CrosshairCollie

Rampage: First and foremost, get the DNPC to safety, then try to evacuate the area. Second, try to figure out which villain he'd have the most luck battling, and help that one pummel the other ... then pummel the 'lesser of the two evils' for great justice. Crosshair Collie=Pretty much the same trick, albeit much more flippantly. Depending on who else is there, she'd be willing to be bait for a trap (taunt both villains, lure 'em into an ambush, that sorta thing).

Hmmm ... interesting stuff! I've got a pet villain team I've had for a while that were survivors of Project Sunburst, and it's interesting to see how different people can take different plot threads and run with 'em. I must admit, though ... I like these guys more than my take.

Have any of you GMs out there ever intentionally set up a player (or character), putting him in a situation where, if he reacts like you know he will, all $*@( will break loose? My example: I have a player whose only solution to any problem is to blast it. Admittedly, until recently, he's only had two powers, variations of EB, and when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail, but this was the character he wanted. (For those of you with long memories, this was the same guy who insisted on blasting a 'getaway' car in a game, despite the fact that it was already disabled, because he wanted to see it explode ... and it probably would have killed the six normal thugs standing nearby.) I'm considering dropping him in a set-up ... either the 'you shot the normal' scenario, or having someone trying to steal something and seeing if he'll blast it (and it's a bomb or nerve gas or something). It's awfully heavy-handed, though, and part of me would feel bad ... but ending a campaign with a 'Well, you're all dead, and it's his fault' might drive the point home. Any experiences with this out there?

Always a thorny problem ... players who don't get the 'Hero' in Hero System. I've had to deal with it before ... usually, though, I have one clueless person and two or three people who get the genre and say 'NO, we can't do that'. Possible solutions I can think of include: The Switcheroo: An old classic; have a villain causing problems, then while he's running, pull a switch to a normal, preferably influential, person dressed up in the same outfit (even better, a DNPC). Whoops, you just killed the mayor. Downside: Very heavy-handed, the RP equivalent of being hit on the head with a hammer marked 'LESSON' on the side. Well, We Shot First, But Nobody Can Answer The Questions: Launch a 'staged' plot ... some minions running amuck, stealing a component of a larger plan. When the PCs try to get information, the only one who knows anything was the one that's dead. No, THIS Is How You Do It: Create a Super-Punisher type, who does what the PCs do, except even worse ... completely merciless. Then, especially if the PCs seem to be admiring him, have someone frame the PCs for a crime ... and Mr. Super-Punisher comes after them, completely unconcerned about whether they're really guilty or innocent; he knows they're guilty, so they get no mercy. One of my favorites.

I actually think all cats have psionic powers, myself. Mind Control: One Command ('scritch me'), or just Emotion Control ('Awwww!') with Gestures (Flop And Writhe) ...

I've got a character I did a similar concept with. You have to include the basic character in the points ... I just made sure all the unfocussed information was the same in every form (same STR, same DEX, etc), then modified the focussed stuff.

Since you can't (or rather, aren't supposed to) buy Unluck Useable As Attack, work from the other direction ... what does the power actually *do*? Judging from what you said, it makes people miss you because something unfortunate happens to them ... sometimes. So ... Defense Maneuver to get your full DCV against back-attacks, and DCV levels, activation roll, only to defend against back-attacks. Or, if it must be specifically targetted, a DEX Drain that only affects CV (I'm not a big fan of Penalty Skill Levels on others, but Your Mileage May Vary).

30d6 Mind Control, One Command ('Follow Me!') ... darn it, now I have a goofy villain concept.

Thank you all very much for the advice. Now, I must model Pikachu into 5E. *sadistic grin*

Bushroot. DW's gun should probably be a MP or VPP ... I've seen him fire suction-cups with ropes attached to them at least once (and, in true cartoon fashion, he probably has 'just the right tool for the job' whenever he needs it). Smoke Grenades and a variant on the 'Vanishing' Teleport (only to appear in smoke clouds), perhaps ... In the pilot episode, he was a Gloryhound for a psych lim (he was annoyed by the lack of media after completing a mission) for his big Psych Lim, as I recall (it has been a LONG time since I've seen that show).

Thanks. T'wasn't bad ... went out to dinner, took the day off of work. Today, I get to run what may be one of the most ambitious games I've ever tried ... after my players insisted I run two weeks straight instead of keeping the DM rotation going because I did the 'looks like you're all dead' cliffhanger last week and they didn't want to wait a month to find out what happened.

Warning ... this may be a very long and hallucinatory post. For those of you who have run other supers games (Marvel, DC, GURPS, Silver Age Sentinels) as well as HERO, have you ever wanted to 'port' over a villain team that you created from that game to a new Champions game, because you and your players liked it? When I was running a MSH game (the SAGA system, which really was better than most folks give it credit for IMNSHO), I stole something from the old boards here (I think), and created the PokeSpawn ... basically, a couple of kids had found a book that summoned the kinds of spirits that animate golems, and these demons inhabited their Pokemon action figures, bringing them to life with appropriate powers (very short form ... it got REAL complicated after that, as they swiped the book and used it to create a 50' tall Uranium Golem ... ah, memories). Now, my players got a real kick out of that ... and I've got another couple of pet villain teams around that I'd like to use, but they're in different 'continuities' ... do you think it's a good idea to bring back old favorites like that? Admittedly, I can't just re-run the old plots, that'd be dull, and the 'history' wouldn't exist, so I'd have to watch out for above-board knowledge. I think that the villains were good enough for another spin around the block, so to speak ... I was intending to re-use them in the MSH game, but it folded, and I've got an old 4E villain team that my wife keeps saying I should make an adventure around and submit it to HERO, so apparently at least she thinks they kick butt. So, I'm kinda stuck between wanting to be original and create new things, but having some old chestnuts I'd really like to bring back. Any past experiences/thoughts on this, anybody?

This is an odd question, so I'm going to pray that I can explain myself properly. I've already confused myself with it. I'm creating a standard Superhero (200 base, 150 disads), with Multiform. This is the 'true' form. However, one of the forms is looking to be more than 350 points. For simplicity, let's say that this form is 400 points. How do the Base/Disadvantage Points for that form work? My initial thought was that I needed another 50 points of disadvantages (200 base, 200 disads), but I wanted to make sure. Thank you!

Hi there. Had a slight problem in last week's game ... I had my new 'master villain' made up, had his background, personality, that sort of thing ... but at the last minute, I realized he had a kinda dippy name (I'm too embarassed to actually repeat it ... I must have been drunk or something). Now, by 'last minute', I mean, 'Crap, I'm about to have him show his face and I can't come up with a better name than THAT' last minute. So, I had him not choose a 'super-name' yet, hoping that one of the PCs would say something memorable or useful that he could adopt as a name, but no luck. So, I thought I'd ask you guys for some help, as I *still* haven't been able to come up with a decent name for the guy. Basics: 1. Wears black armor with gold trim, simple design with no frills, capes, spikes, etc. 2. Aging scientist suffering from a variety of hazards of old age; hired mercenaries to capture some nano-bots which he injected into himself after programming them, thusly correcting his physical and mental impairments. 3. Primary goal is to cybernize (aka Borgify) humanity, thereby correcting their faults and frailties (disease, aging, accidents, etc). He has no interest in asking for anybody's permission before 'improving' them (one of those 'twisted visionary' kinda things). 4. Powers: As a walking nanobot factory, he can basically reshape his body's cybernetic parts into anything he needs, whenever he needs it (Cosmic Pool), but it has to be generated technologically (for a -0, since about all that leaves out is Magic). Any thoughts? Best name will get a kitty scritched on his or her behalf.

As stated above, psychology is key for Mind Control. Find out the target's Psych Lims and abuse them liberally. Tell someone who's Overconfident to take on someone who can hand him his head on a platter with fries and a Coke. Tell the Showoff that the crowd wants to see him perform some acrobatics (instead of fighting). Mental Illusions is the *real* fun one. I never make a mentalist without this power. Carry around some dummy grenades, or reach into your pocket and pretend to throw something as you activate the mental illusion of a blinding flash of light or a smokescreen. Wait until someone isn't looking at you (or a teammate), then create the illusion that he's not there (which will be easily believable, since he didn't see him disappear). My personal favorite, though, also requires Ego Attack that is neither Invisible nor Visible and a target without Mental Awareness. Now, choose your target and hit 'em with the Ego Attack. The next phase, create a Mental Illusion of your Ego Attack as a Continuous attack. He should believe it, since he knows you did it, and without Mental Awareness, he can't see you using your psi-powers on other targets, so he has no reason to suspect that you aren't maintaining your Ego Attack on him.

I've done the 'Complete Lack of Understanding of Modern Life and Culture' thing for time-shifters and dimension-shifters and aliens ... 'Doesn't heal Body, must be repaired' for robots ... 'requires specialized medical attention' for a variety of things ... I usually don't do disabilities, because I never know how to cost them properly ... I'm always afraid I'll forget (or inaccurately) take the effects of his powers into account on coming up with it. I mean, how many points of Phys Lim does Daredevil really get for being blind? It almost never gets in his way.

Well ... hmm. On 60 STR, that might be a little insane. As stated above, that's an average of 17" knockback ... though finding anything capable of withstanding 17d6 is pretty difficult (and targetting a person at another person isn't easy). In many ways, the worst part would be that most opponents would have to spend as much as a full action hiking back to do anything! I had a villain with double KNB Strength once ... not quite that level, but I realized very early on in the fight that scattering the heroes can really crimp teamwork. If you've established hard'n'fast Active Point limits, then insist he's built to specs. If nothing else, you might try to talk him down to 1.5x Knockback for a +1/2 advantage (11" Knockback), which would still be impressive.

Lessee ... I've seen one character named Spectrum, who was pretty nifty (had a MP with seven slots, one for each color of the rainbow). There was also someone named Spectro ... who was a kind of electric speedster ... I didn't get it, either.

If you want a slightly comedic approach (but one that might throw off your heroes because it seems so ABSURD), I introduce you to ... THE INTERROGATIVES! (As a side note, I'm not familiar with Greymalkin, so I don't know if they can create superhumans. Most of this could possibly be done with really high-tech gear, though.) WHAT! The team muscle-man, the radiation treatments that gave him his phenomenal strength and durability also left him half-deaf in both ears, which gave rise to his codename. "WHAT? I can't hear you. WHAT?!" WHO! An insidious shapeshifter, once a simple con-man and disguise artist. But he kept getting so into his characters, he began to lose track of who he really was. WHERE! The obligatory teleporter, albeit one with a truly lousy sense of direction and NO map-reading ability whatsoever. "Okay, now we turn left onto this blue road." *SPLASH* "Oh ... that's a river." WHEN! The power to manipulate TIME ITSELF is at his beck and call! Unfortunately, he has a chronically short attention span, which means despite being the master of time, he's always late and goes last in combat because he noticed something shiny. WHY! The team's mentalist, he can bend wills to his command, create illusions, and unleash psychic bolts of incredible intensity, capable of stunning elephants! However, he's very depressed, so it's hard to motivate him to do it. Yes, this could be really stupid ... on the other hand, imagine how humiliated your heroes would be if they actually lost to these losers? It'd be worse than falling to 'The Worst Villains In Europe'.

Hmm ... so, if I'm getting this right, you're asking if someone has a power that has Extra Time 5 Minutes, and a Naked Power Modifier that also has Extra Time 5 Minutes, and he uses the Modifier on that Power, does it take 5 minutes or 10? As I understand the Extra Time rules (and I'm probably wrong), unless you take the 'Can Take No Other Actions' modifier, you're free to do other things (some things, at least) during the warm-up time for an Extra Time Power. Personally, I'd probably let you activate both of them at once, so they'd 'go off' at the same time (and accumulate), though it might depend on the special effects of both the power and the modifier (the standard Hero Disclaimer).

99 percent of my characters have CvKs. My more recent ones have 'Takes His/Her Responsibilities Seriously', as I've been playing more dedicated sorts than 'hey, this hero biz is cool' sorts.

Hermit ... you scare me. But in a good way.

Here's the power I'm trying to construct ... it's more than a little cheesy in appearance, but bear with me. The villain in question was a high-school soccer player who lost the use of his legs, and has had them replaced with cybernetics by the Master Villain of the arc. In addition to some pseudo-speedster powers, he has an energy ball kick (like I said, cheesy). He creates the energy ball with a wrist device, then he kicks it. I want to make the attack Indirect, as a kind of super-Bouncing of the attack (more reliable and easier than just using the Bouncing move) ... but I'm not sure what level of Indirect I need. The attack always, obviously, originates from the villain, but can come from any direction thereafter as it ricochets off objects.

An easy one, if he's already KOed ... 1/2d6 REC Drain, NND (Defense is being conscious or being unliving/inorganic), Continuous, Uncontrolled, 0END, OIF Adenosine Triphosphate Inhibition Device. Slap it on, and it prevents the villain's body from converting its Adenosine Diphosphate to Adenosine Triphosphate, ergo having no new energy to draw on, aka no Recoveries. Admittedly, it's not flawless (it doesn't work on elementals or robots), but it works for any human baddies. The device has a large obvious 'off' switch to interrupt the 'Uncontrolled'.

Hmm ... I assumed that he continued to be braced against the knockback even if the attack KOed him. Perhaps I was in error. Ah well, I was consistent with it.