Haven Walkur

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread Poison, you're going to have to learn not to leave yourself open like that, at least on *this* Board. {grin} Why yes, as a matter of fact I *do* have a few ideas.... Please Stand By

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread

Re: in the spirit of christmas! This one is marvellous! I don't know how you managed "subtle horror" with a pic of a Cthulhoid nasty, but manage it you did. This is a work of understated menace, restrained and elegantly balanced, from the lines and angles of the upper body to the curling organic detail of his hands and tentacles...and the blackness below to generate depth. There are also a number of clever details of colour and form that increase the viewer's feeling of unease. The eye is particularly drawn to those clean, neat and very bright human hands silhouetted against the black...and the sudden splashes of green (along with the slice of white at the cuff) are visually almost shocking. The combination of effects is very well done, and creates a wonderfully realised work of suggestive terror. I love it. *grin* And are you really surprised that the folk of this Board have all decided they want a piece of your art? Your work is *very* appealing, Dr. Dee.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Rep to you, Mvoncannon! I now have the 'Fábrica de Heròis' for my very own, and it will never never disappear on me. Thank-you for the link and the simple instructions. What a lovely Christmas present...animated heroes whenever I have the urge! xXx:KISS!:xXx

Re: in the spirit of christmas! Dear DrDestiny (may I call you DrDee?): I've been admiring your posted work, particularly the Sapphic Neko and Professor Madison Square. There's a captivating quality of personality (individuality, non-generic-ness...realism?) and movement in your pics, and especially in those two. They look ready to step out of the screen. I'm coming to this thread rather late, but please DrDee, may I have a Christmas present too? My character's name is Elegy.... Elegy is a humanlike alien, who grew up alone on a dim and temperate graveyard world called Shanghalla, surrounded by the graves and monuments of great heroes of many races. Some of the heroes were laid to rest in "burial ships", small spacecraft that carried the dead to Shanghalla from other worlds...and some of the burial ships had computers, Artificial Intelligences, that were still working. Elegy grew up talking to the ancient AIs and learned many odd and out-dated skills from them...but she does not know her own race or how she came to Shangalla. She has no memory of family, friends or any place other than Shanghalla. Even her name -- Elegy -- is simply the word for a poem of mourning and memorial, applied to her by Voyager, a Daxamite AI with a artistic bent. Elegy has violet eyes with large pupils, and very long, flowing lilac hair. Her teeth are small and pointed, like a ferret's teeth...for like a ferret, she's an obligate carnivore. She eats mostly the small mammals and fish that also live on cool and shady Shanghalla. And though Elegy is human-like, she is NOT a human. Her skin is the dark, dark indigo of a 'clear purple' icicle pansy, and velvety as a pansy's petals (not glossy). She has eyelashes, but instead of "normal" eyebrows, she has a small cluster of long, fine whiskers above each eye. These look just like the whiskers -- or vibrissae -- above a house cat's eyes, and they work the same way. Elegy is less than five feet tall (less than 1.5m), but she is so slender and long-limbed that she seems much taller. (Her very long hair also accentuates the effect.) Her build -- slim, long-limbed, almost attenuated -- makes her amazingly flexible. Elegy's arms and legs rotate at the joints, rather than bending, which increases her range of motion but also makes her limbs relatively weak (compared to those of a human). She has long fingers, six on each hand (or four fingers and two thumbs, if you don't count thumbs as "fingers"). Her two longest fingers are in the middle of her hand, with a shorter finger on each side, and then an opposable thumb on each side of that. All her fingers end in short blunt-ish claws, like a dog's claws. (In D&D 3/3.5 terms, think of Elegy as having DEX 18+, a STR 7 and SPD 50ft. In HERO/Champions terms, DEX 24, STR 6 and SPD 6. Does that help?) Elegy looks like an adult, not a child...but no-one could tell from her appearance exactly how old she is. Elegy's personality is quite strange. She is clever and intuitive, and growing up alone on a funeral world, she reasoned that she must be dead too...a kind of "Moving Dead" guardian set to protect the "Moveless Dead" in their graves, vaults and funeral ships. And as the graveyard guardian, she has access to all the goods and offerings buried with the dead, to use as she needs. As a result, Elegy dresses in bizarre and fantastic scraps of alien jewelry and funeral attire, scavenged from the funeral ships and patched together into a clothing of a sort. Oh, and she's a teleporter, but doesn't know that that's what she's doing. She thinks "departing" and "arriving" is something all the Living (and presumably, all the Moving Dead) can do. This is just general background description with a few physical details. Please treat it as a guideline, and not as a list of commandments! Interpret the descriptive stuff however you like; there's no 'wrong' way of depicting Elegy. I've had four different artists create pics of her, and every one of them has been different.... ;-)

Re: Unworkable Premises for a Campaign Husband announced plans yesterday for a "spontaneous" road trip to CA...leaving Monday! 8-O He's been planning this as a Thanksgiving holiday surprise (and he's bribing me with a visit to the infamous Winchester House).... I'll be on the road a lot and mostly out of touch for the next two weeks, so I won't be playing Lorelei Lucas (née Lorraine Lucas) after all. :-( The "Spunky Girl Reporter" concept is therefore back up for grabs. Have a blast, guys, and thanks again, Clonus.

Re: Unworkable Premises for a Campaign Her original name was Lorraine. Lorraine Lucas, spunky girl reporter! I'd decided that when it became apparent that she wasn't aging normally any more, Lorraine Jackson posed first as her "daughter" Laney Lucas, and later as her "grand-daughter" Lorelei Lucas. In some ways the imposture was a bitter joke, given that Lorraine and John were unable to have children...even with the assistance of the wonderful wife-O-matic. But Sentinel's tampering did have other effects on Lorraine. Not only did she end up with the increased strength and toughness that would turn out to be typical of Sentinel's X-Wives, but her aging slowed dramatically and her sight and hearing improved. Quite a lot. Even through solid walls.... [Telescopic/microscopic sight, bonuses to hearing and sight PER checks, X-Ray vision...whatever the HERO rules require to make her a "super-snoop."

Re: Unworkable Premises for a Campaign By the way -- what IS Sentinel's Secret/Civilian ID? Presumably the ladies would know...?

Re: Unworkable Premises for a Campaign

Re: Unworkable Premises for a Campaign Beast, I really do like the idea of the ladies acquiring some LS vs aging -- but even though our reporter doesn't look that much older, the person looking out from behind her eyes these days is a looong way from the "spunky girl" she once was. Say rather that Sentinel's "Lois Lane" has developed into a gutsy, independent woman reporter with a vendetta against corruption in high -- and low -- places, a shelf full of Pulitzers and an impressive number of wrongdoers who'd like to see her dead. Please, Clonus, would you consider running an "X-Wives' Club" game (or something like Dynamo 5) for us on HERO Central?

Re: Unworkable Premises for a Campaign AGREED! I'd take the spunky (but now aging) "girl" reporter. Others who commented: McCoy; the cop Assault; the mermaid Beast; the burglar

Re: Executioner

Re: Starter - Rescuer Thanks for your generosity, csyphrett. Now you I CAN rep. *--z-zzz-zzZZZAP!--*

Re: Starter - Rescuer Brilliant twist on the familiar Superman story. Well done! I especially like the "hyper-muscular" control being used to alter his voice and his posture/apparent physique. You must spread some Rep around...could someone please zap Comic for me? I really like Rescuer of the Subterranean Emoire.

Re: Classic Comic Book Groups That's my daddy! He's the best daddy Death Tribble a girl could have. [glee] Cassandra, my compliments on your efforts and perseverance; you've put a LOT of effort into building some of the most challenging characters in the mythos. Well done, and thanks for sharing your ideas on the classics. And if you ever DO feel inclined to tackle the Legion of Super-Heroes, there's more Rep where this came from. ;-)

Re: Ape Name Needed If our criminal overlord gorilla has Dr. Destroyer-like pretentions -- or at least a Dr. Destroyer-size ego -- and enjoys Biblical allusions... What about Ape-ollyon? [Apollyon -- the Destroyer -- is equated in the New Testament's Book of Revelation with the Beast...so he's definitely an apocalyptic figure. Apollyon appears in the End Times leading the locust plague -- "locusts" that from Biblical description sound much more like manticores! The term "Apollyon" was also associated by early Christians with the Devil, or sometimes with the anti-christ or the Angel of Destruction.]

Re: What-If (WhIf) Setting Resources Fascinating stuff, SSgt Baloo. You're right about the potential usefulness of an Alternate History archive for superhero gamers. I was impressed by the high quality of the Fatherland (Hitler victorious) footage; it was very convincing. The WWII/alien invasion montage was also quite convincing, and very well-executed. However, I thought the C.S.A. footage wasn't as well done as the rest. While it had some real gems (the Home Shopping channel selling black slaves, the schoolchildren saying the Pledge of Allegiance), that grating "we're only joking, no offense intended" quality was distracting and annoying throughout. I'm guessing it was due to the video-makers trying to avoid being tarred with the "racist" brush...but it just ended up making the footage unconvincing. As far as disturbance value...well, yes, I have to admit, I *did* find the Fatherland footage disturbing. It was that convincing depiction of a post-WWII setting where the Nazi flag -- something we've always been encouraged to think of as a symbol of ultimate evil -- has become mundane and commonplace...and so has what it represents. (Of course, my being English-born and raised may have something to that one of the three snippets being the most unsettling to me.) The C.S.A. selection did have a little of that "ultimate evil made commonplace" effect, too, especially when it showed how slavery was integrated with "real life," but the apologetic, "only joking" tone undermined the entire piece.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Hmm, it's a male pennangalan* (except that he's not trailing his dripping viscera behind him the way the ladies do). *Malaysian vampire -- almost always female -- who looks like a comely woman...except when she's feeding. At night, the pennangalan detaches her head from her body, and -- with the entire mass of her digestive organs trailing below it -- sends it flying out to hunt human blood. Upon its return, the full-fed head is often obliged to soak its engorged guts in vinegar before it can pack the innards back into its body and reattach itself.

Re: Synonyms for Superheroes Well, just for a moment cast your mind far back and far-away, Bubba old chum: It's the UK, it's 1939, and a lot of people have had Latin in grammar school. Sooo, the Great British "powered heroes" are beginning to come forward and join the war effort as England enters WWII. And before long, some patriotic British reporter/junior politician/military officer dredges up the remains of his schoolboy Latin and coins a name for these new heroes..."Magna-Men", from the Latin magnus, magna, -um, meaning mighty, skilled, bold/confident, or proud. These are the Magna-Men...in plain English, the Mighty-Men, but the Latin-based name feels so much more dignified (and that's important to our British reporter/politician/military officer of the late 1930s). But whether in Latin or English, it's a catchy name, and it catches on. And the colleagues of our reporter/politician/military officer pick up the term from him, and they start using it in their articles/bulletins/dispatches, and suddenly the general public is reading it in the papers or hearing it on the wireless or seeing it in the films...and the Great British "powered heroes" become Magna-Men (and -Women) by popular acclaim. Does that bit o' background help the name make more sense now, Bubba?

Re: Synonyms for Superheroes Champions game set in "comicbook realistic" WWII: Germany: Übermenschen England: Magna-Men US: Hyper-Men

Re: New Game: Remnants of Hope JKW- I still think this is a phenomenal background and world concept...the Fallen Champions World. I'm very sorry it didn't flourish in play as it deserved. Thank-you for your efforts in putting the game together, and please don't let this experience sour you on the concept. The idea of the Fallen World is definitely worth keeping in mind for another time!

Re: dark champions from each of the 50 states Secret ID: the legendary Giant Catfish of Bagnell Dam, the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri (The Bagnell Catfish was originally Jude Ezekiah Marlon, a Missouri soldier in the American Civil War, but it's not a name he ever uses these days. Nor will he say which side he fought for back then, blue or gray.) 4 Most Interesting Disads: DISTINCTIVE FEATURES - Enormous scaly piscine-human blend, with a very potent fishy odor (15) Not Concealable (the odor, at least, can't be hidden) (5) Always Noticed, Causes Major Reaction (-0) Detectable By Commonly Used Senses HUNTED (in Secret ID as the Giant Catfish of Bagnell Dam) I] Sport Fisherman and Trophy Seekers (10) As Powerful (0) Appear Occasionally [8-] (0) Hunters Desire to Kill the PC for the trophy value and bragging rights II] Tourists and Monster Hunters (5) Less Powerful (5) Appear Frequently [11-] (-5) Hunters Desire to Mildly Punish PC; seek to find, trap, investigate or discover the Giant Catfish, and cause great annoyance and inconvenience to Bagnell Catfish (BC) while so doing PSYCHOLOGICAL DISADVANTAGE: Protective of "the rivers that're this country's lifeblood, and everythin' that swims in 'em or on 'em. 'Cept for you folks." Common, Strong (15) SUSCEPTIBILITY: "Noodling" (5) "Attack" Is Uncommon (10) Damage (equivalent) [3d6] I wasn't sure how to write up a Susceptibility where the "damage" is immobilization. Any help available out there? When BC's dangling whiskers, scaly throat or belly are rubbed/scratched with a bare hand, he becomes "stupefied," completely passive, taking no action for as long as the "noodling" continues. On BC's first active phase after the noodling has stopped, he's bewildered, [-2] to all Actions On the second Active Phase after the noodling has stopped, he's groggy, [-1] to all Actions. On the third Active Phase after the noodling has stopped, he's ENRAGED (Uncommon [5], Becomes Enraged 14- [10], Recovers 11- [5]) Top 3 Stats: Tough (high CON), Strong (high STR) and very, very FAST...in water. (extra SPD, only in water) Main Skills: Navigation (U.S. lakes and rivers) American History [11-]/Missouri History [12-] (Civil War to the Present) American Folklore [11-]/Missouri Folklore [12-] Swimming PS: Soldier SS: Hydrology Throwing, unbalanced objects WF: Blades WF: Shotguns, Rifles, Muskets, Cannon Watery MA Interesting Powers -Slimy fish: Damage Reduction, thick slime layer over entire body -Bottom-feeding fish: Immunity to all terrestrial diseases (and parasites) -Whitewater Lightning: +4" SPD (only in water deep enough to swim in) -River Racer: Extra Swimming: +10" -Immortality -The Big Spit Multipower: various EBs SFX: BC fires watery blasts from his mouth --Torrent: regular EB --Death Rain: EB KA --Drown on Dry Land: EB NND Back Story In 1862, 19-year-old Jude Ezekiah Marlon, a Confederate soldier and faithful son of Missouri, had a fateful meeting with the Niúachi, the American Indians who would later be called the Missouria. As the result of either a blessing or a curse by the Niúachi, Jude was magically transformed into one of the Itcex'hi, the Horned Water Panthers...though despite the name, the creatures were actually nothing like panthers (except in their ferocity). Jude's new form was a monstrous blend of fish and human, strong, tough and practically immortal, with huge unblinking eyes and trailing whiskers that would eventually lead him to nickname himself "The Catfish," and later, "The Bagnell Catfish."

Re: dark champions from each of the 50 states Here's a character of mine who was banished from the "50 Heroes from 50 States" thread: the Bagnell Catfish of Missouri, get thee to the Dark Champions thread!

Re: Your character's theme song would be? A long-running Mechwarrior campaign where the three player characters were Inner Sphere mercs with "ties" to the Clans...so we picked out Songs of Remembrance for our characters pretty early on ;-) Caroline "C.C. Ryder" Chandler -- Tom Sawyer [Rush] Trina "Wazzat" Calwell Kerensky -- No More Tears [Ozzy Osbourne] Maria "Sly" Novacat -- Vanishing Cream [The Hunger]

Re: Who Will Be the Man from Connecticut ? Thank-you, thank-you. Being REPPED for something I'm enjoying this much is like...well, it's like being paid to game. ;-D I wanted to create the CT hero "Prudence," but since the Portuguese Hero-Maker doesn't have any long skirts, bonnets, shawls or buckled shoes, my idea of a lady in Pilgrim-style attire of black and white wasn't going to fly. (The original Prudence was a Quaker, and their "plain attire" often ended up looking a lot like the traditional Pilgrim garb.) So instead, here's the last of the CT heroes: Charter Oak. (I was going to call him "Fundamental Orders," after the original CT charter, but I thought this worked better.) He's an armoured Brick whose armoured skin takes the form of hard, dense wood...in this case, an ashy gray wood that is recognisably American white oak. When Charter Oak is in his armoured form, his flowing hair becomes the green of oak leaves. His costume also features shades of oak-leaf green, and gold accents that echo the Connecticut state flag. He wears a metal breastplate to reinforce his own natural armour -- particularly important since one of his favoured combat moves is bear-hugging his opponent against his broad chest -- and he carries a shield with the image of the Connecticut state flag. Charter Oak is very comfortable using his shield one-handed, and he is highly skilled in shield combat. (He has a Shield Multipower of effects to enhance his Brick Tricks/Abilities, and Martial Arts with Weapon Focus, shield.) In his green-gloved hands, the shield is not only a defensive device but also a devastating weapon.... It also has a reinforce lanyard that attached it to Charter Oak's breatplate, and allows him to "sling" the shield when he needs both hands. The motto in the picture of Charter Oak is the CT state motto. In English, it means: "He who transplants still sustains." The original New Haven Charter Oak was an unusually large white oak tree that grew on Wyllys Hill, in Hartford, Connecticut. The name stems from the local legend which held that a cavity inside the tree was used, in late 1687, as a hiding place for the colony's charter document. The Charter Oak fell during a storm in August of 1856. It was thought to have been growing since the 12th or 13th Century.