Tech

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW THE WORKINGS OF VIPER
 
 
 
Currently, the campaign I'm in is fighting the Viper organization (Sourcebook #425) who's Supreme Serpent is a computer, although I have the Prime Serpent as the Supreme Serpent. My episode in the works is to have the Supreme Serpent & Prime Serpent go down - permanently. Viper will be dealt more than one severe blow: not only will they lose their Supreme Serpent but the computer system they're so proud of between nests has something of a doomsday bug in it. Before Viper was ever a book or anything more than a name, I created a hero who's origin was with Viper. He planted a bug in the system only he was aware of. It's part of the very most essential part of the system so it's laid there dormant. Now, after 38 actual years of Champions, this part of my hero's origin will come full circle. His powers come from Viper experimentation: the type of experimentation where many villains got powers, and then promptly left Viper and ran for the hills. Villains, whose origin involves Viper, will either make cameos, or actually be involved with the wounding of Viper. As for that dormant computer bug, it will ultimately become a doomsday bug for Viper's many computer systems. Alot of people associated with Viper will become known to the authorities, such as the Duchess, and will be removed.
 
Viper knows our heroes are up to something & already tried to make their move against our most experienced and widely-known supergroup: they pulled out their U-1000 Omega Destruction Module and blasted the base. After the smoke cleared from the blast, they'd almost taken down the front door although all the front windows were blown in.   Viper agents just stood there in disbelief. The heroes retaliated... afterwards, not a single agent was conscious and no tank or aircraft was in one piece. It's time to deal with Viper!
 
(Side note: this one of the reasons we stat out hero bases so the players have something to show for their point investments.)
 
At this point in the campaign, Viper will take on (most likely) the form of the Viper book: Coils of the Serpent.
 
This most likely will be more than one episode. There's alot going on in this episode so it'll take time. That and real-life is really being real right about now.

Maybe way back when Champions was Champions, Danger International was D.I. , etc etc with differing rules per game wasn't such a bad idea after all. Then you'd have a game, not a game system. Just a thought.

And yet Doc D, according to those who took this survey, 37.5% have 6th edition as their favorite, considerably less than I expected. 4th edition comes close to tying it.
 
In general, the group I play with has stayed with 5th edition (and only a touch of 6th for a couple powers).
 
For myself, just give me my 5 or 10 pts for Instant Change and a simple explanation, not a paragraph to explain it.

Agreed Ninja-Bear. I can make two characters at an arbitrary 300 pts and one will be wonderful for combat, the other not so much. Still, a 300 pt combat monster and a 400 pt combat monster are considerably different.

Well there ya go! If you can have a Dyson Sphere, you can certainly have one the size of a city. Also, there's nothing in the rules against having a city-sized base. Still, the cost...  wow!

Two superheroes went into the egyptian tomb to defeat their archenemy, only a new supervillain came out. The superheroine tried to use her defeated teammates' helmet to save him but it was too late. However, she did use its power to finally obliterate their archenemy, but power like that is not to be used by the unlearned. Now, the former superheroine is no more. Now, she believes she is an Egyptian Queen and is set on taking over the world with power that she should not have, as Queen Iesha.

Two superheroes went into the egyptian tomb to defeat their archenemy, only a new supervillain came out. The superheroine tried to use her defeated teammates' helmet to save him but it was too late. However, she did use its power to finally obliterate their archenemy, but power like that is not to be used by the unlearned. Now, the former superheroine is no more. Now, she believes she is an Egyptian Queen and is set on taking over the world with power that she should not have, as Queen Iesha.

Two superheroes went into the egyptian tomb to defeat their archenemy, only a new supervillain came out. The superheroine tried to use her defeated teammates' helmet to save him but it was too late. However, she did use its power to finally obliterate their archenemy, but power like that is not to be used by the unlearned. Now, the former superheroine is no more. Now, she believes she is an Egyptian Queen and is set on taking over the world with power that she should not have, as Queen Iesha.

I gotta level with ya:
 
I _love_ the character.  Don't know if it's yours or from some other work or not, but I love it.  It reminds of me of first character my daughter asked me to hammer out for her (origin-wise, that is), so right away just reading it gave me great memories.
 
I love the name "Dragonfly Studios," because quite frankly, I'm a bit nutty about dragonflies.  They are beautiful, and so cool, and it's fun when one lights on you when you're drifting down the river.  Dragonflies are some of my favorite things.
 
Neither of those answer your question, but they immediately make me want to  help you in whatever way I can.
 
On to the question! 
 
Like Amorkca above, my eyes aren't what they used to be.  However, I'm assuming that the single-page blurb will be be "page size" in the book, as opposed to the imbedded image, so it will likely be easier to read.
 
Traditionally, in the published works from HERO, The characteristics, powers, etc-- the "character sheet," if you will, are in one place, usually with a character portrait beside it.  If not beside it, then somewhere very close to it.   Then one with all the background, etc, that makes the character interesting.
 
I personally prefer the block of write up, even though it's not terribly helpful to me.  You see, I have played, like many others here, from the very first edition and up.  Time-wise, that is.  I never really moved beyond second edition-- it was nigh-perfect for me.  We've incorporated bits of stuff here and there from 4th (which was, I think, the most perfect edition ever produced, but thick enough to make it a bit of a nuisance as a reference, and intimidating to new players,  so 2e was more or less my well-worn groove.
 
All that means that just about every character I've ever created, or run for, or had submitted to me was on not just a character sheet, but a 2e character sheet.  I discovered a few years ago (when I finally started hunting up old 4e books, as I never had the money for anything beyond the core Champions book when I was younger) that I have looked at 2e sheets for so long (like, say, for the youth group game coming up this afternoon! ) that I actually can't even _understand_ a character that's not on one!    Yeah, it's okay to laugh at me; I do it, too.  But I am serious.  If a published character from 4e interested me enough, I would write it onto a 2e sheet so I could "take a good look at it."
 
I have, since the release of 5e, made a bit of progress reading some of the newer formats, but it's still like reading something in French, then studying it a bit in my head, repeating it in english a couple of times, doing some re-phrasing, etc, until I have finally "interpreted" this bit of hieroglyph into a language I understand.  (It's still faster and easier to write it onto a 2e sheet, but I really do need to move beyond that eventually).
 
Short version:
 
I can't even comprehend distributed sheets.  I can read a block of characteristics over on this page, scroll down to the next page and read some skills, find a couple of powers over here in the margin of another page-- 
 
and find myself totally unable to comprehend how they interrelate, what their actual effects are, and what impact they will have on my game.  Show me an 80STR on one page and 4D6KA on another, and I simply will _not_ make the connection.
 
This is undoubtably a personal shortcoming related to over thirty years of "personal training" and the oncoming hardening of the thought patterns that accompanies old age, but as you are opinion shopping--
 
well, there's mine. 
 
And thank you for asking.
 
 
Duke
 
 
 

Duke, you're not alone. I've used my own character sheets for years -- but they're based on those old 2nd/3rd ed sheets. Because those were right.
 
Dean Shomshak

Hi guys i'm a newbie. Nice to meet everyone

Digital Hero 11 by the looks of things...
 
HERO UNIVERSE
The Fabulous Five's latest members, Kestrel and Scirocco, face off against the pollution-powered Sludge. PAGE 8

In our campaign, we have one hero with a SPD of 10. No one has a higher SPD (on the hero side). The problem I see with a high SPD isn't cost but player compatibility: is this person going to be a glory-hog? It can be a problem if not carefully observed. It's the glory-hog aspect I watch out for.

I was thinking about this for a little while last night and I couldn't come up with anything satisfactory. How would you design a hero with the superpower of friendship? Implementation is up to you. Question is intentionally vague. What do you think?

https://joyenergizer.com/20-potential-supervillain-lairs/
 
Go crazy

Danior is a gypsy wizard who blinds people using the shininess of his bald head. (Pictured above as he is building toward a powerful area blast effect.)
 
His bald head also doubles as a solar panel which boosts his brain power (Tactics 14-, 45 INT in direct sunlight, PS: Evil Mastermind) .
 
Truly, his wit is dazzling and he is capable of coming up with amazingly complicated plots which always come off exactly as planned....

Oh is that what you said. I misread it the first time. I thought you said:
 
"next to half eaten roll of Tuna, and the tiny sunglasses repair kit."    

I can say it's very rare for any character in the campaign to have more than one foci. As for how often do they have to go without them? It depends on the foci and the episode. If someone has an OAF - beef jerky, someone may try to get it but I'm not going to force the attack roll to automatically grab the focus away.

In our campaign, we like to keep track of the highest amount of damage a particular hero has ever done (without a perfect 3). It's fun. In Friday's game, our heroes meet the Ultimates with another member called Volcano. Tough & powerful. Blackstar decided to create a extra-dimensional portal to power himself up; a follow-up to a previous episode. It's causing gravitic ripples and this portal needs to be shut down. Naturally, the fighting starts...
 
In the first turn, on the first attack phase, four heroes beat their record for damage, including a new hero on her first attack. Well, it didn't stop there. On Volano's first attack, he also beat his record for damage. So, all-in-all, we had lots of best hits; actually, the most consecutive in the campaign's history I think. Surprisingly, even with all the damage going around, it took over a turn before the Ultimates decided to leave. Volcano was the only villain to get captured.

Years ago, toymaker Mr. Tagoshi created many toys for the otaku in Japan and his shop became well-known and profitable. However, behind the scenes, he was working on his greatest creation: Akai Roninpawa!  (or translated: Red Ronin Power!) A robot toy that would sweep the other toys and become Japan's number 1 best seller as it sparks a new type of fighting games: life-size ronin battles. Unfortunately, a rival toy company maker got wind of his creation and sent thugs to destroy the ronin. When the thugs got there, things got out of hand and Mr. Tagoshi's business burned to the group. Mr Tagoshi himself was not found and thought to have died in the inferno, and the toy to have been destroyed. However, below the shop and in a protected closet, Akai Roninpowa survived. When it was thought to be safe to come out, Akai Roninpawa surveyed the damage and played back the sounds it had heard above, fighting, violent yelling, fire. It had even heard the names of the thugs and the rival company. A news report later detailed killings at the rival company.
 
The robot is hardly a toy at all. Standing approximately 6 feet tall, it has a fighting A.I. and limited intelligence to make independent choices. The A.I. has not been programmed yet to never harm a human being, and follows its samurai programming. In this case, it got revenge for the death of Mr. Tagoshi. Since its creator is presumed dead, it now looks for a master to follow. Standard Japanese weapons wielded by an above-average strength, almost tireless machine with an incredible fighting computer makes it formidable. Modeled after the Japanese flavor of games, when it is hit, it gives a human reaction, including grunting, painful expressions and so on. A hidden secret of Akai Roninpowa is its ability to power-up like in video games. A limited number of times per day, it can increase it's fighting capability to incredible levels. One last thing about it is that the fighting computer learns from previous combats...

It's definitely possible for a character to try to break a Grabbed character out of the Grab -- see one of the examples under "Multiple Grabs," 6E2 63, for an example of how this is done.
 
And yes, a character can try to break a telekinetically Grabbed character out of the Telekinesis Grab. In this case, use the telekinetic character's DCV to determine whether the character can "hit" the TK with his Grab to apply STR to break the Grabbed character free.
 
Example:  Zomgar (currently DCV 8 taking all modifiers into account) is a super-alien leading an invasion of Earth. He uses his Telekinesis (40 STR) to Grab Facepuncher, a superhero who's fighting the alien invaders. When Facepuncher isn't able to break free from the Grab on his own, his ally the Silver Sentinel decides to help out. He has STR 60 to apply against the Telekinetic Grab's STR, but first he has to Grab the Telekinesis. To do this he must hit Zomgar's DCV 8. Assuming he succeeds, the odds look good that Facepuncher will soon be free to continue doing what he does best -- punching the face of evil!

Actually, Hugh, I think it was 4th or 5th edition that started the "only half of defensive powers are adjusted". Don't have time to verify which at the moment.

Years ago, toymaker Mr. Tagoshi created many toys for the otaku in Japan and his shop became well-known and profitable. However, behind the scenes, he was working on his greatest creation: Akai Roninpawa!  (or translated: Red Ronin Power!) A robot toy that would sweep the other toys and become Japan's number 1 best seller as it sparks a new type of fighting games: life-size ronin battles. Unfortunately, a rival toy company maker got wind of his creation and sent thugs to destroy the ronin. When the thugs got there, things got out of hand and Mr. Tagoshi's business burned to the group. Mr Tagoshi himself was not found and thought to have died in the inferno, and the toy to have been destroyed. However, below the shop and in a protected closet, Akai Roninpowa survived. When it was thought to be safe to come out, Akai Roninpawa surveyed the damage and played back the sounds it had heard above, fighting, violent yelling, fire. It had even heard the names of the thugs and the rival company. A news report later detailed killings at the rival company.
 
The robot is hardly a toy at all. Standing approximately 6 feet tall, it has a fighting A.I. and limited intelligence to make independent choices. The A.I. has not been programmed yet to never harm a human being, and follows its samurai programming. In this case, it got revenge for the death of Mr. Tagoshi. Since its creator is presumed dead, it now looks for a master to follow. Standard Japanese weapons wielded by an above-average strength, almost tireless machine with an incredible fighting computer makes it formidable. Modeled after the Japanese flavor of games, when it is hit, it gives a human reaction, including grunting, painful expressions and so on. A hidden secret of Akai Roninpowa is its ability to power-up like in video games. A limited number of times per day, it can increase it's fighting capability to incredible levels. One last thing about it is that the fighting computer learns from previous combats...

Years ago, toymaker Mr. Tagoshi created many toys for the otaku in Japan and his shop became well-known and profitable. However, behind the scenes, he was working on his greatest creation: Akai Roninpawa!  (or translated: Red Ronin Power!) A robot toy that would sweep the other toys and become Japan's number 1 best seller as it sparks a new type of fighting games: life-size ronin battles. Unfortunately, a rival toy company maker got wind of his creation and sent thugs to destroy the ronin. When the thugs got there, things got out of hand and Mr. Tagoshi's business burned to the group. Mr Tagoshi himself was not found and thought to have died in the inferno, and the toy to have been destroyed. However, below the shop and in a protected closet, Akai Roninpowa survived. When it was thought to be safe to come out, Akai Roninpawa surveyed the damage and played back the sounds it had heard above, fighting, violent yelling, fire. It had even heard the names of the thugs and the rival company. A news report later detailed killings at the rival company.
 
The robot is hardly a toy at all. Standing approximately 6 feet tall, it has a fighting A.I. and limited intelligence to make independent choices. The A.I. has not been programmed yet to never harm a human being, and follows its samurai programming. In this case, it got revenge for the death of Mr. Tagoshi. Since its creator is presumed dead, it now looks for a master to follow. Standard Japanese weapons wielded by an above-average strength, almost tireless machine with an incredible fighting computer makes it formidable. Modeled after the Japanese flavor of games, when it is hit, it gives a human reaction, including grunting, painful expressions and so on. A hidden secret of Akai Roninpowa is its ability to power-up like in video games. A limited number of times per day, it can increase it's fighting capability to incredible levels. One last thing about it is that the fighting computer learns from previous combats...

Years ago, toymaker Mr. Tagoshi created many toys for the otaku in Japan and his shop became well-known and profitable. However, behind the scenes, he was working on his greatest creation: Akai Roninpawa!  (or translated: Red Ronin Power!) A robot toy that would sweep the other toys and become Japan's number 1 best seller as it sparks a new type of fighting games: life-size ronin battles. Unfortunately, a rival toy company maker got wind of his creation and sent thugs to destroy the ronin. When the thugs got there, things got out of hand and Mr. Tagoshi's business burned to the group. Mr Tagoshi himself was not found and thought to have died in the inferno, and the toy to have been destroyed. However, below the shop and in a protected closet, Akai Roninpowa survived. When it was thought to be safe to come out, Akai Roninpawa surveyed the damage and played back the sounds it had heard above, fighting, violent yelling, fire. It had even heard the names of the thugs and the rival company. A news report later detailed killings at the rival company.
 
The robot is hardly a toy at all. Standing approximately 6 feet tall, it has a fighting A.I. and limited intelligence to make independent choices. The A.I. has not been programmed yet to never harm a human being, and follows its samurai programming. In this case, it got revenge for the death of Mr. Tagoshi. Since its creator is presumed dead, it now looks for a master to follow. Standard Japanese weapons wielded by an above-average strength, almost tireless machine with an incredible fighting computer makes it formidable. Modeled after the Japanese flavor of games, when it is hit, it gives a human reaction, including grunting, painful expressions and so on. A hidden secret of Akai Roninpowa is its ability to power-up like in video games. A limited number of times per day, it can increase it's fighting capability to incredible levels. One last thing about it is that the fighting computer learns from previous combats...