1Big Rich

Piling on... I REALLY have to agree with Tamashii2000. Definitely not Battlestar Galactica. None of the feel of the original series, the mythological/biblical overtones that were the hallmarks of the "Classic" series and continue to be of any good science fiction. (B5, for example) I'd give it '2 thumbs down' but one's busy with it's opposable forefinger holding my nose. Pew! Big Rich

Defending America Another idea I had after I logged off last night was the hero team is assigned to defend an important place, like Oak Ridge or Los Alamos. They're not told what's going on there, just that 'it could win the war!' Meanwhile, the Nazis or the Japanese land a super team of their own to attack the same target/gather intellingence on it. (They know SOMETHING is going on there, they just don't know what...) The FBI tries to stop the bad guys, and several agents are killed, more are wounded, and the bad guys get away. Word reaches the good guy of the bad guys' intention just before they attack... Some stuff that may help your campaign: Pre-CIA, the US 'intelligence' services had the world divided up. The Ofiice of Naval Intelligence (ONI) was responsible for the Pacific and Asia, Army Intelligence (G-2, IIRC) was responsible for Europe and Africa (which was run at the time by Europe) and the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover was responsable for North America, South America and the Islands of the Western Hemisphere. Regards, Big Rich

What about the Men in Black?

Great campaign idea I like the point base. Most of our Champions campaigns have been on that same structure. Some ideas: You could do a lot of intelligence gathering type missions. One example: Just after the war begins, Japan capture Rabaul from the Australians. Rabaul is an excellent natural harbor; a foot off the shore the water is a foot deep. 10 feet off, it's several hundred feet deep. Rabaul was the main staging area for the Japanese ships fighting in the Guadalcanal/Solomons campaigns. New Britain is a big Island, but WAY too dangerous for a regular coastwatcher. Perhaps the heros are 'inserted' by a submarine to gather intelligence on the ships and airfields (there were 5 used by the Japanese) around Guadalcanal. Another example: After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the super hero team is asked to learn how to use a radio transponder by the government. The transponder will have to be in a certain place at a certain time, if the team agrees to go, they're put on board a submarine sailing west. Then their briefed that they're going to help Doolittle raid the Japanese Islands. You could do a hero-villian fight in a combat setting. With Enigma, the Allies discover that the new Nazi super, or Nazi super team, will attempt to break the American or British line at point X. (or counter the invasion of Italy, Sicily, southern France, or Normandy) There will be plenty of Armor and infantry behind them to exploit the break in the Allied lines. Using the intel, the Allies reinforce the line, but the superhero team is sent to point X to counter the Nazi team. Now, once the battle starts, combat will be pretty dangerous with bullet flying artillery barrages, tanks from both sides making appearences, etc. An extraction: How about a certain Danish scientist who's done experiments with heavy water? The Allies need him for the Manhattan project, but Denmark has been conquered by the Germans. The hero's job is to go in and get the scientist out... (Neils Bohr was actually rescued by British intelligence, scurried out the back door as the SS broke down his front door. He stopped while escaping to get a sample of heavy water he had hidden in his refrigerator in a beer bottle. When he arrived at Oak Ridge and opened the bottle, all he had was beer. He grabbed the wrong one...) Another extraction: A downed bomber or fighter pilot has vital information about Operation Whatever. The heros have to go into enemy territory and rescue the pilot. The Heros need to infiltrate occupied France/Italy/Norway/ and contact a certain member of the underground who has important information to the allied cause. They find a small group of resistance, with the stereotypical tough guy, smart leader and beautiful female fighter who seems to like one of the heros. But at every turn, they encounter the SS, (later backed up by a some Nazi supers) barely escaping each time. One of the contacts must be a collaborator, but which one? Just some thoughts... Regards, Big Rich

Episode, er, Issue, er...Mission 7.2 Very innovative, Monolith, having the bad guys subdued, and the unkown (badder guys?) still a mystery away. Too bad about those Ackalian, but will the galaxy really miss them? Sound like another good time. Reminds me of a situation in a star hero campaign I ran way back when. The crew detects a ship 'dead' in space. Upon closing, hooking to an airlock and boarding they see all these figures floating in zero G. Well, our captain is in front, and blocking the view, so the eager young space Marine behind him pulls the pin on the grenade in his hand, you know, just in case... The Captain and I as GM have a short converation on the situation, seems everybody looks either out or maybe dead, at which point the Marine says, "OK, I'm throwing this grenade..." Luckily the captain was able to, I guess difuse the situation would be the right words. After eveyone was back on board ship, he confronts the eager young space Marine with, "What's your problem? GRENADES your favorite weapon? Any other Psych Lims I should know about? Fear of being captured maybe?" That prompted the engineer to say, "You'll know when he screams, 'You're not taking me alive!! You're not taking me alive!!,' pulls the pin on half a dozen grenades and drops them..." To which our brave captain replied, "Yeah, apparantly, they're not taking me alive, either..." Looking forward to the next...installment... Big Rich

That's it! Thanks, Tempestwolf. I had no idea it was a pilot, I thought it was just some made for TV fantasy flick... Regards, Big Rich

Knight of the Round Table I don't remember that one, Thag13; I'll look for it. I haven't seen the A&E Ivanhoe, either. But A&E does some pretty good stuff; as a Justice, Inc. fan, I like Poirot and Nero Wolf. I'll have too look for Ivanhoe, too. Thanks for the recommendations. I have to diasgree with you on Prince of Thieves. I find it barely watchable. It seems like everyone else in the move is in character, KC is still acting in "Dances with Wolves." Freeman was good in this one, though, and Rickman is one of my favorites. Hey, I'm sure someone will say even Plan 9 has a redeeming quality, (though I'm not sure anyone would defend "Waterworld...") :-}) I seem to remember a fantasy movie about Archers with magic bow, and the archer with the bow had mark over his heart. I think they called themselves 'Heartbowmen' or something. Does anyone else remember this movie, or anything about it? I've searched imdb.com for it, but without the name I can't find any info... Any help would be appreciated. Regards, Big Rich

In the "B" category Deathstalker and Deathstalker II aren't bad for completely B, low-budget movies. To the "A" list, I'll go on a mild Robin Hood kick. I'd add The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. Basil Rathbone (that's Sherlock Holmes to those of you in Lake Geneva) was one of the most accomplished swordsmen in Hollywood, and Flynn was no slouch either. Their swordfight alone is worth the price of admission, IMHO. I'd also add the Robin Hood movie that was contemporary to Costner-Hood: Prince of Bad Movies, starring Patrick Bergan and Uma Thurman. It's a very 'historically accurate' for a fictional film in that the Saxon/Norman conflict is a key to the story, the Normans are using Norman style shiields as depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, etc. I'd recommend it. Robin and Marian with Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn was a pretty good tale of the couple years after the traditonal story. I'd also say Sword of the Valaint, with Trevor Howard and Sean Connery. It's basically Gawain and the Green Knight. (Connery in Green). Not quite stellar, but a decent fantasy flick nonetheless. And if I'm gonna throw down Robin Hood, I have to throw in his contemporary, Ivanhoe. I actually like the '82 TV movie with Sam Neill and James Mason. John Rhys-Davies even has a part. But the '52 version is really good too. See 'em both. Everyone has already piled on most of my favorites, like LOTR, the Sword and the Sorcerer, Excalibur, etc, but I want to add that Conan the Barbarian is one of my favorite fantasy films. More of a low-fantasy than LOTR or Excalibur, it has a good story, fantastic music and great cinematography. It's sets a different stage than Howard's actual work, but it captures his character of Conan rather well. Well, I'm sure as soon as I post this, I'll think of another... Regards, Big Rich

Great thread! I'll add a contribution. In some of our less than stellar moments, we have some Questions answered with a Question. Our Bard, party leader, figuring out why the now-unconscious NPC mage was assaulted the previous night, speaking to our big, dumb Barbarian, played by a weight lifter: "You're a strength character, what do you fear?" Barbarian: "STRENGTH!!!" (He was confident he knew that one!) Bard: "He's a magic user, what does he fear?" Barbarian, uncertain and looking a little confused: "Strength?" The table howls, but the Bard, caught up in his own logic, angrily replies, "NO!!! MAGIC!!!!" Then he realizes what the barbarian said and joins the laughter... Our martial arts 'hero' Shadowdragon, is infiltrating a bank that is in the hands of some robbers/terrorists/hostage-taking bad guys. Hidden, he hears machine gun fire, then sees a masked figure in body armor with a MAC-10 shooting the bad guys all around. On his legs, letters spell out "The Cure". Shadowdragon has a very confused look, and another player asks rhetorically, "What's he curing, Shadowdragon? Shadowdragon: "Life?" Shadowdragon's tag line after a combat was usually, "I didn't take any stun..." Finally, we have a player excited about his new flying character, SkyKnight. Meeting the group, he has a brief conversation with group leader, Enigma. Enigma: "What do you do?" SkyKnight: "I FLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Enigma, unimpressed: "What else?" SkyKnight, taken aback and not expecting a follow-up question: "Fast????" Regards, Big Rich

Well said, Storn!! Excellent points, especailly Pizarro. I'll leave the angst to my Champeens campaign... Regards, Big Rich

Great Origins! Those are some good backstories, Monolith. I'm happy the Fearless Coward/Pathfinder has a backstory, too. Adds to the realism. It sounds like your dealing with some good players. Would that a similar number of SF/Hero fans were in my area. Regards, Big Rich

Glad to share Like I said, Mr Elmore was a real gentleman. Storn, I actually deleted a short rant in my original reply, I just missed that line. It went along the lines of 'spare me the angst and suffering make them better artists' stuff. What does van Gogh's ear have to do with what he does with his hands? My feeling is everyone on earth can put ink or paint on paper or canvas. How many are good enough to make a livinig at it? With the modern era, reprinting and reproducing just about everything is possible, so what does it matter if someone takes your art and puts it in or on a book or it hangs in a museum or collectors home? What's the difference? I don't get it, but then, I've never been one of the 'arts and croissant' crowd anyway. Keith, that 'dry hardness' thing is just CLASSIC! For some reason, it minds me of a Benny Hill skit involving the phrase "humble pride." Call me part of the great unwashed, but my idea of art is the artist wants me to see what he sees. Whether he ellicites an emotion is between his work and I. Was your fine arts program with the 'as far a departure from reality as possible' crowd? Don't get me wrong, I'm a fantasy and sci-fi fan; a good departure from reality isn't a bad thing. Maybe I just want my departures to be with Dragons and Starships instead of liquid clocks draped over tree branches... Thanks for the good conversation, guys. Regards, Big Rich

Mr. Elmore Hi Kieth, Here's the set-up: Mr. Elmore was a real gentleman to everyone who approached him. We'd had some brief words when I approached him, and he paused to let me dig through his available art for sale. As I was looking, a young man (probably freshman-sophomore in college) walked up, and asked Mr. Elmore to do sketch in his sketch book. Mr. Elmore did so, and looked at some of his work. While doing so, the guy explained he was having trouble with one of his instructors. The instructor kept telling him his art was 'too realistic' and he should 'be less conventional.' By now, I'm paying attention to him, too, and he elaborated, saying how he wants to do comics, and had explained to his teacher his goal and that 'realism' was what he 'was shooting for.' The crux of the conversation was this: Mr. Elmore replied about styles being labeled, and if your style is realistic, and he paused, so I jumped in with "They'll label you an illustrator." He said, "Exactly, you're called an illustrator not an artist." The three of us spoke for a couple more minutes, about departing from reality, illustrations and art, then the conversation turned to some of the pieces he had present. Mr. Elmore was a real gentleman. If you ever have the chance to meet him, do so. But from my own experience, I've had the pleasure of meeting comic artists like George Perez, Walt Simonson, Jim Balent, Craig Rousseau, Jamal Igel, Chris Ring and Gene Gonzales. At no point have I ever asked one of them for their "illustrations." I have the pleasure of having their art. The fact that they're alive and able to make a living from their talent doesn't detract from it. Sorry for the rant. Regards, Big "too many quotation marks" Rich

Excellent! Sounds like an excellent adventure, Monolith! My compliments to the crew of the Fearless Coward and their story teller... Regards, Big Rich

Fantasy art I'm a fan of Larry Elmore's stuff. I always tell my friends, if anyone knows what a dragon looks like it's him. Try: http://www.larryelmore.com/ I originally got interested in him because of the early FH stuff his art was used on. And I had the pleasure of meeting him at the Pittsburgh Comicon last year. We had an interesting discussion about the 'difference' between an 'artist' and an 'illustrator.' Great forum, BTW. It's great to see so many others so passionate about the HERO System. Regards, Big Rich