Blackout

Well, if you're gonna invoke the Evil GM Clause, just go all the way. Don't worry about the points and just have it do what you want it to do. Anyway you slice it, this thing's gonna have massive amounts of active points... And, really, isn't this - more or less - just a McGuffin? (Ya know. That's something that should be included in the GMing hints section of future books... A character building option open ONLY to GMs called a McGuffin Bonus. Kinda like a villain bonus, only better.)

Any super-villain taking over a sovereign nation kinda presupposes that all the world's heroes just sit back and let it happen. Which doesn't seem terribly likely to me. Not impossible mind you, just unlikely. There would, of course, be many heroes who didn't think it was their place to get involved. There would also be many who really couldn't do anything about it. All it takes, though, is one guy or gal of Superman-esque power, and the villain is done. Now, if the REAL villain was a mega-Egoist... He could set up some "lesser" villain to perform this coup, and when the Uber-Hero comes in to save the day, well, the REAL bad guy just mind controls him and uses him to do all the dirty work. And then the other heroes have an even bigger mess to deal with. Could be fun to play!

When everything is said and done, the power ring is only limited in what it can do by the willpower and imagination of its wielder. The willpower is easy to replicate in Champs, just slap an EGO roll on it. Imagination isn't really quantifiable in game mechanics (though a case could be made for INT), and I think that's better left to the player. A good deal of what the ring does could be chalked up to simple special effects. When Kyle creates some kinda bizarro manga-mecha thing that walks over and smacks down a bad guy, all that really is is a physical energy blast. So, where does that leave you with this? For my money, I'd make it a VPP that requires an EGO roll, and have a smaller multipower for the effects that are used regularly (flight, force field, etc.).

Heh. A friend of mine does a small press comic (Courageous Man - very funny stuff), and that describes one of the villains from that book almost to a tee. The bad ape in question was named The Felonious Monk.

Only 10, huh? The following, of course, as many others have noted, is subject to change at a moments notice (and it's in no particular order)... Spider-Man The Thing Dr. Strange Starman (Jack Knight) Firearm Promethea 'Mazing Man Green Arrow (Ollie) Flash (Barry or Wally) Grim Ghost

Some time ago I remember seeing stuff posted on converting the Alien Legion comics to Hero... Of course I can't find it anymore. Can anyone help me out with this? Thanks.

Re: Re: 2 cents One reason for the wizards moving it could be the "Big Red Flashing Arrow" the armor represents. The wizards endeavor, at all costs, to keep the location of the armor a secret. Somehow the most recent hiding place for it has been compromised, and they have to move it to a new location. This works especially well if the players don't know what it is they've been hired to guard. I can just imagine the look on my players' faces (when I've had players, that is) when they find out that the thing thats been stolen and that they have to retrieve makes their magic useless. Which, of course, is only revealed to them after the thing's been taken. Depending on how dependent your players' characters are on magic (and magic items), the armor could be a double edged sword if you remove the personal immunity. They could wear the armor and, sure, they'd be "immune" to magic, BUT they couldn't use any themselves. Kind of a neat idea all around. I may steal...um...borrow that one myself.

2 cents I'm guessing that the 'OAF' bit is a typo, 'cause it doesn't seem like chain mail would be terribly accessible... Depending on how much of a factor the cost of this thing is (and if there's a chance the players may get ahold of it), I think I'd go with Dispel, any power with a magic special effect (+2), area effect - 1 hex (+1/2), 0 END (+1/2), always on (-1/2), OIF (-1/2), independent (-2)... Hmmm. That works out to, um, 3 points per d6. Of course, the person wearing the armor can't use magic (or magic items), unless, of course, you tossed personal immunity on it. If it's something you don't want the players to have, you could always make it a personal focus. Just some thoughts.

When figuring out what portion of a multipower reserve a fixed slot takes up, do you use the real point cost or the active point cost? In other words, do limitations on powers within a multipower reduce how much of the multipower they "eat" up?

"kewl" Right, so you wanted comments... You've managed to convey that the figure is in motion extremely well. Even though you were "lazy" with the cables, they seem to interact with the figure properly and don't look unnatural - or, at least, as natural as cables sticking out of a body can be. The head seems a tad too small for the body, but the rest of the proportions seem right. The twisting of the torso, and the foreshortening that entails seems correct. I realy like the right arm. Specifically the twisting of the wrist and forearm. Was this computer colored? In many ways I'm not a huge fan of computer coloring, but I think most of what you've done here works well (giving the critters flesh a necrotic feel). However, and this is the reason I asked the lead in question, I'm not crazy about the "breath weapon"... It has a very different feel from the rest, kinda sterile and lacking "personality". On the whole, though, I really like the piece. Which, considering I'm an "unofficial" Stornite (Stornian?), isn't at all surprising to me. Just my two cents (which, if you saw my "art", prob'ly wouldn't be worth even that).

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, it seems my gaming group will be playing Champions. This, in and of itself, is cause for rejoicing. It's made even better by the fact that I get to play. Or maybe that makes it worse. Now I have to decide which of the 8 zillion character concepts that have been floating through my head since the release of FREd I want to develop. At this point I'm leaning towards a streching character. I think I have the obvious power bases covered (shape shift, clairsentience, entangle, etc.), but I'm curious if anyone has some oddball pointers. Personality-wise, I'm thinking of going with a cross between Reed Richards and Plastic Man. Thanks!

Re: Kung Fu Master for comments I have nothing really constructive to add, just a question... Whooping Crane?

Predictability... or not I think what you're calling predictability is actually a neat way to demonstrate a character's grasp of tactics and their ability to "size up" their opponents. Of course, you can always throw your players a curve, and have some creatures they encounter start of by holding an action and acting on a different phase than they "should". If you want to abandon the speed chart, though, one thing that worked for us was to take cards numbered 1 through 12, shuffle them, and flip one at a time. Next turn, do the same thing. Much quicker than rolling dice.

Conversions I don't remember anything in the OGL that explicitly forbid conversions... However, I'm pretty sure there are some things implicit in the OGL that would preclude you doing that and publishing it. One of the things that springs immediately to mind is that no d20/OGL product is supposed to change the rules for generating characteristics/stats and you can't alter the experience/level progression. Those are two off the top of my head. If you are going to convert things and want to keep it as "legal" as possible, make absolutely sure you base your material on the information in the SRD and not the printed books. And don't try to sell it. If you do that, I have a feeling two companies will be breathing down your neck. That said, IANAL. And I don't even play one on TV. On top of that... The things I like about Hero are the ways it eliminates the things I DON'T like about D&D.

Armed Martial Arts It'd be nice to see some samples of martial arts styles that are weapon-based. I realize you can easily extrapolate things from fencing, but it'd be nifty to see something using a "fantasy" weapon or fighting style. I'll second the vote for money. I don't want page after page of prices for stuff. Just some guidelines on balancing monetary cost vs. utility vs. point cost. I like that you don't intend to establish a "house" setting with the FH genre book. Publishing a setting independently is well and fine (and probably a good idea), but putting that in the genre book instills - however subconsciouly - the idea that what's printed is the only way to do something. At least in the minds of some people (though less so with most Hero players I've come across). (Preaching to the choir on that, aren't I?) I'm an inveterate homebrewer, so I'm all for tons of hints and tips on how to do something rather than hard and fast "rules" and "classes".

Discovery Channel I'm not going to be much help, because I don't remember much in the way of details (though I'm sure there's someone out there who does), but... There was a special on (I think) the Discovery Channel that dealt with future evolution of life on Earth, and there were some seriously nasty and vile beasts in that. Two that stick out were a sabre-tooth wolverine that weighed about 80 pounds, and some bizarre mega-seal that spewed out acidic, partially digested fish as a "breath weapon" defense mechanism. Weird, creepy and nasty. And something I'd love to track down.

Anyone interested in a "Monster Mart"? Which is to say, we all take turns posting fully stated Fantasy Hero-type critters...

I'm an addict I'm a Hero System addict, so I'll probably pick the book up. Ah, who am I kidding. I'll pick the book up. And it'll make me sad. Sad because convincing my regular gaming group to play a Hero game (other than Champions - and even that's not easy) is like getting an honest statement from a politician.

Re: Re: Newpaper For Writers Block Doh! You beat me to it. That newspaper (and I use the term with tongue firmly in cheek) is fantastic for story/plot ideas. It's so inspiring, in fact, that I'm even considering running a campaign in which the characters are all reporters for just such a tabloid. Can't quite decide what power level I wanna run it at, though (or time period for that matter - present day, near future or far future).