Dynamo

Re: Unknown reasons

 

Originally posted by death tribble

Right. This bunch I have no idea about. None of them are ones I know anything about so I can't complain or urge that they go in. They may easily fail the genre test but I include them for completeness sake.

 

*List omitted*

All of these except Hodmandod are effectively nonsense words without translations provided. Hodmandod got cut because Snail is a lousy super name.

Re: Old Champs Names

 

Originally posted by death tribble

The latest installment. These are all names that were used in previous editions of Champions for groups like Eurostar, Clown and Voice for example. For this reason I think they fail to qualify. However some of the names have already got through being (I believe) fairly generic ie Frost and Goshawk. Some of the ones here like Requiem and Scatterbrain might thus make it on but I don't think Arrowhead and Death Commando would. Be that as it may here is the list.

 

*list omitted*

Early in the original thread on the old boards, we decided to leave out the names from previously published Champions supplements until it was verified that the characters were still extant on 5e Champions Earth, since the list was originally intended as a conceptual experiment within that setting. That's why Steve's super names make the list regardless of any rule they might break. Heck, he even got in a duplicated pair, Thunderbolt 1 & 2.

 

Many of the more generic names (e.g. Juggernaut) that have seen publication in 4e (and prior) books made the list, as I could easily believe any claims of originality or prior art on the part of the contributor.

 

Are we looking at the same list? Requiem and Scatterbrain are on the list posted here.

Roundup

 

edit: List deleted. Updated roundup posted.

Last we heard, Ben was working on ways to make the content from the old boards available to us in a useful format.

Still, I would keep give the final construct much thought before permitting it and would likely require that the "death upon destruction" clause be replaced by a period of even greater weakness until a replacement could be crafted.

Superman and Aquaman at least suffer a period of weakness during their countdown to destruction, so as characters in RPG, they would suffer an inconvenience for their points.

Maybe it's a little harsh, but I wouldn't give him any breaks for the "dies if items is destroyed" weakness. Think about it.

 

It's a one-shot weakness. Whether expressed as a Disadvantage or a Limitation, you can only exploit it once, and then the character is out of play. Until then, it's free points.

 

NIMG

Re: Teen heroes and Villians

 

Originally posted by PhantomGM6101

Prince SAGA

AXE

I notice that SAGA and AXE are all caps. Are they acronyms? If so, please post the full version along with the acronym.

Re: Rejected or Missing Names Part 1

 

Originally posted by death tribble

Here is the first batch of rejected or missing names. these are all places or people and I am assuming that they were rejected for this reason. I will warn you now that the Silly Name one is quite big. These did not seem to qualify for that so I put them here instead.

 

*LIST OMITTED*

 

In the case of the German battleships they were named after famous Germans ie Scharnhorst and Gniesenau were active in the Napoleonic wars.

The majority of these were axed for being genre-inappropriate. Some failed the proper name test. Some were merged with other similar entries (e.g. Wild Bill Hancock is on the list as Wild Bill, which is more genre-appropriate).

 

I'm aware of the German naval ship naming tradition, but that doesn't make a name genre-appropriate. There are no superheroes named George Washington Carver or supervillains going by Benedict Arnold, despite their historical significance.

 

Regions as name got the axe for the same reason. Captain America doesn't go by America now that he's a civilian. Though, that made me think to throw Deutchland back in as Hauptmann Deutchland.

 

I put Commander ZZak back in. He edges into my silly name filter, but only barely.

 

Feel free to post the list of silly names, and I'll review it. But I stand by the silly name filter. See my earlier posts on the subject.

 

Fresh roundup tomorrow with the above changes and some brainstorming I did last week for "power armor"-type names.

Re: missing or rejected 2

 

Originally posted by death tribble

I believe that these were rejected on the grounds that they are or were under copyright to another company (gaming or otherwise)

 

*LIST OMITTED*

Some of these got axed for being genre-inappropriate, but most for being unoriginal.

Re: missing or rejected 3

 

Originally posted by death tribble

I believe that these gun related ones were rejected for that reason. Why I don't know but would appreciate confirmation that this is the reason that these did not make it onto the list.

 

AK47

AK74

BAR

Luger

Kalashnikov

Martini Henry (rifle)

Mauser

M16

Smith

Sten

Wesson

Yup, whacked these for being genre-inappropriate.

Re: Missing Master Criminals

 

Originally posted by death tribble

We have Moriarty and Fantomas on your list. Both are major master criminals from popular fiction. But two others are missing.

Fu Manchu or Dr Fu Manchu

and Dr Mabuse.

Both have been in films and Fu Manchu is in books by Sax Rohmer. I cannot speak for Mabuse as he is German and I have never seen English translations of any books about him.

Any plans to exclude either or both of these notables ?

Moriarty got the nod for obvious reasons.

 

Fantomas went back in after you mentioned him the first time because a quick web search revealed him to be a popular literary character, a fact I'd not known when I axed him the first time, thinking it was just a nonsense word.

 

I left out Fu Manchu for the same reason I left out Thor, overdone. In my opinion, the good doctor failed the originality test.

 

When I do a web search for Mabuse, the only sites on the first page of the search engine results in English are for a German R&D corporation and a Flemish renaissance painter, so Mabuse got the axe. Looking further after you brought him up again, I found more appropriate sites, but still wasn't inclined to include him, as he didn't seem a good name choice for a comicbook genre super. Then I found this at dvdjournal.com. OK, I'm convinced.

I've played a few hyper-intelligent characters in the past, and I've never had any problem being a push-over in combat, though one of them never actually entered melee. Oversight was a communication-optimized telepath/remote-viewer who provided tactical overwatch to the team and had a number of powers usable by others at range through mental contact to simulate insightful tactical advice. I had just finished a long period of playing a front-line brawler and wanted a new challenge. It worked out well and I never got bored during combat despite not once rolling damage dice.

 

Another was Jim Samson the World's Smartest Man. Originally made as a throw-away character for a high-point game, Samson was actually a lot of fun to play, with powers bought to represent figuring things out almost before they happen. Things like Penetrating HtH Attack (hitting them where it hurts), Nonpersistent 75% Damage Reduction (saw it coming), and a "Be Prepared" Gadget Pool to simulate "It just so happens I dropped by last night and left a few surprises in case things got ugly."

 

You do have to be careful not to step on the other PCs toes when it comes to non-combat skills. I played Samson with a guy who wanted to play a Batman-esque brillliant detective, so I steered clear of investigation skills. We both took very high Deduction skills though, so we had a lot of "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" (Good thing Pinky & the Brain hadn't debuted yet.)

Originally posted by MisterVimes

Who WAS that Un-named, un-masked man whoopin of (at the time) un-named Holocaust?

I seem to remember him being named somewhere in the credits, but I can't check because my copy of 1e went to a friend who couldn't afford 3e.

Not until you suggested it.

 

And now that you mention it, I bet it would rock.

 

Everyone point your browsers at:

moo3.quicksilver.com/game/index.html

and marvel at the great back story.

I'd like to say that if I were traveling Europe, I wouldn't be looking for game stores, but I know myself better than that.

 

*sigh*

 

Originally posted by Nato

OK, I think I talked myself through it. I'm fairly certain I'd know how to run that scenario now.

I'm so pleased we could be of assistance.

Here's one I've been working on. It's not done yet and the breakdown of normal v. resistant defenses is still a little clunky, but the characteristic costs work and it auto-figures Str dice and lifting and the like. It's configured for printing back-to-back, hence the uneven side margins.

Have you considered Healing with the Regeneration option, Resurrection adder, Resurrection Only and Extra Time limitations, and possibly another limitation/advantage to change it to a "reincarnation" model?

 

Being able to specify the body you're going to "reincarnate" into may be problematic, as that implies that the target might be an established NPC who may not consent to the possession, making the whole thing an attack. However, if the subject were willing or is always assumed to be an abstract part of the character's background (or maybe a DNPC) rather than an NPC with another campaign role, I wouldn't see a problem.

 

HERO rather specifically doesn't handle the matter of the soul at all. That sort of thing is purposefully left undefined in the system so that individual campaigns can feature different takes on the subject without impacting the game mechanics.

 

Defining "soul mechanics" would be a mistake for a game designer trying to produce a universal rules engine like HERO. Advice to help the GM do so would logically be found in an appropriate genre book (something I'm hoping will appear in Fantasy Hero), and a specific setting book might define the nature of a soul if it were central to the setting, like in White Wolf's World of Darkness setting, and might provide game mechanics for the purpose.

 

As for the changing physical attributes, I'd file that under "radiation accident" and leave it off the character sheet. If your GM insists on making you pay for it, try selling back all your physical characteristics to zero and put them into a Power Pool with enough points to pay for whatever other physical capabilities come with the new host body. This would require GM permission, but with a Change Only After Death and Resurrection limitation he/she should be OK with it.

If your team gadgeteer proudly displays his complete collection of past Mechanon versions...

If Teleios drops by the base to swap recipes...

If Eurostar packs it in and offers an apology when you arrive on the scene...

 

...you might be overpowered.

Re: Corrections (?)

 

Originally posted by death tribble

Kamikaze is down twice at 2351 and 2352

 

Killowatt is 2402 but Kilowatt is 2405. What's the difference ?

 

Lastly 4795 Titania. How can she be King of the Fairies and Husband of Titania ? (OOOPS !!)

Thanks.

 

Yanked the extra Kamikaze from my master file (along with the extra Mind Blade noted above).

 

Kilowatt and Killowatt both stay, since they are distinct, one being spelled correctly and the other extending the first syllable to "Kill", substantially changing the connotations of the name by giving it a psycho quality.

 

Fixed Titania on the master file. I must have been getting tired and just copy/pasted from her hubby Oberon and forgot to edit.

 

I'll be dropping off the boards for a couple days, so don't think I'm just ignoring your next few posts. I'm so sick, I'm lucky I didn't have to take a nap while typing this. Judging from how long my wife was down with this crud, I should be back on Sunday.

 

Oog. Somebody wake me when the floor stops tilting.

The Santa Claus Gang

 

For a tongue-in-cheek holiday-themed adventure I've run a few times, I use the Santa Claus Gang. There are either 7 or 8 members, depending on how deep a plot I want (see notes about Rudolph), all based on the names of Santa's reindeer. The members of the gang all grew up as orphans, and they go on a minor crime-spree robbing toy stores to deliver massive crates of gifts to orphanages across the state. They mean well and are all actually decent people (except Rudolph).

 

Comet - forcefield-protected flyer specializing in move-throughs.

 

Cupid - martial artist with a hand crossbow, bolts tipped with emotion-affecting drugs.

 

Donner - brick with thunder-based HtH attack.

 

Blitzen - electrical energy projector.

 

Dancer/Prancer - duplicating martial artist with loads of levels coordinating with herself.

 

Dasher - speedster

 

Vixen - superhumanly beautiful minor brick who's actually a vulpine variation on a World of Darkness werewolf.

 

Rudolph - very high-powered light-based energy projector. I use Rudolph to force the PCs to team up with the still conscious members of the gang when he goes berserk with power and becomes a menace to public safety. Then the players don't feel bad when Big Toys Inc. declines to press charges for PR reasons and the gang goes free.

Originally posted by Gargoyle

Going through the list, I saw that theres both a Mindblade and a Mind Blade.

Thanks. I'll yank the dupe in the next roundup.

Re: Non-alpabetical ordering

 

Originally posted by Doug McCrae

I propose two other kinds of ordering:

• Power base - Categories could include Fire/Heat, Cold, Animals, Weapons and the like.
  
• Period - Golden Age, Silver Age, modern.

The problem with a system like that is that a given name can carry different connotations for different people. Even if I were omniscient and could predict every useful category that others might attach to each name, the list would balloon out of control as each entry would have to appear in several places.

 

Perhaps in the future, the list might be taken to a database format that would allow each name to have several keywords attached in aid search by theme, era, style, double entendre, or what have you. But that would require that every be able to access the same database format, and that's probably not happening any time soon.

 

On my Skills-to-Acquire-Soon list are SQL and some other database-oriented skills, both because they interest me and because they're in the second half of the IT program I'm taking in the evenings. So later this year, I may import the list into an open format that will let me render an alphabetical list for plaintext posting with the raw file attached for those with the right database capability.

 

For now, there is only one organization that allows each name to be listed only once and still maintain the list in a reasonable order, and that's alphabetically.

Re: Kitchen Woman

 

Originally posted by zornwil

What a bizarre rule. This is your game so no objection, just strikes me as odd, given in particular that Too Much Coffee Man is one of the coolest names out there and a decent book.

That was more of a tongue-in-cheek expression of a much more subjective selection system. Project 3000, as I stated at the opening of the thread, began as an effort to name enough supers to populate Champions Earth, which is a serious comicbook setting. To that end, I felt that outright silly or stupid names just didn't belong.

 

Don't get me wrong. I really like Too Much Coffee Man, but when in comes to serious settings, it doesn't even make the list.

 

I would prefer to make the current list a tool for more serious games. When I get prospective players who are new to the genre, I'd like to able to hand them a printout of the list and not wind up with a bunch character names that sound like rejects from The Tick. Players who prefer silly names and character themes don't need help coming up with them, but newbies could use an aid that doesn't give them the wrong impression.

 

I hope this helps explain my selection criteria without alienating any would be contributors.