ThothAmon

Re: Using real world contriversy in Champions games For my money using real-world dilemmas in gaming adds to the depth of the roleplaying experience. Yes, it can make things very complex and yes, it means more work for the GM. My prime example would be political fallout resulting from superhuman involvement in foreign civil wars e.g. a campaign that involved intervention in Kosovo contrary to UN and other foreign policies. The way to avoid moralizing is to set up the circumstances and then let the players make the decisions. It does result in some arguments (amazing how players will split on political / moral / religious lines). Don't push an agenda. To avoid real-world dilemmas is to short-change everyone. Superpowers would have a massive effect on real-world issues if they existed and therefore they should have an effect on the game world if the players choose to walk that path. It's not suitable for all gaming styles (or groups, or players, or campaigns) but sometimes a reminder that supers can have a significant non-combat effect is just what you need to break out of the 'smash puny enemy meets Soap Opera' mindset.

Re: A Modern League of Extroardinary Gentlemen

Re: A little name help. Retribution

Re: Horror Hero rant

Re: Request for plot ideas for an Anarchist villain team. (1) Take a look at the meta-plot of 'Fight Club' (2) Quickest route to truly horrifying anarchy would be to disrupt water, food and power. In a built up area the lack of clean water will kill many and leave the rest behaving like post-apocalypse savages in (at a guess) a week or so. (3) Look at what Snake Plissken did in 'Escape From LA' - instant return to 18th/19th century - very few people around with the knowledge to rebuild from the ground up - I'd guess 10 to 20 years anarchy (4) Rip off the plot from 'Jeremiah'? Epidemic that kills everyone over the age of puberty = instant anarchic Garden Of Eden.

Re: A Modern League of Extroardinary Gentlemen I'll take a shot, sticking to Moore's original themes (literary characters, extant in the period, flawed characters required, not necessarily mainstream characters, outre pulp preferred): Group leader - Modesty Blaise (q.v.) Muscle / violence #1 - Remo (The Destroyer novels) Muscle / violence #2 - Repairman Jack (The Tomb) Hacker / sorceror - Bob Howard (The Atrocity Archives) Psionic - Harry Keogh (Necroscope) Investigator / pychologist / con man - Burke (Flood) Has anyone tried laying out stats for Remo and Chun? A while back I had a player who wanted a Remo clone but I couldn't do all his abilities in a reasonable amount of points

Re: Octopus, Centaur... what else? Cybernetic head? Stunned or unconscious character can be manipulated by the AI brain? Foucs for many enhanced senses and electro-comms powers? Douglas Adams gets the credit for that one (sort of) and Martin Caidin gets a nod for the limbs controlling the KO'd character.

Re: Super Agencies of Other Countries in CU Pre-fall the USSR had two high-powered groups (The Supreme Soviet and another I can't recall) including a Silver Avenger defector related to the first Golden Avenger. Post-fall (IIRC) the group fractured due to lack of state control. Over the years the CU has given the UK a cheesy Knights Of The Round table clone. And wasn't there a European UNTIL superteam?

Re: Character For Review You forgot the Susceptibility to logical philosophy based on the Babelfish

Re: Armour Piercing as an Adder Check out the 'Piercing' Advantage from the old 3rd Edition Champions - IIRC each level of Piercing cost 3 points and reduced the target's resistand defenses by 1 DEF?

Re: Armour Piercing as an Adder Check out the 'Piercing' Advantage from the old 3rd Edition Champions - IIRC each level of Piercing cost 3 points and reduced the target's resistand defenses by 1 DEF?

Re: Recommended Reading: Fantasy Novels Fritz Leiber - Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series - simply the best fantasy ever Michael Scott Rohan - Winter of The World trilogy (Anvil Of Ice etc) - fantastic writing and truly wonderful working of apocalyptic Nordic mythology - check the magical creations and see how they would fit an FH campaign Barry Hughart - Master Li and #10 Ox series - superior quality Oriental fantasy guaranteed to make you grin R E Howard - Conan series - under rated classic fantasy literature Lord Dunsanay - The King Of Elflands Daughter, The Gods Of Pegana etc - stunningly evocative turn-of-the century fantasy tales that inspired authors from HP Lovecraft to Tolkien to Fritz Leiber

Re: Tintin the HERO: comments invited I'd have made Snowy a purchased Follower given the sheer number of times he chews Tintin out of ropes, trips villains, barks a warning etc etc. IMO there's no way he qualifies as an incompetent DNPC worth 25 points. I'll agree with the Thompson Twins as DNPCs. A pair of twats in bowler hats = DNPC. I'd also have gone with Dirty Infighting (and Clubs as Martial Weapon) with a couple of 3 point levels instead of HTH levels. You could legitimately throw in at least one Generic Hunted (crook of the week, idiot Nazis etc). Finally, the kid seems to be missing Stealth and Concealment

Re: Fixing Martial Artists Two phrases for y'all: Character Concept Campaign Rules If MA rules are broken then fix them by all means.

Re: Magic-Noir (Pulp?) Hero Take a close look at this - a 'film noir plus magic' setting - pretty much exactly what the original poster required: Niteside Dreams Examples from this setting: (1) The Mob ships contraband zombies into the USA from the Caribbean by the crateload, using them for sweatshop labour or grunt enforcers. (2) Everybody has access to minor magical talismans and everybody uses magic to try and get an edge. (3) Technological advancement eschewed in favour of magical research.

Re: Modern-Day Urban Fantasy One (leftfield) inspiration I found useful for this sub-genre was an illustrated novel called 'The Gnole' by Alan Aldridge link here Fritz Leiber's classic 'Conjure Wife' also provided me with some inspiration in this genre... ...as did a novel called 'Doc Sidhe' by a certain Aaron Allston Also, instead of Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Tripe one should really take a serious look at Philp Pullman's stellar novels The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. For the darker touch I'd recommend the Hellblazer comic book series. Finally, a closing highly recommended inspiration (for atmosphere) would be the (IMO) modern-day classic fantasy novel 'Winters Tale' by Mark Helprin.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... #1 - "We kill the women, rape the sheep, then cook and eat the men..." #2 - "I'm fairly new to this torture thing so you'd better tell me what I need to know before I make a mistake." #3 - PC#1 says "We need help. I just emptied a 100 round drum into that guy and he's still coming at us." PC#2 says "No shit?" #4 - PCs are taking cover, hiding from a barrage of small arms fire. One PC lobs a stick of dynamite at the enemy. Everything goes quiet after the explosion. PC#1 says "Are they still alive?". PC #2 holds up the unconscious form of his fellow PC#3 and the body jerks as the bullets impact. PC#2 says "Yep, there still there." #5 - PC#2 runs away from the crashed automobile that has pinned the vampire to the wall. PC#1 shouts at him "How long did you set the fuse for?" The only reply from PC#2 is the sound of rapidly receding footsteps...

Re: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Kerry Conran, the creator / director behind Sky Captain will indeed be returning - he's signed on as the main man for the movie version of 'Princess of Mars' by ER Burroughs.

Re: Good Fantasy Movies A quick blast of stuff that may not have been mentioned yet: Excalibur - the finest Arthurian flick of all The Shogun Assassin series (AKA Lone Wolf and Cub / Baby Cart) - stunning Japanese live action with sweet visuals and a seriously badass hero Xu (or Zu) Warriors - Chinese medieval fantasy of the best kind Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter - a crossover medieval Hammer Horror / fantasy flick that does some intriguing stuff with 'different' vampires The Water Margin - long running TV series set in medieval China featuring 9 dozen ancient heroes accidentally released by the evil Kow Chou - tons of character ideas, knockabout action and lots of sage wisdom Chinese Ghost Story - just watch it - trust me

Re: Pulp Hero?? I have an ongoing campaign which has been running for many years in both real time (1986 - present) and game time (1920 - 1936) Justice Inc is the definitive HERO System product for background on the era, closely followed by Lands Of Mystery as a campaign tool. I'm one of those who rate LOM as one of the best HERO products ever written - if you can find a copy it is worth swapping for your grandmother / firstborn. Horror HERO is also worth a look as it contains a complete pulp-era campaign setting I'll add another recommendation for GURPS Cliffhangers. This is a great sourcebook for the 1930's. As the Pulp Era is generally considered to start around 1930 (or at least post Black October in the USA) a lot of the published Cthulhu material may not be suitable off-the-shelf as Cthulhu is typically set in the 1920's. The Cthulhu stuff is often strongly rooted in terms of timeline and would need adaptation to suit the conventions of the pulp genre. Having said that, the Cthulhu scenarios 'Masks Of Nyarlathotep' and 'The Day Of The Beast' are very pulpy, easily converted to other systems and rather good as RPG material goes. The recent Cthulhu masterpiece 'Beyond The Mountains Of Madness' is a classic Lost World scenario and is actually set in the 1930's but it is huge in scope. The pulp era can be split into many subgenres - crimefighting and mystery (The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Phantom), horror (Cthulhu), lost world (Land That Time Forgot, Pellucidar, Warlord Of Mars, Flash Gordon), flying (Biggles, Buck Rogers, Tailspin Tommy), jungle adventure (Tarzan, Sheena Queen Of The Jungle) and many others. The best source material is probably books and comics of the era, closely followed by movie material. I'd recommend starting with Doc Savage and Spider stories, Saturday morning serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, and movies such as the Indiana Jones trilogy, The Shadow, The Rocketeer and The Phantom.

Re: Looking for the Western Hero Book I see it on eBay a lot

Re: Looking For Resources: Urban Caverns Quick cross-section of NY underground http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/nyunderground/ Huge number of links to info on underground bases http://www.sauderzone.com/ubtlinks.htm Cheers. Pete.

Re: Give me your best... Counterclock World - http://www.geocities.com/pkdlw/counterclock.html Based on Philip K Dick novel of same name - time runs backwards, all actions involving energy conversion work in reverse e.g. you buy packets of cigarette stubs, you age in reverse, you are 'born' from your coffin or crematory vase and sold to the highest bidder. Pavane World - http://www.sfsite.com/06a/pv105.htm Drawn directly from the SF alternate world classic novel by Keith Roberts. Thanks to the success of the Spanish Armada history is not as we know it. The iron fist of the Vatican controls technological and social advancements. In the present day the combustion engine is not yet available, electricity is outlawed and democratic USA does not exist. Fortress Amerika - http://www.rpg-index.com/produktdetail.php?id=8109&PHPSESSID=5827ebffdfafe79cbbd4bce2b5f5888f As described in the classic Champions supplement 'Wings Of The Valkyrie', Hitler was assassinated in the 1930's and the outcome of WWII was vastly different. America is a self-reliant fortress of McCarthy/Orwellian proportions whilst Europe has been split between Russia and the Third Reich. Niteside Dreams AKA The World Of The R'lyeh Falcon - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/zenith/134/night1.htm A film noir world where magic is as common as muck, everybody carries voodoo charms, zombies do all the mass production and the USA defeated Japan by summoning Azathoth to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Re: What have you used Hero for? Latecomer to the thread Supers - GM'ed on and off for many years (circa 1983) Fantasy - GM'ed sporadically since the original Fantasy Hero made it to the UK (1984/85) Cthulhu - GM'ed continuous 1920' and 1930's era campaigning since 1985 (conversions using Justice Inc and Champions hybridisation before 4th ed arrived) Cyberpunk - GM'ed SF convention one-shots demonstrating general RPGing and HERO in particular BattleTech/Mech - played in a rather wobbly, very forgettable conversion mini-campaign

Nobody heard of Red Doom? The Supreme Soviet? Comintern? These are two Soviet Bloc teams for the Champions Universe as detailed in 3rd edition Red Doom, and they are updated in the 4th edition Classic Organisations. Peoples Commando III - cyborg killing machine GI Joe style Cosmo - energy projector power pool type General Mayhem - WWII giant brick with cold powers Ivan The Great - General Mayhem's son Peristroika - mentallist Marathon - steroid enhanced Olympic competitor (with death dealing sporting goods) Red Shield - nephew of the original Golden Avenger!! Polish Powerhouse - electric energy projector Scarlet Sentinel - giant mechabot (c.f. Big O) Soyuz - mega duplicator Sputnik - telekinetic flyer Bolshevik Barracuda - water projector Disinformer - Soviet James Bond Tokamak - power suit energy projector (AKA Plasma Ranger) There are others but my memory is failing...