RDU Neil

Future Nebula shot her past self. Only one in this timeline. (And I mentioned it before, but I'll say it here again, one of my favorite bits is that the key plot turns on Nebula, who was just a shallow caricature before this... and of all places, this movie allowed her arc and character to come to fulfillment. Her shooting herself, with almost no hesitation, was brilliant. She hated who she had been, and she knew exactly what her old self would do... and pulled the trigger. That was great.)

Did I get things confused? I thought it was Professor Hulk who brought everyone back? Tony wiped out Thanos and company... right? Did I totally misconstrue? And all your ideas... Marvel has shown they have writer's who can handle this complexity in a way that doesn't bog down the movie, but also doesn't ignore it. While I'd probably enjoy the hell out of a deeply science fiction take on the MCU and dealing with all the fallout of Thanos... they don't have to go that way. All they have to do is make background mention in a variety of places, the demonstrate small, but telling ramifications. A few bits in Peter's high school showing the weirdness... some empty desks, some grown up kids "Hey... weren't you in fourth grade last week?" moments... a memorial wall built that has all the disappeared on it and them looking at the pictures of themselves... etc. Don't have to dwell on it, but weave it in... that would be powerful stuff. If they can weave in easter eggs right and left, they can weave in meaningful continuity. Now, whether they will or not...

Based on the quantum bubble theory they are going with in the MCU, every possible universe exists, so in the "main MCU" Thanos did all the bad stuff and got his head chopped off by Thor. When they went back in time they created a new timeline, where Thanos discovers them and comes to the future... and that one, he and the armies are dusted, so that alternative timeline loses their Thanos and he isn't there to continue conquering and getting the stones (so they really made THAT timeline better, most likely). The real confusion comes with Cap's old man appearance. As the previously posted article goes into, there are certain assumptions you have to make, depending on your theory, and none of them seem good... except that I do feel that Cap was around, living quietly, making a life with Peggy while all the crazy stuff of the first 21 movies happened... My personal theory is, if you ask him, he'd say that the hardest fight he ever managed was NOT fighting, NOT interfering, because he knew how it all worked out. Cap's growth from almost blindly self-sacrificing to a level of enlightened self-interest, juxtaposed to Tony's arc moving from selfish hedonism to ultimate self-sacrifice. The beauty is in the writing. There are infinite ways to explain/justify/argue about what Cap did and the implications... but by not telling us, having Cap keep it to himself... it simply allows the viewers to apply their own POV. I mean, this is crazy comics world... so many possible over-convoluted explanations... pick the one you want... we'll never know and that is just fine.

The definition of sexism... male character growth at the expense of the woman. I'm not saying there isn't logic to it from Pym's POV, but it is just another version of the woman suffering so the man gets to grow. The fact that it is just such a common trope is exactly why it rankles so much.

Since this tends to come up, and no spoilers for this thread, yet... I thought I'd post my "Revised Ranking of MCU Movies"... as each new movie changes things. 1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (The truest and best portrayal of Cap and Natasha and Sam, the best fight scenes, the best plot, the best natural humor... the best overall portrayal of the MCU.) 2. Avengers: Endgame (I was shocked, but they did it. They made a meaningful, moving and powerful finale that managed to tread the line between completest narrative and fan service and make it a passionate, intense work.) 3. Captain America: Civil War (Only just now knocked out of the 2nd spot by Endgame, which managed even more emotional resonance. The movie that made Endgame possible.) 4. Black Panther (True world building, political intrigue and science fiction, the best Marvel villain with the best ensemble cast ever put together and heavy social message with out a heavy hand. The best "film" Marvel has made.) 5. Spider-Man: Homecoming (The best Spider-Man, brought back to the neighborhood and given a supporting cast, character growth and the second best villain in the MCU. Without this movie, you don't have the critical Tony/Peter relationship.) 6. Ant-Man & the Wasp (MCU is at its best with films that are personal. This is a small movie, a chapter that only matters to the small group of people involved, but they make you care, and the Wasp is the dynamic lead she always should have been.) 7. Thor: Ragnarok (Uproariously funny, while still providing the character growth and development that otherwise was eluding the God of Thunder and cast. Taking a big risk to make an enjoyable movie first, not just another piece of the puzzle.) 8. The Avengers (When this came out, no one thought you could do a team movie and make it about anything more than sturm und drang. Instead we got real characters, real drama and real humor... and it set the bar that, mostly, kept being raised.) 9. Iron Man (The original still holds up, made even more resonant by the resolution of Endgame, which is why it bumps up a few notches.) 10. Iron Man 3 (Still love Shane Black's take on Tony and Rhodey's buddy cop schtick, the little kid inventor was RDJs match in every way, and the Mandarin twist was genius.) 11. Captain America: The First Avenger (Gets better with every viewing, and introduces Chris Evans as the heart of the MCU in so many ways.) 12. Avengers: Age of Ultron (Uneven... too many great moments undermined by too many miscues, but it gave us an excellent portrayal of Vision.) 13. Thor: Dark World (I know, I know, everyone hates this one, but I found it eminently watchable and really felt redeemed when they returned so deeply to this well in Endgame.) 14. Thor (Weak on action, this still gave us the high fantasy romance and the bickering Odinsons that were the highlight of every film in which they appeared.) 15. Guardians of the Galaxy (Funny and original, taking a risk with such characters, but the low-brow humor is a one trick pony and going back to this well ruined GotG2 and Infinity War.) 16. Dr. Strange (Simply too flat and full of traditional "new guy shows up and is way better than every other person who has been doing it forever" tropes. I always hated that, and the "wise ass with a goatee" is mastered by RDJ, so feels meh, here.) 17. Ant-Man (I will simply not forgive the sexism in writing a story where you even ADMIT the woman should be the hero... but no, its got to be the man. It is so flagrant it ruins what is otherwise a fun kids/heist movie.) 18. Iron Man 2 (Uneven, and ultimately better for its introduction of Black Widow than anything else.) 19. The Incredible Hulk (Not terrible, but simply gets knocked down the list by "Would I want to watch the Hulk, or..." It is usually the other movie.) 20. Avengers: Infinity War (While Endgame certainly made inroads to redeem this, it is not a good movie in any way on its own. It is sound a fury and nothing, and felt like an entire movie, where characters made you care about the action, was missing.) 21. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (I'd watch Howard the Duck before I watched this garbage again. If the joke was funny the first time, doing it three times again should be even funnier!) 22. Captain Marvel (Cheap and derivative, badly directed, written and acted on every level. Fan service pandering and flat out boring.) I find it interesting how the more recent Marvel movies are very polarized for me. I either love them or I hate them. In some ways this is good. It means they are trying to take chances and not sticking to a formula, so I'm not complaining. You don't get Winter Soldier or Endgame if you play it safe.

Great interview with the writers. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/movies/avengers-endgame-questions-and-answers.html

Likely, but I'm one of those fans (as I posted elsewhere) who actually does want them to reference it and to do something with the "new state of things" in the MCU. Feige and company have taken risks in the past and their best movies actually expect the viewers to be smart, and they've clearly demonstrated that a mass audience can handle complex continuity. It would be highly disappointing if they started playing it safe and ignoring the established past, now. We'll see, but again, I mentioned this earlier, Far From Home will be a litmus test of what they are thinking. I mean, they spent 11 years referencing movies that came before... I actually think it would be odd if they ignored that now.

I think what will be telling is whether Spider-Man: Far From Home actually addresses the insanity of Endgame and the trauma and fundamental change in the universe... or if it just ignores it and tries to be a "Everything is back to normal!" kind of deal. If the former, then they have a lot of meat to work with... to go away from traditional comic stories and explore what this universe is like, now. If the latter... I'll be quite willing to just not pay attention. The MCU has been SO GOOD at dealing with ramifications and actual causal reaction to prior events that have lasting impact on the story universe (something the comics gave up decades ago) that I'm at least hopeful they will do more with the next iteration. They've shown a mass audience can handle complex continuity... and like it. Let's see it continue. A Black Panther that shows how Wakanda expands in this new world, how it responded in the "five years" and what it does next with its King returned? Capt. Marvel with actually good writers dealing with cosmic fallout, and Earth's new place on the galactic stage. GotG hopefully disappearing and never coming back. There is a lot of real potential here. They took risks and it paid off in the first epic arc... I'd love to see them do the same going foward. (Though it will be interesting to see how they insert the Eternals into MCU without explaining "So where were you race of immortal superbeings when Thanos was doing his thing?"

The tears started for me when they got back... and Nat wasn't there. Again... the actors were on their game and those characters displayed sincere grief and the loss reverberated. I was pretty much sniffling or outright crying for the rest of the movie, after that.

Had a great discussion with friends of our tonight, and they brought up the plot point... how exactly did Steve return the Soul Stone? And how did that meeting with the Red Skull go?

All great. As I was saying on another board, "I could have watched Steve in a counseling meeting, Tony with his daughter and Thor with his mom, all day long..." I personally found Nat's sacrifice utterly correct. She was the only one with nothing, and it wasn't just her saying it... they SHOWED it in the movie. Of all of them, she was the most committed to the Avengers, never backed down, and it meant the most to her. Renner just owned that loss, as did they all. There wasn't an ounce of insincerity in the emotional moments... heck, for the first time I actually bought the Gamora / Nebula rivalry and sisterhood. Tessa Thompson had less than five minutes of screen time in whole, and I'd watch an entire movie of Queen Valkyrie. And ultimately... "On your left..."

I think you are on to something... at least the point inflation wouldn't have been THAT much. If we can deprogram ourselves on this... there are many character who have no need of more than an 11 DEX, when what they really need is a 6 OCV and some levels and you'd never really notice what their DEX was most of the time. You can have 10 STR Cyclops type characters, because you don't have to feel like you are overpaying for Stun by not buying up his STR which will rarely come into play... 15 STR if you want him to be older, trained, in his prime Cyclops, etc. For Pulp era, where, IMO, they might all have stats in the normal 10-20 range anyway... only the really strong guy have a 25 or the really brilliant scientist, she has a 23 INT, or something... I think you could seriously keep the game in check, as nearly all thugs and cultists would really boil down to 3 or 4 CV and xDC of damage. usually with thugs and agents, I have the noted as "one hit guys" or "two hit guys" or "Three hit guys" depending on their gear and training and such. Then I just look at the PC damage roll... average or below is one hit... noticably above average is two hits... and just wing it. Speed up those hordes of agents. Of course, if you are going for my gritty Pulp, with hit locations and such, then yeah... every thug or agent is a potential threat, and combat is more serious. I love those kind of games, but it really is a matter of campaign style choice.

Why do you say "not taken" as this is what started to happen when we built Supers in 6th Ed. You could have a 10 DEX Brick, because you put his fighting ability in other stats, and he was just average with agility skills. It still meant that 7/8 Combat Value was probalby the "baseline", but you didn't have to have high DEX to achieve it. I read everything else you wrote as agreeing with the decoupling of figured stats (the one thing I really love about 6th)... and I really like that it did have the actual in play/in character creation effect of dropping some stats down to a more "reasonable" level. If we didn't have such a history of "what a super looks like" from all the other editions, and we started fresh with building characters, I think you would see "11 DEX" on the Thing, but his OCV was probably a base 8, and levels over time. Also, though I never made a big deal about it... one "justification" I made in the supers games over decades, was "If 23 is the base superhero Dex, even if there was no good reason other than they were a PC... then that just means that stats from 15-20 are more common in the normal population" Essentially, if the supers were 'bumped up' by default, I 'bumped up' the whole universe a bit. Agents had a base 5 OCV (15 Dex) whatever... then they could get levels. Anybody actually fit and trained who mattered, even if a "normal NPC" could have an 18 DEX, etc. Big strong bikers in bars would regularly have 15-20 STR. And this generally fit the source material... in that "named characters" or even just "the villain of the piece" always were better than the bystanders. And keeping this consistent in the campaign meant that the players undestood "what was normal" in the world... because I totally agree with what you said above... the cornerstone of a good supers universe is that the supers have a benchmark "normal" in which to compare themselves. Just how "super" are they? Since 23 had been set at a default historically, it just became clear that "normal" or more like "normal that mattered dramatically in the stories" was often above average. Maybe I'm also lucky, but after early high-school days back in the early '80s, I never played with people that really got into the DEX wars. If people played to character, they just didn't point dump into efficient stats... and I never played long with people who prioritized that kind of gaming. That helps, too.

The Russo brothers did something special here. They redeemed every issue I had with Infinity War (both in the story, plot and construction and acting and pacing). They made this movie personal... quiet in many ways... the sound was amazing and so subdued but precise... the story and plot worked on every level... they understood how the humor should work side-by-side with the pathos of the story... and they TOOK THEIR TIME! Infinity War felt like you were missing the entire movie of why you should actually care about what was going on... and End Game made it all about that. The plot shift to set-up the final battle was brilliant, providing character growth in the most unlikely place (Nebula) as a lynch pin to both villainous action and heroic victory... the timing and pacing of the movie was staggeringly perfect... they took all they time they needed to make sure all the main characters didn't just get "their moment" but lived and breathed and existed in this broken world. The final battle was staged so that the main fight rose and fell in a rhythm so that the arrival of the full armies felt like the absolutely perfect "shift this up a notch" moment. I even loved their discussion of time travel and the theory they ended up going with, and how their "failure" with Loki enabled a time stream where Loki is alive, because it would not have been one that they "closed" off again. (It beggers the question as to multiple timelines, and the fact that for every instance of success where they go back and give the Time Stone back to the Ancient One, there is a timeline where they didn't and that dark, destructive universe exists as well... every possible universe exists somewhere, if we are going the quantum bubble route.) Great stuff all around... truly redeems the failings of Infinity War and the derivative cheapness of Capt. Marvel. They did Marvel proud.

You saw what I did there... heh. Yeah, there were no few jokes... "A First People Haida, an Indian, a Japanese and an Israeli walk into a biker bar in southern Arizona..." Butts were kicked.

hah... exactly... the dice were enough that the biker took 1 body and that's exactly what we ruled, that he broke his nose with his own arm! It was sweet.

Quoting myself, simply because last night's game had a classic example of hit location making things fun. PCs were essentially set up to walk (knowingly) into a hard core, criminal, white supremacist biker bar... none of the PCs, for probably the first time ever, are white... things go south pretty quickly... bar fight ensues. The PCs are Jason Bourne level pros, who are on their best behavior and trying NOT to just kill these guys... so initially it is all fisticuffs. We are using modified multiple attack rules, so characters are encouraged to throw not just one attack, but a combo of shots that feels much more like fighting than the "one big swing" typical of HERO champs. Our Haida merc, Jackson Massett, rabbit punches the first guy in the chest as he grabs an outstretched hand and twists him to the ground, sidestepping his second attacker. As the first guy falls back and staggers to his feet, he turns to the second biker and drives a shot into his stomach so hard the guy doubles over, Massett's second punch missing contact over his head, the first guy lunges from a squat swinging wide, going right over Jackson's roll. As the second attacker swings again, Jackson slams his hand up into the man's throat, windpipe collapses and the biker drops like a wet sack. First biker thinks he has position and goes for a bear hug, trying to use his size to overwhelm Jackson, who slips to the side jamming the man's arms inside, then he turns and brings a hard left right at the guy's nose (High Shot). This is where it got really fun, because despiste the high shot roll, it hit the biker in the 7/forearm. The biker threw his arm up just in time... but Jackson's player rolled... and dice were crazy... 26 Stun on 5d6. The player cackled, "Oh man, I punched his arm right into his own face!" which was a perfect example of how an arm shot could end up doing enough damage (to an already woozy dude). And just created a perfect visual image the guy basically punching himself on to his back. That kind of visceral fight just doesn't exist in any other system I've played, with the simple, intuitive nature of the Hit Location chart. Best part of the game, IMO.

Further digression... in my Secret Worlds game, one of the PCs is a master hth combatant, who went undercover in a night club. He had no specific skill, but hit the dance floor while there, and rolled a 3 on his DEX roll. He now has Dancing: 13- on his character sheet, 'cause we figured he just "had the moves"... and in last night's game, he actually used it in combat. A big biker had grabbed their female contact and was manhandling her... the PC stepped up and did a multiple attack legsweep on the bad guy, grab/catch on the contact to keep her from falling. He rolled really well with both attacks, and rolled his Dancing skill... spun the young woman in a perfect spin... arms outstretched... as the big guy hits the ground. The PC then danced around her while stomping on the guy's chest then stomach, leaving the biker balled up and gasping on the floor. It was great... though it deteriorated quickly as a shotgun and knives came out and things got ugly... but it was a really fun moment.

Ok... so that is all of M87? Ok... that kinda makes sense, but also seems small... maybe because we are only seeing X-ray sources. Thanks.

Tyring to verify this... seems to be a wide angle of the blackhole, in order to see the mass being consumed by this huge thing.

Been a while since I played Fate, but this is part of characterization, less actual play scenes. Character A writes a short paragraph describing how they worked with Character B on a mission... Character B writes one about Character C... Character C writes one about D, who write one about A... all as part of their character backgrounds. That way all the characters essentially "know each other" and have a motivating connection with at least one other before the game even starts. I've done something like this with a lot of my games, generally to make sure the actual play skips the terrible, unnecessary "you meet in a bar" and no one wants to hang out party setup crap that almost always derails games before they start.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47873592

I think the big part of it is making that extra roll (to see what hit location was hit) dramatic. If the kill shot ends up hitting the arm instead, it needs a dramatic telling anyway... "You see your opening and drive your sword for the kill... (rattle, rattle 8! I hit... his upper arm?), but the bandit lord turns and the blade slides across his upper bicep! His armor is thin there, and the blade cuts through. Red wells up and he hisses in pain, but it isn't a killing blow!" Definitely not, "Oh... arm shot. That sucks. Too bad for you." The dramatics and making sure the hit locations don't make the players feel ineffectual is important, IMO. Usually, the hit location roll is a "lean in" moment for the table, though... everyone looking to see if a head shot comes up! Edit: Oh... I tend to default that HtH attacks roll the High Shot (2d6+1 right?) automatically, unless the player chooses to have the full body target (using a spear, or swinging a sword can more easily go to all parts of the body, or the player just wants the 3d6 chance). That tends to "feel" more correct for HtH in my experience, but clearly just a preference.

Love this stuff. It is a head scratcher about whether to do it in Game 1, because it is more dice rolling and rules, but at the same time, it is a very visceral and cinematic aspect of the game... it is a rule that enforces colorful description and dynamic imagination... rather than just "I hit... X stun, Y body." I'm torn on this, because hands down, my favorite part of the game is combat with hit locations... so i'm biased.