Crimson Arrow

Can I just double-check something? Did he Mind Control them into not being villains and then because of his sex appeal they were his harem, or is it (as I think is the case), that their participaton in his harem was directly due to Mind Control? I was wondering about this because of that old Marvel villain called Mandrill whose pheromones basically made women his slaves. Now that would be a quandary, if this power could not be turned on and off. The character couldn't help being incredibly attractive to the opposite sex, but the effects could be bad. Even if he were a hero and never did anything about this effect, how traumatic would it be? You'd never know if the person really liked you, or was just another slave to the pheromones. Even someone who took advantage of this might eventually begin to have doubts about him or herself. Was there a female DC character who had a similar effect? Crimson or Scarlet Fox, something like that? Sorry, gone a bit OT. I don't think Mind Controlling people into not committing crimes is particularly heroic (see the "Squadron Supreme" mini-series). It's better than prison (at least it might to the average member of the public), but it has unsavoury connotations.

Occam's razor is, as Lord Liaden says, an argument against too many unlikely hypotheses. There were only four possible outcomes of the contest. Destroyer wins, Keuzritter wins, they tie, they team up (the last two are not the same option). We got the most convenient outcome for the two companies. There are three likely explanations. First, that really was the result and it was an entirely free vote. I voted for them to team up, as that was obviously the way it was heading (even though Destroyer would have won, of course). Second, that was the result, but there was a bit of ballot rigging, by employees. Also possible. Third, they ignored the votes and went with the result they wanted. This is also possible. Not only does it set up Reality Storm, but as has previously been noted, neither company's characters won overall (heroes were 3:3, villains 2:2, with one draw and one team up). Occam's razor (in the sense of "most simple answer wins") doesn't help, because in my view the simplest explanation for a result that looks this convenient is that it was fixed. However, the simplest explanation overall is that that was the result of the poll (either route). As with so much in life, it depends how you phrase the question. If it were rigged, yes it's a little annoying, but isn't the real fun of this getting to look at the other side's characters, read the stories, argue over who's better (here, or on the offical board) etc?

Oooh, you're going to get complaints about that one. Actually maybe you won't ...think about it.

Yes, I second "The Regulators". I came up with a list of Western themed vigilantes for Dark Champions (4th Ed.) and that was the group's name. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. The Reserve Executive for Super-Powered Espionage Crime and Terrorism. Just imagine the fun you'll have when the villains (or heroes) start singing the Aretha Franklin song whenever they turn up! More seriously, it could be I.N.S.P.E.C.T., as above but instead the International (or Internal) Network against etc.

Maybe you should ask Siberian Tiger first (haven't seen him post in a while, come to think of it)! Seriously, good choice, as is Tomcat. For a gadgeteer, you didn't go for Cat's Cradle or Catspaw, so how about "Boots", after the very clever cat in the story "Puss in Boots"?

Brick was the most obvious omission from the list. You have a couple of semi-bricks (Telefist - awful name) and Red Tempest. You can do without Weapons Masters or Martial Artists, but if you need someone to lift a truck, you need STR (or TK). I am getting a slight "Silver Age" feel, by which I mean this is not a group of psychotic killers; they'd rather take the money and run, is that right? That will inform both choices of powers (no mega Killing Attacks) and names. From my own stash of slightly cheesy characters (which I created in the 1980s for Marvel Superheroes, so don't laugh too hard), how about The Philosopher (have to say I never was happy with this name, maybe rip off the name "Alchemiss"), who has alchemy-based powers, Dreadnought (a brick rather like a powered-down Juggernaut) and the Corroder (a chemistry genius who was disfigured by a solvent he created and who used it in crimes, but refused to attack anybody with it).

Catechism (mystic with a religious twist), Caterwaul (sonic powers), Catamaran...OK I'll stop now. Cat's Cradle, Mouser, Fearful Symmetry ("The Tyger", by William Blake), The King (lion-man with an Elvis fixation?). One thing that occured to me was to take names from "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats". You had Growltiger (he'd be the brick or martial artist), Macavity (the mystery cat - teleportation and flight judging from the poem), "magical" Mr. Mistoffelees (desolidification to go through cracks, summoning (seven kittens), plus sleight of hand and ventriloquism), Old Deuteronomy, Gus, the theatre cat (shapechange anyone?), Bustopher Jones, Skimbleshanks, Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer. If you thought the last one might not work, try the Rum Tum Tugger! There are a few others as well. As you can see, some are more suitable for supers than others.

GTM is produced by Alliance Games, so it's their website you need, then click on the GTM link, then back issues is down the bottom. www.alliance-games.com

Ah yes, those will be the werewolves, zombies and mummies which can be hurt by wrestling moves, as opposed to silver bullets etc. I'm not knocking Darren; it's a really good character by the sound of it. I am talking about the films on similar themes. I've wondered if high-flying wrestling could do with lots of moves that have the v/5 element in them, which explains why everything is done running or jumping.

Technically, yes, but is out of print and, IIRC might not get reprinted any time soon. It was part of the HERO System Resource Kit (at least, I think that's what the package was called, it's not listed on the online store, even as an o/p item). There is a generic product called the Master Screen (again IIRC, what's wrong with my memory today?) It's a fairly rigid multi-section screen with pockets, into which you can put your own tables and charts. Not quite as easy as using the official one (and moderately expensive), but you can use it for other games (some companies allow you to download charts to go with the screen) and you can tailor the information to your particular needs.

Yes, Alfred has always been shown as being a man of (many) hidden depths. Jarvis is quite resilient, calm and strong-willed, but Alfred has all that, plus (depending on who's writing), commando training (never seen this particular one, but sounds reasonable), intelligence community training (episode of B:TAS called something like "The Lion and the Unicorn"), field medic skills (always sewing up young master Bruce) and acting abilities, including disguise. If you attack Jarvis, you might get the Avengers on your back, but if you hurt Alfred, Batman would be on you before you could say "knife". I'm not sure that would be much better.

Not if he's the new Headless Horseman, as I suggested. 150 years wouldn't matter to a ghost. I was trying to think of figures created earlier or later (hence Doc Savage's father) to get round the apparent lack of suitable characters written in the late 19th Century. Still, the film's made now!

Thanks for that KS, but are those characters literary in that they were written first, or literary in that stories were written about them, codifying and elaborating the tales? Just curious about American folklore, not querying your veracity. How about Ichabod Crane? IIRC in the original story he vanishes after encountering the Headless Horseman. Perhaps he comes back as the new one? As a ghost, the gap in time periods wouldn't matter. Again, if I've blown my KS: American Folklore and Stories, sorry.

I thought it probably wasn't, but I might have slightly overreacted. Thanks for clearing it up though.

I like Arthur's suggestions, but they don't really fit with the League, as my understanding is that they are mythical/legendary, rather than literary characters (although if I've got that wrong, I apologise and please do put me right, I'd like to know). The line can be blurred at times, though. A famous gunfighter, as Agent X suggested, but the ones mentioned were real people, unlike, say, the Lone Ranger, or Hopalong Cassidy. They might have been talked up in the stories of the day, but they were actual people. For many purely fictional cowboys, you'd probably have copyright problems. I think a lot were created in the 20th Century. While they could have changed the name, like the did with the Invisible Man, the point of him is that he's invisible, his name doesn't matter much. However, Hopalong Cassidy is just a skilled gunfighter without his name and good luck with the legal action if a masked man on a pure white horse turns up firing silver bullets, calling himself the "Phantom Stranger" (hey, you could get sued by DC as well!). I like the idea of a detective, but I am a little surprised that there doesn't seem to be another great American one from that era, even if he was written about much later, with his stories simply set at the end of the 19th Century. What about a young Clark Savage Snr? I'm not sure when he was born; but it could be another of Doc's forebears. Copyright problems again, I suppose.

The point being that it might help to see what other people have suggested for ways of building a similar power to the one he wants? I never said that was the be-all and end-all, or that it shouldn't be discussed further, just that those sources might be what WO was after. I also didn't critcise it for being unoriginal; there's no harm in building a power that you've seen somewhere else. I didn't think I had anything useful to add to what was said in those places, so I pointed them out, rather than just leaving Wyrm dangling (charming image).

I thought this would be about the Amityville Horror. Seriously, this has been discussed before, when people wanted to build Jericho, from the New Teen Titans. For example:- http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4018&highlight=jericho http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5436&highlight=jericho See also Bodyjacker and the USPD, both as referenced in these threads.

Why "over here" is, well over here! I meant in the UK, as well you knew, KS you scamp.

The Desolidification needs to have something which can affect Dorian. Damage to the painting wouldn't be enough in my opinion, but the film hasn't been released over here, so perhaps there are changes from the story. Bearing in mind the origin of the picture. Magic attacks seem most plausible. While I can't recall any overt magic in the LXG comics, there are references to mysticism in a lot of the related stories, for example, "She", featuring Allan Quatermain (Ayesha is immortal because of a sacred flame IIRC). I can't see why Dorian couldn't pick up a gun and use it (in common sense terms). Damage to the painting is possibly a Susceptibility. Dorian was added for the movie, but he is British. On the other hand, C. Auguste Dupin helps the League in volume 1, so I don't think liaising with heroes from other lands is that big a problem. Also, Nemo isn't British (and indeed hates them), so thinking about it again, I suppose Tom Sawyer is not that big a stretch. My concerns were more whether Tom was the best American character they could find. I raised this on the non-gaming board and no one came up with a better choice.

Towards the end of Vol. 1 of LXG, Jekyll comments that Hyde used to be much smaller than him. I read a quote somewhere from the actual story that suggested Hyde was getting bigger (possibly on Jesse Nevins's excellent website). About 12 years have elapsed between the original story and the events of Vol 1 of LXG (and the timescale for the film puts it about the same time as Vol 1 of the comic, I believe). The implication is that Hyde (who does indeed appear to represent Jekyll's repressed dark side) has continued to grow. The more bestial acts Hyde commits, the bigger and stronger he becomes and Jekyll wastes away and becomes smaller and ineffectual.

I agree entirely with this. Wonder Woman (as she is now in the comics) probably has a CvK, so she'd be reluctant to Reflect attacks, because she doesn't know what damage they might do to the person eventually hit. It wouldn't just be bullets. I think you're right about WW never rolling 18 - just like Captain America never misses with a punch against ordinary thugs. You need a mechanic for game balance which would not be dramatic in a comic, story, or film.

I just viewed it as something which people would probably use if super powers really existed. For example, the subject has flame bolts. How powerful are they? You'd use a scale. This allows people to roughly gauge the threat, eg is the pyrokinetic Rusty Collins or Firewing? It has little game significance (although the Martinez scale is calculated from Active Points), and is indeed, flavour as Agent X suggested. I think the comments under Howler's picture were great. A reference to her costume (which I like) and also to previous estimates of her power being wrong. I think this is because Howler has always been a "starting level PC" villain and she got an upgrade in CKC to being more powerful than a 350 point hero. Or it might just be the fact that she's a survivor from the early days of Champions and has grown in power since then. Nice touch either way. Although...now that I think about it, a clever GM (or a very foolish one), could provide the PCs with an idea of how powerful the villain is. Of course, the Martinez rating could be way off. JmOz's point that Martinez ratings can be misleading, even if accurate, is another one to keep in mind, if you want the scale used in your games.

Oops, you're not going to like him either. To be honest, two of them are variants on the same type of movement, even though they are different HERO powers, a bit like the Flight/Glide combo. It's the third slot which takes liberties.

I think it's just a very high roll in Missile Deflection. If Wonder Woman has 8 point CSLs, or Overall Levels, she can use them to add to her Missile Deflect Rolls or to her Block. I think you need to be able to see the attack to block it or Missile Deflect it (or at the least have a penalty for trying to do it blind). I suppose Desolidifcation (affected by Area of Effect and Explosion attacks?) could work, subject to the correct Limitations, but then you get bogged down in things like "Affects Desolid" attacks, what powers she'll need "Affects Real World" on etc. I can't recall her Reflecting missiles. Wonder Woman was without her bracelets for a few episodes of her current storyline.

Just remembered. TheEmerged is really going to hate one of the Name the Hero characters. I agonised over whether the movement MP was cheesy, but I'd already cut a lot of good stuff from the character, so it went in. I think there is a difference though (rules wise, if not in practice). Strictly speaking (unless I've missed something), a movement Multipower is legal unless the GM rules otherwise. An Enhanced Senses Multipower is only allowed with express GM permission. That's a fine distinction, but if a GM prefers to play by the written rules as much as possible, it matters.