GestaltBennie

It's the age old problem. Provide more realistic details to a four-color simulation, and you end up making it interesting. Push the genre conventions to its logical conclusions, however, and it breaks. My feeling is we should try to answer those questions, but not get so wrapped up in the simulation that three years down the road, someone like Mutants and Masterminds will come out with their own organization book and everyone will love it more than VIPER because "VIPER got so bogged down by the petty details that they forgot how much fun it is for superheroes to slug it out with a horde of agents." My hope is we;'ll find a middle ground, and give the GM enough tools to easily shape the organization the way he wants. Scott Bennie

Nighthawk.

Alternatively, you can have as your villain someone named Achmed, a superhuman thief or psychotic from Egypt with absolutely no connection to ancient Egyptian mythology or Islamism whatsoever; he has powers, just like the villains do in the States. Scott Bennie

I recently got a letter from Seeker that explains everything. Reprinted by permission. Scott Bennie ----- Dear mate! Having a wonderful time! Well, that's the cliche (and that's what they say about me, isn't it - I'm all cliche?) I just finished visiting Antarctica (yeah, I know, more jokes), just because - with the rate the ice shelf's been cracking - I wanted to see it while it was still intact. The glaciers are magnificent, grand beyond description, they make even the pyramids look tiny (I should know, as I was once embedded into one of the bigger ones at Giza). In retrospect, though, I probably should have gone to Antarctica in summer, though I stayed close to the coast and weathered the storms without too many problems. I also ran into that old blackguard Smuggler Blue, who was apparently trying to track down an abandoned Destroyer base. I don't think I need to tell you who won that dust-up, do I? (Though I wish they'd stop taking pictures of me when I'm knocked on my bum - they do realize I get off the ground three seconds after the picture's taken, don't they?) Prior to Antarctica I spent some time in Bali, looking after the victims of the recent bombing. I've never been one who takes too much of what I see personally, but I know people who visit there, and some of them are the gentlest of souls, folk well worth protecting. Anyway, I managed to track down one of the terrorist cells responsible, or allies of them that was planning more of that filth. I didn't feel like killing them - or perhaps I felt more like killing them than I wanted - so I hired a mystic from one of the outer islands whose acquaintance I made some years ago, and asked him to use his abilities to make the terrorists experience what the victims of the bombings suffered. Suffer the sins of thy neighbor. I'd hoped it would give them more humanity, but it only deepened their sense of self-righteousness and their thirst for vengeance. I tell you, I never fully appreciated Foxbat until now. In the end, I made sure the lot of them were arrested, and that's when I left for Antarctica. Life's a funny thing, Scott, but you already knew that. I'm wondering where my travels should take me next. I was thinking that in all my years serving with the Champions in America, I'd never spent much time in its heartland, and America's at such a turning point right now, it seems like the right place and the right time to go there. I'm sorry you didn't sell the good Mr. Long on the Seeker sourcebook; I figured the expanded disabling and injury rules alone would be enough to keep the rules wankers happy, but whatever happens, happens. (I'm getting quite zen in my old age - as I call my forced retirement - please thank Mr. Long again for it the next time you see him. And please tell Mr. Surbrook that Ninja Hero "rocks".). Be a hero! Don

I think they were either Rob Bell or Chad Brinkley's creation. They were a little odd, but they made for some decent merc villains when disassembled. Scott Bennie

They've announced that season two will begin in October, when all of the episodes are in the can. Yeah, I'm disappointed too. Scott Bennie

Next season should open with an episode called "Twilight of the Gods", with Michael Ironside reprising his role of Darkseid from Superman: The Animated Series. Other villains they've announced include Amazo, Brainiac, Despero, Eclipso, Luther, the Joker, the Royal Flush Gang, and Dr. Destiny. They're.keeping fairly coy about guest stars. Paul Dini's doing a one-part episode, and the season will end with a three parter. Scott Bennie

To do list: 1. Finish editing the teraphim chapter on Testament, 2. Repair damage to cover identity. 3. Eviscerate Merry Andrews, key the CLOWN-car. 4. Pick up a quart of milk. Scott Bennie

Actually, the 4th edition Deathstroke was the work of Scott Heine. As for the kiss, uh, urm, no comment. (Even though as a people, we Canadians are sexier than Jennifer Garner. :-)) Scott Bennie

I was scheduled to do it, and then Rob Bell and I crossed wires and I ended up getting my second choice, which was VIPER. Scott Bennie

I didn't. "Mother Raven" indeed! Damn Eastern Canadians futzing with with West Coast myths. Stick to your own side of the country! :-) Scott Bennie

The author of the 4th ed Champions Universe versions agreed with you, which is why Solitaire's is gone. :-) Mind you, if I'd done what Steve did and bought the company, the first thing I would have done would have been to take the section of the Hero rules that deals with Elemental Controls, rip them out if the manuscript and bury them under six feet of concrete. That construct would have been history faster than CLOWN. :-) Scott Bennie

Well, if you want a *real* dirty trick to pull if it seems like the OIHID crowd is getting free points, have someone (prreferably a villain who's an expert in superhuman biological sciences and dimensional physics) pull this on them: Dimensional Disruption Ray: EB (cell disruption), NND (Defense is not having OiHID or being in normal ID, or spending a half-phase and making a successful Power Skill: Dimensional control roll to resist, +1), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Continuous (turned off by reverting to normal form, +1), 0 END Persistent (+1); Costs: 1d6: Point Cost: 22 points 2d6 Point Cost: 45 points 3d6 Point Cost: 67 points This weapon penetrates the dimensional boundaries that separates a normal form from their heroic persona, causing intense pain if the super form is dominant. If the special effect of your OiHIDs doesn't involve a Captain Marvel/Marvelman-style dimensional shift, adjust accordingly. Warning: Players *hate* this sort of construct (ones that specially targets their crocks). Use it *very* sparingly. Consider letting them use any Power skill roll to resist it after they've first been exposed to it. Scott Bennie

It's partially because many comic book fans' idea of supers versus the army was primarily formed by 1960s and 1970s Hulk comics, which is several generations behind the current arsenal. (It's not the only thing that's behind the curve; shows like CSI also expose the tech gap in investigations and detective work.) And it's partially because being effortlessly pounded into a bloody smear by mil-spec (as a few military loving GMs I've known would prefer) isn't everyone's idea of a good reason to get together at a gaming table every week. It's a valid campaign approach when the players know what they're getting into and you're trying to run things a little grittier than traditional supers, but if you're running a four color game and the players feel the best way to beat the scenario is to hijack an Apache and use its weapons instead of their powers, there's a disconnect somewhere. :-) Scott Bennie

I agree with most of this. We probably can't quite be as specific as in VIPER 2.0 as we would be in a comic or a cartoon and there is a tradition of "VIPER as villain factory" that we can't ignore, but I want to try to cultivate more of an agency feel for the new book than we had in the original. Scott Bennie

Aaron Allston, in Adventurer's Club #17 . Scott Bennie,