Christopher R Taylor

For a really gritty campaign long-term body would be a reasonable effect as well; you just don't heal back like you used to until you take extra time to rest and get well. Sure, your body may have healed or been healed back by Kolto Tanks or magic or what all, but it doesn't quite all come back until you take a few weeks or even months to rest up.

WoW's introductory events for Legion are the best they've done so far, they are quite fun and interesting. Its a bit buggy and loading time has increased significantly for zones in some areas, but they have come up with some pretty good stuff. The big introductory film is unsatisfying; its basically a movie featuring NPCs instead of yourself (poor choice for a MMOG), but after that it really picks up and gets interesting. You can take part in the events at low level as well and get some fine equipment.

I used this in the Jolrhos Bestiary for some plants that could sense motion and vibration through the ground and air, and attack with it.

Its the cost of a skill, less than 1/100th of your Superhero's starting points.

I agree, and Byrne did a magnificent job with the character. He was both heroic and true while being relatable and interesting. People presume, often without reading, that Superman is boring and "square," when he doesn't have to be. You're right, but then I didn't say "changed" is synonymous with "ruined." You're getting straw everywhere. What I argued was that there are certain key, foundational concepts of characters that make them work - Spider-Man as the nerdy outcast who has his only fun outlet in costume, for example - which if you change ruin the charm and what made them great to begin with. If you rebuild Captain America so he's not a patriot and didn't fight in WW2, get frozen, and come back... he sucks now. There are basic concepts and themes in each character that make them who they are, and toying with that ruins them.

What does it do? Well it can protect a character from time- or age-based attacks, even negate them. It can be very useful in a long-term, or wide-scope campaign (as in, one that goes through years rather than days of events). Its valuable for defining things in a character such as elves who live longer than humans. Really, the price to live 500 years is pretty darn cheap. Its not like its hurting your character.

That's not exactly true, its just that he can't change in any significant way. But that's a flaw of comics on general, not just Superman. A comic is successful and interesting in the way it presents a character, their setting, and their cast of supporting characters. If you change that over time, you lose the magic of what made them work. Taking Peter Parker out of school, marrying him off, giving him a child, etc... ruined the charm of Spider-Man. But you keep putting out issue after issue for decades, and it can become stale. The flaw is an ongoing series that must come out every month rather than telling story arcs of the character. Its the American TV vs British TV comparison: American shows keep going until they suck so bad they are canceled (or just keep going anyway like the SImpsons), and British shows tell a story, and stop. When they have a new story, they put out a new series.

I use it in heroic games that are gritty or less cinematic. And I use a version of it for magic to control how much spellcasters can accomplish at a time.

Only if you've been reading or watching films for those decades. Long term fans of Superman have no problem with this nature, and they're the only ones that have stuck with him that long. This is a common flaw in people writing, they think heroes are boring, good guys are stupid and weak, and grim angst is the only true emotion. Since the last time we had a really good guy Superman it was the Lois Lane movie with a retarded bad guy plot (really? Barren rock platforms in the ocean is your whole scheme?) and it did badly with critics and fans, they think good guys is the problem. And uplifting, mature, responsible, heroic Superman who protects people and property is heroic, classic, and good. But destroying city blocks is EPIC DOOOD!

I agree, the concept doesn't really need much of a discount. I would envision it as being not about a cheaper way to buy things, but a useful way to structure them into a coherent package. There should be a small discount for being limited in its nature and range of abilities or purchase but not a very significant one. If its done right, it could do what Elemental Control was meant to - encourage tight concepts with a small discount for their narrow scope - as well as give skill monsters a way of building a competitive character in a superhero campaign. At present, if you build Batman, just being good at all the stuff he knows uses up all your points to build him able to fight and have gadgets, too. The framework's limitations on purchases seem to be these as i conceive of it: -Only abilities that fit a tight construction concept: martial arts, fire magic, skill tree for Arms Warrior, Ice Elemental powers, Street level detective -Limited application of these abilities, so no crossover (you cannot link to or out of the framework, you cannot use maneuvers with other maneuvers, etc) -You must buy in a specific order or grouping (cannot buy this ability until you buy the previous one in the skill tree, or you must buy at least 3 separate maneuvers) Just some thoughts as I wake up

The idea isn't "how do martial arts get built" but rather "can we create a framework that would not only work to build martial arts as they exist now, but could be used for other constructions such as skill trees, spell systems, etc?" Its a larger picture about a rule, not specific about martial arts.

I liked Hulk by Ang Lee too, it was a better film - in terms of film making - than the Incredible Hulk which was more just basic superhero fare. I didn't care for the hulk dogs and the weird shots of lichen spliced in for no apparent reason, but there was a lot right about Ang Lee's version. People really hated it though. I will give the second Hulk film this though: great job with the Abomination story arc. It would be good to see him come back, I agree. The problems with having Superman come back all nice and good and stuff from the dead are manifold. First, he's been raised to fear and despise human beings, not love and respect and protect them. He didn't get country home spun values from his Ma and Pa Kent, he got paranoia and weirdness. So there's no grounding for him to be a better person, other than 'well he died so now he's nice' Second, he's been a marauding, city-leveling monster alien whose every fight ends up destroying a billion dollars worth of property and causing massive casualties. That's his reputation, that's his background. After 10 or so movies of him being good guy leader who always does right, maybe he can erase that, but leader of the Justice League right away? Not so much. He has no moral leadership, he has no strength of character. In his first really big fight he murdered his opponent to save people apparently so retarded they couldn't walk slowly away from the laser beam. Third, the guys in charge of the DCU don't want bright, heroic Superman. They're fans of their work. They don't like Superman at all, they like their movie version of kickass marauding alien Superman who breaks buildings in half. But then a reboot would be by the same idiots so that doesn't really matter. Yes, this is a key that nobody apparently gets. Its part of the fun, a feature. I could read Spider-Man in the 80s without having read every issue before. They'd recap something in a panel or 2 or just a little *note at the bottom of a panel if needed, and that was enough.

Yeah, exactly. Way too much analysis and digging deeper here. It works the way the player intended for it to work, as long as he and the GM get together on it and make it so.

Its up to the GM what "ownership" means. If the GM is a sadist or jerk, they'll rule it goes back to the original now long-deceased owner. If they have common sense and go along with the spirit and intent of the magic, it goes to the person who should have it at this point.

Add targeting to the detect, to let you "see" the location for the teleport.

As much as I despise reboots, the SUperman universe really, really needs one. They should pretend the last 3 movies were just some crappy what if universe and restart.

Yeah, that's my problem too. For two movies, Captain America has been in grim, awful circumstances where everything is bad and dreadful. While I agree a good number of Americans feel that way about their nation's future, Cap is supposed to be a hopeful, optimistic, and leading figure, not a harbinger of doom and misery.

My problem with Man of Steel's "kickass fight scenes" was that they were just that: there was nothing about Superman's personality or heroism in them at all. When the fighting started, it was just two super powerful aliens demolishing the world as they fought instead of two distinct personalities. it became an overcharged professional wrestling match and all storytelling ended. Superman should have tried to prevent casualties and damage to property, not cause it.

Yeah that's how I always build fragmentation attacks: blast plus KA autofire area

Yeah Batman isn't the world's greatest detective any longer though, he's barely known as a detective. He's the Man with the Plan now.

I agree, Nolan never really ever made a Batman movie, he has stories to tell that involved Batman and worked because they were good stories with a good character basis. Little of what he did actually violated the Batman canon or the character as it developed over 50+ years previously, which helped a lot. The Superman films pretty much decided they'd throw away all but the most superficial elements of the character's history. It really takes someone who not only understands but likes the characters and their history to do them justice. When they do you can get something really fun and respectful to the story. Ultimately, I just cannot understand why you'd look at a wildly successful cultural icon, want to tell that story, then throw everything way and invent it yourself. What's the point? Its like making a movie about Santa Claus where he's a burly mercenary that has man-eating reindeer and throws bombs wrapped in Christmas paper. Sure, you retained some of the elements, but why did you even bother calling it Santa?

It is yeah, in color at least and hardcover. B/W its not too bad, just go soft cover. Its cheaper than the actual printed copy, I'm sure

I was actually looking forward to this one quite a bit, and I'm hoping that as often happens, they're being too hard on the film after having such high expectations. But it does look like they dropped the ball on what could have saved their whole franchise pretty badly.

Drowning effects, dehydration would drain STR, CON, DEX, that kind of thing. Creating water, walls of water, summoning elementals, waves, tsunamis, controlling currents (for ships sailing), making it rain or stop raining, telekinesis to move water, boil or freeze water, purify water

Suicide Squad was terrific in the comic run after Crisis, but it takes a good writer to make it work. If they don't have a great story and interesting characters, its just "who are these guys and why do I give a crap?"