Storn

>>Storn are you going to put this thread or one like it back on the M&M boards. I miss it over there.<< I just recently did. >>I remember seeing Storn's wonderful art in "Justice, Not Law", which was a Dark Champions sourcebook. There was a group there whose insignia had an IT on it. What did that stand for and are there any images of them?<< Ah yes, when I inked with a #4 brush (instead of the 00 or #1 now). I do not remember what the IT stood for. I believe those were some of Bruce Harlick's characters. No, I have never revisited that trio again. Some other artists might have used them.

This is Sirocco, a speedster NPC who in RDU Neil's game actually started at 7 years old and is now 23. Recently, Sirocco became a PC, now played by Rick. And is come out of his teens and college experiences ready to step back into the Heroic life style. Hope y'all like.

E 84, that is pretty cool. Thanks for sharing!

uh... I heard the creators say that Robin is specifically ambigious to Dick/Tim question. So I don't think it has been confirmed that Robin is truly Tim...although that is the way I would prefer to handle it. Dick, in my mind, is Nightwing... now and forever. Now, I've only seen two eps. So it might ahve been disclosed when I wasn't looking. I don't know why the show is getting SO much flak. I've seen 2 eps and thoroughly enjoyed it. Is it perfect... nah. But I never liked Changling and boy, the show has changed my mind on Changling. He's the best character there. And any theme song that has an ode to Secret Agent Man buried underneath Japanesey-sounding cheerleader vocals can't be all that bad. I must confess, I get a huge kick out of the theme song.

I've run my Realms game off and on for 7 years. I'm on my 8 mini-campaign. I've use a variety of systems, Hero, Gurps, d20, Unisystem... but it is now Savage Worlds. My campaign started on a whim, with just the map. I made all kinds of geopolitical assumptions in those first few sessions before ever getting the published material. Those assumptions worked great. I decimated the population in 700 years of war and famine. The last 100 have been relatively quiet since it was a vast land and very little population. Magic is coming back. It was very low ebb for awhile, but it is returning with a vengence. I let the players think that the Drow existed, then only to tell them that was lies created by the Elves who exiled their fellow elves into the desert for saving the Younger Races from genocide in the Time before Time. Yup, all of humanity, dwarfdom, orcdom owe the "Drow" (now the Kholtar) their very existence. That was a very fun switcheroo. I killed off Elminster, well retired him. Elminster had been around a mighty long time, he wanted to die and pass on. So he did. His son is a player character, raised in a pocket dimension of magic by Mystara. He is a bit whacked out and lacking in social graces, but has a good heart. Now in my 8th campaign, war rages across the continent, magic has returned, gates pop up often. Human mages are being born in higher numbers then ever recordded. Elven forests are expanding as well as their populations. Dwarves were on the verge of extinction, but they too have had an dramatic increase in birth rates. The desert kingdoms are united under a former slave, who freed all the slaves... throwing that economy into total dissarray. Myth Drannor is being rebuilt. Mind Flayers rule the Mageocracy of Thay. Zhentil Keep has fallen to Thay. yup, I love my Realms. and no Drow as are portrayed by the published material...

I think the core of Hero is VERY simple. Let me state the core of the game: 5 pts = 1d6 of power. 3d6 for task resolution. Everything, EVERYTHING works off of that basic premise. Things of lesser utility cost less than 5 pts. Things of more utility cost more. All the rest, stats, skills, talents, advantages, disadvantages, limitations...all build on that basic premise. The options are almost unlimited and here is where the confusion lies. So the others advice of really putting thought into *what* kind of game you and your players want to have is key. What kind of game do you want to run? If you state that "mission statement", then the board here can give you all kinds of advice on how to utilize Hero to reflect that.

Y: Last Man rocks at the moment (graphic nove/comic book). I didn't want to like it, thought the main idea was trite. But damn, if the characters are just great fun and the plot keeps going in very twisted ways. The fact that they take the time to do several issues in a small town in Ohio that has a secret to be revealed (and I should have seen it going, knowing the small town in Ohio) had wonderful pace. But that has nothing to do with this thread's intention. Yes. I ran a very successful, but brief game, when I was in high school that was High Fey. There were no humans. My PCs were a centaur, an elf, a dwarf and an NPC elf. Old women at the side of the road, usually had somehting of great import to say. HIstory was just littered throughout the local area and told of tales of great wars between Dark and Light elves. The centaur PC really drove much of the story, seeking to overcome racial distrust of his race by the more prevalent and powerful elves. It was short, it was D&D, but it worked til college beckoned and the group was scattered to the 4 winds.

FH Battlegrounds? sounds like a civil war theme park.

Its building up to more than just a few . But thanks, it is feedback and admittedly ego -stroking that keeps me posting. With out it, I would just simply do the artwork for my games and not share. But I hope folks get a kick out of this stuff and maybe even an occasional villain or hero pic to use in their own games. Thrilled you like the stuff.

That is very cool to hear. Glad he got swiped. He got away in my game! He'll be back....

Here is an updated pic of my oldest PC in Neil's RDU.

Re: Re: Mythology I submit to you that Superman is not only a flag-suit character, the first superhero, he is WAY better known than Capt. America. Does Supes have stars and bars? No. But his colors are those of the american flag and was purposely done as such.

Ah... yes, the woman who fired Bob Martin... the man who really was doing great things at the EPA. And was an ombudsman and last resort for EPA accountability due to Bush tort reform. yeah... great. If you want women in positions of power, my own state, Michigan, has woman govenor, Jennifer Granholm. She is too pretty to be a politician... but surprise, surprise... she is a damn good politician... so what do I know. My only fear is that she will run for president in 2008 and we will lose a very good govenor.

I put forth to you that Peasent revolts didn't fail as much as 21st Century POV think they did. You are right, certanely the Lord of the Manor wasn't overthrown. But in a feudal society, those serfs were the ones who made the money go 'round. Disrupt that economic base... and all of a sudden, the Lord of the Manor is broke. And the Count or King above him is getting pissed. So, what often happened is; Peasents revolt, Kings' men would show up, put down the revolt and tell the Lord of the Manor to stop sleeping with all the brides or killing randomnly... or he will be found treasonous and have an appointement with a headsman's axe. Local laws of France and England (based upon "Life in a Castle" which is a dry but interesting read) were extremely sophisticated. It was not a lawless time at all. The accounting of land and money was almost hyper. So even losing one laborer in the fields would be accounted for. Historians often paint the Middle and Dark ages as well, dark. I think the truth of the matter is much more complicated. I've heard historians say that the Peasent never traveled 10 miles from his house all of his life. Proabably true... for some. But now there is considerable evidence of marriages across counties, mercantilism even before the emerging middle class of the Reneissance that traveled ALL OVER Europe and beyond... even to china's silk road... I"m talking 800 here... way before Polo. Did you know that Sarajevo was a democratic city-state in the dark ages, that had Merchant Guilds and freedom of religion? Again, 700+... way, way before what we think of a middle class emerging. When we look to western History to guide us in a Fantasy game... sometimes the preconceptions being blown apart by new evidence and scholarship can generate even better Fantasy Game ideas. In this country (US), my childhood friend is an archeologist working Iroquios sites in NY state, just miles from where we grew up. One site is around 1650. Yet uncovered are stone beads that could have only come from Baja California and a tribe who made them there. Someone carried those beads from the west coast to the east coast... and the American continent is considerably larger than the European one. Just some things to mull over. And lastly; Its your campaign. If you want your serfs in County Y to be treated like the jewish serfs in pogroms of Russia... that is your call.

anytime you create a Hand Killing Attack in a FH campaign and leave OFF Strength Minimum.... you get a weapon of ferocious ability. A 2d6 HKA can get up to a 4d6 HKA. In the games I play,, 2d6 is hefty damage, 3d6 is a battle winner (15 STR w/ no STR Min). 4d6 is just sick. And for really nasty, combine with Armor Piercing. Adds some levels of DCV (the weapon has a mind of its own, glows so brightly in protection of its weilder etc).... and you've got a weapon that can wade thru armies. Tack on a little Missle Deflection for good measure... so ya can block mystic bolts and arrows.

Re: Character driven... Vector has been around long enuff, seen enuff, done enuff... in his mind, he feels *very* old guard. It ain't the years, its the mileage.

... and Lord Duq du Foxbat as the inept Paladin monster hunter, class, archtype...whatever.

Re: Summoning!?! That is an excellent suggestion. I second the notion. I also like the idea of trying to come up with something fresh... even if it isn't connected to Turkinian. If it could come slithering out of Chris Avellone's fevered imagination complete with purple prose... we should probably put a couple of those kind of ideas in there. Y'know, disgusting, horrible, demonic thingamajings. I'm not suggesting channeling Avellone for the whole book... gods no.. one would go insane. But for a couple of the entries....

I have been a bit busy. However, there is an update on the Green Ronin board of the storyline. And here is Dr. Boloz, the insane cyberneticist who is a key figure in the last few eps. This was an insanely quick sketch. Yet it had my players howling with laughter and imitating the gesture of Dr. Boloz "I want a bologna sandwich!". So it must be worth something.

Thank you bc. I appreciate it. I wasnt sure if I should include the "blinders" (great word, btw!) but I guess I erred on the side of honesty... usually the better call. It is a subject that requires some sensititivity, but not so much so that it drifts into political correctness. I don't always know where the line is, to be honest. But it is a subject that I care about very much.

>>1. Is this the whitest Hero product to date? (Yeah, I know there's something about the genre that makes people think about old Europe. I guess I thought the artists would be hungry to try out distinctive looks in the fantasy genre). <<< Y'know, that is a good point. I do not have FH yet, so all I know of the art is the art that I have done. All I can say in my defense is a couple of things. I did try and present a mage, who is black, as urbane, slender and dynamic... trying to twist away from some of the cliches. He appears on teh cover and in one interior. When presented with orcs and elves and dwarves rubbing up against humanity... matters of skin color just don't carry the same weight as they do in our present society. In my imagination, that is. They might or they might not. But in my fantasy world, that is one issue that would be lessened... so many "others". So I did do an interior of an Orc (or hobgoblin) at a court function, chaffing, but being treated as an equal... and having dignity. In a way, trying to twist the cliche from the Barbarian orc. This was a generic fantasy book, not a specific setting. I'm a white guy. My first instinct is to draw white people. This, admittedly, is a cop out... but staring at a blank sheet of paper, a deadline and 2 sentences from the art director... instinct just kicks in. I really have to think to come up with scenes and characters outside of whitebread norms. Referencing exotic architecture and such is a lot of work (not defending, just explaining), while the W. Europe look is part of my visual vocabulary. Honestly, the thing I think about the most in Fantasy is the impact that Magic has on society. Art, Architecture, Fashion, Tactics, etc etc. This is true about my Fantasy Campaign, as well as the art that I create. It is a theme that is so invasive in my noggin, that I often short-shrift other concerns. I've had this exact discussion before with other artists (RPGnet's Freelance and Freelancers section) and it does truly concern me. I don't want to short shift any culture. I started a thread, a call to other artists to create and think about more multi-cultural images. Guess I should listen to my own damn self. Keep bringing the subject up. I PROMISE I will listen. I definitely needed the reminder. So thank you.

Re: On the Shelves in VA Two things, Mad. 1) Hero is fairly flexible. If you find another way to play a Gnome cheaper, Steve Long ain't gonna come to your house and take away your book . My suggestion is not to worry about racial packages, but just build the character stats, skills and powers that makes sense. But I haven't seen the Gnome pckge yet, so I'm a bit un-informed. 2) I tried to do the best artwork that I'm capable of. I'm saddened that you don't think it is up to snuff and vow to try even harder for the next product.

I'm a player, not THE GM... but the PCs? Powerful enough to change the world. Several times. For good and ill. Mostly good though. As Co-GM, the PCs currently in my mini-game are ranging from 300 pts to 350. Some have experience, some are brand new PCs to the game. But their impact is not all that powerful... it is not that kinda game, it is a spy/mercenary setting with paranormals... who can be lethal as all get out... but a regular superteam with flying, mind control etc would take them out pretty easily for 50 less points.

Why not Clinging? only surfaces that are walkable (allowing for a thin, but sloping surface as opposed to only vertical surfaces).

More every week. I dunno, I'm personally responsible for about 20 PLAYER CHARACTERS and probably about 100 powered NPCs (and quite a few more non-powered ones...but running spy campaigns will result in that) in Neil's RDU campaign. Last time I checked, Neil's database had about 600? 750? Neil? A lot. Many are published characters. And these are characters who've actually seen use at the table in a 17 year old campaign. Recent extraordinary events will result in a whole new level of P-norms. And then send in the clones. My longest running PC has at least 38 clone on ice at the moment... thanks to Malachite... but they are under UNTIL protection. They aren't viable, they die if let lose. But someone, sometime is going to solve that problem.... Thanksgiving is going to need a MUCH bigger table. Another long running PC also has the roughly the same number of clones. Luckily, my PC has a lot of room, being one of the leaders of the Mars Terraforming Operation.