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Sundog

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Everything posted by Sundog

  1. Promise of Blood, by Brian McClellan First book in the Powder Mage trilogy, and to a certain extent a re-telling of the French Revolution. Magic exists, and in the kingdom of Ardo manifests as one of three primary ways - Privileged, full function sorcerors who can manipulate the raw essence of magic (to tremendous destructive force if desired) provided they are wearing their power-enabling gloves, Powder Mages, who can manipulate black powder and bullets, and who are feared by the Privileged for their ability to kill at well beyond the range of Privileged sorcery, and the Knacked, who have minor but unique and usually useful abilities - early in the book we are introduced to a Knacked with perfect recall, and another who never needs to sleep. But it becomes clear that, despite their rather arrogant belief in their understanding of the world, Ardo and the rest of the 9 Kingdoms have a fair ways to go to comprehending everything there is to know on the subject of magic. The various characters are well drawn, with comprehensible motivations and flaws. Would recommend this book.
  2. We've had a bunch of disruption to our games, between holidays and a few illnesses.
  3. Arm-Ament Eddie Briggs was a five-time loser, having spent most of his life in prison. That's where he was when Mechanon decided that he needed the new technology hidden in the secret bunker under the prison. Prisons are designed to stop unarmed prisoners getting out, not genocidal super-robots with hordes of combat drones getting in. The secret bunkers' guard force were better but all that did was kill most of the prisoners in the crossfire. (A few heads were going to roll in the DoD over that one.) One of the defenders got lucky, and blew off one of Mechanon's arms before he was obliterated. Eddie was messily and noisily dying nearby, his right arm ripped out at the shoulder. The mechanical arm landed up next to him. Eddie had no idea what to do, but fortunately(?) for him, the arm did. It linked up with Eddie's shoulder, repaired (and improved...) the wrecked socket, and thus gave itself a mobile body. Saving Eddie's life was an unfortunate side effect as far as it was concerned. The arm took a while to do this, and by the time it was done, Mechanon had retrieved his target tech and left. Uncertain what to do next, the arm let Eddie decide to escape. Eddie would have been happy to go back to petty crime and scams, but the arm was in charge. Whenever it decided to do something, it mentally ordered Eddie to do it. And if Eddie demurred, the arm just turned on all of his pain receptors. It decided to join up with Phantom Limb, for reasons of it's own. The arm has a powerful energy beam, a force field and various sensors, which it generally declines to allow Eddie to access. Arm-Ament is limited by the fact that moving around and tactical decisions are taken by Eddie, who is basically a pretty dumb guy, but offensively it's pretty powerful.
  4. XKCD: Time (Collected edition 2013)
  5. Jill Jill is desperate to find a cure for her brother, Jack, who fell down a steep slope due to a superhero's inattention and has severe brain damage. Her near superhuman tumbling and agility let's her get into places that no one would believe, and any sort of regeneration tech will attract her attention.
  6. Desperationado Kelly Bight was into drugs from the minute he was introduced to them. Hs mother blamed his genetics - his father, Peter Briggs, had been a stoner for years before he went into the army and disappeared. (https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/74339-create-a-villain-theme-team/page/202/#elControls_2828297_menu). By the time Professor Hyde showed up, Kelly was an emaciated shell, the kind of semi-alive thing that shows up on anti-drug PSAa. He was desperate for his next fix. Kelly hit the jackpot, at least as far as any super-soldier or enhanced human project would be concerned. He came out of his coma built like a Greek God, with bulletproof skin, faster and stronger than any ten men, able to leap hundreds of meters, with enhanced senses including supersensitive hearing and telescopic vision. Incredibly tough, and even if injured, he healed in minutes. However, the mind inside the physical god was still Kelly Bight, and nothing had changed there. Kelly's physical addictions were cured, but his mental ones still raged - and he could not get high. His new body just cycled any drugs he took back out again with no effect. Alcohol he could drink by the kiloliter with no effect. Injectables? First, try to get through his steel-hard skin, and even if you do - no effect at all. Pills? Might as well have been sugar. Kelly's body may be that of a god, but his mannerisms are those of a junkie. That, and his obvious looks of desperation, have given him his name - Desperationado.
  7. It truly delights me that I live on the opposite side of the continent to where Sydney Funnel Webs do.
  8. Hopalong Rabbit Questionable whether he's a villain, but Hopalong Rabbit is certainly a problem for OK Clown. He's actually Princess Bareback's pet rabbit, and isn't he just the cutest thing! Problem is, Hopalong has a habit of getting out of his cage, and into trouble. Like bouncing his way into a construction site full of dangerous machinery, or a factory loaded with the same. Of course, OK Clown will then have to save the little rabbit - isn't he cute! - and naturally, Hopalong is always just ahead of the pile driver's fall or the cutting saw's sweep - leaving the hapless clown chasing after him to take the hit... It should be noted that in all of the shorts Hopalong was in, at the end the bruised and battered OK Clown returned Hopalong safely to his cage - whereupon the camera zoomed in on Hopalong - who sniggered.
  9. Black Ice John Ling is neither black, nor does he have cold-based powers, which confused reporters for a while (everybody else figured it out fast). His actual power is to influence the friction coefficient of any materials around him, making it horribly sticky or as slick as, well, black ice. John invented his gloves, which enable his amazing abilities, but this has been his one success story. Everything else he's invented has been a complete bust, or worse, something he then had to adopt his costumed ID to stop (the autonomous, self-replicating senior's walking frame was especially embarrassing...). Of course, he could make a fortune if he sold his friction control tech, but he'd have to think of that, and his brain is always full of new ideas. Right now, he's working on lunar energy.
  10. Makes sense. And given the change in times, I'll say he changed his supranym to Purifying Flame.
  11. Hah, didn't realise that (and I live in Perth). I'll try and think up a different term.
  12. Croweater Michael Deward was probably the oldest on Timelapse"s list. At 115 he'd been a doddering, senile resident of a nursing home, forgotten by everyone, he'd even outlived his grandchildren. But once, he'd been the scourge of the Klan. Back in the 1920s and 30s, a young black man with bulletproof skin, pyrokinesis, and anger issues, he'd cut a swathe across the South. Finally, a bunch of heroes decided they had to stop him, he was killing too many people, even the ones that sympathised agreed he needed to be stopped. And, after a brutal fight, he did face a court. Michael was sentenced to 120 years in prison, but only because they couldn't figure out a way to execute him. He broke out half a dozen times, and went right back to killing Klanners. The last time, PRIMUS took him down when none of the hero groups were willing to get involved. Croweater as just too problematic morally for most. Michael was sent to a nursing home in the early 80s due to the onset of Alzheimers. Given the politics of the day, it as the equivalent of sweeping an old shame under the rug. He's been there ever since. But now - well, he recognizes that the Klan ain't what it used to be. But he's still angry, and he's still out to get the people he blames for keeping the black man down - but now it's prosecutors who give preferential treatment to non-blacks. Cops who make their quotas off black neighbourhoods. Politicians who set those quotas, knowing full well what they're asking. He's gonna eat the new Jim Crow just the same as the old one. It's all gonna burn.
  13. Orcadius Prince of the seas, lord of the oceans! Orcadius opposes the Golden Scorpion, not because of any positive feeling for the modern world, but because he seeks to conquer it himself! Orcadius has an undersea base, not especially loyal minions (primarily due to his habit of feeding "failures" to his "Orcas" - actually, tiger sharks, as he hasn't managed to get Orcas to attack people). His major problem is that he isn't actually that smart, he's not a real mastermind, he just has a knack for getting people to do what he says, including captive scientists. Orcadius does have good underwater tech, and his minions are competent, but his plans often leave something to be desired. Orcadius looks like a man in a stylized, high tech deep sea suit, shaped to look like a Killer Whale, or Orca. Which is exactly what it is.
  14. (Would have thought Colossus, Tribble...) Blue Shift Not a speedster. but rather a shapeshifter. He (generally...) can alter his shape to any human being, copying people right down to the DNA. He can't do inhuman alterations (like crab claws), unless he's copying someone with those abilities. His name comes from his naturally blue skin. Any resemblance to Mystique is entirely coincidental.
  15. Guard Han Jin grew up in the Triad, his father was a member, his older brother still is, his younger brother is seeking to be. He took the oaths at an unusually young age, after covering for several superiors at a heist gone wrong. Loyalty is rewarded. While Jin was in prison, enemies of the Triad attempted to eliminate him, and despite his skill at brawling managed to seriously injure him. He was then offered the opportunity to participate in a medical experiment - if it succeeded, he would get time off his sentence, and while he was in the medical wing, his enemies couldn't get at him. Jin agreed. The experiment was to awaken the perceptive areas of the mind, and it was quite successful. Too much so for most of the subjects, who couldn't deal with the enhanced flow of information, and went slowly mad. Han Jin did not. He learned how to "dial down" the effect in normal life, and thus was able to sleep and act normally on a busy street without sensory overload. He also realized it had not done as the scientists had hoped. They had wanted to enhance the existing senses; actually, they had made him psychic, able to see everything around him, 360 degrees, and through walls and the ground, only metals blocking his vision. He kept this knowledge to himself. They reluctantly released Jin as agreed, and he has served the Triad faithfully ever since, as the ultimate look out and security man.
  16. Oh, the burn on that last joke...
  17. The Peacekeepers National governments have superteams, why shouldn't international bodies? Funded by and operating for the UN, The Peacekeepers primarily work as a support element to UN peacekeeping forces throughout the world. They're distinct from UNTIL in that their fundamental purpose is not to enforce any sort of law, and they are restricted to peacekeeping duties and humanitarian actions by often highly limiting rules of engagement. 5 or so person team, recruited from around the world. For political reasons they avoid having members from the USA, Russia or China.
  18. Expositor Need someone to impart plot-relevant data to the audience? Casey Grey is your man! Capable of many accents, and with a bold, vibrant baritone voice, he can appear as the explaining scientist, the man in the briefing room, or even just the voice-over narrator in the case of less imaginative performances. In a conflict, his power to narrate becomes dangerously powerful, as it manifests as an area effect mind control - what he says to do, people do.
  19. Bruxa dos Selvagens Selvia Oliviera is a mistress of more defensive and subtle magics, though she can sling a hexbolt with the best of them. She actually prefers to use potions and fetishes, which marketing just loves as it makes for more accessories for the action figures. They're less fond of her fairly radical political views, honed in backwoods Brazil, but the "Witch of the Woods", with her fine features, muscular physique and raven-black skin, hits every demographic well save the extreme right - and they were never going to accept a team of witches anyway. Fortunately, she also gets along well with her teammates. Like Marie, she has a strong linguistic ability, knowing Brazilian Portugese, Spanish, Dutch and accented but clear English.
  20. The obvious one to me is the Cutlass. It was actually designed for close combat on shipboard, can chop almost as well as an axe, but still capable of thrusting, while being short enough for use in tight compartments.
  21. Citymaster joined out of a sense of obligation. He'd been part of Street Force back in the 80's, a group of low-level heroes protecting their neighbourhoods and getting together for major problems like Viper. He was the juniormost member, and had been well instructed by his elders, like Harlem Warrior and High Rise. So far as he knows, he's the only member still active. William Washington has progressed a fair bit in his technological understanding since then, and the Citymaster armour is no longer considered low-level. It's still a bit less well armoured than many other suits, but makes up for it in speed and evasive capability - it's very much the opposite of the lumbering power suit. With tear-gas projectors, net guns and stun bomb launchers, he's well positioned to take on agents and mooks, but needs to get up close and personal with his shock gauntlets for real supervillains. William is seeking to pass on to a new generation the lessons that were taught to him by his mentors, as well as continue to protect the city he loves as long as he can.
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