Durzan Malakim

Good to know that they have not gone extinct.

Good to know that they have not gone extinct.

That's an excellent point, Steve. It would provide a path to introduce elements of Lovecraftian horror to the rise of superhuman mutants. Maybe in the broader context the IHA might not be so wrong after all. 
 
And yes indeed, there certainly have been other "mass modifications" of human DNA in the official CU's history. The rise of homo sapiens was directly influenced by the ancient alien Progenitors, who also created our super-powered cousins, the Empyreans. Progenitor tampering is one reason humans manifest more and more powerful super abilities more often than almost any other species.
 
The wide range of nonhumans extant during the Turakian Age was almost certainly due to intervention by various parties. In some cases the gods of that time are noted as having created new races to add to their worshipers -- at least a few of those were probably transformed humans. Other creatures were the result of experiments by skilled wizards. I would suggest that some of the more radically nonhuman species could have been servants brought to Earth by the Elder Worm. Several creatures were specified as being interfertile with humans, notably Elves, Orcs, even Trolls; so some of that blood could be in the human genome.
 
During the Atlantean Age the gods of Atlantis often had affairs with their Atlantean worshipers, producing divine-blooded demigods and heroes. The remnant of that heritage is responsible for the super-powered "magical mutations" which sometimes crop up among Atlanteans today. While the people of Tuala Morn had much more contact with faerie-folk than most other humans of their era, resulting in "fay-blooded" heroes.
 
After all that, the fact that real-world homo sapiens have some Neanderthal DNA seems rather tame.

One of the reasons I think Secret ID is useful is for avoiding the issues that arise where superhumans are viewed as "Persons Of Mass Destruction" or gods among men by normal people.
 
If you can shoot laser beams from your eyes that are powerful enough to blow up a tank and are also resistant to weaponry up to a low-yield nuke, I suspect your neighbors might not want you around, fearing that Dr. Destroyer might come calling for an unfriendly chat someday and level the neighborhood.
 
I can only imagine the lonely hell someone with superpowers would endure if they didn't have a Secret ID to retreat to and let them be among regular people every now and then without being looked at with fear or awe.

Since humans are tainted by Elder Worm DNA in the CU, would that be considered an imperfection to be purged away?
 
Come to think of it, could Elder Worm DNA be one of the contributors to superhuman empowerment in humans?

<comic-book-store-nerd>Actually, Valiant is at 725 points. It's his multiforms Dread and Beacon that are at 825 points.</comic-book-store-nerd>
 
It appears that all the women in Valiant's life will have more points than he does, but he's already got lots of experience being a damsel in distress. My team mates seem to be rescuing Valiant every other episode. Maybe Valiant can be Casey's DNPC now.

My current PC group started out in Millennium City but began heading further afield as they gained more experience points and could handle bigger threats.
 
They've gone around the world, into the distant past (as far back as the Turakian Age) and to the ends of Reality. Their current adventure has the team on Malva, challenging three of the Phazor's best gladiators to a match (and one of their opponents is Firewing).

Actually the second 18 was an EGO roll to push teleport. That 18 burned out teleport and reduced Dread to her run speed. The Acrobatics roll to dive into the ship was a failure, a 16, just not an 18. Still 18, 18, and 16 was a bad combo. Now if I had been rolling for D&D stats I'd be off to a good start.

Dork tower had it right. Your dice really do hate you. http://www.dorktower.com/2012/08/23/your-dice-hate-you-free-download-poster/

Reminds me of my first ever D&D game in 1979.  I roll up a fighter with good stats.  We explore a tower.  I see webs in the ceiling, get out my sword ready to attack any giant spiders that came out.  I missed by a mile, get bit, need to roll a saving throw vs. Poison at +2, critically fumble, was allowed to roll again (being my first time playing), critically fumble again and die on the spot with 1 hp of damage and a failed poison check.  Total game time, 5 minutes.

Decades back, I played in a Top Secret game where the 3-man team I was on was trying to locate a nuke that had been stolen from the military and was being auctioned off to some scary terrorist types.  I had weaseled my way into being security for one of the bidders so we could keep an eye on the auction, while my teammates were searching the structure (a heavily revamped Sealand, with a casino/hotel added on) for the nuke itself.  They found it just as bidding ended, with my ersatz employer being the one who had the winning bid.  So the winning bidder and his security detail (including me) were heading down to pick up the nuke while my actual partners were trying to figure out how to sneak it out.
 
As soon as the elevator opened on the sub-level where the nuke was, we could see the Sealand security guards my partners had already taken out, so I was sent forward with two other bodyguards to see what was up.  Since I had warned my partners we were coming, they were waiting with assault rifles ready.  As soon as I rounded the corner, I hit the ground and (to keep my cover just in case) fired a shot over my partners' heads with my pistol.  Meanwhile, my partners opened fire on the rest of the security detail.
 
The first one rolled a crit fail that jammed his rifle.  The second also rolled a crit fail that jammed his rifle.  Luckily, they had partial cover and the bodyguards' first shots missed.
 
Thinking that the bidder's security detail was about to turn my partners to hamburger, I swore, rolled onto my back, and aimed at one of the security detail.  And rolled a slightly less horrible fail that caused a misfire.
 
Luckily, one of my partners tossed his rifle aside, drew his pistol, and helped take out the two bodyguards.  But I was certain the dice were trying to kill us.

Actually the second 18 was an EGO roll to push teleport. That 18 burned out teleport and reduced Dread to her run speed. The Acrobatics roll to dive into the ship was a failure, a 16, just not an 18. Still 18, 18, and 16 was a bad combo. Now if I had been rolling for D&D stats I'd be off to a good start.

In my Secret Worlds game, our last big session was about five hours of a running gun battle, from the basement of an office tower to about the seventh floor (invading a PMC corporate HQ). The PCs are all above average, Jason Bourne levels, vs. trained, well armed, but much more normal troops. The dice went incredibly bad for them all night long, including one PC who had a 3 rolled against him on the very first burst from a bad guy of the game, and had to spend half of his luck chits just to take a heavy wound, rather than be greased, then rolled an 18 himself near the end of the fight, so that he failed to take out a shooter, and died subsequently (all out of chits on his end by that point.) At least two other "3s" were rolled against the PCs that evening, at least these were bad guy perception rolls and such, so didn't directly kill a character... but that was four rolls of 3 or 18 in one session, where we usually go multiple sessions without either coming up.  Also, at least 5 times, a roll massively in favor of the PCs went against them. Once, a character had the drop on a bad guy with a shotgun. Granted he was untrained with guns (master hand to hand, not so much with guns) and nearly missed, then only hit the Hand (6) on hit location... then rolled 2 1's for damage.  He essentially blew the guys fingers off and pissed him off so bad that he began just hosing the area with bullets for the next several rounds. Another guy needed a 15- to hit one shot, rolled a 16 and the return fire was really ugly. At least twice the bad guys needed a 7 or less to hit... and rolled 5s with automatic weapons, hitting twice!
 
It was so ugly. The players were both really into it and amazed only one of them died, but also dispirited. They weren't blaming me, but every roll was like, "OH COME ON!" as the "bad beats" (in poker terms) just kept coming.

It was in the nature of the game for things to be this bloody, and honestly they actually secured their objective (place a hack and rescue a captured comrade) but the fight was a loss by all gaming standards, and they lost one. I felt bad, but as the guy who lost his character said, "It's just math. You can't be mad at math."*
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* He was really mad at math, actually. 

Actually the second 18 was an EGO roll to push teleport. That 18 burned out teleport and reduced Dread to her run speed. The Acrobatics roll to dive into the ship was a failure, a 16, just not an 18. Still 18, 18, and 16 was a bad combo. Now if I had been rolling for D&D stats I'd be off to a good start.

Actually the second 18 was an EGO roll to push teleport. That 18 burned out teleport and reduced Dread to her run speed. The Acrobatics roll to dive into the ship was a failure, a 16, just not an 18. Still 18, 18, and 16 was a bad combo. Now if I had been rolling for D&D stats I'd be off to a good start.

Actually the second 18 was an EGO roll to push teleport. That 18 burned out teleport and reduced Dread to her run speed. The Acrobatics roll to dive into the ship was a failure, a 16, just not an 18. Still 18, 18, and 16 was a bad combo. Now if I had been rolling for D&D stats I'd be off to a good start.

I've been doing the no point cost thing for a while, in superheroic settings.
 
I will actually push it into territory that comes close to buying powers. The logic works like this:
 
If the Batmobile is basically a sportscar with a fancy paintjob, it can be bought with money, and is worth zero points.
If the Batmobile is basically a magic box that allows Batman to get to where the action is, it is a GM convenience, and is worth zero points. This is not affected by all the neat things it can potentially do.
 
Similarly for the Batplane. I don't care about its stats or point cost, if its actual function is to get Batman to the action occurring in Tierra del Fuego, where he will land, get out and walk. It's convenient for the GM as much as for the player.
 
The same for Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane! On the other hand, she probably is a bit more likely to use it tactically, so maybe she should buy a bit of limited flight to allow that.
 
Naturally, zero point stuff can be destroyed/taken away at the GM's pleasure, so it's not wise to abuse its availability.

I prefer to take the tact of asking the player "What are you intending by taking Money as a perk/being rich, etc. How do you want it to affect the game?"
 
Everything is intent. So, once you understand what the player is hoping for, you can figure out whether that makes sense for play, and if Money is the right way to do it. 
 
As with everything in RPGs, group consensus at every step of the way, beginning with campaign direction and character creation, really answers most of the "problems" by getting in front of disagreements, etc. No one person decides what Money means for the game... the play group agrees on how to make Money cool in play.

It is with great sadness that I announce my good friend, David Stevens, aka Hyper-man passed away last week. He fought a courageous battle against brain cancer.   He was a Huge fan of the Hero System, and has a very impressive collection of products he was very proud of.
 
One of the last things we talked about was his collection, and his wishes for it.   It is literally only a couple of books short of having Every product printed for the Hero system, including Kickstarters.  He really wanted to try to keep the collection together.
 
I'm interested in everyone's opinions,
Do you think anyone would be interested in purchasing such a large collection?   
I could bring it to Gencon and try there, but am not willing to let it go for pennies on the dollar.
Would EBAY be the best way to try to sell?
 
Any other unique ideas on what to do with the collection?  (Doesn't have to be sold)
 
Thanks !
 
 

Another background element of the campaign is the region officially known as North Las Vegas but is more commonly known by the locals as Neverland.
 
North Las Vegas boasts a population approaching 250,000 as of 2018, but a significant portion of that population is inhuman: former denizens of Faerie, renegades from one of the various Netherworlds, at least one coterie of vampires, scattered Fae-blooded humans, Witchbreed (the campaign's name for mutants) and also an assortment of shamans, sorcerers and wizards. It is arguably one of the largest concentrations of such beings in the United States, estimated at one or two percent of the total population (although it could be higher). While there are a very few powerful enough to participate in the Superhuman World, most are not that powerful and even many of the most powerful among them don’t bother. Neverland is also a hodgepodge of the rich and well-off mixed with a few slums where the local police avoid going unless absolutely necessary, giving PRIMUS control of them and letting them deal with any crimes that occur there.
 
Due to the current state of the law, those who are not of human descent have few rights. Witchbreed and Fae-blooded, being of provable human descent with a simple blood test, receive rights equal to that of an ordinary human. Vampires, while also receiving human rights (and there is even one working for the local branch of PRIMUS), are somewhat more limited in those rights as the laws are still in flux regarding their “undead person” status and they are watched closely. They are also supposed to register their whereabouts in a similar fashion to Megan’s Law, but it is not enforced very heavily. So-called “anthros” range from actual furred humanoids to those appearing otherwise human except for some minor animalistic features such as ears, a tail, or facial features, and those that can prove human heritage with a simple blood test are granted human rights. Netherworld escapees and Fae have no real rights, and they are not considered “persons” as far as the law goes. Some countries have afforded the Fae more rights than they will see in the United States in the foreseeable future. While rarer, talking animals also fall into this category, and feral groupings of such creatures, even those that are pretty harmless to humans, are considered pests that can be exterminated if they become a nuisance. Feral pixies also fall in this category, being faeries of below-human intelligence and small size (about the size of a Barbie/Ken doll with insect-like wings) that breed like rats and have minor magical abilities.
 
Because of the legal status of the Fae, while not technically brothels, so-called glamour clubs can be found in Neverland and other regions of Las Vegas. They utilize weaker faeries such as nymphs as “hostesses” for the entertainment of their guests. Because they are not considered “persons” in the eyes of the law, they can be owned and treated like property, and some receive quite cruel treatment from club management. They are kept under control using enchanted collars that any half-decent street wizard can make. So-called “glamour girls” are even available for sale in stores carrying Faerie-made products to private individuals.
 
Roaming gangs of orcs, orc/human mixes and even the occasional ogre make up a portion of the street gang problem in some of the worst sections of Neverland. They are also involved in dealing drugs, including some imported concoctions from Faerie.

I don't have a game, but I do have some ideas...
 
Deathdealer is a professional assassin who operates from Las Vegas (at least part of the time, as he also calls Atlantic City, Hudson City, and the entire country of Monoco home). His trademark weapon are razor sharp metal blades disguised as playing cards. He is a member of a loose supervillain group named The Gamble, who are based on various gambling props, games, and whatnot.
 
Another member of The Gamble is The One Arm Bandit, an enforcer for the local mafia there. His right arm is artificial, and contains various weapons of various effects, from lasers, to drills, to mace heads and whatnot.

President David Sutherland has now become a feature of my Champions campaign, and his origin story is a shadowy reflection of one of the PCs (Valient), sort of like how Belloq is to Indiana Jones. Valient is a very popular Public ID superhero and was offered a cabinet position in the Sutherland Administration as the Secretary of Superhuman Affairs. He chose to accept at the conclusion of the session last night, and his getting the position is pretty much a lock after the team had just rescued about thirty senators from imprisonment in Faerie, each of them replaced by fetches of themselves answering to Morgan Le Fay and Black Paladin.
 
A newer, tougher version of the Superhuman Registration Act is being considered by congress and is supported by Sutherland, since he has a Public ID.

I use him a lot, as you might expect. These days he's pretty much Thundrax's arch-nemesis and the thorn that keeps on poking. He's taken a position as the president's special advisor on superhuman affairs, and is running some horrible black box stuff away from the administration's eye (I don't like Trump IRL, and I'm trying to be careful not to use him as a bully pulpit.)
 
But there is a tradition of politics and RL issues in comics, from the X-Men to Captain America to the animated Justice League to early issues of Action Comics, and I'm quite comfortable using that tradition to tell stories  -- if my players aren't uncomfortable with those themes. If they are, then try something else.
 
Besides, these days, punching Nazis is political. So be political.

Like the major comic-book publishers, the current official Champions Universe has mostly followed the history of real Earth, aside from the impact of the presence of superhumans. That includes real-world political and social trends, and often analogues to actual public figures, although there are differences.
 
At present the real United States of America is undergoing political and social turmoil, catalyzed around the sitting President, Donald Trump. He's become a major polarizing figure, with supporters applauding policies they believe are necessary and overdue, while his detractors accuse him of attacking American values and even laying the ground work for fascism. Questions of President Trump's moral qualities and even mental stability have also been raised. I have no desire to get into a debate about that here (and we already have a thread for same on the NGD forum). However, that kind of upheaval sounds like a ripe field for story lines and role playing as part of a Champions campaign, in a supers world going through analogous events. Yet the very divisiveness surrounding this President, and the lack of clarity regarding the true motives of himself and those around him, and where all this will ultimately lead, could make many GMs wary of using an "alternate" Trump in their games.
 
Then it occurred to me that our Champions source books provide an appropriate alternative figure actualizing all the worst suspicions and fears about this administration, with no question as to his private motivations, morality, or competence: Representative David Sutherland, formerly the "superhero" Invictus (Champions Villains Vol. 1: Master Villains).
 
Long before the most recent presidential election, Sutherland had been subtly and shrewdly working to forward his political ambitions. His superheroic career accomplished much good and built a strong positive reputation, but it was all a show to accumulate support for an ultimate Presidential campaign. Since being elected to Congress he's been the most prominent superhero-turned-politician in America. For years he's maneuvered to place people sympathetic to his goals in positions of influence. Considering how tumultuous the last election was, it's not hard to imagine someone so famous, charismatic, and capable winning through to the Oval Office.
 
Sutherland's true goal is to turn America into a modern Roman Empire, incontestably dominant around the globe, with himself as de facto Emperor. Once in office he's likely to very deliberately and calculatedly do things that detractors of the real President accuse him of attempting: install people personally loyal to him in important government roles; discredit and suppress media that criticize him, while promoting outlets that support him and attack his enemies; challenge the validity of laws and constitutional authority that restrict his ability to do what he wants; foster radicalized divisions within American society to mobilize more militant support behind him; disrupt international stability with confrontational policies asserting American dominance over global affairs, while cultivating foreign allies he can bribe or coerce. As for his morality, he's unquestionably corrupt, hedonistic, and ruthless, to a degree more epic than the relative banality of what Donald Trump has been accused of.
 
For Champions gamers who would like to work some of the implications of the climate in America today into their games, but are wary of using an alternate of Donald Trump, David Sutherland is an unambiguous "villain" to oppose for heroes who know the truth about him; but with all the complications and challenges of opposing such a villain who's also the lawful, popular, and very capable occupant of the most powerful political office in the world.

A quote from tonight’s Champions game, presented without context: Flowers For Mechanon.