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(From "Captain Battle" number 1, 1941.)
Comments Off on RP: Only the RICH ones have a shot!
Posted in Daily Random Panel
(From "Eternals" number 7, ©1976 by Marvel Comics. Written and illustrated by Jack Kirby. This may be my favorite comics panel ever, along with Eisner's Uncle Sam getting clocked in the face.)
Comments Off on RP: Taxonomy the Marvel Way
Posted in Daily Random Panel
The results are early, but overwhelming, so in honor of this being RPG Friday and all, I am going to take the 18-2 split as definitive and launch our Lone Wolf into the fray against the awful Gourgaz!
The creature that you now face is a Gourgaz, one of a race of cold-blooded reptilian creatures that dwell deep in the treacherous Maakenmire swamps. Their favorite food is human flesh!
The Prince's Sword lies at your feet. You may pick up and use this weapon if you wish. The Gourgaz is about to strike at you -- you must fight him to the death.
Gourgaz: COMBAT SKILL 20 ENDURANCE 30
This creature is immune to Mindblast.
One has to wonder how the Gourgaz prefers his favorite meal of human flesh. If he likes it grilled and there is no handy grill, I'd say we're fine on that score. Plus come on, it's in the middle of a battle, who's going to take the time to enjoy a light snack? So ignore that wetness trickling down our pants leg, folks, it's highly doubtful we're going to end up as lunch even if we lose. Probably.
Gulp.
To business, we don't need the Prince's Sword. In the first place it clearly didn't do the Prince much good, and in the second our preferred weapon is an Axe, which we have handy already. It sucks that Mindblast doesn't work on these Gourgaz creatures (I wonder if that's a backhanded dig at Gary Gygax?), as that's two valuable combat points we're missing out on. But such is life for the intrepid young Kai Warrior in training.
With the axe our combat skill is 21, and our Endurance is currently at 17. Only a one point advantage and only 2/3 the enemy's stamina is going to be a tough, tough fight. See, this is why cowards thrive!
Anyway, nothing for it but to get to it. I'll chronicle the combat rounds after the jump. Here's hoping we win!
Comments Off on Gourgazm!
Posted in Lone Wolf: Flight from the Dark, RPG Corner
When last we left our Lone Wolf, we were deciding whether or not to call out to some passing soldiers. We decided to go for it. We don't have a record of the actual signal, but I bet it was some variation of "Me love you long time!" Or not. Regardless:
The officer orders his men to halt and asks you your business. You tell him who you are, and how the monastery has been destroyed. He is deeply saddened to hear your news. He offers you a horse and asks you to accompany him to Prince Pelathar, the King's son.
If you accept, turn to 97.
If you decide to decline his offer, turn to 200.
I suppose it's possible this guy is a brigand disguised as an officer, but that seems unlikely -- if he wanted to rob or kill us, we're outnumbered and cowardly so he'd just run us through. In the interest of keeping the story moving, therefore, I'm just going to make an executive decision and fire everyone. Wait, I mean, we're going to follow the officer to the lovely environs of page 97, which I hear is nice this time of year.
Ahead of you, you can see a fierce battle raging across a stone bridge. The clash of steel and the cries of men and beasts echo through the forest. In the midst of the fighting, you see Prince Pelathar, the King's son. He is in combat with a large gray Gourgaz who is wielding a black axe above his scaly head. Suddenly, the Prince falls wounded -- a black arrow in his side.
[polldaddy poll="3777200"]
You'd think the Prince would have some sort of elite bodyguard, but no -- it's up to one little Lone Wolf to either save his royal hide or bravely run away. So which will it be, cubs?
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Posted in Lone Wolf: Flight from the Dark, RPG Corner
(From "Captain Battle" number 1, 1941.)
Comments Off on RP: So speaketh … THE DITHERER!
Posted in Daily Random Panel
I've just added the "Tops-Male-FantasyCommon" set to the HeroMachine 3 Alpha. This set includes 70+ items, some ported over from existing set and many new ones as well. Each entry where appropriate is broken down into the complete item, just the middle portion, just the chest portion, and just the sleeve. To get the sleeve on the left side, make sure you've got Multiples selected, add a second sleeve, and use the "Flip" button. Then drag it over to the right.
As usual, if you don't see it on the list, clear your browser's cache and it ought to appear -- it's definitely on the server.
Here's a sample of some of the items. Note that I tried to include some loose sleeves that you can match up with the wide variety of vests to make customized tunics.
Hope you like them! I've got room for maybe one or two more items with their breakdowns, or up to eight individual items, if there's something missing you've just got to have.
Comments Off on HM3: Fantasy common
Posted in HeroMachine 3, News & Updates, Previews
Hammerknight has put together a nice set of recipe cards showing the settings you need to scale your HeroMachine 3 illustrations for various purposes. Thanks again, HK!
Click on an image to see it at a larger, more legible size.
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Posted in HeroMachine 3, Recipes, Tips & Tricks
(From "Captain Battle" number 1, 1941.)
Comments Off on RP: Snow White and the Seven Serial Killers?
Posted in Daily Random Panel
I recently stumbled across this fascinating pair of panels from the early run of Iron Man:
I've always like the gray Iron Man armor. I think it's cool, modern, and intimidating. But I like the red and gold armor even better -- it's all those things and it looks stone-cold awesome. Costume redesigns are tricky, it can be hard to retain the original integrity of the character while making the whole outfit look better.
What I love about these panels is that you have the character himself offering an excellent rationale for a redesign besides just "we need more sales". His armor works and looks good, but he identifies a key problem -- you have to not only intimidate your enemies, you have to make the people you're supposedly serving feel good about you, too. Otherwise they might call Thor instead when they reach for the phone to call in the latest bad guy rampaging through downtown.
The outfit's bulky, Frankenstein-like appearance is a drag on his public relations, so he decides to make a shift. I love that -- generally characters don't give their outfits more than a moment's consideration, if that, and changes are foisted on them from the strip's writers and artists without necessarily making much in-character sense.
I think this is a great example of a bad-ass costume still being bad for the character (paging black-costume Spider-Man!), leading to a redesign that works both in-character and as a sales driver. In fact, I'd argue that no other character in comics has costume changes integrated into the very (ahem) fabric of the character as well as Iron Man does. Part of it, clearly, is that his costume is his super-power, but there are plenty of other armored avengers out there who are stuck with one look. Not so Iron Man -- he's got a closet full of armor that would put Imelda Marcos' shoe collection to shame. And it works!
So bravo to the Marvel team for taking a bad-ass design and shelving it in favor of one equally cool, but even more effective. Well done, old-school sirs!
(Image and character © Marvel Comics.)
Comments Off on Bad isn't necessarily bad
Posted in Bad Super Costumes
(From "Captain Battle" number 1, 1941.)
Comments Off on RP: Super-heroes make bad July 4 guests
Posted in Daily Random Panel
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
Nerdmudgeon.com