Doug McCrae

Re: "Worlds" of knowledge... Other spheres of activity could include: Space exploration Politics/The government Religion Health care Entertainment industry Charity The legal world/courts Farming Home life Can't say I've used them much though

Re: Tell me a little about Champions? Do you mean HERO System 5th edition or Champions? The former is a rules system, the latter a genre book for superhero roleplaying. Neither one is a setting, though Champions comes closer to being one. 5th ed definitely isn't. Champions Universe is the setting book. I wouldn't recommend getting Champions if you're not planning to do superhero roleplaying, though it could well be of use if you intend to do something borderline superheroey.

Re: Need some name suggestions please How about an antonym of guardian, like: The Destroyers The Annihilators The Despoilers The Demolishers The Devastators

Re: Cool Names for a Superman Tribute Character? Mr. Majestic from WildStorm Icon, the black Superman, from Milestone

Re: Cool Names for a Superman Tribute Character? Good call on Samaritan, but the Gentleman is a Captain Marvel homage. In KBAC there's also an analogue to the Silver Age Superman called Atomicus.

Re: Cool Names for a Superman Tribute Character? Marvelman has already been used - a 50s British ripoff of Captain Marvel. The 'Marvelman Family' included: Marvelman Young Marvelman Kid Marvelman Marvelwoman - an 80s Alan Moore creation

Re: Does Sapphire bug anyone else? I like her. There's quite a few happy-go-lucky fun loving superheroes such as She-Hulk, Hellcat and the Beast. There's some crossover with the showbiz types such as Wonderman, Booster Gold and the Blue Devil. To me she follows in that tradition.

Re: Cool Names for a Superman Tribute Character? Hercules, Mr. Hercules, Captain Hercules -> Young Hercules, Kid Hercules, Teen Hercules, Hercules Jr, etc; Miss Hercules, She-Hercules, etc. Sunman -> Sunlad, Sunwoman, etc. Alphaman -> Alphalad, Alphagirl, etc. John Strong -> John Strong Jr, Jane Strong

Re: The BBEG What's BBEG? Big Black Evil Guy?

Re: Character Help: name for female powerd-armor Muslim heroine I don't think she'd have a Muslim/Arabian oriented name at all. I mean do the Italian-American superheroes have Catholic/Roman names? Have any of Kitty Pryde's superhero names made references to Judaism? Call her something like Tank, Armorguard, Hardpoint or D-Fence

Re: FH Campaign Sounds great. Haven't read it all yet but I really like the characters.

Re: A Circle Of Rings Gyges ring is probably the inspiration for both the One Ring in The Hobbit/LotR and the SA Green Lantern's origin.

Re: Giant Character Help Multipower

Re: Spiderman Vs. Firelord We're talking about different Batmen here. In his own book, Batman can be troubled by lamoes like the Penguin, even normal criminals can beat him temporarily. In the JLA, Batman was always portrayed as the smart one, but not head-and-shoulders above everyone else. Following Dark Knight Returns the JLA Batman became both grimmer and more competent, a competence which was probably enhanced under Grant Morrison. Anyway, it's been established that Bats acknowledges Cap as the superior fighter in JLA/Avengers, which in my view is definitive.

Re: What do you call "Four Color"?

Re: What do you call "Four Color"?

Re: What do you call "Four Color"? Dark Iron Age stories are actually *more likely* to feature violent solutions than Four-Colour comics. And that violence is much more extreme and graphhic - Punisher, Marshal Law, The Authority, etc.

Re: What do you call "Four Color"? In the first few years of the Golden Age superheroes were not cliched, they were an original concept. While individual elements may have been done before, to combine those elements was something new. After all, all new ideas are merely never before seen combinations of old ones. These elements had never been combined together in the same package before: Superhuman powers Colourful tight-fitting costumes Codenames (pretty original in-and-of themselves this one) Secret IDs Crimefighting Kid sidekicks (Also stand-alone original I think. Heroes in adventure fiction seem to always have adult sidekicks prior to this)

Re: What do you call "Four Color"?

Re: What do you call "Four Color"? It seems to me that DC characters, particularly those of the early Silver Age, and probably the post 1939 Golden Age are the most 4-colour. Marvel not so much, in any era. They're too hot headed or selfish for the most part. Very early Batman and Superman were outlaws. Late Silver Age DC started to become a bit closer to Marvel. Which leaves us with late GA/early SA DC as the exemplars of 4-colour.

Re: Is "evil race" an intrinsically rascist concept? Another point is that under third ed DnD, orcs aren't always evil, they are now 'usually chaotic evil'. I believe only extra-planar beings such as demons and devils are always evil. Cyst13, do you think that makes the concept less racist?

Re: Silver Age Superteam Archetypes? Well it sure surpasses mine. I've never heard of Gorilla Man. And I forgot about Congorilla.

Re: What do you call "Four Color"?

Re: What do you call "Four Color"? In Champions Aaron Allston discusses the term 'Four-Color'. He says it's "a designation often applied to Golden and Silver Age heroes" and that "A four-color hero typically stands for the "Truth, Justice and the American Way" sorts of ideals". The Golden/Silver Age Four-Color hero is contrasted with the Iron Age 'dark hero'.

Re: Silver Age Superteam Archetypes? Silver Age tropes: Scientist-as-hero Aliens and space in general (Martian Manhunter, Hawkman) Explorers (Fantastic Four, Challengers of the Unknown) Teenagers (LSH, Spider-man, X-Men) Part-man, part-monster (Hulk, Thing) Golden Age connection - the character might actually have been a GA hero (Captain America), the offspring of one (Zatanna) or have the same name and powers but an updated costume and origin (Flash, Green Lantern, Human Torch) Weak female characters. Much moreso than in the Golden Age. There may not be more than one female team member. She will be another character's girlfriend. (Invisible Girl, Marvel Girl, Wasp) Radiation as source of power Imitations (Supergirl, Bizarro, Batwoman, Bat-Mite) Physical limitations (Marvel) Vulnerabilities, Susceptibilities and limited powers (DC) Secret agents (SHIELD, THUNDER Agents) Warnings: Sidekicks, while they were still around in the SA, were *much* more a Golden Age thing. Super-gorillas were bad guys, not superheroes - Titano, Gorilla Grodd, Red Ghost commie apes. Okay you've got Gorilla City and Detective Chimp but they were hardly major.