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zslane

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  1. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Lawnmower Boy in Superhero vs Fantasy   
    I also think it is easier for teenage boys to step into the role of your typical murderhobo adventurer out to kill monsters and take their stuff, getting more powerful along the way, than it is for them to step into the role of your typical superhero with a substantially more mature moral compass and a driving need to selflessly help others. Of course, there are characters in both genres that subvert these norms, but the general perception of these genres is largely shaped by those two archetypes (the murderhobo and the do-gooder).
  2. Haha
    zslane got a reaction from Vanguard in Superhero vs Fantasy   
    Maybe so!
     
    Then again, Iron Man is totally metal, and Frodo is fairly square.
  3. Like
    zslane got a reaction from slikmar in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND   
    I kinda think that is the most likely outcome. I mean, I certainly hope it is. Naturally, we have to go through a few years of watching them fumble around until they realize they should have just stayed with the aggregators. I think Disney is really the only one with enough irresistible content and marketplace muscle to make their streaming service viable long term. I'd rather see the free market force the inevitable course correction rather than have the government step in the way they did with the movie studios back in the day. But who knows how long that will take; letting nature take its course can often be the slowest path to recovery.
  4. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Pattern Ghost in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND   
    I kinda think that is the most likely outcome. I mean, I certainly hope it is. Naturally, we have to go through a few years of watching them fumble around until they realize they should have just stayed with the aggregators. I think Disney is really the only one with enough irresistible content and marketplace muscle to make their streaming service viable long term. I'd rather see the free market force the inevitable course correction rather than have the government step in the way they did with the movie studios back in the day. But who knows how long that will take; letting nature take its course can often be the slowest path to recovery.
  5. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Christopher R Taylor in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND   
    I kinda think that is the most likely outcome. I mean, I certainly hope it is. Naturally, we have to go through a few years of watching them fumble around until they realize they should have just stayed with the aggregators. I think Disney is really the only one with enough irresistible content and marketplace muscle to make their streaming service viable long term. I'd rather see the free market force the inevitable course correction rather than have the government step in the way they did with the movie studios back in the day. But who knows how long that will take; letting nature take its course can often be the slowest path to recovery.
  6. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Christopher R Taylor in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND   
    Um yeah, I explained this very same thing yesterday (quoted below for those who missed it the first time). (taps virtual microphone...) Is this thing on?
     
  7. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Duke Bushido in HERO master   
    Right. And I already explained how this would be handled with a combination of role playing and dice rolling. You keep wanting to ignore the details of what I write and characterize my position as being at the extreme end of the spectrum just so you can argue against it. Please stop that.
  8. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in Question on pathfinder   
    I feel very much the same as you, Duke. The major way in which we differ, I would say, is that I don't have contempt for D&D (I still have too many good memories of it), but rather I just feel I've outgrown its design and its game design tropes. In fact, I outgrew it the moment I fell in love with Champions back in 1982.
     
    I too don't care for fantasy much, mostly because I am so burned out on it after all the books and games I've played in that genre. I still hunger for sci-fi and superhero stuff, whereas if I never saw another fantasy movie, read another fantasy novel, or played another fantasy game, I think I'd be just fine. For someone like us, I can't really recommend Starfinder because it really does feel like "D&D in Space" to me, despite all the protestations of its designers (and fans) that it doesn't. But as I see it, there's just no denying it when you have everything from fantasy magic (still called "spellcasting", BTW) to fantasy classes merely reskinned with vaguely futuristic sounding names (e.g., Operative instead of Rogue, Soldier instead of Fighter, Envoy instead of Bard, etc.). A major reason they kept fantasy magic in Starfinder was so that they could place the game in the same campaign setting as Pathfinder, projected far into the future, where there is technology and alien races, but also magical energies and "divine" powers, all of which make characters from one game usable in the other. That's simply not what I'm looking for in my science fiction. Even Star Wars had the good sense to call their magic "the Force", make it a simple bio-energy field, and make manipulating it more like psionics than fantasy spellcasting.
  9. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Question on pathfinder   
    I feel very much the same as you, Duke. The major way in which we differ, I would say, is that I don't have contempt for D&D (I still have too many good memories of it), but rather I just feel I've outgrown its design and its game design tropes. In fact, I outgrew it the moment I fell in love with Champions back in 1982.
     
    I too don't care for fantasy much, mostly because I am so burned out on it after all the books and games I've played in that genre. I still hunger for sci-fi and superhero stuff, whereas if I never saw another fantasy movie, read another fantasy novel, or played another fantasy game, I think I'd be just fine. For someone like us, I can't really recommend Starfinder because it really does feel like "D&D in Space" to me, despite all the protestations of its designers (and fans) that it doesn't. But as I see it, there's just no denying it when you have everything from fantasy magic (still called "spellcasting", BTW) to fantasy classes merely reskinned with vaguely futuristic sounding names (e.g., Operative instead of Rogue, Soldier instead of Fighter, Envoy instead of Bard, etc.). A major reason they kept fantasy magic in Starfinder was so that they could place the game in the same campaign setting as Pathfinder, projected far into the future, where there is technology and alien races, but also magical energies and "divine" powers, all of which make characters from one game usable in the other. That's simply not what I'm looking for in my science fiction. Even Star Wars had the good sense to call their magic "the Force", make it a simple bio-energy field, and make manipulating it more like psionics than fantasy spellcasting.
  10. Like
    zslane reacted to Duke Bushido in Question on pathfinder   
    Thanks, PC--
     
    but let me clarify something a bit:
     
    I don't generally care for Fantasy. I will play it; I may even enjoy it.  It is more about the playing and the people I'm playing with.  I still won't be having all the joy my friends are, because I can't make myself invest in Fantasy: for reasons absolutely cannot explain, I have a distaste for the genre as a whole.  It's not insurmountable, but it's there.  I know I can have a good time under the right combination of system (I have enjoyed about half the Fantasy HERO games I've been involved in), GM (anyone not trying to re-invent D&D in his pet system), and setting (anything that isn't trying to be like D&D).
     
    Alas, there are too few fantasy games and GMs who aren't simply looking to repackage D&D.  I was fearful (rightfully, it turns out) that Pathfinder was simply a new package for D&D to sneak out in.
     
    My serious and active contempt for D&D (as I've encountered it, anyway, being as how there are so many versions of it now) is that for me, D&D is a pickle fork  irritation:
     
    On one pointy bit, it's Fantasy.  On the other pointy bit, the D&D mechanics grate on me, from randomly generated stats to wandering monsters to character classes and alignments to the way armor doesn't work to-- well, I didn't pop up to write a dissertation.  There is no part of D&D that I like, period.  While I _do_ love Sci-Fi, I can't see myself trying to play it using the D&D mechanics.  
     
    The handle is likely pointed as well, because I don't like the tropes common to D&D and their distinctive call to Tolkien), and pickle forks only have two tines.
  11. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Matt the Bruins in Supergirl   
    I'm pretty sure Baldwin was always in on the joke.
  12. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Christopher R Taylor in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND   
    Disney doesn't want Netflix to make any more money off its IP, and they don't like the economics of putting superhero tv shows on ABC. This way they get to slash budgets and still say they are building the MCU storytelling ecosystem of the future.
  13. Haha
    zslane got a reaction from Norm in Superhero vs Fantasy   
    Maybe so!
     
    Then again, Iron Man is totally metal, and Frodo is fairly square.
  14. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Scott Ruggels in Superhero vs Fantasy   
    Maybe so!
     
    Then again, Iron Man is totally metal, and Frodo is fairly square.
  15. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in HERO master   
    I guess it depends on what you choose to wrap up in the box called "character concept". I treat the character concept as a set of flexible guidelines, not rigid features that never evolve. What you're talking about there I regard as merely part of Tony's backstory, not a boundary-setting element of his character concept (as a superhero). In any event, I'm pretty sure that the whole shrapnel-threatening-his-heart thing was dispensed with after some time, long before the Armor Wars when Cap trained him to fight.
     
     
    I feel that's a bit of a strawman argument, only because, in my view, no element--salient or otherwise--should be absolutely prohibited from evolving over time. However, elements should evolve logically and plausibly in accordance with the character concept. I'm convinced this is not nearly as complicated and controversial as this thread is making it sound.
  16. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in HERO master   
    I don't have any problem with this. It makes total sense to me and is not so far outside the bounds of the character concept that I would balk at allowing it. I mean, Iron Man is part brick, which means slugging it out with foes as well as blasting them with repulsor beams. Gaining some degree of HTH fighting skill is quite reasonable in my view.
     
    However, I feel there needs to be boundaries placed on what XP can be spent on, and a character's core concept is a useful guide for mapping out those boundaries. For example, one of the core tenets of Iron Man's character concept is that he is a technology-based hero, and as such I would not want to see XP spent on adding mental powers or abilities with a "magic" SFX.
  17. Like
    zslane reacted to Scott Ruggels in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND   
    If Netflixs knows what I am watching at any particular moment, and tracks my current watched series over multiple devices, then they know down to the last digit, what viewership is, and what the viewer habits are. the Netflix app reports back to Netflix. 
  18. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Christopher R Taylor in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND   
    I'm surprised Netflix cancelled Luke Cage given how important it was.
  19. Like
    zslane reacted to Christopher R Taylor in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND   
    Well, and the Disney thing.
  20. Like
    zslane reacted to Hugh Neilson in Question on pathfinder   
    To the initial question, I would say that, if you did not enjoy D&D 3rd Ed (3.0 and 3.5 are not different enough to classify them separately), I would not expect you will enjoy Pathfinder.  It is definitely not different enough from 3e D&D to overcome an overall dislike of fantasy games.   We don't need to define what D&D is (genre vs mechanics vs playstyle vs whatever) to figure that out!
  21. Like
    zslane got a reaction from pinecone in Burning Wheel   
    That also reeks of "We're bored with conventional game mechanics, so let's invent some really off-beat mechanics nobody's ever seen before to wake us out of our funk."
  22. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Killer Shrike in HERO master   
    Most definitely.
     
    All the Champions campaigns I played in over the years took a very "let's keep all the fun superhero tropes and ditch the dumb stuff only bad writers under terribly tight deadlines come up with" approach to the genre. Tone was roughly Early Bronze Age, and power level was your typical 4e 250-300 point range. It isn't that tough to find the sweet spot between fun, four-color superhero action and stuff only an 8-year old would think is cool.
  23. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in HERO master   
    That's a tricky issue. I understand that roll playing can easily substitute for role playing, and it feels perfectly legitimate when we're talking about abilities the character has that the player does not. But this can also be abused, wherein a player buys up Super Intellect, and then expects to be able to solve every mystery and every puzzle presented by the GM with a dice roll they can almost never fail. Now you're ruining everyone else's fun.
     
    My old-school philosophy would be to tell players not to build characters whose personality or intellect is beyond their own ability to represent themselves through role playing. This will filter out players who aren't ready for a more advanced game experience, and I think that's okay. Not every campaign (or gaming group) is going to be suitable for every player. Back in the day, I wasn't invited to play in the better Champions games at Flying Buffalo Games until I demonstrated that I could play up to the standards established by the rest of the group before I got there. I wasn't offended by that; in fact, I appreciated the fact that they had such standards.
  24. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in HERO master   
    The way I look at it, "character concept" is a set of flexible guidelines that shape a character's behavior and the actions the player takes when taking on that role. It isn't some kind of holy writ that rigidly limits what the character is allowed to do. Most GMs I know (who care about such things) will let players do what they want as long as it fits reasonably well within the established character concept.
     
    Personally, I've only ever used character concept to make sure players aren't doing things that are wildly inconsistent with the established ideas for their characters. There's a lot of interesting conflict and drama inherent in the boundaries painted by character concept, and I feel the benefits of benign enforcement of "character concept" outweigh the associated loss of total, unconstrained freedom such enforcement might impose on the players.
  25. Like
    zslane got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in HERO master   
    Character concept should be driving and informing the roleplaying. It should also be driving and informing the expenditure of XP. Surely this is rather obvious and not at all controversial.
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