Tech

Re: GMs: PC Scrutiny & Acceptance I handle new characters more or less like so: 1) Is this a good concept? I don't care what skills, powers, stats or anything else is if the concept is just plain bad. 2) Does it fit into the campaign? (closely linked to 1 above). Again, doesn't matter what the concept is if it hurts the campaign. 3) Is the character balanced? A character that is lopsided with powers but not enough defense will get either revised or not allowed. 4) Is the character going to cause problems for other players? Interestingly enough, this causes the most amount of problems in my campaign. What I mean by 'problems' is does the character mimic too closely another character or steal the thunder from another? Will the character fit into a group or if intended to be a loner, will the character be able to get together with the other characters during the course of an episode. A character that fails one of these will most likely be not allowed. Oh, yes, forgot the last one... 5) Does it pass all the GM's? Since there are multiple GM's for the campaign, each has a stake in the character.

Re: It's all about willpower Why not just 'AID to (whatever) stats, must make Ego Roll'. Still, this may not be what you want. A Multipower with individual powers to represent his 'pushing himself' might work. A suggestion is below that might be challenged by the rules (I don't have the book in front of me and haven't looked at it in awhile): Multipower - Willpower u. 'I refuse to get sick' +40 Con (no fig cha), 10 pts Power Defense, costs end u. 'No one could've survived that' Damage Reduction 3/4 Resist vs PD, costs end u. 'No one could've survived that' as above vs ED u. 'I've got to move this!' +50 Str (no fig cha) u. 'Move it or else!' +20" Running, x8 NCM, costs end etc etc. Thought I'd throw this out from the top of my head. Does this mean I'm standing on my head??

Re: what character concepts -HAVE- Gm's allowed that you thought they wouldn't? Characters I thought would be bounced & GM's allowed, hm? My toon character for one. Even I didn't know if I wanted him when I first created him but graciously, the GMs allowed him a trial basis (we have more than one GM in our campaign). Surprisingly, after several years of playing him on & off, he's one of the most enjoyable and fun characters around. Angel (not a real angel). She started humble (10d6, 5 Spd, 20 Con, 15 PD/ED with 1/2 Damage Reduction) and increased in power until 14d6, 5 Spd, 43 Con, 33 PD/ED (dumped the D.R.). On yeah, she has her 'Full Power' form, cranking things up to like 20d6 and stronger stats. To my credit, I did warn them about where I was intending to go with the character in terms of power when I created her. However, I'm pretty good at RP'ing so I guess they trust me to use sound judgement - out of 200+ experience, only used it 3 times. Other than that, no problem. I a solid thinker.

Re: GMs, which character concepts did not make the cut in your game? It's been awhile since I had to think about these: (should've vetoed right away) Razorback - an australian mutant (?) who talked with a bad bronx lingo with a giant razor on his back. He had to do an acrobatic jump so he'd land on his target with the razor on his back hitting them. (vetoed) Polaroid - using the copyrighted name, this guy was to have all enhanced senses & could take pictures with his eyes & pull the picture out of his stomach. He had no offensive powers. Wow, I just can't think of much right now. Hmm, maybe I don't want to think back on these bad concepts.

Re: "Reality Storm" Almost Here? Well, alll right! I've been waiting (like everyone else) for Reality Storm and the storm finally approaches. I've gotta be find a place to buy this; my current RPing store doesn't stock Hero Games merchandise unless I ask them to and then they're slo-o-ow. I'll order it from another place in another state if I have to! (horror story begin) I asked them if they had a particular Hero Games book (I think Ultimate Martial Arts, which I knew had been out for weeks at the time) and got the question, "Do you know if it's out yet?" ARGH! (horror story end)

Re: Help with detective/PI skills PS: Private Detective Perk: Private Detective KS: Animals KS: Animal behavior KS: Biology KS: Botany KS: Chemicals (business usage) KS: Drugs (not same as above) KS: World Geography (general knowledge) KS: Rainforests (specific knowledge) KS: anything else which gives specific info on a particular ecosystem If a GM will allow you to use skills such as these by purposely adding pieces of information in a game session, you will find yourself with an incredibly knowledgable detective, ala Sherlock Holmes. Here's an actual example of KS usage: GM: After scouring the room, the only thing you find is a leaf. Player: My character examines the leaf. What kind of leaf is it? (makes the KS roll) GM: The leaf is from the (whatever) tree. Player: And where does this kind of tree grow? GM: It grows only in Africa... This is surely better than 'I made my Criminology roll. What do I learn?' or a different skill roll. Yes, having tons of KS or PS will cost a lot of points. However, the satisfaction of having your detective stand out from some other detective is immensely satisfying and rewarding. It also might get you some extra experience for excellent roleplaying.

Re: Archetype teams Sadly, I can't think of even one archetype team of mine. I think I'll steal some ideas from those who've already posted their teams. You guys have some very interesting teams!

Re: Want your ideas for a Villain Thanks for the real interesting ideas. I hadn't even thought of Suppress. This guy definitely has an end in mind so he won't be around forever, unless he becomes one of those surprising 'Wow, I like this villain. I hope you use him again' from the players. FTJoshua, I agree with the fear factor. I may still have him employ a few agents here & there but I'm tentatively thinking about going with the single-baddie-vs-all concept. To not do so would dilute his presence upon the unsuspecting heros. Based on the hero average stats I presented though, I still wonder about the power level to hit the hero(s) with. Since I intend to ignore the heros superpowered PD, except for the figured PD characteristic, there's gonna be BODY being taken here. I don't want to kill heros left & right. The fear factor is that heroes, yea, even Bricks can be surprised that they got injured. Johnny Fist: Brute Fist, you're injured! Brute Fist: I know! Johnny Fist: But you can bounce a bazooka off your chest! Brute Fist: Tell me about it! We're in trouble! Causing a few BODY here & there with every blow can be more effective in making a hero blanch than hitting them with a killing attack of 20 BODY, 60 STUN or something like that.

Re: End of an Era I've been there before as a player. A long time ago in brief, an enforcer of Genocide had weapons to take down just about any hero. He'd single-handedly knocked out 2, had battered a couple others, put our heavy power-armored on the ropes (an impressive feat at that!) and all-in-all, the combat was getting ugly. Our powered-armor hero was even getting killed by a technological device. In desperation to save them, my heroine - a mutant - flew up to him and told him if he left everyone alone & didn't hurt anyone else, she'd willingly go with him. Naturally, this would ultimately mean her death. I realized that this was probably the case but that's the sacrifice she'd make for her friends. He agreed & they both started leaving. Interestingly enough, that gesture of hers rallied the team and managed to beat him quickly thereafter. It was an emotional time for the characters and the players. I've thought out in advance what a lot of my characters will do in certain situations, self-sacrificingly, and of course, I'm not going to tell my GM.

I want everyone's thoughts on how powerful to make a villain of mine. His power is to cancel any hero's innate superpowers. This translates to a punch that can ignore any superhero's PD if that PD is due to superpowers, most likely an AVLD, Does Body attack. This also means that most innate superpowers can't bother him much because he's cancelling that attack. For now, I'm giving him Damage Reduction 1/2, Resist, vs PD & ED. Of course, his weakness right away is any attack that isn't innate, such as Martial Arts or a foci attack or even knockback. I plan for this weakness to be his downfall eventually. He'll be fighting a team of superheroes and probably only used a few times. What I'm stuck on is whether to make him powerful enough to handle the team singlehandedly or make him only slightly more powerful than the hero and rely on flunkies to assist him. The average hero will be about 10d6, 25 PD/ED and 6 SPD. I'll also accept any suggestions for alternate powers & new powers.

Re: Minor player problem ... CrosshairCollie, it sounds like you've already informed the player what to expect campaign-wise. If he won't create a character according to the standard you set, well, you have to make a choice: enforce your standard or see if you can help him create a character that will fit into the campaign. I've run into this problem personally and you both need to come to a point where you're both happy with the decision for the sake of your campaign. I'll add that I like alot of the mysterious gun powers suggested.

Re: Aliens in your Universe The populace of Earth for my campaign in general is like real life; namely, some believe there are aliens, some don't and others aren't sure. A lot of people who see aliens think of them as freaks or examples that the government is experimenting on people or some other thought. There are aliens in the world but mostly are villains. Even when the heroes meet aliens, they think they're experiments gone bad or something.

Re: Wohoo! I finally got to play a character!

Re: Plot device or by the rules For me, plot devices are things that occur to keep the story going, regardless of what they are. The escape route the villain has constructed to escape for showing up later in the episode, the gun found by the scene of the crime, a taxicab taken by the hero in his secret id, the city streetcleaner used by the hero to clean up the villain's act (sorry, couldn't resist) - these are plot devices. My players are really good. They know that if a villain's trap overwhelmingly works, it's for the story. GM: Your group arrives in the empty room. Interestingly enough, the walls, ceiling and floor are all made of metal with no windows apparent. A moment later, a tremendous jolt of electricity flows through the room, knocking all of you unconscious. Player 1: Uh-oh. Okay, where do we wake up? The GM smiles and the players groan... My players know me well enough to realize when a plot device, in this case a trap, has occurred. No stats were needed for the trap. It depends on your GM style and the player's ability to roleplay.

Re: Lookie what I just bought! KA, you got those at an incredibly cheap price. Glory in your purchase! It makes me glad I managed to keep ahold of the figurines I have.

Cruising through my e-mail, I noticed something someone had sent to me, regarding roleplaying games. This rates Champions as #1, although it should actually have said the Hero Games 5th Edition Rules. I thought you might be curious to look at it. http://roleplaygames.about.com/cs/rpgtoppicks/tp/5picksupers.htm No, this isn't a major review. However, it's still interesting to see another website saying how good Hero Games products are. Oh, yes, don't forget to see that this review is by a lady. Yes, there are women rpgers out there.

Re: Character Concept Question: Jack Hawksmore? He wore Tokyo & beat up Kansas City is hilarious, if not a little scary. I can't help it but this concept deserves a bad pun! Ye have been warned... . . . . While wearing the city, was it taxing to him?

Re: Wizards Armor Spell? Depending on how a Mage is treated in your game, the armor issue varies. If your mage is treated as the 'spend all your time reading tomes so I can use magic but can't fight worth spit' type, then perhaps it's best that the mage have some sort of armor but not as much as the warrior. The mage will be blasting away in the back while the warrior keeps the front busy. If the mage is more like Gandalf and is every bit as capable a fighter as he is casting magic, then he's going to be in combat a lot more so armor becomes important. Out of curiousity, can't your mage create some sort of 'mage clothes' that doesn't look any difference from regular clothes but is hard to cut, hence Armor? If you could pay for that, you wouldn't need a 'Armor' spell.

Re: More boast than post! Ah, but what version of JI do you have? I'm sure there was a second version of Justice Inc which was more popular the the 1st edition for awhile. In so saying, let me say I have the 1st edition.

Re: House Rule: Can defend after attacking?!? I wouldn't use it for Champions but it certainly sounds interesting. It's worth checking out. Since it's a house rule, keep using it. I like the fencing example you gave. I took fencing and was #2 in my class. Out of 3 rounds this particular tournament lasted, mine lasted 7 because the 2 of us kept striking simultaneously so that no one could tell who struck who first. Alas, the 7th round was my downfall as I couldn't parry in time.

Re: Manuver question as brain short circuts That's how I've always done it, also.

Re: Reference Materials I've familiarized myself with the characters so for the most part, I only need to look at them once in awhile. The newest Hero Games GM screen really does most of my work. I use a sheet with the characters DEX and SPEED so no player gets forgotten in combat, although I do occasionally miss someone and hear the not-surprising "Hey, I haven't acted yet!" When I use a large amount of villains, I will then pull out Ye Ancient Champions II Character List, which nicely allows you to write down DEX, SPD, OCV, DCV, ECV, disadvantages of note, PD, ED, Resistant PD, Resistant ED and a few other things. That sheet still rocks!

Re: Opinion poll

Re: Your Character's Greatest Fear? Neutron (my hero, not the villain from The Conquerors) - maybe that VIPER might one day find out he has a family & try to get to them, although this isn't a fear he actively thinks about. Roger - that Elmyra from the show Tiny Toon Adventures will get him. He's a cartoon character in the 'real' world. (He's one of my fav characters. I actually have to downplay him sometimes so he doesn't always steal the show in a game.)

Re: Regeneration