Logan D

Re: Maybe my Champions brick...

Wow. Well' date=' obviously that building has a very strong structure! [/quote']

 

Something obviously went very wrong with the foundation though.

 

That's cool though. I could see a superbrick flying up to catch the corner and straightening it out again.

 

 

Indeed! My thoughts exactly! That - or maybe a superstrong type like the Thing could get themselves under the initial failure point and hold it up long enough for people to get out. If they're REALLY strong, they could maybe hold it until some construction equipment could be brought in and repair it.

...CAN lift that building without it coming aprt after all!

So you’re done with a hard day. You stop off at the Jollibee for a styro container of noodles and indistinct fish. You walk up the stairs – the lift’s out, again – and arrive at your flat panting and sweating. But you console yourself with the thought of a cold San Miguel, and maybe something interesting on TV. You enter your apartment – it’s hot, very humid, as it always is when you get home. You turn on the fan. You get that beer and take a long deep swig: ah. Things are better. At least you have tonight, eh? And that counts for something. You go to the windows to open the drapes – you close them during the day to keep the apartment from overheating – and you look out over the city. You take another swig. Hey, maybe you’ll go out tonight. Why not? Maybe meet some nice –

 

Whoa. You know, that building across the street looks like it's moving.

Above clipped from THE BLEAT, by James Lileks

And here I thought superhero physics didn't work in the real world...

(Reposted over here in Champions forum because it seemed more apropriate.)

Re: Rampaging through the Champions Universe

Published hero teams, that is.

Re: Rampaging through the Champions Universe

I rather liked UNITY myself. Although I agree with the observation that Mentiac "in the field" as he is right now is a bad idea. If I was going to change one thing about him, I'd make him a true mentalist. Give him telepathy (and not just based on being able to "predict" actions) and telekinesis perhaps, in order to justify a force field or force wall that would protect him in combat.

I'd have him go through a slight "radiation" accident to justify it. You don't even need to change anything else about him or his looks. Maybe he even finds a way to do it to himself! Reading up on Eastern meditation techniques, he gets curious and puts himself in a trance, and winds up unlocking those latent abilities in himself.

My favorite characters from UNITY are El Picaro and Dr White and Dr. Black. Picaro is just the perfect temporary NPC to work with a group. And looks like a fun personality. And I love the pretentiousness of Dr. Black and how his wife, Dr. White, continually deflates it. That sounds like a wonderful schtick to pull during a game. I think players would love that.

And what's not to like about UNITY anyway? Good lord, we're short enough on NPC hero teams in 5th edition CU as it is! We need all we can get!

Re: The Global Guardians on September 11, 2001

These have all been outstandingpieces of writing. More than once I've had to stop for a moment. Sometimes rubbing at my eyes. Sometimes just sitting back and... processing... for lack of any better word to think of.

I wonder... Now that I've had time to think about it. What was the process that led to this? I know that many gaming groups playing superhero campaigns have integrated or acknowledged 9-11 into their campaigns. How did you come to the decision to do so and in this way? Obviously there must have been some serious discussion as to what happened and how to deal with it, both as a group and individually. What did the various players think of the project? Are other groups in the GG universe going to do the same thing?

I've peeked at the website, and surmised that Oracle's player must be the "Becky" referred to earlier. I feel for her. And I'm guessing that her story may be the most difficult of all of the Guardians to tell, given her character's power set.

Thank you for posting these stories. They've been really good and very powerful.

Re: Is anyone gaming the Iraq war?

The best fun I had in the campaign was the scene in the equivalent of Q Branch in which all the techy secret gadgets were not spy stuff but things to allow the PCs to practice their religion (and fulfil their obligations: one PC was a priest and obliged to say Mass every day) in secret. Rather than smugglings guns and bombs the we James Bond does they were equipped to smuggle communion wafers and wiine, consecrated vessels, chrism, etc. The look on the players' faces when 'Q' demonstrated their secret equipment was priceless.

I'm having a Monty Python flashback here -

"Crikey!! It's THE BISHOP!!"

Re: Superhero Images

This is an early version of Lora that's had a slight update, both in linework and with a new color job.

One of the seemingly infinite uses of Photoshop is how you can use it to correct works that you're not satisfied with or that need clean up. My facial design for Lora has changed slightly over the last few years, and while I still liked the original drawing, I decided to "update" it by drawing a new face for her in my newer style and replacing the original with it. Also tweaked the body proportions ever so slightly as well. I'm really rather pleased with the final outcome in that regard.

The color job, I'm not quite as happy with. This looks very simplified and two-dimensional compared to some of the other stuff I've posted. It's a function of the limitations of the original drawing though. I shaded it in black and white using zip-a-tone, and had to work to some degree with that.

Nevertheless, I've always liked the overall color scheme design of this outfit. Those of you who have seen the later version of her in the "UNTIL uniform" will note that those shoulder pauldrons are the only element of this original design that I've kept for her costume.

And those boots! GAH! Lora's able to run at 75+ MPH in short bursts. At the time I designed this outfit, I hadn't considered what those boot cuffs would do at that speed! She'd lose them in short order! Not to mention the fact that that shoulderless, sleeveless top would cause problems for an essentially acrobatic brick like her. Oh well. I've "fixed" those problems now. And consider this costume more like something she might wear "out dancing".

Re: Looking for a Costume Designer

You're not the only one. I wish there was something out there like the COH designer. There's Hero Machine, of course. But, no offense to the artist for HM, but I don't like the art used there. I notice that his work is used in Hero books like Champions Universe, and there it works quite well. But piecemeal art just never works quite right.

I'm an artist myself and can design my own stuff. But a CG developer would certainly be a handy tool for quickly calling up and discarding costume elements, so that, when I get close to something I like, I could just draw that instead of wasting graphite and paper on discarded designs.

Re: The Global Guardians on September 11, 2001

Holy Christ...

I really don't have the words...

Re: Best New GC Master Villain

Yep. Its not the thousand years that matured her' date=' its the 15 or so years before the mana collapse.[/quote']

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

I was wondering how much time she spent free thousands of years ago before she was put to sleep the first time. I think she was barely into her teens then. With no one around who could tell her "No!" and make it stick. Still, that couldn't have been very long. 10-15 years, tops?

 

Between the time she is re-awakened in the mid-90s and 2020, she'll have a lot more exposure and a chance to grow up. Granted, she'll be under the thumb of the Supreme Serpent all that time, so she won't grow up in a goodway, but she'll have a better sense of tactics and strategy, plus, I would imagine that she'd wind up learning a lot about how to run VIPER as well. She's NOT stupid in the slightest, just inexperienced. And that will change.

 

There's also her friendship with Gravitar to consider. She'll have (at least in a limited sense) a life outside of VIPER (I imagine Nama is rather amused about that whole situation).

 

So by the time she and Nama need to wait out the decline of magic, she's already got a lot more XP in background and organizational skills. I'd love to run her and Nama in Champs 3000 as a sort of "Berg Katze / Sosai X" relationship. With the various VIPER generals as interchangable/throwaway cannon fodder. Although you'd have the occasional truly competent leader who rises in the ranks to give the heroes some real trouble.

 

Or heck - go the Big Fire route and have Viperia as the rarely seen head of VIPER's "Magnificent 10" tier of superpowered leaders! When SHE comes out to play, you know:

 

1) You've actually gotten her attention. This means you've been doing an excellent job.

 

2) You've gotten her attention, and now you're going to pay dearly for it. Owie...

Re: Faster than a speeding bullit...

Michael Surbrook has a version of the 1938 era Superman statted out here -

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionscomic/superman.html

And he bases his powers on the same source material and using much of the same thought process you guys are using.

Convenient, eh?

Re: What is Evil?

A better question:

 

What is hip? Tell me tell me, do you think you know...

"I"m so cool, you could store a side of beef in me for a month! I'm so hip I have trouble seeing over my pelvis!" - Zaphod Beeblebrox

Re: What is Evil?

For an interesting discussion on Good and Evil and definitions of same - I recommend this thread on a fanfiction forum for Drunkard's Walk

http://p087.ezboard.com/fdrunkardswalkforumsfrm13.showMessage?topicID=3.topic

Some of the relevent quotes I'll repeat here -

"One key identifying characteristic of evil is that it sees all other living creatures -- sentient beings or not -- as objects to use, abuse, and discard in order to achieve its goals. Empathy is alien to it; it has no care for others' feelings, except when it delights in their manipulation."

"Evil -- *real* Evil -- is convinced it is Good. It is, in fact, *far* more certain that it is Good than Good is -- and that's how you can often tell the difference. Good doubts itself -- it's a necessary mechanism that *keeps* it Good. Evil never doubts itself, its motives or its methods. It deludes itself, or lets itself be easily deluded by others, that it is always in the right. It is always convinced that what it does is Good. Of course, it usually redefines 'Good' to mean 'what *it* wants'."

"If you ever have doubts about the rightness of a course you have set yourself on, you are at the very least redeemable. Only the irredeemably evil are ever *absolutely* sure of their actions."

Another defining element of Evil - true Evil - is that it cannot laugh at itself. The only humor it knows comes at the expense of others.

 

Good people can enjoy a laugh at their own expense, they can even specifically make jokes about their own weaknesses. True evil admits no weaknesses, so cannot abide jokes about itself.

 

Ah - good example - excellent example, in fact - would be the climactic sequence in the movie "Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker", when Batman/Terry outjokes the Joker. The Joker has plenty of fun at others expense, but cannot take a joke at himself, and completely loses his cool when Terry turns the tables on him.

 

If an otherwise evil creature is capable of even a little bit of self-deprecating humor, it could be taken as a sign that it is not totally irredeemable.

Re: Team Shuttle Help?

So, just curious, what design did your group decide to go with? Something posted here? Or something else?

Re: Team Shuttle Help?

And a couple of screen shots from the movie.

Re: Team Shuttle Help?

And a couple more...

Re: Team Shuttle Help?

Of course the X-Men's X-Jet originally WAS an SR-71 Blackbird with a few extra things such as VTOL thrusters and such added. And the version from the latest movie is just thoroughly kick ass. Here's a few pictures ripped from the 2nd disc of the deluxe DVD set.

Re: Team Shuttle Help?

For super jets, you can't go far wrong swiping from Gatchaman. Here's a line art of the God Phoenix from the 94 Gatchaman, plus a picture of it flying over the ocean. I changed the color scheme, to differentiate it from the source material a bit. The "new" God Phoenix design was very much SR-71 inspired, I think you'll agree.

Re: Superhero Images

This is something a friend of mine on another list found and sent me. Just a little sample of the local color for your visit to that small east European country ruled by a particular semi-legitimate world class super-villain.

Re: Superhero Images

Did you draw this freehand? Pretty good. I'm not a big fan of the anime style' date=' but this one is nice. Excellent coloring job, too.[/quote']

 

 

Freehand all the way, of course!

 

The coloring job was a bear. But I'm getting better at it. I'm debating as to whether the overall picture came out too dark, and whether to lighten it.

Re: Superhero Images

Here's another picture that I posted in B&W line format a while back. Now colored. Her name is Firedrake and now that I've gotten her colored, I can see there's more than a little bit of influence from Morningstar, of Bill Willinghams's Elementals, in her costume design and overall look. Ah well, we steal only from the best...

Re: Superhero Images

While I'm here, I ought to post something I just completed the other day. I've posted the black and white version of this piece in this thread before, and now here's the color version. The original had a few "speedlines" to denote motion. Here, I"ve erased those in favor of the backdrop. I found a picture of the New York skyline that was at a perfect angle for my needs, and motion blurred it. Looks pretty decent if I do say so!

Re: Superhero Images

On the subject of an older Harry Potter, you might take a peek at this pisture here at Elfwood --

http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/fanq/g/o/goldseven2/wp_marauders_col.jpg.html

It's actually of Harry's father James when he was at Hogwarts, but I think that cropped, it might suit your needs for a portrait.

Re: Gadgets and Gear now in Online Store

"One Pulse-Laser, Plasma, Phased, 40 Watts."

"Just what you see, pal."

Re: Superhero Images

Here's something amusing I found a while back. I don't know the source.