Smoot

Re: Concepts you wish your players would play Someday, I'm going to do an all Alternates game. That is, the team would consist of people/cyborgs/genegineered clones, etc. that were sent back to "here" to prevent something from their timeline from happening, or otherwise from a 'upcoming timeline'). Marvel and DC have characters like that (Booster Gold's from a 'good' timeline, Rachel Summers and Cable aren't...). Astro City's Samaritan would be a good contender, too. I was thinking of the team name "The Orphans" (since they're the only members of their world left), and their adventures would largely consist of trying to encourage/prevent things that brought their future about. Just tossing it out there, in case someone wants to try it, too...

Hi, I'm 'auditioning' ideas for a new game at Hero Central. Please, check them out and see if anything appeals: http://www.herocentral.net/readGeneralMessage.htm;jsessionid=avL51EiL3645?messageId=310859 Thanks!

Re: Does your Team have a Charter? Hi, My last FfF Champions game had a team charter. I found the file- it's cribbed a little from: - the JLA charter (from their sourcebook), -the Avengers Charter (found online, at one of the old TSR/MSH sites) -Half-remembered stuff from Strike Force (which I gave to someone, to my later chagrin) ...plus, some stuff I came up with myself. (The division of Team Chairman and Combat Leader into two roles, for example. I wanted to take the Superman/Batman; Cyclops/Wolverine type dynamic into a different direction. The 'stone badass' can work on combat maneuvers, etc, while the 'sterling hero' directs the general direction of the team outside of fights.) Here goes. Hope it's useful. A lot of it is campaign-specific. The bracketed stuff is OOC, and the stuff in red is IC "footnotes"...

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Look- I haven't learned too much in this world, but I've learned two things: 1) Don't ever agree with a lady disparaging herself and 2) Don't go too far complimenting other men's wives. Suffice it to say: you're not entirely what you bill yourself as, and leave it there.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Hello, assorted people- Used to post fairly often hereabouts, thought I'd come "out of retirement". So, Hi. PS: I know SSquirrel and his bride, out in The World That Exists When the Server Is Down, so I feel qualified to tell you that it's lies! ALL LIES!

Not much to add on the defense question, that hasn't been said already, but I'm intrigued by your campaign idea: Where is it set, specifically? What characters have you got, so far? Are the powers single-source, and if so, what is it? (Magic/Links to folklore? Mutants?) There is just so much that would kick ass, as background detail. (Ex: I was just reading a book on the Chinese in America. One early Asian 'immigration' was Cheng & Eng, the 'original' Siamese Twins, who settled in the south, owned a plantation, and had sons who fought in the Civil War. They made their fortune(s) touring, as some more-unusual 'mutant' types might.)

death tribble: I can't speak for others, but I don't think anyone's going to get mad at the name of a GM's NPC (and Villain, after all.) If your villain chooses "Rocket Redglare" as a name, it'd be in the knowledge that he (she?) would be baiting the US population at large (and, no doubt, the more patriotic-oriented heroes), rather than garnering support in any way. I see your point, though. I spent some time living in the UK, and often had a hard time digging up a common point of reference for this sort of thing (ie, something that, if insulted or defiled, would p*** off the average Briton to the extent that messing with the flag or anthem would to Joe American.) By-the-by, doesn't HUAC sound like a pre-spitting noise? Edited to add: Jimi Hendrix did a number on the anthem, and that seemed not to cause too much damage to peoples' impressions of him...

How about "The Blacklist" or (if you're targeting each agency individually) "The Shadow Cabinet"? Frankly (and the Four Aces from Wild Cards aside), the HUAC and McCarthy tended to target fairly easy marks- not esp. fearsome figures. IIRC, the only one publically tarred as a 'red' in that period that I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley would be Dashiell Hammett. I'm not an expert on the period, but istr that the whole thing ended when they tried harder targets, like the Army, and got hit with a backlash. That's why the JSA plotline seemed a bit... off. Also (just a note), the Red Doom or Comintern teams would've probably tried to welcome any supers 'kicked out' of the US. Or (as in the Four Aces' cases) publically support their 'friends' in order to ruin them. PS: Alas, "Spook" has the connotation that Crimson Arrow thinks it does.

Thanks! Oh, and how about the campaign world's version of the movie Almost Famous being about an amalgam of Rick Jones and Snapper Carr? "Hulk am a GOLDEN GOD!"

Wyrd (from a Norse word, meaning both 'strange' and 'fate'): A rune-based sorceror working out of the Northeast. A former surgeon, he took a trip to Scandanavia, where he 'discovered' his powers. (Driving back a rather garish invasion by rock trolls). Back in the US, he shuttles between Massachusetts and New York City -'tamping down' dangerous magical sites like Arkham or Miskatonic with rune stones while in MA, and keeping a townhouse full of artifacts (Like a stone he found near Agamotaway, MA) in the City. Alloy: John Henry "Rhodey" Rhodes, military veteran and former pilot for S.T.A.R.K. Labs, whose life was saved by a flying superhero. Inspired by this, he wears his steel and iron, man-shaped war machine into battle. (The hammer may indicate he was saved by Thor, though accounts differ.)

If you're looking for something more like a C-SWAT team, there's some nice examples in the comics: -Marvel's "Code Blue" team (a backup feature in Thor for a while, they were simply a NYC SWAT team that took on supers. One memorable bit- Wrecker was hurling stuff off the edge of a brick building. One of the Code Blue guys takes aim, and Wrecker taunts him that hitting him would have no effect. The SWAT cop replies he's not aiming at him, and shoots the ledge out from under him. The fall does the job, knocking Wrecker out. -Stormwatch: Team Achilles. Consisting entirely of normals and the occasional LPM, this is a much more hardcore version of an "anti-super SWAT team". Recently, they were able to severely embarass The Authority, a team that would cost X100 more pts to build in Champions terms. This may be just the ticket, since (like earlier Stormwatch incarnations) they work for the UN.

The trick is to think in-genre without leaving gaps in reasoning large enough to drive a truck through. In the case of your "see 'em, bash 'em" heroes, it might be a nice time to lead them on the proverbial "merry chase": the villain somehow hacks into local TV stations, "Interrupting this Broadcast" to taunt the heroes. (Important: NOT just waltzing in and taking over the studios, at least at first. Instead, s/he takes over the signal from a remote location, possibly a mobile one). The heroes have no immediate target, only either a deadline ("Defuse my bombs, or Campaign City's in troooubllle!"), or a cryptic riddle. In the meantime, the villain uses the distraction for a heist, or something. This is assuming that the villain's that straightforward. What kind of villain are we talking, here? Joker's easily on a par with Hannibal Lecter or the Se7en guy, in terms of genius and psychosis. Riddler, above all, wants people to admit and acknowledge that he's smarter than they are- it's just that the stakes get high. I suppose that almost all Bat-villains are so wrapped up in their own goals and motivations that it's rare for one to take the fight directly to the Bat (ie, Riddler's the first I know of to try to see what's going on over at Wayne Manor). If your villain is even slightly more focused, your PCs could be in for a world of hurt.

This brings up something: Good places for super-battles in the Hub. Here's a few of my favorites: -Copley Square area: The Pru, the Hancock Tower, Boston Public Library, the Christian Science "HQ" (w/ that big reflecting pool), etc -The Charles: Okay, it ties in with my handle on these boards, but it's the only place in the world that you could say "You did 23 smoots worth of knockback" and have it make some sense... -South Station. This would probably be an old-fashioned Superman-style throwdown. Lots of room inside the terminal, trains outside, subway tunnels underneath, etc. -City Hall Plaza: If any place was a "take the fight there to avoid hitting anything valuable" spot, it's that concrete monstrosity. Aside from a few steps, there's a big area of nothing but pavement. It's handily close to much more-loved real estate, too. Others: The Common, Symphony Hall, Harvard Square, Fenway Park, The Fleet Center, inside the Big Dig itself, on the double-decks of Storrow Dr., etc.

Remember- Avengers get plagued by relatively "normal" opposition, too: Iron Man had Obadiah Stane and Justin Hammer dogging his steps, Cap has Red Skull, Loki's pretty weak by Thor's standards, etc. Yet all of them cause loads of trouble. From what you've said, you have a robot brick, a speedster, and a super pugilist. What to do with them largely depends on your villain's MO. The thing about Bat-villains is that they didn't just put on costumes and start gunning for Batman. They initiate plots, sometimes plots so complex that it takes even Bats a while to so much as FIND them. They're plotters, not brawlers (That's what made Bane, Killer Croc, etc "new"- they just went to it). For example, have the speedster have to be all over the place to prevent a catastrophe. This leaves the villain free to bring the scheme home.

Hah! "But, officer! I didn't pay any points for them!" "Tell it to the judge, kid!" (New meaning to "rules lawyering"...)