HatchlingDragon

Re: These guys are making it hard to do a good Superhero setting.

You must spread rep around before... blah, blah.

Nearly got the monitor/keyboard covered in dinner reading that.

Re: What books and stuff do I need to run a complete campaign of the Champions game

Just the core (hardcover) book. The rest is all a matter of preference, buy whatever you think would benefit your campaign, use the bits you need and discard the rest.

Nothing says you even have to use only Champions/HERO suppliments, but I do like them and I can be lazy and just not want to figure out a way to design a power/item/whatnot.

Re: Theron's Bay City Mash-Up

Now if we could only convince the GM to start taking Quote Notes and scattering them about further posts/summeries...

Re: Most interesting character ideas you've seen from others?

lemon-butter? I must be missing something. the only lemon butter I know is a sweet homemade sandwich spread

Heh, I've never been a fan of shellfish (being from the mid-west may be a factor) and I could simply remember it wrong. Substitute your favorite Lobster 'dipping sauce' and you have the right idea.

He's going to be very popular with the ladies....

Yes, well, there was a quote that was his standard responce to length-based questions, but I'm pretty sure it's too close to the border of 'PC land'.

Re: Most interesting character ideas you've seen from others?

In the dawn of time I'd met a 'very creative' person that I only managed to game with a couple of times (never in Hero, pitty), but through mutual friends I'd learned of a couple of heroes he'd run in previous games. I'll do my best to recall a couple.

The Lobstrosity: 7' tall 'humanoid' brick that, you guessed it, looked like a giant Lobster. He had a few unusual disad's, like a deathly fear of lemon-butter, and taking a lot of damage from Boiling Water. And, briefly, he had 'followers' (we're talking 3rd ed or so) in the form of 3 tap-dancing Penguins.

Captain Stupendous: Pretty standard 'Superman' clone, to a point. He could fly, but only 6" above the ground and in a standing (ie: Heroic pose) position. Spoke like Dudly Do-right. Had armor, but Sfx was 'Bullet-proof chest', so there was an activation roll (ie: did attack his his chest/torso). Oh, yes, can't forget his Prehensile Tounge.

And supposedly there were more, I just never got a chance to hear of those 'war stories'. I don't think this guy so much 'thought outside the box' as much as he just didn't realise there was a box.

Re: SFX Question... What's in those blaster clips?

Hammer's Slammers is still one of my favorites, especialy the Power Gun. So powerfull yet it still has that touch of 'reality' to it. It's, in many ways, the most powerfull weapon type in the Universe, but it's not perfect, and thus isn't universaly used (ie: Star-Trek and Phasers).

As to the OP's question, I'd have to agree with your take. Weapon clips can't power 'appliances'. The 'clip' is delivering a huge quantity of power in a very short period of time. An 'appliance' (whatever they're trying to power-up) is designed to accept/use power at a given, measured, rate.

If that's not good enough for your players try this example: What they were trying to do would be along the lines of going out to one of those skeletal high-tension power towers and tapping into one of the cross-state transmission lines to power thier refridgerator. If you somehow managed to connect it to the line (without blasting yourself into next week) the moment you started the current flowing you'd destroy the 'fridge at the very least. The case of a 'clip' and the appliance would be the same situation, just much more so. Far more power in a far shorter period of time.

Sure, the engineer could arrange to get the job done, he'd just need more than 2 minutes and a roll of Duct Tape. In my example you need to use large Sub-stations and (down near the end-user) Transformers to convert that into usefull power.

As the article refering to energy weapons already pointed out, any sort of battery with sufficient energy density to be usefull in a weapon would be extremely dangerous. I'm sure that, in the interests of safety, they would come with safeguards to prevent accidental (ie: non-standard) discharge of thier energy.

And, when all else fails there's always Rule 0

Re: What Are Your Hero's Most Embarrassing Moments?

This wasn't my character, and happend a long time ago, so the details are a bit hazy...

We're responding (individualy, it's the intro adventure to get us all together) to some 'strange costumed characters' seen inside a local factory. Our hero, the "Super Ninja", lands his jet-powered Hanglider on the roof and proceeds to the access door. Upon opening it he's confronted by a security guard, gun drawn. Being totaly new to Champions (and I think Roleplaying entirely) he consulted his fellow players on what to do. We told him to use his Lightening Bolt (8d6 EB) as it was unlikely to be lethal, and would probably stun him. We were right, it worked.

Then we were introduced to the fact that the GM wasn't perfect, as he didn't point out that the doorway only lead to a stairwell down to some catwalks. This was brought up when we were also shown the consequences of Knockback, and the lethality of a normal person falling multiple stories after being hit by a Lightening Bolt...

I don't remember but I think the GM just hand-waved it, as that character continued in the campaign (short-lived though it was).

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

In a campaign where a previous mundane reality is suddenly turning super, Robert aka Sunhawk, is seeking to understand more about himself and his powers. He ends up going to find the closest thing to an expert

 

A comic book shop guy. When Robert explains what he wants, the store owner (who I have dubbed "Guru" until I can think of another name) answers thusly:

 

"Flattering...yes, the lore is here... it has always been here," The man seems to have a tendency for Shatneresqe pauses, he steps from his stool, and comes around, "You come... I am sure... seeking to understand the icons, the mythos, now that those icons are true. Wise, very wise...no gods with form spring fully out of the void, no... we give them form, and we've been giving them form for decades. At last... at long last, that form is three dimensional. Exciting times, exciting times... and here " He gestures to rows and rows of old comics, "Here is your library of Alexandria, though instead of with flames, the barbarians sought to purge it with derision, with scorn... fortunately, unlike Alexandria, we have salvaged what we can. Still, so much is lost...Gruenwald, Ditko, Kirby... Segiel...Simon.. these voices are quiet now, and how, much they could tell if only they'd had a few more decades to give vision to their voice."

 

"So...what do you wish to know first?" The Comic Book guy asks.

.....

Suffice to say, I had fun with him

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that my mental 'voice' for this character had a striking similiarity to a well known comic 'guru' from a certain animated show, now in it's umpteenth year.

[edit] Had to figure out how to add Rep just for doing this to a PC [/edit]

Re: Heroes and Nukes!

Oh dear, (mostly) we tried to convince him and/or his character that this was a 'bad thing', and it now it appears that the result is not only does he get to set off the biggest explosion ever recorded by mankind, it touches-off an inter-dimentional war.

I'm confused though, about if I should feel saddened that things went total the opposite way we were trying to point it, or proud that yet another RBGM is born.

Re: Heroes and Nukes!

I'm still interested in finding out how a PC got his mitts on an atomic weapon, or even something of that power level. How many points are the characters based on at this point in the campaign? What power level is the BBEG operating at that anyone would even contemplate using such a weapon on him/her/it?

Oh, and where is this secret island base exactly? Does anyone know how big a detonation it would take to cause significant wave action? I'm thinking of the classic 'Tidal Wave' scenario, and which countries would be the likeliest victims of said waves.

Re: Heroes and Nukes!

Bear with me, I've rewritten this about a dozen times, and I still don't like how it's coming across. I know how I feel, it's translating it into text so that you'd understand where I'm coming from that's eluding me.

Governments are, to put it simply, in buisness for themselfs. They're, for the most part, interested in maintaining the status-quo, most especialy thier own power. Nuclear armed governemnts are (for the most part) a 'group effort' of some sort: USA's 3 branches of governement (involving hundreds of people) to even a Sovereign nation tends to have a 'court' of near-peers. This is a safety net, it's what helps make groups more predictable than individuals, and predictable = safer.

Now, we have these nations that have atomic weapons so that others (with 'the bomb' too) will not attack them for fear of retaliation. They know they're safe because a group's dynamics would mean that even if someone (or a small group) wanted to use the weapons, the others of thier group would stop them because it'd be in thier own best interest.

Now we come to the thought of an individual posessing such a weapon, outside the controls of any government. An individual can have a bad day, can become so emotional that reason takes a holiday, simply put an individual is unpredictable compared to a group (ie: governemnt). Heck, if nothing else one person is far more vulnerable, be it mind-control (. o O You will destroy Manhatten!) or simply having friends/family held hostage, ect. This lowers thier predictability even further. This is one of the biggest reasons to fear a 'radical group' (ie: terrorists, ect) getting thier hands on such a weapon, they're considered to be far more likely to use the weapons without fear of the repercussions.

These thoughts would occur to at least a few members of some government(s). These people would share thier thoughts (fears) because that would align thier like-minded government types with them in finding some way to 'correct' the situation and maintain the status-quo.

Net result: If the goverments of the world would have any reason to suspect the Hero of this sort of technology/power then they're going to have that character monitored somehow. It could be anything from having an NPC spy to simply keeping track of materials purchased/obtained by him/her. If they don't have any reason to suspect this sort of thing, then you can have LOTS of fun with roleplaying the (pardon my pun) fallout from such a heinous deed.

If they weren't world-famous before they detonate the device, they're going to be for certain afterwards. Unless, of course, you decide one or more governments have some means of conducting a truely massive cover-up operation. It'd have to be something even 'bigger' than an Orbital Neuraliser (Flashy Thingy from MiB 2, a-la Statue of Liberty's 'torch'), as they'd have to cover up some very impressive 'scarring' to the area. Maps rewritten, seismographic evidence (and anyone on the planet that's got that sort of equipment would notice), possible fall-out and massive fish-kills (shockwave). And of course everything else I'm forgetting.

Re: Venture Brothers Hero?

With Doctor Orpheus' date=' you might want to add the limit to the pool "Only Spells He Has Actually Learned", plus a short list of samples. If the player wants something not there, and he can't point to an example of Doc using it on the show, tell him he'd need to look through the library or speak to Doc's Master to figure it out. It should cut down some of the unpredictability of the pool.[/quote']

 

I was thinking that a good, in character, safety valve for Doc O would simply be to stat-out his tendency to start making speeches at the drop of a metaphysical hat.

 

How best to handle this is beyond my rusty and meagre skills, the two general ideas I'd come up with were either a Psy Lim requiring an EGO role to acutaly cast a spell, or mabye some odd form of a Berzerk where he just starts to rant (instead of anything usefull).

 

I'd also like to 'vote' for the good Doctor's Mentor as one of the funniest characters in the series. I figure any character that can stand out as 'Damn that is just freeky' in that show has to be special.

Are they just updating the exsisting links, or are the links being added as they're updated (ie: the links there all work)?

I noticed that one of my all-time favorites 'Distinctive Features' isn't there that I've been able to find.

Hatchling Dragon

A web site or someplace that would have a 'basic thug' type character, preferably in Hero Designer 2.x format.

I'm assuming such a thing already exsists and I'd realy hate to duplicate effort on something so comparatively 'minor' as fill-in thugs. I'd prefer to use the time on things like Campain Plot, real villians and what-not.

Hatchling Dragon

Oh good lord that's funny, and oh-so-tempting to incoporate into a game.

Hatchling Dragon

A couple things I'd see them donating woudl be:

• Holding Cells
• Library/Computer Lab
• Medical Facilities

The Holding Cells are good so that the PC's don't have to have access (or knowledge if it's secret) to the PRIMUS' main Supers Holding Facility.

Library or Computer (w/ Internet Access?) for looking up clues and references, ect.. Anything the PC's learn and imput into the system is of course duplicated in PRIMUS' records. Information is Power after all.

Medical Facilities: Probably run by PRIMUS techs. Great opportunity to do regular tests on the PC's, hopefully to discover the source of thier powers. Could even be used obtain DNA samples, great for discovering the Secret ID's of Hero, not that they'd need to use it for Blackmail or anything

Hatchling Dragon

Oh dear God you people are funny. Sick and Twisted, but then again those aren't mutualy exclusive.

Hatchling Dragon