ZenStorm

Re: Things that work in comics but don't work in Champions "There aren't any characters with resistant defenses in comics either." Um... WHAT??? How so? No character in any comic has ever had Armor or Force Field or Incredible Toughness from being an Alien/Robot/Mutant/Whatever???

I noticed that in a lot of martial maneuvers the effect says something like Damage is STR+v/5... what does this mean? It would seem to indicate velocity, but that seems exceptionally weak to divide the velocity factor by 5. Also, another question... for knockback modifiers...why do martial maneuvers tend to do less knockback? (ala +1d6 to knockback roll) Thanks in advance.

Re: Things that work in comics but don't work in Champions 1. PCs being captured/seperated for long periods. Occasionally is fine, but I've found it tends to annoy players if it happens to often 1. I agree completely. Occasionally is good, but if it happens too often people just start falling asleep. 2. Being saved by a more powerful NPC 2. This is another one that I think is ok on occasion, but quickly gets old. Too often, in my experience, it's been an example of the GM flexing his...eh...'muscle' NPC-Theater is never very fun. When it's a crucial plot element, I can understand it. But, that is also a convenient excuse for someone who's trying to cover-up their lack of planning with the proverbial "brick wall." I've been GMing for decades now. Decade-SSSSuh...plural. Take it from me, when you're surrounded by NPCs who make your cosmic-level character look like the little punk amidst all the 'real' heroes, ninety-nine point nine out of a hundred times, your GM is either a)pissed off about something and taking it out on you. b)Tired. c) covering up for his lack of planning. d) covering up for his bad bad BAD plot design or e) more interested in the power-trip of GMing than in the storytelling aspect. 3. Vastly different power levels (Point totals) on the same team 3. Yeah, this tends to get on people's nerves. However, I have seen it work. You just have to have players who are more interested in telling a great story than they are in making sure that their game adheres to the communist ideal of no one ever getting ahead of anyone else. If there were some kind of racing game, these people would be very boring players indeed. 4. One Trick ponies. 4. This can work. Again, you just have to have players who are cool. 5. Characters with no type of resistant defense 5. Hmm... This one I just don't agree with at all. Sorry.

Re: Name My Character Yeah, sorry. Originally, I'd posted it to Dark Champs, because unbeknownst to me at the time, the page kinda jumped on me as it was loading. Sorry.

I'm making a character who's alter-ego is a fantasy/sci-fi writer who's worked mainly in writing novels and short-stories for publishers of open-ended fantasy continuities. He's recently published his first Best Seller, it's a story and a setting of his own. His heroic identity is a 7 to 9 ft. tall (haven't decided that yet either) humanoid Dragon. He is the heir to a long lineage of protectors who bear the mark of the dragon upon their souls. The story goes: In the time before time, in the age of myths and legends, there were great wars being fought between gods, mythic beasts and mighty wizards (etc)... to protect the mortal flock from the collateral effects of these wars, the gods of light created a number of bloodlines among their mortal subjects, each bearing an arcane mark. Each of these lines, in bearing it's respective mark, embodied the aspects and major attributes of one of the great beasts of legend. (There will probably be a set number of these, I haven't decided yet.) There was a lineage of those who bore the mark of the Griffin, the mark of the Unicorn, the Saytr, the Manticore, the Pegasus, the Siren, the Ogre, etc. etc. My character's line was that that bore the mark of the Dragon. In heroic form, each of these lineage's became a human/beastial hybrid. In the case of my character, he's a large humanoid with the wings, scales, claws, head, tail and breath of a dragon. This is not neccessarily the standard form for each of the lines. The Unicorn, for example assumes a more centauroid appearance. He lives and writes in Boston, Mass. By night, when not writing, he soars amidst the city's canyons of glass and steel, living up to the burning desire in his heart, that which was placed upon his blood, so many millenia ago when the gods of light crafted his family, namely the desire to watch-over the mortal men, women and children who dwell within his domain. Aside from the obvious... like.. "The Dragon" "The Dragonman" "The Dragonoid" ...can anyone suggest some cool names that the local media may have come up with to refer to these 'strange sightings of the winged vigilante?' Thanks in advance.

I'm making a character who's alter-ego is a fantasy/sci-fi writer who's worked mainly in writing novels and short-stories for publishers of open-ended fantasy continuities. He's recently published his first Best Seller, it's a story and a setting of his own. His heroic identity is a 7 to 9 ft. tall (haven't decided that yet either) humanoid Dragon. He is the heir to a long lineage of protectors who bear the mark of the dragon upon their souls. The story goes: In the time before time, in the age of myths and legends, there were great wars being fought between gods, mythic beasts and mighty wizards (etc)... to protect the mortal flock from the collateral effects of these wars, the gods of light created a number of bloodlines among their mortal subjects, each bearing an arcane mark. Each of these lines, in bearing it's respective mark, embodied the aspects and major attributes of one of the great beasts of legend. (There will probably be a set number of these, I haven't decided yet.) There was a lineage of those who bore the mark of the Griffin, the mark of the Unicorn, the Saytr, the Manticore, the Pegasus, the Siren, the Ogre, etc. etc. My character's line was that that bore the mark of the Dragon. In heroic form, each of these lineage's became a human/beastial hybrid. In the case of my character, he's a large humanoid with the wings, scales, claws, head, tail and breath of a dragon. This is not neccessarily the standard form for each of the lines. The Unicorn, for example assumes a more centauroid appearance. He lives and writes in Boston, Mass. By night, when not writing, he soars amidst the city's canyons of glass and steel, living up to the burning desire in his heart, that which was placed upon his blood, so many millenia ago when the gods of light crafted his family, namely the desire to watch-over the mortal men, women and children who dwell within his domain. Aside from the obvious... like.. "The Dragon" "The Dragonman" "The Dragonoid" ...can anyone suggest some cool names that the local media may have come up with to refer to these 'strange sightings of the winged vigilante?' Thanks in advance.

Blown Away... Boy, you guys are amazing. I Love this forum. Most other RPG forums I've seen would just tell the guy... "You're stupid. That can't work because blah blah, and blah de blah and blee de dee. Just sit down and don't make waves." While I certainly agree with Shrike, the Champions Universe is already an amalgamated DC/Marvel setting... very much so, you guys still never fail to come up with a whole slew of cool ideas. Just thought I'd take a moment to say that.

Re: Galactic Champs and time travel Since we've mentioned the GC word(s)... I have a question that is off-topic. When does Galactic Champions, in fact, come out? The ad in the back of The Ultimate Brick says June 2004, it is now almost August of the same year and my local retailer says that he can't get it on order because it isn't out yet. What gives?

Re: Gaming "Outside the Box" I can really relate to what you're saying. As a GM, I've used all kinds of unconventional techniques/tactics in presenting various stories over the years. Some of these would include,... 1. Having the players draw up their real-life persona as characters, with no powers or special abilities to start with and then going through the transformative experience of receiving their gifts and powers through the course of play. This, I did many years ago in an Aberrant campaign that ran for about five years. It went over so well that a lot of my players have since duplicated the idea in their own campaigns. One of my players even ran an entire game of his own, with some other friends of his, that was completely based upon the overall story-arc (and even specific story-arcs) of my campaign. 2. I wrote up a murder-mystery scenario, generically, that involved a killer who likes to call the authorities and eventually the PCs to give them clues and riddles as he challenges them to stop him. He can have any sick, sadistic, vengeful reason for doing this. I would also leave them clues in other ways, including a letter that held a clue in the first sentence (which was set apart from the others) that their answers could be found in "A Fierce Magazine." The clue is meant to indicate Mad Magazine... and sure enough whence the letter is folded in half and then one half is folded back in half again, the letter says something entirely different ala Mad Fold-In. This was inspired by the Christopher Lambert movie "Knight Moves" in which the killer does this very thing. For the creepy phone conversations I went to Radio Shack and picked up a cheap two-way intercom system to simulate the speaker phone that everyone would speak to the killer on. I then went into another room to speak to them. I also had the killer mask his (or her) voice using some kind of modulating distortion aparatus, which I made by hanging strips of aluminum foil down a long, cardboard wrapping-paper tube and speaking through it to the intercom. My players hadn't been expecting my voice to sound different and the way that the little make-shift device made my voice sound was so creepy they said they all got chills, as this pang of horrified surprise went through the room. This "scenario" I've used in a couple of different campaigns based on how well it went over the first time. The first time was in a Mage: the Ascension campaign. The killer turned out to be a Marauder who was trapped, by his madness, into playing endless games where murder is his goal. I've also used the scenario in Aberrant, Nightbane and a later Mage game. I may use it for my current Champions game, but I don't know. 3. In that very successful Aberrant campaign I pulled some uber-shananigans on my PCs at one point. They had started off as covert agents of a secret government organization. Over the course of years of play, they had been the central catalyst in a war that pitted supers against the world and each other. Afterward, due to the events of the war, there was no longer anyway for them to hide their identity. Therefore, the game transitioned for the next year or so to a story about very public heroes. Later, an enemy from their early past prove to be very very not-dead. This foe had since acquired an ability known as Information Manipulaton. I also gave him "Mastery" over this power. (Mastery is the Aberrant equivalent to "Megascale") In order to resume his old battle against the PCs on the type of terms that they had originally been under, he utilized this power to erase all public knowledge of the PCs' existence. Everything from material books, to information stored in computers, to the very memories and knowledge in the minds of the masses, was altered to lead them to believe that other beings were responsible for the PCs' actions and heroics. This enabled them to once again take covert action as they sought to undo this menace. Just the discovery that they had been forgotten was a fun session in and of itself as they struggled to figure out what had happened. Why the statue in Washington DC was of another group of people, why articles in USA Today's archives were either non-existent or unrelated. All good stuff. I once played in a DnD campaign a friend of mine was running in which he used a published adventure module set in Ravenloft. This plot had to do with these creepy little puppets called "Carrionettes." At one point, the carrionettes attack the PCs by jumping onto them and attempting to stab little needles into them. The fight continues until a couple of PCs get "stuck", then the PCs are allowed to win as the unending tide of carrionettes begins to become far less 'unending.' Later in a moment of downtime, the DM seizes control of the PC(s) who were stuck and traps the other PCs in a steel-mesh net. What really happened was that the needles transferred the carrionettes' souls into the PCs bodies and they began manipulating the PC like a puppet. The players of the characters in question are never informed of this until later whence they are told that the carrionettes are such gifted puppet-masters and that their performances are so convincing that there was simply no need to take control of the characters from the players, until the moment the trap is sprung. When the PCs awake they slowly realize that they are in a little birdcage suspended high above a toymaker's shop. They further realize that they have all been implanted into the bodies of little marrionettes themselves and must now brave the wilds of the toymaker's house, facing such horrors as cavernous aisles, the mountainous staircase, the toymaker's sadistic cat and of course, other demonic puppets. That one gave me nightmares. Very cool.

A local gaming-outlet in my area recently added a new product to its catalog, it's a sort of master-screen, with slip-sleeves on either side. On one side you put in your charts and whatnot and on the other you put whatever artwork you might like. The problem, my HeroSystem screen is five-paneled, these master-screens are only four. Does anyone know where I might find such screens but with five or more panels? Thanks.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... "Man,... any time you see a blind guy holding a katana, it's time to just run." -Me

Re: M&M: this is a Nightmare? And another thing... Someone on this thread mentioned the price thing for M&M... I have to fully, wholeheartedly agree. I think this game tries to market itself on artwork alone. I aint paying no $30 bucks and up for a game consisting of books with a paper-thin page-count. Being based on comic books doesn't excuse a comic-book-like number of pages in a series this pricey. DnD 3.5 heh heh Sorry, random 50/50 angst/humor type chuckling. OK, I really need to get going this time... gotta get home so I can pay multiclassing fees for taking a prestige class, snap-up a whole heap of new feats that just add +2 to an ability and then resume my frantic and fevered search to find a single playtester credit...anywhere. ...of course this is all after I get done making sure I pick-up a whole slew of miniatures, 'cause..y'know...game doesn't really function without 'em. But, it's cool anyway...somehow. See ya on the flipside.

Re: M&M: this is a Nightmare? I think I understand your quandry. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of d20. I thought 3rd Ed. was ok. But, 3.5 can bite me. Read Monte Cook's review on it and you'll get about the best argument both for and against 3.5 that could ever be devised. I just tend to come out on the "against" side of the argument because...well... of this other issue... ...My real problem is with Wizards of the Cash, specifically. They're like the McDonalds of RPGs. They made their fortune on trading card games, and they tend to apply that type of marketing mentality to RPGs as well. I don't go in for the Dark Age of Gaming thing per se... at least not yet. But, I do think there is a danger here. It's not happening yet but it's possible that, in the interest of sales, companies will start scrapping their systems in favor of jumping on the d20 gravy train. Do you really want a market full of RPG-designers who are just 3.5ing their way to financial glory? Granted, other systems seem to be doing better and better all the time. Take for example,... Hero. DOJ has basically exploded out of obscurity in the US and become far more well-known than it was just a couple years ago. I'd never even heard of this system until last summer. It's now my favorite system. Being someone that ends up GMing rather than playing 99.99999% of the time, I can really appreciate a system where anything is possible. But, d20 is 'ok'... ...I guess. I have to go now. I gotta go level my Class-clone, cookie-cutter character and try to cram three orcs down a thirty-foot wide hallway after paying $90 for $60 worth of books I already own. See ya round the way.

I was directed here to look for a thread or two on converting Exalted to the Hero System, but I can't seem to find the thread. If it's still up could somebody point me at it, via link perhaps? Thanks in advance.

The coolest part, I think is the price tag. Yeah, Monolith, I'm very very pleased. Last Summer I was pretty dismayed that I couldn't find a Supers game that I didn't find utterly dorky. Then I happened to give Champs a look and thought it was actually pretty cool. I picked it up but, didn't really get into it much. I was currently running an Exalted chronicle that had been going for about two years and didn't have time to learn a new system. Then finally, last Dec., as that game drew to a close I decided to dive into Hero head-first. I tried to learn the game in a hurry. Problem: I don't think you can really learn this system..."In a hurry" ...at least, you didn't /used to be able to/. Now, I'm going through Sidekick as basically a way of proofreading my basics. I'm reading it straight through, cover to cover. So far, I haven't found any mistakes on my part. But, it has made various things clearer to me, making up for my lack of experience in the system with it's summary and succinct way of putting things. Seriously, this is as easy a read as the old Basic DnD red-box PH. Don't get me wrong. I Love Fred. I just find that that particular tome requires a bit of system-savy of a sort that is only acquired through time. Reading that book straight through... which I did... was kinda like if Walt Whitman or Anne Rice wrote an Encyclopedia. Though both are great writers, no doubt about it... they also tend to linger on each and every nuance, each and every thought, breath, gesture, etc. to the point where a single action can span nearly half a chapter. Fred's great referrence material... but, a good system-learner it aint. At least not if you're trying to learn it quick. P.S. Incidentally, though I've posted it before I'd like to reiterate how much I'm enjoying my Hero books and my current Champions campaign. I'm running a game set in Millenium City, though in my own vision of the CU. Though, supers are a big thing... I call them Paranormals or Exceptionals only. (I hate the term "Superhero" just a personal peeve) ...the game is more of a gothic-horror take on the supers genre. Think "Blade" or "X." I take up a very dark-anime sort of feel and mood, in the spirit of "Wicked City" "Ghost in the Shell" "Akira" etc. Millenium City is the "City of the Future" and all, but I've given it a bit more of a hard-bitten edginess and whatnot. Although the world that the game takes place in is an open-source one. The main thrust of the campaign involves, almost exclusively Supernatural, Extra-dimensional and Magical sources of superpowers. We've got a Shadow-manipulating Psychic, a Spirit-Kin Sorcerer child, a Vampire and a man who's been possessed/empowered by the essence of a bloody-handed angel from another plane. It's going really well. Oh yeah, something else I wanted to share, in case Mr. Long is still following this thread... I've decided that when I run Exalted again (it's my other favorite game, along with Mage) I'm going to convert it to Hero rules.

There are probably a lot of posts saying something similar to this but, I don't care... I'm going to say it anyway. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my deepest, darkest SOUL... for coming out with "Sidekick." This book is the answer to my prayers. Never again will I douse my drawers at the prospect of having to look up a rule or settle a rules-dispute with published documentation! Never again will I forget such nuances as my own name, gender and place of residence as the neural-impulses of my meager, earthly mind are swallowed up in Fred's tempestuous vortex of information! Never again will I succumb to the heart-dropping sadness of a friend's irritated glare as I drop Fred in front of him and say, in a weak and cracking voice..."Don't worry, it's simpler than it seems." Never again shall I trip over my own feet and break my frail, gamer-arms on the pavement as I attempt to ponder superpower options and walk at the same time. With a mighty nerd-roar shall I stand amidst my peers, with their snack-smeared clothing and not-at-all-phallic dice-bags slung from their belts and proclaim..."I /can/ learn this system. I /can/ put it to use. I /am/ here and I /am/ quee...." em... that may be going to far. Again, thank you very very much to everyone who contributed to this wonderful addition to the line. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

I'm sorry to ask this on the forum, but it's been driving me nuts. In the Champions Universe, there's a corporation called Pharos Industries. How is Pharos pronounced? I've been thinking either "Fair Oh S" or "Fair Oh Z." Like the plural of an egyptian ruler. But, I guess it could even be "Far Oh S" or "Far Oh Z," or maybe like the distinction of metal called "Ferrous." Or even something else that I couldn't think of. Don't spend time on this one if your busy, but if you have a sec., you could really help me sleep better. P.S. Great game. I ran my first Champions session last weekend and I Loved it. We're meeting again tomorrow night. Thanks for publishing it. -CL

I've been a gamer since I was about seven years old. (That's approximately twenty years.) I'm always the GM/DM/ST. Started with D&D in the red box, progressed (in this order) to AD&D 1st ed., 2nd ed, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Robotech, Rifts, DC Heroes, Vampire: the Masquerade, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Mage: the Ascension (an all-time favorite), Marvel Superheroes (excellent genre/horrible system), Changeling: the Dreaming, Aberrant, DnD 3rd ed. and later 3.5 (an all-time most-hated system), and Exalted (the other of my two all-time favs.) I found Hero... roughly three weeks ago. That's right, just recently. I haven't actually 'started' gaming in the system yet, however. So, I guess I could accurately say that I have yet to truly discover it. So far, I've been reading through the core book. Just after reading the first couple of chapters I was sold on the idea of a Champions game. I think this /could/ become a third all-time favorite game, assuming that it plays as well as it reads. Until recently, my favorite comic-genre game had been Aberrant. Recently, White Wolf publishing made the decision to transplant Aberrant onto the d20 system. Faced with the decision between suicide and simply finding another supers game, I opted for the latter. Champions has really opened my eyes to how narrow Aberrant is in terms of concept and theme. Oh sure, it /is/ technically true that you can create anything from any genre, time-period, setting, etc. with /any/ rpg system. The difference isn't that Hero allows you to do it. The difference is that Hero allows you to do it without having to make vast, sweeping modifications to the system, without having to compromise on 50 to 90% of your idea(s)... in short, the difference is that Hero allows you to accomplish Universal Adaptability WITHOUT simultaneously forcing you to cope with a plethora of gigantor pains in the ass. There are a few things I still think are kinda silly about the system. I still can't get over the fact that you need to spend precious END to use your characteristics, of all things. And I think that more than a few things about the setting are way too hokey for my tastes (the names tend toward ultra-dorky-man, etc.). But, all of these things are easily modified away. All in all, I think it's one of my favorite systems out there. I hope that continues to be the case as I venture into running it.

I'd like to say the X-Men would win. But, I can't. If we're talking about a contest of which are the more compelling and interesting characters, the X-Men have them beat pretty soundly. In a battle however, the ultimate deciding factor would be Superman. Now, I know what some of you will say... "What about Rogue sapping Superman's power and turning it against him?" Superman would just suddenly have a new ability or condition or power of some type that would completely circumvent Rogue's stuff. In this situation we must recall DC-Comics' company-name-translation number 138, which is "Deficient Consistency." or perhaps... "What about Professor X taking command of the JLA's minds and making them give-up or kill themselves/each other." No good. See the aforementioned reason. JLA will always win... Against anyone... They simply always do. But, not for the intelligent reasons that Marvel comes up with for their heroes. Nope. No such luck... They win because, in the DC-Comics universe, it isn't the moon that's made of green cheese... ...it's Krypton. ((Accent on the "cheese"))

I'm very new to the Hero system. I've owned the core rulebook for about two weeks now and I've read through it once at a bit more than a light skim. I'm to the point now where I'm starting to examine the pieces-parts more closely and I have a few questions. I really only have time to ask one right now. But, here goes... (Before I say anything more, I want to say that so-far I Love this system. There are just a few things that I find odd and/or confusing.) For one, END costs for powers. In a few places, I just don't understand them. For example: By the book,... an average, starting-level character with 10 pts. in Flight, would be able to fly a mind-boggling 20 sec. long odyssey, at a blinding speed of just over three-and-a-half miles per hour? It's in instances like these that the stated rules for END expenditures seem very odd and cumbersome. I've probably missed something, somewhere and am wrong about this. I hope I am. Could you please clarify this type of thing for me? Point out what I've missed perhaps?

http://www.liquidgeneration.com/quiz/images/archangel.jpg'>http://www.liquidgeneration.com/quiz/images/archangel.jpg To link it (the actual code):

I figured this would be the place to ask. I Love the Hero System. I hate looking at a pile of monopoly dice. Once, at a hobby shop, a few years back, I saw a type of die that I thought was very cool. They had them in all different sizes (ie d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, etc.) but, they weren't shaped like traditional dice. Instead, they were shaped like long crystals, of a sort that, if you were to spin them, they would almost look like "rupies" from the Legend of Zelda. I would like to pick up a bunch of d6s in this style for my upcoming Champions game. Does anyone know who makes these?

Ok, I've finished reading through the core book and I have to say... Yeah, I Love this system! In fact, I Love it so much that I've gone to my local gaming retailer and picked up Ultimate Martial Artist, Champions, Champions Universe, Conquerers-Killers-and-Crooks, Millenium City and the UNTIL Superpowers database. Finally, a supers game that doesn't suck. All things considered I have to say that there are things about the setting of Champions that thus far, I don't like... The take-offs from the fantastic four, for example...are called the Fabulous Five. I cannot read anything about them without picturing "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." From my viewpoint, the CU has a feel that makes one think that the creators took the major overall feel of Marvel and the major overall feel of DC and jammed them together. This is appropriate as those are the two 'big-dogs' in the comic book, superhero genre and a game as general and universal as HERO positively requires such a setting. My standpoint: I Love Marvel... ...I H~A~T~E DC! In my opinion, DC stands for Dorky Crap. I've never liked their take on superhero origins, nor sources of power. The only DC comic that I make an exception for is any and all of the Batman stuff that Frank Miller did/does. (ie. The Dark Knight Returns). So, I'll more than likely tweak the setting in a few major ways to eliminate that niggling DC flavor that's spoiling all the Marvelly and Image-y goodness. When I get closer to actually putting my group together and running a game, I'm thinking of picking up 'Battlegrounds' and possibly 'VIPER'. Does anyone have those books? And, if so, can you tell me what you think of them? Thanks.

Oh, have I got a few that I could kick in!!! "Holy Lord! That is the worst first inch of anything that I've ever taken into my mouth... there was like... hardly any meat." -Jerry... a friend who commented on a dairy-mart sub-sandwich before thinking his statement through. "That's just pure stupidy." -John... who will never live it down. I've got more but I have to find my memorable quote sheet. Back soon. >

Thanks to everybody for all the words of wisdom. I've been gradually moving through the book in off-times, and I'm starting to understand what you mean about the system being easily manipulated. That's a problem I can easily keep track of. I've been GMing since I was about eight years old, so that's going on twenty years. If anybody else has any observations on the game, please send it along. It's appreciated. Thanks again.