Duke Bushido

A cat blep is where the cat's tongue is merely sticking out.  As opposed to a cat mlem, where the tongue is engaged in an action. 
 
Or: blep is a Delayed Phase, while a mlem is the Phase being used.  😹
 
Seriously, it's a thing!
 
 

A little Babylon Five, a little Deep Space Nine, maybe a dash of Outland?
 
You know, there is a setting in the official Hero Universe centuries in the future which has a lot of potential. From Terran Empire p. 88: "After losing their homeworld in the war against the Fassai, the [humanoid] Renghadi used rubble from their planet and a nearby asteroid belt to construct Renghadi Station, the largest known space station in the Milky Way. Big enough to house all the Renghadi plus millions of transients, it's become not only a source of pride to the Renghadi, but a major Galactic trading port. Far-traveling Renghadi traders bring goods from all over the Galaxy to the shops and warehouses of Renghadi Station, and their opposite numbers from other species travel there to buy from them in one convenient location. Whatever a person wants, he can find somewhere on Renghadi Station - even if it's not entirely legal..."
 
For most of the future Hero Universe time line there are no physical "superpowers" as we commonly define them, except for some features inherent in certain alien species. Psionics, however, are not uncommon and sometimes formidable, a la B5; and augmentation through implanted "cyberware" or "bioware" is far from unknown. After the year 3000, when magic returns to the Milky Way, true superpowers become possible again in humans and most alien species.
 

Firewing holds a place in our Game Legends for the game where he was expected to distract the hero team.  Until the (massively) overconfident Brick called out "Hey Flame-boy.  You and me. One on one. Or are ya CHICKEN?"
 
In Phase 12, the player asked for the penalty to his EGO roll to bring himself to Dodge in the hopes of getting a PS 12 recovery.  He insisted on an Ego roll.  He succeeded, and Firewing missed by 1.  The Brick lasted another half a turn.  Meanwhile, the rest of team stopped the real opposition while he kept Firewing busy.

I have occasionally seen it spelled without the second A, presumably as a compromise (or confusion) between the Greek and Latin spellings.
 
Anyway, it was the '90s. You had to misspell everything to be kewl. (And what do you expect from a group of raving nutter third-tier villains? (Though at ;east they drew the line at being the "Kriminal Alliance...")
 
Dean Shomshak

So far as I have seen-- ans rhis is really a Simon question-  some get archived; some get purged (I would assume the oldest arxhives get purged first), but there seems to be an appreciqble effort made to not do either until it is absolutely necessary for the heath of the server and the site.
 
I base this wild assumption on the fact that as long as I have been here, I have only seen one purge (though more may have hapened during my years-long absences).
 
 

I dunno, you might have trouble getting the horn down.

Now, my friend--  let us remember there is a long tradition of....

 

 
seriously though:
 
unless there is a meaning for catobleps with which I am not familiar (amd please enlighten me of that is the case), it is either "catoblepas" or "Katobleps."
 
 

United Network Command for Law and Enforcement: Man from UNCLE
 
The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves: THUNDER Agents
 
Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation: SHADO (UFO television series)
 
It may rankle, Duke, but as long as super-agencies have existed in pop culture, convoluted agency names to make catchy acronyms have been as much a genre convention as grey-bearded wizards for fantasy, indestructible spandex for superheroes, and catgirls for manga/anime.

I wrote a thing, specifically for this campaign style! 
 
I was pretty strident about it when I originally wrote it.  I'm less so now, and if I were writing it today I'd probably put the parts about powers in an appendix or leave them out entirely.  But here it is, warts and all.
 
HERO System Low Heroic Protocols

MONSTERS ARE REAL…
 …AND THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE.  Monsters are among us, and they might be standing right next to you.  Muggers, Maniacs, and Murderers is a new series developed to expand your Cinematic Action RPG campaign.  Pit your PCs against the worst that humanity has to offer.  Volume One expands on Hero Games’ Hudson City campaign book and includes several new villains to challenge your PCs.  Are you going to let Evil win?  Included in this package is a 94-page PDF with 21 new adversaries for your Hero System Campaign, 26 Hero Designer Files for all included Characters and Equipment, Full Color Front Cover, 22 Full Color Counters, and 4 quality PNG Maps suitable for use in your Virtual Tabletop games.  This bundle gives you everything you need to incorporate the villains into your campaign.  Find out if your PCs are up to the challenge.
 
Author/Company: Haymaker and EZ Hero alumni, Deadman, is, after many years, breaking his public silence by starting Deadman Press.  His first release is Muggers, Maniacs, and Murderers Volume 1, an Enemies tome for your Cinematic Action and/or Dark Champions campaign.  Deadman Press hopes to follow this book with several other releases for the Cinematic Action genre.  Deadman has been involved with the Hero System nearly since its inception and hopes to provide new, high-quality books for the Cinematic Action genre.  Will other genres follow?  Anything is possible.
 
Available Now in the Hero Games store.

"Sorry; you are unable to spread anymore love right now."
 
Or whatever That thing says.
 
 
Still, agreed whole-heartedly.  I have spent a large chunk of the day look in for a particular kind of character.  Where have I looked the most?
 
Published adventures and their storehouse of forgotten throw-away characters....
 
 
 

Ninja-Bear:
 
Gone through all of 1e, 2e, and all but four books of 3e--  now this includes various write-ups from gaming magazines that I have managed to keep track of, third-party material (like the dual- and triple- statted adventures from other systems that includes Champions write-ups--
 
And So far, no dice except for Atlas Unleashed.  The most common use for Stretching so far has been 1 or 2 inches to represent a long weapon or a prehensile tail. 
 
I dont know that I have ever noticed that.  Worse yet!  I have found like ten Aquaman clones!  In what twisted universe is a fish guy cooler than a plastic man?!
 
 

OMG - so many attacks just before the weekend!  I may have to retire to my country estate to recover from the trauma...
 
😄

It could have just asked us...

It was only after I did the last post that I spotted what the problem might have been - the error message though asks me to remove the "highlighted words" and the whole thing is highlighted....!  Huge hit to my self-esteem that the system thought all my prose was offensive!!!

Opposed Skill rolls, s the best idea.  The trick is finding the places at which to roll.
 
If you are both rolling your "baseball skill" skill at each other, that die roll doesn't have to mean "and four hours later, Tom Merchison's team is victorious."
 
For a better example:
 
When a player in your game successfully rolls against his Detective Work skill, what does he learn?  How does he learn it?  How long does it take?
 
I am willing to bet it isnt a matter of "there is a tatter of scarlet fabric snagged on the bookshelf."
 
I roll Detecrive Work.  Made it by six.
 
Okay, that color is familiar.  It looks like a bit of the cloak worn by Mister Magus.  Obviously, there is a secret entrance behind that shelf.  He snuck in here looking for an ancient tome in which was written something he needs.  It was probably the second spell he needs for his master plan to create an army of unstoppable zombies.  That means there are only two spells left.  Pulling the wall sconce twice will reveal the secret passage from here to the boat dock on the marsh.  This was the ideal in-and-out because he is holed up in the ruins of the Mayfield mansion out on the remote island just outside US jurisdiction.  However, his guard golems crumble in the sunlight, and must be recharged every sunrise.  This means there are two hours during which he is "blind" to invasion by boat, since he will be in the basement of the manor- which he has converted into a magical fortress, penetrable only by those carrying a charm of leather and wrought iron- which, coincidentally, is not unlike the keyfobs the guy in the lobby of the Carson Museum sells; those would probably work.  And since this villain is a mere mortal, a little tear gas should render him helpless, so let's pick up some supplies and end this campaign, Okay?
 
I bet you don't so that.  I bet you break up the use of the more familiar clues into smaller bites.
 
You just have to figure out how to do that with Baseball Skill.
 
I cant help you there.  I don2t know much about any non-motorcycle-related sports, I am afraid.  Maybe competitive camping; I might have suggestions there, but that's not baseball, either.
 
 
 
 
 

I created a version of Batrock the Leaper (Marvel). He and his mercenaries were trying to steal hundreds of pounds of gold doubloons from a museum.  His speed, DCV, and movement were much faster than players.  He was just about out the door when I decided he would give the female heroes a kiss before leaving the museum.  In the end of the female heroes picked up something big and heavy and threw it at him, nailing the megahex he was in.  He was a bit smashed after that.

My favorite was League Of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments In Naughtiness.  (From Phineas and Ferb.)

Don't agree with that. I have found that someone who utilized an individual villain or a villain team js for the purpose of pissing off the players is just a bad GM. And as for pretty much all of the villains that are standard and individuals usually are easy to knock out. Whenever I run Champions I have to increase most of the villains I use. They have a tendency of having an average defense of around or even under 20 and many who are considered to be incredibly defended might have 25.

Duke Bushido answered this point in general above with great eloquence, so I've nothing to add there. I will just point out that the issue with CLOWN is not that a bad GM would use them for the purpose of pissing off the players. It's that the creator(s) of CLOWN wrote them to be used to piss off the players.

Good.  I won't hear of it!
 
 

 
in all seriousness, though:  I won"t defend CLOWN.  I can't defend CLOWN, because they are presented not as a problem to solve or an organization with a goal- good or ill- but as nothing but something unpleasant to endure and to take the character you have worked hard on creating and playing into a credible part of the story make him look ridiculous.

 
 
 
 
 
Absolutely agreed.
 
Better: you don't need a Gilt Complex situation to tie a character's hands or to make him vulnerable or to shake his (or the public's) faith in him.  There are already classic tropes:  to the west is disaster A; to the east is Disaster B.  Which one will you avert, Hero?  Who will live, and who will die?
 
if you raise your hand against us, then this busload of baby nuns will die!!!  Wait... What-?  Oh you've got to be-- never mind; I can save this...  This busload of penguins will die!
 
Or to make him look bad:
 
If you do not rip the doors off the bank vault at precisely 2 PM Sunday afternoon, this busload of penguins will be dropped from the sky onto herd of nuns!  What?  Seriously?  Why don't you screen for this stuff?  Okay; I can work with it--
 
Onto a beach filled with rental umbrellas......
 
 
And any of these options work better because even though the hero is under the same pressure:  I will come off as a heel in some way no matter what-- there is still opportunity for role play (as he wrestles with the decision), for heroics (no matter east or west, he is going to save someone, and of course, the public will be aware that he did all he could, even if some are angry, others will understand), and to apprehend the villains (you know, I kind of enjoyed riping opwn that bank!  Where's my cut, and when can we do it again?
 
And after another job or two, he has been able to learn the hostages location, make plans with outside assistance (you know- the other players, who have tipped off the police or whoever about what's going on (or whatever is appropriate to your universe), then on the fourth or fifth job- the hostages are reduced, the loot is recovered, the organization is exposed--
 
The character is a hero again, though he may have to work a bit to convince _everyone_ (even though Little Timmy comes forward out of the crowd, hugs his leg, and cries "I never doubted you, Captain Awesome!  Not for a minute!"
 
 
All of these achieve the same results of making the HERO look briefly weak or incompetent or vulnerable, but they do so in a way that is _human_, rather than just pointlessly embarassing him.  They leave the opportunity to bear up under pressure and scrutiny without resulting to ridicule or pointless shaming or dirty-laundry tactics, and the leave the character the opportunity to redeem himself without having to deal with his "private home videos"  being up on the internet or random callbacks to his humiliation:  "Hey, Captain Awesome!  How'd you get that thing so far up there, anyway?"  or being doxed or whatever it is the kids are doing these days.
 
And when he tackles the villains behind it, he doesnt have to worry about them not being what he thinks they are: it doesnt take a handful of brittle miscreants goading him into a power suplex to create the effects that CLOWN strives to create.
 
 
As for the membership:
 
Let's also remember that it is really only the Main Three members that are truly breakable, though their most-common fourth isnt really Timex quality, either.  (If You got that one, you're old)
 
There are other members- ancillaries amd reservists alike- who are more soundly built for a thrashing, even if it is a gentle one
 
(and honestly, if your heroes are tackling every new opponent by opening with their most brutal Haymaker, well...  Look; there is no "wrong way" to play, but if that is the style your group prefers, then the GM should build opponents accordingly- at least make them as tough as they look, etc.  CLOWN is off the table for such a group anyway)
 
But there are a few of the Irregulars-  Tag and the Power Armor guy come to mind-  who, as a team that is _NOT_ CLOWN, could be cobbled into reasonable adversaries, though their entire personalities and motives would have to be rewritten from the ground up to get rid of that ludicrous CLOWN stuff.  Make them straight up thugs or theives or mercenaries or whatever, and they are usable characters.
 
Maybe leave CLOWN itself as some sort of lunatic fringe arm,of Greenpeace or something.
 
 

Not to defend Clown specifically, but the possibility of challenges that cannot be resolved by violence seems quite appropriate for most games, especially Supers games.

Valid points, but I take the oppoaite tack:
 
Villains who have been captured and processed no longer have a Secret ID, at least not most of them.   It would be difficult to run the fingerprints of Plasmus, for example.  Characters whoe develop physical characteristics that cant be concealed- well, they aren't going to easily handle Secret IDs, either.  As an example, Rook (former player's character now an NPC in the youth group's universe) is a brick who, like many bricks, developed immense stature and musculature. She is eight feet tall and wider across the shoulders than most doors and is seventy-two years old.  She couldn't maintain a secret ID if she wanted to.
 
Still, those sort of chracters are a minority of characters (at least, those who aren't bricks, who seem to receive physical grotesquery at a disproportionately high rate).
 
But again: the majority of villains who get even a little bit through processing are never going to have a points-worthy secret ID without completely changing their villainous ID, and in forty-four years of Champions history, I don't believe I have stumbled across one of those in any official product.
 
Still,like LL, I have occasionally enjoyed letting the villain's  secret ID assist the PCs on a case- in one case, I had a villain's secret ID who became a regular go-to Contact with the PCs-- to the point of eliminating four of his alter-ego's competitors, celebrating each victory with the heroes, ingratiating himself into their lives until they finally figured him out (caught him rifling through some,of their files on other "competitors" and after trying to figure out what they had in common, the high-tech HERO recognized the architecture of some spyware left behind in their systems--
 
The players were genuinely surprised, and genuinely felt taken in, and they somehow managed to both be furious and hurt by it as well as love it as a plot twist that they had fallen to, hard.
 
They were _thrilled_ when they finally took him down: it was very personal for every one of them. 
 
unfortunately, it also cemented in their minds that they should never reveal their own secret IDs, even to each other (which was always a problem even before that camoaign, and this made it worse), so we have an entire battery of various Bat Signals in use....
 
 
eh...
 
win some; lose some, I suppose.