Andrew_A

Re: Lex Luthor Is Worse Than Useless

sounds like mage

In GURPS: Mage, they did very briefly discuss crossing Mage with Supers.

Re: Special Effects Quesiton

Spider-Man's Web Shooter

 

EC [Chemicals]-15 Points OIF: Web Shooters (-1/5) 10 Points

1) Entangle 4d6 DEF 4, 1/2 END (+1/4) 23 Points

2) Stretching 4", No END (+1/2) 10 Points

3) Swinging 20", No END (+1/2) 10 Points

 

Total Cost: 53 Points

That's not bad, but I wouldn't call it "Chemicals". With Chemicals as a descriptor, I could still put anaesthetic gas or acid in the EC and say it's "Chemicals". If that's what you're aiming for, that's not too bad. Otherwise, it might not be a true Spider-Man homage.

As usual YMMV.

Re: Unified Power Speedster

I don't see a problem. As Hyper-Man said, as long as the player understands that it's a limitation and will be used against him on occasion, then that should be alright.

Re: Most PCs...

Just out of curiosity, does allowing two attacks, or attack then move, speed up combat?

Re: Lex Luthor Is Worse Than Useless

There was a book for White Wolf's Aberrant (Aberrant Year One) that, very briefly, discussed several different rationales for why nobody mass markets supertech. Amongst the reasons were:

No one wants it. Your death ray can destroy a city, but governments already have nukes so what good is it?

It's too advanced. If no one but a hyper-intelligent Doctor Doom or Reed Richards can figure it out or figure out how to build one, then what good is it?

Only works for superhumans. If you need psionic powers or The Power Cosmic to operate it and the only source of those things are superhumans, then what good is it?

It has undesirable side effects. If your city-wide freeze ray eats several million dollars worth of diamonds each time you use it, then it's not worth it.

It occurs to me as I type this that rationale number two would be a good justification for insanity. Maybe Mad Scientists are mad because they saw something Man Was Not Meant To Know and now they can build supertech. Or maybe building supertech drove them mad in the first place and no sane person can replicate their tech. When someone tries they either can't figure it out or they go mad from the attempt. Then the governments of the world would have no choice but to ban supertech, because they don't want to create another Ultra Humanite or Dr. Sivana or whoever.

BTW, check out Wild Talents by Arc Dream. They don't discuss supertech per se, but they do give several very good reasons for why superheroes don't change the world.

Re: Special Effects Quesiton

New Question

 

Can "Chemicals" be an Element in an EC?

That's a tricky one. It sounds overly broad, but not too broad. I'd allow it, but keep on eye on how the player intends to use it. If they put a bunch of nearly unconnected Stop Sign and Yield Sign powers together and call it "Chemical Powers" then I'd disallow it. If they're thematically consist, then why wouldn't you allow it?

Re: Special Effects Quesiton

I wouldn't allow it. Variable special effect only lets you change the composition of an attack, not how it works. For example with VSX you can make an EB a focused sonic attack, a blowtorch, a laser, a wind burst, etc. You'd need Variable Advantage to make the sonic burst, create hurricane-style wind blasts, make a wide area laser, etc.

Allowing VSX to do the same thing as VA seems a little too powergamey to me. Maybe I'd allow it if the player had the Power Skill or VA as a Naked Advantage.

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Superman being exposed to the Black Mercy is straight out of DC Comics...

You do know that was an Alan Moore story, right? In fact, that JLU episode is the only time the words "Based on a story by Alan Moore" appear in any film, DVD, or TV adaptation of his work.

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Good About Marvel

 

Captain America as President of the United States. That should be as interesting as making Lex Luthor President (although according to the new DC continuity that never happened, which is the Bad about DC).

I'm surprised you approve. Wasn't that in the Ultimate Universe? I would have thought that wasn't your preference.

A desperate bid for readers as much as killing off Superman (Bad About DC) or bringing him back (Good About DC).

That wasn't really a bid (desperate or otherwise) for readers. DC was surprised by the reaction and bringing Clark back was always in the cards. Personally, I thought everything DC did after bringing him back was desperate (Dead Again, The Death of Clark Kent, Electrosupes, Superman Red/Superman Blue, etc.)

Also, I hated the President Luthor storyline. I hated the handling of Luthor from Byrne's tenure onward. To me, Superman is an inherently optimistic book. The character is responsible for a lot of my outlook and moral beliefs. I always wonder what morals I would have learned from the post-Byrne Luthor; that if you're rich enough, you can literally get away with murder? That if I have enough money, I can be an evil bastard who becomes POTUS? If it was a subplot in an Image Comic or a story arc in The Punisher I wouldn't have cared. As a Superman story, it was ridiculous (IMLTHO).

Besides, how long would Lex have stayed free and untouched if he tried to fool Clark Kent; an indestructible investigative reporter with X-Ray Vision, Telescopic Vision, and Super-Hearing?

Re: What makes a great Iron Age campaign setting?

To me, the best Iron Age stories acknowledge life's complexities, even moreso than late Silver Age (Marvel Age) or late Bronze Age (Claremont's X-Men or Wolfman/Perez's New Teen Titans). The best Iron Age stories are anti-utopian. They might be idealistic, but not naive and they tend to avoid easy answers. In fact easy answers might cause greater problems.

I had a whole breakdown of Waid's Kingdom Come planned, but my thoughts are scattered right now. Will post something more, when I'm ready.

Re: What makes a great Iron Age campaign setting?

One way to visualize the Iron Age, is to imagine what Arrow would be like if it aired on HBO.

Re: What makes a great Iron Age campaign setting?

I was thinking about this thread the other day and I realized something. All of Rob Liefeld's back catalog is the closest thing you're going to get to a D&D style superhero dungeon crawl. 99% of all of his characters are murder hobos in tights.

As a public service, to keep you from wasting your money, here is the "plot" to Youngblood, Team Youngblood, Bloodstrike, Bloodpool, and Bloodwullf*: Our "heroes" find out about a secret bad guy base, they have to slaughter their way through an army of guards, kill the head bad guy and go home. There are slight variations of course, but that's the gist of it.

The only difference between that and a bad D&D campaign is that you don't get any treasure or magic items. However you don't need any of that, because your covert team of "black ops warriors" is already paid huge amounts of money by the shadowy corporation/government agency/girl scout troop they work for. As for gadgets, players would get an ever escalating number of bigger and bigger guns (even if your character doesn't need them).

*In my wildest dreams, I couldn't make up those titles. Click on the links to see for yourself.

Re: What elements should a great superhero setting contain?

The U.S. would be the center of Superhero Culture' date=' and Technology.[/quote']

 

And what if your campaign is set in another country? Canada, for example?

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

I don't know about that. In the link you posted he said he did not want it back and that he didn't want the prequel made because it would take away what was special about the original that he claims is literature. Doesn't sound likes he dislikes Watchmen as much as it sounds like he doesn't like other people playing in his sandbox' date=' which would be understandable if he hadn't more or less copied the characters himself.[/quote']

 

I may have overstated things. However, I know that as far back as the early 90s he was not fond of all the Watchmen clones.

 

Fast forward to 6:40

 

 

Even if Alan still likes Watchmen (and I don't think he does), he did do a lot of comics (Supreme, 1963, Judgement Day, etc.) that were the opposite of Watchmen.

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

I thought he didn't like Watchmen anymore because people interpret it differently than he intended and don't take away the message they are "supposed to". He commented once that he was horrified when people started writing to him telling him how much they loved Rorschach.

I think he's commented on that more than once. Either way, he seems to like Watchmen about as much as Cassandra and Steamteck.

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Alan Moore by himself is fine. It's Alan Moore as a role model for other writers that sucks.

Sort of agree with this..Up to a point.

It depends on which Alan Moore you're talking about. There's the popular image of Alan Moore, the guy who wrote Watchmen, Marvelman, and Killing Joke. Then there's the real Alan Moore who doesn't repeat himself endlessly and changes his writing style and subject matter to keep from falling into a rut. (The latter version, BTW, hates Watchmen and wants DC to give him back the rights so he can let it go out-of-print.)

The popular "Alan Moore" shouldn't be imitated by anyone with any level of writing skill. The real Alan Moore is someone I've learned a lot from. He taught me to challenge myself as a writer and to not fall into a "golden rut" (his term). He taught me that the most important part of writing is to get better and better and not worry about popularity or money. He taught me not to be afraid of what I write and to imbue my work with meaning and passion.

Unfortunately, a lot of no-talent and barely-any-talent hacks imitate "Popular Moore" and didn't bother to copy the guy who wrote Supreme and Tom Strong and 1963. That's hardly his fault. If he'd ever read it, he'd probably hate Identity Crisis as much as anybody here does and as I said he doesn't even like Watchmen.

Re: Cool characters from goofy concepts

I see the point' date=' but I'd wager that Bats was considered cool from the outset, given his pulp roots and his overall popularity and influence. He's certainly gone through goofy periods, though.[/quote']

 

But did he go through goofy periods because of creative problems or did he go through goofy periods because he's inherently goofy?

 

I read once that, on the set of the first Tim Burton Batman movie, Michael Keeton (in full Batman regalia) turned to Jack Nicholson (dressed as the Joker) and said, "You realize we're adults, right?" They both had a good laugh.

Re: Cool characters from goofy concepts

What is up with all the Dazzler hate? I mean it's not like she's the only type of character to be based off a fad. Nobody's bitching about Power Man and Iron Fist.

Political Correctness? As for Power Man, the thread title is "Cool Characters From Goofy Concepts."

Sweet Christmas!

Re: Cool characters from goofy concepts

Spider-Man, because as one comedian pointed out, he's a guy who shoots thread at people. "Oh no. It's Spider-Man. He might knit me a cardigan!"

Re: Cool characters from goofy concepts

Wolverine. Seriously.

Think about it: His main attack power is a set of indestructible knives that sprout from his knuckles. His two main defensive powers are indestructible bones and the ability to take a massive beating and come back for more. And the enhanced smell. All you'd have to do to take out Wolverine is put your evil ninja base (patent pending) in a convention center and make sure there's an all-you-can-eat burrito buffet. Then you somehow lure Logan into an elevator with the Blob and Wilson Fisk and...Well it wouldn't be pretty.

The character is a short, incredibly hairy guy who spends almost all his time in various bars getting drunk on different brands of beer. (I wonder if he prefers Molson Canadian, Guiness, or Carlsberg. Labatt maybe?) He's named after a member of the weasel family and he's a Canadian secret agent. Not British. Not Chinese. Not Russian or American. Canadian. Let that sink in.

In his first appearance, one of his bosses thought that he'd be the first choice to take down the Hulk. The results were what you'd expect for someone with his codename, employer, and power profile. (Was Sasquatch busy that week? Was Weapon Alpha indisposed? Should we blame Trudeau?)

Originally, Wolverine was just some throwaway character Len Wein created to fight the Hulk. Chris Claremont hated him so much, that he planned to kill him off. The only reason he's not moldering in a grave with Thunderbird, is because John Byrne (Canadian In Name Only IMLTHO) liked him and wanted to keep him around. Nowadays it's inconceivable to do anything with the X-Men and not have Wolverine. A few Hollywood people have theorized that First Class would have performed much better at the box office if it had more Logan.

This character is so popular, despite his lameness, that I'll bet a few people are reading this and thinking "WTF is he talking about? Wolvie's cool!"

Oh well.

Re: Champions Complete Sell Sheet

Something I noticed on the cover and advert is that the Cryptic logo is nowhere to be seen. The Hero Games logo is there. The Bits and Mortar logo is there. What happened to Cryptic?

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Good About DC: The Best of the Iron Age! (No, Really! )

Dark Knight Returns

Kingdom Come

Waid and Peyer's Legion

Milestone Media

V for Vendetta

The Killing Joke (see next)

Birds of Prey

Morrison's JLA

Sandman and Death

Gerard Jones on Green Lantern (usually)

Vertigo (eventually)

Bane

The Question

Justice League International

The Power of Shazam

DC One Million

Perez's Wonder Woman

and the reigning champion (as far as I'm concerned)...

Watchmen .

(There's no blood-spattered smile emoticons. )

Re: The Good and Bad about Marvel and DC

Good About DC and Marvel: the Silver Age and late Bronze Age: Dick Giordano (RIP) and Jim Shooter, Stan Lee and Julius Schwartz, Jack Kirby and John Broome, Marv Wolfman and Chris Claremont (when they were at the top of their game) Spider-Man, Legion of Superheroes, the Doom Patrol, Superman, Thor, Warlock*, Fantastic Four, X-Men, New Teen Titans, Batman and The Outsiders, Crisis On Infinite Earths, Captain America**, All-Star Squadron, Dreadstar, and The One.

Bad About DC and Marvel: the mid-to-late Iron Age and early Bronze Age: Gerry Conway and Denny O'Neal, Bob Harras and Mike Carlin, the Death of Gwen Stacy and Green Lantern/Green Arrow, the Death of Superman and the Clone Saga, Emerald Twilight and Onslaught, Rob Liefeld and Todd McFarlane, Black Lightning and Luke Cage, Wonder Woman and Justice League of America, Fantastic Four and Legion of Superheroes, "5 Years Later" and "the Wedding of Nightwing and Starfire", Omega Red and Doomsday, Ron Marz and Kevin Dooley, and pointless crossover after pointless crossover. (Do I need to name them all? Can anyone tell the difference between one meaningless cash grab and another?)

*Yes, I know. Warlock was in the mid-Bronze Age. However, I like it, so it's on the list.

**Please note, I'm mixing and matching here. Cap was way better in the Silver Age, than the late Bronze Age

Re: [New Product] Champions Complete

Not only that' date=' but one can always read PDFs with a PDF reader... you know, like Adobe Acrobat Reader. That's what I do on my netbook.[/quote']

 

Reading ebooks on a laptop or netbook isn't always ideal. It's only recently that I've gotten comfortable with it.

Re: Why Don't The Villains Kill?

Luthor does seem to have perverse love/hate relationship with Superman in some portrayals' date=' doesn't he?[/quote']

 

Spoilered for those of you who haven't read Irredeemable.

 

 

In Irredeemable, the Luthor equivalent (Modeus) was actually in love with his archenemy (I wouldn't call him a hero), Plutonian.

 

 

As a result killing his archenemy is against his best interests. Humiliating and torturing on the other hand...