The Book Of The Destroyer

[Peregrine]

I noticed in the section covering Dr. D's views on other individuals that Teleios is not included. While he is mentioned elsewhere, I don't recall those constituting a similar level of information as to how Destroyer views Teleios, what role he might have in mind for the Master of Genetics in his eventual reign, etc.

Overall, the above constitutes a nit-pick as compared to the quality of the content. This is an excellent book, and I echo the classy use of past artwork - it gives credit to those who have gone before in creating and exploring Dr. Destroyer. Kudos to Andy for making the argument, and kudos to Steve for giving Andy the go-ahead.

[Lord Mhoram]

To give credit where it's due -- on the issue of using the old art Andy deserves the kudos. I thought of it, but was reluctant to do it for fear it might be seen as disrespectful. Andy convinced me it wouldn't be, and it seems he was correct.

Okay, kudos to you both.

Disrespectful? To me it is honoring the history of the character.

[FenrisUlf]

Once your players defeat Dr. Destroyer, you might as well pack it in. Thwart him, delay him, exile him, sure, but once they defeat him the movie is over and the credits roll. Beating him means that you didn't play his malevolence and intelligence up to full. Dr. D should be played as the guy who made Darth Vader cry.

Mechanon is for the cathartic, smash-to-bits victories. Dr. D is the omega.

I figured that Doctor D was the kind of villain you beat by ruining his plans, not by actually physically pounding into hamburger.

Besides, even if you did, smart money says it was just a Destroyerbot the good Doctor threw at you to keep you occupied ("Superheroes. So predictable.") while he flew off to plan his next scheme.

[FenrisUlf]

To me that was just class - respecting what came before.

I agree, but you know that with an attitude like that, Steve will never make it in the modern superhero comics business.

EDIT: I have to stop reading threads like this, you guys make me want this book SO MUCH.

[Dr Archeville]

So is Doctor D comfortable with not being able to receive radio/tv transmissions from Earth on Zuflucht (his super-secret base hidden in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter) until 30+ minutes after they're broadcast? It'd make responding to certain thigns nearly impossible.

[ghost-angel]

I'm not sure he's responded to anything since moving there.

[Steve Long]

Generally speaking, I think if he's hiding out there he doesn't much care what's going on here. In the event of an utter Plot-Based Emergency, assume Sennacherib can activate a Destroyer Android to respond.

[dan2448]

I just finished reading my copy of "The Book of the Destroyer." As a long-time "Champions" fan who owns both 1981's "The Island of Dr. Destroyer" and "The Day of the Destroyer" (which was published over a decade later), I was really looking forward to this volume.

I really liked the history of Dr. Destroyer and the analysis of his motivations, as well as the different stats for him over time. Those sections in particular were, I thought, absolutely excellent.

But I found the description of the Shadow Destroyer and his magical parallel world (as well as the psychic link that he seems to have with Dr. Destroyer) to be both convoluted and jarringly inconsistent with the "tone" of the description of Dr. Destroyer himself. But I am not an MMO player. So I probably won't ever encounter the Shadow Destroyer again.

Also, Dr. Destroyer's super-villain henchmen didn't appear to have any unifying element or theme to tie them together (exept, perhaps, that they were each pressed into serving him on threat of death). This was a fault with the original "Island of Dr. Destroyer" module from almost 30 years ago, too (I thought then as an 11 year-old, as well as now).

Notwithstandign my ambivalence about the Shadow Destroyer, I am looking forward to getting "The Book of the Machine," now that it's just been released, too. I just hope that I don't find the "Champions Online"-related additions and revisions in that book to be as underwhelming as in this one.

[GamePhil]

But I found the description of the Shadow Destroyer and his magical parallel world (as well as the psychic link that he seems to have with Dr. Destroyer) to be both convoluted and jarringly inconsistent with the "tone" of the description of Dr. Destroyer himself.

Well, this is kind of an interim story pending a rebooted storyline. Steve didn't want to just abruptly dump Destroyer's storyline for the MMO's (and didn't want to reveal the details of that, anyway, whatever parts of it he knew), but did want to include Shadow Destroyer. So he created a story that pretty logically (in my opinion, as logical as linking such different characters can be) linked the two of them together. I think the next Champions book will follow the MMO storyline more closely.

Hopefully he'll correct me if I got that wrong in any respect.

From what I can gather, among other differences Dr. Destroyer hasn't been seen since the Battle of Detroit in the MMO, and his return is part of the new storyline. No idea why the character has changed, including the apparent use of magic, but I expect that will be part of the ongoing story. So, the story might be more to your liking if for any reason you ever see him again. For no particular reason other than the concept art, I'm thinking he died and this is some version back from the dead, but I doubt that guess is correct.

[bubba smith]

two possiblities
1 he stole takofones' powers after battlind and defeating him
2 this is an alternateuniversed dr destroyer who employs both science and magic

[Lord Liaden]

Or, "Shadow Destroyer" could be more or less the same in Champions Online as Steve Long presented him in BOTD, just appearing earlier in the universe timeline. Given the way Cryptic seems to be playing up Defender as one of the world's greatest heroes, SD's identity would make for quite a shocking revelation in the MMO.

[TheQuestionMan]

Champions 3-D 6th Edition
*Champions: Earth 1st Edition - Doctor Destroyer
*Champions: Earth 4th Edition - Doctor Destroyer
*Champions: The New Millennium Universe - Doctor Destroyer (Mystic)
*Champions: Earth 5th Edition - Doctor Destroyer (The Book of the Destroyer)
*Champions: San Angelo Universe - ???
*Champions: Earth The Algernon Universe - ???
*Champions: Empire City Universe - Doctor Destroyer (Reality Storm: When Worlds Collide)
*Champions: Freedom City Universe - ???
*Champions: Earth 6th Edition - ???
*Champions: Strikeforce Universe - ???


Cheers


QM

[GamePhil]

Or, "Shadow Destroyer" could be more or less the same in Champions Online as Steve Long presented him in BOTD, just appearing earlier in the universe timeline. Given the way Cryptic seems to be playing up Defender as one of the world's greatest heroes, SD's identity would make for quite a shocking revelation in the MMO.

I'd be perfectly happy with that, I actually liked the story (alternate universes and time travel have been very very good to me). However, I seriously doubt that they're going to have the reveal of one of their Big Bads happen a year before the game is even released.

Still, you never know, they may be counting on that attitude to cover the fact that this really is the plan

[Peregrine]

I had a horrifying scenario: replace the canonical Dr. D and Luther Black with Shadow Destroyer, and make him native to the resulting alt.CU.

That's right. DEMON led by the Shadow Destroyer...

[James Gillen]

Glad you liked it.

JG