Yansuf

Re: Champions movie

So your "fantasy" cast replaces any ethnic characters with white people? That seems a bit odd to me regardless of whether the cast is practical or not.

Excuse me?

What are you talking about?

My cast had 2 blacks, one half black (born in Tanzania), one hispanic, one half asian, and one "part Chinese, part Spanish, part Filipino".

How is that "replacing any ethnic characters with white people"?

Re: Champions movie

You are over 50' date=' maybe 60, million dollars on salary already, and you haven't done the supporting cast and villain yet. In a franchise like this, I would say look for bargains: young folks who haven't made it yet, folks who are on a decline looking to come back, or folks who are talented but have been forgotten. Look at the casting on Watchmen. Though they made two bad decisions, they were generally in the ballpark, if not if not dead on (Rorschach and Comedian, anyone?). And they did it without breaking the bank. [/quote']

 

True, but I thought that this was a "fantasy" who would we like to see thread.

If we are being practical almost everyone who is cast should be unknown.

Re: Champions movie

I wouldn't use Dr.Destroyer directly. I'd make someone else the main villain. Maybe the Ultimates. Then at the end you pull the clichie of Dr.D sitting in a throne saying "All is unfolding as I have foreseen." Then work it up in the second movie' date=' drop a few more hints. And in the third movie they have to fight him. Since the first movie is almost always an origin story, we shouldn't have a bunch of new heroes defeat one of the biggest baddies in the campaign.[/quote']

 

Excellent idea.

Re: Champions movie

Ron Perlman as Gargoyle!

It's a movie. They'll mix editions up and get the stories wrong and probably add and delete whole characters anyway.

Agreed.

My cast would be:

Marksman Chuck Norris

Defender (as a fairly new superhero) Sean Murray or Nicholas Brendon

Flare Lexa Doig or Rachel Luttrell

Rose Jewel Staite

Gargoyle Ron Perlman (as above)

Icestar Forrest Whitaker

Denise Dumont Khandi Alexander

Dr. Destroyer Max von Sydow

Menton Antonio Banderas

Mentalla Tia Carrere

Gigaton Adam Baldwin

Rakshasa (several different actors)

Re: Xenomorphs vs Cobras

1st thing they would do is Space Ripley because she would slow them down' date=' [/quote']

 

If you believe that, I suggest that you reread the second chapter of the first book.

They would probably insist that Ripley (and Burke and the "scientist") remain on the ship and just advise by com link, but they would not kill or abandon any human.

Re: I love me some xenomorphs!

So I'm reading through discussions about Aliens (here and elsewhere) and in large part it seems like the creatures themselves aren't so much of interest as the ubercool futuristic warriors fighting them. When Aliens first came out, while I enjoyed the heck out of it, I did lament that the creatures went from "the perfect organism" to, effectively, video game targets. Space marines, not monsters, became the selling point. (Which is one reason I enjoyed Alien3's brutal return to form.) I've not followed other media about them except the movies, but judging by various fan discussions over the years, my lamentation from 1986 has been borne out.

 

Is that true? Is the biggest appeal of the aliens now that they're worthy adversaries for Predators and Terminators and cyborgs and superheroes and various space badasses? Have they transformed from a horrifying monster to a combat framework into which you insert your favorite super warrior?

Well, to be honest, I've never particularly liked the xenomorphs.

Re: Xenomorphs vs Cobras

Heh, half way through the trilogy already, forgot how much I liked these books. Never cared for Zahn really when he is tackling someone else's IP (Star Wars for example), but within his own material the guy can write.

 

~Rex

You do know that the new, 4th book came out last December, don't you?

Re: So, "Shields" are back on the list of "Possible Near Future Tech"...

I remember hearing about this concept a few years back. Takes a lot of weight in energy storage capacity to make it work. And simple KE solid shot isn't affected by this.

Theoretically KE projectiles can be effected, but it takes even more power. The idea is the charge vaporizes a tiny bit of the shell, and thus destabilizes it so that it hits more obliquely, thereby reducing the penetration. This works much better against long rod penetrators than simple shot, of course.

Re: How to model Jade (from Whately)

Yes. I suggest you describe the character.

That will take a while, and I don't have time right now, but will try to later.

However, you can read about her in the "Whately Academy" stories, at:

http://www.crystalhall.org/

(Sorry it is not a link, you have to cut and paste.)

Re: How to model Jade (from Whately)

If I'm thinking of the right character' date=' you'd probably model her using a combination of Animate Object (under Telekinesis, in the Advanced Player's Guide) and something like the Telekinetic Sidekick example of Duplication in the the Character Creation book. Basically she creates a telekinetic duplicate that is either invisible & human-shaped (but can wear clothes, etc) or "inhabits" some physical object, animating it (her choice when creating the duplicate).[/quote']

 

You have the right character.

Re: So, "Shields" are back on the list of "Possible Near Future Tech"...

This has been around for years, it is usually referred to as "electrostatic" armor.

And it works by damaging the projectile as much as by deflecting it.

The Whately Academy stories have some interesting characters with strange powers.

I have been trying to figure out how to model Jade (aka Generator.)

Any suggestions?

Re: Defender's origin

An astronaut is an obvious possibility.

Re: Xenomorphs vs Cobras

dead on. I think I need to re-read my cobra books, get the newest. I don't remember the powered armor at ALL.

 

Blackcollar was okay, but I kind of felt like we had been there before... And while shuriken are pretty cool...

Powered armor is in the first book only. After that the cobras' new colony is cut off.

Re: Xenomorphs vs Cobras

I've written up C.O.B.R.A.'s for 1st, 2nd, 3rd edition. Slight modification, they make great superagents, another mod and they become pretty good superheroes.

Against Aliens? Please. Lightning reflexes, lasers, computer targeting, and designed for close combat... the only problem would be the blood spatter someone mentioned.

Now let's point out something: in the Cobra universe, the Cobras were guerilla warriors... but they also had powered armor marines that made Cobras look weak. One scene in the 2nd book showed Cobra hero Jonny Moreau back down before a pair of marines in armor, for the simple reason they had everything he did, plus armor, plus heavier weapons. Cobras were designed to hide among unaugmented humans, not fight assualt battles.

I'd put money on Cobras against predators too.

 

And for that matter, Book MI could take on Aliens and Predators at the same time, while Movie MI would die in job lots against either.

The scene you are referring to is in the first book, last story. And yes, the powered armor troops would have been a match for Heinlein's MI.

Movie MI? There was a movie? I refuse to believe that. My nightmare was just that, a nightmare; there was no movie!

Re: Xenomorphs vs Cobras

I've gotta give this one to the COBRAs too. Anyone who can clear a room with an antiarmor-grade laser isn't going to have much trouble even with a horde of xenomorphs.

 

Now the blackcollars, on the other hand, would have more trouble. That whole hand-to-hand thing doesn't work out so well against xenomorphs, and you run out of shuriken eventually...

On the blackcollars, I agree. Of course, a lot will depend on how good blackcollar armor is vs xenomorphs. Also, if the blackcollars have guns and lasers available; remember the reason they normally don't use them is that in that universe, guns etc. show up on sensors.

Re: Making nuclear weapons look like firecrackers

I remember Superman (1978)

Lux was going to drop California into the sea by a series on hydrogen bombs along the San Andreas fault.

Not likely, the west coast is slowly riding

and contiental masses out weigh the force of an H-bomb by a factor of a few exponential steps.

While it is true the west coast of the US will not "drop into the sea" no matter how big the earthquake is, the area west of the San Andreas fault is moving north. Eventually it will be an island. Bombs in the fault might shorten the time of "eventually" from millions of years, but in reality I expect that it would still be (many?) tens of thousands.

But in a comic book (or comic book movie) why worry about that?

Re: Xenomorphs vs Cobras

There's been four COBRA books? And, says Wikipedia, 3 Blackcollar volumes?

 

I'm going to go with the side that has starships, here. Call me crazy, but at the end of the day, being able to throw hundreds of megatons around a system is going to be more militarily significant than acid blood or bionic enhancements.

So, COBRA.

But, as I have said before, if Care Bears had nukes, they'd be equally effective, and more cuddly.

The fourth book came out last December; it was the start of a second trilogy set way after Joni Moreau's death. His grand-daughter and her son are the viewpoint characters.

The human forces that made the cobras have starships and nukes too; the idea is to control planets, not destroy them.

Re: Xenomorphs vs Cobras

how effective the Cobras are dictates how much firepower the Xenomorphs will direct into any 1 area

if this is a covert war where both sides are hiding within a common population then it could go on forever or till 1 side evacuated or killed off the population then without a place to hide then nukes come into play

 

how do the combatants size up in a 1 on 1 fight?

When did the xenomorphs get nukes? Or even weapons, other than their natural ones?

Re: Predators vs. COBRAs

the Predators for the most part snipe the first targets to draw in those that would hunt them down

 

question 1 would be

1 can a COBRA survive a predator blaster shot to the head or chest and still function

2 how good is the COBRA in stealth and tracking

3 what kind of fire power does the COBRA have vs normals he/she is with and compare that to what the Predator can dish out

1. Probably not. Cobra have no armor (unless they wear some, but that doesn't work well for guerillas.) But they can take much more damage than you would expect, and get back up. (In the second book, a cobra is shot (by a shotgun as I recall) at point blank range and stunned, but the enemy assumes that he is dead. He gets up in the "morgue" and breaks out.)

2. Usually very, very good, they have enhanced senses and are trained for guerilla war.

3. Cobras have 3 lasers, two low power but lethal to unarmored targets, one very powerful (an "anti-vehicle" laser); plus several sonic weapons and a short ranged but very powerful "arc-thrower" which shorts out electronics as well as hitting like a lightening bolt.

Cobras are also very strong (they have their major bones reinforced to be unbreakable), so strong that if they do not lift heavy objects correctly they can injure their soft body tissues. A cobra could lift a predator one handed and throw him 10 or 15 meters easily. Cobras are also VERY fast, the viewpoint character in the first book describes when he first sees a cobra move it was a blur, his eyes couldn't see the details.

For those who may not know the reference, COBRA is an acronim for COmputerized Body Reflex Armarment. (Yes, I know I cannot spell.) It comes from a (currently) 4 book series by Timothy Zahn. Cobras are a form of cyborgs, human soldiers enhanced but stealthed so that they cannot be told from normal humans without a (very) detailed medical scan designed for guerilla warfare.

So how do you think xenomorphs will do against them?

My money is on the Cobras!

For those who may not know the reference, COBRA is an acronim for COmputerized Body Reflex Armarment. (Yes, I know I cannot spell.) It comes from a (currently) 4 book series by Timothy Zahn. Cobras are a form of cyborgs, human soldiers enhanced but stealthed so that they cannot be told from normal humans without a (very) detailed medical scan designed for guerilla warfare.

So how do you think predators will do against them?

I think the cobras have a slight edge, but that it would be close enough that it would really depend on the skill and experience of the individuals.

Re: Predators vs. You

...

 

That does it.

 

The next bright flash you see means you're all sterile.

Since the required dosage for sterilization is higher than required for lethality, I've never seen a reason to worry about it.

Re: Self Defense Course

I use:

Martial Escape 4 pts

Martial Throw 3 pts

Basic Strike 3 pts: +1 OCV, +1 DCV, +1d6 damage.

It may not reflect reality that well, but neither do many other things in game.

Re: First Wave, the First Review! Discuss, or risk Angering the Golden Tree!

The Blackhawks have always been a co-ed Multi Racial/Ethnic Group ~Rex

Really? The only non-white that I remember was "chop-chop", who was their mechanic, not a primary group member, even in the 50's. And what female members did they have?

Please enlighten me.