bigdamnhero

Right, so the disparity isn't as big as it looks at first glance. I do think there's an inherent assumption that PSes are going to come up less often in gameplay, and especially less in combat, than named Skills. To some extent that's an artifact of the superhero genre where your PS is your day job, by definition not something that comes up much in costume. That's obviously less true in other genres, and varies from campaign to campaign. And from Profession to Profession, obviously: PS Detective is going to come up a lot more than PS: Botanist. (At least in most games I've played...) I sometimes give people a 1-2 point discount for buying "flavor" stuff that's hardly ever going to be useful in combat. I started it when a player wanted to have KS: Encyclopedic Knowledge of Beatles Songs at 18-: funny, and I did make sure it came up now and then, but no way was I going to make him pay 8 points for it!

Interesting analysis, and some good points about how making a coherent franchise differs from the studios' usual one-and-done auteur-driven moviemaking. I can see where the demands of the franchise might cramp the creative styles/egos of directors used to having more free reign. (I think even Joss ran up against that on the Marvel side.) But from my perspective, lack of continuity and inconsistent vision are far from the biggest problems with the DC/WB movies. I didn't hear anyone complain that BvS was too much of a departure from MoS - just the opposite in fact. And Suicide Squad was a little different only because they went back and reshot a bunch of stuff because audiences hated BvS so much. It's not as if the DC/WB films have been brilliantly made and well-received on their own, and just didn't fit well with each other into a greater whole.

Poor analogy: Bond isn't a character defined by his origin or backstory. Hell, he barely has one. Nobody has to ask "Wait, how did this guy become a spy?" because spies are a thing that exists in the real world (sortof) and people can get their heads around the notion. "Why does this guy fight crime dressed as a Bat?" is totally different, and not something most people can immediately relate to - especially for people who haven't been reading superhero comics for 20+ years, aka "the majority of the audience." So I understand the impulse from the filmmaker's standpoint; they're trying to keep the character relatable. But I completely agree they're way overdoing it.

Just finished Sense8 on Netflix, from the Wachowskis and Joe Straczynski. Some interesting ideas and several neat bits, but massively overstuffed. No less than 8 main characters trying to juggle the spotlight, each with their own individual stories we're supposed to 1) remember and 2) care about, but the constant jumping back and forth made it hard for me to remember what the hell was going on in each of them. And it doesn't help that some of the character plots were, shall we say, less interesting than others. (I still don't know/care what the German Guy was up to. And is there a law in Hollywood that all plots involving Indian women must revolve around a wedding?) And oh yeah, there's some metaplot running in the background, that gets maybe 2 hours of screen time doled out over 12 episodes... OK, that came out a little more negative than I intended. There were some nice bits, and overall I felt like the show had potential. If Season 2 can focus more on the metastory and less on individual background noise, it might even live up to that potential. But a disappointing first season overall.

Here's the thing - if they'd committed to that idea, they could've made an interesting movie out of it. It wouldn't have been a Superman movie, but it could've been interesting. But they kept wanting to have it both ways. Bats may see Supes as the villain, the film wanted us to sympathize with him as a misunderstood figure. That was possibly the flimsiest thread of the whole stupid thing; there was absolutely no need for it. Nor was there any reason the public should assume that a bunch o bullet-riddled corpses were Superman's doing. And all he would've had to do is make one statement to the press about what really happened. But I guess he doesn't know any good reporters. Yeah, he was clearly trying to channel the Joker, but he just came across as a coked-up imbecile. And the bit at the end with them ominously shaving his head in prison made me laugh out loud. You know they don't actually do that in prison, right? Well, Diana Prince did have a couple scenes before that in civvies - she was the woman at the LexCorp party that was trying to steal data from Lex. It was kindof a throwaway; I didn't realize it was her until the scene was almost over.

My player use it all the time. Typically they start out with CSLs on OCV to make sure they connect, but if their first attack(s) don't get enough damage through they'll shift them to damage. I'd say CSLs get used for OCV maybe 50% of the time, damage maybe 35%, and DCV maybe 15%. Unlike others, I haven't noticed a difference between heroic & supers.

Finished Season 1 of The Crown, a Netflix series about the early reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Surprisingly compelling; I was expecting more Downtown Abbey-esque soap opera, but it's much more about how young Elizabeth (25 when she assumes the throne) figures out her role in a changing modern Britain while also trying to be a wife/mother/sister/etc. Extraordinarily well-acted, especially Claire Foy who gives a restrained and nuanced performance as Elizabeth, and Matt Smith (formerly of Dr. Who) less restrained as Prince Phillip. Plus you get John Lithgow doing Winston Churchill impressions, which is kindof awesome. Highly recommended; can't wait for Season 2.

I always allow it, tho players seldom take me up on it. Minor tinkering, sure, but rarely a full rebuild.

Boring. (Golf, not this game...)

Hmm...that's actually an interesting idea. What if their armor is actually very good at stopping BODY, but not STUN for some technobabble reasons. Maybe that's why they don't mind throwing Troopers into the breech en masse, because they know most of them will actually survive and be "re-usable." Suddenly makes the Empire seem a lot less heartless. (Or at least less wasteful.)

Wasn't there a line in Force Awakens about `Trooper suits not protecting against gas/toxins? So even as environmental suits they're pretty worthless. Per RotJ, they're not even much use against rocks.* Let's face it, their only real purpose is to dehumanize Troopers so you don't feel bad about watching them get mowed down. I think for any Star Wars game the first thing players and GM must agree on is are we playing a game that faithfully follows the moves? Or are we playing a game based on the movies, but where things actually make sense. No wrong answer, but trying to do both leads to too many logical inconsistencies. * Is there a Godwin's Law equivalent for Star Wars discussions where the first person who brings up Ewoks loses?

Honestly, the FH setting I'd most like to see fleshed out and updated is the Revelations 1001 "mini-setting" from Post-Apocalyptic Hero. Mainly because that's what I'm running currently and I've spent the last year building it out. A truly original idea that's not like every other D&D setting out there, and some interesting opportunities to show off what you can do with Hero if you commit to certain "switches."

Turakian Age always felt to me like "Generic D&D world, but for Hero." Workmanlike, well-built, but nothing really original, and nothing likely to draw new players to the system. Honestly I'm not sure I even have a copy. Valdorian Age had some good stuff, but similarly suffered from being "Generic Conanesque City, but for Hero." But I did steal their Demonology system for my current low FH game. Atlantean Age was a neat idea and a real opportunity to show off what Hero can do at high levels. But it just didn't grab me; not sure I can articulate why. So I voted for Tuala Morn, which is my favorite setting that I've never actually played in. But I really enjoyed just reading the book, and someday, someday, I'll run it. Yeah, it did suffer from being kindof a high-level overview, and it may be the only book Steve Long ever wrote that I felt was too short. But some great ideas. If they'd had better art and a shiny Celticized cover to jump out at people, I think that setting might've actually sold. (I don't care much about art personally, but from a marketing perspective it's vital.)

Good point re western & war comics. And of course romance. (Cue the "It's Patsy!" theme.)

"I don't want to go off on a rant, but..." To me, that page really feels like it was written by someone who stopped reading comics in the 90s; much of the discussion goes through the mid-90s and then jumps straight to "and in 2011 DC launched the New 52..." I think it's ludicrous to lump 30+ years of comics together like that - today's comics are at least as different from early-90s comics as most Bronze Age was from Silver Age stuff. We're definitely in a different Age now IMO. As for when this new age started, that's harder to pin down. To me it feels like the shift began in 2000 with the Ultimate Universe. Personally I never cared for most of the Ultimates stuff, but it was a very deliberate attempt to take all the stuff that had been thoroughly deconstructed in the Iron Age and put them back together again in new ways; the results weren't necessarily to my taste - still more Iron than I'd like - but I understood what they were trying to do. Equally important, I feel like it allowed writers in the 616 universe to swing further away from Iron Age tropes to distinguish that universe more from the Ultimates verse. And of course there's no questioning how much the Ultimate universe influenced today's movies. Alternately, other people point to 2006's Civil War as kindof the nadir of modern comics, and look at everything since then as a consequence of or attempt to repair the damage done by that series. So that was kindof a turning point. Over at DC, I feel like 2005's Infinite Crisis was an attempt to change the direction of their continuity, tho again with mixed results. And of course 2005 was also the year we got All-Star Superman and its very deliberate call-back to the Silver Age. The early 2000s also saw the rise of the Trade Paperback market, which brought a lot of new (or returning) readers and meant you could once again buy comics at "regular" stores without having to go to a specialty store. It also significantly changed the way a lot of writers structure their story arcs. So personally I look at the 2000-2006 as a transition period; hard to draw a firm line at any one thing, but a process started in 2000 and by 2006/2007 we were definitely in a different age. As for what to call this new age, I'm not really a fan of the term Cinematic Age. Obviously the movies have had/are having an influence on comics themselves, but I'd rather look at them as separate entities. (Especially given the wildly different tones of the Marvel & DC films.) And no offense to Christopher Taylor or anyone else, but I mostly seem to hear the term used by people who don't actually read comics much/at all anymore, so their perceptions are based mainly on the movies and the occasional online fanboy rant. (Again, not saying that's the case with everyone here.) I kindof like the term Diamond Age myself. Some have suggested Kaleidoscope Age because there's so much variety. Like Iron Age stuff? Yeah, there's some of that. But there's also Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, which reads like Silver Age Batman. Or Ms. Marvel, which reads like Bronze Age Spider-Man. One of the things that makes contemporary comics so hard to pin down is that there's more variety than ever before, so Kaleidoscope is apt. But I don't really see that name ever catching on. [\rant]

I assume we're talking specifically about superhero comics? Golden Age never really caught my attention, and most of the Silver Age stuff was too damn silly for me even as a kid. I grew up reading Bronze Age comics, so that's kindof always been my baseline for what superheroes should be. Of course, I was reading them as a kid; going back and re-reading them now as an adult? Well, some of them hold up better than others. And a lot of the Middle Aged White Dudes trying to "write street" is pretty painful in hindsight. But overall, Bronze is where my heart is, and also the flavor I prefer for Champions gaming. Iron Age had some really brilliant ideas, but I agree with others that it mostly worked best as limited/elseworlds stories and got really old really quickly. Once every comics started trying to be Watchmen/Dark Knight, I gave up comics for ~20 years. I almost voted for Cinematic Age, because there are so many really good comics being written right now. I would definitely say the best comics today are far better written than in any other era. But quality also varies wildly, so I'm not sue I can say that on average superhero comics are better today they were. So I went with my inner 12 year old and voted for Bronze. Now if we're not just talking about superhero comics, then there's no question that contemporary comics are doing other genres far, far better than ever before. (With the arguable exception of horror, but that's a separate discussion and horror isn't really my thing anyway.) The explosion of creativity in the Indie comics world over the last decade or so has been amazing to watch. Even if they don't sell a tenth as many issues as whatever the f**k Wolverine is doing this month...

I confess I hadn't thought about it before, but you're right. Most "gas masks," as the term is commonly used, are air filtering, not air supplying, tho comics and genre fiction often blur that line. So yeah, I think LS: Expanded Breathing works. LS: Immunity to [poisons], Limitation: "only vs airborne toxins," might be closer. That would also let you specify what a given mask does/doesn't work against, since different masks filter out different things. That's probably crunchier than you need for most games, but could really be critical in, say, a post-apocalypse world. For most genres, Expanded Breathing is probably close enough.

That's the guy. Tho he comes across slightly less saintly in person. This is after Vladimir has converted to Christianity, gotten rid of his multiple wives and ~500 concubines and all that. But the PCs have made friends with one of those ex-wives Rogneda, who has plenty of good reasons to hate Vladimir; plus one of Vladimir's sons Sviatopolk, whose mother was treated in much the same way. But Vladimir was a seriously vile dude before he converted to Christianity,* and one of the questions they're wrestling with is how much his later good deeds makes up for those earlier sins. It's an interesting dilemma, tho perhaps a bit meta because the players are seeing it differently than their 11th Century characters probably would. * One contemporary chronicler called him "fornicator immensus et crudelis." IKR? I'm pretty sure she actually meant "castrate." But it was one of those "Forget it, she's on a roll" moments. Besides, her character only has 1 point in Russian, so it worked in character either way. (It was also the player's birthday and she'd had a couplefew drinks before coming over; her PC is this over-the-top barbarian anyway, so it didn't exactly impede her getting into character, but...)

"I'm not the Red Shirt! You are the Red Shirt!" [gigglesnort] Good episode. Although didn't Kara kindof

No, it's not under Store. At the top of this page, go to Client Area > Purchases. HD should be listed there, and you should be able to re-download it. The only catch is if you purchased it before the site relaunch it may not have ported over, in which case I'd suggest emailing Simon or someone. I had thought there was a thread about this in the HD section awhile back, but apparently I failed my Perception (Online Forums) Roll.

I remembered one other. Me describing a new NPC: GM: "He's obviously someone you don't want to fuck with. [beat] Well, you guys might want to. Normal people don't."

CE is such a broad power, "what happens if you fail" depends completely on sfx and what you're trying to do. To get more specific would require listing pages and pages of examples. So yeah, there's a lot of GM Fiat involved. At least until we get Ultimate Environment Changer, which I'm sure is on the publication schedule for no time soon. Typically yes, or else some type of Drain. (You can't Drain Skills, but you can Drain the Characterstic, and if you want add a Limitation for "Only affects ____ Skill Rolls.) Depends on what you're trying to accomplish. CE is usually easier. Hmm...does Power Defense work against Change Environment? Interesting. I always assumed it was treated as any other Characteristic Roll at 4 pts. Nope.

Hmm. I see your point. But for genre purposes, I can't think of too many fictional examples of people listening in on someone else's device. Detecting it, sure, but not eavesdropping; they're more often treated as if they're on some kind of secure channel. So I'm not sure that isn't a feature rather than... [wait for it]...a bug.* Reasoning from effect, Clairsentience still seems to me like the best fit. I could see adding a Limitation for "Can be intercepted" if you wanted to be more realistic. * Hey, someone was going to go there. For a Heroic game, absolutely. But still, there's nothing wrong with thinking about how the equipment works in mechanical terms, to better understand how it is affected by other equipment/powers.

But that was expressly permitted in 6e (6e1 p266). Widening Gyre - at least the edition I have - was published before CC/FHC. I can't speak to the other issues/errors, other than to say "sharp eye!"

From last night's quasi-historical FH game Fun with historical names at the Court of Vladimir I, Grand Prince of Kiev and Lord of the Rus: GM: "The Prince's favorites among his sons are Boris and Gleb, which are actual names that the GM is not making up." Player: "We would never accuse you of making up a name like Gleb." A bit later... GM: You are introduced to Vladimir's daughters, Predslava, Premislava and Mstislava, which the GM is also totally not making up. Player: "Still better than Gleb." Later still... GM: "...and news from far-off Ireland, where Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig has gained the upper hand in his war against Mael Sechnaill..." Players: "Whose names you are not making up; we get it." A Barbarian at Court... Thyri: "I'm bored with all the talking. Can I drift over to the side and find a wall to lean against?" GM: "Sure. The King's son [who they had met last night] drifts over to flirt with you some more." Thyri: "I tell him "If you touch me I will fucking cuckold you right here."" GM: [contemplates the massive derail that's about to ensue] "...Are you sure you want to say that to the Prince in the middle of his father's Court?" Thyri: [considers] "I say it with my eyes." GM: "OK, that works, he still gets the message and no one gets executed." The Priest took a new Detect Evil ability that is Smell-based. Father Edmondo: "The Scent Of Evil is all over this place. [beat] No, I'm not being metaphorical!" And it's always funny when the players forget their own backstory... Princess Anna: [to Edmondo] "Julian! Is that you? It's been 15 years, but I'd recognize you anywhere!" Edmondo: [blank stare] Geralt: [helpfully] "Go with it?" Edmondo: [obviously drawing a blank] "Um...Hi?" GM: [passes over the laptop] "I refer you to the first paragraph of the character background you submitted..." Edmondo: [reads for a second] "Oh! Right! Yes, it is me! Julian!...But, uh, I go by Edmondo nowadays...It's a priest thing?"