Our group now has nine PCs ... with some sitting in all the time, and others coming about every-other-session or on occasion.

When we started the group a ways back, we came up with this system keep everybody more or less unique -- so we don't randomly end up with lots of overlapping powers -- here's basically how we determine powers.

When you roll up your character, roll 5 Powers from any table and 1 Weakness.

Automatically drop one Power.

If you keep the weakness, you get the 4 remaining powers.

If you want to drop the weakness, you get to keep 3 powers.

If you roll a "wildcard" power like Mutant Power, Special Weapon, etc., and want to keep it, you can work with the GM to make that power as tough as 2 Powers if you drop another Power instead.

I know some people think that only 3-4 Powers sounds weak. But check out the Crusaders. Laserfire only has 2 Powers and he is really cool.

well, Beast had at least 4.

well, id say Heightened Strength A, Heightened Agility A, Heightened Endurance A, and Speed Bonus (Leaping/bounding/etc). possibly acrobatics (see super crooks and criminals) . He either has Heightened Int A or just a base Intelligence of 17+.

Oh, you mean in V&V terms. I just meant in terms of the comic books: Cyclops shoots lasers (or whatever), Marvel Girl is telekinetic, Beast is apelike, Iceman makes ice, and Angel has wings. As opposed to heroes like Thor or Superman with numerous powers.

Yeah, for V&V I'd probably have to give Iceman a couple more to represent the "one power."

cyke is power blast (id let him use different attack forms to represent it for different applications... finetuning, etc). angel has wings plus lowlevel adaptions for flight (resistance to low pressure, telescopic sight, lung capacity, H end A)

I didn't know that (that Cyclops could absorb light and lasers), and I've been reading the X-Men since 1981 or so! 

That must be a recent addition...there was no mention that I can recall when I used to read X-Men (until whenever they had the "Mutant Massacre" crossover).

it reduces the effect slightly of such attacks. hes hardly invulnerable to them, to clarify.

Official Handbook to Marvel Universe. it started during Roy Thomas's horrible run (issues 15 or so thru shortly before initial cancellation around issue 67) on xmen.

Bill Kropp wrote on Jun 8^th, 2012 at 2:34am:


LOL...that was pretty bad stuff. I bought the "Essential" phone book versions, couldn't get through them.

LOL. About the biggest dud Marvel ever put out... well, until the '90s and multi-cover schemes, catering to flavor-of-the-month artists, and superheroes wearing leather jackets over their costumes.

@ Heston: I think your groups rules to limit powers is fine. Your idea to keep the uber-mench abilities under control are good thoughts. Conversely I'd keep in mind some powers/skills are less "powerful" than others and might give a character a break on keeping the weakness (or as something to equal it out a bit).

yeah, i think it was all an outgrowth of the cyclops/havok mutual immunity gimmick

yepm. havok joined like 2 issues before the book got cancelled

Bill Kropp wrote on Jun 20^th, 2012 at 2:01pm:



Cold Dude

yep. lol, I know i know, i had to. to be fair, in both of his appearances he was a pretty hardcore jerk. Multiple awesome parallel selves of him make up for it in Exiles. He was less of an ahole meathead than sunfire.

I read that Thunderbird was to live and Wolverine was to die but John Byrne lobbied to save the Canadian. Don't know where I read it or if it's true. Interesting to speculate on what might have been.

... I dont think Byrne was drawing the book yet, was he? Tbird died during the Doomsmith Crisis, literally 1 mission after Krakoa.