keithcurtis

Re: L.A. Caveman

I don't think Tarzan failed to work as musical comedy because of the music. I happen to like that soundtrack quite a bit. It fails as romance I feel, because there is none. Boy meets girl, slow attraction builds, at some point they're in love, wait--what part did we miss? There's no comedic build to it at all, no tension. The characters never really have any difficulty attracting to each other beyond initial shock. Ho-Hum.

Where Tarzan does succeed is in the action (at least as far as is possible in a children's movie). Never before or since has the description of how Tarzan moves been captured so well. Yes, there was a lot of skateboard influence, but the fluidity and sense of flying through the tree tops was there.

As for Hunchback being in any way a tragedy, I have to disagree. Yes, Frollo dies by his own faults, but so does nearly every Disney villain. I swear, if I was a Disney villain, I would never chase anyone, particularly upon any sort of height. Frollo might be considered a tragic figure if he had any redeeming virtues. He isn't flawed, he's just bad.

Now the original Hunchback is a tragedy, and much more depressing in the ending. I might also add that I spent half the book wanting to slap Esmeralda and stab Phoebus.

Keith "Spell checker wanted me to type Tartan. Now a Scottish ape-man would be cool." Curtis

Re: L.A. Caveman

Last I heard, it had been shelved till 2008 to make way for (yet another) Star Trek movie, A "proven moneymaker".

The Trivia entry does not sound promising. Given the track record on this book, I'm not holding my breath.

Keith "They wouldn't do it right, anyhow" Curtis

Re: More Russian language help

Спектр

According to my little translator widget.

Keith "screen door on a submarine" Curtis

Re: L.A. Caveman

It's kind of hard to do a non-racist Tarzan film or TV series' date=' whether you set it in Africa or India, but the TV series made a game effort -- Tarzan did run into African characters who were, like him, superbly adapted to the environment in which they lived both physically and mentally. Early versions almost always portrayed the "dusky heathens" as mentally inferior to Cheetah and childishly easy for Eurpoean villains to manipulate.[/quote'] Yes, the original novel was racist in that unapologetic Pulp Hero sort of way. The black nursemaid immediately springs to mind. Smartly, Disney decided to walk away from that, though it really doesn't bother me while reading the novel

I wonder if Disney would have been better served making a John Carter move than a Tarzan one' date=' but this is a side note more than anything else.[/quote']Thank Issus they didn't do this. I can't see it as a musical comedy.

...Still' date=' he had the good fortune to befriend a Neanderthal warrior and teach him rudimentary English, because the caveman's intimate knowledge of his environment and the world around him saved the kid's life on virtually an hourly basis...[/quote'] That reminds me of Valley of the Dinosaurs. Of course in that one, the modern family was constantly saving the locals with fabulous scientific devices like the compass and the lever.

 

Keith "Cringing at the thought of a Thark chorus" Curtis

Re: L.A. Caveman

Tarzan made the transition pretty easily. Of course he had those superior Greystoke genes and all.

Keith "Can't count the number of times I've said Gaystroke" Curtis

Re: Movement in a Jetliner!

Guys' date=' I'm not sure how long it's been since you were last on an aircraft, but running down it, even when it's empty, is hazardous to your health. Those aisles are [i']tight![/i] Unless you're careful and below average size, you're going to bang hips and hands/arms just walking down them. Heck, walking normally down them is about half speed unless you want to collect bruises.

perzackly.

Keith "geez, whatta me-too post" Curtis

Re: Dr. Jones denied tenure.

Still' date=' the piece was funny.[/quote']

 

Thank goodness!

 

Keith "nit-pickers ruin all the good jokes ;)" Curtis

Re: L.A. Caveman

It's surprising how little about it is available on the web. I did find this:

Keith "Only has the vaguest memories of the show, but does have the theme song" Curtis

Re: The Gillman

My favorite costume of the MGM Monster crowd.

Keith "I got to see it in 3D" Curtis

Re: Movement in a Jetliner!

I would quarter movement or perhaps third it. You could still double that for non-combat, but that would indicate you were stepping on people and knocking stuff over.

Keith "my mileage" Curtis

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Storn, beautiful work on the clothes in that last set of sketches. Did you use a ref, or was that all from scratch? Either way, nice!

Keith "wrinkles and folds" Curtis

Re: Steam Power in Fantasy

I didn't see anything insulting in Assault's response to Monster. Monster, I'm sorry you felt insulted, but I don't see any of the name calling you accused Assault of. He just disagreed.

Keith "Just saying" Curtis

Re: Steam Power in Fantasy

On the other hand - where would the concept have come from? That I don't know. They might have never developed that and gone straight to steam powered wagons on their roadways' date=' though the same concept, but for mass transport, could logically lead to the train.[/quote']

 

Railways as a concept go back to at least the 6th century BCE. There was one in Greece. Of course, they were made of stone, and the vehicles pulled by slaves/animals, but the idea was there.

 

Keith "30 seconds of research" Curtis

Re: L.A. Caveman

It's about time,

It's about space,

About strange people in the strangest place.

It's about time,

It's about flight,

Travelin' faster than the speed of light.

About space people and a brave crew,

As through the barrier of time they flew.

Pass the Roman Senators,

Pass an armored knight,

Pass the firing Minutemen,

To this modern site.

It's about time for you and me

To meet these people of amazing feats.

It's about two astronauts and how they educate

A pre-historic woman and her pre-historic mate.

It's about time

It's about space

About strange people in the strangest place

They will be here

With all of us

Dodging a taxi, a car, a bus.

Where will they go

What will they do

In this strange place where everything is new.

Will they manage to survive

Watch each week and see.

Will they get accustomed to the Twentieth Century.

It's about time

For our good byes

To all our pre-historic gals and guys.

And now,

It's About Time

It's About Time

It's About Time

It's About Time!

Keith "It's About Time!" Curtis

Re: Body, Mind, and Spirit - Have you made use of these? How?

Or between body and mind, or body and spirit?

 

 

 

 

Um, actually you don't.

 

This edition really didn't change the MECHANICS of Transform at all. As I recall, the last edition worked much the same way, including the option of a Transform based on EGO.

 

What it introduced is that odd metaphysical statement about characters having a tripartite aspect. Other than specifying that one version of Transform mechanic is for the body and another for the mind - leaving the spiritual aspect in a kind of limbo (maybe the implication is that the spirit is eternal and unchanging and CAN'T be transformed??) - this statement doesn't really bear on the mechanics at all.

I believe it does. It doesn't bear on the mechanics of resolution, certainly. But it is a requirement for purchasing the power.

Keith "cedes minor semantic point, though" Curtis

Re: Body, Mind, and Spirit - Have you made use of these? How?

Lucius' date=' my humped fried, you are assuming that 'spirit' means 'spirit' as in 'soul'. It could as easily mean 'spirit' as in 'spirit of adventure/fighting spirit' i.e. traits of personality. In fact the rules go on to list the things spirit CAN include (but does not have to) and all the above CAN apply, but do not have to. I just do not see that the inclusion of a spirit transform dictates a metaphysical agenda for a setting in which you allow the power.[/quote']Well, I'm neither humped nor watery, but I thought I'd chime back in. If there is no assumed metaphysical agenda, is there any difference between mind and spirit?

Anyway that is true of other powers - take resurrection, for example. Now if you simply allow that power to work within a few minutes of death, you COULD explain it as some sort of super-medicine. If you allow it to bring back a character from a hank of hair and a piece of bone, you are assuming the existence of the seperate existence of a body and soul (or possibly some sort of time travel). See also summoning, extradimentional movement et al.

Yes, these powers allow you to model certain "magical" effects. This argument could be applied to any genre, though. Just because the teleport power exists in the rule book, doesn't mean that it implies anything about your gritty pulp noire detective game. I could use it to model "Super Stealth", but that's just SFX. The transformation power assumes a metaphysical aspect though as part of its base description. I can disallow teleport in its entirety or only allow certain SFXs; I have to change the mechanics of transform.

I mean' date=' a simple EB could be a summoned spirit that tears into the souls of the living - but that is down to the GM and player. The power imposes no metaphysical stricture but does allow you to impose your own - transformation is not different.[/quote']But EB is not defined in the core rules as a "summoned spirit that tears into the souls of the living", that's SFX and campaign dependent. Transform's spiritual aspect is a core assumption of the power.

 

Keith "This whole mechanic smacks of being lifted from DC Heroes anyway" Curtis

Re: Steam Power in Fantasy

The Romans invented a steam engine based on previous Greek ideas' date=' but slavery as an economic model, led to its never being considered useful. It was just some eccentric crackerjack's time-waster to them. Had they implemented such ideas history would have been radically different. Imagine the middle ages with stream trains, steam mills for driving mechanization of textiles, lumber, driving bellows and triphammers for metal production (which started with water-wheels in the middle-ages), and the like. Also, the first fire-engine (hand pumped to create pressure for the water jets) was a Roman invention. And they had repeating ballistas. I also understand they made a very good fishy custard.[/quote']

 

The Roman Empire with efficient steam engines is a scary concept. They were pretty nasty already.

 

Keith "Pax Romanum Aeternum" Curtis

Re: Body, Mind, and Spirit - Have you made use of these? How?

RDU Neil' date=' post 37 is excellent, but I've repped you too recently. This is a perfect statement of the issue, to me.[/quote']

 

I got him.

 

Keith "relief repper" Curtis

Re: Can we relate these discussions to direct play experiences? (newbies esp. pls read)

Some problems might be best addressed from a mechanical POV. Adding a play context might muddy the point of the argument. People might be sidetracked by the "flavor text".

Still, when possible, it's almost always better to use imagery when writing.

Good point and something to consider when writing a post.

Keith "food for thought" Curtis

Re: Body, Mind, and Spirit - Have you made use of these? How?

In that case, wouldn't it be simple to just ignore Spiritual Transforms, and only use Physical and Mental? Just because the category exists doesn't require that it be used. In fact one could argue that having that option spelled out in the book actually enhances the toolkit nature of the system.

 

Lord "Also just saying" Liaden

IIRC, it isn't spelled out as an option, but as the core ruleset. As an option, you are correct, it would have far more value as a way of demonstrating how to adapt the rules to fit a setting.

Keith "Also also just saying" Curtis

Re: Body, Mind, and Spirit - Have you made use of these? How?

You might also define which characteristics transforms can affect:

 

Physical: STR CON BODY PRE COM PD ED SPD REC END STUN

Mental: INT EGO

Spiritual: CON BODY EGO PRE COM

My breakdown is here.

Keith "statting the ineffable" Curtis

Re: Body, Mind, and Spirit - Have you made use of these? How?

We haven't actually used it in Transform as stated in the rulebook; I prefer Transform SFX to be looser in nature and not tied to this structure (but that's another discussion).

As posted above... it starts to enforce a rather specific game world/universe metaphysics that is beyond "toolkit" and more world/game defining. Another case where mechanics and SFX are inherently connected... but in this case I don't see a play benefit unique to Hero. I see a play preference coming through.

Exactly. It's the sort of thing that should be in a setting book, not the core rulebook. A hard SF campaign that posits nothing demonstrably supernatural or divine would be hard-pressed to justify "Spirit".

Keith "Just saying" Curtis

Re: Body, Mind, and Spirit - Have you made use of these? How?

I had divided up Transform shortly before 5ed came out and saw no need to alter my campaign to fit the rules, which I found insufficiently defined anyway. Instead of Mind-Body-Spirit, I divide it up among Morphia-Anima-Psyche. This is a central feature of the campaign and the basis for all "magic".

Morphia is the physical attributes of an object

Anima is the characteristic of an object regarding movement or growth

Psyche is the awareness and intelligence of an object.

(Lots) more is available here and here.

Keith "Lots" Curtis

Re: Need a language for your fantasy campagine?

Still seems to me an impractical choice for dancing shoes.

meh. They're majikal.

Keith "Bibiddy-bobbidy-boo" Curtis

Re: Just For Fun: Cartoon Network All Star Team Ups

I've read the script. I didn't realize an audio version was being produced. Was this made especially for the DVD? Any of the same voice actors?

Keith "Liked the last few episodes" Curtis