BoloOfEarth
Dec 13th, '04, 02:35 PM
I guess it’s time to review the latest issue of Digital Hero #26. (I'm actually on the ball this month!) Here’s my take on things:
Cover / Overall: The cover art by Rich Berlew is like Short Circuit meets Terminator, very neat and amusing. This issue has a bit of an undead theme without completely shambling off to the cemetery. It’s pretty multi-genre (Champions, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Horror, and Alternate History / Time Travel), so there’s likely something for everybody.
When Last We Left Our Heroes: HERO is presenting the urban jungle of Hudson City, and this book is coming in as large as MC and VB combined. Wow! It sounds really good, and I’m hoping it has plenty of NPCs and maps. I’m also hoping the maps include specific buildings as well as general building types (warehouse, offices, etc.), but that may be hoping for too much. I’ll give a thumbs-up (tentative until I see the book).
HEROglyphs: I’m one of those people who feels that Shrinking and Growth are out of balance, so Alter Size sounds like it might be a good idea. I’d go along with some of the Further Tinkering, including altering the Altered character’s PER rolls.
You Gotta Have Character (Cabeza de Vaca): I figure that, by the time DH #50 rolls around, I’ll have learned more history from Jason than I did in school. As always, Jason does a great job with another historical figure. Cabeza de Vaca would be an interesting NPC, though one that has the potential to be unbalancing (especially if he ends up saving the PCs more than once). I’d actually use him as he really was – second in command, rather than in command – to add tension to an adventure. If the man in command is wise, compassionate, and competent, what are the PCs there for? Now, having the PCs get assigned with a man like de Vaca on all the dangerous missions, that has merit.
Christopher Cooper’s dual-pic of de Vaca was well done, portraying this thoughtful explorer quite well. The underlying cross necklace adds de Vaca’s religious faith without being overpowering.
Information Thaumaturgy: I got a chance to see this article before publication and loved it so much that I completely redrew a techno NPC villain (Hackmaster) to become an Information Thaumaturgist. While HERO doesn’t have an Urban Fantasy setting, it sounds like an interesting subgenre worth considering, especially after reading this article.
Being both a fan of puns and a computer person, I enjoyed a computer-based magic system called “IT” – in the real world, that’s short for Information Technology. The spells, named with computer terminology like Change Global Settings or Pretty Good Protection, are written up well, with variations for newbies and experts, different power levels, and different Limitations. If you mix-and-match (like a Newbie version with a Combat Computer and Macros) you’ll have to do some math, but I don’t see an easy way around that.
The Temporal League: James Jandebeur’s second article – he also wrote IT above – adds to the ‘world’ of the Temporal Champions (originally presented in DH #23). This feels a bit light on the organization itself (but not terribly so), concentrating more on the Temporal League characters and their equipment. The equipment is good, however, especially the Chronon Projector Pistol. (The “Send Him to Detroit” round cracked me up, especially the reference to the line from Kentucky Fried Movie.)
Back From The Grave: Another article from the fertile mind of Mike Surbrook, this provides a little background on zombies (traditional and cinematic), wights, and other undead from across the world. The ritual described for creating a Rolang is, as stated, “possibly the most disgusting ritual ever conceived.” Mike provides three very good undead examples ready to be shamble into your campaign world. The movie and book quotes are a nice touch, too.
Derrick’s artwork is good as always, with the Draugr my favorite.
Zombie Style: Zombies are mad stylin’! This ‘martial arts’ article goes beyond the norm, also serving as a mini “How To” for running zombies. It does it in a very entertaining way, with amusing phrases (“Because even the undead hate wasting points”) peppered throughout. And you gotta love the maneuver names (like Disgusting Disarm, Hideous Hug, or the ever-popular Blow Chunks Bind).
The Colorado Crusaders: I’m always looking for hero groups to populate my Champions world, and a non-group like the Colorado Crusaders works perfectly. They have enough internal strife and personality clashes to make for an interesting comic book. ;) I like how each character had a brief description of how he or she felt about other Crusaders. This is a great idea, especially for a group like this.
The character writeups were, for the most part, well done. My only problem was with Phantom, for whom there is no game mechanic for avoiding death. (Yeah, I know, she’s already dead…) I’d suggest another power in the EC, a linked Megascale Teleport (with trigger) + Healing (regeneration from death). That way, if she takes all her BODY, she disapparates only to eventually pop up again at the mining camp. Since the Teleport would be to one location, only by trigger, and the Healing only takes place at her burial site, it should be pretty cheap.
That aside, each had something noteworthy: Justice’s body radiating too much energy, Blizzard always matching the ambient temperature, Charcoal’s busybody nature, Lionheart’s “Been there, unfortunately done that” attitude toward corporations and the government, Loup’s inability to communicate with anybody except Phantom, and the mystery of Phantom’s origin.
Jason McCuiston’s character illustrations are pretty good as well. Lionheart was my favorite, followed by Loup. (“Officer down!”) I don’t believe I’ve seen Jason’s stuff in DH before. If not, then welcome to the HERO art crew, Jason! You’ve joined a pretty kick-butt group of artists. (And if I’m wrong, feel free to correct me.)
Champions Crossword: Okay, I gotta admit that I wasn’t too warm on this idea when Dave first proposed it on the boards. But once I downloaded this issue, the crossword was the first page I printed out. Actually, I ended up getting to work late ’cause I was caught up trying to finish filling it in. (I finally did finish it, but not until the next morning. ;) ) I’m looking forward to more of these, and I’m wondering if Dave is going to publish the answers in later issues, or on the Digital Hero discussion boards.
Cover / Overall: The cover art by Rich Berlew is like Short Circuit meets Terminator, very neat and amusing. This issue has a bit of an undead theme without completely shambling off to the cemetery. It’s pretty multi-genre (Champions, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Horror, and Alternate History / Time Travel), so there’s likely something for everybody.
When Last We Left Our Heroes: HERO is presenting the urban jungle of Hudson City, and this book is coming in as large as MC and VB combined. Wow! It sounds really good, and I’m hoping it has plenty of NPCs and maps. I’m also hoping the maps include specific buildings as well as general building types (warehouse, offices, etc.), but that may be hoping for too much. I’ll give a thumbs-up (tentative until I see the book).
HEROglyphs: I’m one of those people who feels that Shrinking and Growth are out of balance, so Alter Size sounds like it might be a good idea. I’d go along with some of the Further Tinkering, including altering the Altered character’s PER rolls.
You Gotta Have Character (Cabeza de Vaca): I figure that, by the time DH #50 rolls around, I’ll have learned more history from Jason than I did in school. As always, Jason does a great job with another historical figure. Cabeza de Vaca would be an interesting NPC, though one that has the potential to be unbalancing (especially if he ends up saving the PCs more than once). I’d actually use him as he really was – second in command, rather than in command – to add tension to an adventure. If the man in command is wise, compassionate, and competent, what are the PCs there for? Now, having the PCs get assigned with a man like de Vaca on all the dangerous missions, that has merit.
Christopher Cooper’s dual-pic of de Vaca was well done, portraying this thoughtful explorer quite well. The underlying cross necklace adds de Vaca’s religious faith without being overpowering.
Information Thaumaturgy: I got a chance to see this article before publication and loved it so much that I completely redrew a techno NPC villain (Hackmaster) to become an Information Thaumaturgist. While HERO doesn’t have an Urban Fantasy setting, it sounds like an interesting subgenre worth considering, especially after reading this article.
Being both a fan of puns and a computer person, I enjoyed a computer-based magic system called “IT” – in the real world, that’s short for Information Technology. The spells, named with computer terminology like Change Global Settings or Pretty Good Protection, are written up well, with variations for newbies and experts, different power levels, and different Limitations. If you mix-and-match (like a Newbie version with a Combat Computer and Macros) you’ll have to do some math, but I don’t see an easy way around that.
The Temporal League: James Jandebeur’s second article – he also wrote IT above – adds to the ‘world’ of the Temporal Champions (originally presented in DH #23). This feels a bit light on the organization itself (but not terribly so), concentrating more on the Temporal League characters and their equipment. The equipment is good, however, especially the Chronon Projector Pistol. (The “Send Him to Detroit” round cracked me up, especially the reference to the line from Kentucky Fried Movie.)
Back From The Grave: Another article from the fertile mind of Mike Surbrook, this provides a little background on zombies (traditional and cinematic), wights, and other undead from across the world. The ritual described for creating a Rolang is, as stated, “possibly the most disgusting ritual ever conceived.” Mike provides three very good undead examples ready to be shamble into your campaign world. The movie and book quotes are a nice touch, too.
Derrick’s artwork is good as always, with the Draugr my favorite.
Zombie Style: Zombies are mad stylin’! This ‘martial arts’ article goes beyond the norm, also serving as a mini “How To” for running zombies. It does it in a very entertaining way, with amusing phrases (“Because even the undead hate wasting points”) peppered throughout. And you gotta love the maneuver names (like Disgusting Disarm, Hideous Hug, or the ever-popular Blow Chunks Bind).
The Colorado Crusaders: I’m always looking for hero groups to populate my Champions world, and a non-group like the Colorado Crusaders works perfectly. They have enough internal strife and personality clashes to make for an interesting comic book. ;) I like how each character had a brief description of how he or she felt about other Crusaders. This is a great idea, especially for a group like this.
The character writeups were, for the most part, well done. My only problem was with Phantom, for whom there is no game mechanic for avoiding death. (Yeah, I know, she’s already dead…) I’d suggest another power in the EC, a linked Megascale Teleport (with trigger) + Healing (regeneration from death). That way, if she takes all her BODY, she disapparates only to eventually pop up again at the mining camp. Since the Teleport would be to one location, only by trigger, and the Healing only takes place at her burial site, it should be pretty cheap.
That aside, each had something noteworthy: Justice’s body radiating too much energy, Blizzard always matching the ambient temperature, Charcoal’s busybody nature, Lionheart’s “Been there, unfortunately done that” attitude toward corporations and the government, Loup’s inability to communicate with anybody except Phantom, and the mystery of Phantom’s origin.
Jason McCuiston’s character illustrations are pretty good as well. Lionheart was my favorite, followed by Loup. (“Officer down!”) I don’t believe I’ve seen Jason’s stuff in DH before. If not, then welcome to the HERO art crew, Jason! You’ve joined a pretty kick-butt group of artists. (And if I’m wrong, feel free to correct me.)
Champions Crossword: Okay, I gotta admit that I wasn’t too warm on this idea when Dave first proposed it on the boards. But once I downloaded this issue, the crossword was the first page I printed out. Actually, I ended up getting to work late ’cause I was caught up trying to finish filling it in. (I finally did finish it, but not until the next morning. ;) ) I’m looking forward to more of these, and I’m wondering if Dave is going to publish the answers in later issues, or on the Digital Hero discussion boards.