Flames

Re: Soon I Will Be Invincible

That scene at the end had me chuckling, where Dr. Impossible...

Re: Pain resistance?

Can't you just have the drug add a lot of CON and STUN to the character temporarily?

Re: Odd Champions campaigns

My personal favorite "odd Champions" campaign concept is well outlined in Digital Hero #39: War of the Worlds Champions. Victorian British supers vs. Martian war machines -- no microbe deus ex machina here. The article provides a logical premise for the campaign, several sample NPC heroes, game stats for the Martians and their tech, and some "steampunk" inventions to use against them.

 

I still hope to run this some day.

A friend of mine ran it as a one-shot when an out-of-town buddy from the old group came to visit. It was an entertaining evening.

For an out-of-the-ordinary take on a potential Champions universe, check out J.R. DeRego's Union Dues stories over at Escape Pod. They're audio short fiction, very well done, free to download and listen to, and feature a superpowered universe that's quite a bit off from the typical four-color comics. In J.R.'s universe, about the worst thing that can happen to a person is to be born with superpowers. I'm considering running a few sessions of Champions in that universe at Gen Con maybe next year.

Re: Music from out of this World

Mozart died at the tender age of 35, having written a fairly large body of work that should have been much, much larger.

Imagine how much more he'd have written had he lived to be 50 or 60!

But, hey, have you ever listened to the Escape Pod short story where a film nerd finds a video store from another dimension, and is able to rent videos of movies that were never made?

It's here, free for the listenin', entertaining and thought-provoking: http://escapepod.org/2007/05/10/ep105-impossible-dreams/

Re: Angel vs Demons

Does it have to be in London and New York City?

For a twist, why not have it take place in Montreal?

You could explore your own city's colorful history, and give some of its historical characters a little supernatural spin.

I mean, really, United States citizens were just starting to go to Montreal to drink and have parties, since Prohibition had just started in the USA.

Drunk, gambling Americans... the perfect fodder for infection by demonic forces!

Re: 250 character points vs 350 character points

A lot of powers have adders available that customize the way they work. These adders get expensive. There's also a wider variety of skills and talents than there used to be.

Re: Seeking a couple of Middle Eastern monsters.

Here's a monster, from 1001 Arabian Nights, an ogress that has the power to assume the pleasing shape of a human female: http://xahlee.org/p/arabian_nights/prince_ogress.html

Re: Finding Players...

There's this website http://www.penandpapergames.com that will notify you if there are any gamers in your area.

I searched for gamers within 30 miles of Detroit and there were 35 listed.

Re: I got some players!!!.... But I need some help..

To avoid the munchkinism, don't let the players write up munchkin characters. Don't let them min-max, and explain to them that if they buy a huge high DEX it won't prevent them from ever being hit.

Cap everything, all the stats, all the powers. Make sure no-one tries to sneak over it, and, at the same time, make sure no-one is underpowered. It can suck to be the only guy whose attack does three or four dice less than everyone else's.

Make the campaign about the characters, and their individual lives and their lives within the group.

If a player has based his character on a favorite character from a book or tv show, make a plot that mirrors one that happened with that character, but throw a few curves into it.

Have the villains taunt the PCs... "Your powers are weak! You cannot hope to defeat us!" and then, when the PCs are victorious, they can taunt right back.

One thing I hate when I'm playing Champions is when the GM thinks that the PCs have to lose all the time. Sure, they might lose a fight in the beginning when the most powerful villain arrives, but eventually the PCs should prevail.

If the villain is going to get away after being trounced by the PCs, have him acknowledge the defeat... "You may have won this round, heroes, but I'll be back! I will not forget this indignity!"

Re: Regression of Interstellar Civilizations

How about this... all the civilizations have been using the same extra-dimensional energy source to advance themselves, and suddenly, without warning or explanation, that energy source has dwindled to nearly nothing.

Great hulking ships that once tore through open space at hundreds of times the speed of light now drift helplessly, their remaining crew and passengers desperately calling for assistance and living on backup power.

The question of what exactly happened to the power source is something the PCs could spend part of the campaign investigating. If they get the source back online, they can be part of the rebuilding of the empire.

Re: Making Every Characteristic Point Matter

This might lead to the use of custom d6s, like those ones that roll 0-5 instead of 1-6.

Re: An observation on two systems

What I find helpful is having a good grasp of just whatever rules are going to come into use. If none of the PCs or NPCs has Teleport or Entangle, it isn't necessary to study up on those rules. But if someone has Find Weakness, a quick skim over the rules for that ability before play even starts can alleviate the hassle of having to look that up during play.

Re: Is it worth it to make stuff on your free time without even playing them?

If you've got a back-stock of NPCs and whatnot, why not create a website where other HERO System players and GMs can come and get them?

If you've got HDC files of the characters and so forth, so much the better!

Re: Bewitched "time stop"

My feeling is that in an RPG "Time Stop" is not something that any PC should be allowed to do, ever. It's just too powerful. It's effectively tasering the whole universe.

How could there ever be a situation of any kind that can't be solved by stopping time and still being able to move about?

And even then, if you really did "stop time," how would the air get out of your way? Air takes time to move. How would you breathe? It would be like trying to move through solid glass, wouldn't it?

Re: Character: Particle man

So when the GM asks you what your character is like, you can just say, "It's not important."

You guys ever heard Paul & Storm's parody of They Might Be Giants? Pretty funny, how close they get the voices.

http://www.paulandstorm.com/lyrics/if-they-might-be-giants-were-the-ice-cream-man/

Re: Nature + Fire = What?

If we could see the entire grid, maybe get an idea what's generally being called for, might make it easier to come up with an answer.

Everything that comes to my mind is fairly abstract.

"Fertility" perhaps?

Re: pseudocylindrical map

Will any of the grids on this page help?

http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/

Re: Pulp-Era Futuristic Space City

I'm going to Walt Disney World next month, and the one thing I always look forward to is the retro-futurist Tomorrowland.

Of course, when the park was built it wasn't retro yet.

And it's not as retro as something from the 1930s, of course.

Re: Need ideas for Steampunk Over-The-Top Game

There's a big fat discussion on Steampunk ideas here:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59138

Re: Steampunk Superheroes

I think you're on to something there. I'd say show it to DC but they'd probably just slap you with a C&D, so we'll peep it on the QT.

Re: Master List Of Limitations new home

There are MLoL prefabs for HD3 floating around somewhere, too.

Re: Game Design: Champions Online

I'd give you some of my ideas but I want to wait for until it's safe for me to stand up.

Re: Looking for another character name

General

Reconnaisance,

Entry,

Neutralization,

Delivery, and

Logistics

GRENDL

I think "GRENDL Agent" has a nice ring to it.

Re: Has anyone done a skilled normals game

I've run a popular skilled normals game... it's known as Call of Cthulhu.

Re: Is there a 'random alien race generator' anywhere?

I wish I had my Star HERO book handy, I wonder if there's on in there.