Tuesday, February 1, 2011

National Pastime

Nothing says America like the Superhero.

Oh don't get me wrong, I love Japan's kaiju kicking Ultramen, Britian's edgy Miracle Man/Marvel Man and offbeat Zenith stories and who doesn't like Canada's costumed favorite son Capt. Canuck? All that aside, nothing says U.S.A. to me quite like baseball, apple pie and Superman.





I miss running Superheroes.

While I wanted to venture forth and try some new things, new things don't net me 7-10 players guaranteed, at least once a month for as long as I want to run them. My running a Superheroes game will.

My ideas pop and bang rapidly like a string of fireworks on Chinese New Year (which happens to be now - Gung Hei Fat Choi everyone!). When the smoke clears and you sift through the ashes the concepts that survive each and every time are Star Trek and Supers.

So, this year I'm going to start up a campaign of DC Adventures, using the game of the same name which uses the Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition system. My campaign will be set on one of the infinite parallel Earths that DC and I are so found of. In this particular campaign, my focus is on the largely eliminated National Publications era continuity or lack there of.







Before DC Comics was DC Comics is was National Allied Publications and Detective Comics. The two later merged to become National Comics (and even later National Periodical Publications)and eventually took over All-American Publications.





This was the era of Batman being changed into a Bat-Ape, Superboy meeting Mighty Boy or Supremo, lots of different types and uses for Kryptonite and many more crazy cool, creative things that someone latter saw as 'Not cool and edgy enough" and so removed them from existance. Mighty Boy my good friend you never were. You have been retconned.

There are ideas from that time period I want to bring back, to utilize in some strange and unusual ways. My vision for this Earth brings in some of the feel of All-Star Superman and Alan Moore's run on Supreme. I haven't worked out all the details and kinks yet but it basically goes like this...

"What if all those crazy Silver Age stories happened and it put at lot of wear and tear on reality. Where are we now?"

Ideas, comments and questions are always welcome,

AD
Barking Alien






14 comments:

  1. I miss your GODS IN LONG UNDERWEAR game. First Prefect was so much fun to play. With the further adventures of The Metropolitan and his sidekick The Gecko. :)

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  2. One of these days I'll post up that little venture. I'd revisit it one day if we could refine it a bit. Worth considering as a side project (because lord knows I don't have enough of those...).

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  3. in my game. gods are superheroes hahaha

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  4. I have DC Adventures and would love to play a game. I love comics. Let me restate that, I LOVE COMICS!!! I recently had to cancel my subscriptions to many of my titles because I was spending something like $200 a month on comics. An rapidly running out of room. I think I'm better served by just sticking with supers RPGs. I'd love to do something like a silver age Legion/Superboy game. Hmmm, I feel the need to crack open a long box and get a fix now.

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  5. I love Superhero comics, Superhero RPGs, movies, books, action figures, you name it! I've reduced my purchases to near zilch though since funds are extremely tight right now. :(

    I've run a handful of Legion of Superheroes based or inspired games and man they were fun. The modern era Supers games though have been both more numerous and in some cases just went over better with a large group of people. Not all my players are fans of the Legion (though quite a number have been over the years).

    For this one I'm going Golden and Silver Age meets Modern Age edgy. I think. Like I said still working out the fine points. More to come when I have it.

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  6. Sounds cool. Kind of reminds me of what is going on in DC and Marvel Comics at the moment with Brightest Day and Heroic Age. Kind of a modern spin on the silver age.

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  7. @Barking Alien"
    Two Words(Not counting these of course[or these:-)]): Composite Superman!

    Rip Hunter, Time Master, Atomic Knights(With Mighty Hercules sorta along for the Ride!), Kamandi, and Challengers of the Unknown in their original configurations would be awesome in a campaign, imo. Remember the Forgotten Heroes(And Villains) from the Pre-Crisis Coolness(of course. that was most everything, it seems...) DC Comics Presents?

    Goddamit, BA, ya did it again! Now i want to run a an Earth-B campaign(Batman/Batwoman and X!)!(Now musing on system. Dream Park or BRP...[So Flexible. So Easy. So hard to decide!] Or Street Fighter! Or D6! :-)) Keep up the good work. And luck to you on your game(s?[PA and Silver Age Supers?]).

    Captcha: prized. Wow! Auspicious!

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  8. Oh dude I am all about Composite Superman.

    Seriously though I can go one better. When it comes time to do a DC Universe RPG there is but one 'must include' character for me. I have and will always find a way to bring him in and he will be so cool you will wonder why you're not reading a monthly series with him.

    Ultra, The Multi-Alien.

    I HAVE SPOKEN!

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  9. Ultra, The Multi-Alien:
    Never has one character(um, four quarters?) embodied his era as this one does... When he appeared on Brave and Bold, I was in awe. With this, ALL is Permitted.

    'he will be so cool you will wonder why you're not reading a monthly series with him':
    I am, actually. My main surmise is 'cuz we can't have nice things anymore... *sigh* But that's why Superhero RPGs exist, right? To bring the Awesome back!

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  10. Who did that From Beyond The unknown cover? It's beautiful.

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  11. Agreed but alas I don't recall. I had that issue myself but lost it many years ago in a move.

    I found that one on the internet...

    http://www.coverbrowser.com/

    Awesome site.

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  12. Kaluta. Naturally. Love that guy. Never did get a break.

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  13. And a nice guy too. Seriously. Like this fellow who can make dreams flow directly out of the end of his pen and thinks of himself as nothing special. Really down to earth, warm and funny. Met him a few times at conventions and once when I worked for Wizard Entertainment.

    Should've guessed it was him.

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