WilyQuixote

Q: If a character has Stretching with the does not cross advantage to simulate a disconnected appendage, what happens if he "touches" someone with a Damage Shield with the Stretched appendage? Is he affected normally by the Damage Shield or not at all? Would it vary be SFX? For example, would the Stretched appendage conduct damage from an electricity SFX Damage Shield back to the character even though the stretched appendage is not actually connected to the character? Thanx!!!!

Check out any character post done by Killer Shrike. I know the posts done by Shrike concerning the Millenial Men have instructions on how he does it. Check it out and while your at it find the one asking for votes on the MM and vote please. We're trying to scare up some more votes;) . Also if you do vote and if you could post why you voted for who you did that would be great! We're just as interested in why people think so and so is the best/most powerful/coolest. OK nuff said, thanks in advance. I hope this helped you.

hit the button to post twice before realizing what I did...sorry.

I never saw these ideas in play but I heard about them and thought..."That's just wrong". 1)Villain with mind control , one command only, to make target turn back into their sercret ID and stay that way. 2)Gravedigger:Tunnelling:UAA to put the poor sucker twenty hexes underground. Another variation would be a character having high STR with a martial grab and Tunneling with them underground and then leaving the victim there to suffocate. As I said before...Thats just wrong. Thats not even good sportsmanship.

I haven't done the newpaper with articles but I did just this last Saturday type up "A super week in review" highlighting the PC's actions and other events in the city. Some related and others having nothing to do what so ever with the current story. One or two had some insidious elements involved to be sprung on the PC's later <>. One story was something the other GM has been doing stuff with that I put in there just to keep in the back of the PC's minds. No idea what he plans for it but I thought it was a good touch. Over all the news broadcast had the desired effect and I plan to make more of them as the game days go by, and it was fun to write the stories as well.

The Daddy Longlegs is a spider here in America too Oberon. However it is a little thing which is harmless to humans not counting those with phobias;). The hero's name isn't the sort I'd expect to strike fear into the villains either but supposedly the Daddy Longlegs is the most venomous spider in America (it's teeth are too small to affect humans). I keep hearing the old Batman cartoons in my head with a little twist..."I am the night...I AM DADDY LONGLEGS!!!!" Just doesn't have the same oomph in my book. What are the daddy longlegs like in Australia?

As far as 350 pt characters go I dont see anything glaringly wrong with your hero. However I would question as to whether he needs all those skills and talents you chose and if the points taken from them might not be better spent shoring up your hero's defenses and over all toughness when he gets into a fight. I dont know how you envisioned or explain away why he has these abilities but does he really need acrobatics, breakfall, concealment, contortionist, stealth, ambidexterous, double jointed, or eidetic memory? Now I love having heros with lots of skills but sometimes its better to hold off on all the skills you want in favor of making your hero more survivable. If your GM won't let you pick the skills that "make sense for your character" to have at a later point in his life without having someone teach them to you then I'd suggest taking them as familiarities or even on an everyman list with the intention to buy them at another time. That 8- chance on a skill just means your guy knows how to do that skill in a non-stressful no hurry situation. This would fill the requirement of your hero knowing this particular thing because its in your background flavor while freeing up some points to make your hero a little more durable while fighting evil or good(if this guy turns out to be a villain after all:D ). Personally I'd use those extra points to buy some more defense and fatten up my END and STUN. I see this guy running out of those two things the fastest, especially the STUN. One good hit from any credible brick, martial artist, speedster, or blaster and this poor guy is going down for the rest of the fight. A 10D6 attack with some limitations and advantages thrown on it are pretty commmon in a 350 pt campaign and they only go up from there usually. Just my two cents worth free of charge;) . Overall though I'd say you have the beginnings of a good character who should be fun to role play. Others may agree or disagree with me.

I never used to do this as a DM/GM until I was playing in a AD&D campaing when I lived in Bethesda,MD. The DM introduced me to the idea and playing style of multiple plots going on behind the scenes of the current major plot/quest the party was persueing. It worked fantastically well due to the great story-telling skills of this particular DM. I found it far more difficult to execute and adjudicate as a DM however but when it worked it was great fun. Sometimes the little side things all the PCs were doing involved other PCs for one reason or another or ended up having major consequences on the group and the campaign itself for better or for worse. The current GM I hang with now (Killer Shrike) does things along these lines as well. Unfortunately I'd say 90% of our group never bothers to persue these plots and side quests. I try to follow every single one of them that I can when I can. I'm not sure why the other players in the group don't take advantage of this. Maybe their not used to that sorta role-playing, or maybe their just not interested, I honestly don't know. The group has seen the benefits of doing these little side things on my characters not to mention the draw backs(when you screw up in Shrike's campaigns be prepared to pay the piper for a long time and not just the very next gaming session:( ). My characters were leaps and bounds ahead of the other characters in powers and abilities and I'm not just talking about the statted ones. I had political,mercantile,domestic, and legal connections all through out the campaign city and a list of enemies and problems longer then my arm which could not be resolved just by finding their lair and killing them either. Most times they only made my life hell but sometimes the group got dragged into it as well much to their chagrin:) . I am a strong proponent of this sort of gaming and now that I have once again taken up the reigns of GMing I'm going to do my level best to provide these sort of opportunities for my players that I so enjoyed. Only one of them will probably engage in these opportunities but thats fine too. He will reap the fruits of his labor. Whether that fruit is ripe or rotten will depend on his actions:D . As for how I will go about it...I'll just throw the baited hooks out there in the water and see who bites. Then I'll just sorta wing it until I get a feel for the players intentions and motivation. If he's serious about it then I'll give him all that I can and hope to encourage the others into doing the same. As I said when this works right it will be remembered for years to come.

Nothing new to see here folks. I just went into the archives to drag this topic out into the light for Trebuchet to take a gander at if he's interested. We were discussing his Character Ranger and my character Rook.

Nothing new to see here folks. I just went into the archives to drag this topic out into the light for Trebuchet to take a gander at if he's interested. We were discussing his Character Ranger and my character Rook.

As it so happens Trebuchet my current hero(Rook) that I play when I'm not GMing sounds as if he's built around nearly identical concepts. I wanted him to have some defense against everything in the book even if its marginal so that nothing ever affects him fully. Its exspensive as all heck and of course I don't have a defense for everything yet but I'm slowly working on it. Too many gaps to fill and not enough points to do it. I have all his powers bought through the force field concept as well. He doesn't have as many tricks up his sleeve as my past characters but the ones he does have are good ones. He is a mainstay in our group and even if he does go down he doesn't stay there for long. I'd like to see Ranger's character sheet if you don't mind. Shrike was telling me he wished other people on this board posted up characters for review and discussion. He posted my hero Rook on here somewhere a few months ago if your interested in comparisons or just wanna see how we built my guy. Use the keywords Rook or possibly Fortress to search for him, Fortress was his original name and he might be posted under that instead of Rook.

Wow guys and gals thanks for all your input. I agree with everything you guys said about heroic deaths and all. When and if it happens I'll probably make sure it is something memorable. I was more interested in knowing if anyone ever bothered to run those return from the grave storylines that always pop up in comics. I figure hero deaths have to occur sometime in a campaign if it runs long enough, I was just curious as to whether any GMs brought the hero back sooner or later. Its such a commonplace thing in comics nowadays that it really bugs me but it is a staple of the genre now as someone posted earlier. It would certainly make for some excellent role playing to if handled well. As far as surviving nukes and what not I didn't know they had a rule for that. I loved how they statted out surviving on the surface or in the core of a star and the two different ways a hero could do it in StarHERO. Makes me wonder just how many points Superman really is:D . Of course he doesn't do that sorta thing much nowadays, just back in 50's, 60's, and 70's. The only other thing I want to comment on right now is Ranger having Lack of Weakness at -15?! Holy moley!!! Think that was enough?! I thought it was a bit much for good ol Grond to have -10. I think he could spent some of those points better but hey what do I know? I'm sure you had your reasons for it. Ok thanks again folks.

I agree that in a superhero universe it should not happen all that often and if it does it should be as you said...a dramatic event of some sort. I was also just curious if anyone ever ran those return from the grave sorta quests for heroes. I figure its a given with villains that even if your "sure" their dead that the GM will be bringing them back at a later time as soon as it suits his or her needs.

Yeah guys and gals Shrike you outta put a warning on that thing so you don't inadvertantly scare someone not expecting to see our ugly mugs.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeell I'm not saying it WILL happen but it COULD happen. I just want some ideas for how to handle it if it does happen.

Hello guys and gals, Well this is my first official topic starter for these boards and after looking through the past topics I have not seen anything concerning this subject...How do heroes die in your games? I'm not talking about the gritty Fantasy type stuff where it should be more common but in the super hero world. I recently took up the mantle of gamemastering for our group and having never GMed this kinda campaign before I wondered how often deaths happen in other GM's games. I've read comics as a kid and know that somtimes heroes do indeed die but in a RPG things are different, lets face it, if things arent scripted like in the comics then a death could occur through no fault of the GM or the players. Also in second question related to this, if a hero does die do you ever do the classic return from death story arc after the hero has been dead for a while? For a while it seemed like marvel was doing it on a regular basis and even DC has pulled this stunt from time to time. I'm just curious if GMs do it too. I mean thats about as comic-book-iness as it gets IMO. I'd like to know what other GMs do with these situations when or if they occur. Thanks in advance for your input folks.

Rook's views on his teammates:Chitin, Gravitic, & John Wrath. Chitin: Nice guy for a 7' tall bug(beetle). He's got determination, guts, and heart to match. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have a lot of experience under his belt for street fighting. Don't get me wrong I've seen him take on three super criminals at one time when he probably shoulda just let them go to fight another day but there's a thin line between bravery and stupidity in my book. Still he broke outta P.R.I.M.U.S. HQ and was never held accountable for his actions so he must have some friends in very high places. Something just doesn't add up with that guy, that's what bugs me, no pun intended. Gravitic: This guy read too many comics growing up and watched way to many movies. I mean he acts like he's one of those heroes in a movie based off one of those frickin comics! Who announces their name and their intentions to the criminals as their doing it?! I could not believe this guy was/is for real. "I get my powers from my SUPER-HUMANITY!" What in the world is that all about? It turns out though after spending some time around him that he isn't that bad after all. He bought me my first costume when I mentioned to the group I couldn't afford one on my own. So what if it's so silly I can't wear it in public. It's a fricking checkered board black and white spandex suit with a chess piece on the front! If the guys back home caught me in that I'd never hear the end of it let alone these criminals we've been running into and the other heroes running around town would never stop laughing. Don't get me started on the press, those vultures. Still it's the thought that counts, and I have yet to meet a "super-hero" as willing and eager to do the right thing as this guy. That counts for alot in my book. Agent John Wrath...of P.R.I.M.U.S.: You know my old man had a lot of respect for this guy back in his day. He used to tell me you have to admire a man who won't sell out his orginization no matter what, even if that man is standing in your way or interferring with your buisiness. I'm sorry pop but I just don't see it...I don't see what you saw in him. Maybe he lost it, maybe he got to old for the buisiness and shoulda retired a few years ago. Maybe he finally broke under it all, you put enough responisibility on a man and it will break him quicker and surer then anything else. I think he's past his prime and needs to move to Florida. From what I've seen he's afraid to take risks and unwilling to own up for his mistakes when other people get hurt because of them. I've also seen him nearly get himself killed needlessly twice now and he would have been killed if I hadn't saved him. Maybe I shoulda let him die, maybe that's what he wanted. He seems like he's got a beef with the whole world and thinks he's untouchable. Everybody's touchable. If he's one of the best P.R.I.M.U.S. has to offer then it's no wonder the feds are trying to cut their budget and any mook with a special trick thinks he can just do whatever it is he wants. Being on this side of the law is new to me but I think I see where these criminal bozos are coming from. I guess it really is like Father Mulcahey said..."God works in mysterious ways". God definately has a weird sense of humor thats fer sure.

I don't think its a good idea to let a player take Dr. Destroyer as a hunted. I mean lets face it...if Destroyer wanted you dead or caught and your not playing a hero of around 500+ points then chances are he IS going to kill or capture the poor hero. Even if your not 500+ points and you have your teammates(I would hope) watch your back it wouldn't matter. Dr. Destroyer is just to darn powerful, besides why with the doctor's megalomania as sever as it is would he even deign to notice you? We're all just insects too him. Would you go and hunt down the hornet that stung you and made you drop your ice cream if it got away? I doubt it but thats just my POV. On the matter of hunting that insect down to kill it for stinging you...wouldn't you take a can of RAID to do the job right? I don't think you'd settle for just smacking it out of the air with a swatter and saying "it learned it's lesson not to mess with me now didn't it?". Don't get me wrong I really like most of the big baddies in CKC but I don't think most of them should be taken as hunteds for PCs. One character in our group has Gravitar hunting for him but she's not really as bad as Destroyer or Takofanes(spelling check someone please). Those two villians are just overkill for any party or they should be and as such I think they are better served being used sparingly. Even if you use the 8- roll they going to come around and cause trouble fairly often. I guess it all depends on how powerful your heroes are. Just my two cents worth free of charge

My preference would be more villians. The heros are well and good to publish but how many GMs out there use the heroes as much as they use the villians? Its ok to have guest appearances and even super-team cooperation from time to time but ultimately most players I can think of want to do it without help from other heroes. In the campaign I play in run by Killer Shrike in MC we haven't even encountered the Champions. We've seen them on the SNN station and I'm sure they've watched our exploits (read screw-ups) with amusement if not interest. So I'd rather see more villians published just for more variety and ideas. Some of those plot hooks they give for the villians are pretty good.

Well personally I was never a big avengers fan or cared one way or another about Thor. Their power levels were so dang high and I was partial to the Batman and Spider-man types. I did collect the Hulk for a while though and he was on their power level. Anyways I remember one Avenger's issue when they went off on some "Galatic Storm" series (this was when Desert Storm was going on by the way) and the version of Thor then was some human that wasn't really Thor but had his powers volunteered to fight Gladiator. Gladiator for those of you who don't know is the purple Shiar alien(I think) with the red suit. He's a big time bad @$$, and this was why Thor said "I'll go fight him". Thor then proceded to get his butt kicked across the planet they were fighting on. Near the end of the fight Thor is laying on his back wondering what to do next when he sees this lightning bolt team-mate flying alongside Captain Marvel and says to himself "Hey I can control all lightning! I'm such an idiot!" He then controls his lightning team-mate to fly into Gladiatior and knock him out. That was classic. Another favorite fight I know of involving Thor was when the goverment wanted to kill Hulk and Thor once again volunteered to do it. Well when it looked like Thor was going to be the one dieing the military dropped a nuke on the two heros. They both survived and boy were they ticked off at the Pentagon. Can't really says as I blame them. My last and favorite Thor fight was with good ol Spidey. Spidey knows he's in trouble and has to either run away or end the fight quickly. When Thor chucked his hammer at Spidey he missed of course and Spidey then proceded to use his web shooters to keep redirecting Thor's hammer away from him forcing Thor to keep recalling his hammer to him. As many of you Thor fans might see where this is going Thor didn't have much else he could do against Spider-man and after going a full minute without his hammer he turned back into his secret ID and became a normal again. Then Spidey hopped over and webbed him up so they could resolve the conflict more civil like. Now admittedly as someone earlier in this post pointed out these fights always depend on who's writing them and in the Marvel universe a character's popularity is the ultimate factor in determining who will win the fight regardless of who's fighting or what powers they have at their disposal. Anyways those were my favorite Thor moments in comic book history. I also enjoyed one Avenger's issue when Thor's buddy Hercules got beat into a coma by the supervillian Goliath. Thor went to the hospital, payed his respects and then hunted down Goliath while he was bragging about being a "God-Slayer". Thor said something like "Thoust fancies thyself a god-slayer eh?!" "Well come and try to slay me then giant!" Thor then proceeded to beat the snot out of Goliath, guess Thor learned how to kill giants at some point in his life, because it was a one-sided @$$ kicking .

Well I personally could care less about the whole hero clix thing. I was not impressed with the game when I played it but hey thats just me. However I would love to see HERO minis for this great game we all love. I know it will never happen but hey a player can dream cant he? Steve if you read this post I hope you keep it in the back of your mind if ever you guys have some extra cash to spend and you dont know where to spend it...invest in getting some minis put out! That would take playing HEROES to a whole other level. Ok I said my peace. Remember Steve...minis,minis,minis.

Our group has more famous quotes by fellow players then I can remember. However one quote in particular just wont seem to go away for us. It happened while I was DMing a nostalgia quest for our group... The Temple of Elemental Evil (not to be confused with Return to the ToEE). Anyways during one of the fights with a particularly powerful priest the said priest blasted this player with a spell which did close to or slightly over fifty pts of dmg. This player looks to the other players and seeing their looks of concern for his well being merely shrugs and says "It's ok guys! I only took a little over half my hit points from that ONE hit!" This was in the opening round of the combat too. The priest still had plenty of spells to throw down with, that was just the first. It will never be said that this player isn't overconfident in just about any situation and he doesn't even take the disadvantage for easy points either. Go figure.

Very interesting Marcus. Loar is kind of a mystically powered Grond. I only see two things that I think need to be asked here. Why no "claw" attacks? If this guy is a "tiger-demon" I wouldv'e thought he'd have a claw attack of some sort. Not that he really needs to worry about doing damage with claws when he hits with 80 STR but I'd have thrown them in there for schtick if nothing else. The other thing that I noticed missing which I thought was odd is that this demon has been around for a few thousand years right? How come he doesn't have LS:immortality or atleast slowed aging? Other then that he looks great, I'd love to see the team he leads.

Hmmmmm ya know John since you pointed it out you might be right...a 4D6+1 AP HKA and a massive ocv of 18 might have sacred me at one time too. Its just the I've been playing in Shrike's campaigns now for so long I've become inured to things like 4D6+1 AP HKA's being used against me. I mean after all Shrike has thrown far worse things at the group in the past, all things considered Wulfen is pretty tame FMPOV. I will say this though in Shrike's defense, unless the party really just disregards common sense and puts their foot in it anyways Shrike almost always has a way for us to defeat,avoid, or negate the encounters we come across. We just have to find the way. In this particular case with Wulfen, yes he did nearly make mince meat of some of the party members but as it happens he couldn't hurt Rook effectively and Rook was able to restrain him with his Sacrifice Grab manuever. Once this happened there wasn't a thing in the world Wulfen could do to escape from Rook and thus the threat was neutralized. That is until Rook tried picking up a tractor trailer to stop Wulfen's cohorts from escaping, when I did this Rook no longer had sufficent strength to maintain the hold and Wulfen got lose again. Yeah Wulfen is probably overkill in other people's campaigns but in ours he's not really anything special to be feared, just something to keep your eye on. Now if Wulfen gets APx2 claws then yes we'll have a reason to really be scared! Until that day comes though Rook has taken to bringing a doggie leash and a pooper scooper along on any outings where we might run into Wulfen:D .

I know a little about Dr. Strange and your right about him working alone for the most part. He did however form "THE DEFENDERS" IIRC (admittedly I'm not 100% on this, but he was a member of that group if nothing else). For those of you who don't know who the Defenders were, they were a group brought together to defend the marvel dimension from outsiders from other dimensions. They weren't to vigilant about this apparently or had very set ideas about what constituted an "outsider from other dimensions" because there was always an "alternate dimension" someone in the marvel universe causing troubles somewhere for somebody. Hey that was Marvel for you. Anyways this group was short lived but it was comprised of Dr. Strange of course, the Incredible Hulk, Prince Namor the sub-mariner, and last but certainly not least Wolverine. Why the Doc picked these three individuals I'll never know but hey there you have it. Wolvie may or may not have been in the original foursome but he was a member when they reunited for some forgotten reason or dimensional threat. I guess I could see the Hulk, after all he is "the strongest one there is". If you need muscle for a job there wouldn't be anyone better then him. The other two choices baffle me though. I also recall Dr. Strange performing a favor or teaming up with none other then Galactus the world eater. IIRC this mission also had Nova and the Silver Surfer (both heralds for Galactus at one time or another) coming along to help too. As far as the Doc teaming up or enlisting the aid of other mystics I can only think of one occassion where this happened. It was during the whole "Infinity Gaunlet" trilogy debacle, more precisely in the second installment of that god-awful storyline. Dr. Stange and some other Marvel mystics got together and cast some great and powerful spell because Dr. Strange wasn't able to do it alone. So it did happen but I dont know if it happened often enough to warrant buying perks to show this. Just my two cents worth free of charge .