Karma

Re: What Champions Books Would You Like Published in the Future?

CPS299[Champions Public School]

Inspired by PS238,Champions Roleplaying in the style of POWER PACK and the NEW MUTANTS[original] players become preadolescent superheroes fighting Kid Villians while training in a special facility for paranormal children.

Not only do PCs must battle kid and adult villians,but also must deal with the problems an craziness that go with being a kid.

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Actually one of the things I enjoy about PS238 is that the school takes all super-prodigies (kids with powers) no matter whether they are likely to become heroes or villians (Lets face it, it'll take alot to turn Zodon into a champion of the people), or just 'people with powers' (the son of the 'Superman' equivelent wants to be a musician, not a superhero).

I also like the 'Project: Rainmaker' idea of a class for kids whose powers are not of the 'Hero or villian' quality (for instance a boy who can make any inanimate he touches into a nutricious, non fattening food with whatever flavour you can imagine. Or the next incarnation of the goddess Hestia, who can keep plants from dying and give you rituals to help you find a mate.)

 

Actually a campaign based on supers with 'less than hero level powers' (like the sidekicks from Sky High or the kids of Project: Rainmaker would also be an interesting book. ("How am I supposed to save my city/school/friends from the supervillian all I do is create baked goods?")

Re: What Champions Books Would You Like Published in the Future?

Champions Down-Under- showing that Australia and NZ actually have more than 3 superheroes (hey I can dream)

Ultimate Speedster

I second/third/whatever 'The Secret Life of Superheroes' idea.

Champions 3D (or whatever else they want to call the dimention hopping book).

I really enjoyed the Mutant book in 4E, especially the idea that mutants were actually the next step in human evolution (complete with package deal of enhanced survival traits (since that's what evolution is about) and not just 'people with powers who we couldn't think of a better origin for'.

Re: Favorite Marvel 'What If?'

Cheezy as it was, I think I'll have to plump for "What if Wolverine was an Agent of SHIELD?".

 

Not because it was particularly good, but because it's just about the only one I can remember that didn't have one of the two standard endings:

 

1) Oh no! Everyone died! The standard 616 continutity was much happier than this alternative!

2) Yay! Everything turned out pretty much the same! The standard 616 continuity is the template that all alternatives try to emulate!

Yes, I've always felt that was a cop-out. None of the What If? worlds were so much better than 616. The idea that 616 is the best of all possible worlds is kind of depressing.

Imagine if a 616 character discovered this...

"Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy, Gwen Stacy and all the other people you loved had to die, betray you or turn against you, Peter in order to make the world a better place."

One thing I enjoy about Spider-Girl and the whole M2 world is that they show an alternate world where many things *are* better than the standard 616.

Re: Worst comic book superfight ever

For the Wolvie vrs Lobo fight All i gotta say is that Lobo hold his own against people like Vril Dox, Captain Marvel and Superman. No way the Kanuckle head could take him.

The problem is that ostesbly the winning participant was determined by fan vote. So all this fight says is that the Candian former psycho has more fans that the alien present psycho.

Re: Magnetism: Abuse And Super Metals

Always, Always be weary of the 'Magneto can do it so so can I' argument.

The ultimate 'abuse' of Magnetism powers that Magneto has come up with is controlling the iron in a person's blood to render them unconscious or turn off their powers (which is how he managed to have a child with Rogue in AoA).

As for the 'pick hi up by his belt buckle/wristwatch argument, Id say either tear them off or (in the case of supervillians) say 'You try that, but unfortunately he's not wearing a beltbuckle under his 'spandex' costume, would you like to try for his watch? (and always make sure you ask what he's attempting to grab).

Also once he gets a rep as a master of magnetism the market for non-ferrous metals and plastic (especially metal coloured plastic) is going to improve amoung the scum and villiany of the campaign city.

Also I'm unsure whether lead is a ferrous metal, if not matsters of magetism cannot stop it with a 'Magnetic forcefield'

Re: Campaign writeup advice needed

The news. Throw in the news. Regular updates-- things that may or may not interest them, at appropriate times. Not always campaign-plot related, though. This helps to flesh out a world; it gives you a chance to 'update' the world with new or refreshed details, and it gets the players more into figuring out clues, etc, rather than chasing every detail as it _must_ be important because it was mentioned.

My only cavet is that you'd better be ready to flesh out some if not all of your 'news filler' since players will always find a way to follow your red herring or useless amusing titbit as if it were important while ignoring the huge plot hook your trying to give them.

"It says in the personal adds that there's some busty readhead looking for a relationship, that could be Flame-Lady. I think we should check that out. The stuff on Dr. Destroyer, probably just the media blowing everything out of proportion."

Re: Favorite Marvel 'What If?'

What if Spiderman continued to have 6 arms?

Always thought it would have been a more interesting comic if Morbius:the Living Vampire had never existed (and was therefore unable to be used to cure Spiderman's excess arms.)

It was kind of amusing in the early days when someone tried to cure themselves of their powers and ended up making things worse (Spiderman, Beast, etc.)

Re: Superteam or Super Fight Club?

Not only should you wipe the floor with them with a TEAM of villains make sure that team is built on lower point totals than the PC Team. The villains have to use teamwork to take them on. Oh, yeah, make sure the players KNOW the villains are built on lower point totals (ie: weaker).

I like this idea. Nothing say's "You guys really need to act like a team more" like being taken down by known second-stringers whose 'deciding factor' is that they train together. It's much better than hitting them with the kick *** team, since they can always say 'They were too good for us, individually or together, and you designed them to work together in a way we never did', where as if you hand them their proverbials with the equivilent of the Great Lakes Avengers they might just say 'if these guys can beat people of our power level with teamwork, maybe we can do better together.'

As for the base/vehicle/communicators etc. the real reason they don't want them may be that they don't want to spend CP on them and this whole 'fireman' excuse is just a smokescreen (pun intended). If you want them to spend points then give them the stuff and then dock their XP, otherwise just give'm to them for free since it's obviously *you* who thinks they need them.

Re: Homages you would like to see officially

I'd like to second that request "Proditor" ! In fact the more "foreign" (non U S) characters that are written up in the "official" Champions Universe the more I like it ! How about "Captain Britain" or "Sunfire" while we are at it ?

Seconded. In fact one of my pet peaves (and yes I have said this before) with FRED CU is that they have taken characters who were foreign in 4th ED and done them over to make them American (Deuce from PSI comes to mind).

Re: Homages you would like to see officially

And why must all three be guys? Wrecking Crew is probably the last group to lack a distaff member.

But Bulldozer is such a misogynist, can you see any woman joining his crew?

Re: Which supers movies were better than you expected, which were worse?

I'd have to watch the film again, but iirc that's how S. closed it. One phone call was all it took to undo Mr. Glass.

 

Must have been an interesting trial.

Way I remember it: He called (anonomous, or not so annonomous tip) the police who went to Mr. Glass' studio and found enough evidence there to convict him (it wasn't like he didn't have his morbid scrapbook out on show, that plus the tip should have been enough for suspicion and a warrant, wherein they find all the plans etc.).

Plus Mr Glass was insane, remember he was shouting about the ultimate villian being the heroes friend in the middle of his crowded studio. It's possible that the police turned up and he freely admitted to it (thereby fulfilling the part of a supervillian who is caught only to escape)

Re: Which supers movies were better than you expected, which were worse?

Yeah.

 

In a comic book superhero world, the Punisher would have been put behind bars by Cap or Spidey years ago (or should have been). As a stand alone action hero he's wonderful.

Yes 'cause 'You killed my family now I will not just kill yours but sadistically trick you into doing it for me' is the mark of a true hero.

Sorry, but I have never liked any incarnation of the Punisher, and the latest movie one is actually worse that MCs Frank "Guilt by association or just being there" Castle.

Re: Which supers movies were better than you expected, which were worse?

Sky High: Thought this would be great, especially the part about the hero being an unpowered kid trying to live up to his parent's expectations, failing, but still being a hero (sort of like Tyler in PS238) and that the moral would be 'Be who *you* want to be, not what your parents want". Of course it turns out the moral was 'You can be everything your parent's want if you try hard enough'. Heck even the bus driver ended up with powers. (I suppose I shouldn't have hoped for more from Disney)

Batman Begins: After what had been done to the Batman franchise anything would have been better than what I expected. As Igor in Dork Tower said the full title should be "Batman Begins to not Suck Again".

F4: Left me cold. Really was just an attempt to cash in on the Marvel movies phenomenon. And Dr Doom as the Metal Man? His charm came from being a totally human menace (abet one with ungodly magical and technological powers, but still fully human under the armour)

Hulk: Again a poor attempt to cash in on the MC movies.

I'd add Punisher, but I knew that'd suck.

X-men 2: Sequal's tend to be less than the original, this one kept the momentum (although I'm still waiting for Rogue to drop Bobby and start dating Gambit).

Hellboy: Maybe I should have read one comic, maybe that would have helped me understand the plot. As it is it was kind of formulaic.

Catwoman: What? I thought it might be cooler! Halley Berry *can* do good work. I blame the script.

Daredevil: I liked Bullseye better than I would have thought. Everything else was drek. Here lets introduce Elektra as the sai welding babe on the poster, oh lets kill her in the next scene. Who cares that the Kingpin has been a big white fat guy since he was introduced in the comics, lets make him a big muscled black guy, 'cause sterotypes are fun.

Re: This week on "Champions"...

Teen Guardians

Having narrowly defeated the evil trio of Black Mist, The Rat and Shadow Monkey what will our heroes find in the abandoned secret base? Find out next week...

Re: Rules For Picking A Superhero Name

I've just seen this for the first time,and I'm afraid I find this thread rather sad.

Surely common sense will prevail.

You'd think so, yet one a rule 13 should be:

If your thinking of a name ask your superbuddies whether they think it could be misiterpreted. That way you won't end haveing your enemies laugh at you when you you reveal yourself as the shrinking hero 'Little Willy'.

(And I've seen a few heroes in the comics who didn't take that advice: Speedball for instance)

Re: Who Would be Your Character's Sidekick?

Fore-Eyes: No matter the kid's powers/abilities/schtick Fore-Eyes would take them on/train them etc. if he foresaw doing so being of a benefit to them only to seperate himself from them, allowing them to make their own way in the world when he fore-saw it was time.

Hard-ball: Alexis was orphened when her parents became colateral damage in a mafia hit. Burning for revenge she swore to track down and make those responsable pay. She was lucky enough to be saved from an inevitable fate worse than death by Hard-Ball (who was tracking the same people). Once he realised she had nowhere to go and was as devoted to the destruction of organised crime as him he took her on as a 'ward' (Ie. allowed her to crash at his place, and trained her in his crime fighting ways). She now fights along side him as Rookie, and most people think she's a boy. And the fact that a barely teenate girl is living with an ex-con (in their secret IDs) doesn't see social services coming down on them like a ton of bricks really says something about the neighbourhood they live in.

Caress: Wouldn't take on a sidekick, more the 'headmistress of a private school for evil villianesses' actually.

Re: Champions Jargon

Not necessarily from Champions games:

We have the variations of Moose ("what is the time" used as example)

Full Moose (place both hands to your head to give yourself moose horns): I am speaking/asking OOC about and OOC issue (I the player wish to know what the time is in RL)

Half Moose (Place one hand to your head to give yourself one moose horn): I am speaking/asking OOC about an IC issue (I wish to know the time in the gameworld)

No Moose (keep your hands away from your head): My character is acting/saying/asking something (My character is asking the time).

I rolled an Oh @#$%: In a game which uses percentage dice to determine success or failure (low is good) denotes rolling double zero (100, a critical failure) comes from the fact that rolling a zero (oh) on the 'tens' dice is usually good (because it usually means somethere between 01 and 09).

They can't stop us...We're on a mission from God: In Nomine game where 2d6 dice (low better) are rolled for success or failure with a third being used to determine degree (1 usually marginal, 6 usually best). There is however a rule where if you are on the side of the angels rolling 111 means God smiles on you and does something to make your success spectacular (666 is, of course very bad).

First part denotes rolling 2 1s on the success dice (which means you'll succeed anyway) second part comes from rolling a 1 on the degree of success dice (thereby turning a success into a Divine Intervention).

Re: Opinions On Limitation Level For A "Cargo Only" T-Port

This would also mean that ANY device that is sufficiently complex at a fine enough level would be scrambled.

Hence the 'One shot only' as the T-porter scrambles it's own circuitry during the trip. Nice Justification (I love it when you can come up with a valid reason that something happens, even in a Supers game, instead of 'it just does'. Saves the headaches that eventuate when the players start trying to use it)

Players: "Why don't we get hold of it and make a copy that doesn't self destruct/only work on simple inanimate objects?"

GM: "Because it's self destruction/inability to work on livingor complex objects is an inherant part of the process it uses to teleport, not a seperate component"

Players: Damn that's frustrating.

GM: Imagine how the inventor feels, he can transport stuff to him, but he can't teleport in to get it. Hence the hired mooks.

Players: And here we just thought you were attempting to stop us using it.

GM: Would I do that to you? *Evil grin*

Re: Teen Guardians

Hard Ball created by Andrew Cermak

What he means is "Hard-ball created by Andrew Rawlings". I know, 'cause that's me.

Re: Alternate Settings: Rules to villany

Similarly' date=' heroes might have equally restrictive codes: For example... they can't use drugs, they can't present authority figures in anything but a positive light... etc...[/quote']

 

For a dark vision of this type of scenerio:

All heroes and villians must be registered with the BSHA (Buereau of Superhuman Affairs) and must become government employees if they wish to use their powers. The role of supers is as 'propoganda tools' for the government. The villians job is to instil a proper sense of fear in the populous, while the heroes job is to 'defeat' them to prove the power and 'benevolence' of the government that supports them.

All unregistered supers are considered 'true threats to the people' and are hunted mercilessly by all government supers (both 'heroes' and 'villians').

Re: Featuring Special Guest Star...

I've never had a guest celebrity enter my game as themselves, as 'guest stars' playing NPCs, all the time. I like to run my game as if it's a T.V. show and if I think of a celebrity who reminds me of a NPC I'm creating I'll 'offer them the role'. I've got to say it really helps in the description of the characters when I can say, for example, Snow Leopard looks like Cameron Diaz.

The PCs have also chosen celebrities (usually actors) as the people playing their roles.

Oh and George Burns lives on in my game as the party's mysterious mentor. Thank God for CGI.

Re: What's in a Name?

Now lets have fun with this common item: Teflon

Teflon's origins are shrouded in mystery, if only because no-one can hold him down long enough to ask him. An expert in escapism and seeminly superpowered in the same area Teflon is seemkingly immune to all Entangles, grabs, or in fact any form of restraint, escaping them with ease. Even his mind seems impervious to anything that could stop or control it.

As an added benefit Teflon seems to also be immune to any sticky/uncontrolled or persistant attacks that rely on the attack staying in contact with the victim (acid, etc.)

taht said it's easy enough to catch Teflon by simply knocking him unconcious, it's how to keep him once he wakes up that remains elusive (just like him).

Next up: Bubblegum

Re: What's in a Name?

 

Next entry: Flux

Dave remembers the time he had a job, a family, a home, some type of self respect. Of course all that's gone now, he lost one after the other simply because he was the most convenient scapegoat for the company. He ended up on the street a stinking drunk, sure that he'd hit rock bottom. There are times now he wishes to God that he had been right.

Unfortunately homeless people make great test subjects for the less scrupulous. He realises now he would have been better off if he'd just gone quietly, not fought and not smashed vials containing several different mutagenic compounds, covering himself with them.

But he did and the result is that now his body is unsure what it wants to do with itself and constantly mutates. No-longer entirely human Dave now tries to avoid people. But has run ins with local law enforcement have given a name to the being he has become. Since the reports describe him as having a face and body constantly in flux the media calls him FLUX.

Dave just wishes they'd leave him alone.

Next up a duo: Ember & Rose

Re: What's in a Name?

Next up: Joyride

I know it's obvious but...

Joe woke up with a start. Around him was strewn money, drugs and the stuporfied bodies of 3 attractive women. Above him stood half a dozen police officers in full riot geer.

"Joseph Arbuckle you are under arrest for armed robbery, drug possession, assault..." the list went on. Joe had no idea what they were talking about, last thing he remembered he was talking to that weird looking bum on the street...

Joyride looked out from the eyes of the body formerly belonging to Officer Charles Menendez. Joe had been fun and his squeaky clean image had meant he could be ridden for longer than most before he lost his usefulness. Now, however, Joyride was riding a cop, at the very least he should get a week or two out of him, if he was careful.

Next up: Kill-Joy

Re: who's missing from this team

Oh, and where are the women? You have a giant superhero sausage-fest going on here. jk.

Technically Brittania should be a woman.

Having visited the Crown Jewels recently I was playing around with the idea of having them be mystical artifacts in my campaign which would lead to the leader of the British superheroes being:

Regina

Using mystical artefacts created by England's royal sorcerers from mystical gemstones 'collected' from around the world during the height of the British Empire, Queen Elisabeth II fights against the enemies of her country both foreign and domestic as the great heroine Regina (with her sidekick/squire 'Beef-Eater').

Typical Quote: "Hand us the Sword of Mercy. We mean to put this villian out of his misery"

(P.s. In case your wondering the Sword of Mercy is an actual part of the Crown Jewels, along with the Swords of Temporal and Spiritual Justice).