Whimsy Cards and Mighty Super Heroes!

Okay I refuse to let the only writing I do today be that self-indulgence from earlier, so here is something I have been working on since last week and wanted to get done.

As recent readers know I am going to run a heavily house ruled version of Marvel Super Heroes from TSR that I have rebranded Might Super Heroes, because I am oh-so clever and MSH.

On top of creating my own Colour Chart for use in the game, since I changed the ranks a wee bit and use the Blue Result after years of resisting it, I wanted to add in something that has been a staple of my gaming for years.

Whimsy Cards.

I first encountered Whimsy Cards in TORG, a game I loathed, but the cards really sang to me.  Years later I saw an article in an RPG APA I was part of on how to adapt these cards to WEG's Star Wars game (remember how much I love D6?).  Well that just showed me that I could adapt them to MSH easily as well.

So I did.

Over the decades (literally) these cards have mutated and changed.  I've added, removed and adjusted cards until I got the set I now use for MSH, though I've made them for almost every system I have ever run.

Without further ado here is how they work.

• Each player has a hand of 5 cards.
• Only 1 card per player can be played per round.
• Instead of playing a card into action, the player can choose to play it into their pool.
• Pool cards can be played at one time, breaking the 1 card per 1 round rule.
• Cards are only replenished at the beginning of a new scene, though do not replenish unplayed cards in a pool, they count towards the player's hand.

Pretty simple right?

The cards themselves are an eclectic mix of adding bonuses here and there, giving a karma boost or the all-powerful subplot cards that allow for very specific in game effects.

Without going into too much detail, the cards are pretty much self explanatory, though there are a couple of Subplot Cards that have a * on them which means there is more than what is written on the card, due to space limits.

The Mano-A-Mano card says; "You and a single foe gain +2CS vs. each other until the end of the fight." but more so there are 2 more rules that you can choose to add.  The first is that if anyone attacks either of you, other than each other, the bonus ends, breaking the one-on-one dynamic.  The other rule is that if the opponent you've played this card on also happens to be your Nemesis (from the Quirks) the bonus is raised to +3CS.

The Master Plan card says; "Pick up the last card played." but a more practical rule is to limit the Rally card from being allowed to be picked up.  The Rally card lets the players discard as many cards as they want and draw new hands.  I have seen Master Plan, Rally, Master Plan, Rally events happen and it is a tad abusive.  Your mileage may vary.

The Self-Sacrifice card says; "Your hero dies so your allies can escape." which is great, but I also give that player's next character 200 bonus starting Karma, just 'cause.

Again the rest of the cards are pretty self-explanatory so I encourage you to give them a read.

I have put a zip file of them here in sheet form for your usage, with a card back that has my custom colour chart values, but these cards can be used as is with rules-as-written MSH, so no worries there.

Cheers!

Mighty Super Heroes A.K.A. FASERIP or MSH

Well mid-summer is upon us and as happens every year to my gaming group we lose players every session due to live, trips, work and vacations.

As such I find it is best to run a campaign where folks can drop in and out between sessions and not disrupt the storyline/plot.

Superheroic roleplaying to the rescue!

When it comes to superheroes there is only one game that all my players can agree on and that is Marvel Super Heroes Roleplaying Game from TSR, a.k.a. FASERIP, though we just called it MSH.

This is in no way a slight against any other game, especially SUPERS! of which I am a part owner, it is just that I game with people mostly my age and they know MSH well and more importantly they don't want to learn a new system most of the time.

So with that in mind I have begun work on a new campaign for them, which has kept me creative and excited!  More on that campaign in a future post (and I will try to cross-stat it for SUPERS! as well).

Go here for full size!

The first thing I had to do was gather my House Rules, that is the easiest as some I have used for the past almost 30 years of playing MSH and some I grab off the internet.

Then I make a colour chart to include said house rules, it looks something like this.  I am rather proud of that myself.

Go here for full size!

Next I make the astounding (amazing? remarkable?) Unipage!  This is a one
page sheet that provides some important stuff for players to have for the games.

Lastly I have my Whimsy Cards, of which I am very proud!

With that I await the first session and updating you with not only excitement and drama, but some stats as well!

Cheers!

What Goes Through My Mind?

System Mania!

So as those of you who have been following this blog know I plan to release villain roster books for BASH Ultimate Edition, ICONS and Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition.

I had hoped to do Villains & Vigilantes, Champions and a couple of others, but in the end they either never got back to my request, or I didn't like their licensing deals.

But...

You also know that I plan to post up Zenith Universe heroes for free on the website, so there need be no licensing issues as I believe it falls under the provisions of "fair use".  Please correct me if I am wrong on this one.

So what systems would you like to see heroes statted up in?  The above three are a given, plus V&V and Champions.  I was also thinking 4C and SAGA as well.

Any others?

Cheers!

Just What Is The Silver Age?

"A silver age is a name often given to a particular period within a history, typically as a lesser and later successor to a golden age, the metal silver generally being valuable, but less so than gold."

Nope that sounds bad. Making it not as good as the Golden Age. Hmmmmm.

"The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the period from 1956 to circa 1970, and was succeeded by the Bronze and Modern Ages."

Well that just tells me when it was... le sigh. I need a better definition of what the Silver Age was... what it means.

Wikipedia you have failed me!

"The Silver Age of comic books began with the “second generation” of superheroes from 1959 to 1963 or so. Silver Age comics tended to feature more powerful heroes than their Golden Age predecessors (with the exception of a few godlike Golden Age characters). Silver Age comics also had a decidedly science fiction bent to them, with more aliens, fantastic technology, and scientific origins, especially involving atomic energy and related mutations. Many classic comic book characters first appeared in the Silver Age, or settled into their now-familiar forms and mythologies during this time."

That's from Mutants & Masterminds by-the-way.

Hmmm... it doesn't really help though does it?

Okay science and aliens are up. Got it. The classic characters either start or settle into themselves in this era. I am guessing that means what we know as the Flash, Wonder-Woman, Batman and Superman from DC or the entirety of Marvel Comics.

It would be fair to say that DC's Silver Age was much sillier than Marvel comics, though some also say that Marvel Comics are part of the "Atomic Age", though I am not going into that in this campaign.

So for me, the idea of the Silver Age becomes defining it for myself with an eye to what it was in the real world of comics. Those comics range from the 50s to about 1970. Interestingly enough that is an age that starts, in American history, as a sort of idealized innocence and ends with that innocence ripped away and reality really hitting home. The Korean War vs the Vietnam War. Eisenhower's America vs the Civil Rights movement. Elvis Presley vs the Beatles. Okay I better stop I can do this all day.

So given that my Silver Age needs to start with an idealized and somewhat naive view and end with a more realistic view, that gives way to the Bronze Age.

So at the end of the Golden Age we have the postwar heroes falling victim to the "Red Menace" fears and Dr. Dynamite getting shot. The other heroes have all but retired or vanished. Some have stuck it out, like Guardsman, who is very much into the whole 1950s America. White picket fence, nuclear family, etc... Racisim exists but no one talks about it in polite company and while there may be greasers, most middle-class white kids are essentially what Archie comics gave us. Oh and no one talks about the poor people.

In my timeline I have the SS Titan getting hi-jacked in 1958. A but late for the Silver Age to kick off, certainly later than the 1953 or 56 proposed in the above quotes. I had certainly decided that before I had created the idea of Guardsman as well. Still it is easy to say that with Guardsman running around doing various "American Things" in the early to mid 50s and Captain Comet showing up in 1958 the Silver Age get's kicked off with a flood of new heroes.

Though that makes me unhappy as well, for it means I lose out on the wonder and excitement of the whole early and mid 50s idealism and innocence. Interesting the onyl superheroes of note in those days in our world were Superman and I think Batman. Wonder Woman may have been in that time as well, I can't remember. Oh and there may have been a commie battling Captain America as well. Hmmm.

So I either adjust my timeline and move the beginning of the Silver Age back, or have Captain Comet show up earlier in the timeline, which is the same as moving the beginning back.

Now I am just thinking out loud.

I suspect I will need to do more research on this and so I will end this post by asking any and all of you to feel free to comment or share your thoughts on this topic.

Cheers.

Zenith Comics Universe: The Golden Age or What's Going On?

So today those of you who follow this blog were bombarded by information about the Golden Age in the Zenith Comics Universe and there should be at least a couple of questions in your minds now if I have done my job correctly.

I would love nothing more than to peel back the curtain and give you the inside scoop, but alas players in the campaign read this blog too.

Damn players. ;)

Take heart though, because part of the campaign will be learning the truth about the Golden Age and such. So when the sessions notes start coming, the story should unfold a bit more.

Now that I have this done, I can turn my attention to the Silver and Bronze Ages, without that 4 colour distraction nagging at the back of my brain.

Zenith Comics Universe: Golden Lies

The following is a transcript from a late November 1983 broadcast of “The Nightowl” radio talk show on WMSH 1460 AM in Capitol City. The interviewer is right-winged host , Jack Porter.

=-=-=-=-=

Porter: (Slightly monotone voice) Joining us in the studio this hour is Robert Hoyt, who has written a book entitled “Golden Lies: A True History of the Golden Age of Heroes”. A book that… well.. a book that takes everything you thought you knew about the Golden Age and turns it on its’ ear. That about sum it up right Bob?

Hoyt: (Nervous) Yes Jack, that’s about the long and the short of it.

Porter: (matter of factly) So Sun Man was a homosexual?

Hoyt: That’s correct.

Porter: Dr. Dynamite was assassinated on purpose?

Hoyt: Yes

Porter: Supergang and the Sentinels fought the Swastika Seven together… (nonchalantly) well we’ve all heard that one before…

Hoyt: (laughs a bit) Yes one of the worst kept secrets of the…

Porter: (Interrupting him) Ubermann was created by Doc Titan’s brother and was brought to America after the war?

Hoyt: Yes (swallows as if setting himself) Piter Titansky was trapped in Poland where he lived with their mother after the divorce in 1928, while Phineas…

Porter: (Cutting him off) But here’s the biggest bombshell of the book… There was no Castle Fear? Are you listening friends. The Victory Squad never fought at Castle Fear and … hang on to your seats on this one… They were killed in Berlin fighting Ubermann over Hitler’s bunker! Can you believe that!?

Hyot: (Hesitant sensing a trap) Yes… that’s true Jack…

Porter: (Not stopping) And they were all killed! Major Victory? Killed there. Kid Victory? Yup! Spangle? (speaks staccato) Torn in half by Uberfrau. (back to normal) That’s right!

Hoyt: This was all seen…

Porter: (still going) And Lady America! That’s right, our own beloved Lady A was killed as well. (goes deep serious voice) Think about this for a second. (pause) Lady America. Dead in 1945. So who has been running around as her since then?

Hoyt: Well they…

Porter: (Explosively interrupting) A succession of replacement women! Trained for the job and surgically altered to look just like the original! Can you believe it listeners?

Hoyt: (Emphatically) Yes Jack! And this is all true!

Porter: So why not have the other three, Major Victory and Kid Victory? And the girl, Spangle? Why not have them running around too? Why create this whole Castle Fear story?

Hoyt: (Sheepishly) That I don’t know Jack.

Porter: (Decidedly) You don’t know. (sighs) You just don’t know.

Hoyt: The rest of this information comes from a good source though! I…

Porter: (Interrupting aggressively) Your source was none other than Lady America herself!

Hoyt: (Triumphantly) That’s right!

Porter: (Condescendingly) In 1982! 1982! Everyone knows that was not really Lady America at all! That was an evil clone! Set loose by the Citadel no-less! And you expect us to believe anything this woman had to say?

Hoyt: (Fighting back but not strong) What… what about the Russian soldier who witnessed the fight in Berlin?

Porter: (Dismissive) A Commie soldier? What are you crazy? Those pinkos would say anything to discredit our great nation, especially in our greatest victory! Poppycock!

Hoyt: (almost a mewling sound) But you don’t… I need to…

::Microphone Feedback::

Porter: That’s it! I’ve cut off your microphone! Now I want security to get this lunatic out of the station right now! We gotta go to break! (Yelling away from mic) GET SECURITY IN HERE!

=-=-=-=-=-=

It should be noted that Robert Hoyt committed suicide three weeks later when the publisher of this book, Heritage Press, refused to pay him for the book, leaving him penniless.

Zenith Comics Universe: The Golden Age

This essay is taken from the book "The Golden Age; A Collection of Essays on the Heroes of Yesterday" by Tribune Press, from 1981. These are the thoughts of Air Force Major Amanda Reese, the first female pilot to engage in a dogfight with enemy fighters. Her call sign is "Lady A" after her favorite superhero and role model Lady America.

1. Before The War

The Golden Age, as it has been called by historians, is the age wherein the "Super-Hero" or "Mystery-Men" first appeared. It's official staring date would be 1935, when the Masked Avenger broke up a Chicago gangland gambling den and killed Mob Boss Victor Sciscenti in retaliation for the deaths of nine Chicago police officers. He never took a name, and in fact was given the moniker the Masked Avenger by the papers, based on eye-witness accounts. Although the Masked Avenger was enigmatic, he did from time-to-time come into contact with other members of the Golden Age elite, but her never joined a team, and no one ever found out who he was under the mask.

Within one year of the Masked Avenger's beginning exploits, there occurred an explosion of super-heroes and mystery-men across North America, and in a limited sense overseas. Perhaps some of the most notable of the time were Golden Gloves and Sunboy, who would go on to become Sunman later in the early 40’s. Golden Gloves was nothing more than a boxer turned crime-fighter when the Irish mob began terrorizing non-Irish immigrants in Hell's Kitchen, New York city. Sunboy was the promise of what tomorrow would bring, he was just a teenager from the Mid-West who was imbued with the powers of the Sun, of course he could operate at night, but then only at half power due to the reflected sunlight of the moon. These two set the stage for the rest to come. They were in fact the models that all others would be based for awhile.

The first collection of supers as a team was not heroes, but in fact a group of villains calling themselves the Supergang. Lead by a man named Black Eagle, these villains perpetrated scores of crimes, only ever being stopped, and never captured by super-heroes of the time.

The response to their teaming was the formation of a team of mystery men called appropriately enough, the Gangbusters. Made up of a half dozen of the union suit vigilantes of the day, they would stick together until the war and keep the streets of New York City as safe as could be.

The is also a story that suggests that during the war, Supergang and members of the United Sentinels of America (hereafter: USofA) teamed up to stop a team of 5th columnists called the Swastika Seven from destroying the then Boulder Dam. While there is no proof to back this story, those surviving members of the USofA have never denied it.

One other person of note would be the first woman to don a costume and take up crime fighting. Although she would be the first to retire, in 1942 with a spinal injury causing her to lose the use of her legs, Night Woman was a figure-head for the other women heroes to come. She was in fact the widow of a man who had decided to try and fight crime as Night Man. After about 2 months of action, he was shot by the mob and barely managed to get home, where he died in his wife's arms. Enraged, she chose to extract a measure of revenge on the mob for the murder, and copied her husbands plans and desires. On January 10th, 1940, she made her first move, smashing up the book-making offices of the mobsters who killed her husband. This brought her to the attention of the Masked Avenger, with whom she teamed for almost the rest of her career. Night Woman suffered her injury at the hands of the Mafia connected hitman Hammer Hurricane (who would later gain powers under less than noble circumstance) during a battle in the Bowery section of New York City. Lucky to be alive, she retired and faded from the stage, and was never heard from again. Still she had broken ground and paved the way for other such notable heroines as Silver Sparrow, Grass Hopper, Lady Luck and Miss Liberty, all of whom would have a major impact on the Golden Age, each in her own way.

Silver Sparrow and Grasshopper were the first America supers to battle Nazi saboteurs, In New York on December 21st 1941. This action caught the attention of local newspapers and soon their names were well known to Americans. It is sad how many texts on the time still credit these two as being the first super-heroines, as Night Woman had a very quiet career and disappeared relatively quickly. It is equally sad how Grasshopper, a Japanese-American, was interred during the war, a black spot on our nation’s history to be sure.

The concept of Lady Luck and Miss Liberty was cooked up by the War Department as a way to sponsor war bonds. A talent search was held, and the two ladies who won had their visages plastered all over America. They became an overnight sensation, and did more touring than crime-fighting, but still they managed to make a huge impression and develop a following. An interesting side-note is that neither woman was super-powered in any way, and aside from gymnastics training, neither had any combat related skills to speak of. Still they were invited to join the USofA after the war. In light now of how their lives ended, they may have been on the greatest losses of the aftermath of the Golden Age.

2. Heroes At War

The war was the next major event for the heroes, and it produced the newest form of super-hero, the patriot. Contrary to popular opinion the first flag-wrapped hero did not come from America, but in fact from it's northern neighbor Canada. Already involved in the war, before the Americans, the Canadian Government, along with British support, began a project to create a super-hero under controlled conditions. They labored for a year, and on January 21st, 1940 they struck success by bonding a strange energy to a man who would become the Red Ensign, the carrier of the flag, and the first official super-hero to do battle with the Nazis. The Red Ensign was also without a doubt the most powerful hero of his day, he could lift in excess of 20 tons, rifle rounds bounced off of him and tank shells only knocked him to the ground. He could fly by controlling the winds around him and seemed immune to aging and disease. Only later would it be discovered that the energy that had been fused to him was in fact an air-elemental, and that it was slowly taking over his body.

Although this was the first allied hero, the Japanese, Italians and Germans already had super-powered soldiers in the field. Hengeyokai, Yokozuna and Tsunami lead the charge for the Japanese in 1931 against the Manchurians. Imperator crushed opposition for Italy during the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 and Übermann, Überfrau, Herr Vulture, Wotan and Stuka were unveiled by Hitler in 1938. While these were to be the first Axis supers, they would not be the last, and even benefited from a Soviet super by the name of Vikuz, although she left and joined up with allied supers after Hitler's betrayal of Russia in 1941.

America was not to be left behind in the super-hero race, and astounded Commonwealth scientists by producing not one, but three super-powered soldiers only one year after their success with the Red Ensign. Using a technique that is perhaps still one of the closest guarded secrets in the world, the War Department was able to take four normal people, one man, one woman, a young boy and a teenage girl, and enhance their physical attributes to the peak of human conditioning. The three were rushed into intensive training, and emerged as Major Victory, Lady America, Kid Victory and Spangle.

Once the war was under way, many felt it was important for the heroes to come to the aid of their government and fight in the war, but that would not be. Excluding an elite group of heroes and mystery men, code-named the Victory Squad, put together by the Allies for that purpose, the majority of heroes and mystery-men would never leave North American shores during the war. The reason for this was the belief that the Axis Supers would be drawn into the fray and many lives would be lost. The Victory Squad’s purpose was simple, neutralize the Axis supers. To this end they were joined by a number of European supers, and even an supposed Atlantean called Mermaid. There would be two more mystically inclined supers to join up; from England, the English Knight, a man who claimed to wield the magical sword of King Arthur, Excalibur, and from Greece, Aegis, whose sword, helmet, shield, armor, bow and sandals were supposedly gifts from the Olympian gods of old. Whether that fact was true of not is irrelevant to this text, both men would face foes who claimed to be their mystical antithesis. For the English Knight there was Sir Blood, who claimed to be a vampiric knight empowered by Morgan LeFey. While it was never proven, Sir Blood did posses abilities classically attributed to such undead creatures. Aegis though faced an even older threat; according to his own testimony, Imperator was granted magical artifacts of war by Ares, the Olympian god of war, who wished to see the struggle in Europe continue. While there is much debate as to whether or not these claims were true, most who witnessed the clashing of these titans agree that they did in fact wield powerful artifacts.

Certain heroes even hung up their cowls and joined the armed forces, wanting to fight for their country. Some even ignored the decision from the War Department for them not to engage the enemy and headed overseas anyways. The war certainly was a test of fire for the heroes, as they spent the majority of it protecting the home-front against subterfuge and terrorism perpetrated by the enemy. The largest collection of these heroes and heroines would be the USofA. Formed by Golden Gloves and Sunman, by the war's end almost every home-front hero would be a member. Still, the names of the originals are perhaps the most important of the day, they were Golden Gloves, Sunman, Dr. Dynamite, Grasshopper, Silver Sparrow, Thunder-Man and Doc Titan. These seven would form the backbone of the team and remain loyal to it's ranks until the very end.

Another home-front team that did not fair as well were the Mysterymen. Only three strong, The Mysterymen fought against saboteurs and fifth columnists on the west coast. Comprised of the enigmatic Silver Squid, the hulking Stone and the quantum powered Schrodinger Kid, the team met its end when they were forced off a sea-side road during a high speed chase with Nazi agents, crashing more than two-hundred feet to their deaths. Never incurring much press or media, they still managed to provide an example of all American's desire to what they could during the war.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the war was the loss of a number of heroes in battle at Castle Fear, near the war's end. Lead by the Victory Squad, every Allied hero and Axis super in the European Theatre were there. While the details remain sketchy and classified, it is known that during the battle the USofA arrived to lend a hand, which helped to turn the tide in favor of the heroes. Of the losses, it is known that the British super Hawker was killed by Stuka, Canadian hero Grizzly by Wotan and Spangle was killed at the hands of Überfrau. The falling of these heroes seemed to unleash the fury of the Allied supers against their enemies and more than eight fell on either side, including Major Victory and Kid Victory. Oddly enough, there are reports that some sort of advanced robot, housing the brain of Hitler emerged from a spatial vortex and aided many of the Axis supers in fleeing. While the American government nicknamed this robot the Iron Fuhrer, they did not honestly accept its existence as a reality. Other than the heroes and villains who witnessed the event there is no proof to collaborate their testimony. Regardless of these rumors, the battle broke the will of the Axis supers who were routed, many escaping into the Alps. Those that were captured would go on to stand trial at Nuremberg.

All-in-all the war time took it toll of the population of heroes with some deaths, some disappearances and some retirements, but for the most part they went on strong. In 1949 the USofA held it's last meeting, and official disbanded. Many recall it as a tearful day, and the press covered it almost as much as the day the war ended. For many an era had come to an end, but it was not so, as soon enough many villains, including the Supergang returned to threaten the world. The American people called for their heroes again, and they returned. On a cold October night in 1950 the USofA returned to battle Supergang one last time. Lead by Sunman and Golden Gloves, they were heroes to millions and seen as the only heroes who could stand for all that was good about America. It was not to last.

3. The End Of The Golden Age

The end of America's Golden Age heroes was not one that befit all that they had accomplished. Mired down by paranoid-anti-communist fears, they were soon turned on by those they had sworn to protect, and many voluntarily went into retirement to protect their families. In 1952 the Golden Age truly came to an end when Dr. Dynamite was shot and killed while fleeing police who were under orders to arrest him due to the Superhuman Loyalty Act.

4. Last Notes

I would go into details on the events that ended the Golden Age here, but it is really a tale more fitting the Silver Age. I say this because while it was the close of one age, it was instrumental in the formation of the next. Also, for very personal reasons, I find it hard to write objectively about what I and many others see, as the betrayal of America's greatest heroes, and I shall leave it at that.

I hope that this short treatise will serve to further this document on the history of super-heroes, as it culminates over 25 years of research. My prayer is that perhaps, in these darker times, people can take hope from the past and maybe understand why more than ever the world needs heroes. I hope you enjoyed it and more importantly share it, we must never forget.

Amanda Reese, April 4th, 1981.

I Had A Strange Dream

I don't normally do this, but it was so vibrant that I felt the need to get it down and heck why not share it.

It started out I was home in the Gaspé visiting my father when I noticed some police going through our basement. I mean a lot of police. So I went down to find out what the hell was going on and was pretty much told to mind my own business.

My father was there and he demanded to know as well, this angered the police who tried to threaten us away, but my father held his ground until one of the cops got fed up, he seemed to be in charge, and grabbed by father's head and snapped his neck with inhuman strength.

"Kill the other one."

On hearing that I tackled the closest cop and wrestle his gun away. Shots were fired. I know I hit at least two of them, including the leader who I killed.

The dream then had me on the run, through shrubs and bushes and backyards. I avoid a dog, some kids out playing on their bikes late at night, etc... Somehow I have been on the run for months and have made it from Gaspé to Vancouver, where I used to live (for anyone who doesn't know Canadian geography that's like going from Cape Code to Seattle). The other things I have figured out is that the cops I saw were actually aliens pretending to be humans and that they had infiltrated our society on every level.

Shades of V, They Live and the Arrival... I know, but hey I didn't write this stuff... or did I? What creative control do we have over dreams? Sorry, getting off topic.

So I am back in Vancouver, where being a homeless drifter is easy to blend in. For some reason I am heading to a semi-private bar I used to drink at called the WISE Club (Welsh, Irish, Scottish and English Club), though I have no lucid knowledge why in the dream.

Once inside I see Monte, who I used to drink scotch with. He lets me in and tells me to go clean myself up in the bathroom. I do and then come out of the stall to be greeted by two goons, who I quickly learn are aliens. Naturally a fight breaks out and I am not doing well as these Aliens are super strong.

I manage to run, and suddenly I am not longer in the WISE but some sort of truck stop/motel. I don't know. I manage to kill one of the aliens chasing me with a hastily grabbed fire-axe and just as the other is about to shoot me he is instead shot in a timely fashion. I look up to see a young black man and a young white blonde woman. They give me to old "Come with us if you want to live."

I go with them where they introduce me to an older scientist lady in a wheel chair, played by Kate Bush in this dream. I have "cleaned up good", naturally as you do in such films, and Dr. Kate starts to explain what is going on.

The aliens have been here for years, slowly infiltrating all levels of power. They use a visual light-bending technique to hide from us, in plain sight, but she has developed a lense that let's you see them. Told you it had They Live elements in it.

She tells me that she is part of a resistance that are trying to figure what the aliens want and how to stop them if possible. When I ask her how she knew about me, on cue Monte enters the scene, just like in a good movie.

I put in the contact lenses and we go for a walk around Vancouver, Gas Town to be precise. I can see these aliens everywhere. They are talk and ugly with big black eyes, essentially a mix of the Psychlos and the Greys. That's right, Battlefield Earth has infiltrated my dreams. Dear goddess help me.

We fast forward somewhat, I am not a valued part of the team and an action hero it seems. The blonde who rescued me and I have some kind of unspoken mutual romance thing going on, naturally, but dare not speak its name. It's all very Sci-Fi Original, as in not original at all.

There is some sort of raid on our secret base, Blonde Love Interest is kidnapped, Dr. Bush is killed, Monte, Black Guy and I all escape with a captured alien. We are in a field on the other side of a bridge, somewhere in the country. We torture him to get answers, which we do.

Then the phone rings and wakes me up.

Now why am I telling you about this? Well two reasons;

1] I rarely have dreams that follow a cohesive narrative, even one ripped off from a bunch of movies I have seen.

2] This is, as far as I know, an untapped genre in rpgs. The "aliens walk amoung us" type of thing. Why is that?

That's it. That's all I got on this. If you have any thoughts about this, please feel free to share them. Otherwise I am blaming this one on the bad potatoes I fried up for supper.

Zenith Comics Universe

Hi there,

I just felt a need to let you all know that I am reposting the old characters I have put up where need be or making changes to their stories so as to bring them up to speed with the emerging backstory of the Zenith Universe as I develop it further.

The biggest change right now is changing the Golden Guardsmen to the Guardians. It just sits better with me.

I hope to have a basic timeline up and ready this week, before the first session.

Wish me luck ;)

Gyro, Gyro, Gyro!

With those words the hero Spartacus summed up how he felt about Vixen's constant deferral to the hero who was also her lover at the time. Out of game it gave all of us a great laugh and later proved to me how a properly used GMPC can enhance a game, so long as you allow them not to be a Mary Sue and are willing to kill them once in a while.

I don't see GMPCs as a bad thing, though I have read enough horror stories to see how they can go bad. While this is an article for another time, I just wanted to say that if used as a falvouring/seasoning a GMPC can add to a game. If used as a starring role or constantly saving the heroes butts and telling them what to do, then it is a bad thing.

Like too much salt.

I have reposted the "My Thoughts" part of the original posting at the end of this one, but enough about that though.

So here he is, my first hero I ever created back in V&V in 1985 and one of the most iconic characters of the Zenith Universe;



GYRO Richard Wilkerson
35pts (Stats 16/Powers 21/Weakness -2)

Stats

Brawn: 2 Agility: 4 Mind: 2

Weakness
Damaging Weakness: Sonics

Skills
Athletics: Aerobatics
Pilot: Tricks/Evasion/Control
Investigation: Gut

Powers
• Boost: Mind 2 (For Energy Blast)
• Energy Blast: Special Attack 5 [Enhancement: Variable]
- Standard Blast: Mid Range, +1 Hit, +2 Dm
- Short Blast: Close Range +1 Hit +3 Dm
- Long Blast: Long Range, +1 Hit, +1 Dm
- Wide Angle: Close Range, Small Burst, +3 Dm
- Dodge This: +5 Hit
- Haymaker: +5 Dm
- Spin-Blast: Medium Burst, +3 Dm
• Flight 5 [Enhancements: Space]
• Immunity 4 [Suffocation, Vacuum, Temperatures, Radiation]/ Personal Force Field: Armour 3 [Enhancement: Linked]
• Super Speed 5 [Limitations: Only In Flight/Only Movement]

Advantages
Appeal

Disadvantages
Social Stigma: Mocked

Mental Malfunction
To prove himself

Background
Richard Wilkerson was born the son of Nathanial Wilkerson III, owner and head of Avitech, a large military contractor to the US. Raised around aviation it was only natural that Richard would become a pilot. Flying for the USAF, Richard was on a routine mission chasing a stray MiG back across the Bering Strait when something he could never have imagined happened.

A UFO came onto the radar and bathed both Richard’s F-15 Eagle and the Russian’s MiG in a strange golden glow. According to Air Force documents and statements, both jets dropped off radar over the Bering Strait. 2nd Lieutenant Richard Wilkerson was first listed as MIA and then 48 hours later as KIA.

Six months later, a fishing boat off the coast got the surprise of their lifetimes when they pulled a blonde, alive man in with their nets. His Air Force Dog Tags still on, they radioed to shore and were met there by a military detachment.

It is unknown what happened in the debriefing, but this much is know. Wilkerson was discharged after an Air Force Lawyer named Karen Winston brought his story to the media. The Air Force discharged her as well. Wilkerson moved in with her in Seattle for a time, where he began complaining of migraines. Then one night he began glowing with a tremendous golden energy and flew out of their penthouse, not stopping until he reached Japan.

Over a short period of time he came to learn that somehow he had developed tremendous powers. He went to his father immediately, explaining the situation. His father promised to help, but instead called the USAF and offered to hand over his son to them. EAGLE intercepted that call and stepped in.

Richard was given the choice of joining up with EAGLE or returning to the Air Force. He chose EAGLE and very soon found himself with a costume, a code name and a position on Team Justice. Now called Gyro he was suddenly a member of the premiere American super-hero team. To say he fit in would be a lie.

It didn’t take long for Gyro to get kicked out of Team Justice for undisclosed reasons, though rumours say it involved the villainess Trixie of Ravage V. EAGLE then convinced Guardsman to make him a member of the Guardians, which turned out to be the best thing for Gyro.

He respected Guardsman and looked to him as the father he wished he had. He learned to control his powers and his hot headedness under Guardsman’s careful tutelage and watchful eye. Eventually though this too would end for Gyro.

With the details having made all the gossip rags at the time, we will just sum it up by saying his romantic dalliance with Guardsman’s girlfriend at the time Sparrow Hawk, lead to both Gyro and her being removed from the Guardians. In a morbid turn of fortune, this occurred one week before the team was devastated by the Axis of Evil and Guardsman was killed.

Now without a team and cut loose by EAGLE, Gyro has taken up residence in New York City and hopes to prove that there is a hero inside him, the hero that Guardsman told him he could be. If only he could make everyone else see that.

Pictured
Current Cosutme as of 1984 (top right) and original costume (left)

My Thoughts
Gyro was my first character I ever made. I made him in V&V and man did he get into trouble. My buddy Graeme was running the campaign and Gyro was actually a member of Team Justice. Then they captured Trixie from Ravage V and she worked her feminine wiles on poor old Richard and sure as shit he let her go. He was promptly kicked off the team.

When I started the Guardians campaign back in '89, I had Gyro with the rest of the PCs trying out for an open slot on Team Justice. Yup, he was such a thick head that he was determined to get back on the team. Needless to say he didn't make it but he did band with the PCs to stop a fight between King and Mega-Man (no relation), two other tryout rejects.

When they announced to the media that they were forming a superhero team, the first question asked was "Gyro! Gyro! Sally Such-in-such for the Blather Press Daily. Will you be kicked off this team too?" I recall having Gyro lose his temper and declare the press conference was over.

The funny thing was, the players really liked Gyro and decided to make him the team leader. Nowin those days no one in our group knew the term GMPC and certainly I didn't favour Gyro. So much so that years later one of the original players confessed to me that he knew it was a serious night when I had Gyro get killed flying a nuclear bomb into orbit as the first act of the session.

That's right. I killed my pet NPC two sessions into the campaign.

Something most folks won't understand, especially those who have been on the bad end of a GMPC experience, is that I treat my NPCs far worse than my PCs. I beat them, kill them, rape them, torture them, humiliate them, etc... all so that the players understand how the world works. Then I can do it to them without worry of them thinking I am picking on them.

Some players get it, some don't. Those who get it though have been coming to my table on and off for 25 years. So I must be doing something right.

Will Gyro be in the new game? Hell yes. This is the 25th Anniversary game! You bet your ass my first ever superhero will be in it, without a doubt!

25th Anniversary!

So with 2010 right around the corner, I realized something. This is going to be my 25th anniversary of roleplaying! I started way back in 1985 as a freshmen in high school and never looked back int he quarter century since.

Wow.

Unlike most people I didn't start with D&D but actually with FASA's Star Trek game. I quickly moved on to Villains & Vigilantes and then dabbled a bit in D&D.

Fantasy rping always took a back seat to Star Trek or Superheroes, that's just the way it was up until 1989. Then I discovered a game that made all others moot for me, it came in a minimalist black box and cost my $18 at Captain Quebec (uFLGS) and it was called Cyberpunk.

I ran Cyberpunk for years (both 2013 and 2020) and was considered quite a lethal referee. I still am. I have always warned players that all other games I run for them to have fun and explore the world... Cyberpunk I run for me. And I like shootouts, double-crosses and non-stop action. All of these things lead to very high PC bodycounts in Cyberpunk and I am quite fine with that.

The other two themes I have ran to death are Superheroes and Star Trek.

I was the only person in my circle of gamers who held onto MSH Classic (FASERIP) after everyone else had moved on to Mutants & Masterminds. I just never got into all that book keeping. Wasn't for me. MSH was elegant, fast and I could eyeball a threat/power level in seconds. I didn't need to then perform a bunch of caculations based on that eyeballing, all I needed to do was add some ranks and Bob's your uncle.

I have run homegrown campaigns, Marvel Universe campaings, DC Universe campaigns and a weird folded Universe that lasted a bloody longtime as well.

Star Trek is another game I have ran in almost every incarnation, though not the one that came before FASA Trek. I have run Next Gen Campaigns, Movie Gen Campagins, Post-Gen Campaigns and even my own Ultimate Universe version of Star Trek. I have run Prime Directive using the original rules and D6. I know my Trek, but surprisingly only became a fan after I start RPGing it. That is why the FASA Universe will always be in step with how I see Star Trek and as such Movie Gen being Trek to me.

So with my 25th Anniversary of gaming looming I plan to spend 2010 revisiting these awesome genres (as well as continuing work on Final Age) and really have some old school fun with myself. The only difference is that I will use SAGA instead of FASERIP for my supers. I don't know what I will use for Trek and I will use my melange of 2013/2020 rules for Cyberpunk.

It's gonna be a good year for gaming!

Hold The Presses!

I've always wanted to shout that at the top of my lungs.

I just did... in an empty house... highly overrated... moving on.

"Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear."

That quote from Empire Records has always been one of my favorites as it is pretty much spot on for how my creativity works on a fairly regular basis.

Well inspiration has struck once again and I now know what my new superhero campaign will be!

The problem is that I have done every kinda of campaign you can imagine, from Golden Age to actually playing in the late Silver/early Bronze Ages.

I have done Marvel campaigns, DC campaigns and fusion Marvel/DC/Whatever campaigns.

But none of it... not one moment of it has ever compared to the original Guardians campaign from back in 89 - 91. That campaign was magical and so fresh. It started with V&V and ended with MSH. It was the original line up to!

Doc - The mad scientist with the cybernetic arm, that he himself chopped off his perfectly good arm to add. What a dude! He had force fields, which would eventually be the end of him. He was a strange character played by a guy who wasn't into supers, but made the most of it.

Galvanos - The walking-talking Japanese Robo-Samurai. He was originally in the model of Goldorak but once the player saw the Ingram from Patlabor his look changed and never went back. For my money I prefer the original, though the player still doesn't.

The Osprey - The first character that this player ever played with me and frankly one of his best. A strange birdpowered man who was the comic relief of the team, in the vien of the Blue Beetle/Booster Gold hillarity of the JLI.

Cyberknight - A techno swordsman who was played by a friend who soon went off to the armed forces, but he played long enough to cut the power cables on Frostbite's icepack and set off one of the most oft repeated moments in any campagin thereafter.

Then there were two NPCs, Gyro and Cascade.

Gyro was my character in my buddy's V&V campaign in High School and I brought him into this game, warts and all. In modern vernacular he would be called a GMPC, but let me tell you when I killed him in the 3rd session, everyplayer confessed that's when they knew it was for real.

Cascade was from some GURPS Supers supplement, Super Scum I think, and was essentially an aquatic heroine. Truely the only thing that made her stand out as a character was her gentle nature and Australian accent.

That campaign world, Earth Alpha (which grew out of the aformentioned friend's V&V campaign which I inherited) would go on for 3 years and have some truely memorable moments. Characters would die, new ones take their place, other reborn... it was heady stuff for us in our late teens/early twenties.

And I have spent every campaign since then trying to recapture it.

Trying and failing of course. The only campaign that ever came even close was the PONY (Protectors of New York) campaign that last an unfortunate 4 or 5 sessions before I paniced and tanked it. Long story.

So if I look at the original Guardians campaign, what made it work? Well for sure part of it was the age and the times. The late 80's were an interesting time to be alive. For sure. But I suspect it was more than that.

Certainly the random character creation of V&V made a big difference as it forced the players to have to be creative when they made their characters. There were no "concepts" to be worked on, instead they took what was given, and formed a ccharacter out of that and then asked to reroll or change what they needed to as their character idea formed. That was an important part of old school campaigns and something that has been lost for the most part in modern rpging.

The other thing that contributed to it being an amazing game was that it was the first. The first long term campagin I ran. The first time I was the GM. The first time I was in control and not sharing a universe with another GM or just being a player.

So where does that bring me to today?

I can never, ever have that back. Those days are gone and I accept that. It is a hard pill to swallow but I will nonetheless.

But that doesn't mean I can't try something that is a little bit old, a little bit new and a little bit crazy.

The first rule will of course be the need for random characters. No matter what. That spark of creativity is what really pushed the original campaign and allowed for the players to help create the feeling of the team as a group and not in individual vaccums, with little or no contact with each other.

Second, it isn't the Silver/Bronze Age anymore. Hell it isn't even the Iron Age anymore. We have moved beyond once again where the Modern Age is falling in onitself and the next age is looming, but no one knows what that will be.

I think Marvel came damn close though.

The Ultimate Universe was a breath of fresh air, it had the costumes and the wow factor of the Modern Age but the grittiness of the Bronze/Iron Ages and right up to the end of the Ultimates series 2 it was perfect.

So there it is.

The Ultimate Guardians.

What does that mean? It means my old universe through the Ultimate lens.

The Golden Age came and went, there was no Silver Age.

This leads me to believe that BASH does not do what I need it to do.

I need that randomness and that anything-can-happen factor.

As it stands right now, Villains & Vigilantes does address that. I may just have to reconsider.

Arrrggghhhh! Damn my creative brain!

And The Winner Is?

After reading and skimming about a dozen superhero RPGs, I have decided that BASH Ultimate Edition will be the system I will use for my new campaign.

I feel that BASH does an excellent job of mixing fast action with fairly in depth character creation.

While a couple of rules don't sit right with me, and there is room for a lot more Advantages and Disadvantages, I think in the end a House Rule here or there and I have what I need.

More on that as I develop it.

What Should Me Next Campaign Be?

So with only one more session (maybe two) to go for the first part of "New Dawn of the West" and the "Final Age" campaign group just getting underway, I have come to need a new campaign for the NDotW gang.

Now first off, I really don't expect anyone to reply to this. I rarely get comments or feel like anyone is reading this, so perhaps this is a masturbatory act of posting. Then again you never know.

Moving on.

I was thinking about doing some supers, but to be honest none of the available superhero systems appeal to me anymore and I just don't have the energy to write my own (despite my last post) and think that it may slide to beyond back burner status as a project.

Cyberpunk and Star Wars both bore me too quickly. As well Cyberpunk is oh so deadly which makes running a campaign a hard thing to do.

Not really up for another fantasy campaign, as I have one going with the other group and need time to clear the pallet with this one.

Star Trek... maybe, maybe Prime Directive... That I just don't know.

So suggestions? Oh and Horror gaming is right out with this group.

So yeah. Suggestions?

Villains, Mutants and Champions!

Okay I accept that is a less than inspired title.

Still, made you look ;)

Well recently I took a break from working on my post-apocalyptic-savage-fantasy setting and let my mind wander into superheroes territory. Now any of you who follow my blog, Earth Alpha, know that I have been reading all kinds of superhero games recently and just not been finding what makes me happy or clicks for what I want.

• MSH Classic (FASERIP) - Been running this exclusively since about 1989. So very very tired of it. It lacks the excitement and such. My players know every maneuver, power, etc... Also it is a rather black and white system that is a touch too simple for me.

• MSH SAGA - Again, plyed it quite a bit and while I like it, it lacks a certain "WOW" factor that I am seeking. Love the card based resolution, but I lost my cards a long time ago and my my my but they are expensive to replace from the used rpg market.

• BASH Ultimate Edition - A very, very good game. The Ultimate Edition nearly won me over. The production value is top shelf and the presentation vastly improved over the basic edition (which I have openly stated I did not like). My only issue is, like FASERIP it is too simple and in itself, one of its primary design philosophies doesn't work for me. It isn't granular enough.

• V&V - I love Villains & Vigilantes, I really, really do... but she is old and she shows her age. Though she does have some of the stuff I really like in a supers game. The characters grow in ability not powers. The powers are pretty much predefined. There is room to wiggle. But oh my the system is clunky.

• M&M/Champions - I respect the hell out of Mutants & Masterminds and Champions, they are complete games that work very very well. I just can't stand games that fiddly. I hate building my powers (give me a power called Gravity Control and tell me what it does instead of me building a set of effects with the trappings of Gravity control) so those systems never work for me as a player or a gm.

• SW/D6 - Both of these have produced some fantastic super power books/supplements, specifically D6 Powers Revised and the Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion. But neither one has really captured me as a system. SW in particular never feels when I read it like it would work for a long term campaign.

• DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes - I tried this game back in the day, and while I think the AP system is wonderful in its own way, it just doesn't do it for me. I know that there are legions of fans for it, but not for me.

• The Rest - GURPS Supers, Heroes Unlimited, Squadron UK/Golden Heroes, Truth & Justice, Supercrew, etc... most of these are either really awkward games, or just systems I don't really like. Not to disparage though, I think Supercrew and T&J are very innovative games, just lacking the variety of crunch I prefer.

I was beginning to lose hope.

So given that I recently was doing some game design and such, I started looking at the SIEGE style of gaming (Castles & Crusades/StarSIEGE)and that lead me to some places I hadn't thought of yet. I found a thread about "Super SIEGE" on the Troll Lord Games forums that didn't seem to be going anywhere except "Wait for Vigilance" which, while it sounds very interesting, supers by gaslight isn't my cup-of-tea. So I started reading the vast amount of d20 superhero games that came out that weren't M&M.

As a side note, I find it rather sad that once M&M tore up the market most other d20 super-games kind of went to the wayside or were abandoned. A testament to the power of M&M to be sure, but I find M&M offers only one style of superhero gaming in the d20 pool, and that one is closely based on Champions.

As I read along, and reread V&V I started to see that a lot of what V&V is was essentially the first d20 Superhero game. Well after a fashion of course.

So what do I want out of a superhero game?

For starters no bloody point builds. Either random, or pick. Random I am starting to like, because it forces a level of creativity that has long been missing in modern gaming. Pick I like because it helps with concept. A mix or the two, or a random, drop and pick, reroll, something... I don't know.

I am also good with a d20/C&C based system. I used to think levels and classes didn't work for supers, but now I am seeing it in a different light and liking what I see. Classes work (Scrapper, Brick, Blaster, etc...) and if someone has more than one, well that's a dual-class or a multi-class.

I have read and am reading now a glut of d20 based super games that were all seemingly developed before M&M killed the market by its sheer presence, and I find most of them all try to do what I don't like, point builds. They also all use Feats, which normally I am against, but more and more I see myself coming around on.

So I don't know where this will all go, and I am not sure what it will all entail, but I know this... it's gonna be an interesting ride.

Excelsior!

Villains & Vigilantes: Back to the Begining!

As you can see by the side panel, I am currently reading the Villains & Vigilantes revised/2nd edition rule book.

Let me tell you a fast story.

When I started roleplaying back in the 80s, the first game I ever played in was Star Trek (FASA) run by a guy I knew in High School. It was fun, but it never really captured me. I played some D&D (of course) and tried a bunch of other games, but nothing ever really captured my attention the way a boxed set I bought at Captain Quebec (the one of Decarie at Queen Mary) called Villains & Vigilantes (hereafter V&V).

Jeff Dee's art jumped out at me! The idea of playing superheroes was something my friends and I back in the Gaspé had done as children. We would trace from the Handbooks to the Marvel Universe and create our own heroes and villains and then run around the back yard pretending to battle crime! Our secret base was the treehouse in Ian's backyard or a tent in the field. Those were the heady days of real roleplaying it would seem.

V&V brought it all to light for me.

Soon my friend Graeme and I were playing all the time. I created my signature hero Gyro (who later became known as Ex Astris as I got older and more sophisticated, though I still think of him as Gyro) and Graeme populated a small world for us to play in.

To this day I have the original notebooks from those days and though Graeme would eventually move on from roleplaying, I never lost the bug. Many of those characters still appear in my home grown universe, including the most sinister villain team of all time. A team that still puts fear into the hearts of my players at the mere mention of them, Ravage V!

I moved on from V&V when I discovered Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP) and really never looked back. I tried other supers games over the years, but none ever grabbed me the way V&V had or offered me the kind of storytelling delivery system that MSH did.

Recently I have been getting the bug for superheroics again and decided that I wanted to referee again, but not with MSH. I have run that game every year for over 20 years now. To say I am burned out on it is an understatement.

So I went back out and started looking at Superhero RPGs again. Trying it seems to capture that feeling of "wow" once again.

•Mutants & Masterminds? An excellent system, but just not my cup of tea.

•Hero/Champions? More of the above.

•D6 Power/DC Universe? Not quite what I am looking for.

•Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game/aka SAGA? A great game, but again not what I want.

• BASH Ultimate Edition? A very very good game and a strong contender to be sure.

Then it hit me... why not look back at V&V?

I have long since lost my boxed set and rule books, so PDF was the only way to go.

Now I can't say that I am going to run V&V, but I certainly want to look at it again. The first thing I will say is this; it captures comic book superheroes perfectly by doing one thing very right;

Heroes don't get new powers as they adventure (unless it is a plot point), but they do get better and better at using the powers they have.

That's a magic formula for me.

Updates, Holiday Break and Random Thoughts

So with this past weekend's session of New Dawn of the West (episode 11) we are on hiatus until the New Year. As well the Final Age game (more on that in a second) is also on hiatus for the same period.

I think that it is good to take a break for a month and really let the creative juices recharge a bit. I have been working non-stop on the World of Aeran and the Final Age game together for about 6 months now and I need to think about something other than swords, dwarves and dragons.

Final Age, just so we are all clear, is the playtest group for a RPG+Setting that a number of us are working on for release hopefully next year. Once the holidays are over, this blog will chart the development of that as well.

The New Dawn of the West campaign is also coming to a wrap-up soon, probably with the next session. Which is funny, because with the previous two DC Legacy story arc campaigns I did, it seems that I have found my magic number, 12.

12 is the number of comic book limited series (usually), it is also usually the number of episodes in a British tv series (they don't call them seasons) and it happens to be a number of other cool things, not the least of which is the Zodiac.

The problem I have always had as a narrator is an over abundance of creativity to the point that I lose interest and want to change the campaign after about 3 to 6 sessions. This used to drive my players nuts, but recently having settled into story arcs of 12 or so sessions has proven to be quite doable. So why fight it? It gives the players a nice long run and the me a chance to tell a story that may allow for a return, as it did in my DC Legacy game.

So what's next for the Fortknights? (That's right, the regular Saturday night biweekly game are the Fortknights and have been since about 2000 or so) Well I am itching to do a another superhero campaign, though this one homegrown and not DC. The only issues is system.

I am not going to use the MSH Classic (FASERIP) for reasons I won't go into now. It has been my go-to system for supers for the past 20 years, but for now I would like to try something else. So here are my choices;

• Marvel SAGA is a super fun system that I have enjoyed immensely as well, but the lack of cards may be an issue, since I would have to make my own and print them up.

• Basic Action Super Heroes: Ultimate Edition (hereafter BASH-UE) has caught my eye and I may give it a whirl.

• D6 Powers - Revised and Expanded may be a solid choice, but on the other hand I have played D6 to death and know its weaknesses far too well to really want to use it for a supers game.

• Truth & Justice is too weird for my tastes from what I am seeing.

• Mutants & Masterminds/Champions are just too darn complicated for me.

Any other superhero game I would consider are either too obscure, too rare or too broken for me to delve into, like say Superworld, V&V or Golden Heroes.

At this point I would say that BASH-UE is a strong leader with MSH SAGA right behind it. I'll let you know as soon as I do, and if you want to sway my thoughts feel free to comment on this.

Cheers

A Montreal RPG Community Site

I have just discovered and join a local Montreal RPG community site called Midnight's Lair and so far it looks pretty cool actually.

They have members from all over the world actually, so perhaps it is unfair to categorize them as a "Montreal" community, but the lion's share of the users seem to be from la belle province and specifically the city of Mount Royal.

Either way, do yourself a favour, stop by and say hello. There seems to be lots of good and spirited conversations underway.

http://midnightslair.com/