I was thinking lately since we not have a good wiki or one at all that I like to see how people talk about certain NPC's and how they compare to their Pen and Paper counterparts.
I try to collect data in form of the Character Bio/Info lately on such and only started today, people are free to add info also.
Was thinking such mostly due how many heroes and villains can be randomized in things like Bunker Buster.
Let's start with Red Winter:
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Soviet Guard was the product of data stolen from the American government about the experiment that produced Liberty Guard. Hammer and Sickle were also recipients of the same process, but not being as genetically compatible to it as SG their physical enhancement was far less. The three of them were soldiers together, and SG used his influence to make sure the other two were both assigned to Red Winter. They're all also Soviet patriots, and would love to help restore the Soviet Union if possible. However, there's no indication that the Soviet Guard wants to become a dictator. All three of them want to serve Russia, but a Russia they can believe in, not the kleptocracy it's become, and which stopped supporting them. OTOH they all want the money, privileges, and influence they enjoyed serving the Soviet regime, which is why they chose to become mercenaries.
White Wolf was cursed with lycanthropy as a child, after his parents offended a witch. Unable to cure or control him during his transformation they turned for help to the Soviet government, which took him from his parents and raised and trained him to control the beast. White Wolf used to be a committed Soviet loyalist, but over the years Red Winter have been mercenaries his bestial side has grown stronger, physically and mentally. Yet his admiration for Soviet Guard has also morphed into a lupine loyalty to his pack "alpha," so he still follows SG's directions, at least for now.
Drago and Red Dawn are a different story. They are both cybernetically enhanced, although Red Dawn to a far lesser degree than the Cryptic text implies. Drago was an elite soldier and assassin before suffering crippling injuries in combat. He was rebuilt with bionic enhancements and equipped with unique high-powered weapons. Although he served the Soviet Union loyally, since the Russian government abandoned Red Winter his only priority is himself and what he wants. He's also a psychopathic murderer, and has come to resent Soviet Guard's principles and scruples, although he won't turn on his old comrade. At least not yet. But he always urges SG to be more ruthless and less discriminating in accepting contracts.
Red Dawn isn't entirely a cyborg; it's mostly a big suit of powered armor. But any pilot for it required neurological implants to control it properly. Red Dawn the man was actually one of the engineers working on the armor, which became his obsession, so he volunteered for the risky bionic surgery. Like Drago he's amoral and greedy, and it was at the urging of those two that Red Winter became mercenaries. Their differing priorities from the rest of the team may lead to fracturing it one day.
Next up would be I, something more off, the Domesday Device! Mission. The ones in the Cells at the end.
Edit: Need to split those posts a bit since forum for some reason not accepts longer posts on my side here with pictures.
Side note also, not Lore related but does anyone know if we got Herculan's armor ever in game anywhere?
Herculan received court-mandated therapy after being captured and sent to Stronghold, and since he wasn't villainous at heart it helped him deal with anger and guilt over incidents from his past, and turn his life around. He was paroled, and used his superhuman strength to get legitimate work. Herculan still tries to follow his Fassai code of honor, and finds humans primitive and their behavior often foolish. His attitudes could have triggered a return to criminality. (But I notice his card says "Hero" at the top.)
Next up: Mission, Recumbent Incumbentis
Next up I have: Nemesis Mission, Breaking Point
Edit: Forgot Black Adder from the Mission before that, he is Viper but only appears there, will add him when I can.
I think I should point out the difference in the text on the cards for Herculan and Torment who originated with the PnP game, versus the last few characters that aren't in PnP. The text for the former was taken from their book write-ups, and has more detail, more sense of character, and a more serious tone. The latter are briefer, superficial, and flippant. The more obvious those second qualities are, the less likely they are to be in the books.
On to the next, some Heroes now in it: Mission, Deathray Demolition
Bunker Buster I add after this and will add more if I can, since random what and who appears at times.
Interestingly, Double Dealer did make the transition from CO to PnP. Randolph Exton is a mercenary who learned sophisticated sword fighting in Japan. He decided dual swords would be a good gimmick to help him get into the more lucrative supervillain market, and used his underworld contacts to help develop the identity of Double Dealer. Besides his swords and an armored costume, DD wears electromagnetic gauntlets which can draw his swords to him if he's separated from them. They can also pull any other ferrous object within ten meters.
Despite his name, Double Dealer has a reputation for loyalty to any employer, a manifestation of his professionalism which helps him get contracts. That's somewhat counterbalanced by a tendency to use lethal force too quickly, when it would be desirable to keep someone alive.
BTW Double Dealer and Herculan are both fully written up in Champions Villains Volume Three: Solo Villains. Red Winter all get the same treatment in Volume Two: Villain Teams. The second book also gives the current membership of PSI, but Torment only appeared in an earlier collection of villains which also dealt with PSI, called Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks.
Next and last one is Bunker Buster with some missing still due to the random factor, which I want to add when I can later.
Let us start with the heroes:
No Colossal, Indy Kid, Golden Gizmo, or Shinryoku. The Silver Avenger card is pretty much spot-on with the lore. Mayte Sanchez in Millennium City is one Silver Avenger. The Cyberline superhuman enhancement process is only effective on a small percentage of the human population with the right genetic factors. It requires daily booster treatments to maintain its full effects.
In the PnP version of the setting there are no "Gold Avengers," and only one Golden Avenger at a time, a promotion for the Silver Avenger most reactive to Cyberline. The first GA, Robert Kaufman -- who has retired as Golden Avenger and taken command of Project Greenskin -- was the initial success from the Cyberline process, but creating more of him would have been very expensive. So the government cut some corners to create somewhat less powerful Silver Avengers to strengthen the ranks of PRIMUS.
In PnP Champs the code name for the series of flag-suited government super-soldiers -- half a dozen people, including one woman, since the late 1960s -- is "the All-American," not "Liberty Guard." They're recipients of the process developed by the Perseus Project to enhance the physical and mental capabilities of its subjects, although not to superhuman levels. The latest All-American is written up in Champions Universe. It seems that for some reason Cryptic Studios preferred to create their own. Maybe they just wanted a different name.
The only mention of Liberty Guard in the books is in connection to the origin of the Soviet Guard as I related earlier on the thread. The two versions are consistent in that LG gained permanent powers from treatment with Cyberline, even greater than the Golden Avenger's; probably due to a latent mutation triggered by Cyberline. There's nothing about any past Liberty Guards, though.
Okay. All of these are original Cryptic creations. A few are mentioned in Champions PnP sources, which I'll describe below. The rest have no information about them.
The Fiend and Morticus are fully developed PnP characters, and the core of a nascent team they call the Futurists (Champions Villains Volume Two: Villain Teams). The Futurists are motivated to try to overthrow the political/economic/social systems in the world today, and replace them with something more just and fair for all of humanity, not just the elites. Morticus came to this philosophy after being so badly treated by "the system" he'd faithfully served, as described on his card. The Fiend acts out of a sense of noblesse oblige, the feeling that as someone gifted with wealth and privilege he should do something more meaningful with his life than just cause pain. He met Morticus on a mission working for VIPER (implicitly the Bunker Buster) and found they shared similar views of history and the modern world.
The Futurists don't try to take over the world through force. They're conspirators working subtly behind the scenes, playing the long game. They genuinely do aspire to make the world a better place, although they believe they're the best persons to run it. They're among the villains most likely to help heroes against a common threat, although usually subtly. The Futurists want to expand their ranks, but as of the writing of CV2 the only other villain they've worked with regularly is Cybercide, whom the book describes as a "cyberkinetic" mental machine-controller and super-hacker like Cybermind, only more violent and vindictive. (No more details about Cybercide, though.)
Based on comments I've read from Steve Long, I believe the Futurists are a concept the original CO developers intended to introduce to this game themselves, but never got around to.
Cadaver was also adapted for PnP, but significantly changed. He's a product not of "the blackest mystic arts," but of science. Dr. James Cadmus developed a "Rejuva-Ray" which he believed would retard and maybe even reverse the aging process. As he tested it on himself VIPER burst in on him (he borrowed money from the snakes when his own research grant was cut). The Rejuva-Ray exploded, changing Cadmus into an almost corpse-like creature, but one with greatly increased strength, speed, and durability. The accident also affected his mind, making him obsessed with controlling other people. Now calling himself Cadaver, he built a "Zombiefiction ray" pistol which would mentally enthrall its targets to his will. A side effect of the pistol causes its victims to temporarily change physically to somewhat resemble Cadaver himself.
"Dr. Tenebrous" looks to me like a ripoff of an established Champions villain (or at least "grey" character) called Dr. Teneber (CV Vol. 3). DT is a necromancer and vigilante, the closest thing to a "good" necromancer in the setting. Teneber seeks out restless ghosts of people who died prematurely and unjustly, and living criminals who have escaped justice. As a former medical doctor, Teneber kills the latter in a way that leaves the body undamaged, then places the ghost of the former into the body and uses his skills to revive it, for a type of reincarnation. As Dr. Teneber expresses it, if God won't see to it that bad people die and good people live, then he will.
DT opposes supernatural evil that would harm innocents, and has combated it alongside mystic heroes; but most of those heroes are at least very uncomfortable with his methods, and watch him for signs he's crossed the line even further.
Cykill personal note wise he looks like a Kano Mortal Kombat ripoff, so I expected him to be random in a way. Same for some others, Rook is basically a Marksman Archetype Costume only with mild changes also.
On the RNG also for jaazaniah1, Tech Titan as example I only encountered last time now as well, never seen him before that also. So who knows how many Villains hide in this mission. I remember a Samurai Armor with no Body inside also, sadly not know the name now and a Shark Guy, still need to encounter them and gather their information.
Thanks again to bulgarex, you are amazing with your knowledge in this.
Deadly Shrike was also totally new to me this time, and Shark I knew already.
Edit: Forgot to make a screenshot of the Azec Guardian he fights, unsure if it is special or just a random monster.
The Drifter's full write-up appears in Champions Universe p. 75. Jonathan Keyes was a district attorney in New York City in 1938, when he was framed by a mobster he was investigating and lost his job and reputation, eventually becoming a homeless alcoholic. One night he tried to stop a mugging, but the muggers killed him. But Keyes found himself in a misty landscape confronting a mysterious entity who offered to send him back to life to fight for what's right. Keyes returned with several new magical powers, including the ability to "drift" across the myriad dimensions, which was the inspiration for his new name. Over the intervening decades the Drifter learned many secrets of magic, becoming one of the most powerful sorcerers on Earth. He was a founding member of the Justice Squadron (this setting's analogue to the Justice Society/League), and remains a reserve member of the team today (he doesn't age).
So why does a Pulp-era New York detective look and sound like a cowboy in CO? He doesn't in the PnP game. His origin story offhandedly mentions that in the 1970s people associated him with the contemporary Clint Eastwood Western movie, High Plains Drifter, in which Eastwood plays
What does all this have to do with the Drifter becoming a cyborg? Absolutely nothing. He wasn't one when he first appeared in this game, but the change happened when Cryptic started offering cyborg costume pieces for CO toons. It's clear this was nothing but advertising for them, and logic and respect for the character went out the window.
- Motorpool Villains: Black Scorpion, Crucible, The Greyskull, Monolith
- Motorpool Heroes: Golden Gizmo, The Machinist
- Robot Room Villains: Cybercide
- Stasis Room Heroes: Diamond Chill, Indy Kid, Jack Flash, Liberty Guard
- Stasis Room Villains: Morticus
- Barracks Heroes: Arrow Eye, Colossal, The Bullet, Transducer
- Barracks Villains: Dragon King, Dread Metal, Howitzer, The Reaper
- Lab Villains: Crimson Serpent, The Cadaver
- Lab Heroes: Golden Avenger, Ladyhawke, Sabre, Shinryoku
- Brig Villains: Drago, Hammer, Red Dawn, Sickle, Soviet Guard, White Wolf
- Brig Heroes: Silver Avenger, Silverhawk, Sky Strike, Tess Tesla
- War Room Villains: Black Ice, Cursed Dragon, Cykill, Deadly Shrike, Death Phoenix, Dr Tenebrous, Lacuna, Land Shark, Raza, Rook, Tech Titan, The Fiend, The Griffin, Volta
Most of them have quite minimal information (apparently The Reaper appears in Champions Villains Volume Three: Solo Villains). Five of the villains (Raza, Dr Tenebrous, Dread Metal, and two more I don't remember, possibly Lacuna is one) are used in the Stronghold Apocalypse PvP map.Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
In 2009 a building in San Francisco collapsed, killing over a hundred people, and trapping several others for hours or days before they were rescued. One of those trapped people had an extreme fear of dying. As he lay under the rubble for nearly three hours his terror built until he finally died of a heart attack. His overwhelming terror did... something. Perhaps he lingers on as a demonically altered ghost, or his fear spawned an especially potent atavism, or called a real demon to Earth. Whatever it did, the Reaper first appeared not long after, killing dozens of bystanders until being driven off by superheroes. Since then he's appeared repeatedly around the world, racking up a body count in the thousands.
Whatever it is, the Reaper claims to be an embodiment of Death; but it's more accurate to say he embodies the fear of death. He exists not just to kill, but to first terrify his victims with the prospect of their imminent deaths. He's very difficult to hurt, and even if apparently killed will eventually return.
The Reaper has a huge and deadly sickle blade in place of his right hand. His head is a pallid skull with glowing red eyes, and he wears a dark body stocking and a hooded cloak.
A big Thanks to Bulgarex again also for his big knowledge in all this.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Years ago Jack Stevens was among a group of people kidnapped by ARGENT to test a "Devolutionizer Ray." Exposure to the ray caused him agonizing pain, and changed Jack's body, giving him great superhuman strength; but also left his mind dumb as a stump, with little memory of who he was. The former Jack Stevens broke free from his captors, and since then has been a well-known supervillain. His mental deficiency makes him easy to manipulate, and he's worked for many supervillains, one of whom dubbed him "the Ogre." Ogre does remember being tortured, although not who did it, and he thus has a hatred for "bullies," which category can include anyone who tries to stop him doing what he wants. ARGENT has tried several times to recapture him to study, so it can determine how to make the Devolutionizer Ray work how they want it to. Foxbat once rescued Ogre from some cops, so he now thinks of Foxbat as his "little buddy" and would go out of his way to protect him.
As a character Ogre resembles the classic Hulk, as does Grond, but Ogre isn't nearly as strong as Grond.
Hunting down my copy of 4th edition, a lot of characters in there no longer exist; guess Steve Long didn't like most of them. The only one of the Champions from 4e that still exists is Defender.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Icicle and Powerhouse would be interesting since we have the Powerhouse as location and Icicle as AT, let us hope they not forget that when those should show up, and we not have a disaster with former F.R.E.O.N. now Frosticus name dilemma.
Great contribution you both, Bulgarex and Pantagruel01, again, I like where this is all going, so much to learn of such as interesting side info.
Speaking of Ogre in Strong hold also, there is also some "Werewolf?" guy, I forgot his name sadly now. Speaking about werewolves also, is it me or are there different types of them, the typical curse one, the ones applied due to a bite, then others seem magical source wise and others seem science wise. Which also brings me to the Werewolfs and Hunters from Bloodmoon, are those mentioned in PnP and the Lorebooks?
Crusader and Starburst are now treated as historical/background characters, without game stats or detailed bios. Starburst, "a flashy scientist... with a suite of light powers" (Champions Universe: News Of The World p. 69) joined the famous Justice Squadron in the mid-1960s until his retirement around 1980. There are references to three heroes using the code-name Crusader, none really resembling the 4E character. The first Crusader, "a masked vigilante who had some knowledge of the occult" (CU:NOTW p. 69) replaced Starburst in the Justice Squadron, but was killed by Takofanes in 1987. Also in the Eighties, a "sword-wielding solo vigilante" calling himself Crusader appeared in New York City (Champions Universe p. 15. It may have been an editorial oversight to have two superheroes by the same name operate out of the same city at the same time, but it does raise some interesting conjecture as to what their encounters might have been like.) The current Crusader, described as "blaster-armed," is based in Millennium City and is an auxiliary member of the Champions (CU p. 89).
None of the others have been mentioned yet in the current setting AFAIK.
My apologies, Ansem, I missed this question before my last answer. I'm not sure which werewolf is in Stronghold, haven't checked out that location in quite a while. But as far as werewolves, and shapeshifters in general go in this game world, this thread summarizes relevant info. If you want to know how they connect to the Blood Moon, and about that supernatural event generally, I would suggest scanning this one.