What's Happening?

Whew! I've been gaming a lot.

A lot!

Well, a lot for me in comparison to last year at least. 

Most of it has been very fun too, and really, what more can you ask for?

At this point I figured I should update you all on what I'm doing, if for no other reason than to share the joy, and get some new content up on this blog for cripes sake! It's September 18th, and this is only my third post! Sheesh! 

Have no fear citizens, a meatier post is forthcoming. 

Most of the games I'm in, or running are bi-weekly, or monthly. Only the online Google Hangouts Kapow! Group (the one I am running DC Adventures for right now) meets every week.

Wait. That isn't exactly true. I meet with Dan's Group every Friday night (roughly), but we alternate games. 

Following our DC Adventures game, the Google Hangouts Kapow! Group will be doing a DC/Marvel Crossover, and then its back to our Kapow! campaign. 

Crisis on Earth G+

We've had three sessions so far, and everyone seems to be having a great time. I can tell you that I am. This mini-campaign is just my personal love letter to the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Silver/Bronze Age continuity of DC Comics. Getting the chance to do this is awesome, but knowing that my players appreciate the work I've put in is really icing on the cake. 

This week will feature the fourth part of our story, and a trip to World War II, and Golden Age DC! In addition to DC's WW II 'War Comics' heroes, such as Sgt. Rock, and Easy Company, G.I. Robot, and Jeb Stuart and The Haunted Tank, we'll get a guest appearance by the Earth-2 Justice Society of America! Woohoo! I can't wait.

Star Trek Adventures: Excalibur

Our new Google Hangouts group completed the adventure 'The Rescue at Xerxes IV' last week, and I must admit, it was really good. A fairly straight forward scenario, it was nonetheless an excellent introduction to the new Star Trek Adventures RPG. 

We are going forward with a mini-campaign, which may last no more than one additional adventure scenario, or it may continue onward. Lots of enthusiasm, but no pressure to commit to a tightly scheduled, long term game. 

We run this every two weeks, or so at a terribly late hour on Saturdays. 

The idea of using the Star Trek Adventures game to run a campaign based on 'The Orville' (which I touched on in my previous post) is one that keeps popping into my head. I am currently trying to rework the character sheets, and obtain as much information about the setting as possible, which isn't easy considering the series has only had two episodes at this point. 

My Hero Academia: American Ultra!

The Students of UA High School's Class 1-A

My Hero Academia

We've had three sessions of American Ultra, my homebrewed spin-off campaign based on the popular Japanese Anime/Manga series, My Hero Academia. 

So far it's been really great, with moments of WOW. It's some of the best GMing I've done in a long time, and I have the perfect group of players for it. Everyone, and everything just connects in a way that makes the game a pleasure to run, and the players have told me they love it.

The first two sessions had a nice mix of action, intrigue, humor, and world building. The third was much more focused on character development/role playing, investigation, and was a tad less funny, and action packed, but the players/PCs uncovered a bombshell reveal that had the team 'Holy Crap!'-ing all the way to the end. 

I'm pretty proud of that.

Next session is coming soon.

New Group - New Campaign - Villains & Vigilantes?

We played a super fun game of that Superhero RPG classic, Villains & Vigilantes last week, and are considering turning it into a campaign.

When I say we, I really mean myself, and two of my buddies. The third participant from our first foray won't be able to make it on a regular basis. Actually, it will be a rare occurrence if he can make it, which is too bad. He was a great guy to game with, and really rounded out the team.

While we had a great time, and I was flooded with nostalgia over the use of the very first Supers game I'd ever run, the loss of the third player and the fact that I am already running two Superhero campaigns has me wondering if this is a missed opportunity to run something else, like a Sci-Fi/Space Adventure game. 

More about this in my next post.

This group will also probably meet every two weeks, but I'm kind of running out of free days, and nights, so we'll play it by ear. 

Dan's Group - Alternating Games

Dan's Group meets at my friend Dan's house, and therefore we creatively refer to our entourage as 'Dan's Group'. Currently, Dan isn't GMing our Friday night games. That task is usually handled by my friend Alex, who is running a home-modified Powered by the Apocalypse 'Harry Potter/Hogwarts' game, or myself running...whatever. 

Whatever is a catch-all for the various games I start up with the group, run for a couple to several sessions, and then try to figure out what else might work better. Over the past year, or so this has included Ars Magica 3rd Ed., Champions 4th Ed., Marvel Heroic, Star Trek (LUG Version), and a number of others.

The problem is that games with the group never feel quite right to me. While we all get along and share similar interests, our playing and GMing styles are quite different, and even clash on occasion. The group is doing great with Alex's game, but every game I try feels either underwhelming, or annoying. 

I've yet to figure out what game works best with this assembly of gamers. 

I will keep trying of course. 

That's all for now. I have another post coming up very soon on some game ideas that have come to me of late. With any luck I can get this next entry out tonight.

Until then,

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Barking Alien

The Fall of Superheroes

And by 'Fall' I mean Autumn of course!

Yes my fellow caped and cowled costumed crusaders, it's that time of the year again - The kids are back to school, the leaves are changing colors, and the Pumpkin Spice Lattes flow like river rapids through the streets of every major American city. 

As Summer departs, and the harvest season blows in, I find myself running a number of Superhero RPGs. More accurately, I am running Superhero games, and little else. All things considered, I'm enjoying it, and pretty happy with the results so far.

I am currently running:

My Hero Academia: American Ultra!

Our third session of this campaign is coming up this Sunday (September 10th). 

So far the game has been a delight, with a perfect mix of action, intrigue, humor, and characterization. The world building has also been a ton of fun, as I adapt ideas from the Manga, and Anime, but twist a few to show the differences between how things work in Japan, and how they work in the United States. 

This next episode with feature school orientation, meeting their homeroom teacher, and the first day of classes. I can hardly wait!

I really need to do some session recaps on here soon. 

DC Adventures - Crisis on Earth-G+!

We just had the second session of my part of our Ultra Mega Summer Super Crossover Event, which is obviously bleeding into the next season. Summer was not enough to contain it! 

Our story places us in 1984, in the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Comic universe, where the inevitable wave of anti-matter from Crisis is sure to eliminate our reality. However, a plot by a cabal of supervillains may actually have given the heroes, with the help of the New God Metron, a way to save existence!

Travelling through time, and space, the heroes of the Justice League of America, are attempting to gather various items of power from throughout DC history, and use them to repair the Worlogog, a map and transportation device that might keep Earth G+ around post-Crisis. 

One can only hope. 

Villains and Vigilantes - Unnamed Superhero Campaign

I have been tasked with the creation of a new Superhero game by two good friends of mine, and I have gladly excepted the challenge. 

I am contemplating using the new Villains and Vigilantes 3.0, or a hybrid of 3E, and 2E. A friend suggested the 'Revised Second Edition' maybe a good option. 

I have a lot of nostalgia for that game, and I created a universe for it that I'd love to revisit and update. I have a pretty clear idea of how it would work, but I need to get comfortable with a version of the rules before I go about really setting it down on paper.

OK, that's what's up at the moment. More to come very soon.

I'm really eager to run a few other things, namely Star Wars and Star Trek, but I have not idea when I'll find the time. 

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Barking Alien

Red Skies and Floppy Disks

As my 40th Gaming Anniversary month draws to close, I am kind of amazed at how much of it I spent talking about, and playing Superhero RPGs.

It shouldn't come as a surprise really, for as I've said, Supers is what got me into RPGs in the first place (in a manner of speaking). It's just that, with a name like 'Barking Alien' you'd think there would be a bit more Science Fiction in my celebration of the 40 year mark. 

Furthermore, when I look at the general gaming landscape, how things like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and Numenera seem to dominate the market by leaps and bounds, I am once more reminded that is the bulk of the lot, the unifying factor, the common denominator...but it just ain't me.

This past Wednesday evening I ran the first session of my half of our Google Hangouts group's Ultra Mega Summer Super Crossover Event, DC Adventures - Crisis on Earth G+!

The first part, a Marvel Heroic mini-series, ended with a bit less bang, and a bit more whimper than we all would have liked. The Marvel Heroic system didn't turn out to be to most of the players' liking. Even, or perhaps especially the GM found the game cumbersome, and tedious, getting in the way of telling a Superhero comic book story instead of supporting, and enhancing it. 

I was personally a tad disappointed that we didn't get to 'see', or experience very much of the Marvel Universe. If I don't normally play in the Marvel milieu, and I get to for a limited run, I want the opportunity to encounter uniquely Marvel things. I wanted to feel why the atmosphere of Marvel is special - why it's not DC, or our homegrown Kapow! game. 

I tried really hard to make that a part of our DC excursion. To facilitate that, I made some tough choices. Not tough for me to make, but choices that I knew might not initially sit well with all the players. For example, I limited which characters they could choose to play, but I didn't do it arbitrarily. Rather, I did it to make the whole thing work. 

Here's what we ended up with...

The Silver/Bronze Age Justice League of America

Characters by Jose Garcia Lopez

Background by Me.

First, I told all the players that the story was set in the DC Universe in the year 1984.

Yep. 1984. The Bronze Age. Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

I opened the game saying:

"The year is 1984. 
Ronald Reagan is the President of the United States.
Footloose and Beverly Hill Cops are raking it in at the Box Office.
Dynasty and Family Ties top the Nielsen Ratings. 
Just like the rest of Earth G+, Bonnie Tylor is Holding Out for a Hero."

That right there is the key to everything. 

Any character created by DC during, or after Crisis on Infinite Earths does not exist in our game. If the character was acquired by DC Comics, and first appears in a DC book during, or after COIE, such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and the other Charlton Characters, they too are not available as PCs. 

The 'Satellite Era' Justice League of America, the Teen Titans (Dick Grayson is Robin, not Nightwing), the Doom Patrol (original), the Metal Men, and a number of independent heroes are all cleared for use. 

The group eventually chose a very classic Justice League line up:

The Flash/Barry Allen (played by Keith)
Green Arrow/Oliver Queen (played by Stephen)
Green Lantern/Hal Jordan (played by Tim)
Hawkgirl/Sheira Hall (played by Mark)
Superman/Clark Kent - Kal-El (played by Carl)
Wonder Woman/Princess Diana - Diana Prince (played by Melinda)

A day, or two before the session, I posted the following image, and caption to our Event page...

'Earth Time - August 29th, 1984, 12:00 PM EST - On the outskirts of Space Sector 2813, bordering the edge of 2814, Green Lantern Honor Guard Member, Tomar-Re, detects a disturbance in the Space-Time Continuum.'

The following morning I posted this...

'A series of strange events, some clearly villainous, some merely suspicious, have kept the Justice League of America rather busy over the past 48 hours.

Flash, and Green Arrow - In the wee hours of yesterday morning, Mark Mardon, AKA Weather Wizard, somehow escaped from the Minnesota State Correctional Facility that held him. Several hours later, a sudden, terrible storm blew over Star City just as a plane extraditing Count Werner Vertaygho of Vlatava, AKA Count Vertigo, had taken off. The aircraft, as well as Count Vertigo himself, have disappeared. 

Green Lantern, and Superman - Our heroes have been on the trail of Rudy Jones, AKA The Parasite, for at least twelve hours now. Jones recently escaped from a S.T.A.R. Labs facility attempting to cure his condition. As the heroes neared his last known whereabouts, the Metropolis suburb of Midvale, reports came through that a 'yellow-gold giant with purple clothes' had been sighted in the Delaware Water Gap National Park, about 80 miles Northeast of the city. 

Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman - Yesterday evening, Helen Alexandros, AKA The Silver Swan, stole an ancient, Greek salpinx from the Midway City Museum (The Midway Museum of Ancient History). She was aided by a mysterious man in a blue cloak. The two individuals vanished right before the eyes of stunned security guards. Early this morning, a man wearing a cloak of the same description was spotted in the Suicide Slum area of Metropolis by Ace O' Clubs owner Bibbo Bibbowski.'

A few hours later, I posted this last, additional entry:

'Update: Additional sightings of the Parasite, Silver Swan, the Blue Cloaked Man, and the mysterious Yellow-Gold Giant have been confirmed by various sources, and complied by J'onn Jonzz, The Martian Manhunter, back on the JLA Satellite. According to his findings, they are all headed for central Metropolis, likely the borough of New Troy.

Weather patterns there have begun to change rapidly, and a particularly intense lightning storm seems to be forming. Very likely, this is a sign that Weather Wizard, and perhaps Count Vertigo, are on their way as well.

Be ready Justice Leaguers!'

The important things to note here are that I tried to make sure I had certain vital (IMO) components established:

• Familiar super villains from the rogues galleries of the chosen PCs.
• A few mystery villains who could not be confirmed to add intrigue.
• Mention of key DC Comics locations related to the PCs.
• Mention of key NPC heroes or supporting cast members. 
• Everything culminating in the most well known location mentioned: Metropolis.

Also, I established that the Martian Manhunter was there to help in an advisory capacity. This enabled me to give exposition, helpful hints, and the like with an in-game voice (J'onn's) instead of a GM/Narrator voice.

Remember this is all before the first session. This is the prologue. It's...OMG...it's...

Pre-Crisis on Earth G+!

More to come...

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Barking Alien

Adventure Comics

As I think about today, and how amazing it is that I've been doing what I love [running and playing tabletop RPGs] in one form, or another for 40 years now, I find it curious how much of my current gaming revolves around Superheroes. 

It was Superheroes comic books that got me started in the hobby after all. 

Unlike a lot of people who came to RPGs from other games (particularly war games, and/or miniatures), or a love of fantasy literature, I came to it by way of wanting to create, and participate in stories of a heroic nature. 

The kid who taught me to play on that fateful day in Brooklyn, August 25th, 1977, was a year younger than I was, and learned to play the game from his older brother. He explained it to me by saying, "It's like playing out a comic book. You create a character, go on adventures, defeat villains, and save people."

For this reason as much as any other, I've rarely encountered the 'murderhobo' mentality in earnest. My fellow players, and I as GM, were simply never all that interested in the idea. Once in a blue moon perhaps, as a change of pace, we'd play people just trying to survive and make a name for themselves. Most of the time though, it was about bigger pictures, deep goals, righting wrongs, fighting for a better world, a better tomorrow.

The games that drew my attention, and won my favor were games in which you played heroes, fighting the forces of evil, toppling tyranny, and discovering the wonder of the universe. Games like Star Trek, Star Wars, and of course, various Superhero RPGs. 

These days I don't get to run, or play Star Trek, or Star Wars as much as I'd like (though I do get the chance once in a while. More about that another time). I do get in A LOT of Supers however. 

Why, just next week I will running a DC universe adventure as part of my Google Hangout groups Ultra Mega Summer Super Crossover Event!

I found this in the Dollar Bin of a Comic Book Store on a Parallel Earth.

It's in pretty good condition. What a bargain!

In addition to my ongoing My Hero Academia: American Ultra campaign, I am taking over the reins of our little online group for a few sessions (Muhuwahahahaha!) in order to run something very near, and dear to my heart - a Silver/Bronze Age DC Comics mini-campaign! 

Most of my friends were Marvel fans when we were growing up. For a while, I would've said I was too if asked. DC wasn't as cool as Marvel you see, especially when you're between 8-14 years old, and living in the 1970s and 1980s. 

At the same time, if asked who my favorite superhero was, I would usually say Green Lantern. My favorite team? The Legion of Superheroes, and the Teen Titans. (But, you know, I'm still really a Marvel fan. Shyeah. Right.).

Eventually I grew to be proud of my love of the bigger, bolder, more mythic comic book company, and it's larger than larger-than-life heroes, and villains. Of course, I came to terms with this just as DC's management decided to blow it all up, and start fresh in the landmark Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series.

I now yearn for a simpler, yet more epic time. A time of four color heroes, threats to the world, and even the universe, Gold Kryptonite, Super-Pets, and Bat-submarines. I want to visit the Wild West of Jonah Hex, Batlash, and Cinnamon, and the ruined, mutant future of Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth. 

This campaign is therefore a celebration of DC Comics before 1984 - Before waves of anti-matter, and muted, red skies took away the true Earth-2, Earth-3, the original Superboy, and The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. It is the era of The Creeper, Ragman, Supergirl dating Brainiac 5 in the 30th Century, and a host of awesome forgotten villains, and heroes deemed 'not edgy', or 'extreme' enough to survive unmolested into later eras. 

Feh!

The Teen Titans Judas Contract, the Legion of Superheroes' Great Darkness Saga - these stories are worth a thousand times what modern DC is doing. 

Hold on to the Mobius Chair, unfold the Worlogog, and follow us on a journey through the space-time continuum to save an entire reality, or maybe two, in the...

I can't wait!

Stay tuned.

AD
Barking Alien

Hot Fun in the Summertime

For the next few weeks, my weekly Google Hangouts group (which is normally engaged in a Kapow! Superhero RPG campaign going on three years now) will be running...

THE ULTRA, MEGA, SUMMER, SUPER CROSSOVER!

It's a pretty crazy idea, the kind I've been wanting to do for some time now. 

For the first arc, our usual GM, Keith, will be running the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game, with the players playing established Marvel Universe characters.

When that arc ends, I will be taking the reins, and running a DC Universe story featuring established DC characters, and utilizing the DC Adventures Roleplaying Game (which is powered by, and introduced Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition). 

This will be followed by a Kapow! arc in which we pick our favorite Marvel and DC heroes from the two games above, and make them up in that system to face off against the ultimate cross-company crisis! Whatever it may be.

I've got goosebumps! How about you?

Summer Lovin'

We've already begun, having run the first session of our Marvel arc last night. 

The Boys of Summer

While the players aren't all guys, the super-team that assembles in the first session definitely was. It consisted of...

Doctor Strange (Melinda), The Falcon (Mark), The Human Torch (Stephen), Speed (Tim), Spider-man (Carl), and The Vision (me).

Cruel Summer

The story opened with a group of assorted villains meeting up in a dockside warehouse ("As they do", as Melinda noted), where the Kingpin, and Tombstone were preparing to sell a mystic tome to the highest bidder. The potential customers were M.O.D.O.K. of AIM, and Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, of Hydra!

By the end of the session, our heroes had taken some serious hits, mostly from the marauding missiles of the maliciously mad M.O.D.O.K., and the I (the Vision) from a clever, indirect attack by Baron Strucker. 

However, a good number of players rolled high enough on their defensive reactions to turn the tables on the villains, most notably Doctor Strange, and the Falcon. In the end, the criminals were defeated, though the mystery of the mystic book, and why they wanted it, remains unsolved until next issue...

Summer Breeze

The game went rather smoothly considering only one person besides the GM (me actually) had played Marvel Heroic before. The system worked, and I think the players largely got how the mechanics reflect the story, and vice versa.

It seemed a very straightforward adventure - really just a battle to claim the 'MacGuffin' - but it worked, and it did the job of setting us up for the next session. 

According to Keith, the entirety of this tale will directly relate back to our ongoing Kapow! campaign. Wow. I am curious to see how that plays out.

Alright team, big news coming soon. Until then, be Super to each other!

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Barking Alien

Easy Does It

Before I go deeper down the wormhole of Star Trek Traveller, I'd like to tell you about a some great gaming experiences I had over the holiday vacation.

Between December 24th, and December 31st, I got the chance to run a lot of games. How many you ask? I don't even remember. A LOT.

While they all went over well, two in particular were really fun, and I can pinpoint why quite reasonably.

They were easy.

Now when I say easy, what I mean is that it required very little effort on my part to get the games set up, started, and going smoothly. The players displayed no resistance to the genres, nor to any of the details of the setting, story, or rule mechanics.

Basically, in a very zen sort of way...I wanted to run a game for my friends. I did. They wanted to play a game I was running. They did. It was fun.

Um...why aren't all games like this?

Because in order for me to run a great game, I need players who want me to run, and want to participate in, a great game. Furthermore, it would be awesome if they want a great game from me more than they want to get hung up on their various individual, er, hang ups.

Wouldn't that be grand?

The first of the two games was a DC Adventures / Mutants & Masterminds 3E game with my ex-wife, my friends Luke, and Lily, and a bunch of  'alumni' kids from the Tutoring Center. Inspired by the DC Comics Holiday Special issues over the years, the Justice League, and some of their Young Justice proteges went up against the Penguin, Sinestro, Bizarro, The Floronic Man, and the wicked warlock Wotan! All in a desperate battle to save none other than Santa Claus!

The Justice League of Earth-602!

Why 602? That's the address of the Tutoring Center, LOL

The most amazing thing about this session was how well the players took to their characters when the vast majority of them aren't comic book readers. I've noted before that this group, largely middle school and high school students of Chinese decent, have never read American comics in their lives. Their only knowledge of and exposure to these characters comes from the animated and live action shows on television. Add in the fact that only one of the adults in the group was a huge comic fan (and more well versed in Marvel mythos), and it repeatedly astounds me how well they all nail these well-established characters. 

Each person's interpretation of their character was very much influenced by the individual players' familiarity:

Green Lantern was very much the GL of Justice League Unlimited.
Aquaman was Super Friends style.
Flash and Kid Flash were a mix of the CW show and Young Justice.
Martian Manhunter was a mix of Justice League Unlimited and the Supergirl CW show.
Aqualad was totally Young Justice.
Superman was classic Silver Age, if a bit powered down (JLU also?).
Supergirl was straight out of the CW show.
Wonder Woman was Super Friends/Silver Age, complete with Invisible Jet.
Batman was pretty much Batman: The Animated Series.
Green Arrow looked classic but was really more like the Arrow TV series. 

If you are asking yourself, "Wait...were there actually 11 players?!", then I can tell you the answer is yes, most assuredly. 

The second awesome game I ran was MACROSS - Return of the Blue Dragons!

A sequel to the 1986 MACROSS - Blue Dragons campaign I ran in high school. Two of my old high school buddies, David Concepcion, and Eric Flores, were on hand to revisit my version of the Macross universe 30 years later (both in game and in real life). 

David played the son of his original character, while Eric played a bishonen character whose gender is never clear throughout the scenario. 

Numerous upgraded elements from the original campaign were added including the PCs' base of operations - The UN Spacy Odyssey II replaces the previous Odyssey, upgraded versions of the variable space fighters - the VF-3 series - and both of A.J. DeLorca's kids following in their parents footsteps and becoming Valkyrie pilots. 

The VF-3J Crusader

(Based on Shoji Kawamori's VF-3000 Crusader design)

With a thirty year gap between the last session of the original series and this one-shot, one would think it might have been hard to get back into the swing of things. Nope. Not one iota. 

For Dave and I it was really just continuing the campaign as if little time had passed out of game. As if we've been meeting to run this every month for three decades. Eric, for his part, merged into our lane with ease and contributed an interesting character with good tactical skills and even better social ones.

Snappy dialogue, fast paced combat, and a classic science fiction plot made this so much fun we were bummed when the session ended and we realized, 'Crap. This doesn't continue next week or even next month.' Sad panda.

Dave, as I have mentioned in the past, now lives in Boston. He is a working single parent and though he makes trips back to NYC one to three times a year, he doesn't always know if and when he'll be visiting. 

Eric is a GM regularly running his own campaigns.

I have work six days a week (my own Dog Walking Company and one day teaching), yet still manage to run or play twice a week (online and Friday nights), as well as once a month (my monthly group campaign, which is currently my homebrew Superheroic Medieval Fantasy setting using Ars Magica rules). 

Sigh.

Still and all, I am looking forward to more gaming like these two sessions this year. For my 40th Anniversary I want - no NEED! - to get back to gaming like I use to. I'm looking for that immersive experience with players that buy-in and embrace the setting and their characters. I can't wait to see what happens next. Additionally, I'd like to do so without the deconstructed, meta-viewpoint so prevalent in modern gaming.

Easy does it now. Baby steps. Baby steps...

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Barking Alien

Thorough Thursdays : DC HEROES

Prior to this post, I have only mentioned DC HEROES, Mayfair Games' officially licensed , 1985 role playing game of the DC comic books universe, in a single blog entry before this one, and it wasn't the focus of the entry. 

That's just wrong.

Cover of the 1st Edition Box Set

By George Perez.

I don't think you heard me. I said, "GEORGE F*^$ING PEREZ!"

Great minds think alike they say, and proof positive of this is the fact that WQRobb of Graph, Paper, and Games posted about this very game just a few days ago.

His post mentions how this game - which was well received by both critics, and fans when it came out, had numerous supplements, and three editions - receives so little love from bloggers who devote a considerable amount of their time to discussing, running, and playing Superhero RPGs.

 He asks the questions, which I hope to answer in this post of my own, and I quote:

"So what gives?  Is the game a dog with fleas when it comes to the rules?  Are DC-based games just cursed to be badly written (I'm looking at you, DC Universe...)  I need my RPG nabobs to fill me in here. "

First, I would like to point out that not all DC Comics based games are badly written. DC Adventures by Green Ronin, compatible with 3rd Edition Mutants & Masterminds, is excellent.

Second, a little background...

***

Imagine it's 1985, you're a 15 year old boy, and the only things you enjoy more than Star Trek are Role Playing Games, and DC Comics.

Low and behold, what should come out at your FLGS, but the box set pictured above.  The heavens open, sunlight shines down on the game, and an infinite number of angels in colorful, spandex tights dance before your eyes.

Having not yet encountered Champions*, DC HEROES was my first experience with a 'point-buy' system (or at least the first I can really recall). It may also have been the first game I played with Hero Points, but I am not certain. In addition, it had a very cool mechanic built into it for handling Subplots. While the main story is going on, each PCs would be subject to romantic entanglements, problems in dealing with their secret identities, and day jobs, your hero's relationship with the media, and normal citizens, and much more.

It was, in short, an excellent game. A streamlined, well thought out, well supported game with some truly innovative approaches for it's time.

I ran several campaigns with it of varying lengths, the longest, and best two were written up as pitches to DC Comics itself. One almost made it, but that sad tale is for another time.**

So what happened? Why don't I talk about this game more often? How come I'm not still running it now? Why did this great game, which featured my favorite comic book milieu, simply fall by the way side?

Well, unfortunately, there were several factors. Largely, it boils down to timing. And timing, as they say, is everything.

The boxed set for DC HEROES came out just before the series Crisis on Infinite Earths, but only by the slimmest of margins. Crisis would significantly alter the make up of the DC Universe, from continuity elements to power levels. This meant that as soon as DC HEROES really caught on, all it's information was basically wrong.

Other drawbacks, at least among the group I gamed with, included the fact that DC HEROES came out not long after Marvel Super Heroes, the original FASERIP game by TSR. Sadly, many of my friends were bigger Marvel fans than DC ones, and a lot of them were already playing the Marvel game. Not only was I more of a DC fan, but I really didn't care for the mechanics of Marvel Super Heroes. More often than not, the compromise when it was time to play a Superheroes game was Villains & Vigilantes, a tried and true favorite of all parties involved.

Within a year or two of DC HEROES' release, a number of games were published that would end up being among my all time favorites. In 1986, West End Games released Ghostbusters. In 1987, they would release Star Wars D6, while R. Talsorian put out both Mekton II, and Teenagers from Outer Space. That was also the same year that the first edition of Ars Magica came out, although I don't really recall playing it until its second edition in '89.

That's a lot of really strong competition for my attention, not to mention the attentions of my players. Add to the fact that I was graduating from Junior High to High School in '86, and the make up of my group was in a state of flux as well. DC HEROES ended up lost in the shuffle.

In 1986-87 (or thereabouts) I started playing Champions under the greatest GM I've ever had the pleasure to game with, my friend and HERO System mentor, William C.. It would be a year and a half of play before I knew the rules to the game, but I was pretty much hooked early on. After the two to three year stretch of campaign he ran that I was part of, Champions came out with it's 4th edition, and that became the go-to game system for all our Superhero games going forward (until Mutants & Masterminds came out that is).

As you can tell from previous posts to this blog, even after trying out, and enjoying, many other great systems such as M&M 3rd Edition, and Marvel Heroic, I still tend to fall back on Champions 4th.

There you have it. DC HEROES was very fun, but it just never beat out those games that were even more fun. It was like a competition where all the participants are talented, and skilled, but in the end, someone has to be in last place. That ended up being DC HEROES.

I've thought about trying her out again one of these days, just to see how the old girl has stood the test of time. Maybe I will, if I can get the gang to shelve their biased towards Champions for just a session, or two.

Truth and Justice Everybody, Truth and Justice,

AD
Barking Alien

*I had actually encountered Champions in my FLGS long before I played it. I took one look at the numbers, and the crunch, and put it down. Never gave it a second look. Amazing that I ended up loving it so much.

**One of these days I will tell the story of how I submitted a pitch to DC Comics for a 'Justice League Earth' story (one-shot, mini-series, or series), and how I almost got it through, and had my dreams horribly crushed by an unfeeling world. Ahem. OK, maybe not, but it sucked that it never happened. DC's loss.

Kingdom Come

This weekend I picked up the fourth and final book in Green Ronin Publishing's Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition powered, DC Adventures Role Playing Game, thereby completing my collection of it and all things both DC and RPG related.

As I noted briefly in a previous post, this is not only the end of this particular line of superhero role playing products but in some ways, a beautiful and useful last will and testament to the pre-New 52 DC Comics universe.

Foregoing a direct attempt to define and detail a specific point in DC Comics seventy-seven year publishing history, Green Ronin set about describing the iconic and rarely changing elements of their characters, their worlds and their mythologies.

While the majority of the information is presented as close to the "current" incarnation of the DC Universe as possible as of 2010-2011*, many of the specifics of long standing characters are easily understandable to the reader even if they haven't seen the character in many years. In addition, a number of side bars and boxes explain some of the changes that have been applied throughout different incarnations (it is also in the background and flavor text for appropriate individuals).

While I did notice an error here and there, a few characters didn't make the cut and I would've loved a four book series just on the Legion of Superheroes, I think they did a great job. Really. That's big praise coming from me. Trust me.

Kudos Green Ronin. I tip my hat to you.

***

I starting reading the final book Saturday night but with being so busy with the Learning Center Sunday, I haven't finished it just yet. I intend to read Book 4 completely once, all the way through, and then go back over certain key points that interest me. Afterwards I will probably reread the entire series.

The 'Universe Book' details all aspects of the DC multiverse, from the Infinite Earths to Jack Kirby's Fourth World of the New Gods and onward into the past, the 'present' and the future. Detailed descriptions of the ficitional cities and countries that make up DC's "Earth Zero", or New Earth, which is essentially the world that replaced the erased parallel Earths at the end of the first Crisis (Crisis on Infinite Earths). In addition, the New Earth described appears to incorporate the Earth that followed Infinite Crisis. We also get the planets of the galaxy, the powers known as The Endless and all the cool legends created and complied over the course of seven decades of comic book creativity.

Reading through it, I am simultaneously inspired and saddened beyond measure. Alright, beyond easy measure.

As I peruse the pages of this powerful and poignant publication, I am struck solidly with the knowledge that I remember it all. Taking in this text in not so much a learning experience as a refresher course. This is my childhood, my high school and college years (minus a gap in the 90's). This data is not just stats and images. This was a part of my life from the time I was very young.

I had an older female cousin who read comics and among her favorites were Archie, Casper and Hot Stuff and The Legion of Superheroes. My uncle worked for a newspaper and magazine distributor who distributed, among other things, Mad Magazine and DC Comics. My favorite superhero was Green Lantern, partially because my father was a police officer.

This is all different now. Not only is my life quite different of course but the comics I read, the histories I know, the information in this book are different now. I hold in my hand over seventy years of professional work that someone two years ago determined doesn't matter. It didn't happen. It's not the first time either but it is so radically different in some instances this time around and, in my humble opinion, so poorly executed, that I long for the stories this book, this RPG book, is telling me. That is, reminding me of.

The wheels are spinning in my cape crusading brain, you can be sure of that. Ideas leap off the page at me at every turn. Each familiar face is a brand new challenge waiting to be sprung on my players, beings far less informed about this particular universe than I.

I've always wanted to update Time Commander. I've got a great idea for a plot with him and...Hmmm, Yellow Martians. Almost forgot about them and their connection to...Wow. St. Roch is a fantastic and different modern city setting. Perhaps I could...Ah yes, the Silent Knight. Always liked his look. Ooh! Ultra The Multi-Alien!

Where to begin...

AD
Barking Alien

*DC Comics was founded in 1934, originally holding the name National Allied Publications. It's publishing history therefore dates back 79 years, not 77 as I indicate above. I used the span of 77 years however because in 2011, DC altered its continuity to that of the 'New 52', which I do not enjoy. The DC Adventures RPG by Green Ronin only covers the characters, elements and history of the DC Comics universe up to 2011 and contains no New 52 information (although some of the images are from the time when the change over was first made).

Other related posts in the past on this subject that you might find interesting include:

Crisis on Infinite Crises
DC Adventures - Who's Who
DC Adventures - Identity Crisis Part 1
DC Adventures - Identity Crisis Part 2
DC Reboots Its Universe Again...Again.
The Original Universe
Where Legends Live

One final note...

In a recent and really interesting post on his blog, Zak Smith wrote...

"Like all RPGs and few horror stories, the characters are criminals. They break and flee the law."

The line fits perfectly with the post he made about a very particular style of weird horror noir. As is sometimes the case with me, I just have to totally disagree with the first part. Most RPGs. Popular RPGs even. Not my RPGs. At least not the best ones I've run and played.

Good night.