DusterBoy

Re: 20 Incredible Desert Oases Oh. My. That's just beautiful. Susano - you may have just felt something smack you upside the head. That was me giving you a hefty whack with the rep stick.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine ROTFLMAO!

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Storn's art always blows me away. :thumbup:

Re: Super Transportation Way cool finds, Staff. The ROMBUS looks a damn sight more practical than the POS shuttle we actually got lumbered with. I think I may have seen a pic of the Ithacus before, at school. To quote Johnny Rotten: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

Re: I've joined the ranks... I've enjoyed reading this thread. Nolgroth, it seems like you have a great thing going here. I think my nieces are too young yet (8, 6 and 2), but I also think that a "magical girl" campaign based on the Barbie videos they watch might be a good idea in a couple of years' time.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Orc: Orc like doggie (pat, pat) Doggie: (whimpers in terror) More brilliant pix from the Storn-meister :thumbup:

A book I'm reading right now is "Superpowers" by David J Schwartz. It's the story of five college students who acquire a superpower each after a house party during a fierce storm and some whack homemade beer. It is not a conventional superhero story by any means. Yes, they wear lycra costumes, but there are no big battles, no supervillains, no melodramatic speeches. It's more a character study than anything else, very street-level and relentlessly unglamorous. It's not a happy story either, but I would recommend it as a non-genre alternative to the comics.

Re: What else is a classic trope ? Now, now, children. Behave yourselves please. And Death Tribble, please don't stick your tongue out at The Question Man: it's rude.

Re: [Worst Ever...] Reasons to be a superhero "It's the jazz, baby, we do it for the jazz" (And if you know where that quote comes from, you that jazz doesn't mean music)

Re: Another weird thing... One of my favourite quotes is from JBS Haldane: "My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." Things like this only reinforce for me that Haldane was spot on. The eternal wonders of the universe.

Re: LHC 'Malfunction' No Accident? Oh no. No more Lovecraft nonsense. "Powerful and malign intelligences from elsewhere in the galaxy." Oh puh-leeze. I'm actually angry about this. One of the greatest scientific experiments in history and all anyone can think of is Cthulhu and his mob - or an ersatz version. Aaaarrrgh! Stop it! Now!

Re: The Most Alien Place on Earth That's absolutely stunning

Re: Gamma Flight campaign images H'mm, I suggest you check out "The Ultimate Captain Canuck Tribute Page" run by DK Latta at www.geeocities.com/SoHo/study/4273. There's also an essay on whether or not Canadians invented the whole superhero genre. Let's put it this way, DK Latta is proud to be Canadian and takes issue with those who are not.

Re: Fusionman, Fusionman Fusionman said: "I just showed that it is possible to fly like a bird." H'mm, I'd amend that to "Exactly not like a bird at all". Most birds I've seen fly by, y'know, actually flapping their wings, not having a fixed wing on their back and landing by 'chute. Nevertheless, that's really cool - until I get my actual rocketpack.

Re: Top 50 movie gunfights Probably not. Nor does Han shooting Greedo in Star Wars. The thing about a gunfight is that both sides have guns and are actively trying to kill each other. And I might draw flack for this, but what about the finale gun fight in Miami Vice 2006? Good to see the police house slaughter from The Terminator in there. That is still one scary movie, even if you've seen it n times. And if you want good gunfights from a TV series, check out SAS drama Ultimate Force - especially series 1 and 2 when they're really going for accuracy and have Chris Ryan as technical advisor. The bank takedown in the pilot episode is probably one of the best gun fights ever filmed.

Re: Over-the-top Stretch Limousines That is just . . . insane

Re: Stardust evidence points to planet collision Wow. That's just . . . amazing.

Re: Doctrine for beginning vampire slayers? More books - check out "Dhampir" et al by Barb and JC Hendee. They deal with a female dhampir and her helf-elf colleague as they find out that vampires are real and they have to stop just playing at vampire hunting. They also have a dog which has been specially "bred" to hunt vampires. In folklore, black dogs were said to be excellent vampire hunters. You probably want an English Mastiff then. Males can reach 30 inches minimum at the shoulder and reach up to 200 pounds in weight. The record for dogs is set by Zorba an Englsih Mastiff who reached 37 inches at the shoulder, measured 8 feet 3 inches from nose to tail and weighed 315 pounds. I kid you not.

Re: Jumping mouth! Runescience, lemme get this straight. You wanna build a homicidal version of Mike Wazowski?

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs Of course, Tolkien didn't know he was helping to inaugurate a literary genre. Nor did he care. Fantasy novels were very rare in the fifties, especially in Britain - Howard, Leiber, Lovecraft et al wouldn't be rediscovered until the sixties. It was the publisher's idea to break it up into three books. Tolkien intended it as a single volume divided into six books, plus the appendices, etc. I'm sure that the thought that every publisher since would compare every other fantasy story to his work would fill him with horror - not to mention disgust. He didn't write LotR as a "fantasy novel", he write it in the style of a medieval romance, intending it to be a "mythology for England". I've always considered the Shire to be the English countryside - specifically Oxfordshire and Berkshire - during the time of the Great War. Remember, Tolkien served in World War 1 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers and saw action in the Somme as well as many of his friends killed in action. Also, consider this: Tolkien developed the languages first, then developed his world as a place where they might be spoken. If Tolkien has left us a legacy then it should be this: have a very clear understanding of your world, its history, its people and their cultures before you start. I'm sure he would say in the strongest terms "Don't copy what I've done. Create your own world."

Re: Witch Way redux All good stuff, Mark

Re: US Government's reaction to superhumans "Utterly bleak and black is not the sum of realism. All the other colours are real, too," Lady Ijada, The Hallowed Hunt, Lois McMaster Bujold

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs There's no need for an "African"-styled campaign to be "spear and sorcery". If you visit the African rooms of the British Museum, there are plenty of swords there and some really wonderful multi-bladed throwing knives.

Re: What else is a classic trope ? IIRC, Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) started out as a stereotypical bad guy Commie. (And let's not get into how a good (ie: faithful) Communist would be highly unlikely to have the name Romanov.)

Re: These guys are making it hard to do a good Superhero setting. To me, it's not about gadgets, it's about having powers that are integral to oneself. Not that gadgeteers aren't good characters o'course, but such characters in the comics usually also have an unnaturally high IQ, at least. Look at Reed Richards