SKJAM!

Re: Needed: Quirks from TV/Movies/Comics Nope, these are all in the original Japanese. Sometimes they're translated directed, sometimes loosely translated, sometimes just ignored. For example, Kenshin's habitual "de gozaru" at the end of sentences is often rendered in English as "that it is."

Re: Needed: Quirks from TV/Movies/Comics One quirk seen frequently in manga/anime is the character who has a verbal tic such that they end most sentences with a particular phrase or nonsense sound de gozaru. It's effective for making them stand out, but can quickly become tiresome nyo. It's best not to stick it on to each and every sentence, yanowhaddimean?

Re: Needed: Quirks from TV/Movies/Comics In the YGO chapter where the porn is first mentioned, Jonouchi complains that all the "good bits" were digitally mosaiced, and he gave himself eyestrain trying to see beyond that.

Re: Needed: Quirks from TV/Movies/Comics They're perfectly normal, healthy teenage boys, after all. And we never actually see the porn.

Re: Sharing the Campaign ideas you can't use... yet Cherry Blossom Theatre Basically, a wild Martial Arts Hero campaign; all "powers" come from some form of combat training. I tried to run it back in the day, but the player group each and every one wanted to be the "exception" to the setting.

Re: Needed: Quirks from TV/Movies/Comics Yu-Gi-Oh! (Mostly from the manga, as the animated version cut most of the personal life stuff). Yugi: Wears his school uniform habitually, but also likes leather and buckles; borrows softcore porn from Jonouchi; Bruce Lee fan. Jonouchi (Joey): Likes porn; good at building models from kits; must have the most fashionable sneakers. Honda (Tristan): Likes porn; has an unspayed dog; gun fancier Anzu (Tea): Wants to be a dancer; wears clothes that show off her legs; has very few female friends. Bakura: Hand-modifies miniatures for his role-playing campaigns; prefers to wear his hair long; is not interested in girls (but there's no evidence he's gay, either.) Kaiba: Wears a picture of his brother Mokuba around his neck in a card-shaped locket, his one concession to sentimentality. (Mokuba has the other half of the picture in his locket.); Likes to wear white. Mai: Wears a lot of perfume; dresses slutty to distract her opponents; carries extra supplies "just in case".

Re: Needed: Quirks from TV/Movies/Comics From Saint Seiya: Seiya plays Spanish guitar. Surprisingly well. Hyoga has a thing for blonde girls. (It's related to his "obsessed with his mother" Psych Lim, but in itself is just a quirk.) Shun has green hair. It's not really Distinctive Features, since no one ever reacts to it, but it is a plot point. And from the Left Behind books: Rayford Steele thinks his prematurely grey hair makes him look "distinguished."

Re: Needed: Quirks from TV/Movies/Comics Dr. Octopus (at least at some points in the comics): Smokes cigars, likes to appear cultured, dresses up when he gets the chance.

Re: Needed: Quirks from TV/Movies/Comics From the Sailor Moon series: Moon: Heavy sleeper, likes video games, loves ice cream. Mercury: Brings a book everywhere, just in case she gets bored. Is mildly far-sighted and uses reading glasses. Mars: Likes manga; wishes her father spent more time with her. Jupiter: Every handsome boy reminds her of her old boyfriend; acts extra-domestic to soften her "big and strong" image. Venus: Thinks she's a matchmaker, messes up cliche sayings/makes malapropisms. Tuxedo Kamen/Mask: Often dresses formally and carries roses even in Secret ID; acts older than he is.

Re: WWYCD: Ignorance is Bliss Rock Bottom: Is rather amused by the het fiction, as he's one of the few openly gay superheroes around in his world. Then he turns the information over to the team's lawyer to see if anything should be done. Kira Midori: Sends a polite letter reminding the webhost that she's asked that her fans keep it G-rated, thank you. Talion: Laughs bitterly, and critiques the stories on grammar, spelling and characterization.

Re: WWYCD: Omelas Talion: Wanders into Omelas, enjoys the scenery, smiles at the happy, wel-adjusted people, etc. Quite by accident, he happens across a certain cellar, hears inarticulate noise, and opens the door to find the hidden child. Moved by pity, he removes the child, saying "You poor thing! We'd better find you some help." When Talion gets out on the street, he notes that the lovely buildings are beginning to crumble, and a few of them are on fire. The citizens have weeping pustules on their skins, and are gathering crude weapons to attack each other with. No one seems concerned about the child except Talion, and he's frustrated by the rioting around him. Towards dawn, the child breathes its last, and Talion is the only living thing in Omelas, the few survivors having wisely fled. He never does figure out what he did wrong.

Re: (Character) "Lucky" Normallen I was very young in 1979. I plead teenagerness.

An old D&D player character of mine, slightly altered by time. "Lucky" Normallen Player: SKJAM! Val Char Cost 13/18 STR 3 16 DEX 18 14 CON 8 10/11 BODY 0 13 INT 3 12 EGO 4 10 PRE 0 12 COM 1 6 PD 3 6 ED 3 3 SPD 4 6 REC 0 28 END 0 24/25 STUN 0 8" RUN 4 2" SWIM 0 2 1/2"/3 1/2" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 51 Cost Power 5 Starlight Eyes: Ultraviolet Perception (Sight Group) 4 Blood of the Elders: Life Support (Longevity: 1600 Years) 15 Blessing of the Goddess: Power Defense (15 points) 8 Minor magics: Multipower, 15-point reserve, (15 Active Points); all slots Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) 1u 1) Flaming Arrow: Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6 (15 Active Points); Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) 1u 2) Detect Magic: Detect A Class Of Things 12- (Unusual Group), Discriminatory, Analyze (15 Active Points); Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) 1u 3) Sunblaze: Sight Group Flash 3d6 (15 Active Points); Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) 1u 4) Embiggen: Growth (+5 STR, +1 BODY, +1 STUN, -1" KB, 110 kg, +0 DCV, +0 PER Rolls to perceive character, 2 m tall, 1 m wide), Usable By Other (+1/4), Ranged (+1/2) (9 Active Points); Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) 1u 5) Feather Falling: Gliding 15" (15 Active Points); Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) 1u 6) Tangleweb: Entangle 1 1/2d6, 1 DEF (15 Active Points); Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) 1u 7) Winds of the Mind: Telekinesis (10 STR) (15 Active Points); Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) Powers Cost: 39 Cost Skill 2 AK: Elven Lands 11- 3 Breakfall 12- 8 +1 with All Combat 3 Concealment 12- 3 High Society 11- 2 KS: Arcane And Occult Lore 11- 2 KS: Elven Customs 11- 2 KS: Famous Adventurers and Their Adventures 11- 0 Language (idiomatic) (4 Active Points) 3 Language: Common (completely fluent) 2 Navigation (Land) 12- 11 Power 16- 2 PS: Adventurer 11- 5 Rapid Attack (Ranged) 3 Riding 12- 2 Survival (Temperate/Subtropical Forests) 12- 4 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Missile Weapons Skills Cost: 57 Cost Talent 3 Lightsleep Talents Cost: 3 Total Character Cost: 150 Pts. Disadvantage 5 Distinctive Features: Dead white hair (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 10 Enraged: When facing feathered opponents (Uncommon), go 11-, recover 14- 10 Hunted: Former Comrades 8- (As Pow, Harshly Punish) 10 Hunted: City Guard 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching) 10 Psychological Limitation: Dislikes anything with feathers (Common, Moderate) 15 Psychological Limitation: Will not make deals with anyone he does not know the face and name of (Uncommon, Total) 5 Reputation: A little cracked in the head, 8- 5 Money: Poor 5 Unluck: 1d6 Disadvantage Points: 75 Base Points: 75 Experience Required: 0 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0 APPEARANCE Hair Color: Dead white Eye Color: Green Height: 1.60 m Weight: 55.00 kg Description: Noramallen is an elf of average height , build, and facial features but his hair is an ugly shade of dead white. He favors dark greens and browns in clothing. BACKGROUND Normallen Blueleaf was born to average elven parents, but a fortuitous alignment of the stars caused the local soothsayer to declare that Normallen was "blessed by the goddess of elves" and would have an important destiny. in preparation for this destiny, Normallen was trained in both combat and the arcane arts. To gain further skills necessary for his supposed destiny, he then went out into the human lands as an adventurer. Normallen quickly found an experienced adventuring party that needed a helping hand. Two of the established members always wore bulky, concealing clothing, and were never addressed by name by any of the other party members. This seemed odd to Normallen, but he shrugged it off as a weird human custom. They were off to explore a distant ruined temple, and for the first two weeks, all went well. Once inside the ruins themselves, the party was ambushed by bandits, who captured Normallen. The party decided not to mount a rescue effort, presuming the elf was "already dead, anyway." In fact, the bandits took Normallen to their nearby hideout, where they stripped him and bound his arms, then threw him in a cage with a cockatrice. Despite the creature using its attacks to attempt to turn him to stone, Normallen somehow did not become a statue, and was eventually able to kick the cockatrice to death. Duly impressed, the bandits freed Normallen, gave him back his belongings, and gifted him with a small purse of coins. They also dubbed him "Lucky" before breaking camp. Normallen was eventually able to track down the party he'd started with. At this point they claimed to have been looking for him, but on the trip back to the city he overheard scraps of conversation that suggested otherwise. He also discovered that his hair was now growing in an ugly shade of white, and he'd developed an aversion to feathered creatures. Once back in the city, the treasure that had been obtained was pooled on a table, when one of the "nameless" party members suddenly threw down a smoke bomb and they absconded with the lot of it. Normallen was appalled when the leader of the party simply shrugged and said it was impossible to pursue the thieves, as he didn't know their names or faces either. Penniless and disillusioned, Normallen left the adventuring group, able to get a drink in inns with the tale of his battle against the cockatrice, which had been spread by a few of the bandits who'd come through the city earlier, but not much else. Eventually, he was able to find a smaller, less experienced adventuring party to go out with. They weren't as successful, but tighter-knit. A few months later, "Lucky" was startled to see the party he'd adventured with first...still with the same leader and "mystery men", though much of the rest of the group was new. Unfortunately, they saw him too, and realized that he would draw the correct conclusion. He barely fled the city ahead of them. Now, "Lucky" Normallen is in Campaign City, looking for trustworthy companions. PERSONALITY Normallen is a pleasant-seeming fellow, rather friendly for an elf. However, he reacts badly to feathered creatures, and tends to go a little overboard if facing them in combat. He's also unduly suspicious of anyone who keeps their name and face hidden from him. He finds his nickname a bit of a burden, and prefers to be called by his Elvish name. QUOTE "I told you! I told you he was a giant chicken!" POWERS/TACTICS Normallen is trained in basic combat skills and magic spells, and will use them reasonably intelligently. He prefers to fight from behind the front lines with arrows and "Flaming Arrow" spells. He is also blessed with a strong resistance to transformation magics and the "draining" effects of some monsters. At present, he is outfitted only with the basic adventuring gear necessary for his profession. CAMPAIGN USE Lucky is meant as an utility character for a party that needs a little more muscle. His personality quirks and personal hunted should be interesting, but not overwhelming. If he needs to be more powerful, give him better equipment and a couple more combat levels. To make him less powerful, eliminate his magic. (And of course, his magic should be adjusted to work correctly for your campaign. Lucky does not hunt player characters, though he may be drafted into groups that do. Your thoughts, comments? SKJAM!

Re: Anime Champions? I'll just quote the manga (with comments in parentheses) here: I. The human whose name is written in this note shall die. (The Death Note does not work on Shinigami, and presumably any other non-human.) II. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. (And presumably, it has to be the person's "real name".) III. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. (The limits of how ludicrous you can make the cause of death are unknown at this point in the manga.) IV. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. V. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds. (This appears merely to be for bookkeeping purposes.)

SPOILERS For Death Note Chapter 1 Shonen Jump USA #34 has a preview of Death Note, which is nicely creepy. Basic Premise: A bored Shinigami (death spirit) named Ryuk drops a Death Note, a magical notebook that kills anyone whose name you write in it (With a set of rules, of course) into the human world to see what happens. A bored teenager named Light (Raito) Yagami finds the Death Note, and decides to try it out. He's smart, so he finds someone who "deserves it" and can't be traced to him to test the notebook. Once he establishes that it does in fact work, Light comes up with a plan to improve the world. Ryuk is very impressed by Light's plan...though not because of its brilliance, but because it's fun to watch what will happen. Naturally, subsequent chapters feature a number of bizzare twists. Light would be best used as an NPC mystery for the heroes to solve. Strangely enough, this is one instance where having a Secret ID is a good thing, because he can only kill you if he knows your name and face.

Re: Venture Institute And there's new openings! Check the Player Finder forum for details.

Re: WWYCD: The Ponderous Plumbing Problem Talion: Sadly, being covered in this goop from his morning shower would in fact be the high point of his day; it will only get worse from there.

Re: Anime Champions? Actually, uncut subtitled YGO episodes have been released on DVD here in the states. But only the first six episodes or so, and they really didn't do a good job of publicizing it, so sales have been poor.

Re: Anime Champions? Judging from the preview episode, Doremi is less viciously cut than Mew Mew, but then it's aimed at a younger crowd. While the name changes grate, a nice touch is that the magic shop is now named after all three girls, rather than just the leader.

Re: Evil Corporations Anyone remember Grasp, Inc? Overall goal: Own everything. Specific evil deeds: Using genetic manipulation and vivisection to create superpowered animals, corporate espionage & sabotage, political corruption.

Re: WWYCD: Don't Say You Didn't Warn You Rock Bottom: Is freaking out because he hasn't really faced his own mortality before. Fortunately, he's a team player, and the other New Guard members will be able to think of things such as checking to make sure this visitor is actually what he looks like. Calculus: If this is really himself from the future, will have given the prearranged code word as part of the warning. If so, then he'll take immediate steps to counteract the future threat. If not, then he will assume this is a plot to distract him from the real menace and look into that. Also, he'll arrange to vanish the corpse so that no one can use it to learn his secrets. Mask of Justice: Investigates the warning, stopping the future threat just as it's beginning, and making the body vanish as though it had never existed. "Another one I won't be able to put in the newspaper." Kira Midori: Is very upset that apparently she'll never return to her home timeline. They'll have done a quick telepathic handshake to establish bona fides, so Kira will know if the threat is genuine. Talion: "Hey, I survive the loss of my powers by decades! Cool!"

A manga/anime series (Konjiki no Gash Bell! in Japan) now coming out in America. Basic Story: Booksmart but socially inept (and horribly bullied) junior high student Kiyomaru Takamine one day receives a present from his traveling father. Except that this present is a little amnesiac boy named Zatch (Gash), who has bizarre powers. It quickly emerges that Zatch is only one of one hundred mamono (demons/monsters) who have been sent from Makai (demon/spirit world) to battle for the privilege of becoming King. For reasons that are not at the beginning entirely clear, each mamono must work with a human partner. The mamono's primary powers are locked by a spellbook, which the human must read out of to activate the "spell." The human's emotions fuel the spells and influence the way the mamono's power and personality develop. As the pair becomes more skilled, new spells appear. This setup looks like it might be a bit tricky in Hero System. Most of the partners (at least in the early going) are normal humans, but they have to take actions to read the spells. (Kiyo's an exceptionally useful partner, with a high INT, plenty of KS's, and very quickly picking up Tactics.) I like Suzy (Suzume), the Incompetent DNPC who at the start of the series is Kiyo's only friend (even if he won't admit she's a friend.)

Re: Alternate Earth/WWYCD: The Legacy Of The Metal Wars... Rock Bottom: Helps smash robots. His unique physiology makes him largely immune to chemical and biological attacks, though Dread seems to rely less on those in the second season. Calculus: Is best suited to the strategic end of things. He'd certainly be trying to get as much information as possible on the technology of the day, even if he's not a gadgeteer as such. Mask of Justice: Is a bit underpowered for the setting; his sensory abilities are pretty much matched by the futuristic technology. If he can be fitted with a Power Suit, though, his fighting skills will be of great help. Kira Midori: This world is a nightmare for her. War robots are forbidden in her world for a reason, after all. Her powers and weaponry don't work particularly well on mechanical lifeforms, and she's not keen on becoming a soldier. Her primary goal would be getting to the next dimension in hopes of finding a way home. Talion: His powers don't work on robots. On the other hand, he can come back from being digitized. He'll make a great distraction.

Re: Anime Champions? An interesting variant of this is in the anime/manga Zatch Bell (Gash Bell in the Japanese). The theory the fans have is that the more angst a person has, the more powerful a mamodo (demon, basically) partner they can attract. So the hero Kiyo, who is absolutely miserable at the beginning of the series due to bullying, gets Zatch, who's very powerful. Folgore, an internationally beloved superstar, gets a mamodo that couldn't fight its way out of a wet paper bag. "Suzy", Kiyo's rather dim but very optimistic DNPC, has been rated at "gets a rock with a smiley face on it."

Re: WWYCD: Holes in the story Talion: "Yep, typical morning all right. Next you'll tell me you're freshly out of every other kind of donut I request."