DShomshak

The Champions product I first think of here is Aaron Allston's Strike Force. The extended family called "the Blood" are exactly this: Super-powers run in the family. Some members are heroes, some are villains, some just living their lives. (They also appeared in the very early supplement The Blood and Dr. McQuark, IIRC.) Not part of the CU, but it would be easy to splice them in.
 
Strike Force is worth reading in any case. IMO it's the best Champions supplement ever written, and darn useful for any game as an example of what a successful campaign looks like.
 
Dean Shomshak

Ooh, perfect for Fearmonger from Creatures of the Night: Horror Enemies!
 
<scribble, scribble>
 
Dean Shomshak

Ooh, perfect for Fearmonger from Creatures of the Night: Horror Enemies!
 
<scribble, scribble>
 
Dean Shomshak

No-one in their right mind goes anywhere near the old McLeish estate. The council won't tear it down and construction people won't bid to tear down any of the structures there. That was after all the ahem 'accidents' and 'incidents'. There is a legal trust that pays property tax and other bills and there are old family retainers who come in and clean the buildings  but they do this in broad daylight and do not tarry after dark. You hear 'things' that are abnormal. You see things moving that should not move like that. You smell things that provoke the flight reaction rather than the stand and fight reaction.
The only time people are not really allowed on the estate is when someone has been killed there and the police tape it off. Organised crime and gangs used it briefly for a body dump until something paid them a visit and now there are no repeats of dead bodies showing up.
 
But the whole thing is a sham. For some major organised crime is running things out of sight beneath the facade most usually at night when no-one troubles to trespass on the grounds. Ultrasonics broadcast at frequencies to unnerve anyone coming too close while holograms and chemicals also create the odd ambience. However there are operatives who can appear and properly scare off intruders. But are they doing something mundane or is it really macabre ?

The Star Brand was eventually sealed away in it's own Earth by The Living Tribunal.

Not that anyone here needs help writing up PCs or NPCs, but here's the latest hero I wrote up. I hope to use him as a PC someday. In the meantime, I like the personality (no angst please, we're well rid of the 1990s) and I think the illo turned out well. I hope he may be of use to someone else, too.
 
While my group plays 5e, Rep is written up in both 5e and 6e versions. It was somewhat interesting just seeing where the points shifted around.
(And please let me know if I flubbed anything. No man is wise by himself, especially at HERO System accounting and editing.)
 
ADDENDUM: Not quite pure 5th edition. I give the 5e version 75 points of Complications, 6th-ed style, as that's one alteration to the rules of which I thoroughly approve.
 
Rep 6e.pdf
 
Dean Shomshak

DC did that schtick as well:
 
http://thenewcaferacersociety.blogspot.com/2008/06/monowheels-in-comics-war-wheel.html
 
Dean Shomshak

Excellently done, Stealthgamer!
 
Dean Shomshak

This is part of a plot (actually a sideplot) of my current Champions campaign, which I've titled "All That Glisters Is Not Gold Body Paint."
 
Nick Mancuso is an ally of Franklin Stone of ACI fame, but a rival to the Cresse family. He fancies himself as a replacement to Joseph Sorrelli since the old Don's death a few years ago. The Piston's one of his main money laundering establishments - he's very scrupulous about paying his licenses and so forth so everything appears above board. The Piston is a popular spot for the hard-chargers in the Lennie business community. However, despite its popularity, the Piston is hemorrhaging money, because Mancuso has recently lost other less savory "businesses" and has to increasingly lean on the Piston to pay his lieutenants and soldiers. His connection to the IHA is a natural one - nearly every Lennie organized crime group has to ally with somebody who hates superheroes and can manage some means of defending themselves against them, or else the "capes" will wipe the floor with them. (They also need better-than-average protection against VIPER. If they aren't getting help from the IHA, it's ARGENT or Wayland Talos or somebody like that.) Mancuso also is aware he has to act fast for his play at leadership, before the far-more-sophisticated-technologically New Purple Gang steals a march on him. That they'll also steal a march on every other Mob group in New Motown is not a solace to Nick Mancuso. (Rumor has it that the kid who runs it is some sort of fexxin' genius.)
 
His connection to Eric Marburg is originally through his ne'er-do-well son Tyler, who attempted to get hired at, then buy out or bankrupt a recently renovated rival adult nightclub in Dearborn, the "Pantheon". (The Pantheon's co-owner is a contact and friend of the heroes - a strip club makes a handy neutral site for discussing and negotiating matters with criminals of all stripes. She hired Tyler because she's also a bit naive, being that she's actually an avatar of a Celtic fertility goddess who more or less bought the club to keep a constant supply of fertility energy). The Pantheon is new, roomy, shiny, with a rising avant-garde clientele, generally prettier and friendlier girls, and things that might even attract someone that normally wouldn't go to a strip club, like a mid-range cocktail lounge, gaming tables run by the local Native bands, and even a small cigar bar. (Some of the players were a big help in its design.)
 
Tyler was using Dad's money, to help his buddy Nick; Nick would repay him through his increased revenues with the Pantheon's closure. It didn't go well; he's not a bright lad and got himself into such deep kimchi (involving hiring underage strippers, just for starters, that the owner knew about and notified the authorities) that Dad Marburg had to scramble just to keep him out of prison. What's worse is that he put his dad on the authorities' radars for the first time, and for once Eric's vaunted sixth sense let him down, because the threat wasn't really about him. Nick found out about Marburg pere's business and political clout, and he's been trying to get into his hip pocket ever since.
 
The hero group in my campaign knows Eric Marburg has a high rank in the CSM (but not the full extent of it) because one of them is a fairly strong telepath with IPE. She managed to read his mind briefly twice, once while he was out and about pulling strings to get his spawn released on bail, and then when he was in a cocktail party with other high-society figures in MC (which including the father of one of the PCs, who happens to be the new DOSPA Secretary, ironically after making a name for himself in anti-psionic technology for the Federal government...). Marburg has Mental Defense, but not enough - and he doesn't cover his tracks very well in his own head, especially when he's had a few Old Fashioneds in him.
 
They don't confront Marburg directly because they don't have hard evidence, and well, they know people who get on Eric Marburg's bad side tend to have all sorts of nasty things just happen to them, which the players have appropriately dubbed "Ebola Marburg". He'd also be a distraction from their major enemy - DEMON. He's also fairly ruthless as a businessman, which combined with his seeming ability to stay ahead or above trends, has raised suspicions in an already ahead-of-the-curve town like Millennium City, so they can count on other non-blackmailed people in Millennium City to keep Marburg's head down. He's still got rivals who think he's got insider info - too much insider info. (Interesting point - what if the group that runs him to ground was the FTC?) He's also not really smart about his relationships with business and political figures - he tends to wield his influence with them like a club, which makes them afraid of him - but also angry. So the heroes are starting from the far outside of his network and working their way in, as they should. A kind of Jim Rockfording of the case, not a Frank Columboing.
 
The heroes are unaware of his Lodge leadership because they don't know that the CSM has organization above the local level. Not even the telepath has put the puzzle together that he's the "Archdruid Airetach" yet (because the player forgot to ask if he had any aliases)- just that he's got a metric butt-ton of secretive clout in the Detroit area from his association with the Scarlet Moon coven there, he's extraordinarily well-connected, and he has an icky array of artifacts and spells. (One of my players said - "Oh, so it's as if PAGAN from the Ackroyd/Hanks "Dragnet" movie really did have magical powers!") They heroes, however, been so busy with DEMON (as well they should, as they're a much greater immediate threat and the primary focus of the campaign; eventually they're going to be the ones to bring DEMON down) that they've put any investigations into the Scarlet Moon on the back burner. They're looking for some way closer to him, if not inside his house, then at least those near him inside the coven, but for later.
 
Eric Marburg, meanwhile, has problems of his own... his pet talking mummified head has been giving him portents of his own inescapable doom. Dooomm! Like any aging Boomer narcissist, he's frantically trying to figure out ways to avoid his fate, while the head keeps playing "warmer, warmer...naw, now you're getting colder" with him.

https://eand.co/we-need-to-talk-about-ron-desantiss-fascist-paradise-e3784261dd7c
 
 

The player does intend Princess Moonray to be a temporary character for this particular campaign, so final victory coming from giving up the Magical Girl powers and identity is not out of the question. We'll see how the campaign goes.
 
I Dream of Jeanie and Bewitched in the family tree of Magical Girls? O-kay! Yes, I do know them; watched them growing up.
 
I don't intend to do a great deal of research for this, but I might look for a Sailor Moon movie or two, or one DVD's worth of episodes at the library. I might look for She-Ra to watch a few eps (probably not a full season, uff da) because IIRC J. Michael Straczinski was the executive producer. That probably makes it better than He-Man, and She-Ra is a girl who's magic (don't know if she's really a Magical Girl, though).
 
Dean Shomshak

I should add that I like reusable shared origins, but am not a big fan of all-encompassing origins. Well, unless they are so broad they really do amount to flipping a switch on the world so that all sorts of origins become possible.
 
The Walpurgisnacht Working is a such a switch-flipping for the CU. The Wild Card virus is, eh, a little too narrow for my taste. Sure, the writers on the project did find ways to explain (or explain away) how it resulted in androids, mages, gods and whatnot, but I found the work more clever than graceful. I'd rather revel in the gonzo.
 
Dean Shomshak

Aw shucks, I'm blushin'.
 
(But considering the nature of the thread, I must also remind people that these products are not official parts of the CU. Easy to integrate, but not official.)
 
Dean Shomshak

Here's the situation:
 
One of my players has a fun idea for a character, but it involves genres I'm really not up on. Specifically, the character's backstory is that when she was a lonely 13-year-old, she imagined a fairly elaborate fantasy world in which she was Princess Moonray, heroine of the magical Moon Kingdom -- sort of an unholy mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Sailor Moon. When she was grown up, she somehow managed to help a supernatural creature that rewarded her by granting the deepest wish of her heart. Not what she wanted right now, but what she had wanted most strongly in all her life: to be Princess Moonray. And so that's her Hero ID.
 
The thing is, this wish also seems to have created the entire Magical Moon Kingdom, too! Princess Moonray's friends/allies live there, like the magical hummingbird MoonBlossom and the hunky Dorian Silversword. And her arch-enemy Queen Nocturna, ruler of the Dark Side of the Moon.
 
There's no way I'm leaving this undeveloped. There *must* be visits to the Magical Moon Kingdom, and her friends and enemies must visit Earth to make her life interesting.
 
Only... I never watched Sailor Moon or any iteration of He-Man and She-Ra. So far, all I know is that Queen Nocturna needs to have a cadre of lieutenants who can implement her evil schemes to conquer the Moon Kingdom. (Or Earth, as they follow Princess Moonray.) Maybe her son, Prince Balthazar Blackheart, who looks suspiciously like Leader Desslok from StarBlazers (but more "bishi'?), and a daughter Princess Shadira, who is totally an Azula expy from Avatar: the Last Airbender. But that's all I got.
 
I appeal to the wisdom of the Forum. What are the tropes? What powers are standard for someone like Queen Nocturna, and what minions should she have? Are there any must-have locations? Standard story elements?
 
(At least I already have the character sheet for Princess Moonray. So I know that the way magical attacks work is that she points at her target and shouts, say, "Staggering Moon Strike!" for a Mental Blast or ""Moon Mind Invasion!" for Telepathy. This is, hm, a new magical tradition for me to learn, but I'm not sure I'll ever want to write a new chapter for Ultimate Mystic.)
 
Dean Shomshak

Including Russian rhetoric. As usual, the Kremlin is screaming wild threats; the latest, that Germany is now a target for retribution. Yesterday on the BBC, the German defense minister drily said that his government was not cowed by harsh language.
 
Dean Shomshak

Here's the situation:
 
One of my players has a fun idea for a character, but it involves genres I'm really not up on. Specifically, the character's backstory is that when she was a lonely 13-year-old, she imagined a fairly elaborate fantasy world in which she was Princess Moonray, heroine of the magical Moon Kingdom -- sort of an unholy mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Sailor Moon. When she was grown up, she somehow managed to help a supernatural creature that rewarded her by granting the deepest wish of her heart. Not what she wanted right now, but what she had wanted most strongly in all her life: to be Princess Moonray. And so that's her Hero ID.
 
The thing is, this wish also seems to have created the entire Magical Moon Kingdom, too! Princess Moonray's friends/allies live there, like the magical hummingbird MoonBlossom and the hunky Dorian Silversword. And her arch-enemy Queen Nocturna, ruler of the Dark Side of the Moon.
 
There's no way I'm leaving this undeveloped. There *must* be visits to the Magical Moon Kingdom, and her friends and enemies must visit Earth to make her life interesting.
 
Only... I never watched Sailor Moon or any iteration of He-Man and She-Ra. So far, all I know is that Queen Nocturna needs to have a cadre of lieutenants who can implement her evil schemes to conquer the Moon Kingdom. (Or Earth, as they follow Princess Moonray.) Maybe her son, Prince Balthazar Blackheart, who looks suspiciously like Leader Desslok from StarBlazers (but more "bishi'?), and a daughter Princess Shadira, who is totally an Azula expy from Avatar: the Last Airbender. But that's all I got.
 
I appeal to the wisdom of the Forum. What are the tropes? What powers are standard for someone like Queen Nocturna, and what minions should she have? Are there any must-have locations? Standard story elements?
 
(At least I already have the character sheet for Princess Moonray. So I know that the way magical attacks work is that she points at her target and shouts, say, "Staggering Moon Strike!" for a Mental Blast or ""Moon Mind Invasion!" for Telepathy. This is, hm, a new magical tradition for me to learn, but I'm not sure I'll ever want to write a new chapter for Ultimate Mystic.)
 
Dean Shomshak

I am fairly sure I have no classified documents, since the closest I came to government employment was a three month trial period with the Tacoma Public Library system...
 
The brief announcements I've heard about Pence's documents say it's not known what the docs are. But there's no mention that he's fighting their return to government custody, which I consider the core issue.
 
ADDENDUM: Just heard on ATC: Pence earlier said he was sure he didn't have any classified documents. A few days later... Oops! But he called the FBI promptly to retrieve them. So I am fully willing to believe that Pence is blameless in this.
 
Dean Shomshak

Probably afraid and angry, willing to prove her existence by killing the magical girl whose wish created her as "prof" of her existence is real. "She is dead, and I'm still here! Don't you see? Don't you see! I'm not looking through my right hand now...I can't be slowly fading away. I'm real. I'm REAL!"

Here's the situation:
 
One of my players has a fun idea for a character, but it involves genres I'm really not up on. Specifically, the character's backstory is that when she was a lonely 13-year-old, she imagined a fairly elaborate fantasy world in which she was Princess Moonray, heroine of the magical Moon Kingdom -- sort of an unholy mash-up of Masters of the Universe and Sailor Moon. When she was grown up, she somehow managed to help a supernatural creature that rewarded her by granting the deepest wish of her heart. Not what she wanted right now, but what she had wanted most strongly in all her life: to be Princess Moonray. And so that's her Hero ID.
 
The thing is, this wish also seems to have created the entire Magical Moon Kingdom, too! Princess Moonray's friends/allies live there, like the magical hummingbird MoonBlossom and the hunky Dorian Silversword. And her arch-enemy Queen Nocturna, ruler of the Dark Side of the Moon.
 
There's no way I'm leaving this undeveloped. There *must* be visits to the Magical Moon Kingdom, and her friends and enemies must visit Earth to make her life interesting.
 
Only... I never watched Sailor Moon or any iteration of He-Man and She-Ra. So far, all I know is that Queen Nocturna needs to have a cadre of lieutenants who can implement her evil schemes to conquer the Moon Kingdom. (Or Earth, as they follow Princess Moonray.) Maybe her son, Prince Balthazar Blackheart, who looks suspiciously like Leader Desslok from StarBlazers (but more "bishi'?), and a daughter Princess Shadira, who is totally an Azula expy from Avatar: the Last Airbender. But that's all I got.
 
I appeal to the wisdom of the Forum. What are the tropes? What powers are standard for someone like Queen Nocturna, and what minions should she have? Are there any must-have locations? Standard story elements?
 
(At least I already have the character sheet for Princess Moonray. So I know that the way magical attacks work is that she points at her target and shouts, say, "Staggering Moon Strike!" for a Mental Blast or ""Moon Mind Invasion!" for Telepathy. This is, hm, a new magical tradition for me to learn, but I'm not sure I'll ever want to write a new chapter for Ultimate Mystic.)
 
Dean Shomshak

Congratulations Deen. Welcome to the wonderful wierd world of anime magical girls. 
 
The "fighting" magical girl started with basically Cutie Honey, which was made by Go Nagi and for boys. Sailor Moon took slightly from that and past "helping" magical girls, a bit of Power Rangers and put them into a blender. If you seen some Power Rangers, then some magical girl shows, then you get an idea about what is expected. 
 
Remember: henchmen tend to be less competent than the leader. This is more of a Masters of the Universe thing (as they have to follow television standards and practice for children's television), but can also show up in magical girl shows.
 
The monsters of the week tend to be expendable. If they are expendable, DON'T MAKE THEM FORMER TRANSFORMED HUMANS. If she has the ability to cure the monsters, then go ahead and make them transformed humans.
 
Top henchmen can have relationships with each other. This is important. For example, Zoicite and Nephrite are rivals, with Zoicite belittling Nephrite for each loss. He is also in a gay relationship with Kunzite, his superior. Shojo (girls) manga has been advanced on such relationships since the 1970's (even if the early 70's was more pore gay lovers who have to die together romantically).
 
Beyond that, well, everything is up to you and your players. 

It sounds like they may have a bit of Princess Amethyst (from DC Comics) in there as well. Taking the shows as inspiration, most of your villains can fall within a kind of mismatch of power sets and levels. You have Queen Nocturna, who could easily have darkness/shadow powers with a mystical flair, or perhaps some kind of sleep/nightmare abilities. You could easily draw upon both to get "troops/mooks" that serve her in the same way countless drones serve Master Villain X. As for her lieutenants, you usually have something like:
 
- Monstrous Villain: A monster of a being, perhaps combining a handful of animals or monsters into one. 
- Element Villain 1: A humanoid adapted to a specific element (with maybe a few powers from it).
- Element Villain 2: See Element Villain 1, but with a different element.
- Magic Villain: Usually the major domo of Master Villain X. They occasionally will have conflicting feelings for the hero, or someone close to them. They may also transform friends into enemies.
- Weird Tech Villain:  Someone who uses either weird tech, or uses tech weirdly. They may have several mechanical faces, a helmet with a sense based power, or something else weird. 
- Weapon Villain: Take a weapon and make it weird, and go over the top. 
- Betrayer Villain: Once a friend, this villain has been transformed into something different (usually over something petty). But they may still have feelings for their former friend. 
 
Many of the villains in Sailor Moon are one-offs that follow a kind of Monster of the Week kind of trope. It's only through the "magic of the moon" that they can finally be defeated. Not really unlike Voltron and his blazing sword to be honest. 
 
Overall, think "high concept fantasy meets technology in a weird corner of a comic book universe where everyone is either muscle men, muscle male monsters, or hyper-pretty" and you'll be on the right path for the most part. Hope this helps.

I should add that I like reusable shared origins, but am not a big fan of all-encompassing origins. Well, unless they are so broad they really do amount to flipping a switch on the world so that all sorts of origins become possible.
 
The Walpurgisnacht Working is a such a switch-flipping for the CU. The Wild Card virus is, eh, a little too narrow for my taste. Sure, the writers on the project did find ways to explain (or explain away) how it resulted in androids, mages, gods and whatnot, but I found the work more clever than graceful. I'd rather revel in the gonzo.
 
Dean Shomshak