Everyone Watches Huachu

One of the joys of ICONS is that random character generation is the default assumption.  As a long-time Champions guy, I'm used to character creation being an immaculate construction job.  The first step is coming up with the character concept, then tailoring everything to get it just right.  And while ICONS can and does accommodate a point-build system, I'm loving the fact that the random generation system forces me to use an entirely different set of creative muscles. Fedora Noir was custom-built, but Blight was the result of looking at a pile of random results and saying, "OK, what do I do with this?"

As was this guy.

Huachu
Trained

Prowess  5
Coordination  3
Strength  6
Intellect  3
Awareness  8
Willpower  4

Stamina  10
Determination  *

Specialties
  Weapons Master (Throwing)
  Stealth
  Animals
  Nature

Powers
  Binding Device 4  - Bolas

Qualities
  Host and Star of "El Juego Más Peligroso"
  The World's Greatest Hunter
  "Your Powers Are No Match For My Skills."

Challenges
  Carries Grudges
  Always Plays To The Camera
  Arrogant



Origin
In our world, famous actors go to Japan and shoot cheesy TV commercials. On Earth-Meridian, superheroes appear on "El Juego Más Peligroso" ("The Most Dangerous Game") a cheesy reality show in which they are hunted by the star of the show, a man known only as Huachu (a Quecha word meaning "Orphan.")  On the show, the heroes are wined and dined by their gracious host, then set loose on the grounds of his Amazon preserve, to face the perils of the wild as well as the host himself, as he endeavors to hunt down his guests, armed only with his wits, his tracking and trapping skills, and a set of bolas, the traditional hunting tool of the Patagonian gauchos.

The show became a huge hit in South and Central America and is now syndicated on Spanish language channels in the US, a fact that actually made it a bit more difficult to attract guests.  Desperate to keep the show going Huachu has taken to kidnaping superhumans to provide "guests" for his show.  While it's all still fun and games as far as he's concerned, his arrogance is almost certainly going to push things over the edge.

(In "Meridian - The Motion Picture," Huachu is portrayed by "The Most Interesting Man In The World.")


Considering I looked at the initial results and had no clue what I was going to do with him, I think he came out pretty well.

I Seem To Be On A Kick

Because here's another ICONS character, this one a villain (if there's no picture, someone let me know and I'll upload it another way):

The Blight
Dr. Brian Chase
Transformed

Prowess  4
Coordination  6
Strength  6
Intellect  4
Awareness  5
Willpower  6

Stamina  12
Determination  *

Specialties
  Science Expert (Chemistry)
  Wrestling

Powers
  Life Drain 7
  Mental Blast 6
  Resistance 6 (Physical Damage)

Qualities
  Motivation : Destroy EUREKA
  Relentless
  "My Pain Will Be Yours!"

Challenges
  Weakness : Microwaves
  Monstrous Appearance
  Personal : Daughter who thinks he's dead.

Point Total  53

Height: 8'9"
Weight: 800 lbs
First Appearance:  Amazing Science Yarns #23

Dr. Brian Chase had it all: a researcher with EUREKA, Meridian's leading scienfic institute, happily married to his college sweetheart, father to a beautiful daughter.  It was almost too good to be true.

Indeed, it was.  Two years ago, his wife was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive cancer.  The prognosis was grim: she had only a few months and no treatment to date had yielded results.  For Dr. Chase, it was too much to bear.  He snapped.  Abandoning his designated research, he threw himself into seeking out a cure, with no regard for ethical concerns or the safety of himself or others.  Of course, EUREKA got wind of this, and moved to shut him down.  Chase stole his notes and a few key components and fled their campus, setting up a temporary lab in a warehouse on the waterfront.

Desperate, at the end of his rope, Brian made one last attempt to synthesize a cure for his wife.  With limited equipment and impure ingredients, he never stood a chance.  The ensuing fire burned down a quarter of the warehouse district.  The body of Dr. Chase was never found.  His wife succumbed to cancer days later; an empty coffin buried alongside her.  Their daughter went to live with a distant aunt.

But Brian Chase was not dead.  The chemicals, the fire, the polluted harbor water, his own drive to defeat death...which of these things brought about the horrid change that overtook him, none can say.  But everyone who was in Meridian on the Day of The Blight recalls what happened next.  Emerging from the sewers, the hulking humanoid form moved relentlessly towards EUREKA, leaving dozens dead and hundreds injured.  Only the timely intervention of Rex Radium, Blakatoa, and The Collider managed to turn him back.

Since then, The Blight surfaces from time to time, always seeking twisted vengeance on EUREKA, seeking to destroy them for destroying his life.

Out of the Blue, Inspiration Strikes

While life, particularly work-related life hasn't let up any, once in a while, I still find a stray moment of creativity.  The other day, I was listening to an episode of the classic radio show "Suspense," an episode called "The Black Fedora," which I realized, was a great name for a pulp hero.

Today, I got my hands on a physical copy of The Villainomicon, for ICONs, the first game book (or any non-ebook for that matter) that has my name on the cover.  I won't lie to you, Marge, it's a damned cool feeling.  As a result, what little bit of my brain that isn't consumed by multiple massive IT projects is currently home to ICONS and superhero stuff.

This afternoon, I was mulling over that whole Black Fedora thing when the name Fedora Noir popped into my head.  And while that's not a great name for a real pulp hero, I happen to think it's a monumentally cool name for a second-generation pulp inspired hero.  This evening, I sat down with the ICONS Character Folio (a great program; worth every penny), and banged out Meridian's newest heroine and proprietor of the Midnight Detective Agency.

Fedora Noir
Deborah Black
Gimmick

Prowess  4
Coordination  5
Strength  3
Intellect  4
Awareness  5
Willpower  4

Stamina  7
Determination  3

Specialties
  Acrobatics
  Investigation Expert
  Area Expert - Meridian
  Criminology Expert

Powers
  Blast Device 3 (Blasting) - Phantom .45
    Affects Incorporeal
  Danger Sense Device 4  - The Haunted Hat
  Resistance Device 6 (Mental Attacks) - The Haunted Hat

Qualities
  Connections : Detective Lt. Walt Levinson, MPD (Boyfriend)
  Identity : Deborah Black, Crime Beat Reporter
  Motivation : Justice
  Catchphrase : "Sometimes, the Black Hats are the good guys."
  Epithet : The Midnight Detective

Challenges
  Enemy : Little Augie Caesar
  Personal : Acrophobia
  Social : Haunted Hat*

Point Total  45
Last modified  7/8/11

Height: 5'7"
Weight: 120 lbs
First Appearance: Meridian By Moonlight #1

From an early age, Deborah Black was steeped in her family lore. The granddaughter of The Black Fedora, Meridian's original Midnight Detective, she was instilled with a fascination for crime and justice at an early age, which led her to a career as a crime beat reporter for the Meridian Star.  Six months ago, she received an anonymous gift: her grandfather's hat.  On a whim, she tried it on, only to discover it was haunted by his spirit, a spirit that drove her to continue his mission.  Assuming the identity of "Fedora Noir" (it just sounds more stylish), she opened the Midnight Detective Agency, which allows her to fight crime when she's not reporting it.

*Haunted Hat:  When Deborah dons Black's Fedora, she is haunted by the ghost of her grandfather, The Black Fedora.  In unguarded moments, she's been known to converse with him.  This sets some people on edge.

I have no idea what I'll do with her, but it was fun to flex the muscles a little.

A Missive From The Wilderness

It's been a long time since my last post.  Work continues to kill virtually everything you'd call creative momentum, and doesn't show any real signs of letting up until October.  I'm glad I decided to pass on GenCon this year when my wife lost her previous job, because I would almost certainly not get the time off for it now.  The superhero game I was working on  is a bit less of a sure thing, as two of my likely players had to move away rather suddenly.  On the plus side, I've still got Tuesday night Pathfinder, my 4e game with Master Maze, and my 4e game for newbies.  Today is the newbie game.  I'm not sure if I'll get enough players for the game to make (I need at least four players and only have three confirmed), so I've got Wrath of Arshadalon on stand-by, just in case.

Here's hoping the rest of you get a chance to rock the dice this weekend.

This Is Why I Shouldn't Go To The Movies

So, last night, my wife and I went to see "X-Men: First Class." I'd heard it was good, but man, it totally rocked me.  Of course, this is a blog for gaming, not movie reviews, so I'm not going into details.  Besides, I'm really mentioning this because this awesome superhero movie was, in some respects, the last thing I should have seen.

Why?

Because of Gamer ADD, that's why.  OK, in all probability it's just normal Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, but I've never pursued a formal diagnosis and it mostly manifests in my gaming, causing me to flit around from one bright and shiny object to another.  The good news in this case is that I'm more keyed up to run Champions again than I was before.

The bad news is, I'm now torn between resurrecting two of my old settings.  Meridian, I fear, isn't the only one of my campaign worlds that got put out to pasture before it could flourish.  If only that were the case, things would be a lot easier.  Honestly, I've probably got a half-dosen superhero settings laying around in various stages of development.  Most never made it to the play stage, but Meridian did, as did IMPACT.

IMPACT stands for the Inquiry on Metahuman and Paranormal Abilities, Capabilities, and Technologies.  It's a super-spies campaign.  Sort of.  Actually, the original elevator pitch was "WildCATs meets The Six Million Dollar Man to watch the X-Files."  While I lifted scads of villains wholesale from the Champions Universe, the setting itself was a substantial departure.  Set in the Cold War 80s, the world of IMPACT was one of superpowered government agents, terrorists, and mercenaries, a techno-thriller with superpowers.  It was the first game I tried to run when I moved to Houston.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out very well.

The very first player I recruited (apart from my wife), was an utter disaster.  He brought some great players with him, but it only took one bad apple to throw this game off.  I was so desperate to run my game that I didn't really vet the PCs the way I should, which led to one that blatantly broke the rules (the aforementioned disaster player) coupled with a number of characters that would have been fine conventional superheroes, but who were ill-suited for the setting.  After a few frustrating sessions, I put it aside for a more traditional four-color game, which lasted for a couple of years.  We shed the disaster player, recruited some others (including Justin of A Field Guide to Doomsday), and had a good time.

But IMPACT remains one of my "if only" games, the sort that I know would have been awesome if things had only been just a little different.  And "X-Men: First Class" is exactly the kind of story IMPACT was designed to tell. 

So yeah, right now, I'm more amped to play than I've been in ages.  But which of my "children" to choose?

Addendum

Turns out the goblin forces actually WON.  They continued the game for an hour or two after I left and Ryan wanted to continue on Sunday, a decision that spelled disaster for the forces of Weal, who lost three commanders in the ensuing turns and fled the field in disarray.

Meridian

Just a night out in Meridian

This is a first, quick post about Meridian, the city I plan to use for the theoretical Champions game.  Like most of my gaming ideas these days, I'm recycling something from my past.  Back in 1995, I'd been in Houston for about a year and a half when I got laid off from the job that brought me here.  While I was out of work (six months), I decided to start on a new and different superhero setting.  I wanted to do something inspired by "Batman: the Animated Series" and the Fleischer Brothers' Superman short films, something more iconic than your typical bloated 90s supers.

(It's worth remembering that the state of comics c. 1995 was pretty appalling.  Lots of shoulder-pads, pouches, thighs bigger around than your head, and lots of explosions and killing.  Pretty much everything I hated about the genre, really, so it's no surprise I wanted to do something different.)

What came from that initial desire was "Meridian by Moonlight," which remains the largest single campaign guide I've ever written.  Meridian, a fictional Great Lakes city was heavily inspired by the animated Gotham, with a cast of supervillains wholly of my own concoction.  It was an epic, sweeping...

Moderate success.

The problem was, I spent so much time preparing for it and writing in background details that it was too personal, too perfectly suited to my tastes and therefore, not really that great a place to run a sustained campaign.  Yes, I learned the hard way that if the PCs are messing up your setting, you probably shouldn't be using it for a game.

Ultimately, I think the game really died because I'd spent lots of time imagining the cool stuff and not enough time doing things like developing my villains beyond a name and brief description.  Pro-Tip:  Champions works better when your villains have actual character sheets.

Anyway, there was a lot of cool stuff in Meridian, stuff that's too cool to leave fallow.  When I was writing "Sins of the Past" for ICONS, I envisioned the story as taking place in Meridian.  There's nothing specific that puts it there, but it helped keep me focused on the feel I wanted for the adventure.  So, for the upcoming game, I'm going to haul the old girl out, keep the Art Deco facade, but play mix and match with the innards to turn it into a better, more useable campaign setting.

Next Time: What that actually entails.