assault

Re: Re: How we are rolling!

Originally posted by Trebuchet

I suspect a substantial percentage of non-CU campaigns are "first supers" types.

That audible click you just heard was my campaign coming together.

For the last few days I have been driving myself mad trying to write out a timeline for my world.

I've been working with the concept of a new "Age" of supers having recently begun, but with one or more previous "Ages" having occurred in the past, particularly during WWII. As a result, I have felt the need to develop a bit of their history.

I've just realised this isn't necessary.

The key lies in the classic DC story "The Flash of Two Worlds."

DC's Silver Age characters were the "first supers" in their universe. So were their Golden Age ones! The two existed in different universes!

This classic bit of codswallop is exactly right for a lazy campaign designer. Yes, there were Golden Age supers - but not from here. If you want them to interact with the PCs you can, and you can send them home again afterwards. If you want to introduce villains, they can just come in from the universe next door - or they can be the "this dimensional" equivalents of the Golden Age characters.

This is perfect. It's full of classic silliness, and it saves me work.

End of problem.

The first public superhero in my "main" universe appeared in 1998...

Alan

Originally posted by JmOz

It does however depend on WHO the representitive is...for some reason I don't see a MAJOR problem if it was Roy Harper (Former agent of Checkmate, the DEA, close friend to Dick Grayson, formerly known as Speedy, now calls himself Arsenal)

Yes, this is true.

I admit that I am not at all thrilled about the idea of government representatives being allowed into the Batcave. Apart from anything else, it would endanger Batman's secret identity.

A close associate like Roy Harper might be different.

Even so, I would be inclined to give the group a separate base.

YMMV

Alan

Another point (probably the last from me):

DC had a whole lot of Golden Age characters (Marvel had a lot fewer). The result of this was the All-Star Squadron - probably the biggest superteam, and very likely the most powerful, ever. (It had subgroups, though.)

This allows you to do something that has been suggested for Galactic Champions settings: allowing players to play multiple characters of varying power levels. That means, in this case, a player could play a high level character like Dr Fate, the Spectre(!!!!) or Superman, a low power character like Dr Mid-Nite or Wildcat, or someone in between, all on different weeks.

If you shuffle the power levels around a bit, you can even have someone playing one of the powerful characters in a kind of starring role, while the rest of the team are having to deal with the same problem with their wits and skills. If you are careful, and write your scenarios properly, there is no particular reason why this couldn't work - you just have to ensure that all the characters have a scene in which they can shine. In any case, such starring roles would be rotated, so everyone will eventually have their moment as The Big Guy.

If you don't think you can handle that, or if your players don't like it, just run teams of characters of roughly the same power level.

For a more traditional approach, have a main set of PCs, who play a normal type of campaign, but have the players generate higher and lower level characters as well. That way, the lower level characters can come in when you need skill based characters, or when you feel like running street level scenarios, providing at least a partial solution to the initial problem that inspired this thread. (But not a complete one - the PCs in question should definitely be encouraged to buy some skills!)

The higher level characters are, of course, for when you and your players want to let loose with some serious power. You could try the "guest star" idea occasionally too, but you would have to ensure that everyone has a turn, which would occupy a fair number of sessions, which might be more of a problem than a one off.

Anyway, I hope someone is inspired/entertained. It might be a partial solution to some of my own vacilations, anyway.

Alan

Originally posted by sbarron

Have the players play the NPCs that will actually be doing the legwork. It can provide a nice break from the ongoing action and allow the players to explore the setting and time period from a different perspective. In addition, the captured PC gets to participate in the search for his character. That way he doesn't have to sit around waiting to get sprung.

This is the correct approach, IMHO. At the very least, the player of the captured character should be given an NPC to play. Someone Sandman/Batman like would do just fine. They simply wouldn't be powerful enough to overshadow the other PCs, being essentially just normals, but would be in their element in this situation.

You could even drag the search out for a couple of sessions to give the other PCs a chance to gain some experience points they can spend on the kind of skills they've just realised they don't have and need!

As for the captured character, well, if his/her player played the NPC well, I wouldn't be reluctant to pass the experience points onto the PC.

As for the impact on your overall campaign: adding an unpowered detective/vigilante character is unlikely to make much difference.

So there, that's what I would do.

Alan

Originally posted by Champsguy

After all, people other than the PCs have fought Mechanon.

Well, in my campaign, this might not be true. My universe essentially consists of the characters in back of the 1st/2nd Edition book, plus a few characters I particularly like from elsewhere.

There aren't many NPC superheroes: Crusader, Starburst, Shrinker(!), and possibly the Zen Team* from Allies. A few villains might pitch in against Mechanon too.

I'm still wavering over what to do about agencies - I'd like to eliminate them, but they are such a "classic Champions feature" that they probably should exist in my deliberately mostly-retro world.

Alan

*In Corporations, ZenCorp is a competitor of Bio-Investigations.

Originally posted by OddHat

Tallisman or Morningstar from the new books would be fun as well.

The supernatural villains do register fairly strongly on the nasty-o-meter.

My characters tend to have a particular dislike of DEMON.

Having said all that, though, Talisman has a rather attractive "bad girl" thing going for her.

Which raises the question: which supervillains would your characters like to make friends with, or even date?

Alan

Re: Re: Champions Battlegrounds

Originally posted by Hugh Neilson

I think the longer you've been playing, the more likely you'll still call it Champions. Up until 3e, it WAS Champions, and even the Big Blue Book from 4th had that title.

I've been playing since 1e. My conventions are:

Hero System = the whole generic system.

Champions = Superhero roleplaying using the Hero System.

It just happens that I am using the Hero System for superhero ropeplaying at the moment. Therefore I am playing ***Champions***.

At some point I may want to use the Hero System for the Pulp genre. Then I will be playing Justice, Inc. That would probably be true even if Hero Games published a product called "Pulp Hero" or something of the sort. (Grond Pulp Hero!) I would be using my old copy of Justice Inc., as well as, no doubt, some material from Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, and any other game that covered the same period. (Oops!)

I might also choose to cross to set a game in the late 1930s - which would be Golden Age Champions, since experienced pulp characters look quite a lot like non-powered superheroes.

Alan

Originally posted by Trebuchet

The Templars are a group founded by the good Atlanteans as a specific counter to the Chosen, who were working within the Catholic Church through most of the Middle Ages.

Hmm. But the Chosen managed to turn the Inquisition against the Templars...

I suppose that's reasonable enough. If the Inquisition was being used against the Chosen, it would naturally be a target for infiltration and potential takeover.

It's all getting a bit WoDdy, though.

Alan

Re: Have to disagree, Storn.

Originally posted by GenreFiend

The American Flag is red, white, and blue. Superman's costume is blue, red, and yellow. The idea wasn't to give Supes the colors of the flag, but to oufit him in primary colors. If Superman is a flag-suit, then so is Spider-Man, and I think we can all agree that nobody would ever call Spidey a flag-suit.

In fact, Storn has a point, one which I was aware of, but decided to ignore.

Superman does have a "Truth, Justice and the American Way" thing happening. Whatever snide comments that may bring to mind, he does have a fair bit of Super-Patriotness, even if he isn't a literal flagsuit.

If you want a more literal flagsuit, try Wonder Woman. The best thing about it is: she's not an American!

Of course, we could argue about different versions of her costume, but the stars and stripe motif is definitely there.

However, I don't think that in either of those cases the flagsuitness is the primary aspect of the character in the same very obvious manner as Captain America.

But, yes, as I said, Storn has a point.

Alan

I wrote:

The funny thing is: if every Champions GM in the world designed "their local VIPER Nest", with the resources that they have available, and all this could somehow be rationalised into a single organisation, however loose, the result would be almost entirely unlike anything that would be written up in a supplement!

Thinking about this a little more, this might be an interesting exercise. We couldn't use VIPER, of course, but building a similar organisation cell-by-cell to see how it turns out might be kind of fun.

I don't think using one of the official organisations is necessary (maybe RAVEN?), but whipping up a bit of a VIPER clone wouldn't be too hard.

Then we could start a thread where people could write up their own local branches... The organisation would more or less _only_ consist of the documented branches, plus perhaps a headquarters controlling some pooled resources. Of course there would also be associated corporations and front organisations, which people could also write up if they felt inspired.

The result would be incoherent, and nobody would use all of it, but it might be fun and inspirational.

I might sit on the idea for a few hours, work out some guidelines, and start a new thread later. Alternatively, someone else could do it first, and of course anyone who wanted to make some suggestions would be welcome to do so.

Just for starters - it would have to be a bit four-colourish, but should be usable for "darker" games.

It would have reasonably outrageous resources, but need to make a profit overall, even if individual cells don't. Money is useful, even for those with other goals.

Anyone interested? Any thoughts?

Alan

Re: Re: I'm not Mechanon, but...

Originally posted by McCoy

Yep. This might work once. Then expect not only a different coded signal each time, but linked to a Flash vs Radio Reception.

Yes, but the once is worth it!

In fact, the real reason you will get away with it that one time is because you will amuse/astound the GM. A nasty GM won't let you do it, but a cool one will.

But only once.

It's a really good idea though. I LIKE it.

Alan

Originally posted by Blue

I had things prepared to make this tougher, but when one of the players commented on how much fun he was having and two others agreed, I didn't have the heart to throw in the two villains I'd made. I'll use them next time, and beef up the agent weapons, throw in a tactical advantage (smoke grenades or something that require goggles to see through).

I would hold back on the villains, and just throw the agents at them in a smarter way.

Definitely use smoke grenages etc. Perhaps add some heavy weapons. Most definitely add lots and lots of innocent by-standers.

The situation you want to set up is: the PCs can either save innocents, or fight the agents, not both. If they chose to fight the agents, they will have to find them, dealing with smoke, teargas, bazookas, grenades, and any other toys that you care to use. The agents, in any case, are trying to achieve a goal which is not "defeating superheroes", but rather "acquiring something VIPER wants, and escaping with it afterwards".

So, at some point, the agents will retreat, hopefully without the heroes being able to pursue. If the agents have achieved their goal, they will have won, that is, they will have defeated the heroes.

Of course, they may not succeed in doing this. The ideal situation is one where the skill of the actual players, not the power of the heroes, is what is decisive in determining the outcome.

On a related note: I have always been very fond of the old Super-Agents supplement. I've never been able to use all of it, and it's rather dated now, but it just breathes fun, and it portrays agents in a way that is, shall we say, inspiring to the evil GM looking to mess PCs up with normals.

Most agents are anonymous cannon fodder. Not all of them are. Some of them can have individual character sheets, higher characteristics, more skills, and so on. And of course, working for an agency, they can have special toys from the R&D division.

If VIPER really wants to mess with heroes, they can always assign undercover agents to the case. They can investigate the heroes to discover their weaknesses, and develop an appropriate reponse. They can assign elite agents to the case, including near supervillain grade skill mongers, assign special equipment, and generally power up, all without a single supervillain getting involved.

Then again, hiring a few supervillains as legbreakers might actually be quicker and cheaper!

In fact, now that I think about it, this is probably an early response in the process of escalation. Assigning agents who are actually valuable and talented is probably only something that happens _after_ the rent-a-villains have failed.

And if the elite agents fail, then it's time for the staff villains...

Now I think about it, the proper way to design VIPER's tactics is to consider its budget. They have goals which have to be prioritised, and will assign resources to each target appropriately. Eliminating pesky superheroes is one of these targets. VIPER will always seek to do this the cheapest and easiest way that is actually likely to be effective.

VIPER is actually far more dangerous than a supervillain group like Eurostar. It contains more supervillains, at least some of which are as powerful as anything Eurostar has. (And if it doesn't, it can probably hire them!)

It also can form temporary mercenary supervillain teams to face specific threats. This is, of course, expensive, so I suspect this will only happen when there is a known threat, or a specific critical need.

The real question is where are the elite, near-supervillain grade agents? Does the local Nest have them? If not, can they be called in for assistance? Is this cheaper (including in status terms) than hiring local talent villains? And so on.

The funny thing is: if every Champions GM in the world designed "their local VIPER Nest", with the resources that they have available, and all this could somehow be rationalised into a single organisation, however loose, the result would be almost entirely unlike anything that would be written up in a supplement!

My Nest, for example, would be very much a business, with little in the way of overt agent power, but with some very nasty covert agents. It would be geared towards making money, perhaps handling some mad scientists, and, of course, making useful contacts. To some extent, it would be a micro-agency in its own right.

Anyway: VIPER has everything it needs to smack down punk superheroes. For the sake of fun, escalate their response gradually, but remember that if VIPER gets really concerned, overwhelming force is probably doctrine. Agents can have skills. Defensive weaponry, like smoke grenades, is really handy.

And of course: innocent bystanders are your friend.

Alan

Originally posted by BrandonBussell

If we were to let players with blossoming superpower they dont really understand into a somewhat realistic setting where places people and concepts can be recognized, does it hurt the story.

..

Silver and golden age seems to cut and dry... too Idealistic...

ROFL. I just realised which title you described in the first paragraph above. It's one which is a perfect example of a Silver Age title.

It's: The Incredible Hulk!

Alan

Originally posted by BrandonBussell

SO can someone clarify 4 color for me?

It's tricky to adequately do the term justice.

Obviously it's origins are in the printing process involved in early comic books.

It tends to be used to indicate the attitudes, and to some extent the cliches of "typical" Golden and Silver age comics.

These attitudes do, in fact exist, although they were not universal, even during their supposed heydays. For example, Batman and Superman are well-known for their Codes against Killing and all that, but check out their early appearances if you want to see some rather rough justice being handed out.

In fact, "four colour" conventions evolved over time from origins that had more in common with pulp detective fiction, which could often be quite brutal and bloody. They became institutionalised with the introduction of the Comics Code during the '50s.

The so-called "Bronze Age", beginning in the early '70s, was a period where four colour conventions coexisted with more "serious" attitudes to various degrees.

There is supposedly an "Iron Age" at the moment, but frankly I haven't seen much evidence of it. Yes, there are some titles that are used as evidence of its existence, but frankly it's not so obvious in the mainstream. That is, of course, unless you count the Unreadable X-Men as being Iron Age, as opposed to merely being rubbish.

The present day JLA looks like good old Bronze Age stuff to me. It mixes "four colour" with some fairly serious themes. The heroic codes of the characters are intact - they are just dealing with situations that are a little more serious than some of the goofier matters of the past.

OK, I'll give you an example of four colour in a Champions game: A mad scientist unleashes genetically engineered dinosaurs on the city. The heroes have to protect the innocent, and stop the critters. The scientist threatens to repeat the exercise, with bells on, unless his demands are met. The heroes have to find him and stop him.

Is this scenario silly? Yes. Is this scenario fun? Well, I suppose that depends on whether or not you like playing with toy plastic dinosaurs and going "Rarrr" and "Eeek! A dinosaur!" a lot...

Of course, there is no "correct" style of game. Personally, my tastes change with my moods. I am quite happy to play with dinosaurs one session, and to hunt a psychopath through a haunted insane asylum the next. I don't expect a vast amount of consistency, although a certain amount of it is nice.

And yes, incidentally, I am quite happy to play "realistic" games. The psychopath hunt actually plays best with player characters that have no powers at all (even/especially if NPCs do)! (Picture Batman). On the other hand, I would have a whole lot less interest in playing a game where the rest of the PCs were Punisher clones gunning down kids for being gang members. I would probably rat the other PCs out to the cops.

I could get into "realistic" superpowered games too. Unfortunately, I would be a real problem to GM, since my character would, of course, respond "realistically" to the situation. I've given hints in an earlier post what my character would be likely to do - it's unlikely that that is what the GM has in mind for her campaign.

And one of the funny things about "realistic" campaigns is that many supers would probably attempt to use their powers in ways that are actually rather "four colour". Just because "supervillains" are nastier and more subtle doesn't mean that other superbeings won't band together to stop their plans once they are identified. And, of course, in a "realistic" world, their plans won't necessarily be all that subtle. Not all of them are mind-controllers, nor are all mind-controllers wannabe world conquerors. Some, of course, are "merely" rapists, for example. Identifying and proving this would be - difficult - to put it mildly, but stomping them into the dirt once you do would be rather fun.

So, all this is interesting, but is it really what you want to play all the time? Personally, I like to be able revert back to lighthearted dinosaur stomping action, without too much concern for building huge logical edifices that mainly serve to constrain GMs, rather than enhance their options.

I feel free to use whatever colours I choose. A lot of time four colours are enough.

Alan

Originally posted by Redmenace

GLet me throw out this single notion. Unless the supers are so powerful that they can push around anyone they want to, I can only imagine that they would be nationalized/drafted by their respective Governments which would seem to offer a military service for life or fugitive for life setting. That's only one take of course.

Another option is that they go into exile. That is, they move somewhere else where they won't be drafted, or, at least, where the conditions of the "draft" are tolerable.

The latter is a very important consideration. The "draft" may be into regular forces, or it may simply mean that the supers are treated as reservists, subject to call up as needed. This would be quite a viable option as long as there are at least some full-time government supers around.

Going back to the question of exile, some supers may be more interested in serving in some other countries' military forces than their own, especially if the conditions of service are better. This may be due to ideological committment, or may simply be on a mercenary basis.

Another factor to consider is that some of the supers may have been created by the governments' themselves. What would happen when a soldier who had volunteered for a super-soldier program wants to leave the military? Are some military personnel suddenly going to be "volunteers for life"? If not, can their powers be turned off, or tuned down to a degree that allows them to go back into civilian life? If so, what happens when news of their existence gets out? Are they allowed to communicate with their families? If not, what happens when they manage to do so anyway? And so on...

I have a few minor problems with "realistic" settings. They are as subject to the assumptions behind them as four-colour settings, and rarely are actually genuinely more realistic than the latter.

In fact, if you wanted a truly "realistic" setting, go for a world of non-powered vigilantes...

Alan

I'm having an Air Wave moment here.

He bought a mobile phone in the 1940's. It was a pretty good superpower then!

Actually, he's on my short list for characters I would play in a Golden Age campaign. His "power" is silly enough to be amusing, useful enough (bugging!), and hopefully cheap enough for him to be a decent non-powered thug basher as well.

He also has his roller skates that allow him to travel along phone lines... I guess it's a kind of limited magnetic levitation flight.

Built as a homage, rather than a direct copy, he could combine silliness and playability enough to be fun.

Then again, I might play Aquaman ("I can talk to fish!") instead.

Anyway, ignore my madness and carry on with the serious business of the thread...

Alan

Re: Using your real-life city.

Originally posted by GenreFiend

I once tried to use my real home town for a campaign. But I had a hard time figuring out why six superheroes and dozens of villains would suddenly show up in Asheville, N.C. (population about 70,000 IIRC).

I generally assume that supers appear in clusters.

Obviously this is most likely where there is a common source for powers, such as a mutation emerging in the local genepool, an alien baby being rocketed to Earth accompanied by glowing green rocks, weird experiments, or just a costumed loon being fixated upon by other costumed loons. On the other hand, once a weirdness magnet develops, other weirdoes flock to it: mad scientists, mutie hunters, hostile aliens and so on.

Quite a lot of oddity can happen in quite a small town. On the other hand... it's at least a little difficult to believe that all this lot would be residents. It's more likely that most would come to town with some goal in mind, fail or succeed, leave, and never be seen again. Kind of like a TV episode. A smaller group could be residents, of course.

Then again, I must admit that I am straining to think of ways to keep _six_ superheroes busy in a town like Asheville, or Toowoomba, which is about the same size. It's rather likely in the Toowoomba case that they would be heading off down to Brisbane at fairly regular intervals - if only because they could.

I think I would prefer to run a smaller group in a smallish town. Of cause, that's not always an option. Unfortunately, nor is it always an option to go with a "Buffy and the Scooby Gang" structure, which is the other way of toning down the excess superness. Hmm.

Of course, I suppose you could always go with a Mutie School idea. The heroes have been gathered together to work on a common project (receive training, or whatever). The villains have come to interfere with their efforts.

Yeah, that's probably one of the better general cases. No doubt there are others, but it doesn't matter.

You are quite right - running campaigns in small towns can be quite awkward. For that matter, running campaigns in small _countries_ can be a bit iffy too! On the other hand, clustering your heroes is usually a bit easier in this case.

Why does New Zealand have such a high population of superhumans? Because of a mutation that emerged in the population 150 years ago...

Why are there so many supers in Toowoomba? Because Atom Man started training young supers once he retired from active adventuring...

Easy.

Alan

Re: Some responses

Originally posted by GenreFiend

Plus, with 350 points and a big limitation on all my powers, I could probably do a lot more than old Rex ever could.

Yep.

I always thought it was cool that Miraclo made him bulletproof.

I figure the limitation would be more severe than Captain Miracle's one. If CM was a standard OIHID, Rex would get something better.

Then again, Rex in normal mode was a lot more useful than Billy Batson.

As for your homage it would be fair to suggest that he could be as good a brawler as any other good old red-blooded-American-in-a costume. That is, he could potentially fight as well as a low-end gadgeteer/martial artist. In fact, that is precisely what he is - Miraclo is a gadget.

Incidentally, there are a couple of similar kinds of characters around. DC's Hawk and Dove both had powers that cut in "in the presence of injustice", and cut out again automatically once it was over. Funnily enough, they seem to have managed to sustain secret identities... Building a character whose powers are OIHID, and can only be activated when the GM says so is a little - brave - in my opinion.

Another interesting one can be found here: http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/nitefite.htm

Alan

Shrinker makes a good hero.

You don't have to change anything about her. She just hasn't made the transition to villain YET.

Anyone who isn't familiar with her will be blindsided when she does turn villain. Anyone who is will get the biggest case of paranoia about her.

What more could you want?

Alan

Re: Another note

Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft

IIRC, Miraclo turned out to be an addictive drug that did long-term damage to Rex tyler's health to the point that his doctors advised him to stop taking it.

This is true, but is a piece of Bronze Age retrocontinuity.

In the Golden Age, it didn't happen.

Either version can be used.

Alan

Re: Mythology

Originally posted by Hermit

As for Marvel's contributions, I would put the Fantastic Four there as well.

Also Captain America, but that maybe my like of the guy biasing me

Yes. I mentioned that certain Marvel characters had fended off Galactus.

More generally, the FF are probably the most iconic of the scientific adventurer heroes in comics. The Challengers of the Unknown can't cut it.

Captain America is, no doubt, the best known of the flagsuits. None of DC's come anywhere close.

And, I guess, the Hulk is by far the best known Monster-Hero. Whether or not that's a legitimate legendary type is another question, which just brings us back to definitions.

Alan

Originally posted by pinecone

Basicly the lim is based on how often it comes up...an hour is an eternity in combat phases and a blink in noncombat time....I'd build him as a skill monger so you can shine in noncombat and either multiform or naked stat the "Hour of buffness!"...or just buy seduction up to 18 or less and grin a lot when people ask why you call yourself "Hour-man"...

Yeah, I'd build him as a skill-monger to keep him useful the rest of the time. Unfortunately, the actual character doesn't seem all that impressive in this respect. He's enough of a chemist to have invented Miraclo, and enough of a detective to operate solo, but he doesn't seem particularly impressive. This wouldn't necessarily apply to a Champions "homage", of course.

I'm not sure that he can only activate his powers once a day. I have a vague memory that he can pop another pill an hour after his previous one wears off, but that is quite likely a Roy Thomas retcon. Another retcon, of course, is his addiction to Miraclo. In the Golden Age, he could just enjoy super-steroids in moderation.

This character has a lot of very obvious handles on him. For that reason, no GM would ever be offended by him, and his hour of power is impressive enough that he would be cool to play. He would be cheap to build, and frankly would make an excellent PC all round.

But of course, I would play a homage, rather than a literal translation.

Alan

Originally posted by Doug McCrae

It seems to me the real mythology of comic books is limited to:

GA Captain Marvel

SA Superman

Some of the legends and stuff associated with the GLC

Jack Kirby's Fourth World

Possibly GA Wonder Woman

 

That's it. All DC. The Marvel heroes are more down to earth.

Sure. No Marvel hero has ever saved the world from Galactus, have they? None of them have ever zipped around space on a surfboard. None of them is a Thunder God, the Sorceror Supreme, or the ruler of Atlantis. No, they are all far too down to earth for all that.

This is all a bit silly. Flagsuits and non-powered detectives are just as much part of the "mythology" of comic books as their more powerful counterparts. Mythology is about Heroes as well as Gods, Giants and Titans. For every Hercules, there is an Odysseus as well. For every Great Warrior, there is a Trickster, and so on.

Shrug. This is a game of definitions, so I'll stop before it gets sillier.

Alan

Originally posted by Urklore

I'm full of ideas, my mind is an open tome to be used. Been HEROing and D&Ding since the 80s. ahh you young whippersnappers have it easy now a days.......

Bah! The only reason I started playing Champions in early '82, rather than '81, was that it wasn't available on this side of the world then!

I started playing Traveller in 1979, and D&D in 1980. I'd have started several years earlier, except living in a provincial city in Queensland in the '70s didn't give you a lot of access to games stores. All I could do was look at ads, read reviews, and drool...

Alan

Some possibilities:

* The Yakuza

* Corporations had an Evil Japanese Corporation (Yoshida? or something like that)

* The IHA - using human assassins against mutie scum.

* Dr Destroyer (because he can)

* Foxbat (because Ninjas are Totally Awesome)

*The Japanese government of World War II, sending agents through time in order to stave off their looming defeat.

The last would be the one I would personally use. It just popped into my head while I was writing this post. Thanks for inspiring me!

Alan