Michael Hopcroft

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Would you like fruit-flavored cereal, or are you happy with the Cocoa Puffs? A: Things to do in Denver when you're dead.

Re: Naruto Hero I always thought the "jutsus" in Naruto had more in common with magical spells than with martial arts. That the "Ninjas" were in fact mages who used Ninjutsu as a convenient cover for their true natures and for training in non-magical combat when needed. But then Naruto seems to be this generation's Dragonball, so logical assumptions need not apply. It's not like Full Metal Alchemist with its clearly defined rules and boundaries for the supernatural (which is supposedly not supernatural at all).

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs I've always thought that Tommy Walker was insane -- that once he was "cured" of his self-imposed isolation he mistook his "musical dreams" for divine revelation and ended up leading himself and a lot of other people astray because of it. And that after his followers woke up to the fact that they were being misled, that Tommy retreated back into his shell, never again to emerge. But then there are many ways to interpret Tommy -- that was Pete Townshend's genius. I was always blown away by the audacity of such things as creating a scene where Roger Daltrey plays three different roles (the doctor, the mother and Tommy himself) and it works brilliantly.

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Answers & Questions Q: I need to know what killed that monkey. Do you know? A: And this is why you should always eat your vegetables.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Nuclear attack? WHAT nuclear attack? A: I find that if I ignore you long enough, you will simply go away.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "So, is there anything I can do about turning purple like this?" NT: Ways your life would be different if you were, in fact, purple.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: What do you mean I don't get the day off Tuesday? I got today off, didn't I? A: In general practice, it is considered a bad idea to give artificial sweeteners to cattle.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Where is my Googoleplex of Invisible Elves? A: Of course you can't see them -- they're invisible!

Re: Kong needs boots? SS: Cryptozoology would be an interesting thing for a PC to have. Especially if the scientific community at large views him as something of a crank. "Chupacabra? There's no such thing as a Chupacabra!"

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Shower? What's that?" NT: Locations in the space-time continuum that would not benefit from a visit from you.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "I need to register twenty-seven new cars -- one for each of the relatives I also need replacement ID cards for....."

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat He's Better than Bad. He's Good!

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game One note about the Bebopverse is that almost all of the action took place on planets in the solar system other than Earth, as well as moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, that had been terraformed to varying degrees. That implies that at least someone has access to very, very high technology. (There are many anime series in which terraforming has taken place where it seems the technology or time wouldn't be sufficient for it logically -- see Armitage III for an example). Still, it wasn't the setting that made Cowboy Bebop cool, but the characters and the way they interacted. Spike and Faye had a very interesting dynamic, Ed was -- well, Ed, and Vicious was one of the classic villains in all anime. When designing your campaign, the main thing is to give your playerrs interesting things to do and hooks into the setting; just as it always is in campaign design. The most intricate world design is of little gaming use if you can't use it to tell great stories and give your players great things to do.

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs Right Here. (Note: the song is legendary for its sheer length and thus performed cautiously at best. Though it's not so bad as "Matty Groves", a song summarized by Frank Hayes in "Lamb to the Slaughter" that may or may not actually exist otherwise and is reputed to be 470 verses long.)

Re: Answers & Questions Q: I was thinking of using an atomic charge on this Red Matter-armed rocket. What do you think? A: You don't want to know what Purple Matter does. Trust me. You just don't.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "You aren't drinking enough Scotch, son."

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Why are you crossing text-based adventure games and Video Nasties? A: I can't get my copy of Trillian to work properly.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Any special requests for The Complete Idiot's Guide to Barrels? A: I don't know who decided this was supposed to be fun.

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs If we're going into the catalog of filk, anyone have a writeup for the heroine of "The Horsetamer's Daughter"?

Re: Byronic Hero I HAD to rep this.....

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Isn't there a barbershop anywhere in this town? A: When I said we should increase the Global Pirate Quotient to fight Global Warming, this is not what I had in mind.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Iceman for every frozen food company in the country, saying visit your frozen food aisle." NT: Things you shouldn't find in a supermarket but do anyway.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A: According to the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, this adjustment will let this slingshot shoot down the nuclear missile before it hits Duckburg.