John Desmarais

Superman, in his first appearances, was strong, tough (not invulnerable, but "nothing less than a bursting shell could pierce his skin) and could leap over a tall building.  That was it.  The rest (and the power escalation) came later.  
 
Martian Manhunter is (kind of) the first Silver Age superhero, and fits that mold much better than the Golden Age mold.
 
There are, as always, exceptions to the Golden Age heroes usually had simple power concepts, but the fact that the exceptions stand out kind of supports the idea.  Many heroes had no powers, many had a single power. 
 
Some noteworthy DC heroes (mostly concentrating on heroes who were part of a team)
================================================================
Batman - no powers, limited gadgets, skilled (but not the "bat god" of today) fighter.
Hourman - Super strength for one hour.
Hawk Man - Fly
Atom - no powers
Dr. Midnight - see in the dark
Flash - run/move real fast (very few of the modern-era speedster tricks)
Wonder Woman - strong, deflect bullets with bracelets, magic rope of truth.
Sandman - Sleep gas gun.
Crimson Avenger - No powers
Wildcat - no powers
Black Canary - no powers
Green Arrow - trick arrows
Star Spangled Kid & Stripesy - no powers
Shining Knight - A flying horse, armor, and sword
Staman - Gravity Rod (precursor to his Cosmic Rod) Let him fly and move things (with gravity)
 
The "simple" concept falls apart with DC's mystic yahoos: Green Lantern / Dr. Fate / Johnny Thunder / Spectre - Ill defined mystic abilities that did whatever the writer wanted (at least until Dr. Fate got temporarily emasculated).
 
Over in Marve-land  (mostly concentrating on heroes who were part of a team)
=========================================================
Human Torch - Fly, flame blast, minor defense to some physical attacks due to flaming body
Namor - Strong, tough (nearly bulletproof), fly, swim, breath underwater
Captain America - barely powered plus shield
Red Raven - Fly
Blue Diamond - nearly invulnerable
Miss America - Strength, Flight, (and X-ray vision for a while, but that went away)
Whizzer - speed (but even fewer speed-tricks than the GA Flash)
Thin Man - could get extremely thin (conceptually simple, although systme-mechanically a bit involved)
Patriot - No powers

I love using the islands of the South Pacific for pulp games.  Only Angles Have Wings is one of my favorites to crib flavor bits from.

I'd love to give it a try.  (Keying in characters into the Roll20 Hero character sheet has been nearly as much of challenge for the new players as creating their characters.)
 
I'm full up at the moment, but if anyone drops I'll be looking for replacements.

Planning a Standard Superhero level game (400 points, 75 in Complications). Basically using the Champions Universe (with the occasional odd tidbit ‘borrowed’ from other places). For those unfamiliar with the Champions Universe It’s a kitchen-sink type of setting, heavily influenced by the comics published by ‘The Big Two’. I favor clear distinction between good and evil (very limited shades of grey), with a feel more ‘four-color’ than ‘grim-dark’.
 
Experience with Hero System not required - I enjoy teaching the system to new players. You can ping me here or via Discord (John Desmarais#6750) if interested or if you have questions.

I’m looking to start a Champions game on Roll20. Lemme know if you’re still looking to play something. (You can also reach out to me on Discord: John Desmarais#6750)

It wasn’t a full transfusion.  He was bitten by a venomous snake and then injected with mongoose blood to serve as an antidote (still pretty silly though).

Yep. Just about any modern word processor can generate a PDF, and has reasonably good layout capabilities. Not as robust as an actual desktop publishing app, but the gap has shrunk a lot.

I’m going to make a valiant attempt.  

I’m going to make a valiant attempt.  

Looks like the link to the Sam Bell write-up is broken, but the one to Matt Ignash’s seems to work. http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Scarlet_Witch-mi.txt
 
I’ll get the Sam Bell one fixed shortly (I need to fix a lot on that site)
 

Keen.

I think I may have asked the before - but a quick scan of the last couple of pages of this thread did find it: Any chance of it becoming a true Universal App (unique support for both phone and tablet size screens)?  The character import/view ability would be awesome on a tablet

This will be the last time that I post the character sheets, they are all here except for Tank.  They have been playtested and so likely only to be tweaked in future.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, The Union.….
 
 
GA-ColMustard.pdf GA-RoddyReyburn.pdf GA-TamOShanter.pdf GA-ThePreacher.pdf

My current game - set primarily in and around London - is one in which superpowers are a VERY new phenomenon.  A phenomenon that, so far, the heroes have no idea of the cause.  The heroes are part of an official government response team organized specifically to deal with superpowered threats beyond the capabilities of the regular police.
 
From a personal power perspective, the heroes are the “movers and shakers”, although they have encountered a small number of powered individuals who’s powers far exceeded their own (these people also knew more about the origins of powers).
 
There are no elements of the official Champions Universe (other than some villlains I filed the serial numbers off of because I was in a hurry) - nor any elements from any other Supers settings (RPG or comic).  There are some elements I’ve adapted from,some (non-superhero) novels, but altered sufficiently if any of the players had read them they would not really find themselves at an advantage.

Nifty news.  It’s kind of funny though.  I’ve never actually used San Angelo in a game, but i’ve (very often) used it as an example of “here’s how to write up a city for a superhero RPG”.

In case folks hadn't heard, here's the recent posting on our Facebook page:

We’re working on an update to our original San Angelo: City of Heroes product line, bringing the Origins Award-nominated sourcebook and setting into the 21st century! No definitive release date yet but we are shooting for Summer 2020. We’ll post updates here so be sure to follow us to get the latest info!
 
I'll be posting material and sneak peaks, as well as answering questions, in this thread.
 
See you at Liberty Square!

SACoH Facebook Page | Twitter: @SACoHNews | IG: @SACoHNews |  Website: SACoH.com
 

Ive got his errata for Lands of Mystery, and Mythic Greece (the Mythic Greece document actually being an update to 4th edition, which made it even cooler).
 
The biggest error I’ve found in Justice Inc is the transition from page 20 to 21.  It appear that what should have been the last line in column 2 may have gotten obliterate when the Skill Modifier Chart was added.  The text ends in the middle of a hyphanated word and the beginning of the next page doesn’t continue it.
 
The page and column ends with:  “Skills are very general in order to cover many situa-“
 
The next page starts with: “clever and creative, and that's when they're having”
 
The basic gist of the paragraph is still pretty plain, but this really eats away at my own personal psych lims.
 

Thanks.  I didn't even think to go look in one of the games from that era.

Ive got his errata for Lands of Mystery, and Mythic Greece (the Mythic Greece document actually being an update to 4th edition, which made it even cooler).
 
The biggest error I’ve found in Justice Inc is the transition from page 20 to 21.  It appear that what should have been the last line in column 2 may have gotten obliterate when the Skill Modifier Chart was added.  The text ends in the middle of a hyphanated word and the beginning of the next page doesn’t continue it.
 
The page and column ends with:  “Skills are very general in order to cover many situa-“
 
The next page starts with: “clever and creative, and that's when they're having”
 
The basic gist of the paragraph is still pretty plain, but this really eats away at my own personal psych lims.
 

Ok, having read through the various ideas and, taking the originally stated source material (Potter) in account, here's my suggestion:  
 
Don't bother writing it up at all.  
 
Honestly, in the Potter books it's just a plot device.  For one reason or another, it never actually effects the heroes (PCs); and it would inappropriate for one of them to actually use it  - it just hangs out there as the ultimate magical plot threat where if it hits you die.  Other than as a mental exercise, I can't think of a reason to actually stat the thing up.

Nothing stops you from putting your Detect into the Sight group. Unusual Senses are usually grouped according to their special effect. For example, if a character has the ability to smell water, his Detect Water becomes part of his Smell/Taste Group. is is called the Simulated Sense Group rule.  (HS6Ev1, pg 207)  Any modifiers the character has to their Sight Group senses would come into play (as would any Sense Group targeted attacks).
 
Anything beyond that is really kind of the expected issues when trying to duplicate the mechanics of another game rather than the concept - exacerbated by trying to also take advantage of the unique mechanics of the target system.

Installed a few minutes ago.  Looks good.

I really enjoy this guy’s channel.  I’ve wasted far too many hours watching him prepare 18th century recipes.

A little more regarding the draft.  The age range for the draft during WWII changed a couple of times.  The Selective Service Act of 1940 required males from 21 - 36 to register.  After the Army made its position that 18 to 21 year-olds made the best soldiers, there was an Extension Act in 1941 that extended the age range to 18 - 38, and then in 1942 it was extended again to 18 - 45.  Sometime during the war (I can't remember when, but after the age was lowered to 18) they stopped selected by draft, and starts by age - with the oldest being called first. So, depending on what year your game is set, age could keep the PCs out of the draft or make being drafted less likely.
 
The jobs that were often exempted/deferred included medical, college students, educators, scientists, agriculture, and military industries (several of which are common secret-ID fodder).

I feel ya.I run 6th these days (I always run the "current" version as its the one my players can easily go buy for themselves if inclined) but I'll gladly play whatever version someone want to run.  (Although, I've been strongly contemplating doing a one-shot with some of my old gamer friends using 3rd edition, just for the nostalgia.  The recent Bundle of Holding renewed my interest in 3rd.)