phoenix240

I guess she just looked like she wasn't that attractive (IMO) but still female, but mileage will vary.

Its the chin piece of her cowl. She's got a whole 'pointy' motif going on.

Well, this isn't generating much response. Would you guys prefer a different image?

Thank you so much! Here is my image.

Hero Girl...Strange Visitor from another planet... Or was it “Born with inhuman powers, Hero Girl must fight to defend a world that hates and fears her.... Or maybe.. “After getting powers from a paper cut from a radioactive comic book, Hero Girl strives to live up to the words of her dead grandmother April: With great Powers comes great responsibility.” She could never keep track off all these retcons! Well, the next universe reboot would clear things up. Probably... on the bright side, she really liked this new costume! Tres Golden Age! Jenny Harper was a quiet introverted child, keeping to herself, often losing herself in her father's library of comic, both vintage and modern. He'd died shortly after Jenny was born and her mother, a distant woman, retreated even more in her grief. She was never deliberately abusive or cruel just closed off. Jenny never lacked for anything she needed but affection and assurance. She grew up quiet and alone, reading both comics and reams of adventure fiction. A more physical girl might have been a Tomboy, but the cerebral Jenny had her adventures in her imagination, putting herself among the four colors heroes she read about. She was allot like her father, a fact that drove a deeper wedge between the child and her mother. She reminded her too much of her dead husband. Sensing this but reading it as antipathy, Jenny retreated further, guilty for something but never knowing what. Eventually, she came to blame herself for her father's death. That must have been what made her mother so sad. She should have done something to stop it. A hero, like the ones she read about would have. But she wasn't a hero, just a girl. When Jenny was 13, her mother's depression finally became to much for her and she committed suicide. Jenny found her body,to late to be of any help. Again. Something broke inside her. Despair, self loathing, anger... Jenny's fragile psyche shattered but something was unlocked inside her as well, a great and potent power that burst outward, driven by her desire to fix things, to fix....everything. In that instant, the world was reshaped. To some extent. And Jenny was reborn. Now a 20 yr old intrepid reporter for metropolitan newspaper (that hadn't existed before) she had a secret identity as the blonde power house Hero Girl! But there was more, Jenny's unstable, instinctive power not only catered to her wish to be a hero, it drew on her fantasies of being in the comics she loved, bringing them to life. Jenny knows she's actually in a comic book and her world driven by the narrative rules of the medium along with the whims of writers and a sometimes fickle public. Being in on the 'reality' of the situation gives Jenny certain advantages. Sometimes she can read the captions and thought bubbles and get insights that would be otherwise impossible, step between “panels” and transverse incredible distances instantly and other bizarre feats, even sweet talking (or arguing) with the writers and other beyond the 4th wall to various ends. As Hero Girl, her powers and appearance very widely, driven by the whims of the 'writers'. She manifests forms derived from stereotypes drawn from comics and the various ages and subgenres of superhero stories from brooding Iron Age avengers to Silver Age boy (girl) scouts and her personality adjust to match but Jenny's perky optimistic core is always present. She likes the pictured version, a silver age heroine of great physical power, the best but accepts retcons with grudging good will. They never last long anyway. Her past or 'origin' adjust accordingly as well but some things are constant. Her parents are both alive and well (sometimes happily married, sometimes troubled or even separated depending on the tone of this particular series), her father figure is constructed from idealized faint memories and fantasies of her father with her mother sometimes as a darker figure occasionally a sympathetic villain, one in need of help. Jenny's powers are such they occasionally create other figures to help drive her narratives but usually just subtly steer things in proper direction. Her reality sculpting powers don't often alter the larger world in overt ways, most of their effects are very subtle or focused on Jenny. She is completely unaware of them and truly believes she is a comic book character. Observant characters could notice the odd inconsistencies that spring up around her as reality is reshaped to cater to her delusion and deduce what's happening. For example, if she is a 'brick' what she can do with her strength will be extreme even for comic book physics (crushing coal into diamonds, lifting entire intact buildings by one corner, and similar feats). Investigative efforts could discover the odd holes in her background(s) and in the histories of people generated by her powers and other oddities (everyone has heard of the paper she works for but no one can remember beyond the last copy they read and any back issues only go back a year and all the stories are about superheroes mostly written by Jenny). Psychic or magically gifted beings might sense what is going on with Jenny and the extreme but largely unconscious and latent power within her. That could make the naive, troubled girl a target for malicious forces seeking to exploit, control or even steal her power. After all, she is still an intelligent but young girl inside and a manipulative figure could easily take advantage of that.

Heroic PC from our Bay City Blues game Hero Name: Phoenix Real Name: Eliza Morgan Occupation: Spokeswoman, test subject, adventurer Gender: Female Age:24 Background/Origin: A world-class gymnast, the young woman who became Phoenix was the victim and beneficiary of both bad fortune and good. During a contest in a tropical country, she contracted a particularly virulent strain of flesh-eating disease; as it was eating her alive, a leading company in bionics r&d heard of the case, and approached her with an offer: agree to act as a test subject for their experimental full-body replacement, or let the disease run its course, as there was no effective treatment known. Naturally enough, she accepted the offer. The process was, for her, not all that bad, as she was unconscious for much of it. Of course, she’s now a spokeswoman for that company, and has to report in regularly for maintenance and diagnostics uploads, and her role in the Bay City Guardians, though real, is largely a PR exercise for her sponsor

Very creepy, feels like a modern take on 50s B-movie horror movie concept. Very nice

Congratulations, Steelcold!

I enjoyed the entries but Opale edged ahead. Congratulations!

Sorry everyone, had some medical issues.

Thank you, I'm not sure how I missed the notification. Here's my submission

That's how it is around here too and the only place you get bacon is on the breakfast sandwiches though I guess you could request it in some fashion ("One bacon and egg biscuit, hold the biscuit and egg.") Fast food restaurants, despite their reputation for being homogeneous, can vary a great deal from region to region, country to country.

Sort of a spin off from setting thread. How difficult do you think it would be to pull off the One Punch Man setting in Hero System? In some ways its essentially a typical superhero setting (perhaps a little more overtly gonzo) with the twist of having all heroes registered with a central organization and that not, overall, being a bad things. There are a few world beaters and allot of street level heroes (some of whom seem to be essentially normals with a postive outlook) Then there is likely couple thousand point elephant in he room: Saitama, a character that can literally defeat anyone in one blow. And not just knock them out but obliberate them, usually reducing them to chunky salsa. When his opponents do get in attacks, he usually completely no sells them either evading them and suffering no real damage (including from a blow the knocks him from the Earth to the moon). Power wise he has a suite of abilities similar to Superman sans flight and the other more exotic abilities Superman has picked up. In a sense he's like the very earliest depictions of Big Blue. He can do with a man can do just taken to 20. How would you handle that kin of monster? Just make him a force of nature and plot device or actually generate a character sheet? And then how powerful would it be?

Does it see much use in your games and in what manner? How do you prefer to employ it when/if it does come up? Any war stories of noteworthy good and bad incidents fueled by the Deduction skill?

Once again, several good ones. Good luck everyone!

Hēi guǐ: Always quiet and introverted, Jennifer Cho dealt better with plants than people which suited her chosen field very well: biology professor in a small California university in botanical research department. She spent her days hidden deep in the labs and gardens, avoiding human contact and lost in her research, cataloging and notes blissfully unaware of the looks and occasional romantic overtures of her fellow faculty and even the occasional student as she was attractive young who's shy but amiable personality many found endearing. Other than botany, Jennifer's only other passion was practicing a surprisingly aggressive form of Wing Chun Kung Fu. Her great grandmother had brought the style from China and it had been passed down, mother to daughter in her family since. She'd never used it in anger before and most would have to lean the quiet scientist could level people twice her size in short order using a combination of long honed martial arts and some down and dirty brawling learned her father Edward Mcgregor and others from his side of the family at his insistence; no daughter of his was going to campus full of dirty minded boys without being able to take care of herself. No trouble ever occurred but the practice and work out left Sabrina is very good shape. During a quiet summer session, Jennifer accepted an assignment to follow up on some reports of an unusual species fungal mold that had been sent in by a local. This black, oily life form was unlike anything known being not only exceptional durable but, while it survived, seemingly mobile, able to move on it own. The sample had been contaminated by mishandling and died quickly but Jennifer was fascinated enough to leave her beloved labs to find more. Her search took her into the mountain where she heard rumors of strange behavior among the local population: rashes of violence, impulsive behavior, hallucinations and even licentious behavior occurring in the area from people never known for it. Jennifer thought nothing of it as her search too deeper into the rural territory and into the wilderness where she ran across several animals acting strangely as well so began to grow concerned. Still she'd come too far to turn back and pressed on, soon finding what she was sought, a pool of he black inky fungal material growing in the bottom of what appeared to be an recent meteoric impact crater, presenting an exciting possibility. Overcome with curiosity, Jennifer did one of the few impulsive acts in her life and immediately tried to climb down to gather sample. And the rock wall gave way, sending her tumbling her down into the churning organic soup. It enveloped her, sucked her down and as it closed over her head, it struck her that she hadn't had time to learn anything about its metabolism but was going to find out in the hardest way imaginable. But it wasn't so bad. The gelatinous material felt warm, comforting in a way. There was no pain even as she felt it seeping across her skin and into her body. She felt its need, its hunger and some strange alien intelligence. And with that connection came understanding. It wasn't from this world, but hadn't come accidentally. This world and its billions of sapient feeling minds had drawn it across the void of space seeking sustenance. It was a psionic being that fed on emotional energy specifically aggressive feelings. The fits the local were experiencing had been created by its attempts to feed, sending clouds of spores into the wind that acted as psychoactive drugs but in a random, uncontrolled manner in short intense bursts. Jennifer sympathized with it. It hadn't wanted to cause trouble. Humans just weren't too compatible. She offered it another way. She would accept it as part of her, entering a symbiotic relationship where she'd indulge her own aggressive urges and allow it to draw in them willingly. Her own latent psionic power facilitated this quite well. Jennifer Cho returned unsuccessful, reportedly never finding more of the strange lifeform. She also returned different. Her quiet demeanor remained but she more willing to emerge from her study. She spoke up for herself, met people's eyes and spoke up in conversations even started to dress to flatter her appearance and athletic build. Still charming and amiable, this new spark of extroversion made her even more appealing. But this was nothing compared to her new nocturnal activities when her new alien partner sheathed her body in a black skintoght sheathe that protects her and provides a variety of abilities such as the power to cling to walls and form whips, tendrils or other appendages at will. In this form, Jennifer's inner nature truly emerges unfettered: impulsive, aggressive, eager and virtually fearless. If anyone that knew her before met her, they'd think her father's side had finally come out. And they wouldn't be that far from the truth. As Hēi guǐ (black ghost), she acts as a vigilante and campus protector, defeating the rampaging Mold Man (see earlier in the thread) in her most public adventure and occasional party animal, feeding her alien partner very well. And loving every minute of it. Note: She is currently unaware of Mold Man's true identity.

That can be a problem when the art is of a recognizable character. I ran into the same problem earlier with the Overwatch character and I had it wrong. LOL

First, i want to say that I was very impressed by all the submissions and their similar but distinct spins on the image. They almost could have been reimaingings of the character for different 'ages' of comics from Gold to Silver to Bronze/Iron. It leaves me in a little bind since I liked all of them but I have to pick one.. so with no slight intended to other writers I will go with Sterica's submission Hepcat which edges out the others by a tiny margin due its lighter, more humorous approach to a seriously creepy image.

Code Name: Harlequin Full Legal Name Joy Toyalington (Stage name: Joy Toy) Height 5' 6" Weight 120 lbs. Eyes Green Hair Black Legal Status: US Citizen with no criminal record Profession: Entertainer (clown/acrobat), adventurer Personality: An optimistic, upbeat girl that's quick to befriend and stand up for her friends once she makes them. Growing up in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of a traveling show has made her extremely open minded. Perhaps too open minded* as she doesn't judge on appearances even when it might be wise. Joy loves to make people laugh and tries to defuse tense situations with humor, even if its gallows humor. Sometimes she doesn't know when to get serious and commits practical jokes habitually, but never aims to hurt her targets. Unlike most jokers, Joy is just as quick to laugh at herself and enjoys a good prank even when she's the target. Being a performer has made her somewhat of an exhibitionist. She loves attention and really has little sense of modesty or personal privacy though she does get emotional boundaries. Her "family" of carnies was close and no one was judge on their background before joining the group. Growing up in a world where "freaks" and "normal" people lived in harmony has given her a unique insight on the conflict between humans and mutants and she doesn't see why it can't work on a larger scale. History: Being born with obvious physical mutations (Pure white skin and harlequin like facial markings) wasn't such a big problem for Joy. Considering she born into a traveling carnival and side show. Her powers manifested early, but she found accepted among the carnie folk as one of their own. In fact her rubbery and nearly indestructible body combined her extroverted nature made her a natural for the show as a clown and acrobat extraordinaire. When she intervened and successfully prevented a hold up of the carnival ticket booth, Joy realized her abilities might be useful for something besides making people laugh and, with the blessing of her "family" set off to discover her destiny. *Joy's solution for her costumes issues could also be seen as evidence.

I'd like to see how Hero System's mechanics could be massaged to handle some of the more stylized suggestions in this thread like One Punch Man where there is one character who is literally unbeatable (probably be more of an issue for GMing advice) or Invincible where the vague 'trope' of superhero gaming that all archetypes are viable is a little skewed and FISS types are dominant.

It is cool when part of the image 'click' like that. If I was more ambitious and had more talent and free time, I'd suggest compiling these characters in a pdf NPC book.

That's three but does anyone mind if I give it a day or two more to see if anyone else has idea since they came so quickly?

Thanks! I'm glad you liked Horseman War. Does this image give anyone ideas?

Horseman War: War. It has always been with us. From the first instinctive savagery over terrritory and hunting grounds to the complex geopolitical, religious and ideological driven conflicts across the modern world, the spectre of war has been a part of mankind from our beginning. And it has been always been there as well. Myths speak of Four Horseman and as with many legends there is a kernel of truth to them. But they are not men, nor women or even human though they comprise a part of of us. Demons, angel, gods? Exactly what they are is a question for scholars of the occult and theology, but they appear as objects, in the case of War, a black skull faced horned helm. Its appearance has varied slightly over the millennia: from tribal masks to black eyed WW2 gas masks but it always seems to revert to this basic, terrifying form in the end. The helm of War appears amid conflict, in the thick of the most terrible and brutal slaughters where inevitable someone will find or is perhaps selected by it. And they will be overwhelmed, subsumed into the cosmic entity: War, their thoughts and drives replaced by its alien will. The host's new appearance is in part drawn from its human psyche, taking the form of an ideal dark warrior, an icon of death, a cold comfort for most. For the most Horseman War will observe the conflict and stir it using its powers to augment and spread the rage and bloodlust beyond all norms, occasionally stepping in personally to deal with anything that threatens to dampen the conflict before the time it deems right. And it harvests, selecting the most brutal, implacable and skilled killers and drawing the life energy from their corpses when they fall (ensuring that happens personally if required) for some unknown purpose. Some think its to gather warriors for the Apocalypse, others that it is just a morbid collection of souls. No one is certain of anything beyond its like a dire purpose. Horseman War's hosts gain a great deal of physical power and virtual invulnerability. It can summon any weapon it wishes and usually selects ones that are appropriate for the current battlefield. All of its weapons are supernaturally powerful and lethal to even the strongest superhumans. Regardless of the period, Horseman War's panoply will include a sword in some form. The host body is not susceptible to mortal issues like fatigue, hunger, thirst or mortal poisons and toxin including military grade biological and chemical weapons. War can exert a magical influence that creates, amplifies and directs emotions such as hatred, bloodlust and rage either in one person or across vast swaths of territory. Oddly, War doesn't like to simply create those drives from nothing preferring to work with already extant ones unless its hand is forced. Horseman War's strangest ability is to summon/create the Black Standard, a gruesome tattered battle flag adorned with grisly trophies that exude a magical effect that unleashes that darkest urges in warriors inspiring acts of callous barbarism and all manner of brutality while granting those that indulge with nigh superhuman stamina and recuperative abilities ensuring epic levels of slaughter ensue for miles around as long as its grip holds. Creating the Standard takes some effort on Horseman War's part and destroying it can rob it of some potency for awhile as well as immediately freeing those under its influence. Horseman War is shown here with its latest and longest lasting host: Carolyn Eves, a prize winning war correspondent who's seen dozen of conflicts around the globe and won several awards in her young career. Carolyn's boundless ambition and fearlessness are born from a morbid fascination with war, battle and death, a fascination that has forged a bond between her and Horseman War. She is the only known repeat host and welcomes it, savoring the experiences their bond allows her to share and revels in the power it grants her. While her fellow reporters would be horrified to learn the truth behind the luck that has allowed her to visit so many hot spots and emerged unscathed, their relationship is more a symbiosis than a possession. Perhaps even more as the few that know of their bond have referred to Carolyn and Horseman War as lovers.