FenrisUlf

Geez, I'll vote for Court if no one else does. OKay, it's cause she's a sexy blond, but still, she has a lot of power between the belt and the rod, and she can kick some major booty. That, and her boyfriend is Captain Marvel. How do you think Marv's gonna respond to some guy who hits girls -- especially HIS girl?

The tools of Teleios! We've seen a lot of suggestions here for 'hard' tech -- what about ideas for gadgets made with the life sciences? One of the characters we've got in our group is a doctor, and a list of tools and drugs would be a BIG help. And, of course, the ever-popular supermutant virii, genetic/chemical ways of graning or removing superpowers, etc. The sort of stuff Teleios would use to create posthumans or the like.

Fritz Leiber a sex freak???

Having looked back through my own extensive collection of heroic fantasy, I can honestly say that some of the WORST HF I ever read was in Jessica Amanda Salmonson's first _Amazons_ collection. It did have some good stories, mind, by authors like Andre Norton and Tanith Lee -- but it also had some unspekable drek by friends of Salmonson. Judging by what they turned in, I can only suppose Salmonson decided to run stories by her radical feminist friends to 'balance out' the stories told by the more apolitical (and professional) authors. Case in point -- 'The Rape Patrol', a story about Goddess-worshipping women who track down rapists and sacrifice them to the Goddess in modern-day NYC. The tale was vile, not least for its hideous view that all males are rapists. Which, of course, excuses the in-story behavior of the women, who kill and abuse men left and right. It reads like a feminist version of the nastier 'Gor' or 'Horseclans'.

Well, having posted what turned out to be a surprisingly robust thread on the /best/ heroic fantasy, now I'm curious as to what you folks think of as the /worst/ heroic fantasy ever. Though that might be a very long list, I will narrow it down by asking that you not post the 'cheese' -- the stuff that is bad but in a good way (i.e., no MST3K material). I'm asking for the just plain *bad* -- the books that you either tossed in the direction of the nearest trashcan or that made you want to track the author down to demand he return the hours you put into reading the book or seeing the movie.

You got it, Hermit. In my own game, there's a 'mystic artifact' one hero uses, specially useful against demons/undead, that turned out to be from Malva circa 50,000 BC or so. And I was thinking of maybe doing something special with a group of heroes going up against the Elder Wyrm and their Thane flunkies again and again through history -- though I've yet to decide if they'll be the same heroes or just their souls/minds (a la' Robert E. Howard's reincarnation stories)

Other Sword & Planet authors? Geez, but this thread did WAY better than I thought it would. If I may ask, aside from ERB himself, would anyone here have any other recommendations as to sword and planet authors/books? I always did have a fondness for Leigh Brackett's stories, esp. Eric John Stark, and I thought Lin Carter's _Green Star_ series had some very good 'bits'. On the other hand, there was a lot of crap written in S&P. Sometimes I wonder if the reasoning you had behind so much bad sword and planet (or space opera, or heroic fantasy, or whatever) was that 'Well, this isn't *real* SF, so I can make it as crappy as I like and the clueless fanboys will buy it anyway!'

I've got to admit, I'd prefer to see the Tuala Morn or 'Age of Legends' settings more than another generic high fantasy setting (though I've no doubt Mister Long and Co. will do a bang-up job; I'm getting it just to see what Takofanes was like back when he was really powerful, if nothing else). But yeah, TM sounds to be somehwat original. Of course, considering the brief write-up I've seen for the 'Atlantean Age', I wouldn't mind seeing /that/ done as a Fantasy Hero/Champions crossover.

Well, having looked at the description of it, I have to say that it sounds more like 'moral quandary' than 'endorsement of Nazism'. Though it does sound like a nice casty idea to show how, say, Nazism was 'better' in some way than whatever might have happened without it. Like, say, a Germany that swung hard left rather than right. So when Spain has the Civil War, it also become a communist regime with German/Russian aid -- and then the rest of Europe winding up a Stalinist empire. Which leads to a world deivided between fascism in America and Japan, and communism in Europe -- and ultimately a nuclear world war. Okay, it wouldn't exactly be /better/ (innocent people would be dying either way) but it might do to show you that sometimes you have to decide not who to save, but who winds up dying.

Well, the SFBC has reprinted both the Lensman and the Skylark series in big collected editions. About time, too. They're still available if you're interested. And with John Carter -- I always got the idea that he wasn't dumb so much as intensely honorable; there were some things a gentleman simply did not notice, even if they were happening right under his nose. On the other hand, in our modern day, attitudes like that do carry the stigma of low intelligence.

Hi all, Noticing that the SFBC is going to reprint most of Burrough's John Carter/Barsoom novles got me to wondering. Now, swords and planet is listed in Star Hero as an SF genre, but how many people see it that way? I've usually heard it described as (and thought of it as) a sub-genre of fantasy, except that you have ray-guns and aliens. And how many people here would ever do a sword & planet setting?

Re: MMM Cover As do I. Magnificent piece of work.

Having recently started what bids fair to be a vigorous thread concerning the old _Normals Unbound_, I'm curious. Which other of the older (4th ed.) books do you folks enjoy? Myself, I've always had a warm spot for _Kingdom of Champions_ and _Horror Enemies_. Especially Kingdom, as there's been so many badly-done English heroes in the comics over the years, it was a joy to see something *new* done with them. And _Horror Enemies_, well... they were just cool. Especially the Manitous and the Hell-Raisers, probably my all-time favorite magical Champs villains. Any of you have any favorites?

Hmm -- having read/heard about the book but not actually /owning/ a copy yet (gee, Dreamscape, think maybe that now after six weeks you can actually get me my blasted copy?) I'm just gonna guess -- Doctor Draconis?

That was nice of the fellow, especially considering that I've seen it selling for $95 at Noble Knight Games. And may I ask just what was so controversial about it? BTW -- to Storn and everyone else involved with Normals Unbound -- I loved the art and the writing, so if you were wondering how well people liked those aspects of the book, relax. You did great. And while a flowchart would have been fun, really, with a little work anyone reading it could figure the inter-character relations out for themselves. And it could really be fun when two PCs, each thinking their NPCs/subplots are unique to them, learn that 'their' NPCs are tied in to some other player's problems.

Personally, I'd like to see something implying that H.P. Lovecraft and some of his cohorts knew 'something' about what was going on with DEMON -- which might be why so many of them died young. (Sorry, but I'm a big Cthulhu Mythos fan).

Sorry Baneone! Eep! Sorry about the look of my last post. Didn't want to make it look like I was putting words in Baneone's mouth.

Don't know if I should admit this or not, but my inspiration was somewhere between Thorn's gaggle of cronies-to-be (from CKC) and 'the Pack' from the old Gargoyles animated series, which I have a soft spot for.

Thanks all. Man, with all these evil/bad werewolves, I should make up a sort of 'uber-wolf' as a master villain (think like some of the elder Garou from Werewolf:The Apocalypse), get them together, and call them 'the Pack' or something. Say, and BTW, why hasn't anyone ever done anything in weres beside werewolves? THere are a *lot* of other were-critters out there, after all.

Heck, I don't see anything offensive. Angels are *SUPPOSED* to be frightening and terrible beings, and besides, this is just a game. I doubt it's intended as a theological treatise.

You're right. It is indeed brilliant, and I extend my deepest thanks to you for what you did. Great, great piece of work. BTW, just who's idea was the cute markswoman hillbilly cop-chick? She and her rather more loused-up partner were two of the best characters in the entire book.

Out of curiosity, did anyoine else ever buy/use this, or was I the only one? Cause man, but did I ever love this book. I especially remember the subplot we wound up using, where Stephen Harrington (wealthy philanthropist who sold his soul to the devil) tried getting some magical gewgaw away from us. It all wound up with a guy who we'd actually /liked/ turning into a supervillain (Hell Rider, if I remember the name right). And of course there was Iggy the jerkwad vampire (we used Stalker and his spawn quite a bit). While on the topic of normals, may I ask just what is this 'bluebooking' I keep hearing about?

??? What in the heck are you talking about? First I ever heard of that.

Thanks D-Man, but I meant 'werewolves done as characters', not generic monsters.