Chimpira

Re: All the superhero PCs I've ever played Some I could not remember the names of so I left them out. This is what was left. Jester (he became a vampire during the game and changed his name to Bane)- Superworld Gremlin - Superworld Shadow Dancer - Superworld Phantom - V & V Jacon Vandermere - V & V Storm Giant - V & V Tempest (after one adventure he retired from being a superhero and became an adventurer like a mystical Doc Savage. He was simply called by his name Franklyn D. Eswards) - Champions Jack T. Chance - Champions The Jackyl - Superworld Tony Striker - Champions Percival - Champions Daniel Knight - Champions Exodus - Heroes Unlimited Sean 'Trooper' Thorton - Heroes Unlimited

Re: I made the GM cry....

Re: I made the GM cry.... One of my first times running a game was a horrible failure because of my dependency on the module. After the game I asked my usual GM at the time for some advice. He told me to read the module, then, read it again, then read it again. After that, rip all the maps out, throw the mod away and then run it. I never threw the mods away but I got his point, which was to know the mod but not feel like you are a slave to it.

Re: I'm sure this has been asked before... Read his write up again. He has a suit of armor that he can put on.

Re: Has anyone played in a game like this... I played myself in V&V but I got a disadvantage that made me mute. I played that way, it was kind of fun. I find that the hardest part when it comes down to stats for your character is generally in regard to intelligence and dexterity. Most people like to think of themselves as smart, usually this was handled by the other players writing down the int score and taking the average. Dexterity is tricky because some people like to think of themselves as having catlike reflexes, when everyone with a brain can see that they do not. I would keep a foam ball handy for this one. Luckily I would only have one or two players that would disbute the dex. I would look at them and say, "Do you really think that you have reflexes that good?" When they said yes I would toss the ball at them without warning. If they caught it, then, I would allow the dex.

Re: I made the GM cry.... That was never a problem. They knew full well that could and would occur. They were depending on the enemy to come to them on grounds of their choosing. That was part of their overall plan. They could then let the villians do all the hard work of tracking the devices down and steal them from the bad guys.

Re: I made the GM cry.... Oh, do not get me wrong. I could have done all the things mentioned above but I had not thought about it beforehand. If the npc's adapt to the new situation that is one thing, but to adapt the adventure (and the relics) to compensate for my lack of foresightedness after the fact.... Well that would have been wrong. Sometimes you got to shrug, let it go and keep your mind on the big picture. The big picture is that your players were going to slap themselves on the back, laugh really hard about what happened and look forward to the next session. And since this was just an adventure in the campaign, it was not that big of a deal.

Re: I made the GM cry.... Something similiar happened to me once. I had planned this long adventure around the players trying to stop this banished dragon from returning to the land. There were four parts of a seal that was needed to bring the dragon back and a cult was after all four. After the first part of the adventure they had a piece of the seal. My player Terry looks up at me and says,"This is the first part of the seal, right?" I say yeah. He continues "And they need all four to bring the dragon back, right?" It dawned on me where this was going and what was the big flaw in my adventure. Yes, I groaned. He smiled and said "Well if they can't get this, then, they can't bring back the dragon. No need for us to risk our lives anymore." I could have made up something to make them continue but instead, I shrugged, gave him extra xp and thought a lot more carefully about my plotlines from then on.

Re: Crime and Punishment Yeah, I have been reading Identity Crisis as well. I usually try to keep imprisonment straight forward as I am playing with a bunch of D & D converts. They tend to think that killing is the first option. Luckily, my other players keep them in line. I was just thinking that Doc Savage, the old pulp character, would actually operate on his enemies brains to change their attitude.

Re: I just can't get into Cosmic Level play I tend to find it boring because I am one of those players that try to use everything to his advantage. If I have a lot to work with then it becomes just to easy for me and I wind up trying to play dumb most of the time. I would generally have GM's up the ante if I am playing in a game even if the game is low level. I have had more than one GM say, 'I just wanted to see how YOU would beat it." Not if but how. I, once, took over a country with a monk and a guild of scribes that I founded. The scribes had no power beyond being literate. Which in the right circumstances can truly be powerful. Some people find having little power boring, others find having a lot of power boring. I just find it more challenging having a little power and finding the right leverage to carry the win.

Re: I just can't get into Cosmic Level play I am not big in the cosmic play either. It makes me lazy. I like to scramble for the win. I have played characters with cosmic power level and it bored me. I am not knocking other people that like it, it is just not for me. I like it when I still have to worry about fighting flunkies.

Re: The Mystic World Same here.

Re: Gun Fu

Re: Clerks... Uh... I mean HEROES! I was laughing so hard. Thanks!

Re: Spiderman Vs. Firelord I remember reading the end of that fight in The Avengers. My thought was not how the hell did that happen? My thoughts were "Spider-man just kicked Firelord's butt! Wow!" Did I try to analyze it? (never mind the fact that I was just a kid) Not really. Pretty much for the same reason I never ask why his long time foes do not use more area of effects or gas attacks to take out Spider-Man. Or why those foes that know his real identity never outed him. Or how about a pair of glasses being considered the ultimate in disguises. Or maybe the fact that Batman has all these gadgets (that need to be bought and if they are filtering through his company no one has been called on fraud or embezzlement) but does not seem to lead a trail that anyone can follow back to him. How about the fact that people keep dying and coming back. But if we want to break it down to what is considered plausible in the universe that they created, let's keep in mind that Spider-Man has possessed the power of Captain Universe at one time. I do not recall if it happened prior to the Firelord fight or afterwards. If it was prior then we can say that a little residual power was left to help Spider-Man finish the fight. If he recieved the power after the fight, then one could say that the first sign of it's manifestation could be during the battle.

Re: Weak Supers who just needed better writers Well with all this Cypher love. Maybe he faked his own death. The uniforms that the cadets wear are some type of kevlar blend. I think he transported himself to a universe where no one would know him and is preceding to take over the world. He might even change his name to....Hmmm.... Let's just call him Tao.

Re: New Guy Name That reminds me of when one of my first GM's introduced his main villian into the campaign. His name was Master Disaster. It sounded kind of lame. He beat the hell out of everyone. After dealing with him (mostly running from him) for the majority of the campaign, the name never sounded lame again. It just kind of grew on us. I think that if your player loves his idea and really digs his name, you should not burst any bubbles by telling him he might think about changing it. The GM that came up with Disaster ( It was one hell of a game) never liked how I designed my character. He told me after I retired him though. Which was good because I dug everything about that sociopath.

Re: Rampaging through the Champions Universe Actually, I think that if he was more like Brainiac 5 from the Legion of Super Heroes that he would work well. Truth be told, he is more in line with the type of heroes that I like to play. It makes winning more fun. For me, I find that being really powerful or as powerful as the rest of the group makes it kind of dull. For a challenge I, usually, play characters that are built on less points than anyone else. I am one of those Mad Thinker types.

Re: I Need a Plot, and Fast! Kill a hero. No, really. Try having a npc hero die saving the city. Have the characters hear about it. The villian was captured but the hero died. Have the characters that are the main stay in the campaign be asked to attend the funeral but the new characters will have to hang back as there is not enough room with the visiting representatives from hero teams around the country that are trying to pay their last respects. While outside the new heroes get approached and asked to look into the death as something does not seem quite right with it. Make it as big or as small as you like. Maybe the villian that was captured was not the real culprit. Maybe the hero faked his death because he knew that the one person he needed to find would go to his funeral. It could be an interesting way to have your new players learn about the campaign world and to get into some really good roleplaying.

Re: Rampaging through the Champions Universe I played in a Villian game about ten years back (the GM wanted to do it. I hate playing a villian.) The body count was pretty high. I was able to talk a bunch of the upper echelon villians (Doc Destroyer and Power Lord from the Strike Force amongst others) into teaming up to conquer the world. They, of course, were going to plot to eliminate everyone to rule alone. I, then, showed them proof of the beings capable of stopping us. King Earthwyrm and his grossly high powered cronies. We formulated a plan and put it into immediate action, as we attacked their forces. What no one knew was that my plan was to eliminate Earthwyrm and usurp control of his forces, some 500,000 cannibals with automatic weaponry. By the end of the fight all opposition (including the upper echelon characters that we betrayed) were all dead. I led the army on a random rampage and destroyed San Francisco before anyone could stop them. By the time the GM decided that I should not be playing a villian (let alone the leader of the villian group) and stopped the game, I had formulated a plan to destroy Sanctuary using enough explosive to cause the mother of all tidal waves. Oh did I mention that I had my alter ego running for office. I had my teammates attack me and break some bones as I spoke up against them at a rally. My willingness to continue to fight the good fight after such a brazen attack won me many voters.

Re: Weakest Supers in books you've read? I think that it was actually three lucky shots, as the dialogue went something like one move turns into two and two turn into three. After the first one they generally call it skill. I was not trying to dish on Shiva but anyone capable of surprising her and then knocking her down is quite a force to be reckoned with. I bet he put that one on his resume. He, even, stood up to her when she was about to kill Conner Hawke (which was a really good fight, although in the end she was the superior fighter.) My point with Robin is that he knows that he will not be able to take Shiva in a straight up fight, so he will have the wits about him to rig the game in his favor. It is not always about power. As for Shiva getting her ass whooped? Check out what I wrote about poor writers. The Batgirl fight was great, by the way and was handled right. It was an event that you had to wait a year for.

Re: Weakest Supers in books you've read? That is kind of subjective isn't it? I remember not liking Doug Ramsey, whose only real power, it seemed, was that he could stop .357 ammuntion with his body. I had a friend that was totally distraught that the guy died. I think, now, that there are really no weak heroes, just weak writers. If you do not believe me, try to get your hands on a copy of JLA during Morrison's run. Darkseid is taken out by the Atom and Conner Hawke. Or how about Hitman. His powers were x-ray vision and telepathy (which gave him a migraine), but he was one cool cat. I might say the weatherman (from Stormwatch) was kind of lame but Warren Ellis got his hands on him and made him worth reading. Are we simply talking about lack of powers? Then we got Batman but he takes out Martians and anything that gets in his way as easy as mowing the lawn. How about Robin? Well, Tim Drake has knocked Shiva on her butt and proven his worth as a leader. So what is the criteria for the weakest?

Re: So, how do you plan on using your Galactic Champions? In the Champions Universe, the book speaks of a cosmic event that includes every hero in all the timelines. I plan on using that for the back drop of my players being shot 1000 years into the future. Mostly they will be there to finish something important and then hightail it back to the past. Occasionally they might be called to the future to help out with some crisis or another that had it's origin in the 20th or 21st century.

Re: Dark Champions in Champs Universe? I think everyone here who wants to run a Dark Champions game that does not eliminate the heroes in champions should read 'Hitman' by Garth Ennis. The comic was pretty good. The main character had superpowers (x-ray vision and telepathy) which he stopped using about four issues into the comic and you have these great street level characters. When big things would happen in the DC comics universe, he would have a little spill over but not much. Some good story ideas there. The sun is being blotted out by Takofanes and the champions are trying to undo it. Lot of opportunities for criminal behavior when the world is freaking out. And who is left to take care of the streets?

Re: Galactic Champions I did not have that much problem with it. I started thinking of scenarios with the characters as soon as I finished reading the first write up. Surprisingly the ones that really jumped out at me was Sage and Charm. A lot of potential for some really good adventures there. But 30 end is small for most super games.