Theron

Re: Is There a Canonical List of Stronghold Escapees? Yeah, I've got Stronghold (I'm fairly sure there's not much in the way of Champions supplements I don't own at this point). It doesn't include any 2009 breakout info (not surprising, as the book came out in 2008). It does have a lengthy partial list of inmates, which is a good enough start for my purposes. Mostly, I was wondering because I know plenty of folks here are near-compulsive list makers and got curious when I noticed Alchemica's entry mentioned she was part of the 2009 breakout.

I'm sort of kind of beginning to mull over a new idea for a campaign set in the CU that would use the 2009 Stronghold Breakout as a starting point (sort of how the breakouts from SHIELD's super-prisons served as a jumping off point in the new Avengers cartoon). I've got a lot of CU material and haven't had a chance to read through as much as I'd like, and while I can certainly come up with my own list of escapees, if Steve or someone has already done the work, it saves me one more thing to figure out. So, basically, I'm wondering if such a list exists, even in partial form?

Re: Pole Arm Quiz Sometimes, not even for polearms. I had a copy of a 14c. manual of chivalry that was in parallel text (Modern English on one page and Medieval French on the facing). The word "Glaive" was so consistently translated as sword, I actually contacted the author to check it. He replied that he was well aware of the polearm, but in context, it was clear the author (Geoffroi de Charny) was referring to swords. His view was that it was originally an idiomatic term for any sort of bladed weapon.

Re: Pole Arm Quiz 18 of 22. But I've always been at variance with Mr. Gygax's definition of an "Awl-Pike."

Re: Knights at Tournament: (Hopefully) Inspirational Photos A couple of observations: 1) Armour works. I really can't stress this enough. During the course of the day's events, there was one instance of a rider getting unhorsed (it happened in the melee). His armour prevented him from any serious hurt and he continued throughout the competition. 2) While the horses definitely up the danger factor, the fact that this was not a sport for novice riders meant that even the "squires" (the folks responsible for the safety of the participants) were very experienced. Also, the horses were very well trained for their tasks. Many riders had a separate mount for the melee and the joust. 3) The object of the jousting is to break lances on your opponent's shield, not to unhorse him. The lance tips are pre-cut so they will shatter on impact. In the dozen passes I saw, I observed only one lance impact that threatened to unseat a rider, and he recovered from it with no injury. 4) When I was in my teens, I worked for a polo club. I witnessed (sometimes at far too close a distance) far more equine-based danger there than I saw at the jousts.) (The game blog in my sig has a much more extensive write-up of the event, along with some gaming-based observations). All of the above having been said, there's no way in hell I'd ever try it. Even if I were twenty years younger.

I attended a competitive jousting tournament this weekend and took a lot of pictures. I thought someone might get some inspiration out of them, so here's a link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21608192@N00/sets/72157626621369872/with/5676054332/ Enjoy!

Re: Superbabes to Champions... character sheets needed.

Re: Looking for a thread about balancing characters That looks similar to Scott Bennie's guidelines from the Gestalt Universe (though those may have just been in the campaign documents and not the final book; my memory ain't what it used to be).

When cleaning the garage last week, I opened a box that had traveled with me through several moves. Inside, I found a handful of the old Grenadier Champions minis, the '83 Hero catalog, and my Adventurers' Club membership card. I figured I should share it with the masses, so enjoy! ETA: I wasn't sure where to put this, so if the mods feel like it should be in a different sub-forum, I won't complain.

Re: "Legacy" Champions I've got a 4e version of my oldest character, but my original character sheets from earlier times are lost in the aether. I don't have much of anything pre-BBB, even though I started with 1st Ed.

Re: Champions legacy I discovered Champions during Spring Break 1982. I'd discovered V&V about six months before and one of my players had the issue of The Space Gamer magazine with "School Holiday" in it, which I paged through while we were driving somewhere. I was intrigued by the characters but unable to interpret the character write-ups, so I borrowed his copy of Champions (1st ed), which I subsequently bought off him for five bucks (I've still got it). I was hooked almost immediately, which caused a bit of a rift with my best friend, who didn't want to stop playing V&V (he came around).

Re: What do you really think of Champions Online? I decided to take a look at F2P, figuring that even if I didn't play the game, I could at least play with the Character Designer and produce images for my tabletop game. On launch I had the choice of upgrading my video driver or playing with diminished settings. After nosing around a bit to see what the diminished settings looked like (lousy), I upgraded the drivers to nVidia's latest for the model, and relaunched. Apparently, the game hates those even more, because it either fails to load at all, or renders everything like I'm viewing it through blocks of leaded glass. My computer is fairly beefy for an off-the-shelf model, but it's apparently not up to the task, so, I think I'll pass. Given my past history with MMOs, I figure I've saved myself roughly 80 minutes of actual gameplay I might have spent before finding something else that made it not worth my while.

Re: Anyone else hate Wolverine? It's funny, I saw a great description of LSH years ago that went something like: "Hey, do you like Superman? How about Professor X and Jean Grey? What about Magneto and Wolverine? In the LSH they're all on the same team!"

Re: Anyone else hate Wolverine? Hate requires a degree of effort I'm not willing to make. For every few "Origins" or ridiculous and unnecessary cameos out there, we end up with a gem like "Manifest Destiny," which was an truly awesome story that couldn't have been told with any other character. I would happily pay for a six issue series that consisted of nothing but Logan and Ken "Gorilla Man" Hale drinking beers and swapping ever-escalating "Can You Top This?" stories. No, I don't hate him. I save that for Deadpool.

Re: Quotes from Owlcon - part 1

Re: History: My first HERO character

Re: History: My first HERO character My first character was created pretty much while walking through the rules (1st edition). At that point, I wasn't just a noob to superhero gaming, I was a noob to superhero comics, having somehow missed the bus between the ages of 12 and 18. I only got into comics when I discovered V&V and Champions and realized I knew nothing about the genre. As a result, my first character was a flying guy called Projectile. He had ultra-tough skin and rockets on his belt that allowed him to slam into things. I never actually played him. The first character I actually played was this guy: Spectrum, Your Radioactive Pal (I freely admit I swiped the costume stylings from the LSH's Wildfire) Spectrum was a scientist who'd been caught in a radiation accident. He had a pretty generic set of light based powers (EB, Force Field, Flight, Flash). The one thing that set him apart (which was, in retrospect, poor character design) was a small NND RKA that his suit blocked, intended to simulate the deadly radiation his body emitted at all times. Later on (sometime around the advent of the BBB, I just changed this to a Phys Lim). I played Spectrum in various incarnations and campaigns for nearly a decade. He wasn't my only PC, but he was my ace in the hole if I couldn't come up with something else, and his history and background were generic enough that I could tailor him to other people's games pretty easily.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Drive By Truckers, "Play It All Night Long"

Re: Mini Settings "Too Short"? I thought they were great. I'm surprised this is a minority opinion, but I seem somewhat out of step with a lot of mainstream Hero fans.

Re: I ruined my campaign

Re: I ruined my campaign Y'know, considering that viruses can lie dormant for decades (or longer) in extremely adverse conditions, I can think of some really horrible ways he could be resurrected as an NPC, and possibly a villain/threat.

Re: Black and White So, I finished it last night. Given the established Urban Fantasy pedigree of the authors, I was a little worried a) that the book might veer too far into the romance direction so prevalent in Urban Fantasy, and the authors might not "get" superheroes, something I've found in a number of prose treatments of the genre. Neither concern came to pass. The story is fairly bog standard and has some of the more obvious UF and Romance tropes without going overboard. The authors very definitely understand superheroes. Not a bad read at all. I look forward to the sequel.

Re: Lucha Libre convention game! Is there any chance you'd be willing to share the InDesign template? I really like the layout and am looking at running a LLH game at Owlcon this next February.

Re: Your favorite champions character [Warning: This is long, but you asked for it] My favorite was probably Troubadour, a character in a friend's Silver Age game. Background/History: Many would say his business card puts it best: TROUBADOUR Warrior, Poet, Lover While Troubadour certainly cultivates a mysterious image, it's hard to consider someone who lives his life in the glare of the limelight truly secretive. Troubadour has been active on the superheroic scene for over a dozen years. While little actual information is publicly bandied about regarding Troubadour's past, it's all there if someone wants to look at it. Born Geoffrey Larrocque, of the Usher Heights Larrocques, Geoffrey was raised in the lap of luxury. As a second son, there were fewer expectations placed on him that his older brother, Andrew, leaving Geoffrey to pursue whatever interests struck his fancy. Fascinated by his family's history of piracy and derring-do, Geoffrey developed an early flair for the dramatic and flamboyant, a flair that served him well when he was cast as D'Artagnan, Junior in the hit TV series "Young Musketeers". The series ran for four seasons, giving Geoffrey free rein to indulge all of his swashbuckling fantasies. In his years on the show, he became a capable gymnast, fencer, and martial artist. At the end of the show's run, Geoffrey went off to college, where he majored in Liberal Arts and gained his passion for jazz. One year short of graduation, he left school to travel the world. This trip, however, was cut short by the tragic death of his parents in a plane crash, leaving Andrew in charge of the family fortune. Andrew, unlike Geoffrey, saw little of value in Geoffrey's interests, the family history or, in fact, anything he deemed "old fashioned". Determined to take the Larrocque name to new heights in business, he decided to sell the family estate and use the funds for start-up venture capital. Horrified at the thought of losing his home, Geoffrey used the remainder of the money from his television days and a goodly portion of his trust fund to buy out his brother's half. Andrew agreed, with the stipulation that Geoffrey keep his distance from Andrew's business interests and do nothing to besmirch the family name. And so it was that, at the age of twenty one, Geoffrey Larrocque found himself the sole proprietor of a forty five room mansion and an incredible case of boredom. His brother's stipulation limited his social calendar; he missed basking in the limelight; and even the mansion itself seemed less alive. Apart from furtive forays to local jazz clubs, he became more and more reclusive. Until he had his first taste of superheroics. One night, as he left his favorite club, Geoffrey found himself in the middle of a superpowered firefight. Blue Beacon was taking on Dumpster Diver and the self-proclaimed "genius of junk" was getting the better of the Sapphire Sentinel. Seeing an opening, he caught Dumpster Diver unawares, knocking the piece of trash out cold. At that moment, a new world opened up for Geoffrey. It was exciting! No, it was exhilarating! Actually, it was all over the papers. "Geoffrey Larrocque, millionaire and former TV star defeats noted supervillain". Andrew was livid. He threatened legal action. He threatened to cut off Geoffrey's inheritance. He threatened physical violence. In the end, Geoffrey apologized. It seemed the best thing to do. After all, he hadn't intended to make a public splash. If it weren't for those mask-wearing weirdoes, none of this would have happened. Wait a minute – masks! Of course! He could don a mask himself. After all, he'd already defeated a supervillain, how hard could superheroics be? Taking inspiration from his swashbuckling heroes and fashioning himself a costume from old bits and pieces culled from the show's library, he set forth to fight crime as The Bard. Using a limited knowledge of pyrotechnics culled from the stage, he crafted skull-shaped bombs to aid him against particularly difficult opponents. It may have been a silly concept and a sillier costume, but it gave him the freedom he craved. As The Bard, Geoffrey could go forth and conquer, without bringing down the wrath of Andrew. He served a short stint with the Sentinels, (as do many fledgling heroes in the Vanguard Universe), but left over "personality differences". Realizing that The Bard identity was just ridiculous, he disappeared from the scene for a few weeks, only to re-emerge as Troubadour. A year later, he had his name legally changed to Troubadour, in order to appease Andrew, whose business flourishes in Empire City. Since that time, he has been a constant, if not particularly diligent, thorn in the side of evil. Five years ago purchased a jazz club in downtown Fair City, and named it (appropriately enough) Troubadour's. He makes the scene there a couple of times a week, unless he's off saving the world. Troubadour's is one of the top jazz clubs in the nation, attracting every major act and a host of rising stars. While he's matched wits (and crossed blades, so to speak) with many supercriminals, there are a few that stand out in his rogues gallery. Cap'n Skulldugger has been a perennial thorn in his side (their chosen motifs do seem to attract one another don't you think?). Secondly (and more dangerous) is the Troubadour Revenge Squad. This is a group of women who, having been spurned by Troubadour at one time or another, acquired superpowers and banded together with the intent of making his life miserable, or at least enlightening him to their feminist agenda. The TRS membership currently includes Large Marge (leader with growth powers), The Shrew, Dollface, Digitalice, and Fury (as in Hell hath no...) due to Troubadour's romantic nature, the group is always recruiting new members. Personality/Motivation: Anyone with a business card like that can't possibly have low-self esteem problems. And he doesn't. Troubadour believes in living life in CAPITAL LETTERS. If there are multiple ways to accomplish a task, he will inevitably choose the one that shows his abilities off in the best possible manner. Still, it's important to note that Troubadour has a strong altruistic streak and a sense of noblesse oblige. He comes from the old-money liberal school of politics and has no problem devoting his time, energy, and money to worthy causes. In some cases, this makes him seem like less a superhero and more a garden variety celebrity since he does spend so much time making appearances. In other cases, his strong liberal politics fairly boil to the surface; he excels at asking other superheroes the sort of hard questions the costumed set confronted in the "relevancy" period of the late '60s and early '70s. Quote: "Forgive me, my dear, I just have to polish of this ruffian and then we'll get back to this delicious...conversation." Powers/Tactics: Troubadour is a straightforward comic book martial artist. He uses his Find Weakness against slower opponents before leaping into battle and uses his high DCV to avoid damage. If he does get hit, he'll probably go down rather quickly and knows it. History: In the Fair City campaign, Troubadour started out as a bit of a hero in need of redemption. He was somewhat caught up in his own celebrity and had gotten away from what brought him into the game in the first place, namely the thrill of the chase and the chance to deal with Society's ills head-on. As a member of Vanguard, he slowly moved into a leadership role, and along the way found what appears to be lasting love with his team-mate Gorgon. After her secret identity was revealed and her career as District Attorney ruined, the two of them set out to "Find America, the Real America." Appearance: Troubadour stands 6'1" tall and weighs around 185 lbs. He has wavy blond hair, a mustache, and goatee. His costume consists of a gold singlet, with a black stylized "T" on the right breast. His boots and gloves are black, along with his mask, which he wears in all public appearances, even though he makes no effort to hide his identity.

Re: 6E Mess