OddHat

Re: Wold Newton: A letter from Clark Savage to Kent Allard Thanks, glad you got a kick out of it. Good catch on the date. It was written around 1930 or so. Yup, the "security" is terrible. I was trying to leave enough clues that a reader who hadn't powered through the timeline could enjoy it. Maybe Clark was having an off day.

Re: WWII Era Superheroes and Villains Mongo. No, really. There's a back story attached, but almost all of the alien invasions and activity Earth has faced since the Victorian period come out of one of four sources: 1) The Ancients, who were as far as anyone can tell a genuine extraterrestrial race. They left all sorts of oddness on Earth and scattered through the solar system. 2) The Elder Things, who left even stranger artifacts behind them than the Ancients. The Elder Things may have been extradimensional rather than extraterrestrial entities. 3) The Empire of 10,000 worlds. A genuine extradimensional civilization, the Empire has taken an inexplicable interest in Earth for decades now. Known to possess at least one artificial world-ship, "Mongo", capable of interdimensional travel. 4) Various individuals capable of extra-dimensional travel. These individuals are often unaware of their true abilities.

Re: WWII Era Superheroes and Villains Here's the timeline of the campaign, currently under revision (particularly the events surrounding the Fantastic Four and Eel O'Brian). Note that this timeline is not public knowledge; it's what could be pieced together by a really good researcher, or a character with excellent KS: Secret History or similar. Further, the timeline isn't fixed; if the players manage to make a change, then that's how it goes in that game world. This is just a guide for me as the GM, and an aid to players who want a feel for the setting. And repeating, these events are not fixed. If the PCs manage to change an event, the event is changed for the campaign. This is just my default setting.

Re: WWII Era Superheroes and Villains

Re: [World Overview & Timeline] Metahumans Rising Just wanted to add to the chorus here. Some nice stuff.

A letter from Clark Savage to Kent Allard Kent, I’ve gathered what information I could, based on what I learned from the Kr ship and from my time with H. It isn’t much. H isn’t part of class E, or class WN/T, though he shares characteristics with both. I originally accepted the hypothesis that he was a remarkably powerful member of class D, but my father’s notes, along with those of Dr. Abednego Danner, have persuaded me that H was actually on board the Kr ship at the time of its crash. I’m therefore designating H as representing a new class, Kr. Class WN/T members generally manifest enhanced physical health and mental acuity, as well as the potential for Fortean talents, and H does display all of these. However, the talents H displays are far beyond those of even the most exceptional WN/T class members. That includes us. He’s really going to be something. Initial reports might reasonably have placed him as a member of class D. Plenty of profound oddities stem from Dippel’s notes even today, as you know better than most. However, the testimony of Dr. Danner and other data I’ve gathered prevents me from placing H in class D. H’s abilities are extraordinary even by the standards of a Dippel modified human. I’ve clocked him sprinting at over 4000 feet per second over short distances, faster than a .220 Swift. True, a few of Gibberne’s subjects could match that speed, but Gibberne’s Accelerator has so far been invariably fatal to its users. H is in perfect health, and claims never to have been exposed to the Accelerator. I believe him. It’s my best estimate that H’s muscle power output over the short term is at least 250 times that of a baseline human. No Dippel modified human has ever manifested physical power in that range before. It is clear that mere muscle and bone could not sustain or withstand such exertion, which points to a Fortean explanation. If H’s abilities are in part psychic in origin, then they may (like your own talents) slowly increase over time. The Fortean explanation points towards placing H in class E. It’s a close match. The members of class E have manifested Fortean talents all over the map, and share other extraordinary traits similar to those displayed by H. It was my father’s belief that H was an exceptional example of a class E human, and I initially accepted that theory. However, with the assistance of H, I recently succeeded in triggering what appears to be a teaching machine built into the Kr ship. Presenting visual images and sound, the device documents an extra-terrestrial (possibly even extra-solar) civilization. I have yet to translate the language used by the machine, but if it is what it appears to be then H is something we've never seen before. As a final and somewhat unsettling note, my tests indicate that unlike class E humans, H is almost certainly cross-fertile with baseline humans. I don’t need to tell you of the potentially earth shattering risks and benefits inherent in that information. I’ve discussed this with H, and he has agreed to exercise restraint in his personal relationships, but I fear that the genie may already be out of the bottle. H has befriended a few of the local children and has been telling stories about the amazing “Planet Krypton”. I’m glad he’s finally having some fun; a positive attitude will make adjusting to his new life much easier for him. I’ll keep you apprised of developments, and I’d appreciate your input on this. All my best to Margo and the rest of the team, - Clark

Kent, I’ve gathered what information I could, based on what I learned from the Kr ship and from my time with H. It isn’t much. H isn’t part of class E, or class WN/T, though he shares characteristics with both. I originally accepted the hypothesis that he was a remarkably powerful member of class D, but my father’s notes, along with those of Dr. Abednego Danner, have persuaded me that H was actually on board the Kr ship at the time of its crash. I’m therefore designating H as representing a new class, Kr. Class WN/T members generally manifest enhanced physical health and mental acuity, as well as the potential for Fortean talents, and H does display all of these. However, the talents H displays are far beyond those of even the most exceptional WN/T class members. That includes us. He’s really going to be something. Initial reports might reasonably have placed him as a member of class D. Plenty of profound oddities stem from Dippel’s notes even today, as you know better than most. However, the testimony of Dr. Danner and other data I’ve gathered prevents me from placing H in class D. H’s abilities are extraordinary even by the standards of a Dippel modified human. I’ve clocked him sprinting at over 4000 feet per second over short distances, faster than a .220 Swift. True, a few of Gibberne’s subjects could match that speed, but Gibberne’s Accelerator has so far been invariably fatal to its users. H is in perfect health, and claims never to have been exposed to the Accelerator. I believe him. It’s my best estimate that H’s muscle power output over the short term is at least 250 times that of a baseline human. No Dippel modified human has ever manifested physical power in that range before. It is clear that mere muscle and bone could not sustain or withstand such exertion, which points to a Fortean explanation. If H’s abilities are in part psychic in origin, then they may (like your own talents) slowly increase over time. The Fortean explanation points towards placing H in class E. It’s a close match. The members of class E have manifested Fortean talents all over the map, and share other extraordinary traits similar to those displayed by H. It was my father’s belief that H was an exceptional example of a class E human, and I initially accepted that theory. However, with the assistance of H, I recently succeeded in triggering what appears to be a teaching machine built into the Kr ship. Presenting visual images and sound, the device documents an extra-terrestrial (possibly even extra-solar) civilization. I have yet to translate the language used by the machine, but if it is what it appears to be then H is something we've never seen before. As a final and somewhat unsettling note, my tests indicate that unlike class E humans, H is almost certainly cross-fertile with baseline humans. I don’t need to tell you of the potentially earth shattering risks and benefits inherent in that information. I’ve discussed this with H, and he has agreed to exercise restraint in his personal relationships, but I fear that the genie may already be out of the bottle. H has befriended a few of the local children and has been telling stories about the amazing “Planet Krypton”. I’m glad he’s finally having some fun; a positive attitude will make adjusting to his new life much easier for him. I’ll keep you apprised of developments, and I’d appreciate your input on this. All my best to Margo and the rest of the team, - Clark

Re: WWYCD? Faerie Tale theatre Style-"OK, why am I in a dress and pointy hat?' "Five midgets, an androgynous blond, a biker and Fabio?" "Fine, we'll just get the Eagles to fly us over the volcano. Frell you, we've established that I can get the Eagles to help out, and I'm not walking." "Great, the big disembodied eye fell over, the bald midget is dead, Fabio gets spooky girl, and you guys got to kill a large number of butch bottoms. Can I go home now?" "At least they cut the crappy poetry."

Re: New-Style Bionic Woman in DC Spin her the same way you would any other character in a real world with powers setting, depending on the setting. The classic approach is to start out with single origin point power opponents (she runs into a lot of other people with bionics) and a fair mix of thugs with guns, along with the odd martial artist. She also has regeneration (unlike the originals), so you can hit her with much darker and tougher foes than Steve or Jaime ever had to deal with. As the game/series goes on, decide if you want to stick to just cyborgs and well armed non-powered enemies or throw in robots, androids, aliens, psychics, and the odd sasquatch. Kind of on the border between Dark Champions and a Supers game, without spandex and invisible ape cities but definitely with all sorts of weirdness just outside of the publics awareness.

Re: Where have all the Superheroes gone? Sure. Much of my love for the Superhero genre is that it mainly features problems that can be solved by finding the correct person and then punching him. Heck, that describes at least half of the genre fiction and films I like. And yes, it's a common point of view among people who've been through war time. Dealing with problems that can't be solved with a punch (or other simple, direct action: a kiss, an apology, a fair and honest negotiation) is fine, and sometimes can make for very satisfying gaming. Unfortunately, as Ken Hite noted, you often get preaching on the lines of the 1970s "You can't punch child poverty with a big green boxing glove, Green Lantern." Or worse, you get Captain Planet. You also get problems Supers could solve, and elaborate rationalizations of why they don't (Alan Moore's Swamp Thing). I'd much rather either let the hero solve the problem ("In this world, the decline of the Rain Forests was a serious threat before The Rainy Man restored them and provided alternate sources of income to farmers"), or not mention it. Having Superheroes come out with "I can't stop genocide, because that would mean interfering with the internal affairs of a sovereign nation" just makes them look like putzes.

Re: Go home, Superman! Poor Aquaman.

Re: What should every DC supervillain have? I liked her when I first heard the idea; then I read the titans issue she spends in bondage while being taunted by her future mistress. That killed my interest in the character.

Re: Where have all the Superheroes gone? By punching them. It's the Superhero way.

Re: Where have all the Superheroes gone? So this is an anti-Iron Age thing? I'm not a fan of what the big two are doing these days myself, though I'd say that, from a technical standpoint, on average the art and writing are better than they used to be. Shame about the layers of childish politics and pop psychology, the shock for shock's sake, and the power given to celebrity writers and artists when working with mainstream characters. The most personally annoying bit is that the same Celeb writers who produce first rate material when working on a pet project will barf absolute drek onto the page when asked to work on a series they dislike. Anyway, the Iron Age anti-superhero bit in comics isn't universal, and the pendulum shows some faint signs of swinging the other way. I don't read much of the big two these days, and I can usually find some solid Superhero stories from smaller publishers if I feel the need.

Re: What should every DC supervillain have? Only appear in titles written by writers who hate the heroes. That way, no matter how pathetic your power set or moronic your strategy, you'll win. Sorry, I guess that's more Marvel Villains. How about, "Be a hot chick in a revealing outfit". That way, you'll never be seriously hurt and will always get brought back. Caveat: Only works for villains. If you're a hot heroine in a revealing outfit, expect to get locked in refrigerators a lot. A full Green Martian should be able to toast pretty much any hero in DC; Invisible Desolidified Telepathic Brick FTW. Of course, they usually get hit with a writer's nerf.

Re: Go home, Superman! My campaign doesn't use Kryptonite at all. Of course, my Superman vanished in the 1980s, and was never quite as powerful as his Silver Age publicity suggested. Three of his children are still around, but only two of them were ever publicly known adventurers and both are now in semi-retirement. They could come into play if it would make a good story; so far, it hasn't.

Re: Where have all the Superheroes gone? I'd say a big part of the decline in the traditional four color comic book Superhero has to do in part with the increasing age of the current audience. The Pulps appealed to adults and kids alike, and often featured fairly sophisticated stories (as action-adventure went), with characters that could be seen as early Superheroes. Pre-code comic book Superheroes appealed mainly to kids and teens, with an older teen and young adult audience that dropped off sharply after WWII. After the code, comic book Superhero stories didn't really start to aim at a young adult audience again until the 1980s. Tropes and storylines that made sense to a bright nine year old will leave a twenty-five year old comic book fan shaking his head in annoyance. Now we have a generation of writers and readers frustrated over the "silliness" of the genre, yet still reading it and writing in it. I expect they just don't like to admit that they enjoy the whole athletes in tights side of things.

Re: My yang needs a little help Female internal stylist with the full range of Yang style mystic powers. Huge DCV, reflection, HA on a trigger every time she blocks an attack, EGO Attacks, Mental Illusions, Telepathy, Mind Scan, Dream Control, Flight, Teleport, Poison Touch; have him deal with a character who is as good or almost as good as he is at pure martial arts, with all the wild powers on top. For real Hong Kong Martial Arts weirdness (lifted from the Swordsman series iirc), She used to be a He until she started practicing her art. Her goal is to drain his Yin and become a perfect sacred hermaphrodite, leaving him both powerless and female. Probably best to simulate it with a long term Transfer and a cosmetic Transformation Attack with the Partial Transformation advantage. Bonus points if the other PCs make fun of him as he grows progressively more feminine after each battle.

Re: How would you imitate Uncontrolled Missile Deflection for Melee Attacks? Same way I handle Uncontrolled Missile Deflection for Ranged Attacks: +X DCV, Special Effect: Deflects Incoming Attacks. Cuts down on the extra rolling, keeps things as simple as possible. However, using the rules in the Ultimate Martial Artist, a Martial Block with a Trigger is legal. I don't use it, but that's no reason you shouldn't.

Re: Where have all the Superheroes gone? The Pulp Heroes sometimes dealt with social issues, as did the Victorian Sci Fi and Fantasy Heroes that preceded them and the Superheroes of the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. "Bronze Age" is a convenient and popular label, and like most such labels it carries baggage, including oversimplifications. Nor am I suggesting that you can never deal with social issues in your games or fiction if it floats your boat; they're yours, you can do as you like with them. I am suggesting that Doc Savage dealing with unemployment on his own was never the point of the stories where he was handing out jobs and cash, and that this was as it should be. This is not a genre about grass roots political organizing and collective action, and trying to make those the focus of the stories (or bemoaning their absence) misses the point of big guys with superpowers. You don't need a costume and huge biceps to organize a letter writing campaign. The possibility of the sudden end of our current Civilization on Earth, by Human action, was absolutely real from the late 1950s to the early 1990s, and is still present today. Superhero stories did fine for most of that period, even if the comic book and pulp industries didn't. We've been in much worse places before, and will be again. And we'll still want to hear about good guys who stood up to the bad guys and won. And some of them will wear capes.

Re: Where have all the Superheroes gone? One more note: It has been fashionable on and off since at least 1924 to note that muscle men can't solve social and institutional problems, usually in satire. Phylip Wylie did it in Gladiator, Philip Jose Farmer did it in many of his Pulp pastiches, Warren Ellis won't shut up about it and has apparently decided against the satirical touch brought by earlier writers dealing with the same idea. The Satirists are partially right. Muscle Men in Tights can't realistically solve social and institutional problems. But then, it's not a realistic genre, and solving social ills was never the main part of their job. Sure, Doc Savage gave jobs to the poor and handed out charity, but his main job was stopping lunatics bent on murder and mayhem, and that's as it should be. In a world with Supers, a lunatic with a death ray is a real problem.

Re: Where have all the Superheroes gone?

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat When standing in line, any line, you've got to ask: Are these people's lives worth more than your personal convenience? In that situation, sometimes, an honest answer will leave you wishing for a disintegrator pistol.

Re: World Destroyer Adam Apollo, the Man of Muscle Miracles, just wants to be loved. He focuses his Muscle Miracle powers and strikes his Double Biceps Power Pose: Double Biceps Power Pose: Mind Control 1d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Telepathic (+1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1/2), Penetrating (+1/2), Continuous (+1), MegaScale (1" = 10,000 km; Megaarea; +1 1/4), Cumulative (768 points; +2 1/4) (40 Active Points); Mandatory Effect EGO +20 (Must Always Achieve [target believes actions were his own idea]; -3/4), Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Only to Activate, -3/4), Set Effect (Love, Serve and Revere Adam Apollo with all your heart; -1/2), Gestures (Requires both hands; Must flex and pose; -1/2), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2) By the time he finishes his routine, everyone on Earth save a few of the most powerful mentalists (those with Hardened Mental Defense) will love and worship Adam Apollo with all their hearts, and will think it's their own idea. Breakout rolls will be at -140 or more even for the strongest willed, so the effect should last for decades. Those few mentalists who can resist won't be able to sense the power working; Adam will call on his newfound Mentalist allies to protect him against those few renegades who don't love and serve him. Or he'll learn to strike another pose. Yes, it's time for the world to learn the Might of Muscle Miracles.

Re: Go home, Superman! Some good suggestions above. I don't usually give an explanation. The assumption is that other Heroes are off doing something else. Occasionally the PCs might hear something about it, usually they won't (unless they ask). I also made a point of having most of the previous Mightiest Heroes of the campaign vanish one way or another between ten and twenty years ago, leaving the PCs the current best of the best. After all, it's their story. If you need an in game explanation, Superman hasn't been making public appearances for the last few months or years. There are still reports now and then of a flying man in red and blue, the odd rescue or mysterious intervention, but nothing more. If you (as the GM) ever need him for something, you can bring him back. Otherwise, he's just gone, and no one knows why.