Captain Emu

Re: My Ravenwood Campaign

Excellent work here,

I really like the graphics. These are the things that really pull people into games and make them more entertaining. Stuff like this makes me wish that I wasn't so over-extended so I could run a teen game. Perhaps I'd return to a game from my pre-HERO days about a urban youth group turned superheroes called the Super Heroes In Training (Yes, that's S.H.I.T.).

Anyway, keep it up, yuou are off to a great start.

So, discusssing patriot character concepts led me to talking about a fun idea I once had but never wrote up for HERO. The concept was for a superhero who fought during the American Revolutionary War. He was Iron Patriot.

Iron Patriot began as an office-talk bit of humor that grew into a fleshed out character who's origins lie with three of America's founding figures - Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Paul Revere.

Jefferson found an ancient manuscript on one of his trips to France and presented it to Franklin who varifies it as a strange, alchemical/scientific formula and plans for a strange sort of armor given amazing abilities by harnessing the power of the elements, namely lightning. Jefferson and Frankling decided that such a weapon would be perfect to help turn the tides of the revolution in favor of the colonies.

To build the armor they enlisted Paul Revere who, in addition to being the legendary rider who alerted the Minutemen to the coming of the British, was also a renowned metal-worker. Revere's skills allowed them to create the introcate parts required to make the armor work. Once Franklin had perfected the devices and materials needed to give the mechanized suit life, all they needed was somebody to don the collosal creation and take it for a test. Jefferson selected, of all people, a young slave man named Joseph.

Joseph was strong, intelligent and and had always been eager to help the revolution and so was happy to be the much-needed guinea pig. It was never the intention of neither Jefferson, Franklin or Revere for Joseph to become the armor's permanent recipient but during the initial test run a British surprise attack facilitated immediate action, action that Joseph could not pass up.

Charging the still untested armor suit into battle with the British soldiers, Joseph made short work of the shocked and terrified attackers and when the dust and smoke cleared, the trio of patriots could not deny that they had found the suit's riteful commander. Joseph was to become the revolution's secret weapon.

In a secret ceremony, Joseph and the armor were warn into service of the birthing nation and dubbed Iron Patriot. Jefferson and Frankling postulated that Joseph's identity as a simple slave should be maintained in order to better serve the secrecy of the weapon and it's origins. Afterall, nobody would suspect that a simple slave was at the command of one of the world's most powerful weapons.

Plans to create more Iron Patriots were made but before they could be implemented, the manuscript and all the original plans for the suit were destroyed by agents of the crown who did not realize the documents they had captured could have given Britain the key to victory.

Anyhow, here is Iron Patriot as I have cobbled him together. I'd love feedback on him as well as to see any other fun "Patriot" type characters others have created, regardless of who they are patriotic to.

Re: Name That Band Hero!

Though it doesn't qualify under the rules of this game, I thought I'd post it anyway because this thread reminded me of something I'd been working on for a while - an entire super hero team based off of either songs or character from songs by White Zombie and Rob Zombie. The reason it doesn't qualify for the rules is that most of these characters are found in the lyrics of the songs instead of the titles.

Just in the one album "Hellbilly Deluxe" you have the following -

Superbeast - Leader and mystical brick.

Living Dead Girl - Mystic with undead abilities, talons and charm powers.

Phantom Stranger - Metamorph with intangebility among other powers.

Demonoid - Viscious demonic mystical brawler.

The Creeper - Stealth infiltrator, bit psychotic.

Resurrection Joe - Unkillable but nothing much else.

Cyclone Jack - Knife-wielding loon.

Spookshow Baby - Child hero with an unnerving knack for wickedness and evil. Psionic with illusion powers.

Dragula - Possessed roadster and transport for the team.

Add to this others from other albums -

Devil Man - Half-demon avenging warrior.

Electric Head - Reanimated electric chair executee w/ electrokinetic abilities.

Astrocreep - Monster from beyond the void.

Godslayer

Disaster Blaster

American Nightmare

Soul-Crusher

Demonspeed

Love Razor

As you can see there is an entire universe of characters.

This may have been brought up here before, but I was discussing the old GI Joe cartoons with a friend of the same generation as I and I realized that GI Joe is a wellspring of VIPER-related plot devices, tech, even character concepts.

There is no doubt that, along with HYDRA and AIM, COBRA was one of the inspirations for VIPER and so why should we not use COBRA antics in games.

The new SIGMA SIX incarnation, though wholey over the top, is actually more in line with a comic book organization than the old shows. The look is sharper, hipper and in it's anime-inspired styling, more technical than the old one.

In just a couple of episodes, I have seen robotic minions with both trooper and "ninja" variants. I have seen huge mecha-style armored units. One episode featured a sort of Mind Control Gun that fired projectiles that implanted the target with a mind control device.

Great brain candy for the fellow looking for a few new tricks to add to VIPER's arsenal.

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish)

Alrighty,

So, here is the first installment. This is not a character, but rather a Prefab for building Paragons of Orss. It may seem powerful, but when you consider the chaps wielding it will be 750 point characters or more, not so much. So, have a look at the link below and tell me what you think.

[ATTACH]23019[/ATTACH]

Re: Here's Me

No, all of them are mine, as far as I know. The special mention on Jackjumper was that I was unsure if there was another version of him out there and also didn't want people pulling their hair out trying to find him in the Champions books.

Re: Worst comic book superfight ever

Maybe not the worst fight, but the most contrived line in a fight.

Spiderman is fighting some wonky villain and asks, "Who the heck are you?"

To which the answer comes, "Good question and I am, The Answer"

Tell me they didn't make up that villain just for that line.

Re: [interest in an online game?] Avengers: Generation 3

Okay folks,

Time to throw in my gauntlet here. This is an adjusted write-up of a similar character played in an alternate universe Marvel game. The character is the daughter of Bruce and Betty Banner. Born before Bruce lost it completely and went on a rampage so brutal that it left betty crippled for the rest of her life, Francine has felt motivated to undo her father's wake of terror and destruction her entire life.

Possessed of her parents' intellect she went into medicine and science herself, hoping to find the answer that would cure her father, now in high power lockdown by the US Army (yeah, they finally got him) and to stop any of his legacy that might be lurking within her.

In her first year after college, while working in a privately funded lab, she was confronted with the horrible truth that her father's altered genes had passed to her, but rather than a brutal monster of gigantic proportions, she seemed to have the mutant ability to manipulate Gamma radiation itself.

Since joining the Avengers, she has met the love of her life, a medical doctor named Joceline Morehouse but also discovered that the burden of her father does have a dark side manifesting in a hot temper, increased susceptibility to the baser instincts of human nature and. But the worst came when she realized that much like her father, she was prone to violent berserk rages.

These rages were not a physical change like her father, but a complete emotional and intellectual breakdown to her most basic mentality and instinctual behaviors. To combat this she has developed the GX43 serum that is capable of keeping her stable if administered on a regular weekly schedule.

Gamma

Val Char

21 STR

21 DEX

24 CON

23 BODY

21 INT

19 EGO

17 PRE

19 COM

20 PD

10 ED

6 SPD

9 REC

48 END

46 STUN

Total Characteristics Cost: 189

 

 

Cost Powers END

10 Toughened Anatomy: Energy Damage Reduction, 25% 0

10 Toughened Anatomy: Physical Damage Reduction, 25% 0

10 Gamma Regeneration: Healing BODY 1d6 1

6 Gamma Radiation Field: Endurance Reserve (50 END, 1 REC) (6 Active Points) 0

100 Gamma Radiation Powers: Multipower, 100-point reserve

9u 1) Gamma Blast: Energy Blast 15d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4) (94 Active Points) 9

5u 2) Gamma Spray: Energy Blast 6d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Area Of Effect (31" Cone; +1 1/2) (82 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) 8

5u 3) Gamma Bolts: Energy Blast 6d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Autofire (5 shots; +1/2) (52 Active Points) 5

4u 4) Gamma Flash: Sight Group Flash 8d6 (40 Active Points) 4

3u 5) Gamma Flight: Flight 15", Position Shift (35 Active Points) 3

19 Life Support (Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum) 0

5 Protective Goggles: Sight Group Flash Defense (10 points) (10 Active Points); OAF (-1) 0

 

Perks

6 Fringe Benefit: Security Clearance

3 Fringe Benefit: Federal/National Police Powers

1 Fringe Benefit: License to Practice Medicine: License to practice a profession

6 Reputation (A large group) 14-, +2/+2d6

7 Vehicles & Bases

2 Avengers Communicard

8 Money: Wealthy

2 Reputation: Brilliant Scientist (A large group) 11-, +1/+1d6

 

Talents

5 Eidetic Memory

4 Speed Reading (x10)

 

Skills

9 Analyze: Agility Skills 16-

3 Breakfall 13-

8 Computer Programming (Computer Networks, Hacking and Computer Security, Personal Computers, Mainframes and Supercomputers) 13-

5 Deduction 14-

9 Electronics 16-

1 Forensic Medicine 8-

7 Inventor 15-

2 Language: French (basic conversation; literate)

3 Paramedics 13-

9 SS: Nuclear Physics 18-

10 Systems Operation (Communications Systems, Environmental Systems, Medical Systems, Medical Sensors, Metal Detectors, Radar, Sonar) 13-

2 TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles

1 TF: Quinjet

2 KS: Avengers Villains 11-

 

Total Powers & Skills Cost: 302

Total Cost: 490

 

425+ Disadvantages

10 Distinctive Features: Green Skin (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

20 Hunted: The Leader 8- (Mo Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Capture)

15 Hunted: US Army 11- (Mo Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Watching)

10 Dependent NPC: Dr. Jocelne Morehouse (Girlfriend) 11- (Normal; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills)

10 Vulnerability: 2 x Effect EGO - based powers (Uncommon)

20 Dependent NPC: Betty Banner (Mother) 11- (Incompetent)

15 Reputation: Daughter of The Hulk, 11- (Extreme)

5 Reputation: Gay Hero, 8-

10 Psychological Limitation: Fears her father's (Bruce Banner) legacy (Common, Moderate)

10 Psychological Limitation: Plagued by baser instincts and desires (Common, Moderate)

10 Psychological Limitation: Overly analytical (Common, Moderate)

15 Enraged: Berserk Without regular weekly doses of Formula GX43 (Uncommon), go 14-, recover 8-, Custom Adder

 

Total Disadvantage Points: 490

Re: [interest in an online game?] Avengers: Generation 3

This may be a stupid question, but is this game full?

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish)

You need not "do away" with the Primordeals. They could easily exist congruently to or before/after the Empyreans. I like the concept and physical descriptions. Too much so to have them merely tossed aside.

One thought was to keep the Primordeals as a possible natural evolution on Earth that may have at one time been in conflict with the Empyreans.

Re: Gotta hand it to you

I like Blloodstone's Duplication idea, just make sure to include limitation reflecting the character's loss of the limb's use.

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish)

I have been finding DH very useful. So far I've found useful tidbits in the issues that cover the Star*Guard. What you say about the Vatshu is true and in a discussion with a co-worker today I got to thinking about the nature of how comics universes are created.

In most cases there is some pre-planning done, but a lot of it built with a sort of retro-active relevance. Example, the Shi-ar and the Brood are relatively new to the Marvel universe, but galactically important, even though other races such as the Kree, Skrulls, Eternals, etc had been created much earlier (at least as far as I recall).

Using this model, it is possible for me to the create the Vatshu as an empire unto themselves, plugging them in along side the rest of the races. Now, any sort of retroactive continuity has to take into account certain definites, such as the fact that the Malvans once controlled much of the galaxy. But how much is much?

You had asked about more background. Would you like me to start posting specific characters, etc?

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish)

I was thinking that something like the ZJA would be a welcome site in the remnants of the Malvan Empire as well as some of the other unincorporated systems.

As for the Vatshu, I had considered them being another large empire in their own rite - a bit of my own blatent addition to the collection of aliens. I'm sorry, but the various races, as described in GH just seem to fall short of your usual comoc book alien empire. They all seem much too, well, real.

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish)

Ah, think I'll do away with the Primordeals then. I must have missed the Empyreans having come from Earth. Pity, I like then ame Primordeals. Perhaps the Vatshu are a fragment of the once great Malvan empire. Of course, I'm sure the creators of the Champions Universe would agree that there is room for more than one great star empire.

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish)

I may not have been clear. I had intended to work with the Champions universe as much as possible. I'm not wanting so much to fuse what is in GH with what I've created but more to find a place for my stuff along side them. The universe is a big place and as such Galaxars, Mandaarians and the other races presented in the GH book will be included.

A rivalry between the Paragons and the Star Guard might be neat. It even has precident in comics with the Dark Star/GLC rivalry.

The Primordeals can exsist easily enough. They are a single planet of isolated beings.

Some of my highers entities might easily become Galaxars - Kal Om and the Guardians of Tomorrow most notably.

The Vexx are supposed to be a long-forgotten threat. As an interesting aside, there has been some discussion about a storyline in which the last remaining elements of the Vexx end up being hidden on Earth, allowing for a nice Galactic/Earth Champions crossover.

As this is in the early developemental stages, a lot is still open and being decided, background wise.

Re: Here's Me

Tugger is an Aboriginal tribesman. Koala Joe is...well..a Koala who's latched onto The Captain and seems to get himself into trouble with some frequency. Winny is a zoologist from the Sydney Zoo that is helping him. Jackjumper is a bug-themed Aussie hero I pulled out of my feathery butt - Jackjumpers are nasty, vicious jumping ants.

Re: Homebrew Cosmic Setting (bit longish)

Wow, a lot of traffic through this thread, but little in the way of input. In a blatent act of desperation and in the name of starting another thread of conversation, let me ask again for feedback.

I am currently looking for ways to integrate it with what is in Galactic Heros or even bits from other books. This information is not supposed to be Champions 3000, it is supposed to be circa Earth 2000+.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See?

Either way it's a moot point. Hero Games doesn't have the volume necessary to publish economically in full color. I'm sure there are fans who would be willing to pay $75.00 for a full color Champions Universe Update [like me] but most won't. So why argue over it?

Not that I agree, but you are right that there isn't much point in discussing.

Nuff said.

Re: Give me your ice power ideas!

Actually' date=' unless the entangle is purchased with the limitation May Not Be used as a Barrier, it may be used as a barrier. In other words, you can build the wall of ice in front of the bystanders. The added benefit is that it does not require continiuous payment of endurance to keep up. IMHO, it is a better way to model the ice wall than FW.[/quote']

 

 

My mistake then.

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See?

I also prefer color artwork. Color Artwork is a marketing tool. That's all it is. I firmly believe that if you're going to have a comic book roleplaying game, that it shouldn't be a black and white game.

 

Stan Lee and John Romita didn't publish Fantastic Four in B+W. If they did, the world as we know it would be much different today.

 

Also, dozens of people who don't play the game will just buy the book because it has cool art. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. It's all marketing.

I would say that this is not exactly comparing apples and apples here. I mean, comics and gaming products have different markets as well as target numbers. What is going to pay off for one, is not going to pay off for another.

Also, comics are printing about 30 pages per issue per month and the artwork is a much greater portion of what sells them. If comics were trying to produce 200+ pages at any given time including huge bodies of text I doubt they'd have as much color as they do.

It just doesn't compute the same.

Re: Give me your ice power ideas!

I guess it would be the area that it covers.

Re: Give me your ice power ideas!

Force Wall is definitely the power for large, area spanning wall that do not directly grapple targets. An Entabgle won't do much to protect bystanders from rubble or water or such.

Re: Archetype Twists

One of the closest I've come to this is my character Myrmadon. He's an alien who is physically a brick bust is played more like an Energy Blasting Patriot. Imagine if you suddenly got visited by a big talking whale of an alien Captain America.

Re: Your favorite team flavor...

I would have to say that for flexibility and range of play options - the Avengers type team is my favorite. Whether it is independent, government, or corporate, it doesn't really matter much.

The thing that appeals to me about them is that any character of any origin can be included without "busting" the theme. The variety of characters has its own rewards for DMs who now have a lot more to work with, built into their players' characters.

Re: Another possible origin of Mechanon... (Warning: Long)

I was thinking of going for the Manhunters angle myself. Mechanon and his kind were created ages ago to do battle with the Vexx (see my cosmic thread for more), The Vexx being creatures of anti-life, what better an opponent than a machine, advanced enough to think on its won but unliving and therefore not vulnerable to the Vexx's anti-life nature.