Limitations and the Silver Age

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

Hadn't heard this story. Could you elaborate' date=' please?[/quote']

 

In his very first appearance, superscientist Lex Luthor had red hair. He had a crony, however, who was bald. When someone decided to use Lex again, the artist looked up tyhe previous story, and grabbed the wrong character. Poor Lex could have had a full head of hair to this day if the artist had actualy READ the previous story and figured out which character was the scientist and which one was the lackey.

[assault]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

I would say that the fairy takes 2xBody and Stun from Pure Iron - they had iron forged swords before the discovery of steel.

...

I would then go with 1.5xBody and Stun vulnerability from Steel Weapons - it's still mostly iron but it's not as "pure" as pure iron would be.

 

A little too complicated for my tastes.

 

Still, it would work.

[David Johnston]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

I would say that, for game balance purposes, we're talking about cold iron in the literal sense. Element of Fe, atomic # 26.

 

Steel is an alloy of iron, but the carbon content is only about 1.7% at most.

 

Here's what I would do.

 

I would say that the fairy takes 2xBody and Stun from Pure Iron - they had iron forged swords before the discovery of steel. I would say this is an Uncommon - and I would say it's a vulnerability, not a susceptability. Otherwise you're going to be spending all game trying to figure out the iron content in things like pokers and frying pans...

 

I would then go with 1.5xBody and Stun vulnerability from Steel Weapons - it's still mostly iron but it's not as "pure" as pure iron would be. This would be common.

 

Bullets are made from lead, not iron,

 

Quite a lot of them are steel jacketed. I'd probably suggest that it would be better to stick to cast and wrought iron as her vulnerability and assume that the process of turning iron into steel eliminates the faerie allergy for this character. She doesn't sound like she'll have good defenses anyway.

[OzMike]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

quick question: if I gave Glamour a vulnerability to cold iron:

 

1. Would that be correct for someone who derives her powers from faeries of British origin?

 

2. Would that be VC, Com, or UC?

 

3. Would that include bullets?

 

Perhaps cold iron refers to iron that is not heated (as in not fresh from the blacksmith). Anyways, you can decide to what degree. Personally, I liked the idea of a susceptibility and a physical limitation. Doesn't have to be an attack then.

[gojira]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

I think (personally believe) that cold iron refers to the fact that the previous inhabitants of Brittan didn't have iron working technology. And that cold iron (spear points) made them go away.

 

However for a Silver Agey campaign I like the idea of meteoric iron or some other specially forged and enchanted stuff. Otherwise the character is gonna be in serious hurt.

[Marketeer]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

Another definition that is usable is taking "cold iron" to mean "iron never heated by the forge"--iron that has not been worked or forged.

 

The definitions of "cold iron" vary from universe to universe.

[Bismark]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

Other silly weaknesses - the colony of Kryptonians that got isolated an which the LSH hero Mon-El came from; their weakness was lead (watch out for element transmuters - 'change costume to lead' -OUCH! - which was done by Element Lad in an LSH comic to a villain from said colony).

 

Also, note how many incredibly silly Silver Age villains (like Metallo 'the man with the kryptonite heart') got revived in the mid-80s as comedy opponents for Blue Devil .

[assault]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

Also' date=' note how many incredibly silly Silver Age villains (like Metallo 'the man with the kryptonite heart') got revived in the mid-80s as [i']comedy[/i] opponents for Blue Devil .

 

I must admit that Metallo doesn't really rate on my list of "incredibly silly Silver Age villains". He's a cyborg who is powered by radioactive materials - uranium, or, preferably, kryptonite. Sounds fine to me.

 

In fact, the original Metallo story was a classic. I read a reprint of it as a kid, and still remembered it three decades later when I read it again.

 

There are many, much sillier characters than Metallo around.

[David Johnston]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

But Lex Luthor's brain in Metallo's body, making him Metallex was much cooler

[Powerhouse]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

Hmm... just what is "cold iron" ?

 

I think I might just change it to iron. Steel is cleansed of what hurts the faries but the original iron will still do damage. That way the character can still deal with most modern threats but if someone is aware of her weakness, they can exploit it.

[OzMike]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

Hmm... just what is "cold iron" ?

 

A ferrous metal that is not hot?

[Kenn]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

A cold iron hasn't been plugged in yet. A hot iron is much better for pressing (ironing) one's clothes, though.

 

All in all, I'd rate getting hit with a cold iron uncommon.

[Powerhouse]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

Hi everyone! Bumping my thread in part because I was seeking some help. I'm working on Athena's rewrite at the moment. She's a Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel/Thor homage with some Spiderman private life drama tossed in.

 

After discovering the Aegis shield and saying a prayer (she must invoke this prayer to become Athena), she becomes Athena's avatar. Thus, can she be changed back to her unpowered self against her will or at least when it's REALLY inconvient? So far some kind souls have posted:

 

For your Athena, I'd suggest either that a counterspell would do it, or possibly the removal of a focus (the Aegis Shield perhaps?) for too long. I know I used the counterspell idea when I was writing up "Winged Victory" an avatar of Nike in my Hudson City 1938 game that I'm working on. She's a Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel/Hawkgirl type.

 

and

 

I do like the change into normal idea. Maybe just give her a limited amount of time as a hero, she changes back automatically so she has to be aware of the time. Plenty of time for fights and short missions but long missions can be a problem. Like the Mantis could only operate for a few hours in his exo-suit. She (Athena) might have to return to an ancient greek artifact once a day to meditate and recharge her powers.

 

Some good ideas so far but I'd love to hear some more. Maybe the counter prayer is really short and sounds like a common English phrase? Hmm...

 

As always, thanks!

[OddHat]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

Hi everyone! Bumping my thread in part because I was seeking some help. I'm working on Athena's rewrite at the moment. She's a Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel/Thor homage with some Spiderman private life drama tossed in.

 

After discovering the Aegis shield and saying a prayer (she must invoke this prayer to become Athena), she becomes Athena's avatar. Thus, can she be changed back to her unpowered self against her will or at least when it's REALLY inconvient? So far some kind souls have posted:

 

For your Athena, I'd suggest either that a counterspell would do it, or possibly the removal of a focus (the Aegis Shield perhaps?) for too long. I know I used the counterspell idea when I was writing up "Winged Victory" an avatar of Nike in my Hudson City 1938 game that I'm working on. She's a Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel/Hawkgirl type.

 

and

 

I do like the change into normal idea. Maybe just give her a limited amount of time as a hero, she changes back automatically so she has to be aware of the time. Plenty of time for fights and short missions but long missions can be a problem. Like the Mantis could only operate for a few hours in his exo-suit. She (Athena) might have to return to an ancient greek artifact once a day to meditate and recharge her powers.

 

Some good ideas so far but I'd love to hear some more. Maybe the counter prayer is really short and sounds like a common English phrase? Hmm...

 

As always, thanks!

 

How Silver Age do you want to get?

 

These all fit a very Silver Age game:

 

• She changes back if she says her name.
   
  She changes back if she allows a man to kiss her.
   
  She changes back if a man defeats her in honrable single combat.

 

For a more Bronze sort of tone:

• She changes back if she sleeps or is knocked out.
   
  She changes back if stripped of her magic bracers.
   
  A prayer to Hecate (or some other goddess rival of Athena) can change her back.
   
  The forceful presentation of a Christian symbol by a person of faith forces the pagan goddess Athena to withdraw her blessing, changing the heroine back.

 

I use a lot of Hero ID Only characters in my threads on the Five and the New Circle. Most can be forced out of Hero ID by an appropriate ritual, or by being knocked out and having their items of power taken from them.

[Blade]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

I think bullets are usually made of lead' date=' though (except steel-jacketed bullets?), so she probably wouldn't have much trouble with them.[/quote']

 

Most bullets are made of lead, some are steel jacketed, most are jacketed with brass, but often they are not "full metal jacket" bullets because partially jacketed bullets mushroom and do more damage. As a side note, in a more modern (time period) game, most shotguns will use steel shot (lead poisons fish and waterfowl, etc, so many states mandated steel shot, resulting in most shotgun shells using steel shot. In any case, I wouldn't go with steel as a vulnerability for a faerie character, I think any pure Iron weapon would be fine (watch out for Iron of the Metal Men, delivering the Silver Age Beat Down!!!)

[zornwil]

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

 

I always hated the Green Lantern 24 hour limit because it made no sense. Why would the charge on a power ring made by aliens from Oa last exactly one Earth day? Why didn't it work for 17 hours and 6 minutes or 41 hours and 22.6 minutes or something equally alien? Why a Terran day? Even if they'd explained as a mnemonic aid ("It really lasts a little bit over 25 of your planet's 'hours' date='' Green Lantern of Sector 2247, but to provide a narrow safety margin we suggest you recharge it every 24 Earth hours without fail.") it would have been less ridiculous. Would that have been so tough to think of? [/quote']

Then again, why not have it be that the Lantern is refueled by the planet's movement, some weird cosmic physics law of the gravitational and rotational forces interplay.

 

So on any planet, it's a "day". On other sorts of celestial bodies it might work differently...

 

I know, I know, they likely almost certainly were sloppy in reasoning. I'm just sayin'...