assault

Re: Authority supplement cover shot

For Superworld read: Steve Perrin.

You will find that this Great Old One of the gaming industry contributed to the early Enemies books. He also posts on these boards on occasion.

Any resemblance between Superworld and Champions was entirely coincidental, I'm sure.

Re: What superhero world concept are you tired of seeing?

Is there a comics industry (even a small one) in Brazil?

There's a small one in Australia, which had a brief revival way back in the '80s. (I'm so old - I remember the '80s like they were just yesterday!)

Anyway, once you get local creators, you start getting source material that's not "typically American".

Other good material can be found in British publications like 2000 AD. I don't know if it's available in Brazil, but it's relatively widespread here. While most of it isn't about superheroes, it does occasionally have some relevant material. Zenith, alas, was a long time ago, but it was one of the finest superhero strips anybody did ever. It won my heart when the title character was woken up on the kitchen floor, where he had fallen asleep after flying home from a night's partying... Superman goes nightclubbing.

"I'm nineteen, I can fly, I can flatten ballbearings between my fingers and I'm practically invulnerable to damage. What can possibly go wrong?"

http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=ZENITH

Other good stuff can be found at

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/

Re: What superhero character concepts are you tired of seeing?

Young teenagers that act more mature and smarter than the Generation X Slackers. "Little dude, wake me up for dinner, 'kay? Or if, something like Mechanon starts destroying the city. Oh, and find someone who can buy more beer, this is the last one."

Actually, most teenagers, even young ones, are smarter than the stereotype.

Of course, there is no scientific way of proving this. Do we have any high school teachers here? They would have a bigger sample to work with than most other people.

I started writing about my experiences as a teenager, and my experiences with teenagers since, but I deleted it, because it was off-topic.

However, I knew about D&D long before it was for sale here. If I had got my act together, I might have been one of the earliest roleplayers in Australia, instead of being someone who has only been playing for 25 years.

Of course, that's only 22 years when we are talking about Champions/the Hero system. Meh. It was published in '81 - I saw it in early '82. That's pretty normal.

Re: What superhero character concepts are you tired of seeing?

I generally dislike non-US flagsuits, except for Borealis and actual military/government types. I also dislike non-US characters that are based on national stereotypes.

Neither of these would be a problem, except that that's _all_ you get.

Of course, one of these days I might actually get around to playing the Atlantean-Australian hero, Marino. Just not in a serious game... (Do I need to explain the pun? Why not? A Merino is a kind of sheep...)

Re: Join Team Freedom!

Austrailia was a bastion of power led by a relatively cut of division of the US army. The greatest and most revered man in Austrailia is General Patton.

Very unlikely.

In the real world, Australia only had about 7 million people during WWII. It had a massive influx of migrants after the war. Presumably this wouldn't have happened if the war had continued.

Also, it's unlikely that any US commander would be "the greatest and most revered man in Australia".

A "relatively cut off division of the US army" would have been just another division fighting alongside a larger force of Australian, New Zealand, Dutch, British, Papua New Guinean and Fijian troops. In other words, nothing special.

You could consider the possiblity that Australia might have elected a Communist Party government. The CP was at its peak during WWII. Without the Cold War it may well have eclipsed the Labor Party as the "left" party of Australian "mainstream" politics.

This has the benefit of potentially causing more peoples' heads to explode than merely promoting Patton to "the greatest and most revered man in Australia".

I actually started designing a character for this game, but I don't really have the time to play. Bummer.

Re: Older FH Products

I wouldn't bother with the old FH products as such.

However... ICE put out the "Campaign Classics" series, which was dual-statted for Role Master and FH.

These are excellent books. If you see them (at a sensible price, of course), get them. The FH stats are for earlier editions, but are mostly obvious enough.

And, of course, the Justice, Inc. supplement "Lands of Mystery" is a fantastic source for FH.

Of course, I've got old supplements and sourcebooks for games I've never played, or, in some cases, that I've never seen the core rules. You can milk ideas from nearly anywhere.

Re: Dark Champions: The Animated Series

Isn't Croc a Mutant?

If not, what is he?

Actually, there's stacks of mutants: all those grotesque Dick Tracy-esque criminals.

Of course, they're not usually the kind of mutant that has superpowers, but they are grotesque freaks.

There is one kind of "powered" mutant that is appropriate, and that's the kind of which Croc is an extreme example: the big strong ugly guy. These guys push the limits of what is human in terms of strength, ability to aborb damage, and, usually, stupidity.

There's another potential feature of the Animated Series world that hasn't been mentioned: Really Big Things.

These are the ludicrous giant props that were favoured in early issues of Batman. The kind of thing that said: "Bill Finger worked on this story".

You wouldn't want to use them too often, because, let's face it, they are silly, but occasionally they could be quite neat. They could add a real "you're in your character's world, not yours" touch, if handled properly.

One final thing: while a DC:TAS world is mainly non-powered/low-powered, there's nothing to prevent you having The Big Guys occasionally fly over the roof-tops. After all, Batman and the Big Blue Boyscout coexist in the same world - they just usually fight different kinds of battles.

And having the more four-coloured characters appear occasionally might be just the reminder your characters need that the world isn't all doom and gloom.

Re: Team Archetpes

Both Hero and Villain teams:

The Bunch of Losers: Often resembles other sorts of teams in a satirical sense.

Heroes:

The star and his/her supporting cast: Many characters have other supers showing up fairly regularly in their "solo" titles. It's also common in partnerships... which come to think of it...

Partnerships: (Both Heroes and Villain.) Two characters work together regularly, either as equals, or as sidekick and mentor. This is the smallest form of "team", obviously, but third or even fourth members can often guest star. Examples: Batman and Robin (and Batgirl...). Green Lantern and Green Arrow (and Black Canary, Speedy, and the Little Blue Guy, etc...). Superman and Batman (and Robin, and anyone else who cares to tag along). Power Man and Iron Fist (and sundry members of their supporting cast). Daredevil and Black Widow/Elektra/whatever/whoever....

Actually, these two categories (Partnership and Supporting Cast) are probably the most common "teams". Of course, mostly they are fairly informal, aside from some of the Partnerships.

Another variant on the "Supporting Cast" is the Crossover. Ad Hoc teams may also form in specific cases. One example that comes to mind from the 80s is when Superman had a crossover with Mr Miracle and Big Barda (a Partnership). The result was a three member "team" that lasted for a couple of issues.

Re: I Need an Arkham Asylum Clone

Does anyone have a good name for an Arkham Asylum -style hospital/prison for the criminally insane? I'm coming up blank.

New Bedlam.

It was used in a Dark Champions product back in 1998, but it's a good name that's worth using even if you don't have that product.

Re: Real World Issues in the Game World

He sent in a team in the Real world. It failed.

Yes.

In addition, Carter's presidency saw the beginning of US support to the Khmer Rouge, the Nicaraguan Contras, and the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

He wasn't averse to using force to support US foreign policy.

Re: Looking for ideas for my campaign (Danger: Long)

There are lots of decent FF riffs to borrow from.

I'm not sure how you would approach it, but a Namor equivalent might be fun. And a Hulk equivalent too, of course.

And definitely a Super-Skrull. Every campaign needs a Green Shapeshifting Alien.

Re: A new Silver Age Hero like world

Um people we were talking about my City named Centennial based in America' date='[/quote']

 

Chill out. Thread drift happens. Get used to it.

 

---

 

For the record, there is a real Townsville in Queensland, Australia.

Re: A new Silver Age Hero like world

The City of Townsville!

Yeah, you could put it in north Queensland.

Re: Iron Age Challenge 2!

I think a GA Punisher would be more interesting' date=' but that's just me. I think it would finally give the character some [i']style.[/i]

Yeah. You could give him a cool new name, too. Something like... the Shadow.

Re: A new Silver Age Hero like world

This is city is set in the Silver Age timeframe' date=' Centenial City that's a good name also Liberty.[/quote']

 

Yeah, Centennial City is pretty good. With Liberty Heights as a suburb, or neighbouring town.

 

If you are surprised or worried about us talking about Iron Age city names, don't be. All threads wander away from the topic to some extent or other.

 

This time, it was a case of: what names would be suitable for other Ages besides Silver?

 

Hmm, for some reason, Centennial City sounds a fair way inland. It would probably have been a 19th century foundation, given its formal name in 1876 or so. Before then it probably would have been called something like Dog's Butte.

 

The place where I live was originally known as "The Swamp". It has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?

Re: How do i start my story?

• Yawn..you are all in a pub/tavern when an old wizard hires you...
   
  ...
   
  
• Perhaps all the PCs have the same Hunted or Patron or Contact.
  

Don't knock the classics!

The "you meet in a pub" thing is cheesy, but it works. It even has nostalgia value for older players!

But, let's face it, the common Hunted/Patron/Contact just works so well that you might as well go with it.

You'll have to tweak the characters a bit during Chargen, but you'll be doing that anyway. And then you have the strings necessary to pull the characters together, and they will have the motivation necessary to cooperate.

Too easy.

Sure, you won't want to do it in every campaign that you run, but how many campaigns do you run anyway?

Re: Question about old Champions supplements

The differences between those old books and the current HERO System are pretty substantial' date=' so updating them for 5E requires more work than the 4E supplements. [/quote']

 

Yes, it might take ten minutes instead of five.

Re: A new Silver Age Hero like world

Agh...post got deleted.

 

To recap what I was going to say, shortly. Try Pittsburgh, Jersey City, Detroit (non-CU), Boston, maybe Chicago. All have good points, but are past their "golden ages". No offense intended to any residents. Except for Jersey.

Poor Jersey. They always seems to get picked on.

Pittsburgh seems like the proper place for an Iron Age game then...

Ooh yes... I just did a search and found this page:

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us

In particular:

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp/maps/downtown_buildings.html

Nice.

Re: A new Silver Age Hero like world

In the US' date=' Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is most closely associated with the steel industry. It's not the only place of course, but the most prominent one. Football (American Football) team called the Steelers.[/quote']

 

I actually typed in Pittsburgh, but deleted it because I was being cautious. What's its current situation?

 

I guess what I'm looking for are "Rust Belt" cities that actually deserve the name.

 

They're the ones that Iron Age games are probably best set in. Cities on the way down, not the way up.

Re: A new Silver Age Hero like world

Whilst Sheffield was an ugly monstosity of a city back in the 80s' date=' it is now considered to be a funky, forward-looking cosmopolitan place with good universities and research industries. [/quote']

 

There ya go. That's the risk of working with stereotypes.

 

Of course, the source I was working from in this case was The Full Monty. No, really. A great film.

 

I've actually been one of the loudest mouths against national stereotyping. It will do me good to have been pulled up on it myself.

 

So, thank you.

 

Still, it would have been a good joke for the Steel city to have become the base for an Iron Age campaign. What's the equivalent in the US? Anywhere where there was once a steel industry that's gone away and hasn't been replaced...

Re: A new Silver Age Hero like world

Sterling City

I like this one. It's good. I may steal it myself.

As for "Campaign City", it is more correctly spelt "Campaigne City", since it was, of course, named after that famous French explorer, the Marquis de La Campaigne.

Hmm, now I'll have to think about Golden Age cities.

British Iron Age campaigns would, of course, be based in Sheffield. Apparently it has the appropriate degree of urban decay...

Originally posted by death tribble

Definitely the Engineer. Again that is a favoured character.

 

With Invictus I had him as Reagan's bodyguard and then Bush but he was caught in 92 and imprisoned.

There's a bunch of quite usable characters in Villainy Unbound, so listing them all is a bit like listing the table of contents...

But still, Borealis and Titaness are two other characters that I've found useful, and which were (apparently) created by Scott.

The great Canadian superpatriot Borealis is obvious good fun, and a perfect foil for Invictus to boot.

Titaness is a bit less obvious, since she's basically a flake. The easiest way to handle her is to punch her in the head. But if you have even the slightest sympathies for her beliefs, she becomes a lot more difficult to handle. And the characters I tend to play, do.

A quick note. The following was included in a quote that contained material from me:

***

As regards the supervillain limit, sorry, but I can't see it in any way but hypocrisy. A criminal is a criminal is a criminal

***

I didn't write it, and I don't agree with these sentiments. I believe they are Wanderer's words, erroneously edited into a block with mine.

Originally posted by Wanderer

Not too difficult at all. Let just crack open the reports of an human rights organization like Amnesty International and make a list of the worst offenders. I'd gauge that some names, like North Korea, Burma, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Zimbabwe, just to name a few, will be beyond much controversy.

Unfortunately, many human rights organizations have histories of partisan reporting, particularly during the Cold War.

Even the list of countries you give here, none of which have governments for which I have any sympathy, contains names that my characters would be prepared to defend against "utopian" world-conquerors.

On further consideration - all of them.

Of course, my characters might also covertly support human opponents of some of these governments, but that's a whole other ballgame, and only part of their general political activism.

Originally posted by nexus

Why don't these saviours use their cosmic power to institute some legitamate change that doesn't invole blowing stuff up?

Well, the problem here lies in the difference between the game and reality. For the game to be interesting, there needs to be conflict.

Useful science, for example, is rather difficult to develop decent scenarios around.

Superhero comics are, when you get down to it, an action/adventure/mystery genre (mostly), and a campaign generally has to reflect this.

I dunno. It's all "too hard" for my tastes. Anything much beyond "bust the corrupt official" risks becoming an exercise in generally rather superficial editorialising, usually on a cluelessly conventional basis. Yawn.

Still - the Squadron Supreme storyline was kind of neat. But what made it neat was the conflict between the "saviours" and Nighthawk's faction. Without that it would have lamed out rather appallingly.

Re: Re: Solo Scenarios

Originally posted by GestaltBennie

if the interest is there, maybe one day I'll do a 5e update of a few of the characters to whom I hold the rights (PLUNDER, Invictus,

Invictus! Invictus! Invictus! Invictus! Please, please, please, please, please!

No, really. And plot seeds for him. Lots of plot seeds.

You could pretty much run a whole campaign around the guy. He's such a fabulous scumbag.

I love him.