BoloOfEarth
Jan 27th, '07, 11:57 AM
After a painfully long (3 month!) hiatus, we have a new Digital Hero in our hands. With the recent downturn in the RPG market, I can’t say I was surprised at the decision to drop from 10 issues per year down to six. DH has already surpassed the total number of Adventurer’s Club issues, but like the two Mars rovers, I nonetheless hope DH keeps going and going and going…
Cover / Overall: We welcome new (at least, to DH) artist Darren Bulmer, who provided this issue’s cover as well as a good chunk of the interior art. This kick-butt comic-book style cover really takes me back, especially the “KA-POW!” Nice use of light and color to depict folds/wrinkles in the woman’s costume.
The cover seems cleaner with the removal of the mini-blurbs on articles in this issue, though I miss Dave’s alliteration and inter-relating the various article topics.
This issue is a widely multi-genre issue. We have an article for Fantasy Hero, one for Terran Empire-era Star Hero, another for Pulp Hero / Golden Age Champions, one for regular Champions… even an article that has something for three different genres at once!
When Last We Left Our Heroes: I-will-buy-The-Ultimate-Mentalist. It-is-the-best-gaming-supplement-ever. It-was-much-better-than-Cats, I’ll-read-it-again-and-again…
HEROglyphs (Drowning/Suffocation): Steve takes the environmental rules on suffocation and drowning, and writes them up as a pair of linked attacks. At a hair over 300 points total, they’re not for the faint-of-heart, but they do cover all that the drowning rules specify.
You Gotta Have Character (Emperor Norton I): YGHC will certainly broaden your horizons. This time, Jason takes us to mid-1800s San Francisco to tell us about the self-proclaimed US emperor, Norton I. While initially tempted to dismiss Emperor Norton as a basket case, I have to say – anybody that had Samuel Clemens’ support is certainly worth a closer look, and this article doesn’t disappoint. As always, YGHC serves as a wonderful time machine, putting us in the time and place (1860s San Fran) to fully flesh out this historic figure. Emperor Norton (either as himself or in some guise) would be a great NPC to introduce to nearly any genre as the Local Lovable Loon.
A Fistful of Talents: More like “Two Fists Full,” this article gives us over three dozen Fantasy Hero talents, ranging from spell manipulation (bought as naked Advantages with Charges) to weapon/armor mastery to, well, darn near any specialty you might have. These are a nice reference and add-on for any FH campaign.
Star*Guard 2640: Bob Greenwade shows us the Star*Guard at their relative weakest – between the 21st and 30th centuries, when magical power has waned. In addition to some history, a martial art, two vehicles, and a sample Star*Guard from that period, Bob also provides a series of campaign ideas for GMs running player character teams of Star*Guards.
The vehicles, though small in size, are extremely powerful and showcase the Star*Guard’s advanced technology. The sample character, along with the lower-powered Star Staff, show how limited this period’s Star*Guard is relative to those from the Champions and Galactic Champions eras.
My only quibble is with the Stealth ship’s hull plating, which to me seems a bit high. Talk about a pocket battleship! I can understand the need for hull plating given the inability to have shields raised while cloaked, but I’d at least make it ablative, if not take it down a bit. 80 DEF seems a touch excessive.
I Smell a Ratte: John Ivicek Jr. gives us... well, one huge muckin’ tank. Yes, this thousand-ton Nazi behemoth is just the thing to be the centerpiece of a Pulp or Golden Age adventure, even regular Champions. Well-written throughout; my favorite part was about looking at it through the “rosy lens of gaming.”
One minor caveat on the vehicle writeup itself: I wish the Knockback Resistance had shown the total (including that from the SIZE characteristic; none is listed there). And the next thing isn’t wrong; I just noticed that the big guns both have +1 STUN Multiplier. That’s in case two 8d6 AP RKA shots don’t hurt enough. (I kid you, John. I’d have put it on there, too.)
John provided his own artwork, which is nicely done. I especially appreciate the man standing on the turret – it gives a good sense of the size of this monster tank.
How to Lead a Superhero Team: We’ve all seen it happen – a hero team running around like a chicken with its head chopped off. Ross Watson returns to DH (has it really been since issue #5?) with some advice for players willing to step up to the plate and bring some direction to their team.
Ross presents all of the basic things you need to know to better lead a superhero team, arranged in five “Lesson” categories (which I think is a good way to organize them). Though these lessons are the meat of the article, the parts I think truly shine are the suggested skills and powers for the team leader, as well as the mini-guide on how NOT to lead a superhero team. These alone would be worth the price of admission. Well done.
But, I Thought They Were Good Guys…?: John Ivicek’s second article this issue covers passing off a supervillain group as heroes for various purposes. He provides some general information on doing this, as well as a sample villain-as-hero team. Overall, this article is good, providing advice on modifying villains to pass as new heroes, as well as suggestions on why the villains would be doing this in the first place.
My one problem with this article is that there’s no mention of dealing with possible mental snooping by the heroes. All it would take is one telepath, potentially even just reading surface thoughts, and the villain’s whole house of cards collapses instantly. While a hero would ideally not mentally intrude on fellow heroes, it’s a decent possibility (especially with my paranoid players) and should at least have been mentioned.
The illustrations of the sample villain-as-hero team, are quite good. I’ve always enjoyed D.T. Butchino’s work, and these don’t disappoint. They have a unified look that works well, IMO. The pics are greyscale, and frankly if I were to color them I would ignore much of the coloring in the character descriptions in favor of making their costumes match.
My favorite is probably Bulwark, with Mad Jack a close second (though he should be tilted a bit to show he’s flying on that disc). Decibel and Lady Psi are a bit plain; perhaps some sound- and psionic-type logo on the bodysuits could have spiced them up. (Note that the description didn’t call for such logos, so I can hardly fault D.T. for that.)
Cinematic Martial Artists: Mike Surbrook (I think I’ve heard of him somewhere – didn’t he write something in a previous DH issue?) gives us three martial arts characters, each for a different genre (fantasy, pulp, and cyberpunk). Each has an excellent background, great writeup, and, well, everything good we’ve come to expect from Mike. Frankly, the martial arts mesh wonderfully with the characters as a whole.
The art, by Darren Bulmer, is very good. The best, hands down, is Korosas. The detail on that picture really works wonderfully. I can practically see a Conan- or Capt. Kirk-type character just off-panel, facing off against this character. As to the others, I can easily imagine the ruins of the Neo York ZLEZ behind Danny 33 (love the smoke coming from the Ingram, BTW), and the Blue Scorpion’s action pose is my favorite part of that pic.
Cover / Overall: We welcome new (at least, to DH) artist Darren Bulmer, who provided this issue’s cover as well as a good chunk of the interior art. This kick-butt comic-book style cover really takes me back, especially the “KA-POW!” Nice use of light and color to depict folds/wrinkles in the woman’s costume.
The cover seems cleaner with the removal of the mini-blurbs on articles in this issue, though I miss Dave’s alliteration and inter-relating the various article topics.
This issue is a widely multi-genre issue. We have an article for Fantasy Hero, one for Terran Empire-era Star Hero, another for Pulp Hero / Golden Age Champions, one for regular Champions… even an article that has something for three different genres at once!
When Last We Left Our Heroes: I-will-buy-The-Ultimate-Mentalist. It-is-the-best-gaming-supplement-ever. It-was-much-better-than-Cats, I’ll-read-it-again-and-again…
HEROglyphs (Drowning/Suffocation): Steve takes the environmental rules on suffocation and drowning, and writes them up as a pair of linked attacks. At a hair over 300 points total, they’re not for the faint-of-heart, but they do cover all that the drowning rules specify.
You Gotta Have Character (Emperor Norton I): YGHC will certainly broaden your horizons. This time, Jason takes us to mid-1800s San Francisco to tell us about the self-proclaimed US emperor, Norton I. While initially tempted to dismiss Emperor Norton as a basket case, I have to say – anybody that had Samuel Clemens’ support is certainly worth a closer look, and this article doesn’t disappoint. As always, YGHC serves as a wonderful time machine, putting us in the time and place (1860s San Fran) to fully flesh out this historic figure. Emperor Norton (either as himself or in some guise) would be a great NPC to introduce to nearly any genre as the Local Lovable Loon.
A Fistful of Talents: More like “Two Fists Full,” this article gives us over three dozen Fantasy Hero talents, ranging from spell manipulation (bought as naked Advantages with Charges) to weapon/armor mastery to, well, darn near any specialty you might have. These are a nice reference and add-on for any FH campaign.
Star*Guard 2640: Bob Greenwade shows us the Star*Guard at their relative weakest – between the 21st and 30th centuries, when magical power has waned. In addition to some history, a martial art, two vehicles, and a sample Star*Guard from that period, Bob also provides a series of campaign ideas for GMs running player character teams of Star*Guards.
The vehicles, though small in size, are extremely powerful and showcase the Star*Guard’s advanced technology. The sample character, along with the lower-powered Star Staff, show how limited this period’s Star*Guard is relative to those from the Champions and Galactic Champions eras.
My only quibble is with the Stealth ship’s hull plating, which to me seems a bit high. Talk about a pocket battleship! I can understand the need for hull plating given the inability to have shields raised while cloaked, but I’d at least make it ablative, if not take it down a bit. 80 DEF seems a touch excessive.
I Smell a Ratte: John Ivicek Jr. gives us... well, one huge muckin’ tank. Yes, this thousand-ton Nazi behemoth is just the thing to be the centerpiece of a Pulp or Golden Age adventure, even regular Champions. Well-written throughout; my favorite part was about looking at it through the “rosy lens of gaming.”
One minor caveat on the vehicle writeup itself: I wish the Knockback Resistance had shown the total (including that from the SIZE characteristic; none is listed there). And the next thing isn’t wrong; I just noticed that the big guns both have +1 STUN Multiplier. That’s in case two 8d6 AP RKA shots don’t hurt enough. (I kid you, John. I’d have put it on there, too.)
John provided his own artwork, which is nicely done. I especially appreciate the man standing on the turret – it gives a good sense of the size of this monster tank.
How to Lead a Superhero Team: We’ve all seen it happen – a hero team running around like a chicken with its head chopped off. Ross Watson returns to DH (has it really been since issue #5?) with some advice for players willing to step up to the plate and bring some direction to their team.
Ross presents all of the basic things you need to know to better lead a superhero team, arranged in five “Lesson” categories (which I think is a good way to organize them). Though these lessons are the meat of the article, the parts I think truly shine are the suggested skills and powers for the team leader, as well as the mini-guide on how NOT to lead a superhero team. These alone would be worth the price of admission. Well done.
But, I Thought They Were Good Guys…?: John Ivicek’s second article this issue covers passing off a supervillain group as heroes for various purposes. He provides some general information on doing this, as well as a sample villain-as-hero team. Overall, this article is good, providing advice on modifying villains to pass as new heroes, as well as suggestions on why the villains would be doing this in the first place.
My one problem with this article is that there’s no mention of dealing with possible mental snooping by the heroes. All it would take is one telepath, potentially even just reading surface thoughts, and the villain’s whole house of cards collapses instantly. While a hero would ideally not mentally intrude on fellow heroes, it’s a decent possibility (especially with my paranoid players) and should at least have been mentioned.
The illustrations of the sample villain-as-hero team, are quite good. I’ve always enjoyed D.T. Butchino’s work, and these don’t disappoint. They have a unified look that works well, IMO. The pics are greyscale, and frankly if I were to color them I would ignore much of the coloring in the character descriptions in favor of making their costumes match.
My favorite is probably Bulwark, with Mad Jack a close second (though he should be tilted a bit to show he’s flying on that disc). Decibel and Lady Psi are a bit plain; perhaps some sound- and psionic-type logo on the bodysuits could have spiced them up. (Note that the description didn’t call for such logos, so I can hardly fault D.T. for that.)
Cinematic Martial Artists: Mike Surbrook (I think I’ve heard of him somewhere – didn’t he write something in a previous DH issue?) gives us three martial arts characters, each for a different genre (fantasy, pulp, and cyberpunk). Each has an excellent background, great writeup, and, well, everything good we’ve come to expect from Mike. Frankly, the martial arts mesh wonderfully with the characters as a whole.
The art, by Darren Bulmer, is very good. The best, hands down, is Korosas. The detail on that picture really works wonderfully. I can practically see a Conan- or Capt. Kirk-type character just off-panel, facing off against this character. As to the others, I can easily imagine the ruins of the Neo York ZLEZ behind Danny 33 (love the smoke coming from the Ingram, BTW), and the Blue Scorpion’s action pose is my favorite part of that pic.