I actually believe the SPARC guards you're referring to are just heavily armored prison guards in what is the Champs equivalent of riot gear. After all, it'd be pretty hard to maintain your hold on a prison full of the deadliest supervillains on the planet without some form of heavily armored guard to help keep the peace.
As to telepathy, most machines are immune to it, being that their 'minds' are actually just circuits and machinery. However there are several examples in the books of machines with robotic brains so advanced they are actually affected by telepathy and mental attacks, whether they want to or not. Mechanon is the biggest example, though he usually shields his powerful mind with anti-telepathy measures.
Thank you for the info. That's certainly an interesting twist on what happens when mental powers meet advanced machine sentience. :]
I mostly thought that the SPARC guards were machines because the largest of them display fully mechanical limbs. This may just be the costume piece (inappropriately?) chosen to represent the legs and arms.
While I was doing Stronghold in the desert the other day, I noticed that in addition to the living entities that Menton was exerting his power over, the fully-mechanical guards were also displaying the same thing. Figuring it was just game liberties and fluff, I moved along. Then, I was reading a snippet about Mechanon. Among his listed defeats was having his robotic mind telepathically "switched off."
So this got me thinking. To what degree does telepathy have the power to manipulate machine-based sentience/artificial intelligence in the Champions Universe?
I actually believe the SPARC guards you're referring to are just heavily armored prison guards in what is the Champs equivalent of riot gear. After all, it'd be pretty hard to maintain your hold on a prison full of the deadliest supervillains on the planet without some form of heavily armored guard to help keep the peace.
As to telepathy, most machines are immune to it, being that their 'minds' are actually just circuits and machinery. However there are several examples in the books of machines with robotic brains so advanced they are actually affected by telepathy and mental attacks, whether they want to or not. Mechanon is the biggest example, though he usually shields his powerful mind with anti-telepathy measures.
JibKisamabi is absolutely correct that in the CU, some machine minds are so advanced that they respond to mind-affecting powers as if they were organic human brains rather than machinery. However, in the PnP game Mental Powers are divided into general "classes" of mind that they affect. Most mentalists only affect one class, although it's possible to affect more than one at the same time. "Humans" is the default class, while "Animals" is another... and one of the classes is "Machine," including computers and robots. Superhumans with Machine-affecting mental powers are generally referred to within the setting as "cyberkinetics," and there are several prominent villains with this ability, including Cybermind, the Engineer, and Mechanon himself.
Thank you, I forgot about cyberkinetics. Though this raises a question of my own. Is Menton able to affect the minds of creatures that aren't human? I'm fairly sure he isn't a cyberkinetic, but can he take control of, say, Lemurian or alien minds? For that matter, can he control animals?
JibKisamabi is absolutely correct that in the CU, some machine minds are so advanced that they respond to mind-affecting powers as if they were organic human brains rather than machinery. However, in the PnP game Mental Powers are divided into general "classes" of mind that they affect. Most mentalists only affect one class, although it's possible to affect more than one at the same time. "Humans" is the default class, while "Animals" is another... and one of the classes is "Machine," including computers and robots. Superhumans with Machine-affecting mental powers are generally referred to within the setting as "cyberkinetics," and there are several prominent villains with this ability, including Cybermind, the Engineer, and Mechanon himself.
I always thought the appropriate word would be "technopathy", much like that kid from Heroes did.
Thank you, I forgot about cyberkinetics. Though this raises a question of my own. Is Menton able to affect the minds of creatures that aren't human? I'm fairly sure he isn't a cyberkinetic, but can he take control of, say, Lemurian or alien minds? For that matter, can he control animals?
Since Fifth Edition Champions, Menton's mind-affecting powers have been explicitly defined as affecting any Class of Mind except Machine. So yes, animals, aliens, Lemurians.
Except that timeline is a fan custom creation which combines characters, groups, places, and incidents from the current official Champions Universe with others from earlier incarnations of the setting which are no longer in continuity, plus settings published for the Champions PnP game within entirely different versions of a superhero Earth. As such it's a very unreliable guide to what applies to the current CU in PnP or in Champions Online.
Note that the link posted above is to a timeline that isn't necessarily accurate in all respects anymore. The 6th Edition version of it incorporates stuff from Champions Online, which requires some changes and tweaks. Most of it is probably still pretty accurate, but for the100% most up-to-date timeline info, check Champions Universe or ask me. As I add events while writing various books I keep an updated master version of the timeline so it's as thorough as possible. When we publish a CU update book looking at what's gone on over the past several years, we'll include the expanded timeline.
On the subject of corporations, I'd like to ask about ARGENT. They're all over the place in-game, trying various schemes to make money, and at least one attempt to take over the world. What is known about ARGENT's leadership? Is there any information about who their CEO is, President, etc.? Since they have a public front as just a normal corporation, could a hero find out who's in charge through normal avenues?
As Lord Liaden has no doubt already posted, ARGENT in the PnP game functions like a real corporation, albeit one that embodies every real-world theory about how abusive and evil corporations can be. Given their subtlety (compared to typical comic book universe organizations), we've deliberately avoided discussing ARGENT in any great detail so far. However, next year it will finally get its due in a book with the working title Profit And Purity. They're the "Profit" part; the "Purity" half of the book will look at the Institute for Human Advancement, our anti-mutant/anti-superhuman lobbying and public interest group.
Quick question, and this may have been answered before, but is there anymore info on Multifaria than what was given in game? A roster of sorts, or maybe some backstory?
There's a little bit of information in the sourcebook DEMON, though a lot of that is sort of fictional descriptive text.
The supplement I'm currently writing, The Book Of The Empress, has a chapter describing the Multiverse of the Champions Universe in detail. It includes short profiles of a lot of specific dimensions, including Multifaria. It's not a huge amount of info, but it's enough to give a GM the tools he needs to send a group of superheroes there and give 'em a hard time.
when Detroit was demolished, and Mill City was built, did any of the Detroit professional sports teams (Tigers, Red Wings, Lions, Etc.) change into the Millenum City Lions (etc.) or did they rename them completelty.
They kept the same names and just switched "Detroit" for "Millennium City." So MC Lions, MC Tigers, et cetera.
So this got me thinking. To what degree does telepathy have the power to manipulate machine-based sentience/artificial intelligence in the Champions Universe?
It's certainly possible for a character to have the power to control machines mentally. In the HERO System rules, you have to define the "class of minds" a character's mental powers work against. The default is Human (or "your same species" for aliens), but you can specify others like Machine, Animal, or Alien.
In the case of Menton specifically, his powers work against Human, Animal, and Alien, but not Machine class minds. However, he does have a big Variable Power Pool for mental abilities, so the GM could certainly give him "cyberkinetic" powers if he wants to. And there are various other CU villains -- Cybermind, the Engineer, Automaton, and others -- who have only cyberkinetic powers (i.e., mental powers defined as working against the Machine class of minds).
Thank you for the information regarding telepathy and machine sentience, everyone. That's certainly an angle on it I hadn't heard much about, and one I really rather like (I tend to be heavy on machine-based characters). I can see now why Mechanon would be such an overbearing force for other machine minds to deal with.
Thanks so much for the answers, I'm already eagerly awaiting Profit and Purity. Though this makes me curious about the Institute for Human Advancement. Obviously their book isn't written yet, but do any of the current books talk a bit about them?
Glad to be of help. And I have to say "Foundry" is a pretty cool name for what I assume is a powered armor wearing character!
Gadgeteer actually, working out of a moonbase dubbed The Forge. His backstory includes a PA set he was making though, but got stolen by GRAB and sold off to parts unknown. Thanks for the reply and compliment, sir
Another quickie: Does UNTIL have any super-characters in their ranks, outside of UNITY? I have a toon who isn't really a super, just enormously strong and enduring to the peak of what a normal person is capable of, but I have him working for UNTIL. Would that be a viable option?
Thanks so much for the answers, I'm already eagerly awaiting Profit and Purity. Though this makes me curious about the Institute for Human Advancement. Obviously their book isn't written yet, but do any of the current books talk a bit about them?
Now that Steve is back in force, I hope he doesn't mind me fielding some questions.
There's about a page worth of information in Champions Universe about the IHA, both what's publicly known about them and "secret" info in the "Gamemaster's Vault" section of the book. It talks briefly and in general terms about the group's history, leadership, resources, and goals. Aside from a few hints and passing references in other books, this is the most info about the IHA currently available.
Another quickie: Does UNTIL have any super-characters in their ranks, outside of UNITY? I have a toon who isn't really a super, just enormously strong and enduring to the peak of what a normal person is capable of, but I have him working for UNTIL. Would that be a viable option?
Short answer: Yes.
As revealed in UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom, the agency maintains an "Office of Superhuman Resources." In addition to directing UNITY, the OSR also coordinates "affiliated" superheroes, and the "Superhero Liaison Program." Affiliated superheroes agree to cooperate with UNTIL and assist them whenever possible, in exchange for access to UNTIL's databases and occasionally other limited resources. Superheroes in the Liaison Program are essentially volunteer UNITY reservists. They get greater access to UNTIL resources and facilities, but receive "requests" for help from UNTIL. They're not under direct orders from the agency, but if they refuse a request without a very good reason UNTIL severs all ties with them.
UNTIL also employs a few agents with appropriate superpowers in specific divisions, such as the psionic members of "Project Mind Game." Another agent, code-named Gladiator, has physical abilities comparable to what you describe for your toon, the product of UNTIL's "Future Soldier Program." He leads UNTIL's Light Horse division of aerial combat agents.
Note that UNTIL won't extend the benefits of these programs to just any super who asks to join. Supers have to be law-abiding, with good reputations, willing to cooperate with the agency; and they have to reveal information about their abilities and identities.
The main difference would have to be that PRIMUS (The Paranormal Research Initiative of the United States) is an American organization, and UNTIL (The United Nations Tribunal on International Law) is an international one. UNTIL answers to the United Nations, and deals with global threats. PRIMUS is all about the good old US of A.
UNTIL is a division of the United Nations, having jurisdiction over superhuman crime according to international law, and subject to the UN Security Council. PRIMUS is a division of the American Department of Justice, dealing with superhuman crime within the United States. UNTIL functions within America's borders only with the permission of the American government (as with any other UN member state which signed the UNTIL Treaty).
UNTIL recruits superhumans to work with it, either as part of its official team, Unity, or in a more informal association. PRIMUS's main superhuman assets are its Golden Avenger and less-powerful Silver Avengers, created for the agency through the Cyberline augmentation process. Other superhumans work for various divisions of the United States government, and may cooperate with PRIMUS in specific actions.
PRIMUS also has the responsibility to register and maintain records of known superhumans operating within the United States.
Otherwise the functions of the two agencies are very similar. In fact one of the reasons PRIMUS was founded was to make it unnecessary for the foreign nationals in UNTIL to operate on American soil, over security concerns. That attitude changed after Dr. Destroyer leveled Detroit in 1992.
Thanks so much for the answers, I'm already eagerly awaiting Profit and Purity. Though this makes me curious about the Institute for Human Advancement. Obviously their book isn't written yet, but do any of the current books talk a bit about them?
Champions Universe has a small section on them, and a little more secret information in the "GM's Vault" section. One of our old 5th Edition books, Everyman, details a couple of their personnel, if I recall. That's about it for now, though. I've been deliberately keeping the IHA a little low-key until I'm able to give it the good, thorough look it deserves. It'd be all too easy to paint the IHA as a one-dimensional mutant/superhuman hating organization, but there's actually a lot more to it than that.
Champions Universe has a small section on them, and a little more secret information in the "GM's Vault" section. One of our old 5th Edition books, Everyman, details a couple of their personnel, if I recall. That's about it for now, though. I've been deliberately keeping the IHA a little low-key until I'm able to give it the good, thorough look it deserves. It'd be all too easy to paint the IHA as a one-dimensional mutant/superhuman hating organization, but there's actually a lot more to it than that.
My guess would be that you've got members who just disagree with superhumans but mean them no real harm, then a faction within the faction of extremists who are all for turning to violence. Just a guess, but I'm thinking I'm at least in the ballpark. At any rate, it sounds like a group I'd like to deal with in CO in some way or other.
The IHA's main asset against superhumans are its powerful and sophisticated Minuteman robots, designed with help from ARGENT. They're reminiscent of the Sentinels from Marvel Comics, although not self-motivated and fully subservient to the IHA.
My guess would be that you've got members who just disagree with superhumans but mean them no real harm, then a faction within the faction of extremists who are all for turning to violence. Just a guess, but I'm thinking I'm at least in the ballpark.
Precisely so. The IHA is full of people who are genuinely concerned about the effects superheroes have on society -- and realistically they have plenty of legitimate reasons to be worried. These people are in no way villainous, though some superheroes are likely to think of them so. OTOH, there are rabid anti-mutant or anti-hero bigots who want to see all "muties" (or whatever) wiped off the face of the Earth; these are the people who secretly build and use the Minuteman robots LL mentioned a post or two ago.
Monolithic organizations that all think the same thing have their dramatic place (especially in comic books! ), and can be a lot of fun in a game. But so can more diverse/layered/factionalized organizations, and the IHA belongs in that category.
"I am curious to know if there's any lore about some sort of history of superheroes and the like in public education. Is it something that would be taugh in a common classroom, or is it so controversial that it is not something to be discussed in school? Having this knowledge would definately help me when it comes to some of my characters, and possibly others whose toons are still studying in school, whether it be from say college, down to possibly even middle school."
There has in fact been intense scholarly interest in superhumans and their influence on society, almost from their first appearance. Many books and papers have been published on the subject, and courses are certainly taught at at least the college level.
The Champions Universe sourcebook mentions one scholar in particular, based at Duke University, who's focussed his studies on superhumans for the past thirty years, and is considered one of the world's foremost authorities. Prof. Ben E. Scott ( ) is often consulted by governments, law enforcement, the media, and others interested or concerned about superhuman affairs.
Well, I searched the thread and the PDFs I have and cant seem to find any info on SOCRATES. Any pointers or a quick review of what exactly SOCRATES is and/or came to be?
As far as I know, SOCRATES is "merely" the AI/Mainframe of the Champions Headquarters in the P&P lore. Artificially sentient in a similar way to that of the classic HAL 9000 computer from 2001 A Space Odyssey (though without any hint (so far) of anything like "Hal's" psychosis). In other words - more tied to the specific hardware in which it resides than, say, Mechanon or the like. It can't up and move its "Core Program" to another machine. If the mainframe housing it is destroyed, SOCRATES is "dead".
4th Edition (90s version of Champions/Hero) I don't recall offhand if a base A.I was even mentioned, except in an offhanded way. A base computer was part of the point costs of the Homestead Base as printed in the books. But nothing was fleshed out.
5th Edition SOCRATES was definitely part of the lore. But again - not much was said about it other than that SOCRATES was the "Major-Domo" of the Champions security system (physical and cyber-warfare) and was tied in to certain Law Enforcement computers where the Champions could get permission. SOCRATES made the gathering of intel and backgrounds on villains and villainous organizations like VIPER easier to process. But again - I don't know if a particular personality was given. (Probably to let GMs fill that in on their own.)
I don't have access to much in the way of 6th Edition books. But based on what little P&P lore there is combined with the interaction you get in the MMO - SOCRATES is likely to have a quiet personality (again a little like HAL). If there are any "quirks" like a sense of humor, it keeps them away from its "Public Face". (It might be interesting/cool if SOCRATES did develop a sense of humor.)
Defender is responsible for SOCRATES, though I forget if he actually did the majority of the design work himself or merely pulled together the relevant materials and research to put it together from work that Harmon Industries had done as a whole already.
As far as I know, SOCRATES is "merely" the AI/Mainframe of the Champions Headquarters in the P&P lore. Artificially sentient in a similar way to that of the classic HAL 9000 computer from 2001 A Space Odyssey (though without any hint (so far) of anything like "Hal's" psychosis). In other words - more tied to the specific hardware in which it resides than, say, Mechanon or the like. It can't up and move its "Core Program" to another machine. If the mainframe housing it is destroyed, SOCRATES is "dead".
4th Edition (90s version of Champions/Hero) I don't recall offhand if a base A.I was even mentioned, except in an offhanded way. A base computer was part of the point costs of the Homestead Base as printed in the books. But nothing was fleshed out.
5th Edition SOCRATES was definitely part of the lore. But again - not much was said about it other than that SOCRATES was the "Major-Domo" of the Champions security system (physical and cyber-warfare) and was tied in to certain Law Enforcement computers where the Champions could get permission. SOCRATES made the gathering of intel and backgrounds on villains and villainous organizations like VIPER easier to process. But again - I don't know if a particular personality was given. (Probably to let GMs fill that in on their own.)
I don't have access to much in the way of 6th Edition books. But based on what little P&P lore there is combined with the interaction you get in the MMO - SOCRATES is likely to have a quiet personality (again a little like HAL). If there are any "quirks" like a sense of humor, it keeps them away from its "Public Face". (It might be interesting/cool if SOCRATES did develop a sense of humor.)
Defender is responsible for SOCRATES, though I forget if he actually did the majority of the design work himself or merely pulled together the relevant materials and research to put it together from work that Harmon Industries had done as a whole already.
SOCRATES is indeed a AI computer,but has access to various waldos throughout champs HQ allowing it to affect the world in some degree. but yeah it's not exactly a robot or something
Yes, SOCRATES is an AI computer that is pretty much hooked into a global mainframe of information and tracks down trouble spots regularly. Basically think of it as an advanced police scanner that goes on the military level, and can help form opinions.
That being said, the HAL 9000 didn't have a psychosis. The computer was given conflicting orders the result of which caused it to interpret them to the best of its understanding.
That being said, the HAL 9000 didn't have a psychosis. The computer was given conflicting orders the result of which caused it to interpret them to the best of its understanding.
Well that's kind of an interesting semantic point isn't it? If you accept the explanation of 2010 (which I happen to really like, BTW) then the conflicting orders were the source of the problem. But my statement was a general one describing the end result - which certainly looked like a psychotic break in the original movie. But can a computer like HAL suffer from that in the human sense? 2010 gives a very plausible explanation. And I tend to agree with it (and you). But I just wanted to make a quick thumbnail description and not get into the details.
Is Mechassassin a real assassin, or is it just a fancy name? Just wanna make sure before I write a bio.
Mechassassin is a mercenary in an armored powersuit. And he does in fact take assassination jobs. Though he doesn't do so exclusively. He'll take other work as well - such as how he's portrayed as working for ARGENT in the mission that you encounter him in on Monster Island.
Mechassassin is one of the top super-mercenaries in the Champions Universe. He has high-level combat, tactical, and intel-gathering training and experience, as well as a sophisticated powered-armor suit and weaponry.
Mechassassin has worked as an assassin for hire, as security chief or field general for various master supervillains, and as part of temporary villain teams, in either a leadership or subordinate role. He's totally ruthless but always conducts himself as a consumate professional, and commands very high fees.
(Just as an aside - this is a case where I REALLY approve of the re-design to his armor and overall look compared to the original art of him in the books. I always thought he looked rather clunky there. No offense to Storn Cook who did the art in the 5th Edition books. Mr. Cook is a very talented artist. It's just that he was reproducing more or less the original design from 4th Edition, which to be honest, wasn't that inspired. I really like how "tech-sleek" the new Mechassassin looks. This is a guy who looks like he means business. In any sense of the word.)
What the exact method is, whether taken orally, injected, or some other method, is never specified. Cyberline is just described as "given" in "doses." Avengers receive their initial treatment when they're first chosen for augmentation, and receive daily doses to "update" its effect.
If you mean, has anyone in government ever worked with or hired Teleios to help create super-soldiers, nothing remotely like that has ever been mentioned. Teleios is considered a "most wanted" criminal across most of the planet, for using extremely unethical methods and assisting many other criminals. For his part it's extremely unlikely Teleios would help create any military or law-enforcement superhero who might one day be used against him, unless he engineered "failsafe" weaknesses into that superhero which only he knew about. An unethical dictator might hire Teleios for that purpose, but I know of no canon example.
OTOH at least one supervillain Teleios agreed to empower has since reformed and become a hero, that being Flashover of the Justice Squadron.
If you mean something else, please specify.
what i meant is that if anyone has taken the route telios has taken and grafted certain traits into a person for their desired product.(person) after all with telios i can't see why guys haven't thought of using his methods of genetic alteration to create super soldiers.
what i meant is that if anyone has taken the route telios has taken and grafted certain traits into a person for their desired product.(person) after all with telios i can't see why guys haven't thought of using his methods of genetic alteration to create super soldiers.
Well, sure. PRIMUS's Cyberline process introduces DNA collected from superhumans via an RNA retrovirus. The US government's "Project Onslaught" experimented with grafting animal DNA into humans. A few other parties, like Bastion Alpha Security, or the villain King Cobra, use genetic alteration to enhance humans. But these processes all have limitations and drawbacks.
Teleios is the most skilled genetic engineer on the planet, possessing secrets unknown to any other scientist, even Dr.Destroyer. No one has the capability to match his results.
The Basilisk (Champions Villains Vol. 3) has the power to mentally control reptiles and amphibians, and to call them to him if they're in the area; as well as a potent petrifying gaze.
VIPER's Serpent Mages also know spells to conjure and command deadly poisonous snakes. There may be other examples, but that's all I can remember offhand.
EDIT: Technically Menton could do this too, as his powers can affect all animal minds as well as humans.
There has in fact been intense scholarly interest in superhumans and their influence on society, almost from their first appearance. Many books and papers have been published on the subject, and courses are certainly taught at at least the college level.
The Champions Universe sourcebook mentions one scholar in particular, based at Duke University, who's focussed his studies on superhumans for the past thirty years, and is considered one of the world's foremost authorities. Prof. Ben E. Scott ( ) is often consulted by governments, law enforcement, the media, and others interested or concerned about superhuman affairs.
How perfectly fitting. Could only be better if his scholarly nemesis were a foreign noble schlar [ala Dr. doom?] named Lord Lee A. Din.
My latest character is a zombie superhero, among the dead after the battle of Detroit he was raised by Takofanes and then freed from the lich's control by some mysterious sorcerer, restoring his free will (Kinda, he's still mostly instinct driven) and his ability to speak and think for himself.
Obviously a rotting corpse in tights is beyond the point where a good PR manager can do any good, but just how would the reception to an undead hero be? And are there any obviously undead heroes out there already?
EDIT: Here's a picture for reference, just for fun. Atomic Zombie
At least one superhero in the CU is a vampire, but I can't think of any heroes who are so obviously a reanimated cadaver. Monstrous-looking, sure, but this character will evoke whatever "zombie" connotations are in the mind of the viewer. Personally I've never understood the appeal of zombies in popular culture, so without a clear precedent I wouldn't hazard a guess as to how he'd be received.
I will just suggest that if you want him to rebuild any of the heroic credibility he had in life, you might rethink the "still mostly instinct driven" part of his personality. That's likely to prompt some unfortunate incidents. The villain Deadman Walkin' is a free-willed zombie-like undead with all his mental faculties and self-discipline intact, so precedent says it's at least possible.
there's quite a few very visible undead villains in the CU, so the public at large, at least those that know anything about superheroes, could likely suspect the undead exist. Villains like Takofanes, Necrull, Rictus, The Cadaver, Mr. Zombie, and Deadman Walkin' would probably give the undead and necromancy in general a rather poor public image, though. Still, a hero's a hero, and if the character's obviously not a mindless flesh eating monster, people could probably accept that he's here to help.
Comments
Thank you for the info. That's certainly an interesting twist on what happens when mental powers meet advanced machine sentience. :]
I mostly thought that the SPARC guards were machines because the largest of them display fully mechanical limbs. This may just be the costume piece (inappropriately?) chosen to represent the legs and arms.
JibKisamabi is absolutely correct that in the CU, some machine minds are so advanced that they respond to mind-affecting powers as if they were organic human brains rather than machinery. However, in the PnP game Mental Powers are divided into general "classes" of mind that they affect. Most mentalists only affect one class, although it's possible to affect more than one at the same time. "Humans" is the default class, while "Animals" is another... and one of the classes is "Machine," including computers and robots. Superhumans with Machine-affecting mental powers are generally referred to within the setting as "cyberkinetics," and there are several prominent villains with this ability, including Cybermind, the Engineer, and Mechanon himself.
I always thought the appropriate word would be "technopathy", much like that kid from Heroes did.
Since Fifth Edition Champions, Menton's mind-affecting powers have been explicitly defined as affecting any Class of Mind except Machine. So yes, animals, aliens, Lemurians.
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/31660-Champions-Universe-Combined-Timeline?highlight=japanese+superteam
Except that timeline is a fan custom creation which combines characters, groups, places, and incidents from the current official Champions Universe with others from earlier incarnations of the setting which are no longer in continuity, plus settings published for the Champions PnP game within entirely different versions of a superhero Earth. As such it's a very unreliable guide to what applies to the current CU in PnP or in Champions Online.
As Lord Liaden has no doubt already posted, ARGENT in the PnP game functions like a real corporation, albeit one that embodies every real-world theory about how abusive and evil corporations can be.
Glad to be of help.
There's a little bit of information in the sourcebook DEMON, though a lot of that is sort of fictional descriptive text.
The supplement I'm currently writing, The Book Of The Empress, has a chapter describing the Multiverse of the Champions Universe in detail. It includes short profiles of a lot of specific dimensions, including Multifaria. It's not a huge amount of info, but it's enough to give a GM the tools he needs to send a group of superheroes there and give 'em a hard time.
They kept the same names and just switched "Detroit" for "Millennium City." So MC Lions, MC Tigers, et cetera.
It's certainly possible for a character to have the power to control machines mentally. In the HERO System rules, you have to define the "class of minds" a character's mental powers work against. The default is Human (or "your same species" for aliens), but you can specify others like Machine, Animal, or Alien.
In the case of Menton specifically, his powers work against Human, Animal, and Alien, but not Machine class minds. However, he does have a big Variable Power Pool for mental abilities, so the GM could certainly give him "cyberkinetic" powers if he wants to. And there are various other CU villains -- Cybermind, the Engineer, Automaton, and others -- who have only cyberkinetic powers (i.e., mental powers defined as working against the Machine class of minds).
Much appreciated. :]
Gadgeteer actually, working out of a moonbase dubbed The Forge. His backstory includes a PA set he was making though, but got stolen by GRAB and sold off to parts unknown. Thanks for the reply and compliment, sir
Another quickie: Does UNTIL have any super-characters in their ranks, outside of UNITY? I have a toon who isn't really a super, just enormously strong and enduring to the peak of what a normal person is capable of, but I have him working for UNTIL. Would that be a viable option?
Now that Steve is back in force, I hope he doesn't mind me fielding some questions.
There's about a page worth of information in Champions Universe about the IHA, both what's publicly known about them and "secret" info in the "Gamemaster's Vault" section of the book. It talks briefly and in general terms about the group's history, leadership, resources, and goals. Aside from a few hints and passing references in other books, this is the most info about the IHA currently available.
Short answer: Yes.
As revealed in UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom, the agency maintains an "Office of Superhuman Resources." In addition to directing UNITY, the OSR also coordinates "affiliated" superheroes, and the "Superhero Liaison Program." Affiliated superheroes agree to cooperate with UNTIL and assist them whenever possible, in exchange for access to UNTIL's databases and occasionally other limited resources. Superheroes in the Liaison Program are essentially volunteer UNITY reservists. They get greater access to UNTIL resources and facilities, but receive "requests" for help from UNTIL. They're not under direct orders from the agency, but if they refuse a request without a very good reason UNTIL severs all ties with them.
UNTIL also employs a few agents with appropriate superpowers in specific divisions, such as the psionic members of "Project Mind Game." Another agent, code-named Gladiator, has physical abilities comparable to what you describe for your toon, the product of UNTIL's "Future Soldier Program." He leads UNTIL's Light Horse division of aerial combat agents.
Note that UNTIL won't extend the benefits of these programs to just any super who asks to join. Supers have to be law-abiding, with good reputations, willing to cooperate with the agency; and they have to reveal information about their abilities and identities.
UNTIL recruits superhumans to work with it, either as part of its official team, Unity, or in a more informal association. PRIMUS's main superhuman assets are its Golden Avenger and less-powerful Silver Avengers, created for the agency through the Cyberline augmentation process. Other superhumans work for various divisions of the United States government, and may cooperate with PRIMUS in specific actions.
PRIMUS also has the responsibility to register and maintain records of known superhumans operating within the United States.
Otherwise the functions of the two agencies are very similar. In fact one of the reasons PRIMUS was founded was to make it unnecessary for the foreign nationals in UNTIL to operate on American soil, over security concerns. That attitude changed after Dr. Destroyer leveled Detroit in 1992.
Champions Universe has a small section on them, and a little more secret information in the "GM's Vault" section. One of our old 5th Edition books, Everyman, details a couple of their personnel, if I recall. That's about it for now, though. I've been deliberately keeping the IHA a little low-key until I'm able to give it the good, thorough look it deserves. It'd be all too easy to paint the IHA as a one-dimensional mutant/superhuman hating organization, but there's actually a lot more to it than that.
My guess would be that you've got members who just disagree with superhumans but mean them no real harm, then a faction within the faction of extremists who are all for turning to violence. Just a guess, but I'm thinking I'm at least in the ballpark. At any rate, it sounds like a group I'd like to deal with in CO in some way or other.
Precisely so. The IHA is full of people who are genuinely concerned about the effects superheroes have on society -- and realistically they have plenty of legitimate reasons to be worried. These people are in no way villainous, though some superheroes are likely to think of them so. OTOH, there are rabid anti-mutant or anti-hero bigots who want to see all "muties" (or whatever) wiped off the face of the Earth; these are the people who secretly build and use the Minuteman robots LL mentioned a post or two ago.
Monolithic organizations that all think the same thing have their dramatic place (especially in comic books!
"I am curious to know if there's any lore about some sort of history of superheroes and the like in public education. Is it something that would be taugh in a common classroom, or is it so controversial that it is not something to be discussed in school? Having this knowledge would definately help me when it comes to some of my characters, and possibly others whose toons are still studying in school, whether it be from say college, down to possibly even middle school."
The Champions Universe sourcebook mentions one scholar in particular, based at Duke University, who's focussed his studies on superhumans for the past thirty years, and is considered one of the world's foremost authorities. Prof. Ben E. Scott (
Ahahaha, that is RICH. Way to go, HERO team
4th Edition (90s version of Champions/Hero) I don't recall offhand if a base A.I was even mentioned, except in an offhanded way. A base computer was part of the point costs of the Homestead Base as printed in the books. But nothing was fleshed out.
5th Edition SOCRATES was definitely part of the lore. But again - not much was said about it other than that SOCRATES was the "Major-Domo" of the Champions security system (physical and cyber-warfare) and was tied in to certain Law Enforcement computers where the Champions could get permission. SOCRATES made the gathering of intel and backgrounds on villains and villainous organizations like VIPER easier to process. But again - I don't know if a particular personality was given. (Probably to let GMs fill that in on their own.)
I don't have access to much in the way of 6th Edition books. But based on what little P&P lore there is combined with the interaction you get in the MMO - SOCRATES is likely to have a quiet personality (again a little like HAL). If there are any "quirks" like a sense of humor, it keeps them away from its "Public Face". (It might be interesting/cool if SOCRATES did develop a sense of humor.)
Defender is responsible for SOCRATES, though I forget if he actually did the majority of the design work himself or merely pulled together the relevant materials and research to put it together from work that Harmon Industries had done as a whole already.
SOCRATES is indeed a AI computer,but has access to various waldos throughout champs HQ allowing it to affect the world in some degree. but yeah it's not exactly a robot or something
That being said, the HAL 9000 didn't have a psychosis. The computer was given conflicting orders the result of which caused it to interpret them to the best of its understanding.
Well that's kind of an interesting semantic point isn't it? If you accept the explanation of 2010 (which I happen to really like, BTW) then the conflicting orders were the source of the problem. But my statement was a general one describing the end result - which certainly looked like a psychotic break in the original movie. But can a computer like HAL suffer from that in the human sense? 2010 gives a very plausible explanation. And I tend to agree with it (and you). But I just wanted to make a quick thumbnail description and not get into the details.
Which of course, I have UTTERLY FAILED to do.
Mechassassin is a mercenary in an armored powersuit. And he does in fact take assassination jobs. Though he doesn't do so exclusively. He'll take other work as well - such as how he's portrayed as working for ARGENT in the mission that you encounter him in on Monster Island.
Mechassassin has worked as an assassin for hire, as security chief or field general for various master supervillains, and as part of temporary villain teams, in either a leadership or subordinate role. He's totally ruthless but always conducts himself as a consumate professional, and commands very high fees.
what i meant is that if anyone has taken the route telios has taken and grafted certain traits into a person for their desired product.(person) after all with telios i can't see why guys haven't thought of using his methods of genetic alteration to create super soldiers.
Well, sure. PRIMUS's Cyberline process introduces DNA collected from superhumans via an RNA retrovirus. The US government's "Project Onslaught" experimented with grafting animal DNA into humans. A few other parties, like Bastion Alpha Security, or the villain King Cobra, use genetic alteration to enhance humans. But these processes all have limitations and drawbacks.
Teleios is the most skilled genetic engineer on the planet, possessing secrets unknown to any other scientist, even Dr.Destroyer. No one has the capability to match his results.
VIPER's Serpent Mages also know spells to conjure and command deadly poisonous snakes. There may be other examples, but that's all I can remember offhand.
EDIT: Technically Menton could do this too, as his powers can affect all animal minds as well as humans.
How perfectly fitting. Could only be better if his scholarly nemesis were a foreign noble schlar [ala Dr. doom?] named Lord Lee A. Din.
I smell an event where we all have to band together to fight a mind controlled Duratok...I don't see it ending well.
<.<
>.>
Nuh-uh.
<runs back to re-write event>
My latest character is a zombie superhero, among the dead after the battle of Detroit he was raised by Takofanes and then freed from the lich's control by some mysterious sorcerer, restoring his free will (Kinda, he's still mostly instinct driven) and his ability to speak and think for himself.
Obviously a rotting corpse in tights is beyond the point where a good PR manager can do any good, but just how would the reception to an undead hero be? And are there any obviously undead heroes out there already?
EDIT: Here's a picture for reference, just for fun. Atomic Zombie
I will just suggest that if you want him to rebuild any of the heroic credibility he had in life, you might rethink the "still mostly instinct driven" part of his personality. That's likely to prompt some unfortunate incidents.