assault

Re: Infinite Crisis

In light of Issue #2, AND some of the JSA issue I've seen involving old-timer Paul Levitz as writer, ...

Here's a link to the JSA story with Perez pencils on newsarama:

Levitz and Perez working together? I am so there.

And I don't normally collect JSA.

Re: Where did the idea that Bricks are usually slow come from?

His biggest problem would be that he's realistically pretty "normal human" as far as defenses go' date=' an issue translating any of the "one trick" mutant characters in the comics.[/quote']

 

Most superheroes in comics are realistically more or less "normal human" in terms of defences.

Re: Economics 101: Character Building in a Point-Based System

I hate it when people come to me with this whole efficient use of points deal. I run a campaign and not a onetime slugfest. I want my players to build with the future in mind and not to be complete on 350' date=' 400 or 450 points. [/quote']

 

I think you are conflating two different things here: min-maxing munchkinism and building "complete" characters.

 

These days my design style is explicitly aimed at building "complete" characters. The essential idea is that they will seldom if ever receive enough experience to significantly vary from their original state, and therefore should possess all their key abilities right from the very beginning. Ideally, they should be able to spend all of their experience on skills and perks, and not on characteristics or powers. In some cases, adding new multipower slots and similar "greater experience" changes may be appropriate, but should never be necessary.

 

Adopting this approach was a conscious reaction to my bad habit of trying to design characters who did too much, which meant that they could only be rough sketches of a character design which would never actually come into being.

 

But the important thing about this completeness is that it is achieved by limiting the characters' capabilities, not by point crunching. I simply don't try to play a character with life support, enhanced senses and a honkin' big multipower of "stuff", and instead play one who is more focussed on just being a brick. And, of course, such characters are, or can be, every bit as interesting.

 

In other words, instead of playing the 1938 Superman, I settle for playing Hourman.

 

With this kind of build, experience is gravy, rather than a way of patching up deficiencies in the design.

Re: DEMON: A nitpick!

I suspect the writer of the DEMON sourcebook simply decided he wanted a demonhame in Australia' date=' didn't know much aqbout the country and picked Canberra as it is the nations capital, unfortunately at that time 1843, Canberra wasn't a city, probably wasn't even settled by europeans.[/quote']

 

Precisely.

 

You are correct that Melbourne would have been a better choice.

Re: DEMON: A nitpick!

Checking the article, it looks to me like Canberra did already exist when it was chosen, as it was part of a list.

 

And that could explain why it became, well, Canberra - he was there, and so it drew things.

It didn't exist as a town. The area was what was on the list.

And yes, the fact that he was there could have been part of the reason why it was chosen. And the fact that it was destined to be chosen could have been part of the reason he was there. Magic is "interesting" like that. Destiny happens.

I mentioned that there were grazing properties in the area. It's quite likely that Mulraven House could have been associated with one of them. In fact, this seems like the easiest rationalisation, and the one I would go with.

But it's still an after the fact rationalisation of what was originally a glitch. Stuff happens.

Re: Retcon the CU

But you see' date=' what we do not know, based on 5 paragraphs spread over 3 books, [/quote']

 

This is an important point. Regardless of exactly how many paragraphs and books we are dealing with, we are trying to extract a lot of information from a very small quantity of sources.

 

As for Defender's armour: Harmon is a supergenius who builds his armour based on a cutting edge understanding of physics. And then the laws of physics change...

 

The effects of "magic" are for decades observable and reproducable facts. They are therefore factored into to scientific theories, and technology and engineering based on that science. When the magic goes away, the theories become incorrect, and the technology ceases to function. Previously observable phenomena and repeatable experients cease to be observable or repeatable.

 

Harmon is not an idiot. He developed his technology according to impeccable scientific methods. It breaks down due to circumstances entirely beyond his control. Quite literally, decades of scientific study are invalidated in a couple of years.

 

Incidentally, this would wreak sufficient social and economic havoc to justify a rapid transition to a dystopian setting. It would come very close to justifying a post-apocalyptic one!

 

Note that I said decades of study were invalidated. That implies that what occurred was merely a setback. At least some of what was lost could be regained in time. And was, during the Star Hero periods.

 

None of this really bears too close an examination. The inconsistencies and illogic would just leap out and bite you. But that's inevitable in any gaming setting. Deal with it. (I need a shrug smiley here).

Re: DEMON: A nitpick!

Is it possible Canberra existed as a small settlement prior to the 20th century? Las Vegas was once a small watering hole town until Bugsy got to it. Perhaps Canberra was the same. I don't know.

 

It also doesn't say the mansion was built in 1843, only that he fled London then.

Canberra didn't exist at all until the 20th century.

There were some grazing properties in the area, so that's one possibility for a pre-existing building.

The other possibility is that Mulraven had an unusually extended lifespan. This is not at all improbable, given that we are dealing with a site associated with the Mystic World.

We can certainly rationalise the situation. The main point, however, is that such rationalisation is necessary. It's such a fine example how little details can slip past. It's most glaring because of "the writer writing about another country" effect, but, to be honest, similar mistakes are probably just as likely anytime a writer writes about an area they are not all that familiar with.

Re: Retcon the CU

And there's the question of why all technology that was developed since WWII didn't suddenly collapse when the magic faded away' date=' since everything, not just supertech, was being based on the new laws of physics.[/quote']

 

That's right, of course. The presence of "magic" was part of the laws of physics during this time, and would have been factored into all theoretical and applied science. And, as a result, would have been relied on in the development of any technology that wasn't simply a refinement of previous stuff.

 

Which, come to think of it... What If all post-WWII technology was to fail? Once you deal with the obvious issues with nuclear reactors failing (oops!), diseases you suddenly can't cure any more, and so on, a retro-Thirties setting could be quite neat. It would be just right for a DC:TAS campaign. And since the magic didn't disappear entirely, you could still build characters with Combat Luck.

 

In the end, there's absolutely no point to jamming all of the settings into a single timeline.

 

Aside from a certain amount of cross-marketing, no.

 

Yes, it's good that people can choose to reuse stuff from other settings if they want. I have no problem with Takofanes being some guy from a mythical past. I positively want to know at least a little bit about the history of Atlantis. On the other hand, I'm not all that interested in using most of the Star Hero aliens, who are a rather poor fit for a superheroic setting.

 

Of course, the tighter constraints in the official setting, the less likely it is that GMs will set their games in it. That's not actually such a big deal, since every campaign is a variant anyway. But aspects that are overwhelmingly disliked and disregarded are aspects that weren't a terribly good idea in the first place.

 

Of course, there will inevitably be a few such aspects in the setting.

 

In most cases, though, the actual effect of the constraints are pretty marginal. It's easy enough to simply disregard the "magic is the source of powers" stuff entirely, and all the future history about powers going away is just one possible timeline. Unless your characters are planning on going time-travelling, it's simply not important, and if they do, who knows what they will find?

 

Yes, there are some silly comments in the setting material. Ignore them. It will save your sanity.

 

Either that, or you could believe that Barry Allen was given his powers by an inter-dimensional imp named Mopee.

Re: Super Eyes Suggestions

One I forgot: Speed Reading!

A bit silly, but hey...

Re: Super Eyes Suggestions

I have a teen champs character who' date=' as he grows in exp, will need a place to put him points. Currently, he has the standard EB and flash attacks as well as x-ray vision (helpful also because he's a bit of a perve).[/quote']

 

Check out this classic Superboy story:

http://superman.ws/tales2/ultra/

 

Aside from that:

* keep filling out his enhanced senses

* flash defence

* Find Weakness

 

There's about fifty points worth right there. Very little of it should go into a Multipower, though.

 

Let's see: how about Images to create light? Area Effect, Autofire and/or Killing Attacks?

 

Apart from all of this, though, I would be considering spending points on skills, some characteristics and things like Running and Combat Luck.

 

If you have access to USPD and/or Gadgets & Gear, you might be able to find some inspiration in there. In the latter case, of course, you will need to take out the focus limitations, but at least some of the stuff in there may be usable once you do that.

Because DEMON wasn't one of the books I gave priority to, I only bought my copy yesterday.

It's very well-written. But, there is one oddity that I have noticed.

On Page 20, Mulraven House is described as being in Canberra, Australia. A paragraph down it says:

"They sat around the long table in the dining hall at Mulraven House - a mansion built by Elisha Mulraven, the Beggar King of London, after he fled England in 1843."

Unfortunately, this doesn't fit in well with Canberra's history:

http://www.tomw.net.au/cnbst3.html

Re: Infinite Crisis

What gets me from what I've been flipping through is Superman's (old one) attitude. The guy who would likely surrender rather than having a puppy killed is willing to casually destroy whole realities?

You're thinking about the wrong Superman. The old guy had a bit of a harder edge than the Earth-1 version. (Besides, he'd save the puppy some other way. )

Still, "casually destroying whole realities" doesn't seem in character for any version of Superman.

Re: The World's Greatest Superteam!

1) Is this group a refugee from one of those example dimensions they cooked up in Champions in 3-D?

It could be, if you wanted it! (Hmm, which one...)

In fact, alas, it's a result of my own silliness.

Typically, other things have attracted my butterfly-like attention so I haven't really followed up on this project.

2) What general shape or design concept is the robot and did Professor Pan build it?

Clunky humanoid, or perhaps it looks a lot like the 1st/2nd Edition version of Mechanon.

My original idea was for it to be something like this character:

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/a/archie.htm

I'm not entirely sure who build it. I considered the possibility that it was built by aliens, but some of my subsequent mad ideas pretty much require a human, or at least terrestrial, creator.

For what it's worth, my original idea was for the team to be composed of homages to the following characters:

Batman and Robin (Superfriends versions!).

Detective Chimp (see: http://www.toonopedia.com/chimp.htm )

Rex the Wonder Dog (http://www.toonopedia.com/rex.htm )

plus Robot Archie, of course.

I also considered adding a few Scooby Doo influences.

Unfortunately, filing off the serial numbers has turned out to be a little harder than I thought. Or rather, more like hard work.

P.S. Where's Toowoomba?

About 80 miles/130 kms inland from Brisbane. About 90,000 people, and no shops stocking Hero Games products.

Re: Just Picked Up Champions Worldwide

Well, tomorrow I'm going down to the wonderful city in Queensland referred to, at various points, Brisvegas, Brisneyland, or, on rare occasions, Brisbane. Sadly, Champions Worldwide won't be available there yet. So I am going to have to buy the most interesting books that are available there.

But that's OK, because I already have a bit of a plan for how Australia, no, Brisneyland and The Swamp (the place where I live/exist) relate to the Champions Universe. Sure, all of the stuff in Champions Worldwide is true, but, let's face it, most of the interesting super-people in Australia are Empyreans, Atlanteans, Lemurians, aliens or whatever. Who cares about the rest. Well, OK, it looks like there might be a couple of people to worry about, but, I'm sure "we" can sort them out.

I've actually reconstructed the original 3rd Edition version of my favourite character, Assault, recently. It will be interesting to see how he compares with the nasties in Champions Worldwide. They will undoubtedly be much tougher than him, but that gap would close a lot if I were to build him up to 350 points. No, really, 250+ point characters don't entirely suck.

The original version of Assault grandfathers to about 290 points, once you add the extra skills required these days, plus a bit of Knockback Resistance. His defences are seriously excessive compared to the current recommended levels, but that was part of his original conception. I don't have his original character sheet any more.

However you want to look at it, Bricks are cheap and easy builds. Even a very basic lame-o character is good fun to play.

Oh yeah. Obviously I am hanging out for the book that describes Assault's official allies/rivals and opponents. Duh. But I'm not going to see it for a couple of months.

Re: But I want to play Champions

Back in the day, we would alternate games and see who could run the best game with about 10 minutes prep before the game started.

Back in the day, we would start a scenario, and work out what was really happening during our walk down to the shop for snacks half way through the game.

Surprise, surprise, the PCs would be being double-crossed a whole lot, because that was the easiest mid-session plot twist.

Re: Superhero technology

Ahhhh, yes--I too remember the Traveller psi-shield helmet.

...

That's right, Traveller fans. Insane mink brains. At least in OUR game.

Now, dude, I first played Traveller in 1979, and I played DnD in 1980. I first played Champions in 1982. OK?

Psi-Shields were "stuff that happened". They didn't necessarily have any such freaky effects.

Oh yeah. I first played Runequest in 1981. That was when I first ran into the work of Steve Perrin, who has been known to post on these boards in the past. OK, he's not The Champions Guru, but he's a Great Old One in terms of roleplaying games. So therefore we should pelt him with fruit if he ever shows up again.

Re: Favorite Supplement For Champions

Strike Force!

Ditto, and Repped.

Re: But I want to play Champions

Generally he can't be the focus of an adventure either, for similar reasons, which makes it difficult to develop him at times.

Of course you can always use him as a McGuffin. "Why did he suddenly disappear?" is a good one. He can be captured by his Hunted and need to be rescued. He can turn evil, whether apparently or for real. He can have his own "supporting cast" (DNPCs, Rivals, Watchers and so on) who can be introduced into scenarios.

In other words, you can embed him in a network of relationships, which would allow him to develop as a character, while acting as a link between the PCs and other NPCs. And not take the focus off the PCs, which is the main point.

Re: Overall Levels are they too good or not good enough?

So if I wanted to play a crusty' date=' veteran campaigner who is a little past his prime, and not as advantages as the other PCs to begin with -- perhaps they're super while my guy is just and experienced "normal" [/quote']

 

This is one of the kinds of characters I would be likely to play. In fact, if I wasn't so prone to building characters with stuff like Life Support, I would go for "crusty veteran" a whole lot.

 

In fact, I'm in the process of grandfathering one of my old 3rd Edition characters at the moment. The main change that I am making is giving him lots of extra skills to bring him up to 350 points. Unfortunately he can only really afford 5 pt CSLs. But he's certainly going to have a "veteran" vibe to him, especially after I tone down his defences to present day standards, and stick the points into even more skills...

Re: I Need A Teen Champions Plot!

As for what mental diseases are ther to trip this?

Dementia, Manic-Depression, Schizophrenia, simple Stress... pick one.

I'd go with Stress. Specifically, stress related to puberty. This is supposedly associated with Poltergeist phenomena, which in turn, seem related to the kind of stuff we are talking about here.

And it's just right for a Teen Champions game, natch.

Re: Retcon the CU

Any character without NCM' date=' who got their superhuman stats through training gets either revised, or written out of the continunity. This would be most martial-artists, and Foxbat.[/quote']

 

Presumably most other characters should have NCM too, or at least something equivalent to it. After all, why would an Energy Projector be able to have a superhuman CON, BOD or COM without any other explanation? Why should a Brick have a superhuman DEX or SPD without a good reason?

 

In fact, every character in the setting should be revised, or written out of the continuity.

Re: Retcon the CU

Does anyone here know why they dumped some of the old organizations Like Raven and Genocide?

Raven appears to have been dropped because it was seen as redundant. Basically, it was just a copy of VIPER.

Now, it's actually perfectly reasonable that VIPER would have competitors and splinter groups, but it seems that the 5th Edition approach seems to favour one group per niche. Even DEMON lost its technological elements.

It probably didn't help Raven's cause that it suffered from multiple retcons in earlier editions. One of these turned them into rather buffoonish puppets of VIPER, while the other rather bizarrely crammed them into the street-level genre. Neither of these did them any favours, IMHO.

On the other hand, ARGENT seems to be vaguely reminiscent of Raven. I suppose you could think of it as being a continuation of/replacement for Raven in the same way that the IHA replaces/continues Genocide.

For what it's worth: I like ARGENT more than VIPER. But I suspect that that will only last until ARGENT gets a full writeup.

In a couple of threads over the last six months I've suggested that the world's greatest superteam would be composed of: a dog, a monkey, a robot and a small boy, plus a guy to lead them.

At last, it is time to design them.

Here are some initial descriptions. I've included a couple of their allies at the end.

Feedback and suggestions are actively solicited.

***

Boomerang

Major Abilities: Natural leader. Highly trained athlete and martial artist. Master of the Boomerang.

Origin: Australian Ninja.

Boomer

Major Abilities: Natural leader. Highly trained athlete and martial artist. Highly skilled with the Boomerang.

Origin: Sidekick of Boomerang.

Muffin

Major Abilities: Hyper-intelligent Dog. Skilled detective.

Origin: Experimental subject.

Professor Pan

Major Abilities: Hyper-intelligent Chimpanzee. Scientist.

Origin: Experimental subject.

Mr Robot

Major Abilities: Super-strength. Resistant to damage.

Origin: Constructed.

***

Allies.

Boomer has also been known to work together with another couple of young supers, forming an informal group usually referred to as the Trio of Terrific Teens.

The other members are:

Wonder Boy

Major Abilities: Super-strength. Almost invulnerable. Able to fly.

Origin: Rocketed to Earth from the planet Neonia.

Possum

Major Abilities: Able to assume the form of a small arboreal marsupial. Wonder Boy's girlfriend.

Origin: Mutant.

(Possum was inspired by the character from Sky High who could turn into a purple guinea pig).

Re: WWYCD: Category 6 Storm

Assault consults with local weather experts to confirm that this situation is actually as improbable as it appears. He then starts to investigate anybody who might possibly be capable of and has a motive for destroying Chicago in this way. Obviously this would involve talking to local authorities to see if they have received ransom demands and so on.

If nothing is too obvious on this front, the attack on the power system is another potential avenue of investigation.

If it isn't possible to find out who is playing with the weather in time to stop Chicago from being destroyed, well, Assault can always be a useful rescue worker.

Then again, he might also start looking for his DNPC. Chances are that she has stumbled on the bad guys' headquarters... There's a reason why he took a Lois Lane homage as a DNPC.

Re: Retcon the CU

Yeah' date=' but we don't build our gadgets in blissful ignorance of gravity's existence. We take it into account. We know that it affects our inventions. It would only parallel the CU explanation if we remained utterly ignorant of the veyr _existence_ of gravity, too stupid (apparently) to notice its effects.[/quote']

 

Of course, if the way gravity functioned was to suddenly change, we'd be up the creek.

 

"Magic" fluctuation is a bit like the speed of light in a vacuum suddenly changing, or Force no longer equalling Mass x Acceleration.

 

Once you open up this kind of can of worms, the Law of Unintended Consequences starts to rear up and bite you.

 

The real answer is, of course, not to look too hard at stuff that doesn't make sense. Otherwise you stop believing "that a man can fly". In other words, the official CU explanation makes no sense, but neither does anything else, so you shouldn't bother dwelling on it.

 

But of course, since I intend to still be playing Champions in 15 years time*, superpowers aren't going away in my universe.

 

---

*I started over twenty years ago, and why should I stop?