Michael Hopcroft

SJG is in the process of publsihing books based on two webcomics 9or at least partial webcomics), the Fogio's Girl Genius and Andy Weir's bizarre Casey & Andy. Both are 4th Edition books. I was wondering about HERO conversions. I'm pretty sure msot of us are familair with Girl Genius, a saga of mad science run amok that would not only make a smashing RPG but would also be a killer OVA series. (I want to do the voice of the Baron!) Casey & Andy is a bit more obscure. it's much more a gag series than a story series such as Girl Genius. But it is brilliant in its own way, mainly for the supporting cast. It's been a long time since I've seen a webcomic character as inspired in concept and execution as Quantum Cop, the single msot imtelligent person on Earth who is patrolling the beat in Calfiornia. Then there's Satan (yes, that Satan), who is Andy's girlfriend and incredibly cute and sexy. The minor villainess Don Cindy, who uses extortion to sell Girl Scout cookies, is also classic. Writeups eagerly appreciated.

Re: Power Rangers Then again, there are sentai-style characters who do operate solo. Ultraman and Kamen Rider are classic examples. (Saban brought over the latter as Masked Rider. He had high-tech weapons and a super-motorcycle.) There are times when literal translation can be a bitch when brining over a sentai or similar series. Tuxedo Mask may be a literal translation of Tuxedo Kamen, but it doesn't sound nearly as cool.

One superhero concept I am rather fond of (inrodinately, in fact) is the accidental time traveler from the future. He's stranded in what to him is the past, and can't go home, so he's making the best of it here. The technology he knows about and has access to is, in our time, the equivlane tof superpowers. In his time it's nothing special, and in his future it's obsolete. One could build quite a career as a super with just a phaser, a tricorder, and access to Star Trek-era medical technology. Another variation on that is something I had been thinking about turning into a fanfic series. The Ras Saga would be the adventures of a college student named Ras Tyler who, even though he attends an American unviersity, already knows everything all the professors could teach him and then some. He's handsome, blonde, and popular desptie the myserty that surrounds him. He is also a magnet for weird happenings and seemingly "supernatural' events that are really alien in origin. The fact is, so is he. In fact, he is the half-human son of Doctor Who and former companion Rose Tyler! he has been raised on Earth to keep him away from his father's enemies, and is working on building a time machine of his own if he can just find the materials. He is also fond of saying things like "My little sister is twice as cleevr as I am.", referring to his twin sister Romey. if Ras can survive, he might even be able to found the new race of Time Lords.

Re: Looking for an example of a Dragon Lady character from TV/Movies for a Pulp campa If you're willing to look to sci-fi for an example, consider Servalan of Blakes 7. She fills all the characteristics to a tee, complete with a massive case of sexual tension between her and one of the lead characters (Avon) which is legendary to this day. If the Doctor Who villainess the Rani had any sort of interest in men, she'd qualify. Star Wars would have been improved immesnely by the addition of a character like that on the side of the Empire.

It is reported that one of the major features of the 2006 season of Doctor Who (which will star David Tennant as the new Doctor) will be the return in a big way of the Cybermen. The Cybermen share a few similar characteristics with the Borg (mainly that they only way they can increase their numbers is by converting other beings into new Cybermen), but because of the characteristics of the series are much different in their plans and the way they carry them o7ut (tending to subtle invasions and infiltration of planets over overt invasions and building massive battle fleets). Later versions of the Cybermen had a bizarre allergy to gold, which proved folrtunate for the Doctor because they are very difficult to kill otherwise.

Re: The Catholic Church's Super Team-The Virtues And chance of HD files for these heroes, and for the Deadlies (or whatever you decide to call the Sins). One possible interesting way to use these characters is to have a division of sorts in the Church that forces the various Virtues to make moral choices, which will come into conflict not only with their superiors but with each other as well.

Re: Power Rangers

Re: Evolution and Magic. The Slayers world has something similar in the form of the chimeras. it is possible in that world to use magic to give one being the phsycial characteristics of another. The most famous such charatcre, Zelgadis, had his essence merged with those of a "rock golen" and a 'brass demon" against his will. The result was a human with stone skin and wire hair who had massive intergal magic power -- and a case of angst and self-loathing that was utterly legendary. There is a lot of dispute in Slayers fandom on whether Zelgadis can sire children and, if so, whether they would carry his "curse". Zelgadis is constantly searching for a way to lose his alterations and become "fully human" again, but since the man who cursed him has been killed (twice!), it seems unlilkely that he will ever be 'cured". The famfans are also in agreement that Zelgadis is one of the sexiest guys in anime in a series full to the brim with hunks (Gourry, Zangulus, Valgaav) and babes (Lina, Amelia, Naga).

Re: Class in Fantasy On the other hand, Eastern European serfs really were the property of their lords, so any such peasant who fled and got caught would have to consider himself lucky if he were only killed outright.... But it would also be possible for the Lords to ruthleslly destroy any peasant who displayed possible magical ability. Remember Joan of Arc? She was burned at the stake because she had "visions" (it seems more likely she was simply schizophrenic, but the point stands).

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat NT: Signs that Sailor Pluto (the Guardian of Time and Space) is trying to steal your boyfriend.

Re: lilo and stitch "Are you pndering what I'm pondering?" "I think so, Brain, but if Naga the Serpent were real wouldn't she have a lot of problems with gravity?"

No, I'm not talking about classes in the D&D sense. I'm talking about people's place in the social order, particularly when that place is settled based on factors outside the individual's control. Most fantasy worlds are pseudo-feudal. This means that there is a very small ruling class at the top, a soldier/warrior class that serves them, a small and barely-tolerated middle class, and a huge laboring class that is little better off than cattle but who do all the actual work in the society. In many worlds there is a class of "non-people" underneath that who perform neccesary but distasteful tasks such as handling the dead. the class you were born into usually dictates the entire course of your life. if you were born a poeasant, then by God you stayed a peasant until the end of your days. Doing anything to improve your own social standing was a capital offense, and your death was rarely swift and clean. And anyone of a higher class could do anything they wanted to to you with impunity. Life was an unbearable burden until you died a miserable death. If you were a ruler or a warrior, on the other hand, life was pretty good all things considered. You can do pretty much whatever you want to anybody of a lower class than you, because they exist solely for your benefit. And these are the "good guys" in a typical fantasy story! Are there ways around the feudal paradigm to make fantasy worlds a little bit better places to live in -- especially for non-priveledged types?

Re: Terra Fey Where can I find reprints of Fables? I am also wondering whether the new Guaridans of Order Tri-Stat release Dreaming Cities has anything that could be lifted for this purpose? Finally, I am wondering how you would re-cast some of the more infamous tales in modern terms. Perhaps there are ways around the spomewhat classist paradigm of many of the stories (where noble birth was just about all that mattered as far as what person's place was in society).

Re: [Humour]SciFi TV Quotes I don't know if it's a record, but Nation wrote every episode of Blakes 7's first season. Mind you that was 13 epsiodes, but still. It is traditional practice in Britain for one person to write an entire series, especially if it's short. Then again, the British tend to turn novels and the like into TV series more oftent han the Americans do (House of Cards and I, Claudius are two famous examples.)

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat The Tragical History of Richard Nixon

Re: "TaleSpin" as a pulp setting One of the things Disney did right on their "Disney Afternoon' syndicated block in the late '80s and early '90s was that they actually had writers. There were some really good shows in that clock. DuckTales adapted the classic Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge comics to the screen, and did it superbly. (it helped that Alan Young, who appeared in several George Pal films, did a formidable job of voicing Scrooge McDuck -- now there's a pulp character for you!). Aladdin was a pretty good fantasy series too -- particularly when it used villains such as Mozenrath. Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers was a concept that should have been awful, but was anything but -- rescued by good writing, a nice little world concept (animals are intelligent, and live in a sort of parallel society with humans -- and a lot of the tension involved when those societies crossed paths....) and two wonderful supporting characters. And what can you say about Darkwing Duck that hasn't been said dozens of times before? A superhero satire that wasn't afraid to get serious when called for that had some great takes on classic superhero tropes. (Such as the time when Goslyn was accidentally propelled into a future where Darkwing had become a vicious tyrant because of her disappearance, or any of the episodes with Negaduck.)

Re: "TaleSpin" as a pulp setting Other notes about Baloo: He has definitely learned all he knows by doing. Until recently he was only marginally literate, and he never graduated high school. His relationship with "Becky" is complciated to say the least. Because she owns his plane, Baloo is compelled to do as she wishes (which is party why he doesn't simply get another plane). She continually berates him on his easygoing attitude and tendency to show up for deliveries late. Yet Baloo does have a certain soft spot for his employer -- not neccesarily a romantic interest, but he is concerned for her welfare and that of her daughter.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat

Re: Scooby Doo There was a popular series of GenCon adventures that pitted the cast of Scooby-Doo against the Cthulhu Mythos. It was apparently very weird. You could do some interesting things with Mysteries Inc.'s place in the world. How a group of college-age vagabonds has such good realtions with the polcie wherever they go is an interesting question. A lot fo people speculate about how they pay their bills -- I'm told the real answer is that Daphne has a rich father who supplies them with money. But what would really be interesting is how four people who really had nothing in common previously became traveling detectives together. How did they meet? What was their first investigation like?

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "And now, Bo Bice's stirring rendition of "She Bop"...." NT: Signs that the news director at CNN is out of his mind.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Kurt, I know you're trying really hard, but "Smells Like Pesto Sauce" just doesn't have the ring to it...."

Re: Blowing up the Earth Is your view of Venus that obstructed? I once tried to write up a Tales of the Floating Vagabond superweapon called the Wartoy Implosive Man-Portable Yargonizer (WIMPY for short) that the PCs would have had to recover. At first the PCs were told nothing about it: It turend out that "Yargos" were elemtnal partciles of reality and that "nizing" them put them out of alignment. Nizing the Yargos of an object or being would, to say the least, utterly ruin their day.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father." "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!" "Luke -- I am your father!"

Re: New-model Dalek In game terms, the weapon and the Dalek ignore facing altogether. it can see, fire and move in any direction. Terms like "front" and "back" are meaningless when dealign with it. A self-destruct is useful if you don't want your enemies stealing your technology. I'm not sure it would be used against targets other than the Dalek itself, though -- maybe "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways" will answer that question. Easy enough to do in system terms if you treat the entire Dalek as a character. It follows from what had happened to that Dallek in the past that it could also survivie not only exposure to hard vacuum but also atmospheric re-entry. (Although it took the Dalek some time to recoever from falling to Earth, and it was a hideously painful experience.

Re: Terra Fey Another idea (it may not be in your campaign, but it might be interesting) is to comine fairy-tale themes with urban fantasy. In other words, fairy-tale like events taking place today. A serial murderer ala Bluebeard. The Beast is a reclusive billioinaire whose curse has deformed him to the point that he believes he cannot interact with humans. Magic is everywhere, but keeps to itself when its aims are not threatened. And there is an ever-present threat to the world known as The Big Bad Wolf. If the innocent are careless, if they let their naivete get the better of them, if they let their guard down, the Wolf will devour their souls. He can take a nearly infinite variety of forms. His true nature and goals are a mystery. And even when you destroy him, he goes on. Some say he is Satan himself. Others say he is something far older and more alien.