CaptnStrawberry

We should, actually.  I'm sure that was a lot of extra work on your part but you troopered on with nary a complaint.

Plus, your little Green Arrow emoticon is the awesomeshizzlesauce!

Spunkie

A young lass with the ability to change form into a luminescent orb.  As such, she can fly, phase through walls and other obstacles, and blind, confuse and misdirect others.  True to the will o'wisps and ghost lights of folklore, she has even been known to send out irresistible hypnotic pulses that lure the members of the Teen Tartans into elaborate traps.

The comments I've read from Hero Games staff over the years, even before DOJ bought the property, is that books collecting NPC heroes simply don't sell nearly as well as villains books. Most players want their own PCs to be the stars of the show, and the greatest need for NPCs in most campaigns is for foes for the heroes.

Rereading the original Strike Force the other day, it was obvious Aaron was aware of this fact even then - he made sure that every hero in the book had an alternate villainous background so that it could double as an Enemies book.  I don't see any reason that tactic still wouldn't work! 

Back on topic, I kinda like Book of the Shadow Queen (she/it has a few pages in Master Villains).  A full description of her faerie realm/minions would be different from previous techie Books, and could serve as a bonus resource for Fantasy Hero.

I suppose you're right.  It's just I remember that being my favorite section of the Empress book, but left wanting more.  Well, there's always the 'roll your own dimension' charts in 3-D!

This may be even further afield, but I would love a 'Book of the Multiverse' in the spirit of the old Champions in 3-D supplement.  It could update/detail selections from that classic, plus lotsa new alternate dimensions.

Book of The Slug would be probably my most-wanted.

'The World According to Foxbat' could be fun, too though!

A Steve Rogers gunned down by a comrade and left for dead a la Platoon might return and stage a one-man guerrilla campaign a la First Blood.  I suppose they did try a harder-edged Cap with USAgent.

Seems the 'Age-lines' will always be in a state of blurriness.  I tend to think of most of the 50s as the 'Dark Age' of  comics.  Post-WW2, one superhero title after another folded, and the Comics Code in 1954 ushered in a deluge of banal romance and western comics.  The few hero titles that survived did slide into ultra-silliness; I think this was the era that Batman and Robin took frequent jaunts into outer space.  The renaissance, of course, started in the late 50s when DC introduced new versions of Flash and Green Lantern, laying the foundation for the phenomenon that was the Marvel Age of Comics (excelsior!!).

I find Golden Age villains to be woefully underpowered compared to most of the heroes.  In many cases, they're ordinary gangsters.  In other cases, they may have mesmerism, a cult of followers, or large amounts of money.  But toe to toe they will never win a stand-up fight.  They have to be sneaky and underhanded, and/or rely on armies of minions.  Maybe there are exceptions, but supervillains in the modern sense, and supervillain teams, would have to wait for the Silver Age.  In a way, though, that makes them underdogs and easier to root for (imo, anyway!).

It's kind of a parallel track - you started to see less stereotypical international heroes around the time you saw more ethnic/racial diversity - although early Power Man and Shang-Chi can be an uncomfortable read.

Seems Marvel tried to sideskirt the issue with Black Panther - make him monarch of a fictional African country, and furthermore make that country even more technologically advanced than the US!

I kinda like the idea of a near future in which there is at least a prototype global government, and country of origin isn't really a defining trait anymore.

Terra Firma is the powerhouse.  Supposedly the victim of repeated and traumatic UFO abductions in her youth, as an adult she became an archaeologist.  True to four-color tradition, this career let to the discovery of a mysterious, ancient Sumerian amulet dedicated to Ki, the Earth Mother.  With the amulet, she can tap into a wellspring of geologic abilities - greatly enhanced mass and strength, at-will formation of a rocky armored crust around her skin, short-range bursts of magma, and the transformation of solid ground to soupy mud.   She has devoted her existence to smashing, pulping, probing and otherwise dismembering any spindly, grey, bulbous-headed being she sees!

Netopyr (Bat) [obscure Russian WWI prototype]

Alexei Sharlopov was a mechanical genius unwilling to let childhood paralysis of his lower extremities hold him back.  Instead, he fashioned a battlesuit/vehicle that incorporates his advanced wheel-chair into the design.  With three duranium wheels and an armored cockpit atop them, he can exceed 100 mph, turn on a dime, and even leap astounding distances with the help of rocket boosters.   The device's beam weapon turret gives him the ability to punch through walls with hard light or blind opponents with a full spectrum blast.  To his chagrin, Alex is often used as a decoy or distraction while his team-mates take off with the loot!

Money, get away
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay
Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I'll buy me a football team

Money, get back
I'm all right Jack keep your hands offa' my stack
Money, it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet

Money, it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise
That they're giving none away
Away, away, way

I can't claim to have any kind of definite finger on the pulse of gaming culture, but I sometimes do pick up on a backlash to video games, even among younger gamers.  Impressive as the eye candy might be, MMORPGs and the rest are essentially linear - there are things you can and can't do.  Pen and Paper has no such limitations, and I think a fair number of folks dissatisfied with the current setup are realizing this (a minority, but slowly growing?).

What is that saying? "Human imagination - the ultimate graphics card."

(The Tribble never does anything half-way does he?)

Frizbee has seemed to be forgotten. Mostly it might be the name, as "Frizbee" is a copyright of Wham-O toys. "Blind Flying Disk Albino Girl" doesn't have quite the same ring.

 

 

Interesting info above, but foul on this one!  I believe the term frisbee has entered the public lexicon and is even in the OED: 'A concave plastic disk designed for skimming through the air as an outdoor game or amusement.'  Changing that one letter would also remove the 'Complication: Hunted by IP Lawyers (Frequently).'

I'm tempted to say Panda and Raccoon, but the other villains would kick them off the island!

I like Doctor Draconis.  I like just saying 'Doctor Draconis.'  So, Doctor Draconis.

Wow, with the press of a button you can change adventure locations.  Totally making whiteboards and battlemats obsolete!?

El Minotauro

Spain's champion matadore a century ago, he dispatched dozens of fighting bulls with flourish and skill to the roar of the crowd.  But one day, he encountered an animal so brave, noble and beautiful he simply couldn't bring himself to harm it.  Booed from the Plaza and pilloried in the national press, he never again donned the cape and montera.

Perhaps the animal he spared was more than it seemed, perhaps it wasn't an animal at all, but soon a change occurred.  He became infused with the spirit of El Toro.  Bigger, stronger, faster, with bestial features, seemingly immune to aging yet retaining his old grace and skill.  As El Minotauro, he has become the protector of the natural world, the oppressed, and the poor against all exploiters. 

I went off-beat and combined DC's Question and Marvel's Tigra (I do dig the image of a catgirl in a trench-coat and fedora!).  I think we could have a few more 'second-string' amalgams but if not I (or anyone else) can suggest a new team theme.

Time for a gal!  Rena Grier inherited the mantle of the Curious Cat.  Infused with the totemic spirit of a Siberian tiger, trained by a master martial artist, and as a former private eye possessing a relentless insight into the human heart, she leaves no stone unturned, no door unopened, no question unanswered as she ferrets out corruption and injustice.

Technically, since millennia can be divided into centuries, he wasn't wrong.

I'm trying to remember, how long is an aeon?  'Aeon' could actually be a cool name for an Egyptian-themed hero.

Akhenaten the Heretic Pharaoh was the one who tried to convert his people to monotheism/sun-worship, almost all traces of his reign were destroyed.  He and his sister had elongated skulls leading to today's alien hybrid theories.

In the old Dr. Who story 'Pyramids of Mars' the big bad was Sutekh; I just love that name as it sounds sibilant and sinister.

After nine days I let the horse run free
'Cause the desert had turned to sea
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
there was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with its life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

La la, la, La, la la la  . . .