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German Superheroes

sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
edited November 2018 in Champions Pen and Paper RPG
Is there a list of German Superheroes from 1941 on?

I am going to start working on the descriptions of some of my heroes and one "Kapitan Eisenblut" I have a background forming in my head but I want it to fit in the CO story line.

My plan is to make Eisenblut, really old (born in 1908), and gain his power through German Experiments to make a Super-Soldat (Super Soldier), but he turned against them during the War, and fought against their plans for a Master Race.
Post edited by sgtken60 on

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  • flyingfinnflyingfinn Posts: 8,408 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    the Germans have traditionally been a little
    reluctant to talk about their relations with superhumans.
    Today they remain comparatively rare in German society,
    though that seems to be changing as the public becomes
    more accepting of them.
    The best-known German superheroes include
    Mondfeuer (Moonfire, an elemen-
    talist mystic),
    der Bogenschütze (the Archer, who
    uses a high-tech bow and trick arrows), and
    Zeitgeist (Spirit of the Times, a low-powered chrono-
    manipulator).
    -From Champions Universe book.
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  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    flyingfinn wrote: »
    the Germans have traditionally been a little
    reluctant to talk about their relations with superhumans.
    Today they remain comparatively rare in German society,
    though that seems to be changing as the public becomes
    more accepting of them.
    The best-known German superheroes include
    Mondfeuer (Moonfire, an elemen-
    talist mystic),
    der Bogenschütze (the Archer, who
    uses a high-tech bow and trick arrows), and
    Zeitgeist (Spirit of the Times, a low-powered chrono-
    manipulator).
    -From Champions Universe book.

    Thanks, is there anymore out there? When I ran Champions RPG in the USN, I thought there was a mention of something more. I think it was a mission you could do, but this was way back in 1985-86 so I may have my games mixed up.

    Old age it is fun LoL :)
  • flyingfinnflyingfinn Posts: 8,408 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    THE MODERN AGE OF
    SUPERHEROES BEGINS
    Despite the fact that some of the early adventurers
    of the 1800s and the pulp era may have possessed
    minor paranormal abilities, or used unusually
    advanced technology, the true Age of Superheroes
    was yet to come.
    In the summer of 1938, as Hitler planned the
    conquest of Europe, his Minister of Propaganda
    Joseph Goebbels was secretly assembling a team of
    powerful mystics, the Reichsamt für die Sicherung
    völkischer Kulturgüter (Reich’s Office for the Safety
    and Security of National Cultural Items, or RSvKg),
    led by the mysterious Erich Hessler. Seeking a magical
    weapon to use against Germany’s enemies before
    her armies commenced their march across Europe,
    the sorcerers gathered in a mountain redoubt on May
    1st and performed several powerful occult rituals. But
    their spells did not have the outcome they expected.
    Instead of leading them to artifacts that would satisfy
    their masters, the arcane energies they released
    somehow enhanced, or perhaps unleashed, the latent
    magic underlying all reality — thus making the creation
    of true superhumans possible.
    There were two immediate eff ects. First, Hessler’s
    conjurations successfully summoned a powerful
    demon, who merged with his body and transformed
    him into the horrible, skeletal creature known as Der
    Totenkopf, or the Death’s Head. Second, and much
    more importantly, the heightened mystical energies
    now active in Earth’s dimension created the world’s
    fi rst true superhuman, transforming an ordinary soldier
    named Walther Flenners into the superpowerful
    Sturmvogel (Stormbird). Scant days later, the cosmic
    scales were balanced when Don Randall, of Haynesville,
    Kansas, was endowed with the superpowers that
    made him Captain Patriot (see page 86).
    Soon superhumans began appearing around the
    world, though at fi rst mostly in America and Europe.
    During that summer, for example, Robert MacDonald
    traveled to Egypt and visited the Great Pyramid.
    While there, he had a vision in which he encountered
    the god Osiris and was granted powers of light and
    darkness. Returning to Harlem, he adopted the identity
    of Dr. Twilight. Scientist Harrison Chase also
    traveled, in his case to Yellowstone National Park,
    where he found a mysterious rock that gave him vast
    energy-manipulation powers as long as he was in
    contact with it. He carved the rock into a ring, and
    became the crimefi ghter MeteorMan. Takashi Osuru
    was caught in a horrible chemical fi re, but instead of
    dying emerged with the power to psychically create
    and control fi re, and fought for the Japanese military
    under the code name Tasho, or “Flamethrower.” And
    Albert Stebernow was subjected to a series of strange
    medical tests by Totenkopf and emerged with massive
    strength and the ability to grow to over thirty feet
    tall. When he went to the front he was called Donner,
    or “Thunder.”
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  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    Thanks @flyingfinn, that is the passage I remember. I wish I still had my books from back then.
  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    The German government utilized at least ten superhumans during WW II, as well as highly-trained "normal" operatives like Otto Skorzeny, and a cadre of crude-powered-armor troopers called the Eisenmech. That legacy is probably the biggest reason for the German lack of receptiveness to supers until recent decades which flyingfinn notes above.

    Most of Nazi Germany's superhumans were under the direction of Der Totenkopf (see above), who became one of Hitler's closest advisors. Totenkopf conducted numerous experiments to create more "super-soldiers," which combined his enchantments with "weird science" devised by several brilliant researchers, including a young Albert Zerstoiten (the future Dr. Destroyer). Most of those experiments ended in horrible and agonizing failures, but there were a few notable successes. For your purposes the most relevant examples would be: Der Rind ("the ox"), who gained superhuman strength and toughness, and wore an armored costume and helmet with deadly horns; and Donner ("thunder"), who could grow up to eight meters tall with proportionately increased strength.

    The program also achieved some remarkable success with bionic augmentation. General Blut was a critically-injured tank commander whose brain was transferred into a massive, powerful tank-like vehicle which he could control directly like a new body. A similar process was later used to preserve Adolf Hitler's brain after his "death" in a bulky but strong robotic body of roughly human configuration. Near the end of the war scientists produced a whole squad of cyborgs, called the Hartherzig Soldaten ("hard-hearted soldiers"). They were never deployed, but kept in stasis in hidden bunkers to await the call to serve a "Fourth Reich." One such bunker was discovered in this millennium by Herr Doktor Pandemonium, one of the leaders of DEMON.

    Much of the Nazis' radical technological achievement can be attributed to assistance from the Gremlins, a race native to the dimension of Faerie (home to the creatures, races, and gods from Earthly myth and folklore), who are adept at blending magic with mechanism. Germany discovered and invaded their homeland and forced the Gremlins to work for them.

    Golden Age Champions goes into Champions Germany and its supers during WW II in great detail. Most of the information about present-day CU Germany appears in Champions Worldwide. The Hard-hearted Soldiers are mentioned in DEMON: Servants Of Darkness.

    If you want more information about any of the above, or have other questions, please don't hesitate to post followups. :) BTW the current official Champions setting stems from a reboot of Champs material in 2002, drawing on but modifying many past characters and groups, as well as adding much new material; so your memories from the Eighties probably won't help you much. ;)

  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    First off thanks @bulgarex, see there was this adventure book, I had way back then (it may have not been put out by Hero Games), where your team of Heroes go after a rediscovered Nazis Bunker.

    That is what gave me the idea of Kapitan Eisenblut, but my basic idea is as follows (sorry Captain America), Nazis using an unholy combination of dark magics and science come up with their Super-Soldat, and he was one of these men.

  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    Which fits effortlessly into the official setting. It's also rare, but not unprecedented, for supers created half a century or more ago to still be vital and active today.
  • themightyzeniththemightyzenith Posts: 4,599 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    sgtken60 wrote: »
    First off thanks @bulgarex, see there was this adventure book, I had way back then (it may have not been put out by Hero Games), where your team of Heroes go after a rediscovered Nazis Bunker.

    That is what gave me the idea of Kapitan Eisenblut, but my basic idea is as follows (sorry Captain America), Nazis using an unholy combination of dark magics and science come up with their Super-Soldat, and he was one of these men.

    That's cool, and reminiscent of the plot from one of my favourite superhero stories, Zenith by Grant Morrison (originally appearing in 2000AD). One of the early antagonists is a Nazi supersoldier called Masterman, the Nazi Cult of the Black Sun (those Nazis and their interest in the occult) strengthened his body using lovecraftian science, which was basically magic to them. Thus strengthened, it was now strong enough to be a host body for an elder god, Iok Sotot.

    http://britishcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Masterman


    I realise you were looking for something from Champions Lore, but this was too good not to share :)



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    Post edited by themightyzenith on
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  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    That's actually not too far from Champions lore. Der Totenkopf was really a demon possessing the body of Nazi occultist Erich Hessler, transforming it into an animated skeleton typically wearing an SS uniform, and surrounded by flames when he used his powers. (Yep, a Nazi Ghost Rider.) Hessler's soul was completely supplanted by the demon, but it had access to his knowledge and memories. Totenkopf cared nothing for Germany or Nazism, but paid lip service to them for the freedom to commit acts of evil.
  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    One last interesting detail: the transfer of Hitler's brain to its robotic body was accomplished by "the brilliant but fiendish mad doctor Heinrich von Frankenstein." (Golden Age Champions p. 146) ;)
  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    edited January 2019
    Well @bulgarex, @themightyzenith, and @flyingfinn here is the first draft, please tell me what you think. Just understand I am at work, so I have to divide my attention a lot so please forgive my writing skills.

    “I remember my life before my powers, I was born in 1908 in Kaufbeuren, Germany to Manfred von Friedrich, my Father who was a strict military man.”And to my sweet Mother; Ariane von Friedrich (Schuster), the second oldest son of six children. Father was in the Bavarian Army, when the “Great War” broke out and he was transported to the Western Front as part of the German 6th Army under the command of Crown Prince Rupprecht.”
    “We would not see him again, until the spring of 1919. After the war, our family had many struggles as did many in Germany during those times. Then Herr Hitler came to power, my Father was against the Nazis from the beginning, but my elder brother, Aloysius joined their party soon as he could.” Then the next war broke out, Aloysius was a member of the SS by then. While I would have to join the Wehrmacht, I fought first against the Poles, and then the French. But soon I would be transferred to Operation Barbarossa.”

    “While on the Eastern Front, I would meet with my Brother - Aloysius again, he and his SS unit were looking for volunteers for a special operations unit, back in Germany. A few of us stepped forward, but I decided to stay, but then Aloysius picked me as a volunteer, I think he had done this to pay me back for all those times I came to Father defense during their heated arguments, or perhaps for some other slight I had done to him.”
    “When we got to the bunker, and we all got to meet Herr Doctor (von Wrede). And first there was the tests, mental and physical – harder than even basic training, soon out of the 200 volunteers, there was only 50 of us left, the others were sent back to the front. Then the true horror began, the Herr Doctor injected each of us with his serums. These cause some of to change, a few like me grew stronger, and taller, the others suffered deaths that haunt me to this day. But then the Hooded Woman arrived and then began chanting strange words we did not know, while we were being injected, by the Herr Doctor.”

    “Soon many of us where no longer human, those individuals would soon disappear. Then where was only five us, we had grown into Übermensch/Supermen, I processed super strength and toughness and was given the Code Name - Hauptmann Eisenblut. I had grown even more I was over 2 meters in height and gained the power of flight – this I managed to keep to myself, having discovered it during a mission against the Russians, when I was separated from my handlers. Then later on one of my so called missions, I came across the true horror of the Nazis I found a Einsatzgruppen Squad lining up a group Jewish men, women and children for execution.”

    “Something in me just snapped, these men were not Germans! They were animals! How could they shoot down children! Before I knew it, the squad’s blood was on my hands, only afterwards did I realize one of those men was my own brother Aloysius. I knew I would be destroyed as an experiment gone wrong, so I fled using the one power (my flight), that I hid from Herr Doctor to escape. I headed towards the American, for the simple reason I was under no illusion of how I would be received by the Russians!”

    “Now I am over 100yrs old, and I have not aged a day (from the serums or the magic I do not know) I still use the name and uniform given to me so many years ago. But I fight a different war, one against those who return to a time when force and hatred where the law of the land. Never again while I live will this happen.”

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    Post edited by sgtken60 on
  • jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,424 Arc User
    Please tell me that thee was a WWII Italian super villain who was interested in cowboys and went by the name Spaghetti Western :)
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  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    jaazaniah1 wrote: »
    Please tell me that thee was a WWII Italian super villain who was interested in cowboys and went by the name Spaghetti Western :)

    Well there is only one way I can answer that.
    Huh????
    With respect BTW.
  • flyingfinnflyingfinn Posts: 8,408 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    Spaghetti-Western-40x30.jpg
    :#
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  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    jaazaniah1 wrote: »
    Please tell me that thee was a WWII Italian super villain who was interested in cowboys and went by the name Spaghetti Western :)

    I couldn't figure out how to embed a "b!tchsl@p" animation here, so you'll just have to imagine it. :s
  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    sgtken60, that all looks fine to me, FWIW. If you want I could supply some other names from the lore for Herr Doktor and the Hooded Woman, but the program employed a number of scientists and occultists, so there's no need to replace the names you chose.
  • jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,424 Arc User
    Heh heh. But I really am curious if the lore has any super villains from the other Axis powers. It's easy to imagine that there would be some super-powered Japanese out there. Were there any Italians? What about minor allies like Bulgaria and Rumania? Any Vichy French characters? This is a whole aspect of the PnP world that post-dates my campaigns completely.
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  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    Golden Age Champions provides full backgrounds, character sheets and art for nine Japanese supers (plus one Japanese-American who fought for the Allies); as well as for one Italian and one Bulgarian. Note that Atlantis and Lemuria were also part of the Axis, and three "super"-class Atlanteans and one Lemurian are included in the book.

    There's no Vichy French super in GAC, but one notable French resistance operative is written up (in the "highly-trained normal human" category). Besides write-ups for quite a few American heroes active during the war, there are also six British, two Canadians, two Russians, one Chinese, and one from what is now Gabon; as well as a Gremlin from Faerie (see above), and a sapient spell-casting dog from another dimension where canines are the dominant intelligent species.
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Posts: 4,915 Arc User
    bulgarex wrote: »
    Which fits effortlessly into the official setting. It's also rare, but not unprecedented, for supers created half a century or more ago to still be vital and active today.
    There's actually a surprising number in Marvel comics. Most involve characters where one of their powers is super-longevity.
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  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    jaazaniah1 wrote: »
    Heh heh. But I really am curious if the lore has any super villains from the other Axis powers. It's easy to imagine that there would be some super-powered Japanese out there. Were there any Italians? What about minor allies like Bulgaria and Rumania? Any Vichy French characters? This is a whole aspect of the PnP world that post-dates my campaigns completely.

    Well for me, picking a German has to do with my Father he served during WWII and fought the Nazis. He also was in Kaufbeuren, Germany at the end of the war.
  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    bulgarex wrote: »
    Which fits effortlessly into the official setting. It's also rare, but not unprecedented, for supers created half a century or more ago to still be vital and active today.

    Well, that would be the Marvel/Captain America influence on me. :)
    And the year I picked for his birth, was my Father's birth year so it also away to salute my Pops. :)
  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    So, what has Kapitan Eisenblut been doing for the past 75 years? Does he have a secret identity, or is the public aware of who and what he is? Does he serve the American government, or is he a vigilante? How does he support himself when he's not superheroing? Does he have a regular job? Does he have a family? Has he been active continuously since the war as a superhero, or is he just getting back in the game now? If continuously active, what's his public profile and image? If taking up heroing again recently, what brought him back?
  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    bulgarex wrote: »
    So, what has Kapitan Eisenblut been doing for the past 75 years? Does he have a secret identity, or is the public aware of who and what he is? Does he serve the American government, or is he a vigilante? How does he support himself when he's not superheroing? Does he have a regular job? Does he have a family? Has he been active continuously since the war as a superhero, or is he just getting back in the game now? If continuously active, what's his public profile and image? If taking up heroing again recently, what brought him back?

    Well, I am working a 12 to 16hr shift today, I will try to fill it in some more. :)
  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    Just curious, no urgency. This is supposed to be fun, not a chore. :)
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Posts: 4,915 Arc User
    I think part of why there are few German superheroes and plenty of villains is the rather dumb(due to oversimplification) approach of German = Nazi, Nazi = war criminal, war criminal = bad.

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  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    With the majority of comic books told from an American perspective, I expect there's a lot of truth to that. I've read in discussions with Europeans, including comic-book fans, that most of continental Europe has no real tradition of indigenous superhero fiction, so hasn't really imagined native heroes in that genre. Hero Games having deliberately set out to research and design a stable of credible international superheroes and villains, probably has more of them than any comic publisher.

    I've made the point in those discussions that Champions Europe differs from real-world Europe in that the former saw a great deal of superhuman activity starting with WW II, which had to have an impact on its public consciousness and culture.
  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    I think part of why there are few German superheroes and plenty of villains is the rather dumb(due to oversimplification) approach of German = Nazi, Nazi = war criminal, war criminal = bad.

    Well for me German, does not automatically mean Nazi. My Great Grandmother (my Dad's Grandma), was German and she was not a Nazi. And most of the Nazi Elite were War Criminals of the worst kind.

    So I am taking my Character down the path as a Hero, who has made mistakes. Since I have never met a human who has not made a mistake or two :)

    Also see for me WWII has a lot of personal memories since my Father was Vet of that War, and I grew up following my old man round at American Legions, VFWs, etc. so I got to talk to some of the generation that save the world.

    So that is why I picked that era, it was a era that shape the ones that followed it. IMO.

  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Posts: 4,915 Arc User
    sgtken60 wrote: »
    I think part of why there are few German superheroes and plenty of villains is the rather dumb(due to oversimplification) approach of German = Nazi, Nazi = war criminal, war criminal = bad.
    Well for me German, does not automatically mean Nazi. My Great Grandmother (my Dad's Grandma), was German and she was not a Nazi. And most of the Nazi Elite were War Criminals of the worst kind.
    The hilarious part is that the German leaders who weren't war criminals were the more competent ones. Feldmarshall Erwin Rommel became the "desert fox" because he wasn't a Nazi, and Hitler didn't trust him. BUT, 1/3 of the German army regarded Rommel with unquestioning loyalty and would have happily turned on Hitler if Rommel had told them to, or if they thought Hitler had assassinated him. So Hitler couldn't just get rid of him without risking a civil war, but wanted him as far from the capital as possible. Thus Rommel was assigned to lead the war effort in Africa.

    Another admirable one was Kapitan Theodor Detmers. Again, not a Nazi flunky, he actually became a sailor shortly after WW1, and did something so amazing as a captain that it wasn't until people finally found the wreck of the ship he'd sunk that they finally stopped trying to say he lied about it. Detmers was captain of the Kormoran, aka "Raider G" as the allies called it, was a merchant ship retrofitted to be a mine layer and had small deck guns added for the purpose of menacing shipping. It is credited with 10 kills and 1 capture of merchant vessels. In Kormoran's final fight, Detmers was sailing in Australian waters with the goal of mining Australian ports. He got intercepted by Captain Joseph Burnett commanding the light cruiser HMAS Sydney. what ensued was a naval battle between a lightly armed refitted freighter, and a small warship with much greater firepower and armor. The end result? The Sydney is not only lost with all hands but no one even found the bodies. One corpse that later washed up on Christmas Island may be from the crew, but it's hard to tell. Around 80% of Detmer's crew survived(a large chunk of those that died were due to one of the life rafts sinking) and the only reason the Kormoran was scuttled was due to a fire approaching the mine holds that they couldn't put out.

    How did Detmers win? He tricked Burnett into getting close enough that the crew of Kormoran could use precision targeting and take out specific targets such as the bridge of Sydney with their opening salvo. Sydney was crippled before the fight got serious. Kormoran's crew actually incapacitated several of Sydney's deck guns mid-fight.

    It's admirable because it was a feat of cunning and skill that literally shocked the world.
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  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    One of the more intriguing concepts for a "hero" that I've seen was published for Champions, but is not part of the current official setting. The Aryan was the product of a breeding/training program by Nazi expatriates who fled Germany for South America after WW II, to create the perfect specimen of "the master race." The Aryan was at the peak of blonde, blue-eyed perfection physically and mentally. But he was also superior to his handlers morally. Although raised to believe firmly in Aryan superiority, he also believed that trying to compel people of other races to submit to the dominance of his ethnic group through force was ethically unacceptable. Instead the Aryan wanted to persuade all peoples to accept paternalistic rule by the superior group willingly, by demonstrating that superiority being used benevolently for the greater good.

    So the Aryan became a super hero. He fought crime and super villains, protected the innocent, upheld the law, all the things a superhero is supposed to do, while taking every opportunity to publicly promote his philosophy. He held no animosity toward the "lesser" races and would gladly have accepted them as followers. He was particularly aggressive in combating typical violent white supremacists, whom he believed were undermining his cause, and went out of his way to oppose them. The Aryan inverts the maxim of the end justifying the means. In his case the means are invariably proper and admirable, but his end goal is a world where a minority rule the rest of humanity because of an accident of birth.
  • sgtken60sgtken60 Posts: 252 Arc User
    bulgarex wrote: »
    One of the more intriguing concepts for a "hero" that I've seen was published for Champions, but is not part of the current official setting. The Aryan was the product of a breeding/training program by Nazi expatriates who fled Germany for South America after WW II, to create the perfect specimen of "the master race." The Aryan was at the peak of blonde, blue-eyed perfection physically and mentally. But he was also superior to his handlers morally. Although raised to believe firmly in Aryan superiority, he also believed that trying to compel people of other races to submit to the dominance of his ethnic group through force was ethically unacceptable. Instead the Aryan wanted to persuade all peoples to accept paternalistic rule by the superior group willingly, by demonstrating that superiority being used benevolently for the greater good.

    Well I can see why he not part of "current official setting", I can hear the Sh*tstorm he would cause. LOL :)

  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    Probably true; but the Aryan is rife with potential for intriguing moral quandaries for an RP group mature enough to handle them. How do heroes deal with someone who's clearly trying to do good, but whose motivation they can't condone? Do they accept his legitimate offers to help? Would working with him somehow look like validating his views? Should he be pilloried for his philosophy, or lauded for his good deeds? Can they turn his genuine desire to make the world better into a more balanced world view? Or will rejection of his efforts push the Aryan down a more radical, villainous path?
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Posts: 4,915 Arc User
    bulgarex wrote: »
    Probably true; but the Aryan is rife with potential for intriguing moral quandaries for an RP group mature enough to handle them. How do heroes deal with someone who's clearly trying to do good, but whose motivation they can't condone? Do they accept his legitimate offers to help? Would working with him somehow look like validating his views? Should he be pilloried for his philosophy, or lauded for his good deeds? Can they turn his genuine desire to make the world better into a more balanced world view? Or will rejection of his efforts push the Aryan down a more radical, villainous path?
    This is a classic anti-villain example. Approximately:

    Heroes do good things for good reasons.
    Villains do bad things for bad reasons.
    Anti-heroes do bad things for good reasons.
    Anti-villains do good things for bad reasons.

    This guy had goals that... most people would consider bad, but his methods of trying to achieve them are useful to the public as a whole. Ultimately his goal is futile, and eventually the story would probably have to address that, but until then he'd be useful as a hero. How useful would probably depend on how much time he spent preaching though....
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  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    FWIW there are some present-day Nazi supervillains active on Champions Earth. The most prominent one is probably Panzer, a German scientist-engineer who created a formidable powered-armor suit refined from the original Eisenmech designs from WW II. Panzer is an "Aryan" racist who dreams of leading a Fourth Reich, and has contacts with neo-Nazis around the world. He often works as a mercenary to raise money for his cause. Most Germans loathe him. Panzer's PnP write-up is in Champions Worldwide.

    Ernst Von Niehl was a dedicated Nazi and one of the Third Reich's premier weapon designers, inventing a disintegrating weapon using "Nihil energy." When he was about to test it in combat, a group of Canadian heroes attacked and caused the weapon to misfire, discorporating Von Niehl and stranding him in another dimension. After many years Von Niehl was able to coalesce himself as a roughly-humanoid energy being, in a pocket dimension inhabited by Aryan-looking people. Von Niehl conquered them and renamed himself Baron Nihil, and eventually learned to open a portal back to Earth, where he menaces the modern world (particularly Canada) with his powers, technology, and followers, for the cause of Nazism. Baron Nihil is detailed in Champions Villains Vol. 1: Master Villains.

    Of course Kapitan Eisenblut would probably remember Albert "Dr. Destroyer" Zerstoiten from the war since Zerstoiten was involved in Germany's supers-creation experiments. Zerstoiten was never a Nazi or sympathetic to their cause, but was no less cruel and ruthless.
  • lillysaturnlillysaturn Posts: 109 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    Ok I am late.
    For me as a german Superheroes have a odd feel. I think that the Nazis back then left a lot of us with a sour taste regarding Übermenschen, its also true that we here in Europe have no real tradition of Superhero comics.
    That aside. I think I remember darkly that someone from germany described a native Superhero Group a while back in the Hero Game Forums. I looked for it but could not find it. (Maybe Liaden can find it)

    * addendum if it is supposed to be Captain its probatly Hauptmann in german. Kapitän is a naval rank
    Post edited by lillysaturn on
  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    Thanks for the clarification, lillysaturn. It's always nice to get input from folks who know stuff firsthand. :) I tried to locate that German hero team you mentioned on the Hero forums, but without more clues there was more stuff than I had time to sift through.

    I should also mention that the leader of UNITY, UNTIL's superhero team, is German. Quasar is a physicist named Johann Mersinger who was once actually in the employ of Dr. Destroyer. He defected from DD's organization to UNTIL; but Destroyer never forgives or forgets betrayal, or any slight for that matter. The Doctor had a tiny bomb planted in an experimental blaster Mersinger was testing, but the resulting bombardment turned him into a being of "living energy."
  • hatutzeraze1hatutzeraze1 Posts: 2 Arc User
    When I ran my old Champions campaign in the late 80s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I had a player who made up a character with a German background. I riffed on that and created a supergroup backed by the re-unified German government that recruited him.

    There were only about 4 of them plus the player character. The only two I remember were:

    - Duergar
    I obviously stole the name from D&D; to my non-German speaking ear, it sounded approximately Germanic. He was basically a D&D style Dwarven Fighter, but obviously using his abilities to fight as a modern day superhero.

    - Grunblitz
    This was my attempt to meet the language halfway - I was shooting for something that would be the equivalent of "The Green Bolt" but I am not really sure if that translates accurately.
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