BoloOfEarth

I don't know if your games are different from the ones I've played in or run, but the mentalist seems to be Target #1 every time, especially to the person(s) that can only be affected by said mentalist. Even people with Mental Defense seem to want to trounce the mentalist first. Martial Artists, Bricks, and high-flying Energy Projectors all fear the Mentalist due to the advantages of mental powers cancelling out *their* advantages. Somebody should start a Mentalist Anti-Defamation League or something. Mages come next on the To-Hit parade owing to the fact that most are very versatile. Pity the poor mage/mentalist. Sucks to be him. (Edited to correct spelling error.)

First of all, I'm assuming from Fionan's post that the character spends much (if not all) of the time Desolid. It doesn't say that explicitly, but if the player makes it possible for the character to attack while Desolid, they're not likely to spend much time any other way. Next, note that I said "occasionally" as to agents with Multipower weapons. I've also used Variable Advantage to fit various +1/2 Advantages (AP, Penetrating, etc.) onto a gun to simulate different types of ammo. However, the presence of *any* advantage has to be feasible. Looking through the 4th Edition VIPER sourcebook, I see two Affects Desolid weapons, plus the agents in the BBB had an Affects Deolid weapon too. Any reasonably large agency (including the government ) would expend money and effort to handle all enemies, including (or especially) those that are difficult to hit or harm. Such weapons shouldn't be common, but they should at least be available. As to the cost of Desolidification affording them some protection, it does. That +1/2 only makes it *possible* to hit the character. It doesn't do anything to increase probability to hit or the level of damage. In fact, if you're going off a point limit, this guarantees the attack will be lower than normal. A 60-point cap means you only have an 8d6 attack. Hardly something to leave heroes quaking in their boots, even at low defense levels. (At average 28 STUN, it wouldn't even CON-stun somebody with 15 total ED and 13 CON.) As to attacking innocents to force him to solidify, in my experience the desolid guy stays that way unless he's the *only* one that can save the civilians. I guess the reasoning is, that's what teammates are for. If Desolid is the character's primary defense, he isn't going to drop it unless it's absolutely necessary. Let's not forget that the character may *always* be Desolid, making that strategy fairly moot.

Given the wonderful versatility of Multipowers, I occasionally arm agents with Multi-weapons. And given the decent chance of Desolid escape hatches, I've had agents with Affects Desolid in one of the slots. (Just because that character isn't known doesn't mean they haven't run into other heroes with Desolid...) I've been tempted to throw an Entangle with AD (a neural scrambler) into the mix, too. So it doesn't have to be magic or mental. It can be multi, too.

I agree as to preferring a paper copy, but I just use my handy-dandy Hewlett Packard subsidy from work to get my Digital Hero fix. (Kinda like the older Xerox subsidy.) I bring in a ream of paper once in a while to cover the paper used. I've done enough work at home to feel guilt-free over toner use, since they certainly aren't paying anything toward my home computer. At 64 pages an issue (not counting covers), and you only like or use about half of that, it still comes out over 300 pages for $30. A little more if you add in paper and toner, but still a good deal. Plus you get to see the playtest stuff, which is a nice bonus.

Re: My Millenium City feedback... I agree with Monolith that there's enough city for two teams plus some independents. I've been running a Champions game in Millennium City for the past 9 months or so. (It's great to finally have the book for more info.) The Champions haven't become an issue yet, except for an occasional mention in the news, and very occasional one-on-one PC-NPC interaction. In Digital Hero #6, Dale Robbins had a good article on Iconic Characters. Granted, his was relating to Meriquai Falls, but if you change a few lyrics, the song is still the same. It all depends on how the GM uses, abuses, or ignores the iconic characters. Dale gave some suggestions on possible ways to handle the iconics. As to the Dark Avenger thing, I'd be tempted to have the bad guys fear the PC more than Nighthawk. Or set up a brooding contest between the two. A little competition can be a good thing. One thing I'm toying with doing (though my players may argue with me over it) is to split the team -- half the players play their own characters allied with the other half playing some Champions. Then turn around and flip-flop them -- the other half plays their own characters while the first half plays the other Champions -- during the same span of time. (Kinda like a crossover issue.) I ran a game set in NYC, and there was another team (the Guardians) protecting the city before the PC heroes arrived. It wasn't a problem; in fact, there was some friendly competition, and some great roleplaying when most of the Guardians were killed on 9/11 and the surviving two had to come to grips with things (with the PC heroes' help). It all depends on how you handle things. If the GM keeps pulling the Champions into things, stealing the spotlight or saving the PCs, then yes, it's a problem. However, the real problem there is the GM, not the Champions. If the Champions weren't around, you'd probably have the same problem, but with PRIMUS or somebody else substituted for the iconic characters.

I've been running in Millennium City since before the book came out. (This is partly because I live less than an hour from Detroit and ran several campaigns there.) At least now I have a map! Mine is more walkway-intensive than the official version appears, based on comments made on these lists when Darren was asking for input and suggestions. In my MC, you can practically walk across the city without touching the ground. In my campaign, I added the Boblo Blimp. (It's been submitted to Digital Hero as the Bayside Blimp, moved to Vibora Bay at Darren Watts' suggestion.) A dirigible casino and tourist trap, its been the setting of several battles and had a side role in several other adventures. (And yes, I know that it's not a blimp, but I have reasons for calling it that.) I also plan to do something with the salt mines under the city, though I'm not sure what yet. (For those not from the area, there is a rather large and extensive salt mine under Detroit and suburbs.) In a prior campaign, I did have a villain try fuel-air bombs in the mines to level the entire city. I need to think of something else.

I was running a game with the Hellraisers. They're mostly villains stol... I mean adapted from Villains Unlimited. Aggressor, Onslaught, Besieger, Hellhound, Electrocutioner, and Cremator, all rather nasty individuals. They took one of the NYC bridges and herded half of the trapped commuters into a bus and the rest into the back of a semi trailer. They put the bus half-off the bridge, and ran a steel cable through the tires and axles of the semi to attach it to a gas tanker truck. When the heroes showed up, they worked with PRIMUS on a plan to save the hostages. Tempest (an air-controlling character with a strong TK) flew up under the bridge to catch the bus and lower it to a barge set to pass underneath at the right time. One hero snuck to the truck and unhooked the cables, while another got a PRIMUS agent into the cab to drive the semi to safety. The others set out to stop the fire characters (Hellhound and Cremator) and Electrocutioner from igniting the gas tanker. When the heroes made their move, Onslaught pushed the bus off the bridge (no surpirse there) but Tempest caught it and spent most of the combat lowering it to the barge and flying back up. The others managed to KO their three main targets as the PRIMUS agent hotwired the semi. Unfortunately, Hellhound came to and lit up fuel spilled around the tanker. Everybody (villains included) starts to scatter, and it looks like the semi won't clear the area in time. Up flies Tempest. Seeing the situation, she grabbed the gas tanker and starts pulling it toward the side of the bridge away from the slowly accelerating semi. Toward her. With her air powers fanning the flames. Since her actions were very heroic, when the tanker blew (less than a dozen meters in front of her), I gave her a chance to dive for cover under the bridge. And she rolled a critical failure. The next game session, I gave the player a death certificate for Tempest and had her draw up a new character. Of course, in true comic book fashion, she wasn't really killed, but did have amnesia and was found by one of the team's most hated enemies (Ravager), who turned her (temporarily) into a villainess. But that moment when she pulled the tanker toward her, knowing what would happen, was a pivotal moment.

I let that go because it was all in fun. Besides, I got my revenge a year or so later when I was GMing a Fantasy Hero game with the same players. The mastermind behind Plastique's fiasco missed a few games, and I suggested something similar. That player character (we'll call him Chump) used a bow and arrows as well as a specially-made staff with a spear point that extended with the push of a button. The other players took all the arrows out of his quiver while he slept, replacing half of them with arrows whose fletching was messed up to make them fly off target, and the other half with, well, half-arrows (only the fletching and part of the shaft). They also replaced his staff with one made of balsa wood, with a spear tip that flew clean out of the staff if he pushed the button. They then hired a group of toughs to ambush the group (as a "training exercise"). When the ambush started, Chump started firing arrows. I rolled randomly, and the first three arrows were all the "fly wrong" variety. When they veered off target, he says, "They have some sort of missile deflection spell!" Holding our laughter in, the other players and I said, "Yeah, sure, that's what it is!" He then closed in to HtH range and pushed the button. When the spear tip popped out and landed at his feet, the look on his face was priceless. It only got better when he whacked the first guy with his balsa staff. Yes, he should have known that the staff and arrows were different, but I decided he didn't notice. Payback is a b****, ain't it?

I played in a group for a few years, and had a few weeks where schedule conflicts made me miss a few game sessions. The other players got together with the GM and decided to have some fun... I was running Plastique, who could spray plastic in sheets, individual entangles, and could even mix in an explosive agent that triggered if the entangle was broken out of in one shot. He rolled around on roller skates with these tanks on his back containing the different chemicals for his attacks. My first game session back, I was out on patrol when I run into some gang members. I decide to "wrap them up", but when I fired the plastic, all that comes out is pink paint. I tried to throw up a wall, and purple paint sprays all over everything. Then the GM informs me that the wheels on one skate are falling off, and that the stitching on my costume is coming apart. By this time, the other players can't hold in the laughter any longer. They hired the "gang members" to lure me into a fight so they could laugh at me. Imagine a half-naked superhero holding onto the remains of his costume, trying to beat a hasty retreat on one good skate.

Hmmm... Ridiculous Rules Interpretation? Here's one from my old days... A newbie GM (and former player in our group) ran a group of us against a villain group who was trying to steal something. We actually worked together well that day and were stopping them rather handily. The GM wanted them to get away with the target of the theft, so he has the bad guys' speedster grab it and take off. One of the player characters, Slash, could stretch for much faster running, so he takes off in pursuit. The GM decided that Slash tripped over a fence, and slammed face-first into the ground. And since Slash was moving at 40" (noncombat), the GM ruled that he took 40d6 damage. He argued the physics of the situation, until the player said, "You ran a character with a wooden staff that shot blasts of air. What are the physics behind *that*?!"

Reluctant or Reactive Players We have two players in my group that tended to react more than act, though they've gotten better over time. I threw a few NPCs their way that were specifically for those players, to get them more into things. Some examples are: an irritating but useful fanboy; a friendly PRIMUS agent (sorry, Shelley, but in my games the PCs and PRIMUS tend to get along like cats and dogs, so a cooperative PRIMUS agent is a rarity); or a villain that particular player really loves to hate. GMing a group can be a juggling act when one player is into combat, another into investigating, a third into romance, and so on. Tying two together (like having the Romantic's love interest kidnapped, forcing the Romantic and the Investigator to work closely together) is a great way to get the players interacting. As to GMing individuals vs. the group, I bounce between individuals and small groups (my six players tend to break into groups of 2-3 during investigations and other pre-combat stuff), with some full-team stuff. Its also a good idea to highlight a player each game (ideally a different player each game). Making a reluctant roleplayer the focus of a game may help bring out the roleplaying.

A friend's PC eventually acquired a reformed supervillainess as his DNPC wife (the GM let us alter disads during the campaign). While this may not seem odd, the backstory was fun. During one of my first Champions adventures, we stopped a group called HAND. One of their members was a nigh-impenetrable sort who had never been stunned before, and had practically never taken damage from anybody. During the battle, our brick martial artist, Midnight, did a haymaker martial kick while pushing his STR. The villain actually took enough damage to be stunned. Fast forward many adventures, when we captured a supervillainess named Athena. Midnight manages to convince her to put aside her criminal ways, and she changes her name to Minerva so she can act as a heroine. They eventually fall in love and he proposes. And then he met her dad to ask permission to marry her. Yep, Dad was the guy Midnight stunned. Midnight is the only person who ever hurt him. After a very nervous wait (waiting for Dad to attack), Dad gave his blessing, saying that Midnight was the only person he felt was tough enough to protect his little girl. Of course, the wedding ceremony was a real blast. Did I mention that Mom was a demon, and took umbrage that she wasn't invited to the wedding? She teleported the entire chapel to the gates of Hell. Nothing like being Watched and Hunted by your in-laws...

(From the GM's perspecive) Your PCs might be overpowered if... ...they start donating their experience points to their foes. ...they play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to see which one of them will stop Dr. Destroyer this week. ...every one of the bad guys has 75% resistant damage reduction, 90 DEF, and a Megascale Teleport with an unconsciousness Trigger, and the PCs still aren't challenged.

If you can make Champsguy say "OW!"... If you're bored enough to actually try and figure out Foxbat's Master Plan ... If Grond and Durak are each holding one of your arms, and you break out with Casual STR... ... you might be a tad overpowered.