Shaft

Re: Transform: Class of mind At the risk of shooting down the idea, it's probably cheaper to pay the 10 extra points for the expanded class of minds and define the special effect as an ability to change the characteristics of the target mind rather than buy the transform power and make two attack rolls (one for the transform, the other for the mind control).

Re: starter villains If you have Dark Champions: Predators, the Arsenal team is a good bet, especially if you stat out their equipment and assign points to it. They have a nice, cinematic Iron Age feel to them.

Re: Ape Name Needed You think they like wearing those monkey suits? I think they should have paramilitary uniforms in keeping with their guerilla tactics.

Re: Brains and Brawn a Villain Duo to mess with the Flag Suits. I think War Eagle would call the Media "Liberal" as opposed to "Fascists". Interesting combo. I noticed they don't have teamwork. Do you have coordinated tactics planned for them?

Re: Biggest Brains in DC I suspect the ranking is deliberately vague. Does a guy like the Spectre rate in the world or the universe? Does Darkseid count, given that he's from Apocalypse. What about Brainiac V? Is he an extra terrestrial? Does he count as a man? Is man in this case limited to humans, or all residents of Earth? What about Brainiac XIII? Does time travel make him a factor? Is Luthor smarter than Mr Terrific? Is Batman or Martian Manhunter? How do you even rate intelligence? Does tactical intelligence count, or only scientific intelligence? Does the list only include living people? What about the abstract reasoning needed to learn magic? Does that count? Not to mention, a villain's brains is related to how the writer wants him to be written for a storyarc. That may change when the writer changes. All this to say, a lot of this is going to be a case of opinion. Terminator should be on the list. Also, the Brain- if a disembodied brain counts. Oracle strikes me as "up there" too (plus there should be at least one woman on the top ten list, if not more). I'd put Batman on the list because at worst, when a complicated concept comes up, he's at least the second smartest guy in the room. Would John Constantine make the list? He constantly outwits the Lords of Hell. Brother Blood? Wow. I think I'm going to stop now...

Re: Cops & Soldiers in HERO Dark Champions: Predators has writeups for genric cops on p220 and generic soldiers on p223 as well as thugs, spies, terrorists, etc...

Re: "Superpowers" novel Another good supers novel is The Amazing Adventures of the Sensational Squirrel-Man. http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Adventures-Sensational-Squirrelman/dp/0977100553/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223239255&sr=8-1 Squirrel-Man is an obvious homage to Spider-Man, but the book is a real page turner and the writing is excellent. The novel captures the "City of Heroes" feel that makes the video game so popular.

Re: Ape Name Needed Ape-eratus.

Re: Lost in Translation Iron Man. SHIELD is a very expensive perk when you buy it as a follower.

Re: anti-Hummingbird gadget Given that her Mind Control is not telepathic, if you can prevent her from speaking, or from having her voice reach you, that might be a tactic as well. I leave it to you to decide whether pulling out her vocal cords is permissible with your CAK.

Re: Luke Cage Ferrous Fist. Hmmm... no. Five Fingers of Ferrousness. Hmmm... also no.

Re: anti-Hummingbird gadget

Re: anti-Hummingbird gadget For the record, Nerdnumber1, I know it may look like we're having an argument, but I'm actually arguing in your favour against your GM. Having said that, it's clear that you enjoy the game that you find yourself in, and seem to enjoy the challenge of matching wits against this storyline. While I would be poking holes in the storyline as is if it were presented to me, if you are enjoying it, please don't let my criticisms detract from your enjoyment of the game. Just make sure you get the experience points you deserve when this is all over.

Re: anti-Hummingbird gadget

Re: anti-Hummingbird gadget

Re: anti-Hummingbird gadget So the girls who got attacked in the first night graciously waited before reporting it? All of them? Every single one? That's not suspicious. (I'd insert a smiley here to reflect my tone, but I don't want to appear as if I'm making light of the subject of mass serial stutatory rape). Seriously, what kind of a timeline are we looking at here?

Re: anti-Hummingbird gadget Is this a case of the character not liking the situation or the player? Because if your GM is running a subplot that you're not liking out of game, you might want to let him know. I can tell you this: if the GM is railroading you, he will win. He doesn't have any point limits. 50 points with a mental attack... that's like a 14d6 EGO blast; 140 active points... Maybe your GM needs to read the rules and familiarise himself with game balance. 13,000 pregnancies? If you generously assume 1 minute per act of impregnation and include the travel time between young ladies in that minute, it still takes a little over 9 days of continuous activity... If that's what the public believes, you're not a standard metal brick. More like an automatic... On top of that, given that you are a brick, there would probably be some BODY damage. You might want to get a lawyer in game and point out these blatantly obvious facts. It sounds to me like the GM is being something of a power-tripper. I don't think anyone would think any less of you if you dropped out of the game if being accused of mass serial statuatory rape is not really your thing.

Re: anti-Hummingbird gadget The repetivitive Spy vs Spy competition gets boring after a while. As written in the book, Hummingbird isn't the type to hunt heroes either. This rivalry is obviously a facade to mask the sexual tension between you and she, so if you can't beat her, ask her out. And if you want to do it with points, buy 60 points of COM (only usable against Hummingbird -2)- this will cost you 10 real points. She has a weakness to chemicals, so your special effects can be tailored pheromones. After that, ask her if she wants to join the hero team. If she says no, offer to join GRAB and become a villain. If that splits up the party, let the GM worry about that. You just worry about properly role-playing being smitten with the lass. When the other PCs give you grief, tell them you're infiltrating GRAB. Then to prove your loyalty, kill Chesire Cat. When Hummingbird asks you "why?", tell him you suspected that he might be planning to make moves on "your gal". If any of the other members of GRAB give you grief, tell them that Hummingbird mind-controlled you to do it. Then look around nervously, say that you suspect that she might be turing all the members against one another, then twitch your head and look glazy eyed and try to give them impression that you're being mind controlled again... Then do something crazy. Seriously, I like GRAB. The problem I have with them is that they're not really bad. They're like a frat house with powers. As for your knockback power, look at using ther trigger advantage, with the trigger being the attempted use of mind control against you (you might have to buy Mental Awareness as a sense, limited to only Hummingbord's mental powers).

Re: Son/Daughter of the Destroyer To this day, Dr Destroyer still swears that he is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby. The paternity test was intercepted by UNTIL!

Re: Gamma Flight campaign images Are you (the players, that is) a group of Canadian ex-pats in NY? It's not unusual for Canadians to play a team of Americans in a US city, but it's not too often that we hear about a bunch of Yankees playing Canucks (and please don't read any backhanded USA-centricism into that). Very cool art, BTW. Repped.

Re: Order of the Stick Another new one. Looks like this is a good week for updates. http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0594.html

Re: I'm not sure how to get the PCs together! Or you wake up in transparent vats full of bacta as the villain's base is under attack. It appears that the lab in which you were being studied has lost power, and you have no recollection of the past month...

Re: I'm not sure how to get the PCs together! Here's another idea: If time travel is possible in your game, a villain from the future tries to get them all killed before they can form the team. Since they are all targets of the same plot, they compare notes and end up deciding to team up. The rest is literally history.

Re: I'm not sure how to get the PCs together! I find a good strategy is to tell the players that each character already knows 2 of the other PCs and let them figure it out. Then their relationships dictate the "pulling in". The tone changes dramatically out of the gate when two PCs have decided that they are best friends, siblings, are old army buddies, business partners or whatever.

I posted this in a thread in the General Role playing thread, but it was suggested to me that I post it as a standalone topic. The original post is here: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1690730#post1690730 Some people dislike the "complexity" of the HERO system, so this is a vbery quick and dirty stripped down version that I can suggest, though it needs a LOT of work. Feel free to offer your commentary on it, including scathing criticism. Please note that I like HERO as is, and I haven't really tested this system, so I don't have any unstated need for it to be approved. As such, feel free to be merciless in your criticism: Hero System Light: Primary Stats range from 1 to 5. Beyond 5 is superhuman and cost of stats double. STR costs 1 for 1. This is also your base PD value. DEX costs 3 for 1. This is also your OCV/DCV. CON costs 2 for 1. This is also your base ED value. INT costs 1 for 1 EGO costs 2 for 1 PRE costs 1 for 1 Average people have stats of 3. To calculate STR, subtract 1 from the value, and mutliply by 5. So a 3 STR gives a 10 STR in classic Hero. A 3 STR does 2d6 when punching. A 10 STR does 9d6 and can lift like a 45 STR in classic HERO and so on. Secondary Stats: STUN: (STRx3) + (CONx3) + EGO. REC: STR + CON. Attack Powers costs 2 points for 1d6 of effect. Defensive Powers cost 1 point per point of defense. Senses cost 2 points each for a +3 to INT when using that sense. Skills costs 1 pt and add 3 to an attribute roll (Usually Dex or Int). Additional skill levels are 1 pt per +1. Lethality is determined at Player's discretion with GM approval. To make an opposed test, roll 2d6. Attacker adds OCV and/or skill. Defender rolls DCV and/or skill. Higher roll wins. To make an unopposed skill, roll 2d6, add attribute and skill and beat 12. Damage goes directly off STUN, though you subtract PD/ED first. When Stun goes negative, you are unconcscious. If it's dramatically appropriate, that might be lethal damage. Every 10 points of STUN you lose gives you a -1 to rolls. The GM arbitrarily can give you back a number of STUN equal to your REC as he sees fit. Any time you roll snake eyes, you fail. Any time you roll double sixes, you get to roll again and add to the total. Heroic characters get 50 pts or more for higher powered games. Superheroes get 125 pts or more as the genre demands it.