DC Adventures - Identity Crisis Part 2

Continuing my overview of the active characters featured in my possible Justice League Academy/Young Justice campaign (after a longer than I wanted hiatus), I thought I'd focus on what's different rather than what's the same. Isn't that the fun part of using an established superhero comic book universe after all?

The largest single change is that the Charlton Comics characters; Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Captain Atom, Nightshade, Peacemaker, the Question and Peter Cannon/Thunderbolt are all dead. That's right, dead. Along with Maxwell Lord, these characters died during Earth Alpha D-1's version of Final Crisis. While I can't reveal the exact nature of my plans less my potential players read this, anyone who knows me well knows how fond I am of the Charlton characters. They can't really be dead. Can they?

Moving on...a number of characters stand alone on Earth Alpha D-1, with no active membership in any one team (although many of these characters are reserve members or staunch allies of one or more teams). Among the most notable of these are Nightwing (Richard 'Dick' Grayson, the former Robin), Batgirl (Stephanie Brown, formerly Spoiler), the Creeper (Jack Ryder) and Metamorpho (Rex Mason).

Nightwing protects a modified concept for Bludhaven that I have in mind. Batgirl protects Gotham when Batman is with the Justice League and Robin (Tim Drake-Wayne) is with the Teen Titans. The Creeper is a favorite character of mine and while I'm not entirely sure what to do with him yet, rest assured I will find a place for him and it will scare the beejeebers out of my players. As for another old favorite Rex Mason, aka Metamorpho - The Element Man, I plan on using him more like his original incarnation. Picture a jet-setting Indiana Jones meets James Bond type fellow who just happens to look like a shape-shifting freak. His attitude and adventures would be in the vein of Tom Strong crossed with Venture Brothers.

Lastly for this installment are the staff members of the Justice League Academy. For the most part, I decided that in many cases DC has a few too many of the same character running around (quite literally in terms of the Flash) and nothing to do with them. Well on Earth Alpha D-1, those who fight crime do, those who used to teach.

So, the faculty at the Academy that is responsible for teaching the next generation of Justice Leaguers includes a number of former Justice League members. The staff includes: Prof. Ray Palmer (the former/Silver Age Atom, now Project Director and the Head of Operation: Young Justice), Barry Allen (the former/Silver Age Flash, who teaches Forensics and Criminology), Ralph Dibney (the former Elongated Man - not dead on Earth Alpha D-1 - teaches Detective Work and Investigative techniques), John Henry Irons (aka Steel, who I've modified quite a bit. His 'armor' is a super thin nanotech skin that grows over him and gives him all the abilities he has in his comic book armor plus a few more - Irons teaches Advanced Engineering and Quantum Mechanics. He also serves as the teams main go-to guy for anything technological) and Hector Hall (who runs our version of the Danger Room and helps the students learn how to use their powers. Look him up on the Wiki link and you'll see why he's the perfect choice. His assistant is Robert Reed of Dial "H" for Hero for similar reasons).

Wow. That was a lot more than I intended to write. See what happens when you don't post often...you post big! I've got a lot of other ideas swirlin' around in the old noggin but this will have to do for now. I've got a few other unrelated projects brewing too. Like...you'll see.

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Barking Alien

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming...

To bring you this special news bulletin...

I once again apologize for my infrequent blog entries but life outside of gaming, reading comics and blogging about gaming and reading comics has been especially active.

I am now a full-time, professional dog trainer...well...an assistant trainer to be more accurate but I love it and I am learning so much. I was in an apprentice program for almost a year before I received this position and it was well worth the wait.

Now this doesn't mean I haven't been gaming but it does mean I have less free time to develop new material and work on projects I am not actually running. Hopefully as I get into a routine I can get back to those somewhat neglected projects.

A few other notes...

I was at this amazing dog training seminar, a two day affair, where on the second day, each of the less experienced members of the training staff had to teach a behavior to a class consisting of the senior training staff. I was so nervous I slept less than I usually do (which quite possibly means the universe owes me some sleep as part of a cosmic balance sorta thing since I have insomnia to start with). I had never actually taught a class before and decided to take some ques from how I run a game. I mean, teaching a class and running an RPG session have a lot in common, no? Stand up (I rarely sit when I GM) in front of a group of different people, get their attention, keep their attention and explain what it is we're going to do during the time we're together.

You've got to inform, entertain and be approachable so students (or players) can feel good asking questions. You have to convince the intrepid to take their time and the timid to give it a try. You have to 'work a room' and get everyone excited so you can all share in a great experience. You need to be knowledgable about the rules. You need to have fun.

In the end everyone that I did a great job and I have to say I'm pretty proud. 'Proud' is not a word I am always comfortable with and yet this time I have to say it feels damn good.

Anyway, more DC Adventures talk on the way as well as a revisiting of one of my all time favorite games ever...a present for a friend's birthday...Galaxy Quest!

See you soon,

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Barking Alien

Star Trek, The Birthday

Now I know I'm been on a pretty solid Superhero kick lately but I'm still a tried and true Star Trek fan. I wouldn't be doing my Trekkie duty if I didn't mention that today is the birthday of my favorite flight into the final frontier.

Happy Birthday Star Trek! 44 and still going strong!

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Barking Alien