Alverant

Re: Too real?

I'd like to say the key is balance and making sure you take turns playing up to the stereotypes but I can't. I am in a campaign where the GM did a liberal parody months ago. When I objected he said he'd do a conservative parody. So far he hasn't.

I'd avoid real world organizations as a basis. Even if all the players approve, you run the risk of turning the game into a bash-[insert group here]-o'rama. Then think about what happens when the group gains a new player who happens to like that group. Suddenly you have this big shift so the new guy feels welcome. That's in addition to all the campaign history the new guy needs to be brought up to speed. Gaming groups aren't that common someone may have to put up with having their beliefs trashed just for the sake of being part of the group.

Re: WWYCD #124 or so:Peace on Earth

Starguard's worst enemy is apparently Luther Black(*)' date=' so I don't think it'd be a very productive day, given that his mere presence would trigger her Susceptibility(**) and leave her curled up on the floor in the fetal position after a couple minutes.[/quote']

 

I think I found a loophole! Have the meeting in a "right to die" state/province/country then free him from the "infernal bindings" (life support system not the inhuman monsters he made contracts with) that are holding him down. An act of love and mercy would be permitted by the cosmic being. And you'll save the world from a horrible fate to boot!

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

"It's in the abandoned warehouse district."

Where are the abandoned luxury penthouses?

Re: Campaign History, how did yours become dark?

To answer some of the questions:

I'd like to make my own world because while I want the campaign to be realistic, I'd like to include some mysteries, conspiracies, etc that don't exist (or are seriously toned down) in the real world. The Illuminati for example. I don't want to cross the line of having magic and superpowers but I would like to approach it.

I'm not aiming for dystopia. I want things to be Bad not Bad Beyond Redemption. The PCs will be part of the last best effort to prevent the collapse.

The time period will be the present or near future (10 years) depending on the final decisions on the nature of the campaign. So CRT TVs will no longer be used, cash has all but been replaced by some form of electronic currency, GPS and cell phones are common place. I want to have a realistic expectations of the future if the campaign takes place there. No cybernetics, flying cars, etc.

I've been tossing around the idea of running a DC campaign in my gaming group. A few months ago I posted a campaign history for group review. I don't think it went over well. After the Civil War the rules for how the federal government was run and presidential elections were rewritten. The end result was a smaller federal government that did less but what they did do they did well. Also with a less powerful federal government, there wasn't as much patriotism or national identity. (Historically a strong central government did more to unify a nation than a weak one.) People's loyalty was focused locally. For example when Katrina hit New Orleans people in Maine or Oregon were as apathetic about that as US citizens in the real world are as apathetic about flooding in say Sri Lanka. (Sorry folks, no offense intended but the last time serious flooding hit a distant nation the only people in my neighborhood who seemed to care apart from myself were the missionary family across the street. They were more ... giddy than concerned IMHO.)

So anyway it seemed most of my group liked the idea of a smaller federal government even though it meant things like no national fingerprint registry or FBI or DNA labs or sex offender database or those other expensive law enforcement tools used in the here and now. My goal wasn't to push politics but I was hoping to go for the idea that "there's such a thing as overdoing it".

Now I want to rewrite the campaign background so it's more appealing to the players. I still want the campaign to be focused around fighting corruption and fighting for justice as unofficial law enforcement. The problem is, how did the campaign decay so much in the first place? How did things get so bad that vigilantes are being commissioned by federal agents to clean things up?

The campaign rules are for 200 pt normal characters. Any special abilities must be plausible to reproduce in the real world. There's a place for drama but don't go overboard. Also the PCs may kill obvious criminals like drug dealers but they'd better be dang sure that if they kill the "respectable businessman" they give the press enough evidence so everyone knows he's an evil criminal who deserved what he got. Doubly so for dirty cops.

So for people who made their own campaign world, how did you make it dark? How much history did you have (if any)? My personal preference is to have a grasp of the big picture and know why and how things got bad instead of just accepting that they are bad. I figure the first step in solving the problem is to figure out the cause.

Re: where do the villains get the MONEY?

If you want to have a long term villain, start him out as a henchman. As the campaign progresses he saves enough money to become a master villain on his own and hire his own lackeys.

But for world-class villains you can have rich parents who meet a mysterious demise.

Re: terrorist mutants

I can't think of one but if you have to create your own, I have an idea.

First make the mutant not very powerful but give him a strong personality and a victim's history that turned him evil. Average stats except for Int, Ego, and Pre (make that one big 30+). He's an organizer getting other people to do his dirty work. He wouldn't have a mutant kill an anti-mutant politician. That would be obvious. He'd hire someone to hire someone else to kill the anti-mutant politician. The only time he hires mutants is either to a) keep people from seeing a pattern or eliminate potential rivals in the mutant underground.

Re: Transformer Buildshop Redoux Part 5

I think that's a bit much. Not many Transformers had telepathic powers. Soundwave could read minds, Mindwipe had mind control and some detection, but that's all I remember. What types of limitations would you put on this power? Does it take time or concentration? Does it require physical contact or a willing or unconscious target?

If I had to rewrite the power, I would make it so he could read the data on any non-sentient computer system by touch.

Re: Quantum Powers

Just for my own 2 cents: Quantum Manipulation is powerful special effect and can be used to justify almost anything. But like any other power you have to learn how to use it to do what you want. A computer programmer can get a computer to do anything a computer can do. But it takes time and skill to get it to do any one thing right or well. A character has to learn how to use Quantum powers to teleport, create instabilities, disrupt electron flow just as a character with Ice powers has to learn how to create ice slides, lower temperatures, or freeze the water in your blood.

If anything Quantum powers need greater justification to put in a power framework. Not because they're more powerful or versatile but because they work on a small scale. For example destabilizing a few atoms won't cause a very big explosion. It would hardly even be noticeable. In chemistry there is a number called "Avogadro constant" which is 6*10^23. It takes that many atoms of an element for its atomic weight to be that many grams. There are that many molecules in 18 GRAMS of water. That's about a teaspoon. Think about the types and number of atoms and molecules a quantum manipulator would have to work with AT ONCE to do anything.

If power special effects had prerequisites, this would be one of them. Microscopic vision x1000000, speed reading x1000000, lightning calculator, eidetic memory, high science skills, etc. I don't have Ultimate Energy Projecter on hand but I'd say this was worth at least a +1/2.

For powers, I suggest reading a little about Quantum Mechanics (a wiki article for example or PBS/Discovery special). Look at what it does on a small scale then let your imagination run wild on a larger scale.

Re: Quantum Powers

Originally Posted by Jaxom View Post

If someone can suppress quantum uncertainty the universe falls apart.

Dude. Comic book.

Dude, disintegration NND (defense force field) does body. That's what happens if you suppress quantum uncertainty in a small area.

Re: Alien Mysteries of the Champions Universe

How did Earth become the source of the mana flow throughout the galaxy, if not beyond?

Where did the Progenitors come from?

More about the history/origin of the fungi aliens (can't spell their name)

Do alien cultures have their own Imaginariums (Elysium, Netherworld, Fairie, Babylon) and can you go from the Earth Babylon to the Persid Babylon?

Re: DCV of Stationary Object

This is a bit off topic but in Cyberpunk v3, it's easier to hit a person who's trying to dodge than a garbage can. In that game stationary object "target number" is determined by size. For people, the "target number" is lower than a stationary object but you get to add your dodge skill to it. But guess what, you have to BUY your dodge skill and it's a major point investment to get your dodge skill so it's harder to hit you than a stationary object. That's one reason why I hate this game system. In a firefight, the best way for most characters to avoid being hit is to drop to one knee and stay still (becoming a stationary half-man object).

But Champions isn't much better. A normal (DCV 3) person dodging has a DCV of 6. An object with the equivalent of one level of shrinking has DCV of 5.

Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z

My familiarity comes chiefly from the short lived "Impact" line DC put out temporarily (and rights reverted)

That was a good collection of comics. I almost have a complete set. I wish it did better. The line was a chance to see a superhero universe arise from the start instead of having decades of history behind it. !mpact, we shall remember you.

Re: Is it fun to play RPGs online?

I'm part of a Pulp game that has had to go online due to people moving away. Since then the games have become less frequent (actually I think the campaign is next to dead at this point) and we spent about a half hour per session trying to calibrate the software. Unfortunately conference phones are hundreds of dollars. If they were cheap, I would have set one up and avoid all this voice activated computer crap. When all the software is working and there's no lag, it's fun. But the fun factor goes down as the computer difficulties go up. Personally, I see it as a last resort.

Re: Superheroes and lethal force

I thought the reasons why comic book heroes didn't kill was to keep the writers from having to create a new villain each time and having a villain come back for revenge was an easy plot to create.

That being said, all my characters had some form of killing attack and used them mostly against inanimate objects, villains who could take the hit (and hopefully win at the stun lotto), villains who are innately evil (nazis), and psychos who need to be put down like a rabid dog.

My group treats lethal force generally the same way with the additional caveat of it being a desperate situation. We have a character with a 3d6 RKA, Find Weakness, and a knack for making head shots. It only happens when we're facing defeat.

Re: The futures of the past.

You mean like a moonbase launching rockets in 1984?

As Crow T Robot said, "Oh yeah, our old future."

Re: US Police Equipment

Emphasis added.

Sounds like a rent-a-cop to me.

Nope, one of Illinois's finest. But his accent indicates he grew up in the southern part of the state.

Re: US Police Equipment

[hijack]

We'd have concealed carry if Illinois could kick Chicago out of the state. When it comes to a vote' date=' Chicago votes overwhelmingly against, the rest of the state overwhelmingly for.[/quote']

 

Tell you what Scuba, you nearly get Cheney-ed twice by people being irresponsible with guns then we can talk about the necessity of "a well regulated militia".

 

[/hijack]

Re: US Police Equipment

I work in downtown Chicago and take the train. The police officer has a bullet proof vest, gun, radio, mace, and about 30 extra pounds.

Re: A Common Origin Story For An Entire Team ?

I was a player in one of these campaigns and tried to run one myself as a teenager. What happened was that we designed competent normals complete with backgrounds and the GM gave us our powers and origin.

Since half of the players have no experience in Hero system, this will get them some experience with the system. And the other half can help.

Re: [Gestalt] Role playing tips

What's a Pure Gestalt?

Re: Red Ensign

Don't have the book' date=' but the first thing that came to mind is the ability to teleport to a planet's surface with several people...and then get killed by a vicious alien. [/quote']

 

That's what I thought this thread was about after reading the title. "Summon Sacrifice - I mean Security - Guard" Summon 250 pt character, ranged, Trigger (first combat phase 12), Slavishly Loyal, Use once per encounter, Dies after 1 turn (or less). Sacrifice Guard has one power, an invisible AE Mind Control with single telepathic command, "Attack Me".

Re: Teleios: The origin story

I like the time travel theory. He may not have powers, but gadgets don't count do they?

As an alternative, I suggest Mechanon did it. There is a chink in the perfect man's disease-proof armor that is inherited in all of T's creations. When the time is right a virus Mechanon made will merge with the altered DNA and create a world-wide plague to wipe out all higher forms of life. It's only a matter of time until there are enough of T's creations scattered over the world to make the pandemic possible.

Re: Single Enemy Campaigns

Remember though' date=' that this is not necessarily "single enemy in the whole setting" (even though that's how the discussion has gone so far), but also "single enemy for the campaign", given that "campaign" is a subset of "setting". The latter matches a good amount of heroic fiction.[/quote']

 

Actually that was the intention. This is a fictional world, we can make it as simple as we want. In some TV series from Transformers to Stargate SG1 there was one primary enemy. Almost every episode dealt with that enemy even if it wasn't obvious at first. I was wondering if anyone tried it in their gaming group.

 

I was thinking it would be hinted at like a Viper nest leader using a Demon magic want or finding out an elite Viper agent is now one of Dr.Destroyer's henchmen.

The thread about "single origin campaigns" gave me an idea about exploring the idea of single enemy campaigns where most (or all) of the opponents you face are different aspects of the same organization. Has anyone ever tried it? I have two ideas.

Viper, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule to world. (Sorry folks, had to say it.) It started during WWII by a cabal of business men to exploit every dark facet of humanity, every tragedy, do anything for money and power.

Viper: naturally the main bulk of their forces used pretty much as written in the book sans their snake god.

Demon: a group of Satanists who is the mystic branch of Viper seeks magical power in the form of artifacts and basic spells to do what technology cannot. There is nothing above the level of Morbanes and the Edomites are not part of Demon ... yet.

Mechanon: a AI developed by Viper who has mostly gotten out of their control. Mechanon was originally programmed to "Wipe out all resistance" but a glitch changed it to "Wipe out all existence". Viper still has enough control to keep it away from their bases and agenda most of the time.

Dr.Destroyer: the immortal secret head and founder of Viper. Leaving Nazi Germany early in WWII he feels he is the apex of humanity and it is his right to rule over all.

Demon, the gravest threat to this world and beyond by summoning the Edomites to this universe.

Viper: much smaller than the standard Champions universe. Their purpose is to spread misery and despair while acting as a cover for Demon's real purpose. It is also a "dumping ground" for people who are evil but just aren't the type of people Demon would recruit or have no magic potential.

Demon: used as written in their book.

Mechanon: a summoned golem from the technosphere who has become infected by the Edomite taint and as much of a Demon enemy and threat as a rival and ally. Both seek the same goal, it's a question of who will receive the most power when it is accomplished.

Dr.Destroyer: a former member of the Inner Circle (replaced by Pandemonium) who left when he decided that he should rule and be worshiped by humanity instead of Luther Black. But unlike Black, Destroyer does not want to share the power with the other Kings of Edom. He wishes to keep them imprisoned and gain power for himself. This Destroyer is more technology based but uses some magic because he will not allow himself to be beholden to higher (or lower) entities instead he goes the route of using non-sentient natural/supernatural forces.