Sundog

"Mountain Majesty" would imply a link to stone and earth with a link to patriotic song.

If both sides stayed covert (and both sides have reasons to - The Star League due to it's rules on contacting undeveloped societies, Xur because he doesn't want the League to know what he's doing), then the general population would likely remain blissfully ignorant of the whole shebang. Not so governments - at the very least, a disappearance pattern of people with high reaction times, skilled pilots (why re-invent the wheel?) and high intellects (Alex was smart) would set off all kinds of red flags in intelligence agencies. Not to mention the fact that counter-intel groups would come to the conclusion that there was one (or more) new "players" in the game pretty quick. OVERT interaction would change everything. This could have almost any political outcome - best case, we create (or repurpose the UN to be) a new world government responsible for off-world interactions. Worst case, The planet forms pro-Xur and pro-League blocs and faces off in a new Cold War - which might well not stay very cold. One certainty is that the US would be one of the big losers. In addition to the religion problem (see below), the uS just got demoted from top of the heap (or at least first among the developed world) to just another nation. The US suddenly has no technological edge over anyone, and if either side starts offering military aid to those on it's side, suddenly the US would find that a great many nations won't trade with it any more. Without fear of US military might, much of the developed world will simply kick US companies out as soon as possible. Religion would take a BIG hit. Pretty much every major world religion gives humankind a central role in the universe. The fact we're just one among many would meltdown a lot of people's world views. In places where religion is less important (say, most of the west, China) this would translate to strong social disruption. In places where religion is strong (Africa, USA, South America) you could see countries coming apart due to religious disintegration of mainstream sects and the rise of new forms.

Are you quite certain of your pronouns?

Are you in an Elvis mood?

What to jettison - Doc's trilling (always seemed one of the sillier aspects even in the pulps), the polar fortress (yes, Doc had it before Supes - but only we know that), any science that's been seriously superseded. The rather clownish personas of various of the five - not make them super-serious, but show that these people are some of the finest minds in the world, and have them act like it. Humor doesn't have to be a brick through a plate glass window. What to keep - Doc himself. A product of revolutionary levels of training and physical and mental stimulation, wealthy, and dedicated to the greater good of mankind, a true hero. If you can capture that essence, you're off to a good start. Doc's possession of advanced technology, much of it his own construction. In fact, this is even easier to do today, with our greater knowledge of what does and doesn't work, and why. Have Doc's private aircraft use pulse-jet technology in the '20s. Let him and the Five use small, concealable walkie-talkies while everyone else uses either massive, backpack mounted stuff or even field telephones. Make the villains believable. No, he doesn't want to take over the world - but his scheme to make millions will kill hundreds, and he doesn't care. The modern hero is defined to a certain extent by his opposition - so also make them quite palpably evil.

The problem is, the source material in this case just isn't that good. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Doc pulps as much as anyone. But no one is going to say they're great literature. Now, you can say the same for most of the other pulps mentioned, but many of those have had successive treatments that really did surpass their contemporaries, and created a broad and deep mythology on which to base a film. Doc...just doesn't have that. On the other hand, this is not an insurmountable problem. It means, though that in order to create a good Doc Savage film, the director and sriptwriter will need to step beyond the pulps. They'll have to have the courage to jettison what simply doesn't work (either because it doesn't work on film or because it has become cliched and unworkable in the decades since it was written) while having the wisdom to maintain the good stuff and the flavour of Doc. So, yes, I believe you can create a Doc film both good and profitable. But I don't think we're going to see it.

My test would be, can it communicate and debate the existence of an item of which it has no previous knowledge or evidence, without the provision of evidence? Even if the answer to the debate is "No, X does not exist", it would I think still be proof of sufficiently advanced reasoning capacity to comprehend theoretical concepts, which would be sufficient to call it a "person".

The pre-existing culture would be a big determiner here, I think. Especially if purgatory has been in existence for more than a generation. Are the prisoners sterilized first? Are women and men (and Herms and whatever else) dropped in separate areas? Life tends to find a way, and you'd likely end up with children sooner or later - could even make it a plot point: "Forty years ago Dr Obert got dropped for unethical experimentation. He set up a clinic and has been doing unsterilization procedures ever since." Conflict between groups is likely - "settled" farmers/ranchers vs. "raiders", political types still fighting the battles that got both sides dropped in the first place, radical sects vs. everyone else, not to mention anyone who has a monopoly (like say, someone who klnows how to make gunpowder weapons) being willing to fight to keep it. Not to mention, if there's any sort of graft in the outer universe, somebody's going to have smuggled in some galactic tech...

Weldun has done a fantastic job of converting the whole thing into the Mekton system, which, being designed around giant mecha roleplaying, does a very nice job of the whole series.

Might also use "Astras" - though it's quite possible no one remembers that was short hand for "Homo Sapiens Astra".

Nah, starting one just requires a disposable, high-impulse engine and a rock to attach it to.

Re: Online game: Build your own moon I'd've liked to play, but the game requires an access code.

Re: Storm Of Lead - Your Thoughts? In one of my DC games, quite a while ago now, I had a player who had the power to blze away at an area with his twin handguns. We built it as a seperate power in his multi, with the side effect "empties both clips" and area effect cone. It turned out to be great for taking care of swarms of mooks but largely ineffective agaisnt bosses (due to reduced damage potential).

Re: Analysis of the Red-Shirt Phenomenon in Star Trek I always figured "ship security" was a euphemism for either "marine" or russian-style "naval infantry". In ground combat situations, it is only reasonable that they would take the majority of casualties.

Re: Russian Nazca-like Space Elk discovered Personally, I think calling that thing "elk like" is really stretching it.

Re: Energy Names Required For the Brick I'd go with Capacitor. The Teleporter would be Arc. I'd call the energy blaster A/C for alternating current (referring to her limitaton on power use -one "alternative" or the other). The Gadgeteer would get the name Circuit, while the second blaster could rejoice in the double-meaning of Breaker.

Re: Evil Human evil is what happens when someone is either not able or not willing to try to see the other person's point of view.

Re: More space news! I think it portends the fluttering of astronomers.

Re: More space news! Rather ridiculous, actually. We are GOING to send humans to Mars. At that point, there's simply no way to avoid contamination. Even if Mars has microbiology, we're going to kill it sooner or later.

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

Re: Planetary Value? Well, that would depend on a variety of other assumptions. Even if going to another planet were very simple and cheap, that doesn't necessarily make planets common. Sure, it's easy to go from planet X to planet Y - but if that's all you've got... Also, people don't live in isolation. We need various things to stay alive - air, water, food. All of which seem to be a lot easier to get on life bearing planets than anywhere else. Finally, don't forget about human-instituted barriers. Just because you can get into your starship and fly to planet illudium-phosdex physically, doesn't mean you can legally.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? "Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression", Emerson Lake and Palmer.

Re: CONTINUUM: Anyone watching? Not out down under yet (or maybe ever) so I'll have to look it up.

Re: The Mastermind's Trophies Probably give the lot to the Smithsonian.

Re: Alternate History Trooper Loadout? Come to that...the PIAT launcher was less than effective, but the concept wasn't awful: use a big spring to throw a bomb at your target. The problems were 1)range (that spring had to be weak enough for a soldier to reset the gun for the next shot) and 2) the ammo (the magnetic rounds didn't attach to German tank hulls most of the time, and the direct fir bomb was both unreliable and too small). But with a little more development... Instead of one-pull reset on the spring, use a ratchet arrangement to winch it back down - allowing the use of a much more powerful spring. Use an improved fuse, and an impact-fuzed HEAT bomb (and for anti-personnel work, a fragmentation bomb). Suddenly, you have a powerful mid range support weapon that doesn't give away it's position when you fire it.