Mr. R

Carebear Huey McGreggor is a big lovable man, the sort of guy you wish nothing but the best for. Sadly, Huey is jinxed. He doesn't drive or he'll hit every red light there is. He is careful about dating, because he invariably ends up attracting the wrong sort of attention. He's been struck by lightning on a cloudless day. He's pretty durable , it as if something out there wants him to live through things so he can suffer some more. The worst part of his curse was that when it seemed his personal luck was better, the luck of those near him that he was invested in emotionally went down hill instead. He consulted a few mystics and gurus and the like, and they all came to the same conclusion, "you share your jinx with those you care about"
 
This threw Huey into deep depression, until he encountered a supervillain who took the building he was in, and its people hostage. Suddenly, Huey was really focused on that villain, as in he was deeply emotionally invested here! And things went wrong for the villain completely, so very wrong. Devices stopped working for the crook, the villain found out he had an allergy which nearly incapacitated him, and a giant superhero come to the rescue stepped on him.
 
Realizing that 'care' can mean a lot of things, and magic isn't exactly smart, Huey put on a costume with a bear theme, dubbed himself "Carebear" because it would scare fewer innocents than 'doomed jinx walking' and joined the Curse Breakers, the only team that would take him at the time. His favorite tactic is to find out who put a curse on an innocent then 'care' really hard about that curse bringer. He's also enjoying foiling more typical villains. More than one supervillain has been defeated because a man with a bright bear costume appeared and declared "Hey, Scumball, I CARE about you and what you're doing!"
 
--------
New Team: The Undershadowed
 
You don't have to be superpowered, or even a criminal, to be a complete jerk. In 2024's Solar Eclipse, Five ordinary  self serving advantage taking people found themselves under the shadow of the Eclipse thinking nothing of it. But later they came to realized they had developed super powered alter egos who were civic minded, kind, and good hearted! They can't control the change. One minute each one is 'a winner' (By cynical standards), then the next they're some goody goody in tights who fight crime,  build homes for the homeless, or otherwise help their fellow man! Worse, their alter egos have begun talking to them through mirrors, delivering lectures about how they should be ashamed.
 
Team Number 5!

The best literature example might be Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring. Gandalf and Aragorn on one end of the scale and Frodo and the other hobbits on the opposite end.

However, I think it could be said that the top end in power characters didn’t seem to gain as many XPs over the course of the campaign as the four hobbits did. Sam and Frodo both showed quite a bit of growth. Aragorn seemed to be mainly gaining perks along his storyline. And Gandalf didn’t seem to be more powerful, but more like he had his restraints removed.
 
Maybe not quite pointless, but fantasy seems to favor growth in power and ability more than superheroes seem to emphasize. Peter Parker hasn’t seemed to change a lot in his powers from when he was a teenager, but Frodo and Bilbo both changed in their abilities over the course of their heroic journeys.

Just as it says in the title.
 
Take the concept of Pointless Champions (As per the Article: Pointless Champions.  )  And apply it to you game.  
 
How would you make it work?

Just as it says in the title.
 
Take the concept of Pointless Champions (As per the Article: Pointless Champions.  )  And apply it to you game.  
 
How would you make it work?

This makes me think of Ocean's Eleven.  They are all crooks, thieves and liars.  The only reason we root for them is that the guy they are stealing from is a total rat- bas%$#d!

OK I am going into history back.
 
The Fox.  A teleporting thief.  He's basically Danny Ocean (Ocean's Eleven) with super powers.  He'll form a crew to rob something, but usually try to be non violent.  
 
Also Thunder and Lightning.  A husband-wife duo who were caught, outed, forced to serve as law enforcement, and now that they have done their time, find a normal life impossible.  They commit crimes just to maintain a middle class life style.  Basically Blue collar criminals.
 
Finally I am going to go out on a limb and say Firewing.  Yeah he wants a good fight.  Yeah he'll throw down just to prove himself tougher.  But on the whole he's not a conqueror, and can even be persuaded to fight on your side IF you can appeal to his sense of honour!

OK I am going into history back.
 
The Fox.  A teleporting thief.  He's basically Danny Ocean (Ocean's Eleven) with super powers.  He'll form a crew to rob something, but usually try to be non violent.  
 
Also Thunder and Lightning.  A husband-wife duo who were caught, outed, forced to serve as law enforcement, and now that they have done their time, find a normal life impossible.  They commit crimes just to maintain a middle class life style.  Basically Blue collar criminals.
 
Finally I am going to go out on a limb and say Firewing.  Yeah he wants a good fight.  Yeah he'll throw down just to prove himself tougher.  But on the whole he's not a conqueror, and can even be persuaded to fight on your side IF you can appeal to his sense of honour!

I've been watching the entire X-Men movie franchise in like 2 weeks, and it really made me think about this... in the movies, there are no other supers, just mutants.  In the comics, the "mutant panic" didn't feel so real because there were so many other supers... "Cap'n America and the Avengers and that sorcerer dude are the good guys, but them damn muties, they need to be locked up!"  It's a lot more believable when it's just "damn muties" and _none_ of them are considered heroes until the shift in Dark Phoenix.
 
So I really think this kind of focus can mean a lot if you want to explore something like "mutant panic" without diluting it.  Or like my cyborg game, CHROME... the whole focus was megacorps and misuse of technology and using people as tools.  (Because the cyborgs are all "owned" by somebody.)  I was reading some commentary on the Gestalt universe, and how Bennie diluted the concept by giving players so many options to have powers without being a gestalt.  And this is one of the dangers of such a narrow focus... you really need all your players on-board with the concept.  Because either you're pushing them into a concept they didn't really want to play, or you're diluting the world concept by letting players create exceptions.  And I've learned when you let players create exceptions, over half your players will want to be an exception, because so many players are looking to be "more special" than the other special people.  (I once had 5 players agree, with no objections, to all play wood elves from the same village with no contact with the outside world... exactly 1 player gave me what I asked for.  I got an outcast who was not allowed to interact with the village, one raised by humans not knowing they were an elf, one who had left the village to apprentice to a human fighter, and a human who wanted to be an elf.  They were all interesting concepts, but they broke the fundamental nature of what the campaign was supposed to be about.)

The following are all really cheap, but they are also all the low powered versions of later abilities, you know the Lesser Insightful..., the Insightful..., the Greater Insightful.  So....
 
 
You will note that I am using Deadly Blow a lot more.  That is because it does what I need and the limitations are mostly built in.
 
So Charging Minotaur has only with a charge attack which I feel is very limiting.  Later examples add 2d6 or 4d6, which is a lot of damage.  Also remember tis in the form of a KA.  Switch it to regular dice if you find it appropriate ( like charging with your fists)
 
Stone Bones in DnD gives you resistance 5 I think.  Lasts one round.  So a Force Field that activates after a HtH hit.  Also there are more powerful versions (Iron Bones and Mithril Bones and finally Adamantine Bones) that add more defense.  That giant with str 40 and a 3d6 HKA seems a lot less dangerous after you activate Mithril Bones ( 15/15 FF)  Depending on what your GM allows this could bring your defenses up to 40 pts.  
 
Mountain Hammer is your find weakness attack.
 
Stone Vines exist to hinder opponents.  There are more powerful versions, but I'd make them all with one Def, so anyone could break out of given time.
 
Bone Splitter is also one which had more dice so a 4d6 Drain is possible.  
 
 

Ed Grim the Undead Detective 
 
Ed Grimaldi was a homicide detective working a case involving a series of ritualistic murders in New Orleans. He was betrayed and killed by his partner who was secretly in service of the killer they were investigating named Baron Kriminel. Kriminel then raised Grimaldi as a zombie servant.
 
He acted as an undead soldier for Kriminel until a voudou bokor named Brother Semdi freed his soul. Ed stayed in control of his body as he still had the will to fight evil in this world instead of passing on to the next.
 
He now acts a sort of private detective dealing with cases involving the occult. He has tangled with the likes of the Romany Witch Lavinia, the Cajun cannibal Crowe clan, Kristoff the Lycan King, and the grave robbing ghoul Rictus.
 
He has learned to mitigate the complications that come with being an animated corpse through various magical techniques, but it is still a struggle. He faces these problems with a snarky attitude, gallows humor and wry wit. 

A while ago, there was a discussion about making non mages feel special, and I made a comment about the Book of Nine Swords and how you could appropriate some of the ideas from there to use to make your warrior and rogue types feel special.
 
Well a couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out my closet, and found my copy, and so as an intellectual exercise, I decided to convert some of these ideas.
 
A couple of Notes if you decide to use them.
 
Stances 
the idea is that ONLY one stance can be used at a time, so my suggestion is to place them in a MP.  Most come out to about 30 AP.  Yes it is pricy, but some give you a real power boost.  Remember versatility costs extra!
 
As far as the Maneuvers (Strikes, Counters, Boosts) I would take a page from Killer Shrike, set up a VPP (with a house rule that the total number of real points you can use are three times the max of the Pool)  (Look here for reference  https://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/vancianPreparedVPP.aspx   ).  You will have to make the -1/2 Lim of only for BoNS techniques.
 
Also note that I did NOT do all the abilities as some were just … improvements to an earlier ability.  Like Hatchling's Flames later becomes Dragon's Flames then Wyrm's Flames.  Just up the damage and figure the new cost.
 
So I present the Book of Nine Sword (abridged)

Back in the Third Age of Man (late 1980's) I ran a FH campaign for a while and one of the players found a sword with multiple personality disorder.  Every time he drew the sword he rolled a d6 to determine which personality was in ascendance at the time and each personality had its own bonuses.  He really hated the pacifist persona.

A while ago, there was a discussion about making non mages feel special, and I made a comment about the Book of Nine Swords and how you could appropriate some of the ideas from there to use to make your warrior and rogue types feel special.
 
Well a couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out my closet, and found my copy, and so as an intellectual exercise, I decided to convert some of these ideas.
 
A couple of Notes if you decide to use them.
 
Stances 
the idea is that ONLY one stance can be used at a time, so my suggestion is to place them in a MP.  Most come out to about 30 AP.  Yes it is pricy, but some give you a real power boost.  Remember versatility costs extra!
 
As far as the Maneuvers (Strikes, Counters, Boosts) I would take a page from Killer Shrike, set up a VPP (with a house rule that the total number of real points you can use are three times the max of the Pool)  (Look here for reference  https://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/vancianPreparedVPP.aspx   ).  You will have to make the -1/2 Lim of only for BoNS techniques.
 
Also note that I did NOT do all the abilities as some were just … improvements to an earlier ability.  Like Hatchling's Flames later becomes Dragon's Flames then Wyrm's Flames.  Just up the damage and figure the new cost.
 
So I present the Book of Nine Sword (abridged)

I'll start with the Stances to Desert Wind
 
Fire's Blessing can be made more powerful by adding extra ED, I'd max it at 20 to 25.
 
Holocaust Cloak (Please no Princess Bride Comments) can be made a RKA.  It is that area of fire that surrounds a person when they are all powered up.
 
Fiery Assault makes your sword a burning blade (and yes it will add to some of the upcoming maneuvers) and if you want make it a RKA.
 
 
Final Note
All of these can be reskinned for other elements / SFX.  Cold and Ice,  Water,  Lightning.  Thus this one set could be the basis for a whole set of elemental styles.

I've always been intrigued by the Byzantine Empire, so I'm inclined to consider using the reign of the Emperor, Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180). Manuel had particularly good relations with Western European realms, including the Crusaders who held territories in the Middle East. He formed military alliances with those nations and with the Pope, and even adopted some of their cultural traditions such as jousting tournaments. The Empire thus presents an interesting "East meets West" flavor. Manuel's conflicts with Hungary in the Balkans, and the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia, leave plenty of opportunities for scenarios of battle and intrigue. And of course, there's no better location for big-city adventures than Constantinople.
 
The Byzantine Emperor's elite personal force, the Varangian Guard, were recruited from foreign countries with a Norse-Germanic tradition of personal loyalty to the lord they swore to serve. Originally these were from Rus, later Scandinavia, and by Manuel's reign, primarily Anglo-Saxons unhappy with Norman rulership of England. So there's plenty of rationale to have PCs from other lands emigrate to the Empire and experience its unique culture for the first time.

I was thinking about the game world I am developing and the idea of Languages.
 
Now I was thinking about a common trade tongue, but since the main part of the setting is a large Basin Lake/Sea and the similarity to the Mediterranean, I was thinking of doing something similar.  One city state took control of the Basin for 300 years, and so I am thinking about doing the following:
 
Old Tenryk lead to the following dialects
Aerelios/ Danris- due to the fact that both are on that LARGE river leading out of the Gefting Sea
Kerqod- Kerqod is isolated in that it has mountains or hills on three side and the Sea on the bottom.  I could see it developing its own.
Rasul- On the bottom shore of the sea, but has access to the Trammel Highlands and so I can see a blending
Thomar- Also on the bottom shore of the sea, but at the other end and close to Fey.  Fey has its own language and so again I see a blending!
 
(All have a 1 point similarity with each other)
 
The Far Speech Used by the people that border the east coast of the Gefting Sea as well as the Far Ocean and the Far Isles
Feyan- The most magically powerful/learned country
Reuchia- Currently broken, but a common language unites the people 
Far Isles- The islands of the Far Ocean
 
(All have a 1 point similarity with each other)
 
 
The Language- Spoken by the people of the Forbek Steppes and the Trammel Highlands
 
(All have a 1 point similarity with each other)
 
Kulaki
Named after the new anti slave city state, it is also spoken by the people of the Divided Plains as well as those in the three bays that lead to the oceans
 
(All have a 1 point similarity with each other)
 
Now ----
 
How much of a similarity should each family have with the others?
 
I was thinking Old Tenryk has a 2 point similarity to Far Speech
 
The Language is not similar to to Old Tenryk or Far Speech
But it has a 2 point similarity with Kulaki
 
Thoughts!

Who's that girl!
 
 
 
Power up-  The sensory overload suggest maybe a Mental Illusion.  And it would fit.  Also a bit more Martial Arts would not be out of line!
 
 
 

A month later Frank and Gabriella were no closer to getting in touch with Vixen.  They had put out feelers and greased some palms and still no luck.
 
Then one day Max and Frank got a notice that Mace’s old base was being occupied.  And a message “Nice place.  Heard you were looking for me.  Might as well meet here!” Signed “V”!
 
Frank looked at Max who looked at Mocker.  
 
“Might be a trap!” Mocker said.
 
Max answered, “There are easier ways to set us up!  So do we check it out?”
 
“I Will.” said Mocker.
 
“Alone?” said Frank.
 
“Nope.  The rest of you will be around for back up!  If this is a trap, I want it to be as painful for them as possible!”
 
A few hours later they were at the old farm house.  
 
Mocker entered the Lab and found a little lady in a black and red leotard sitting a work table eating dinner.
 
“I have a bottle of wine cooling, but I don’t know if you drink.. Wine?” she said.
 
“Yes I can, but it has no effect on me.  You went to a lot of trouble to get us here.  You could have just talked at the bar.  Why all the trouble?” Mocker queried.
 
“Well I needed to have you check out.  I brought extra food, you can call the others in if you want, and we can discuss the terms of my contract!” she said.
 
“You seem awfully sure of yourself young la…”  “Please!  Call me Vixen!”

Oh my god; _THANK YOU_!
 
Wow.
 
 
I really thought I was the only one....  I really, _really_ dislike that character.  I dont hate him, simply because there is nothing there to hate: a collection of cliches isn't out of place in comics; some are just more tired than others.
 
 
 
Agreed on all counts, but my list against him has one more entry:
 
Derivative.
 
Yes, that is a word that gets thrown around a _lot_, even when it isn't really a good choice:  we all know that Mechanon was an homage to the robot from the Avengers movie, and many, many characters were similarly pastiche or love letters to favorite characters from the source material, especially early on, but Dr D always felt like "we need a villain!  Who's a good villain?"
 
I remember when the Venture Brothers was fresh and new, and the Monarch got off his line "that dime store Doctor Doom!".   Yep; niether Doom nor even Underbheit were the first character to pop into my mind with that line.  I thought immediately of Dr. Destroyer as the most obvious "dime store Doctor Doom."
 
Frankly, Underbheit is a _way_ better framework for an interesting Doom-type knock-off character, and he is specifically a joke character from a joke show poking fun at a genre.   And yet-  he is by far the more interesting character.
 
Doctor D comes off as "okay, we need Doctor Doom, but he can't just be some rich guy with a grudge over a lab accident.  He has to be _evil_. Okay, make him a Nazi.  He was an evil Nazi scientist doing horrible things--
 
Dude....  That would make him.... _how old_..?
 
Well, he invented life-extending science and built it into his armor-
 
So what happens when he takes it off?
 
Well, he probably shouldn't...
 
I bet it _reeks_ in there!  I mean just _reeks_!  And he's like ninety something?  I feel like we accidentally pastiche-ified The Terror from the Tick.  I don't know how my players are going to feel about fighting a mummified nonogenarian who smells of rot and possibly urine...
 
He has to be a Nazi-
 
Nazi _jerky_, you mean!
 
Well he has to be a Nazi, because we don't really want to put a lot of thought into this, and we don't have to, because you are not allowed to question or wonder about anyone's background or to ever think anything but "yep; pure evil" when someone says 'they were a Nazi,' so we save a crap ton of time there....
 
 
 
He was supposed to be _the_ Big Bad of the Champions Universe for decades, and yet he was so hopelessly, blandly generic that he may actually have been the single biggest reason I was and remain turned off on the entire Champions universe.  (Well that and Mechanon.  While he is a much better homage /pastiche than DD will ever be (apparently), I find the idea of the ultimately unkillable / undefeatable recurring bad guy to be supremely distasteful.  A couple of reappearances?  No problem.  Batman's Joker?  No.)
 

Retro Gal
Rebeccca "Becky" Garfield has been a lot of things. Born in poverty and a drunken mother, Retro Gal could not leave the rural hill country fast enough. She always felt smarter than them, but when she hit her teenage years, she found out why. Her intelligence, already impressive, grew leaps and bounds. She was a mutant with many brain enhancements... one of them? Super-Genius. She grasped scientific concepts and engineering with amazing ease. She also proved to have other psychic abilities, including close contact telepathy and telekinesis! At 16, she used the latter to set her whiskey soaked mother on fire with a nearby candle after one too many slaps. It was the 1950s, and 'muties' were not loved them. Very little 'different' was. Becky went on the lamb, looking for a better life, and by better, she meant profitable. Had she more maturity then, she might have realized that invention with a few patents would be a safe and legal way to build it up. Instead, she met Mr. Dread. Oh she fell for him hard and he ? He showed her the ropes of villainy. Becky doesn't blame him for her going wrong, per se. She made her own choices. But there's no denying she was taken advantage of.
 
She grew to be a hardened criminal who went by the name "Ms. Rocket" , well she thought she was hardened anyway. She mostly assisted other villains in their plans, and yes, she robbed banks. She liked robbing banks. Made her feel like she was getting something back from Rich people. A lot of her devices were quickly taken up by the male members of the various teams she joined, some even stealing credit. THAT annoyed her and after a bit, she decided to get saucy about it. Perhaps a bit too saucy... when they had an encounter with a superhero team dubbed 'The Virtue Brigade' and started to lose, her team left her behind. Well, she ended up in Super prison, escaped twice, only to be caught again. At age 35, she finally was let out of jail, a reformed woman. She was a full decade behind the times and the new tech, and she raced to catch up. It was hard, an ex convict and a known mutant?  That's when she met Dr. Daryl Garfield. He was a brilliant man, a former boy genius now grown, shy and skittish. She was smarter than him, but rather than be intimidated, he delighted. He taught her what she had missed. And she? she caught up, and improved it. He didn't want anything from her but her company and for her to be happy. And she was.. .just not used to that. She actually found a decent man.
 
She had forgotten the world takes advantage of decent men. Time marched on. Marriage , children, and more. Becky found herself a happy enough home maker, but it was the lab with her husband where she thrived. Unfortunately, because of her criminal past ,she thought it best to let him handle face to face finances. They lived comfortably enough, but Daryl was, unknown to her, taken advantage of. Their tech was stolen, and with a sea of lawyers to hide behind and counter sue, the company that stole their idea seemed untouchable. Becky suited up, ready for revenge. And found... her powers, were fading. She had not realized her TK had grown weaker, that her telepathy was even more limited. She became alarmed. Somehow she was aging out of her powers and that would , eventually, include her hyper intelligence. Daryl talked her down twice. First, from becoming a supervillain again and risking capture. And secondly? from suicide.
 
She remained bright, but where once there had a super genius  with psychic powers, there came to be a simple grandmother. That company that had robbed them prospered, as the truly wicked who know how to work the system do. Daryl became ill.... and they didn't have the money to save him. Becky grand daughter, a muitant herself, found out the truth of how her grandmother and grandfather should have been MILLIONAIRES. She grew bitter on her grandma's behalf... and despite words of caution, went out to become a super villain herself.
 
When Timelapse appeared before Becky and made his offer, she leapt at the chance. Not for her vanity (Though it is nice to be a hottie again), not for her power (Though she really feels like she was incredibly dim in comparison now that her super IQ is back), or even for revenge (Though with her beloved Daryl gone, she's feeling no shame getting what was theirs from that company) but to help her Grand daughter avoid the same mistakes. Indeed, adopting a steampunk wardrobe (She came late to the genre but found it delightful and Verne esque) she has joined her grand daughter and her villain friends to make sure they don't get used and left to dry like she did. If they MUST be villains, they're going to be successful ones this time. Of course, her Grand daughter doesn't know this new ally is her old grandmother rejuvenated. She only knows they have a friend in the mysterious... RETRO GAL!

Croweater
 
Michael Deward was probably the oldest on Timelapse"s list. At 115 he'd been a doddering, senile resident of a nursing home, forgotten by everyone, he'd even outlived his grandchildren. But once, he'd been the scourge of the Klan.
 
Back in the 1920s and 30s, a young black man with bulletproof skin, pyrokinesis, and anger issues, he'd cut a swathe across the South. Finally, a bunch of heroes decided they had to stop him, he was killing too many people, even the ones that sympathised agreed he needed to be stopped.
 
And, after a brutal fight, he did face a court. Michael was sentenced to 120 years in prison, but only because they couldn't figure out a way to execute him.
 
He broke out half a dozen times, and went right back to killing Klanners. The last time, PRIMUS took him down when none of the hero groups were willing to get involved. Croweater as just too problematic morally for most.
 
Michael was sent to a nursing home in the early 80s due to the onset of Alzheimers. Given the politics of the day, it as the equivalent of sweeping an old shame under the rug. He's been there ever since.
 
But now - well, he recognizes that the Klan ain't what it used to be. But he's still angry, and he's still out to get the people he blames for keeping the black man down - but now it's prosecutors who give preferential treatment to non-blacks. Cops who make their quotas off black neighbourhoods. Politicians who set those quotas, knowing full well what they're asking.
 
He's gonna eat the new Jim Crow just the same as the old one. It's all gonna burn.

Did one last year with the Youth group-  it was part of an on-going campaign that had gotten a bit derailed by a Hunted roll, leading to a Foxbat arc that proved popular enough that we just kept rolling with it.
 
Short version:  FB (one of only 2- Technically 3) published characters I have ever used, ever (I think I mentioned that enemies books aren't really useful to me)) and Leroy (in my universe, Leroy is the only thing that makes FB competent.  Without Leroy, FB is a run-of-the-mill whacko with irritating personal traits) have succesfully stolen the oldest gemstone in the universe, a boring dun-coloured not-quite-transuscent thing with a couple of elements found nowhere else on earth and rumored to be magical (maybe it is; maybe it isn't).  He needed it as a cap for his walking stick so he could complete his Evangelist costume for The Church of Everyone Else is Going to Die.
 
At the climax, the stone was lost.  It resurfaced a couple of months later when, while decorating the record-holdingly-massive pine tree in front of Campaign City Hall, it was found lodged in the higher branches right about the time they workers were done decorating the tree for Christmas.  Having struck most of their equipment, they just left it, planning to "discover" it when undecorating.
 
And once the lights were flipped on to show off the tree--
 
Well, the adventure was called  "Versus the Christmas Treant," if that helps.
 
 
 
Best part (for me) was when Kinetica (whose player decided she was native to the city because none of the other characters were, allowing her periodic grabs of inventing things as a "tour guide" of sorts) felt the ground rumbling and intoned in terror "oh God!  Not _again_!"
 
Which made for some hilarious role playing when the treant ripped free of it's earthly fetters....

Mocker made his way through the wilderness of the Cascade Mountains.  He’d heard stories of a hairy mountain man raising hell in the area, and hoped it was Bull.  But a sudden snow storm
had hit and he was forced to go to ground.  Fortunately the cold weather didn’t bother him and so he continued to trudge through the snow.  
 
That was when he found the first body.  High tech gear, but not TRADE.  The nomenclature was unfamiliar to him so he continued on.  Later he found two more bodies.  Whoever had attacked them was swift and incredibly strong.  Bull?!
 
Over the next rise he saw a squad of the agents setting up an attack to what seemed a target hiding in a dense wooded area.  
 
“Let's see what pans out!” Mocker thought.  
 
As the agents started their atack, a giant of a man erupted from the snow to their right.  
 
“WT>>>>!  How?”  But it was too late, he was among them using his great strength to pound each successive agent unconscious.  Within a minute, it was over, the giant standing over seven trained agent types.  The giant started looting the bodies.  Mocker approved.  He stepped into view.
 
The giant looked up and his eyes widened “Mocker?”
 
“Bull?” Mocker quizzed!  “You’re a bit different.”
 
“Yeah, being stuck in a different world for two years changes you a bit.” Bull said.
 
“Two years? Bull!  It’s 2023, over twenty years!”  Mocker exclaimed!
 
“For me it was two.  Had to fight for my life daily until I escaped into the mountains.  There I learned to live off the land.  Eventually I got caught up in a BBEG plot to destroy the world, got zapped by his malfunctioning device and ended up back here.  But I can guess that you’re not here to catch up on old times!  You got plans?  If so I’m in.  I’m tired of living like a mountain man!”  Bull stated!
 
“Nice.  Now all we need is Marion….” At Bull’s growl, Mocker stopped.  “I take it you didn’t part on good terms?”
 
“No, we did not.  Getting even with her was one of the few things that kept me going all those years!” Bull yelled!
 
One of the agents groaned and began to get up.  Mocker screamed him back into unconsciousness.  “Who are these guys?”  
“No idea.  Snowstorm hit and next thing I know they are tracking me.  I had to do a lot of wood craft to lay false trails and ambushes.”  Bull stated matter of factly.
 
Mocker was at a loss for words.  The old Bull was never so devious.
 
“OH well, not my problem.  C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the new Crushers!” Mocker said!

Have to like any super who rocks a hooded shoulder cape with style.    Almost up there with the Big Red Cheese's one-shoulder half-cape look or Icon's cape of unmitigated awesomeness.
 
Amusing that Stormlord's yellow streak has managed to taint all the other weather manipulators since him.  And at 11- no less.  Man, that must be annoying.  At least she doesn't seem to be psychopathic about proving it's wrong.
 
Y'know, it took me till now to realize that even with a twenty-year time skip while Mocker was indisposed, there's still some time dilation going on.  Crisis was over forty years ago IRL, and man, do I feel old now.

For my next set I am going to do something a bit.. different.  I am going to modernize a classic villain team, and tell it as a story.
 
So I present to you:
 
The Return of the Crushers
 
Part 1
 
Date:  Unknown
 
BZZZZ.   BZZZZ.   BZZZZPPP!
 
Emergency power system online.  Diagnostics commencing.  
Legs injured.  Left arm unusable.  Sonic Emitters off line.  Memory accessed.
 
Unit Name: Mark R — Mocker?--- Yes!
 
Where is he?
Visual systems working, so he must be in darkness.  Feeling around, he figured a man sized crate.  Feels like wood.  Right arm is still functional, can he free himself?  
 
Five minutes later he was out of the box.  Apparently he was in storage in some sort of warehouse.  That looked abandoned.  Investigating, he figured this was a warehouse holding momentos from an East Coast super hero team.  Breaking into the office, he found a functioning computer and got it to function.  2021?  His last memory was 1999, he was in battle and was knocked into a major power source that overloaded all his circuits and resulted in a shut down.  He spent the next few hours to find out about history for the next 20 years.  Now onto fixing himself.
 
Fortunately the warehouse had a decent engineering bay and he was able to effect basic repairs to his legs and left arm.  Now time for upgrades.
 
His first idea was to find FIST and have him fix him up, but that would take money.  Fortunately he had a few emergency staches that he could access.  
 
Days later police had reports of a strange metallic man breaking into junk yards and old subway tunnels.  In a few cases he left some gang members and homeless people beaten and in one case dead.  And it appeared that nothing was stolen.  Something was coming!