Uncle Shecky

That's right, it was introduced in Champions II, and it was not part of Missile Deflection (although it was modeled on it). The description in Champions II is interesting so I'm reproducing some of it here: "...The character has a base chance of 18 or less for a cost of 30 pts., +1 per 3 pts. The character's chance to reflect is -1 for every 5 active pts. in the incoming attack. Each Reflection roll after the first is made with a cumulative -2 penalty .... The character's DCV is 0 while he is reflecting an attack. ..." It's cool that it was the active points in the attack that made reflection difficult, not the attacker's OCV. And I like the drop to 0 DCV: you have to let yourself be hit to be able to reflect it back. I prefer the deflection-based power as it is now, but that's an interesting take on it. The Champions II description doesn't specifically mention whether Reflection is passive (like Damage Shield) or whether you can abort to it like a block, but the example implies that you need to use a held action: "HONEYBEE had reserved her action, and attempts to reflect FLARE'S attack back." So 5th edition has restored that "can't abort to" aspect, and maybe it was meant to be that way all along.

I'm not sure if this is what tiger meant, but FREd has a change in the rules for missile reflection: you can't abort to it, even though you can abort to missile deflection. The BBB doesn't say you can't abort to missile reflection (as far as I can tell), it simply treats it as a special case of deflection. Since you can abort to deflection, I always assumed you could abort to reflection too. I'm not sure why this was changed, or even if it really is a change: maybe it's just a clarification, and most people have always played it that way. I don't have a problem with it, as long as a character with missile reflection can at least abort to missile deflection. But FREd seems to treat missile deflection and reflection as more distinct powers than the BBB did, so I'm not sure if that's legal.

Yeah it was really a pain. Plus, when trying to figure out the cost for reduced END, you only counted those advantages that affected the END cost of the power. In 2nd edition, some advantages added to the power's END cost and some didn't. This made sense in most cases (e.g. an 8D6 expolsive EB would cost more than a standard 8D6 EB, while and 8D6 BOECV EB had the same END cost as an 8D6 EB), but for some advantages the reasoning wasn't very clear. Even worse, END costs were double back then: it was 1 END per 5 active points, so that 8D6 EB cost 8 END! And the characters were built on 200 points. You'd either knock yourself out using it or in trying to figure out how much the reduced END advantage cost you. We just ignored END for years, but the game is so much better with it. I'm not sure when they made the change to 1 END/10 active points, but it's the best HERO system change ever.

Marvel has been a little inconsistent about this. There was a late '70s issue of the Avengers (don't remember the number: Byrne drew it), where his powers are basically like JmOz said (e.g. he absorbs Cap's shield), but he also absorbs the Beast's agility (IIRC). Hank is spinning him over his head, keeping Creel away from anything he can touch, so Creel grabs the Beast's arm and turns blue, furry, and super agile. This might be the only time he's shown this ability (i.e a mistake). The MSH game or whatever version of the Marvel Universe Handbook is around now might clarify this.

Without IPE, EGO attack is visible to the target and anyone else with a mental power or mental awareness. With IPE, it is invisible to everyone. (This is all in FREd, p. 80). If you want it to be invisible to the target only, I would say give it IPE, and then take a limitation like "Invisible to target only." That shouldn't be a very large limitation though, unless mental powers are pretty common. If you want it to still be vsisble to targets with mental powers or mental awareness, that's a larger limitation: then the advantage only works against a limited group of targets.

Actually, in 1st and 2nd edition, Crusader, Starburst, and Ogre were used in a really handy walk-through for character creation (something sadly missing from FREd, but I don't have 5th Champions--maybe it's there?), and they had all of their stats. Crusader was given a full-page character sheet in 1st (with no player listed, since there wasn't a space for that on the 1st edition sheets), and a quarter-page reduction of a character sheet in 2nd edition (with Glenn Thain listed as the player). Another cool difference between 1st and 2nd edition: Mechanon was only 345 points in 1st, but 600 in 2nd. We thought he was pretty tough at 345 ...

I have seen this work in games where the players were allowed to play multiple characters. I GM'd a brief West Coast Avengers campaign many years ago for 2 players. 1 guy got Iron Man and Hawkeye, the other used Iron Man, Tigra, and Mockingbird. I don't remember the point levels, but Wondy and Shellhead were several hundred points more than Mockingbird. It worked because both players had heavy-hitter characters and support characters, and because they usually fought single villains with a wide variety of attacks (like Graviton and Super Adaptoid). Also, we all tried to stay true to the spirit of the comics. When they fought the Masters of Evil, I didn't send the Wrecker after Mockingbird, and Wonder Man didn't try to take out the Beetle. They paired up like they would in the comics. Just because a hero or villain has a 5d6 AP RKA, doesn't mean he must use it on every opponent, especially if it doesn't suit the genre you're trying to play. Good players and GMs will know that.

I love these characters, and I think you nailed the spirit of the Tick universe. I really like "Spanking of zee Monkee," the "Orangu-Hang Silver Foil Glider," and "Distinctive Features: Bad French Accent, Swashbuckler Outfit, Gorilla Mask." Every entertainment medium can be improved by the addition of a couple of monkeys.

All the background skills (see FREd, p. 30-31) are +1 per 1 point, and they always have been that way. The first background skills were introduced in Champions II (1982), and they were +1/1 point back then too. I think LL is right about the reason: the skills are less applicable to combat.

The BBB is a great book. IMHO, if you want to play HERO, and you want to buy only 1 book, the BBB is still the one to get. FREd is an excellent revision of the BBB, with many new, revised, or clarified powers, advantages, etc. But it doesn't include any complete characters. (Presumably, this is intended to get people to buy the supplements: a strategy used by most RPG companies, but one that HERO didn't really use until recently. It's probably in the company's best interest to pursue that strategy now , but it might not suit your needs.) If you can afford to buy a few other books, or you are willing to convert 1st-4th edition stuff to 5th (it is easy), then you should buy FREd. Your BBB could still come in handy: it's a less intimidating book to show to new players. Our old gaming group used our copies of the 1st and 2nd edition rules to teach new players the basics, even after we'd switched to the BBB. As for HERO/Champions being the best system for superhero RPGs, I only know that I've never seen a better one. Granted, the only other option I found when I started playing (1982) was Villains and Vigillantes: there was no contest there. The new Silver Age Sentinels game is (IMHO) an extremely over-simplified version of Champions, but one with the right spirit and good company support. It's directed at younger or math-phobic players, but it could be right for a more light-hearted superhero game. I don't think it's worth buying if you already have the BBB (you've already got a complete game there), but you can check it out at http://www.guardiansoforder.com/

Re: Re: Re: Secret old fart club The 1982 templates (included in the rulebook that came in the boxed set) are pretty cool. I just downloaded them from the Free Stuff section. But I've always preferred the original character sheets from 1st edition. Anyone remember those? Different poses (better style too, IMHO) and dashed lines around the head, wrists, belt, etc. They were great. I've got a version of the original character sheet, but it was altered by my GM. Anyone have the pure originals?

Oh yeah, right, if he has defenses that are dependent upon the amount absorbed, the order would matter. But I don't think the 2nd case matters: If an attack does 8 BODY, and my absorption roll lets me absorb 10 character points, I'll get 8 points from it. If I've got a relevant defense of 8/more, I'll take no damage, but still get the points.

6 of one, half a dozen of the other Does it really matter if you do the absorption or the defenses first? Aren't they really occurring simultaneously? Absorption provides no defense against the attack, and defenses don't affect the attack with regards to absorption. Since absorbing an attack can't change the character's response to that attack (you can't absorb points to defenses, stun, whatever) until after the damage is calculated, I'm guessing the order (absorption, then damage) is just to ensure that the character will absorb the attack even if it knocks him out. I think that's the only time the order would matter.

'Cause the eyes of the monkey are upon you ... It's official: Chuck Norris's career is over. That chimp could easily take him. It's probably a better actor too.

In games where we specified a city, we used Chicago or New York, but often we just played in "The City." If I was running a game now, I'd use San Angelo. I'm surprised no one else has said they use it.

Most of my bricks have been pretty lame, but I've had a few unusual ones over the years: Captain Chrome: shiny, metallic brick, with missile reflection vs. light-based attacks. Galligator: female, Cajun version of the Lizard, but stronger. ("Half human, half gator, all girl!") The Tangler: a stretching brick with an awesome martial grab. Little Big Man (aka the Mighty Tim): 3 feet tall, but a 70 STR.

re: Firefly DVDs There probably won't be official Firefly DVDs, but there are some unoffical discs out there. Check out this thread from FIREFLYFANS.NET: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=13&t=1383