Doug McCrae

I'd like to see bricks with DEXs of 10 instead of 18, but they just wouldn't be effective in combat. In fact, even 18 is a bit low. The rules fail to support the genre. Example: Cyclops written up in Champions would no doubt have a decent DEX. 20-26, lets say. But in the group fight scenes that's not how Cyclops avoids getting shot. The Beast dodges - that's his schtick. Colossus and Wolverine soak up the damage - that's their schtick. Kitty turns intangible. But Cyclops just doesn't get shot at! It doesn't make any sort of real world sense, but that's how it works in the comics.

Some villains from my most recent campaign, set in the UK: Sidhe Hulk - Monstrous, muscular fae Haemogoblin, the Blood Boggart The Beast of Brent - an oil monster Mother Goose and her Rhymes of Crime Elephant & Castle - Small-time, thuggish duo from London. Vermiflame - A dragon. No pun, I just like the sound of it. Some other characters I haven't used yet, but like the names a lot: Shadow Boxer (I thought of it first!) - Golden Age Wildcat/Atom-type superhero The Phantasmic Four Whistlin' Dixie, and her partner Southern Bell - One has a magic whistle, the other a magic bell. Their comic is called Bells & Whistles. The Underlings - minions of a Moleman-type.

Nice one.

In the past I've quite often started with the name but I'm planning to do that less, in favour of concept first ie 'cheerleader sorceress' or 'dark speedster'.

Robert Mayer's Super-Folks, published in 1977. I've never read it, but apparently it was very influential. I've just realised this was the book Al_Beddow was referring too, the one with the 'Cronkite'.

Boy Interrupted

Reign of Steel vs. Reign of Skull

A lot of good posts in this thread. Castaigne's munchkin advice was particularly fine, I thought, except for his idea about buying every defence being more cost effective than DEX. I'd have said the reverse was the case. A few minor additions: 1) REC is still overcosted at 2 for 1. So buy it down. Only gets you big points if you're a brick though. 2) I like OIHID with Instant Change. All your powers become 20% cheaper with no drawback whatsoever (unless you're Billy Batson...) 3) For non-bricks, EC and/or Multipower are a must. I'd put both attacks AND movement powers, though not defences, in the MP. You can half-move, switch the points in the MP, and still attack.

Only 2 pointers. 9 points spent on DEX gets you +1 OCV, +1 DCV and saves you 3 points on your SPD, so effectively you're getting +1 CV for 3 pts. You also get +3 DEX 'for free' allowing you to go sooner in combat and giving higher skill and DEX rolls. DEX is way better than skill levels unless you just want a huge OCV with one attack. I'd advocate going for a high DEX, almost always. It's just too good.

Is Black Mask X like the Weapon X revelation - it really means Weapon 10?

Re: Team Leaders? Champions combat is a wargame and people who are good at it are those who are good at wargames - counting hexes, calculating multipliers, etc. Some people just aren't good at that kind of thing.

Re: Global Supers Demographics No wonder the Iraqis lost the war.

How many Wolverines can be on a team? If it's the majority then you're not really playing a mainstream superhero game any more.

Re: The unified origin conundrum... Less fun, more plausibility. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

The DC/Marvel universes have gotten so filled with weird stuff because of the sheer volume of comics published, the need to find new opponents and situations. Unless your game runs as long as those universes, you'll probably be OK with a unified origin.

Naah. It would be business as usual in the real world every time some new phenomenon pops up - some good would come of it, some bad would come of it, but *always* the world becomes more complex.

Paranormals as WMDs! That's a really cool idea and I don't think it has been done before. Sure we've had superheroes as persecuted minority but we haven't had superheroes as WMDs. Produced by governments, possibly 'loaned' to terrorist groups. The most potent, the equivalent of nuclear weapons, were only unleashed once, against Japan in WW2. Since then they have been idle, the destruction (or creation) of mountains/forests/rivers in remote areas of the globe signifying tests of these mighty beings. The USA has the most of course (they always do). The major powers of the world act in concert to thwart superhuman production by 'rogue nations'. Evidence is argued over, a nation could even be invaded over it. Imagine - Hans Blix and a team of inspectors discover a girder bent into a knot; a discarded suit, hat and pair of spectacles; some partially dissolved webbing. Eye witnesses report a man shouting a word that sounded like 'Shaboom', 'Shazman' or something similar, followed by a clap of thunder. The US thinks this is clear evidence of a breach of UN resolutions. France stall, they say it isn't conclusive and want to give the inspectors more time. That's why the Israelis bombed that Iraqi nuclear plant in 1980(date?). Every child knows radiation creates superhumans and has done since the 40s. The Iraqis were deliberately exposing soldiers to radioactive material.

Earth in the present day is my favourite setting for any roleplaying game, including superhero. Your players will be familiar with it (I hope) and you don't have to do a lot of research.

Re: Too General/Nebulous or Specific Part 6 I think some of those (a minority mind you) are good names! Redoubtable I'd change to Redoubt, becoming a slow-moving tough guy with a name akin to Fortress, Bastion or the like. Round Robin is my favourite! Calls to mind a Bouncing Boy-type character. Sap (which I think may have been one of mine originally) is used in the sense of drain or a thug's weapon, not the stuff that flows thru plants. Scholar is perfectly serviceable. Reminds me of Savant in Alan Moore's WildCATS. I like Shangri La even though it's a place name. You're right the character's gotta be a hippy. The rest aren't much cop. I still like Science Assassin (another one of my babies) but it may be too weird for some tastes.

For the past four or five years, my wider gaming circle has lacked any recognised leader (I'm talking about players here, not characters) and I think the games have suffered for it. Everyone goes their own way or splits up into ones and twos. My gaming group are, for the most part, anti-authoritarian, left-wing and value personal freedom very highly. (Their own, not other people's). They are not team players, they have no concept of team. I don't know if these people should even be playing role-playing games.

What if the character is a good tactician, but the player isn't?

Inherited wealth.

Reminds me of the wonderfully named 'Aryan Thrust' - gay nazis from Frank Miller's Give Me Liberty

In the comic books, I think asians tend to be bad guys - Yellow Claw, Mandarin - while blacks are good guys. Some of it goes back to the Yellow Peril concept. The WW2 Golden Age comics were completely racist towards the Japanese. Japs got worse treatment than Germans, I think, presumably because of Pearl Harbour.

The Justice League of America: It's OK to be an alien, provided you're a white alien.