KA.

Re: My Ravenwood Campaign Anyone can make a mistake. Editing your first post in this thread to indicate your sources would be a great way to help straighten this one out. KA.

Re: Is "Way Station" a suitable addition for a superhero campaign?

Re: Why should I buy Champions? Just to clarify things . . . If the book called Champions that you bought in 1996 was a big blue book, then it was actually two books in one. Part One was the 4th Edition Hero System Rules Part Two was the Champions sourcebook The current book being sold under the name Champions is just the sourcebook. It does not contain the rules of the system, just advice and information about using the Hero System to play the superhero genre. To get the rules you need to buy the Hero System 5th Ed. Revised. or better yet, Sidekick. Sidekick is a trimmed down version of the Hero Rules. It is not some weird abomination that tries to change the rules, it is just a slightly smaller set of rules with a few of the more complex options left off. It is a great way to get a handle on the basics of the system. Then if you feel the need, you can always pick up the full 5th Edition Revised Rules. The good news is, the money you spent on Sidekick won't have been wasted, because you can always lend it to new players so that they can learn the system more easily. If you already knew the difference between the old version of Champions (which also contained the rules) and the new version, sorry for the interrruption. I just wouldn't want anyone to think they had been 'ripped off' because they only got half the book they thought they were buying. KA.

Re: Help with a Master Villain's Plans: Windchill I would really like some detail on the tone and lethality of the campaign, but if the following does not fit, it could probably be adjusted. Windchill has developed a new mind control technique, called the Brain Freeze. It is based on using extreme cold to cause a sort of frostbite in the part of the brain that controls free will, leaving the victim open to suggestion. The PRIMUS contacts that the team trusts are going to be the victims. You can leave as many clues, or as few, as you want, that something weird is going on. What Windchill is trying to set up is an all-out war between PRIMUS and the players. How to bring this about? 1) The Ambush One of the PRIMUS contacts is convinced (by Windchill's Mind Control) that one of the hero team has been turned evil, or is an imposter, and must be brought down using lethal force. Since this person is thought of as a friend by the team, it should not be that hard for this person arrange a one on one meeting and then ambush the PC. They should have a weapon that will do some serious killing damage. Putting one of the team in the hospital for a week or two would be ideal. It would work best if the contact doing the set-up was one of the field agents, for reasons that will be seen in Step 2. Windchill has also taken control of the rest of the team's PRIMUS contacts, but they have not done anything suspicious as yet. 2) The Set-up After the Ambush, give the players a little time to investigate, when enough time has passed, have the PRIMUS Investigator make contact with them. The Investigator (also being controlled) will lead the players to believe that some of the leaders of the local PRIMUS branch have been taken over by some kind of evil influence (base this on your campaign history, it can be aliens, shapeshifters, evil spirits, a mind controller, whatever fits). Have the Investigator point the finger at some high-placed, perfectly innocent, members of PRIMUS. (This could be the entire leadership of the local branch if you want.) Also have the Investigator let out the information that the 'imposters' are very tough and have to be taken out with maximum force or they will release some kind of Area Effect attack that will kill many innocent PRIMUS agents, as well as civilians. You should put some kind of time pressure on the players as well. Some horrible plot that will cost a lot of innocent lives if they don't take down the 'bad guys' in time. (In the meantime, the Mind Controlled field agents and Investigator will have been busy poking their nose into private files at PRIMUS. They will be looking for information that Windchill can use in the long term, and doing their best to cover up the digging. They will also be looking into information they would need to take over the local PRIMUS branch, but they won't be covering those tracks nearly as well.) 3) The Payback At this point the players should think they have a pretty good idea what is going on. The evil controller in the background got ahold of their friend the field agent, and forced him to attack the team member that is lying in the hospital. Full of righteous anger, they are ready to smite the evil-doers once and for all. They should attack the 'possessed' members of PRIMUS full force. If you picked members that are not usually armored, so much the better. They think that the 'imposters' are tough enough to stand a beating, so they should not hold back much. 4) The End Result By the end of this plan the following conditions exist. (Unless the players figure it out and find a way to stop it.) a) The leadership of the local PRIMUS office are probably badly wounded/dead following a sneak attack from the hero team. PRIMUS will be after the team with everything they have. In the aftermath of this attack, an internal PRIMUS investigation will show that the members of PRIMUS who were friendly to the hero team have been involved in a plot to take over the local branch, using the now-disgraced hero team as muscle. So, all those members of PRIMUS who were friendly to the heroes will be disgraced. c) The hero team may very well think that some outside force is still controlling the leadership of PRIMUS, so they will be suspicious of everything PRIMUS does and unlikely to try to set things straight. d) Windchill will have his two main enemies at each other's throats, as well as being in possession of a lot of inside information about PRIMUS. e) If you want to be really nasty, during all the confusion, Windchill could have been 'visiting' the team member in the hospital, and they could either have been turned, given post-hypnotic suggestions, or just been pumped for information about the hero team. KA.

Re: Worst comic book superfight ever

Re: Help needed: Sadistic "April Fool's" Jokes Rage, You have just caused me to think of the most offensive character concept it has been my misfortune to dream up. Stillborn Man : The Miscarriage of Justice If anyone finds this as offensive as I do, feel free to delete this post. KA.

Re: Help needed: Sadistic "April Fool's" Jokes I think the best idea would be a real April Fool-type joke. Have the Black Harlequin send a message to the heroes that he is going to commit a crime before midnight on April 1st. Then have him send them running all over the city trying to foil crimes that he doesn't really commit. For example: Black Harlequin is seen outside a chemical warehouse. He doesn't actually do anything there, he is just seen. By the time the heroes get there he is gone, by the time they check over the scene to see what he did, he has had time to move to the next locale. He could be seen outside the Mayor's daughter's preschool. He could be seen outside a large bank. He could be seen outside a commercial bakery that makes buns for all the city's fast food restaurants. Etc. Make sure that there is something a little off at each scene. (One of the Security Guards at the chemical warehouse is a recent parolee. There is a Teacher at the preschool with past convictions for drugs. Etc.) Enough so that if the heroes spend some time digging they will find something, but nothing they can really do much about. (If they are zealous enough to turn any of the 'criminals' they catch in to the Police, or to report them to the authorities, make a note of it for the punchline.) Just before midnight they finally catch up with Black Harlequin. Set up the situation so that they can't just tackle him, use some (fake) hostages if necessary. Just at the stroke of midnight have him pull out a large party popper. Before the heroes can react, he pulls the string and confetti pops out all over the street. As the heroes stand there in shock, the Harlequin delivers the punchline. "Well, there it is, I have committed my crime! Littering! If any of you would care to take me in . . .? No? Well, it isn't really much of a crime, is it? Nothing compared to what you did, ruining several innocent lives. (Only use this line if they reported some of the 'shady characters' or caused anyone to lose their job.) I didn't do any of the horrible, nasty, things you thought I was going to do. But I will, sooner or later! Oh, and one more thing . . ." At this point the 'hostages' stand up, shed their phony bonds, and say: "April Fool!" KA.

Re: Question: Must I model everything I own? Start with this: Would/have other players paid for the same ability you are getting from your equipment? Is there anything that makes your 'free' equipment inferior? For example: Your character buys a watch which basically only costs money, which doesn't really matter much in most game worlds. My character pays Character points for Absolute Time Sense, through a Focus. If both of us are exposed to some sort of EMP-effect, or very strong magnetic field, your watch should stop working, my Power should not, unless I took some sort of Limitation on it. Also, if both of us are put into a cement mixer (and survive) your watch may very well be broken, but my Power should still work unless the Focus itself was 'targetted' in some way and took a certain amount of damage. While it is a fun exercise for some people to model everything in the world, most of us only choose to model things that a reasonable person would agree that you should spend character points on. And the reason for that is Balance. Even though Hero is based on points, and you 'spend' them, the point of Character Creation is not to get the best 'deal'. The Point is to create a character that fits your concept, is fun to play, and is fun for other people, Players and GM alike, to interact with in the game setting. Here is a good example of a bad character. SWAT Man SWAT Man is an ex-SWAT team member who won the Lottery. He used his money to design an awesome set of Battle Armor that increases his Strength, Dexterity, Speed, and provides a near-invulnerability to damage of any sort. He basically put all his points into the OIF Battlesuit and a few combat skills. And he bought Filthy Rich for 15 points. So, based on his concept, and his Strength, SWAT Man can find a black market arms dealer and buy .50 Caliber Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers, Flamethrowers, Grenades, etc. etc. and pretty much mow down everything he faces. He never gets hurt because his Armor is so strong, so he is better than the Brick character on the team, and he has more ability to do damage than the Blaster character, so both those people feel pretty useless during the game. That is why people model important things with points, so they can be somewhat balanced by the points the GM gives you, and the other Players. On the other hand, modeling everything with points is just silly and wasteful. Another way to look at it is this: Points are used for things (excluding Limitations) that your character ALWAYS has. I, as a normal person, can assume that if I need to go to the SCUBA store and buy an air tank and mask, that I should be able to get one. However, if there was a rash of Poison Gas attacks in my city, I might have a much harder time obtaining that equipment. When SCUBA Man buys his Life Support - No need to Breathe, he knows he will always have it available, unless, for some reason the GM is running a plot where he loses it. So, if it is important enough to your character that you can't get along without it, buy it with points, if not, buy it with money. Another good example might be vehicles. The Batmobile was definitely bought with points. It may get damaged, but it always gets fixed and is available almost immediately when Batman needs it. Police Cars are obviously bought with money. Which is why you see a huge number of them get trashed in every action movie. The Hero's car was bought with points, which is why it doesn't get destroyed. Hope this helps, KA.

Re: Could Destroyer Win? Okay, let me go for the no-prize on this one. The bomb that Destroyer 'helped' Oppenheimer with was much more advanced than anything we can build, even currently. For one thing, it was much more powerful, but much less 'dirty' than our bombs. And it put out energy that effectively vaporized humans while doing relatively little damage to either structures or the atmosphere. Sort of a super-advanced 'neutron' bomb. Also, it did not create 'fallout' in the classic sense, so it did not leave behind a radioactive wasteland, so much as a gigantic 'ghost town'. And, of course, only one had to be dropped. Because, like Everlasting Gobstoppers, One is enough for anybody. KA.

Re: Sell me on DC I know, I am summoning this thread from the dead, but I do have a useful comment to make. Anyone who wants a basic coverage of Forensics might want to check out Forensics for Dummies http://www.amazon.com/Forensics-Dummies-Douglas-P-Lyle/dp/0764555804 It follows the format of all Dummies books, and if you just want a decent overview, it is well worth the money. KA.

Re: Fourth Versus Fith DC? Try this thread: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20762 KA.

Re: Best way to make a spider mine? Don't forget the occasional heart-shaped box of juicy dead flies. KA.

Re: Supermax Prisons in Europe Sorry to interrupt, but this thread sparked an idea for a 'practical' prison for Supers. Dispel No, not a Drain, just a Random Dispel. We have all seen the futuristic prison movies where there is some sort of deadly device that keeps prisoners at bay, because if they go outside a certain area the Death Collar/Death Ray/Exploding Brain Implant will get them. But that sort of thing is not likely to work on a group as tough and resourceful as many Supervillains. However, as far as demoralizing a group of Superpowerful beings, what could be better than randomized Dispels that go out invisibly at random times during the day and night? Would you really take a shot at doing a Move Through on the Force Bubble if it was possible that your own Force Field might fade out just as your were about to smash into it? Would you take a chance on Phasing through a wall if you could find yourself a permanent part of it? I am not saying that this would work as your only security, but I think it would be a great way to explain why the average Super facility was not a 'revolving door'. KA.

Re: The Beverly Hillbillies I think you are going to need to give Elly May a WF:Slingshot and a few levels with it. In one episode they were skeet shooting and that is what she used. A slingshot, to shoot at a fast-moving target, a fair distance away from her! KA.

Re: Disadvantage that becomes an advantage? This is one of those things where some people are going to seem too 'tight' and other people are going to seem too 'loose' as to how they interpret the rules, and ultimately each GM needs to: 1) Decide where they stand on this sort of thing and 2) Tell the Players! It isn't right to let a player design a character based on their interpretation of the rules, especially if they are doing things "by the book", and then have their character placed at a major disadvantage in the game because you do things some other way. It doesn't matter how you do things, as long as everyone knows. However, with that proviso, here is my opinion on how I would do it. A) "Feels no Pain" is a Disadvantage. You get points for it. It is not supposed to help you, in other than the rarest circumstances. Which means it should, in general, not be a Defense for anything. I am not sure that I would be hardnosed enough to actually make a blind character pay for Flash Defense for their Sight, but I might. (I would, however, probably figure out a way to make it cost almost nothing. Maybe something like "Always On", "Side Effect: Can't Make Perception Rolls for Vision", and whatever else would seem appropriate.) If someone paid full price for an Ego Attack that was just defined as 'Causes Pain', there is no reason why it shouldn't work. If it had some type of limitation on it that said the recipient had to be able to feel Physical Pain, then I would probably say it didn't work, but otherwise, it would. Why? Well, for one thing, the person who bought it did not get a cost savings, so it isn't really all that fair to penalize them. Also, let's say that Professor Painless the Daring Dentist has no ability to feel pain because he performed a root canal on himself that went horribly wrong. He can still remember what pain felt like. An Ego Attack might affect him by causing him to recall in horrible detail that paper cut he got in the Second Grade, but magnified 100 times. It might cause him to feel 'phantom pain' like people do in limbs that are no longer attached. It could cause him to suffer shock by thinking about how terrible the pain he has heard others describe must be. It is an Ego Attack. It affects the Mind. The pain part is incidental. For that matter it could cause him to believe that for some reason his ability to feel had been restored and that the process itself caused him horrible pain. I am just saying that you shouldn't hand out Defenses, especially those that make someone immune to an attack, just because someone took a Disadvantage. If you start down that road, a few clever Disadvantages could make a character almost Invulnerable. Since it is relatively hard to kill someone in Hero, a person with: Physical Lim : Feels no Pain (immune to a lot of Ego and NND attacks) Psych Lim : Extremely Skeptical (immune to a lot of Mind Control, Mental Illusions, Presence based Attacks, etc.) Psych Lim : Thinks he is Unstoppable (immune to Ego Based Entangles) Physical Lim : No Solid Physical Form (immune to most regular Entangles) Could be practically unstoppable, and they haven't even spent any points yet, actually they have gained points. Now I am sure my esteemed colleagues can point out plenty of ways to stop the character above, but all I am saying is that letting Disadvantages be used as Defenses is a slippery slope indeed. KA.

Re: Batman vs Midnighter

Re: Character: Lance Dulak, Private Eye Well, to be alive that long, I was thinking of some sort of Life Support : Doesn't Age combined with a little Regeneration. Usually, when I do something like that in a non-Super genre, I like there to be some kind of clue that something is a little odd about the character. So something like "never has five-o'clock shadow, even when you know he was up all night." would fit the bill, without being a dead giveaway. But in this case I just threw it into the description for a bit of color. KA.

Re: Character: Lance Dulak, Private Eye Thanks for the support. Since I didn't provide that much background in the first post, I didn't want it to be so obscure that no one would get it. When I was batting around the concept in my mind, I first thought of Lance Lake. I was afraid that the memory of a certain 'Secret Chimp' might lead to too many puns from fellow gamers. However, if anyone has another name suggestion, I would be happy to hear it. One thing, I do want to keep the first name Lance, because it actually sounds like the name of a Pulp Detective, to me. KA.

Re: Character: Lance Dulak, Private Eye Wow! I didn't expect uncontrolled adulation for this character concept, but enough people have viewed it without comment that I am beginning to think it must not be nearly as cool as I think it is. I was cooking dinner when it came to me, maybe the heat addled my brain or something. I just started thinking about the whole Sir Launcelot concept, and then thought about a hard-boiled detective, and something clicked. If he somehow had managed to survive, perhaps through a curse, what would he be like? Eventually, he would probably want to leave Europe behind and get a fresh start in America. He would also have the typical, hard-boiled, "Dames are nothing but trouble, but I will risk my life to defend them" thing going on, based on his past history. For some reason it just seemed right for the wierder edges of the pulp genre. You could even build him on the Pulp points. LS: Does Not Age, and a tiny bit of Regeneration (so that he would heal back wounds over time) and he would be effectively immortal. Oh well. KA.

Re: INT Sword, Follower or Focus Depending on the tone of your campaign, I think it would be hilarious to build the sword as a Focus, and then put Extra Time/Incantations - Only to Activate, on some of the powers. Which means that the character would have to either talk the sword into granting the powers, or say some stupid phrase the sword liked to hear to get the powers. "To the sword, my soul I bind, to forestall harm upon my mind." If you could figure out the math, you could even put an Activation Roll on the Incantations, meaning that sometimes, even if you said the right phrase, the sword wouldn't do what you wanted it to. You could also go with an Activation and Side Effect, so that, if the sword was in a bad mood, or you weren't treating it right, it could actually dish out a little STUN (or some other rude effect). KA.

Off a dingy street in the bad part of town, you can find a small office. That is, if you don't mind walking up six flights of creaking stairs. The guy inside doesn't look like your average gumshoe, even though he seems to be trying to. Under the battered fedora, inside the threadbare trenchcoat, he looks a lot more fit than you expected. Maybe an ex-boxer? No, his features are a little too perfect for that. And he never has five-o'clock shadow, even when you know he was up all night. He won't talk much about his past. The most anyone has ever heard is that he got involved with his best friend's wife, and things went really sour from there. After that he hooked up with a real witch that told him he'd wish he was dead before she was through with him. Maybe he does have a death wish, he sure seems to take some crazy chances. But so far, no matter how bad he gets hurt, he never quite seems to get killed. His rates are cheap, and he always seems to give his clients a fair shake. Just don't ask him to do any divorce work, he won't even discuss it. KA.

Re: Magic System Question #1 One way to model "Painful to Learn" is to have something in place like a "School of Magic" or "Wizard's Academy" etc. where you had to go to learn a new spell. Part of the process could be something like 'fitness testing' which would mean that you would learn a lesser version of the spell with an Activation Roll and Side Effects. The only way to really learn the full version of the spell would be to complete, say, three, successful castings of the "Learning Version" while at the Academy. These trials would be public, and at least three faculty members would have to be present (behind suitable protection, of course) for the casting to count. Meanwhile the person wanting to learn the spell would have to survive three castings, and any Side Effects caused by the spells that fail. I second the suggestion that the cost of spells be pretty close to the actual cost of the powers, with perhaps a small (-1/2) discount, and no Frameworks. So, the process to learn a new spell would be: 1) Save up enough XP to purchase the Spell 2) Find the proper Academy to learn it 3) Pay whatever the fee is to learn the spell. (Of course there has to be a fee, don't you think it costs money to keep the Academy running?) 4) Learn the Training Spell with the Activation and Side Effects (This spell could be, maybe 2/3 the power level of the actual spell. You don't want it too wimpy or there would be no danger when the Side Effects went off.) NOTE: The Character has to actually BUY THIS SPELL with XP. If they are never able to complete the trial, they get stuck with this version of the spell, along with the Activation and Side Effects. Even if they have or gain enough XP to buy off these Limitations at some point in the future, they cannot. The only way to get rid of them is to complete the process at the Academy. 5) They keep trying until they either cast the spell successfully three times, or get killed trying, or run out of money. (There is, of course, a FEE for each trial. Those blast walls don't rebuild themselves, you know!) They don't have to cast it three times in a row, unless you want to be a real bastard, just three times during their stay at the Academy. (Of course there is a daily FEE for staying at the Academy. We can't afford to offer free room and board to a bunch of untalented fledgling wizards, you know!) 6) If they complete the trial, they spend the rest of the XP and get the full version of the spell. By the way, no protective spells/gear are allowed during the casting of the Trial Spells, and you are not allowed to alter the probability of the Activation or Side Effects rolls by any means. KA. P.S. If you haven't, you should read: Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345319079/sr=8-1/qid=1152591913/ref=sr_1_1/102-3300994-9800104?ie=UTF8 It has a lot of cool ideas for keeping Magic Users 'in their place'.

Re: When a PC screws up, What next? Not to bring up the topic of a million threads, but, "What would your character do?" I don't mean that as an invitation for everyone else to post what their favorite character would do in this situation. What I mean is: NightStick : What would your character do to fix this? He got a bit too talky with a reporter and let out some secrets, both for himself and the team. How would he fix this? Is he the type to lean on the reporter to print a retraction? (That doesn't really sound like it would work in this case, but is that what he would do?) Is he sneaky enough to figure a way to turn this to his advantage? (Make the bad guys think the story is a fabrication designed to lead them into a trap. Make the authorities think that a 'duped' reporter is helping your character by establishing a 'fake' background story that will lead them on a wild goose chase. In the paranoid world of Dark Champions all you would have to do is be 'accidentally' observed near the reporter a few times to have everyone thinking it is some kind of a set-up.) Is he clueless enough that he would be annoyed at the team for calling him on his behavior? You made the mistake in character, react to it in character. You could even add depth to your character by pulling a "Batman", revealing in the future that it wasn't a mistake at all, but actually was part of some elaborate plan to bring down some major threat, but that they didn't 'need to know' at the time you did it. KA.

Re: throw and attack airborne target I would say that unless you are jumping straight up into the target (sort of a Move Through) then the target should at least get some DCV bonus for the rate at which they are moving, at least from your point of view, depending on the circumstances. Why? Well, if this is a practiced maneuver, your team can basically 'hold their fire' until the victim reaches the top of the 'arc', at which point they are 'not moving' in relation to the rest of the team. So, they can fire at what is basically a 'stationary' target. But, if, due to your speed, you are not able to attack again until the target is on the way down, you are firing at a 'moving' target. Another way to do it would be to make the person doing the throw have to roll 'to hit' a 'target' when making the throw. The 'target' would be the position in the air where they wanted the victim to end up, so as to be easy to attack on their next phase. This seems to go along with the 'toss a ball up and hit it' example, because if you have ever watched a total novice do that, you will see them put the ball in the wrong place (too high, too low, to one side, etc) and have trouble hitting it when it comes down. KA.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER