Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (NEW! Princess M'Krell and Singularity from Golden Heroes!)

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Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (NEW! Princess M'Krell and Singularity from Golden Heroes!)

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Hello again folks!

I've been inspired by the greats around here to contribute my own small bit to the tide of conversions. I want to thank Jabroniville for letting me poach his template, and also for his advice on how to put together a decent conversion. Additionally, I want to thank pretty much everyone who posts to Roll Call and Character Sheets for your ideas, insights, and conversions as these have been an extremely helpful set of guidelines as I've put together my own stuff.

Quick history bit: Back in the early 80's, I fell in lust with Villains and Vigilantes, almost entirely based on the art put out by Bill Willingham and Jeff Dee. I'd heard about Champions, but let's face it, Mark Williams was never going to set the world ablaze with his art style. And oddly, even though Champions required a lot less decimal multiplication, I was convinced V&V was easier...Oy. I blame irrepressible youth. So I played V&V. Oh did I play it. I have hundreds of characters from multiple worlds I created for my players, and PCs for myself when I could get someone else to run. As the years went by, the system really began to show it's age and design flaws, and I moved on to other Superhero systems. Eventually after a long road, I'm settled into M&M 3e quite happily, and I still find myself grooving the simple yet thorough system every time I make a new character.

So what does this have to do with conversions? Well, I found myself tired of most of the standard worlds, and what I really wanted to run was Silver Age sentiments in an Iron Age world. I ended up digging into my past to Villains and Vigilantes, and I resurrected the world I'd cobbled together with my friends along with the hints we got from Jeff Dee and Jack Herman in the V&V modules.

This is the V&V world as we played it, not necessarily as it was stated out, so be forewarned. If you know the V&V characters, there will definitely be some surprises.

Okay, so what are my general guidelines? Basically, anything has to be around the PL 9-11 levels unless it was a truly world crushing villain, as most of the people playing would be in that range. Like "Whose line is it anyway?", the points don't matter as long as the concept is met.

Now since then, I've also decided to throw in some 80's pop culture conversions, generally movies and comics. But hey, I'll convert whatever strikes my fancy, thus there are no hard and fast rules for the non V&V stuff.

So without further adieu, I give you, Proditor's Pad. (For the short term, we're linking back to Ronin Army. That'll change slowly as we move forward).

V&V Conversion Design Journal

There's a Crisis at Crusader Citadel!

Crusaders
Manta-Man
Enforcer
Evergreen
Blizzard
Laserfire
Dreamweaver
Condor
Shatterman

Crushers
Bull
F.I.S.T.
Hauntress
Hornet
Mace
Manstar
Marionette
Mercury Mercenary
Mocker
Shocker
StormLord
Temper
Vulture

Opponents Unlimited

The Amazing Floop Brothers
Captain Floop
Blastin' Butch
Whippet
Psi-Demon
The LodeStone
Rocket Ma'am
Floop Brothers Power Armor

B.A.D.
Auntie Phil
DeathKite
The Amazing Kudebuck
Zairobs
Cosmic Zoom
SWARMaster

Tarot Masters
The Magician
Diablo
Justice Avenger
Moonflash
Priestess
The Fool
Tower
Pentacle Solider
Pentacle Page
Pentacle Knight
Pentacle Queen
Pentacle King

V.I.L.E.
Boosterman
Dr. Wraithman
Jovia
R.A.M. 101
Sir Lemur

Freelancers
Ben E. Jahmoka
Hoopsnake
Orion Operative UIY 2249
Ronky
Sargeant Ramble
Sirriandor
The Shroud
Wavemistress

Heroes
Prankster
Proditor Cappela

The Pentacle Plot

From the Deeps of Space
Lady Seven
Star Boss
Major Rall
Cappelan Soldier
  • Cappelan Hover Cycle
    Cappelan Hover Transport
    Cappelan Scout Ship
    Cappelan Base Ship
Psy Warrior
  • Psy Hover Cycle
Jaas

Villains and Vigilantes Core Rules
Lightning Fist
Mammoth
Nomad
C.H.E.S.S. Knight or Valkyrie
C.H.E.S.S. Bishop or Angel

Dragon Magazine Ads
Magnetor
Skyhawk
Kali

FORCE
Cicada
Clamor
FORCE
Mr. Magnum
Phantasm
Shardakos
Snowblind
Stargazer
Teleporter

Most Wanted Volume One
Bandit
Beekeeper
Boogeyman
The Buzzard
Crossfire
Dragonhand
Ebony Angel
JAWS
Leo the Lion
Madame Frigia
Marutukku
Mirage
Mother Superior
Motivator
Mountain Man
Mystico
Nightmare
Od
Psi-phon
Samhain
Shadowjack
Simon Shrew
Snow Man
Spyder
Stigmata
Tank Gunner
Tengu
Trickshot
Vibron
Vindicator

Dawn of DNA
Adonis
Cockroach
Doctor DNA
Magnetor
Miragi
Mongo
Scuzz
Shee-Ariel
Valeri

Battle Above The Earth
Anima-Man
Centurion
Mystic
Nightstalker
R.I.N.G.
Commander Astro

Alone into the Night
The Garrote
Night Raven
Celeste
Brimstone
Psi-Lancer
Powerhouse
Professor Malevolent
Trillium
Yukon Jack

Assassin
The Assassin
Antaeus
Avalanche
Psi-storm
Ward
Deflector
FORCE (2)
Hailstorm
Oscillator
Photon
Pyre

To Tackle the T.O.T.E.M.
Bear Claw
Chillblade
Faultline
Gila
Jotunn
Karnage
Mariah
Purple Mask
Tomahawk

Trouble for HAVOC
Crisis at Caliente
Glacier

Return of the Elokians
King Snake
Bugsey and Murielle
Elokian Worker
Sonora
Antos Leif
Prok A'Leif

Fourth for Bridge?
Knight Watch
Vortex
Fortress
Molecule Man
Resonator

Bogatyri
General Winter
Sensor
Sympath
Megawatt

HAVOC
Lumiere
Sneak Thief
Deathgrip
Airhammer
Wild Wind
Armageddon

The Guardians (Those guys in the FORCE and Assassin modules)
Archangel
Blue Knight
Captain Cold
Empress

Super-Crooks & Criminals
Blackjack
Blue Max
Bluegill
Bora, Whiteout, & the Composite Being
Fleur de Lys
Garbageman
Highwayman
Oracle
Professor Polarity
Quebecois
Ramses
Red Fury
Shillelagh
Sister Indigo
Stuka
Terra-Rizer
Wereworg
Wonder Boy
CRIMINAL REGIME OF INTERNATIONAL MERCENARY ENDEAVORS (C.R.I.M.E.)
Black Orchid
Kill-Bird
Siren
Stallion

Most Wanted Volume Three
2199
Adamantron
Armada
Bladespinner
Brainwave
Crater
Dustdevil
Extractor
G.I. Jim
Harpy
Headhunter
Kiloton
King
Lifeguard
Manslaughter
Master Zero
Mind Mauler
Mirrorman
Mr. Scarce
Nospheratua
Nutrino
Orion
Parasite
Rocker
Shortstop
Skullcrusher
Super-Nova
Tidal Wave
Tomcat
Warwagon

Search for the Sensei
Dowager
Genghis Chi
Maiden Japan
Shujin
Solaris

For the Greater Good
451
Auntie Porn
Brother Angel
Cardinal Rule
Corporal Punishment
Pro-Life
White Guardian

The Great Iridium Con
The Valiants
Nightshade
Kahless Khan
Futura
Aztech
Malastra
Yeoman
Devilspawn
Firefall
Supersonic
Albatross
Sabredance
Oblivia
Sequoya

Honor- Enter the Dragon's Claw
Tsunami
Shogun
Komodo Dragon
Raiden
Ebony Wolf

The Secret in the Swamp
Alligator
Asi-Vaholo
The Coot
Psi-Prime
Shaman
Seminole Spirits
Sludge
Swamp Rat
White Heron

Pre-Emptive Strike
Sprite
Vendetta
Tympanus
Oberon
Rocker
Contessa
Blonde Berserker
Glacia
Soulburner
Wrack
Conductor
Hummingbird
Katana
Powerpath

Terror by Night
Albert
Tim Vanesk
Zuvembie Lord
Minotaur
Gargoyles
The Creature
Werewolf
Female Vampire
Frankenstein's Monster
The Golem
Heinrich Android
Thomas P Prest/Baron Victor von Heinrich

Death Duel with the Destroyers
Doomsday Robot
Annihilator
Behemoth
Electrocutioner
Iron Maiden
Ratman
Shapeshifter

The Island of Doctor Apocalypse
S.L.A.M.
Guardian (Type A or B)
Guardian (Elite Cadre)
Doctor Apocalypse

This Empress Earth!
Empress Terra Tyrannia
Gargantua
Slavers
Chat Noir
Dynamo
Klondike
Raven
Seeker
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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There's a Crisis at Crusader Citadel!

Image

Okay, the first module darn near everyone went through was Crisis. It was the starting module that really set the tone for the universe. A reworking of the module ended up serving as the basis for the 4 issue mini-series by Eclipse comics. I'm about 99% sure it predated the Masters of Evil taking out Avenger's Mansion, and the storyline is pretty similar. The Crushers (the bad guys) want to pillage the Crusader's mainframe for all of their secrets and sell them to the highest bidder and engage in villainy and awfulness on the way. The list of NPCs for this is staggeringly huge for a module, and probably gave me pretty unrealistic expectations for the rest of my gaming life. (In all fairness, Condor, Shatterman, Manstar and Hauntress show up later in the comic).

The Crusaders
Manta-Man
Enforcer
Evergreen
Blizzard
Condor
Laserfire
Shatterman
Dreamweaver

The Crushers
Bull
F.I.S.T.
Hauntress
Hornet
Mace
Manstar
Marionette
Mercury Mercenary
Mocker
Shocker
Stormlord
Temper
Vulture
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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Image
MANTA-MAN (Carter Manning)
Created By: Jack Herman and Jeff Dee
First Appearance: There's a Crisis at Crusader Citadel
Role: Grim leader, Aquatic Batman, Extremely cool looking dude
Group Affiliations: The Crusaders

PL 10 (159)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 8 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7)
Athletics 2 (+4)
Close Combat: Unarmed (+8)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise: Business 4 (+12)
Expertise: Science 8 (+16)
Insight 4 (+5)
Perception 4 (+5)
Ranged Combat: Weapons systems 3 (+6)
Technology 8 (+16)
Treatment 2 (+10)
Vehicles 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Assessment, Benefit, Wealth 4 (multimillionare), Equipment 1, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Leadership, Move-by Action, Skill Mastery: Technology

Powers:
"Aqualung" (Removable)
  • Sealed Systems 10 (Life Support)


"Disposable Jetpack" (Removable)
  • Sonic Flight 4 (Speed: 30 miles/hour, 500 feet/round; Stacks with: Manta Wings: Flight 5+4; Unreliable (5 uses))


"Manta Cape" (Removable),
  • Aquatic Adaptation 1 (Environmental Adaptation: Aquatic)
  • Manta Wings 5 ([Stacking ranks: +4], Speed: 1000 miles/hour, 2 miles/round, Advantages: Favored Environment: Aquatic; Aquatic; Wings
  • Razor Sharp Edge 3 (DC 20; Penetrating 3)


"Weapons systems" (Removable),
  • Electric Shield 7 (+7 Toughness)
  • Lightning Blast 10 (DC 25; Accurate 2: +4)
    AE - Paralysis Ray 10 (Alternate; 1st degree: Hindered, 2nd degree: Immobile, 3rd degree: Paralyzed, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 20; Accurate 2: +4, Increased Range: ranged)


Equipment
Commlink

Offense:
Lightning Blast: Blast 10 +10 (DC 25), Paralysis Ray: Affliction 10 +10 (DC Fort 20), Razor Sharp Edge: Strength-based Damage 3 +8 (DC 20), Unarmed +8 (DC 17)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge 9 (DC 19), Parry 9 (DC 19), Fort 8, Tou 9, Will 8

Complications:
Identity (Carter Manning)- Carter has to keep a multinational corporation running while still finding time to invent nifty gadgets.
Motivation (Justice)- Manta-Man is determined that no one is ever going to have to suffer the way his wife did. And Justice is possibly a bit more important than law.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 47 / Defenses: 22 (159)

-Carter Manning lost his wife, and almost his life, to pirates. Creating the Manta-man suit, he blasted the heck out of them, and went on to form the Crusaders. Originally in "Center City" they get moved to Indianapolis once V&V decided to quit inventing cities as we have quite enough already. I relocated them again in my world, and they are based in Chicago. Manta-man is tough and driven, a very no-nonsense leader.

-Manta-man has a ton of skills, and is supposed to be one the main movers and shakers in his universe. He's sort of Tony Stark or Batman with a Manta fetish. An awesome Manta fetish. He started off without the razor edged cape, the full life support, or the flight booster, and actually could originally only glide. In the comic they super-charged him a lot, and then when I converted him, I decided he needed to be a sold PL 10 on offence, 9 on defense. After all, the first time you meet him, he and his entire team are knocked out in their own medlab. Counter to that, they did take on a team roughly twice their size who surprised them, so they are not creampuffs.
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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Image
ENFORCER (Eric Forrest)
Created By: Jack Herman and Jeff Dee
First Appearance: There's a Crisis at Crusader Citadel
Role: Grim Gun guy, Ex-spy, The tortured one
Group Affiliations: The Crusaders

PL 10 (177)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+11)
Athletics 8 (+11)
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+12)
Expertise: Espionage 6 (+9)
Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+9)
Insight 6 (+7)
Intimidation 6 (+9)
Investigation 8 (+11)
Perception 6 (+7)
Ranged Combat: Superbly Crafted Pistol 2 (+5)
Stealth 8 (+11)
Technology 6 (+9)
Treatment 6 (+9)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Defensive Attack, Equipment 1, Improved Aim, Improved Critical: Superbly Crafted Pistol, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Precise Attack (Ranged, Concealment), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 9, Takedown

Powers:
Force Blast: Blast 6 (DC 21)
  • AE - Force Constructs: Create 6 (Alternate; Volume: 60 cft., DC 16)
Protective Field: Force Field 6 (+6 Toughness; Impervious 6)

Superbly Crafted Pistol (Easily Removable)
  • AE - 10mm light armor piercing caseless: Blast 5 (DC 20; Multiattack)[/indent]
    AE - Concussion Rounds: Burst Area Blast 5 (DC 20; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 15)[/indent]
    AE - Rubber Bullets...Honest: Affliction 5 (1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 15; Increased Range: ranged, Multiattack)
    AE - Trick Shot: Blast 5 (DC 20; Ricochet 4: 4 bounces)
Equipment
Commlink

Offense:
10mm light armor piercing caseless: Blast 5, +14 (DC 20; Multiattack), Concussion Rounds: Burst Area Blast 5 (DC 20), Rubber Bullets...Honest: Affliction 5, +14 (DC Fort 15), Trick Shot: Blast 5, +14 (DC 20), Force Blast: Blast 6, +5 (DC 21), Unarmed, +12 (DC 18)
Initiative +7

Defenses:
Dodge 11 (DC 21), Parry 11 (DC 21), Fort 10, Tou 9, Will 10

Complications:
Flashbacks (Hunted)- Enforcer can never forget the hunt that killed Doctor Friedrich, and how he failed to save him
Motivation (Justice)- Justice is definitely more important than the law.
Enemy: (Mercury Mercenary) These two have a serious mad-on for each other.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 21 / Powers: 35 / Defenses: 22 (177)

-So, Enforcer. A Gun toting, skill monkey with a force field. He's expensive mostly because of how he's shown to use his powers. He can protect himself while making ramps out of his fields. It seems to be that he can do one defense and one "offense" at the same time. His rep in the comic and the module is that he is bar none, one bad ass super spy who can throw down with the best of them, and on top of that, he has a personal force field. I figure that gets him a solid PL 10 defensively.

-Enforcer was a company spy who was assigned to protect Doctor Friedrich, the man who invented the serum that gave Enforcer his force powers. Enforcer tried to keep him alive, but too many people wanted that formula for themselves. After the Doctor died, Enforcer quit the spy game and decided to use his powers to protect others.
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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Image
EVERGREEN (Unknown)
Created By: Jack Herman and Jeff Dee
First Appearance: There's a Crisis at Crusader Citadel
Role: Naive fan service, Dryad meets Starfire
Group Affiliations: The Crusaders

PL 10 (147)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+9)
Close Combat: Spines 4 (+11)
Expertise: Science 6 (+7)
Insight 6 (+8)
Perception 6 (+8)
Treatment 6 (+7)

Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit, Cipher, Equipment 1, Favored Environment: Choose Environment, Great Endurance

Powers:
Native Communication: Comprehend 2 (Plants)

"Plant Control"
  • Animate Tree: Summon 10 (Controlled; Limited: by size and availability of tree)
    AE - Entanglement: Cumulative Burst Area Affliction 10 (1st degree: Hindered, Vulnerable, 2nd degree: Defenseless, Immobile, DC 20; Alternate Resistance (Dodge), Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 20, Cumulative, Extra Condition; Limited: Requires ambient plant life, Limited Degree
    AE - Plant Step: Teleport 10 (4 miles in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.; Extended: 1000 miles in 2 move actions; Medium: Plants)[/indent]
    AE - Plant Toxin: Cumulative Affliction 10 (1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 20; Cumulative)
"Plant Elemental"
  • Always Growing: Regeneration 5 (Every 2 rounds; Persistent)
    Natural Resilience: Protection 2 (+2 Toughness; Impervious [2 extra ranks])
    Plant Body: Immunity 12 (Critical Hits, Life Support)
Spines: Strength-based Damage 3 (DC 21; Penetrating 4, Reach (melee): 5 ft.)

Equipment:
Commlink

Offense:
Entanglement: Cumulative Burst Area Affliction 10 (DC Dog/Fort/Will 20), Plant Toxin: Cumulative Affliction 10, +7 (DC Fort 20), Spines: Strength-based Damage 3, +11 (DC 21), Unarmed, +11 (DC 18)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge 8 (DC 18), Parry 9 (DC 19), Fort 12, Tou 8, Will 7

Complications:
Duty (Nature)- Evergreen is the original treehugger. She is a nature spirit bound to protect the dwindling natural areas of our world.
Relationship (Shocker)- Evergreen has a bit of a thing for bad boy Crusher, Shocker. And he is head over heels in love with her. It makes things difficult for them both.
Prejudice (Plant Person)- Evergreen has leaves for hair, and her skin is the color of bark. Plus, ya know, spines.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 63 / Defenses: 20 (147)

-Evergreen started as basically the weird plant controlling character, and then morphed into a dryad version of starfire by the time she showed up in the comic. Originally, she was just odd, and her background read like bad high school poetry. "Spirits of the Water remember! Spirits of the Earth remember!" Yeah...well anyway, after she showed up in the comic, she had been considerably boosted. She was tougher, a better fighter, and her abilities were much better. Also, for some reason she got smokin' hot. It was just weird. I mean, it's the same artist to boot, so it wasn't like someone new decided on an upgrade like we see in most comics.

-Evergreen could easily be PL 10/150, but really some of the skills are just a wild guess based off of things she said/did in the comics. I was going to go with Move Object and limit it to plants, but her plant control never seems that effective. She doesn't choke people out with them, they more get under foot. Now she didn't have a lot to work with, so the tree summon was the furthest extrapolation of her ability.
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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Image
BLIZZARD (Robert Ballard)
Created By: Jack Herman and Jeff Dee
First Appearance: There's a Crisis at Crusader Citadel
Role: Iceman knock-off, Fan identifier
Group Affiliations: The Crusaders

PL 10 (141)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+7)
Expertise: Art 6 (+7)
Expertise: Comic Book Artist 8 (+9)
Insight 4 (+4)
Ranged Combat: Power training 6 (+9)
Treatment 4 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment 1, Evasion, Luck (Improve Roll), Move-by Action, Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
Cold comfort: Immunity 1 (Environmental Condition: Cold)

Ice Armor: Protection 5 (+5 Toughness; Impervious [4 ranks only]; Activation: move action)

Ice Blast: Energy Control 7 (DC 22)
  • AE - Ice Bonds: Affliction 7 (Alternate; 1st degree: Hindered, Impaired, 2nd degree: Disabled, Immobile, DC 17; Alternate Resistance (Dodge), Extra Condition, Increased Range: ranged; Limited Degree)
    AE - Ice Sculptures: Create 13 (Alternate; Volume: 8000 cft., DC 23; Innate; Permanent, Proportional)

Ice Slides: Flight 4 (Speed: 30 miles/hour, 500 feet/round; Platform)

Phase Shifting: Insubstantial 3 (Energy)

Quick Change: Feature 1 (Notes: Instantly change into/out of his superhero costume)

Vibratory Blast: Blast 6 (DC 21; Penetrating 2)
Vibratory Field: Force Field 4 (+4 Toughness)

Equipment:
CommUnit

Offense:
Ice Blast: Energy Control 7, +12 (DC 22), Ice Bonds: Affliction 7, +12 (DC Dog/Fort/Will 17), Vibratory Blast: Blast 6, +12 (DC 21), Unarmed, +6 (DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge 8 (DC 18), Parry 7 (DC 17), Fort 9, Tou 2/11, Will 5

Complications:
Motivation (Doing Good)- Blizzard is still pretty idealistic, even after several years in the business. He's always trying to help others.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 63 / Defenses: 19 (141)

-Robert Ballard read comic books as a kid, so when he developed mutantpowers, he decided to go be a superhero. Seriously, that's like all we get on him. In the comic, he shows up long enough for us to find out he is now a famous comic book writer/artist, and then he promptly gets knocked and does a whole lot of nothing for the rest of the comic.

-Blizzard is a Vibratory powered Ice dude, which means that if he is ready for you, it is really really hard to knock him out. In the comic, he turned a corner and took a fist to the face, ably demonstrating the difference between Toughness 2 and 11. Of course the really scary thing is if he goes all vibratory energy and then good luck catching his insubstantial butt. He really should have been much more effective in the comic, but maybe that's why he got knocked out faster than Gamecock fighting Captain America.
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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Image
CONDOR (Brian Rapp)
Created By: Jack Herman and Jeff Dee
First Appearance: Villains and Vigilantes #1
Role: Newbie Hero, Legacy Hero reborn
Group Affiliations: The Crusaders

PL 9 (134)
STRENGTH 4/8 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+10)
Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+8)
Deception 2 (+3)
Expertise: Current Events 4 (+7)
Expertise: Law Enforcement 2 (+5)
Expertise: Military 2 (+5)
Expertise: Superhero Culture 8 (+11)
Insight 4 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+3)
Investigation 6 (+9)
Perception 8 (+9)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+6)
Technology 8 (+11)

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Assessment, Benefit, Wealth (well-off), Close Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Diehard, Equipment 1, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Power Attack


Powers:
Enhanced Sensory Array: Senses 11 (Removable, Counters Illusion: Visual, Danger Sense: Auditory, Darkvision, Distance Sense, Infravision, Low-light Vision, Radio, Time Sense, Ultravision)

"Exoskeleton" (Removable)
  • Armor Plating: Protection 4 (+4 Toughness; Impervious)
    Enhanced Strength: Enhanced Strength 4 (+4 STR)
"Freedom Eagle's Wings" (Removable)
  • Flight: Flight 6 (Speed: 120 miles/hour, 1800 feet/round)
    Wing Buffet: Strength-based Damage 1 (DC 24)
Equipment:
Commlink

Offense:
Wing Buffet: Strength-based Damage 1, +9 (DC 24), Unarmed, +9 (DC 23)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge 8 (DC 18), Parry 9 (DC 19), Fort 8, Tou 9/7, Will 7

Complications:
Motivation: (Doing Good) Brian legitimately wants to help people. He is quiet, but with a heart of gold.
Motivation: (Responsibility)Brian doesn't feel that he's really earned the right to wear his battlesuit, he just happened to fit. So he's doing everything in his power to prove he is worthy of the legacy.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 54--27 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 32 / Defenses: 20 (134)

-After injuring his knee and losing his football scholarship, Brian took to academics with the same zeal as sports. Brian Rapp had always looked up to his hero; Freedom Eagle, and was there with his friend, Dennis Machek (Shatterman) when Eagle was assassinated. The hero passed his powers to Shatterman, but the uniform was way too big, so he gave it to Brian. Now as Condor, Brian is doing everything he can to justify that gift.

-Condor is an interesting mid-tier character. He is a skill monkey, but any decent HTH combatant is going to wipe the floor with him. He can modify his caps, but usually this means he either gets hit even easier, or he is wildly inaccurate and still hits like a light weight Paragon, not a true one.
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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LASERFIRE (Larry Fredricks)
Created By: Jack Herman and Jeff Dee
First Appearance: There's a Crisis at Crusader Citadel
Role: Abject Newbie, Jobber Hero
Group Affiliations: The Crusaders

PL 9 (133)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 1 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Expertise: Business 6 (+7)
Expertise: Current Events 4 (+5)
Perception 4 (+4)
Ranged Combat: Flame Powers 4 (+6)
Ranged Combat: Light Powers:6 (+8)
Treatment 6 (+7)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Equipment 1, Luck (Improve Roll) 2, Move-by Action

Powers:
Fiery Flight: Flight 7 (Speed: 250 miles/hour, 0.5 miles/round)

Fire and Light adaptation: Immunity 2 (Environmental Condition: Fire, Environmental Condition: Light)

Flame Powers: Energy Control 8 (DC 23)
  • AE - Fire Shield: Energy Aura 3 (Alternate; DC 18; Accurate 4: +8)
Light Powers: Energy Control 7 (DC 22; Penetrating 2)
  • AE - Searing Light: Dazzle 7 (Alternate; Affects Sense: Vision, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 17)
Shield of Fire and Light: Force Field 8 (+8 Toughness; Impervious [6 ranks only])

Equipment:
Commlink

Offense:
Fire Shield: Energy Aura 3, +9 (DC 18), Flame Powers: Energy Control 8, +10 (DC 23), Light Powers: Energy Control 7, +8 (DC 22), Searing Light: Dazzle 7, +8 (DC Fort 17), Unarmed, +1 (DC 17)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge 8 (DC 18), Parry 7 (DC 17), Fort 8, Tou 2/10, Will 6

Complications:
Motivation: (Recognition) To quote Manta-man, there must be some reason he's on the Crusaders, and gosh darn it, they're going to figure out why!
Motivation: (Thrills) Laserfire thinks most of the superhero stuff is pretty awesome, and he wants to keep it going!
Quirk: Sort of a wimp - Laserfire stays cowed. Successful intimidations last for double the time rank unless Larry manages to make a Will save vs. DC 20.

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 64 / Defenses: 24 (133)

-Laserfire got his powers from the backwash of a UFO's engines. No seriously. Then he started on fire, and of course, tried to put himself out. This is arguably the highlight of his several year career with the Crusaders. In the comic, he's still the utter newb.

-There's not much to Laserfire, but he is another one of those guys that should be very tough to beat if he's ready for you. He might not take you out, but that 10 Tou is rough. Of course he also has "Buffy syndrome" in that if he doesn't see it coming and isn't ready for it, he folds like a cheap suit.
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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SHATTERMAN (Dennis Machek)
Created By: Jack Herman and Jeff Dee
First Appearance: Villains and Vigilantes #1
Role: Gung-Ho New guy, Cocky nigh indestructable guy
Group Affiliations: The Crusaders

PL 9 (158)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 7 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+9)
Expertise: Draftsman 4 (+6)
Expertise: Law 4 (+6)
Expertise: Mechanic 6 (+8)
Expertise: Medicine 4 (+6)
Insight 4 (+5)
Perception 2 (+3)
Ranged Combat: Vibratory Blast 2 (+4)
Technology 6 (+8)
Treatment 2 (+4)
Vehicles 6 (+8)

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Equipment 1, Improvised Tools, Jack-of-all-trades, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 7

Powers:
Durable Physiology: Regeneration 5 (Every 2 rounds)

Invulnerability: Impervious Toughness 7

Powered Flight: Flight 7 (Speed: 250 miles/hour, 0.5 miles/round)

"Vibratory Powers"
Phase Shifting: Insubstantial 3 (Energy)
  • AE - Vibratory Shield: Force Field 4 (+4 Toughness)
Vibratory Blast: Blast 7 (DC 22; Penetrating 4)


Equipment:
Commlink

Offense:
Vibratory Blast: Blast 7, +11 (DC 22), Unarmed, +9 (DC 17)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge 7 (DC 17), Parry 7 (DC 17), Fort 10, Tou 7/11, Will 6

Complications:
Motivation: (Thrills) Shatterman is positive that this is the single best thing that has happened to him in his admittedly diverse and storied life, and each day brings new adventures.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 48--24 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 60 / Defenses: 15 (155)

-Shatterman gained his powers from Freedom Eagle as that storied hero lay dying. Teaming up with his best friend Condor, the two set out to make a name for themselves in the superhero biz. They were instrumental in helping the Crusaders to defeat the Crushers, and they are both now members in good standing. Dennis himself has a staggering amount of skills. He's been a mechanic, a draftsman, Pre-med, and even through a bit of law school. He did a stint in the army, and still never quite found his niche. Now as Shatterman, he feels like he finally fits in.

-Dang that's a lot of skills for a Blaster! Dang, that's a lot of powers that all have to work at the same time! Anyway, he's really expensive for what he can do. Defensively, he was always easy to hit, but nigh impossible to put down for the count. Adding Regen to the mix is just crazy. The more of these guys I look at, the more it makes sense to me that it took a bigger team and a lot of treachery to take them down. They can't dish it out that well, but man can they take a hit.
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

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DREAMWEAVER (Donna Weston)
Created By: Jack Herman and Jeff Dee
First Appearance: There's a Crisis at Crusader Citadel
Role: Mentalist, One trick pony, Glass cannon
Group Affiliations: The Crusaders

PL 8 (150)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 3 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 5 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+5)
Athletics 4 (+4)
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise: Psychiatry 8 (+11)
Insight 6 (+11)
Perception 6 (+11)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Treatment 6 (+9)

Advantages:
Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll 3, Equipment 1, Evasion, Taunt

Powers:
Dreams and Nightmares: Illusion 10 (Affects: Two Sense Types - Visual and Auditory, Area: 1000 cft., DC 20; Independent, Selective)

Moving in the Dreamscape: Move Object 4 (800 lbs., DC 19, Advantages: Power Attack (Limited: Move Object Only); Accurate 5: +10, Damaging, Precise)

Shrouded in the Dreamscape: Concealment 4 (All Aural Senses, Sense - Sight)

Equipment:
Commlink

Offense:
Moving in the Dreamscape: Move Object 4, +11 (DC 19), Unarmed, +3 (DC 15)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge 8 (DC 18), Parry 8 (DC 18), Fort 4, Tou 4/1, Will 11

Complications:
Identity (Donna Weston)- Donna keeps her two lives seperate. Only a small handful of people know that she is also Dreamweaver.
Motivation (Responsibility)- With great power, yadda, yadda, yadda. Donna does feel that she should be using her unique gifts to help others though.

Total: Abilities: 34 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 67 / Defenses: 21 (150)

-Donna was part of a sleep research experiment, so of course when something went wrong, she gained the ability to manifest the dream world in reality. She can shape a dreamscape around her enemies, turn invible, and even has low levels of telekinesis. While not staggeringly powerful on her own, her ability to set the battlefield to her team's advantage is pretty huge.

-Dreamweaver is an interesting build because her illusions are massively expensive, but she might have a hard time fighting a paper bag. Actually, with her ability to modify her Move Object cap, she can dish out some decent damage. Her main weakness is that she is absolutely a glass cannon. One good hit is usually all it takes. So she's an over-costed PL8, but she's intended more for support, so I'm fine with this.
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Re: Proditor's Pad of Pop Culture and V&V. (Massively under construction)

Post by proditor »

The Villains and Vigilantes conversion design journal

When I started this project, it was primarily to populate a world for my players characters to rampage through in our superhero game. You may ask, why V&V? and that's a fair question. The world setting suffers from a lack of cohesion and a hodge-podge spaghetti against the wall mentality that comes from having a bunch of different GM's showing little parts of their games. This is why there are something like 10 "official" government agencies that relate to super or superhuman crime. You get CHESS, GIANT, FISH, MEDUSA...you get the point. This is sort of a long way of saying the V&V universe is not so coherent as one might be led to believe. However, this does give you one gigantic advantage in that you can pick and choose. Actually, you sort of have to do this.

So that's where we started. I needed something for a group of 4-6 PL10 players to run up against twice a month. The PL of the players determined a lot of the world as I want them to feel challenged, but I didn't want them curb-stomping every encounter. So for the write-ups, the median baseline is PL 9-11. PL9 is for the guys that either aren't optimized, have to work in a team, or just might have trouble with your average SWAT team. Yes, I do have guys who clock in lower than that (Even in the thread so far) but the rough rule is 9-11 as the median. Now being as these characters were designed for a game, we probably won't see a lot of PL6 named supervillains. Games just didn't really work that way back in the day (Though some old timers may remember the lesson in pulling your punches that was in the old Deathstroke module for Champions.) So that's our median. Agents and henchmen will usually be from PL 3-6, with some notable exceptions like CHESS Knights and Bishops.

Next is how do I convert the powers? Well, V&V gave you everything a power could do in the description. So if you have Cold Powers (and man, does V&V look like the Iceman appreciation club or what?) then you automatically got the ability to shoot ice blasts, cover yourself in ice armor, create ice slides for movement, and generate ice as blocking terrain. We convert that to a basic suite of an Ice Blast with an AE affliction to make ice bonds, and another for Create. We give you the Ice Armor as Protection with a move activation (since in V&V you spent movement points to generate armor points) and flight with the platform adder. And pretty much every ice character is going to have that. Some will vary based on other powers (Mutant power, Body Power, all the weird "I don't know what to call it, so call it X" powers basically) like say, Chillblade's Ice Knives or Master Zero's "Zero field".

Now how do I set the DC of an attack? I guesstimate it using several factors. First and foremost, raw damage. A Power Blast in V&V does 1d20 damage. And Ice Blast does 1d12. So A Power Blast will almost always have a higher DC than an Ice Blast. But...that's only on the same character. The next bit for damage was your damage modifier. You might be a guy who has a power blast, a high int and a high dex, so your specific blast does 1d20+7 damage. Joe on the other hand, has average stats and only does 1d20+1. So all of that factors in to how I calculate the DC I want for a conversion.

The same goes for defenses, but since those are handled very differently in V&V than in pretty much any other game I've seen, it requires some heavy interpretation. Your powers can act as a defense (You may have noticed a lot of the Power Blast people get a ranged Deflect. That's a legacy of this) and some are better than others. The chart is probably the single most confusing thing in V&V, and it wouldn't translate easily or well to M&M, so the basic conversion got to be; if it provided you with a defense in V&V, you got one in M&M. That's why you see Lightning fields, Sonic Shields, etc. Some of them are more esoteric like Willpower or Adaptation. In some cases, it just means a heightened save or immunity: Life support, but really, both of those do more than that, and usually by a lot.

Abilities are a little easier, and do follow some basic conversion rules. This applies to everything that isn't STR; 11-12 gets you a 1, 13-15 gets you a 2, 16-17 means a 3, 18-19 a 4, and then it requires more extrapolation. This is still just a guideline, and I'll tweak based off of the character description. Strength is converted by "best guess". So if someone has a carrying capacity of 200 lbs, they get a STR 1, because carrying cap is the absolute max you can lift/carry. But I fudge this stat a lot as it's more important for me to get the feel of the character as opposed to sticking to a straight by the book numbers conversion. There is definitely more art than math in this. As an example, the highest listed strength in V&V was Mountain Man at 1,000,000 lbs carrying capacity. By a strict conversion, he should have STR 14 (15 if I'm feeling really generous). But I wanted more, so he got bumped to 16. That's currently the upper limit for my V&V world, which puts it noticeably well below the upper reaches of say the DC world. Looking at some of the converted Marvel characters on here, none of the top tier bricks in V&V can hold a candle to the likes of Hercules, Thor, The Hulk, etc.

Advantages are generally applied based off of the theme or description of the character, sometimes off of notes in the sheet (For instance where they'll state a character explicitly has a trip or disarm attack). The general theme and combat notes are a better guide most of the time. If the character is listed as being a great team player, well, he gets teamwork. If he charges into combat, counting on his defenses to see him through, he's probably getting All-out attack.

Now in some cases, you'll see the same power written up completely differently on two characters. That harkens back to the "going by feel" for a character. One of the main examples of this is Weakness Detection. At times it's a variable effect to add damage. This is the power in it's "purest" form. Other times, it's just the advantages of Power attack and Accurate attack. It all depends on the character, and where that power factors into the whole design.

Well, that's my basic process.

If you have any questions/comments, please feel free.
Last edited by proditor on Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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