Yansuf

Re: Do I need a metaplot for Star Hero? Well, it depends on what type of campaign that you want. If you want it "episodic" like most TV shows (Gunsmoke, Adam 12, Emergency, MASH, Star Trek TOS, JAG, Law & Order, etc.) then no metaplot or grand story arc is required. But if you want one fine. It can be barely seen in the background, like in the first season of Babylon 5, or it can be background that is always obvious, but does not always drive the current plot, like Star Trek Voyager, or it can be the centerpiece of the plot like in 24. Any of these work, which you prefer is a matter of taste.

Re: Supers vs. Military Much as I hate to agree with Megaplayboy (grin) I have to here.

Re: Supers vs. Military The point I am trying to make is that an adequately-led military force (even a small one) should pose not just one but several problems for any Super. Far more than many might realize. Absolutely true.

Re: Supers vs. Military The examples you gave did often destroy tanks, but I do not recall any of them defeating a large group of tanks, just one or two. (It has been a long time, I may be mistaken.) But that is a problem many comics have had, the power of a character varies widely from issue to issue. When facing soldiers, etc. the character seems much more powerful than when facing another "super." Per the Advanced Player's Guide (pg. 9), a STR=200 can lift 25 Gigatons. I get that the Earth has a volume of about one trillion cubic kilometers. That should mass roughly 5.5x10^20 tonnes, or about 22 million times 25 Gigatons. So how strong must Superman be? I get around 325 strength. I don't know where you got 20d6 RKA for an H-bomb, but that seems awfully low to me.

In the thread "Armor Wars" I posted the following: "Obviously the real reason that armies don't have lots of power armored troops in comics (and the Champions Universe) is to keep the basic world from changing too much. But is it really totally unreasonable? Let's talk Champions rather than DC or Marvel comics. The Ultimate Vehicle gives the main gun of the Abrams tank 8d6RKA with various advantages; realisticly for the Sabot Armor Piercing round the +1/4 "partially indirect" should be +1/4 Armor Piercing. Even without the armor piercing, the average damage for this weapon is 28 body and 84 stun (it has a +1 stun multiplier); this would not only KO Defender, it would leave him with negative body! With the armor piercing it would kill him. Hardpoint would also be KO'd and requiring hospitalization after one hit, with the AP he would be in critical condition. Armadillo would be in slightly better shape, but still at minus 18 stun and with 8 of his 15 body gone; with AP it would be minus 31 stun and negative 3 body. The Abrams own armor, from the front, would "bounce" the average hit from its own cannon, even with the AP round. None of the three powered armor characters above have a weapon nearly as powerful as the Abrams main gun. In fact, none of them could penetrate the Abrams frontal armor even with a roll of ALL 6's! Now I have the impression that the 3 power armor suits mentioned above are considerably better than any mass produced armor in the Champions universe. (If not, these three characters are NOT really powerful super-heroes and super-villains.) So any mass produced armor, even though still very expensive, would be SIGNIFICANTLY less capable. In fact the most unreasonable position is that powered armor characters can defeat major military forces! Using Champions rules, very few if any powered armor characters have a good chance of surviving a fight with conventional military "heavy" forces (much less winning), except in a city or other place where the military cannot bring its heavy firepower to bear without massive collateral damage. (I don't have Dr. Destroyer's specs at hand, but even Mechanon would be stunned by an average roll from one hit from the Abrams cannon, and 3 in close enough succession that he doesn't get a recovery between them would KO him.) Personally, I have always taken the position that really powerful "weird science" items are devises (yes, spelled without a c) rather than gadgets (or devices), to use the terminology of Whately Academy. Otherwise the question of why similar but less powerful items are not in widespread use crops up all over!" Markdoc replied: "These are all good points - but it should be noted that these boards are peppered with complaints that because heroes can't trash regular military forces with near-impunity it's "not like the comics" - which is true, but IMO, a very smart design decision." So lets talk about this. It is true in some comics the major super-heroes and/or super-villains can defeat military forces in open field battle, but the characters that can do this are for all practical purposes too powerful to play in almost any Champions game. Silver age Superman can survive inside a star, and is not even stunned by a direct hit from a (large) H-Bomb! Unless they can get kryptonite shells, no Earth army can stand against him. But what kind of adventures did he have in the comics? Combat was not significant in them. He had to think up a way to stop the evil plot or whatever, he didn't fight the villain. (In general, almost none of his enemies had any chance of beating Superman in a fight.) While I have seen some Champions campaigns where solving puzzles and mysteries, etc. is a major theme, I have never seen one where straight up combat was not also significant; and in most campaigns everything really revolves around the fights. The unstoppable silver age Superman isn't a viable character in any Champions campaign I have seen except POSSIBLY a few VERY High powered ones. A few years ago I played in a campaign with 1000 to 1250 point characters. (it was set in the future, with much SF technology.) Even so, I do not think that silver age Superman could be made on 1250 points. What level of rPD/rED is required to survive a direct hit from an H-bomb? How many dice does his heat vision need to be able to melt a multi-ton mass of steel in a few seconds? Etc. Almost all Champions campaigns are modeled more towards the 1960's Marvel Heroes. They had to fight and defeat their foes; but which of them could really defeat an army?

Re: Armor Wars

Re: Running up stairs.

Re: Running up stairs. Normal stairs are usually (in the US) 10" run with 7" rise; this can be varied a bit to deal with different floor heights. For the typical 10 ft floor height, we would probably use 7.059" and have 17 risers per floor. So the run (horizontal distance) is 170 inches per floor, or 4.32 meters. So to go up one floor he must travel 4.32 meters horizontal and 3 meters (10 ft) vertical, which costs double movement. Making it: (2*3m)^2+(4.32m)^2 = 54.7 (m^2) Taking the square root, we get 7.4 meter equivalent on the slope. For 13 floors we get 96.2 meters; assume about 2 meters for each of the landings that adds up to 122 meters. 60 inches (5th edition) is equal to 120 meters. So if he pushes 1 inch (2 meters) he makes it up in one phase. That is how I would do it.

Re: Armor Wars Obviously the real reason that armies don't have lots of power armored troops in comics (and the Champions Universe) is to keep the basic world from changing too much. But is it really totally unreasonable? Let's talk Champions rather than DC or Marvel comics. The Ultimate Vehicle gives the main gun of the Abrams tank 8d6RKA with various advantages; realisticly for the Sabot Armor Piercing round the +1/4 "partially indirect" should be +1/4 Armor Piercing. Even without the armor piercing, the average damage for this weapon is 28 body and 84 stun (it has a +1 stun multiplier); this would not only KO Defender, it would leave him with negative body! With the armor piercing it would kill him. Hardpoint would also be KO'd and requiring hospitalization after one hit, with the AP he would be in critical condition. Armadillo would be in slightly better shape, but still at minus 18 stun and with 8 of his 15 body gone; with AP it would be minus 31 stun and negative 3 body. The Abrams own armor, from the front, would "bounce" the average hit from its own cannon, even with the AP round. None of the three powered armor characters above have a weapon nearly as powerful as the Abrams main gun. In fact, none of them could penetrate the Abrams frontal armor even with a roll of ALL 6's! Now I have the impression that the 3 power armor suits mentioned above are considerably better than any mass produced armor in the Champions universe. (If not, these three characters are NOT really powerful super-heroes and super-villains.) So any mass produced armor, even though still very expensive, would be SIGNIFICANTLY less capable. In fact the most unreasonable position is that powered armor characters can defeat major military forces! Using Champions rules, very few if any powered armor characters have a good chance of surviving a fight with conventional military "heavy" forces (much less winning), except in a city or other place where the military cannot bring its heavy firepower to bear without massive collateral damage. (I don't have Dr. Destroyer's specs at hand, but even Mechanon would be stunned by an average roll from one hit from the Abrams cannon, and 3 in close enough succession that he doesn't get a recovery between them would KO him.) Personally, I have always taken the position that really powerful "weird science" items are devises (yes, spelled without a c) rather than gadgets (or devices), to use the terminology of Whately Academy. Otherwise the question of why similar but less powerful items are not in widespread use crops up all over!

Re: Dave's Louisville Heroes Campaign I really wish Rex could make it. Oh well.

Re: Armor Wars Actually, I believe the foot dragging stopped when General McNair was KIA (July 25, 1944) in Operation Cobra.

Re: The Empire Strikes Back (circa 1950) OK, I have to ask. What was the actual movie you took that from?

Re: When was the latest version

Re: Special Report: The End of Superheroes! Most classic superheroes (as opposed to pulp "mystery men" do NOT "take the law into their own hands"; none of the classic DC superheroes were vigilantees. Even Batman did not try to "punish" the criminals, he immobilized them and left them for the police. If Joe Q. Redneck (or anyone else) sees a serious crime in progress they can act to stop it. (At least in the US.) I truly do not see where you get that heroes action indicate that they believe might makes right. (Anti-heroes are another thing entirely.) Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and the Flash never acted that way that I recall. Please give some examples.

Re: Special Report: The End of Superheroes! And the courts ruled that executive order was illegal and thus void. Unless President Lee threw out the constitution, he will have to get congress to pass a law. And even then, the courts might find it unconstitutional; although for a game we can assume they did not. But allowing an executive order to do this requires that the US has completely abandoned the constitution.

Re: nations with royal families The "multiple independent, warring kingdoms" had been part of a single, unified kingdom until the kingdom broke up in the 18th century. After the death of Iyasus the great in 1706, there was no agreed on heir, and the country fractured. Emperor Theodore II reunited the country (by force) in 1855. Ethiopia broke up again after his death in 1868. In 1889 Menelik II became emperor, and he reunited the country.

Re: nations with royal families Well, it's back in the middle east, but many countries there had kings until recently, and could have a "royalist revolution." Iran is an obvious one, Egypt had a king until Nasser overthrew him, Iraq was a kingdom, and most of the Persian Gulf states still are (or equivalent.) Burma had a king until he was exiled by the british in 1885, but his grandson (who is 84) is accorded great status. Bhutan, Brunei, Tonga, and Swaziland have royal houses. Spain is a constitutional monarchy, but having been under Franco for most of the 20th century, in a crises a charismatic man might take over; if he is a royal it might help. The Maldives had a monarch (sultan) until 1968, a pretender could seize power. If he was a super who could raise the islands he would be golden!

Since some people seem to want to discuss this, I am starting a thread for it.

Re: Gargoyle Please see the thread on "OIHID"

Re: Hero Goes to the Movies (or TV Shows)! For Miranda, she needs to pay 2 points to bring her speed back up to 2, after selling back 2 points of Dex. Since Freddie is a "normal" with NCM assumed (no points) he shouldn't have to pay for points for rope and Chloroform.

Re: Cloud cities of Venus: I am totally gonna use this idea! I wouldn't sell any life insurance to the inhabitants, their situation is definitely "fail deadly."

Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Have we had a threadjack here?

Re: Character: Heinleins Renaissance Man Very few of the above require a 3 point skill. #1, 3, 5, 7-14, 16, 17 are all AT MOST a one point familiarity. (If they are not "everyman" skills.)

Re: Martial Arts iiinnn ssspppaaaccceee!!! Which style is flexible enough? I like the MMA idea. If you are holding someone with both hands while you lift your knee, they do not drift away, and you do not rebound.

Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! No, it is not "disintegrating" the air molecules. It is super-heating them, and possibly ionizing them.