CBikle

Re: GATEWAY, the UNTIL space station FGU had an old V&V module that included a space station. Also the old Mayfair JLA sourcebook had the floorplans for the JLA satellite.

Re: Trolling for suggestions, 1982-style. For local color: -the "Where's The Beef" lady from Wendy's - Southfork Ranch or Ewing Oil from Dallas (maybe JR Ewing is the evil mastermind or better yet, the pcs are recruited to find out who REALLY shot JR). - 80's stand-up comics with thin ties and those jackets with rolled-up sleeves - Members Only jackets Thats all I got for now.

Re: VOICE List Hey Steve, how're you doing ? On an unrelated note, was just looking over Trouble For Havoc the other day and am still impressed with the job you guys did on that. Don't know how impractical this'd be, but any chance of you guys getting leasing rights for 5th ed. and re-releasing an updated version of the sourcebook for Champions and maybe a few other contemporary systems ?

Re: GM's "rights" For character construction, I'm pretty inflexible regarding going past the established limits or unbalanced characters (90 % of the points having a focus limit, etc). For background info/history/personality/reputation, I encourage players to include as much relevant detail as possible. For adding stuff to a character's backhistory, I'll do it, but a slow enough pace that if a PC doesn't seem to like the change, I can reverse it without too much effort.

Re: Does your Team have a Charter? Don't think any group I've been in has had a charter. There have always been the implied rules (enforced in game and out-of-game) of "don't kill" and "protect innocents" in most teams. On a side note, I know the Legion Of Super Heroes has bylaws, but I coudn't find 'em all on the net. 3 that I remember: 1: If you kill, you're immediately expelled from the LSH in addition to any prosecution that might follow. 2: Once you reach 20 years of age, you're out ! 3: No new members are allowed in if their super-power duplicates that of an already existing member. Superboy, Mon El and Ultra Boy got past this rule by getting in through one of their more obscure powers (super-ventriloquism, penetra-vision, etc) which to me, always seemed like a cheesy way for the LSH to bypass their own bureaucracy in order to let the big guns in. It's really not in the spirit of their rules, but then again, they were a bunch of young teenagers in a book then written by a young teenager(13 year old Jim Shooter). Not entirely sure how Karate Kid got past this rule.

Re: Super Villainy on a Budget? Vicious guard dogs.

Re: What is it about Champions? The two potential obstacles with new players to Champions are: 1 The character creation process- some old-school players prefer randomly designing characters and some people just don't work well with point-allocation systems. Hero has fixed this with this with the random character generator in the Champions book plus the design sourcebooks like USDB and Gadgets And Gear make it even easier to assemble characters. And HeroDesigner makes it even easier. 2 The Speed Chart: How your players react to this will pretty much determine their feelings on Hero overall.

Re: Character Posting Game.Pretty much a Deathstroke/Taskmaster hybridRenegade 13 Val Char Cost 30 STR 20 35 DEX 75 23 CON 26 13 BODY 6 18 INT 8 18 EGO 16 30 PRE 20 12 COM 1 6/16 PD 0 6/16 ED 1 7 SPD 25 11 REC 0 46 END 0 40 STUN 0 6" RUN02" SWIM06" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 198Cost Power END 15 Chainmail-reinforced Fatigues: Armor (10 PD/10 ED) (30 Active Points); Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), OIF (-1/2) 22 Combat Staff: Multipower, 50-point reserve, (50 Active Points); all slots OAF (-1), Limited Range (-1/4) 2u 1) Plasma-Shot: EB 10d6 (50 Active Points); OAF (-1), 12 Charges (-1/4), Limited Range (-1/4) 2u 2) Knockout Gas: EB 5d6, NND (+1) (50 Active Points); OAF (-1), Limited Range (-1/4), 12 Charges (-1/4) 40 Experienced Eye In Combat: Find Weakness 13- with All Attacks 30 Master Tactician: Luck 9d6 (45 Active Points); Limited Power Only for ambushes and escapes (-1/2) 27 Golden AutoLuger: RKA 2d6, Autofire (3 shots; +1/4), 4 clips of 16 Charges (+1/4), Armor Piercing (+1/2) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), Limited Power not underwater (-1/4) 8 Advanced Radio Headset: HRRP (Radio Group) (12 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) 10 Combat Staff: Missile Deflection (Any Ranged Attack) (20 Active Points); OAF (-1) Powers Cost: 156Cost Martial Arts Maneuver 5 Defensive Strike: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, 8d6 Strike 4 Martial Escape: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 55 STR vs. Grabs 4 Martial Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 3 Martial Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, 8d6 +v/5, Target Falls 3 Legsweep: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, -1 DCV, 9d6 Strike, Target Falls 4 Killing Strike: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, HKA 2d6 8 +2 HTH Damage Class(es) Martial Arts Cost: 31Cost Skill 3 Acrobatics 16- 3 Analyze: Combat 13- 3 Breakfall 16- 3 Bribery 15- 3 Climbing 16- 3 Combat Driving 16- 3 Combat Piloting 16- 1 Computer Programming 8- 3 Deduction 13- 10 Defense Maneuver I-IV 3 Demolitions 13- 3 Electronics 13- 3 Fast Draw 16- 3 Interrogation 15- 3 Lockpicking 16- 3 Mechanics 13- 3 Paramedics 13- 3 Persuasion 15- 3 Riding 16- 5 Rapid Attack (HTH) 5 Rapid Attack (Ranged) 3 Security Systems 13- 3 Stealth 16- 3 Streetwise 15- 10 Survival (Temperate/Subtropical, Tropical, Desert, Mountain, Urban) 13- 3 Systems Operation 13- 3 Tactics 13- 3 Teamwork 16- 3 Trading 15- 6 Weaponsmith (Energy Weapons, Firearms, Incendiary Weapons, Missiles & Rockets, Muscle-Powered HTH) 13- 3 Linguist 2 1) Language: Arabic (fluent conversation; literate) (3 Active Points) 1 2) Language: Cambodian (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points) 2 3) Language: Russian (fluent conversation; literate) (3 Active Points) 1 4) Language: Spanish (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points) 1 5) Language: Thai (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points) 3 Traveler 2 1) AK: Global Hot Spots (3 Active Points) 13- 2 2) AK: Middle East (3 Active Points) 13- 2 3) AK: Somalia (3 Active Points) 13- 2 4) AK: unlisted government facilities (3 Active Points) 13- 3 PS: Mercenary 15- Skills Cost: 133Cost Perk 4 Reputation: Extremely competent super-mercenary/bodyguard/assassin (A medium-sized group) 14-, +2/+2d6 7 Money: Wealthy Perks Cost: 11Cost Talent 6 Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED) 15 Combat Sense 13- 12 Danger Sense (self only, in combat, Function as a Sense, Intuitional) 13- 3 Resistance (3 points) Talents Cost: 36Val Disadvantages 20 Hunted: The Program 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Harshly Punish) 15 Hunted: Team Justice 8- (Mo Pow, Harshly Punish) 10 Hunted: Other criminal agencies and governments 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching) 15 Psychological Limitation: Amoral (Common, Strong) 15 Physical Limitation: Missing an eye (additional -2 range penalty for per rolls and OCV) (Frequently, Greatly Impairing) 20 Psychological Limitation: Commitment to completing job (Common, Total) 15 Psychological Limitation: Love/hate relationship with family (Common, Strong) 10 Distinctive Features: silver eyepatch over left eye; silver braided hair; appears to be a fit 50 years of age; van dyke moustache (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 5 Hunted: member of family 8- (Less Pow, Harshly Punish) 25 Enraged: Berserk when affected by hallucinogens (Uncommon), go 11-, recover 11-, Berserk Disadvantage Points: 150Base Points: 200Experience Required: 215Total Experience Available: 215Experience Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 565 Height: 1.84 m Hair: silver Weight: 95.00 kg Eyes: green (right eye only) Appearance: muscular, lithe and silver-haired and fit for a man in his late fifties. Wade has many (now-faded)tattoos and scars that he picked up in his youth. He is also missing his left eye (long story). Costume: dark-blue chainmail-reinforced fibers with battleship gray gloves,boots, and military-style utility-belt. His mask is hal-blue/half-gray and his AutoLuger and Combat Staff are uncharacteristically, a bright gold in color. Whether this is out of a sense of fashion, whimsy or tactics is unknown. Personality: Consummate professional super-mercenary. Very well-regarded in the super-villain community and often used by master villains as a sounding board for their schemes. Recently Wade has become a little more reckless of late and tends to take chances and risks that he normally wouldn't. This has not been noticed by his employers and peers, yet. Situations where he's confronted by his personal life and family tend to disarm him and throw him off his game a little. Quote:"Killing you will be business and a pleasure."Background: Renegade 13 was the code name assigned to Wade Stilson, one of the few successful surviving members of a top-secret super-commando program, herafter known as "The Program".It's unclear whether Wade's amoral and nihilistic nature was why he was chosen for the program or whether it was a side effect of the "treatments". At some point Renegade 13 and the Program had a break-up which led to Wade operating solo as a mercenary for hire. For over 15 years, Renegade 13 built up his reputation as a super-mercenary villain, working for master-villains, criminal organizations, enemy countries and at least twice for the Program, the same agency that wants him dead. Along the way, Wade had a dalliance with a super-villainess and later found out that she gave birth to triplets, one of which became a super-villain and later died accidentally (although his death was still avenged by Wade, who killed the hero involved with his son's death), the other became a super-hero and the third was a daughter whom Wade was unaware existed until recently. Powers/Tactics: Prefers to attack by ambush and usually with support. If working alone, Wade will close in with an opponent on the fringes of a battle and concentrate on that enemy until he's down and then move onto the next. If working solo, Wade will operate defensively and alternate opponents or engage a few at the same time, with the intent of distracting and delaying them until help arrives or his mission has been completed. If things start to become unsalvageable, Wade will attempt to escape.Campaign Use: Renegade 13 is a super-villain currently going through a mid-life crisis. disenchantment and boredom with his occupation as well as the startling revelation that he has a daughter, have caused him to rethink his future. He has been giving serious thought to either retiring to another country or negotiating a deal with PRIMUS that would provide him with amnesty for past crimes and protection for his daughter in return for working for them full time. Wade knows that this type of arrangement would probably not sit well with the hero-community, as he has been responsible for the deaths of three superheroes.For the next challenge, howsabout a character who is a homage to an obscure 70's character (like Omega The Unknown, Stalker or one of the old Atlas characters). I'd also like to request that the character not be one who has already been posted on this or another thread.

Re: Alternate Earth #22—World of your Dreams If the world seemed to turn into a utopia, Codename: Enigma (a govt. super-agent) would would report to Shadow Intelligence HQ to be placed in suspended animation until such time as he's needed again.

Re: When was the "Silver Age" in the CU? With DC, I think the silver-age ended when all their characters with ill-defined job backgrounds started becoming politicians (Supergirl became a congresswoman I believe and I think Batgirl became a senator).

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That! Yeah, speedsters can unbalance the game very quickly.

Re: the 5th Edition CU is by far the best Although I don't care for all the changes, I'm very impressed with the new Hero Games reliability in getting product out consistently and punctually.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings For just that reason, I've gone back to my old Hero-Handle tm

Re: Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the CU Dude, sorry , but that is funny. Often in your many other postings related to your Batman-Buffy-Pittsburgh Champions campaign, the whole white glove/nurse thing will suddenly show up out of left field. No offense intended.

Re: The Stainless Steel Age Mark lives in Europe and the media there often takes on a different bias, so perhaps that's influenced his writing in regards to U.S. politics. In a weird way, I think Millar loves the perceived over-the-top elements associated with America and tends to write many of his American characters as "cowboys" (especially the Ultimates).

Picked mine up today at Gamer's Realm in NJ. Haven't had a chance to look at it yet.

The whole "code vs. killing" thing doesn't really make sense in the real world , however it's a staple of the comics genre. If you need to rationalize it to the players , you can always take this route: The law turns a blind eye to the goings-on of superheroes and even works with them (even though most of them have secret id's) with the (implied or unsaid) understanding that there are certain lines super-heroes won't cross , and if they do , they'll help clean it up. Politicians allow/encourage this because super-heroes are very popular and being anti-super-hero is not very popular with the voters. If things get seriously out of hand , then the lauthorities will have to do things differently.

You should check out the Village People movie , "Can't Stop The Music" which also starred Steve Guttenberg , Valerie Perrine and Bruce Jenner. It's as good as it sounds.

In my games , the Monster was always used as more of a henchman (although a hard to control one). Always had kind of a "Solomon Grundy" type feel.

Always thought that being a cab driver was a great complimentary job to being a super-hero. It's a perfect cover for patrolling in your civilian I.D. and could even be used to get info from the streets or from high society. Also , you never have to rationalize toanyone why you're in the area.

The few original villain teams I had used included The Monster Syndicate ( a collection of magical and/or psychotic villains led by the undead scientist known as the Undertaker) They were kind of based on the Astrologer and his group of villains from the Wild Cards books as well as Mr Mind's Monster Society of Evil from Shazam ! (Captain Marvel) fame. Not really a team , but I had a bunch of freelance villains who worked for Viper. Another bunch was the "Zappers" , a super-powered street gang who used and pushed the addictive energy drug known as Zap (Zap also gave super-powersto it's users.).

Normals Unbound is still very useful as well as 4th ed. -campaign specific books like Champions Universe and Classic Organizations. A lot of pre-4th ed. stuff is also pretty good like Enemies: Villainy Unbound and Enemies III (most of the characters were never reprinted elsewhere).