Lord Liaden

Nick Cage is the acting equivalent of bipolar. When he's good he's sublimely great. When he's bad he's laughably terrible. And I enjoyed his Ghost Rider too. A little over the top for my tastes, but Cage fully committed to the character, and at that point in the evolution of superhero movies that wasn't a given.

To be fair, the bulk of characterization for the Marvel heroes had been built up over ten years and twenty movies. JL didn't have that, so Snyder had no choice but to build it into his movie. But I would say that Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Gamora, had strong character arcs over the last two Avengers movies.

Very much my line of thinking. Big enough to be interesting, small enough to be manageable. Not so settled that you have to travel far to find wilderness. And of course, easier to map. When I was looking at setting populations for Ambrethel's cities, I researched precedents for real-world pre-industrial urban areas. A very few over the past two millennia had estimates in the 1 million+ range, but I noticed that the latest research has been revising those estimates downward. I also looked at what's been published before for Fantasy Hero. Biggest city in that category was Arindel in the 4E Western Shores setting, at 600,000. Smallest I found was 10,000. That lines up pretty well with real-world precedents for urban population range in a medieval world. I keep going back to the Shaanda River. It has four "small" cities named: Blackrond, Garwyn, Ishthac, and Telisarn. Ishthac is supposed to be the largest. If I was designing the area I'd put them in the 10,000 - 20,000 range. I figure each city would exert hegemony over their neighboring smaller settlements. This way, rather than designing one big, detailed city, you'd be dealing with four smaller cities. Each one could be distinctive in culture and government. If you want diversity in urban adventure, just sail up or down the Shaanda.

Do you think it's practical to have an intermission in today's multiplex theaters? I'd be afraid of it playing merry hob with scheduling and audience traffic. That would also make a very long movie even longer, meaning fewer showings and less profit.

Given that the Darkhold is now in the mainstream mix, I would not be surprised if Ghost Rider transitioned into the MCU. He's one of the most compelling characters to come out of Marvel's television division, and could hold his own against nearly any Marvel hero or villain.

Really nice to hear your fantasy creative juices are flowing again, Steve. (Wait, that sounds wrong...) Of the choices specified in your poll, for straight-up big-city adventure I would favor Tavrosel, for the reasons I laid out on the aforementioned thread. But I also expended several posts detailing the adventure potential of the Shaanda River valley. Ishthac and its neighboring cities are relatively small, but collectively there's a lot you could do with them; and the region carries plenty of potential for future expansions. Besides, IME it's more comfortable for PCs starting their careers to have a smaller place as their home base, and work up to a major urban sojourn. But of course you would write this, so it should be what excites you. That's how we get the best product.

But again, as per the map, one end of the Ordring is at Lake Beralka, while the other end is at the Thurisian Mountains. Unless you intended the Loskell River to start at the Thurisians. In which case, since the Loskell and the Ordring would merge at the Ettinstone, the Loskell south of the Ettinstone should be even deeper than the Ordring as it flows to Aarn. Meaning large ships could ply the rivers from the Sea of Storms to Lake Beralka... except for the Ettinstone being in the way. If we instead decreed that the Ordring started at the Thurisians, then the deeper part of the river east of the Ettinstone could be because of many smaller rivers, too small to show on the map, flowing off the Nagyrian Mountains (a suggestion that was raised on this thread). I was operating on the assumption that no city has developed around the Ettinstone because the site is considered sacred to the Druids. But I would have Aarn establish a trading post near the Ettinstone to offload and onload cargo for ships going up- or downriver. That would be particularly important if there's a depth difference between the Loskell and the Ordring.

If this one spot differs so radically from the realistic logic governing the rest of Ambrethel's hydrology, I'd like an explanation to be included in the book. It still would leave Beralka without an effective outflow, as water would be coming back into the lake replacing what's going out. That also doesn't match what Steve just wrote.

Hmm... That seems rather problematic, as per the map on p. 60 it leaves Beralka without any outflows. It would make more sense topographically for the Shaanda to flow east from Beralka into Mhorec, which in turn empties south into the Gulf of Velkara via the Larnaca River.

And Graviton "absorbed" Creel when Creel absorbed gravitonium, so he may or may not be dead as well. But what I meant by "used up" is that both characters were major plot elements in AoS, but in powered-down versions so those heroes could beat them. They're not the comic-book versions who could threaten the entire Avengers team, so they can't be used in the same way Thanos was and Kang could be.

People are praising this version for the greater depth and development of the characters, but if it takes this much run time to fit that in, that would never have been practical in a theatrical setting. It needs a venue like home viewing where one can pause the movie to use the bathroom, eat, maybe take a nap, or just stretch a bit. As I don't use a streaming service I've been watching clips from the movie on YouTube. What I've been seeing is typical Zack Snyder visuals. The color palette is dark, gloomy, and washed-out. Sometimes I have trouble making out what's going on. Action sequences are flashy but brutal, and with a lot of slo-mo. It's starting to add up to be something I can admire for technique, but not truly enjoy.

You did provide the Encyclopaedia Turakiana as a free download, which specifies pronunciation for every unique name and term in TA. So I don't think you should be hit too hard. OTOH those infernally polysyllabic Elvish words and names really get my goat. I understand the rationale for them, but I spent hours rehearsing the damn things so my Elven PC and NPCs could pronounce them in my games if asked about them. 😠

This information was just posted to the Champions Online forums by the username "epelesker," whom I would not be surprised to learn is one of Scott's friends posting here: Since you guys have all been patiently waiting for information on our Mighty Thundrax... He's still in the hospital as of yet and apparently close to going home, though we're not sure of what the timetable exactly is for the moment. But he's for sure feeling ready to not be cooped up in that building for much longer. I'd heard secondhand that there was some chatter about 'Drax at this week's Dev CC so the positive thoughts for him were definitely appreciated! (I, for one, would support an AF of Thundrax!) If I find out more, I'll try to not to leave you all in the dark. Since Scott's condition seems to be improving, I thought it acceptable to send an email of encouragement to him at the address at the top of this thread, following the same rules as spelled out there.

Many people seem to be fascinated by depictions of the vile side of human nature. Maybe it's the appeal of vicariously experiencing one's inner darkness that can't normally be expressed. For my part, I agree with the previous sentiments. The series seemed to revel in cynicism and cruelty. Concepts like honor, justice, compassion, were given lip service, but those who espoused them mostly either died or suffered horrible abuse. Plus there were zombies, which I loathe.

At present it's rare in America. But it can exist because it did. Growing up I saw it, heard it, read it. Journalists passionately advocated their obligation to find and publicize the truth, and to be as objective toward it as humanly possible. Those who didn't suffered penalties levied by their own community. Outside the US, while human bias is inevitable, and polarized media are becoming more common, rank hypocrisy and deceit is much less noticeable and much less tolerated.

Archer, I believe we're talking about the same priorities, just looking at them from different perspectives. But as I'm not sure I could clarify my position without creating more upset, I'll apologize for causing offense, and withdraw.

As you appropriately point out, the writer decides how these events will fall out. But it isn't cut and dried. The situation is dynamic, and many factors can come into play. I like to take the often-mentioned example of Superman carrying a non-flying opponent into space for an easy win. Mike Habjan, in his excellent series of animated short films depicting a prolonged fight between Superman and the Hulk, illustrates how that tactic could be much more problematic than it sounds. And Superman could fly in at super-speed while Fate is asleep, of even if he's awake, and crush his skull before he could cast a spell. But there are circumstances in either case that mitigate an automatic outcome. Can you sneak up on someone who has superhuman senses or mystic perceptions? Do dimensional portals have to be in static locations, or can they chase a target? If the latter, do they move faster than the target? How easy is it to knock that helmet off Dr. Fate's head? None of these necessarily have to apply in a given combat, but they all potentially could, giving a writer enough justification to decide the outcome for story reasons. With respect, you're thinking like a gamer, looking for angles you can exploit in order to win. Not like a storyteller, wanting to entertain an audience without resorting to the wildly improbable. Those are different priorities.

Looks like they share a hair stylist.

Beyond racism, this is irresponsible journalism. Making statements before ascertaining the facts, sadly common today when everyone feels the need and right to broadcast whatever thought crosses their minds. And when this one bit her on the ass, trying a mealy-mouthed non-apology to walk it back while still justifying her act. But if that's her conduct she has no business being a news editor.

The trick is always to get him through the portal. With a superstrong guy who flies, not so simple.

Unfortunately Graviton was already used up in Agents of SHIELD. Ditto the Absorbing Man IIRC, who would have made a fine recruit for the Masters of Evil. The Incredible Hulk planted an origin seed for the Leader. Could be interesting to see what Samuel Sterns has been up to all these years...

Thanks, that's a good resource. But I just tried it for the image in question. Nada.

The evidence is very clear now that Helmut Zemo will be an antagonist in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. We'll have to see where that series leaves him. I also remember that the Abomination probably still exists...

Are there any kaiju known to eat rocks?

I agree that this award is questionable. Still, being the only American Senator to ever vote to impeach a president from his own party does count for something.