Doug McCrae

Re: Teen Hero Names I got one more for the mentalist - Rapture. As in, Rapture round my finger.

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics You're right that Vigilant himself feels like a 1930s two-fisted (or two-gunned in his case, like The Spider or The Shadow) pulp hero. Perhaps like Captain America he could've been frozen in ice until 1955 or passed thru a time warp?

Re: Hero Histories based on the Ages of Comics That's really good stuff, Certified. The alien shapeshifters and Professor Storm are very Silver Age. The prof feels like a Flash villain. I've got a somewhat similar character called Professor Tumult who uses a 'hurricane gun'. Lady Wolfe, Starchild, Berserker, Behemoth, Reaper and Ur the Time God all have a great Bronze Age feel. The picture of Behemoth looks a lot like a crazy Defenders bad guy from a mystic dimension. The 1980 Far East connection is also very period appropriate, very Frank Miller. The Vengeance/Jade Empress incident looks like a homage to Bullseye/Elektra. I reread those Daredevil issues quite recently and it's an amazingly good story, very emotional. Ruby Red is the Red Skull, right? Does she switch from the nazis to the reds? I have one minor criticism - Imuthes the Mummy Lord would not be possible in 1957, as the comics code banned the walking dead. He'd have to wait until the 70s when the comics code was relaxed to rise from his tomb once more.

My current campaign has a history based on the ages of comics – Golden, Silver, etc. Appropriate characters appear in each time period. For example Golden Age superheroes are powered by chemicals, radio waves or by learning magical mysteries in Tibet. Silver Age heroes are aliens or radioactive. Communists are often involved in their origin stories. And so on. If you have created a similar campaign history, how did you approach it? Did you make any unusual decisions? I made my Superman analog, Johnny Tomorrow, a Silver Age hero rather than Golden Age for a number of reasons. As an alien, Superman's origin feels more SA than GA. The comics of the 50s and 60s were, imo the best Superman stories. The Superman that's the hero's hero, the hero against which all others are measured, is the Superman of the SA. I gave Johnny Tomorrow a mysterious death in 1963, JFK and MLK style. I always felt the best SA Superman stories are the ones where he dies, which happened quite frequently as they were all 'imaginary stories'. They're like the death of Balder. One could have a 1938 social activist Superman as well, you would if you were Warren Ellis, but I feel that Superman is a relatively minor figure. He only stayed that way for about a year, not at all necessary for a hero history. There doesn't really have to be a definite 'first superhero' at all imo, several could've appeared more or less simultaneously, it doesn't matter that much who was first.

Re: Paths Not Taken Fin Fang Foom! - When teenager Rick Jones shouts 'Fin Fang Foom!' he opens a portal to the Negative Zone and switches places with Marvel's most menacing monster. She-Skrull - Bookish lawyer Jennifer Walters is genetically modified using skrull DNA to become She-Skrull. Doomsday - This rampaging force of fury was the product of an unholy union between Trigon and his own daughter, Raven.

Re: Paths Not Taken The Green Monster - This emerald beast is the strongest, most destructive force on Earth. It lashes out against anything it perceives as a threat, its primitive mind driven only by the basest of urges - safety, food, sex. Howevever it is not truly a living creature, but a psychic construct. It is the id of Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, given physical form when he sleeps and dreams, his incredible will no longer checked by super-ego. Alternatively, in an all-Marvel universe, the Hulk could be Professor X's id, but then you lose the green connection.

Re: Mutants and Masterminds: Why did you stay/come back? My problem with HERO is too much unnecessary complexity, particularly in the damage system. Even for normal damage, calculating stun and body separately is too much. Then on top of that you have killing damage which uses a completely different system. It feels a little like AD&D 1e with separate tables for pummelling, overbearing, etc. Newer superhero systems such as M&M and SAS do all that HERO does but faster due to the lack of early 80s mechanics. The hero point system in M&M is a step forwards in terms of genre emulation, imo. In comic books the protagonists are forvever pulling new powers out of their @$$es then forgetting about them next month.

Re: Villians Unite From my current campaign: The Vegetable Collective: Army of plant monsters that attacked present-day Cuba. They were the creation of the 60s Soviet supervillain Comrade Bloom. There were several varieties or castes - thornbearers, flyers, giant city destroyers and psychic leaders - each serving a different role. From each plant according to its abilities, to each plant according to its needs. Sekhmet and the Super-Cats: Sekhmet is the mutant queen of cats. She mentally controls a force of super-cats, the descendants of Silver Age super-pet, Ralph the Tornado Cat. Sekhmet is like Tigra with psychic powers. The Tornado Cats appear to be ordinary domestic cats but they are fast, strong, can fly, fire energy blasts and have some limited wind control. Sekhmet can abide no harm to befall a cat. She sends her super-cats out to attack animal testing labs, big game hunters and the like. Dr Swarm and the Robber Flies: A sacked roboticist discovered one of the secret bases of the Silver Age Dr Swarm, a genius who created robots that resembled insects, both normal-sized and giant varieties. He had some criminal contacts and put together a team to steal cash and other advanced robots. Members included - Brobdingnagian (growth), Knives (storm of metal), Grackle (wing suit) and Checkerboard (Dr Swarm's non-powered brother). The Lightning Men: A CIA agent flying drugs out of South America happened upon a Golden Age cloud kingdom. The agent and his pilot discovered much advanced technology and the last member of the race of cloud people, Jaditheris. Waking her, they came to an arrangement to gain power and conquer together. The agent, his pilot and a hitman of their acquaintance took a lightning serum to become the Lightning Master, Bolt and Electro-Kill. Jaditheris used her natural strength and a technological wand that fired a variety of rays. The groups other resources included a monsterising ray which they used to create an army of monstermen, the tri-electric cannon, cloud conveyances and a flock of trained vultures. The Feral Assembly: Iron Age team of vicious biologically enhanced killers. They spent the last decade in another dimension but have recently returned to Earth intent on having 'fun'. Three remain - Frenzi, Kodiak and Werewolf 3000 (formerly 2000). There was also a Silver Age team of the same name which is otherwise unconnected. The earlier team were science criminals who used technology to replicate animal powers. Metaforce: Metahuman separatists who created their own island nation in the middle of the North Atlantic. Their reappearance has caused much fear and suspicion as several members were part of an Iron Age team of superheroes, Deus Ex Machina, which tried to take over the world. Wrath: Somewhere between Hydra and Al Qaida. Like Hydra, Wrath has many bases and is technologically advanced but unlike Hydra, Wrath seeks not to control the world but to destroy it. The organisation follows a twisted monotheistic religion that holds that the world is an unholy abomination in God's eyes, that most people are sinners who deserve only death. Wrath armour and weaponry often looks medieval though in reality it is highly advanced. Bronze Age villain, Frankenstein's Ghost recently worked with the group, trying to return Draugr, a rampaging unliving force of destruction, back to life.

Re: Villians Unite I think it's good to use a variety. My preference is for supervillain teams but they're more work than singletons. To be interesting a group has to be that little bit different from anything that's been done before. Teams are also slightly more interesting just due to sheer numbers and extra exoticism.

Re: Paths Not Taken Jane Anger - A Fury chosen by Nemesis travels to man's world to seek vengeance and punish the guilty. Wields a barbed whip. The Human Lantern - Scientist Phineas Horton uses a glowing green meteorite as the power source for his android. Incendiary Blonde - Scientist Phineas Horton makes a statue of a woman out of clay and brings it to life with his purple ray. A flaw in the process causes her to burn on contact with air. The Black Magician - As a child, Bruce Wayne witnesses the death of his parents at the hands of a mugger. He learns dark magic, gaining the ability to summon creatures of the night - vampires and demons - to terrify and kill criminals. Johnny America - Born on the 4th of July, Johnny discovers that when he whistles the first three bars of the Star Spangled Banner he can summon the Spirit of America. To his delight this turns out to be a young blonde woman in a skimpy costume with powers much akin to those of a genie. She appears in a cloud of sparkling stars. The Green Shield - Thousands of years ago, a green flame fell to Earth, and was worked into the form of a shield. Railroad engineer Alan Scott finds the shield and is instructed in its use by a mysterious voice. American Werewolf - Patriotic Steve Rogers is bitten by a werewolf, which he manages to kill. He decides to use his lupine powers to fight the nazis. The Vampire - Came to Earth from another world as an infant. Doctor Thomas Wayne and his wife raised the boy as their own. His otherworldly origins gifted him with incredible strength and speed. His adoptive parents admonished him to use these gifts wisely but he ignored their advice and lived a dissolute life until the age of 21, when he received a telegram saying they had been killed in a hold-up gone wrong. He resolved to put his powers to good use – crimefighting. Realising that criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot, he uses his strange abilities to pretend to be a vampire. The Blazing Ghost – Iola, a witch burned at the stake, uses flame to take revenge on evil-doers and send them to hell. Captain Atlantis - Namor Mckenzie, a sickly Atlantean of mixed race, is given a super serum so he can fight for his people. He wields a net and trident made of a special metal.

Re: Paths Not Taken Namor's amnesia is never cured. His great strength and fighting prowess earns him the nickname 'Captain America' among New York's transient community. Dr. Otto Octavius builds a heavily shielded suit of power armor to allow him to work with radioactive materials. He becomes known as Lead Man. Loki forms a group of superheroes, The Avengers, to battle his violent and aggressive half-brother. Membership includes: Giantess (Loki's lover, Janet Van Dyne, gifted with the ability to grow to giant size via the norse god's magics), Fly Man (Loki, using his powers to transform into a fly), Lead Man, The Incredible Hulk and Captain America (Namor)

Re: Paths Not Taken Resolving to fight crime after the death of his uncle, Peter Parker realises that spiders are a scary, unpopular animal. Revealing the source of his power will likely result in bad press. He names himself Lion-Man.

Re: Teen Hero Names My suggestions: Alien metamorph - Prettypink Were-rottweiler - Molossus or Weredog Mentalist - Lockstep, Trance or Bliss Fire-themed energy projector - Wicked Burn Brawler with mystical artifact - Beatdown or Smashmouth Water-powered energy projector/metamorph - Flood. Punky/rebel alternative - Enema Punk rocker/brick - Dr F-kk or Munkif-kk

Re: Teen Hero Names For me the biggest factor with names is the time period - Golden Age, Silver Age, Iron Age, etc. Naming styles change a lot through the ages. You wouldn't really have a character called Voodoom the Living Zombie these days, but at one time it was all the rage. Is your game set in the 80s? It sounds like it might be, with the Molly Ringwald thing, but the name Dot Fusion makes it sound more contemporary. Teenagers are people too. They might have kewl names if they're kewl or nerdy names if they're nerdy and so on. Of the names you have: Dot Fusion - Excellent, do not change this Backdraft, Gauntlet, Riptide - Yawn. Riptide was used for a Youngblood member. Attitude - Bad name, this guy should have something both better and kewler.

Re: Heroes from All Fifty States I called my version Deseret.

Re: Comic Book (genre) Conventions that don't work in Champions 1. Cosmic crossovers featuring dozens of superheroes. 2. A superhero is more powerful in his own comicbook. 3. Fights are often 'equalised' to make them more dramatic ie the more powerful side becomes weaker, the less powerful becomes stronger. 4. Superhero reveals a new superpower to get the writer out of a hole, then forgets about it for the next 100 issues. Or forever. 5. Characters with no decent defences, such as Cyclops, don't just die. Instead the bad guys shoot Colossus. 6. No one really minds that a character used to be a criminal, or a Russian spy, or went mad and tried to destroy the universe. Everyone can join the team. 7. Batman can always figure out the Riddler's riddle. 8. Arkham Asylum's revolving door. I think it can annoy players if villains escape as frequently as they do in comics. 9. Blue on blue. Superhero versus superhero violence. 10. Anything Silver Age. It's really hard for players to get Silver Age imx, Iron Age seems a lot more natural. 11. Cliffhanger endings. Much harder to achieve in a rpg than a comic. Pacing in general is much more fluid in rpgs. 12. Villain gets away. Any kind of inconclusive fight, very common in comics (particularly blue on blue fights) is a lot harder to do in rpgs. 13. Retrofits. 14. Highly mobile fights. 15. Variety in fights. Combatants don't just use their best attack over and over and over again.

Re: Golden Age resources: whatever you can think of. Jess Nevins Golden Age Heroes Directory http://ratmmjess.tripod.com/gold/page.html Golden Age Comic Cover Gallery http://www.samuelsdesign.com/comics/

Re: The Hero Forum's Hottest Woman in Comics. Woof!

Re: Maxim's Hottest Comic Females I'm a big fan of Joe Chiodo's girl art. Not work safe.

Re: The Hero Forum's Hottest Woman in Comics. Moondragon

Re: Name That Cult Science Faction Of the suggestions so far, Skelterites is a very good one, or [villain's surname]ites.

Re: Where did all the Great Ones go? World building. In previous campaigns I've often removed the Great Ones by killing them off. There are a few reasons why one might not want to though: 1) PCs are second stringers or occupy a niche the big players don't. 2) PCs are supervillains. 3) Game is set in the Iron Age and focuses on superhero vs superhero conflict. This conflict could be over a variety of issues - mutants vs non-mutants, young vs old, killers vs non-killers, pro vs anti-registration or heroes meddling in politics as in Squadron Supreme or Watchmen.

Re: The downsides of the Iron Age The best Iron Age comics imo are Miracleman, Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Marshal Law (especially the first 6 issues - they're perfect), Astro City, Supreme, Alan Moore's Judgement Day and his short run on Youngblood. Though not in the same league, I'm a big fan of Zenith, Byrne's She-Hulk, Flex Mentallo, Busiek's runs on Avengers and Defenders, Atomic City Tales, Alias and Eightball, if it counts as Iron Age. The worst are generally the late 80s/early 90s plotless ultraviolence and the later shock tactics that Moore satirises in Supreme with his reference to the 'Omnidog rape scene'. Specific examples of the former include X-Force and Youngblood. The latter includes everything written by Mark Millar.

Re: The downsides of the Iron Age

Re: Power source or origin by era Good point about Golden and Silver Age cyborgs, I'd forgotten about Robotman. Like mutants, cyborgs became much more common in the Iron Age. Another one from the GA and SA only is being 'evolutionarily advanced'. This usually implies increased physical ability and mental powers like telepathy. It was Superman's first origin.