GestaltBennie

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

Originally posted by SuperBlue

Yay! Praise to Steve and the gang!

 

No offense, but who came up with the Assienos anyway?

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

Originally posted by BarryB

I like the JLA cartoon, though I find Superman woefully underpowered. Any hints on what the upcoming season will feature?

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

Originally posted by Acroyear

I'd kiss you. But I think you're to blame for goofy-ing up Deathstroke, so we'll just call it even.

 

If not, I'll have to blame it on being Canadian or something, because I really don't want to kiss you.

 

and this after I asked "who's flaming?"

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

Originally posted by cubist

Liaden, are you sure you're really Canadian? If you liked Champions of the North, I find that hard to believe... Personally(and just my opinion, of course) I think that CotN was the biggest missed opportunity for a good book this side of European Enemies(at least I could have salvaged a few ideas from EE).

 

Enemies Unbound(although 3rd edition) is a really useful book for some great Characters (Hey Scott- how come you never did a Canda book, what with Characters like Borealis and Destiny?).

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

Originally posted by Monolith

I did vote for Mother Raven... but don't tell anyone.

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

Originally posted by Acroyear

I never liked Solitaire, for example. I don't think "Magic" qualifies as tight special effect for something like an EC. I mean, let's face it, in gamer geekdom (and much to my annoyance) "magic can do anything." How or why magic should or could be the ultimate force in the universe... well, because it's magic.

 

Would you allow "EC: Alien" or "EC: Superpowered Mutant"? I sure wouldn't. Way too vague.

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

Originally posted by gewing

I have often said that I feel many campaigns under-rate the effectiveness of military forced versus superheros. True, this matches most comics, but...

 

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

Originally posted by Storn

What I would like to see for a Viper or UNTIL sourcebook is a global sense of spheres of influence. If anyone ever watched the first ep of Alias, there is this scene where the CIA reveal what they know of evil SD-6. And there is this huge map of hundreds of cells and their purpose. That was cool. I would like to see Viper have cells/spheres of influence with a cell leader name (maybe one sentence of flavor) that would be plug and play. Need a cell doing extortion in the red light district?, how about Yancy Kuroz, ex-Spetznatz, one arm is cybernetic. 8 agents under him Boom, that's it.

 

On top of which, spell out most of who is at the top. And why they are making the decisions. Cobra from G.I. Joe, you know of Destro, Cobra Commander, those two twins, Zartan, Baroness... you had an idea of who was calling the shots. In Viper source book, you have a couple of Nest Leaders, and no real sense of how the interact with each other. We are told that there is lot of infighting...but it is kept vague. Getting that web of death and deceit down is a lot of work. But having it down, then gives a real sense of what needs to be unraveled... and that is the job for the PCs.

 

And what is the extent of the sphere of influence? maybe a rating system like Light, medium, invasive and total. Invasive means many cops and judges are in the cells pocket. Total means it is a mini-country, held by military force. I don't know, just riffing off the top of my head.

 

But i think the secret to making an organization interesting is to have good lieutenants. Generally, these might be a slightly lower level than the Heroes, with an occasional one being even better than the Heroes. But lts. come with a lot of back-up.

 

However, I felt (sorry Bennie) that the 4th ed's paranormal lt.s were way too typical of a supervillain group. I was just looking at Viper yesterday. Serpent Syndicate and Snake Pack come across just like standard champions supervillain groups.... brick,mentalist, martial artist, maybe a t-porter.... They don't feel like the comic book organizations. The solos feel just like Classic Enemies characters, not VIPER villains.

 

I think Viper, Raven, Kobra, Cobra...what have you, their paranormal strike forces should really reflect the environment they come from...and having everyone being scaly is the easy way out . Btw, Viper is a great book.... I'm making suggestions to make it even better.

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

Originally posted by Agent X

Didn't someone come up with some supers inspired by the Stooges? I know there was a write-up of Stooge Fu but this was especially inspiring to all Stooge fans.

Aaron Allston, in Adventurer's Club #17 .

Scott Bennie,