Steve

Strongly agree with all of this.
 
Unfortunately, many players don't have the patience or the cognitive framework to pursue investigation, unravel plots, figure out what's really going on, etc. This is true in most genres, but seems to be particularly true in superheroes, where they want to get to the big fight throwing coffee cans of damage and knocking back bad guys for crazy distance, and so forth.
 
With supers, I try to remember to not fight human nature and reverse the scenes and story beats, placing conflict where normally there would be build up / plot development, and plot development where normally there would be conflict. 
 
One of the main issues with developing a story in any rpg is that what drives the characters forward is their individual agendas / motivations. But a lot of superhero character motivations are simply "...they fight crime!" or "...oppose supervillainy!", etc. Put a face for them to punch in front of them, and their purpose is clear. Put a situation for them to figure out in front of them, which is basically a maze with one or more supervillains hiding in it metaphorically speaking, and most players with their paper thin character motivations become inert with no clear drive forward.
 
Some players of course want to play "mystery men" detective types, and want to engage with a plot that requires / allows them to explore investigation and mystery. But if you've got one of those and three other more four color players at the table, its the classic problem of balancing the boredom factor for the uninterested players while you and the the plot engaged player scratch your story development itches.
 
Including some lesser moments of combat like breadcrumbs through the maze to a big bad on the other hand allows the interstitial bits of the story to be doled out but keeps the players who showed up for fights periodically reengaged, and also allows the players to feel that their characters are powerful. Finding the balance between interesting and boring is the trick of course...too much and taking out the trash becomes a slog, too few and there wasn't much point to having them at all. 
 
I sometimes think the most important skill a GM can have is the ability to find "goldilocks zones"...not too much or too little of every thing that goes into a gaming session. In retrospect most errors I make as a GM can be reduced to "...overdid it a bit on that one..." or "...shoulda had more of that other thing...". 
 
Accordingly, I try to keep the threat levels of my bad guys and other obstacles distributed along a curve. A mix of stronger and weaker, solo and team, vectors of attack, motivations, etc. Variety. Seems to work, usually. 

The timing of this topic is interesting because this weekend I got to experience what groups of "weaker" enemies could do a "stronger" character. A group of 200-point minions completely pwned my 300-point hero.  Granted, this was a case where the GM had three really good dice rolls targeted directly at a hole in my defenses, but from a pure point-total versus point-total perspective it should not have been as one-sided as it was.
 
Point comparisons are only as good as the assumption behind them. Are the limitations on villain powers really limiting if the GM never plays the villains when their powers would be limited? If villains can ignore campaign limits, does it matter how many points they're built on? Is a lower-point villain who is spectacular at one thing really weaker than a higher-point hero who's just good or moderate at multiple things?

The history of money and banking goes in all sorts of weird and wonderful directions, from grain banking in ancient Egypt (centered on temples, as a matter of fact) to the unique time-nonetizing shell money of Rossel Island, but I'll leave that aside for now. I'm more interested in how a religion of Moderation appears.
 
A few years ago I read a book on comparative religion (IIRC the title was God Is Not One.) Not a great book, but the author has an interesting conceit of distilling each religion examined into a statement of what the essential problem of human existence is, and what the religion proposes as the solution. In  Christianity, the problem is sin; the solution is salvation through Jesus Christ. In Buddhism, the problem is karmic attachment to a world of illusion; the solution is enlightenment. Even atheism follows the pattern: The problem is superstition; the solution is reason.
 
Here, the solution is Moderation. How does the religion define the problem? "Fanaticism" or "Dualism" both seem plausible, and might explain how the religion started in the first place. (Assuming it isn't ordained by an actual god, which in a fantasy world is possible.) And it will play a big role in what immediate, social activities the church treats as worth its attention.
 
Dean Shomshak

You still don't need interest to make it work. If someone defaults, I could see an interesting version of the Inquisition appearing, perhaps mixed with elements of the modern-day IRS. First they would confiscate your property, right down to the last penny in the sofa cushions. If that isn't enough to satisfy your debt, then indentured servitude for the debtor happens until the debt is deemed to be paid off. The church would recoup their investment by renting the debtor out or selling them as an indentured servant. If they die before the debt is paid off, then necromancy is employed to keep them around and productive until it is. The church _will_ recoup their loan, and they could even make debtors an example to their members, to show that one should always pay their debts and to be careful in their borrowing.
 
With magic controlling them, the debtor might not even be able to rebel. Imagine each debtor _must_ submit to a geas in order to qualify for their loan. If even royalty must do this, the church could become quite powerful through such means.

I suggest creating some myths that reinforce and explain your core religious beliefs. From what you describe I'd say this religion is based on the principles of growth and obligation. Here's a sample myth using these ideas.
 
Long ago, in a game world far, far away, there once was a Divinity who created the first mortals and charged them to create and grow their world. The Divinity invested a portion its power into a group of mortals who became the first paragons. Each paragon was responsible for creating a different part of the world and strove to impress both the Divinity and each other. Paragons could also invest other mortals with the powers of creation. These new powers were often refinements or compliments to the paragon's power, but each person's power was different. Strangely, to our way of thinking at least, investing others with power did not diminish a paragon's power. Quite the opposite, investing power in others increased the overall magic/power available in the world. Over time the first paragons and their successors created the world we know today. As powerful as the paragons were however, they were still mortals, and when they perished their powers returned to the Divinity. The Paragon's legacy is the world they produced and the purpose to continue creation. This is why the church shares it power with others, so that they may continue the Divinity's mission. As the church invests in you, one day you too shall invest in your children and students. Thus we pass the power of creation from generation to generation.  

I've been using this ever since I stole it from Killer Shrike... probably a decade ago.
 
RULE OF THREE if a character (PC or NPC) rolls a natural three on a 3d6 roll under type of check then they have the option of either taking "max effect" or an "epiphany".  
 
MAX EFFECT If the three was made for an Attack Roll max effect is the maximum possible damage or effect with that attack (treat all effect dice as having rolled 6's). If the three was made for a non attack roll, not only does the character win any opposed roll (even if the opponent made their roll by more) or succeed at their task, but they do so in a stylish looked-cool-doing-it fashion which is also justification for gaining a "Display of Power" bonus to a Presence Attack made sometime within the next few actions against anyone that observed them.  
 
EPIPHANY The character has a flash of insight regarding the skill or ability that they rolled a three for and their competency with that ability is expanded. The character gain +2 character points to allocate towards a bonus with that skill or attack. For attacks this translates into a +1 OCV Combat Skill Level with that attack. If a skill this translates into either a +1 or +2 with that skill depending on whether the skill is on the 3/2 or 2/1 costing model. If the three was rolled for a familiarity, the familiarity becomes a full skill instead. This can not be used to upgrade existing levels; for example a character could not opt to bump an All Combat level to an Overall Level with the 2 free points gained in this fashion -- the 2 pts must be spent specifically for the task they were gained from. However, levels gained in this fashion can themselves be upgraded later with experience. For example a 2pt +1 OCV level with a specific kind of pistol could be upgraded to a 3pt "Pistols" tight group level later on.

It sounds like you need to seriously consider either strongly limiting or maybe even eliminating entirely some of the origins/power sources that are used by comic books. If aliens and extra-dimensional beings are rare to nonexistent, then those are origins/power sources that should probably be edited out of your campaign. Inborn powers like mutant abilities or characters wielding supertech might then make up a larger portion of the superhuman population. This can have social ramifications within the superhuman community. If eight out of ten superhumans are either born with their abilities or invented them like Tony Stark, then the smaller groupings of power sources stand out more.
 
The Gestalt setting showed that a pretty cool campaign world can be built with a single power source for superhuman abilities. 

That's an intriguing campaign idea. It's like a superhuman version of The Truman Show.

Oh, now if players aren't against a unified origin, I can easily see one step of Malvan influence being in what they do best, enjoying spectacle...and expanding it further by empowering a smattering of humans but also making them unknown living cameras (To use a crude term) who can be watched and observed at any time, but especially when they battle.
All it takes is one Malvan with a bit of entrepreneurial spirit, a rivalry with that fellow on the moon, and a 'let's genetically alter humans tech kit' and you can have say a dozen (or two) humans with new powers and maybe whole new bodies ,and some of them would be the PCs.  Heck, one of the PCs could even be a somewhat sympathetic Malvan (as sympathetic as they get) coming to warn the humans what's been done to them because he thinks it violates the spirit of the arena to have them fighting outside of it or not knowing they are being treated properly as gladiators etc so he will help them.
 
Or keep it a mystery and each PC is confused on what happened whatever works.
 
As Malvans love the exotic, it could be quite the team of 'beautiful freaks' to use the term with odd skin or hair, extra limbs ,etc.Or maybe whatever patron is behind this will insist they remain VERY human looking thank you..that's the point, or a mix. Whatever actually suits the players best.
Why you'd even have an excuse for new Psychological complications/disadvantages 'imprinted' by the Malvans to encourage a better show.
A shy young woman with social anxiety remembers two muggers coming for her, a flash of light, and now she's a veritable superstrong lavender skinned amazon with the pscyh lim "overconfidence" or "show off"- That should help her provide a better show.
A soon to retire 60 year old librarian who likes peace and quiet finds himself walking through a door in the library that was never there before, then returned as a very fit age 25 but now with energyblasts, wings and a new Psych Lim "Enjoys a good fight!" implanted.
A wheel chair bound cop, now behind a desk , drinks some odd tasting coffee, and discovers her legs work again, she can also change size at will... but that new psych Lim/complication "Maverick" means its' hard to follow the rules.
And so on.
Meanwhile , Malvan audiences tune in, and enjoy their superpowered soap opera placing bets on which ones will be come heroes, which ones will become villains etc and eagerly make a tailgate party every time their 'earth bound gladiators' get into fights with each other or other superhumans.
 
Or maybe your players would hate that...
 
though now I wish my old f2F gaming group were available 
 

When you peel it apart it does look like a cobble, but our group loves Combat Luck, even with armor, but because it fits the cinematic action. It lets them have a modicum of comfort when being blasted with automatic gunfire that one lucky shot won't completely take them out. It does make hits to armor (less common/less coverage in modern action than fantasy) much less likely to penetrate, but in a game where taking any Body damage is serious, it just allows them to have more confidence in combat.
 
As I've said elsewhere, if it was a more traditional Danger International (spies and private eyes, not action movies) I'd disallow or further nerf Combat Luck (like only damage resistance and doesn't stack). 
 
Edit: Combat Luck is something, in my experience, that looks like a horrible cobble/cludge on paper, but ACTUAL PLAY it works very simply and elegantly and affects play in a way that feels right. Ugly in construction, elegant in execution.

Yes, because he was nearly a century old in the present day, he even did it in a couple of different time periods in the past, as I recall.

Regarding wizards and their spells, maybe another solution would be to treat spells as just another type of equipment that costs Resource Points, paid for at the same rate as Equipment Points at 1:5? A warrior can thus use his Equipment Points for his stuff like swords and armor, but the wizard uses most of his for spells. Instead of buying Weapon Familiarities and Skill Levels with weapons, the wizard is buying a magic skill and knowledge skills.  

Oh, I agree that NPC groups stealing tech from each other is part of the superhero genre. A crate of VIPER blasters getting stolen by street criminals and used by them does make for a good story. The last Spider-Man film had this as a plot point with what the Vulture was doing.
 
Being "on-brand" is an interesting way to look at it. From a meta POV, a PC is a fictional character in a comic book, possibly also a toy line. The things they paid points for are considered to be part of their brand. Branding sells toys and comics. In some superhero worlds, the superhero teams even get royalties from comics and toys based on them, which is used to fund their activities.
 
I could just imagine the poor marketing guy/gal who has to call up Superteam X and complain that since one of their superheroes is now using looted VIPER tech, it's tanking sales.

It may not feel right for PCs to loot NPCs toys, but there's nothing preventing one NPC group from looting the wonderful toys from another NPC group. Isn't VIPER always trying to get PRIMUS tech? Aren't Dr. Destroyer's and Mechanon's creations the envy of others? Ideally, the PCs feel they have the powers and resources to be heroic without having to loot the opposition, but there are stories to be told about keeping wondrous toys out of the wrong hands.
 
I think the temporarily use wondrous toys you didn't pay points for is fine as long as PCs routinely encounter their side-effects or limitations. Does the press start calling a hero a VIPER agent because he's always got one of their toys? Does that Mechanon-built power rifle hack your base computer? Do the heroes really not have any Psychological Limitations about staying on-brand or being heroic?

A Malvan Jihad would certainly shake up the galaxy, once it got going. It's probably not something that would immediately occur, but I could see it happening in a few hundred years, once a critical mass of Malvans awakens from their hedonism and decides to change their standing in the galaxy. Finishing off the last remnants of the Elder Worm would probably be at the top of their list, which might be an act encouraged by the Wisdom Stones.
 
I could actually see the Malvans evolving into something more like Marvel's Kree or maybe the Shi'ar once their awakening expands far enough in their culture. They don't necessarily have to be imperialistic and expansionistic though.
 
Having Malva start taking more of an interest in the galaxy could bring them into an alliance with the Star*Guard, which would definitely shake things up.
 
A religious Malvan culture replacing their current hedonistic existence could evolve their culture into something like Star Trek's Bajorans, only with far higher technology.
 
If the Phazor is one of the first among the awakened, which I'm currently leaning towards him being, he could do something like what happened in Rome with the spread of Christianity and use the Ralathurions for his own purposes, not necessarily nefarious ones.

Happened to another player.  Rolled a 3 on the Activation Roll for a Force Wall to imprison one of the Seven Horsemen.  
 
As we're debating on what that 3 means, we recall this particular Horseman can just Desolid through the FW.
 
The GM says "I know exactly what effect that 3 has."   Horseman when 'thunk' against the Force Wall that wouldn't let him through.

At the conclusion of the final story arc of my Champions campaign before it went on hiatus for a while, the PC team traveled to Malva in order to try and win the freedom of Terran superhumans taken there for the gladiatorial games. They succeeded in their efforts, managing to defeat the Phazor's previously-undefeated champion, Firewing. (In my campaign, Firewing never came to Earth and was still a gladiator at this time, so this was his very first meeting with Terrans.)
 
Towards the end of the story arc, the mage of the team discovered the ancient curse that was laid on the Malvans by the Elder Worm. While normally lacking the power to undo such a thing by himself, special circumstances boosted his spell and the curse was lifted.
 
Malva is now awakened. So, now what?
 
Since it took thousands of years for the Malvans to gradually slip into their hedonistic state, my thinking is that it could take them quite a while to fully rouse from it. For now, only a few individuals are beginning to awaken.
 
How might an awakened Malva affect the galaxy?

You are right, of course, Rufus can't be crated.  He will always find a way to escape from any crate.

I could see a newly awakened Malvan wanting to tour the lost empire to remind themselves of earlier days. Or perhaps they would want to see for themselves these strange Terrans who bear traces of the Elder Worm and yet ended their curse. 

Looking at those official Malvans who had already become more motivated, such as Firewing, Athulos Starheart, Tateklys, Telxaxares, we can see a wide range of motivations and activities. It's quite possible that such a gradual "awakening" might merely introduce an increasing number of random, chaotic wild cards into the galaxy.
 
OTOH Durzan Malakim raises a far scarier prospect. Once the Malvans realize what the Elder Worm did to them, some of them may be of a mind to continue their genocidal vengeance against the species. Not only do humans possess Worm DNA; the last supreme ruler of the Elder Worm, the Slug, is alive on Earth.Considering that one front-line Malvan warship can devastate an entire fleet of less-advanced ships, and purge whole worlds of life, it wouldn't take many vengeful Malvans to pose a deadly threat to Earth.

Another consideration would be, what happens to existing factions on Malva who have long been sidelined due to general lack of interest in what they stand for? For example, let's take the followers of Ralathurion, the ancient Malvan fire-religion which maintains the Furnace of the First Ones in their Grand Temple, and reveres Firewing as a divine avatar. Might larger numbers of Malvans turn to religion to find purpose in their lives? Perhaps try to overthrow the Phazor and establish a fundamentalist theocracy, maybe with Firewing as their leader (or figurehead)? Even start a galactic jihad?
 
And what role might the Wisdom Stones play? With more Malvans desiring to do something positive, perhaps the Stones would consider the race worthy of their attention and involvement again, and recruit agents to carry out missions for some larger purpose. One that might involve Earth.

My group was joking about being stealthy while trying to sneak into a villain lair. I joked about trying to eat Captain Crunch quietly. A player rolls dice and gets a 3, then says "I eat Capn Crunch quietly" out loud. 

I seem to remember there were more than a few Kim Possible fans around here back in the day--heck, Michael Surbrook wrote her up in HERO on his site.  So it should interest more than some around here that there is a live-action Kim Possible made-for-Disney movie coming this Saturday, and from what I see of the preview video--
 
 
it looks like a really good deal.  There's a scene at about 0:55 where Shego uses her energy blast power for flight--something I don't remember from the cartoons, but it's a neat trick.
 
The movie premieres this Saturday (2-16) at 8 PM ET/7 PM CT--time enough to plan a watch party, or set your Tivos/DVRs, or VHSs if you're really old school.  Or you could hire a team of artists to create detailed flipbooks.
 
That's the sitch, folks.  See you Saturday.

At the conclusion of the final story arc of my Champions campaign before it went on hiatus for a while, the PC team traveled to Malva in order to try and win the freedom of Terran superhumans taken there for the gladiatorial games. They succeeded in their efforts, managing to defeat the Phazor's previously-undefeated champion, Firewing. (In my campaign, Firewing never came to Earth and was still a gladiator at this time, so this was his very first meeting with Terrans.)
 
Towards the end of the story arc, the mage of the team discovered the ancient curse that was laid on the Malvans by the Elder Worm. While normally lacking the power to undo such a thing by himself, special circumstances boosted his spell and the curse was lifted.
 
Malva is now awakened. So, now what?
 
Since it took thousands of years for the Malvans to gradually slip into their hedonistic state, my thinking is that it could take them quite a while to fully rouse from it. For now, only a few individuals are beginning to awaken.
 
How might an awakened Malva affect the galaxy?

In Hero's Valdorian Age setting, Combat Luck only costs 5 points per level, but it doesn't work if you wear heavy armor (over 15kg worth). It was a -1/2 Limitation calculated into the cost of the other Advantages and Limitations already built into Combat Luck.
 
Instead of going by weight, I suppose you could also just set your limit at 3 or maybe 4 points of Armor before Combat Luck stops working.
 
You could also require this Limitation on buying points of DCV past a certain level, like 5 or 6 DCV, so heavy-armored characters can't get as high of a DCV as lighter-armored types.