Beetle

Re: Sexuality and the Silver Age Don't forget to add Janet Van Dyne and Hank "nervous breakdown" Pym to the list. I'm not sure it really sent a "proper message" though. When they got married Hank was in the middle of one of his "episodes" and thought he was an entirely different person who had killed Hank Pym and was forcing Jan to marry him. Of course Jan knew who he really was because of his dreamy blue eyes, so she played along with it. How's that for a dysfunctional wedding? (even before the Circus of Crime crashed the reception)

Re: How do you feel about Superheroes that kill?

Re: How do you feel about Superheroes that kill?

Re: How do you feel about Superheroes that kill?

Re: How do you feel about Superheroes that kill? If people with "unflinching moral codes" always ended up killing abortion doctors, there wouldn't be any abortion doctors left. I know you're using hyperbole here, but damn is that offensive. And just plain wrong too.

Re: What ever happened to Colossus' love child? I'm sure he's living the sort of "angsty" life all mutants are apparently doomed to. And if he turned out not to be a mutant, I'm sure he's angsty about that. It is the X-Men after all...

Re: How do you feel about Superheroes that kill?

Re: How do you feel about Superheroes that kill?

Re: Creation philosophy

Re: The Essential Bad Iron Age

Re: Pulp Here and NOW A pulp style detective would be hamstrung by his constant need to provide voice-over narration. It'd always let the bad guys know what his plan is. (As shown in the classic SNL sketch with Robert Mitchum.)

Re: Pulp Hero Resources For information on Pulp detectives and their authors: http://www.thrillingdetective.com

Re: Pulp Reading For a slightly more modern take than usual (50s-60s) you could look at the stories of John D. MacDonald, especially his short stories but also the early Travis McGee novels. Probably the easiest way to get his short stories would be to find the collections "The Good Old Stuff" and "More Good Old Stuff" from the 1980s.

Re: Welcome To The New PULP HERO Forum! I can't believe I missed this earlier today. Somebody must've clouded my mind so I could not see it!

Re: Need "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" Stats

Re: Need "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" Stats The show was very inconsistent when it came to Herc's strength level. So you could pretty much pick any superhuman strength level and justify it with an episode. As an average, I'd say that strength 30-35 and con of 23-25 sound reasonable. Don't forget combat luck, since he never wears armor.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just re-read the books of The Gandalara Cycle for the first time in years after stumbing across them in a used book store. I like 'em. Brief synopsis - an aging, terminally ill professor on Earth suddenly finds himself in the body of a young, non-human man in what appears to be a completly different desert world. The professor attempts to figure out what happened, and for what purpose he was brought to Gandalara. Lots of swords, mental powers and large cats (like sabretooths). Politics, intrigue and some geology. Very interesting and well-written books. A believable yet "alien" culture, and a decent protaganist who doesn't always do the right thing. Loved the idea of the All Mind. I recommend picking them up if you can find them(the seven books come as Gandalara Cycle Volume I, Gandalara Cycle Volume II and The River Wall).

Re: Pulp Hero Cometh

Re: Pulp Hero Cometh I think the Shadow (both the radio and stories versions) qualify more as Pulp than DC, if for no other reason than the "tone" of the adventures (though I haven't read that many of the stories). Speaking of the Shadow, some public libraries have pretty good collections of old radio programs. It'd be worth a look to see if you can find some from the Shadow (especially the Orson Wells era). But resist the urge to send for your complementary ton of Blue Coal (Pennsylvania's Finest Anthracite!). The movie (w/Alec Baldwin) isn't horrible, but it isn't very good, either. It does an interesting job blending the radio character with the one from the stories, but it doesn't know if it wants to be serious or tongue-in-cheek.

Re: The Brat Pack Thanks for the warning. Instead of picking this up, I'll just go rent St. Elmos' Fire...

Re: 2006 Schedule Blurbs Here's my take on the recently announced books: Nobles, Knights, And Necromancers: I'll purchase this one at some point. Enemies books are always useful (well, except for one) for the ideas if not the characters themselves. But it's not something I'd feel the need to pounce on the first day out. (speaking of that one, when is Europeans, Errors and Errata coming out? ) The Ultimate Mentalist: Mentalists aren't really my thing, but I'll probably end up with a copy of this book eventually. Stronghold: Another title I'll probably pick up, but not a "must have." Golden Age Champions: This is a must have. I'm very excited to finally have this coming out. (I've been playing Champions since 1986 but have missed the prior versions of this book) Psychic Wars: Probably won't be getting this one. The genre/storyline just doesn't appeal to me at all. The Celtic Bestiary: A definate purchase. Like the "enemies" books, a good bestiary is always worth the money (to me, at least). More an "eventually" than a "must buy now" book, though. Thrilling Places: Pulp stuff!! I'm so happy to finally be getting this that I might by multiple copies to support the line. This will get pounced on as soon as it becomes available Tuala Morn: Sounds interesting, so I'll be getting this at some point. Pulp Resource Guide: More pulpy goodness. I'll be buying at least one of these and washing it down with some fresh Florida orange juice (with pulp, of course). It's a must have. The Ultimate Skill: I'll wait to hear reveiws of this, but if it is as good as USPD it will be a must buy. I'll probably end up with it eventually in any case. Villains, Vandals, And Vermin: More enemies, more money spent at some point. Horror Hero: I have the 4th edition version of this printed out somewhere (I got it as a pdf), and I remember being disappointed with it for some reason. That just makes me more eager to get the new version, as this is a genre I'd very much like to try out. Danger Zones: Probably won't be getting this. The 5th ed version of Dark Champions is darker than I like my Champions (I'm more an "animated series" person, I guess) Champions Universe Update: I'm not really interested in using the official champs universe, but like enemies books it'll be useful for the ideas. So I'll probably pick this up eventually. The Underworld Sourcebook: Maybe. I'll wait to hear user feedback on this. If it's useful to non-DC campaigns than I'll probably pick it up. To sum up: Will Buy ASAP: 4 Will Buy Eventually: 8 Probably Won't Buy: 3

Re: Inspirational Reading While the novels themselves don't have a Dark Champions feel, I always thought the premise of John D. MacDonald's "Travis McGee" books would be great in Dark Champions. Basically, if somebody takes what's yours (illegally or immorally) and you have no hope of getting it back you can hire Trav (or the PC in a DC campaign) and he'll try to recover the money/property/whatever, but he keeps 50% of anything he recovers (getting half back is better than getting nothing back, right?).

Re: Latin for thumb You should've just gone with "Thumbus"

Re: Limiting new players (balance ques.) Try to convince the players that pouring points into offense and defense doesn't create a super hero game. What it does is recreate the cold war. No matter how many points a PC puts into force field (for example), the GM's villains can always be strong enough to breach it. A GM doesn't care if the PC does 10d or 16d6 - he can always adjust his villains to compensate. So the PCs don't "win" by being pure combat monsters. Given that that's the case, they should see that it's better to have broader based characters (you know, with skills and stuff) than pure combat monsters.

Re: Speedster Name Needed Bolt is a pretty good name for a speedster.