Storn

Well, this isn't exactly superheroes.... This is Sinbad and the Old Man in the Sea. A private commission for Frank de la Vina. The Old Man rides young mens shoulders til they die from exhaustion. Is such a fate in store for our beloved hero, Sinbad?

Cutsleeves, you make good points. I think it is fairly hard to move away from Tolkien in some respects, because he went to such a raw source... Beowulf, Celtic & Finnish myths. If you have ANY element of western european setting, either in the landscape or in the book's culture(s), there is going to be someone saying that you are ripping off Tolkien and being a clone. And I don't think we have to reinvent the wheel every fantasy book. I think subtle twists and turns within the context of Tolkien are possible. One doesn't have to have a Fellowship. Or an evil Sorceror-God. Or long journeys to gain/destroy the mystical knick-knack... yet still tell a good yarn with a lot of Tolkien elements intact. But I run Forgotten Realms. I do that precisely to play against expectation. I don't like a majority of what the published material is and I downright loathe D&D 2nd ed or can barely stand d20.... both which put their mark on the Realms thru the game system. So I don't use d20. And I bust a lot of balloons... which is SO much fun for me. Busting Balloons is only possible in the context of ALL those fantasy cliches. Heck, I hate what hobbits, kenders have become within in the gaming vernacular. My realms has dwarves. That's it. No other little people allowed... just no need for it. Why be redundant? If you want to play a dwarven theif with furry toes... go to it... Now, I'm mixing Gaming and Fantasy Writing a bit here... but my point is this: I'm reading Katherine Kerr's books at the moment... very celtic, very grim and has a lot in common with Tolkien, but has a lot that is not. Is it great writing? It ain't bad. And its got some fairly engaging characters and situations. The only author I know who puts together sentences that just sing to me is Michael Chabon. But ya know what? It is Tolkien's ideas that sing to me, not his sentences... my best friend would seriously disagree with me... but words are beauty in the mind of the reader....

My love for fantasy comes down to one thing: Magic works in a setting and culture(s) that isn't modern 21st century. It is these Flights of Fantsy that fires my imagination for gaming, for my art... than any other genre fiction. In some author's books, magic is almost unseen (Game of Thrones)... in some others, magic is rare, but is seen (Spiders of the Purple Mage, Conan, Fafhrd & Grey Mouser) and dealt with by the protagonist, in others, magic runs rampant (Elric, Black Company)... ...some authors are about adventure and the sense of awe (ERB)... some are about gritty Dark Ages dealing with Dark, Fell things. Some authors are wordsmiths of the highest order. Others can spin a damn good yarn... and like in any writing catagory, there are those who just plain suck and are derivative. But you cannot seperate magic out of fantasy... that is the thread (IMO) that runs thru the whole genre... any more than you can seperate crime out of a crime novel. Now, there are a variety of crimes, doesn't have to be a murder... and there is a variety of takes on what Magic means in their corresponding settings. But creation is a hard thing to do... to those who complain about how bad Fantasy Genre writing is... rise to the challenge... go write something good. I can't write worth a damn... but I have some ability with images. And despite what the Fantasy Hero Cover thread has made me feel, I feel very proactive about my tiny-weeny (minuscule!) corner of what Fantasy is, means and says. I don't pretend to be a genius like the greats... but I do work hard and try hard.... ... and I feel that way about a lot of fantasy writers... there are those who are working their butts off trying to bring you a tale that is worth reading.

First off, I think Agent X has given excellent critiques of the things he didn't care for. I think you need to listen to his persuasive arguement. He didn't pad his message as far as I can tell... he cared SO much about the topic, he spent considerable time detailing his support for the difference between Freedom City format of showing NPCs and SA (and by default, a lot of the Champions stuff...4th or 5th ed). My opinions on the questions above: 1) The *SUPER* NPCs of SA don't leave me cold, but I can see why others might feel that way. I'm a special case, I drew them. I always invest emotionally in any character I draw... it is just the way I operate (and why so many characters in my games are doodled). I do feel, though, that is a place for some room to improve. I think this can be done w/o overshadowing the incoming PCs. I think one REAL easy and psychological way is to make them less points (300 pts). Bam, instant support status! 2) Here is the hard part; Tell more with less. Every word has to count. Every illo has to count. If you can do the ol' tighten up... then you will be looking at a fantastic product. Yes, I'm asking you to write at the level of Busiak on Astro City.... or Robinson's Opal City of Starman a few years back.... I'm asking for the best of the best. Aim for the top... there is no reason not to. And really self-promoting and egotistical: I think I have the passion and the skill to bring at least some of the illos to that level... how's that for hubrus? 3) I think that is the consensus. Again, I point you to Robinson's Starman...where Opal City was a living breathing entity... and wonderous things lurked in on the edges. Even more than Astro City. I think a few Paranormals who aren't heroes or villians, who are doing jobs is a great idea. A Living Latern doing night road construction. A man who doesn't need to breath being a police diver. A duplications girl who is her own law office (forms in triplicate? no problem.). A speedster who is a bike messenger (with a really expensive tough bike from Cannondale or someone to put up with all that pounding... I know, cause I'm an ex-bike messenger from NYC). A precog taxi driver, always knows who is calling for a cab several blocks away, even before they do. Stuff like that. Integrate superpowers into the very fabric of society. 4) I think the suggestion of advancing SA a few years from the last ed is brilliant. I think its a chapter.... I don't think you should make newcomers to Hero/GRG buy the old one. I think it is a chapter at the beginning of the book... and then you go thru every word of the old book and update where it fits and is required.

That is such a bullpucky comic book convention... No city is self contained in the modern age. To ignore air travel, internet, personal mobility; reinforces 40 years of old and tired comic storylines. A supers are more mobile than most. Whether by money, by power...they tend to get around. And if you been paying attention, Gotham and Metropolis in DC Comics have been much closer tied together thru their proxies Bruce and Clark. So to ignore the possiblities of good storylines because each city has to be self contained and in its own little bottle is just eliminating a richness to the product. Why do that? Just by being San Angelo and suburbs is plenty of focus... wny not mention other cities, other heroes, other villians who *might* come to town one day.... or the PCs *might* go there? No one is saying devote 5 chapters to the outside world, just a few mentions... to integrate and to paint with broad strokes the possible.

>>Read through the book more carefully and you will see references to the rest of the world<< I don't want to be mean here, please take my comments as constructive... but if that is part of SA's marketing, one shouldn't have to read carefully... it should be obvious at first glance. Not easy task... I know... but that is what seperates the Great from the Good. As a GM, I don't read every word of these books... sorry folks, but I don't. Granted, I'm a visual person, so I do chew up great amount of information when visually pleasing and informative. But I think that there are many out there who skim for the chewy bits. The chewy bits need to LEAP out. I think this is something that Green Ronin does really, really well with M&M. If the chewy bits are captivating enough... then I'll (and some other folks) will sit down and read the whole chapter. So... if San Angelo is supposed to be part of wider world, then that should be in the quotes, the sidebars, the artwork etc.. not buried in the text somewhere. I know that it wasn't in the artwork list, because I did a lot of the art. Every illo I got was San Angelo specific. How do you do that in an illo? Off the top of my head.... a super in a recognizable city reading a newspaper article about an event in San Angelo, say the super, Croix du Guerre, sitting in a park, with the Eiffel tower behind him reading about the justice foundation. Cliche'd but works. Right there with one illo I just said "San Angelo is so important in the super community that a french superhero is reading about it." Now, I'm not saying that "wider world" *should* be in the sidebars... but if you think that is an important selling point... don't bury it. That goes for any of the elements that you are thinking about presenting...I'm using this particular element as an example.

Agent X, that was a well-said, constructive critique of the San Angelo superteam compared to Freedom City. For what it is worth, I like the Justice Foundation quite a bit, used Savant as a major character... but I agree with you... there is a wonderful vibe in Freedom City. But having said that, I know that my co-GM really likes the 4th ED Classic Enemies format the best. He wants 1 paragraph and the stats... he will provide the backstory, the major components of personality. He doesn't like the current 5th ed format of character write-ups that go on for paragraphs and paragraphs. Especiallly when they go carry over onto another page. Dr. Destroyer and Mechanon deserve 2 page, facing, layouts... most characters, in his opinion, should have 1 page. My point is that everyone is different in what they want. I feel for the writers and editors of this business, trying to figure out what the majority are leaning towards... no easy task.

HIya Mark! I suggest a INCOMPLETE team. Yeah, I know, it's nuts... but bear with me a moment. Like I said, i love the room that you made for players within San Angelo, I suggest you do the same with the San Angelo team... Do 3 of them. But it is traditionally a team of six. Leave three slots open. Some plot seeds could exist on why those three slots are open... be nice if it at least ONE slot opening was mundane, like superdude got a job in another city and moved. Instead of the usual, "they fell in battle against the evil RAMPAGER!" The three who are there, should be fairly experienced guys, do them at 400 pts or something... nice benchmark. But no leader personality, let that be a PC or a GM NPC if it is going to be an entirely NPC team. Then I suggest doing 4 or 5 possible "candidates"... all of them young, new heroes... and be 300 or 350 pts. Completely plug n play... a GM doesn't have to use them, of course. This serves two purposes... 1) A GM who wants to have a total NPC team can plug in his favorites. 2) They give an indication of the baseline, beginning power level. Just a thought.

Not only am I user of San Angelo, I bought the company... no, not really, but I did work on it!!! San Angelo has been used twice in my vicinity. One was a campaign that I ran in San Angelo for a brief time. I set San Angelo near the mexican border in Arizona. The lake was created by the Event mentioned and a superman clone had dug a canal in 48 from the lake to the Baja gulf, allowing it to become a seaport. That campaign didn't last long, but it was entirely in SA. I really like SA. The 2nd use was by Neil in the RDU campaign. Since that long running campaign is made up of many smaller campaigns and tends to be international in scope... SA has been used, but not as the center of any particular campaign (although there was a brief try). But various PCs have gone there and even one supernatural, psychic force seems to be having some subplot ramifications now, even though the PCs are in the Carribean on Sanctuary. I like the fact that SA leaves room for the GM's additions and extrapolations... the fact that the top 5 lists often has a space for an important PC or NPC to fufill that role. That is one of my favorite things. The only thing I don't care about, because it is too specific is the San Francisco analog, with history of gold rushes and such... just too close to San Fran for my tastes. But others might love that...so it is such a small critique.

Here is a commission for a husband and wife gaming couple. Hers is Sina, a jedi in their star wars game... and his is Catalyst, a mystic in their superhero game. Together for the first time!!! Or some such hyberbole. . Credit where credit is due; Characters are by: Barry & Sina Reese. Anyway, enjoy.

Father Donz (and any other interested parties)... go to my website. Click on Character Commissions. The sidebar has contact info, price and Paypal. And there are few examples of Commissions done for other folks. Thanks for the question! Always love and NEED a chance to promote my meager talents!

Re: Re: Something different... The area in Ypsi where the building is, is now called Depot Town...and i think its Cross street, which later becomes Washtenaw as it goes towards Ann Arbor. Anyway, Depot Town was a dump in the 70s, but is now a quaint street of shops and restaurants. I met Susanne at Sticks, one of the bars of depot town, on Valentine's Day.... pretty easy to remember my anniversary... and my life has been intertwined with Ypsilanti ever since.

Something different... I had to convert a screen photo of my S.O.'s work place into line art. The screen photo was blurring too much when being printed on pourous material like cardboard boxes. Just thought i would drop it here too, just in case Supervillains and Heroes need to tussle it up in Main Street, Small Town, USA. For the record, this is Quinn's Essentials in a 1840s (I think, pretty damn close) hotel building. My girl friend, Susanne, is the head designer of the Interior Design dept. (That is Designer, she has a degree... not decorator!). It is located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Yup, Ypsilanti... settled by Capt. Ypsilanti, a greek sea commander who made a fortune in loot fighting the Turks in the 1820s. Died in the 1840s fighting the Turks again in that later confrontation. Ain't History fun?

ZOMBIES!!!!!!! Batter up!!! This is a private commission for Bob Fletcher, patron extraordinaire. His character Mac, the NYC fireman taking on those pesky Zmen (and women!). Enjoy.

I didn't care for the costume design for Nighthawk. Til I had to draw him for the first time. Which was the cover of Champions (if anyone cares). It was at the same time that Alex Ross made the Ninja Science Team Gatchatman look really cool (Battle of the planets). Nighthawk quickly took on that kinda quirky cool in my head and is my ode to Ross and NSTG. The other element is the bill... to me? Nighthawk is a secret Seattle Seahawks fan. You won't see it in the write up, but he's got year round tickets and tries to get to the games as much as possible... especially when the Seahawks play the Milennium Lions. So that bill is really a Seahawk logo. Now, I really like drawing Nighthawk. I'm bummed that he is so poorely recieved by the Hero public. I never liked Seeker (the fact that he was an Aussie was neither here nor there... more like that he was an Erol Flynn Ninja that seemed like a huge disconnect). My one question is that in the Watchers of the Dragon, there was a perfect character to take Nighthawk or Seekers roll within the Champs... and that was Nightwind... who was a Dick Grayson with 2 Desert Eagles basicaly... just my 2 cents.

In RDU, this came up much later than Champs suggested.... like the Registration Act came up a couple of years ago (right Neil?). However, it was mandatory, put into draconian measure by the current Republican admin... and was poorly written, IMO of the majority of my characters. Although I did have a couple of characters who would have signed. It was challenged, and a long standing NPC took it on her chin, went to jail for a long time, while the case moved up through the courts. It was recently, in game time, overturned. Now, the legislation is being re-written... and so far, it seems like a much better, more measured bill. One of the side benefits is almost guarenteed employment if you sign up. Someone, somewhere will be able to use almost any Power in a constructive, profitable way. Some of the sting of the PRA (Paranormal Registration Act) was taken away, even while it was on the books... simply because our main game (and several mini campaigns) are not set in the U.S. anymore.

Apprentice I & II were great fun, IMO. to the person who says Titans is all combat and doesn't do combat as well as 9 or 10 animes... well, poppycock. (in my humble opinion) This animation team is finding a different visual language, much like Samurai Jack, that is certainly influenced by anime, but not anchored by it. I thought the martial arts between Slade and Robin were full of anger, crispness, drama... the moves were appropriately comic booky, it moved the plot forward... all the things that a good fight scene does whether it is 007 vicious street fighting techniques vs. 005 in Goldeneye (a top notch HtH fight scene IMO)... or Jet Li vs. Donnie Yen (multiple times) in Hero (an incredibly elegant fight scene(s), my favorite martial arts movie evar!). As for Robin-Batman continuity... there is precious little. Something that does bug me. I love the "I already have a father" and the Wayne Enterprises rooftop arena. But the answers first suppose who IS Robin... Tim or Dick. The creators have stated that they won't tell us (cop out, IMO). I would prefer Tim, because the Titans feels so new, so recombination of elements from the Wolfman/Perez Titans that I grew up with. But if it is Dick, and I would say that the last two eps were more Dick than Tim, then a falling out between Bruce and Dick has to happen at some point. Adolescense seems the perfect place to do it. Dick goes off on his own, and hooks up with the Titans. Problem solved. Still... Slade comes back, Robin gets in trouble, Batman shows up at the last minute contacted by the unlikeliest of sources, Beast Boy, "one punch!" and Slade is out.... that would be a perfectly fun wrap up to season two (not one, too soon).

wow. Every reply enforces the comic code crap and 4 color outlook. This one will not. We play a world of consequences that looks more like Authority or Planetary or Watchmen. Well, my PC (who just recently went over 600 pts in 11 years of gaming) has killed. Sometimes deliberately from ambush (that's what happens when PSI takes a hostage and you can't allow them to "report in"). Sometimes in the heat of battle. And once in cold blood. The amount of power these characters weild is immense. Anything over 12d6 normal attack IS a lethal attack for a normal. Do not kid yourselves. It is just the way most Champs characters are built, they can suck that up. But when there are 11 European cities with nuclear devices ready to go off... it is not time for namby-pamby hand holding for villians. Putting Dr. Destroyer into Stronghold, where he will get out and he will gain even more converts... is irresponsible. But I have never killed easily. And I don't like killing. But if the stakes are high enough and innocents need to be defended.... you do not mess with my character. Nor has it been often. Compared to how much combat my character has seen?!!?!?! Probably been in 200-250 scrapes, firefights, and full blown wars. I don't keep track of how many deaths I've caused directly, but it is under 50.....37 of them were an accident that was not in my control (my powers returned spectacularly and explosiviely after them being lost for several months). Compare that to how many lives my PC has saved? I feel quite strongly that I'm still a hero. When I met Neil and he told me of his game and RDU, I had come off of two Champions games, one I ran, another run by someone else. I told Neil that 1) I didn't want to do bankrobbery stories. And 2) I wanted to tackle comic book emulation with modern sensibilities. That meant coming in with a proactive character. Not sitting around on my hands while the Sentinel alarm went off. And rotating door policies for villians. How many times do you allow the Joker to escape and kill again before you take his ass out? The remenants of Silver Age elements, themes and enforced codes?....I wasn't interested. I wanted to do serious stories about serious situations with the sci-fi element of people with powers. Heck, I can even do without codenames and costumes... although that has seemed to stuck around. Listen, I'm not saying that 4 Color is wrong. It is just not for me. And if I had a GM saying I cannot kill because Heroes in Comics don't kill. I would walk. That type of world is inheritently unintersesting to me. What is interesting is the responsibility of power. In my player's pinky is enough power to blow a hole in something, HOW do I deal with that. That is conflict! That is drama! That is interesting!

My 6 on an off campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms. About as cliched as you can get. However, I love tweaking and overturning cliches. Magic isn't going away, its coming back. Elves and dwarves are not dying out, they have larger numbers of birth than ever in their history. The printing press has already been invented. As has gunpowder. The Drow aren't evil, or blue, or live underground... in fact, they saved the human race. Wars sometimes can be avoided because of diplomacy. And almost never run a "dungeon hack". And if I do, it is because it makes sense to the storyline and environment. It ain't the Dark or Middle ages, it is the cusp of the Reneissance... with magic thrown in. I have the occasional magic sword. The occasional monster... but my game is mostly about nation building politics... and the players get caught up between huge tectonic shifts in geopolitical reality.

Tight deadline of Oct 10th for 2 projects, one is artwork for Hero. I'm gaming this weekend, so I'm loosing a bit of time there. And I haven't done any illos for my own games nor have I gotten any character commissions. Although I do expect one commission next week, so expect to see some artwork with zombies after the 10th sometime. Cause I have nothing on my schedule after the 10th. Sincerely;

I like the Viper 5e. I got a chance to look over my swag copy late last night. The characters are kind of not important to me/us. RDU has had 17 years to do all kinds of changes to those published dudes. Some are incarcerated, some are dead. So redux have less impact, and a name change, viola! new Viper super. And while the history might not work in RDU, I really liked reading it. The international outlook as opposed to America-centric was logical and welcomed. Especially since when I co-run, I use Viper and I use in an internat'l context. The gear and uniform stuff was a lot of fun to look at. This looks like an organiszation that is much more serious than G.I. Joe's Cobra. One can always run it like Cobra... but it is nice to not have to. I liked the training facility section, which finally answered the question for me why anyone would join Viper in their right mind... they AIN'T right minded! (they're drugged and brain washed to become fanatical). Visuals are SO much better than 4th ed. The worst art in 5th is better than my best pic in 4th. My work was so crude back then. The layout was one of the best, if not the best, I've seen from Hero so far. It really was the most accessible book i've flipped thru. My only complaint is that pictures would have been nice with the archtype write ups in the back. No big whoop. This is a Hero Designer disc, with all its gear, that I would really be interested in acquiring.

I hope so. Anyway, here is a private commission for a Mr. Turner who created this L5R character. Good for evil ninjas and oriental sorcerors everywhere.

Thanks! The whole time I was drawing him, I was thinking; "oh yeah, Wizard wasn't doing any drugs on campus during this time period! Right." Of course, growing up smack dab in the middle of the drug culture of the 70s didn't help my outlook on all of this. This has always come easy for me. Within minutes of reading a character description, I have a base idea to work from. Doesn't mean it doesn't change as I work. Rarely do I get stuck. Sometimes its an expression, sometimes body language... or for supers, the pose. Sometimes it is one element of the costume and everything flows from there. You happened to give me really strong direction, things like suggesting Hourman's hood is really helpful. And also admiting that you weren't as clear on the 70s version, giving me the permission to experiment is important. Really, the toughest part of Wizard was the Blue, Red, Yellow, Black color scheme. Which blue, which red? etc. But digital color makes those decisions easily modified or overturned. Yeah, I really like him. I would love to see him get a write up one of these days. Neil has got it right, Steve and Andy were chuckling about how both myself (and sorry, I'm blanking on the name) the other artist came up with the same image demonstrating the 60s superhero. I think my art description asked for a paranormal or two in a Viet Nam setting. It was not suggested to do African American... but considering how many African Americans were in Nam, it seem to me, that a black superhero would be interested in saving their lives, regardless and maybe despite/because of the vast political rifts of that time. Its fun for me as an illustrator if I can even hint at more story than what the actual scene shows...

And the later version.

Here was a fun private commission. Two versions of the same character, one from the 70s and one from the 80s. The character was created by Briana Holmes.