csyphrett

Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z The Grim Ghost was awesome with the Ernie Colon art. I agree the rest suffered, even the Steve Ditko Tiger Man. CES

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy I was thinking of telekinesis as a workshop power. You don't need a wrench when you can turn a bolt with your mind. CES

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy Sounds like a techno wizard except for getting your points back. What kind of mutation powers are you allowing, SS? CES

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Teen Titans season four. I enjoyed the non raven stories better than the season arc. Billy Numerous and Control Freak were in high gear. Shoot em up. I could have done without some of the more grosser things done, but at least it had something of a plot behind all the violence. CES

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy Out of the list of availables I would pick a human mutant technomancer. It appeals to me to be able to instantly create devices out of nothing. CES

Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z In that case, Jim Shooter had both Broadway and Defiant for a short time, Atlas came out in the seventies, Harvey had a set of heroes like Bee Man and not just Caspar and Richie Rich. I'll have to look around for more. CES

Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z How many of these universes are you doing, Bob? There must be dozens out there. CES

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy Sounds reasonable. CES

Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Several of the Archie heroes like the shield and the web are making appearances, teaming up with Archie, etc. First Comics was the home of Grim Jack, Sable, Badger, American Flagg and Nexus. Malibu did the Mortal Kombat universe, and redid Centaur's old heroes as the Protectors. ABC and Dynamite are doing different versions of a lot of old heroes like Daredevil and the Green Lama. Dark Horse has the Hellboy universe also. They did have a hero universe but the only one who did well was the Ghost I think. CES

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy What's the tech level for this, SS? Is it medieval, almost twentieth century, mixed up. A party might need someone who can fix things. CES

Re: Magistracy:Origins 1 Jerry Silver High above Los Angeles, a zeppelin cruised toward the center of the town. War had not broken out yet, but German Intelligence was in operation in the neutral United States. America supported their British cousins in all but manpower. The point of the project was to gather enough information that Roosevelt would be forced to sit things out no matter how much he had signed a lend lease deal to stave off the inevitable victory for the Third Reich. Captain Arnold Schwartz looked out the windows of the crew compartment hanging under the balloon and almost growled. He had been assigned the task of stealing models of new planes America was thinking of using in the future. Everything had gone well except for one complication. And that complication soared in the air behind him, using steam to power some jet pack that looked cobbled together out of fans and clockwork gears. Johnny Gold smiled as he aimed for the door of the carriage. Agents of the Reich hated the professional adventurer for constant interference in their plans. He crashed against the thin door, sweeping it open to step inside the conveyance. Schwartz drew his weapon. He pulled the barrel up to line up with his enemy as the crew reached for whatever fell to hand. This was the last time Gold would meddle with the S.S. His finger tightened on the trigger. The American opened his mouth. Steam filled the room in a heated jet, creating a fog where everything rested in a shroud. The Captain fired into the exhalation. He couldn't see at what he was aiming, but he didn't want Gold to get too close with that hot breath of his. Men had lost their skin when caught in his steam power. Gold released the pack from his shoulders. The solid clunk against the floor attracted attention but he was already heading forward. Let the sailors mess with his pack while he dealt with their captain. Whining bullets made him dive to one side. Bullets flying around inside a vehicle loaded with flammable gas was a bad recipe. He had to stop that quick. Gold charged forward, summoning his breath power again. One good blast should do it. He had been feeling winded the last year or so. He thought something was wrong inside, but couldn't stop helping save the world. Schwartz spotted the adventurer clearing the now cool cloud of mist. He leveled his pistol at the tan double breasted jacket. One bullet should put an end to this. They would dump the body over the Pacific. Johnny Gold released the steam built up in his lungs. The cloud struck the officer like a furnace. The pistol went up and discharged. The bullet punctured the roof of the cab, then the bag beyond. The hot metal slug ignited the gas in a firestorm over the city. The explosion rocked Los Angeles, but those who hadn't seen it at the time put it down to a small tremor. Jerome Silver was one of those. He had diagrams and drawings of tubes he hoped to put in radios or the new thing called television. The building shook under him, but that meant nothing as long as it didn't fall down around him. Jerry had to figure out how to manufacture smaller tubes with better carrying properties in three days. He didn't think he could do it. He picked up one of his failures and turned it around in his hand, examining it with his eyes. What had gone wrong? A crackling from his phone made Jerry look at the instrument. He picked up the receiver, wondering what was going on. A bolt of electricity picked him up and slung him across the room. He crashed against a work desk and went out like a light. Jerry woke up in the hospital. Bandages wrapped his hand where he had been holding the phone. He got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He glanced in the mirror and stopped. He ran his unburned hand through his hair. Jerry's hair had been a raven black. Now it was a gray, like an old man's, like the silver that was his name. He stared at it, forgetting about why he had entered the bathroom. What had happened to him? Jerry held up a hand. Lightning raced around the fingertips as he watched. He decided that he needed to sit down. Silver made his way back to his bed. Lightning touched the rails that were supposed to keep patients from rolling off of the mattress to the floor. He took a breath and the yellow streaks died. What should he do? Being able to summon electricity was beyond him. Maybe there was an expert that could help him. Everyone know that Johnny Gold knew scads of things about stuff like this. Maybe he should try to get in touch with the man. Jerry nodded to himself. If Gold couldn't help, he would know someone who could. His reputation as an expert circled the world. Jerry stood up and started looking for his clothes. He couldn't see someone in a backless gown and be taken seriously.

Re: What happens whena ctuloid monster swallows an elder star? It should eat the dragon's guts up which might cause it to be even more violent, perhaps driving it out in the world before it ulcerates to death. CES

Re: Need a reasonably well known charcter idea You could try Dexter, or Johnny Test. Johnny isn't too smart but he does know how to work his sisters' inventions to help himself. CES

Re: Animated Jackie Chan HERO I think you could do most of the characters 350 maybe. The talismans would probably be a sixty point power apiece. Jade seems to be a DNPC with both luck and unluck. At least 50% percent of the adventures are her getting into trouble and needing to be bailed out. CES

Re: Teen Guardians Thurs the fourth The growl emitted by the other sailors seemed to echo the speech. "CHOTTO MATTE!", Nariko shouts while quickly going pale. "You don't even *know* us and what did we ever to *you*?" ::: Great...I'm probably *dead* now! :::, she thinks morosely to herself while *trying* not to look completely terrified. "Hold on a minute," Mr. Four raised his hands. "We are just looking for a town to look around until we have to go home." Nariko could sense that he had an energy building around his hands, unseen but humming slightly. She nodded quickly, trying to buy time for him. "He's right! We weren't even planning to come her in the *first* place!" "We're here to hunt the great sails." The surly spokesman lowered his sword slightly. 'We won't be going back to port for some time." "Great sails?", she asked, puzzled. "The beasts that bore through the sand." The sailor let his sword point at the deck. The other sailors lowered their weapons slightly. "Their innards are valuable for ships, food, armor. One of those will let us live the life of gentlemen." "They must be difficult to hunt because of their size...", Nariko commented, feeling a bit more at ease. "More difficult because they can sink into the sand beyond our harpoons." The sailor put his sword away, but did not offer a hand. "What know you of Sailing?" She felt even more at ease when called on to talk about herself. "Well, nothing per se, but I know how to navigate and I'm handy at fixing things. I *also* know a lot about metalworking, but I guess you really don't have much metal on this planet, do you? "I can also fire one of your harpoons, probably." "What's metal?" The sailor seemed puzzled. "I'll show you." Very slowly, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a 10-yen coin, holding it so that the crew can see it. "This is a metal that we call brass..." "We don't have anything like that here." The sailor put his sword, away holding out his hand for the coin. She handed it to him carefully while continuing to explain. "Metal is dug up from deep within the earth, purified and cast into shapes. It would make better weapons than glass since it's less brittle and also heavier. It can be sharpened to a keen edge too." "We don't have anything like that here." The sailor looked the coin over before handing it back. "The sand covers anything like a solid earth except where the ports have settled. Even there, dig into the ground and you won't find anything like this." She nodded. "Most metals don't come out of the ground looking like this. For example, one common metal called aluminum comes from a white, powdery stone called alumina. Copper comes from a pretty blue stone called azurite. I don't know much about the subject, but I'm sure that you have things here that contain metal." "We don't have anything like that." The sailor turned, spreading his arms. "Sand is mostly what we have here. Sand and what little sticks out of it. Most everything we make is made of this base material, and what we can get from hunting." She nodded, looking at Four-san for a moment to see if he wanted to add anything. "Stay or go?" was all he said. He watched the crew going about their job of sailing on the high sand. "I don't know...they seem rather busy...", she answered tentatively. "I'm only your bodyguard." Four looked around. "You're safe until they actually stab one of those monsters. Then the real work will start." "I'm not sure if there's much else out here, but I'm also not sure if they'd *want* us to stay...", she said to him quietly. "They said there was a port." Four watched one of the spouts throw sand in the air. "Let's see if we can go there and get some of the local cuisine if it isn't too poisonous." She nodded. "Um...excuse me, but in what direction is the nearest port from here?", Nariko asked the man that she'd given the coin to. "It's hundreds of sails that way." He pointed across the sand to the left. She bowed politely to him. "Thank you very much for your assistance." "Be careful of the Port's guards." The sailor waved harpooners into place on the bow. "They will want to examine whatever you carry to assess their taxes." "Thank you for the warning, sir." "You're welcome." The sailor waved them off. "If you're going, this is the time for you to go. We're about to work now." "Good luck...", she said and then turned to her bodyguard to leave with him. Mr. Four gathered her up in a round bubble and headed into the sky. He didn't look back as he headed in the indicated direction. "What do you think that they actually use for currency here?", Nariko asked. "I dont know." Four kept the bubble steady as they cruised along. "Certainly not gold, or anything else we consider precious. Maybe something that has to do with those animals. That's why the whalers on our Earth went to sea." She sighed. "It makes me wonder how we're going to actually pay this tax that he was talking about..." "I'm not worried about that." Four frowned. "We don't have anything we can use. We'll have to look at it and see what will happen." Nodding, Nariko settled in for the trip. Hours passed until a tall spire of rock appeared in the distance. As they closed on it, they could see windows carved in the face of the mountain. Rock reach out like fingers to form weird piers on the sand. It was an island in a strange sea. Nariko peered at it, fascinated. "How do you think that formed originally?" "Volcano?" Four dipped toward the sand. "I'm going to bring us in low if I can. That way we won't attract attention." She nodded again, taking in the exotic scenery. Four dipped down until the bubble skimmed the sand, then he sank it under the loose yellowness. He kept going until they both saw a rock face extending down to block them. He headed up to drop on the pier, surrounded by sailors leaving and landing. Sat the Sixth Patty ignored the bus, that wasn't her problem, not right now; as she roared through the city, two boxes of donuts at a convenience store disappeared and were replaced by three dollar bills in payment; a moment later, the empty boxes were disposed of properly in a dumpster as Patty frantically attempted to replace the energy she was burning in this city-wide search. The rad detector beeped steadily as she moved past, the largest spikes were in two locations. One was at the Nu-tech building and the other was at an all girls private school. Which place did she want to search more carefully first? Pusher made another detector and got out the Pusher Mobile in the hopes of crisscrossing Tachyon's path. He couldn't drive as fast as she could run, but he could still do a search to help out. After driving and avoiding a few police officers that did want to slow down speeding drivers. Pusher noticed the same locations however there seemed to be some sort of problem with main roads as they where being blocked off by police officers and it was a route that Patty could have taken. She hit her brakes and pulled the cell phone from her top; she hit speed dial for Pusher and in rapidfire speech, she said, "Ifoundtwoplaces..." The speedster forced herself to slow down. "I found two places," she said again, "where his signature is strong, there's a girl's school on Eischer, St Maries, that the rads are strong and then at NuTech, and I'm going to go race through NuTech and see what I can find, you tackle StMariesifyouwould..." "Nu Tech was where he worked." Pusher thought about it. "I wonder if the St Marie's is missing a bunch of girls, or cats." Pusher sank through the floor board of his car and headed for the school, using his ability to fly through molecules to look around and avoid security. He had a feeling Tachyon was getting into trouble without him. The Nu-Tech building glittered with a clean corporate air. Meaning very likely, clean on the outside dirty on the inside with military hardware being created day by day along side several little things for the common folks. The girl tucked the cell back into her tight top, there was a little holster there for it, and accelerated into the building, picking up speed and still not only watching where she was going--she hadn't a clue to be honest--but watching that rad meter. As she sped down the halls the rad meter perked up once or twice but nothing in deadly scale. One large metallic door had opened and the meter went up much higher. Inside was some woman that was talking in slow motion as far as Patty was concerned. Although she looked a lot like the woman that was suppose to own the company. Eric's 'wife' as it were. The signs in the room hinted at her being in a restricted area as the doors started to shut. She was being foolish, she knew it--but she couldn't let him go, not without a fight--she gritted her teeth together and accelerated through the closing doors and into the chamber... The chamber had several scientists moving about in slow motion and also seemed to be screaming about some outside source using there gear. One of the cleaning ladies is sweeping the floor but it appears that she seems to be smirking when the others in the room aren't looking at her. She wears a heavy hat that hides most of her hair and the really baggy clothes seem slightly off on her. As he looked around he could see what appeared to be a camera mounted onto a tree. He could also hear sirens in the distance that seemed to be getting closer. They sounded similar to police sirens. Pusher checked for wiring on the camera to follow back to its source. Otherwise he would slag the lens and take the insides out for further study. Patty's attention span slipped past her phone--one thing she'd forgotten was that a side-effect of this during her teen years that manifested in a slight case of ADD--and she focused instead on the Carol Burnett Wannabe; she charged and crooked an arm, intent on taking this out-of-place with her as she MOVED BY and towards some place out of site and mind for the immediate future... Patty hit easily dragging the wannabe through the door that had appeared to have reopened and outside. Once removed from Patty's arm the girl was growling and rubbing her neck. The hat having fallen away let her see the two dog like ears on top of her head. "What's the big idea you coulda killed me!" She barked out to no one in general. The wiring was easy to follow however as Pusher was doing so the gates of the school opened to allow a police car to enter. The wiring itself as he was following lead to a security room for the all girl school. Two officers got out of the car and looked at the teenager. "Excuse us..We heard there where some super kids or something in town but you mind telling us why your trespassing on private property?" "Something I would like to know myself." Came the casual voice of a man as he walked out from the security room. His silver cane rapping between steps as he walked towards the police officers and Pusher. "I know the trouble most young men have with girls being unavailable to them. But even with super powers you still must listen to the laws that govern society. But seeing as your suppose to be a self-appointed defender, care to tell me why you felt the need to trespass onto privately owned property?" Pusher sank into the ground, out of sight. He started exploring the building. If they wanted him bad enough, they could chase him through the ductwork. Locating Eric was his top priority. Away from the police pusher was able to look around far more easily. Moving deeper didn't seem to cause many problems. Until the strange vibrations starting upsetting his molecular ghosting. Almost like a force field system. Who ever had Eric here was a planner and also seemed to have no intention of letting him go. Moving further might force Pusher into a tangible form while within the solid earth. Would he travel upward or go downward further to find out how far the barrier extended? Pusher decided to find the edges of the force field on the same plane, then find a face he could follow down until he hit bottom edge. Patty was cocked back n a boxer's stance; on guard and ready. "But I didn't, and you're as trespassing as I am, and you're a dog-girl and my boyfriend was taken by catgirls and I wanna know why." Her voice was pitched low, her tone was urgent, her body still vibrating fast and hard, masking her identity. "Better talk quick 'n' mebbe we can help each other." "Right you're his girlfriend.." She growled a bit and took off running her speed increasing as she went much like Tachyon herself it seemed the dog girl's ability was speed. Although she seemed far less trained with it as she was actually dodging and avoiding objects near by that she could have otherwise have gone over considering the speed. Patty rolled her eyes, picked up the vibration and moved into pursuit of the dog-girl--keeping pace rather than overtaking, keeping the closeness rather than an actual intercept. "Boyfriend my butt," she muttered to herself. As Patty was following the dog girl she found she was being lead back towards the all girl school that she was at earlier, although she ran from the front entrance and suddenly dived through a wall on the side. Yet there was no actual damage to the wall. She could feel the vibrations of the wall. It seemed to part from her as she went through with similar if not more speed than what was originally produced by the dog girl. "GreatjustgreatIhatesecrets" Patty grumbled at herself, but followed anyway. The dog girl had stopped running now and was looking up with some sort of happy smirk. Apparently she couldn't see in the high speed spectrum when she wasn't running and Patty's current speed was certainly above hers. The doorway to the left opened and the man in the suit of armor walked out, the same one she'd seen for only a fraction of second during that strange transport system. She spun herself up to a higher speed of vibration; there wasn't much choice as she saw it--but she needed to be just slightly out of synch so as to maintain cover--it wasn't invisibility, and it burnt so much of her individual power, but... The dog girl--the armored man, she'd have to get somewhere and call Pusher and Hardball and everyone else... Instead, she opted to follow the armored man... Upon exiting the wall Pusher found himself inside a large complex. Force field while not large did cover a significant part of the lower complex. He could see girls in some sort of school uniform walking around casually yet something about them seemed, off. Pusher made sure to stay inside the wall. This was his specialty, stealth and invisibility. Something was up with the girls. He had an idea psionics was involved somehow. He used the walls to maneuver around looking for Eric.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watched Meet the Robinsons with my boy. Figured the identity of the villain long before it was revealed, still I enjoyed the animation and story. CES

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Not Sci Fi or Fantasy, but I have been reading Lee Child's Jack Reacher books. I reccomend them. CES

Re: Magistracy:Origins Sorry, I am slow as dirt except at novel writing time. I will try to get some of this out in the next week or so. Also have a villain to use for both the odd squad and the school. As soon as I have a slot open, will work on those too. CES

Placeholder to find later CES

Re: In the Company of Strangers (story) 1 Marlowe, Minnesota gleamed in the dim winter sun. Lake Marlowe reflected light like a diamond as the water moved in gentle swells toward the banks and docks that lined its shore. Jeb Casters sat in the middle of the lake, wandering if he had made a mistake venturing out. Jeb had retired just that year. His pension and savings would see him through to the end of his life with no burden on his family. A boat had been in the game plan, and fishing followed from that. He looked at the swells with still sharp eyes, and debated going back to shore. Jeb turned on the engine. The hull was rocking and he didn't want to be turned over in the water. The day was mild and cold. He didn't feel any wind. Slightly crooked hands pointed the bow toward the public pier he used to launch. Why is the lake so rocky today? Jeb kept an eye on the swirling waves as he drove toward the shore. He planned to back the trailer down, and hitch his boat up to be dragged out of the water. Once he planned on the boat, he planned on the trailer to carry it along the roads to the lake. Water splashed on his overcoat, dropping down in his collar, on the back of his neck. The fisherman wiped the liquid off, glad that he was getting off the lake. Something weird was going on. A shadow blocked out the sun. Jeb turned to see what kind of cloud had lurched in front of the hazy star. His eyes widened at the solid monstrosity rearing up out of the water. He urged more speed from the motor, hoping to outdrive the thing sharing the lake with him. A giant paw came down. A geyser and pieces of Jeb's boat went up. The sun came out on the empty lake again. Another fisherman found the wrecked boat a few hours later. The Park Rangers got there. Everyone realized something extraordinary had happened. A fishing boat didn't explode without some kind of munitions. Except the boat was clean from what they could find. The rangers cleaned up the debris, searched for Jeb's body, wondered when they couldn't find it floating on the lake. They notified the sheriff's department, who notified Mrs. Casters that her husband had been in an accident and they couldn't find his body. They promised to drag the lake but warned it was deep in some spots and they might never find the body. Mrs. Casters sat in her easy chair and cried for the first time in five years. She looked at her living room, and wondered what she was going to do. The sheriff's department and the rangers went over the lake again with a dive team, then gave it up. Eventually the body would turn up. Gases from decomposition would force it up. Then they would find it along the shore. They had expected the same in earlier deaths in and on the lake. The bodies turned up with signs of predation. Casters's corpse would do the same thing. The thing at the bottom of the lake disagreed with that assessment. Jeb Casters had gone down with a load of fish and he was never coming back up for air. It rested, watching the mites above. Soon it would have to explore the limits of its territory. And humans tasted good, different from the fish that made up the bulk of its diet. The effort to rise to the surface had been worth it. Instinct told it the lake concealed it beneath the waves, but if it kept trying, rising to the surface and taking what it wanted would be effortless. Nothing the humans did could stop it. It saw a day that it could eat anything within miles of its lair. Perhaps it could even find a mate and produce pups. They would rule as far as they could see. Rivals would feel its fangs and learn the might and power it wielded. It chuffed in amusement. Bubbles headed to the surface. It rolled over in the mud at the bottom of Lake Marlowe, one paw touching the yellow canister that had cracked open near a pile of drums. Something glowed around the rip in the metal, coloring the mud and the mud. The containers had fallen down to its lair years before when it was a pup itself. The glow had permeated its body and allowed it to grow with the passing of seasons. It didn't care that some hero in the East had arrested the owner of the yellow drums. It didn't care that its creator rested in jail with other uncommon convicts. It cared about its next meal, and getting a feast if it could. Marlowe, Minnesota glimmered in the setting sun, the residents on the streets hurrying home as the temperature plummeted. The lake turned to red fire, then black ice, as the calm surface waited for the next day. Occasionally a bubble would appear on the water and pop with the smell of dead fish. No one stood on shore to note the strangeness of it, or the flickering green that drifted with the fish as they swam beyond a man's walking distance from the banks. Soon the town would notice its giant neighbor. Then the struggle would begin.

Just a giant monster story. CES

Re: Brainstorming a 1920's Pulp-esque campaign. It kind of reminds me of Lord Baltimore. The war ended because the plague was so bad soldiers just refused to fight and went home. Personally I think other monsters would appear with the spread of Zombies. I can see playing a Frankenstein or Topper in this setting, looking for a cure. CES

Re: Notes from NSU Day Seven Pat Smith went home for some sleep. After that he returned to Tam's lair under the city. The investigator ran into the deadly menace and killed him with a piece of pipe. He reported in to the Federal Building, then went to the hospital for some patching. The office handed him three more sets of files that matched Tam's, but with different signature moves. Burnings went on in the northwest, burials in the southwest, and hangings in the tallest buildings in town. Pat got a description of the burner, Kilburn, from a local bum. The bum said he wore a kilt and carried a sword like Braveheart. Kilburn's victims were also descended from Scottish settlers. That led Pat to visit a Scot history museum just opening up. They battle when the investigator discovers the evil in a diorama, setting the place on fire. Kilburn escaped through the skylight. Simon and Ash decide to leave Kenton behind, and head home. Conferring with the local office had led to the thought that the TROLL would attack Temple City next, especially since Captain Video was still not in custody. Simon had the Tech Service print out leaflets for the Midnight Wolves to taunt them into helping out. Jui-Shen and George arrived in Temple City. They begged some money and got enough to eat hot McDonald's food instead of trash. They hit a shelter for the night. The arsonist that burned out the women's shelter earlier in the week attacked, setting the place on fire. Jui-Shen drove him off, and George got everyone out before they were seriously hurt. The partners drifted to the next shelter, determined to catch the arsonist. They checked in, discovering the next one had bars on the windows, and locks on the bunk room doors. They settled in to wait for the arsonist to show up.

Re: Nature + Fire = What? You can also use this combination for age, entropy, disease. CES

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watched Happily N'ever After. Didn't mind the messed up fairy tales, the bumbling assistants that are suddenly in charge, or several other things. The major thing that bothered me is the premise that the main characters went through their stories over and over with someone making sure they came out right before they reset. CES