Longshadow

Re: Sneaky TV Tribute in The Algernon Files

Michael Dunn left us too early. It pleases me to think of this as part of his legacy.

 

He's not alone, though. One of the cool things about reading through Algernon Files and Fires Of War is spotting all the tributes to famous fictional and historically-based characters. My personal favorite is Rex Mundi, especially how he stole the "chinaman's" secret of immortality.

Re: [Review] The Algernon Files 2.0 (Hero Edition)

Glad you liked it, QM. Maybe I don't hit these boards religiously enough, but I think you're the first person to actually point out any of the Easter Eggs.* There are a couple of others at least...I'm just snarky that way. A vaunted "Neo-No-Prize" to whoever pulls all of them out for display.

(*Strangely, none of the M&M posters over at that other forum picked up on "Darren Long," or at least none that I can remember. Odd that, huh? )

Re: Algernon HERO

Great stuff. I've always enjoyed the way you blend classic homage elements to make an authentic feeling comic book world. Nicely textured back story on these guys; leaves you feeling like you've read their adventures.

First, the characters are all richly developed, with well-rounded personalities and motivations, and plenty of hooks to hang adventures on. They show much thought and creativity.

Cool. Thanks for the kind words. Glad to see the brainsweat paid off.

Who in the Algernon-verse would fill the role of the villain who isn't particularly powerful or dangerous, but gets under the skin of the PCs (such as the Sentinels) because they're continually underfoot at the worst possible times?

Well, that's an interesting question. If you're referring to characters that have a lot more obstacle power than their general firepower might suggest, than Dave's response is on the money -- and those are only considering the characters in this one book. If you're referring to just a general annoyance factor...well, there's no Foxbat per se. I have a very low tolerance for camp (yes, Dave and I have had some very entertaining discussions on that) and back in the day, when I ran HERO 4th regularly*, Foxbat would always come to an ugly and horrible end shortly into any campaign I ran. Sorry. The closest thing in the Algie-Verse would probably be Ace Argent, Man of Action, who was more prominent in the 1970s -- sort of a cross between DC's Funky Flashman and Astro City's Crackerjack, as played by Bruce Campbell (I said I had a low tolerance, I never said I had no tolerance).

*a good portion of the characters in the Algernon World come from the Champions campaign I ran from 1988-1998. There are a couple of Easter eggs, if you can find them.

Oh, and Dominique -- you always have permission to repost TAF stuff here if you don't see me or Dave doing it first.

Re: Algernon Files 2.0 previews

In addition, Iron Angel is an alien, and the Steele family members gain their abilities ( at least partially ) from an alien artifact.

 

I would also argue that the Lord of Mirrors is at least as much cosmic as mystic. Yeah, he partially fills the devil role of mystic tempter. . . but his origin ( the War in Heaven ) is more Kirbyesque New Gods than traditional mystic origin. ( Basically, there used to be two godlike alien races spread across the universe, the Acanthii and the Rha-Zha-Keth. Being that the former were benign space gods, and the latter were lovecraftian horrors, qeue the kung fu fight. In the end, the Acanthii were wiped out, and those RZK that survived, were trapped in various extradimensional spaces or isolated solar systems )

 

There's also Ex Machinae, an as yet unstatted cosmic being that seems to be incarnate order.

Mostly right: Iron Angel is an alien-human hybrid. Doc Steel was transformed by an alien device, but his sons are a combination of inherited traits and some secondary mutations.

You're dead on about The Lord of Mirrors. The more traditional devil-tempter role (with a dash of cenobite thrown in) gets filled by The Prophet of Tears, who will eventually show up in a later book.

Ex Machina is probably closest to a really perverse combination of galactus and Modrons-On-Crack.

Oh, and the conversion suggestions I made to Rubber Baron and the guys are based on the standard Damage (assuming most campaigns average 12-15 DC), DEF, and other ranges from FRED. They're mine and in no way are meant to represent what Dave did when he rebuilt all of the characters from scratch for TAF 2.0.

Re: The Fires of War Sourebook

Hopefully this printer will work out better than the last one.

From your lips to God's ears, brother. Amen.

Read it. Enjoyed it. Reviewed it (see RPG.net or my site - it's the newest bit of news on my site). Should have reviewed sooner.

Nice review. Succinct but informative. Glad you liked the characters.

[Yes, quite correct, some of the quotes were supposed to be hokey, like ... oh ... say ... Baron Brass, who's an over-the-top megalomaniac type. ]

Re: The Fires of War Sourebook

I understand economic realities may preclude this, I still have hope for a hard copy option.

We're waiting for the new printer to give us some firmer dates. Then we'll make announcements.

Re: The Fires of War Sourebook

Okay... now I gotta re-read that section.

Intro for the Emperor's Hand as a whole, when Yoshisato meets Hachiman for the first time.

Any word on when the other Blackwyrm Hero System books will be released?

I quite liked The Fires of War and will gladly purchase their other slated books as soon as they become available.

Around the beginning of the year, at least for the pdf.

Hey...waitaminnit...weren't you supposed to write a review of FOW, Tef old boy? Don't force me to make my patented "Grrrr" sound at you, Hoss.

Re: The Fires of War Sourebook

My only beef was with the Japanese characters, who seemed a tad... generic? uninspired? bland? when compared to the Allied and Nazi characters.

Sorry you felt that way. I tried to stick to the comic trope of there just not being that many actual Asian supers (though I tried to come up with a logical reason why -- see the Kage-Do write-up again), but I didn't want to do just another inscrutable oriental mastermind ala The Yellow Claw. I'm far more eurocentric than an asiaophile, I'm afraid; if an ancient cult of shadowmage assassins, a war god trapped in flesh, a mutant with air control powers, a shapechanger, and a metal-skinned martial artist do a poor job of reflecting Japan's meta-potential for the era, well, the blame is entirely mine (the buck stops with the author).

Blasphemy for one nerd to admit to others, I know, but even my tastes in anime are extremely limited -- I own the only 5 I've ever liked (The 2 Ghost in the Shell movies, Akira, Ninja Scroll, and Spriggan).

Look on the bright side, Mike...at least I snuck in a reference to Susanwo.

So what WWII Japanese metas have you used in your games (rassin-frassin, just-cause-he-writes-pacific-rim-stuff-all-the-time, hard-to-please guy)?

Re: Infinite Crisis

And as a big fan of the original Earth-2

I hear ya, Rod. I am a total JSA/All-Star Squadron fanboy. It's really kind of sad.

Re: Algernon Files 2: Fires of War Review

Nice review, Brian. Glad you enjoyed the book.

Re: Infinite Crisis

Firmly in the camp of people enjoying the title.

And c'mon...what old-school reader didn't get a kick out of the last page revelation?

Re: The Fires of War Sourebook

Glad ya liked it, Theron. I wound up giving my trade from you to Dave as a Birthday present...so I know he was happy.

The plan, at the moment, and contingent on many things, is to continue dual-statting as long as it's feasible. If the economics don't work out, of course, that's subject to change. However, considering that I'm an attention-whore when it comes to my writing, and Dave's a HERO fanatic, neither of us look forward to giving up the ghost just yet.

Though if Steve ever decodes the cleverly coded insults I included in the text, the license may...oh...uhm...outloud voice....nothing to see here....move along...move along.

Re: Character Art

How many vehicle write ups are included?

Let's see:

Sentinels' Rocketplane

The American Eagles' Patriot XJ-25s

Der Falken's Eisen Vogel

Jormungandr

Die Kriegsmachinen

Atlantean cruisers

Atlantean fightercraft

Dr. Scarab's Sky Pyramid

and

Salamanca's Sky Galleon

So....that would be nine vehicle write-ups, art, and, where appropriate, maps.

Re: Character Art

We've discussed selling maps by themselves at play sizes, but it's a lower priority than other things and get's back burnered. We can always open the discussion again.

Oh, btw, anyone here play in Dave's M&M game at Gencon? He had full size maps, 1 square = 1 inch, 8 foot long, covered multiple tables, laminated maps of each level of Jormundgandr for the game. Much with the cool.

Re: Preview: Evergreen

Depends entirely on the printer's schedule this week. Dave should have a definitive answer by Monday.

Re: Preview: Evergreen

I thought members without a background in Greek Mythology might apreciate it. I like the character concept and thought to make references for Places, Persons, & Inspirations. thought people would like to see the Fan made V&V Conversion too.

Ah, it all becomes cleare..eas...ummm...less murky, now.

I despised English Literature in University, but found myself loving it outside of the education system. I thought to share a favourite. That's all really.

Master's in English Lit, concentrations in British Renaissance and Victorian Speculative Fiction...so Scott was also a favorite of mine, no surprise.

Sorry, I just loved the concept.

 

*Slinks away to lurk in the forums.*

No need to slink away. Now that I know what you're doing and why, we're all cool. I thought you were posting the references to me -- which is why I was confused.

Glad you liked the character.

Re: Preview: Evergreen

If the rest of the characters in this book are similar, perhaps running my Pulp/Golden Age Champions game on 350 points would be a good idea after all?

I would say...definitely a good idea. Of course, my versions of Indiana Jones and Doc Savage are over 400 and 700 pts respectively. YMMV.

Re: Preview: Evergreen

Very nice! Each preview is looking better and better. I can't wait for this one to come out.

Glad you're enjoying them.

Arcadia (paradise) - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_%28paradise%29

 

Faerie - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faerie

 

Evergreen from V&V - Proditor's V&V Conversions

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/prodit.../evergreen.htm

 

Cheers

Not really sure what your point is here, QM.

EDIT (a little later) -- Yes, always liked that poem. Still not sure what your point is.

EDIT AGAIN (later still) -- Yeah, you've pegged on several inspirations, now...and your starting to weird me out, amigo.

Re: Preview: Evergreen

Hmmm....interesting.

As I was never a V&V fan nor very big on (I assume that to be) Jeff Dee's art, I can honestly say that, no, there is no connection between (nor inspiration from) the character in your link.

After 70 years of comic book superheroes and 20+ years of superhero RPGs, it's just that difficult to hit a reasonable* riff that no one's ever even touched on before.

(*Goofball stuff, of course, is a whole other realm)

Re: The Algernon Files come to Hero!!!

I asked my FLGS about this yesterday and he said D20 isn't moving like it used to some of the main companies are having trouble. He said he could get it but it would have to be a special order.

Which are you wanting, the M&M version or the HERO? Your comment is a little confusing.

Re: Fires of War: The Algernon Files Vol II-- first HERO system preview

I hear rumors of full color editions being available, would you care to comment Mr. Mattingly? Mr Longshadow?

By specific order only. Double the cover price of the B&W. Sorry, but at the numbers we produce, color is expensive.

Oh, and it's Longshadow, Aaron, or, if you must, Mr. Sullivan. "Mr. Longshadow" puts me in mind of a bad Feng Shui character.

Re: Fires of War: The Algernon Files Vol II-- first HERO system preview

1) The Scorpion normally takes on gangsters and the like. Think "pulp" more than actual "Champions." He's only PL 8 in M&M, with modern supertypes characters usually starting at around PL 10. The rare times he has to take on "specials," he makes up for his deficiencies in sheer bloody-minded, over-the-top, even- Warren-Ellis-would-blanch violence. Also, he's still working to measure up to his predecessor's boots. Trust me, when you see the first of the modern books, there won't be complaints about having to scale "up" (down, perhaps, but not up -- unless you're in some really gonzo campaign models).

2) Dave is a big believer in matrices and indicia. I imagine he'll gleefully be cobbling something together along those lines.

3) Dave and I are talking about upping the font and picture sizes for the text pages -- what you see here is the size needed for M&M scaled pages.

Re: The Algernon Files come to Hero!!!

Cool. Looks like a real HERO character rather than something that was run through a quick and dirty conversion matrix (like the characters in Omlevex - great supplement, bad HERO writeups).

Glad you noticed.

Dave basically takes my description as the base, uses the M&M write-up as a guide, and then just makes a HERO character from the mix. No actual "conversion matrix" as such (and anyone running numbers on the two write-ups in hopes of compiling such a beast is going to get some wonky results, natch.)

I did note that the public information box still had the M&M DCs - just wondering if that is going to change, or if those numbers will represent something else that applies to HERO skills rolls, when the book comes out.

When I pointed this out to Dave earlier, his response was a resounding and Homeresque "Doh!" ...followed by a promise to put in the proper chart tonight.

Feel the love guys.

And meet The Scorpion. None-too-stable, and none-too-safe, The Scorpion brings a little Pulp, Dark Champions flavor to your WWII game. Enjoy.

www.blackwyrm.com/extras.htm

Re: The Algernon Files come to Hero!!!

1. The Parliament of Shadows will be detailed in Critical Security Update #1, due out by the end of the year. They're not anything I'd compare to DEMON actually -- different critters entirely, except for some M.O. issues. [incidentally, DEMON has been my favorite read of any of the HERO5 books thus far. Kudos to the writer.]

2. Frau Doktor Veronika Von Frankenstein is detailed in Fires of War: TAF2, as is Castle Von Frankenstein (3 pages of maps) and her Schocktruppen reanimants. On a side note, Adam (the original Frankenstein reanimant) appears as The Patchwork Man, a member of the Fearless Five.

3. If it's occult stuff you like, you'll find plenty in all of our books. Cagliostro, Gunslinger (of the spectral sixguns), Blut und Eisen (a vampire and his iron golem "familiar"), Doktor Thule, The Kage Do, The Alchemist, Dr. Diablo, and others are all to be found in the pages of Fires of War. The Covenant, Sepulchre, and others were already in TAF 1.0, but New to our 2ed version of TAF, you'll find:

Dr. Rune, once one of Earth's mightiest arcane defenders in the 60s. Drafted from the bottom of the whiskey bottle he's been drowning in since his last cataclysmic battle with Shard and the rest of The Seven Sins, a battle that cost the lives of both Rune's true love and his trusted partner, the old man is walking a trying path to redeem himself.

Guardian Angel -- amnesiac, last in a long line of "chosen ones" defending mankind against the forces of darkness, being trained by the still-extant St. George (first of the line, who hates her and the decadent society he sees her as representing) to take down her predecessor - who fell from grace and under the name Sammael (one of the Archdemons of Corruption) has, as a crime lord, moved into the power vacuum his battles had created among the supernatural underworld.

and

The House That Hate Built, a sentient "haunted house" that moves through space and time in its quest for victims.

Hope you guys enjoy.