Public Design Workshop

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by Splash

Just wording wise "after revealing an Order Marker on any Crime Lord or Mastermind and instead of taking a turn with that Crime Lord or Mastermind" could just be "instead of taking a turn with any Crime Lord or Mastermind" or is that to stop stacking idk

Yeah, it's to stop stacking - otherwise you could, say, take a turn with Red Skull, punch someone, take a turn with Black Mask via Master Motivator and cede that turn for a Sinister Syndicate double turn. It is once per game, so it's still probably not too juiced, but still.
Let me think about it - I might not get back tonight (and bear in mind, when I say that, I live in the U.K.! )

[Ronin]

Here's what I'd do, running with LO's power and simplifying:

Once per game, after revealing an Order Marker on any card you control and instead of taking a turn with that card, you may choose any two Unique Heroes you control that are Assassins, Criminals, or Thieves. Beetle may be one of the chosen Heroes. Take a turn with each chosen Hero, one at a time. You may not take any additional turns.

IMO, the Crime Lord/Mastermind shout-out isn't necessary. Limiting who he can activate means he'll already gravitate towards Assassin/Criminal/Thief sorts of builds, and Crime Lords and Masterminds naturally have their own hooks into those armies.

I get the desire for the defense stuff to rep his teammates' shift in attitude, but it doesn't totally scan for me on top of being a bit involved. I see Abe as more of a high-level planner than a tactical type. I'd expect a passive form of his leadership for him to be more like "bonus to initiative when you trust him, subtraction when you don't".

I also don't think we need the personality modification stuff. Not that I don't dig trying to mirror Ock's Sinister Six power, but I think Beetle should be able to join up with the Sin Six easily, and he doesn't have a pressing reason for that sort of personality hook. (With Ock the main reason for that was to have a tag we could use on new Sin Six members that aren't Criminals/Thieves, while also having a way to make the existing Spidey villains work in the synergy. Sinister Syndicate doesn't have that same problem of very broad membership - Beetle helmed a much more specific group that's easier to capture)

On a different note, I think your Suction Grip power might also be a little too good - cheese with that would drive his cost a bit and I don't remember that being a huge deal for him. (He definitely has those suction gloves, but I think of him as an active fighter and not someone who just grapples you and ties you down)

Oh, I know @Yodaking also had some Beetle thoughts and maybe a write-up hanging out somewhere.

(EDIT: Sorry if I'm throwing a lot at you, but I've got a lot of Spidey thoughts!)

[Splash]

No, thank you for your thoughts!
I'd lke to keep a lil shout out to those ridiculous gloves, what if I bumped the req to 16? It could probably be just for Beetle as well.
And yeah, I can see dropping the Crime Lord Mastermind cause they'll probably be running in there anyway, I'll wait for Orange's input on the rest.

[Lazy Orang]

Orang, not orange - it's short for orangutan, the avatar's a clue.
I actually disagree with Ronin on the gloves, since they only block movement via special powers, not normal movement.
I like what Ronin has for the power, and I like the idea of representing trusting him or otherwise with an initiative boost/malus.

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

the avatar's a clue.

A very obtuse one, these days.

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by Ronin

A very obtuse one, these days.

Ah. I'd... completely forgotten I'd changed it. Bugger.

[Splash]

Oh sorry :P
Now to just craft that initiative idea.

[FreshFoods]

Maybe the initiative could be tied to Beetle being wounded? If he is unwounded, you get the bonus. If he has X amount of wounds, you subtract that number instead.

Or maybe, initiative bonus while you don't have any figures destroyed. No bonus/subtraction when any unit you control is destroyed. Maybe something like :

INITIATIVE POWER
When rolling for initiative, you may add +1 to your roll for each Assassin, Criminal, or Thief Unique Hero you control, to a maximum of +3. When an Assassin, Criminal, or Thief Unique Hero you control is destroyed, you may not activate this power for the rest of the game.

Either way, the idea is that his allies trust him, up until Beetle starts getting beat up, or one of their allies gets taken down while under his leadership.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

Ah. I'd... completely forgotten I'd changed it. Bugger.

Orstarutang?

Edit: The title's a clue, though.

[Yodaking]

Yeah, Ronin is correct that I have a write up for him somewhere. It was very early on back when I was a sidekick, I'll have to try and dig it up. It was more combat related so maybe you could find something about it you liked to go along with that leadership power. He's got a cool mini IMO, so I'd be happy to see him get carded and arrive on my game board.

[Yodaking]

Found it! This post was made back in 2008, so take it with a grain of salt. I've come a long way as a designer since then.

Originally Posted by Yodaking

I've put together a design for this figure:



NAME = BEETLE (MARK II)
SECRET IDENTITY = ABNER JENKINS
SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = ENGINEER
PERSONALITY = ?
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4
MOVE = 6
RANGE = 5
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 6
POINTS = 200?

ELECTRO-BITE SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 3, Attack 6
Electro-Bite Special Attack may only be used once per round. After using Electro-Bite Special Attack, for the rest of that round Beetle reduces his range to 1.

UPDATED TACTICAL ANALYSIS
Whenever an opponent attacks Beetle with a normal or special attack that results in 1 or more wounds, place a tactical analysis marker on the units card. Whenever a unit with a tactical analysis marker on their card attacks Beetle, Beetle rolls 2 additional defense die.

FLIGHT
SUPER-STRENGTH

I drew inspiration for Electro-Bite SA from this description of it in one of the databases: The Electro-Bite has sufficient power to blast a one foot diameter hole through a 3 foot thick brick wall at fifteen feet. Such a blast diverts all available power to the gloves, thus temporarily immobilizing other weaponry.

For the tactical analysis power, I considered just having him gain an auto shield but I think I like the idea of the 2 additional defense dice better due to the swing nature of it. It could give him 2 more shields or none at all. No extra shields represents a new attack pattern, 1 shield represents a predicted move based on previous attack patterns, and 2 shields would come into effect when a previously used attack pattern is used once again.

Let me know what you think of the design, regardless of if you are familiar with the character or not.

[Splash]

Here's an interesting idea, a trade off of sorts.
(With 6 defense)
When rolling for initiative, you may add +1 to your roll and must subtract 1 from Beetle's defense for each Assassin, Criminal, or Thief Unique Hero you control, to a maximum of 4. Once per game, after revealing an Order Marker on any card you control and instead of taking a turn with that card, you may choose any two Unique Heroes you control that are Assassins, Criminals, or Thieves. Beetle may be one of the chosen Heroes. Take a turn with each chosen Hero, one at a time. You may not take any additional turns.

Good/bad?