Pol Rua

I can understand that some GM's don't have the time or can't be bothered to do this, but I don't use ANYTHING straight out of the book. Supplements are just ideas for me. I take the idea and usually do an almost complete re-write of it. By the time I'm finished, the final results don't really look all that much like the original material. As a result, I've used characters from European Enemies quite successfully, actually, I twisted the Roadkill adventure around to the point where I actually used Argent Anarky as the evil band. Two! TWO crappy supplements in ONE!!! Ah-hah hah hah!!! Oh, and as far as the Elokians adventure... it was in a three-adventure supplement called 'Trouble for Havoc', and featured three adventures - A fight in a nuclear reactor, a lost race story and a cold war slugfest. Great Fodder for my 60's Silver Age Campaign! I've also run Dr.Drugs. The characters are interestingly fleshed out with neat personalities, and are fun to play. You can run it as a campy, deadpan humour game, or, with re-writing, as a neat, 80's era teen heroes game. Besides, who could say a bad word about a teen gang called 'The Monkey Thugs'? Okay, sure, there's lots of supplements that need less work than others, but there's always something at the heart of each one for me to work on. ______________________________________ Pol. (Half-full guy)

I used to use COIL (The Criminal Organisation for Infamy and Larceny) in my Silver Age Campaign, where the supers were the new, post war superhero wave, working for EAGLE (The Elite Agency for Government Law Enforcement). That seemed to work just fine. __________________________________________ Pol. (Beatnik Gorilla)

Would depend on the game. Sounds like your dude is interested in playing Swamp Thing (Moore era). That's cool. If you're interested in running a heavily mystical game with terrible challenges to the Earth's biosphere - a high powered mystic masters game where Swampy, The Phantom Stranger, Doctor Fate and co. get together to lay the eldritch smackdown on unutterable horror from beyond time and space, cool. Or if it's the sort of game which focusses on personal and ethical dilemmas rather than raw power to solve problems... that sounds great. However, invisibility and desolidification ALWAYS get the big STOP sign from me. This is the sort of character that could, in the hands of a dodgy player, utterly screw up your entire campaign. Look at the type of game you're running. If the character doesn't fit it, suggest a new character or a rewrite. If the dude wants to play Swampy, go with Wein/Wrightson Swampy - A brick with Life Support and regeneration out the wazoo, with a few plant powers for flavouring (maybe an EC or Multipower). However, whatever advice I can give, the final result is up to you. It's your campaign. _________________________________________ Pol. (Swamp Rot fever)

It's Tom Lehrer, the song is 'Lobachevski'. Plaguarize! Don't let other's work evade y'r eyes! Why'd you think the Good Lord made y'r eyes! So don't shade y'r eyes... just plaguarize, plaguarize, plaguarize! ...only to be sure always to call it research. Heh heh I love that song. It helped me through University. Thanks for the heads-up on Allston's site, by the way. I'm nuts for Strike Force... _________________________________ Pol.

I used to run an English Supers Campaign, and had a story arc built around the formation of Eurostar. Basically, I ran the GSVC with Fiacho as Mastermind, and the attacks as an 'audition' for Eurostar. I used a lot of the European VOICE guys as other Euro-baddies, as well as dudes from European Enemies etc... It was neat, I split everyone up and each team member accompanied four heroes from other EC nations to various cities across Europe. So in each adventure, one PC got to play his regular character, while the rest played heroes from other EC nations. I'm telling you, coming up with a four member team from Luxembourg was a NIGHTMARE! ____________________________________________________ Pol.

You cringed at Chop-Chop in the 60's? Gah, I can only quake with FEAR at how you responded to the short-lived 'Super Blackhawks' featuring The Leaper, The Listener, Dr.Hands, Big Eye and M'sieu Machine... brrrr... __________________________________ Pol.

Man, if I didn't live in Australia, and you didn't live in Mississippi, I'd be all over this game... I love the idea of his Household. Okay, you've got a groundskeeper, a butler/valet and a mad scientist (I don't have my German dictionary to hand so I can't help you with the name, sorry)... Howabout a driver? Maybe a mechanical genius who supes up the car and builds robots in his spare time... this might be a good role for a simian-looking monkeyguy (a literal 'grease monkey). Japanese houseboy/martial artist. Could be a super-ninja/assassin in his spare time. __________________________________________ Pol.

Most of my characters would be in the deep proverbials. Jack Armstrong, The Scarlet Scarab would probably be worst off. "Great Scott! This bizarre futuristic vehicle!" "You tell me this bomb could destroy a whole city? Who'd be mad enough to invent such a thing?" "Ah well, (rolls up sleeves) This bit I'm okay with!" 'Comet' Dixon would be better off. "Great Comets! This man has a bomb attatched to him!" "I'll disable him with my comet-blasts, and see if I can defuse this thing!" "No good. Looks like curtains old chum. Only in the Shooting Star can I go fast enough to get this damned thing far enough away!" "To think, I spent all that time keeping Martian technology away from the people of this planet, only to have them invent something far more diabolical without the Martians' aid." (With that, our hero would load the unconscious bad guy into his Martian War Chariot and try and get as far away from a populated area as possible) "Is this the last hurrah for 'Comet' Dixon? Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion..." Beatnik Gorilla would have to reason with the fellah. He reads enough science fiction to deal with the train. "Man, this cat was like Boom! He was putting out some serious bad vibes, and I knew his blood-box would have to keep up with the ba-boom ba-boom or it's like Splitsville, DC! Crazy!" ________________________________________ Pol. (Short answer - DC is toast. Historical heroes are never good in situations like this one...)

Dude, seriously, the best resource for Golden Age of Champions is Serials. I recommend Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, The Purple Monster Strikes, and any of the Rocketman ones - King of the Rocketmen, Radar Men on the Moon, Zombies of the Stratosphere... They're all blisteringly good! See if you can find videotapes of the 40's Superman Cartoons by the Fleisher Brothers, too! The look is so spot-on! As far as villains go, remember Lost Worlds. If you're going to go searching for Amelia Earhart, you can bet your goggles that she's going to be held captive on a lost jungle island, anxiously trying to avoid becoming the latest addition to 'The Harem of the Tiger-King' or somesuch! Or have submarines kidnapped by natives of an Underwater City. The heroes turn up, ready to bust heads, when they find that kindly underwater scientist, Dr.Merlo is being forced to use his terrifying 'Hard Water; ray to cripple submarines, lest his daughter, the Princess of Atlantis be forced to marry General Gnarr, the head of the rebellious Shark Men. Similarly, warmongering Martians (a la John Carter of Mars) are great. My own 1940's hero, Comet Dixon, spent most of the war stopping the Evil Martian Count Veltron and his assistant General Kranng from selling advanced Martian weaponry... first to gangsters and later, to the ratzis! Gasp! Another neat idea is to take existing characters and 'Golden Age'ify 'em. For example, Ogre becomes The Hun, an Allied Propaganda Poster of the bestial enemy come to life. Cheshire Cat becomes The Black Dragon, a ruthless Japanese Ninja Saboteur. Black Paladin becomes The Teutonic Knight, animated by Hitler's Dark Occult Artefacts, possibly found by an English Fascist codenamed: The Dark Seraph. Hey, if you really want, Sir Dennis may have an elite cabal of cultists called 'The Midnight Society' (Alien Enemies) including an elite circle of high priests (or 'Morbanes'). Pulsar becomes Blitzkrieg, Lightning-hurling Nazi Superman. And Eurostar becomes 'The Hand of Fear', whose five fingers desire nothing less than to crush the entire world in their ruthless grasp! By the way, I loved the use of Fantomas in Prof.Peril's origin. Thumbs up! _____________________________________ Pol.

Yup, Professor Peril is an excellent character! I do echo Hermit's idea of a retinue, though. The Prof doesn't appear to be a toe-to-toe fighter, so it might be a nice idea to give the heroes some operatives to manfully sock in the jaw. The female assistant's good... could I recommend Catherine Zeta-Jones' Valkyrie-esque (Old Villain from 40's 'Airboy' Comics) Aviatrix as a template? Mrowwr! __________________________________ Pol.

Don't have much to add, but just a brief correction: Actually, the idea of an international team of X-Men was based on 1940's War/Aviation Comic 'Blackhawk', in which an international squadron of allied pilots, The Blackhawks, battled the terrible Axis Powers. Which predates Star Trek... by a lot. "Hawk-aaa!" ______________________________ Pol.

A great source of English superhero concepts is Paul Grist's fantastic series 'Jack Staff', which pays homage to many classic British comic book characters including The Spider, The Steel Claw, Robot Archie, Captain Hurricane and many more. The Agency, a new series from Ben Dunn (also through Image), may be another good one to check out... as was the late, lamented 'The Establishment' from DC/Wildstorm, which featured characters based on The Avengers, The Prisoner, Dr.Who, The Champions and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). As for Canadian heroes, my favourite has always been Gabriel Morissette's 'Northguard'. In his intro to that series, Morissette says that we all take different approaches to our heroes - Americans tend to exalt theirs, Canadians destroy theirs, and Australians tend to take the piss out of them. ____________________________________________________ Pol.

Yup, wot assault said. Cyclone Comics in Australia had a bunch of great Australian superhero titles, predominantly The Southern Squadron and The Jackeroo back in the late 80's/early 90's. The Southern Squadron consisted of: Nightfighter: a yob with chemically induced superstrength. Southern Cross: A telekinetic energy projector and a bit of a yuppie. The Dingo: A werewolf, also a Croatian Immigant. Lt.Smith: A non-powered female SAS operative, team leader. As a bit of revenge against how the US portray foreign superheroes, they actrually included a parody US team in issue 9 (I think), the Uncanny A-Men. They consisted of... America-Man: America's favourite son of liberty. A middle-aged superstrong type with a musical belt buckle that plays 'The Star Spangled Banner' to disorient and distract his foes. The Americano: Token hispanic. A (Papa Don't Preach-era)Madonna lookalike with a whip and a sonic cry. Stormy Weather: The token black member. A chubby Las Vegas showgirl with weather powers. Slasher: Bionic former Sioux chieftain and embittered Vietnam Veteran. Also, in one issue, The Southern Squadron ended up teaming up with their New Zealand Counterparts, The Waitangi Rangers, who consisted of: Silver Fern: A middle aged superstrong scrapper. Kingfisher: A snappy dresser in tuxedo and domino. He appears to be the team leader and has possible mental powers. Aotea: Maori Mgician/Shaman character. The adventures of the Southern Squadron were great fun, and a nice look at heroes from abroad created by overseas creators. They tended to be a bit lighthearted, but that's part of our national character pretty much to take the piss out of our heroes. _______________________________________________ Pol.

As to why he calls himself Lunatic. Simple. He doesn't. This is the old "Mysterious New Villain whom Newspapers have dubbed 'The Lunatic'" Chestnut. ___________________________________ Pol. (Cliche-Man)

Last I heard, the guys at Irrational Games wanted to do three games. One set in the 1960's for a pure Silver Age story. One set in the 70's or 80's. And one set in a 'Dark Knight Returns'-style grim 'n' gritty future. I had a stone-solid gas playing Freedom Force. I just wish Irrational would bring out an expansion containing additional missions.The only problem I had with the game was I WANTED MORE!!!! Oh, and I dug Minuteman the most... but I liked all of 'em. ____________________________________________ Pol. (Yeah, even crummy old Mentor with his silly voice)

Favourite Brick #1- Mister Armstrong. Basically a dumbass who gets superpowers. Not really bright (or altruistic) enough for superheroing, he hires himself out as muscle. Basically, a superpowered 60's Batman henchman. Give him a corny name, a t-shirt with that name on it and let him loose. After a near-arrest (I don't want to go to prison! I've seen prison movies!) he becomes a security guard. Has kinetic absorbtion strength. Basically, his first instinct is to throw himself out a window or run headlong into a wall with his head - "Don't worry folks, I'm fine!" Unfortunately, his powers also reduce his DEX, so he becomes a little less suited to fine detail work. Basically, because he's not strong ALL the time, he has to get used to it every time he 'powers up'. "Don't know m'own strength", quite literally. Favourite Brick #2 - for a 50's era Game, Beatnik Gorilla. Not real strong as far as Bricks go, certainly nowhere near Commander America, USA (team leader) in power levels, but as agile as heck, with special gorilla martial arts, able to use his feet as well as his hands, and could swing off the rafters and play bongoes with equal ability. Also an excellent cook, a fairly accomplkished poet, and made a mean cup o' joe. And the ladies LOVED him. He was simply a gas to play! "Like, cool it, pal, or I'm gonna hafta lay down some crazy rhythms upside your skull, dig?" Dig. __________________________________________________ Pol.

If you want an idea of what differentiates Raven from Viper, here's a bit of shorthand. It's not 100% accurate, but it's not a bad start. Raven = Hellfire Club. Generally laissez-faire capitalists. Old world money. Aristocracy. Manifest Destiny. European. Non combat influence. Viper = Hydra. Terrorism. Generally Fascist Aims. Military/Paramilitary techniques. American. Combat Influence. As I said, not 100%, but some idea re: flavour. __________________________________________________ Pol. (CLOWN = Me. Generally anarchist. No money. Geeky Eedjit. Australia. Under the influence.)

Harpcor Towers is also a good 'beat the security and sneak in' mission. If your wife's character is not as larcenous as Catwoman, it may be a 'steal this item for me, and I give you (or your DNPC) the antidote. Stealth missions rock, and if you can find a copy of the old 'Sound The Alarm' articles - originally from early issues of AC, reprinted in one of the Almanacs - you're cooking with gas. Besides, sneaky characters ALWAYS like to pull one over on cops/building security etc... whether its Catwoman, Irma Vep or Modesty Blaise...they love it when security look like stumbling eedjits. Personally, I'd hold off on Boogeyman. It's pretty intense, and you may wanna introduce some of the suspects/victims/supporting cast in earlier adventures to make it all a bit more impactful when they are endangered, die, revealed as a murderer. If you wanna use Card Shark early on, have him as a shadowy manipulator in the background... kinda like the way the writers of 'Angel' were using Wolfram and Hart earlier on... ____________________________________________ Pol. (Four more makes a dime!)

Interesting twist on the 'American Villains are still AMERICANS, by golly!' thing... It has a basis in reality. Before the US entered the war, representatives of one of the 5th column groups contacted high-ranking mob bosses about destablisiing the forces of law and order. Several days later, a couple of bullet-riddled surprise packages were droppped off at FBI Headquarters, with a note. I'll try and find the references for ya, but I read this quite a while ago, and it may require some digging. ____________________________________________ Pol. (Dirty Ratzis!)

Personally, I like just about all the Champs Organizations... yes, even SAT... Basically, though, with the exception of Scott Bennie's superlative VIPER book (kudos, mate!), most of them haven't been really heavily detailed (Don't have Super-Agents, so I don't know what that does for UNTIL). Basically folks, if the organizations are dull, maybe you're running them wrong. Change them. Screw around with the stuff you hate, and keep the stuff you like. None of this stuff is written in stone! Basically, what the Champs Organizations provide is a framework, covering the basic archetypical superhero universe organizations. The rest, folks, is up to you! ________________________________________ Pol. (SAT was in my Silver Age game. A hawkish and rabidly patriotic group, they were a sometime ally/sometime foil for my heroes - they did, of course, later become PRIMUS)

Other films to check out should include the serials of the day. Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler is fantastic, even though C.C. Beck hated it. Spy-Smasher is also good. But the creme de la creme is the Commando Cody stuff. Zombies of the Stratosphere, Radar Men on the Moon, King of the Rocketmen... that sort of stuff. Pure Gold! Anyhoo, sounds like your campaign is in good hands, mate. Have you read the Byrne Batman/Captain America 40's crossover? That's also good. __________________________________________ Pol. (Serial thriller)

1. Captain Marvel - The only hero, to my mind, who still embodies the wonderment, the optimism and the ideals the superheroes should embody. The truest and best epitome of the 'Superhero' as concept. 2. Alan Scott - The Big Man. Responsibility incarnate. 3. Jay Garrick - Everyone's pal. Rock-solid pillar. 4. Jack Knight - Legacy. Thoughtfullness. Compassion. 5. Madman - Humanity. Compassion. A genuine spirit of fun. A gentle soul. 6. Nexus - Trying to make a difference. Driven by fate, but not accepting that fate. Thinking for himself. Questioning and questing hero. 7. Doctor Clark Savage jr. - The 'normal' guy writ large. Pure Hero in 10 foot high letters of flame. The Legend made flesh. 8. Wildcat - No gadgets, no high tech vehicles, no superdetective abilities, no powers. Just a good right hook and the will to do right. 9. Wesley Dodds - the detective hero. The superhero as intellectual. A deep thinker. 10. The Powerpuff Girls - Superheroes are for everyone. _________________________________________________ Pol.