wcw43921

Re: Tremble Before The Might Of--SHOCKTRAUMA!!! So--nobody has any comments on the character? Well--darn. Just--darn.

http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=102748 Swap out the IMAX camera for an autoblaster, mount a grenade launcher or two, and you're ready to Fight Evil. The perfect vehicle for all you Mystery Men-level heroes.

Re: Captain Jack So it's a function of the TARDIS, huh? I always thought that Time Lords were moderately telepathic--not enough to read minds outright, but enough to communicate with alien species they'd never met before. They pick up the surface thoughts as they're expressed verbally, and transmit their own surface thoughts, which are perceived by the recipient as verbal expression. Or something like that. The Time Lords possessing telepathy would also explain the Doctor's--and most especially the Master's--ability to hypnotize people instantly and take complete control of them. Real-life hypnosis doesn't work that way. (Does the new Doctor have that kind of ability?)

Re: Tremble Before The Might Of--SHOCKTRAUMA!!! Powers/Tactics: The accident that led to Jenkins becoming ShockTrauma altered his body along with his mind. His body is now a living storage battery, and he can recharge his energy from any live electrical source. He can use his stored electricity to boost his strength to superhuman levels, and it provides him with a natural resistance to energy-based attacks. But his primary weapons are the lightning projectors built into his armor, which is configured to draw power from his body’s electrical energy. His armor can fire a single lightning bolt at a specific target, or a volley of lightning bolts over a wide area. It can also project a static electricity field that temporarily paralyzes the muscles of any persons within a specific target area. The armor itself is made of a metallic mesh that has a constant high voltage current running through it--anyone trying to grab him is in for quite a shock. Literally. The same mesh is also capable of generating an electromagnetic repulsion field, which he currently uses to fly and for which he will undoubtedly develop other uses. Being a living storage battery has one great drawback–ShockTrauma is especially vulnerable to being attacked with--or immersion in--water. It causes his stored electrical energy to discharge randomly, with disastrous and painful results. Needless to say this has given him an aversion to water, and makes him particularly angry when someone tries to use it against him. Appearance: Lester Jenkins was never the most handsome man–he stands 5' 9" and weighs a paunchy 230 pounds, with narrow, squinty eyes and a thin fringe of brownish hair that barely covers the back of his head. As ShockTrauma he wears a gleaming metallic mesh armor suit whose medieval appearance belies its high-tech construction. Over the armor he wears a sleeveless black tabard, fastened with a wide leather belt, which bears his emblem–a silver skull flanked by golden diagonal lightning bolts. A black metallic mesh cape hangs from his shoulders, and a gleaming metallic helmet in the shape of a skull covers the top of his head, leaving his lower jaw uncovered. His eyes are visible through the eye-holes of the skull.

Re: Tremble Before The Might Of--SHOCKTRAUMA!!! Personality/Motivation: As ShockTrauma, Jenkins has assumed the personality of a forgotten interstellar tyrant from the galaxy’s distant past. He isn’t possessed by the spirit of the tyrant, but his own mind has been augmented by the mental potential stored within the mnemonic crystal. Having no memory of this tyrant, Jenkins believes that everything he’s thinking and feeling is his own idea, and that his megalomania is working better for him than what he was doing before. He believes that he has the right to take whatever he wants from whomever he wants, and those who stand against him will suffer hideously for their foolishness. He enjoys making long-winded speeches about his own supremacy and the futility of opposing him, along with threats of deadly violence against his enemies. He does not work well with other villains, and will refuse to take orders from anyone no matter how much more powerful they are. While he is looking for minions to do his bidding and tremble before his might, he has focused the majority of his attention on the superhero Captain Wonder, who has consistently dealt ShockTrauma his most humiliating defeats. Jenkins doesn’t know how or why he came up the name ShockTrauma–it just sounded good at the time, and it still does. He’s toyed with the idea of calling himself Doctor ShockTrauma, or Master ShockTrauma, or even Emperor ShockTrauma–but none of those have the same effect as just ShockTrauma. Quote: “I will teach you the meaning of POWER! I will teach you the meaning of TERROR! YOU will perish in mindless agony, and if you are remembered at all, it shall be as the miserable IDIOT who was so STUPID as to challenge. . .SHOCKTRAUMA, LORD OF LIGHTNING!â€

Re: Tremble Before The Might Of--SHOCKTRAUMA!!! And here is ShockTrauma in HERO terms-- SHOCKTRAUMA Secret ID: Lester Jenkins Player: wcw43921 CHARACTERISTICS 10 STR 0 11- HTH Damage: 2D6 Lift: 100kg END: (1) 18 DEX 24 13- OCV: 6 DCV: 6 25 CON 30 14- 12 BDY 4 11- 20 INT 10 13- PER: 13- 25 EGO 30 14- ECV: 8 15 PRE 5 12- 6 COM -2 10- 10 PD 8 Resistant PD: 10 Total PD: 20 20 ED 15 Resistant ED: 20 Total ED: 20 5 SPD 22 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10,12 11 REC 8 64 END 7 45 STUN 15 TOTAL=176 MOVEMENT Ground 6" 12" Swim 0" 0" H-Leap 2" 4" V-Leap 1" 2" Flight 30" 60" POWERS(END) 50 Multipower, 75-point base, all OIF Metal Mesh Armor 5u Lightning Strike: 15D6 EnergyBlast (7) 3u Lightning Storm: 7D6 Energy Blast, Area Effect Cone(+1) (3) No Range (-½) 5u Death-Strike: 5D6 Ranged Killing Attack (7) 5u Lightning Shield: 5D6 Energy Blast, Damage Shield (+½) (0) Reduced END (+½) 5u Static Paralysis Entangle 3D6, 3 DEF, Area Effect 3" Radius (3) Field: Takes No Damage From Any Attack (+½) 5u Lightning Flight: 30" Flight, Reduced END (+1/4) (3) 40 Lightning Recharge: 12D6 Absorption, Goes To END, Only Vs. All Forms Of Electricity (-½) 16 Lightning-Powered +40 STR, Does Not Affect Figured (8) Muscle: Characteristics (-½) 2X END (-½) Activation 14- (-½) 20 Battle Armor: Armor 20 PD OIF Metal Mesh Armor (-½) 10 Energy Resistance: Damage Resistance 20 ED -2 Does Not Swim: -2" Swimming TOTAL=162 SKILLS 3 Electronics 13- 3 Inventor 13- 3 Oratory 12- 3 PS: Electrical Engineer 13- TOTAL=12 176=CHARACTERISTICS 162=POWERS 12=SKILLS 350=TOTAL DISADVANTAGES 25 Susceptibility: 3D6 From Immersion In Water 20 Vulnerability: 2X STUN From Water-Based Attacks 20 Enraged When Attacked With Water: Enraged 14- Recover 11- 15 Social Limitation: Secret ID (Lester Jenkins) 11- 20 Psychological Limitation: Hunts Captain Wonder (Common, Total) 25 Psychological Limitation: Desires To Dominate The World (Very Common, Strong) 25 Hunted By The Authorities (More Powerful, NCI) 150=TOTAL DISADVANTAGES 200=BASE POINTS 350=TOTAL POINTS

Those of you who read my post of Captain Wonder on this board will remember my mentioning his first and most persistent enemy, ShockTrauma. Here now is that character--please let me know what you think. SHOCKTRAUMA (Copyright 2005 by the author) Origin/Background: Twenty thousand years ago a great galactic war finally came to a close. The rubble was cleared away and the devastated worlds rebuilt. The dead were consecrated and mourned according to ritual. The living celebrated their own survival and the survival of their way of life, and praised the veterans for their courage, determination and sacrifice. There was only one thing left to do–punish the tyrant responsible for starting the war. It was decided by the war crimes tribunal that the tyrant would have his mind stripped out of his body and implanted in a mnemonic crystal, that then to be placed upon an asteroid and sent into the vast expanse between the stars. The body would be destroyed, and the mind, completely devoid of external stimulation, would be forced to contemplate for all eternity the unspeakable horrors and atrocities he had inflicted upon countless innocents. While it wasn’t punishment enough for his crimes, it would have to do. Twenty thousand years later, an unemployed public utilities worker named Lester Jenkins was indulging in his favorite pastime–falling asleep in front of a blaring television while drinking beer. It was another wasted night in his waste of a house in a waste of a nearly vacant housing development that was scheduled to be demolished in favor a new factory. And on top of that a storm was brewing–that meant more flooding in the basement. Maybe a few more beers and he could sleep through the whole thing– That was when he saw the light and felt the crash outside. Was that lightning? It didn’t seem like lightning. He went outside to look, and there at the bottom of the cul-de-sac that bordered his backyard was a strange, glowing rock half-buried in the middle of a crater. He went down to take a closer look as the rain began to fall, and as the ground softened to mud it became easier to dig the rock out of the crater. Jenkins didn’t know what he had found, but he figured it had to be worth a few hundred bucks–maybe a couple of thousand. Maybe even enough to chuck his old life and buy a new one. As he finally pulled the rock free, he cradled it in his hands like a newborn baby and smiled. This was his ticket to the big time. That was when the lightning struck. The crystal shattered into dust as the mind inside was transferred into the brain of Lester Jenkins. But twenty thousand years of silence and dankness had shattered the mind beyond recall. There was no memory of the tyrant left, of the armies and space fleets once at his command, of the genocide and devastation he’d inflicted on tens of thousands of worlds. What remained, however, was his intellectual capacity, his ability to understand a world’s technology and innovate and improve upon it. What remained was his indomitable will, his cold steel resolve to let nothing stand in the way of his goals, his desires. What remained were his goals–to rule the universe, to dominate all within his reach and beyond. What remained were his desires–to hold absolute power of life and death over all who lived, and to have them tremble in absolute terror at the thought. All of this was passed on to Lester Jenkins. He wasn’t quite aware of what had happened to him–only that he had been changed. He realized, as he watched electric sparks arcing between his fingers, that his body had been changed along with his mind. And he realized that he had the power to write his own ticket to the big time–and he would deal out screaming, angry death in all its forms to anyone who stood in his way. And he realized that even with as much power as he had–he wanted more. Lester Jenkins went back inside his house to build, and plan, and bring to life his dreams of power and destruction. That night, ShockTrauma was born.

Re: C.U. alternate world, after "Independence Day" One other thing to consider as far as their resource management--it occurred to me that perhaps, for all their power and technological superiority, they had never developed faster-than-light travel. That would explain their "locust" mindset and modus operandi--they strip a solar system of all its resources, then spend the next several decades (or centuries) moving on to the next star system. At that point they've depleted the resources from the previous system, and are ready to repeat the process. Which means for us, while we may get a great deal of significant technological advancements from the salvage of the ID4 aliens' ships, a working FTL drive will not be one of them. But we will, at last, have the tools to personally explore and colonize our own star system.

Re: What Champions Books Would You Like Published in the Future? I wouldn't mind if the Almanac concept was brought back--not all of us have ideas that could fill entire books, but could fill a section of one, and many of the ideas mentioned here (the CU Media Sourcebook comes to mind) could be done as an entry in an Almanac. Plus it could cover more than one genre of adventuring, reprint some of the more popular Digital Hero articles, and generally serve the HERO gaming community that much better.

Re: Favorite Super-Mercenary Interesting, the number of Utility fans on this thread. While I like the concept, I have never cared much for the name. I feel it lacks stature, impact--and really, it doesn't get the point across. You hear the name, and think, "What kind of name is 'Utility?'" Yeah, I know--Dr. Destroyer and Foxbat were already taken. But I think he could do better. I envisioned him taking the "I am smarter and better than everyone, especially superhumans" further than ever, and calling himself--Ultimate One. His costume would be a sort of "bulletproof latex" which would cover his entire body, with a faceplate that would leave doubt as to whether he was a cleverly disguised human--or an android. I also envisioned him taking over The Ultimates, after Binder was either imprisoned or incapacitated. Binder would eventually go after him, but the Ultimates would be doing so well under Ultimate One's leadership that they don't want Binder back. Chaos ensues as Binder recruits a rival team of Ultimates, or--all together now--Turns To The PCs For Help! Perhaps this should be in another thread--Re-Imagining Champions Universe Characters.

Re: Batman and How he does it. You have to remember, though, that Batman has been training himself since he was about seven years old. That's the only way you get to be that good--think Olympic-level gymnasts, figure skaters, etc. Most of us have long since passed the age when beginning to train like that would produce someone with the level of expertise and versatility that Batman possesses. The book would lend some interesting insight into the kind of discipline and training that would make a Batman--and almost any sort of physical activity is better for you than none at all. But as a "how-to" book on being Batman--that's like a "how-to" book on being a Jedi Knight. Which I'm sure has been published, somewhere. . .

Re: Favorite Super-Mercenary BULLET--Aka Randolph Ball. Originally a mercenary soldier, he became a bounty hunter who went after supervillains. Carried a pistol that used both lethal and non-lethal rounds, gas and flash grenades, and employed other super-gadgets. Leader of the Raiders, which included Big John, a Scottish strongman with Growth powers, and an alien explorer named Starseer. All three characters first appeared in Enemies III, and again in Classic Enemies for 4E. That's the short of it--hope that helps.

Re: Dr. Doom vs Iron Man That's what made Doomsday so great to me--you could have put him up against any hero or villain, deity or demigod, and he might get beat once--but he'd come back to life strong enough to beat whatever beat him before. Kinda knocks the whole "Who'd Win?" argument into the ditch, doesn't it?

Re: Dr. Doom vs Iron Man I'd love to see that fight, though. To me, the best fights in comics are between characters with identical or near-identical powers. Bricks vs. Bricks, Martial Artists vs. Martial Artists, Energy Projectors vs. Energy Projectors. Showdown time. Fantastic Four #25--The Hulk vs. The Thing. Imagine a pro wrestling match with better dialogue-- "Fool! You're just a muscular freak! But I'm The Hulk!" "I'll remember those words, playmate! They'll look great carved on your tombstone!" Fantastic Four Annual #4--Johnny Storm vs. the original Human Torch. Stripped of his memory and enslaved by the Mad Thinker, the Torch must kill Johnny or be destroyed. The full-page panel with the two of them colliding is Jack "THE KING!" Kirby at his best. I aso remember a Legion Of Super-Heroes story where Lightning Lad fought his brother, Lightning Lord. They were both glowing bright with electrical energy as they slugged it out. I thing Doom would have more surprises in his armor than anyone realizes. But then again--so would Iron Man. It would be one heck of a fight. I nominate George Perez to draw it.

Re: Sky High The Movie Hmmmm--interesting. Who ripped off whom? You see, I think Sky High owes a much greater debt to Up Up And Away, a 2000 made-for-Disney-TV movie. Robert "Meteor Man" Townsend directed and starred as the Bronze Eagle, one of a family of superheroes that included Warrior Woman (his wife) and Silver Cyclone (his eldest son). Even the youngest daughter can shoot laser beams from her eyes--but the middle son has no powers at all. Because he wants to be a hero, and more, he doesn't want to disappoint his father, he tries to fake having superpowers--but that works out about like you'd expect. But it all turns out well. When they introduced Tyler Marlocke in P.S. 238 I immediately thought of Up Up And Away, except that Tyler's parents are in superhuman levels of denial over their son's lack of powers, and he'd much rather live as a normal kid. As it is, he has to worry about surviving gym class. So who should sue whom? Who had the idea originally? Disney? Aaron Williams? Siegel and Shuster? Julius Schwartz? Stan The Man? Jack The King? The superheroic genre has a intensely strong tendency to repeat itself, and if every lawsuit that could be filed actually was, the most popular comics would be Archie or Little Lulu.

Re: Sky High The Movie It looks cool to me, and I like the scenes of Kurt Russell in his "Clark Kent" identity. I saw a short feature on it on the Disney Channel, and they interviewed the actress who plays the main character's girlfriend; her character is described as a "techno-path" who can create machines with the power of her mind. Sounds nifty to me. I'm speculating that she may be the daughter of Commander Stronghold's (Kurt Russell's character) arch-enemy. That would make for an unexpected twist--unexpected to all but me, anyway.

We've had a couple of threads about team vehicles, and real/almost real vehicles that could serve as super-team transports, but I'm wondering if anyone here has ever got their characters a super-vehicle. I would think that would be on the list of any character who didn't have a major movement power--on the other hand, I can see why most players would be leery of the idea; it's yet another way for the GameMaster to mess with your character-- JACK THUNDER: "I enter the Thundermobile's 14-digit security code into my remote, leap through the opening door into the driver's seat, and hit the ignition switch!" THE GAMEMONSTER--er, MASTER:"The Thundermobile blows up in a ball of fire. Seems there was a bomb linked to the ignition." JACK THUNDER: "What!?! But that's impossible! There are seventeen levels of security! The hood, doors, trunk, and underside are hermetically sealed! Same for the wheel wells! There's no way a saboteur could attach a bomb!" THE GAMEMASTER (smiling): "He must have rolled his Sabotage roll really well. Let's see--eight dice of Killing damage should do the--" WHAAAPP!!!! The GM is attacked with a Revised 5th Edition. . . Anyway, I just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on the subject, and whether or not your character has a vehicle, super or otherwise. Thanks.

Re: Char: The Impossible Man? Nice build. The name lacks "oomph" though--and as you said, it's been done. How about Mr. Impossible or Johnny Impossible? Those work any better?

Re: Wings are for wussies! Gimme rotors! (Helicopters for your supers) Great stuff--I especially liked the Skywalker VTOL. Imagine a sky full of them armed with machine guns, or even energy blasters. So much fun for your PCs on the ground.

Re: Does Seeker still suck? Then Seeker must be real, for all comic book characters are real people who exist in alternate dimensions, and the comic book stories, which are supposed to be the ficticious imaginings of the comic's creators, are acutally those creators "tuning in" to the characters' actual adventures, which are perceived by the creators in the form of dreams. Gardner Fox told us so.

Let's Sing The Captain Wonder Theme Song! As I mentioned in the introduction, Ward has wanted to be Captain Wonder since he was very little, and that he came up with a theme song for Captain Wonder. I've posted this once before, and I hope nobody minds if I post it again. Note that Ward sings this to himself when he goes into action--he even whistles it absent-mindedly, and no one knows why. Of course, he denies it-- Anyway, here are the lyrics--there is a melody, but I cannot write music or play an instrument, so you'll have to figure it out for yourselves. My apologies. CAPTAIN WONDER--AWAAAY!!! Captain Wonder--Away! Fighting With His Might To Save The Day! When It's All On The Line, He'll Save Your Life And Mine, Captain Wonder--Away! Captain Wonder--Away! Look Out, Bad Guys, 'Cause He's Here To Stay! When There's A Wrong To Right, He's There To Win The Fight, Captain Wonder--Away! His Fists Strike As Hard And Fast As Lightning, Evil-Doers Fall Before Their Might, When Other People Find The Villains Frightening, He Will Charge On In And Win The Fight! All The People Cheer For Captain Wonder, They Think He's The Greatest In The Land, And When He Tears The Villains' Plans Asunder, They Do All Give Him A Great Big Hand! Captain Wonder--Away! And Evil Will Never Ever Have Its Way! When Villains Come To Town, He's There To Bring Them Down, When Evil Bears Its Claws, He's There To Win Our Cause, When Villains Threaten Us, He'll Fight For All Of Us, Captain Wonder--Away! Captain Wonder--Away! CAPTAIN WONDER--AWAAAY!!!

Re: Captain Wonder--AWAAY!!! Very good point, Watchdog. I never really imagined him going off on normals--remember, he's had plenty of practice holding back his anger. More likely he'd glare at them long and hard, then go off to plan an attack on a really tough villain. "Let's see what they say after I've taken down Holocaust!" As someone who's studied and admired heroes for a long time, Ward would realize that more than anything else, a hero is defined by his deeds. The greater the deeds he performs, the more admiration and respect he earns. Of course, some people refuse to be impressed *kaff*J. Jonah Jameson*kaff*

Re: Captain Wonder--AWAAY!!! Appearance: Ward Mitchell is a handsome man with dark hair and hazel eyes, standing six feet even and weighing in at 220 pounds. As Captain Wonder he wears the Wonder-Costume, a tight-fitting dark blue outfit with a bright yellow vertical panel down the front and the inside of the legs. Inside the yellow panel on the chest is his emblem--a dark blue block-letter "W." He also wears dark blue gloves and boots, and a knee-length cape also in dark blue. A large belt in colors matching the costume bears the Forcebeam Pistol, the Inviso-Screen device, and a few extra pockets--just in case. A dark blue hooded mask covers his head, leaving the lower part of his face exposed--but the top of the mask incoporates a blonde wig that gives the impression that the top of his head is exposed as well. This is meant to divert speculation that Ward is Captain Wonder--after all, everyone knows that Captain Wonder has blonde hair.

Re: Captain Wonder--AWAAY!!! Powers/Tactics: As Captain Wonder, Ward has no paranormal powers or talents, but has trained himself to the best of his strength, agility, and physical resilience. He has also made himself expert in his self-devised heavy-offense martial arts system, which he calls his "Stomp 'Em Hard" style. To bring himself to the level of superpowered villains, he relies on an array of specialized gadgets which he refers to as his "Wonder-Devices." Foremost among these is his Forcebeam Pistol, a weapon which fires a directed concussive energy beam that can be adjusted for power and intensity. While he built the pistol himself, it is not his own design; he downloaded the schematics and circuit diagrams from a mysterious website that he only visited once before it vanished from the Internet. (His attempts to find it again have so far proved futile--according to every Internet directory and search engine, the site never existed.) In addition, the grip of the Pistol contains a smart-safety processor keyed to encoded magnetic strips in the gloves of the Wonder-Costume, ensuring that no one but Capatin Wonder can fire his weapon. The Wonder-Costume is in itself an essential device, being made of a reinforced, specially-treated fabric that provides excellent protection against most impact and penetration. Also he wears a bracer on his left wrist that contains a high-tension grappling line which allows him to swing up, down, around, or into action. The two latest additions to the Wonder-Devices are the Mindshield--a network of fine wires woven into the skullcap of the Wonder-Mask which can be mildly electrified to shield against psionic incursion--and the Inviso-Screen, which allows him to move and even fight while invisible, albeit very briefly. The last was the failed creation of Dr. Spectron, a villainous light-manipulating scientist. Captain Wonder discovered the schematics for the device in Spectron's files, and constructed his own version--which worked perfectly. This earned him the undying enmity of Spectron, and he remains a persistent enemy of the Captain--although nowhere near as persistent as ShockTrauma. To Be Continued--

Re: Captain Wonder--AWAAY!!! Personality/Motivation: As Captian Wonder, Ward embodies the superheroic ideal as he's come to understand it from having admired and adored superheroes all of his life. He's utterly fearless no matter what the odds or however powerful the foe, and will never back down from a fight or hesitate to put himself in danger to save innocent lives. He is unfailingly polite and helpful to people, especially senior citizens and children, and always co-operates with lawful authority--especially mall security guards. Ward is quite a different person when the mask comes off, however. Before he became a superhero Ward felt disappointed and frustrated by his life, and was irritated by having to be polite and respectful to people who treated him with disdain at best and contempt at worst. This attitude often carries over into his Captain Wonder identity--after all, who better than against a gang of thugs or a supervillain to channel a lifetime of pent-up aggression? It also leads him to challenge more and more powerful foes, the idea being that the more victories against crime he scores, the more people will respect and admire him. Although deeply respectful of other superheroes--so long as that respect is returned--Captain Wonder is secretly envious of them, especially those with genuine superpowers. He constantly seek to expand and upgrade his own weapons and devices, and would welcome the opportunity to acquire superpowers of his own--as long as he doesn't betray his own heroic principles. To Be Continued--