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Kharis2000

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  1. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to ShelleyCM in Shelley McTyre's Champions game   
    Hey!! I feel like a prodigal daughter! ❤️
     
    Also, you guys are making me look cool in front of my teenager and for that you all rock! 😂
     
    -SCM
  2. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to ShelleyCM in Shelley McTyre's Champions game   
    You GUYS! Thanks, this made my day (and thanks @Sketchpadfor letting me know about the thread). If there is a thing you're looking for specifically, let me know and I can go through backups. (I'd intended to take down everything except for Red October but couldn't bring myself to do it.)
     
    -SCM
  3. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to Ninja-Bear in Martial Art Maze   
    Since I had a few extra bucks, I bought the book!
  4. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to Ninja-Bear in Martial Art Maze   
    I did not know you were the author! Many thanks again. I was reading up on the Temple of the Dragon from the PDF and I like it!
  5. Like
    Kharis2000 got a reaction from Derek Hiemforth in Martial Art Maze   
    The key to the map and the description of the traps is found in the Pulp Hero book, Thrilling Places, Ninja-Bear.
  6. Thanks
    Kharis2000 got a reaction from Ninja-Bear in Martial Art Maze   
    The key to the map and the description of the traps is found in the Pulp Hero book, Thrilling Places, Ninja-Bear.
  7. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to DShomshak in Horror & Supermage Enemies Return: Whaddaya Want?   
    Mystic Enemies: Cults is on the list. I was thinking, the Hunter's Moon and the Vril Society.
     
    Ouroboros is iffy. It's tied to the Dragon, so there's the issue I mentioned above of how closely I want things tied to the CU. And with King Cobra now having an entire organization and villain team, on top of VIPER, doe people really want another snake-themed group?
     
    "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?"
     
    Dean Shomshak
  8. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to DShomshak in Horror & Supermage Enemies Return: Whaddaya Want?   
    Well, other projects on the list include...
     
    Mystic Enemies: Undead. Pretty straightforward. Brother Bone, Dead Heat, Decay, Haunt, and a vampire to be designed later.
     
    Mystic Enemies: Diabolical. Demons, Satanists, and such ilk. Brujo and Razor Girl, maybe Apollyon if I can think of a compelling new angle, perhaps an updated Lerajie, and a few villains I used in my campaigns but never published before.
     
    Horror Enemies: The Think Tank. Formerly the Mind Master Complex. I mentioned how not every word of mine was genius? This is one case. I used this character as a major millain in two campaigns for 10 years or so without realizing that Think Tank is so much better a name. And so obvious. Sometimes I amaze myself, and not in a good way. Anyway, it's one of my faves, especially for the way it poses as multiple low-power villains by possessing hapless people. It's a villain team all by itself.
     
    Horror Enemies: Science Gone Wrong. Doctor Black, Caiman, Ooze, Fearmonger, add one or two, or maybe fit the Great Beast and his pets in for a longer work. Or remove Fearmonger (save him for someplace else) and call the supplement Body Horror.
     
    Dean Shomshak
  9. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to DShomshak in Horror & Supermage Enemies Return: Whaddaya Want?   
    One of the Shared Origin supplements I outlined was The Blood of Kastchei, a collection of vampires. Well, one kind of vampire: the classic gothic vampire of film and fiction, which I link to one of the traditional Slavic types, the obour. As a Vampire: the Masquerade/Requiem alumnus, of course I provide an origin. In this case, I make Kastchei the Deathless, villain from Russian fairy tales, the First Vampire. He's a world-class master villain. Then have a selection of lesser vampires, from elder mastermind to hiss-and-get-staked minion, with one young vampire who's trying to be a hero. Maybe someday. A Mystic Enemies collection of different types of vampires is not off the table, though.
     
    Dean Shomshak
  10. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to DShomshak in Horror & Supermage Enemies Return: Whaddaya Want?   
    Back when I first imagined the "Shared Origins" series, they were CU-related (or at least CU-compatible), and one of them was Archimago's Legacy. The premise was that he is really, truly dead and gone, not even a ghost so far as anyone can tell... But he had already set plots in motion to continue after his death, designed to pay off his many debts. Former minions still under his influence, the children of the Zodiac Working, dire magic items with wills of their own, books such as Record of the Biafran Working written to provide guidance on destroying the world, things like that.
     
    In the Millennium Uviverse setting hinted at in the SO supplements as published, Archimago is replaced by the Warlock, a.k.a. the Witch King. But it's still cooler, I think, to have Archimago as a villain who remains a power in the world despite having died decades ago. Creepier, because he's more shadowy. You never know what might be part of a plan he set in motion long ago.
     
    I shall consider my options. Some of this depends on what Jason would approve, and on how much I want to work within the CU. At present I lean toward character use sidebars telling how to fit characters within the CU, but not locking them in to a CU context.
     
    Dean
  11. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to Lord Liaden in Horror & Supermage Enemies Return: Whaddaya Want?   
    Now that brings up another consideration: maybe Shadowfire could become part of a "cults" supplement line? Perhaps fit his group in with an updated Ouroboros, along with an expansion of Tappan Arkwright's followers, and a revisit of Hunters Moon (Hecate already having been rewritten for 6E by Steve Long in The Hercules Force).
  12. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to Lord Liaden in Horror & Supermage Enemies Return: Whaddaya Want?   
    Sounds good. Real, real good. I would very much look forward to this.
     
    Based on the precedent tiger has already established, I''d say four to six characters would be a reasonable range per supplement. For this one in particular, I'd like to suggest including Matachin. He's already an official CU element of the Silvestri clan, and while as originally written up he was more of a sword-wielding super-thug, more could be done with his magical abilities without his Qliphothic Sword (to eat up the CP difference between editions).   But perhaps you'd prefer to keep him for a different collection.
     
    You may feel reluctant about this suggestion, but hear me out: I'd like to revisit Archimago. I know Takofanes has taken the lich-lord niche in the CU, but I was thinking two departures for Archimago fitting the continuity he was given for the new setting. One, he could be written up more as an intangible ghost/specter than a lich, his spirit bound to the Astral Plane by the spells that banished him. That would lead to my second recommended departure, that he would manipulate his remaining servants and artifacts to overcome those spells and allow him to manifest or incarnate himself on Earth. We already have hints of that with Evil Eye and the Zodiac Working; and his Staff of Power possessing anyone who holds it would fit that motif as well. That could potentially generate multiple plots without having to use Archimago directly, saving his return for the climax.
     
    I have other villains from those books I'd like to see, but I think I'll hold my peace for now to first see what other categories you propose.
  13. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to DShomshak in Horror & Supermage Enemies Return: Whaddaya Want?   
    Proposal #1
    Mystic Enemies: A Selection of Sorcerers
     
    This would receive super-sorcerer villains. Granny Hex and Shadowfire – two discards from the Devil’s Advocates – could go here, re-interpreted as solo villains. Maze can probably stay forgotten: Other characters, such as Tesseract and his Devil’s Advocates replacement Gyre, cover his powers and themes better. Brother Bone, I think, will appear elsewhere. Apollyon is only marginally a sorcerer, and I don’t think I want a character whose schtick is that he was trying to imitate another CU villain.
     
    Other potential characters:
    * Hierophant, my Baron Mordo homage from USM, is a definite yes.
    * Simon Magus, the time-traveling ghost of the legendary sorcerer who clashed with the Apostles, might fit in as well.
    * Tryxie, one of the supernatural super-thugs from Supermage Bestiary, could be an example of particularly bizarre magic.
     
    I’d like to provide a spread of magic styles and character types. This means tweaking some characters to add more flavor to their magic style, or to avoid overlap.
     
    Like, Shadowfire might be made more Eastern in his magic: I never defined where he found the black lotus drug, but it all feels South Asian to me. Give it more of a corrupted Sadhana feel. Character type: Your basic evil megalomaniac cult leader.
     
    Shadowfire needs a big rewrite, though. First, elemental controls are gone. Second, the way his power level fluctuates with the number of drug-affected powers he has near him is a bitch to track in play. I think I’ll rewrite him using Multiform to represent his different power levels.
     
    Simon Magus could be made more Neoplatonist/proto-Hermetic in his illusion-centric magic. He’s a bit like Shadowfire in his god complex and taste for minions, but he’s more of a con man.
     
    Hierophant is straightforward. He uses classic light-show thaumaturgy, and he’s the perpetually vindictive rival of supermage PCs, hustling dark gods and dimension lords for the power to defeat them.
     
    Granny Hex’s folk witchcraft seems okay, though I might think of more spells for her. She may need more raw force, too, especially as a solo villain. Her type or motivation is “Revolt Against Modernity.”
     
    Tryxie: Also a simple character of no great depth. Magically, she’s an example of weird magic; also of someone who gained magic through a pac (in her case, the Hat). Thematically, she’s a hired super-thug or low-end magical criminal – she just steals magic tomes and artifacts instead of money or art treasures.
     
    Sound good?
     
    Dean Shomshak
  14. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to DShomshak in Horror & Supermage Enemies Return: Whaddaya Want?   
    Hello, all! For people who don’t know me, I wrote a few Champs supplements way back when: Creatures of the Night: Horror Enemies, Ultimate Supermage, and Supermage Bestiary. Some villains from those books got adopted into the official Champions Universe (in Arcane Adversaries and The Mystic World); many did not. Our colleague Tiger has shown, through the “Forgotten Enemies” line, that apparently some people like to see revised and updated versions of old characters that didn’t make the cut into the CU. But why should Tiger have all the fun? The esteemed Jason Walters says its okay if I publish new versions of my old characters. I hope I can get at least a few supplements out of this, and maybe supply some useful new/old villains for Champions GMs.
     
    Villains risen from the grave, as it were. Summoned from publication Limbo!
     
    This is where you come in. I’ll use this thread to propose collections of villains. You give feedback. Does the proposal sound interesting? Do you like the lineup of characters, or would you prefer a different set? How many would you like to see per supplement? If you have any favorites from those old books, let me know and I’ll try to do something with them. Similarly, if you think a character was potentially cool but would benefit from a new and different approach, make the suggestion. Looking back, I see that not every word I wrote was genius. This gives me a chance to do better.
    I might also round out collections with a few brand new characters, too. We’ll see.
     
    A lot of my old characters were supernatural. (Supermage. Duh.) I figure those can go in a line of “Mystic Enemies” supplements, the way Steve Long produced a few “Martial Arts Enemies” supplements. Non-mystical villains from CoTN can go in a “Horror Enemies” line, though that will of course be much smaller.
     
    So let us begin...
     
    Dean Shomshak
  15. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to DShomshak in Forgotten Enemies metathread   
    Hm. I was surprised (and rather pleased) when Tiger asked my blessing for using Lady Twilight in place of Stalker for the Asesinos. I hadn't thought of producing updated versions of the ROTN or Ultimate Supermage characters since I didn't think anyone was interested. I mean, I've never seen anyone on the forum ask where they could find an updated version of Haunt, the Whisper or Doctor Black. I'm still here, though, so if people would like to see new versions of these characters, I might like to do that myself.
     
    Assuming I can think of anything new to say, beyond updating them to Champions Complete and adjusting the Damage Classes and stuff like that.
     
    And also assuming Jason hasn't already signed the characters over for Tiger's use, which Tiger has every right to ask and Jason has every right to do. I snooze, I lose.
     
    And assuming that anyone wants me to do this.
     
    So: Apparently, Tiger has proved that some people do want to see new versions of characters who fell by the wayside as Hero editions passed. Would anyone like to see me revise my old characters? If enough people say so, I'll ask Jason if he'll allow it, and then start another thread to discuss which charaqcters people would like to see first. This is Tiger's thread: I'm not going to poach it.
     
    Dean Shomshak
  16. Like
    Kharis2000 got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in What "Pulp" have you read lately ?   
    Pulp reading list through the end of June 2018:
     
    The Crime Master & The Day of Doom & In the Grip of the Griffin: The Complete battles of Gordon Manning and the Griffin - three volume set. Pretty pulpy, with a madman scientist going head-to-head with a hero who can't *quite* stop the bad guy time after time. Surprising for that, if nothing else, since the hero loses more than he wins until the end of the series. Notable bad guy plans, a succession of villain henchmen that last three or four stories before Manning does them in, and a few interesting twists along the way.
     
    The Devil's Rosary & The Dark Angel: Volumes 2 and 3 of the complete tales of Jules de Grandin by Seabury Quinn. Some stories are better than others, but this series was like a blueprint on how to run a 'pulp adventurers vs. the occult' campaign. Worth the read just for the endless mine of ideas to lift for games, but many of these stories are pretty darned good on their own.
     
    Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series: written in more modern mes, these are dark fantasy with an antihero protagonist, prehuman civilizations, sorcery, alien intelligences that might be close to gods, ancient technology approaching magic, and more just dripping off the pages. If Wagner had been born years earlier, he might well have given Robert Howear a run for his money.
     
    The Green Llama: The Complete Pulp Adventures - Vols 3 & 4. As I said earlier, these have a more modern writing stu;e than any pulps, and unlike most of the serialized pulps, things change. Character die, marry, break up, villains who were henchmen in earlier stories return as henchmen in later ones. A good solid read.
     
    The Complete Casebook of Max Latin - Latin is a former soldier who was discovered to be color-blind and, hence, removed from service. He performs "enquiries"; he does not identify himself as a private investigator. He works out of a restaurant putatively owned by a hard case (but great chef) named Guiterrez, who serves Latin brandy in his favorite booth (one with a secret microphone). Latin himself actually owns the restaurant which he uses as an office. No fantastical villains here, but some interesting stories.
     
    Zarkon, Lord of the Unknown: The Invisible Death & The Volcano Ogre -  More of Lin Carter's pastiche/homage to Doc Savage. Interesting for the update to the 1970's and the way it changes the kinds of stories youcan tell.Actually some of Carter's better work for my money.
     
    Lance Star, Sky Ranger, Vol. 1 -  Modern written stories using a public domain character from the old aviation pulps. A bit of a mixed bag, with some authors 'getting it' and one who notably didn't.
     
    Black Drums Talking & Blood and Steel : Volumes 3 & 4 of the Complete Adventures of Kingi Bwana - Still interesting reads, with no actual supernatural elements (plenty of references to supposedly actual powers here and there, though). The author treats the natives with a better touch than most in the era, and 'Kingi' is an interesting character to follow.
     
    Dr. Death vs. The secret 12, Vol. 1 - Brilliant scientist goes mad, turns to mysticism, and decides to destroy all technology and return man to his blessed 'primal state.' Obviously, people object. Conflict ensues. This one's a bit of a slog for me due to the pacing and writing style. There are good ideas, but you have to do some wading to get to them.
     
    The New Adventures of the Griffon - Modern stories about another air war pulp character fallen into public domain. Private adventurer becomes the Griffin to battle aerial-based villains while thought to be one himself. Most of these are pretty good, although there's a lack of a broad villain base that becomes apparent after a while.
     
    The Complete Cases of Captain Satan, Vols. 1 & 2 - Takes a twist to the usual gentleman adventurer premise: Satan and is ever-changing crew are private citizens that wipe out criminal mobs, return the identifiable portions of their loot and resources, and split the rest up among themselves as profit for their public service. Some of the stories are very good, and all have ideas worth stealing.
     
    The Spider Strikes: The Spider #1 - You know that guy, right? Fright wig, 'The Master of Men,' blazing .45s, cape, "Die, die! The Spider bids you die!'? This isn't him. At least not yet. The first two novels were written by Reginald Thomas Maitland Scott, but they were slow-paced (ver, ver slow-paced), so another author  - the wildly imaginative and florid Novell Page - was brought in. I'd never read a Spider novel that wasn' after Pge's renovation of the character, and having now done s, I know why Scott ws shown the door.
     
    The Savage Diaries: The collected Doc Savage essays of Dafydd Neal Dyar, Vol. 1 - Interesting amateur scholarship and speculation on Doc Savage and topic related to him. Wortha read, and plenty of ideas to mine.
     
    The New Adventures of Richard Knight - Another set of modern stories about a public domain air war pulp character. Ostensibly working for the government as an agent, Knight and his sidekick act more like classic vigilantes, just targeting enemies of the government as opposed to common criminals. Again, some good, some not so good. Plenty of air-themed ideas, though.
     
    The Millenium Bug, Doc Brazen #1 - Author Jeff Deischer' pastiche of Doc Savage, updated to the modern day. Brazen isn't as fast or strong as he used to be, but thanks to gene therapy, he's still in better shape than most men a third of his actual age. An old enemy is making a comeback in the modern day, and Brazen has to come out of retirement to deal with hm, assembling a group of new cohorts on the way. Worth a read for ideas on updating the concept to the modern day. I'll buy the sequel.
     
    The Complete Cases of the Marquis of Broadway, Vol. 1 - I liked this one. The 'Marquis' is a cop, and he keeps a lid on the NYC entertainment district by being tougher than the guys that try o commit crimes there. Not a clean cop by any means, he's a bit more complex than the average pulp detective, and it's refreshing to see him set bad guys up to take a fall - or catch a bullet - in the name of justice and keeping Broadway quiet and safe for the masses.
     
    The Green Ghost Declassified - Win Scott Eckert and a group of other writers produce new tales about a minor pulp figure - the Green Ghost - who fought crime with a phosphorescent green skull mask on. Some interesting ideas, and stories, but could have used a bit more of an overhaul to make him more unique.
     
    Dare Devlin: Supreme Adventurer: Brain Wreck - Dafydd Neal Dyar's homage to Doc Savage. Set in the Pulp Era, it's an interesting look at teh 'central hero and sidekicks' theme, with a lot of good ideas. Neal tries a little too hard in places to get things into the narrative, but all in all a good read. I'll by the next one.
     
    The New Adventures of Foster Fade, the Crime Specacularist - Lester Dent is well known for being the creator and main writer of Doc Savage. But he also wrote various “gadget heroes” like Fade, who solves grimes with gadgets he invents as part of a deal with a major metropolitan newspaper. Like all modern-author collections, some stories are good and some not so good, but there's plenty to like (and steal) for a pulp game in here.
     
    The Complete Adventures of Thibault Corday of the Foreign Legion, Vol. 1: Better Than Bullets - The Foreign Legion story was a hot seller for the pulps and Theodore Roscoe got some mileage out of Thibault. Interesting ideas, some clues on how to run a campaign where the PCs are in the military, and a pretty good read.
     
    The Complete Tales of Koropok, Vols. 1 & 2 - Welsh-ancestry American in behind the lines action in Japan during WW2, made interesting by his continuing impersonation of an Ainu. The treatment of the Japanese is less awful than I expected (which why I read both volumes), and approaches some degree of reasonability at times. Good variety of story ideas, although the threat of discovery theme does get a bit thin towards the end. Notable that the last few sories take place after the war and deal with the Occupation and the Nationalist War in China.
     
    The Crime at Black Dudley, Mystery Mile, and Look to the Lady - The first three volumes of Margery Allingham's 20-novel Campion series. I got onto these after watching the BBC Campion series on Amazon (the wife loves her some British crime shows, so we have Acorn and BritBox). Black Dudley is almost a different series, since Campion id a secondary character in it, but he comes to his own in Mystery Mile, going up against crime syndicates, criminal masterminds, homicidal horses, London gangsters, and small-town British folk. I recommend watching the series first, and if it works for you (it's taken close to scene-for-scene from the books) hen go back and read the books.
     
     
     
     
  17. Thanks
    Kharis2000 reacted to Lord Liaden in Galactic Champions-eque material?   
    BDH, do "relevant Hero books" include the Star Hero line? Scourges Of The Galaxy includes details and NPCs from the Church of the Infinite Dark, and a time-traveling future version of Tateklys, who would make fine foils for GC PCs.
     
    From other games, I would suggest Rifts Conversion Book Two: Pantheons of the Megaverse from Palladium Games. Mythic gods from multiple pantheons wielding sci-fi ultratech, interacting with superhumans and aliens. Aliens and cosmic entities masquerading as gods. Ignoring the system, the book is a goldmine of innovative and bizarre ideas. Some of them are horrific, others quite comical. (Personal fave touch is the god Hermes' man-portable rail gun, which he calls "the Herminator.")
  18. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to st barbara in What "Pulp" have you read lately ?   
    Duh ! Rereading "Kharis 2000";s post I find myself face palming. You HAVE seen the t v series !  Still, a good recommendation for anyone who HASN'T seen them.
  19. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to Christopher R Taylor in Cool Guns for your Games   
    Projectiles like the gyrojet or more modern "steerable" bullets would be a better choice in space, I agree.  You would eventually still have some overheating issues, but it would take a lot longer.
     
    Probably a dual-stage system for guns in space makes sense: a mechanical catapult to get the thing in motion toward your target, and a delayed firing that launches the rocket and steers it toward your target.
  20. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to Armitage in Superhero Cosplayers   
    Yes, that is John Barrowman, cosplaying Squirrel Girl at Comic-con.
  21. Like
    Kharis2000 reacted to Christopher R Taylor in 6th Edition Conversions   
    Only one more guy and the agents to go.  I'm not sure what I'll do next, maybe I will do my take on Deathstroke or the guys in Challenges for Champions, a series of adventures I really liked.
  22. Like
    Kharis2000 got a reaction from clsage in Good Pulp Movies to watch   
    You can't go wrong with the original serials, but colecting these is a hobby unto itself.
     
    Take a look at the Internet Archive here:
     
    'Pulp' = https://archive.org/search.php?query=pulp%20AND%20collection%3Amoviesandfilms
     
    and here:
     
    'Serial' - https://archive.org/search.php?query=serial%20AND%20collection%3Amoviesandfilms
     
    for some complete serials available for free viewing. (You'll likely have to hunt around for all the chapters, but they're there).
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