Lord Liaden

Asylum officers rebel against Trump policies they say are immoral and illegal This is where the test of government policy always comes -- whether the officials on the front lines are willing to carry it out.

The article I linked to speculates that it's a political calculation, that Trump thinks will appeal to his base. That would be consistent with what appears to be his only priority at this time: getting reelected, by whatever means necessary,

Not just considering it. He's already done it.

Sadly, as this review is based on factual data, it will make no dent in the entrenched views of people on the extremes They're already a lost cause on that front.

I admit, I have a lot of trouble looking at Millennium City as Iron Age. It may have been struck by tragedy, but it was rebuilt bright and shining, ultra-modern and optimistic. It definitely does have mundane crime, but that's decidedly the minority. It's also replete with supervillainy, but for a superhero campaign that's not a bad thing. IMO neither are adult concerns and adult issues. I'm an adult and play with adults. But if you're running games for younger players, just emphasize the "gee whiz!" elements of MC. I mean, the MC Zoo has two alien animals, a time-lost wooly mammoth, and a shrunken Godzilla analogue!

Sorry to hear that, TP. But if your health is already fragile, not listening to what's being deposed is probably beneficial.

Warning: very mild profanity.

A long time ago on these forums I suggested a new supervillain from the future, the offspring of Gravitar and Holocaust who inherited all their combined mutant powers. Obviously that would be a terror, but with generally reduced power levels he/she could be played as just a relatively tough master villain.

To be honest, I don't really have one. I'm quite happy with the level of four-color superpowers in Champions now, and wouldn't choose to follow either the official rapid loss of supers, nor your suggested gradual diminution. I'm just exploring implications as an intellectual exercise and to try to be helpful. But as far as Talisman goes, I wouldn't expect her to still be alive by 2050. She strikes me as a "live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse" type.

Not just supers; modern-day action-movie, fantasy (Boromir's death, anyone?)... Hero System's default is heroic actions from larger-than-life source material. But there are consequences to being at negative Body; they just aren't instant. That may strike someone as being unrealistic, and if that's problematic for a particular game group they should change it (and that's always been Steve Long's mantra in his Hero writing: you should feel free to change whatever would make your game more fun for you). However -- and I say this with respect, Usagi -- IME the "unrealism" of Hero damage tends to be more of a concern for Game Masters than for players, usually for the conceptual reason you cite. Players usually don't want their PCs to die sooner than they have to, and want to soldier on to show how tough they are. But one alternative I did experiment with which is in line with that sentiment, is to require characters who have reached 0 Body or less to make a CON or EGO roll (whichever stat is higher) every Phase, due to pain/shock/bloodloss/etc. If they fail the roll they can take no action that Phase. To reflect their deteriorating condition, you could add a penalty to their roll of -1 for every Body they fall below 0.

Thank you, Dean. Maybe Herodom doesn't have the habit of parsing and over-interpreting every sentence of a text. Unless it's a system rule, or course. However, I do.

You could rationalize the twinning situation that way if you want to, but Talisman and Witchcraft had different powers based on their study priorities, so I don't believe it would necessarily work out that way. But both of them received equal gifts from spirits from the Parterres (the history of Martika Duquesne in Arcane Adversaries tells the story), so it's at least conceivable. It also wouldn't automatically follow that Talisman would be "co-archmage." If you don't want Witchcraft to be alive in 2050, per the future described in Galactic Champions she died banishing Tyrannon. Or she could perish at any subsequent convenient date. Maybe with her death the attributes of Archmage could pass to her twin. All the references imply that what a sorcerer gains as Archmage, is power. Serious power. Which has always been one of Pamela Duquesne's priorities. Some villainous mystics, notably the Demonologist and Stingray, were actively campaigning for support in the Mystic World to their claiming the office. An Archmage is supposed to be beholden to no other occult entitiy, their first priority being the defense of humanity; and both Talisman and the Circle have avoided binding themselves to any. But I didn't mean to imply that Talisman had to be both Scarlet Moon leader and Archmage. Any of those permutations is possible, or none, as you would prefer.

A rom-com in the place you'd least expect...

The Circle of the Scarlet Moon at its height had enough influence in government, money to hire super-mercs, etc. that they could have made Talisman's life hell if she pushed them too hard. Her "quotation" about them in Arcane Adversaries p. 6 implies Talisman was very conscious of how insidiously dangerous the Circle is. She would even work for them on occasion after she left. I got the impression the Scarlet Moon didn't go after Talisman harder for her "betrayal" mainly because they hoped to draw her back into their service full-time. There is another possible use for Talisman, especially if she matures over time. Bethany "Witchcraft" Duquesne became Archmage in large part due to blessings before her birth from spirits from the Parterres, one of the requirements for Archmage. The same blessings her twin sister received. (Note that aside from protecting Earth, that office has no moral requirement.)

Talisman left the Scarlet Moon because she had no patience for their "constant scheming in the shadows." She wanted power, but she wanted to openly revel in it, so had no interest in seizing their organization. But after decades of that activity her attitude could have changed. By 2050 all the current leadership of the Circle would probably be dead, including the elder Duquesnes, so any vestiges of loyalty Talisman might have retained for them would no longer be a factor.