GrooveD70

Re: What are you playing now?

Nothin!

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

Because almost everytime someone plays a RPG, it is a fantasy game. I think it just gets tired after a while.

Also, I think that the Superheroes usually have a deeper purpose than traipsing across a Tolkenesque landscape killing monsters and talking their treasure.

I prefer reoccuring villians to monsters ot the week/room. When I game in FRPG's I often get bored fighting mindless predators.

I have had fun playing fantasy rpg's and would do it again, but I would much rather play Champions.

Re: What were the best Marvel titles of the 70's?

Power man and Iron Fist, baby!

Re: Casting "Champions Universe: The Motion Picture"

Sorry' date=' but he's [i']way[/i] too old for the part.

 

I'd prefer Eric Szmanda.

Bah! Put anyone in the suit, Adam West's voice is perfect!

Re: Casting "Champions Universe: The Motion Picture"

Sorry' date=' but Adam West to play Foxbat! Who's with me?[/quote']

 

Abso freakin loootly!

Re: Casting "Champions Universe: The Motion Picture"

Hmmm....rather than Frank Welkers' voice for Dr Silverback, I instead

suggest:

 

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

 

He's already played an ape in the Tim Burton version of 'Planet Of

The Apes'....

 

-Carl-

I always imagine him having Sean Connery's voice....

I am thinking about running a one shot hero game this summer for a couple of my veteran players and one or more d20 gamers that would be hero "virgins". I usually run Champions and one of my players runs Fantasy hero, so i would like to try something different. Perhaps dark champs, horror, or a western.

My question is... What are some of your successful one shot "alternate genre" games and what made them good?

Re: Best SuperHero Fights ever

JLA vs the White Martians.

 

Yeah it was the first appearnce of the true Bat-god but even so that was a cool fight. Batman "I know what you are.". Diana and Clark's fights were each cool, and the broadcast to the planet, and everyone holding up fire, like they were at a worldwide rock concert. Just loved it.

 

Ulitmate Cap vs Hulk and the later Ultimate Cap vs Goliath.

Just like seeing Cap (regular or ultimate) kickin' but and both those fights were great. In the goliath fight he wouldn't even use his fists until Goliath grew, he just slapped him around before that.

It seems you and I have similar tastes!

In Justice League Unlimited animation, I would add Superman vs Captain Marvel. And Thor VS. Superman in JLA/Avengers.

Re: Signs your Champions GM is now (fill in the blank)

Fine by me if I've actually written anything.

 

Also just noticed that I have another (as yet unmentioned) novel by Paul Kidd called Fey sitting on my bookshelf. It's a pretty good read.

Kewl with me too...

Re: Mutants and Materminds

"How'd you know? Bullets...my only weakness..."

 

from the BurgerLand scene in Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle.

Re: Mutants and Materminds

I tend to agree that I don't feel Defender is really that like Iron Man or Sapphire is like Dazzler. If anything they are both rather generic archetypes-- Defender's a Powersuit Brick and Sapphire's an Energy Projector.

 

Nighthawk definitely == Batman though. I get a little vibe of Colossus from Ironclad. It's the metal body thing.

Good point. If I make a character "Arachno-man" that has spider-man like powers but is a rich tech tychoon like Tony Stark am I ripping off Spiderman Iron or both. Is Tony Stark a Bruce Wayne Rip off?

Re: Mutants and Materminds

I like homages in moderation. Freedom City is homage laden. I'd rather just game in a published comic book universe than saturate a supposedly original setting with winks and nods.

You know I have no logical reason for this, but I have never really wanted to game in the DC or Marvel universe. For some reason I would feel like I was handcuffed to the setting. If the players began to outshine say the Justice League it would feel weird. But the "wink and nod" homages work well for me. They create the right feel and allow the PC's to be the center of the story.

The only way I would be enthusiastic about a Marvel or DC game would be for a one shot or mini campaign that used existing Marvel or DC Characters as PC's. Call me weird.

I thought the homages in Freedom City were kewl. That setting would be my second choice next to the CU.

Re: Mutants and Materminds

As for who's a better writer, that's subjective and doesn't matter. As for homages, you mustn't have been paying attention. Homage lists have been posted to these boards at least 3-4 times.

 

Defender: Ironman

Nighthawk: Batman

Sapphire: Dazzler

Dr. Siverback: Beast

Kinetik: Flash

Star*Guard: Green Lantern Corp

Fabulous Five: Fantastic Four

Amazing Man I: Mr. Fantastic

Diamond: Thing

Kid Chameleon: Beast Boy

UNTIL: SHIELD

Robert Caliburn: Constantine

MeteorMan: Golden Age Green Lantern

Brin Rei Tam: Abin Sur

Nightwind: Nighthawk

I always thought Nightwind was like Iron Fist.

Re: Mutants and Materminds

Have you looked much at the Champions universe? If Dr. Destroyer wasn't a Dr. Doom copy do you think anyone would still be talking about him 25 years later? Same for Grond and so many others. Copycat characters are what make 4 color gaming [which is what the CU is] interesting.

I agree mitchell. I think the best settings for Supers are homages to the comics we grew up with. I know it is a contradiction, but If I am playing Fantasy Hero and someone shows up with a Drizzt rip off I roll my eyes, but in Champs, I am perfectly ok with a Spider-man ripoff....

Re: Luthor-type villian

I had an idea that William Chow' date=' aka [b']Utility[/b], could be the Lex Luthor of the Champions Universe. He has no innate superpowers, and his big thing is defeating superhumans--what better way to demonstrate his superiority than to become the adversary all the supers have to beat?

 

My thinking is that he patents some of his original gadgets under several assumed identities (Deep Covers) and sells them to military and police agencies around the world. His Money Perk goes from Well-Off to Wealthy and closing fast on Filthy Rich. He begins building an organization, hiring everyone from scientists to minions, gathering intelligence on every super in existence, selling the information to any and all interested parties as well as using the information himself.

 

Perhaps he could even discover the increase in the ambient level of magic that makes superpowers a reality in the Champions Universe, and find a way to shut it down. No more superpowers. No more superheroes or supervillains. That would be his ultimate triumph.

 

Perhaps he could even lose his supervillain name. I've never cared for it, myself--it's just so blah, so meh, so nothing. He could either come up with another name--I was thinking Ultimate One, myself, in a scenario where he steals leadership of the Ultimates away from Binder--or he could give up costumed crime altogether and commit his villainy in a suit and tie.

 

Now it's my understanding that the invincible and fabulous Steve Long has updated Utility for Champions Universe: News Of The World, so we'll see if anything he's done matches any of my ideas. Use whatever works for you.

Hmmm. Very kewl idea.

Re: Luthor-type villian

There's an interesting M&M product out on pdf from Reality Blurs called Powers and Perils #1: Orwell Industries. This product would be very easy to convert to Champions and covers a great deal of what you're asking about.

 

 

It basically deals with a scientist [G. Thomas Orwell] who created a mirror that allows him to see through time where he sees a dark future and decides he's going to save the world from it. Eventually he learns to bring things back from the future which his company then "creates" and sells. The magic mirror is powered by Orwell's son, whom he has imprisoned to run the mirror forever. The book covers many of his labs, equipment, soldiers, projects, and supervillains who work for him. Well worth a look for anyone thinking about making a new Luthor type villain.

Kewl! I'll have to check that out!

Re: Signs your Champions GM is now (fill in the blank)

Signs Your Champions GM is Now John Woo

 

1) Every climatic fight ends up being in a church. Even if there wasn't one anywhere near the place you started.

 

2) White doves in flight always indicate the presence of the main villain.

 

3) Or a PC's death....

 

4) You automatically get +4 OCV if you do anything in slow motion.

 

5) All guns have autofire. ALL guns.

 

6) Villains are either honorable and simply working for the wrong side, or total bastards.

 

7) The police are usually corrupt and ineffectual. Except for one sensitive cop with a strong sense of duty and honor.

 

8) This man can kick the collective behinds of the PC's entire team. And he looks so cool doing in, no one cares.

 

9) One Gun = Super-man. 2 Guns = God.

Is John Woo running a game? I am available;)

In the VVV thread, some of us were discussing the need for a Luthor-type villian in the Champions Universe, but we will not see one in this supplement.

I thought it would be interesting to ask all the Herophiles how they would create and use this type of villian in the Champs U.

Stats, Skills, Gadgets, minions, plots,etc.

Scientist, Corporate villian or Politician. How would you do it?

How does a man with no powers become a threat to a superhero team?

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

It was neither Jesse James nor John Wesley Hardin' date=' though both seem to have had the story grafted onto their histories. It was Clay Allison.[/quote']

 

I thought that was Clay Aiken....

Re: Fast combat?

Don't get me wrong, I love Hero System rules, for the most part, but the combat calculus business and tactical miniatures are a lot of work for a GM. Future incarnations of the game should address this and allow for a "quick combat" set of rules, especially for mass combats and beginning players. (Yeah, I have Sidekick rules, but no, that's not what I'm looking for.)

 

Matt "Getting-too-lazy-to-deal-with-combat-calculus" Frisbee

The standard effect rule helps. Using that groovy table instead of figuring the OCV you hit in your head helps too....

Re: Prisoner Transport Vehicle

Gee' date=' I honestly thought floorplans would get more interest.[/quote']

 

This is awesome Publius! Thanx for sharing your creation!

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

I'm sympathetic to the call for a Lex Luthor-style master villain... but at this power level, I honestly don't see much need to write him up in a book. It makes more sense for Dark Champions (for which I've created a few such villains), but in Champions a guy like that is just a personality and a presence, and any GM can probably handle that. As LL suggested, you can use Franklin Stone for that easily enough.

I don't think I really need a "write up" per se. I agree that the character itself would be easy to make or we could use Stone. What I could use is some pro advice on how to make this type of villian work in my Champs game.

I mean, Lex goes up against Superman!

I guess I would like to see tips on using a character like this as a corporate villian or a politician (Lex as president?) I would like to have this element in my game but never tried it because I can't figure out how to make it work. (A good topic for the boards perhaps?) The stats for a villain like this doesn't really matter cause once the brick gets ahold of him its over.

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See?

I would like to see a Lex Luthor-like Master Villian. Normal Char Max (Probably pay the increase for above norm INT), Gadgets, bases, vehicles, followers, master plans. A "Normal Guy" with super-human megalomania. I always loved the so called normal holding his own against teams of heroes.

 

Grimble

Definately! It would be great to include tips on running him and his minions. The Champs U needs a normal that is nigh unbeatable because of his resources and intelligence. You know, to inspire the bricks out thier to go "if I ever get my hands on that puny....!

Re: Signs your Champions GM is now (fill in the blank)

Signs Your Champions GM is now Quentin Tarentino:

1. You get to listen to Ironclad and Defender dialogue about foot massages and the true meaning of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" for a half an hour.

2. The Champion's Jet has "Pv$$y Wagon" painted on the back.

3. The Black Harlequin dances to "Stuck in the Middle with You" before springing his death trap.

4. Your entire team is con stunned by Dr. Destroyer's energy blast and you hear him whisper, "Bring out the Gimp.":thumbup:

Re: Slumming it: Champions/Dark Champions Game

Nice idea. I've often said that Heroes have several character write ups, including one for their solo title and one for team books. That's why a villain can be a fair match for Superman or Thor in the hero's solo title and at the same time be more powerful than the entire JLA/Avangers in the team books. Also, all Heroes should get a Villain write up that's at least 33% more powerful for Hero Turns Evil plot arcs.

 

.

I definately agree!

My character The Wraith, that I haven't been able to play in eons , is a martial artist/gadgeteer who has a "living" bullet proof cape and fights with high tech billy clubs, would just have to adjust the active points and damage classes of everything to fit the parameters of the new campaign and he is ready to go.