From: trip@cco.caltech.edu (Trip)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Your input appreciated (This means *you!*)
Date: 26 Sep 1992 05:21:37 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: punisher.caltech.edu
Summary: "Reader Survey" for superhero team name
Keywords: Champions Superheros

Since our latest Champions campaign, High Contrast, isn't a published
comic, we can't run a real "Reader Survey" for a team name. Asking the
Net seemed like a good substitute.

High Contrast is set in St. Louis, a city so broke it can barely afford
any police force at all. (East St. Louis is so broke it can't even afford
to pay people to collect money from the parking meters.) Unsurprisingly,
crime runs rampant and is only getting worse as time goes on.

The main characters of our comic are:

Mr Harmony- the somewhat mysterious mastermind and driving force behind
the team. He can duplicate his physical body up to 15 times, but all the
copies share a single mind.

Arabesque- no one knows just how her blue fractal aura works, but it
slowly disintigrates anything except iron (and Arabesque) within it,
and it's moderately radioactive. She can send it off to attack someone
or make it carry her around.

Caerbhallain- his neoPagan friends gave him magical tattoos that turn
him into the perfect Pictish warrior: strong, fast, tough enough to
withstand any Neolithic weapon.

Kate Wolfe- a private investigator and member of the Trenchcoat
Brigade, with the ability to hear the thoughts people are always
radiating.

Orion- a Navy veteran who had an unfortunate run-in with a nuclear
reactor. Now he's rad hard, inhumanly tough, and can see and emit any
part of the spectrum.

Flame- another mysterious one. She seems to be a mistress of Spiked Heel
Style martial arts, and carries a big gun. We know she wears sleazy
clothes and patrols the inner city, but not much more yet.

Keiko- the least-seen member of the team so far. She's the daughter of
ninja, the great-granddaughter of a dragon, and an illusionist. She
probably has other talents, but they haven't been seen yet.

So far, four issues of High Contrast have come out:

#1, "Blackout" (Written by Brad Solberg)
A terrorist attack on the main transformer station plunges most of St
Louis into darkness, and the characters each set out to stop some of
the crimes of opportunity. After each one deals with some problem, sie
is contacted by a mysterious figure on a Honda scooter, offered a
reward, and invited to join a group of vigilantes led by someone called
Mr Harmony. After the issue of mutual trust is raised by some, Mr
Harmony arranges a meeting.  Everyone is introduced, although not all
names are revealed, and the team is tentatively formed.

#2, "Hostages and Hamburgers" (Written by Trip)
Mr. Harmony alerts our heroes to a tense hostage situation taking place 
in a downtown office building.  Desperate to reclaim mishandled funds, 
one of the higher-ups in a criminal organization has taken over the top
floor ... and demands an even million.  Arabesque and Caerbhallain are
deputized as police negotiators, and are allowed to replace some of the 
more elderly hostages.  When the villains finally move out of reach of 
the more normal hostages, a bloody conflict between automatic weaponry 
and paranormal power follows ... leaving most of the enemy dead, and 
Arabesque none too happy.

#3-4, "Aquarius (parts I & II)" (Written by Keely Christa Danine)
Aquarius, an anti-paranormal hate organization, was effectively
disbanded last year when it's leaders were convicted of the murder of
several paranormals and the top man, Jeremy Winds, locked away in an
asylum. Then Aquarius got itself back together and started hunting
again, and put Arabesque at the top of their hit list.  After much
investigation and no few problems (including a misunderstanding with
Orion, a formerly unaffiliated paranormal), it was discovered that
Winds was still running the organization, and could leave the asylum
whenever he chose, to direct the murders of several more paranormals.
At this point, the heros set about out-mediaing Aquarius, and staked
out the asylum. When Winds walked out, Mr Harmony got it shown live on
TV.  Arabesque claimed that Winds did something paranormal to her while
trying to escape, and that was pretty much the last nail in Aquarius'
coffin.

Things are working well enough that the heros are willing to form a
permanent team, so the writers are running a contest in the letter
column, asking readers (ie, YOU) for suggestions for the name of the
team. High Contrast has already been voted down, so don't bother.

[1] None of us knows anything about St Louis, and we cherish our
illusions, so don't bother complaining that St Louis isn't anything like
that.

[2] SAT is the federal agency responsible for dealing with paranormal-
related crimes, but they have very few agents in the Midwest because the
vast majority of paranormals commit their depradations on the coasts.

Trip				|   Never stay a minute too long
President, ECNG			|   Don't forget the best will go wrong
(trip@cobalt.cco.caltech.edu)	|   Nobody's on nobody's side
				|			-_Chess_