Spence

Well, I can't speak to many of these, mostly because I stopped in the early 90's when IMO they all got creatively bankrupt and turned to rehashing old story lines instead of creating. But that is another tale I had to resort to wiki to reorganize my memories and it looks like I wasn't even thinking of Carol Danvers at all. But Monica Rambeau (maybe???) who was the second Cap Marvel in the 80's before returning the mantel to Captain Marvel's son in the early 90's at about when I stopped reading. The biggest reason I disliked the BS in the latest Captain Marvel is that the idea of the Heroes Journey and their struggle to gain their powers was absent. The female Heroes in the past all made the journey into power and gained the respect of their peers because they deserved it. Pretty much all the new comic stuff (movies and books) I have seen so far that have female Heroes (specifically not including Black Widow, Sif or GotG) all beat the 2x4 to the head that they are the bestest of all because they are women and the only thing holding them down is "the evil mens". The Marvel movie didn't portray a powerful Heroine coming to her power, instead she was a oblivious dup that was being lead on and controlled by a con. And not even a good con. Finally after multiple massively obvious clues are dropped on her head, sometimes repeatedly, she notices "something isn't right". Even after she is freed to pursue her own goals, she still conducts herself as an arrogant spoiled brat with power. As for Ant-man. Yes, his part was to add humor. But there is a sharp contrast in the appearances. In the his other appearances (not Ant-man and the Wasp) he was portrayed as a guy who didn't know what he didn't know. Not stupid but out of his depth who in spite of it always tried to do the right thing and never gave up. The humor was more tasteful and more reminiscent of the Hulk/Thor interaction in Avengers. You laughed, but not as much at him as the situation. Ant-man and the Wasp just dropped the pretense and it became "man bad, ug". Of course everyone has their take, but for the last 5 years Hollywood and their political action arm has made sure I've been buried under the never ending drum that I am genetically evil by birth. And the MCU has made some sharp turns in that direction recently. Black Widow was in the can before they jerked the wheel, so I hope it will still be good. But I don't think they will be getting too much of my money in the next few years. And we are already seeing the result of vilifying two of the larger demographics as evil, the caucasian and men as a whole. The comic industry went in hard and fast with many of the writers actually stating that they didn't want "people like that", ie White or Men, to buy their works. Now the industry is hovering on bankruptcy and bumping prices to insane amounts per unit with sale plummeting. When you look at the the sale figures they are touting as "good", once you realize that they are including manga in the total and the comic only numbers are dismal, you realize just how poor things are. Hollywood knows this, which is one of the reasons they recently have been publicly saying that there is not real connection between movies and the comics anymore. The sad thing is that at the very same time they are embracing the very thing that killed the comic. I enjoyed reading Mark Millar's realization that Twitter doesn't actually represent more than microscopic portion of people and certainly not the people that pay money for anything. Anyone that actually thinks Twitter is a good way to gauge public opinion has far worse personal issues than worrying about entertainment. I truly hope I am wrong, but I am pretty sure we are seeing the beginning of the end of the MCU as they shift from entertainment to activism. It isn't too late if they just go back to bringing superheroes to the screen based on their original works. To be safe they should just consider anything after 1995 as not existing. But they won't, being the smartest people in America they will embrace their sacred truths and put them "evil mens" in their place.

Pretty spot on. For me it is one of my favorite cartoons because Batman. Batman is pretty much my favorite DC character, so I am willing to overlook a lot Though I'll admit I prefer the older original grittier versions over the more modern sanitized versions. That setting aesthetic IMO is one of the best things in the show. The TV series Gotham also had a great vibe.

100% agreement. I have enjoyed movies set in the original period far more than any movie that was "modernized" in order for audiences to understand, because we all know the modern audience is extremely stupid and barely literate. Everyone has to understand that the purpose of the modern movie is not entertainment, it is to push whatever agenda that the maker has decided they will uplift the mentally slow public from their pit of ignorance. I believe the MCU has entered a nose dive and will crater in the next year or so. While people keep referring to the old successful movies, they are ignoring the last year or so. They are also ignoring the MCU as a whole and how the emphasis has been totally redirected from entertainment and bringing the character to life to bludgeoning the peons with whatever, and maybe add some entertainment. Look at the MCU in the last few years. Ant-Man and the Wasp 2018 - Ant-man relegated to bumbling sidekick Captain Marvel 2019 - rewrote character into snide a$$ and then doubled down on vilifying half the potential audience with arrogance. Avengers: Endgame 2019 - not much they could do at this late stage but were sure to add a "mens stupid, look! the women will handle it" image that did nothing for the story. Pure political agenda entry. Spider-Man: Far From Home 2019 - Surprisingly avoided a jarring agenda insert. You can find things if you feel the need and spend time, but the movie was just a movie overall. WandaVision 2021 - Completely deviates from the storyline at the end to avoid the toxic evil white man and then proudly proclaimed the reason. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 2021 - never ending drum beat of "white man bad" The MCU was so great because it was entertainment. Now that they have decided they have a higher calling and are moving forward to "reeducate" people it will fall off. I went to see Captain Marvel because I had always thought the character was kick-ass based on the comics I had read. Of course I stopped reading them in the early 90's so I was surprised at Captain Marvel being so wimpy gullible personality'wise they had written the character. I was really confused as to what they were trying to accomplish character'wise right up until I watched interviews where she spoke. There was a time where the studios understood that some people just shouldn't speak in public if you wanted to sell the product. Actors are profession make believe people. They make believe they are someone they are not. Make-believe. I never believed that Robert Downy Jr was a genius inventor. Not one moment. Here is a dose of hard reality. If you select a portion of the population and define them as genetically evil "just because" and then load that into your product. The vast number of that portion of the population will not buy it as soon as they realize what you are doing. 2018 was the beginning and not only has the overall audience seen it, but they have had the change reinforced by the streaming shows. Much like the Oscars cratering as they honored virtually unknown films and used 90% of the show to proselytize. Hollywood has also begun to see it. Sure, the floor hasn't fallen in completely, but they have been adding bricks instead of straws and it won't be long. The MCU is on the cusp and we will see in the next year or so what they do. I am really looking forward to Black Widow. But at the same time I am dreading it. I am hoping that it was mostly made before they decided that agenda was more important than entertainment, but we will see. US comics are in dire straights and no matte3r how they spin it it is getting worse. Earlier this month I saw that the US graphic novel sales (comics + any other graphic style) was 15 million for the period. While Demon Slayer sold over 100 million alone in the same period. Another article showed the Demon Slayer line selling 385 million books in the period (I think this was a quarter and I'd have to go find the article) as opposed to Batman's 88,000. Batman! My favorite comic character can only muster 88,000? But then comics have long abandoned being rip roaring action and adventure in favor of being agenda driven. With many of the writer telling their fans to get stuffed if they don't like it. Good way to say good bye to their dollars. Of course I see the constant comic editorials by DC, Marvel and such claiming that things are great. The other day I read an article claiming comic store were going gangbusters lately. I dropped by my local comic shop, actually a comic, gaming, collectable shop and ask him how things were going. His is the last comic shop in a hundred miles. And they were right, he has been doing great. But it wasn't any of the current comics. Business is being driven by collectables, old comic issues and manga. When I looked at the shelf (and he maintains a fairly substantial number of shelves with trades) I did notice that the older run prints were sparse. I also noticed that a good half of the floor dedicated to books was now manga. His section of current titles were far less populated. I remember at least 10 or more copies per issue filling the shelves, now it is maybe 3 or 4. And he is down to one "draw cabinet" rather than the three from last year. Things have really changed and I hope the US comic industry will realize that twitter really does not represent people that actually buy things and get back to being an industry that is there to entertain. /rant

The most relevant point I hope to see you there, if not have a fantastic "spooky" birthday celebration with your other half As a note, DF is great about crediting forward to the next year if you can't make it.

+1 +2 +3 Wait.....this is hard....

I think we find out the MCU version of her story here. I think we will find her entire family is enhanced.

I seem to remember you are correct, though I can't cite any direct standard that say that. When I was younger (and poorer) I would skimp every way I could to get a physical copy and then didn't think it too unreasonable to get the PDF in anyway I could. Today I am older, grayer, have exchanged my shape for a rounder one and have more disposable income. So I don't mind buying both from a game company that I like. A PDF may be useless to me for understanding the rules and game prep. But it is fantastic for printing out game aids and handouts.

Most definitely true for us old peeps. But I am seeing direct adverse impacts on the young kids (or maybe I should say younger sailors ). I spend so much time pulling things together that should be available from the start, but leadership these days is so blinded by Master Degree and PhD that they don't seem to realize that those designations lost their distinction decades ago. 30 years ago it meant that they could walk into the workcenter and immediately go to work because they were Engineers with a capitol E. Now they walk through the door and I have to explain to them what we are looking at and how to read the technical manuals.

@Black Widow: I'm fine with that. I love action spy movies, especially super-spies (as opposed to actual superhero/supervillains/superbeings). @Shang Chi: My jury is out. I really like high action martial arts movies and shows. Into the Badlands is one of my favorite in years. Like you I have no idea about the cast, but I am really hoping to be surprised in a good way. @Eternals: Meh, the trailer felt more like they were trying to discourage people from watching it rather than entice them. I get the vibe that it is going to be a 2ish hour long moral opinion indoctrination film disguised as a entertainment movie. Or an attempt anyway. I plan on seeing BW as soon as I can. But the other two will wait till they are on the "not $19.99 to rent on TV" list.

Exactly. A perfect way to describe it.

Exactly. Physical page location really impacts recall and retention of information. In the technical manuals I've used for the last forty years, not only do you remember exactly where the information you need right now is located, but you aquire a really good working knowledge of where everything else is because you've seen it in passing so many times. And schematics and wiring diagrams have become nightmares. No such thing as a complete anything anymore, instead they only see snapshots, one screen at a time. These days if I am going to teach the sailors a system the first thing is to create a full system schematic (for training purposes only) or update my existing one if I've already made it. It is almost mind blowing to see the almost instant understanding when they actually see the full system in front of them in one place rather than a zillion individual snippets. Once they understand the overall system, then "zooming in" one snippet at a time is doable. eBooks have their uses, but those are limited.

I'm pretty much the same. Information just doesn't stick in my mind unless I read it from an actual physical book. Now I am a great fan of the utility of a PDF for printing pages. If I am using something from in game in a session I like to print it out. I can then write notes on it as much as I want during the game.

Meh.. sums it up nicely. I'd say that plenty of people here liked the MCU. At least until the recent derailing and disastrous redirection. But overall the MCU was pretty good when the story was the primary concern and everything else was ignored.

Well, I am definitely a game pack rat, but I have never been able learn a game without a hardcopy. I have a literal crap ton of ebooks, but I need a hardcopy toactually use.

Looks like you are on your way Just to stir the pot though I went down the rabbit hole of Nordic mythological artifacts. I love the idea of the ancient "magical" artifacts being ancient technology, or magic. Here are a couple links. The first is the better IMO. But be warned, it raises more ideas than it answers, beware the twisty windy rabbit hole https://skjalden.com/artifacts-of-the-gods-and-goddesses-in-norse-mythology/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Artifacts_in_Norse_mythology

Everything has pretty much been covered. I am just adding my opinion that the MacGuffin should be scattered in parts that need to be assembled. Having a single device makes it too easy and quick. Another idea is (if you are using the events in the Book of the Empress) that the ritual cast buy the mystics instrumental in the defeat of the last invasion had created a number of rune-stones (or some other items that sound right) that are what disrupt the Imperial magics. Instead of trying to knock down the front door, the plan is to locate and destroy the stones. Or something......

I like to run a lot of pulp so the WPA city guides are great. For other games I use a lot of history books. I don't like to try and make the game too realistic, after all we are playing for adventure. But knowing what was there helps weave a better story. I especially like and have an extensive library about ships up to the 1950's. Not books listing who did what, I frankly could give a hoot about that, but books on the technology and the how/why things were done. I guess that is why I have such a disgust for the existing RPG products out there. To give you an idea of what I mean, imagine if a company put out a supplement based on the chariot races in coliseum. The product is advertised as a historically based fantasy supplement. The sample vehicles are Chariot, Horse, Motorcycle, Formula Race Car. Yep, because they are all types of transportation it's all good. Never mind what we announced and that we couldn't be bothered to do 15 minutes of research. Pure lazy garbage. Anyway, good solid history books, not about who, but the tech and methods, are a great aid to building up a game.

Since you have a port area, what is the cities port mainly used for? That can influence the names. what is the ports primary purpose. Fishing, whaling, shipping, shipbuilding and so on. Also are the ships manned by independent professionals or are ships manned by press ganging, sentenced criminals or a combination or neither?

Another question would be how are you defining "Machine Minds" and exactly what do you mean by communicating.

I'd second that question. I know that there is a FASERIP rulebook on DriveThruRPG, but I couldn't find anything else.

It has been years since I played V&V and don't remember much on details except we had fun, but Champions was "better" and we went with it. Though I bought a lot of V&V adventure for inspiration and conversion to Champs adventures. Now M&M I tried to get into it through the last two revisions. Character building really reminds of Champions 3rd edition. It is a point buy system and is almost Champions with everything renamed. Power Effects that are modified by advantages or limitations, but keyed to power levels rather than dice. It doesn't use damage in the traditional sense, instead you apply "conditions". And this is where I fell off the wagon. I am apparently slow and could never wrap my head around the "condition" based damage effects. The basic concept is easy as in how to determine if the super's succeeds and whether or not the "condition" takes effect. The problem (for me) is that conditions have a hierarchy of effect depending on severity and you recover from conditions from most severe to least severe. The problem (again, for me) is that there doesn't appear to be anything defining the hierarchy. IN the rule book it says "So a damaged character recovers from being Incapacitated, then Staggered, Dazed, and finally removes a –1 Toughness check penalty per minute until fully recovered". So if a player was Staggered, upon a recovery they become Dazed and so on. So the hierarchy is Incapacitated - Staggered - Dazed. But no. Things change and it appears the recovery order changes at a whim of undetermined magic. Add in that there are somewhere around 30 "conditions" and for me it quickly went to horse biscuits. Of course I haven't been able to find anyone that plays it so I have had no real world example. I tried the games old forum but unlike here, they reacted to my questions like I was trolling them or something. Apparently not understanding the "condition" system is a sensitive subject. So I moved on. I suspect that the system is good because of the number of people that play it, If you can decode it. But I have given up, I suspect I do not have the flexibility I had when I was young and so I'm missing something simple that I just don't see.

To comment on Marvel FACERIP, I really don't have that favorable of an impression. Of course my group only tried it for a short, not fun, fiasco of a run. My recollection of the game, from WAY back in the day, was "high value won" depending if it was in the green or blue or I can't remember. Period. No nuance, no range of effect. Simply the higher relevant value won. No need for dice or anything. The character with the higher relevant value (strength, etc) would win the contest. Now that assessment is probably not completely accurate, but it is all I remember after 25+ years. We were playing several RPG's at the time including Champions, Villains and Vigilantes, AD&D and so on. And we most likely were judging it against the games we liked and found it wanting.

And she had read all those books

Whoooosh! <Ranxerox misses emoji and responds as if comment was serious>

I guess my problem was I made the mistake of watching WW immediately before watching WW84. The quality of the two was so far apart that nothing in WW84 made a favorable impression. In the end it was a thoroughly forgettable movie that I usually only remember as being meh.