Dr. Confoundo

Re: TV: Kid Nation Well, during the pilot there were really only two potential nominees for the gold star; the girl who took charge in the kitchen, and the boy who made the impassioned speeches. The narative of each episode will probably be pretty clear on who might be getting the star in each episode, and it won't be too hard to get a camera crew near them. In addition, while the girl appeared to go directly from the meeting to call her mom, there's no way to know how much time passed between those two events. Heck, it could have been the next day.

Re: Paging Dr. Mid-Nite! Those were in the first couple crossovers that they did... a bunch of the JSA got odd power ups that they haven't utilized in decades. For example, Sandman's gas gun was creating glass barriers all over the place, and Black Canary had an amazing array of gadgets crammed into her necklace.

Re: World at War!: The Yggdrasil Conundrum

Re: World at War!: The Yggdrasil Conundrum Heh. Nice image, but not quite what I was going for. The battle will actually climax with Loki stabbing his sword into the trunk of Yggdrasil, after the PCs mistakenly complete the ritual he needs to empower the mythological tree. This action will cause a rift in the fabric of the universe, allowing Loki to draw in all of his mystical forces who have been waiting in the wings (fire giants, trolls, ogres, etc), who will sweep out into Washington D.C.* Meanwhile, the PCs will also been drawn through the rift, dropping them in Asgard, where they will meet a feeble blind old man... Odin, who no longer has the worshippers that he once did, has now been reduced to a shell of his formerly godly self. And he'll say to them 'What are you talking about? I didn't give you any powers... you've been tricked!' *I know, I know. Washington D.C. getting attacked by a magical army of giants and warriors... Didn't we just see that in both 'The Ultimates' and 'Amazons Attack'? Luckily, my players don't read comics, so they won't recognize the 'homage'

Re: World at War!: The Yggdrasil Conundrum Because until the ritual that Loki is performing is completed, it's just a tree; albeit, a very special tree that is the embodiement of Yggdrasil, but a tree nonetheless. But when he completes the ritual, it *Becomes* Yggdrasil. That's when the blade comes into play.

Re: World at War!: The Yggdrasil Conundrum

Re: World at War!: The Yggdrasil Conundrum Awesome! We have a winner. That's exactly what I was looking for. When Loki manages to pierce the tree (which he will, considering he has disguised himself as Odin in order to send the heroes on a search for the items which won't stop the ritual, but complete it), the magical surge will not only draw giants and monsters to attack the U.S., but it will have subtly changed reality... where once that person who was bitten by a radioactive fruitbat would just die, now he will gain the strength and speed blah blah blah...etc.

Re: World at War!: The Yggdrasil Conundrum It's a little early in the campaign year for this to be a Christmas tree - in game, it is currently early August, 1944 (the PCs got their powers a few days after landing on the beaches at Normandy), and the big battle will take place within the next couple game weeks. I did think about putting it in the Smithsonian, but couldn't come up with a good reason why - how close is the museum to the mall? Are there any trees on the mall itself? I hadn't thought of transplanting the thing. I assumed that it had been cut down and the trunk had been turned into something else... Heck, maybe it had been transplanted onto the White House grounds, as a gift from the nation of Norway?

I've gotten some great help here on the boards with my Golden Age campaign (in the following threads found here, here, and here), but now I need a little more assistance. So while the soldiers of the Allies fight the forces of the Axis across the fields of France, two superpowered teams are involved in a chessgame of missions, attempting to seize some advantage over their opposing numbers. The current mission? The Yggdrasil Conundrum The PCs learn that Loki's forces have taken interest in a mystical blade, alledged to be so sharp that it can cleave the Yggdrasil Tree in two. They learn that Loki is attempting to perform a ritual which will allow him to bring the powers of the other realms here into Midgard, by drawing on the power of the Yggdrasil Tree which connects the universe together. The PCs are drawn into a game of scavenger hunt, in order to track down a number of mystical objects that will help them stop his ritual, including the Mirror of Nostrodamus and the Horn of Roland. They finally retrieve the last item that they need, and go rushing off to Norway, where they believe the current manifestation of the Yggdrasil Tree to be... ---------- So I was driving with my wife to her parent's house to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday, and as I'm following traffic, my mind wanders to the game I'm supposed to run in a couple weeks, with the showdown between Loki's Runekriegers and the Liberty Brigade, over the fate of the Yggdrasil Tree, in a fog-shrouded forest in the mountains of Norway... when it struck me: That's an awful place to have an epic battle between good and evil with the fate of the universe in the balance! ---------- ...so the Liberty Brigade rushes into the fog-shrouded forest in the mountains of Norway, looking for the current manifestation of the Yggdrasil Tree, and when they get there, all they find is a massive stump! A local old man tells them "That tree? It was given as a gift to the United States years ago." And that's where I need help: The Yggdrasil Tree has been sent from Norway to either New York or Washington DC, where it's been incorporated into the construction of an important building, or has been turned into a work of art or scientific curiousity... somewhere that there would be lots of people put into danger of the first massive super-powered combat the world had ever seen. But where? What are the columns in the front of the White House made of? Would the exhibits of the 1939 New York World's Fair still be around? Any other ideas?

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Military nerd.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? There were some excellent episodes of Amazing Stories - the pilot with the belly gunner of the B-52 bomber comes to mind (and a great cast - Kevin Costner, Keifer Southerland, Anthony LaPaglia, Casey Siemasko). But on the other hand, there were also some complete dogs... that was a very uneven show.

Re: Tibetan holy man?

Re: Tibetan holy man? "Rune Kommandant" The entire group of villians are known as the Runekreigers (or Rune Warriors), and the apparent leader is Kommandant Nebel (or Commander Mist), who has the Norse Rune of Air. More details about the campaign can be found here and here.

Re: Tibetan holy man? Huh. I'd never heard of The Green Lama before. If it didn't sound so hokey in German, I'd use it as an homage, but I'm trying to make the Nazis a little more fearsome than that. (Maybe I'll use his mantra "Om mani padme hum" as my villian's mystical codephrase.) 'Der Lama' still sounds a little dry, but none of the standard tricks in making a good villian name are working - I can't find any colors that match up well (Weis Lama, Schwarzes Lama, Rotes Lama); I've already got a Doktor and a Kommandant, and I don't want to double up on titles (and Oberst Lama sounds odd); and I can't think of the right adjective to use (Dunkel Lama, Nacht Lama, Schatten Lama, etc.) Unfortunately all of those sound like bad spoof names for a Llama superhero... I'm sure that my players will mock it anyways, so I should just get used to it.

Re: Tibetan holy man? I was looking for a codename, not a real name. Thanks for the suggestions. Just how is 'Mthu Bo' pronounced, anyways? And it's been awhile since my college German class - would The Lama be 'Der Lama' or 'Die Lama'?

I need some quick help for a villian name in a World War II Champions game: The character in question is part of the Ahnenerbe, an offshoot of the SS whose goal was to investigate the anthropological and mystical origins of the Aryan race (as well as gathering up all those cool magic gizmos that cause trouble for your favorite bullwhip-weilding, fedora-wearing archaelogist/adventurers). This agent has been empowered by the Norse Rune of Creation, which has given him the supernatural power to create tulpas, or thoughtforms - these tulpas will be basically anything he can picture, from Yetis to dinosaurs to giant squids to fire-breathing dragons, all summoned with his mental powers. I'm imagining someone who travelled the world for the Ahnenerbe and really embraced the beliefs of Tibet (where the word 'tulpa' comes from). Then, when he was empowered with such a culturally specific power, he came to believe himself to be a Tibetan holy man... but what are they called? I need to know any suggestions for names of Tibetan holy men or priests or shaman, that I can use for his code name. Any ideas?

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? I just finished watching season 2 of Carnivale, and while not everything was wrapped up, it was a great finale. I would have loved to see where they were going to go next with the show.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? I got A History of Violence, and I'm not sure what to say about it... It mostly just left me cold.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? This is the kind of show that should have been a mini-series, or done in the British TV fashion of a limited run. There's just nowhere else for this show to go... I have no idea how they'll manage to pull off a third season.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Sounds like a girl I once dated.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? 'Reefer Madness, the Musical' - I found it very amusing, with the best scene being a wonderful number where an Elvis-like Jesus, backed by a chorus of Angel dancing girls, tells the main character to stop smoking all that reefer. Amusing performances all around (mostly from the original off-Broadway cast, including Veronica Mars' Kristin Bell) Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? I found Were-Rabbit to be too long. Wallace and Gromit are great in shorter doses, but their full-length feature made me doze off.

Re: World at War: Ragnarok! I knew the plot sounded familiar. Thanks for the refresh.

Re: World at War: Ragnarok! This is basically what I was considering. What Kurt Busiek story are you referencing? I've probably got it in my collection, and maybe I can steal... I mean 'make an homage' to it. I was also thinking of one of the 1980s G.I. Joe cartoon mini-series, where they have to track down powerful pyramids (or something... it's been awhile)