DShomshak

IIRC the Justice League teleporters only moved characters between tubes: You stepped in one tube and zap! appeared in another. Sounds like Fixed Points to me. So, buy Fixed Points but Limit the power that it only moves characters between those locations. (-1 Limitation if the target points are truly fixed, -1/2 if any locations are mobile, i.e., Floating Points.)

(Note: If you see a lot of “brs” in angle brackets, it’s because the forum software eliminates my paragraph breaks. I’m trying to restore them by hand using HTML markers. If that doesn’t work I’ll try something else.) That’s a good question, LL, because it touches on how I created the metaphysical underpinnings for the Mystic World. I did not start with a set of metaphysical premises and work out the necessary consequences. When you make up a fictional universe, no consequences are “necessary.” Instead I start with the kind of story I want and backfill the metaphysics to provide pseudo-justification. In this case, the reason is to preserve the threat of dimensional conquerors when humanity’s Imaginal Realms include hundreds of entities built on thousands of points each, who by a strict accounting of game mechanics could squash Skarn or Tyrannon like bugs. Like the Ban, the gods’ inability to affect Outer Planes entities through their magic is a bit of hand-waving to explain why they don’t dominate the CU setting. It’s to keep the focus on humanity and its heroes. So the question is, what story do you want? Then adjust the reasoning to fit. For instance, suppose you want the Land of Legends to be hosed if Tyrannon invades. In that case, Tyrannon and his soldiers are immune to all the magic of the mythic entities, from the high sorcery of Isis to the little glamors of dewdrop fairies. The creatures of myth can only fight the invasion physically. Okay, so “physically” includes dragon-fire and the strength of Heracles, so maybe they aren’t completely hosed, but the Land of Legends probably still needs help from the heroes of Earth. Cue the PCs! But that kind of sucks if the PCs include a faerie knight, a warrior angel or some other mythic entity. Only an idiot GM would declare that most of a PC’s powers, which they paid good character points for, don’t work against a major foe because of mere internal consistency and logic! But lucky for you, Logic is a slut who’ll do anything for anyone. In that case, maybe the inability is specifically limited to gods. The strongest spells of Vainamoinen, Isis and Hermes splash off the Signifers swarming into the Land of Legends, but tengu illusions, satyr panics and troll-hag curses work just fine and Tyrannon has a real fight on his hands. Why should this be so? Umm... It’s the downside of receiving power from worship. This binds the gods to humanity, and the realms of human imagination, to a greater degree than the lesser entities. Ironically, the lesser entities receive greater metaphysical freedom precisely because humans don’t care about them as much. Don’t like that? Okay, go back to the first option, but observe the ways that gods work around the Ban. Gods and other spiritual entities can use similar means to work around their inability to act beyond the Inner Planes. Like, the West African god Ogun can’t fight Tyrannon, but his empowered namesake the hero Ogun can. A projected avatar such as Dion Bach can affect Tyrannon because he’s a quasi-mortal creation of Dionysus, not Dionysus himself. The demigod Chrysaor can fight Tyrannon because he’s a new entity who never received worship or became the subject of myths. Really, any circumstance that can turn a creature from myth to PC can be twisted into a justification for why the character can affect Outer Planes creatures. Even having a Secret Identity as a mortal, or acknowledged membership in a hero team in the mortal world (or a villain team!), might “humanize” a mythic entity enough. Play around with options, see what fits your campaign. Any “official” answer would certainly be wrong for someone’s campaign, so there isn’t one. Dean Shomshak

Oh, another important difference between humans aliens: Although advanced alien races can easily grant individuals power comparable to standard superbeings, they only operate through one or two modes of power. For instance, Zetrians use advanced technology, especially gravity-tech: Officer Pax's space armor and grav-gun are standard for Zetrian cops, and Zetrians wear flight bracelets like Americans wear wristwatches or carry cellphones. OTOH, the Cryon hero Snowmaiden is a saint of her people, equipped with a panopy of miracles. Anyone who visits a Cryon space station can understand everyone else through a miraculous "Gift of Tongues" blessing. The Volantids use sorcery of great power: Common Volantids access potent enchantments through simple mudras they way humans access technology by plugging it into the wall and pressing a button. (Well, the mudras are simple if you have 12 tentacles.) The Arans developed martial arts so powerful that their sifus and senseis can travel in Qi-powered starships... if they don't just karate-chop space to open a portal to another world. But no Zetrian in 10,000 years ever cast a spell or had a prayer answered, while water-wheels are the upper limit of Aran technology. (Cryons are sort of weird, since they blend religion and tech in a powerful theotechnology: psalms and sutras micro-engraved on computer chips, angel-powered starships, and they reshaped their home planetary system into a ringworld that's the biggest freaking prayer wheel in the universe.) Earth is the first pan-paradigmatic world that anyone's ever seen. This gives the great galactic powers reason to be wary. Clearly, Earth's reality is unstable. Yes, this connects to the reason for the sudden genesis of the Superheroic Age -- as the PCs are just beginning to learn. Dean Shomshak

1) I had aliens in my old campaign but never did much with them. When I shifted from "general supers" to my Super-Mage playtest campaigns, aliens got completely ignored. Aliens are an important part of my new campaign setting. OTOH, I'm trying to tone down the mystical: been there, done that. 2)No. And no need for one. I have it that by the time an alien race reaches the stars, they have solved most social problems (as they define them) and have no grounds for conflict with anyone else. The exceptions are nasty little backward cultures -- galactic North Koreas -- or insterstellar Mafias or cultish groups. None of them get very far against their mightier neighbors. Earth attracts their notice because it's still primitive and weak enough that it might be bullied or robbed. This gives rise to the occasional alien supervillain. A few superheroes, such as Officer Pax, are alien cops who see Earth as a chance to do real crime-fighting instead of writing interstellar parking tickets. 3) My aliens range from "bumpheads" with no meaningful difference from humans (such as the Zetrians, who have blue skin and feathers instead of hair) to radically nonhuman (such as the Volantids, who are big intelligent aerial jellyfish, or the Omniac Sphere, which is nanotechnology and may be a single hive-mind instead of a race). As mentioned, the biggest difference is that most aliens live happy, contented lives in happy, contented Utopias. This does not necessarily make them harmless to humanity. 4) The alien robot hive-mind called the Monad (see Creatures of the Night: Horror Enemies) has seeded itself on Earth and is a major, ongoing threat to human existence. As part of the setting background, the "Slaver" sect of the biotech-oriented Hyadans tried to subvert humanity (parasitism is a highly successful ecological strategy, after all). When their plot was exposed, the Slaver Hyadans tried to convince human leaders that humanity would still receive net benefit from being enslaved and exploited, and found human rejection puzzling. Hyadans think like the perfectly rational consumers of Classical Economics, dispassionately calculating material gain, risk and loss: They don't understand emotional concepts such as freedom or dignity. Other invasions may happen in the future. Dean Shomshak

Japanese mythology has lots of cool inspiration, including wonderful ghost stories. Kitsune -- fairy foxes -- are also common in Japanese legend and weird tales, but maybe a little too well known? (They can still be part of a Japanese character's background. The legendary onmyoji [mystic] Abe no Seimi supposedly was the half-mortal son of a kitsune.) Also remember that there's more to Japan than the Japanese. There are also the Ainu people of Hokkaido. Bears play a sufficiently important role in Ainu culture and religion that an Ainu werebear might make an interesting character. If the character is a hero, his relationship to Japanese society will be... complicated, as the Japanese have a long history of bigotry against the Ainu. Dean Shomshak

Many years ago when I was but a lad, in an idle moment I wtoe lists for various Alternate Avengers teams. For instance, the All-Science Avengers (Iron Man, Dr. Pym, that sort, the Mystical Avengers (Dr. Strange, Brother Voodoo, Black Knight -- he can be on the Scientific Avengers too, bizarrely enough), the Spinoff Character Avengers (War Machine, Giant-Man II, etc.) My favorite, though, was probably the Backworld Avengers, for an alternate Earth where the well-known heroes were villains and some of the villains were heroes: Radioactive Man, Blacklash, Baron Zemo (atoning for his Nazi father), and so on. Dean Shomshak

It's varied a lot. My Dark Champions gadgeteer Repairman was no faster than his motorcycle could carry him, but he relied on sniping from ambush anyway. At the other extreme, the demigod Chrysaor could fly around the world in less than an hour; but he was in a very high-powered campaign. The fastest character in any campaign I was in (another player's PC), Sky Marshal, was "the living embodiment of flight" and could be anywhere in the world in minutes. Campaigns I've run or been in also vary. While there's usually a home city, some have featured a lot of travel. The Supermage playtest campaigns routinely bopped around the world and through other dimensions: Thanks to multiple characters with EDM, and generous use of Babylon as a shortcut for travel around Earth, these were probably my gaming group's most mobile campaigns. I hope for my new campaign, Avant Guard, to feature a lot of travel. One theme for my new setting is that the world is a lot less centralized in the 21st century: Just as economic/political divisions such as "Developed World" vs. "3rd World" are breaking down and multiple centers of power are emerging, heroes and villains can arise anywhere and go anywhere. The super-action isn't focused on a few hot spots like the US, let alone a single city (the way Marvel tends to focus on NYC). Sure, villains tend to follow the money, so the US, Western Europe, Japan and other wealthy regions see more than their demographic share of action; but many heroes and villains stay home, too. In particular, India and China have their own heroes, and plenty of villains for them to fight. Dean Shomshak

Thank you for answering, LL. I never answered because I never saw the question: For the last 6 months, my forum access has ranged from Extremely Limited, to None. But yes, no magic is required to craft a working Spider Sign. The line between science and magic becomes very blurry when you deal with Edomites: The creatures just don't fit within the categories that humans understand. (Or *think* they understand.) I'm not sure of the context for the Elder Worm question. AFAIK (from Champions Beyond), the only gods they summoned were Edomite and Qliphothic horrors, which do not occupy the same metaphysical category as the gods of Earth such as Tezcatlipoca, Mephistopheles, St. Albert or the Emperor of Babylon. The Ban has no effect on creatures from the Outer Planes, and Qliphothic entities qualify. I haven't read the Book of the Empress, so thank you for the quoted passage, LL. I would imagine that whether alien races have a Ban depends entirely on how they imagine their gods and spirits -- if any. Quite possibly, some species never imagined spiritual entities, and so never created any. At the opposite extreme, some species may never have pushed their concepts of divinity into Otherworlds and sealed them away. In the new campaign setting I'm building, one of the more powerful alien races, the Cryons, possess a hybrid theotechnology: Their starships run on psalm drives, all species can live comfortably on their space stations and communicate without impediment through a continuous miracle, and they restructured their planetary system into a ringworld that's the biggest goddamn prayer wheel in the universe, giving their pantheon sufficient power to drop-kick the likes of Tyrannon into a black hol if he showed his mug around them. Fortunately for the rest of the Galaxy, Cryons are very nice people. Dean Shomshak

5th ed Galactic Champions has the story on page 28. They left to fight some fungoid psionic hive-mind aliens that reproduce like mad strip planets bare like interstellar locusts. These aliens had already ravaged other galaxies and the Milky Way was next on their route. The fight did not go well for the Mandaarians. Dean Shomshak

For some reason, the forum only shows me the first page of anything: Only the first page of threads, and the first 30 posts within a thread. Doesn't seem to be a button to click to reach later pages. (It's probably 'cause my software's obsolete. Oh, well.) Anyway, this concern's Assault's Aussie Champions project. NOVA has been showing a series of programs on Australia's geological and biological history. Apart from scenery porn (gotta put a super's base in the spectacular sandstone cliffs of Sydney Harbor), I particularly noticed the big Mesozoic meteor crater deep in the Outback, and the opalized fossils dug up at Coober Pedy. Story Seed: The Devil's Advocates use the meteor crater as a giant summoning circle in a spell to return Australia to Jurassic conditions. Opal fossils are among the ritual components. Suddenly, the country's all jungle and sarming with dinosaurs. Seismosaurs in Sydney! Therapods in Canberra! That should shake things up a bit! Thing is, would the Aussies want to break the spell and return the continent to its contemporary condition? I mean, the current plan for dealing with the giant saltwater crocodiles is Croc Awareness classes: The beasts eat people, sure, but they also bring in tourists. An insouciant people, Australians. Dinos wouldn't be too big a step. Dean Shomshak

The Punic Wars would be a good time for a Champions campaign. During the wars themselves, you have a "Golden Age" campaign, with Rome versus Carthage instead of Allies versus Axis. In between, the style could be more "Cold War." Carthage makes a worthy replacement for the Axis or (for more Silver/Bronze Age campaigns) the Communist countries: Phoenician religion was big on burning children alive as offerings to various gods. (The Phoenicians and Carthaginians left very little written material to present their POV, but archeologists are pretty sure the human sacrifice was real and not just enemy propaganda.) Hannibal as Red Skull or Baron Zemo? Dean Shomshak

Getting back to Roman history... In 100 BC, the social trends that lead to the Republic becoming an Empire are already pervasive. With the destruction of Carthage decades before, Rome faces no great threats from abroad... so there is no check to the ambitions or hatreds of parties and leaders. In this period, the highest levels of political conflict are often resolved with assassination and street violence. The popular reformist Gracchus brothers have already been murdered by their political enemies (in 133 and 121 BC). Rome's most recent major war, the Numidian Campaign or Jugurthine War (112-105 BC), was a case of "sorrows of empire": An allied king gets overthrown by his brother, appeals to Rome to honor its treaty obligations. The war was fought with bribes in the Senate as much as by the legions in Africa. The Roman commanders, Marius and Sulla, defeat Jugurtha -- and begin a rivalry that will later tear Rome apart in civil war. Marius, a low-born Roman who married into the aristocracy, leads the Popular Party. Sulla is the favorite of the patricians. When their conflict boils over into civil war in 90 BC, Sulla's forces win and drive Marius into exile. At the same time (91 BC), the cities of southern Italy rebelled against Rome. Technically, these remained sovereign allies, but were treated as subjects. Sulla's forces also defeated these rebels in a conflict sometimes called the Social War, though it was as much political as military: Cities were split from the alliance by promises to grant them full Roman citizenship and rights. The Popular Party regrouped under Marius' son, leading to another civil war in 82 BC. Sulla won and was declared dictator for life. Though he resigned from dictatorship in 79 BC, he set the precedent for Julius Caesar and Imperial rule. All this seems well suited for a Roman Dark Champions campaign. The greatest danger to Rome comes from within. Dean Shomshak

I can't take too much credit for the Coinwraiths. Various writers have used Judas' 30 pieces of silver as powerful, malign magic items: Notably, in Jim butcher's "Dresden Files" series, each coin is a conduit for a demon. Whoever touches a coin can be possessed by the demon and take its form. The "Order of the Blackened Denarii" could be ported into a Champions setting as a supervillain team, easy-peasy. (Though, do you want a team with up to 30 members?) Dean Shomshak

The .pdf loaded for me, and it looks extremely useful Thank you! Dean Shomshak

Back in 2005, someone posted a request for an alternate history in which the Roman Empire fell during the lifetime of Jesus. Some people made good suggestions about working in Arthurian legendry. I would have liked to contribute, but couldn't get the forum of that time to let me post! So I never got a chance to share this little bit of foolery. It may supply some loosely-relevant inspiration for a Roman Champions campaign, though ------------ Somebody had a good point about the need for the alternate history to be good for a supers game. So let’s see what sort of alternate 21st century we can get that’s suitable for an exciting adventure. How about High Fantasy? Any resemblance to a well-known Fantasy epic is purely intentional. We have two conditions: The Roman Empire collapsed when it was barely begun, and Jesus was important enough to be remembered 20 centuries later. The collapse isn’t too difficult. Just let Julius and Octavian/Augustus have a few more problems, and the nascent empire can tear itself apart in the reign of Tiberius, during the life of Jesus, or in the reign of Caligula, if you want Jesus to live longer. Now for Jesus himself. Since comic-book universes have real supernatural forces, the Crucifixion still happens eventually and Christianity spreads: That’s a Divine Plan. It could take a different form, though. So here’s a scenario for an alternate Christianity, bringing in the Arthurian suggestions other people made. In 33 AD, Pontius Pilate is stranded by a crumbling empire and caught in a three-way power struggle with Herod and the Judean religious establishment. He decides not to give in to the bloody natives: If they see him back down now, his authority vanishes. He pardons the popular street preacher who has everyone in a tizzy. Curious, he talks more to Jesus, and likes what he hears. He gives Jesus a secretary to write down his actual words. Several years later, however, Pilate faces rebellion within his own ranks from underlings who think he listens too much to Jesus. The Crucifixion happens through a cabal of Pharisees and Roman rebels. Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea and a group of Jesus’ other disciples, both Roman and Judean, sail west to Britain with the Holy Grail. Joseph plants his staff on Glastonbury Tor and it blooms as a hawthorn tree. Beneath the white flowers of the miraculous tree, Pilate declares, “I came from across the great sea to create a new kingdom. Here shall I abide, and my heirs, to the end of the world.†In the coming decades, Pontius Pilate lays the groundwork for the first Christian kingdom, with the Grail and the Tree as tokens of his divine right. Back east, the Apostle Peter takes the Spear of Destiny to Rome and founds another church, though with opposition from the rump Roman government. The rest of Europe and the Near East break up into petty states ruled by Roman governors, invading barbarian chiefs, or former tributary kings such as Herod. The nascent Christian churches face less systematic persecution than in our history, but more competition locally from kings who make Mithraism, the cult of Isis, or other late Classical faiths their state religion. Further east, the Parthian empire expands for lack of serious opposition. Worst of all, a false prophet arises: Simon Magus, the Proto-Heretic, who twists the teachings of Jesus for his own vile cult of sorcery and personality. The Apostles balk Simon in Europe and the Near East, but the Parthian court welcomes him. Simon’s Gnosticism becomes the state religion of Parthia, and he becomes the power behind the Parthian throne. Six centuries later, Pilate’s descendant Arthur inherits a kingdom in turmoil from the machinations of Simonist sorcerers. He proves equal to the task once his knights recover the Holy Grail, the sacred emblem of harmony and fellowship. As a war-leader, Arthur defeats several enemies on the European mainland. His campaigns take him all the way to Rome, where he pulls the Spear of Destiny from the stone where Peter drove it centuries before, thus proving himself the true King of the West. Many pagan kingdoms convert -- and some of the faerie-folk, too. Arthur’s dynasty marries into elven and merfolk royalty. At the end of the 7th century, the multi-species Holy Alliance crushes the decadent Parthian Empire with the help of a new player, the prophet Mohammed, who was guided by Gabriel to a third sacred relic, the Crown of Thorns. For a short time, East and West are united. It doesn’t last, but the world remembers this as a Golden Age. The early primacy of Britain gives this history’s Europe a stronger pull to the Atlantic than to the Mediterranean. Maritime trade among the British Isles, Scandinavia, Gaul and Hispania eventually leads to discovery of Iceland, Greenland and the New World. The Native Americans fare a little better than in our history. As long as the Grail is available, peaceful assimilation is possible, and works both ways somewhat. The Iroquois Confederation unites with European coastal colonies to form the United States of Avalon -- as the Arthurian British call our North America -- as a melting pot of cultures and races, human and otherwise. On the other hand, first contact with the Aztecs leads to a transatlantic crusade -- and Old World diseases still devastate the native populations. At the start of the 21st century, however, the world is again in dire straits. Simon’s wizard-cult has seized power through much of the Middle East. Some say that Simon himself has returned as the Dark Lord of the new empire. The Grail, Spear and Crown are all lost. The White Tree of Britain is dead, poisoned by a Simonist sorcerer, and the line of Pilate and Arthur was overthrown long ago. The churches of Joseph, Peter and Mohammed bicker while the faerie races recall old grievances against Humanity. Simon has empowered thirty champions through dread sorcery and swathed them in ebon cloaks clasped with one of the silver coins paid to Judas. The Coinwraiths ride unhindered throughout the world, spreading terror and destruction. In this alternate Earth of swords and sorcery, heroes from two worlds must unite to stop the Shadow of Simon from overspreading the world. They must unite the Free Peoples of the West to turn back the armies from the East and recover the Spear, Grail and Crown -- uniting the emblems of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- to end Simon’s power forever. And finally they must restore the Heir of Arthur -- one of this world’s superheroes (would it be too heavy-handed to call him the Ranger?) -- to his rightful throne, to bring peace and justice once more. At least, that’s one way you could do it. There’s no shortage of other possibilities!

In 105 BC, Heron of Alexandria set up the world's first college of technology. here's your Roman-era version of STAR Labs.

Re: Who are The Ultimates? The Ultimates seem to be pretty much an all-purpose villain team. Enough of them feel aggrieved at society that you could easily send them on some revenge plot, such as trying to wreck a corporation or country or murder some set of prominent people. Or, their scientific skills make them a good choice for basic "hold the city for ransom with my giant laser" stories. (Or maybe a giant glue gun, considering Binder.) Even without superweapons, they could try to conquer a small country. But nothing prevents them from simple high-end robbery, with or without longer-term plans. Since the group includes some notably smart people, they might be a good group to use for creative and unusual high-end robbery. For instance, wealthy Chinese pay incredible prices for rosewood furniture. It's resulted in lots of illegal logging in Southeast Asia. Maybe the Ultimates hatch a scheme to hijack a truckload of rosewood trunks... or find and cut the trees first to become the world's greatest tree-rustlers. So, how do you steal a forest? (Kind of a goofy example, but I hope you get the idea.) Dean Shomshak

Re: Elemental Planes in the CU On a vaguely related tangent, one of my PCs, Steel Phoenix, practiced the Metal substyle of five Element Kung Fu, the world's second-most powerful martial arts style. (Most powerful? Infinite Dao Kung Fu, the martial art practiced by Pangu the Creator.) He hoped eventually to learn other substyles -- but his grandfather warns that you must learn the substyles in the correct order, following the constructive cycle of elements. Steel Phoenix's father was impatient and broke the proper order, and is now a supervillain. (No elemental planes involved, though, just proper cultivation of Qi.) Dean Shomshak

Re: Elemental Planes in the CU Fuzon comes from William Blake's poetry, just like the Four Zoas, and Blake gives a complete set of four "elemental" figures. (Only Fuzon takes part in the plot, though. Here's the account of their metaphysical genesis, from two chapters of The Book of Urizen, with Urizen's reaction to his "children." No wonder they turned against him. II. 5. “First I fought with the fire, consum’d “Inwards into a deep world within: “A void immense, wild, dark & deep, “Where nothing was: Nature’s wide womb; “And self-balanc’d, stretch’d o’er the void, “I alone, even I! The winds merciless “Bound; but condensing in torrents “They fall & fall; strong I repell’d “The vast waves, & arose on the waters “A wide world of solid obstruction.” ----- VIII. 3. Most Urizen sicken’d to see His eternal creations appear, Sons & daughters of sorrow on mountains Weeping, wailing. First Thiriel appear’d, Astonish’d at his own existence, Like a man from a cloud born; & Utha, From the waters emerging, laments: Grodna rent the deep earth, howling Amaz’d; his heavens immense cracks Like the ground parch’d with heat, then Fuzon Flam’d out, first begotten, last born; All his eternal sons in like manner; His daughters from green herbs & cattle, From monsters & worms of the pit. 4. He in darkness clos’d view’d all his race, And his soul sicken’d! He curs’d Both sons and daughters; for he saw That no flesh nor spirit could keep His iron laws one moment. So you also have Thiriel as a spirit of Air, Utha as a spirit of Water, and Grodna as a spirit of Earth. As LL says, they would all rule Outer Planes, which human mystics would likely classify as Netzach dimensions. Also, undefined Daughters of Urizen born of "herbs & cattle, monsters & worms of the pit." You may be wondering why these elemental lords, great spirits of Nature, would be called sons of Urizen? That's because if you see them as elementals you are imposing an abstract system upon them -- a frame of logic to explain and classify. An imposition of Order upon raw facts of Nature. But the real world always gets away from our attempts to impose logic upon it. Dean Shomshak

Re: Question for Dean Shomshak Good question. In brief, I saw elementals as synthetic entities created by sorcerers as needed, or occasionally generated by accident when powerful magic interacts with ambient elemental phenomena. (Say, a sorcerer blows a control/activation roll on a weather-control spell and generates an air elemental, or blows a spell of any sort out on the ocean and generates a water elemental. Makes Side Effects more interesting.) There are no "natural" elementals, but some of these spirits were created so long ago their origins are forgotten. There are also Outer Planes with strong "elemental" character, and the entities that dwell on them could be called "elementals." But those entities have no connection to Earth. If someone wanted to postulate elemental planes for the CU, I'd make them very abstract and arcane, like Yggdrasil or the Blood Tide -- accessible through the Lower Astral but difficult to reach and even more difficult to comprehend. Visiting the Plane of Fire would be like visiting, I don't know, the Higgs Field. Not "It looks like Earth but everything's made of fire." You want that, look in the Outer Planes. Dean Shomshak

Re: Case study: What if they succeed? Well, I never used the CU for my own campaign (and won't, if I start another) but if I did, Teleios' benefactor would be his own future self. I'm thinking that just as my last supers campaigns emphasized magic and the supernatural, my next (if it ever happens) will emphasize time travel, with various alternate futures meddling in the Superheroic Age as they try to ensure they become the future that really happens. Some of the possible futures are ones in which supervillains won. There would be "bootstrap" causality loops in plenty. Such a setting would include a Teleios-like super-geneticist. (To cite another thread, it's one of the elements a great superhero setting should contain.) One future would be a horrible dystopia in which "Teleios" won. He exterminated humanity and replaced it with a race he considered superior; actually, he's done this several times, as his definition of perfection changes. Plus there's the occasional kaiju running around as leftovers from past experiments, and the like. Then there's the other biotech world in which "Teleios" drove biotech to vast heights but was killed before he could do anything too horrible. (Or maybe he got a morality infusion and stopped being a villain?) The result is a much stranger future than the simple dystopia. Both futures have sent back agents to assist the campaign's "Teleios" and try to steer him into making their future real. Though, there would also be characters come back from the horrible dystopias who want to nip their home timelines in the bud -- another origin and motivation for both heroes and villains. In the CU, PCs who learn about Teleios' story and the many competing timelines might wonder which timeline helped Stroesser. Dean Shomshak

Re: Rehabilitating 'evil' Super powers If the heatless change of state the Melter produces is temporary -- i.e., if the material re-solidifies later -- he has several ways to become ridiculously wealthy. For a start, gemstone consolidation: I'm pretty sure a 100-carat diamond is worth a lot more than 1000 tenth-carat diamonds. DeBeers might pay him a great deal of money to do this. Or, possibly, pay him a great deal of money *not* to do it, so as to preserve the extraordinary value of the large natural stones. For an extension, casting statuettes in materials that normally do not occur in sufficiently large masses, or that cannot normally be liquefied. Imagine a statuette cast from opal. If Melter lacks artistic talent, he can team up with a sculptor. Dean Shomshak

Re: Coming Soon: The Sylvestri Family Reunion! Just use the name. The only costumes I found when I Googled "matachin" were gaudy, fluffy things from South America, which weren't even connected to sword dancing. I got the name "matachin" by way of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, btw: The Seekers for Truth and Penitence live and work in the Matachin Tower because of their yearly festival when the journeymen dance with their beheading swords. They didn't dress like South American matachins, apparently preferring bare chests and basic black (actually fuligin, the color darker than black) so I figure it's fair that my Matachin doesn't, either. The pictures of Spanish sword dancers I found did not have them wearing masks, but they did tie sashes around their waists. I'm using that detail. Currently, Matachin's costume is a competition fencer's outfit but in charcoal gray instead of white, with a red sash around his waist to hold the scabbard for the Empty Blade. Instead of a fencer's mesh helmet, though, he wears one of those Phantom of the Opera-style carnival masks, which I for one find a bit creepy at the best of times. He tops it off with a Musketeer hat. Bracers on his arms hold a grapnel device for swashbuckler swinging. There's still time to change the costume, though, if anyone can find any pictures of RL matachins that have cool costume potential. Dean Shomshak

Re: Costumes Likely so. I never cared enough to find out who made what, except I knew that McFarlane did Spawn. (And I'd forgotten that Hawk had the streamers too. Been a looong time since I looked at those comics.) Speaking of Spawn, he'd be another example of "costume that would kill its wearer" with all the chains... except I gather the chains are magically animate and sort of, um, part of him? So So he'd no more get tangled up in them than an octopus would get tangled in its own tentacles. So, he gets the coolness without a hazard penalty. Dean Shomshak

Re: Costumes Well... I remember thinking that a whole lot of Image and other Iron Age "hero" costumes were ridiculous. Worst were the costumes with all the massive spiky metal parts. A costume should not make me think that the character would kill himself if he trips and falls on it. Pouches, another Iron Age costume fetish, were not so bad. Even if a character doesn't need them to hold ammo for his silly oversized gun, pouches can hold useful stuff such as first aid supplies, a wallet, or a toothbrush. (Hey, it's nice to have a toothbrush if you're snatched off to Kimension X and can't get back quickly.) I doubt the comics of the '90s ever portrayed costume pouches as used for this, but I could be wrong. Kestrel, a villain from Hawk & Dove, had a subtly bad costume. The purple and black tights were okay. The long black streamers he had instead of a cape looked cool as all get-out but... Wow, they looked really easy to get arms and legs tangled in. Maybe Kestrel had a super-power to prevent this. (A variation on certain female heroes' power to run in heels, perhaps.) Dean Shomshak