Balabanto

Well, we're down to the last map, and a minor obstacle has come up. I have a choice to make, and I'd like your help in making it, everyone. Here it is. Would you prefer to design your own underground vehicles with a sentence that reads "Choose vehicles appropriate to the campaign?" or would you prefer a smattering of underground exploration vehicles that look like they stepped out of Fantastic Four and Challengers of the Unknown? I'll take all votes within 24 hours and compile them. Understand that if you wish option B, it will delay publication of this product by 20-30 additional days. While it's not going to make it to Gencon anyway, I would like to know what my fans demand! So demand away!

There will be a Champions version. Steve Long is working on it now.

The problem is, that's not too far off. Mad Max: Drury Lane, on the other hand. It's Mad Max vs. The Muffin Man!!!!! Guardians of the Galaxy Quest Rise of the Guardians of the Galaxy Quest

Except that Barrier does everything that Entangle does, only better and cheaper. Barrier isolates any opponent (or a group of opponents) without teleportation and makes him burn 2-3 actions to escape from it. Entangle isolates a single character and makes him burn one. The entangle only doesn't take damage if you weaken the entangle to the point where it's group attack trigger and that's it. The most powerful thing in any game is action denial. Barrier denies people multiple actions far more often and far more effectively.

Barrier stays behind like Entangle does. It's unfortunate, as this makes Entangle useless, but that's the reality.

Underground Response Team Headquarters mapped! Over the next few days, we will key it and object defense table it. Then it's off to writing all the additional text and information. I estimate a completion time of early October.

Object Defense Table Completed. Underground Response Team headquarters! Away we go!

The New Blackburn Map Key is finished, along with 8 optional locations that the GM may place on their own. Sorry I didn't make it to ten, guys. On to the object defense table for New Blackburn, and the PTAH Underground Response Team headquarters thereafter!

That's OIF. Bond had 12 seconds to remove it.

The drawback is written up under the limitation "Focus," not the limitation "Unified Power." Nowhere in Unified Power does it say that a power can be broken, it only says that it can be drained. The problem comes in interpreting that all powers that come from a single device constitute "unified," no matter how loose the concept. Champions is meant to be played with common sense, not "Justify Anything." That's probably the real point of this statement. Plus, there's another problem. Frequency of the use of the Drain power. In campaigns where maybe one in every twenty characters has a drain power, Unified Power is an incredible cost break. In a campaign where everyone has drains, this limitation isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

You're gonna love my Cartoon Action Hour submission. "Holy Starcrusher! Grant me the faith! Grant me the force! Grant me the power! The power of Priestorr!"

I did this in my Champions game. There's a character named "The Mighty Fist" who's always male and has some archaic mystical transformation. So he passed the power on to his granddaughter, and when she first incanted "Mighty! Mighty! Mighty Fist!" she turned into a seven foot dude with chiseled features and rippling muscles. Hilarious.

I hate "Unified Power." People abuse this limitation until it screams. "Powered Armor" is not a unified power. That's a focus. Period. You have to regulate unified power as much, if not more than elemental controls.

Underworld: The Bonfire of the Vanities.

I think part of the issue is that people think that the system should be able to do ANYTHING. The problem with a system that can do ANYTHING is it can't do everything well. This means that certain characters with high power levels won't be able to be designed or built in lower-powered games. Remember that if you agree to sit down to a GM's table, you have to play characters that are going to make the game fun. Maybe a Rogue type character isn't always the type of character a game needs or wants. If that's the case, and those are the characters you typically prefer playing, you may need to find a different gamemaster that will let you run a little more wild. I run a fairly traditional old school champions game. Heroes should be starting at 9-10 dice, and experienced heroes maybe 11-12. Occasionally, you'll have a few legends with 14. Part of the problem with Hero is differing expectations of what the numbers mean. Ask the GM if you're not sure. Quite frankly, I think that people are starting to ignore the "sweet spot" of the game, which is that 10 to 12 die range. Enough to feel mighty, but not so mighty that all the dice can't fit in your hand.

Knight Riders of the Purple Sage New Jack in the Beanstalk City (Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum! I'm gonna pump ghetto kids up with drugs!)

I finished the map of New Blackburn tonight and finished the Cult Caves object defense table. The New Blackburn map is going to be a little different. It's going to have 36 locations that are set, and about 10-15, based on what my head can come up with, that the GM will place themselves! Dare to be different, I say. The Hero System is a toolkit! So our supplements should be too!

My solution is just to tell people "If you min-max all the time, you will make enemies of your fellow players. For the purposes of Champions, no one wants to be the guy who kicks the kryptonite out of the way for Superman." And they GET it. When you explain that, they get it.

If a Superbeing is an Ultra, then it makes perfect sense. You should do this anyway, as it adds life to your world.

That's good! Or, worse: The original owner of Ra-Chett's body is Ra-chett. When the pilot encountered Ra-chett, he heroically fought the Atlantean ape-creature despite the fact that he had no chance. During the battle, Ra-chett's mind-enslavement ray was damaged and exploded. The pilot was killed in the explosion, but his mind imprinted over the villainous atlantean ape! Now the story is all about the atlanteans trying to "save" their leader! The best part is when they get to the end and the Atlanteans are about to enslave the minds of millions using a larger version of the device, and he says "Your plans will never succeed!" The new leader just says "Our plans? No, my lord! This was YOUR plan!"

We are on to the object defense table for the Cult Caves! After that, New Blackburn. Then PTAH Underground Response Team headquarters! Then all the fluff and info sections! I apologize, but there's no way in the Center of the Earth for this thing to be ready by Gencon.

There is already a Freedom League in Champions. Dear Foxbat, I know it's been a long time, but we still haven't forgotten your ridiculous challenge to us. One day, maybe you'll come around and realize you just can't challenge the big boys. Your goofy allies are no match for us, and we really wish you'd stop trying to take dirty pictures of our female team members. We will have to send you to the hospital again. Sincerely, Dragon Man Warrior Starflare And the rest of the Freedom League

Madame Masque of Zoidberg

The map of the cult caves has been completed. A key and an object defense table will be on their way.

Don't worry. I promise not to eat you with pinto beans. Confidentially, Burritos are kind of gross.