Springald Jack

Re: A Thin Moral Line...? 1. disagreeing with a moral premise in a fiction doesn't mean shtting your brain off. Hero is a deep and rich film, which happens to endorse totalitarianism. 2. More relevantly, the fact that Punisher can only be a good guy as a fictional character is kind of a silly point to make since he is a fictional character. Conventional powered superheroes are only possible in fiction. Actually, under certain circumstances a private citizen can in fact shoot someone legally. It may even be in the defense of another person rather than the defense of a shooter in many jurisdictions.

Re: Superhuman women and normal women I thought it did as was what it was. A Romantic Comedy about a Super Hero. I agree that they could have done more with Izzard. One account I've heard of what Super-Human Attractiveness is, is that a Super-Appearance character looks like those photos with no makeup, no retouching. When they've just woken up. It's one I like.

Re: A Thin Moral Line...? I haven't read Civil War. However, just because the majority of the general populace supports something doens't mean it is necessarily right within the moral framework of the setting. It could be a moral framework in the tradition of Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, "One person in the right, constitutes a majority of one." I also am not saying that the moral environment of a fiction is not a grounds on which to judge it. If I feel that the morality of a fiction is too out of wack it may cause me to dislike it. I was just pointing out that the same person can accept differing fiction's moral frameworks for the context of the fiction without a neccesary reflection on their won moral framework.

Re: A Thin Moral Line...? It's almost like people can enjoy fiction without totally accepting the morality of the imaginary world presented Even then maybe not. Punisher is about a man who must do what the system can't or won't do. The system often isn't even interested in achieving justice. Star Trek:the Next Generation is about a crew from a society that while not quite perfect has a system that works far better than any real system could where any serious miscarrige of justice is both rare and shocking. The Federation doesn't need the Punisher but his world does... I generally see Punisher as a Hero within the moral environment of his little corner of the fictional world he exists in. There what he does is True Justice. In the real world or a four-color environment he would be a dangerous lunatic. And that's the thing just as a world has its own physical rules it has its own moral rules. The crew of Serenity are criminals (even Innara and Book Aid and Abet fugitives and are Accessories to countless acts of smuggling and theft) but I never question the fact that in spite of himself Malcom Reynolds can't stop being a Big Damn Hero...

Re: WWYCD: Merchandising Hell

Re: Modern day Angels? While I'm probably a bigger fan of In Nomine than most people there is some salt you should take this with. 1. In IN "ordinary" angels aren't demi-god level they're more street-level supers power level. 2. While the heirarchies and choirs are influenced by the traditional angelology it departs from it significantly. Children of Fire is much closer to the traditional angelology though its full of its own novel bits as well. The coolest use of Angels in an RPG for my money however is the Angelic Imperators in Nobilis. (there they are very very god-like)

Re: Islam replaces Christianity The wonderful thing about alternate history is our understanding of hisorical causation is pretty weak. So you can do anything you want.

Re: matchmaker for masks? Myself She-Hulk. I'd buy it. She's pretty awesome... Back-ups Scarlet Witch Lyja

Re: Comics are getting too steamy... Super-Munchkin 2: the Narrow Escape has The Ex-Men who change your sex if you lose the combat. That's a myth.

Re: WWYCD: Arrested for TERRORISM!! Not necessarily it could be like Rorsach in Watchmen who, when captured, freely admitted doing what he'd done, but was unwilling to admit to the two murders he hadn't commited...

Re: WWYCD: Arrested for TERRORISM!! DoubleTime Well in current continuity he has a public ID, so no go... Hexslinger Probably would "go to sleep" in his cell to astral project out to begin the process of discovering/proving what is impersonating him. He's NOT interested in going public.

Re: The "Classic" Elements No the five agents are older than Confucius.

Re: Assumptions within HERO But it's not a game mechanically necessary consequence of Moves through objects. In fact there is a written limitation to drop the "takes no damage" aspect isn't there? They are default packaged but seperable effects.

Re: Rarity of Magic? The Buddha did not reject the existence of the gods, but rather their place in the Upanishadic Hindu cosmology. For Buddha they were just as much prisoners in Samsara as us, and because of their lives of pleasure in the Heavens, were less likely to embrace the Eightfold path which is the release from suffering. IMO this falls under the "your gods are weak" umbrella.

Re: Rarity of Magic? A couple of points 1. Western Science actually tells us that "possesion" states are trainable techniques that anyone can learn rather than a sign of mental abberation. 2. My point was that people of real faith in the real world where there are no unambiguous signs still experience "incontrovertible" proof. Before the Enlughtenment, nobody claimed that other people's supernatural experiences weren't real. THey said that your god is either A. Weaker than our god, or B. is Evil and trying to decieve you.

Re: How hard is your science ficiton? It depends. I like Transhuman Space, but I also like Star Trek.

Re: Elves Babylon 5's cop out for this was that Human's are much better at incorporating diversity and building community than other races. They had to unify their culture over time in order to unite.

Re: Rarity of Magic? That's a western attitude. I've seen a temple in India where a young woman was bossing around her whole family because she was possesed by a god. Who was therefore very obviously real to everyone involved. Many of the people in the temple were named Pondi (the name of the deity) because they're birth was as closely attributed to the intervention of Pondi as the I attribute the light in my room to flipping the switch.

Re: When you think "Superhero".... That's it. Superheroes require 1. A commitment to Higher moral principles (Truth & Justice) 2. At very least humans with incredible training if not out and out Superpowers.

Re: Real world vs. Game world As I mentioned in the Registration Act thread, Registered Metas can get very cheap(relatively) insurance through M.A.S.K. Non-registered are often unavailable for taking money from, and so Buisnesses take MPPD (Massive Paranormal Property Damage) Policies in places like Delta City, Victory City, NYC, LA, and Tokoyo.

Re: Elves There's no reason they HAVE to be but given his influence it isn't surprising that they ususally are in practice.

Re: WWYCD: The Campion Protocols Hexslinger would call the HeroGuard. It would be very hard to take them all 4 at once. That's why you HAVE A TEAM.

Re: Super Human Registration Act in 5th ed My Supers Universe has voluntary registration under the M.A.S.K. Act, which created M.A.S.K.* which is a semi-governmental agency. M.A.S.K. registered metas can testify in court get sweetheart deals on Property Destruction Insurance, and can be registered in Extranormal Academy (Super-Hero High) However the Civilian Identity portion of the M.A.S.K. Registry is only accessible via an appropriate Warrant or the unanimous vote of the M.A.S.K. Board of Trustees. *Metahuman Agency Systematizing Knowledge, not Mobile Armored Strike Kommand for all you cartoon fans.

Re: The use of accents/voices in your game I sometimes use accents, but I'm not that good at it. What I make effective use of (IMO) is what I call register, which consists of vocabulary, emphasis, and rate of speech.

Re: WWYCD: Quantum Leap Hexslinger Says,"'You must not hcange one thing not one pebble until you know what good and evil will follow that act. The world is in Balance, in Equilibrium. A Wizard's Power of Changing and Summoning disrupts that balance. It is dangerous that power, to light a candle is to cast a shadow.' Ursula K Le Guinn who despite not being a Wizard herself displayed a keen insight into the ethical ramifications of my kind. Begone!"