be sure to follow us to get the latest info!
 
I'll be posting material and sneak peaks, as well as answering questions, in this thread.
 
See you at Liberty Square!

SACoH Facebook Page | Twitter: @SACoHNews | IG: @SACoHNews |  Website: SACoH.com
 

I'm afraid I'm not seeing how it would be hard to remove supers from the city. Could you elaborate on that?
 
Maybe the local supers existed in the past but are no longer active and no new supers have arisen to replace them? This would leave an opening for a new team of supers to appear (the Sailor Scouts).

I just watched Triple Frontier on Netflix. It felt fairly legit, they got a fair amount of stuff right, such as the realities of post-military service civilianhood and the feels between the members of the SF unit that gets back together for one last op. 
 
It's pretty good fodder for a Dark Champions / Modern HERO one off. The outline of the plot can be used pretty much as is, or perhaps switching out the mcguffin to better fit a GM's needs. Worth checking out.

I missed out on the bundle of holding because of a misunderstanding. I thought my wife was getting it for me for Christmas, and she thought I was just going to buy it for myself. By the time we figured out where we were, it had closed.

Me too, and my daughter is excited to see it as well. She's 11.

Me too, and my daughter is excited to see it as well. She's 11.

I'm willing to give it a shot just because I like Zachary Levi.

I actually ran a Die Hard themed session, in Shadowrun, but with a twist.
 
The PC's were hired by a Mr. Johnson type to take control of a competing megacorps HQ during a New Years Eve party, control the civilians, coerce the CEO into opening a vault containing some McGuffin. Midway thru, an unexpected guest not on the attendees list who turned out to be a bad ass runner who was visiting his estranged wife at the party starts causing problems. Then a security team showed up outside and started working with that guy to cause further problems.
 
This was just a few years after the movie came out, but it took my players a surprisingly long time before one of them realized "hey, this is kinda like Die Hard".
 
 

This would make a good Con game, I think. Maybe the PCs are all security guards on another floor, called in at the last second, bummed to be working on Christmas eve, drinking in a half-finished break room on one of the floors under construction. Crazy shit starts to happen... just throw in another set of euro-trash bad guys and be prepared for all kinds of attempts to derail things from the events of the movie. In fact, that is the point... once stuff starts going down, how do things go differently? 

Make sure none of the PCs have names... just Security Guard 1, Security Guard 2, etc. Minimal skills, just enough to get themselves killed if they get too out of hand, but maybe enough to actually be heroes if they get lucky. 
 
Hell, this would be a blast. I'll have to work on this. I think it would take having a clear "Plot" mechanic, where the GM had clear resources for throwing "And then THIS happens!" that railroad events, but those resources run out and the PCs can begin to change things.
 
Also, at a CON, likely to get some younger players, who will likely be familiar with the movie, but unlikely to have worshiped at the alter of Die Hard for thirty years, like most of us, here.
 
Hmmm... this could be a thing.
 
Edit: oh... the more I think about this... each Security Guard has a major Complication...
1. "I'm retiring next month!"
2. "My wife is pregnant and about to have our first kid, and I'm stuck here!"
3. "My boyfriend, who works the front desk night shift, got me this job."
4. "I'm dating this real hotshot on the 30th floor. He's my white knight!" 

Hmmm... on a side note (pun not really intended), going through the three main villain books for 6th ED, there are actually a few villains with PS: Singing.
 
From Champions Villains Volume 1:
Avant Guard
Warcry
 
From Champions Villains Volume 3:
Howler
Riptide
 
If you put the four of them together, they make for an interesting team. You could maybe add Lady Blue to them as their manager, since she has PS: Public Relations.

Hmmm... on a side note (pun not really intended), going through the three main villain books for 6th ED, there are actually a few villains with PS: Singing.
 
From Champions Villains Volume 1:
Avant Guard
Warcry
 
From Champions Villains Volume 3:
Howler
Riptide
 
If you put the four of them together, they make for an interesting team. You could maybe add Lady Blue to them as their manager, since she has PS: Public Relations.

Well, if Doctor Destroyer is too high-powered for the group, why not go with the bargain basement knockoff clone of him known as Professor Muerte? He and the rest of Terror, Incorporated would make great 80s villains.
 
Bulldozer makes for another very 80s-esque villain.

One of the main things that causes players to build things that make GM's cringe is GM malfeasance.  If you keep throwing enemies at the players that their characters have a hard time hitting, they're going to stack OCV.  If you keep throwing villains at players that their characters have a hard time hurting, they're going to stack damage or get attacks that bypass defenses.  Players don't like to feel weak or worthless, they want to feel like... champions.  
 
That doesn't mean nobody should ever have a challenge, but it does mean you should watch how your players react and what they do, to make sure you aren't annoying or frustrating them.

In a ruling similar to the above, one character successfully made three (possibly five) 8 or less rolls on Combat Driving.    He was awarded the full skill for free.
 
 

While it could be quite interesting for some players to have the better part of a gaming session devoted to making opposed rolls for Gambling (Poker) mixed in with shooting dialogue back and forth, most players like the hitting/shooting thing.
 
What can sometimes liven things up is for villains to occasionally exceed their normal power level, or for heroes to be reduced in power because of some villain's scheme and have to deal with foes they would normally laugh at.

There are a few others that were "promoted" in the 6E books, making them less usable.
 
Talisman has grown and grown, as an example.

Pamelaisley, just an FYI, Howler in CKC, has gotten a boost in points. She was in 4th, 250!pts (starting character) and I believe in 3rd she was also a starting character level. 

While it could be quite interesting for some players to have the better part of a gaming session devoted to making opposed rolls for Gambling (Poker) mixed in with shooting dialogue back and forth, most players like the hitting/shooting thing.
 
What can sometimes liven things up is for villains to occasionally exceed their normal power level, or for heroes to be reduced in power because of some villain's scheme and have to deal with foes they would normally laugh at.

While there may be GM's who falsely believe themselves to be exemplars of authorial acumen worthy of award and accolade, I would hazard that the far more common case would be GM's attempting to emulate genre-appropriate plot and story as found in books and on screen. Some may be less skilled at it than others, but at least they are trying to do something other than show up and roll dice.
 
But yes, sometimes a GM's reach exceeds their grasp when they lay out a plot for their players to experience and it doesn't work. There's also the problem that some GM's don't even attempt to tell a story and just run players through one pointless encounter after another.
 
Somewhere in the middle is where the majority lay.
 
 
Yeah. This happens. I've played in games where the GM has made one or more mistakes. I've been a GM that's made one or more mistakes. Mistakes happen. Feedback and adjustment, and remembering that presumably everyone who showed up to play did so to have fun are a way to move forward. 
 
A good example that comes to mind, I was playing in a superhero arc @WilyQuixote was running...this was a Champions 5e game coincidentally...and it had been going great. A series of really fun sessions leading up to a final encounter at a charity ball. The heroes had been following clues and knew a big sacrificial ritual was going to go down at the ball, so we all showed up on the doorstep of the mansion it was being hosted at a little bit before the start time.
 
After some blah blah blah, we the PC's came into the presence of the rich owner of the mansion and host of the event and his son and his son's fiance, a couple of body guards, etc. As the conversation developed, I intuited that the son was in on the evil plot and that his fiance was to be the sacrificial victim of the dark magic ritual. I was 100% certain of it. How? Contextual clues, the law of character conservation, a subtle mistake the GM made that only someone who knew him well would notice, and also I'm just one of those people who's good at guessing who did it in the opening scenes / pages. My character had enough information so that it was not unreasonable for him to have deduced this, though it was thin, so I felt justified in acting on my player intuition. In character, I shifted the focus onto the son and accused him of being in on it.
 
The other players thought I was crazy and their PC's turned against mine, and the NPC's turned as well. Suddenly my PC was the bad guy. The scene got ugly. The GM was pissed off at me. I got pissed off. My PC left and I sat the session out.
 
In the end, it turned out I was right; the son was in on it and the fiance was the sacrificial victim.
 
But that wasn't the point. 
 
The GM was trying to tell a story, and was doing a decent job of it, but made a few mistakes...in the set up by not including more than one character who could be the victim (per genre tropes) and more than one character who might be the heel (again per genre tropes), another in making the motivation of the son to betray his father too obvious, and an execution error during actual play (a tell) that gave it away to someone alert to it. 
 
I as the player should have been more alert to the needs of the session (this all happened within the first 30 minutes of the session), and the arc (this was to be the big culmination of the arc), and the players (we were due a big satisfying confrontation with the big bad, who'd been off screen the entire arc), and the PC's (this event would be a big defining milestone for the superhero group's exploits), and instead chosen to roll with it and collaborated to help the GM bring the session and the story arc to a more satisfying conclusion despite them having made mistakes in their attempt to tell the story. My error as the player in trying to force the denouement was far greater than the GM's technical errors in pursuit of telling a good interactive story for group participation and enjoyment.
 
Is WilyQ an award winning author of any genre? Nope. Was he able to still tell an interesting story, warts and all? Yep.