Scott Ruggels

Land of the Giants!  I had forgotten that one.  And that brings back to mind UFO.
 
But WWW is on Netflix?  I didn't know.  Time to relive a bit of childhood

He was a mythical creature, raised by a top scientist, and his bodyguard.... Johnny Dragon Quest.

He's obviously got Autofire as a Naked Advantage that he can apply to RKA foci.

I remember using the Vic Dal Chele character silhouettes on our character sheets years after we moved from 1e. We liked how more dynamic poses. A good base to start from, until I got pestered by the other players to do custom artwork. Ah memories

I tend to run Fantasy, mostly these days , but I have an SF setting, that I have wanted to run formal one time. Rich Tocholka, was a boss of mine and we talked a lot about his game FTL2448. The well worn feel of it appealed to me and the authenticity and humorous treatment of bureaucratic issues kept things light; though it was a very dangerous system. So the attitude and flavor would be borrowed from that, but the Aesthetics would be borrowed from Aliens, and Outland (The Grubby Baseball Cap School of Science Fiction, where Corporations answer only to shareholders and most work environments are OSHA violations , but the pay is good.  
 
Most of of my reading in the past decade has been War History, and other nonfiction. SF these days Selena lot less adventurous and hardware centric than it used to be. But for my campaign, Starship interiors Look like Submarines or Missile Silos, and Jump Drive is only available to Large Corps and the Military, but In System ships are as common as Civilian Aviation is now. No Aliens seen yet, but Isolated human colonies can get pretty strange with the genetic mods, implants, and occasionally cultish Utopians trying to distance themselves from the mildly distopian and indifferent mainstream.  Beam weapons are mostly vehicle mounted, and Space Warfare follows the model
mostly put forth by Steve Gallacci@s Albedo Comic (with a little of Paul Gazes).  The Expanse is also a bit of a recent inspiration to get me to think about this again.  AI exists, but is heavily regulated and is too large and distributed to place in a humanoid Robots. Robots them selves are perhaps as smart as dogs, and far less fractious. Habitable planets are very rare, so most coloni s are constructed man made environments. It’s definitely not Star Trek. But SR, isn’t as popular as Fantasy, or Even Superheroes, so most of this is still, just notes. 

The most alien of aliens, aren't so much what they look like, but how they think. As a counter example, let’s take a look at Japhet, from The Orville. Physically he is a yellow gelatinous blob about a foot in diameter, that generally manifests a mouth, so as to communicate with his fellow crew members. (In the voice of comedian, Norm McDonald). However his reactions to the episode plots and his fellow crew mates, and his interest in the ship’s Doctor show that he shares the traits mentally and other most of the humans in the cast. He is a lonely, status conscious, technician, with insecurities that motivate a somewhat short temper, marring an otherwise easy going, blue collar attitude. The show has  better than average makeup and all of its aliens look great. However the Most alien of aliens is Commander Bortis. He’ s frustrated by the delay or imprecision that his coworker’s  humorous asides cause. His delivery is always precise and respectful. And his species reproductive cycle and exclusivity makes an an interesting subplot, but on the whole, he is less alien than a foreigner attempting to play tabletop with Americans (My German GM on roll20 goes ballistic when interrupted by players.)
 
the Alien-ness of something, is how they think, how they respond to stimuli, and their motivations. The problem is balancing the goals and intent of the players with the desire to make things Alien. Current events display that even slight differences on motivations and thinking cause a lot of conflict. Also, narrative based decisions would tend to favor  aliens that are somewhat relatable, simply for the fact that the plot has to go somewhere; rather than being halted  by incomprehensible aliens.  This is a big reason that I had no living Aliens in my aborted Star Hero campaigns. Cyberneticaly or genetically enhanced humans are weird enough. The Expanse, as well as the Alien movies; show that even a brush with an alien eco system results in horror. If that is what you are going for, knock yourself out. XD
 
 

They did. It was called Danger: International.

5
Tribe felt the pain rolling through his body. He tried to hold himself still while he
looked at it with his mind. Clonus had done a number on him. That was what he got
for not paying attention to his surroundings.
 
He supposed he should be happy to be alive. He cracked a small smile. He could be
hurt, but he couldn’t be killed.
 
He reached out and touched the city. Resources flowed into his body. The cracked
bones and bruises flowed out. He dispersed them over a wide area so no one would
notice what he had done to heal himself.
 
It was time to get out of the box he was in and look for his enemy.
 
Tribe climbed on top of the cargo. He felt the steel ceiling with his hand. Then he
punched a hole through it, mending the bones of his hand the same way he had healed
all of his earlier battle wounds. He pushed the steel back out of his way so he could
climb on the back of the moving truck.
 
He looked back. The headquarters was rapidly receding from view. Did he jump
down and go back, or stay with the truck and hope it led him somewhere?
 
Maybe he should stop the truck so he could figure out what to do.
 
Tribe walked down the trailer. He paused at the end, watching the truck for a second
as he thought about what he wanted to do. One of Clonus’s clones drove. He could
tell that from the arm sticking out the window.
 
If he attacked, the clone could spawn an army to overwhelm him. On the other hand,
it would have to stop the truck to be really effective. He could possibly attack and
take it out before it could do anything to stop him.
 
He wondered how well it would do in the dream time.
 
Tribe waited for the traffic on the highway to thin. He had no interest in disrupting
other people’s plans. He only wanted to stop Clonus to keep his garden straightened
out. Causing a pile up would not serve that in any way.
 
The truck entered a lull with no other car around. The thin man dropped down on the
cab and grabbed the arm. He commanded the clone to go to sleep. The hive mentality
tried to fight his command, but he had the will of the city behind him. The clone
driver slumped over the wheel.
 
Tribe climbed down and opened the door. He pushed the clone out of the way. He got
behind the wheel and slowed the truck down into the shoulder of the road. He set the
blinkers as it rolled to a stop.
 
Tribe grabbed the clone’s face. He exerted his will to peer around inside the brain. He
found the link to the rest of them. He almost smiled. Following the link in the real
world should let him get close enough to capture Clonus without a real fight.
 
He didn’t like the shadow at the back of the clone’s memories. Assault had been a
constant foe of the Arc. He had supposedly died in an explosion.
 
Tribe considered what he should do. He could turn things over to the authorities, but
he didn’t see how they could do a better job than he was doing. He doubted they
would believe him. And the dream time and his place in it was his to defend.
 
He had to find Clonus, put him down, and then use that to find Assault somehow. It
seemed easy when he said it in his head.
 
Finding Clonus should be easy since he had a piece of the man in the cab with him.
Dealing with him would be much harder.
 
Tribe decided that he could use the truck to get where he had to go until he was done.
Then he could call the police to come get it wherever he abandoned it. That made his
plan easier to carry out.
 
The next thing to do was turn around and head back to the depot and pick up Clonus’s
trail. Then he could drive to where the mastermind had set up his new base and have
a quiet talk with the man.
 
Barring that, he would have a loud talk with the man while committing violence
against his expanding horde.
 
Whatever Assault wanted had to be opposed. He had made a name for himself as
someone as dangerous as Dr. Hoz. He had to be stopped before he got what he
wanted.
 
Clonus should know better than to work with Assault. His reputation for ending
partnerships was notorious. The horde would have a fight for his life against the
villain.
 
Tribe doubted he could do anything to the villain, but he couldn’t stop at that point.
Someone had to stop Clonus and Assault. He had to be the man. He hoped he had a
bigger spot for the turtles when he got home.
 
He pulled out on the road. He drove down to the next exit, crossed the bridge, then
turned down the ramp to go back to where the truck had come from before Clonus
had stolen it.
 
He saw the fence where he had been ambushed. The rental trucks had rolled out. He
paused for a moment. Which way should he go from there? He decided to head out
on the surface streets. He had a vague idea that Clonus had decided to settle
somewhere on the other side of the city.
 
He made sure that his captive still slept. He didn’t want to deal with a one man army
pushing him out of the truck at high speed.
 
Tribe followed the mental link pointing out of the clone to the rest of his bodies. He
drove slower than usual because of the split in his attention. It took a certain amount
of concentration to sift a hostile mind. Doing that and driving could lead to a bad
accident if he wasn’t careful.
 
He rolled to a stop when he saw the property sign on the road. He looked around. He
didn’t see the one man army. The link pointed off the road.
 
He climbed down from the cab. He doubted Clonus had time to make his security
proof against common burglars. He had a window to get things done.
 
He looked at the lights from the city. He didn’t feel as strong as he should. He
decided that he had moved to the edge of his range. He only possessed the strength
he could draw from the Dreamtime.
 
That had to be enough to take care of the next part of this. Clonus could not be
allowed to run free. And as long as one clone was out there, he could switch bodies
and flee while the rest of him fought a delaying action against anyone trying to arrest
him.
 
Tribe felt that if he could take down the main mass and keep them under, then he
could track any free clones moving around away from the scene.
 
He crept from the parked truck. He hoped that it was out of sight of the house. He
needed all the surprise he could muster if he wanted to win the fight.
 
Clonus had shown he was hard to beat if he knew you were coming. Tribe wondered
how much of a lightning bolt Arc had to generate to capture him the first time they
fought.
 
Tribe crept closer to the house. He was a shadow among other shadows. He found a
guard looking out into the night. He put the clone to sleep with a grab and a mental
command. He propped the body next to a single tree in the yard.
 
If he was found by the other clones, they would think he was goldbricking.
 
Tribe moved closer to the house. He didn’t see any artificial security. He moved to
the back door. He could enter there and try to take Clonus by surprise.
 
If he succeeded, he could think about how to deal with Assault. He wasn’t looking
forward to that.
 
He checked the door to see if it was locked. The doorknob turned in his hand. He
could go in and settle things, but he had to be quick. Clonus could easily stop him
with his multiplying power. He had to prevent the cloning process no matter what.
Tribe eased the door open. Two clones played cards at the kitchen table. Another
cooked at the stove. He hit the two at the table in passing on his way to the stove.
He slammed that clone into the cabinets above the stove before dropping him.
He turned and put the other two asleep.
 
Tribe went to the kitchen door. He expected a small army coming through the door.
He needed to make sure to do as much damage as he could before they carried him
away.
 
Nothing happened. He expected something. Maybe Clonus’s attention was on
something else.
 
Tribe went to the door to the rest of the house. He peered around the frame. Clones
walked everywhere. They carried furniture and decorative fixtures to places on the
empty floor and walls. He realized Clonus was still moving in.
 
Could he fight all of the clones he saw? What happened if he wasn’t fast enough? He
didn’t want to take another beating. Then a plan came to mind and taking a beating
seemed to be the only option. He closed his eyes and thought. He didn’t see any other
plan that would work in the time he had. Assault might call at any minute.
 
He hated the thought he was going to allow Clonus to beat on him unless he was
lucky and knocked all of them out before they could start splitting apart.
 
Tribe sprinted forward. He flew into the closest clones. They dropped the couch
they were carrying and slammed into others like pinballs. He kept moving forward,
aiming for the next closest clones. His strength allowed him to send men flying
without having to use any special technique. He took down one more before being
engulfed by a wave of Clonus.
 
He concentrated on ignoring the pain of his beating. He had to hold on. He felt bones
being broken as the beating of a drum. He waited, holding on to the pain. He kept his
focus.
 
“You’re relentless, Tribe.” said Clonus. He came to the front of the crowd. “You just
take a beating and come back for more. I respect that, but I can’t have you following
me around. I have important villain stuff to do.”
 
Tribe channeled his beating into the speaking Clonus, reasoning that the controlling
brain was in there. The man screamed at the sudden pain wracking him. His clones
looked at him with surprise and bewilderment. The thin man shut down the link and
all the clones dropped to the floor in splashes of material.

Without knowing the whole story, I’d have to say the problem isn’t with Champions, but is with the players and the GM! These players sound like Pathfinder munchkins who don’t understand the concept of Champions at all. On one hand, it sounds like too many people trying to manipulate the rules without knowing them well enough. On the other hand it sounds like too many people who don’t want to actually play to their concepts(both their advantages AND limitations), which is critical in Champions. The openness of character creation is a benefit, but people who are trained to think in terms of classes, and all the munchkinny aspects that go with it, have a hard time with defining their own limitations. Everyone has to cooperate at this basic level first, and the GM needs to enforce a clarity of concept for each hero.

I think the GM is also mistaken about the characters overlapping.
 
You're going to actually buy Dexterity and Speed, while Metamorph Guy is using Aid to boost those? He's vulnerable to Dispel, and has to burn phases to build those up and keep those powered up - you don't. If you both end up with Clinging, it's not exactly going to cramp your style any more than if you both had Flight, or were both brawlers. Probably you'll both have different Complications.
 
Chameleon Boy is another character who fits his concept, possibly closer than the others:
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reep_Daggle

My usual route for someone who wants to be able to do everything is to say yes but your "theme" is therefore versatility and because you can do everything you can do it less well than specialists, so if the usual energy blast is 10D6, every power man has 8d6 or 9d6.  If the usual force field is 20PD 20ED thenevery power man has 17 or 18.
 
everything, just a little bit less of it....
 
Doc

Depends on the person and circumstance. RL, I worked as an armed courier for a year. (2003), and when driving by, some people would look at the truck, like a dog watches someone with a plate of food walk by. In those situations, I was prepared to protect the truck, the satchel, my life with deadly force(company provided Glock 21. With Remington Bronze jacketed hollow points). Doing some deep thinking about it, especially with all the classes and practice, I came to the conclusion, that I would not be very broken up about taking the life of someone threatening me. In the game space, I believe this sort of defines the difference between Champions and Dark Champions. In Champions, CVK, is almost standard, very much shorthand for “Code of the hero”. In Dark Champions, it may be a serious liability. 

Mental Paralysis would work. 
 
Entangle 2d6 DEF 2, Based on EGO Combat Value (+1), Takes No Damage From Physical Attacks (+1/4), Works Against EGO, Not STR (+1/4)

I’d say it depends on the job. Having a 10 to 12 hour driving job would cut into your sleep, superhero activities, and and social life with your DNPC. a the new Spiderman game illustrates this quite nicely, with Peter Parker behind on his rent, Mary Jane Watson moving on and friendzoning Peter, because of the demands of working for Dr. Otto Octavia’s, and his daily patrols. It all boils down to how the GM applies the disarms in game?

I’d say it depends on the job. Having a 10 to 12 hour driving job would cut into your sleep, superhero activities, and and social life with your DNPC. a the new Spiderman game illustrates this quite nicely, with Peter Parker behind on his rent, Mary Jane Watson moving on and friendzoning Peter, because of the demands of working for Dr. Otto Octavia’s, and his daily patrols. It all boils down to how the GM applies the disarms in game?

Kermit Weeks of "Fantasy of Flight"m is restoring down to the nits and bolts the AT-4 Trimotor that was used in Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom. That AT-4 used to be part of the collection of The Flying Lady Restaurant in Gilroy California, where I saw it in the early 1970's. As elegant, as the interior of the Tri-motor  was, apparently it was the original Vomit comet in that it flew below 10,000 feet where the air was bumpy, and the exhaust from the center engine would leak into the passenger compartment on occasion. Luckily the windows onmost of the early models could be opened... XD.

There is a nice illustration of “Code of the Hero” in Issue 2 is Chuck Dixon’s comic,”Avalon”, where there is Superhero duo of a Brick and. Ghost. (Selective invisibility, and desolid but takes concentration).  The Brick is an idealist, and follows the code of the Hero. The ghost is a pragmatist. When rading a drug lab, the ghost runs across a satchel of cash, and takes it home. Later he shows it to his roommate, the brick, which seems to trigger the brick’s “enrage “ over violations of The Code of the Hero, and threat is the ghost to get rid of the money and donate it to an”good cause”. The ghost is not happy, as they both have trouble coming up with rent, and they are both “unlicensed vigilantes “.  But the ghost complies and a mysterious satchel with the note, “For the Kids” appears at a
nurse’s station at Children’s Hospital. Later, they find
out that the lab was a project by a regional crime boss. So they go raid his penthouse apartment. The brick caves in the front door and laughs at the kooks and their guns. The ghost slips in unnoticed and phases through walls looking for evidence. Well, he finds the safe, and as their mall food court jobs haven’t been adequate to make rent, the ghost  robs the safe. The crime boss, alerted by the brick ignoring the bullets and pushing over walls, runs to the safe, and finds it empty.  He yells to his looks to look for another accomplice. The brick, putting two and two together, flies into a rage, and starts bulldozing through the apartment after the ghost; completely ignoring the mission. Having his roommate charging after him, calling him a thief, ruins his concentration, and eventually he gets tossed in the swimming pool, with the brick making sure he can’t get out until the police arrive. The cops take everyone in for questioning. The Brick turns  in his partner for theft. He does a sorry perp walk to a cell. The brick expects a cell as well, but because of him catching and turning in a thief, he gets recruited by one of the UN approved super teams. 

There is a nice illustration of “Code of the Hero” in Issue 2 is Chuck Dixon’s comic,”Avalon”, where there is Superhero duo of a Brick and. Ghost. (Selective invisibility, and desolid but takes concentration).  The Brick is an idealist, and follows the code of the Hero. The ghost is a pragmatist. When rading a drug lab, the ghost runs across a satchel of cash, and takes it home. Later he shows it to his roommate, the brick, which seems to trigger the brick’s “enrage “ over violations of The Code of the Hero, and threat is the ghost to get rid of the money and donate it to an”good cause”. The ghost is not happy, as they both have trouble coming up with rent, and they are both “unlicensed vigilantes “.  But the ghost complies and a mysterious satchel with the note, “For the Kids” appears at a
nurse’s station at Children’s Hospital. Later, they find
out that the lab was a project by a regional crime boss. So they go raid his penthouse apartment. The brick caves in the front door and laughs at the kooks and their guns. The ghost slips in unnoticed and phases through walls looking for evidence. Well, he finds the safe, and as their mall food court jobs haven’t been adequate to make rent, the ghost  robs the safe. The crime boss, alerted by the brick ignoring the bullets and pushing over walls, runs to the safe, and finds it empty.  He yells to his looks to look for another accomplice. The brick, putting two and two together, flies into a rage, and starts bulldozing through the apartment after the ghost; completely ignoring the mission. Having his roommate charging after him, calling him a thief, ruins his concentration, and eventually he gets tossed in the swimming pool, with the brick making sure he can’t get out until the police arrive. The cops take everyone in for questioning. The Brick turns  in his partner for theft. He does a sorry perp walk to a cell. The brick expects a cell as well, but because of him catching and turning in a thief, he gets recruited by one of the UN approved super teams. 

In Fantasy games, there is a variety  in the ways GMs handle animals, and I have found, the more experience the GMs have with Real animals, the harder it becomes to keep animals "loyal".   To a point, they will remain loyal, but the closer to an animals "Disads" the more fractious they can become.  In the  ASOI&F books the amount of control was total. THe more this is discussed though and the more thinking back on the books, where there is more detail on how it works, the moreit may be a multiform. I tried to do it on the "cheap" point wise for the power, but to be "accurate", it may be necessary to look at Multiform...
 
****SPOILERS FOR THE BOOKS:****
 
 There is some supposition that John Snow may have avoided permanent Death by Warging into Ghost, until the Red Lady dragged him back with his resurrection.  In the Books, the longer you stay with the animal, you become the animal, reduction in INT, and EGO, and your body dies of starvation or dehydration, while what's left of your mind lives on as the animal. (and the other animal companions eat the body and run away>)

This would be the the G. R. R. Martin definition of the word, rather than the J. R. R. Tolkien  definition, yes?  If so, how are the " animal companions" described? Assuming they have their own character sheets, the main character would need mind link with each of his animal companions and a mind control power with limitations like only works on mind linked targets, user is 0DCV and treated as asleep as per the rules when using the mind control,, isn't effective if targets EGO and INT are above 8 so that the automatic targeting over mindlink slides off  normal humans and above. Something like that?

The problem is compulsion and degree of control. The caster in the GRRM version has total control, in that he could see through the senses of the target, and command it to  his will completely. The targets will and desires are subsumed completely. However, this also makes a compelling argument for Multiform with limitations. In any case the animal companions are their own agents when not controlled, and therefore are their own character sheets.  (No, they are not stretching at range with Clairyoyance)
x

I would say INT >AND< EGO above 8, so that there might be edge cases, like particularly willful horses like INT6, but EGO 14, "No one can tame that stallion, but he's friendly around Ol' John. "   It would also serve in cases like high INT, but low ego humanoids/monsters allowing our Hero to perhaps poach individuals from a hive mind, or people under certain spells or potions?
 
If you really want that added GRTM effect, give it a limitation that certain monsters or flavors of undead can detect the mindlink and fen determine the direction and range of the faster. XD

This would be the the G. R. R. Martin definition of the word, rather than the J. R. R. Tolkien  definition, yes?  If so, how are the " animal companions" described? Assuming they have their own character sheets, the main character would need mind link with each of his animal companions and a mind control power with limitations like only works on mind linked targets, user is 0DCV and treated as asleep as per the rules when using the mind control,, isn't effective if targets EGO and INT are above 8 so that the automatic targeting over mindlink slides off  normal humans and above. Something like that?

Actually, thinkng back, it varied depending on who was GMing.  usually with LDG during the Fantasy Hero playtest it was 1D6. But in the superhero games at cons it waas 1D6-1, but a one was always a one. (no zeo stun mod, usually)

I prefer 4th, as the rules. though I have fond Memories of the Fantasy Hero Playtest with Doug's Thugs back in Sunnyvale. (those differed, especially in point totals from the first edition of Fantasy Hero...that I did art for).