Nucleon

Yep, same here. I make it very plain in my campaigns that the Universe did exists before 1939. God-like, immortal heroes and villains, if rare, are in a league of their own, ever dwarfing the players one on one. They always get my player's attention; it most be the lofty way I roleplay them However, for sheer worrying factor, these "mortals" usually take the cake: The King Of Spades; The actual King of Spadesnia is an energy form maintained by the sheer power of his ego; He absorbs physical and energy attacks in the appropriate defenses, and usually hits with BOECV blasts and draining HTH. My players would generally bet on him vs Destroyer, even if the former is build on less points. Charming personality too, an abusive, disdainfully haughty Blaastar-like ogre with a taste for mythophilia and his descendance. The female players' nightmare. Captain Justice; A hero, mind you, only a very rightwinged-minded one, the Super's self-appointed police. A typical flying brick à la Superman (or more precisely DC's Cap Marvel), he's incredibly strong, fast, well-trained and resistant, and he knows it. He is the arrogant Law, and he tends to draw hasty, impulsive conclusions. Everybody's nightmare. The Mass; A low-level loon, this mean, humongously enormous woman usually get all the attacks until she is done for. Her favored (and single) tactic is to wallop her super-dense layers of body fat into the ground, creating a quake. This clumsy personnage can be surprisingly fast (at triple END cost) when the need arise, and is close to invulnerablity (Lard laying Dam. Red.). And once again, a temperament players just love to hate. I think's that's the key.

Re: Re: On Redmenace's template Mmh. Indeed Nucleon has a a musty pile of sketches that range from quickdraws to acceptable art (if somewhat style-less) somewhere in His alternate Universe. As soon as He has enough starfunds, He plans to buy a scanner and will be touching them up with Photoshop or a likewise program. He will then saturate the boards with His art for all Mortals to see. Promise! *sinister laughter* [PS] Oh, and very, very nice female templates too, Redmenace. It won't surprise me if I were to see them again in my players' hands. I will inssure that your moniker stays on those.

On Blue's Image My, superb image composition, which incorporate many medias. Maybe it would be a good idea to further put both personnae further in their respective part of the image so the unity/duality of the character would strike more to the looker's eye. This is a picture that can only get better with time. (Eerr, you don't happen to have the looker's e-mail adress, do you?)

Starsong 2002's Virtual Foxbat First thought; Wow. I know the following suggestion makes out for a more in-genre character than the most realife you made, but here they are: The trunk could be shorter, and the right leg meatier. It lacks overall musculation details, but the expression is well made for the medium's limited capacities in this departement. And again; Wow.

Lemming's drawing Flashy stuff, this is more about colour than details, but its got a style that's reminescent of some 80's modern artwork. Great colour patterns. The face is kinda cute, with pronounced eyebrows. The lady's overall shape maybe could benefit from some trimming, but chubbier girls can be quite seductive too. Ah yes; the background is interesting...

Starsong 2002's Archlight Well, I kinda like this one more than the precedant critics have. He does looks cold and sterile, but it fits nicely with the characters' overall feel. The bolt is splendid, as is the costume's simplicity (yep, maybe the belt would gain by being re-designed). By now I have a good feel about what Poser can and cannot do. Great, just great.

About Korvar's drawing A good pose, and a costume that projects a feel of might with his straight lines and, err, conservatism. The legs however lacks a knee, as well as some lenght that would enhance the dynamics of the pose. There is much action around the right hand, and that tends to add confusion to the drawing. Maybe that's the way the character is, but I would personally give him more chin, too.

On Redmenace's template Well, it is exellent, very professional work. Althought irrealist, the proportions have that superheroic feel. Simple yet impressive. Making template is kinda hard; I have made some 12-15 such templates for such an usage, and have discovered that the simplest ones -both in details and pose- are the most appreciated. Yours looks great for a brick, but a bit less for, say, a martial artist.

About Warp9's Artwork Kronos; I love the costume, with baggy pants and sleeves, its got a 70's spirit Nucleon is known to like. The colours for it are great too, with the starclad elements and all. On the other hand, the face lacks in clarity and expression, and the hair colour strikes me a dull or dirty; maybe white would have been better for the hair. Magnum; I didn't like this one; Too toy-like and sterile, it seems to lack personnality. The proportions also striked me as odd. Maybe it's Poser program style, and Magnum would look better in a hand drawing. The Emperor; A cool character, really. The tongue is a good point, but the head's feature lacks in definition (Poser trait, again maybe). The eye could also stand out more, maybe with a smaller pupil so we could see the small, reddish nerves around it. Great work, Warp9.

Re: Equity - submitted for your review Equity has a great pose; maybe her legs are a little bit short for the genre, but that both refreshing and more real, so this is more an observation than actual fault. You do have talent for picturing what seems happy women; they look easy to approach. It this intentional in both cases I saw? They have quite simple costumes too. Overall they're great, and you must be an appreciated member of your playing group. I will wait for more.

Might be good. Usually, all players have good CON, and mentalists have commonly high EGO. Even with the use of a power skill, this puts some drama in the push, indeed. (To Nucleon's players; ) Nucleon likes the idea...Tremble, mortals. Well your players must trust in your judgement alot to allow this...Still, it has great appeal, even if Nucleon thinks your trading off strategy for drama. Which is not a bad deal.

Not only does my players always go for Full Power, but most of the time they push as well. Fights which last for more then 1 turn tend to be scarce. So, of course, I have to remake all CU personae in this view. As I remember "Classic Ennemies", they went for big scores of DEX, SPD and CON, but few in DEF because everybody should be able to hurt them, I imagine. I prefer to opt for "Damage Reduction" to fullfill this end.

Re: Rejected USPD Submissions Great powers, Worldmaker I designed something akin to your "Perfect Planning" for a Cap America tryout some times ago. So yes, Nucleon think this is an excellent idea! Not being familiar with the said book yet, I must refrain posting but I'll stay tuned to any further bursts of imagination, such as zornwil's idea.

It's a bit sad indeed. But, Grond still has that extra pair of arms does he? 100 seems a reasonable benchmark.

Well, it's great way to go around the archetype. On one of mine, this same labcoat is the equivalent of the medal-laden mil uniform; With the years it had become crusty, dirty with mustard as well as bodily fluids (not his own), plus the regular abuse. That had some effect; The brick on my team refused to punch him with his bare hands, afraid he'll catch some nasty disease. That gorilla in the sidebar looked cool, too.

...so practical because of the unusual effects they usually create, yet sooo boring. Nucleon Wonders: How do you make the T.O. Morrows and Eggheads of your campaings interesting and (gasp) even likable to your playing partners?

I loved the concept too, as I loved "Freedom Force" before that (so many teams with that name -maybe it is an archetype of its own). The first ten issues under Zemo were fine, but I really liked it when Hawkeye took over the team. Then it became too much complicated and arcane, with constantly changing membership and powers, deads that kept coming back, two teams, myriads of obscure organisations, etc, it became an ourobouros. Nucleon says don't drown your players in intricate, neverending, overlapping subplots like Thunderbolts did. Eventually it became a cross between the Masters Of Evil (excellent corny name) and the Defenders. They added heroes designed by the public, which is quite unusual, and brung back to memory sich icons of Marvel's Pink and White period such as Silver Sable. The new Thunderbolts are another thing entirely. I currently give them a 4-issue tryout. Well that was off-topic...but liberating.

Nucleon finded out that Earth women are attracted by traits of masculinity like strenght, ambition and power (monetary, politic or else), and of course, fame. We men are more attracted by exclusive physical beauty than women. It's in our genes. So, unless the said heroes are uncouth, they're pretty sure to score one way or another. A high COM score permit a hero to rise above his lot in this departement. Good, of course, for a gloryhound or a womanizer. This could be bought (or bought back) with a focus or OIHID. Never had a problem with it.

Re: Re: Sweep and CSLs Seems like the best thing to do indeed. Eeerrr, let's pretend I never saw that rule... ...And thanks for your point of view, Tech.

This is something that was brought to me in a discussion about the respective values of DEX and CSLs. It does look contradictory to me. I asked Steve, but I realized I wanted an explanation rather than a clear-cut decision. Here it is. And a little bit further down the same FAQ: So if I understand well, I can use a 2-pts CSL with a kick (defined as a Strike) if I Sweep it, but I can't use a 3-pts CSL (M-Arts) with another kick (defined as an Offensive Strike) to Sweep. However, If I got a 5-pts CSL (hth combat), I may use it to Sweep with my Offensive Strike. Now how can I explain that to my players?

Poor Killer Shrike... By the Stars, Shrike. Are you sure these people are even alive? Nucleon is torn between the tragedy, and the sheer comedy of your post. The first thing that you ask is this; Did they had any input in the setting of this game? They seems more like Shadowrun players. Have they ever played as a team? Does anybody in this group you would define as a potential leader/roleplayer? If so, I would humbly suggest you prepare an intrigue around him/her, with his/her consent and help. In the starting phases of the campaign, reward roleplay and whatever you like as a player reaction with ½pts. They will catch the drift and will going to do it for fun's sake later. Well, if nothing works, I see no reason for that particular campaign to continue. As a GM, you must be able to get at least some inspiration, or else it's a chore, really. Geez. (And I hope those "aggravating recent events" are well under control, Killer Shrike. Good Luck anyway.)

While discussing the values of CSLs versus high DEX scores, another participant brought a FAQ exchange where it was said that the 3-pts Combat Skill Level (or the 2-pts one, for that matter) does not apply when making a Sweep manoeuver, even if the said sweep is done with an attack covered by the said CSL. Is that so? And if it is, is there a good reason not to? Thanks.

Man, you have no idea. When it's your bithday, this animal grabs you by the head and licks half your face with one big, wet slurp. He may not have that much reach, but once he grabs you, you can just close your sense and wait for this terrible ordeal to pass. Plus, he never forget birthdays.

No kidding. Nucleon just turned 37 ye...centuries old last thursday. Horse of Fire and Taurus Constellation, right? Happy Birthay, Morningstar.

I'll give you one better; when I come here, I mostly play by the system but you should see our extensive list of house rules. I guess it all begin when first playing the game with gamers that made many rules errors, some 10-12 years ago. We learned the rules while playing, but were not ready to let go the way things worked before we knew the correct rule. Then there's the broken stuff. And the supplements (Ninja Hero had a big influence.) I don't know at which extent seasoned HERO players use optional or house rules, or if the majority play in the most orthodox manner possible.