Crimson Arrow

For me, one of the most important things is motivation. If a character is believable, they are more likely to be interesting, because you will care about them. In comic book terms, though, "believable" is a broad concept. It might just be that they are horribly annoying and delusional, but within the genre concept of "crazy loon", they fit (yes, I AM thinking of Foxbat). Think about why the villain does what he or she does. Is there a moral line he won't cross? A villain who might kill for money might turn his back on a sex offender or a bigot. Don't overdo the quirks. Having weird habits or interests is not the same as interesting. Ghost who Walks - I think you've made some great points (as have Hermit and Fireg0lem), but I am not sure about number 6. It is certainly true sometimes (the White Martians being one example that leaps to mind). However, I think comics have also shown that heroes can be more versatile with their powers precisely because they would not use them to kill. They therefore have to find ways to use those powers to distract, disarm or incapacitate the villains without causing major injury or a loss of life.

Could you build the viruses as Transformation attacks? That way you could simulate a variety of effects. Some viruses might give Psychological Limitations, others might shut down the robots' visual receptors (making them blind), some could even cause limbs to stop working, affect their power supplies, etc. (Physical Limitations). One virus which occurred to me is a pacifist one. Make the enemy robots unwilling to fight then either destroy them, or catch them, reprogramme them to fight for you, then give them the counter-virus, getting rid of the pacifism. If you want, give the robots a Vulnerability to the virus attacks. Some robots might be better protected than others, having Power Defence, or perhaps, just no Vulnerability (or both).

As to your high-tech Martial Artist, have you any thoughts on what sort of MA you are looking for? What sort of gear did you have in mind? Is it weaponry, like a set of souped up karate weapons, a laser katana, or more in the nature of, say, a stealth suit with concealment and armouring capabilities, or even a flight belt? Do they have a type of MA they favour? Is the character a grappler/thrower, a hitter, or both? Is the character a man or a woman, or are you undecided? For some reason, I keep thinking of Poinsettia, a character for previous editions of Champions. She was an Energy Projector, whose powers were a result of Nazi experiments in South America (probably why I am thinking of her, in view of Professor Muerte and Giganto both being from that part of the world). Drop the powers, of course and keep the name. Your Martial Artist could be beautiful but deadly. Of course, this brings us back to Belladonna! With Martial Artists, I think it is usually better to avoid explicit references to the art itself. While no comment on the characters themselves, I think of Karate Kid and Judo Master as being just a little too "classic" in their names.

Well, if you have Major Mayhem, it sounds like you favour a moderately Silver Age feel (I have noticed different people favour different styles of name). Classic darkness-using names include Nightshade (deadly of course...) and Blackout. A little more modern in feel would be Belladonna (one step on from Deadly Nightshade, but of course this means making the character female, which might not suit), or Onyx/Jet (black semi-precious stones, inspired by DC's Obsidian). If your villain is classically schooled, you could adapt Lord Liaden's suggestion and go with Tenebrae (which I think means "of the darkness", but my Latin is ropey). You haven't given much information about the mentalist. Does he/she have a particular "schtick" like Mental Illusions? If so, you could try a name I suggested on a different thread for such a mentalist, which was Phantasm (could also apply to your darkness character). Mirage is a classic name for an illusion using character. If the mentalist is more a telepath/EGO Attack user, how about something connect to the words "Mind", "Brain", or "Thought"? You could have a former secret policeman or woman who was particularly effective at interrogation - Thought Police? Seer would work for a mind-reader too. If the villain uses Mind Control, you could have Puppet Master or Puppeteer. The Master, or the Controller would fit too and sound villainous. Of course, all of these have been used before, but finding a good name that is also completely original is difficult.

I should point out that steriaca asked about this in "Other Genres". I had a few ideas, but suggested a thread on this board might throw up some more possibilities. If you look at the other thread, steriaca has listed many of the things the Wizard did in the film.

I think the PCs should have STUN. The ABC Warriors (which I admit you are not trying to follow slavishly) could feel pain. I think that would be a sensible design choice for two reasons. First, it gives robots an incentive to avoid injury. While I can see one argument for having unfeeling killing machines, that might be wasteful of resources. Given the choice I think having robots feel pain is more "cinematic" and also better for the game. Second, it would give humans another way to have controlled the robots. Perhaps they had cicuit scramblers or somesuch, which inflicts pain on robots, by interefering with their wiring. If you want to keep the mood fairly like the ABC Warriors, I'd go for Armour, rather than Damage Reduction. This is because the robots were often shown as suffering "BODY" damage, if their electronics were damaged, but to do that, something had to penetrate their armour. A small amount of Damage Reduction might reflect a well-constructed robot, Hammerstein might well have had it (judging from the incident with the Ten of Swords) and Steelhorn (and indeed the Mess) might have had Damage Reduction at higher levels, although maybe Steelhorn just had lots of Armour and PD, probably Hardened at least once. Tough robots should also have high BODY. I'd be tempted to give Hammerstein 30 BODY, plus Armour, plus possibly Damage Reduction. In many ways, he seemed to be the toughest Warrior and survived things which would have finished off at least four of the original other six Warriors.

I agree entirely with Fireg0lem on that. What I forgot to put in my posts (although it was hinted at) is that you take the basic type, then add points to it. Each model would have its own built in functions that would be found in any robot of that type (for example, every Combat robot would have Levels in Combat, every Sniper will have Range Levels, Levels with Ranged Combat and Telescopic Vision) and then you would add functions, just as you would build an ordinary character in the HERO System. I think that was what you were after anyway, Realms, judging from your initial question.

Just a suggestion, but how about starting a "How Do I?" thread in HERO System Discussion on this subject. I think you'd get a lot more input if you put a post on one of the boards which sees more traffic. You might even find someone who's seen the film!

Combat Model: This is an all-round soldier. It has built-in weaponry, both hand-to-hand and ranged. They typically carry additional weapons as well, for greater range and/or firepower. This covers both Hammerstein and Mongrol (before he was rebuilt by Lara). Sniper: These have built in range calculators (range levels), plus Telescopic vision, often augmented by the computerised scopes on their top-of-the-range rifles. Heavy Gear: Large robots, used to move large items of equipment. High STR, but possible a bit slow in terms of SPD (their size and/or tractor treads/wheels mean their overall movement rates do not suffer). Some Heavy Gear robots have built in heavy weaponry, such as mini-guns and even artillery in some cases. Protocol/Human Relations: This covers a wide range of roles. It also largely assumes humans were around at some point. There could be interpreter droids (maybe there are different machine languages, for example enemy robots might have been programmed differently), chaplains (odd idea, but maybe there is a robot church created by humans as another tool for keeping the robots subjugate), pleasure robots (probably human looking, but again maybe the robots have pleasure circuits as another way of keeping them in line and the only way they can get pleasure is through interfacing with a pleasure droid. The pleasure droids were strictly controlled by the humans, of course). Unique Droids: You might not want these, but a lot of the robots in the ABC Warriors did not seem to have any peers. Deadlock and Steelhorn both fall within this category.

Hermit had some nice ideas. Maybe the best thing to do is consider field roles and what robots might be programmed to fulfill. Taking the ABC Warriors as inspiration, how about: Type 1 Robot: There are very few of these left. They are prone to breaking down and computer failures. They are a little stronger than the average man and have considerable endurance. They can be programmed to fulfill simple field duties and mainly operated as foot soldiers. Some survivng Type 1s have been upgraded, one or two operating on themselves. These robots have increased INT, STR, Armour and maybe built-in weapons, from simple blades welded to their bodies, right up to concealed cannon. Type 2 Robot: Similar to the Type 1s, but a lot more reliable. Better, faster, stronger (no, hang on, that was the Six Million Dollar Man) than their predecessors. Again, these can be programmed to take on a variety of roles. Their more versatile AIs can be set to act as medics/mechanics, artillery gunners, pilots, etc. They were often used as infantry too. There are a lot of these still around.

Hey, cool idea. When I was 13 I had a two day project to do. You could choose to do the project about anything. I created an RPG based on the ABC Warriors. I created three new warriors. On was a female robot, actually very similar in appearance to Morrigan (or whatever her name was). Another was a "shady" robot. He wore human clothes and was an expert in the seamier side of life (he was essentially a spiv and profiteer). The final one was spherical, as I wanted to avoid having every single robot anthropomorphic. I think my inspiration (ie, what I ripped off), was Cutie from "Robo-Hunter" (another "2000 AD" strip). This one was a "Smiley" (like this ). I don't recall him being a combatant, more of a database. Don't ask me about the system. I was 13. I wrote it in two days. My recollection is that the stats were inspired by Champions, but were done as percentages. One thing each robot had was an Armour statistic. Steelhorn had 100% Armour.

I have started writing up Purple Heart, although he's a bit bland at the moment. Pretty dangerous, but bland! I am unlikely to get him done before Monday, as I am busy tonight and going away for the weekend.

Well, how about Purple Heart? An ex-Special Forces soldier, he was badly wounded in the line of duty. They carried out various "revolutionary" medical treatments on him (ie, they used him as a guinea pig). They did indeed save his life, by turning him into super-strong, super-tough combat machine. Obviously, his patriotism ended up turning him into a freak, so he wears his medal ironically. He doesn't have a grudge against soldiers; in fact he respects them, although thinks they are misguided. He reserves his private wrath for the generals and politicians who treat the common soldier as cannon fodder. Think "Ripper", without the cybernetic enhancements. I have to say I find the Fifth Ed. version of Ripper a bit OTT. You could probably adapt the 4th Ed. one quite easily. Take off the extra powers from his bionics, but give him some elite forces skills, like Commando Training Martial Arts. Ouch.

Or maybe we could just call him NOODLE-NOGGIN.

Hmm. "Crouching Black Tiger, Hidden Green Dragon", anyone? Black Tiger is mentioned in the villains PDF, by the way.

The character gets a PS: trade ot hobby at 11- as part of his Everyman Skills. I'd say his Skills suggest he works as a locksmith or security consultant, much as Kristopher has suggested. I find the inclusion of Demolitions a little odd. If this were a burglar, fine - it represents a standard safe-cracker schtick (although at 12-, it's a good job he can move fast). However, nothing in the background indicates that he has been a criminal or indeed any other reason for having that Skill. Maybe there's a reason Stone hasn't yet posted, though. PS: Athlete at 11- would fit with his background, giving you a spare point if you lose Demotlitions.

Personally, I'd try and get any 5th Edn. Hero stuff. I have fond memories of a British comic strip called "Rat Pack" (no relation to Frank, Sammy, Dean and the others). They were a bit of a rip off off "The Dirty Dozen", but there were only five. Major Taggart was in charge of them. He was an extremely competent soldier and was shown to be able to handle any of the others. "Weasel" was a burglar/safe-cracker/thief. He was small and cowardly. He had been court-martialled for trying to steal an army payroll. Dancer was caught looting bodies. He was an expert sniper and good with a knife (thrown or hand-to-hand). "Scarface" Rogan was a fantastic athlete. Cross-country runner, mountain climber, that sort of thing. He was supposed to be a deserter, but was actually trying to catch a German officer (think he was SS and had murdered Rogan's comrades affter they surrendered - something like that). Last and very definitely not least was "Turk", a huge, you guessed it, Turkish man, of phenomenal size and strength. If I recall correctly, he was arrested for brawling in an officers' mess. They had a lot of adventures, in a vaguely pulp style (super weapons, destroying submarine pens, that sort of thing). Anyway, I think they'd be great as a team of PCs in a WWII Hero campaign with a not entirely realistic tone.

There are lots of possibilities, depending (in part), on the tone of your campaign. The classic JLA/JSA cross-overs utilised all sorts of plot devices to get the heroes of two Earths meeting up. A super-powerful entity wants to hold a contest. Heroes, villains or even a mix of the two are pitted against each other. This is the "Grandmaster" plotline, the origin of the Avengers/Squadron Sinister clashes from the 70s. The entity has power to bring the characters together through magic, technology or innate abilities. This could just be for his/her amusement, or he might have a bet with another powerful being. Maybe by winning, the heroes are condemning a world. Aaron Allston's idea (mentioned by Lord Liaden) is a good one. You could even extract elements from that plot. Perhaps the villains keep losing to the heroes of their Earth, so they try their hand at a new one, perhaps they can study our Earth's heroes and know more about them than they would about their own personal nemeses. The good guys lose until the heroes from Earth 2 (for want of a better term) find out and cross too. Both teams of heroes can round up the evil-doers. This was done in the JLA/JSA cross-over era. Another one you can extract is to depopulate Earth 1 of heroes. Your PCs wonder where the other heroes are going. Crime is up, of course, but then villains vanish too (Earth 2's villains don't want all the loot stolen before they get there) or alternatively, perhaps the Earth 1 villains claim to be have been robbed of their (well, it was theirs after they stole it) ill-gotten gains. Perhaps some cosmic event is bringing two universes together. If something isn't done the two universes will merge. This might not be fatal (you could end up with a brand new universe, like after the "Crisis on Infinite Earths"), or both worlds might vanish entirely. Perhaps one is an anti-matter universe and technology can be used to convert the Earth 1 heroes to anti-matter so they can help out the ones on Earth 2. Perhaps the universes are coming into alignment because of common events. Perhaps the order of the universes is such that a cataclysm will occur unless the heroes take steps to deal with it. This is potentially a JLA level plotline. Maybe the heroes have to destroy a universe to prevent the alignment. Is it devoid of life? If not, will the heroes refuse to kill, or will they try and more the lifefroms to a new homes? What if the heroes receive a visitor from another world? This one has fallen under a dictatorship after a charismatic leader took charge of the US. The thing is that the same person is running for the Presidency in Earth 1. You can play this all sorts of ways. Go "Dead Zone" and consider assassinating him (not heroic, but it might suit the PCs), campaign against him (maybe one of the heroes could run, or they can assist the opponent, who is not looking too good in the polls - ignore how politics really works, if your campaign is four-colour enough), or perhaps expose the potential dictator's real plans, spoiling his campaign. Armed with knowledge from the alternate world and the help of its remaining good guys (or guy, even), maybe the heroes of Earth 1 can prevent disaster from striking twice. They might also end up with a bitter and powerful new enemy.

How about: Renaissance, one meaning of which is "A revival of intellectual or artistic achievement and vigor." Or Reformation, one meaning of which is "The act of reforming or the state of being reformed." Both have a "Classical" feel and relate to his desire to bring about a new birth or change in society, as well as to (in the former case) the fact that he has been reborn himself thanks to the nannites and that (in the latter instance) can reform his body.

It is a bit difficult because even within archetypes there can be a huge spread. However... 1) Coolness. I agree with Blue that someone who achieves a lot with only dedication and training could be perceived as "cooler" than some guy who happened to be born on a weird planet, or fell into the right vat of chemicals. I'd say Martial Artist or Weapon Master, though. They also often have a disciplined attitude, so they aren't easily scared or impressed, again adding the the cool factor. 2) Sex Appeal. Impossible to really say as this partially depends on the character him/herself and partly on what the other party likes. For example, if a lady likes a sense of humour, she might go for Plastic Man (although I am not sure that's the type of humour women necessarily go for). If she likes dark, brooding types, it might be Batman. If she prefers a real blue-eyed, blue-collar type hunk, it could be Captain America (yes I know he's an artist, not really blue-collar, but he's the "All-American" type isn't he?). Being more than a little crude, a stretchy-type metamorph or one with Growth (in small doses), could be very popular. Actually, a stretchy guy who can change his appearance, alter his, er, dimensions (I mean to appear hunky, get your mind out of the gutter) and has a great sense of humour might win in all departments. Martial Artists and Weapon Masters might be very fit and controlled, but they are so dedicated, they might not appeal to ladies, maybe even appearing uptight and obsessed by violence. Mind you, no one ever told that to Ollie Queen's ladies. 3) Trust. I'd go with Patriots and Bricks. Patriots are idealists and often very good people (although theoretically some types of Patriot could be evil). Bricks have very up-front powers. What you see is what you get, plus who doesn't like a hero with a "safe pair of hands"?

Ah, I was just funnin' with you Hermit. While I knew that post was ripe for a Schwarzenegger joke, I was actually impressed someone had time to nip in and do the gag while I was typing the "mystic half" of my post. I have been looking into gem lore recently, for a friend of mine, so that immediately sprang to mind as a source of OIFs. Princess of Gem World. Hmm. Didn't she go blind or something, or am I thinking or something else/just plain wrong? On Beetle's point about whether a GM will allow the VPP, I had considered it and assumed it was OK. However, Beetle is right; the GM might not like it. You could easily build these effects into a Multipower, though, or write up the possible powers in advance, to make sure things don't grind to a halt.

I meant Mina might need saving if she fell under Dracula's influence again. If her will is not her own, it doesn't really matter if she is capable or not. I agree that Mina was certainly quite tough. Also, both volumes so far have shown that in many respects Mina is the most able member of the League, certainly in terms of "keeping it together" and being determined.

Sorry, just realised I didn't explain my thinking very well. I was wondering if you would still need the Mental Illusions if the Killing Attacks have IPE and if the only hypnosis he does is to make people fail to see that he's really killed someone. Hence my question about whether he can hypnotise people to see anything else. I had considered a time delay on the HKA, but you said that the wizard actually kills the victims and brings them back. If the damage has a delayed effect, there wouldn't really be any blood until the attack triggered (although you could say this is just a special effect). If he has some kind of Transformation/Resurrection power, that would cover both Invisbly killing the victims, then bringing them back to life and also bringing back the girl he dug up. You might be right that the latter is a one-off and doesn't need to be done as a specific power.

Ding, ding, ding! Hermit wins the prize for the person who couldn't resist the Arnie joke (which I was waiting for). Congratulations Hermit.

OK, turning to your mystic option, have a look at this site: http://russian-crafts.com/tales.html It contains a number of Russian folk tales and I have to confess that I have only glanced at a couple which seemed like they might be helpful. The one which caught my eye was "The Scarlet Flower". It sounds like a Russian version of "Beauty and the Beast", but note the items the father finds for his daughters, a golden crown, a crystal mirror and a scarlet flower. Sounds like they could be magic items to me. I seem to recall another story (which I think might have been Russian) about three enchanted items. One was a mirror, one a comb and the other...was something I can't recall. They are thrown behind the heroine as she is pursued by a witch. The mirror becomes a huge lake, which the witch must swim across and the comb becomes a dense forest. I had a look for that story on the site, but couldn't spot it. I'm not saying it isn't there, though! Perhaps she has a little box or bag of tricks and inside are a variety of items, each of which has a fabulous power. You could have knitting needles which fly through the air like arrows, a spindle that wraps people in golden threads, a millstone that churns out flour, making it impossible to see, a thimble that means you always know where you are, a mirror that shows you distant locations, that sort of thing. Alternatively, perhaps she has an old storybook. The illustrations fly from the tome and turn into things and creatures from the stories. For example, her flamebolt has the shape of "The Firebird", if she needs to swim, it summons "The Golden Fish" and she holds on. For a name, how about "Scarlet Flower"? I don't know what that is in Russian, though. The name indicates sacrifice (read the story), love of one's family and also romantic love. Scarlet is a passionate colour, but she is scared she will lose her powers if she loses her virginity. Perhaps a lot of people assume she is a "scarlet woman", when she is anything but that. Give her flaming red hair, too, of course.