Shadow Jack

Re: Help with Racist Slang I would agree. As soon as you began stereotyping or categorizing people with different ethnic groups, purposely to be slang then you are crossing into racism, imho. You may want to coin a few phrases and some favored insults instead of developing a full racist persona. This would be enough also.

Re: Character Brainstorming The level of detail in the background is usually up to the GM. Unless the GM has a pre-defined game he wants to run or whether he wants to run set scenarios that build into a campaign, the extra detail of characters are nice to bring out the character in question. In past games, I thought it was a treat to have a GM exploit my disadvantages and center a few games sessions on them. It doesn't ruin the overall campaign, instead, they have actually helped me develop the character and offer chances to buy off disadvantages. This is, of course, depending on why style of game the GM prefers to run. Either way, I think extra details to backgrounds are pivotal to character development. It also offers story options for GMs to fill in campaign gaps with side adventures. But I do agree that you should talk with the GM and get some sort of approval before you re-write the campaign city/setting.

Re: Character Brainstorming I will toss some ideas out. Your father could be traditional in the sense the oldest son takes is destined to take over the criminal empire. For different reasons, your mother tried to run--breaking free of your father's control--and abandoned you in an obscure hosiptal. Your mother is caught and disappears. The state adopts you out unknowning who the real parents were. Meanwhile, your father's empire grows and becomes more influential. He learns about you and wants you to join him, fulfill his vision of tradition. Scorned by your refusal he rages--since only dead men talk back to the 'mastermind' While his right hand man, or rival sibling, also learns about you and feels threatened. He wants to rub you out but you escaped and your adopted family was slaughtered. If the character has a code verse killing, your father's hunted may be one the lines manipulative games pitted against your ethic codes without regard for the innocents harmed or killed by the pawns that carry out his agenda. Alternatively, the right-hand-man, or rival sibling, wants to eliminate you to secure his position with your father. This person's agenda is comepletely seperate intrigue. He typically hires out muscle to do his job at the same time concealing his identity (mysterious enemy). Hmm,... I don't have anything off the top of my head for costume, symbols, and the like for your hero persona...Okay, here's a stab. If you went with Scratch, you could take up Tiger kung fu (or something else) and combine some super gadgets with power claws (clinging, +HA, +HKA, or so). with some various effect gizmos resembling throwing stars (maybe a varient of the trick arrows) I liked the idea of a daredevil body suit in combo to a trench coat, but I'm partial to mixing street clothes with costumes. I thought it would be neat to have some kind of super climb power to scale buildings plus some super acrobatic leaps across the tops. I hope this helps. ~Shadow Jack

Re: Super Heros...almost When I played back in the days, this style of campaign starts were most preferred. They are probably the most enjoyable because agents were damn effective and a group of them spelled trouble for us heros. I was KO'd by an agent once, and my teammates never let me forget it... The games were fun and had a lots of role-play opportunities.

Re: Help finishing a character - Origami let me toss out some ideas out. You can put points to the suggestions... Susc. (ops, Vuln) Hypnotic Mind Powers (can easily be transfixed) Compulsive Behavior (possible tick, dislikes disorganization,.. ) Enrage when unable to satisfy the Compulsive Behavior He could have periods of regression to the time when he was autistic...? Psychological Lim: Absentminded (mild regression of autism) Susc. (ops, Vuln) to Presence Attacks x 1 1/2 Secret ID Hunted by Rival Psychologists of Dr. Quinton --some role-play fun that you don't want your Hero ID Hunteds to know about... Alright, I hope these ideas help. ~Shadow Jack

Re: Trolling for feedback,.. Let me answer your initial questions. 1. The character will have exceptional characteristics. The "speedster" level of speed represent his power to flip forward and slowing time to act, in which he seemingly shutter through, or skips across, the possibilities of time. The optional +3 DCV would reflect the rapid motion, sudden suprise, and the difficulty to track him. 2. The limited "Mind over Body" minor powers are intended to be innate i.e. powers that are not visible nor creates any Kia power affects. Conceptional powers include, but not restricted to, damage resistance, hardened PD/ED, improved REC, power defense, ego defense, lack weakness, +d6's to HtH DC,... Depending on the power, such as, Life Support would cost END when invoking this exceptional talent. I hope this helps explain some... First, thank you for your suggestions! I can understand your lower view on Duplication. This is mostly my primary identifying power, so I like it to work out. In the past, I have elected to allow my duplicates to be an NPC instead of micro-managing their actions, unless I'm in combat phases. My past GMs thought this was convenient to play out the nominial tasks the duplicate does in the back drop of the present scene--it also lets me play up the character's powers without disrupting the current scene's flow, whether its combative or not. I also do not believe its necessary to always be duplicated--this doesn't make sense, plus its dangerous! Let me expand on the idea of using Duplication. I want it to have some restrictions, such as, costing END to maintain and -5 pts reduced characteristics (non-figured) as long as the duplicate is active. The duplicate is unable to perform non-physical skills greater than 8- skill level (its shares the primary's intellect and reasoning). I also want to re-join without phsycial contact. Okay, I hope this clears up some of your questions. I do like the following ideas... 1. Teleportation! Jumping outside the bounds of time and space, reappearing where I'm suppose to be... Excellent idea! 2. Density Increase--I'm hesitant on this--only because this may over balance the character, assuming it would also create a "speedster" Brick. Perhaps, knockback and damage resistance to simulate this as an alternative... 3. Danger Sense and/or Combat Sense, are skills that I like to get. I don't think I will go with Precognition--I like the idea of some GM hinting than actual visions. I like the lucky idea also. I am thinking 3d6 Luck and 3d6 Unluck, or go for the gusto and chance 5d6 of each. Playing with the "time-stream" with unpredictable results is exactly what I thought of too. Yes, you are. I agree that I need to be careful not to mish-mash. I really want to stay focus and be very selective on powers by not cramming too many powers under the power's origins. He will have a few gadgets but nothing extremely specialized--regular issued equipment an agent would get. ~Shadow Jack

Hello again, I am working on a character, well trying to better define an old character actually. I have a couple reasons why I am posting here. Mostly in hope for some constructive feedback. The character I am working rebuilding had a varient of time manipulation; more so towards manipulating the threads of time and space. The abstract concept was that his spiritual essence existed across a multiplicity of time, space and dimensions funneling towards a singular entity--empowering his physical form. The threads of destiny, choice, or however people want to theorize various timelines are also the spiritual strands that give cohesiveness to his spiritual essence: like a intricate spider web focusing around one central point. Thus, his physical form is superhuman--fortified by the spiritual energy. The connection between his super powers--manipulating the threads of time and space--is that he can exert control over his own spiritual energy which enables him to manipulate the multitude of timeline possibilities. Fairly abstract, I know. Before I continue, does this make sense to you? Powers that I thought would define the character... 1. Improved Characteristics 2. Improved Speed linked with +3 DCV Mod 3. Limited "Mind of Body" power effects 4. Duplication, limited Duration --Manifesting a shadowing image of himself from an alternative timeline. Multiple duplicates over time and experience. 5. Enhanced perception of omens, danger, and minor precognition for GM use. 6. Luck and Unluck --Fortune may come with consequence. I have a background that leds into his skills, perks, etc. I was wondering what you thought and whether it made sense to you, and does the powers support the concept. Oh and the other reason for posting it here is that if I'm not able to find a local group I may apply for a PBEM slot. I like to be able to explain the rationality of the powers, concept, etc. to the potential GM. A thousand thanks for your time... ~Shadow Jack

Re: Name help requested for an idealistic archer How about... Talon Ah, I guess I'm too late to suggest a name...

Re: old player & fan of Champions Let me say, thank you for the welcoming here. Yes, I'm from the Champions, II, and IIIs days... This game was perhaps the funniest game I've played in my role-play history--everyone's got to love making up their own superhero. I must give due credit to my old friends and gaming buddies who brought out the best in the game. Since HERO games reads the boards, I like to say Dr. Destroyer struck fear to our hero group--Our pool of GMs played him off real, real well. Even when our characters were powerful enough to KO him in single combat--the mysterious fear factor was well done. To share some about my former Champion's universe... UNTIL was the bomb... The arch-rivals of PRIME... VIPER was a GI Joe clone group in which we passed off as wannabe villians... PRIME was our self-righteous patriot hero organization. Role-play wise, our group dumped on these guys for the protrayed arrogance in our games. PRIME is an cool concept organization but at the time of its printing, UNTIL had an intricate role in our universe--often challenging each other's authority. DEMON was our primary enemy. We combined The Black Knight and Dark Seraph unique agents of this group. The history of these guys was very cool, so much that we incorporated DEMON into our Justice Inc. games. Doctor Destroyer was the world-reknown arch enemy. This guys was the ultimate bad guy in our games... Menton was a frequent antagonist as our Mentalist took him as a rival and hunted disadvantage--it sucked. Anyways, I do look forward to seeing the 5th Edition. I will wait until this is released to buy my set of books. Until then I'll continue to window shop. I am not sure whether I will GM or play. It depends on whether there is a group playing near me. ~Shadow Jack

Alright, the movie The Incredibles got me looking back at my old, I guess classic editions of HERO, books and wanting to play again. I am an old role-player who primarily played Champions for the longest time. Years before publishers changed hands. When Dr. Destroyer was the ultimate bad guy! A few of my favorite genres were Champions and Justice Inc., although I sampled several other genres those were the top two. Today, I am window browsing the new version and wondering what's really changed? Well, thanks... If you have any tips for "newcomers" to the HERO game system, I sure would appreciate your advice. Also... Is UNTIL still around? ~Shadow Jack