Spence

I may be mistaken, but it seems your objection is to something being in the novels and then either being excluded or changed for the movies, simply because it was excluded or changed. You appear to feel that was arbitrary, but as someone who's witnessed some of this process, I assure you that it's not. When you're dealing with a project this big, this important, and this expensive, there are reasons behind all these decisions. You may not recognize the reasons, and if you do you may not agree with them, and that's fair. But they're no more arbitrary than some of the things Tolkien himself did. Tom Bombadil was based on the appearance of a doll the Tolkien family had. The character did nothing to advance the story, in fact Tolkien had to later invent a reason why Tom couldn't just solve their ring problem himself. He admitted that when he introduced Strider to the story he had no idea of who the character was -- that came into focus much later. JRRT loved trees, and as a child he was bitten by a spider and became seriously ill. Guess what?
 
LOTR is a great novel, a landmark in the evolution of the fantasy genre. But it isn't perfect, and it isn't sacred. As someone who appreciates Professor Tolkien's work I thought Jackson and his team did an exceptional job preserving the essence of the story in its transition to another medium, all practical constraints considered. But it isn't perfect either, and I don't agree with all of it. That doesn't keep me from respecting the effort and result.

Yes, I apologize for my misreading in my haste. It's actually you I disagreed with, Spence.

Well what I have in mind is less a "campaign book" full of how to run the game and such than an actual campaign: a series of adventures in a setting for a GM to run as a campaign.  So less Horror Hero/Pulp Hero etc and more something not actually published since, I dunno, Champions in 3d

Hm. Spence makes some cogent points, though I think they apply more to how a citybook should be written more than which city should be chosen. In that vein, it might be a good idea to provide indices for what can be used for which purposes: like, if a GM needs someone to hire the PCs for a job, here's a list of NPCs who might do so, and what pages they're on. And the descriptions don't need to be long; better if they are not, to make them easier to slot in where needed, with just a few sentences about their motivations to help GMs pick which one to use.
 
I'll still say that originality matters a lot, though. Any FANTASY HERO supplement is likely to stay niche just for being FANTASY HERO. So you might as well swing for the fences and try giving gamers something they can't get from yet another D&D/Pathfinder supplement... and that is *not* just, "See, you can do it with Hero System."
 
Dean Shomshak

Midkemia Press did a handful of them back in the 80s.
 
They're still available in PDF through the above link.
 
I particularly suggest looking at Towns of the Outlands, which is free!

Yes, but that Sam/Golem tragic "made for Hallmark" romance really seemed forced, though it did prelude the, apparent now, trend of EVERY media must have gay characters.

Well I'm not going to argue that all of his choices/changes were great, that I liked them all or that they were even necessary. 
I am just saying that the movies were enjoyable and far better than most of the adaptation atrocities we then to get inflicted on us. 
But I fully understand that the inserted "romance" was most likely a Follywood mandate.  If not by him, then the money people.  After all we can't have a movie without a love interest somewhere...

Well I'm not going to argue that all of his choices/changes were great, that I liked them all or that they were even necessary. 
I am just saying that the movies were enjoyable and far better than most of the adaptation atrocities we then to get inflicted on us. 
But I fully understand that the inserted "romance" was most likely a Follywood mandate.  If not by him, then the money people.  After all we can't have a movie without a love interest somewhere...

For me the movies were pretty good, especially for the year they were made.   Were they perfect?  No.  But translating something from one medium to another is never perfect and regardless of who makes it they will have to appease executives and the people controlling funding. 
 
For me the show met one of my major requirements.  Would I have recognized it if I never saw the opening titles?  And I would have.
 
When I am discussing movie adaptations I usually ask "so, what is your opinion of the movie Starship Troopers".  If they thought it was a good adaptation, then their opinion is basically worthless and I move them into the "idiot cousin that no one ever listens to nor loans them a dollar ever".  

For me the movies were pretty good, especially for the year they were made.   Were they perfect?  No.  But translating something from one medium to another is never perfect and regardless of who makes it they will have to appease executives and the people controlling funding. 
 
For me the show met one of my major requirements.  Would I have recognized it if I never saw the opening titles?  And I would have.
 
When I am discussing movie adaptations I usually ask "so, what is your opinion of the movie Starship Troopers".  If they thought it was a good adaptation, then their opinion is basically worthless and I move them into the "idiot cousin that no one ever listens to nor loans them a dollar ever".  

And how many stops?
 

 
On a serious note, it is definitely on target and a great book.
 
In addition to Boothill, Chaosium's Down Darker Trails and Shadows Over Stillwater are also great resources.  While CoC is a horror RPG, DDT can easily be played non-horror and Chaosium does good background work. 

And how many stops?
 

 
On a serious note, it is definitely on target and a great book.
 
In addition to Boothill, Chaosium's Down Darker Trails and Shadows Over Stillwater are also great resources.  While CoC is a horror RPG, DDT can easily be played non-horror and Chaosium does good background work. 

There's a ton of options in the books.  Uncontrolled works, I think, but it also normally means the character gets to decide how much, or how little, END to invest on each activation, so that may or may not fit your purposes.  It may still need some tweaking to fit what you're envisioning.

Uncontrolled for sure (for sure for sure the Elf said in a valley voice).
 
There are also some END advantages in APG1 that might be useful if you have it.

I liked the first one. Minor quibbles at most. Second one lost me. Violated things set down in the first one. Like Ghost Rider doesn't do sunlight.

Pfft.  More like unemployed youngsters that are all agog over grunge and short shorts. 
 
The character was a fun and entertaining one. 
But that character died and completely disappeared years ago. 
 
But you are correct that that mess we saw in the recent movies was lackluster and not interesting.  Especially after deleting the very traits that made up the core concept of the character.

The key phrase. 
Unfortunately the current plague of agenda'itis will most likely continue to destroy good properties.   
 
But one can hope.

A smaller city in Vestria.  Large enough to have resources a party of adventurers need, but not large enough to rival 20th century metropolises.  The prevalence of those in fantasy RPG's is a real turn off.
 
A smaller city that new players can be introduced to without requiring them to expend more effort to read the background material than some do getting a degree. 
Enough info and locations (inn's, stores, weaponsmiths, magic related shops, etc.) to be helpful, but light on politics and the nobility.  It is far easier to build intrigue and factions from scratch than it is to digest pre-existing nobility, family lines and plots.  To name the influential houses is one thing, but adding all the past and ongoing feuds and bickering is an obstacle rather than an aid. Too much information is actually worse than not enough. 
 
Maps.   MAPS.   A real map of the city.  If the Inn is named it the book then include a usable map.  No map, no named inn.  Maps.   MAPS.   A real map of the city.   This will keep the locations to something useful, rather than just another block of text that get s ignored.
 
Somewhere with the frontier feel and room to actually explore in the surrounding region.
 
A city that a beginning group can actually base out of and have a plausible level of influence.
 

Harley Quinn got a lot of attention in the various Batman cartoon series and movies in the 1990's and later. 
 
I attribute her continuing popularity to nostalgia for that character and portrayal rather than for any particular love for the live action film portrayal or that actress. Maybe some of it due to the contrast to the cardboard cutouts they used to portray the other characters in the first Suicide Squad movie.
 
I think the actress did okay for the material she was given, but that's not saying much.
 

Nick Cage is the acting equivalent of bipolar. When he's good he's sublimely great. When he's bad he's laughably terrible. And I enjoyed his Ghost Rider too. A little over the top for my tastes, but Cage fully committed to the character, and at that point in the evolution of superhero movies that wasn't a given.

A smaller city in Vestria.  Large enough to have resources a party of adventurers need, but not large enough to rival 20th century metropolises.  The prevalence of those in fantasy RPG's is a real turn off.
 
A smaller city that new players can be introduced to without requiring them to expend more effort to read the background material than some do getting a degree. 
Enough info and locations (inn's, stores, weaponsmiths, magic related shops, etc.) to be helpful, but light on politics and the nobility.  It is far easier to build intrigue and factions from scratch than it is to digest pre-existing nobility, family lines and plots.  To name the influential houses is one thing, but adding all the past and ongoing feuds and bickering is an obstacle rather than an aid. Too much information is actually worse than not enough. 
 
Maps.   MAPS.   A real map of the city.  If the Inn is named it the book then include a usable map.  No map, no named inn.  Maps.   MAPS.   A real map of the city.   This will keep the locations to something useful, rather than just another block of text that get s ignored.
 
Somewhere with the frontier feel and room to actually explore in the surrounding region.
 
A city that a beginning group can actually base out of and have a plausible level of influence.
 

I'm sure Nick Cage could use the work.

Sounds like Uncontrolled.  Pay the END up front and the ability keeps chugging along until it eats all the END it was given.
 
If you wanted to get fancier, though, we have Continuing Charges - what about extrapolating an advantage from the change in the Charges limitation?

Tascora is done and handed to Jason to look over for inclusion in the Hall of Champions program.