Australia in the current CU

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I fear you were misled, tribe. There's nothing on the official publication schedule through 2008, and AFAIK nobody from DOJ has even hinted that such a book is in the works. Heck, a new Kingdom Of Champions for the UK has long been proclaimed a book that Hero Games wants to put out, and even that isn't on the official schedule.

 

(I hope you'll pardon a bit of Canuckian pride that 5E Champions Of The North is due up this year.)

 

Perhaps one of you blokes Down Under with game writing experience should consider working up a proposal? If it were for the official Champions Universe you'd need one or more justifications for increased supers activity in the area. The Well of Worlds would certainly justifiy more escapees from the Dreamtime like Marmoo, as well as interest from occult villain orgs such as DEMON and the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. Lemuria is in the Indian Ocean, and the Lemurians are searching for their ancestors' ancient abandoned colonies and bases, some of which could easily be near the coast of Oz or NZ.

 

Upthread I suggested a Kelvarite meteor shower inducing a wave of new supers. Note that with slightly different trajectories and aerodynamics, not all meteors from one shower need land in the same small area - Smallville notwithstanding. In fact "strewn fields" from meteorite falls can be spread over thousands of miles. Such an event would definitely attract more interest from international supercriminal groups such as VIPER and ARGENT, and genetic experimenters like Teleios or King Cobra. (It just occurred to me that a meteor impact on Ayers Rock could be just the thing to temporarily crack open the Well of Worlds, making the mystical influx part of one major event.)

[Cygnia]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

You could always bring back Seeker officially...

 

*ducks and runs*

[st barbara]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

For precisely the same reasoning between Canada and the USA (ie too many people generalise).

(just my two bits from an Aussie with Kiwi friends).

 

If we had supers, they should be sports-related

The Heir of Bradman, maybe - or The Footy King.

How about a female field hockey player with super speed and a hockey stick with "missile deflection, back at any target, only if aware of attack". Call her "Hockeyroo" after the Aussie womens hockey team !

[st barbara]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Just an addendum. I would actually like to see a book covering not only Australia but the rest of "Oceania" including New Zealand, Papua-New Guinea, Fiji and various other Pacific Island nations. They might not all have there own heros of course but, wouldn't Papua -New Guinea make a great place to hide the lair of say a crazed geneticist who manufactures supers and monsters for criminal organizations ? (Shameless plug I have done just that with my villain "Dr.Cross" in my "All The World's Heros" project:rolleyes:)

[st barbara]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Savate?! For an Aussie Rules footie player?!?! Come on! Show some home team pride; give him a few moves from Dirty Infighting and Speedster Martial Arts' date=' and some Damage Reduction. I'm thinking low to mid-level brick with a fair bit of running, a physical Energy Blast (started as a ball, but has grown to be most anything with enough heft). Dang, this could get to be a cool NPC.[/quote'] That actually sounds cool. A low to mid level brick with high endurance (Aussie Rules players often run the equivalent of an Olympic marathon during a game), super leap and maybe even a unique "martial art" developed from the "speedster martial arts" package. (The "move through slam" for example is a fair simulation of an Aussie Rules. "hip and shoulder" bump !) Sounds like it could be fun ! Now, what do I call him ? "Cazaly" (after the legendary player Roy Cazaly) might be appropriate, but would anyone outside Australia "get" the reference ? Perhaps more importantly, which team's uniform does he wear ? Perhaps compromise and have him wear the green and gold of Aussie national teams !

[Hermit]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I sort of offered to write something about Australia for Digital Hero in this thread (from about post 150 or so I think).

 

Clearly there's a demand

[st barbara]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Okay. I just did a bit of research (reading "Panel By Panel : An Illustrated History of Australian Comics" by John Ryan) and came up with some "real" Aussie supers who featured in comics (strips and books) in Australia. "Chesty Bond" for example in his black trousers,white singlet, curly hair and shoes was originally created to sell singlets ("Bonds Athletics") He had super strength and his singlet was super tough and bullet proof and dates back to 1938 ! "Stockwhip Sam" (as his name implies) wielded a whip with amazing accuracy ,he was created in 1947. "Silver Starr" was a superbly drawn "homage" to "Flash Gordon" created in 1949 while "Iron Outlaw" and "Steel Sheila" were armoured Aussie heros ("Outlaw's armour resembled that of the famous bushranger Ned Kelly) of the 1970's. "The Crimson Comet" was a winged hero (who hid his wings under an artificial hunchback when not in costume) from 1948 while "Wocko the Beaut" was a superman parody in swimming trunks, singlet and bowler hat from 1945. Throw in "Flame Man", "The Invisible Avenger", "Molo The Mighty", "The Panther" and "Captain Atom" and you have a group of names for Aussie heros that were actually used by Australian comic creators !

[tribe]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I sort of offered to write something about Australia for Digital Hero in this thread (from about post 150 or so I think).

 

I just read the post. DUH, right?

 

I'd be really interested in this if you're going to go ahead and write something up.

[tribe]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Actually, thinking about it some more, would it be a good idea to get like-minded Australians together and do something like Kingdom of Champions for Australia.

 

I know St Barbara would be keen to help out, and so would I.

 

Maybe we should start a new thread and see if there is interest in a group project kind of approach. I'm Victorian. OzMike is a sandgroper.... er, sorry... from Western Australia. And St Barbara is from Queensland, right? Probably wrong, but that was my impression.

[tribe]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Actually, thinking about it some more, would it be a good idea to get like-minded Australians together and do something like Kingdom of Champions for Australia.

 

I know St Barbara would be keen to help out, and so would I.

 

Maybe we should start a new thread and see if there is interest in a group project kind of approach. I'm Victorian. OzMike is a sandgroper.... er, sorry... from Western Australia. And St Barbara is from Queensland, right? Probably wrong, but that was my impression.

 

Okay, so St.Barbara is from Sydney.

 

I think Assault is from Queensland!

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Yep, assault is from Toowoomba, Queensland. You might also get help from another HERO sandgroper, Weldun (from Perth).

 

That's five pretty creative folks who could form the core of the endeavor. Like I said upthread, it would be great if you could put together a book proposal to submit to Steve Long. Book creation by committee is hardly unprecedented around here; that's how Traveller HERO came about.

 

Of course Southern Cross is from New Zealand, so he may be prevailed upon to provide input there. And hey, Susano just got back from his Oz adventure, so he would probably be a good resource on what should be included for Americans. Not to mention on how to write books for Hero Games.

[st barbara]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Yep, assault is from Toowoomba, Queensland. You might also get help from another HERO sandgroper, Weldun (from Perth).

 

That's five pretty creative folks who could form the core of the endeavor. Like I said upthread, it would be great if you could put together a book proposal to submit to Steve Long. Book creation by committee is hardly unprecedented around here; that's how Traveller HERO came about.

 

Of course Southern Cross is from New Zealand, so he may be prevailed upon to provide input there. And hey, Susano just got back from his Oz adventure, so he would probably be a good resource on what should be included for Americans. Not to mention on how to write books for Hero Games.

 

That's not a bad idea "Lord Laiden". The problem might be getting everyone together at one time and place for the time necessary to do the work. It would (geographically speaking) be like getting people from New York, Carolina, New Orleans, Georgia and Los Angeles together to persue such a project ! It MIGHT be possible (I certainly have time) but it might also be rather difficult. The other alternative might be for ONE person to write it, asking for input from the others. I have the time but I have also NEVER tried seriously to write for a gaming company, don't have a typewriter and type slowly.

[tribe]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

What about email correspondence? I've written a thesis with a partner who lived 500kms away and we did most of the work via email and phone.

 

If this does go ahead the people involved might work on a chapter each and then send it in to the group for review. For example, someone might write up a chapter on Sport in Australia while another might work on Politics.

 

Do you think we should start a Thread on this idea (if there's interest) or still use this one?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

That's not a bad idea "Lord Laiden". The problem might be getting everyone together at one time and place for the time necessary to do the work. It would (geographically speaking) be like getting people from New York' date=' Carolina, New Orleans, Georgia and Los Angeles together to persue such a project ! It MIGHT be possible (I certainly have time) but it might also be rather difficult. The other alternative might be for ONE person to write it, asking for input from the others. I have the time but I have also NEVER tried seriously to write for a gaming company, don't have a typewriter and type slowly.[/quote']

 

You mean people still meet face to face nowadays?

 

Seriously, I have to agree with tribe, a great deal of creative collaboration these days takes place solely electronically, including among Hero Games writers and editors. I am aware of the great geographical separation of all of your locations; but going back to the Traveller HERO example, of the three original principle collaborators, shadowcat1313 is in Illinois, Eodin lists his location as San Francisco/Dallas, and tancred is based in South Carolina. A great deal of TH brainstorming was carried out right here on the boards.

 

But let me just make clear that I'm not assuming you'll do this or urging you to do it. It's not for me to decide if any of you are in a position to take it on. It would be cool, though.

[Southern Cross]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I'm willing to contribute any New Zealand stuff to such a book,but I have no experience with writing any books as such,and I'll have to communicate using the internet.

[assault]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I'm willing to consider the possibility, but FtF meetings wouldn't be possible.

 

We would definitely need one or more people who would be willing to drive the thing, but that's a case of volunteering for serious stress with relatively unknown partners. Very dodgy.

 

On the plus side, we could probably lift a first draft outline from COTN, with the benefit of reviews and other critiques.

 

We would also need to negotiate a common vision between people who all have their own ideas and approaches to the game. That would be even before we had to cope with deadline issues.

 

Such a project could come unstuck very quickly.

 

On the other hand, just thinking about it today has led me to create a fairly neat set of villains, who will be of use to me regardless.

 

Another random thought - a subtitle: "From 'X' Special Unit to the 21st Century boom - a history of Australian superbeings".

 

Obviously we wouldn't actually use it, but I think it's interesting. My universe, of course, but interesting.

 

(The "21st Century boom" refers to the idea that lots and lots of superbeings emerged in the area between the publication of Champions Universe and when this hypothetical book comes out. In other words, lots of new characters would have been added to the CU from an area where it was originally stated they were fairly rare.)

 

Another odd idea: adding an "Apocrypha" chapter to the end, where characters that don't exist in the official CU could be written up. Such characters "might or might not" exist in a parallel universe, and would include characters like Seeker. He is, of course, the reason why I thought of the idea. Since, of course, he is Hero Games property, such a chapter might require Steve or Darren to write it, or at least some kind of clear idea about the rights and stuff.

 

I will refrain from mentioning all the other mad ideas I have come up with...

[Drhoz]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Another Sandgroper here *waves* - also Barbara VdB, and '3', and Sundog (altho he's more an honorary sandgroper, being, as he is, from washington).

 

Biggest problem an Australian super is going to have is the public reaction he'll get. We tend to have no patience at all for somebody that calls *themself* a hero, but we'll defend to the bitter end anyone we *decide* is a hero, especially if they're modest about it.

 

"Tall Poppy Syndrome" is alive and well in the Antipodes.

 

(I wonder if there's any way of working in our famously lethal wildlife? No relationship between name and power of course, otherwise 'Blue' wouldn't be a common nickname for redheads.)

[Bunyip]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

One more out west here - although I should be going back to Sydney 'Real Soon Now' - and happy to pitch in. I've done some F2F collaboration here recently on a D&D-type setting, but I prefer modern-day settings. (Personal background: born Sydney, raised UK, back here in 2003 and bouncing between coasts since then. Old-school DC fan, now lapsed - got into comics with the LSH in Adventure Comics and moved on from there.)

[st barbara]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I'm starting to think that this idea could be a goer! Problem , of course , is what "Hero Games" people think of it. Where and when would such a book fit into their hectic publishing schedule ? "Champions Of The North" and "Kingdom Of Champions" both seem to have good basic layouts to me, and we might need to get details of what additions have been made to Australia in the "Champions Universe" (details on "The Well Of The Worlds" for example) but i'm thinking that maybe it COULD be done. What do other people think ?

[tribe]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I'm starting to think that this idea could be a goer! Problem ' date=' of course , is what "Hero Games" people think of it. Where and when would such a book fit into their hectic publishing schedule ? "Champions Of The North" and "Kingdom Of Champions" both seem to have good basic layouts to me, and we might need to get details of what additions have been made to Australia in the "Champions Universe" (details on "The Well Of The Worlds" for example) but i'm thinking that maybe it COULD be done. What do other people think ?[/quote']

 

I think the first thing we should do is see where OzMike is with all of this since he said he was starting such a project.

 

As for the publishing schedule I don't think it will be a major problem. This project would take a while to put together in a professional way - probably a year at least.

 

I would love to contribute though, so you can count me in.

[assault]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Problem ' date=' of course , is what "Hero Games" people think of it.[/quote']

 

On a gamer geek level, I'm sure they would love it. On a business level, they would no doubt have to ask: would it sell?

 

I wonder if there's any way of working in our famously lethal wildlife?

 

You mean like this, this or this?

 

Slightly more seriously, names like Redback, Funnelweb, The Shark and so on are obvious enough, and can suggest character concepts.

 

Statting out most of the actual critters seems kind of pointless. Few would be much of a threat to superbeings. Making people go "eww - scary!" is kind of rewarding in its own right though.

[tribe]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

Costs for printing would be low if it was produced as a PDF.

[OzMike]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I think the first thing we should do is see where OzMike is with all of this since he said he was starting such a project.

 

As for the publishing schedule I don't think it will be a major problem. This project would take a while to put together in a professional way - probably a year at least.

 

I would love to contribute though, so you can count me in.

 

I've PMed you mate, but I'll post some of the same stuff here

 

At the moment, I think that what each of us should do is work something up for Digital Hero. Something that shows you can write, that you are willing to write, and also shows others where you are coming from, ideas-wise. I'm mainly doing it to hone my writing chops. Plus a DH article is relatively short and is less of a time commitment than a whole book (I'd know).

 

While I'm planning on incorporating 5th ed stuff, Dave Mattingly has said that what you write for DH can be as 'official' as you like, so you can include as many powered characters as you like in the articles.

[Drhoz]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

You mean like this' date=' this or this?

 

*grins*

 

Slightly more seriously, names like Redback, Funnelweb, The Shark and so on are obvious enough, and can suggest character concepts.

 

Statting out most of the actual critters seems kind of pointless. Few would be much of a threat to superbeings. Making people go "eww - scary!" is kind of rewarding in its own right though.

 

Considering a platypus - electro-senses that can easily pick up prey in total darkness, amphibious, venemous spurs, etc, is pretty scary in itself

[tribe]

Re: Australia in the current CU

 

I've PMed you mate, but I'll post some of the same stuff here

 

At the moment, I think that what each of us should do is work something up for Digital Hero. Something that shows you can write, that you are willing to write, and also shows others where you are coming from, ideas-wise. I'm mainly doing it to hone my writing chops. Plus a DH article is relatively short and is less of a time commitment than a whole book (I'd know).

 

While I'm planning on incorporating 5th ed stuff, Dave Mattingly has said that what you write for DH can be as 'official' as you like, so you can include as many powered characters as you like in the articles.

 

This sounds like a great idea.

 

I'm going to see if I can find information on submission guidelines etc, and maybe come back and bounce some possible Digital Hero ideas around here.

 

Ben