FireTiger

Re: Star Trek’s 10 Cheesiest Classic Creatures I think one sign of what we would now call cheezy critters was that several of them were used in other shows (like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea or Lost in Space) after they made their appearances in the original Star Trek.

Re: The Super Darwin Awards This wouldn't be a full winner, but a runner-up, since he didn't actually die from it. My last campaign included the martial artist White Dragon, who had among his disads a Susceptibility to Mental Powers...all mental powers. He didn't enjoy being on the same team with Cerebrex the egoist and Nightshade the mystic. (Especially when Mind Link was used to allow the team to communicate...)

Re: The Super Darwin Awards Hehehe... "ouch."

Re: HERO Computer design question

Re: Best Pre-5th Edition Material? Hmmm... well, let's see if I can add a few items without going back over covered ground... The Island of Dr. Destroyer adventure (originally 1st ed., revised for 3rd, included with the 3rd ed. GM's screen) is still one of my favorites. This was his introductory scenario, and jumped right into a Destroyer-vs-The-World plot. Okay, this was mentioned, but I like it too: Champions in 3-D (4th ed.), along with the Flawed Mirrorsarticle that spawned the book from Adventurers Club #6. Normals Unbound (4th ed.) was useful in that it included examples from Incompetent Normal up through Slightly Less powerful. The characters were built with plenty of story ideas could be worked into a campaign. Again, already mentioned, but... the Day of the Detroyer adventure (4th ed.), is another of my favorites, and showcase's Destroyer's return as a global threat. (The plot given with his entry in Classic Enemies isn't as grand, but it is in character for Destroyer.) The Circle and M.E.T.E. organization book (2nd ed.) is another favorite of mine. (M.E.T.E. was revised for 4th ed. in Alien Enemies.) The Circle makes a good starting point for a Mystics game without leaping directly into Mystic Masters. The Escape from Stronghold adventure (2nd ed.) is still useful, as is the super-prision itself. This was revised for 4th ed. in Classic Enemies. The adventure Deathstroke (2nd ed.) is a good one for presenting the Heroes with a global threat that isn't Dr. Destroyer. Here's another already mentioned that I'm partial to (possibly because I still have and play both games it has write-ups for, Champions and Superworld) is The Great Super Villain Contest adventure (3rd ed.). Villains from everywhere competing to win the "Emerald Eye of Azog." The genre book Cyber Hero (4th ed.) I like for its presentation of using cyberspace in the Hero System. I saw mention of the Golden Age of Champions book, but I think that was for the later version from Hero Games, I have the old one for 2nd & 3rd ed. from Firebird Ltd. Which reminds me... The Armory Volume 1 also from firebird Ltd.contains a lot of information on firearms which can still be useful. It will likely require a fair bit of work from a 5th ed. GM, though. The Hero System stats for the weapons were presented in Espionage! format. I also still have use for the original Enemies, Enemies II, and Enemies III books (1st & revised for 2d ed., 2nd ed., and 3rd ed. respectively), as there are villains in them I like that haven't been officially brought into newer rules yet. The genre book Horror Hero (4th ed.) has some parts I like more than others, but as a whole I have uses for it yet. (Portions of this one were 4th ed. revisions of Justice, Inc. material, and some of it has been revised for 5th ed. in Pulp Hero.) A Companion to Superworld (includes 3rd ed. material) contains the write-up for Project Superhero, a superhero training facility, complete with two danger rooms. The Trouble fo HAVOC adventure book (includes 3rd ed. material) includes a good number of supervillains, and some superheroes that could be used as handouts to new players. There are 3 adventures: A raid on an experimental fast-breeder reactor, the discovery of a lost segment of humanity that had moved underground after being influenced by a being fro mthe stars, and a race to recover a crashed alien ship before everyone else who is expected to try for it. Woof, that ran longer than I thought, anyone still reading by now, I thank you for your time.

Re: 50th Post

Re: Tac-nukes vs. Nuclear Warheads The original partial write-up for this weapon was intended to be placed in the early stages of WWII and specifically listed the ground burst Trigger. True, building a more modern version of it would probably add an air burst Trigger. I just fleshed-out the mechanics for the original write-up.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Aye, there was... I'm not sure how well it took, though. This was the same guy who was honestly surprised that somehow, somehow, the villains knew we were there...

Re: What Are Your Hero's Most Embarrassing Moments? Hmmm... how about this one? Halo has magic-based light powers, and an accidental change upon physical contact with magics other than her own... and a Secret ID... and gets bopped by Black Paladin's mace.... which triggers the accidental change... while both characters were airborne... "D'oh!"

Re: Old "butt" Champions Mini's I've got both of the boxed figure sets in my collection, though I seem to have mixed some of them up with other boxes over time. A lot of those Grenadier boxed sets also came with a mini-adventure (usually just a map). The Heroes set had the "1st City Bank," and the Villains set "McClave's Liquor Mart." Until I can resort everything I can't give a full contents list, but here are the ones that are actually in the right boxes at the moment. Heroes: Gargoyle, Ice Star, the iconic Hero System Fred (aka Champion, if memory serves), Crusader, Marksman, a male Hawkman-like character with wings, and another male character w/cape I can't ID. There is also a jet-pack w/exhaust burning, a briefcase, and backpack of some sort for customizing the more generic figures. Found the powered armor hero figure, Megan Pierce, Mind Maid, one I think might be Flare, and one genric female figure in a flying pose w/cape that can be added. Villains: Sunburst, Ray, Lazer, Cobra, Ankylosaur, Wyvern, Utility, and The Fox of Crime. There is also a one-person rocket sled, and a pair of missiles in the set. Found Mind Slayer, Lady Blue, a caped gemale figure I think might be Howler, and a generic villainess. Hopefully I'll be able to list the rest of them when I get all of my old boxed sets properly sorted again (there are Cthulhu critters in the Champions sets at the moment). I'm not positive on my IDs for each figure, but most of them are pretty obvious...well, okay, obvious if one has enough old material to see how several costumers used to look. Okay, I think I've got more than just the two big boxed sets, I'm still finding Champions figures scattered throughout my collection. I just turned up Grond, Gratz the Vampire, Kor Hunter, The Mighty Pinchus, Elt, T't'shlr. three policemen in roit gear, two criminals, a Cyclops-looking visored figure, hmmm...maybe he is supposed to look like Cyclops — I just found a Superman-type figure, another male I can't ID, The Crimson Claw, Ripper, three SAT agents, Foxbat, Dr. Destroyer, Moonsilver, a female normal, Arrowhead, Death Commando, and Frost.

Re: Tac-nukes vs. Nuclear Warheads The earliest version of an atomic-type weapon that I can find in the books that I own appears in the original Golden Age of Champions on page 86 (Firebird Ltd. 1985). If folks will bear with me, here is my attempt to update that oddly-named device to the 5th edition rules (borrowing the common modifiers from Mr. Long's nuclear bomb article from Hero System Almanac #2, Digital Hero #10, and the Equipment Guide). KABOOM (KR-36-ite Anti-personnel Bomb Of Outrageous Magnitude) Common Advatanges: Trigger (Must Make Physical Contact with an Object and be Moving at Terminal Velocity [30"/segment]) (+¼), Explosion (½); Total = (+¾). Common Limitations: OAF Bulky (-1½), 1 Charge Which Never Recovers and Destroys Bomb (-4), No Range (-½), Requires a Systems Operation Roll (-½); Total: (-6½) Effect 1 — Concussion: 50d6 EB (vs PD) (250 pts), Common Advantages (+¾), Active Cost = 437 pts; Common Limitations (-6½), Only Does Knockback (-2); Total Limitations (-8½), Real Cost = 46 pts. Effect 2 — Fireball: 30d6 EB (vs ED, Fire) (150 pts), Common Advantages (+¾), Active Cost = 262 pts; Common Limitations (-6½), Real Cost = 35 pts. Effect 3 — Flash: 10d6 Flash (vs Sight & Radio Groups) (55 pts), Common Advantages (+¾), Active Cost = 96 pts; Common Limitations (-6½), Real Cost = 13 pts. Effect 4 — Radiation (1): 10d6 RKA (vs ED) (150 pts), Common Advantages (+¾), NND (defenses are Force Field, Appropriate Life Support, Desolidification, or Power Defense) (+1), Does Body (+1); Total Advantages (+2¾), Active Cost = 562 pts; Common Limitations (-6½), Real Cost = 75 pts. Effect 5 — Radiation (2): 2d6 RKA (vs ED) (30 pts), Common Advantages (+¾), NND (defense is not being desolid) (+1), Does Body (+1); Total Advantages (+2¾), Active Cost = 112 pts; Common Limitations (-6½), Real Cost = 15 pts. Total Active Cost = 1,469 points; Total Real Cost = 184 points. Something like this could represent a very small yield weapon, though not as realistically as a toned-down nuke from Mr. Long's article. I know this is pretty much , but I thought I'd put it up here in case someone might find it useful.

Re: From Enemies III Hmmm... okay, now at least I know that there is a copy that didn't have the error. Maybe it was part of Foxbat's master plan... Now, if we can just find somebody with a good copy.

Re: Still looking for original character sheets Hmmm... sorry, I've only found my originals from the 2nd and 3rd edition sets. (Darn, thought I had the old 1st ed. ones.) I'll keep digging too, though, since I've got some stuff that hasn't been dug out of old storage yet.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... We had one in a Champions game in the long and long ago... The heroes are closing in on the HQ of the villains. We've done our recon, polished the battleplan, and we send in the pointman to his spotter position. The heroes go radio silent... Pointman: "I am in position, maintaining radio silence." The rest of us: .... Pointman: "Repeat. I am in position, maintaining radio silence." The rest of us: (Couldn't help but laugh at him even as we had go to his rescue...)

Re: HERO Computer design question Thank'ee; but really all that I did was reverse your own idea. Instead of applying negatives to the intruder's skill rolls (which from what I'd read in the thread would be somewhat troublesome), I put the same values as bonuses to the AI's defensive skill rolls. Each level of "firewall" can, if the GM is having a nice day, be run as a single program that just has function calls to the complimentary skills. Back in Cyber Hero, anti virus programs were presented as 10d6 Dispel (Program) powers. Virus programs in the genre book used the Sticky Advantage to come into contact with targets. The AV program is built with a Detect (Power with Sticky Advantage). Legitimate programs and users wouldn't be affected. This sort of program might also be handed to a subsystem to decrease the load on the AI (unless you make it horrifically intelligent it won't be able to run very many programs, as I mentioned before).

Re: HERO Computer design question Hmmm... looking at this again, I see another snag. If, for example, I use the Artificial Personality Package Deal from Cyber Hero we get an AI with a 23 for INT (without going into ×2 cost). That means that the big bad white cube in cyberspace can only run 5 programs (INT/5) at a time. So a software firewall — which is what the ones in my previous post are meant to be, my apologies for neglecting to note that before — eats 20% of my example AI's abilities. [Ouch.] How about this idea? As AIs are generally supposed to reside in really good mainframes, perhaps the "firewall" tasks could be given to a subsystem? Design a non-AI computer and give it the ICE programs? That could simulate both the hardware and software aspects in game terms without cutting into the AI's runtime.

Re: From Enemies III Foxbat!? Noooooooo! Blast him (oh wait, he did that himself back in Champions III...). If he drops the idea that he's starring in his own comic book and starts acting on the idea that he's editing a rules supplement, we'll be in even more trouble than we are now.

Re: From Enemies III Well, it has been only rather recently that I've been able to dig most of my old Hero Games material out of storage (tough taking one's hobby to basic training). So some of it hasn't really been looked at in 20+ years. (Heck, I've still got the old boxed Champions miniatures from Grenadier that still need to be primed, nevermind painted. I'm so far behind it can only be funny.)

Re: HERO Computer design question Under Cyber Hero this sort of thing was represented by Data Screen ICE, which was a force wall. As someone (of more) I think mentioned, there is a note in Ultimate Skill that suggests buying the defending computer Computer Programming (Only For Defense -1/2) and let it make opposed rolls against the hacker. That would give us something like this: Basic Firewall: Computer Programming (3 pts), +3 to skill (+6 pts), Defensive Only (-1/2)(9 active pts); Cost: 6 pts. Improved Firewall: Computer Programming (3 pts), +5 to skill (+10 pts), Defensive Only (-1/2) (13 active pts); Cost: 9 pts. plus Security Systems (complimentary skill) (3 pts), +3 to skill (+6 pts). Defensive Only (-1/2) (9 active points); Cost: 6 pts. Total: 15 pts. Advanced Firewall: Computer Programming (3 pts), +5 to skill (+10 pts), Defensive Only (-1/2) (13 active pts); Cost: 9 pts. plus Security Systems (complimentary skill) (3 pts), +5 to skill (+10 pts). Defensive Only (-1/2) (13 active points); Cost: 9 pts. plus Cryptography (complimentary skill) (3 pts), +3 to skill (+6 pts), Defensive Only (-1/2) (9 active pts); Cost: 6 pts. Total: 24 pts. Adaptive Firewall: Computer Programming (3 pts), +5 to skill (+10 pts), Defensive Only (-1/2) (13 active pts); Cost: 9 pts. plus Security Systems (complimentary skill) (3 pts), +5 to skill (+10 pts). Defensive Only (-1/2) (13 active points); Cost: 9 pts. plus Cryptography (complimentary skill) (3 pts), +5 to skill (+10 pts), Defensive Only (-1/2) (13 active pts); Cost: 9 pts. plus Mental Defense +10 (10 pts). Total: 34 pts. And my apologies if all I've done is confuse the issue.

Re: Foxbat....Where can I find Him? Dipping into my library turns up Foxbat in Enemies II, appearing on the front cover with Grond, Radium, Oculon, and The Monster; they're facing-off against some of the Guardians (on the back cover), Gargoyle, The Marksman, Ice Star, and Goliath. Foxbat's stats are on page 20 (weighing in at 335 2nd edition points). His "Sidekick," The Awesome Exo-Skeleton Man makes his appearance on pages 6 & 7 of Adventurers Club #1. (I'm in the process of updating him for my own campaign.) The next listing I have for Foxbat is Classic Enemies, on page 60 (weighing in at 338 4th edition points). I also have the write-up for Lenore, the ahhh... "charming young lady" who found Foxbat's HQ after the events documented in comic-form in Champions III. She appears on pages 51-54 of Adventurers Club #8. I only have a very few issues of the old Champions comicbook, so I don't have that version of Foxbat (I find comicbook write-ups for Pulsar, Olga Gottmann (Flare's sister), and The Galloping Galooper!.)

Re: From Enemies III Thank's. The only other odd thing was that my copy of Espionage! didn't have the Merchants of Terror adventure included in the box. That left me without the means to get the update book when Danger International was released. All the rest of the stuff I got back then was okay.

(I wasn't sure where to ask this one, so my apologies if there's a better spot for it.) While looking through my Champions library for NPCs to update, I was reminded of something that I didn't get the chance to write in and ask about back in 1984. What I'm looking for is some missing text in the entry for the villain Aerion. Enemies III, page 10, 1st column, top...everything before the line (which is also partly missing): control the movement of air, initially it was very It would be nice to find the missing lines (3 of them, I think) after some 23 years.