winterhawk

Skyscraper Almost have the big lug written up. For now, here is a few pics...

Re: What's Busiek done lately? He's also starting a new run of Thunderbolts, in November if I'm not mistaken. And I agree w/you, Fenris, one of the best in the biz, IMHO.

Re: AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED opinions I am a HUGE Avengers fan (I was working on a run from 1-200 before I got laid off), and I hate this storyline so much, I have dropped all other Marvel titles from my pull, especially the Bendis ones (even Powers, which I really enjoy). I have a feeling that this one is going to come back and bite Marvel on the posterior. I hope I'm right.

Re: Tragic Mutations / Jokers? (Iron Agey) As a fan of the Wild Cards series, I have adapted a 'tribe' or 'gang' of metas who call themselves Freex. They differ from true Jokers in the Wild Card sense in that they would all be considered Joker-Aces, more like X-men's Morlocks (though I loathe to use X-references). None of them are crippled by there condition, they all have powers to a degree, but have seperated themselves from society for one reason or another.

Re: Scenario ideas inspired by other media In the season premier of CSI, one of the subplots was about wedding chapels feuding for business in Las Vegas. In a strange coincidence, one of the segments on COPS this past Saturday also featured feuding owners of wedding chapels in Vegas. Since one of my campaigns is set in Vegas, I saw this as a sign from the Gaming-Powers-That-Be, so tomorrow I'm having a couple of warring owners hire some superbaddies to up the ante.

Re: Help me build the Civic Guard Hermit, anyone write up Skyscaper yet? If not, I'll volunteer for it.

Re: Scenario ideas inspired by other media I run a side campaign called Law & Order: Special Investigations, which is my version of the comic Powers. I have stolen plots from Law & Order, NYPD Blue, Homicide: Life on the Streets & The Shield and added superpowers for many of my runs. I ran a time travel scenario which one of my detective players ended up in Victorian Era Chicago (which was a really rough place). He met Sherlock Holmes, travelling incognito after the events in "The Final Problem", and on the trail of William Mudget aka H.H. Holmes, the first American serial killer. He was returned to his own time by Jules Verne. I am currently working on a 'More Trouble in Little China' scenario, where the players actually meet Jack Burton and Egg Chen. The Thing, IMHO, is the prototype for "We're trapped somewhere with a hellbeast hunting us and we can't trust anyone" scenario. Chris Carter ripped the premise off for "X-Files" more times than I can count.

Re: The horror, the horror. European Enemies "debugged." Mike don't try updating too many characters at one time...I heard it can lead to madness I don't know if I provided you with the errata sheets, but if anyone is still interested, I have them scanned as jpgs and will be happy to send them to anyone who wants them. Post or email me. Your a brave man, Mike, far braver than I.

Re: Help me build the Civic Guard As a life-long Chicagoan, I think you really hit the nail on the head with Skyscraper (A name I have used for a Chicago based hero before). The only gripe I have is that every Chicago guy is proud of his profession, no matter what it is. I see him more as "Yeah I'm a florist...You gotta problem with that?! Besides, we have had a really tough-ass florist. Dion O'Bannion, Al Capone's chief rival, was a florist...who carried 3 guns at all times.

Re: The City/Hero Connection I actually incorporated the Marduuk idea into my campaign (long before MW, nyah). Each major city has an kind of living embodiment of the city as its protector and they are all the progeny of Marduuk. One of them, Dr. Dauntless, is a PC and the avatar of Chicago.

Re: Good places to have battles...and stuff The grounds of a palatial Bel Air home, swarming with ghurkas, and I lost my utility harness... The Las Vegas strip at rush hour, the Hoover Dam, an abandoned airfield in the desert. Oh, and downtown Vegas where the battle accidentally knocked out power to the Bellagio for a week. The top of the Sears Tower, the old Water Tower (the mystical heart of Chicago), the Field Museum and the Oriental Museum, and probably the 'holiest' site in Chicago to some Chicagoans...Wrigley Field the night before the playoffs. (Don't ask me, I'm a White Sox fan, but my players are all rabid Cubs fans).

Re: Help/Suggestions with 2 new Hero Groups Yep, pretty cool. This coming from another huge Manta Man fan.

Re: Who have you updated? Buffalo: Yes, exactly correct. I changed his background, so he went from a failed Army experiment to a Native American "Skinwalker", sort of a were-buffalo and hitman. Dark Angel: Yes, she was an avatar of Death. I changed her to a Russian doctor with the powers of Entropy. She could 'cure' any disease by giving it to someone else, so a rich person would give her a ton of money and she would pay a poor person a percentage to take on the ailment. She also could break down systems. I renamed her Zolotaya Smerti, which according to an online Russian to English dictionary means 'Black Angel'. I have know idea if it is correct, but it sounds cool. The Amazing Darkon: A former henchman who worked for a mad scientist who expoused the Darkon Theory: Darkness is not the absence of Light, Light is the absence of Darkness. The scientist had constructed a Darkon bomb, that accidently went off, giving the henchman solid darkness powers and driving him mad. He is a lot of fun to play (as most crazy villains are). I'm really proud of the write-up I did, but have been advised against posting it, since their are copyright issues with the character. Opening up my Badguys folder to write this post, I realized I also converted the Psi-Kin and Red Doom.

Re: Who have you updated? The Protectors, The Conquerors, Deathstroke, Dr. McQuark, The Demolition Company, Shamrock, and COIL. All remain on Earth 4 (Which is our old campaign world, which uses the 4th setting and 5th rules). When I first got HD, I pulled out Enemies III and redid a couple who ended up on Earth 5 (5th setting, rules): Dark Angel and Buffalo, who were totally revamped and The Amazing Darkon, one of my all time faves, who stayed pretty much as written.

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns I do some work in the 'animated' style. Be happy to convert over your characters if you'd like.

Re: naming super crimes That is a really cool idea. Any 'normal' comitting a criminal act in concert with a masked/superhuman criminal or aiding and/or abeting a masked/superhuman should have extra years tacked on. I'm totally stealing this one. This also reminded me of a law a friend of mine made up in a Dark Champs campaign...possesion of a grapnel line thrower by anyone other than a licensed mountain climber is a felony. Easy way to get those roof-running types.

Re: RL news suitable for Champ's scenerios As usual, you beat me to the post Hermit. I'm wondering if there is a Demonhame in Oslo...guess my players will have to find out...Mu-haha...hahahahaha...ha...cough...sorry, slipped into evil GM mode there.

Re: naming super crimes I can't remember if its mentioned in Champions, but we use "committed with superpowers" as a factor in sentencing, much like many states Hate Crime or Gun Statutes. So if Ogre breaks into a bank, slugs the guard, pulls the vault door off and obsconds with the money, when caught he would be charged with Assault with Superpowers, Armed Robbery with Superpowers, Destruction of Private Property with Superpowers, etc. I've also run some cop stuff ala Powers, and added an X to police call codes to indicate metahuman involvement. So a 187X would be a homicide involving a metahuman. As far as crimes that would emerge because of the presence of powers, haven't thought of a good street names for these: A brick who simply pulls an ATM from its moorings and punches a hole in the cashbox. Theft by telepathy: A quick mind scan gets PIN numbers, passwords, etc Unlawful Entry by Shapechange, Invisibility or Desolidification Rape by Proxy: When one participant is not actually "who they are", either via Shapeshift, Mind Control, Possession, etc. Its rape because the other participant is consenting to the person they think they are having sex with, rather than who it actually is. Got the idea from the "Small Potatoes" episode of X-Files.

I don't own Ultimate Vehicle, having neither the funds nor the desire to get it, but could use some help on travel time. My players are travelling 900 miles by ocean (for you TA buffs: From Kasselden in Thurgandia to Aarn) and I have no idea how long that would take. Anyone know how long that would take? Thanks in advance.

Re: The Crazy8! Cool name for a team, might have to steal it I have a thing for wordplays like this (I've have a hero team called The Magnificent 7, and villain teams called N*I*L*8, Hard 8 & Slaughterhouse 5). Back on topic: Tantrum: Spoiled kid with TK powers Frenetic: Hyperactive Speedster (been done, I know) Caprice: Brick with poor impluse control OCD: The team's planner, with germ phobias and an eye for details ala TV's Monk.

Re: The Usual Need A Name Sorta Thing The Alliance

Re: Name My Character How about Dragonnel...I think it means 'little dragon'

Re: New Justice League anime tomorrow?

I ordered a couple of 'damaged' books from the Online Store today...and wow, I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting missing covers, upside down pages, inkblots, etc. and have two near perfect copies, with some almost imperceptable corner damage and a few pages with slightly off center margins. Good show, DOJ!

Re: Sell me the FH line Like you, I usually run Champions, having sworn off the fantasy genre 20 years ago, when I picked up first edition Champions and went "Gee, you can make whatever you want and not have to roll up a character." Then I saw the LOTR trilogy and remembered that fantasy could be really cool if it wasn't "Let's get a party together and go raid the dungeon." So when TA was in playtest, I downloaded it. Man, what a great setting. Political & Religious conflict, interesting secondary races, a wide variety of character packages. Really neat stuff. So I picked up FH, TA and FHG and I'm planning on starting my campaign as soon as my damaged Beastiary and MMM comes in via UPS. FHB I cannot count on, because I haven't picked it up, but I didn't purchase the Champions version either.