Wakshaani

Still swing by! Thrilled to hear about my babies.  Professional writing work keeps me busy most of the time, these days. 23 RPG books released and counting. Phew!

Not familiar with the new almanac I'm afraid, but, SAT having a role was nice to deal with having two otherwise-similar groups. And, yes, having your top field agent as the desk jockey was a problem, so, brought the director back for my home games... each regional office has a civilian head, too. In Boston (the city I ran for my hero teams), you had the Director, with the Silver Avenger his right hand, then heads of field operations (Captain Dermott... field officers topped at Captain), head of the Iron Guard, head of investigations, head of R&D, and then a liason officer who workd with each local superteam (The liasons were all pulled from the bureaucratic majority that the director was in charge of, so they had no official power other than advisory, but it was good form to have them around for major calls.)

That's a lot of paperwork, but, we're talking about a bureaucratic force, so it works.

SAT, meanwhile, was the strikeforce and, unlike Primus which had a turf war/rivalry with UNTIL, SAT worked with them … in essence, SAT was the tip of the spear, sent in first, then UNTIL would come in as peacekeepers, akin to having the US military assault somewhere and the Blue Helmets take over when the fighting was done. The setup allowed each force to do what it did best, so there wasn't all that much friction between the two.

There is, however, a lot of one-upmanship between Primus agents and SAT troopers, tho.

"Nice watching you guys guard the mayor last week. All that standing around in dress uniforms. Musta been nice."
"Yeah, well we ere on the lookout for super villains."
"Oh, like the ones we took down three weeks ago?"
"What, the *Canadian* villains? No, we were watching for REAL villains."
"Hey, don't sell him short because he's Canadian! The Amasing Darkon is-"
"The Amazing Darkon! Listen to this guy! Couldn't cut it in a real *American* outfit."
"You shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"

Etc etc and so on. 

Yeah, 
 
I'm the odd man out, but I've never made a secret of my favorite:
 
Mark Williams.
 
Yep.  Nothing fancy.  Looked almost like it was drawn with a ruler in hand.
 
 
But two things:
 
First:  While I was never a comic book kid (never made a secret out of that, either), his art looked so much like the comic books of my childhood.  It was _huge_ pull-in for me.  At the time, there were a couple of "super hero" choices.  It was Williams' art that led me to find a Champions group over anything else:  it _looked_ like a comic book looked in my head.  (Again, it's not like I was -- or ever became-- very familiar with them.  Second aside: Superbabes or whatever it was called had appeal for art reasons as well-- the "comic book rightness"; not the idea that you're thinking). Champions or V&V at that time.  Williams' art told me Champions was what I wanted.
 
Second:  You have to see this from the point of view from a guy who _all of his life_ wanted to be able to draw.  A guy who killed hundreds and hundreds of trees "practicing" because that's what everyone who could draw kept saying was the key.  (I'm hear to tell that they are all hands-down a pack of lying bastards.  Practice is undoubtably super-important, but it is _not_ "the key."  If there is not at least a hint of talent, twenty hours a day of practice will get you nowhere).
 
Anyway-- let's say that you're me: a guy who his whole life wanted to be able to draw-- a guy who had several siblings who could sit down with a pencil and in ten minutes whip up an entire page of a comic book or a photo-realistic drawing of a trout breaking from the creek, leaping for a hand-tied fly.  A guy who had all these ideas and images and notions in his head yet found himself completely powerless to share them with even his closest friends.   Mark Williams' art looked  _attainable_.  It looked like something that I could _eventually_, with practice and determination, be able to do myself, and it was, apparently, good enough to go into a commercial product.  (Yeah: I know.  RPGs of the day would ink a chicken's foot and let it walk across the page and still publish it, but again: you had to be me to really appreciate how much Mr. Williams' art meant to me at that time-- and frankly, still does.)
 
I could never fool myself enough to believe I could achieve what Storn Cook does, or the covers of 4e Fantasy books, or anything else.  But the simple-- someone on this board once characterized it as "workman-like," and I can't over-stress how accurate this description is, nor can I ever fully explain how complimentary that is to his work from my point of view:  it's something that I could achieve....
 
Now, what-- pushing 40 years later?-- it's clear to me it's not something I can achieve.    Believe it or not (and it's not important if you do, because I don't do it for you anyway)-- I still practice.  Yes: I am fifty-nine years old, and I have been practicing drawing _every single day_ with rare exception since I was six.  Fifty-three years, and all I have to show for it is a large missing forest somewhere. Why?  Because it still looks like everything I ever did when I was six.  No; I'm not kidding.  Practice is _not_ the key.
 
But I still practice.  And when I do, without fail, the thing I'm trying to draw is usually one of those simple unshaded, un-lit characters drawn by Mark Williams.   Even knowing that I will _never_ get there, he still inspires me.
 
So regardless of just how amazing the artwork by any other contributing artist, none of them have had the effect on me that Williams did, and still does.
 
 
 

There have been many Dopplegangers over the years, from the romantic spy of the 60's who vexed Cold War Allies by seducing their agents to the Communists to the shapeshifting hero of the 80's to the face-stealing psychopath of the 90's to today's throwback who hails from the hidden city of Dopploppolis and can duplicate any superbeing that they see.

But the one who was a legend was WWII's master of disguise, a former actor who joined the war effort and used his uncanny skills to infiltrate first the French, then the British, and finally worked his way to America, where he lead a fifth column of saboteurs against the industrial cities of the US. He was finally killed by Detroit's namesake hero, Detroit Steel, when he leapt at the distracted hero, sailed over his head, and fell into the gears of the assembly line that he was trying to blow up.

Upon his mysterious return, he acclimated quickly to the modern world and now seeks to complete his final mission by bringing America down. He wears hats of both leftists and rightists, sowing dissent by enflaming each side against the other. He can be seen whispering in the ears of politicians, business leaders, and protest leader, then  anonymously posts on the Internet, dropping dank memes and false information. He knows that there is no greater weapon to turn against the nation than itself and is gleefully watching it tear itself apart.

As for Detroit Steel?

Doppleganger sits in a café in downtown Detroit, watching the city rot around him, content to not so much as lift a finger as the city slowly crumbles. Should another hero take up the mantle? They'll find Doppleganger ready to balance an old debt.

Nice! Great to see someone pull the ol' boots on again.

 

Oh, it stays in Justice (or Homeland Security) for certain. It doesn't need to be an official "strike force"... it's the Super FBI, in essence.

(but SAT, the Super American tactics? That effectively dead org I rebuilt as, in effect, GI Joe. THAT'S the international terrorist-fighting arm of the US military. Gives each organization a reason to exist.)

But Primus as a group where heroes can buy supertech (like costumes that don't burst into flames when you use your powers) or get staff to work in their HQ? Yeah, the administrative side has some real strength. Civillian oversight of the Avenger program, instead of Golden Avenger = The Boss... that's a key factor, I think.

Not familiar with the new almanac I'm afraid, but, SAT having a role was nice to deal with having two otherwise-similar groups. And, yes, having your top field agent as the desk jockey was a problem, so, brought the director back for my home games... each regional office has a civilian head, too. In Boston (the city I ran for my hero teams), you had the Director, with the Silver Avenger his right hand, then heads of field operations (Captain Dermott... field officers topped at Captain), head of the Iron Guard, head of investigations, head of R&D, and then a liason officer who workd with each local superteam (The liasons were all pulled from the bureaucratic majority that the director was in charge of, so they had no official power other than advisory, but it was good form to have them around for major calls.)

That's a lot of paperwork, but, we're talking about a bureaucratic force, so it works.

SAT, meanwhile, was the strikeforce and, unlike Primus which had a turf war/rivalry with UNTIL, SAT worked with them … in essence, SAT was the tip of the spear, sent in first, then UNTIL would come in as peacekeepers, akin to having the US military assault somewhere and the Blue Helmets take over when the fighting was done. The setup allowed each force to do what it did best, so there wasn't all that much friction between the two.

There is, however, a lot of one-upmanship between Primus agents and SAT troopers, tho.

"Nice watching you guys guard the mayor last week. All that standing around in dress uniforms. Musta been nice."
"Yeah, well we ere on the lookout for super villains."
"Oh, like the ones we took down three weeks ago?"
"What, the *Canadian* villains? No, we were watching for REAL villains."
"Hey, don't sell him short because he's Canadian! The Amasing Darkon is-"
"The Amazing Darkon! Listen to this guy! Couldn't cut it in a real *American* outfit."
"You shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"

Etc etc and so on. 

Not familiar with the new almanac I'm afraid, but, SAT having a role was nice to deal with having two otherwise-similar groups. And, yes, having your top field agent as the desk jockey was a problem, so, brought the director back for my home games... each regional office has a civilian head, too. In Boston (the city I ran for my hero teams), you had the Director, with the Silver Avenger his right hand, then heads of field operations (Captain Dermott... field officers topped at Captain), head of the Iron Guard, head of investigations, head of R&D, and then a liason officer who workd with each local superteam (The liasons were all pulled from the bureaucratic majority that the director was in charge of, so they had no official power other than advisory, but it was good form to have them around for major calls.)

That's a lot of paperwork, but, we're talking about a bureaucratic force, so it works.

SAT, meanwhile, was the strikeforce and, unlike Primus which had a turf war/rivalry with UNTIL, SAT worked with them … in essence, SAT was the tip of the spear, sent in first, then UNTIL would come in as peacekeepers, akin to having the US military assault somewhere and the Blue Helmets take over when the fighting was done. The setup allowed each force to do what it did best, so there wasn't all that much friction between the two.

There is, however, a lot of one-upmanship between Primus agents and SAT troopers, tho.

"Nice watching you guys guard the mayor last week. All that standing around in dress uniforms. Musta been nice."
"Yeah, well we ere on the lookout for super villains."
"Oh, like the ones we took down three weeks ago?"
"What, the *Canadian* villains? No, we were watching for REAL villains."
"Hey, don't sell him short because he's Canadian! The Amasing Darkon is-"
"The Amazing Darkon! Listen to this guy! Couldn't cut it in a real *American* outfit."
"You shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"

Etc etc and so on. 

Oh, it stays in Justice (or Homeland Security) for certain. It doesn't need to be an official "strike force"... it's the Super FBI, in essence.

(but SAT, the Super American tactics? That effectively dead org I rebuilt as, in effect, GI Joe. THAT'S the international terrorist-fighting arm of the US military. Gives each organization a reason to exist.)

But Primus as a group where heroes can buy supertech (like costumes that don't burst into flames when you use your powers) or get staff to work in their HQ? Yeah, the administrative side has some real strength. Civillian oversight of the Avenger program, instead of Golden Avenger = The Boss... that's a key factor, I think.

I think the pouch rule is similar to the cats rule... you can have up to three. One's fine, need somewhere to store your civilian stuff when heroing … I mean, even *Superman* has a pouch in his cape, you know? Two? You can do two pouches. One for each leg, good for mechanics and the like. Three? Well, that's one at the small of the back and two more but … you've got as much there as a police officer's belt and those things are notoriously blocky and cumbersome.

More than that?

You've gone full Liefeld.

You never go full Liefeld.

For those who've read the rather keen Primus sourcebook from back in the day, you'd know of the rather terrible origins of the Cyberline treatment and the process that creates the Silver and Golden Avengers. That was well over 20 years ago, however, and the world has moved on.

Assuming that the program was exposed and terminated, what would you use to replace it? Would Primus agents go 'cold turkey' and then turn into regular agents? Would Silver Avengers vanish? What replaces them? A new Super Soldier treatment? Androids? Cybernetic upgrades? Everybody wears power armor? Or does the entire organization go belly up from the release of the information and Until just steps in to every area that Primus once filled?

What does Primus 2020 look like to you?

I think the pouch rule is similar to the cats rule... you can have up to three. One's fine, need somewhere to store your civilian stuff when heroing … I mean, even *Superman* has a pouch in his cape, you know? Two? You can do two pouches. One for each leg, good for mechanics and the like. Three? Well, that's one at the small of the back and two more but … you've got as much there as a police officer's belt and those things are notoriously blocky and cumbersome.

More than that?

You've gone full Liefeld.

You never go full Liefeld.

I think the pouch rule is similar to the cats rule... you can have up to three. One's fine, need somewhere to store your civilian stuff when heroing … I mean, even *Superman* has a pouch in his cape, you know? Two? You can do two pouches. One for each leg, good for mechanics and the like. Three? Well, that's one at the small of the back and two more but … you've got as much there as a police officer's belt and those things are notoriously blocky and cumbersome.

More than that?

You've gone full Liefeld.

You never go full Liefeld.

I think the pouch rule is similar to the cats rule... you can have up to three. One's fine, need somewhere to store your civilian stuff when heroing … I mean, even *Superman* has a pouch in his cape, you know? Two? You can do two pouches. One for each leg, good for mechanics and the like. Three? Well, that's one at the small of the back and two more but … you've got as much there as a police officer's belt and those things are notoriously blocky and cumbersome.

More than that?

You've gone full Liefeld.

You never go full Liefeld.

Oh, absolutely, the goal here is to purge the darkness and bring Primus back into being a positive agency, out there doing the right thing.

One of the big steps, IMHO, is to bring back the civilian oversite aspect: There'll be a bureaucrat as the top of the agency, with the Golden Avenger being the #1 field agent, in command of the Avengers, but NOT the commander of Primus as a whole. There'll wind up being several department heads:

Avenger program
Field Agents
Science
Undercover ops
Bureaucracy

There may or may not be a slot for the powersuit corps … normally they're under Field Agent, but there's potential to move them to, say, "Incarcerations" and put Stronghold under Primus' overall control, moving the suits to mostly prisoner transport and guard, rather than being a deployable asset for battle. The last slot, bureaucracy, is actualy the majority of people … cooks, janitors, paper-pushers, psychologists, etc, who make the whole org tick.

Oh, absolutely, the goal here is to purge the darkness and bring Primus back into being a positive agency, out there doing the right thing.

One of the big steps, IMHO, is to bring back the civilian oversite aspect: There'll be a bureaucrat as the top of the agency, with the Golden Avenger being the #1 field agent, in command of the Avengers, but NOT the commander of Primus as a whole. There'll wind up being several department heads:

Avenger program
Field Agents
Science
Undercover ops
Bureaucracy

There may or may not be a slot for the powersuit corps … normally they're under Field Agent, but there's potential to move them to, say, "Incarcerations" and put Stronghold under Primus' overall control, moving the suits to mostly prisoner transport and guard, rather than being a deployable asset for battle. The last slot, bureaucracy, is actualy the majority of people … cooks, janitors, paper-pushers, psychologists, etc, who make the whole org tick.

Oh, absolutely, the goal here is to purge the darkness and bring Primus back into being a positive agency, out there doing the right thing.

One of the big steps, IMHO, is to bring back the civilian oversite aspect: There'll be a bureaucrat as the top of the agency, with the Golden Avenger being the #1 field agent, in command of the Avengers, but NOT the commander of Primus as a whole. There'll wind up being several department heads:

Avenger program
Field Agents
Science
Undercover ops
Bureaucracy

There may or may not be a slot for the powersuit corps … normally they're under Field Agent, but there's potential to move them to, say, "Incarcerations" and put Stronghold under Primus' overall control, moving the suits to mostly prisoner transport and guard, rather than being a deployable asset for battle. The last slot, bureaucracy, is actualy the majority of people … cooks, janitors, paper-pushers, psychologists, etc, who make the whole org tick.

For those who've read the rather keen Primus sourcebook from back in the day, you'd know of the rather terrible origins of the Cyberline treatment and the process that creates the Silver and Golden Avengers. That was well over 20 years ago, however, and the world has moved on.

Assuming that the program was exposed and terminated, what would you use to replace it? Would Primus agents go 'cold turkey' and then turn into regular agents? Would Silver Avengers vanish? What replaces them? A new Super Soldier treatment? Androids? Cybernetic upgrades? Everybody wears power armor? Or does the entire organization go belly up from the release of the information and Until just steps in to every area that Primus once filled?

What does Primus 2020 look like to you?

For those who've read the rather keen Primus sourcebook from back in the day, you'd know of the rather terrible origins of the Cyberline treatment and the process that creates the Silver and Golden Avengers. That was well over 20 years ago, however, and the world has moved on.

Assuming that the program was exposed and terminated, what would you use to replace it? Would Primus agents go 'cold turkey' and then turn into regular agents? Would Silver Avengers vanish? What replaces them? A new Super Soldier treatment? Androids? Cybernetic upgrades? Everybody wears power armor? Or does the entire organization go belly up from the release of the information and Until just steps in to every area that Primus once filled?

What does Primus 2020 look like to you?

Thunder and lightning have GOT to be part of this somehow. Either the first ones to go through it, the same judge involved, serving as the team's mentors for a month before their time runs out, arch-foes, or have their kid being the team liason who talks about how their parents got a second chance and squandered it, so now it's their turn to try and help out.

But it calls out for 'em.

Thunder and lightning have GOT to be part of this somehow. Either the first ones to go through it, the same judge involved, serving as the team's mentors for a month before their time runs out, arch-foes, or have their kid being the team liason who talks about how their parents got a second chance and squandered it, so now it's their turn to try and help out.

But it calls out for 'em.