AlgaeNymph

On 5/3/2022 at 4:37 AM, Tech said:

Be aware that in general, players strongly dislike their characters being made useless.

Obviously.  There are more powers for players.  ; )

Think of the stories!  A shutdown team practically writes itself.  Or something.  : p

looks at videos

Yeah, that's the kind of corruption V'han would go after.

12 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

As an example of the white from BOTE, on an alternate Earth the Nazis won WW II, then went on the conquer the whole planet. Aryan-looking people held all the power and privileges, while other ethnicities were subject to the oppression one would expect. Then V'han conquered that Earth. She usually allows local governments a lot of leeway to continue their function as long as they follow her general directives, but she absolutely will not stand for institutionalized racism. She rescinded the Nazis' racist policies and granted all the peoples of that world full citizenship and rights in her empire.

Which is why a better comparison for the V'hanian Empire is Achaemenid Persia, which also respected local cultures and prohibited slavery.  (Or possibly the United States at its more heavy handed...)  This segues well to my next point.

12 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Now for an example of the black, on one world she conquered, there was a region where the populace was divided along religious lines, and had been warring over that issue for generations. Despite all attempts at negotiation or enforcement, V'han could not get the factions to stop fighting each other. So she completely exterminated both groups, then opened their region to resettlement from elsewhere in the Empire.

The sad thing is that for some people, freedom and self-determination means maintaining privilege at the expense of others.  We like to depict rebel groups in fiction as akin to the Returners, but they're much more likely to be akin to the Spartans: a toxic culture with good publicity.  (There's a reason I keep linking to this video.)

And now back to the topic at hand:

17 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

[G]overnment practically speaking is bureaucracy. That's your oversight, who you have to answer to. It has its own priorities, regulations, ways of doing things, to which you're expected to conform. It has its local representatives, with whom you may or may not agree or get along. It reacts and adapts to changing situations notoriously slowly. And as steriaca says, directives from above, or the personnel in charge of your activities, can change without warning.

Thank you muchly.  : )

I'd also like to add an explanation my sweetheart gave me:

"You may have all the funding the empress can throw at you, but money isn't the solution. Imagine it like this- you play Skyrim, and have a hack for infinite Magicka.  You still need to go about casting spells for that infinite Magicka to do any good. Money is only valuable for what you can do with it, and even if it seems like there's plenty, there's always gonna be somewhere and someone else who wants it, for you to compete with."

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

If you believe there's no challenge in a government-backed project, I'm guessing you never worked for the government.

I...haven't  Can you elaborate?  Particularly in this thread's context?

Oh, now I know what I want to bring up.

Say you have a science hero(ine) who wants to reform and uplift society...except that's kind of the Empire's job.  Are they relegated to face-punching?  Or, as is my guess, are they subsumed into the government and they get to do what they wanted to anyway?  But then where would they do it?  Newly annexed worlds?  But then where's the challenge when there's government backing?

7 hours ago, Tjack said:

In what ways would this differ from a Legion of Superheroes or Imperial Guard (same thing) type campaign?

In that I'm talking about scenarios outside of military service.

When not in their mandatory -- and very well-compensated -- two decades of military service the superbeings of the V'hanian Empire engage in the standard superheroics.  However, the Empire takes very good care of its people.  (Except rebels, but the living standards raise the question of why anyone would rebel.)  So what's there to do?

18 hours ago, steriaca said:

Martial arts.

 

Power suits.

Could you elaborate?
 

17 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

I only offer it as a gateway to asking just what you mean when you say "get rid of."

Either turn them to your side, or turn them into bodies.

16 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

There's an official Champions villain, Nebula

Yeah, her power was one I definitely had at the forefront of my mind.  : )

Also, thanks for directing me to those outtakes!  I also found out that Thunderbird doesn't like Lady Blue...  : (

8 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

You might also look at the Stronghold Champions supplement detailing that super-prison (as well as describing how CU America's legal system has adapted to superhumans). That facility makes extensive use of "power negators" to render super-powers ineffectual.

I have, but I'm looking for powers on the cheap.  Suppressors cost a loootta points.

6 hours ago, Grailknight said:

Flash Attacks followed up by Blast with 3-shot Auto-Fire and Penetrating (or anything really, if you're Flashed, you've lost)

I know what Flash is but I'm unfamiliar with it in action.  Could you tell me more?

1 hour ago, Armitage said:

The article was actually about the creative use of Presence attacks.

And sometimes I get something good that I wasn't expecting.  : D

But that should be its own thread, assuming one isn't already there to search for.

Suppose I'm looking to create a team of superhumans designed to neutralize, abduct, and otherwise eliminate meddlesome superheroes...or -villains.  Because I do.  What powers and powersets would you all recommend?

On 2/1/2022 at 7:29 PM, Sketchpad said:

Howdy Herodom!

I was working on a few things and got to thinking about bases. We see so many heroes and villains statted up, but rarely do we see the bases they use. Has anyone worked on things like the Batcave? The Fortress of Solitude? A Helicarrier? Xavier's School for the Gifted? 

To directly answer your question:

The Justice Squadron's Mansion has a section in The Ultimate Base (p.86-99), and Ravenswood Academy has a whole chapter in Teen Champions (p.44-79).  The Champions themselves sort of have their base, Homestead, described, but I recall it's "just use the generic one in the guidebook" and I don't recall anything else at the moment.

To expand on this thread, something I've thought about is "what sort of base would be useful for someone who doesn't need anything?"  By which I mean a do-anything power set that doesn't require lots of stuff; a mystic master, for example, but not a gadgeteer.  I'd look at the following list:

On 2/4/2022 at 11:33 AM, Christopher R Taylor said:

They are a place to keep vehicles out of the public eye. 

They give a place for secret identities to be safe. 

They provide labs. 

They also are often used to hold captured bad guys, monsters, or equipment. 

Usually there's some kind of trophy room with the huge coin and the dinosaur. 

They sometimes give a spot for authorities or reporters to meet with the heroes who obviously don't have a beeper or any other way to contact them.

They often have some kind of medical facility for supers to be worked on without compromising their identity and dealing with their particular physiology.

They offer a location for monitoring news and events, so someone is at the Justice League monitor watching news and reports for something the league should deal with.

And modify it from there.

• Our do-anything doesn't need a vehicle, unless they have teammates who do.
• The do-anything may have a secret identity, but the base may be all-business with the civvie mask being anywhere else.
• Even if someone can conjure a lab you still need a place for all that stuff.  Same goes for prisoners, loot, and trophies.
• A public meeting spot is fine for bright & shiny types, but grim avengers prefer an e-mail in front of seven proxies.  And hidden servers away from the base.
• If the do-anything's too conked out to use their healing powers they're gonna need a medbay.
• Conjured AI can monitor the news but they'll have to be stored somewhere.  Or you can give a network of news junkies your e-mail if you can't just make minions.

What else could I add to that list?

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

Pretty long list, too. 😓

Dang, and I though you of all people would have one handy, or at least know where that thread was...

Welp, best wait and see what develops then.

As is my wont, like the straightforward title asks.  A list of villains from 4e, and listed by supplement.  Heroes too, but they're not as common, and I wanted the title to be easier to find via search engine.

I think there was a thread that answered this, but I can't seem to find it.  So much for my MLIS...

(Dang, didn't reply because I didn't have much to say, then put it off, but it's something, so...)

Thanks for the thorough-yet-concise reply!  It's certainly answered my questions with affirmative maybes.  ; )
 

I am curious who you think won the tournament in 2012.  Based on what happened to the Champions-verse (and ours) I'm guessing the Dragon won...  😞

I’m normally more specific with my topic titles but I’ve a few odd questions that don’t fit a higher theme, and may have more as I think of them.  Also, the questions assume knowledge of the source material, particularly the 4e supplement Watchers of the Dragon.  Here’re my questions, with no further adieu:

• According to the rules no high-tech is allowed in the tournament.  But what about everything else that isn’t martial arts?  No reason was given that I remember for other superpowers being disallowed, save for implied tradition.

• Related to the above, what if the fighter only uses martial arts, but they’ve been genetically enhanced?  (Teleios might enter on a lark…)

• The tournament winner’s home country becomes preeminent for the next 60 years.  What if their country is the V’hanian Empire?  Or does the boon only go to the continental level?

On 9/22/2021 at 10:08 AM, DShomshak said:

I only had to get in the head of TV versions of teens instead of actual teens.

What are TV versions like?  The only teen show I've watched was Daria.

On 9/20/2021 at 5:42 PM, DShomshak said:

A lot of times, the action came to them: Living in the X-Mansion, they were targets for all the X-Men's enemies.

Visiting jerks might be a thing. Though since the super sub-school's secret they wouldn't have reason to visit unless they had beef with Rowan, or one of the staff, or one of the students, or just wanted to get at some rich jerk through a student, or actually had a personal issue with a non-trad classmate's secret ID.

But other than that no reason to visit the school at all.

On 9/20/2021 at 6:11 PM, Jhamin said:

Headmistress Timmons has knowledge of the future and heads off serious infractions.

Oo!  Someone remembers Ms. Crone!  🤩
 

Obviously one of my favorites; I like smart kids who have it all together.  🙃

13 hours ago, DShomshak said:

It was probably the hardest campaign I ever ran -- for the high school parts

How do you mean?

Perhaps my inquiry is based on faulty assumptions but read me out.  If Orchardsville is in any way based on real-world Orchard Lake (which is about the right direction and distance from Detroit) then, unless you count the chain stores along the main street, there’s bugger-all to do unless villains hide bases there rather than any other bedroom community.

“But the action’s in Millennium City” you say.  True, it’s a relatively short (~16 mi/~25.7 km, if the distances are about the same) drive, but can your turbo teen get to the scene of the crime fast enough?  And what’s the range of your teen teleporter?  To say nothing of weekdays and curfew.  Or is it assumed the happenings’ll be in the city where our hero(ine)s’ll just happen to be?  Seems contrived even for comics.

Or, again, am I missing something?

22 hours ago, death tribble said:

Captain Thunder. Super soldier programme volunteer who was a member of Justice Force Omega. Turned from true patriotism towards to intolerance and bigotry. Fights against anything he considers anti-American.

Oo!  I can just imagine all the fanboys complaining about this making the show "too political," as if superhero comics never were.  I can also imagine all my spicy hot takes, but you can as well so I've no need to prove my point.  ; )

I'll need some time to think up a proper contribution, but...um...  Stonewall.  The gay, earthbending rock-guy.  Who was gay.  And only had plotlines related to such.  Well-meaning, but controversial due to the character's lack of depth.  Quite the shock to the creator and writer of the character, but they never looked beyond their arthouse bubble anyway.

Yes, I'm just as lazy as the show's producers.  : p

19 hours ago, Derek Hiemforth said:

It also includes some additional information on various characters from the show.

Ooo!  : )

What're they like?  What can they do?

1 hour ago, death tribble said:

First of all we need a cast of main characters and who the protagonists are going to be. Then what the main conflicts will be. How into it people will be would also be helpful.

There're at least two heroes named Templar and Charisma, and at least two villains named Pharaoh and Hecate.  The show's been around for ~20 years as of ~2006 and had an amusement part based on the show completed in late 2003 (and if only I had more information on that...), so I'd say it's fairly popular.

As for what the show's like, it started in the late 80's and is described as a soap opera, so I'm guessing it's going to be a trope opera.  Especially since Travis Garver (the players of Templar) complained (rightly) of it becoming hackneyed.  I'd draw on the X-Men cartoons for inspiration regarding character interaction (combined with the occasional romance subplot from the DCAU, and possibly latter-day redeem-the-villain cartoons), with the series taking place in the kind of standard supers setting you see in RPGs.  Since it was created for syndicated television (almost certainly by a syndicate) before the era of Web-based cultural literacy, I expect the characters to be...archetypal, to put it politely.  For plot arcs, my intuition is to look at whichever kept-on-life-support shows have been making bank for Weekly Shōnen Jump.

For those who don't have too much free time and aren't conversant in obscure and seldom-relevant lore (and you probably homebrew anyway : p), To Save The World is a soap opera in the Champions setting, even more so than the heyday of the X-Men: 

Quote

One soap opera, To Save The World, features the adventures and travails of a fictional superhero team called Justice Force Omega; hundreds of thousands of “TSTW” fans tune in every day to find out things like whether Templar will keep the Pharaoh from destroying New York and discover that his teammate Charisma is carrying his baby.  (Champions Universe, p.55)

And besides a mention in Everyman (p.24, 108) and possibly Champions Battlegrounds (which I don't have...) there isn't anything else about it that I recall.

So what?  Let's flesh it out, just for fun, based on what we know or can extrapolate.  Particularly if using the adventure seed where Menton gets too into the show...  ; )

22 hours ago, DoctorImpossible said:

[A]n easy checklist of things that campaigns should have?

Hm?  Such as?

I...don't know anything about Champions Now, or the examples given therein.

Somebody actually replied!  : D

But I wasn't thinking about lazy-to-nonexistent worldbuilding, or the monetization of sequels, so much as deconstructing what rebels are.  I should probably make it a more specifically topical thread...

Relevant for any campaign that focuses on Istvatha V'han.  ; )

I look forward to reading everyone's opinions.