winterhawk

I've actually worked for a company that had a Human Resources Dept. that was very much the 'Secret Police' i.e. monitoring web activity, actually enforcing a dress code, etc. so you're analogy rings true. I could see unsuccessful ARGENT employees becoming lab rats as punishment. Referencing my earlier mention of ominous threats... "I'm afraid you've made too many mistakes, Director So-and-so. Human Resources has been notified. Expect your reassignment to be...unpleasant."

(unofficial) I've only ever used ARGENT in passing, and like many (up until now of course) have used them much like AIM. My few unique touches are based on their corporate nature. Heads of an installation are called Chief Engineers (the equivalent of a Nest Leader in VIPER). And they use a lot of 'corporate speak'. 'Acquisitions' are thefts, 'downsizing' is assassination, 'B2B' (Business to Business) is taking on another criminal organization, 'outsourcing' is hiring mercenaries. The leadership is known as 'Management', which makes for what I think is some pretty ominous threats... "Management wants to see you." "Management has put a downsizing order out on the Champions."

Lord L, I've often admired your seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the CU...this takes the cake. Dare I say you should send the good folks at Hero an invoice for your time for essentially putting together a soucebook for them. Let us know if your looking for contributions to this thread, I have a few meager one's of my own I could add.

Two-fer this week. Inspired by old school 'power couples' like Panda & Raccoon and Thunder & Lightning, I came up with a Speedster and Weaponmaster couple. This is Cut & Run, a modern day mutant Bonnie and Clyde. Speedster 6.hdc Weapon 6.hdc

For this build, I was influenced by the DJ Skills package for the Sonic Archetype along with Daft Punk, a pair of EDM artists famous for their feature concealing stage personas. My apologies to any true fans of EDM, my knowledge of the genre is limited to what I could find on Wikipedia. This is Lorelei, one of Europe's most elusive sneak thieves... Sonic 6.hdc

Maybe ancient America when Therakiel half fell to Earth on the future site of Vibora Bay?

I was stuck for an idea for the Powered Armor template, as my longest played character was a Powered Armor hero, and I thought I had done it all with this archetype. I found inspiration from my first exposure to Japanese pop culture growing up in the 1970s. This is Mechandizer 17, an agent of Bureau 17 detailed in the Monster Island sourcebook. Character sheets are attached for his normal sized Jaeger mode, and his gigantic, kaiju-fighting Kaiser mode. His Secret ID is a mash up of Ishiro Honda and Go Nagai, the creator of Godzilla and the Godfather of Super Robot anime/manga respectively. The best part of the build was naming the attacks... Supah! Grand! Bustaaahhhh! Power Armor 6.hdc Power Armor 6 Buster.hdc

What started out with me being lazy led to an interesting character building exercise. For the Mystic Master, I was just going to use the VPP option so I didn't have to type up a lot of slots in an MP. Following the letter of the build, almost all of the 20 pts. allotted for skills was chewed up by the Power skill required for the VPP. I decided limiting the VPP to a type of magic would get me enough points to add a few more skills to the character. I wanted to avoid the typical mystical background (DEMON, Circle of the Scarlet Moon, etc.) and remembered that VIPER had a small but fanatical sect that worshipped the Serpent God and practiced serpent magic. This is Naja Naja, built using the Snake Cultist and technically the Serpent Mage packages from the VIPER sourcebook. Most of his Limitations are the Brainwashed Masses from the Agent Types & Motivations chapter of the same supplement. Mystic 6.hdc

That's a really great idea...I'm stealing it.

Don't remind me...I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat after nightmares about Foxbat. I try to pattern my games after DC:TAS and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which I feel were really good modern interpretations of classic comics stories. For example, one of my crime bosses is the classic Silver Age 'human brain swapped into a monkey's body' characters. The thing is he's been boss since the 60s because he's absolutely ruthless and cunning, like a gangster from the Godfather or Goodfellas.

The killer vigilante I've created is a Vietnam vet, much like the original origin of the Punisher. Thanks, both are great suggestions. I have the advantage of being able to use real world history, so the start of my Bronze Age begins at the Democratic Convention in 1968. One hero is disgraced into retirement after his excessive use of force on protestors is televised, the equivalent of the Teen Titans breaks up, and one sidekick breaks off from his mentor to become a 'hero of the people'. I also have two young heroes getting married and going on a road trip for their honeymoon. They end up at both Woodstock and Altamont. Another great suggestion. I already had a female sidekick to a hero (think Mary Marvel). After the unrest at the Convention, she renames herself Ms. Thunder and becomes a representative of the growing feminist movement.

The Metamorph archetype offered a lot of choices, and I realized I had never tried my hand at a Shrinking character. This is Mr. Iota, a supervillain created in the same explosion that created Blackstar from the Ultimates. After a lousy week at work, I based his personality on a couple of co-workers I'm not too fond of... Metamorph 6.hdc

I'm continuing to touch up my campaign's historical timeline and found the Bronze Age is woefully underdeveloped. Considering this is my favorite era of comics, I've decided to update it with the flavor of the times. Defining the Bronze Age as between 1970-1985, the elements I want to include/have included so far: The death of a significant NPC (Gwen Stacy's death) The revelation that a hero has a chemical dependency (Tony Stark's alcoholism/Speedy's heroin addiction) An 'un-team' (The Defenders) The introduction of ethnic heroes (Luke Cage/Black Vulcan/Samurai/Apache Chief) The introduction of 'kung-fu' heroes (Iron Fist/Shang-Chi/Richard Dragon/Bronze Tiger) The introduction of a gun toting killer vigilante (The Punisher debuted in 1974) The owner of my comic shop, who's also a Bronze Age fan (check out http://keithskomix.com/ if your in the Chicago Area) suggested: The resurgence of a defunct team (X-Men were reintroduced in 1975, The New Teen Titans in 1980 with all new, ultimately most popular lineups) My question to the learned panel is am I missing any elements from the Bronze Age that would give it some additional flavor? As always, thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

This is Brain Damage, a psionic 'killer vigilante' with links back to PSI and Mind Inc. Mentalist 6.hdc

The one PC where I wished I though of him first was created by Hermit for one of my Hero Central games. Gaze was a dark avenger of the night ala Batman with a suite of mental powers.

This is actually the first character I built using the Gallery some time ago, and one of my favorite NPCS. All credit due to Hermit, who was a terrific player and GM back in the Hero Central days, for giving her both her names. This is Silken Thorn, mistress of the Malvan martial art of Haruji. The Malvan Package and martial arts can be found in Champions Beyond. Martial 6.hdc

Next is Ironsides, a sergeant in the Army who gained 'magnetic' powers via Project: Sunburst, a fact he doesn't remember. The Skills package is again from Dark Champions. Magnetic 6.hdc

Okay, been busy. First up, jumping back to Earth/Stone, is Sgt. Bill Dover of the MCPD, affectionately known as Cop Rock, who has served the community since just before the Battle of Detroit. Since the movement options didn't really jive with the Body of Stone concept, I just settled on superleap. The police package is from Dark Champions. Earth Stone 6.hdc

Well said...I finally watched Dawn of Justice on cable and afterward, to cleanse my palate of that awful film, I watched the World's Finest crossover eps of B:TAS and S:TAS. The Bronze Age was my formative years, so I have fond memories of the great Avengers and JLA teams with the huge rosters, Marvel Team-UP/Two in One that introduced some wild third tier characters (Jack-of-Hearts, American Eagle, etc.), Power Man and Iron Fist, Miller's run on Daredevil, Batman and the Outsiders, All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc.

3 Options: Lightning-Portation which is a straight teleport, Conductive Teleportation which is only through conductors, and Riding the Lightning which is flight only along electrical wires.

I jumped back to the Electricity template for this build. This is Jonax Amperanth, a member of the V'Hanian Imperial Battalion who was stranded on Earth after the last invasion. He hides amongst the homeless, where he's known on the street as Battery. Electricity.hdc

Deciding that the last couple of builds were 'post modern', I decided to go back to a more four color flavor for the Ice template. This is Icestorm, the beloved heroine of Des Moines, IA, a graduate of the Ravenswood Academy. Ice 6.hdc

Here' a Gadgeteer by template only, going to show that the Gallery can be extremely flexible with a little imagination and by just changing the names/SFX of a power. This is Lord Thorne: alchemist, enchanter and Warden Arcane for the Trismegistus Council. Gadget 6.hdc

Pages 243-287 of Champions 6th edition, essentially a bunch of pre-made stat/power/skill packages that allow you to cobble together a character quickly for pretty much every superhero archetype.

My full intent was to go in alphabetical order like the Gallery, but neither the Earth/Stone nor Electricity builds were speaking to me. I've jumped ahead to the Fire template. This is the Match, an arsonist par excellence built using the Pyrokinetic package along with the firefighter package from Villany Amok. He could be the perfect villain behind the "Burn Baby Burn!" scenario in that same supplement. Fire 6.hdc