Kevin Scrivner

Good guys: Seismos; male; black; tunneling brick/energy projector The only one of my characters to leave a campaign; he didn't die but seized the "Eighth Orb of Power" to prevent villains from getting it. The move boosted his point totals incalculably and drove him mad. He was last seen held in protective custody in the medical ward an orbital prison. Maccabeus; male; ultra-Orthodox Jew; brick, his powers dependent on obeying strict Nazarite code (like Sampson) Pole; male; Chinese; martial artist with a trick staff Pretty stereotypical '80s movie kung fu guy Bad guys: Fu Manchu; male; Chinese; mastermind The original supervillain! Hussien ibn Abbas, Al-Mahdi; male; Arab; Shi'ite messiah Had vast, never-detailed spiritual powers. Carlo; male; Mexican; evil robot Captured by the Metronoids (Dalek rip-offs), he was transformed into a cyborg agent.

Worldmaker said: Hey, and while I'm kvetching about the lack of representation for my particular ethnic group, why not wonder why the heck all of the Indian heroes are so obviously Sioux and/or Apache? What... a Seminole can't be a hero? Or an Iriquois? ---- Obviously the Sioux and the Apache tribal governments have superior PR departments.

You guys are working too hard to find Jewish bricks. I can think of two right away: Sampson (the original brick) The Golem (the original hulking construct)

I agree that marriages should be preserved, even villainous ones. But what will their kids be like?

Ethnic stereotyping was never an issue in my campaigns. Most of us were white and Protestant, even the trio of brothers who had Native American grandparents. Group members occasionally ran an Indian mystic character, lots of martial artists with faux Asian names (but the characters themselves weren't necessarily Asian), and I once ran a character who was a black former coal miner with seismic powers. Since most of my players were combat monsters and power gamers, they never bothered to explore the man or woman behind the cowl, so racial or ethnic angst never came up. Even if the character had been non-Caucasian it wouldn't have mattered. That said, I think the inability to have villains of color itself is racist. People of all races and cultures have their saints and sinners, their geniuses and dummies. If we're really interested in diversity, why not have a nasty henchman who happens to be black as well as the shining Icon-variety black Superman? What would a pulp campaign be without Fu Manchu? After all, he's an equal opportunity employer and the fiend who created supervillainy. You wouldn't consider a GM anti-Romanian because he used Dracula as a villain. Why is a Chinese mastermind wrong?

Timothy McVeih (sp?) at SPD 9. Scary.

--- I've seen the first two episodes out on VHS at Hollywood Video but I've never seen the rest of that wonderful series in any format.

I never bought many Hero System supplements but the ones I did get were generally pretty good. I tend to buy supplements used (regardless of game system) to glean ideas from. Two of the weakest were actually for Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes with stats for Justice Inc. Raid on Rajallapor -- An espionage adventure set in India. The art was cartoony but fit the genre, and there were good maps. But the supernatural twist the author tried to spring in the end was goofy rather than eerie. Never used it. The Adventure of the Jade Jaguar -- At one point I saw a fanzine article on how to run this as a GM'd scenario instead of a solitaire scenario. Wish I'd saved it. I think it would have been a more coherent product that way. Tried to run it for my players but it was too hard to dope out all the permutations. Border Crossing -- Lots of detail, and maybe the storyline was good after all, but the presentation was unattractive. And my players weren't into realistic espionage stories. From the Casebook of Nick Velvet -- For the Ellery Queen Game. Looked like an intriguing quartet of mysteries but again it was written for solitaire play and was heavily dependent on maps included with the main game. If I worked hard enough on it, maybe it would be useful but I haven't had the opportunity yet. The Official Two Worst Supplements: Omegakron and The Horn of Roland, both for the Lords of Creation RPG. No coherent plotting, just random encounters with a bewildering variety of opponents of varying power levels. Very much a dungeon crawl with Doctor Who sensibilties. Horn of Roland sort of had an excuse since the PCs were being shuffled between two or three dimensions, but it was if the writer strung three unrelated scenarios together. Omegakron was disappointing because it didn't give a unified setting. You had talking animals in once section of the city, robots in another, human slaves in another. No wonder the game bombed. On the other hand, the scenarios for FGU's Daredevils were wonderful pulp novel re-creations and the two adventures I've found for TSR's Gangbusters are pretty solid and easy to run even if you don't have the parent game.

More serial villains The Wizard -- He's stolen a device capable of shutting down or remote controlling all vehicles in a metropolitan area -- cars, trains, planes, boats. The equipment, consisting of enough vacuum-tube packed black boxes to fill your garage, can even pinpoint a specific vehicle, such as the car the PC heroes are driving. If he adjusts the frequencies just right, it can also turn the Wizard invisible. The machine's weakness is that it requires lots of power and generates lots of heat, so it can't be operated for long periods without burning out. The Wizard himself is a black-robed figure with black cloak and hood. He has a commanding presence, minor hypnotic abilities, and lots of electronics expertise.

I like the sound of this fellow, he'll definetly have a place in my campaign. Can't have have too many eerie weird science mob bosses lurking around can we? --- Part of what makes the Lame One so scary is that the PCs should never get a good look at him until the final confrontation. Instead, they'll hear his slow, heavy, uneven tread on the dark sidewalk behind them or in the dim hallway outside their apartment or stateroom door. Despite his apparent disability, he always manages to keep up with them or even to get ahead of them no matter how fast they run. In the uncertain lighting they'll glimpse a shadowed figure or silhouette of a stocky shambler with a circle of wild bushy hair surrounding a bald dome of Klingon-esque proportions. Whether he's really deformed or whether it's just a mask is up to you.

Also, if you're emulating the serials, the PCs should have some contact with Professor Peril in one of his other guises. It won't be his German one, of course. Maybe he teaches one of the heroes' college course on European history; maybe he's dad's old business partner (or is standing in for dad's old business partner, whom the heroes have never personally met); maybe he's the friendly bank president that loaned the good guys the money for their new base. In any event, he'll be someone they trust and consult with. "Gee. It always seems as if Professor Peril knows what our next step is." Several good old movies about German spies in hiding in plain sight include: "The 39 Steps," also a great novel; "The Lady Vanishes," early Alfred Hitchcock; and "The Stranger," with Orson Wells as the bad guy in question.

I briefly ran a character based on the Greek god Pan, goat legs, reed pipe and all. He had a fear-inducing Mind Control attack, an Entangle defined as his piping forcing the listeners to dance, and some Martial Arts moves. I think he was a jazz flutist in his Secret ID. Unfortunately, 250 points didn't give him enough power to impress the campaign's villains (either that or the GM didn't get the concept), and the expense of his mental abilities left only a mediocre martial artist. So he'd usually get pummelled after his Mind Control/Presence Attack failed. Reminds me of a quote I saw on a T-shirt: "I have the body of a god. Unfortunately, it's Buddha."

Since Peril is a behind-the-scenes type who never gets his hair or his hands mussed until the final chapter, he needs some goons to do his bloodletting for him. The sexy assistant/daughter is a nice touch. But he also needs a big brute of a henchman capable of slapping around the PCs. The brute need not be stupid, in fact he should be smart enough to spy on and occasionally thwart the heroes on his own account. But he leaves the intricate planning to the boss. You can do this in a couple of ways. One is to give the Professor one super-capable assistant, like Lothar in the Rocketeer movie. This guy can do it all: pack a pair of automatics, scale sheer walls, move as noiselessly as a cat, crack a safe, etc. The PCs will have to get through him to finally get a crack at Peril himself. The other approach is to supply the Professor with a group of henchmen, each a specialist of some type: a driver, a sharpshooter, a burglar, a pugilist, a slimey private detective, and so on. In the latter scenario, the PCs might encounter, be thwarted by, or defeat the henchmen one at a time without knowing what Peril has to throw at them next. Also keep in mind that while masterminds of this type often had a core group of three or four henchmen as their main assistants, they also had a horde of lesser minions scattered in the most unlikely of places. The governor's pert secretary, the old man who runs the news stand on the corner, workers at any factory or construction site the PCs visit could all be on Professor Peril's payroll. The tough part of role-playing this is to make the players suspcious without having them become paranoid of every NPC they encounter. But if they chase down a clue, there should always be three to six minor goons there waiting for them.

More serial villains The Lightning -- With his black helmet, cloak, and insulated bodysuit The Lightning is the Forties inspiration for Darth Vader's costume. He's invented electrically charged "thunderbolt" aerial torpedoes capable of electrocuting a city block as well as mounted and portable "lightning guns." After field testing his deadly toys overseas The Lightning is prepared to wreak a reign of terror on the United States. He has a giant flying wing that serves as a mobile base; secret air fields in the Far East, the Pacific Islands, and California; and a sinister hunchbacked assistant. Don del Oro -- A living 300-year-old idol is inciting the natives to attack crucial gold shipments from a remote mine. He's bullet-proof but is the Lord of Gold really an Indian god or a clever manipulator? Either way, he's backed by Amerindian warriors and ruthless Hispanic thugs. The Lame One -- This eerie club-footed mob boss has left a string of rivals dead with a strange emblem burned in their foreheads. In addition to wierd science weapons such as a sonic disruptor, he has a doctor friend whose brain surgeries can turn one of the PCs' allies or even on of the player-characters into an implacable foe.

I, too, like the concept although he feels more like a Star Hero character than a superhero. Also, I keep getting the urge to shout "Power EXTREME!" Reminds me of the technological heroes from the old "Centurions" cartoon. Be sure and flesh out those DNPCs.

Golden Age villains From The Spider series: The Bat Man -- He pre-dates the Caped Crusader by six years and has a schtick somewhat like the Penguin only with a bat theme instead of a bird theme. He dresses in an eerie bat costume, can fly via a specially designed one-man bat glider equipped with a high-powered rifle, has raised and trained a horde of ravenous vampire bats, is served by fanatical South American warriors who worship him as their bat god, and seems bent on spreading random terror and mayhem since he never makes any demands. In his secret identity, he's a retired jockey with (apparently) vast wealth. The Mechanical Master -- An inventor and criminal mastermind has equipped his thugs with 20-foot-tall robotic battlesuits powerful enough to shove aside tentament buildings (and this is at least 40 years before anime hit the United States!). The New York City police are helpless as the robots carry off bank vaults and wade beneath the Hudson River. It looks like a job for Superman, but he isn't around yet. Can your heroes help? The Faceless One -- A sinister master-of-disuise makes his living by extortion and blackmail. He can appear as anyone and his trademark weapon is an aerosol acid that eats his victims' faces away. Think an amalgam of DC's the Joker and Marvel's the Chameleon. From the serials: Haruchi -- A dimunitive Japanese nobleman who is the head of the Black Dragon Society, a terrorist organization determined to cripple the United States' war production. Although proficient with a gun or samurai sword, his major weapon is a horde of deep cover saboteurs who have infiltrated American industry. His trademark is a sinister pet raven trained to steal small objects or attack opponents. Dr. Satan -- An electromechanical genius, he dreams of conquering the world with an army of robotic soldiers. So far he's only built one: a seven-foot tin can on legs that is deadly despite its clumsiness. To be continued next week...

There's the TIme Corps novella series but I can't remember the author. Iron Crown put out a time travel campaign book a while back. You might be able to find copies at your game shop. Unfortunately the title escapes me. But it was packed with ideas for different types of time travel and campaigns. Another company put out a Timemaster RPG a while back, too. Out of print, but they had a thick supplement devoted to paradoxes. I think the publisher was the same people who put out the original edition of Chill.

Software! I was expecting wetware. What tech level is this?

Hmmm. Wish we could get nationals like Kwangakid from the Philippines to comment. A Spanish hero with a bullfighting theme might wear tight pants, an oversized jacket, and carry his cape separately. Ole'! French heroes with a swashbuckling theme might wear doublet and hose and a cloak. On the other hand, a French hero might make an avant garde fashion statement, especially if he's one of these modern technological types. At least one Japanese superhero, Super Giant, wears white Flash Gordon-ish tights and a hood with a little Plexiglas fin on top. Very 1930s sci fi. Ultraman sports a slick metallic bodysuit, sort of an art deco robotic look.

So how do those powers differ from magic powers, which by your theology would also be a gift from your god? Why are those powers usable for both good and evil, but magic can only be used by evil? --- Thought I'd already answered that. The other powers have a naturalistic explanation, no matter howoutrageous. Magic, on the other hand, is an attempt to illegitimately access and wield supernatural power. Whether it actually works or not is beside the point; it's the motive and attitude that matter.

Thanks again, KawangaKid. Darna can battle crime in my neighborhood ANYTIME!

I don't see the confict. There's nothing that says God couldn't have created multiple universes and dimensions. Tyrranon's a villain, right? He's just another false god trying to promote himself, like Lucifer, Sauron, Morgoth, etc. He may claim to be a god doesn't mean he IS a god.

This sounds like a concept that would work better with an NPC villain. Then you wouldn't have to worry about game mechanics. Hmmm. How about taking the "seperable soul" approach? The seperable soul is a motif from folklore in which a mythological being places its soul inside a container or object of some kind -- an acorn, a locket, a small box, etc. It then hides the container. As long as its hidden soul remains intact, the mythological creature can't die. However, if an intrepid adventurer locates and destroys the soul, the mythological being is toast. It would be like buying the character's BODY down to zero, then purchasing BODY OAF with no DEF allowed on the focus. The character hides the focus in his safety deposit box, or wherever. If someone gets ahold of and damages the object that contains his soul, he loses the BODY and dies normally.

archermoo said: And by extension of your argument against magic, it should hold true for any superpowered being whos power does not come from your god, whether magic is the source or not. So do you consider all supers with non-relegious based powers to be evil as well? They have supernatural powers (powers beyond nature) without dependance on your god. and And Kevin, you never answered my question. Would you consider all super powers that do not directly derive their power in a religious fashion to be evil? Or is "magic" the only thing that qualifies as such? --- OK, you do realize that you're asking me to formulate a theology of comic book super powers, right? Maybe that's not so hard, after all. My answer would be based on the general real-life principle that everything we have -- our possessions, our relationships, our opportunities, our talents, our bodies, our minds, even our very existence -- is on loan to us from God whether we appreciate it or recognize it or not. Most super powers, then, could be ultimately attributed to God whether the recipient acknowledged the gift or not. Defender and Doctor Destroyer may both take pride in their inventive genius and technical prowess but God gave them their intellects and educational opportunities. Are Batman and Daredevil excellent physical specimens? They can thank God for good health and the self-discipline to develop their bodies (a personality trait not everyone has). Do Ironclad's and Superman's abilities arise from their alien physiologies? Well, God created their planets, too. Is a character empowered by radiation/the power cosmic? It is God who fires the engines of the universe. Did Blue Beetle and Captain America get their abilities through super science? Yes, but it is God who gave the scientists the ability to understand and dominate the world he made. Whew! Does that satisfy you?

Ah, magic is evil in an RPG because it offends your IRL religious beliefs. And blaming others for responding to your flame isn't particularly reasonable. Had you responded with "I don't allow PCs to use magic because in my game world all magic is evil" would have been one thing. But you didn't limit it to your game world. You simply stated that all magic is evil. That may be true in your game world, and it may be your opinion in the real world. But in game worlds that I have run there are plenty of good guys that use magic. And by extension of your argument against magic, it should hold true for any superpowered being whos power does not come from your god, whether magic is the source or not. So do you consider all supers with non-relegious based powers to be evil as well? They have supernatural powers (powers beyond nature) without dependance on your god. Gary Denney >>>-----The Archer-----> --- No need to get your bowstring tied in knots, archermoo. If you want to allow players to run magical characters in your campaigns, go right ahead. I won't be showing up at your gaming sessions to scold you or to eat an unfair portion of the triple-cheese pizza. I also didn't say that any of the RPGs you enjoy, which may or may not contain pretend magic, are evil. I simply responded to the thread's topic, then explained my reasoning when my initial answer raised a furor.