Tom

Re: Ps238 Depending on the mix of ages, your players could be faculty or students or both. If you don't want to spend a lot of time making the characters, and your group isn't particularly familiar with the comic, you can use the character sheets in the book and make your own adventures. On the other hand, if you and your group want to take the time, you can make your own characters and use the characters in the book (and the comic book stories) to create the background for your game.

Re: Fantasy art I like it too, and I can't claim bias...

Re: Help Needed Locating Generator I've gotten quite a bit of use out of AutoRealm (link). It's free, but there is a bit of a learning curve.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Surprisingly enough, I actually like the first one best of the three...

Re: Nebula from Conquerors, Killers, & Crooks p.184-186 Just going to insert a couple of only semi-random thoughts here. Thinking on Nebula's EDM attack, the first thing which comes to my mind is the Phantom Zone from Superman followed immediately by any number of extra-dimensional prisons I've stumbled across in various settings and material I've come across over the years. Now initially, my first objection along these lines is having that sort of power in the hands of a single character as a 'typical' weapon issued as standard equipment. Until I remembered ROM: Space Knight. (not a series I ever read much of, but the char and his stories crossed into some of the Marvel stuff I did read back then). As given, Nebula and her EDM attack fit within established genre conventions and storylines. That does not mean I as a GM have to use her, or even want to use her. In fact, I've never used her as written. I've used her sheet (minus the EDM attack) as a template for throwaway NPCs, so even as a char I have no use for story wise (to date) I've been able to use her writeup in CKC for my game. This is true of any number of the characters HERO has produced. There are any number of stories I have no interest in telling/re-telling as either a player or a GM. That doesn't mean other people might want to explore those stories, and as a producer of game materials, HERO is best served by producing as wide a variety of potential NPCs and plot hooks as they can manage.

Re: Getting started in Champions with two young boys Or PS238 -- though I believe that's written using the 5e (basic) ruleset. Which I also believe is included with the sourcebook, but I won't swear to it... Though the bottom line is what sort of game the boys' in question are interested in and that Jim is interested in running, which makes the 6e Basic book a darn good place to start imo...

Re: Character Concept: Redirecting and amplifying teammate's attacks I did something very similar to this with a character. The idea was he could 'catch' an attack, amplify it, then send it back... This is built as a Compound Power with 60APts. Still, obviously, GM approval required and technically he can't mimic the Advantages of any powers with greater than +1/2 in Advantages (though I used the same qualifier as with determining the area of an AOE -- it only applies to damage effecting Advantages {ie: AP - yes, Reduced END - no})

Re: Double Tap I can't speak for all states, but in OH double tap is the standard training/qualification requirement for LE and armed security. (as is 'tactical reload' for pistols)

Re: So I snagged San Angelo on the very cheap I haven't torn into the builds yet, (I'm out of town for work and the backup laptop is fine for light surfing and email but it's on the slow side), but the backgrounds you've built for these characters is impressive. I'd give you rep, but I don't break out the stick often enough so I've got to spread it around before it recharges... That I keep seeing HC similarities probably explains why I came back to that game. (Mind's Eye reminds me of Terri in terms of b/g...)

Re: So I snagged San Angelo on the very cheap Well, Gale isn't an occult expert either. Though both Hannah and (more importantly) Silas are working on that. And I imagine Gale gets along a lot better with Elly than Raven is with Coyote...

Re: So I snagged San Angelo on the very cheap I like Raven and Windfall, and would play either character -- though both have me thinking of Gale for some reason...

Re: WWYD - Raising You Kodiak: Has another son. Feel pity for any of the VIPER scientists responsible and the Nest Leader if either he or his sister catch up with them. Making sure VIPER has no more of his genetic material, and eliminating the project notes, is a personal priority. Speedzone: "Another clone?!? Did I desecrate a shrine or something?" Well, his future daughter is supposed to have a brother... Focus: He's 15! Guess he'll have a little brother to go with the little sister on the way... Facet: He's living crystal now. I'm honestly not sure how he'll deal with the kid... Lynchpin: She's a teenager just starting college. Since her powers are at least partially magical in nature, I'm not sure they'd copy. I wonder if Dad is up to raising her 'again'...

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... An hour doesn't seem like a long time -- unless you have to drive it each way... *sigh*

Re: Which older modules are worth running? I'm fond of both Coriolis Effect and To Serve and Protect, and have run/used both. I like VOICE of Doom, but have never had a group I was comfortable using it against (though I have used elements of it in my games from time to time).

Re: Any 6th edition Spreadsheets? I put a basic one together a while back as an exercise using Excel 2007, but I've never really used it. HD really is much simpler to use. I've only automated the calculation of characteristics costs and summing categories. Basic 6e sheet using Excel 2007

Re: In Progress From Blackwyrm Games: Mythic America I keep thinking this would work really well with Babylon and the Mystic World...

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Poor Aquatic has been invited to Atlantis to be a target of the revolution. Naturally, he needs suitably martial gear to fit in...

Re: 6th ed updates for Mechanon and Dr Destroyer? I'm actually of two minds on how to convert between 5eR and 6e. One method is simply try to convert as close to 1:1 as you can, ignoring costs as needed and adapting to changes as necessary. It's pretty straight forward, but surprises are possible (Megascale comes to mind). The change from 1"=2m and costing in 'inches' to costing in meters is something to keep an eye on as well. The major plus is it's the easiest path to take, and you can use previous edition material 'on-the-fly' (ie: w/o taking the time to convert) should you want/need to... This ignores the effect of eliminating Figured Characteristics. One of the first conversions I tried (as a thought exercise) was Photon in CKC. I first converted 1:1 (as close as the rules allowed), and then evaluated how I'd write the sheet if I were going to use it in my game as an ongoing character (something I tend to do with most published chars -- there are almost always things I'd do differently one way or another for an assortment of reasons). The biggest thing that leapt out at me was there is absolutely no reason for this character to have a 30 DEX in 6e! It doesn't save you any points on buying her SPD and OCV/DCV up to 5e levels, and she doesn't have any DEX-based Skills. DEX is still used to determine order of attack in a phase, but Lightning Reflexes-All Actions is significantly cheaper than buying the equivalent amount of DEX. If you limit the LR to only her Ranged powers, you save even more... That brings up the second option. Re-thinking your 'standard' ranges for characteristics like DEX and SPD, and converting all characters to the new levels. This will take a little more work, and forces you to decide how much of an impact you want to have on your gaming experience. DEX is probably the easiest -- you can have your PCs/major villains clustering around (say) 18 instead of 23 and have no real impact on play while leaving the agents/mooks clustering between 10-15. Dropping your SPD range from 4-6 to 3-5 starts becoming more problematic if your agents/mooks are running between 2-4... I'm currently thinking its easier to keep my existing games as 5eR, and running anything new as 6e and converting existing material based on where we design the PCs...

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... The player may be happy (or not), but Aquatic is probably regretting my return to GMing...

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine There are worse things to be channeling...

Re: 10 US Military Aircraft That Never Quite Made It Off hand, I'd say the X-Men's transport just used the external visuals for the SR-71 and that was the extent of it. IIRC, the SR-71 was a single seater (though it may have been a two seater). There was no way the entire X-team was riding in one, and we'll just ignore the fact it isn't VTOL either... (little more looking and it seems like the SR-71 was a two seater, though there was a trainer 'B' variant with an additional cockpit for an instructor)

Re: Cool Guns for your Games 'Green Hornet', I believe...

Re: STAR HERO Reading List For lighter sci-fi, Phil Foglio's 'Buck Godot' graphic novels. 'Zap Gun for Hire' is a series of shorts, but 'PSmIth' and 'The Gualimaufry' are both enjoyable and fairly quick (the time consuming part can be looking for the sight-gags). I believe they're available to read online as well...

Re: STAR HERO Reading List The Lensman series is EE 'Doc' Smith's best known work (and is great for Military/Covert Ops style action), I'd strongly recommend the Skylark and Subspace series as well if you can find them as well as 'The Vortex Blaster'/'Masters of the Vortex'. My middle-aged memory may be painting too rosy a picture, but if you can imagine pulp sci-fi, this is probably it. Plus, these books are on less of a multi-galaxy-spanning-conflict-involving-cosmic-level-puppet-masters-and-planet-destroying-interstellar-battles scale than the Lensman gets to be... (though how cool is it to destroy a planet by placing it between two opposing planetary masses and watching the resulting collision?) 'The Witches of Karres' is sometimes considered to be James Schmidtz's most 'classic' work, and it certainly has a good RPG material feel to it IMO. Weber's Harrington series is solid military sci-fi, though it works best from a gamer's perspective in the earlier books (If I had to pick just two for you, I'd suggest 'On Basilisk Station' and 'Honor Among Enemies'. Obviously y(and others)mmv). I like Weber's 'Path of the Fury'/'In Fury Born' better for 'over-the-top space opera', but in fair warning, anyone who thinks Honor Harrington is a Mary Sue char obviously hasn't met Alicia DeVries. Still, power gamers have got to love a three way cross between a mythological entity, a cybernetically-enhanced commando, and an AI superstarship. I've been known to describe 'Fury' as a high-end Star Hero game about to go Galactic Champions. Also in the Military Sci-Fi/Space Opera romp tradition, I'd add Bill Baldwin's 'Helmsman' series. The books lose steam, imo, in the last couple of installments, but they're much lighter material than Weber's books and have more of a gamer-feel to them. (I'd build a wargame campaign off the Weber stuff, iow, but I'd build a RP campaign off of Baldwin. Picking two: 'The Helmsman' and 'The Trophy')

Re: Domino costume The power of personal expectations... It used to be a running joke when I was in the service about guys meeting into the women they served with all day and not recognizing them in their civvies in the evening. The funny part being, frequently enough, it was true... Doesn't help with the Lois Lane and Superman/Clark Kent thing, but it does work for the 'average' person often enough to give it a pass as a trope...