A Descent into Dullness

Ok, so I've found some online generators and books for TSR's MSH system. We'll try to go as close to totally random as possible. Of course the last two times I went that way I got a psychic gorilla and a robot that can turn into a rhinocerous. Then again, Gorilla X, X-Treme Ape and Rocket Rhino are both pretty bad-ass...

We start by rolling up a physical form. And get Android. Which will boost one Ability score of my choice by one, drop Popularity by a rank, give a bonus power, mean a minimum of 1 contact (supposedly the group or person who created them) and I roll for Abilities on Column 4...

Next is Origin. And its Energy Exposure. Ok then. Right, so he gets the Johnny 5 special. A simple humanoid machine given full intelligence and consciousness from a lightning strike. Do Not Dissassemble!

Ability Scores. The main ones for MSH are Fighting, Agililty, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition and Psyche. Or why the game is also called the FASERIP system. From the first four you figure out Health, the second three Karma (which is can be spent for improving stats, buying powers, improving dice rolls, etc). There is also Resources which determines how much buying power the character has (starts at Typical for everyone) and Popularity, exactly what it sounds like. FASERIP and Resources are also all run thru a Modifier Table according to this character generator. I only ever used it for figuring out how much a Battle-Suit would improve stats and on Resources. But maybe I've been doing it wrong...

Anyway after rolls and modifiers we've got:
F: EX (16)
A: MN (63)
S: MN (63)
E: AM (46)
R: MN (63)
I: GD (8)
P: RM (26)

Health: 188, Karma: 97, Resources: TY, Popularity: TY (6) (0 (robot)+10 for Public ID= GD (10) - 1 Column Shift for Android to TY (6)

The ranks are Feeble (FB), Poor (PR), Typical (TY), Good (GD), Excellent (EX), Remarkable (RM), Incredible (IN), Amazing (AM), Monstrous (MN), Unearthly (UN). The last is above what starting characters can start at, though this guy had two stats there after modifiers (Agility and Reason) so I dropped them back down to MN.

The next step is number of Powers, Talents and Contacts. For Powers he gets a 3/5 (3 with a maximum of 5) and +1 for being an Android, so 4/5. Talents is 2/8, but we'll drop Resources two ranks to FB and buy it up to 4/8. And for Contacts its 4/5...

I don't like forced Weaknesses. Too much like DC as opposed to Marvel in flavor. So we'll skip that...

Rolling up Powers we get Senses, Resistances, Distance Attacks and Senses again. Rolling again we get Computer Links, Resitance to Magical Attacks and Stunning Missile. And then for that second Senses power, I'm just going to grab Magic Detection. I figure that the android was some kind of laborer or lab assistant. And that he got caught in the magical cross-fire between some spell-slingers. Say he belonged to one of those multi-genius types who was an archeologist AND a robotocist. And one of said Dr. Smarty-Guy's finds was being fought over by some evil cult type and a magic-using hero. One mana-driven stray lightning bolt and boom, instant self-awareness. Plus a resistance to magic and ability to detect it. Now, he works to protect humanity from magical threats as THE WITCHFINDER...

Right. So Talents. We'll just choose these four to reflect his origin. Mystic Origin (hit by magic) which counts for two, Occult Lore and Archeology. Contacts will be the magic-based hero from the origin, the Dr. Smarty-Guy, an occult bookseller and a "friend" in one of the more extreme anti-magic groups...

Ok, he'll also take a regular name: Hawthorne. Almost forget. Ranks for the Powers. Computer Links gets an Amazing, Resistance to Magical Attacks an Incredible, Stunning Missile an Excellent (and I still need to figure out exactly what the exact method for that is) and Magic Detection a lowly Typical. So he needs to be in pretty close range to track down magical ne'er-do-wells...

The Elite are the official state-sponsored super team of Canada. Though they're better known as the Glory Hounds. Mostly because the group are attention hogging, credit taking, spotlight stealing media manipulators. While the team boasts a good deal of talent and power, they (and they're government spin doctors) make sure they are seen as the top group for Canada. Leaving groups like the Discards, the Guardians and Chaos Inc to fight the bad guys without the vocal public support...

( The Elite/The Glory Hounds )

The Elite (originally called Canada Force I think) was created for a Champions play-by-post that died. Dilettante was my character, Bug Zapper belonged to spoonyone and the others to the other two players. I decided to take the group and adapt them over to MSH from Champions and add them to my home-brew campaign setting

Gatling (Pierce Nials): 33 year old mercenary equipped with a battle-suit. Suit provides increased physical abilities, sensory enhancement and protection, full enviromental and an arm mounted minigun. Gatling also carries an Ionic energy sidearm. Wanted on numerous counts of assault, robbery and similar crimes. Primarily active on the East Coast. Former member of the Gunmen.

Bloodgrove (Unknown): Battle-suit armed assassin. Suit provides enhanced physical abilities, phasing, sensory protection and is equipped with arm mounted blades. Wanted on mulitple counts of murder. Active throughout the U.S.

Techlord (James Alexander): Former scientist with FuchiTek. Stole experimental battle-suit equipped with numerous defensive and offensive systems. Over the years James has added additional improvements in the battle-suit. Wanted on charges of industrial espionage, robbery and other corporate crime related felonies.

Garvan: Scout fro an other dimensional alien race. Has attempted to open portals to home world for invasion, but has been stopped by various heroes, including Riverman, Baton and members of Chaos, Inc. Garvan is telekinetic and skilled in it's alien science. Currently imprisoned in the Redstone Facility.

Ghoul (Michael Jones): Mutant villian from Harlem. Possesses the power to raise and control zombies. Metabolism has changed so as to require him to consume fresh meat (killed less than 24 hours previously). Currently imprisoned in the Redstone Facility on charges of murder and cannibalism.

Headgames (Unknown): Cyborg time-traveller from the year 3029. Time travel device was destroyed, along with his primary body during a battle with hero Justin Tyme. Currently imprisoned in the Redstone Facility. Possesses a genius level intellect as well as telepathic and telekinetic abilities.

Bughunt: Mutant killer for hire. Near invulnerable exoskeleton as well as superior senses and super-human strength and agility. Currently awaiting trial on 10 counts of murder in Texas. Captured by Ranger Team Alpha.

Fahrok: Minor demon sent to Earth to gather souls. Personality of a used car salesman. In addition to standard demonic abilities has shown arcane knowledge. Is mostly active in the Los Angeles area, often prefering to tempt those in the film and television industry.

I swiped the original idea for this group from a GM I played under back at NAU...

( The WitchBrew )

So this weekend we made some tentative plans to begin playing again. Mostly Brendan reworked his streetfighter for the Thieves' World game while the rest of us played Cleopatra. And then we rolled up some MSH characters, since spoonyone thinks he may run a table-top heroes game as well as the PbP one. I rolled a transforming robot, ROCKET RHINO! Or I can always bring back Gorilla X. Or my mystic lawyer, Firebird...