phydaux

Actually, if you want to see the myth of the Maiden, the Matron, and the Crone played out in modern culture, rewatch the first season of The Sopranos. In The Sopranos you have the symbol of male power in Tony Soprano - Wealthy, influential, comfortable with violence, leader of a group of other powerful makes, all proficient practitioners of Magick (where the definition of Magick is "Making your will manifest on Earth"). But as powerful a warlock as Tony is, he is powerless when confronted by the three vessels of Feminine Power in the Matron, Tony's wife, the Maiden, Tony's girlfriend on the side, and the Crone, Tony's mother. Those three vessels of Feminine Power constantly leave Tony confounded, clueless as to why his masculine power, so effectual when dealing with politicians & criminals, is useless on the three of them. To bring the discussion back to comics, I recommend the discourse on the history and fall of Feminine Power from the graphic novel From Hell by Allen Moore.

No one is doubting that the the Iron Age of comics has become a mature genera for mature readers, but I ALSO don't think anyone doubts that, due to the Comic Code Authority, the Silver Age was written to and for 10 year-old boys. That's what makes the Golden Age interesting - It's comics without the Comics Code Authority but NOT the Iron Age. Also, and it's late and not really relevant to the thread topic, but when we speak of comics as myth in modern culture, Wonder Woman as an example of Feminine Power works only as an example of the FALSE IDEAL that is sold to women at large in the late 20th/early 21st century. The lie is that Wonder Woman is simply Superman with breasts, and for a woman to be powerful she must abandon her last shred of femininity and become as masculine as possible, leading to the real life expression of this ideal in Hillary Clinton. The ACTUAL example of Feminine Power, as depicted in the myth of the Maiden, the Matron, and the Crone, is largely absent in modern culture post Gloria Steinem. In the myth of the the Maiden, the Matron, and the Crone, it is shown that by willingly assuming the subservient role in a relationship, but maintaining personal power and integrity by being able to exit the relationship at any time, the submissive becomes the one who actually controls the interpersonal dynamics. And that, while not being a common theme in late 20th/early 21st century at large, IS a common theme, well known and firmly held to, in the BD/SM community.

If two superheroes meet for the first time, they WILL get into a fight. If a female hero meets a male villain, she will kick his butt and drag him to jail without a second thought. If a male hero meets a female villain, they will fall in love. Corollary 1 - They WILL sleep together. Corollary 2 - She WILL get pregnant. Corollary 3 - She WON'T go straight. Corollary 4 - She WILL keep the baby. Corollary 5 - The baby WILL grow up to be a villain who hates his father.

Golden Age Wonder Woman was just thinly veiled bondage porn. It is known, Khaleesi.

Sorry guys, but I'm gonna go there: "Hey! Check out the butt on Cat-Girl!"

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Don't know that character, but I DO know that nearly every PC I make has at least a little bit of Mental Defense, Flash Defense (Sight Group, usually OAF), and Life Support (OAF Rebreather). And some of my favorite NPC villians have maxed out FYB powers (Flash, Entangle, NND, X4 Knockback EB, AOE this or that) and little else. One of my favorite classic villains was always The Fox, and I love working him into campaigns.

I've explored a campaign where the PCs are villains working for an Archvillian. It's kinda cool. Suddenly, having a public ID is a REAL disadvantage. The PCs can't get TOO "murder hobo" (great term, BTW, I'm TOTALLY stealing that) or else Primus will issue a "General Arrest Warrant." Read that as "Wanted: Dear or Alive, but mostly wanted dead." Then the Primus agents bust out the 1d6 Autofire Penetrating RKA Blasters, and the 350-point Code Against Mercy vigilantes start coming out of the woodwork. See, GMs can go Murder Hobo too. Eventually one of two things happen - I either kill off a few PCs who can't wrap their heads around the idea that actions have consequences and the entire campaign falls apart, or else the PCs figure out that their REAL job it to take down the Archvillian and set themselves up in his place at the head of the criminal organisation.

LOL! Television's greatest moment.

Quazar - This is the sort of thing he was born for. He flys toward the giant robot. Quazar focuses on crowd control until other power projector team mates show up, then they start laying down the Combined Attack smackdown. Mystica - "Is robot, da? Nyet mystical threat? Pfft. Big muscle super heroes can handle." Shadowhunter - He uses his Climbing and Swinging to get to a vantage point, then looks over the battleground. There's a chance that someone is controlling the robot remotely, or using the robot attack as a distraction for a hist somewhere else.

I've lost track of the number of times a group of PCs, all with no Mental Defense (because it seems like NO ONE buys Mental Defense) have been beaten like a step child in a Wal-Mart parking lot by just ONE NPC Mentalist.

I have an into adventure outline for new players that I call "Quick, to the Hoverjet!" It's dead simple. Players pick example characters from the Champions core book. "You're all lounging around Champions HQ, when you receive a Trouble Alert . There is a Tyrannosaurus Rex rampaging through Liberty Park, smashing cars and leaving giant divots in the public golf course!" "Quick, to the Hoverjet!" The PCs jet off to the gold course and fight the T-Rex. It's a typical "brick" NPC but with x2 Body & x3 Stun and massive Knock Back Resistance. Even so it shouldn't take long for the PCs to bring it down. Once the T-Rex is down the PCs get an update from champions HQ - "The T-Rex was just a distraction. A team of minions of the Evil Overlord are breaking into the Diamond Exchange on the other side of town" "Quick, to the Hoverjet!" There are at least twice as many Agent-level minions as their are PCs. Their armor, DCV, & DCs are only half what typical PCs have, but they have +4 OCV with their Blasters, and their blasters are Multipowers slotted full of "FYB" powers (Entangle, AOE Flash, NND, etc) and they have the Cooperation skill at 14 or less. The FYB powers & combined attacks should give the PCs hell, but each minion also takes x2 Knock Back and will fold like a lawn chair from one hit by a PC, so it won't take long for the PCs to mop them up. But one minion, the one with the diamonds, WILL get away. Then the manager of the Diamond Exchange will let the PCs know that he placed a tracking device in the sack with the diamonds. He will give the PCs a scanner that will let them track the minion back to the Villian's Lair . "Quick, to the Hoverjet!" The PCs get back to the Lair but it's empty. Seemingly. Once they are all inside, out spring The Villians . The Villians are built on the same number of points and to the same standards as the PCs. There will be a Brick, a Power Projector, a Martial Artist and a Gadgeteer. If there are less than five PCs then drop the Gadgeteer. If there are more than six PCs AND if they are all experienced role players then there will also be a Mentalist. The last battle will be tough. The PCs might not even win. But the adventure will be fun, and should give the players a decent understanding of how the system works.

I learned a long time ago, unless SOMEBODY GMs, then NOBODY plays. I prefer to play, but I'd rather GM than NOT play.

Quazar - Since the "monsters" are actually normal citizens transformed into creatures, he would try to contain the monsters using his force beams on low power settings. Shadowhunter - A fist fight with vampires, werewolves and zombies? Sounds like just another Friday night in the gutters & alleys of Campaign City... Mystica - She would hunt down the person or persons operating the ritual. Once she found them, and she would, things would not go well, since this is kinda one of her buttons. "Who DARES summon Eldrich Horrors in MY city? FOOLS! Did it mean nothing to you that the demons feared to replay to your summons? ENOUGH! Now know the wrath of MYSTICA!!!!" Then the 4d6 RKAs would start to fly.

My last fantasy character was a fighter-type. He had an 18 DEX, an 18 STR, +2 CV with all melee and +2 CV with swords, and used a bastard sword. When he used the sword on-handed with a shield he assigned the +2 melee to his OVC and used his extra STR plus is sword skill levels for DCs. So he had 8 OCV, 8 DCV and hit for 2d6. When he used the bastard sword in two hands he assigned the +2 melee to his DVC and the sword skill levels to his OCV. So he had 8 OCV, 8 DCV and hit for 2d6. He ditched the shield all together, and eventually ditched his chain mail armor since he so badly outclassed the 4 CV mooks the GM kept throwing at us. Sure he could have gotten another +1 OCV by using a great sword, but that would have just been taking a piss on the GM's campaign.

Downloaded Secrets of the Ancients mega-adventure (thank you VERY MUCH) . Plus I finally pulled the trigger and bought the entire Classic Traveller canon on CD-ROM from Far Future Enterprises. This is SO Cool. I am totally gonna cherry pick and put together a Mega Uber Double Secret Probation of the Ancients campaign that will rock my players worlds.

Thanks a LOT for the link!

So kinda like Teleios the Perfect Man?

"we semi-settled on a bio-engineered escapee from Malachite" I guess to help you out I'd have to know what Malachite is....

Not to mention all the fan fiction where Wonder Woman IS a bondage dominatrix, usually with Batgirl & Catwoman as her bottoms. I mean, if you know where to look you can download entire graphic novels....

The original Captain Marvel has two sidekicks - A girl named Mary Marvel and a boy named Captain Marvel Jr. Then he had FOUR zany friends, Fat Marvel, Tall Marvel, Hillbilly Marvel, and Uncle Marvel (who usually couldn't do anything because his "shazambago" was always acting up). And don't forget another Golden Age staple - Super Pets! Superboy had Krypto the Superdog, Supergirl had Streaky the Supercat, and the Marvel family had Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. There was even a Super Monkey at one point...

it's well known that Golden Age Wonder Woman was just thinly veiled bondage porn.

But isn't the whole point of the heroic setting that PCs DON'T pay points for equipment? I know that if I was a player I'd get really ticked if I paid character points for a Stick of Pointyness and then have some NPC steal it, throw it down a well, and lose if forever.

"Sometimes you all start shipwrecked, sometimes a few members of the party are scions of the filthy rich and noble. " If a PC pays points for the Wealth perk, then good for them. Even if they start shipwrecked, once they get back to civilization they have access back to the wealth they paid points for. BTW, I am TOTALLY stealing the "You wake up on a beach, surrounded by wreckage and strangers" idea. Thanks!

You are clear. But no, the skill roll is not modified by not active points. It's skill vs skill, modified by range. A successful Sorcery skill roll is required to cast a spell. Merlin has a Sorcery skill of 13 and attempts to cast Ego Blast. Morgana is 20 hexes away and has a Sorcery skill of 13. Morgana attempts to counter spell Merlin's spell. 20 hexes is a -2 range penalty (I THINK ). Morgana needs 11 or less to counter spell Merlin. Morgana rolls a 10, succeeding by 1. Merlin is at a -1 to cast his spell. Merlin now needs a 12 or less to overcome the counter spell attempt and successfully cast his spell. Characters can buy skill levels to help resist counter spell attempts. I have a campaign restriction that prevents characters from easily getting very high Sorcery skills.