Doug McCrae

Re: That name is too cool for you: Gimmie!

Yeah, Stalwart is a cool name. You can have two supertypes with the same name though - Powerman and Powerman for example.

Re: Ultimate vs The Authority

Seth looks like some Iron Age gritty version of Thor's Destroyer' date=' with the armored appearance, murderous tendencies, unending set of destructive superpowers, and general "superweapon" outlook.[/quote']I thought he was Morrison* and Millar's take on the Fury, a character I think was created by Claremont but best written by Alan Moore. The Fury was a government cyborg programmed to kill superheroes. It looked not dissimilar to Seth, particularly the legs which I assume were based on Satan's goats hooves. Seth is by far and away my favourite character in the whole Authority run. I find him a lot more likable than the heroes.

 

*Grant Morrison is the uncredited writer for one of the Seth issues. The one with the mad powerz like rainbow breath and speed squared.

Re: Ultimate vs The Authority

Two areas in which Authority is objectively more realistic vs. four-color comics: the way it pictures the outcome and consequences of super-powered combat (human flesh and building frame connecting with super-strong punch and plasm blast)' date=' the way it acknowledges politicians, governments, bureaucracies, organized religions and corporations are often corrupt and self-serving (the degree they are shown corrupt, though, is wholly unrealistic).[/quote']Mainstream comics have been portraying corrupt authority figures since the 70s, starting with Denny O'Neil's Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Marvel's Roxxon Oil, DC's church of Brother Blood. SHIELD has sometimes been portrayed as an antagonist, misguided if not corrupt. Groups within the government or military can oppose the protagonist, sometimes they get taken over by an evil or deranged individual - the Sentinels, the Force of July, 'Thunderbolt' Ross.

 

As you yourself say, the degree to which the Authority take it is wholly unrealistic. I'd say mainstream comics are a lot more realistic than the Wildstorm universe in this respect.

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That!

All of these were actually played for at least one session:

Big Ed, Lord of Chance: A radioactive fruit machine fell on him, granting him extraordinary luck (I think he had 30 or 40d6 of it).

The Habit: Insane transvestite hitman nun. He believed, possibly correctly, that he was on a mission for the Vatican.

Adam Apples: An android. He wielded ear-shaped throwing weapons named 'Ear-o-rangs', had a pouch in which lived a family of ninja kangaroos and he had the ability to turn into bits when he said 'Split!' Adam had no feet but could hover a short distance above the ground. In his secret ID he was 'Spider-man', the goalkeeper for Berwick Rangers football club.

Re: A contriversial "Would your character...?"

The sex-focused nature of the villain's demand strikes me as being more in the style of internet porn than mainstream superhero comics from any era. It might happen in something like Marshal Law I guess. OTOH the DC character Maxima wanted to bear Superman's child I think. Her methods were a lot less extreme though.

Re: Does Champions encourgage conformity?

Your friend is very wrong to think that characters of the same point total are equal in power. Compare some guy that's spent his points all over the place - an 8d6 EB for 40 pts, some COM (what an idiot!), lots of END, a DEX of 16, lots of skills and talents (what an idiot!) - with a min/maxed munchkin with an Elemental Control or Multipower (or both) and lots of limitations that don't really limit the character.

Same point total = same power level?

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Re: All the superhero PCs I've ever played

Radiation is so Silver Age. Even genetic engineering is a bit old fashioned - it's genetic modification now, grandad! Likewise with quantum theory. These days its all about superstrings, M-theory and dark energy. Nanotechnology, AIs, human cloning and global warming are also big.

Re: All the superhero PCs I've ever played

The Alchemist' date=' a student forensic pathologist who was working the midnight shift at the morgue when a deceased golden age super's corpse was brought in. Discovered the super drug the hero used, reverse engineered it and began searching for other deceased supers who used drugs and potions.[/quote']Cool idea. What was it with those Golden Age guys and their secret formulas?

Re: Barrett announces 25mm man-portable assault cannon in testing

Just what you need for killing superheroes.

Re: World Not Known Cover Mock Up Available for Preview

The title's intriguing. What's it about?

Re: Ultimate vs The Authority

To be fair, I have mentioned the one good thing about Millar's writing - the wild ideas - a few times. The bad far outweighs the good though. I described his work as something like 'mostly shit' IIRC. I still think that's fair. Mostly shit, but not entirely.

Re: The Authority:What the heck?

Ellis had mega-powerful people making big plays' date=' upsetting the status quo... [/quote']I'd say that under Ellis the Authority preserved the status quo, just like traditional comic book superheroes, saving the world from super terrorists and alien invaders.

 

Completely agree with everything else you said. Brubaker's excellent and yeah, Mark Millar definitely has a tiny dick. It's the only explanation.

Re: Code VS Killing Poll

At the end, before he walks away, Shirow turns to her and says, "I've got your record. You've killed a lot of people. Why?" She just smiles and says, "Same reason you do what you do. I'm good at it, and I like it."

 

Shirow unbuckles his helmet, looks her in the eye, face to face... then says, "You can't live then..." and pulls his gun and blows her head off.

I was making a list of all the PCs I've ever played. These are the names of all the superheroes in chronological order, along with the system.

Nimbus (Champions)

Cyborg (Villains & Vigilantes)

Knave (Villains & Vigilantes)

Moonman (Villains & Vigilantes)

The Scarlet Skater (Superworld)

Dragon (Golden Heroes)

The Human Pinball (Golden Heroes)

Captain Explosion (Champions)

Captain Fayd, the Four-Dimensional Man (Champions)

Dogman (Champions)

Captain Christian (Champions)

Dog Girl (Champions)

Pattern Princess (Amber)

Mr. Mayhem (Marvel SAGA)

Midnight (Champions)

M-Power (Golden Heroes)

Zap! (Golden Heroes)

Flameman (systemless)

Simoon (Golden Heroes)

The Masked Archer (Golden Heroes)

Miss Cybermiaow (Champions)

The Giant (Golden Heroes)

Re: What are these Ages exactly?

Everyone agrees that the Golden Age started in 1938 with Action Comics #1 (Superman's first appearance). Almost everyone agrees that the Silver Age began in 1956 with Showcase #4 (the Barry Allen Flash's first appearance). Beyond that it gets a lot hazier and more open to disagreement. These are the dates I use:

Golden Age 1938-19??

Silver Age 1956-1970

Bronze Age 1970-1985/6

Iron Age 1985/6-present

Some folk, Rene being one, use the Ages to refer to a style of comic rather than a time period. So by this definition, Iron Age might include any comic which is grim n' gritty, features really gratuitous T&A, is influenced by modern action movies and makes no sense. A lot of late 80s, early 90s and Image comics are Iron Age under this definition.

Re: Code VS Killing Poll

Some people refrain from hurting others because it's immoral. Others because they fear punishment. The behaviour of the former won't change when he gets superpowers. The behaviour of the latter will. But it's not that his moral compass has changed. The second type of person was never moral to begin with!

Re: Things that work in comics but don't work in Champions

11. Breaking the fourth wall. Example: John Byrne's She-Hulk knowing she's in a comic book. The roleplaying equivalent would be characters that know they're in a roleplaying game.

Re: Things that work in comics but don't work in Champions

10. Whenever two superheroes meet for the first time, they fight. Tends to create bad feeling if they're PCs, in my experience.

Re: The Authority:What the heck?

btw I need to read this comic now... if it can spark this much discussion... this much outcry and adulation then I am quite intrigued to know more!

Re: The Authority:What the heck?

Ignorant question:What's the Authority?

Under the first writer, Warren Ellis, the Authority were a cooler, modern version of the JLA who killed their foes. Those foes being traditional comic book bad guys. Under Mark Millar they became a bunch of assholes who killed their foes, those foes now being politicians and government agents. And there was now an ass-raping every second issue.

Re: The fall of the Soviet Union sucked.

Al-Qaeda occupies the same position in the American national psyche as the communists did during the Cold War. China isn't currently a threat IMO.

If you really like the threat of an enemy nation you could set your game during WW2 or one of the periods when the Cold War was at its hottest. Personally I don't think superheroes really need a whole country to fight. Supervillains, of any stripe, will do.

Re: The fall of the Soviet Union sucked.

That's one of the reasons I introduced the USSR - The Union of Soviet Socialist Realities - into my campaign. Sovs that took over their world' date=' and have "collectivized" several others on their way to Campaign Earth... [/quote']Great idea

Re: Code VS Killing Poll

Oh whatever' date=' why do I even bother getting into forums and boards. Its just an excersize in frustration.[/quote']Exercise is good for you.

Re: "Super" Cities- How many is too many?

Just one, I think. That way PCs know where to go when they want to be 'where the action is'. Why would you want more than one?

Re: Things that work in comics but don't work in Champions

If you really wanted to split hairs' date=' there really aren't Killing Attacks and Normal Attacks in comics. Particularly on the Energy side of things. No one fears the crushing strength of the Thing any less than they do a bullet. Comics pretty much don't use Killing Attacks. Every attack is vs normal defense. Though some have stated that the Authority is based mostly on killing attacks with low resistant defenses to get their high bodycount. [/quote']There's a genre convention in mainstream comics that no one gets killed by fists or energy blasts, no matter how powerful the blows are. Usually the victim isn't even seriously hurt. A classic example is when Doomsday, a villain who can go toe-to-toe with Superman is beating on unprotected members of the JLA such as Booster Gold without his force field, Ice and Blue Beetle. By rights they should all have died but they all survived.

 

Bullets and blades OTOH seem to have their real world effect. If a non-bulletproof character is shot (as Cyborg was once, on a non-armoured section) it'll take them a long time to recover.

 

I think the Authority is trying to depict the 'realistic' result if superstrong fists met unprotected flesh.