BoloOfEarth

Re: Paralysis Ray: Would you allow this? Oh, and I'd strongly consider adding some sort of Limitation "Power DEF adds to EGO for breaking free" (rather than Mental DEF adding to EGO like straight mental entangles might have).

Re: Paralysis Ray: Would you allow this? Couldn't you just drop the BOECV instead of adding the Mental Powers Based on CON? That said, I'd allow it, though at 3d6 with 2 DEF instead of 2d6 with 3 DEF. If there's no reasonable way for it to be removed, anyone with 10 EGO would be stuck forever in a 3 DEF mental entangle (barring the presence of a mentalist). At least with 2 DEF, someone could feasibly push their EGO and get out within a turn or two.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Quotes from last night's Champions game, part 2 (hey, I had to go to work!) Using Synergy's modified magic detector, the heroes were homing in on Hix whenever she used the Coin of Power, an evil magical artifact. GM: The three different headings point west to New Mexico. Specifically, the town of Socorro. Serendipity: Where's that? GM: South of Albuquerque. Serendipity (mentally picturing a map of New Mexico) You mean... GM: Yep. You have to take a left at Albuquerque. The heroes discovered that Hix was also being tracked by a pack of bloodthirsty creatures (actually, Blood Hounds out of Viva Muerte! in Digital Hero #44 -- shameless plug). The heroes spotted several Blood Hounds climbing up the mesa cliff, very stealthy and using cover, making them hard to spot. They also saw Hix, relaxing under the awning of an RV sitting in the middle of the mesa top. Synergy (to PRIMUS Lt. Tinsdale): You're not heavily armed -- do you want us to drop you off back here while we go in? Sentinel: What, leave him in the desert, where who knows how many more of those creatures may be lurking around? Synergy : Well, the last time Hix saw Tinsdale, she did throw him 50 meters up in the air... Tinsdale: Hix was one of my teammates. If it's all the same, I'll go up with you. (mutters) I swear, when I went through PRIMUS training, they must have surgically removed my self-preservation instinct. Serendipity: At the very least, they cut it in half... With the creatures almost to the top of the mesa, Styx leapt up to warn Hix, hoping she wouldn't just blast him. Styx (landing, then walking up to the RV as casual as possible): Hey, Hix, got another beer? Hix: Sure. Styx: (sits in a chair next to her, drinks some beer) By the way, there's a bunch of wild, genetically-modified creatures heading up here. Hix: That's a funny way to refer to a PRIMUS assault squad. Styx: Actually, the PRIMUS agents are waiting about two miles out that way. (gestures to the west) Now, *these* things (gestures toward the edge of the mesa), I don't know where they came from, but they're not PRIMUS. The heroes battled and defeated the Blood Hounds, then Styx went back to talking to Hix while his teammates picked up the fallen Hounds. Hix: Why should I give up the Coin? I've finally got some power. No more following orders for me. Styx: Hey, I did the whole "honor and country" thing too, once. Believe me, I know how you feel. (winces in frustration when he feels Hix start to rummage around in his memory) Hey, behave... Hix replays Styx's memories of the incident where he "died" trying to protect a woman and child from a group of gunmen. The woman ended up dead and the child missing. Styx: (shrugs) Well, you've gotta admit, I tried. Styx: I'm telling you, that coin is trying to twist your mind. The one I took from Ravager is trying to do the same thing to me. It's not good. Hix (holds out her right hand, the coin shining in her palm): So, you want to take this one from me? Styx (shrugs): Only if you want to give it to me. Hix: Tell you the truth... (the "coin", actually just an illusion, disappears from her right hand) ...I was betting you'd try to disarm me. (Holds up the actual coin in her left hand and stares at it for a moment) If you don't mind, I'd like some time to think about it. Alone. Styx: Sure, no problem. Need some help moving the RV? Hix: No thanks, I've got it. (She and the RV both disappear.)

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From last night's Champions game: Heroes are trying to track down Sgt. Hix, a female PRIMUS agent friend of theirs that acquired an evil magical artifact and is now a semi-supervillain. Hix's former commanding officer and the PCs' PRIMUS contact, Lt. Tinsdale, informs them that PRIMUS learned Hix is visiting a former Marine colleague, Sgt. Robert Tollman. Tinsdale: "Tollman knew that Hix is wanted, so he left the room and called the Denver PRIMUS base. When the first assault squad arrived, Hix apparently went psycho and blasted Tollman through the wall. He's in ICU at St. Mary's." Sentinel: "He called in PRIMUS, with her still there? What was he thinking?" Squeeze: "He's a Marine. That's why they're 'The Few.'" Sentinel is trying to get in to see Tollman and heal him, but the doctor doesn't trust her radiation powers and won't let her do that. Squeeze: "Tell him we'll get him disbarred and thrown out of court." Styx: "Want me to club him and dump him in a dumpster?" Sentinel (to Squeeze): "We can't do that!" (to Styx) "And no clubbing!" (to Squeeze again) "Wait a sec... disbarred?! He's a doctor, not a lawyer!" Squeeze: "I wondered if you'd catch that." Dr. Stroder: "He's my patient, so unless he becomes conscious and authorizes it, or his family insists I allow it, I can't let you do anything to him." Styx: "...dumpster..." Squeeze: "...disbarred..." Sentinel: "Stop it, both of you!" Styx and Synergy are at the scene of Hix's fight with PRIMUS, and Styx realizes the Coin of Power he had swallowed months ago (he doesn't digest) might be used to track Hix's Coin of Power, if Synergy modifies the Magic Detector in his gadget pool. Styx (turns to Synergy and says in a low and slightly suggestive voice): "Wanna do some analysis of my biodigestive system?" Synergy (not understanding what Styx is talking about): "What?!" Misc PRIMUS agent: "That's gotta be the strangest pickup line I've ever heard."

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Two words: "flammable underwear" NT: So, what did you do to earn lightning strikes, 72 raisins, "flammable underwear", or spending a week trapped with Paris Hilton?

Re: Trick Arrow Villain? EMP Arrow II: Drain END, Electrical only Paint Arrow II: Dispel Invisibility, 1 hex area Glitter Arrow: Images, 1 hex area, -0 to PER, 1 phase duration. That's all it does, but won't it make anybody in the glittered area paranoid trying to figure out what it "really does"? Neurotoxin Arrow I: Suppress Danger Sense (or some other odd innate power, or DEX), 0 END Persistent; the chemical (or alchemical) compound in the arrow interferes with the hero's nervous system. Psychotropic Arrow: Mental Illusions, based on CON Jammer Arrow: Suppress Radio, AOE (if the hero team is known to communicate and coordinate by radio) Plas-Stick Arrow: Entangle, Explosion, Sticky As a side note, I'd have the villain hide various arrowheads on him, in case the heroes just take his quiver and think they've disarmed him. Perhaps some disad on the Multipower or VPP, Range Based on STR Without Full Arrows and Bow, even more limited Charges. Also perhaps give him a Martial Art based on using his bow to Block, Disarm, Legsweep, and maybe a defensive Strike.

Re: Brainstorming a mystical superhero mansion I'd include some oddness that won't (necessarily) affect game play: Doors that only work if a specific person or type of person (only the butler, or only women) opens them. Magical creatures taking a "shortcut" through the mansion. (For example, a gnoll or wood elf comes through one door, waves at the heroes as he walks across the hall, and exits through another door, but when they check both doors, they reveal the normal rooms, both empty.) A book in the library that details the team's exploits -- and automatically updates itself. Distant echoes of music (from different periods) play in various rooms at various times. A hallway with no light, that allows no light (flashlights go out, candles and other flames automatically extinguished, etc.). The heroes can feel suits of armor in a few spots, paintings on the wall, and so on... but all crumble to dust while being removed from the hallway, and immediately reappear in their original positions just fine. Only one doorway in that hall, exact center of the darkness, but the door won't open.

Re: Secret Identities and Teammates As the GM for most of the past 18 years, I've rarely gotten to create Champions characters for myself. When I did, I had a Secret ID mainly because it's a genre convention. After trust is established (though I'm a pretty trusting person, so this doesn't take long), just because it makes life easier. Thus far, yes. Not forcibly, though I've set up situations where revealing a SID was a logical, even preferable, choice. I've also asked in-game, GM to player, whether a given PC has revealed his/her SID to any or all of the other PCs. I ran one Champions campaign years back where the PCs were all anti-PRIMUS, and one player's character died in battle, so for a new character he created an undercover PRIMUS agent assigned to infiltrate the team. He revealed his "secret identity" (I think it was actually a false one) to his teammates, but neither the characters nor the other players ever knew the truth about him, even to this day. As far as you and the player in question, if I were in your situation I'd point out to him that my character would, in time, most likely reveal his identity to his teammates, and the same likely applies to the other player characters. So the other player just needs to be patient and let time take care of it. Him forcing the issue (with the GM or the other players) would just cause problems, both between characters and between players. While the first of those offers good RP opportunities, the second will only offer bad feelings.

Re: Are all the good names really takes? You could always be contrary, and call the growth character Tiny. As to the archer, perhaps adding some descriptor to "bow" or "arrow" or "quiver", such as Scarlet Bow or Straight Arrow.

Re: Jokes An Army and a Navy guy were in the men's bathroom at the same time. Both used the urinals, and the Army guy started to walk out without first washing. "In the Navy, we wash our hands after we go to the bathroom," said the sailor with a smirk. "In the Army, we don't pee on our hands," replied the soldier as he continued to walk out the door.

Re: Jokes A man called his dentist and asked, "How much to get a root canal?" "Oh, that'll be $1,500," said the dentist. "Ouch, that's too much. Any way you can do it cheaper?" The dentist thought a moment. "Well, I could have my assistant do it for $1,250." "Still too much." "Okay, how about a dental school student, as practice. Then it'd cost about $1,000." "Well, that's still more than I wanted to pay. Say, how much if you don't use any painkiller?" "Are you nuts?" asked the dentist. "The pain would be phenomenal!" The man replied, "Let me worry about that. How much would it cost?" "Without any painkillers, and with a student doing the root canal, it would run you about $600." "Sounds fine," said the man. "When can you schedule my mother-in-law to come in for it?"

Re: Dumbest thing... At the time, however, they weren't presenting it as a tall tale, but as a real event.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat

Re: Dumbest thing... My vote for "truly stupid" goes to the issue of Marvel Team Up where Hercules towed the island of Manhattan back into place with a *big* chain (someone moved the whole island, but I can't remember who or why or how). IIRC, I don't think the issue was done as parody or humor (like the MTU with Aunt May as Golden Oldie, teamed up with a young Franklin Richards to keep Galactus from eating Earth), and I don't believe it was Assistant Editor's Month either. Just plain dumb.

Re: The artwork drives me nuts

Re: The artwork drives me nuts Caveat: haven't seen VVV yet, so I can't comment on the artwork there. I've seen other art in other Hero publications that made me wince a bit, though nothing that would chase me away. I don't think I've *not* bought something just because I disliked the artwork, but I know I've bought several gaming books from other game systems *mostly* for the artwork (character art) and related characters, with the goal of converting them to Hero stats for use in my Champions game. There are many talented amateurs out there, but I can easily understand the problem that many might not meet deadlines because, well, it's not their main job, or they might have bitten off more than they can chew, or whatever. However, I think DOJ could use Digital Hero and such as tools to try out prospective artists, let amateurs cut their teeth and show their reliabliity, and then use that to pick the best and brightest (and most reliable) for their larger books. Someone's suggestion of DOJ purchasing generic art on the cheap from prospective artists is, IMO, a good one, and could even lead to new characters for later publications (in the same vein as the original creation of Foxbat, or more recently the MC8 from Digital Hero). Like it or not, many people nowadays are drawn to something by flash, rather than substance. Hero Games has substance in spades, but if they're going to stay a viable concern, they need to have some eye-catching art to bring new customers into the fold.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Okay, from now on I shall be known as Spider-Stud!"

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From last Sunday's D&D game: The band of heroes has been following a dozen heavily-armored giants, carrying a stolen shipment of magical and mundane (but high-quality) weapons bound for a massive group of orcs. They see a man and woman riding on the shoulders of the lead giant, and decide to attack -- four members of the party attacking the rear giant, the other two attacking the man and woman at the front. Devlyn (rogue, starting off the combat): I run forward and backstab the giant. (rolls, hits, rolls decent damage). DM: Ignore the Sneak Attack damage -- these are undead. (looks at dice) Your knife bounces off, it doesn't seem to have had an effect. Devlyn: Ok, I say "Sorry, slipped, don't mind me" and run back into the woods. Leila: I'll summon a Huge air elemental and have it take out the woman first. Il'Marcum: No, wait, I want to see what she can do. Yllek: How about we kill her and later we can *speculate* on what she could have done? The unknown male flies back toward the party attacking the rear giant, casts some sort of "suggestion/mind control" spell and tells them, "You don't really want to do this. You'd much rather go back to Ore Rush, find a pub, and drink some ale." DM: Okay, make a Will save at 21. Aren: (swears under his breath) Nope. Devlyn: I failed mine. Yllek: Not a chance. Ryan: I guess we're going to Ore Rush.

Re: "Guard, begin the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism..." Death traps... I know I've got a few of them around here somewhere... Ice character trapped in a room where the temperature is increasing... check. Electrical character (susceptable to water immersion) in a room filling with water... check. Non-flying character on a pedestal in the middle of a pool of water with sharks, other pedestals scattered around of various heights, water slowly rising... check. Any hero forced to listen to a Foxbat monologue... check. (Hey, I'm the GM, "cruel and unusual" is second nature.) Had one powered-armor type trapped in one room, while his DNPC was in another room strapped to a chair with a bomb on the underside. The villain had temporarily overriden the powered-armor to keep the hero from moving, long enough to tell him that a motion sensor in his room would trigger the bomb on his DNPC. Then the villain released the control, forcing the hero to stand rock still while he figured out a way to disable the motion sensor. (I think I borrowed that from an Iron Man comic book.)

Re: Villains Vandals And Vermin (VVV) One of the best villain teams I ever created started out as too-low-powered one-shot wonders. The heroes ran against them individually, beat them handily... and then the Ravager got ahold of the loser villains and upped their power levels to make them a challenge to the heroes. The next time they fought, the heroes were quite shocked. They became a team the players looked forward to facing. Caveat: I don't own VVV and haven't seen it yet. So this is pretty general. Another use for otherwise wimpy villains is to take advantage of a hero's Vulnerabilities or Susceptabilities. If PC #1 can beat Buzzsaw with both hands behind his back, but PC #2 gets trounced by him, you've set up a good emnity. Also, I don't know if anyone else throws news items into their game, but I've used otherwise-unusable characters in news items to flesh out the world. So they're not *completely* useless, if used in interesting ways.

Re: Getting the heroes together (the first time) The way I got the players together for my current campaign was to have them investigating seemingly unrelated pieces of an upcoming new supervillain team's plot. If it helps, you can feel free to modify or steal this for your game. PC1 fought some robots at a laundry company, turns out one got away with a bunch of PRIMUS uniforms (the local PRIMUS base used that company for cleaning all their uniforms). The robots are minions of a fairly new supervillain. (Feel free to subsitute other minions, or throw in the supervillain himself, so long as he can get away from the PC somehow.) PC2 happened upon a supervillain and some thugs buying some crates from a small VIPER front company. The villain got away with some crates, but PC2 discovered the others contained some stolen PRIMUS and SWAT weapons and equipment. PC3 fought two supervillains breaking into a bank vault after hours for quick cash. She captured one, but the other got away with a bunch of money. PC4 fought and captured Bulldozer after a bank robbery, and was asked to testify at the trial. After PRIMUS brought Bulldozer to the courthouse, and in the middle of the trial (while PRIMUS' attention was centered around Bulldozer), minions of a different supervillain stole the prisoner transport vehicle. PC4 learned that it had a hologram generator to appear as various normal vehicles (panel truck, UPS truck, ice cream truck, etc.) PC5 was investigating the theft of a number of UPS trucks from a local distribution hub, and discovered that an ex-con worked there until just before the thefts. At a seedy bar, he overheard the ex-con telling his brother about his "new gig" working as a driver for a new group of supervillains (whom he named and the hero overheard). They have cash (from the bank break-in) to pay well. The villains had something big planned and needed more drivers. After nabbing the ex-con, who of course refuses to talk, PC5 saw in the news where various heroes fought minions or individual members of this new villain team, so he contacted those heroes to meet and compare notes. They figured out that the bad guys are going to try a bait-and-switch to get a captured villain (Utility) out of PRIMUS custody during transport, hoping to recruit him into their team. Of course, PRIMUS didn't believe the heroes at first, but allowed them to accompany the transport (in a different chase vehicle). At some point, a bunch of UPS trucks pulled out at the same time that a villain jammed radios, remotely commanded Utility's transport to change holograms to a UPS truck, and remotely drove it down a side street. The police and PRIMUS chase vehicles fell for the bait-and-switch, but the heroes followed the right vehicle, battled the villains, and kept Utility from getting free. And viola! Instant superhero team!

Re: Trying to figure out a good villain name Well, the one-time head of the Fool's Guild in Ankh-Morpork was Dr. Whiteface. You could always go for a variation on this, such as Baron Whiteface.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From last night's D&D game: Susan, who plays Devlyn (our sneaky rogue) is still driving back from up north when everybody else had already arrived. The DM decided to get started anyway and then we'd bring her up to speed. Il'Marcum: So, I guess we're without our rogue for a bit. Yllek: No, she's just made the best darn Hide roll ever! We've been chasing after two people on horseback, accompanied by a bunch of giants, and from all indications they are not stopping at all, even for the night. DM: On the third day, you find the remains of two horses. They look like all the life essence has been sucked out of them. Aren: They might be undead. Ryan, anything from your sword? Ryan: (draws his undead-bane sword) Nope. Aren: Maybe you should stab them, just in case. Ryan: Okay, I attack them. DM: Let me get this straight. You're actually going to beat a dead horse? Leila, our druid, changed into a bird form and flew ahead to scout. DM: You see 8-12 giant creatures in the distance. Something on them is glinting in the sunlight. Leila: Glinting? What's that from? Yllek: (OOC, mimes somebody looking through a spyglass) Yep, she's almost within range...

Re: How to kill characters? I'm tempted to be the "devil's advocate" here and say *not* to have them die in a climactic, heroic fashion. Have them shot in secret ID (assuming they are defenseless in SID) by a crazed sniper who sees them as "randomly-chosen targets #5 and 6", or subjected to an incurable disease (not targeted on them, they just happened to catch it) as part of some supervillain's mad plot, etc. In other words, just kill 'em, don't reward them for their pigheadedness by setting up a "noble sacrifice." But then again, it's late but I can't sleep, so I'm tired and cranky. Actually, in all seriousness, you could pull a "DOA" on them. They are poisoned with a slow-acting poison with no antidote, and have a limited time (i.e. that game session) to catch their killer before they die. Still not earth-shatteringly heroic, but at least they have an active part in stopping a homicidal maniac.

Re: Character Backgrounds I never used to write up character backgrounds; just envisioned the rough details in my mind and wrote up the character itself (characteristics, skills, powers, etc.). But a few years back I found that writing up a background can really make a character come alive. And like Oddhat, I often modify the character write-up to fit something I decided to put into the background. That said, I think shorter is generally better where backgrounds are concerned (but not *too* short). This is especially true for something like a character for somebody else to run (like at GenCon or other conventions). As to the actual writing of a background, I often have trouble getting started. When I get stuck, I'll look at somebody else's background writeup for inspiration. For example, I really liked how Hermit focused on a number of different points in time when he wrote up Stalker's background in Digital Hero #13, and I've used that same format on several characters. Some characters lend themselves well to a "first person narrative" style of background, like Bulldozer in CKC. Once I figure out the *how* of writing the background, most of it flows pretty well for me, since I already had a (very) general idea in my head when I started the character write-up. It mostly becomes a question of fleshing it out. Not a lot of help, I know, but that's how it works for me.